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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10029 ***
+
+                         THE HUNT BALL MYSTERY
+
+                       BY SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY, Bt.
+
+Author of "A Prince of Lovers," "The Mystery of the Unicorn," etc., etc.
+
+                                 1918
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+Chap
+
+      I THE INTRUDER
+
+     II THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+    III THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+     IV THE MISSING GUEST
+
+      V THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+     VI THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+    VII THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+   VIII KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     IX THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+      X AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+     XI GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+    XII HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+   XIII WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+    XIV GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     XV ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+    XVI AN EXPLANATION
+
+   XVII WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+  XVIII THE LOST BROOCH
+
+    XIX IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+     XX AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+    XXI GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+   XXII HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+  XXIII EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+   XXIV HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+    XXV DEFIANCE
+
+   XXVI ISSUE JOINED
+
+  XXVII GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE INTRUDER
+
+
+"I'm afraid it must have gone on in the van, sir."
+
+"Gone on!" Hugh Gifford exclaimed angrily. "But you had no business to
+send the train on till all the luggage was put out."
+
+"The guard told me that all the luggage for Branchester was out," the
+porter protested deprecatingly. "You see, sir, the train was nearly
+twenty minutes late, and in his hurry to get off he must have overlooked
+your suit-case."
+
+"The very thing I wanted most," the owner returned. "I say, Kelson," he
+went on, addressing a tall, soldierly man who strolled up, "a nice thing
+has happened; the train has gone off with my evening clothes."
+
+Kelson whistled. "Are you sure?"
+
+"Quite." Gifford appealed to the porter, who regretfully confirmed the
+statement.
+
+"That's awkward to-night," Kelson commented with a short laugh of
+annoyance. "Look here, we'd better interview the station-master, and have
+your case wired for to the next stop. I am sorry, old fellow, I kept you
+talking instead of letting you look after your rattle-traps, but I was so
+glad to see you again after all this long time."
+
+"Thanks, my dear Harry, you've nothing to blame yourself about. It was my
+own fault being so casual. The nuisance is that if I don't get the
+suit-case back in time I shan't be able to go with you to-night."
+
+"No," his friend responded; "that would be a blow. And it's going to
+be a ripping dance. Dick Morriston, who hunts the hounds, is doing the
+thing top-hole. Now let's see what the worthy and obliging Prior can
+do for us."
+
+The station-master was prepared to do everything in his power, but
+that did not extend to altering the times of the trains or shortening
+the mileage they had to travel. He wired for the suit-case to be put
+out at Medford, the next stop, some forty miles on, and sent back by
+the next up-train. "But that," he explained, "is a slow one and is
+not due here till 9.47. However, I'll send it on directly it arrives,
+and you should get it by ten o'clock or a few minutes after. You are
+staying at the _Lion_?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Not more than ten or twelve minutes' drive. I'll do my best and there
+shall be no delay."
+
+The two men thanked him and walked out to the station yard, where a
+porter waited with the rest of Gifford's luggage.
+
+"There is a gentleman here going to the _Lion_" he said with a rather
+embarrassed air; "I told him your fly was engaged, sir; but he said
+perhaps you would let him share it with you."
+
+Kelson looked black. "I like the way some people have of taking things
+for granted. Cheek, I call it. He had better wait or walk."
+
+"The gentleman said he was in a hurry, sir," the porter observed
+apologetically.
+
+"No reason why he should squash us up in the fly," Kelson returned. "I'll
+have a word with the gentleman. Where is he?"
+
+"I think he is in the fly, sir."
+
+"The devil he is! We'll have him out, Hugh. Infernally cool." And he
+strode off towards the waiting fly.
+
+"Better see what sort of chap he is before you go for him, Harry,"
+Gifford said deprecatingly as he followed. He knew his masterful friend's
+quick temper, and anticipated a row.
+
+"If you don't mind, this is my fly, sir," Kelson was saying as Gifford
+reached him.
+
+"The porter told me it was the _Golden Lion_ conveyance," a strong,
+deeply modulated voice replied from the fly.
+
+"And I think he told you it was engaged," Kelson rejoined bluffly.
+
+"I did not quite understand that," the voice of the occupant replied in
+an even tone. "I am sorry if there has been any misunderstanding; but as
+I am going to the hotel--"
+
+"That is no reason why you should take our fly," Kelson retorted, his
+temper rising at the other's coolness. "I must ask you to vacate it at
+once," he added with heat.
+
+"How many of you are there?" The man leaned forward showing in the
+doorway a handsome face, dark almost to swarthiness. "Only two? Surely
+there is no need to turn me out. You don't want to play the dog in the
+manger. There is room for all three, and I shall be happy to contribute
+my share of the fare."
+
+"I don't want anything of the sort--"
+
+Kelson was beginning angrily when Gifford intervened pacifically.
+
+"It is all right, Harry. We can squeeze in. The fellow seems more or less
+a gentleman; don't let's be churlish," he added in an undertone.
+
+"But it is infernal impudence," Kelson protested.
+
+"Yes; but we don't want a row. It is not as though there was another
+conveyance he could take."
+
+"All right. I suppose we shall have to put up with the brute," Kelson
+assented grudgingly. "But I hate being bounced like this."
+
+Gifford took a step to the carriage-door. "I think we can all three pack
+in," he said civilly.
+
+"I'll take the front seat, if you like," the stranger said, without,
+however, showing much inclination to move.
+
+"Oh, no; stay where you are," Gifford answered. "I fancy I am the
+smallest of the three; I shall be quite comfortable there. Come
+along, Harry."
+
+With no very amiable face Kelson got in and took the vacant seat by the
+stranger. His attitude was not conducive to geniality, and so for a while
+there was silence. At length as they turned from the station approach on
+to the main road the stranger spoke. His deep-toned voice had a musical
+ring in it, yet somehow to Gifford's way of thinking it was detestable.
+Perhaps it was the speaker's rather aggressive and, to a man,
+objectionable personality, which made it seem so.
+
+"I am sorry to inconvenience you," he said, more with an air of saying
+the right thing than from any real touch of regret. "On an occasion like
+this they ought to provide more conveyances. But country towns are
+hopeless."
+
+"Oh, it is all right," Gifford responded politely. "The drive is not
+very long."
+
+"A mile?" The man's musical inflection jarred on Gifford, who began to
+wonder whether their companion could be a professional singer. One of
+their own class he certainly was not.
+
+"I presume you gentlemen are going to the Hunt Ball?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered.
+
+"Rather a new departure having it in a private house," the man said.
+"Quite a sound idea, I have no doubt Morriston will do us as well--much
+better than we should fare at the local hotel or Assembly Rooms."
+
+"Are you going?" They were the first words Kelson had uttered since the
+start, and the slight surprise in their tone was not quite complimentary.
+It must have so struck the other, seeing that he replied with a touch of
+resentment:
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"No reason at all," Kelson answered, except that I don't remember to have
+seen you out with the Cumberbatch."
+
+"I dare say not," the other rejoined easily. "It is some years since I
+hunted with them. I'm living down in the south now, and when I'm at home
+usually turn out with the Bavistock. Quite a decent little pack, _faute
+de mieux_; and Bobby Amphlett, who hunts them, is a great pal of mine."
+
+"I see," Kelson observed guardedly. "Yes, I believe they are quite good
+as far as they go."
+
+The stranger gave a short laugh. "They, or rather a topping old dog-fox,
+took us an eleven mile point the other day, which was good enough in that
+country. Being in town I thought I would run down to this dance for old
+acquaintance' sake. Dare say one will meet some old friends."
+
+"No doubt," Kelson responded dryly.
+
+"As you have been good enough to ask me to share your fly," the man
+observed, with a rather aggressive touch of irony, "I may as well let you
+know who I am. My name is Henshaw, Clement Henshaw."
+
+"Any relation to Gervase Henshaw?" Gifford asked.
+
+"He is my brother. You know him?"
+
+"Only by reputation at my profession, the Bar. And I came across a book
+of his the other day."
+
+"Ah, yes. Gervase scribbles when he has time. He is by way of being an
+authority on criminology."
+
+"And is, I should say," Gifford added civilly.
+
+"Yes; he is a smart fellow. Has the brains of the family. I'm all for
+sport and the open-air life."
+
+"And yet," thought Gifford, glancing at the dark, rather intriguing face
+opposite to him, "you don't look a sportsman. More a _viveur_ than a
+regular open-air man, more at home in London or Paris than in the
+stubbles or covert." But he merely nodded acceptance of Henshaw's
+statement.
+
+"My name is Kelson," the soldier said, supplying an omission due to
+Henshaw's talk of himself. "I have hunted this country pretty regularly
+since I left the Service. And my friend is Hugh Gifford."
+
+"Gifford? Did not Wynford Place where we are going to-night belong to the
+Giffords?" Henshaw asked, curiosity overcoming tact.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered, "to an uncle of mine. He sold it lately to
+Morriston."
+
+"Ah; a pity. Fine old place," Henshaw observed casually. "Naturally you
+know it well."
+
+"I have had very good times there," Gifford answered, with a certain
+reserve as though disinclined to discuss the subject with a stranger. "I
+have come down now also for old acquaintance' sake," he added casually.
+
+"I see," Henshaw responded. "Not altogether pleasant, though, to see an
+old family place in the hands of strangers. Personally, when a thing is
+irrevocably gone, as, I take it, Wynford Place is, I believe in letting
+it slide out of one's mind, and having no sentiment about it."
+
+"No doubt a very convenient plan," Gifford replied dryly. "All the same,
+if I can retrieve my evening kit, which has gone astray, I hope to enjoy
+myself at Wynford Place to-night without being troubled with undue
+sentimentality."
+
+"Good," Henshaw responded with what seemed a half-smothered yawn. "Regret
+for a thing that is gone past recall does not pay; though as long as
+there is a chance of getting it I believe in never calling oneself
+beaten. Here we are at the _Lion_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+
+"What do you think of our acquaintance?" Gifford said as they settled
+down in the private room of Kelson, who made the _Golden Lion_ his
+hunting quarters.
+
+"Not much. In fact, I took a particular dislike to the fellow. Wrong type
+of sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Decidedly. Fine figure of a man and good-looking enough, but spoilt by
+that objectionable, cock-sure manner."
+
+"And I should say a by no means decent character."
+
+"A swanker to the finger-tips. And that implies a liar."
+
+"Not worth discussing," Kelson said. "He goes to-morrow. I made a point
+of inquiring how long he had engaged his room for. One night."
+
+"Good. Then we shan't be under the ungracious necessity of shaking him
+off. I can't tell you how sick I am, Harry, at the loss of my things."
+
+"No more than I am, my dear fellow. If only a suit of mine would fit you.
+But that's hopeless."
+
+They both laughed ruefully at the idea, for Captain Kelson looked nearly
+twice the size of his friend.
+
+"We'll hope they'll arrive in time for you to see something of the fun at
+any rate," Kelson said. "I'm in no hurry; I'll wait with you."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort, Harry," Gifford protested. "Do you
+think I can't amuse myself for an hour or two alone? You'll go off at the
+proper time. Absurd to wait till every decent girl's card is full."
+
+"I don't like it, Hugh."
+
+"Nor do I. But it is practically my fault in not looking sharper after my
+luggage, and better one should suffer than two."
+
+So it was arranged that Captain Kelson should go on alone and his
+guest should follow as soon as his clothes turned up and he could
+change into them.
+
+That settled, they sat down to dinner.
+
+"Tell me about the Morristons, Harry," Gifford said. "He is a very good
+fellow, isn't he?"
+
+"Dick Morriston? One of the best. Straight goer to hounds and straight in
+every other capacity, I should say. You know they used to live at Friar's
+Norton, near here, before they bought your uncle's place."
+
+"Yes, I know. What is the sister like?"
+
+"A fine, handsome girl," Kelson answered, without enthusiasm. "Rather too
+cold and statuesque for my taste, although I have heard she has a bit of
+the devil in her. Quite a sportswoman, and as good after hounds as her
+brother. They say she had a thin time of it with her step-mother, and has
+come out wonderfully since the old lady died. Lord Painswick, who lives
+near here, is supposed to be very sweet on her. Perhaps the affair will
+develop to-night. The ball will be rather a toney affair."
+
+"Morriston has plenty of money?"
+
+"Heaps. And the sister is an heiress too. The old man did not nearly live
+up to his income and there were big accumulations."
+
+"Which enabled the son to buy our property," Gifford said with a tinge
+of bitterness. "Well, it might have been worse. Wynford has not passed
+into the hands of some Jew millionaire or City speculator, but has gone
+to a gentleman, a good fellow and a sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Yes; Dick Morriston is all that. As the place had to go, you could not
+have found a better man to succeed your people."
+
+When the time came to start for the ball Gifford went down to see his
+friend off and to repeat his orders concerning the immediate delivery of
+his suit-case when it should arrive. Henshaw was in the hall, bulking big
+in a fur coat and complaining in a masterful tone of the unpunctuality of
+his fly. A handsome fellow, Gifford was constrained to acknowledge, and
+of a strong, positive character; the type of man, he thought, who could
+be very fascinating to women--and very brutal.
+
+He dropped his rather bullying manner as he caught sight of the two
+friends; and, noticing Gifford's morning clothes, made a casually
+sympathetic remark on his bad luck.
+
+"Oh, I shall come on when my things arrive, which ought to be soon,"
+Gifford responded coldly, disliking the man and his rather obvious
+insincerity.
+
+"We might have driven over together," Henshaw said, addressing
+Kelson. "But I hardly cared to propose it after the line you took at
+the station."
+
+There was an unpleasant curl of the lip as he spoke the words almost
+vindictively, as though with intent to put Kelson in the wrong.
+
+But his sneer had no effect on the ex-Cavalryman.
+
+"I am driving over in my own trap," he replied coolly, ignoring the
+other's intent. "You will be a good deal more comfortable in a closed
+carriage."
+
+"Decidedly," Henshaw returned with a laugh. "I am not so fond of an east
+wind as to get more of it than can be helped. And, after all, it is best
+to go independently to an affair of this sort. One may get bored and want
+to leave early."
+
+Kelson nodded with a grim appreciation of the man's trick of argument,
+and went out to his waiting dog-cart. Henshaw's fly drove up as Gifford
+turned back from the door.
+
+"I suppose we shall see you towards midnight," he said lightly as he
+passed Gifford, his tone clearly suggesting his utter indifference in
+the matter.
+
+"I dare say," Gifford replied, and as he went upstairs he heard an
+order given for "Mr. Henshaw's fire in number 9 to be kept up against
+his return."
+
+Alone in the oak-panelled sitting-room Gifford settled down to wait for
+his clothes. He skimmed through several picture-papers that were lying
+about, and then took up a novel. But a restless fit was on him, and he
+could not settle down to read. He threw aside the book and began thinking
+of the old property which his uncle had muddled away, and recalling the
+happy times he had spent there from his schooldays onwards. Memories of
+the rambling old house and its park crowded upon him. By force of one
+circumstance or another he had not been there for nearly ten years, and a
+great impatience to see it again took hold of him. He looked at the
+clock. At the best, supposing there were no hitch, his suit-case could
+hardly arrive for another hour and a half. Wynford Place was a bare mile
+away, perhaps twenty minutes' walk; the night was fine and moonlight, he
+was getting horribly bored in that room; he would stroll out and have a
+look at the outside of the old place. After all, it was only the exterior
+that he could expect to find unaltered; doubtless the Morristons with
+their wealth had transformed the interior almost out of his knowledge.
+Anyhow he would see that later. Just then he simply longed for a sight of
+the ancient house with its detached tower and the familiar landmarks.
+
+Accordingly he filled a pipe, put on a thick overcoat and a golf cap and
+went out, leaving word of his return within the hour.
+
+But it was a good two hours before he reappeared, and the landlord, who
+met him with the news that the missing suit-case had been awaiting him in
+his room since twenty minutes past ten, was struck by a certain
+peculiarity in his manner. It was nothing very much beyond a suggestion
+of suppressed excitement and that rather wild look which lingers in a
+man's eyes when he is just fresh from a dispute or has experienced a
+narrow escape from danger. Then Gifford ordered a stiff glass of spirits
+and soda and drank it off before going up to change.
+
+"Shall you be going to Wynford Place, sir?" the landlord inquired as he
+glanced at the clock.
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Yes. Let me have a fly in a quarter of an
+hour," he answered.
+
+But it was more than double that time when he came down dressed for
+the dance.
+
+The old house looked picturesque enough in the moonlight as he approached
+it. All the windows in the main building were lighted up, and there was a
+pleasant suggestion of revelry about the ivy-clad pile. Standing some
+dozen yards from the house, but connected with it by a covered way, was a
+three-storied tower, the remains of a much older house, and from the
+lower windows of this lights also shone.
+
+Gifford entered the well-remembered hall and made his way, almost in a
+dream, to the ball-room, where many hunting men in pink made the scene
+unusually gay. Unable for the moment to catch sight of Kelson, he had to
+introduce himself to his host, who had heard of his mishap and gave him a
+cheerily sympathetic welcome. Richard Morriston was a pleasant-looking
+man of about five or six-and-thirty, the last man, Gifford thought, he
+would bear a grudge against for possessing the old home of the Giffords.
+
+"I'm afraid you must look upon me rather in the light of an intruder
+here," Morriston said pleasantly.
+
+"A very acceptable one so far as I am concerned," Gifford responded with
+something more than empty civility.
+
+"It is very kind of you to say so," his host rejoined. "Anyhow the least
+I can do is to ask you with all sincerity to make yourself free of the
+place while you are in the neighbourhood. Edith," he called to a tall,
+handsome girl who was just passing on a man's arm, "this is Mr. Gifford,
+who knows Wynford much better than we do."
+
+Miss Morriston left her partner and held out her hand. "We were so
+sorry to hear of your annoying experience," she said. "These railway
+people are too stupid. I am so glad you retrieved your luggage in time
+to come on to us."
+
+Gifford was looking at her with some curiosity during her speech, and
+quickly came to the conclusion that Kelson's description of her had
+certainly not erred on the side of exaggeration. She looked divinely
+handsome in her ball-dress of a darkish shade of blue, relieved by a
+bunch of roses in her corsage and a single diamond brooch. Statuesque,
+too statuesque, Kelson had called her; certainly her manner and bearing
+had a certain cold stateliness, but Gifford had penetration enough to
+see that behind the reserve and the society tone of her welcome there
+might easily be a depth of feeling which his friend with a lesser
+knowledge of human nature never suspected. An interesting girl,
+decidedly, Gifford concluded as he made a suitable acknowledgment of her
+greeting, and, I fancy, my friend Harry takes a rather too superficial
+view of her character, he thought, as strolling off in search of
+Kelson, he found himself watching his hostess from across the room with
+more than ordinary interest.
+
+He soon encountered Kelson coming out of a gaily decorated passage which
+he knew led to the old tower. He had a pretty girl on his arm, tall and
+fair, but with none of Miss Morriston's dignified coldness. This girl had
+a sunny, laughing face, and Gifford thought he understood why his friend
+had not been enthusiastic over the probable Lady Painswick.
+
+Kelson, receiving him with delight, introduced him, with an air of
+proprietorship it seemed, to his companion, Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Have you been exploring the old tower?" Gifford asked.
+
+"We've been sitting out there," Kelson answered with a laugh. "They have
+converted the lower rooms into quite snug retreats."
+
+"In my uncle's day they were anything but snug," Gifford observed. "I
+remember we used to play hide-and-seek up there."
+
+He spoke with preoccupation, his eyes fixed on a bunch of white flowers
+which the girl wore on her black dress. They were slightly blotched and
+sprinkled with a dark colour in a way which was certainly not natural,
+and Gifford, held by the peculiar sight, looked in wonder from the
+flowers to the girl's face.
+
+"You must give Gifford a dance," Kelson said, breaking up the rather
+awkward pause.
+
+"I'm afraid my card is full," Miss Tredworth said, holding it up.
+
+Kelson laughed happily. "Then he shall have one of mine."
+
+But Gifford protested. "Indeed I won't rob you, Harry," he declared. "I'm
+tired, and should be a stupid partner."
+
+"Tired?" Kelson remonstrated. "Why, you have been resting at the _Lion_
+waiting for your things while we have been dancing our hardest."
+
+"Resting? No; I went out for a walk," Gifford replied.
+
+"The deuce you did! Where did you go to?"
+
+"Oh, nowhere particular," Gifford answered rather evasively. "Just about
+the town."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+
+Hugh Gifford did not stay very long at the dance. He took a mouthful of
+supper, and then told Kelson that he had a headache and was going to walk
+back to the _Golden Lion_.
+
+Kelson was distressed. "My dear fellow, coming so late and going so
+early, it's too bad. This is the best time of the night. I hope the old
+place with its memories hasn't distressed you."
+
+"Oh, no," was the answer. "But something has upset me. I'll get back and
+turn in. By the way, I don't see that man Henshaw."
+
+"No," Kelson replied casually; "I haven't seen him lately. But then I've
+had something better to think about than that ineffable bounder. He was
+here all right in the early part of the evening. One couldn't see
+anything else."
+
+"Dancing?"
+
+"More or less. Well, if you will go, old fellow, do make yourself
+comfortable at the _Lion_ and call for anything you fancy. I'm dancing
+this waltz."
+
+Gifford left the dance and went back to the hotel. He seemed perplexed
+and worried, so much so that for some time he paced his room restlessly
+and then, instead of turning in, he went back to the sitting-room,
+lighted a pipe, and settled himself there to await his friend's return.
+
+It was nearly three o'clock when Kelson came in.
+
+"Why, Hugh!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Still up?"
+
+"I didn't feel like sleeping," Gifford answered, "and if I'm to keep
+awake I'd rather stay up."
+
+Kelson looked at him curiously. "I hope the visit to your old home hasn't
+been too much for you," he remarked with the limited sympathy of a strong
+man whose nerves are not easily affected.
+
+"Oh, no," Gifford assured him. "Although somehow I did feel rather out
+of it. I have had rather a teasing day, but I shall be all right in the
+morning, and am looking forward to a run round the scenes of my
+childhood."
+
+"Good," Kelson responded, relieved to think his friend's visit was not
+after all going to be as dismal as he had begun to fear. "Well, Hugh," he
+added gaily. "I have a piece of news for you."
+
+"Not that you are engaged?"
+
+Something, an almost apprehensive touch, in Gifford's tone rather took
+his friend aback.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"To Miss--the girl you were dancing with?"
+
+Again Gifford's tone gave a check to Kelson's enthusiasm.
+
+It was with a more serious face that he replied, "Muriel Tredworth, the
+best girl in England. I hope, my dear Hugh, you are not going to say you
+don't think so."
+
+"Certainly not," Gifford answered promptly. "I never saw or heard of her
+before to-night."
+
+Kelson laughed uncomfortably. A man in love and in the flush of
+acceptance wants something more than a lukewarm reception of the news.
+"I'm glad to hear it," he responded dryly. "From your tone one might
+almost imagine that you knew something against Muriel."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" Gifford ejaculated fervently.
+
+"You don't congratulate me," his friend returned with a touch of
+suspicion.
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "My dear Harry, you have taken my breath away.
+You deserve the best wife in the kingdom, and I sincerely hope you have
+got her," he said, not very convincingly.
+
+His half-heartedness, not too successfully masked, evidently struck
+Kelson. "One would hardly suppose you thought so," he said in a hurt
+tone. "I wish," he added warmly, "if there is anything at the back of
+your words you would speak out. I should hope we are old friends enough
+for that."
+
+Gifford glanced at the worried face of the big, simple-minded sportsman,
+more or less a child in his knowledge of the subtleties of human nature,
+and as he did so his heart smote him.
+
+"We are, and I hope we always shall be," he declared, grasping his hand.
+"You are making too much of my unfortunate manner to-night, and I'm
+sorry. With all my heart I congratulate you, and wish you every blessing
+and all happiness."
+
+There was an unmistakable ring of sincerity in his speech now, and,
+without going aside to question its motive, as a more penetrating
+mind might have done, Kelson accepted his friend's congratulations
+without question.
+
+"Thanks, old fellow," he responded, brightening as he returned the grasp
+of Gifford's hand. "I was sure of your good wishes. You need not fear I
+have made a mistake. Muriel is a thorough good sort, and we shall suit
+each other down to the ground. We've every chance of happiness."
+
+Before Gifford could reply there came a knock at the door. The
+landlord entered.
+
+"Beg your pardon, captain," he said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could
+you tell me whether they are keeping up the Hunt Ball very late?"
+
+"No, Mr. Dipper," Kelson answered. "It was all over long ago. I was one
+of the last to come away. We left to the strains of the National Anthem."
+
+Mr. Dipper's face assumed a perplexed expression.
+
+"Thank you, captain," he said. "My reason for asking the question is that
+Mr. Henshaw, who has a room here, has not come in."
+
+"Not come in?" Kelson repeated. "Too bad to keep you up, Mr. Dipper."
+
+"Well, captain," said the landlord, "you see it is getting on for four
+o'clock, and we want to lock up. Of course if the ball was going on we
+should be prepared to keep open all night if necessary. But my drivers
+told me an hour ago it was over."
+
+"So it was. I wonder"--Kelson turned to Gifford--"what can have become of
+the egregious Henshaw. I don't think, as I told you in the ball-room, I
+have seen him since ten o'clock."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Unless he has come across friends and gone off
+with them."
+
+"He couldn't well do that without calling here for his things,"
+Kelson objected. "I suppose he did not do that, unknown to you?" he
+asked the landlord.
+
+"No, captain. His things are all laid out in his room, and the fire kept
+up as he ordered."
+
+"Then I don't know what has become of him," Kelson returned, manifestly
+not interested in the subject. "I certainly should not keep open any
+longer. If Mr. Henshaw turns up at an unreasonable hour, let him wait and
+get in when he can. Don't you think so, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "I think, considering the hour, Mr. Dipper will be quite
+justified in locking up," he answered.
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen; I will. Goodnight," and the landlord departed.
+
+Kelson turned to a side table and poured out a drink.
+
+"Decent fellow, Dipper, and uniformly obliging," he said. "I certainly
+don't see why he should be inconvenienced and kept out of his bed by that
+swanker, who has probably gone off with some pal and hasn't had the
+decency to leave word to that effect. Bad style of man altogether. Hullo!
+What's this?"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Gifford crossed to Kelson, who was looking at his shirt-cuff.
+
+"What's this?"
+
+A dark red streak was on the white linen.
+
+"Hanged if it doesn't look like blood," Kelson said, holding it to
+the light.
+
+Gifford caught his arm and scrutinized the stain.
+
+"It is blood," he said positively.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE MISSING GUEST
+
+
+Next morning Captain Kelson took his guest for a long drive round the
+neighbourhood. Before starting he asked the landlord at what time Henshaw
+had returned.
+
+"He didn't come in at all, captain," Dipper answered in an aggrieved
+tone. "His fire was kept up all night for nothing."
+
+"I suppose he has been here this morning," Kelson observed casually.
+
+"No," was the prompt reply. "Nothing has been seen or heard of him here
+since he left last night for the ball."
+
+Kelson whistled. "That looks rather queer, doesn't it, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "Very, I should say. What do you make of it?" he asked
+the landlord.
+
+That worthy spread out his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "It's
+beyond me, gentlemen. We can none of us make it out. I've never known
+anything quite like it happen all the years I've been in the business."
+
+"Oh, you'll have an explanation in the course of the morning all right,"
+said Kelson with a smile at the host's worry. "Don't take it too
+seriously; it isn't worth it. You've got Mr. Henshaw's luggage, which
+indemnifies you, and he is manifestly a person quite capable of taking
+care of himself."
+
+Mr. Dipper gave a doubtful jerk of the head. "It is very mysterious all
+the same."
+
+Kelson laughed as he went off with his friend.
+
+"I'm afraid I can't get up much interest in the doings of the
+objectionable Henshaw," he remarked lightly as they started off. "Such
+men as he know what they are about, and are not too punctilious with
+regard to other people's inconvenience."
+
+"No," Gifford responded quietly. "All the same, his non-appearance is a
+little mysterious."
+
+Kelson blew away the suggestion of mystery in a short,
+contemptuous laugh.
+
+"Oh, he is probably up to some devilry with some fool of a girl," he
+said in an offhand tone. "I know the type of man. They have a keen scent
+for impressionable women, of whom a fellow of that sort has always
+half-a-dozen in tow. No doubt that is what he came down here for--a
+tender adventure. That's the only kind of hunting he is keen on, take my
+word for it."
+
+"I quite agree with you there," Gifford answered with conviction, and the
+subject dropped.
+
+When they returned for luncheon they found that nothing had been heard of
+the _Golden Lion's_ missing guest.
+
+"It is rather an extraordinary move of our friend's," Kelson observed
+with a laugh. "He surely can't be living all this time in his evening
+clothes. Not but what a man like that would not let a trifle stand in his
+way if he had some scampish sport in view. No doubt he is up to a dodge
+or two by way of obviating these little difficulties."
+
+In the afternoon the two friends went up to Wynford Place to call after
+the dance. Kelson had naturally been much more inclined to drive over to
+the Tredworths, about seven miles away, in order to settle his betrothal,
+but Gifford suggested that the duty call should be paid first, and so it
+was arranged. To Kelson's delight he heard that Muriel Tredworth and her
+brother were coming over next day to stay with the Morristons for another
+dance in the neighbourhood and a near meet of the hounds; so he, warming
+to the Morristons, chatted away in all a lover's high spirits.
+
+"By the way," he said presently, as they sat over tea, "rather an
+extraordinary thing has happened at the _Golden Lion_."
+
+"What's that?" asked his host.
+
+"Did you notice a man named Henshaw here last night? A big, dark fellow,
+probably a stranger to you, but by way of being a former follower of the
+Cumberbatch."
+
+"An old fellow?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Oh, no. About six-and-thirty, I should say; eh, Hugh?"
+
+"Under forty, certainly," Gifford answered.
+
+"Tall and very dark, almost to swarthiness; of course I remember the
+man."
+
+Morriston exclaimed with sudden recollection. "I introduced him to
+a partner."
+
+"I noticed the fellow," observed Lord Painswick, who also was calling.
+"Theatrical sort of chap. What has he done?"
+
+Kelson laughed. "Simply disappeared, that's all."
+
+"Disappeared!" There was a chorus of interest.
+
+"How do you mean?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Left the hotel at nine last night and has never turned up since," Kelson
+said with an air of telling an amusing story. "Poor Host Dipper is taking
+it quite tragically, notwithstanding the satisfactory point in the case
+that the egregious Henshaw's elaborate kit still remains in his
+unoccupied bedroom."
+
+"Do you mean to say he never came back all night?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"Never," Kelson assured her. "Old Dipper came to us, half asleep, at four
+o'clock to ask whether he was justified in locking up the establishment."
+
+"And nothing has been seen or heard of the man since," Gifford put in.
+
+"That is queer," Morriston said, as though scarcely knowing whether to
+take it seriously or otherwise. "Now I come to think of it I don't
+recollect seeing anything of the man after quite the first part of the
+evening. Did you, Painswick?"
+
+"No, can't say I did," Painswick answered.
+
+"And," observed Kelson, "he was not a man to be easily overlooked when
+he was on show. I missed him, not altogether disagreeably, after the
+early dances."
+
+"What is the idea?" Edith Morriston inquired. "Is there any theory to
+account for his disappearance?"
+
+"No," Kelson answered, "unless a discreditable one. Gone off at a
+tangent."
+
+"And still in his evening things?" Painswick said with a laugh. "Rather
+uncomfortable this weather."
+
+"That reminds me," Morriston said with sudden animation, "one of the
+footmen brought me a fur coat and a soft hat this morning and asked me if
+they were mine. They had been unclaimed after the dance and he had
+ascertained that they belonged to none of the men who were staying here.
+Nor were they mine."
+
+"That is most curious," Kelson said with a mystified air. "Henshaw was
+wearing a fur coat and soft hat when we saw him in the hall of the _Lion_
+just before starting. Don't you remember, Hugh?"
+
+"Yes; certainly he was," Gifford answered.
+
+"Then they must be his," Morriston concluded.
+
+"And where is he--without them?" Painswick added with a laugh.
+"Dead of cold?"
+
+"It is altogether quite mysterious," Morriston observed with a puzzled
+air. "He can't be here still."
+
+"Hardly," his sister replied. "You know him?" she asked Kelson.
+
+"Quite casually. So far as nearly coming to a rough and tumble with the
+fellow for his cheek in scoffing our fly at the station constitutes an
+acquaintance. Gifford acted as peacemaker, and we put up with the
+fellow's company to the town. But neither of us imbibed a particularly
+high opinion of the sportsman, did we, Hugh?"
+
+"No," Gifford assented; "his was not a taking character, to men at any
+rate; and we rather wondered how he came to be going to the
+Cumberbatch Ball."
+
+"No doubt he got his ticket in the ordinary way," Morriston said.
+
+"It only shows, my dear Dick," his sister observed, "you may quite easily
+run risks in giving a semi-public dance in your own house."
+
+Morriston laughed. "Oh, come, Edith," he protested, "we need not make too
+much of it. We don't know for certain that the man was a queer
+character."
+
+"One finds objectionable swaggerers everywhere," Painswick put in.
+
+"Anyhow," said Kelson, "if this Henshaw was a bad lot he had the decency
+to efface himself promptly enough. The puzzle is, what on earth has
+become of him?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Gifford," Morriston said as the two friends were
+leaving, "whether you would care for a ramble over the old place. A man
+named Piercy has written to me for permission to go over the house; he
+is, it appears, writing a book on the antiquities of the county. I have
+asked him to luncheon to-morrow, and we shall be delighted if you and
+Kelson will join us as a preliminary to a personally conducted tour of
+the house. Charlie Tredworth and his sister are coming over for a week's
+stay, so we shall be quite a respectable party."
+
+Naturally Kelson accepted the invitation with alacrity, and Gifford could
+do no less than fall in with the arrangement.
+
+"Hope you won't mind going over to Wynford," Kelson said as they drove
+back. "If it is at all painful to you from old associations, I'll make an
+excuse for you."
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Oh, no," he answered. "I'll come. There is
+no use in being sentimental about the place going out of our family, and
+these Morristons are quite the right sort of people to have it. A
+splendidly thoroughbred type of girl, Miss Morriston."
+
+Kelson laughed. "Oh, yes; a magnificent creature; cut out for a duchess.
+Only, you know, my dear Hugh, if I married a woman like that I should
+always be a little afraid of her. A magnificent chatelaine and all that,
+but too cold for my taste."
+
+"You think there is no deep feeling under the ice of her manner?"
+
+"I don't know," Kelson replied, as though the idea was quite novel to
+him. "Never got so far as to think of that. I like a girl with whom you
+can get on without going through the process of thawing her first. And
+with Edith Morriston I should say it would be a slow process. Anyhow, she
+is just the girl for Painswick, who is evidently after her."
+
+"I should say that with him the ice is a little below the surface,"
+Gifford ventured.
+
+Kelson laughed. "You've hit it, Hugh. He's easy enough, but scratch him
+and you come upon a very straight-laced aristocrat. He and the statuesque
+Edith Morriston are made for one another."
+
+As they entered the _Golden Lion_ the landlord met them.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dipper, any news of your missing guest?" Kelson inquired with
+characteristic cheeriness, ignoring the troubled expression on that
+worthy's face.
+
+"No, captain; and we can't imagine what has happened to Mr. Henshaw.
+There are three telegrams come for him, and I have just got one,
+reply-paid, to ask whether he is staying here."
+
+"And you replied?"
+
+"Went to Hunt Ball 9 last night. Not been here since," Dipper quoted. "It
+is rather awkward and unpleasant for me, sir," he added uncomfortably.
+
+"Oh, you've no responsibility in the matter," Kelson assured him. "Don't
+you worry about it, Mr. Dipper. If the man goes out and does not choose
+to come back, that, beyond the payment of your charges, can be no affair
+of yours. Isn't that so, Hugh?"
+
+"Certainly," Gifford assented.
+
+Still their host looked anything but satisfied.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's quite right; all the same, we are beginning not to like
+the look of it. It is very mysterious."
+
+"It is, Mr. Dipper, to say the least of it," Kelson replied. "Still from
+such opinion as we were able to form of Mr. Henshaw I don't think it
+worth while making much fuss about it. He'll turn up all right and
+probably call you a fool for your pains."
+
+"I would not worry about it if I were you," Gifford said quietly.
+
+As they turned to go upstairs a telegraph boy came in and handed his
+message to the landlord, who read it and handed it to Kelson.
+
+"Please wire me without fail directly Mr. Henshaw returns. Gervase
+Henshaw, 8, Stone Court, Temple, London," Kelson read.
+
+"That's his brother," Gifford observed.
+
+"All right," said Kelson. "Let him worry if he likes. All you have to do,
+Mr. Dipper, is what he asks you there."
+
+He went upstairs with Gifford, leaving the landlord reperusing the
+telegram, his plump face dark with misgiving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+
+That night the missing man did not return, nor was anything heard of him.
+The morning brought no news, and even Kelson began to think there might
+be something serious in it.
+
+"If it was anybody but that man," he said casually over a hearty
+breakfast, "I should say it would be worth while taking steps to find out
+what had become of him. But that fellow can take care of himself; and
+when you come to think of it, his coming down here, an outsider, to the
+ball, was in itself rather fishy."
+
+Gifford agreed, and they fell to discussing the day's plans. Kelson was
+going to drive over to have the momentous interview with Miss Tredworth's
+father. He anticipated no difficulty there; still, as he said, "The thing
+has got to be done, and the sooner it is over the better."
+
+"Why not go to-morrow?" Gifford suggested. "There will be rather a
+rush to-day."
+
+Kelson, a man of action, scoffed at the idea. "Oh, no; Muriel and Charlie
+are coming over to Wynford to luncheon. I shall simply get the thing
+settled and drive back with them."
+
+So it was arranged. Gifford spent the morning in a stroll about the
+familiar neighbourhood, and when luncheon time came they all met at
+Wynford Place. Miss Morriston was not present. Her brother apologized for
+her absence, saying she had been obliged to keep an engagement to lunch
+with a friend, but that she had promised to return quite early in the
+afternoon. Mr. Piercy, the antiquarian, proved to be by no means as dry
+as his pursuit suggested. He was a lively little man with a fund of
+interesting stories furnished by the lighter side of his work, and
+altogether the luncheon was quite amusing.
+
+When it was over Morriston suggested that, not to waste the daylight,
+they should begin their tour of the house; he called upon Gifford to
+share the duties of guidance, and the party moved off.
+
+"Hope you haven't been bored all the morning, Hugh," Kelson said to his
+friend as they found themselves side by side. "Any news at the _Lion_?
+Has Henshaw turned up yet?"
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No. Host Dipper has had another telegram of
+inquiry from the brother, but had nothing to tell him in return."
+
+Kelson's face became grave. "It really does begin to look serious,"
+he remarked.
+
+"Yes; Dipper has been interviewing the police on the subject."
+
+"Has he? Well, I only hope Henshaw has not been playing the fool, or
+worse, and caused all this fuss for nothing."
+
+The party moved on to the great hall where the dancing had taken
+place, and so to the passage connecting the main building with the
+ancient tower.
+
+"Now this is the part which will no doubt interest you most, Mr. Piercy,"
+Morriston said; "this fourteenth century tower, which is to-day in a
+really wonderful state of preservation."
+
+"Ah, yes," the archaeologist murmured; "they could build in those days."
+
+They examined the two lower rooms on the ground and first floors,
+remarked on the thickness of the walls, shown by the depth of the window
+embrasures, which in older days had been put to sterner purposes; they
+admired the solid strength of the ties and hammer-beams in the roofs,
+and scrutinized the few articles of ancient furniture and tapestry the
+rooms contained, and the massive oaken iron-bound door which admitted to
+the garden.
+
+"Now we will go up to the top room," Morriston proposed. "It is used only
+for lumber, but there is quite a good view from it."
+
+He preceded the rest of the party up the winding stairs to the
+topmost door.
+
+"Hullo!" he exclaimed, pushing at it, "the door is locked. And the key
+appears to have been taken away," he added, bending down and feeling
+about in the imperfect light.
+
+The whole party was consequently held up on the narrow stairs. "I'll
+go and ask what has become of the key," Morriston said, making his way
+past them.
+
+In a minute he returned, presently followed by the butler.
+
+"How is it that this top door is locked, Stent?" he asked. "And where
+is the key?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. Alfred mentioned this morning that the door was
+locked and the key taken away; we thought you must have locked it, sir."
+
+"I? No, I've not been up here since the morning of the ball, when I had
+those old things brought up from the lower room to be out of the way."
+
+"Did you lock the door then, sir?"
+
+"No. Why should I? I am certain I did not. Perhaps one of the men did.
+Just go and inquire. And have the key looked for."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+"This is rather provoking," Morriston said, as they waited. "I
+particularly wanted to show you the view, which should be lovely on a
+clear day like this. If we have to wait much longer the light will be
+going. Besides, it is quite a quaint old room with a curious recess
+formed by the bartizan you may have noticed from outside."
+
+Presently the butler returned accompanied by a footman with several keys.
+
+"We can't find the right key, sir," he announced. "No one seems to
+have seen it. Alfred has brought a few like it, thinking one might
+possibly fit."
+
+None of them, however, would go into the lock, not even the
+smallest of them.
+
+"I can't make it out, sir," said the man, kneeling to get more
+effectively to work. But no key would enter. The footman at last took a
+box of matches from his pocket, struck a light and, holding it to the
+key-hole, peered in.
+
+"Why, the key is in the lock, on the other side, sir," he said in
+astonishment.
+
+"Then the door can't be locked," Morriston said, pushing it.
+
+The footman rose and pushed too, but the door showed no sign of yielding;
+it was fastened sure enough.
+
+"This is strange," Morriston said. "Hi! Is any one in there?" he
+shouted; but no response came.
+
+"Are you sure the key is in the door on the inside?" he asked.
+
+"Certain, sir. Will you look for yourself, sir?" the man replied,
+striking another match and holding it so that his master could
+convince himself.
+
+"No doubt about that," Morriston declared, as he rose from his scrutiny.
+"It is the most extraordinary thing I have ever known. Can you account
+for it, Stent?"
+
+The butler shook his head. "No, sir. Unless someone is in there now."
+
+Morriston again shouted, but no answer came.
+
+"I presume there is no way out of the room but this door," Piercy asked.
+
+"None," Morriston answered; "except the window, and that is, I should
+say, quite eighty feet from the ground; eh, Mr. Gifford?"
+
+"A sheer drop of quite that distance," he answered.
+
+"A prohibitive mode of exit," Piercy observed with a smile.
+
+"Yes," Morriston said. "I can't understand it at all. Besides, who would
+be likely to want to play tricks here? We have had no sign of burglars,
+and in any case they would hardly have been able to bring a ladder long
+enough to reach up to that window. Well, we must have the mystery cleared
+up. I think, Stent, you had better send one of the men on a bicycle into
+Branchester to fetch a locksmith and have the door opened somehow. Have
+it explained to him that it may be a tough job. In the meantime we may as
+well go and view the tower from the outside, as we can't get in."
+
+Accordingly the whole party went down into the hall and so out to the
+garden, where they strolled round the house, Piercy meanwhile taking
+notes of its architectural features. As they came to the tower the rays
+of a late winter sun were striking it almost horizontally, lighting it up
+in a picturesque glow. Piercy, with his archaeological knowledge, was
+able to tell the owner and Gifford a good deal about the ancient
+structure of which they had previously been ignorant.
+
+"The sunset would have been worth seeing from that top window,"
+Morriston said, evidently perplexed and annoyed over the mystery of the
+locked door. "I can't make out what has happened."
+
+"The person who locked the door assuredly did not make his exit by the
+window," Kelson remarked with a laugh, as he looked up at the sheer
+surface of the upper wall; "unless he was bent on suicide, in which case
+we should have found what was left of him at the foot of the tower."
+
+As they went on round the house, Miss Morriston was seen coming up the
+drive. Her brother hurried forward to meet her.
+
+"I say, Edith," he exclaimed, "we are in a great fix. Can you explain
+how the door of the top room in the tower comes to be locked with the
+key inside?"
+
+Miss Morriston looked surprised. "What, Dick?"
+
+"We can't get in," Morriston explained. "We found the door locked and the
+key missing, and then when Alfred tried another key, he found the right
+one was in the lock but inside the room."
+
+Miss Morriston thought a moment. "My dear Dick, the door can't be
+locked."
+
+"It is, I tell you," he returned; "most certainly locked. We have tried
+it and found it quite fast."
+
+"Then there must be someone in the room," his sister said.
+
+"That," Morriston replied, "seems the only possible explanation. But I
+shouted several times and got no answer."
+
+"Someone playing you a trick," and the girl laughed.
+
+"But who? who?" he returned.
+
+His sister gave a shrug. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," she replied,
+with a smile.
+
+"I shall," he replied, as two men appeared making for the servants'
+entrance. "Here comes Henry with the locksmith."
+
+Miss Morriston in her stately way looked amused.
+
+"My dear old Dick, you have been making a fuss about it. You will
+probably find the door open when you go up."
+
+"And I'll know who has been playing this stupid trick," Morriston said
+wrathfully.
+
+"A footman making love to a housemaid turned the key in a panic at being
+trapped," Kelson said to his host.
+
+"I dare say," Morriston replied with a laugh of ill-humour. "And he'll
+have to pay for his impudence."
+
+That explanation by its feasibility was generally accepted as the simple
+solution of the mystery.
+
+"Come along!" Morriston called. "We'll all go up, and see whether the
+door is open or not. We shall just be in time to catch the sunset."
+
+He led the way through the hall and the corridor beyond and so up the
+winding stairs.
+
+"What, not open yet?" he exclaimed as the last turn showed the workman
+busy at the lock. "Well, this is extraordinary."
+
+The locksmith was kneeling and working at the door, while the footman
+stood over him holding a candle.
+
+"The key is in the lock, inside, isn't it?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," the man answered. "There is no doubt about that."
+
+"How do you account for it?"
+
+The man looked up from his task and shook his head.
+
+"Can't account for it, sir. Unless so be as there is someone inside."
+
+"Can you open it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I'll have it turned in a minute."
+
+He took from his bag a long pair of hollow pliers which he inserted in
+the lock and then screwed tightly, clutching the end of the key. Then
+fitting a transverse rod to the pliers and using it as a lever he
+carefully forced the key round, and so shot back the lock.
+
+There was a short pause while the man unscrewed his instrument; then he
+stepped back and pushed open the door.
+
+Morriston went in quickly. "There is the key, sure enough," he said,
+looking round at the inside of the door. He took a couple of steps
+farther into the room, only to utter an exclamation of intense surprise
+and horror; then turned quickly with an almost scared face.
+
+"Go back!" he cried hoarsely, holding up his hands with an arresting
+gesture. "Kelson, Mr. Gifford, come here a moment and shut the door.
+Look!" he said in a breathless whisper, pointing to the floor beneath the
+window through which the deep orange light of the declining sun was
+streaming.
+
+An exclamation came from Kelson as he saw the object which Morriston
+indicated, and he turned with a stupefied look to Gifford. "My--!"
+
+Gifford's teeth were set and he fell a step backward as though in
+repulsion. On the floor between the window and an old oak table which had
+practically hidden it from the doorway, lay the body of a man in evening
+clothes, one side of his shirt-front stained a dark colour. Although the
+face lay in the shadow of the high window-sill, there was no mistaking
+the man's identity.
+
+"Henshaw!" Kelson gasped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+
+It was the missing man, Henshaw, sure enough. The swarthy hue of his face
+had in death turned almost to black, but the features, together with the
+man's big, muscular figure were unmistakable. For some moments the three
+men stood looking at the body in something like bewilderment, scarcely
+realizing that so terrible a tragedy had been enacted in that place, amid
+those surroundings.
+
+"Suicide?" Kelson was the first to break the silence.
+
+"Must have been," Morriston responded "or how could the door have been
+locked from the inside. I will send at once for the police, and we must
+have a doctor, although that is obviously useless." He went to the door,
+then turned. "Will you stay here or--"
+
+Kelson made an irresolute movement as though wavering between the
+implied invitation to quit the room and an inclination not to run
+away from the grim business. He glanced at Gifford, who showed no
+sign of moving.
+
+"Just as you like," he replied in a hushed voice. "Perhaps we had better
+stay here till you come back."
+
+"All right," Morriston assented. "Don't let any one come in, and I
+suppose we ought not to move anything in the room till the police
+have seen it."
+
+He went out, closing the door.
+
+"I can't make this out, Hugh," Kelson said, pulling himself together and
+moving to the opposite side of the room.
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically.
+
+"He," Kelson continued, "certainly did not give one the idea of a man who
+had come down here to make away with himself."
+
+"On the contrary," his friend murmured in the same preoccupied tone.
+
+"What do you think? How can you account for it?" Kelson demanded, as
+appealing to the other's greater knowledge of the world.
+
+It seemed to be with an effort that Gifford released himself from the
+fascination that held his gaze to the tragedy. "It is an absolute
+mystery," he replied, moving to where his friend stood.
+
+"A woman in it?"
+
+For a moment Gifford did not answer. Then he said, "No doubt about it, I
+should imagine."
+
+"It's awful," Kelson said, driven, perhaps for the first time in his
+life, from his habitually casual way of regarding serious things, and
+maybe roused by Gifford's apathy. "We didn't like--the man did not appeal
+to us; but to die like this. It's horrible. And I dare say it happened
+while the dance was in full swing down there. Why, man, Muriel and I were
+in the room below. I proposed to her there. And all the time this was
+just above us."
+
+"It is horrible; one doesn't like to think of it," Gifford said
+reticently.
+
+"I cannot understand it," Kelson went on, with a sharp gesture of
+perplexity. "I can imagine some sort of love affair bringing the poor
+fellow down to this place; but that he should come up here and do this
+thing, even if it went wrong, is more than I can conceive. Taking the man
+as we knew him it is out of all reason."
+
+"Yes," Gifford assented. "But we don't know yet that it is a case
+of suicide."
+
+"What else?" Kelson returned. "How otherwise could the door have been
+locked. Unless--" He glanced sharply at the deep recess, or inner
+chamber, formed by the bartizan, hesitated a moment, and then going
+quickly to it, looked in.
+
+"No, nothing there," he announced with a breath of relief. "I had for
+the moment an idea it might have been a double tragedy," he added with
+a shudder.
+
+"So we are forced back to the suicide theory," Gifford remarked. He had
+gone to the landing outside the door.
+
+"Yes," Kelson replied as he joined him. "But as to the woman in the case,
+who could she possibly have been? I knew most of the girls who were at
+the dance, and the idea of a tragedy with any one of them seems
+inconceivable."
+
+"One would think so," Gifford responded. "And yet--"
+
+"You think it possible?" Kelson demanded incredulously.
+
+"Possible, if far from probable," the other answered with conviction.
+"There are women who can be as secret as the grave, at any rate so far as
+appearances to the outer world are concerned. I wonder whom he danced
+with. Do you remember?"
+
+"No. I seem to recollect him with a girl in a light green dress, but that
+does not take us far."
+
+Footsteps on the stairway announced their host's return.
+
+"The police will be here, directly," he reported, "and, I hope, a doctor.
+I have done my best to keep it from the ladies, and I don't think that,
+so far, any of them has an exact idea of what made me turn them back.
+Just as well the horror should be kept dark as long as possible. It is
+such an awful blow to me that I can scarcely realize it yet."
+
+"Miss Morriston does not know?" Kelson asked.
+
+"No. And I only hope it won't give her a dislike to the house when
+she does. For I am hoping to have her here a good deal with me, even
+if she marries."
+
+A police inspector accompanied by a detective and a constable now
+arrived. Morriston took them into the room of death. Gifford grasped
+Kelson's arm.
+
+"I don't think there is any use in our staying here," he suggested. "Let
+us go down."
+
+The other man nodded, and they began to descend.
+
+"You are not going, Kelson?" Morriston cried, hurrying to the door.
+
+"We thought we could be of no use and might be in the way,"
+Gifford replied.
+
+"Oh, I wish you would stay," Morriston urged, going down a few steps to
+them. "I know it is not pleasant; on the contrary it's a ghastly affair;
+but I should like to have you with me till this police business is over.
+I won't ask you to stay up here, but if you don't mind waiting downstairs
+I should be so grateful. I might want your advice. You'll find the rest
+of the party in the drawing-room."
+
+The two could do no less than promise, and, with a word of thanks,
+Morriston went back to the officials.
+
+As the two men crossed the hall the drawing-room door opened and Miss
+Morriston came out.
+
+"Is my brother coming?" she asked.
+
+"He will be down soon," Gifford answered in as casual a tone as he
+could assume.
+
+The girl seemed struck by the gravity of their faces as she glanced from
+one to the other. "I hope nothing is wrong," she observed, with just a
+shade of apprehension.
+
+There was a momentary pause as each man, hesitating between a direct
+falsehood, the truth, and a plausible excuse, rather waited for the
+other to speak.
+
+Gifford answered. "No, nothing that you need worry about, Miss Morriston.
+Your brother will tell you later on."
+
+But the hesitation seemed to have aroused the girl's suspicions. "Do tell
+me now," she said, with just a tremor of anxiety underlying the
+characteristic coldness of her tone. "Unless," she added, "it is
+something not exactly proper for me to hear."
+
+Kelson quickly availed himself of the loophole she gave him. "You had
+better wait and hear it from Dick," he said, suggesting a move towards
+the drawing-room. "In the meantime there is nothing you need be
+alarmed about."
+
+"It all sounds very mysterious," Miss Morriston returned, her
+apprehension scarcely hidden by a forced smile. "I must go and ask
+Dick--"
+
+As she turned towards the passage leading to the tower Kelson sprang
+forward and intercepted her. "No, no, Miss Morriston," he remonstrated
+with a prohibiting gesture, "don't go up there now. Take my word for it
+you had better not. Dick will be down directly to explain what is wrong."
+
+For a few moments her eyes rested on him searchingly.
+
+"Very well," she said at length. "If you say I ought not to go, I won't.
+But you don't lessen my anxiety to know what has happened."
+
+"There is no particular cause for anxiety on your part," Kelson said
+reassuringly.
+
+She had turned and now led the way to the drawing-room. As they entered
+they were received by expectant looks.
+
+"Well, is the mystery solved?" young Tredworth inquired.
+
+Kelson gave him a silencing look. "You'll hear all about it in good
+time," he replied between lightness and gravity.
+
+Piercy rose to take his leave.
+
+"Oh, you must not go yet," Miss Morriston protested. "They are just
+bringing tea."
+
+"But I fear I may be in the way if there is anything--" he urged.
+
+"Oh, no," his hostess insisted. "I don't know of anything wrong. At least
+neither Captain Kelson nor Mr. Gifford will admit anything. You must have
+tea before your long drive."
+
+The subject of the mystery in the tower was tacitly dropped, perhaps from
+a vague feeling that it was best not alluded to, at any rate by the
+ladies, and the conversation flowed, with more or less effort, on
+ordinary local topics. Tea over, Piercy took his leave.
+
+"You must come again, Mr. Piercy, while you are in this part of the
+county," Miss Morriston said graciously, "when you shall have no
+episodes of lost keys to hinder your researches. My brother shall
+write to you."
+
+Kelson took the departing visitor out into the hall to see him off.
+
+"You'll see it all in the papers to-morrow, I expect," he said in a
+confidential tone, "so there is no harm in telling you there has been
+a most gruesome discovery in that locked room. A man who was here at
+the Hunt Ball, has been found dead; suicide no doubt. The police are
+here now."
+
+"Good heavens! A mercy the ladies did not see it."
+
+"Yes; they'll have to know sooner or later. The later the better."
+
+"Yes, indeed. Any idea of the cause of the sad business?"
+
+"None, as yet. A complete mystery."
+
+"Probably a woman in it."
+
+"Not unlikely. Good-bye."
+
+As Kelson turned from the door, Morriston and another man appeared at the
+farther end of the hall and called to him.
+
+"You know Dr. Page," he said as Kelson joined them.
+
+"A terrible business this, doctor," Kelson observed as they shook hands.
+
+The medico drew in a breath. "And at first sight in the highest degree
+mysterious," he said gravely.
+
+"Dr. Page," said Morriston, "has made a cursory examination of the
+body. The autopsy will take place elsewhere. The police are making
+notes of everything important, and after dark will remove the body
+quietly by the tower door. So I hope the ladies will know nothing of
+the tragedy just yet."
+
+As they were speaking a footman had opened the hall-door and now
+approached with a card on a salver. "Can you see this gentleman,
+sir?" he said.
+
+Morriston took the card, and as he glanced at it an expression of pain
+crossed his face. He handed it silently to Kelson, who gave it back with
+a grave nod. It was the card of "Mr. Gervase Henshaw, II Stone Court,
+Temple, E.G."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+
+"Show Mr. Henshaw into the library," Morriston said to the footman. "This
+is horribly tragic," he added in a low tone to Kelson, "but it has to be
+gone through, and perhaps the sooner the better. His brother?"
+
+"Yes; he mentioned him on our way from the station the other evening. At
+any rate he will be able to see the situation for himself."
+
+"You will come with me?" Morriston suggested. "You might fetch your
+friend, Gifford."
+
+Kelson nodded, opened the drawing-room door and called Gifford out, while
+Morriston waited in the hall.
+
+"The brother has turned up," he said as the two men joined him. "No doubt
+to make inquiries. What are we to say to him?"
+
+"There is nothing to be said but the bare, inevitable truth," Gifford
+answered. "You can't now break it to him by degrees."
+
+Morriston led the way to the library. By the fire stood a keen-featured,
+sharp-eyed man of middle height and lithe figure, whose manner and first
+movements as the door opened showed alertness and energy of character.
+There was a certain likeness to his brother in the features and dark
+complexion as well as in a suggestion of unpleasant aggressiveness in the
+expression of his face, but where the dead man's personality had
+suggested determination overlaid with an easy-going, indulgent spirit of
+hedonism this man seemed to bristle with a restless mental activity, to
+be all brain; one whose pleasures lay manifestly on the intellectual
+side. One thing Gifford quickly noted, as he looked at the man with a
+painful curiosity, was that the face before him lacked much of the
+suggestion of evil which in the brother he had found so repellent. This
+man could surely be hard enough on occasion, the strong jaw and a
+certain hardness in the eyes told that, but except perhaps for an
+uncomfortable excess of sharpness, there was none of his brother's rather
+brutally scoffing cast of expression.
+
+Henshaw seemed to regard the two men following Morriston into the room
+with a certain apprehensive surprise.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my troubling you like this," he said to
+Morriston, speaking in a quick, decided tone, "but I have been rather
+anxious as to what has become of my brother, of whom I can get no news.
+He came down to the Cumberbatch Hunt Ball, which I understand was held in
+this house, and from that evening seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
+He had an important business engagement for the next day, Wednesday,
+which he failed to keep, and this may mean a considerable loss to him.
+Can you throw any light on his movements down here?"
+
+Morriston, dreading to break the news abruptly, had not interrupted his
+questions.
+
+"I am sorry to say I can," he now answered in a subdued tone.
+
+"Sorry?" Henshaw caught up the word quickly. "What do you mean? Has he
+met with an accident?"
+
+"Worse than that," Morriston answered sympathetically.
+
+Henshaw with a start fell back a step.
+
+"Worse," he repeated. "You don't mean to say--"
+
+"He is dead."
+
+"Dead!" Surprise and shock raised the word almost to a shout. "You--"
+
+"We have," Morriston said quietly, "only discovered the terrible truth
+within the last hour or so."
+
+"But dead?" Henshaw protested incredulously. "How--how can he be dead?
+How did he die? An accident?"
+
+"I am afraid it looks as though by his own hand," Morriston answered in a
+hushed voice.
+
+The expression of incredulity on Henshaw's face manifestly deepened. "By
+his own hand?" he echoed. "Suicide? Clement commit suicide? Impossible!
+Inconceivable!"
+
+"One would think so indeed," Morriston replied with sympathy. "May I tell
+you the facts, so far as we know them?"
+
+"If you please," The words were rapped out almost peremptorily.
+
+Morriston pointed to a chair, but his visitor, in his preoccupation,
+seemed to take no notice of the gesture, continuing to stand restlessly,
+in an attitude of strained attention.
+
+The other three men had seated themselves. Morriston without further
+preface related the story of the locked door in the tower and of the
+subsequent discovery when it had been opened. Henshaw heard him to the
+end in what seemed a mood of hardly restrained, somewhat resentful
+impatience.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he said when the story was finished.
+
+"Nor do any of us," Morriston returned promptly. "The whole affair is
+as mysterious as it is lamentable. Still it appears to be clearly a
+case of suicide."
+
+"Suicide!" Henshaw echoed with a certain scornful incredulity. "Why
+suicide? In connexion with my brother the idea seems utterly
+preposterous."
+
+"The door locked on the inside," Morriston suggested.
+
+"That, I grant you, is at first sight mysterious enough," Henshaw
+returned, his keen eyes fixed on Morriston. "But even that does not
+reconcile me to the monstrous improbability of my brother, Clement,
+taking his own life. I knew him too well to admit that."
+
+"Unfortunately," Morriston replied, sympathetically restraining any
+approach to an argumentative tone, "your brother was practically a
+stranger to me, and to us all. My friends here, Captain Kelson and Mr.
+Gifford, met him casually at the railway station and drove with him to
+the _Golden Lion_ in the town, where they all put up."
+
+Henshaw's sharp scrutiny was immediately transferred from Morriston to
+his companions.
+
+"Can you, gentlemen, throw any light on the matter?" he asked sharply.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say," Kelson answered readily. "I may as well
+tell you how our very slight acquaintance with him came about."
+
+"If you please," Henshaw responded, in a tone more of command than
+request.
+
+Kelson, naturally ignoring his questioner's slightly offensive manner,
+thereupon related the circumstances of the encounter at the station-yard
+and of the subsequent drive to the town, merely softening the detail of
+their preliminary altercation. Henshaw listened alertly intent, it
+seemed, to seize upon any point which did not satisfy him.
+
+"That was all you saw of my unfortunate brother?" he demanded at the end.
+
+"We saw him for a few moments in the hall of the hotel just as we were
+starting," Kelson answered.
+
+"You drove here together? No?"
+
+"No; your brother took an hotel carriage, and I drove in my own trap."
+
+"With Mr. ----?" he indicated Gifford, who up to this point had
+not spoken.
+
+"No," Gifford answered. "I came on later. A suit-case with my evening
+things had gone astray--been carried on in the train, and I had to wait
+till it was returned."
+
+Henshaw stared at him for a moment sharply as though the statement had
+about it something vaguely suspicious, seemed about to put another
+question, checked himself, and turned about with a gesture of perplexity.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he muttered. Then suddenly facing round
+again he said sharply to Gifford, "Have you anything to add, sir, to what
+your friend has told me?"
+
+"I can say nothing more," Gifford answered.
+
+Henshaw turned away again, and seemed as though but half satisfied.
+
+"The facts," he said in a lawyer-like tone, "don't appear to lead us far.
+But when ascertained facts stop short they may be supplemented. Apart
+from what is actually known--I ask this as the dead man's only
+brother--have either of you gentlemen formed any idea as to how he came
+by his death?"
+
+He was looking at Morriston, his cross-examining manner now softened by
+the human touch.
+
+"It has not occurred to me to look beyond what seems the obvious
+explanation of suicide," Morriston answered frankly.
+
+Henshaw turned to Kelson. "And you, sir; have you any idea beyond the
+known facts?"
+
+"None," was the answer, "except that he took his own life. The door
+locked on--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him sharply. "Now you are getting back to the facts,
+Captain Kelson. I tell you the idea of my brother Clement taking his own
+life is to me absolutely inconceivable. Have you any idea, however
+far-fetched, as to what really may have happened?"
+
+Kelson shook his head. "None. Except I must say he looked to me the last
+man who would do such an act."
+
+"I should think so," Henshaw returned decidedly. Then he addressed
+himself to Gifford. "I must ask you, sir, the same question."
+
+"And I can give you no more satisfactory answer," Gifford said.
+
+"As a man with knowledge of the world as I take you to be?" Henshaw
+urged keenly.
+
+"No."
+
+"At least you agree with your friend here, that my poor brother did not
+strike one as being a man liable to make away with himself?"
+
+"Certainly. But one can never tell. I knew nothing of him or his
+affairs."
+
+"But I did," Henshaw retorted vehemently. "And I tell you, gentlemen, the
+thing is utterly impossible. But we shall see. The body--is it here?"
+
+"The police have charge of it in the room where he was found. It is to be
+removed at nightfall. You will wish to see it?" Morriston answered.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Morriston led the way to the tower, explaining as he went the
+arrangements on the night of the ball. Henshaw spoke little, his mood
+seemed dissatisfied and resentful, but his sharp eyes seemed to take
+everything in. Once he asked, "Did my brother dance much?"
+
+"He was introduced to a partner," Morriston replied. "But after that no
+one seems to have noticed him in the ball-room."
+
+"You mean he disappeared quite early in the evening?"
+
+"Yes; so far as we have been able to ascertain," Morriston answered.
+"Naturally, before this awful discovery we had been much exercised by
+his mysterious disappearance and failure to return to the hotel."
+
+"All the same," Henshaw returned sourly, "one can hardly accept the
+inference that he came down here for the express purpose of making away
+with himself in your house."
+
+"No, I cannot understand it," Morriston replied, as he turned and began
+to ascend the winding stairway.
+
+On the threshold of the topmost floor he paused.
+
+"This is the door we found locked on the inside," he observed quietly.
+
+Henshaw gave a keen look round, and nodded. Morriston pushed open the
+door and they entered.
+
+The body of Clement Henshaw still lay on the floor in charge of the
+detective and the inspector, the third man having been despatched to
+the town to make arrangements for its removal. With a nod to the
+officials, Henshaw advanced to the body and bent over it. "Poor
+Clement!" he murmured.
+
+After a few moments' scrutiny, Henshaw turned to the officers. "I am the
+brother of the deceased," he said, addressing more particularly the
+detective. "What do you make of this?"
+
+The question was put in the same sharp, business-like tone which had
+characterized his utterances in the library.
+
+"Judging by the door being locked on the inside," the detective answered
+sympathetically, "it can only be a case of suicide."
+
+Henshaw frowned. "It will take a good deal to persuade me of that," he
+retorted. "Mr. ----"
+
+"Detective-Sergeant Finch."
+
+"Mr. Finch. Did the doctor say suicide?"
+
+"I did not hear him express a definite opinion. Did you, inspector?"
+
+"No, Mr. Finch. I rather presumed the doctor took it for granted."
+
+"Took it for granted!" Henshaw echoed contemptuously. "I'm not going to
+take it for granted, I can tell you. Did the doctor examine the body?"
+
+"He made a cursory examination. He is arranging to meet the police
+surgeon for an autopsy to-morrow morning."
+
+On the table lay a narrow-bladed chisel, the lower portion of the bright
+steel discoloured with the dark stain of blood.
+
+The inspector pointed to it.
+
+"That is the instrument with which the wound must have been made," he
+remarked in a subdued tone. "It was found lying beside the body."
+
+Henshaw took it up and ran his eyes over it. "How could he have got
+this?" he demanded, looking round with what seemed a distrustful glance.
+
+"I can only suggest," Morriston answered, "that one of my men must have
+left it when some work was done here a few days ago."
+
+"That is so apparently, Mr. Morriston," the detective corroborated. "It
+has been identified by Haynes, the estate carpenter."
+
+Henshaw put down the chisel and for some moments kept silence, tightening
+his thin lips as though in strenuous thought. Then suddenly he demanded,
+"Beyond the fact that the door was found locked from within, what reason
+have you for your conclusion?"
+
+Mr. Finch shrugged. "We don't see how it could be otherwise, sir," he
+replied with quiet conviction. "Clearly the deceased gentleman must have
+been alone in the room when he died."
+
+"Might he not have locked the door after the wound was given?" Henshaw
+suggested in a tone of cross-examination.
+
+"Dr. Page was of opinion that death, or at any rate unconsciousness, must
+have been almost instantaneous," Finch rejoined respectfully.
+
+"Even supposing the autopsy bears out that view I shall not be
+satisfied," Henshaw declared.
+
+The inspector took up the argument.
+
+"You see, sir, taking into consideration the position of the room it
+would be impossible for any second party who may have been here with the
+deceased to leave it undiscovered except by the door. To drop from this
+window, which is the only one large enough to admit of an adult body
+passing through, would mean pretty certain death. Anyhow the party would
+have been so injured that getting clear away would be out of the
+question. Will you see for yourself, sir?"
+
+He threw back the window and invited Henshaw to look down. The argument
+seemed conclusive.
+
+"Was the window found open or shut?"
+
+"It was found unlatched, sir," Finch answered. "But the servants think
+that it was opened that morning and owing to the extra work in the house
+that day its fastening in the evening was overlooked."
+
+"Even if a second person had let himself down from the window," the
+inspector argued, "the rope would have been here."
+
+Henshaw kept silence, seemingly indifferent to the officials' arguments.
+"I can only tell you I am far from satisfied with the suicide theory," he
+said at length. "My brother was not that sort of man. He had nerves of
+iron; he was in love with life and all it meant to him, and he made it a
+rule never to let anything worry him. Let the other fellow worry, was his
+motto. Well, we shall see."
+
+He turned towards the door, and as he did so he caught sight of a
+cardboard box in which was a collection of various articles, jewellery, a
+watch and chain, money, a pocket-handkerchief, a letter, and a dance
+programme.
+
+"The contents of deceased's pockets," the inspector observed, answering
+Henshaw's glance of curiosity. "We have collected and made a list of
+them, and they will in due course be handed to you, or to his heir, on
+the coroner's order."
+
+"Is that a letter? May I see it?"
+
+As the official hesitated, Henshaw had snatched the paper, a folded note,
+and rapidly ran his eye through its contents. Then he gave a curious
+laugh, as he turned over the paper as though seeking an address, and laid
+it back in the box.
+
+"A note from my brother to an anonymous lady," he observed quietly.
+"Perhaps if we could find out whom it was meant for she would throw some
+light on the mystery."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+"What do you think of Mr. Gervase Henshaw?" Kelson said, as, late in the
+afternoon, he and Gifford walked towards the town together. Henshaw had
+left Wynford Place half an hour previously, having kept to the end his
+attitude of resentful incredulity.
+
+"A nailer," Gifford answered shortly.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed. "He gives one the idea of a man who will make
+trouble if he can. As offensive as his brother was, I should say,
+although in a different line. I did not detect one sign of any
+consideration for the Morristons in their horribly unpleasant position."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "I was very sorry for Morriston. He behaved
+extremely well, considering the irritatingly antagonistic line the man
+chose to take up."
+
+"Brainy man, Henshaw; unpleasantly sharp, eh?"
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "Added to his legal training he is by way of
+being an expert in criminology."
+
+"I do hope," Kelson remarked thoughtfully, "he is not going to make
+himself unpleasant down here. The scandal will be quite enough without
+that. Horribly rough luck on the Morristons as new-comers here to have an
+affair like this happening in their house. I can't think what brought the
+man down here."
+
+"No; he came with a purpose, that's certain."
+
+"A woman in it, no doubt. One can quite sympathize with the brother's
+incredulity as to the suicide theory, though hardly with his manner of
+showing it. The dead man was not that sort. The idea is simply
+staggering."
+
+Gifford made no response, and for a while they walked on in silence.
+Presently he asked, "How did you get on to-day--I mean with Colonel
+Tredworth?"
+
+"Oh, everything went off beautifully," Kelson answered, his tone
+brightening with the change of subject. "The old boy gave me his consent
+and his blessing. I've scarcely been able as yet to appreciate my luck,
+with this affair at Wynford Place intervening."
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically. "It is calculated to drive
+everything else out of one's head."
+
+"It is suggested," said Kelson, "that we should be married quite soon.
+The Tredworths are going abroad next month and don't propose to hurry
+back. So it means that if the wedding does not take place before they
+leave it must be postponed till probably the autumn."
+
+"I should think the latter would be the best plan."
+
+Kelson turned quickly to his companion. "To postpone it?" he exclaimed in
+a rather hurt tone. "Why on earth should we? We have nothing to wait for,
+I mean money or anything of that sort."
+
+"No; but settlements take a long time to draw up."
+
+"Not if the lawyers are told to hurry up with them."
+
+"Then you will have to find a house, and get furniture. And there is the
+trousseau," Gifford urged.
+
+"Oh," Kelson returned with a show of impatience, "all these details can
+be got over in two or three weeks if we set ourselves to do it. I don't
+believe in waiting once the thing is settled."
+
+"I don't believe in rushing matters," Gifford rejoined. "Least of all
+matrimony."
+
+Kelson stopped dead. "Why, Hugh," he said in an expostulatory tone, "what
+is the matter with you? You are most confoundedly unsympathetic. Any one
+would think you did not want me to marry the girl."
+
+"I certainly don't want you to be in too great a hurry," Gifford
+returned calmly.
+
+"But why? Why?"
+
+"I feel it is a mistake."
+
+Kelson laughed. "You are not going to suggest we don't know our
+own minds."
+
+"Hardly. But why not wait till the family returns? Of course it is no
+business of mine."
+
+"No," Kelson replied with a laugh of annoyance; "and you can't be
+expected to enter into my feelings on the subject. But I think you might
+be a little less grudging of your sympathy."
+
+"You quite mistake me, Harry," Gifford replied warmly. "It is only in
+your own interest that I counsel you not to be in a hurry."
+
+"But why? What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" Kelson demanded, vaguely
+apprehensive.
+
+"It is a mistake to rush things, that is all," was the
+unsatisfactory answer.
+
+"If I saw the slightest chance of danger I would not hesitate to take
+your advice," Kelson said. "But I don't. Nor do you. Since when have you
+become so cautious?"
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "It is coming on with age."
+
+Kelson clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't encourage it, my dear Hugh. It
+will spoil all the enjoyment in your life, and in other people's too, if
+you force the note. I promise you I won't hurry on the wedding more than
+is absolutely necessary."
+
+"Very well," Gifford responded, and the subject dropped.
+
+They had finished dinner, at which the absorbing subject of the tragedy
+at Wynford Place was the main topic of their conversation, when the
+landlord came in to say that Mr. Gervase Henshaw, who was staying at the
+hotel, would like to see them if they were disengaged.
+
+Kelson looked across at his friend. "Shall we see him?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "We had better hear what he has to say. We don't want him
+worrying Morriston."
+
+"Ask Mr. Henshaw up," Kelson said to the landlord, and in a minute he was
+ushered in.
+
+With a quick, decisive movement Henshaw took the seat to which Kelson
+invited him.
+
+"I trust you won't think me intrusive, gentlemen," he began in his sharp
+mode of speaking, "but you will understand I am very much upset and
+horribly perplexed by the terrible fate which has overtaken my poor
+brother. I am setting myself to search for a clue, if ever so slight, to
+the mystery, the double mystery, I may say, and it occurred to me that
+perhaps a talk with you gentlemen who are, so far, the last known
+persons who spoke with him, might possibly give me a hint."
+
+"I'm afraid there is very little we can tell you," Gifford replied. "But
+we are at your service."
+
+"Thank you." It seemed the first civil word of acknowledgment they had
+heard him utter. "First of all," he proceeded, falling back to his dry,
+lawyer-like tone, "I have been to see the medical man who was summoned to
+look at the body, Dr. Page. He tells me that, so far as his cursory
+examination went, the position of the wound hardly suggests that it was
+self-inflicted."
+
+"Is he sure of it?" Kelson asked.
+
+"He won't be positive till he has made the autopsy," Henshaw answered.
+"He merely suggests that it was a very awkward and altogether unlikely
+place for a man to wound himself. Anyhow that guarded opinion is enough
+to strengthen my inclination to scout the idea of suicide."
+
+"Then," said Kelson, "we are faced by the difficulty of the locked door."
+
+Henshaw made a gesture of indifference.
+
+"That at first sight presents a problem, I admit," he said, "but not so
+complete as to look absolutely insoluble. I have, as you may be aware,
+made a study of criminology, and in my researches, which have included
+criminality, have come across incidents which to the smartest detective
+brains were at the outset quite as baffling. Clement's tragic end is a
+great blow to me, and I am not going quietly to accept the easy, obvious
+conclusion of suicide. I knew and appreciated my brother better than
+that. I mean to probe this business to the bottom."
+
+"You will be justified," Kelson murmured.
+
+"I think so--by the result," was the quick rejoinder.
+
+Gifford spoke. "What do you think was the real object in your brother
+coming down here?"
+
+Henshaw looked at his questioner keenly before he answered. "It is my
+opinion, my conviction, there was a lady in the case. May I ask what
+prompted you to ask the question?"
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Some idea of the sort was in my own mind," he replied,
+with a reserve which could scarcely be satisfying to Henshaw.
+
+"Perhaps," he said keenly, "you have also an idea who the lady was."
+
+Gifford shook his head. "Not at all," he returned promptly.
+
+"Then why should the idea have suggested itself to you," came the
+cross-examining rejoinder.
+
+"Your brother was not a member of the Hunt, and it seemed to
+us--curious."
+
+Henshaw took him up quickly. "That he should come to the ball? No doubt.
+I will be perfectly frank with you, as I expect you to be with me. It is
+perhaps not quite seemly to discuss my brother's failings at this time,
+but we want to get at the truth about his death. He had, I fear, rather
+irregular methods in his treatment of women. One can hardly blame him,
+poor fellow. His was a fascinating personality, at any rate so far as
+women were concerned. They ran after him, and one can scarcely blame him
+if he acquired a derogatory opinion of them. After all, he held them no
+cheaper than they made themselves in his eyes. That note I looked at
+which came from his pocket was written by him to make an assignation."
+
+"Was it addressed?" Gifford put the question quickly, almost eagerly.
+
+"No," Henshaw answered. "I wish it had been. In that case we should be
+near the end of the mystery."
+
+Kelson was staring at the glib speaker with astounded eyes. "Do you
+suppose a woman killed your brother?" he almost gasped.
+
+"Such things have been known," Henshaw returned with the flicker of an
+enigmatical smile. "But no, I don't suggest that--yet. At present I have
+got no farther than the conviction that Clement did not kill himself. I
+mean to find out for whom that note of his was intended."
+
+"Not an easy task," Gifford remarked, with his eye furtively on Kelson,
+who had become strangely interested.
+
+"It may or may not be easy," Henshaw returned. "But it is to be done. The
+woman who, intentionally or otherwise, drew my brother down here has to
+be found, and I mean to find her."
+
+Kelson was now staring almost stupidly at Gifford.
+
+"Neither of you gentlemen saw my brother dancing?" Henshaw demanded
+sharply.
+
+"I saw nothing of him at all in the ballroom," Gifford answered,
+"as I did not arrive till about midnight. Did you see him, Harry?" he
+asked, as though with the design of rousing Kelson from his rather
+suspicious attitude.
+
+Kelson seemed to pull himself together by an effort.
+
+"No--yes; I caught a glimpse of him, I think, with a girl in green."
+
+"You know who she was?" Henshaw demanded.
+
+"I've not the vaguest idea," Kelson answered mechanically. "I did not see
+her face."
+
+Henshaw rose. Perhaps from Kelson's manner he gathered that the men were
+tired, and had had enough of him. He shook hands, with a word of thanks
+and an apology. "We may know more after the inquest to-morrow afternoon,"
+he remarked, "although I doubt it. You will let me consult you again, if
+necessary? Thanks. Goodnight."
+
+As the door closed on Henshaw, Kelson turned quickly to Gifford with a
+scared face. "Hugh!" he cried hoarsely, in a voice subdued by fear. "The
+blood stain on my cuff that night. How did it come there? Was it--?"
+
+Gifford forced a smile. "My dear Harry, how absurd! What could that have
+had to do with it?"
+
+Kelson gave an uncomfortable laugh. "It is a grim coincidence," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+
+At the inquest which was held next day nothing was elicited which could
+offer any solution of the mystery of Clement Henshaw's death. It seemed
+to be pretty generally accepted to be a case of suicide, although that
+view was opposed in evidence, not only by Gervase Henshaw on general
+grounds, but also by the medical witnesses, who had grave doubts whether
+the mortal wound had been self-inflicted.
+
+"Just possible but decidedly improbable, both from the position of the
+wound and the direction of the blow," was Dr. Page's opinion.
+
+It was a downward, oblique stab in the throat which had pierced the
+larynx and penetrated the jugular vein. The deceased would have been
+unable to cry out and would probably have quickly become insensible from
+asphyxiation. Unless he was left-handed the stab could scarcely have been
+self-given.
+
+The police authorities committed themselves to no definite theory at that
+stage, and at their request the inquiry was adjourned for a month.
+
+Morriston, leaving the hall with Kelson and Gifford, asked them to walk
+back with him to Wynford Place.
+
+"Let us throw off this depressing business as well as we can," he said.
+"Of course I have had to break it to my sister and the others; they would
+have seen it to-day in print. Thank goodness the papers don't look beyond
+the suicide idea, so they are not making much fuss about it. If they took
+a more sensational view, as I fear they will now after the medical
+evidence, it would be a terrible nuisance."
+
+"I hope the ladies were not much upset when you told them,"
+Gifford remarked.
+
+"Well, they already had an idea that something was seriously wrong, and
+that took the edge off the announcement. Of course they were horribly
+shocked at the idea of the tragedy so close at hand, though I softened
+the details as well as I could."
+
+"If the suicide idea is to be abandoned," said Kelson, speaking with an
+unusually gloomy, preoccupied air, "the police have an uncommonly
+difficult and delicate task before them."
+
+"Yes, indeed," Morriston responded. "And I should say that abnormally
+keen person, the brother, will keep them up to collar."
+
+"He means to," Kelson replied rather grimly. "We had him for an hour
+last night cross-examining us, naturally to no purpose; we could tell
+him nothing."
+
+"He won't leave a stone unturned," Morriston said. "He proposes to return
+here after the funeral in town."
+
+"And I should say," observed Kelson, "if the mystery is to be solved he
+is the man to solve it. What do you think, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford seemed to rouse himself by an effort from an absorbing train of
+thought. "Oh, yes," he answered. "Except that it is possible to be a
+little too clever and so overlook the obvious."
+
+"If," said Morriston, obsessed by the subject, "the case is not one of
+suicide it must be one of murder. Where is Mr. Gervase Henshaw, or any
+one else, going to look for the criminal?"
+
+"Not among your guests, let's hope," Kelson said with a touch of
+uneasiness.
+
+"For one thing," Morriston replied, "they, or a good part of them, were
+not exactly my guests. I can't tell who may have got a ticket and been
+present. There was a great crowd. We may have easily rubbed shoulders
+with the murderer, if murder it was."
+
+"Yes, so we may," said Kelson alertly, though with something of a
+shudder.
+
+"Not a pleasant idea," continued Morriston. "But I don't see, if a bad
+character did get in and mix with the company, why he should have done a
+fellow guest to death, nor how he contrived to leave his victim and get
+out of the room after he had locked the door."
+
+"If the two men had a row over a girl, or anything else," Kelson said,
+"there is still that difficulty to be surmounted."
+
+Gifford spoke. "From what one could judge of the dead man's personality
+and character it is not a far-fetched supposition that he must have
+had enemies."
+
+"Down here?" Morriston objected incredulously. "Where he was a stranger?
+Unless some ingenious person, bent on vengeance, tracked him here and
+then lured him into the tower. Then how did the determined pursuer
+contrive to leave him and the key inside the locked room?"
+
+At Wynford Place, where they had now arrived, they found several callers.
+The subject of the tragedy was naturally uppermost in everybody's mind,
+and the principal topic of conversation. Morriston and his companions
+were eagerly questioned as to what had come out at the inquest, but,
+except that the medical evidence was rather sceptical of the suicide
+theory, were unable to relieve the curiosity.
+
+"I think, my dear Dick," remarked Lord Painswick, who was there, "we can
+furnish more evidence in this room than you seem to have got hold of at
+the inquest." And he looked round the company with a knowing smile.
+
+"What do you mean, Painswick?" Morriston asked eagerly. "Has anything
+more come to light?"
+
+"Only we have had a lady here, Miss Elyot, who says she danced with the
+poor fellow."
+
+"I only just took a turn with him, for the waltz was nearly over when he
+asked me," said the girl thus alluded to.
+
+"Did you wear a green dress?" Kelson asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+"Only that it must have been you I saw with him."
+
+"And can you throw any light on the mystery?" Morriston asked.
+
+The girl shook her head. "None at all, I'm afraid."
+
+"Did Mr. Henshaw's manner or state of mind strike you as being peculiar?"
+
+"Not in the least," Miss Elyot answered with decision. "During the short
+time we were together our talk was quite commonplace, mostly of the
+changes in the county."
+
+"Did he, Henshaw, know it formerly?" Morriston asked with some surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes," Miss Elyot answered, "he used to stay with some people over
+at Lamberton; you remember the Peltons, Muriel?" she turned to Miss
+Tredworth. "Of course you do."
+
+"Oh, yes," Muriel Tredworth answered. "I remember them quite well,
+although we didn't know much about them."
+
+"Don't you recollect," Miss Elyot continued, "meeting this very Mr.
+Henshaw at a big garden party they gave. I know you played tennis
+with him."
+
+"Did I?" Miss Tredworth replied. "What a memory you have, Gladys. You
+can't expect me to recollect every one of the scores of men I must have
+played tennis with."
+
+As she spoke she caught Gifford's eye; he was watching her keenly, more
+closely perhaps than manners or tact warranted. "And do you find the
+place much changed since your time, Mr. Gifford?" she inquired, as though
+to relieve the awkwardness.
+
+"Not as much as I could have imagined," he answered, through what seemed
+a fit of preoccupation.
+
+"Mr. Gifford has not had much opportunity yet of seeing how far it has
+altered, with this tragic affair to upset everything," Morriston put in.
+
+"No, it has been a most unlucky time for him to revisit Wynford," Miss
+Morriston added in her cold tone. "I hope Mr. Gifford is not going to
+hurry away from the neighbourhood in consequence."
+
+"Not if I can prevent it," Kelson replied, with a laugh.
+
+"I hope," Morriston said hospitably, "that whether his stay be short or
+long Mr. Gifford will consider himself quite at home here. And I need not
+say, my dear Kelson, that invitation includes you."
+
+Both men thanked him. "We have already done a little trespassing in your
+park," Kelson observed with a laugh.
+
+"Please don't call it trespassing again," Miss Morriston commanded. "Let
+me give you another cup of tea, Muriel."
+
+"The old house looks most picturesque by moon-light," observed Lord
+Painswick. "I was quite fascinated by it the other night."
+
+"There is a full moon now," Gifford said. "We will stroll round and
+admire when we leave."
+
+"Don't stroll over the edge of the haha as I very nearly did one night,"
+Morriston said laughingly. "When it lies in the shadow of the house it is
+a regular trap."
+
+"Moonlight has its dangers as well as its beauties," Painswick murmured
+sententiously.
+
+"The friendly cloak of night is apt to trip one up," Gifford added.
+
+As he spoke the words there came a startling little cry from Miss
+Tredworth accompanied by the crash and clatter of falling crockery.
+Gifford's remark had been made with his eyes fixed on his friend's
+_fiancée_, to whom at that moment Miss Morriston was handing the refilled
+cup of tea. A hand of each girl was upon the saucer as the words were
+uttered; by whose fault it was let fall it was impossible to say. But the
+slight cry of dismay had come from Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," she exclaimed, colouring with vexation. "How stupid
+and clumsy of me. Your lovely china."
+
+"It was my fault," Edith Morriston protested, her clear-cut face showing
+no trace of annoyance. "I thought you had hold of the cup, and I let it
+go too soon. Ring the bell, will you, Dick."
+
+"Please don't distress yourself, Miss Tredworth," Mr. Morriston entreated
+her as he crossed to the bell. "I'm sure it was not your fault."
+
+"Was that a quotation, Mr. Gifford?" Miss Morriston asked, clearly with
+the object of dismissing the unfortunate episode.
+
+"My remark about the cloak of night?" he replied. "Perhaps. I seem to
+have heard something like it somewhere."
+
+And as he spoke he glanced curiously at Miss Tredworth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+
+Next evening the two friends at the _Golden Lion_ were engaged to dine
+with the Morristons. They had been out with the hounds all day, and,
+beyond the natural gossip of the country-side, had heard nothing fresh
+concerning the tragedy. Gervase Henshaw had gone up to town for his
+brother's funeral, and Host Dipper had no fresh development to report. In
+answer to a question from Gifford, he said he expected Mr. Henshaw back
+on the morrow, or at latest the day after.
+
+"It is altogether a most mysterious affair," he observed sagely, being
+free, now that his late guest's perplexing disappearance was accounted
+for, even in that tragic fashion, to regard the business and to moralize
+over it without much personal feeling in the matter. "I fancy Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw means to work the police up to getting to the bottom of it. For
+I don't fancy that he is by any means satisfied that his unfortunate
+brother took his own life. And I must say," he added in a pronouncement
+evidently the fruit of careful deliberation, "I don't know how it strikes
+you, gentlemen, but from what I saw of the deceased it is hard to imagine
+him as making away with himself."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "But before any other conclusion can be fairly
+arrived at the police will have to account for the locked door."
+
+Evidently Mr. Dipper's lucubrations had not, so far, reached a
+satisfactory explanation of that puzzle; he could only wag his head and
+respond generally, "Ah, yes. That will be a hard nut for them to crack,
+I'm thinking."
+
+The dinner at Wynford Place was made as cheerful as, with the gloom of a
+tragedy over the house, could be possible.
+
+"We had the police with a couple of detectives here all this morning,"
+Morriston said, "and a great upset it has been. After having made the
+most minute scrutiny of the room in the tower they had every one of the
+servants in one by one and put them through a most searching examination.
+But, I imagine, without result. No one in the house, and I have
+questioned most of them casually myself, seems to be able to throw the
+smallest light on the affair."
+
+"Have the police arrived at any theory?" Gifford inquired.
+
+"Apparently they have come to no definite conclusion," Morriston
+answered. "They seemed to have an idea, though--to account for the
+problem of the locked door--that thieves might have got into the house
+with the object of making a haul in the bedrooms while every one's
+attention was engaged down below, have secreted themselves in the tower,
+been surprised by Henshaw, and, to save themselves, have taken the only
+effectual means of silencing him, poor fellow."
+
+"Then how, with the door locked on the inside did they make their
+escape?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"That can so far be only a matter of conjecture," her brother answered,
+with a shrug. "Of course they might have provided themselves with some
+sort of ladder, but there are no signs of it. And the height of the
+window in that top room is decidedly against the theory."
+
+"We hear at the _Lion_" Kelson remarked, "that the brother, Gervase
+Henshaw, is returning to-morrow or next day."
+
+Morriston did not receive the news with any appearance of satisfaction.
+"I hope he won't come fussing about here," he said, with a touch of
+protest. "Making every allowance for the sudden shock under which he was
+labouring I thought his attitude the other day most objectionable,
+didn't you?"
+
+"I did most certainly," Gifford answered promptly.
+
+"His manners struck me as deplorable," Kelson agreed.
+
+"Yes," their host continued. "It never seemed to occur to the fellow that
+some little sympathy was due also to us. But he seemed rather to suggest
+that the tragedy was our fault. In ordinary circumstances I should have
+dealt pretty shortly with him. But it was not worth while."
+
+"No," Kelson observed, "All the same, you need not allow a continuation
+of his behaviour."
+
+"I don't intend to," Morriston replied with decision. "I hope the man
+won't want to come ferreting in the place; that may well be left to the
+police; but if he does I can't very well refuse him leave. He must be
+free of the house, or at any rate of the tower."
+
+"Or," put in Kelson, "he'll have a grievance against you, and accuse you
+of trying to burk the mystery."
+
+"Is he a very objectionable person?" Miss Morriston asked. "We passed one
+another in the hall as he left the house and I received what seemed a
+rather unmannerly stare."
+
+Her brother laughed. "My dear Edith, the type of man you would simply
+loathe. Abnormally, unpleasantly sharp and suspicious; with a cleverness
+which takes no account of tact or politeness, he questions you as though
+you were in the witness-box and he a criminal barrister trying to trap
+you. I don't know whether he behaves more civilly to ladies, but from our
+experience of the man I should recommend you to keep out of his way."
+
+"I shall," his sister replied.
+
+"I should say no respecter of persons--or anything else," Kelson remarked
+with a laugh.
+
+"Let us hope he won't take it into his head to worry us," Miss Morriston
+said with quiet indifference.
+
+"I am sorry to see," Morriston observed later on when the ladies had
+left them, "that the papers are beginning to take a sensational view of
+the affair."
+
+"Yes," Kelson responded; "we noticed that. It will be a nuisance for
+you."
+
+"The trouble has already begun," his host continued somewhat ruefully.
+"We have had two or three reporters here to-day worrying the servants
+with all sorts of absurd questions. It is, of course, all to be accounted
+for by the medical evidence. That has put them on the scent of what they
+will no doubt call a sensational development. So long as it looked like
+nothing beyond suicide there was not so much likelihood of public
+interest in the case."
+
+"The police--" Gifford began.
+
+"The police," Morriston took up the word, "are fairly nonplussed. It
+seems the farther they get the less obvious does the suicide theory
+become. Well, we shall see."
+
+"In the meantime I'm afraid you and Miss Morriston are in for a heap of
+undeserved annoyance," Kelson observed sympathetically.
+
+"Yes," Morriston agreed gloomily; "I am sorry for Edith; she is plucky,
+and feels it, I expect, far more than she cares to show."
+
+When the men went into the drawing-room Muriel Tredworth made a sign to
+Kelson; he joined her and, sitting down some distance apart from the
+rest, they carried on in low tones what seemed to be a serious
+conversation.
+
+"I want to tell you of something extraordinary which has happened to me,
+Hugh." Gifford just caught the words as the girl led the way out of
+earshot. He had noticed that she had been rather preoccupied during
+dinner, an unusual mood for so lively a girl, and now he could not help
+watching the pair in the distance, she talking with an earnest, troubled
+expression, and he listening to her story in grave wonderment, now and
+again interposing a few words. Once they looked at Gifford, and he was
+certain they were speaking of him.
+
+With the gloom of a tragedy over the house the little party could not be
+very festive; avoid it as they set themselves to do, the brooding subject
+could not be ignored, general conversation flagged, and it soon became
+time for the visitors to say good-night.
+
+As they walked back to the town together Gifford noticed that his
+companion was unusually silent, and he tactfully forbore to break in upon
+his preoccupation. At length Kelson spoke.
+
+"Muriel has just been telling me of an unpleasant and unaccountable
+thing which happened to her this evening. A discovery of a rather
+alarming character. I said I would take your advice about it, Hugh, and
+she agreed."
+
+"Does it concern the affair at Wynford?"
+
+"It may," Kelson answered in a perplexed tone; "and yet I don't well see
+how it can. Anyhow it is uncommonly mysterious. We won't talk about it
+here," he added gravely, "but wait till we get in."
+
+"Miss Morriston looked well to-night," Gifford remarked, falling in with
+his friend's wish to postpone the more engrossing subject.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed casually. "She takes this ghastly business quietly
+enough. But that is her way."
+
+"I have been wondering," Gifford said, "how much she cares for
+Painswick. He is manifestly quite smitten, but I doubt her being nearly
+as keen on him."
+
+Kelson laughed. "If you ask me I don't think she cares a bit for him. And
+one can scarcely be surprised. He is not a bad fellow, but rather a prig,
+and Edith Morriston is not exactly the sort of girl to suffer that type
+of man gladly. But her brother is all for the match; from Painswick's
+point of view she is just the wife for him, money and a statuesque style
+of beauty; altogether I shall be surprised if it does not come off."
+
+"They are not engaged, then?"
+
+"I think not. They say he proposes regularly once a week. But she
+holds him off."
+
+Arrived at the _Golden Lion_ they went straight up to Kelson's room,
+where with more curiosity than he quite cared to show, Gifford settled
+himself to hear what the other had to tell him.
+
+"I dare say you noticed how worried Muriel looked all dinner-time,"
+Kelson began. "I thought that what had happened in the house had got on
+her nerves; but it was something worse than that; I mean touching her
+more nearly."
+
+"Tell me," Gifford said quietly.
+
+"You know," Kelson proceeded, "they are going to this dance at Hasborough
+to-morrow. Well, it appears that when her maid was overhauling her
+ball-dress, the same she wore here the other night, she found blood
+stains on it."
+
+"That," Gifford remarked coolly, "may satisfactorily account for the
+marks on your cuff."
+
+Kelson stared in surprise at the other's coolness.
+
+"I dare say it does," he exclaimed with a touch of impatience. "I had
+hardly connected the two. But what do you think of this? How in the name
+of all that's mysterious can it be accounted for?"
+
+"Hardly by the idea that Miss Tredworth had anything to do with the late
+tragedy," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Good heavens, man, I should hope not," Kelson cried vehemently. "That
+is too monstrously absurd."
+
+"What is Miss Tredworth's idea?"
+
+"She has none. She is completely mystified. And inclined to be horribly
+frightened."
+
+"Naturally," Gifford commented in the same even tone.
+
+His manner seemed to irritate Kelson. "I wish, my dear Hugh, I could take
+it half as coolly as you do," he exclaimed resentfully.
+
+"I don't know what you want me to do or say, Harry," Gifford
+expostulated. "The whole affair is so utterly mysterious that I can't
+pretend even to hazard an explanation."
+
+"In the meantime Muriel and I are in the most appalling position. Why,
+man, she may at any moment be arrested on suspicion if this discovery
+leaks out, as it is sure to do."
+
+"You can't try to hush it up; that would be a fatal mistake," Gifford
+said thoughtfully, "and would immediately arouse suspicion."
+
+"Naturally I am not going to be such a fool as to advise that," Kelson
+returned. "The discovery will be the subject of the servants' talk till
+it gets all over the place and into the papers. No, what I have
+determined to do, unless you see any good reason for the contrary, is to
+go first thing in the morning to the police and tell them. What do you
+say?" he added sharply, as Gifford was silent.
+
+"I should not do anything in a hurry," Gifford answered.
+
+"But surely," Kelson remonstrated, "the sooner we take the line of
+putting ourselves in the right the better."
+
+Again Gifford paused before replying.
+
+"Can Miss Tredworth give no explanation, has she no idea as to how the
+stains came on her dress?"
+
+"None whatever," was the emphatic answer.
+
+"You are absolutely sure of that?"
+
+Kelson jumped up from his chair. "Hugh, what are you driving at?" he
+cried, his eyes full of vague suspicion. "I--I don't understand the cool
+way you are taking this. There is something behind it. Tell me. I will
+know; I have a right."
+
+Evidently the man was almost beside himself with the fear of something he
+could not comprehend. Gifford rose and laid a hand sympathetically on
+his shoulder. "I am sorry to seem so brutal, Harry," he said gently, "but
+this discovery does not surprise me."
+
+Kelson recoiled as from a blow, staring at his friend with a
+horror-struck face. "Why, good heavens, what do you mean?" he gasped.
+
+"Only," Gifford answered calmly, "that when you introduced me to
+Miss Tredworth at the dance I noticed the stains on the white
+flowers she wore."
+
+"You did?" Kelson was staring stupidly at Gifford. "And you knew they
+were blood-stains?"
+
+"I could not tell that," was the answer. "But now it is pretty certain
+they were."
+
+For some seconds neither man spoke. Then with an effort Kelson seemed to
+nerve himself to put another question.
+
+"Hugh," he said, his eyes pitiful with fear, "you--you don't think Muriel
+Tredworth had anything to do with Henshaw's death?"
+
+Gifford turned away, and leaned on the mantelpiece.
+
+"I don't know what to think," he said gloomily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+
+Next morning directly after breakfast Kelson started for Wynford Place.
+As the result of deliberating fully upon the anxious problem before them,
+he and Gifford had come to the conclusion that it might be a grave
+mistake to try to keep secret the maid's discovery. It would doubtless by
+this time have become a subject of gossip and speculation in the
+household and consequently would very soon become public. Accordingly it
+was arranged that Kelson should arrive first and have a private interview
+with Muriel Tredworth with a view to ascertaining finally and for certain
+whether she could in any way account for the stain on her dress. Gifford
+was to follow half an hour later, when they would have a conference with
+the Morristons and afterwards, with their approval, go into the town and
+see the chief constable on the subject. If Gifford was doubtful as to
+the expediency of the plan, and it was with a considerable amount of
+hesitation that he brought himself to agree to it, he seemed to have no
+good reason to urge against it. And, after all, it appeared, in the
+circumstances, the only politic course to follow. Secrecy was practically
+now out of the question, and any attempt in that direction would
+inevitably fail and would in all probability produce results unpleasant
+to contemplate.
+
+When Gifford arrived at Wynford Place he found Kelson pacing the drive
+and impatiently expecting him.
+
+"Come along," he exclaimed, "the Morristons are waiting for us."
+
+"Miss Tredworth--?"
+
+"Is utterly unable to account for the state of her dress," Kelson
+declared promptly. "She is positive that if she noticed the man she never
+spoke a word to him, nor danced with him. She says that if she ever met
+him before, as according to that girl the other day was the case, she had
+quite forgotten the circumstance. So the sooner we communicate this
+discovery to the police the better. As it is, they say the servants are
+talking of it; so the present position is quite intolerable."
+
+In the library they found Morriston and his sister with the Tredworths.
+The situation was discussed and there seemed no doubt in the mind of
+any one of the party that the only thing to be done was to inform the
+police at once.
+
+"The whole affair is so mysterious," Morriston said, "that all sorts of
+absurd rumours will be afloat if we don't take a strong, straightforward
+line at once. Don't you agree, Edith?"
+
+"Certainly I do," Miss Morriston answered with decision. "I don't
+suppose," she added with a smile, "that any one would be mad enough to
+suggest, my dear Muriel, that you were in any way implicated in the
+affair; but the world is full of stupid and ill-natured people and one
+can't be too careful to put oneself in the right. Don't you agree,
+Captain Kelson?"
+
+"Most decidedly," Kelson replied, with a troubled face. Charlie Tredworth
+was also quite emphatically of opinion that his sister should make no
+secret of what had been found.
+
+"The inspector, who is here," Morriston said, "tells me that Major
+Freeman, our chief constable, intends to come here this morning. I'll say
+we want to see him directly he arrives."
+
+It was not long before the chief constable was shown into the library.
+Morriston lost no time in telling him of the mysterious circumstance
+which had come to light. Major Freeman, a keen soldierly man, with the
+stern expression and uncompromising manner naturally acquired by those
+whose business is to deal with crime, received the information with grave
+perplexity. He turned a searching look upon Muriel Tredworth.
+
+"I understand you are quite unable to account for the stains on your
+dress, Miss Tredworth?" he asked in a tone of courteous insistence.
+
+"Quite," she answered. "I did not speak to Mr. Henshaw or even notice him
+in the ball-room."
+
+"You had--pardon these questions; I am putting this in your own
+interest--you had at no time any acquaintance with Mr. Clement Henshaw?"
+
+"I can hardly say that I had," the girl replied; "although a friend has
+told me that I played tennis with him at a garden-party some years ago."
+
+"A circumstance which you do not recollect?" The question was put
+politely, even sympathetically, yet with a certain uncomfortable
+directness.
+
+"No," Muriel answered. "Even when I was reminded of it, my recollection
+was of the vaguest description. So far as that goes I could neither admit
+nor deny it with any certainty."
+
+"And naturally you never, to your knowledge, saw or communicated with the
+deceased man since?"
+
+Muriel flushed. "No; absolutely no," she returned with a touch of
+resentment at the suggestion.
+
+Major Freeman forbore to distress the girl by any further questioning.
+"Thank you," he said simply. "I am sorry to have even appeared to suggest
+such a thing, but you and your friends will appreciate that it was my
+duty to ask these questions. This looks at the moment," he continued,
+addressing himself now to the party in general, "like proving a very
+mysterious, and I will add, peculiarly delicate affair. The medical
+evidence is inclined to scout the idea of suicide, and my men who have
+the case in hand are coming round to the conclusion that the theory is
+untenable."
+
+"The locked door--" Morriston suggested.
+
+"The locked door," said Major Freeman, "presents a difficulty, but still
+one not absolutely incapable of solution. We know," he added, with a
+faint smile, "from the way the door was eventually opened, that a key can
+be turned from the other side, given the right instrument to effect it."
+
+"Which only a burglar or a locksmith would be likely to have," Kelson
+suggested.
+
+Major Freeman nodded. "Quite so. I am not for a moment suggesting that as
+an explanation of the mystery. It goes naturally much deeper than that.
+Mr. Gervase Henshaw is to look into his brother's affairs and papers
+while in town, and I am hoping that on his return here he may be able to
+give some information which will afford a clue on which we can work. In
+the meantime my men are not relaxing their efforts in this rather
+baffling case."
+
+"In which," Morriston suggested, "this new piece of evidence does not
+afford any useful clue."
+
+Major Freeman smiled, a little awkwardly, it seemed. "If anything, it
+would appear to complicate the problem still further," he replied
+guardedly. "Still, I am very glad to have it, and thank you for informing
+me so promptly. Miss Tredworth may rest assured that should we find it
+necessary to go still farther into this piece of evidence, it will be
+done with as little annoyance as possible."
+
+Some of the chief constable's habitual sternness of manner seemed to
+have returned to him as he now rose to take leave. "I will just confer
+with my men who are on the premises before I leave," he said to
+Morriston in a quiet authoritative tone. "They may have something to
+report." With that he bowed to the company and quitted the room, leaving
+behind him a rather uncomfortable feeling which every one seemed to make
+an effort to throw off.
+
+But there was clearly nothing to be done except to let the police
+researches take their course and to wait for developments. The party
+at Wynford was going over to the dance at Stowgrave that evening and
+it was arranged that they would call for Kelson and Gifford and all go
+on together.
+
+Accordingly at the appointed time the carriage stopped at the _Golden
+Lion_; Kelson joining Miss Tredworth and her brother, while Gifford drove
+with Morriston.
+
+In answer to his companion's inquiry Morriston said that he had heard of
+nothing fresh in the Henshaw case.
+
+"I saw Major Freeman for a moment as he was leaving," he said, "and
+gathered that the police were still at a loss for any satisfactory
+explanation as to how the crime was committed."
+
+"He made no suggestion as to the stains on Miss Tredworth's dress?"
+Gifford asked.
+
+"No. Although I fancy he is a good deal exercised by that piece of
+evidence. Mentioned, as delicately as possible, that it might be
+necessary to have the stains analyzed, but did not wish the girl to be
+alarmed or worried about it. I can't understand," Morriston added in a
+puzzled tone, "how on earth she could possibly have had anything to
+do with it."
+
+"No," Gifford assented thoughtfully; "it is inconceivable, unless by the
+supposition that she may by some means have come in contact with some one
+who was concerned in the crime."
+
+"You mean if a man had a stain on his coat and danced with her--"
+
+"Something of the sort. If there were blood on his lapel or sleeve."
+
+"H'm! It would be easy to ascertain for certain whom she danced with,"
+Morriston said reflectively. "But that again is almost unthinkable."
+
+"And," Gifford added, "it seems to go no way towards elucidating the
+problem of how Henshaw came to his death. As a matter of fact I should
+say Miss Tredworth danced and sat out nearly the whole of the evening
+with Kelson. You know he proposed at the dance?"
+
+"Yes, I understood that. Poor Kelson; I am sorry for him, and for them
+both. It is an ominous beginning of their betrothal."
+
+"It is horrible," Gifford observed sympathetically. "Although one tries
+to think there is really nothing in it for them to be concerned about."
+
+The dance was an enjoyable affair, and, at any rate for the time,
+dispersed the depression which had hung over the party from Wynford.
+Gifford had engaged Miss Morriston for two waltzes, and after a turn or
+two in the second his partner said she felt tired and suggested they
+should sit out the rest of it. Accordingly they strolled off to an
+adjoining room and made themselves comfortable in a retired corner,
+Gifford, nothing loath to have a quiet chat with the handsome girl whose
+self-possessed manner with its suggestion of underlying strength of
+feeling was beginning to fascinate and intrigue his imagination.
+
+"It is rather pleasant," she said a little wearily, "to get away from
+the atmosphere of mystery and police investigation we have been living
+in at home."
+
+"Which I hope and believe will very soon be over," Gifford responded
+cheeringly.
+
+Miss Morriston glanced at him curiously. "You believe that?" she returned
+almost sharply. "How can you think so? It seems to me that with little
+apparent likelihood of clearing up the mystery, the affair may drag on
+for weeks."
+
+Gifford answered with a reassuring smile. "Hardly that. If the police
+can make nothing of it, and they seem to be quite nonplussed, they will
+have to give up their investigations and fall back on their first theory
+of suicide."
+
+Leaning back and watching his companion's face in profile as she sat
+forward, he could see that his suggestion was by no means convincing.
+
+"I wish I could take your view, Mr. Gifford," she returned, with the
+suggestion of a bitter smile. "I dare say if the authorities were left to
+themselves they might give up. But you forget a very potent factor in the
+tiresome business, the brother, Mr. Gervase Henshaw; he will keep them up
+to the work of investigation, will he not?"
+
+"Up to a certain point, and one can scarcely blame him. But even then,
+the police are not likely to continue working on his theories when they
+lead to no result."
+
+"No?" Miss Morriston replied in an unconvinced tone. "But he is--" she
+turned to him. "Tell me your candid opinion of this Mr. Gervase Henshaw.
+Is he very--"
+
+"Objectionable?" Gifford supplied as she hesitated. "Unpleasantly sharp
+and energetic, I should say. Although it is, perhaps, hardly fair to
+judge a man labouring under the stress of a brother's tragic death."
+
+"He is determined to get to the explanation of the mystery?" The tinge of
+excitement she had exhibited in her former question had now passed away:
+she now spoke in her habitual cold, even tone.
+
+"He says so. Naturally he will do all he can to that end. Of course it
+would be a satisfaction to know for certain how the tragedy came about:
+not that it matters much otherwise. But unfortunately he rather poses as
+an expert in criminology, and that will make for pertinacity."
+
+For a moment Miss Morriston kept silent. "It is very unfortunate," she
+murmured at length. "It will worry poor old Dick horribly. I think he is
+already beginning to wish he had never seen Wynford."
+
+Gifford leaned forward. "Oh, but, my dear Miss Morriston," he said
+earnestly, "you and your brother must really not take the matter so
+seriously. It is all very unpleasant, one must admit, but, after all,
+except that it happened in your house, I don't see that it affects you."
+
+"You think not," Miss Morriston responded mechanically.
+
+"Indeed I think so." As he spoke Gifford could not help a slight feeling
+of wonder that this girl, from whom he would have expected an attitude
+rather of indifference, should allow herself to be so greatly worried by
+the affair. For that she was far more troubled than she allowed to appear
+he was certain. It is her pride, he told himself. A high-bred girl like
+this would naturally hate the very idea of a sensational scandal under
+her roof, and all its unpleasant, rather sordid accompaniments. "I wish,"
+he added with a touch of fervour, "that I could persuade you to dismiss
+any fear of annoyance from your mind."
+
+"I wish you could," she responded dully, with an attempt at a smile.
+Suddenly she turned to him with more animation in her manner than she had
+hitherto shown. "Mr. Gifford, you--I--" she hesitated as though at a loss
+how to put what she wished to say; "I have no right to ask you, who are a
+comparative stranger, to help us in this--this worry, but if you cared
+to be of assistance I am sure you could."
+
+"Of course, of course I will," he answered with eager gladness. "Only let
+me know what you wish and you may command the very utmost I can do. And
+please don't think of me as a stranger."
+
+Edith Morriston smiled, and to Gifford it was the most fascinating smile
+he had ever seen. "Only let me know how I can serve you," he said, his
+pulses tingling.
+
+"I am thinking of my brother," she replied, in a tone so friendly that it
+neutralized the rather damping effect of the words. "He is worrying over
+this business more than one who does not know him well would think. I had
+an idea, Mr. Gifford, that you might help us by, in a way, standing
+between us, so far as might be possible, and this Mr. Gervase Henshaw. He
+stays at your hotel, does he not?"
+
+"Yes; he is expected there to-morrow morning, if not to-night."
+
+"You may perhaps," the girl proceeded, "be able--I don't know how, and I
+have no right to ask it--"
+
+"Please, Miss Morriston!" Gifford pleaded.
+
+"To minimize any annoyance we are likely to suffer through his--his
+uncomfortable zeal," she resumed hesitatingly. "If not that, you may, if
+he is friendly with you, have an opportunity of getting to hear something
+of his plans and ideas, and warning me if he is likely to worry us at
+Wynford. We don't want the tragedy kept alive indefinitely; it would be
+intolerable. I am sure you understand how I feel. That is all."
+
+"You may rely on me to the utmost," Gifford assured her fervently, in
+answer to the question in her eyes.
+
+"Thank you," she said, as she rose. "I felt sure I might ask you this
+favour and trust you."
+
+She made a slight movement of putting out her hand. The gesture was
+coldly made; it might, indeed, have been checked, and gone for nothing.
+But Gifford, keenly on the alert for a sign of regard, was quick to take
+the hand and press it impulsively.
+
+"You may trust me, Miss Morriston," he murmured.
+
+"Thank you," she responded simply, but, he was glad to notice, with a
+touch of relief.
+
+She lightly took his arm and they went back to the ball-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+
+Next day Gervase Henshaw made his expected reappearance in Branchester.
+He left his luggage at the _Golden Lion_ and then went off to the
+police-station where he had a long interview with the chief constable.
+Mindful of his promise to Edith Morriston, Hugh Gifford kept about the
+town with the object of coming across Henshaw and getting to know, if
+possible, something of his intentions. The attraction he had, even from
+their first introduction, felt towards Miss Morriston had become quickly
+intensified by their strangely confidential talk on the previous
+evening. So far she was to him something of a puzzle, but a puzzle of
+the most fascinating kind. It was, perhaps, strangely unaccountable that
+she should have chosen to invoke his help who was little more than a
+casual acquaintance; still, he argued as he reviewed the situation, she
+had probably been drawn to him as the one man on the spot who was
+likely to be of use to them. Her brother, a good, sensible fellow of
+some character, was nevertheless an ordinary country gentleman, given up
+to sport of all kinds and naturally quite unversed in the subtleties of
+life and character which can be studied only by those who live in the
+more intellectual atmosphere of cities. The same judgment would apply to
+his friend Kelson, a chivalrous sportsman, who would unselfishly do
+anything in his power to be of help, but whose ability and penetration
+by no means matched his willingness. And probably these men were types
+of the bulk of the Morristons' friends and acquaintances, at any rate of
+those who were immediately available. Consequently, Gifford concluded,
+it had been to himself she had turned in this trouble, influenced no
+doubt by the idea that a Londoner with legal training and experience of
+the world in its many aspects would be the best man she could enlist to
+help her. That her confidence had been drawn by any particular personal
+liking he never for one moment admitted; that unfortunately was so far
+all on one side, whatever hopes the future might hold out to him.
+Anyhow he blessed his luck that an accident had so quickly broken the
+ice and established a state of confidential relationship between them.
+As to there being an adequate reason for alarm Gifford was not inclined
+to question, since he quite realized that this man Henshaw might easily
+constitute himself a grave annoyance to the Morristons. A clever girl
+like Edith Morriston, more sensitive than to a casual observer would
+appear, had naturally recognized this danger and was anxious to have the
+man, with his, perhaps, none too scrupulous methods, held in check; and
+to this service Gifford was only too happy to devote himself, glad
+beyond measure that the opportunity had been given him by the girl who
+had filled his thoughts.
+
+It was not until evening that he came across Henshaw, it being to his
+mind essential not to appear anxious or to seek out the criminologist
+with the obvious view of getting information as to his plans.
+
+"So you are back again, Mr. Henshaw," he said with a careless nod of
+greeting as they encountered in the hall of the hotel. "I hear the
+police have not yet arrived at any satisfactory conclusion."
+
+Henshaw drew back his lips in a slight smile. To Gifford the expression
+was an ugly one, and he wondered what it portended.
+
+"There is a likelihood of our not being at a loss much longer," Henshaw
+replied, speaking through his teeth with a certain grim satisfaction.
+
+"What, you have made a discovery?" Gifford exclaimed.
+
+Henshaw's face hardened. "I am not yet at liberty to say what I have
+found," he returned in an uncompromising tone. "But I think you may
+take it from me as absolutely certain that my brother did not take his
+own life."
+
+With pursed lips Gifford nodded acceptance of the statement. "That makes
+the affair look serious, not to say sensational," he responded. "I
+suppose one must not ask you whether you have a clue to the perpetrator."
+
+"No, I can hardly say that yet," Henshaw answered with a rather cunning
+look. "You, as one of our profession, Mr. Gifford, will understand that
+and the unwisdom of premature statements."
+
+"Certainly I do," Gifford agreed promptly. "And am quite content to
+restrain my curiosity till I get information from the papers."
+
+Henshaw laughed intriguingly. "There are certain things that don't find
+their way into the Press," he said meaningly. "The real story in this
+case may turn out to be one of them."
+
+Eager as he was, Gifford resolved to show no further curiosity. "You know
+best," he rejoined almost casually. "But I hope for the Morristons' sake
+the mystery will be soon satisfactorily cleared up."
+
+There was a peculiar glitter in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "No doubt
+they are anxious."
+
+"Naturally. They are getting rather worried by all this police fuss."
+
+"Naturally." Henshaw repeated Gifford's word with a curious emphasis. "It
+is unfortunate for them," he added. "But all the same it is imperative
+that the manner of my brother's death should be thoroughly investigated."
+
+He nodded, and as unwilling to discuss the matter further, opened a
+newspaper and turned away.
+
+About noon next day Gifford went with Kelson to Wynford Place. They had
+seen nothing more of Henshaw who, it seemed, was rather inclined to hold
+away from them, possibly with a view to avoiding an opportunity of
+discussing the affair, or because he was occupied in following up some
+clue he had, or thought he had, got hold of. This was naturally a
+disappointment to Gifford, who was anxious, on Miss Morriston's behalf,
+to keep himself posted as to Henshaw's intentions.
+
+"Of course," said Kelson, "the fellow will have heard of the stains found
+on Muriel's dress, and will set himself to make the most of that
+discovery. I only hope he won't take to worrying her. She is quite enough
+upset about it without that."
+
+"Doubtless that is why he is keeping away from us," Gifford observed. "He
+probably has heard of your engagement."
+
+"And has the decency to see that he cannot very well discuss the matter
+with us," Kelson added.
+
+On their arrival at Wynford Place Morriston told them that Gervase
+Henshaw was there with a detective in the room of the tragedy. "There is
+a decided improvement in his manner to-day," he said with a laugh. "He
+has been quite considerate and apologetic; so much so that I think I
+shall have to ask him to stay to luncheon; it seems rather churlish in
+the circumstances not to do so when the man is actually in the house on
+what should be to him a very sad business. But you fellows must stay too,
+to take off some of the strain."
+
+They accepted; Gifford not sorry, for more reasons than one, to stay.
+
+He presently took an opportunity of joining Edith Morriston in the
+garden.
+
+"I have been keeping a look-out for Mr. Henshaw," he said, as they
+strolled off down a secluded walk, "but so far have had a chance of
+speaking to him only once, when I ran across him in the hotel."
+
+"Yes?" she responded, with a scarcely concealed curiosity to hear what
+had passed.
+
+"He has evidently got hold of some clue, or at least thinks he has,"
+Gifford proceeded. "But what it is he did not tell me. In fact he rather
+declined to discuss the affair. I fancy he had had a long consultation
+with the police authorities."
+
+"And he would tell you nothing?"
+
+"Nothing. I rather expected he might have come, as before, to discuss the
+case with us, but he has made a point of keeping away. I hear, however,
+from your brother that he seems far less objectionable this time."
+
+Somewhat to Gifford's surprise, she gave a rather grudging assent. "Yes,
+I suppose he is. I happened to see him on his arrival, and he certainly
+was polite enough, but it is possible to be even objectionably polite."
+
+Gifford glanced at her curiously, wondering what had taken place to call
+forth the remark. "I know that," he said. "I do hope the man has not
+annoyed you. From what your brother told us--"
+
+"Oh, no," she interrupted, "I can't say he has annoyed me--from his
+point of view." She laughed. "The man tried to be particularly
+agreeable, I think."
+
+"And succeeded in being the reverse," Gifford added. "I can quite
+understand. Still, it might be worse."
+
+"Oh, yes," she agreed in a tone which did nothing to abate his curiosity.
+
+The luncheon bell rang out and they turned.
+
+"I haven't thanked you for looking after our interests, Mr. Gifford," the
+girl said.
+
+"I have unfortunately been able to do nothing," he replied deprecatingly.
+
+"But you have tried," she rejoined graciously, "and it is not your fault
+if you have not succeeded. It is a comfort to think that we have a friend
+at hand ready to help us if need be, and I am most grateful."
+
+The unusual feeling in her tone thrilled him.
+
+"I should love to do something worthy of your gratitude," he responded,
+in a subdued tone.
+
+"You take a lower view of your service than I do," she rejoined as they
+reached the house, and no more could be said.
+
+At luncheon the improvement which their host had mentioned in Henshaw's
+attitude was strikingly apparent. His dogmatic self-assertiveness which
+had before been found so irritating was laid aside; his manner was
+subdued, his tone was sympathetic as he apologized for all the annoyance
+to which his host and hostess were being put. Gifford, watching him
+alertly, wondered at the change, and more particularly at its cause,
+which set him speculating. What did it portend? It seemed as though the
+complete alteration in the man's attitude and manner might indicate that
+he had got the solution of the mystery, and no longer had that problem to
+worry him. Certainly there was little to find fault with in him to-day.
+
+One thing, however, Gifford did not like, and that was Henshaw's rather
+obvious admiration for Edith Morriston. When they took their places at
+table, she had motioned to Gifford to sit beside her, and from that
+position it gradually forced itself upon his notice that Henshaw
+scarcely took his eyes off his hostess, addressing most of his
+conversation, and he was a fluent talker, to her. It was, of course,
+scarcely to be wondered at that this handsome, capable girl should call
+forth any man's admiration. Gifford himself was indeed beginning to fall
+desperately in love with her, but this naturally made Henshaw's rather
+obvious prepossession none the less disagreeable to him. This, then, he
+reflected, was the explanation of what Miss Morriston had hinted at,
+what she had described as his objectionable excess of politeness at
+their meeting that morning. Happily, however, Gifford felt secure in his
+position as her accredited ally and in her expressed dislike to the man
+whom it seemed she had unwittingly fascinated. It was indeed unthinkable
+that this splendid, high-bred girl could ever be responsive to the
+advances of this unpleasantly sharp, rather underbred man, and he was a
+little surprised that she could respond to his remarks quite so
+genially, with more graciousness indeed than even her position as
+hostess called forth.
+
+He could not quite reconcile it with the way she had spoken of him
+previously; but then he told himself that he was making too much of the
+business, and saw what was mere politeness through the magnifying glasses
+of jealousy. And so, secure in his position, he proceeded to view
+Henshaw's attempts to ingratiate himself with an amused equanimity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+
+During the next day or two Gifford saw next to nothing of Gervase
+Henshaw. They had parted amicably enough after luncheon at Wynford Place;
+indeed, the change in Henshaw's demeanour had been something of a puzzle
+to the two friends, although Kelson did not seem much exercised by it.
+"The fellow has evidently come to the conclusion that in dealing with
+people like the Morristons an offensive brow-beating manner does not
+pay," he remarked casually. Gifford, however, had an idea that the reason
+for the change lay somewhat deeper than that. He wondered whether in the
+absence of any other apparent cause, Edith Morriston's attractiveness had
+had anything to do with it. It was not a pleasant idea; still, if it
+saved her annoyance that would be something gained, he thought; and that
+it should have any farther result was out of the question.
+
+He had not had that day an opportunity of any private talk with Miss
+Morriston, for she had driven out after luncheon to pay a call. But a
+certain suggestion of warmth in her leave-taking had assured him that she
+still looked for his help and that the conditions were not changed.
+
+What he had undertaken so eagerly was now, however, not easy of
+accomplishment. For reasons at which Gifford could only guess, Henshaw
+seemed to be playing an elusive game; he kept out of sight, or, at any
+rate, avoided all intercourse with the two friends, and on the rare
+occasions when they met he was to Gifford tantalizingly uncommunicative.
+That something was evidently behind his reticence made it all the more
+unsatisfactory, since the result was that Gifford had no object in going
+to Wynford Place, for he had nothing to tell. Indeed he learnt more from
+the Morristons than from Henshaw. The police had concluded their
+investigations on the premises, much to the relief of the household, who
+were now left in peace.
+
+"They don't seem to have come to any definite conclusion as to how the
+tragedy happened," Morriston said. "They have an idea, as I gather from
+Major Freeman, where to look for the murderer, if murder it was; which I
+am rather inclined to doubt."
+
+"Is Henshaw likely to give up the search?" Gifford asked.
+
+Morriston looked puzzled. "I can't make out," he answered in a slightly
+perplexed tone. "Even Freeman does not seem to know what his idea is. He
+is still about here."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "I caught a glimpse of him this morning."
+
+"Curious," Morriston remarked. "I came across the fellow yesterday
+afternoon in the big plantation here. He was mooning about and didn't
+seem best pleased to see me, but he was quite duly apologetic, said he
+was puzzling over the tragedy and hoped I didn't mind his trespassing on
+my property. Of course I told him he was free to come and go as he
+liked, but it did strike me as peculiar that he should be thinking out
+the case in that plantation which has no possible connexion with the
+scene of the crime."
+
+"Yes, it was curious," Gifford agreed reflectively. "Did he tell you
+what he was doing about the business?"
+
+Morriston shook his head. "No; he wasn't communicative; didn't seem to
+have much to go upon. Of course one can't tell what the fellow has at the
+back of his mind, but I was rather surprised that a Londoner of his
+energy and smartness should spend his time loafing about down here with
+what seems a poor chance of any result; and I nearly told him so."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well you didn't," Gifford replied. "He is suspicious
+enough to imagine you might have a motive in wanting to get rid of him."
+
+Morriston laughed. "I have. He is not exactly the man one wants to have
+prowling about the place; but it would not be polite to hint as much."
+
+The episode, trivial as it seemed to Morriston, gave Gifford food for
+disagreeable reflection. Why, indeed, should Henshaw be hanging about in
+the grounds of Wynford, and give so unconvincing a reason? What troubled
+Gifford most was that the man's reticent attitude precluded all hope of
+his learning anything of his plans which could usefully be imparted to
+Miss Morriston. Evidently there was nothing to be got out of him; the
+rather open confidence he had displayed on his first appearance at
+Branchester had quite disappeared, and if Gifford was to find out
+anything worth reporting it would assuredly not be due to any
+communication from the man himself.
+
+He had accordingly to be content with the resolve to keep a wary eye on
+Henshaw's movements.
+
+He was now pretty free to do this. The Tredworths had ended their visit
+at Wynford and had returned home, and naturally Kelson spent much of his
+time over there, leaving Gifford to his own devices. It had, in view of
+Gifford's commission from Miss Morriston, been arranged that he should
+share Kelson's rooms at the _Golden Lion_, no longer as a guest, so that
+both men were now independent of each other. The date of Kelson's wedding
+seemed now likely to be put off for some months, as his friend had
+suggested. The unpleasant episode of the stains on Muriel Tredworth's
+dress had, although there was no indication of attaching serious
+importance to them, nevertheless cast an uncomfortable shadow over the
+happiness of her betrothal, and without giving any specific reason she
+had declared for a postponement of the wedding, for which there was,
+after all, a quite natural reason.
+
+"Perhaps it is just as well," Kelson remarked to his friend. "Although it
+is absolutely unthinkable that Muriel could have had anything to do with
+the affair, yet one can quite appreciate her wish to wait till perhaps
+something crops up to give us the explanation beyond all question. It is
+rather a blow to me, and I hope if the mysterious Mr. Gervase Henshaw is
+really on the track of the crime he will produce his solution without
+much more delay. For a girl like Muriel to have even the faintest
+suspicion hanging over her is simply hateful."
+
+Meanwhile the mysterious Mr. Henshaw seemed in no hurry to make known his
+theory, if he had one. Yet he still remained in Branchester, writing all
+the morning and going out in the afternoon, usually with a handful of
+letters for post. He always nodded affably to Gifford when they met, but
+beyond a casual remark on the weather or the events of the day, showed no
+disposition to chat.
+
+But now while Gifford was in this unsatisfactory state of mind,
+persevering yet baffled in what he had undertaken to do, a very singular
+thing came to pass. He strolled out one afternoon, aimlessly, wondering
+whether the negative result of his efforts justified his remaining in the
+place, and yet loath to leave it, held there as he was by the attraction
+of Edith Morriston. He felt he could be making but little way in her
+favour seeing how he was failing in what he had undertaken to do for her,
+and as he walked he discussed with himself whether it would not be
+possible to hit on some more active plan of becoming acquainted with
+Henshaw's knowledge and intentions. It was obviously a delicate business,
+and after all, he thought, now that the man's undesirable presence had
+practically ceased to be an annoyance to the Morristons there scarcely
+seemed any need to bother about him. On the other hand, however, there
+was a certain strong curiosity on his own part to know Henshaw's design
+and what kept him in the town.
+
+Gifford's walk took him over well remembered ground. He was strolling
+along a path which led through the Wynford property, over a rustic bridge
+across a stream he had often fished when a boy, and so on into a wood
+which formed one of the home coverts. Making his way through this
+familiar haunt of by-gone days he came to one of the long rides which
+bisected the wood for some quarter of a mile. He turned into this and was
+just looking out for a comfortable trunk where he might sit and smoke,
+when he caught sight of two figures in the distance ahead walking slowly
+just on the fringe of the ride. A man and a woman; their backs were
+towards him, but his blood gave a leap at the sight as their identity
+flashed upon him. It was, in its unexpectedness, an almost appalling
+sight to him, as he realised that the two were none other than Henshaw
+and Edith Morriston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+Next moment Gifford had instinctively sprung back into the covert of
+the trees, almost dazed by what he had seen. Henshaw and Edith
+Morriston! Could it be possible? His eyes must have deceived him. About
+the girl there could be no doubt. Her tall, graceful figure was
+unmistakable. But the man. Surely he had been mistaken there; it must
+have been her brother, or perhaps a friend who had been lunching with
+them. Had Gifford, his mind obsessed by Henshaw, jumped to a false
+conclusion? He stooped, and creeping warily beyond the fringe of trees
+looked after the pair.
+
+They were now some thirty yards away. There could be no doubt that the
+lady was Edith Morriston; and the man? Incredible as it might seem, he
+was surely Gervase Henshaw. Gifford had seen him some two hours earlier,
+and now recognized his grey suit and dark felt hat. He stayed, crouched
+down, looking after the amazing pair, seeking a sign that the man was
+not Henshaw. After all, it was, he told himself, more likely that he had
+made a mistake than that Miss Morriston could be strolling in
+confidential talk (for such seemed the case) with that fellow. It was too
+astounding for belief.
+
+They had stopped now, at the end of the ride; the man talking earnestly,
+it seemed; Miss Morriston standing with head bent down and scoring the
+grass with her walking-stick as though in doubt or consideration. Would
+they turn and put the man's identity beyond uncertainty?
+
+Gifford had not long to wait. Miss Morriston seemed to draw off and began
+to walk back down the ride; her companion turned and promptly put himself
+by her side. There was no doubt now as to who he was. Gervase Henshaw.
+
+As one glance, now that the face was revealed, proved that, Gifford drew
+back quickly and hurried deeper into the thick wood fearful lest his
+footsteps should be heard. When he had gone a safe distance an intense
+curiosity made him halt and turn. From his place of hiding he could just
+see the light of the ride along which the couple would pass. He hated
+the idea of spying upon Edith Morriston; after all, if she chose to walk
+and talk with this man it was no business of his; but a supreme distrust
+of Henshaw, unreasonable enough, perhaps, but none the less keen, made
+him suspicious that the man might be playing some cowardly game, might
+have drawn the girl to him by unfair means. Otherwise it was surely
+inconceivable that she should have consented--condescended indeed--to
+meet him in that clandestine manner.
+
+As Gifford stayed, hesitating between a breach of good form and a
+legitimate desire to learn whether the girl was being subjected to
+unfair treatment, the sound of Henshaw's rather penetrating voice came
+into earshot, and a few seconds later they passed across the line of
+Gifford's sight.
+
+He could catch but a glimpse of them through the intervening trees as
+they went by slowly, but it was enough to tell him that Henshaw was
+talking earnestly, arguing, it seemed, and on Edith Morriston's clear-cut
+face was a look of trouble which was not good to see. It made Gifford
+flush with anger to think that this lovely high-bred girl was being
+worried, probably being made love to, by a man of that objectionable
+type; for that she could be in that situation without coercion was not to
+be believed. The reason for Henshaw's prolonged and rather puzzling stay
+in the place was now accounted for. Moreover, to Gifford's bitter
+reflection the whole business seemed clear enough. Henshaw had been
+caught and fascinated by Edith Morriston's beauty, and being, as was
+obvious, a man of energy and determination, was now in some subtle way
+making use of the tragedy as a means of forcing his unwelcome attentions
+on her. How otherwise could this astounding familiarity be arrived at?
+Sick with disgust and indignation, Gifford turned away and retraced his
+steps through the wood, dismissing, as likely to lead to a false
+position, his first impulse to appear on the scene and stop, at any rate
+for that day, Henshaw's designs. He felt that to act precipitately might
+do less good than harm. He was, after all, on private ground there, and
+had no right to intrude upon what in all likelihood Miss Morriston wished
+to be a secluded interview. What course he would take in the future was
+another matter, and one which demanded instant and serious consideration.
+The right line to adopt was indeed a perplexing problem.
+
+Gifford recalled Morriston's story of having met Henshaw hanging about
+more or less mysteriously in the plantation, and the annoyance he had
+expressed at the encounter. The reason was plain enough now. Of course
+the man was waiting either to waylay Edith Morriston or to meet her by
+appointment. It was not a pleasant reflection; since the fact showed that
+these clandestine meetings had probably been going on for some days past.
+That Henshaw's object was more or less disreputable could not be doubted,
+and to Gifford the amazing and troubling part of it was that Edith
+Morriston, the very last woman he would have suspected of consenting to
+such a course, who had professed an absolute dislike and repugnance to
+Henshaw, and fear of his annoying presence, should be meeting him thus
+willingly. Had he not seen them with his own eyes he would have scoffed
+at the idea as something inconceivable.
+
+Now what was he to do? For it was clear that, justified or not as he
+might be thought in interfering in matters which did not concern him,
+something must be done. The one obvious course which it seemed he ought
+to take was to give Richard Morriston a hint of what was on foot, if not
+a stronger and more explicit statement. For that Morriston could be privy
+to the correspondence between his sister and Henshaw was quite unlikely.
+If anything underhand was going on, if Henshaw was holding some threat
+over the girl or pursuing her with unwelcome attentions her brother, as
+her natural guardian, should be warned. That seemed to Gifford his
+manifest duty. And yet he shrank from anything which might seem treachery
+towards the girl. For, if she needed her brother's help and protection
+against the man, it would be an easy matter for her to complain of his
+persecution. Why, he wondered, had she not done so? It was all very
+mysterious. He tried to imagine how the position had come about. On
+Henshaw's side it was plain enough. Miss Morriston was not only a
+strikingly handsome girl, but she was an heiress, possessing, according
+to Kelson, a considerable fortune in her own right. There, clearly, was
+Henshaw's motive; an incentive to an unscrupulous man to use every art,
+fair and unfair, to force himself into her favour. But how had he
+succeeded so quickly as to make this rather haughty, reserved girl
+consent to meet in secret the man whom she professed to dislike and
+avoid? That this unpleasantly sharp, pushing product of the less
+dignified side of the law could have any personal attraction for one of
+Edith Morriston's taste and discrimination was impossible. And yet there
+the challenging fact remained that confidential relations had been
+established between the disparate pair. Was it possible that this man
+could have found out something connecting Edith Morriston with his
+brother's death? The feasibility of the idea came as a shock to Gifford.
+He stopped dead in his walk as the notion took form in his brain. The
+possibilities of this most mysterious case were too complicated to be
+grasped at once. And so with his mind in a whirl of vague conjecture and
+apprehension he reached his hotel. And there a new development in the
+mystery awaited him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+
+Kelson was in their sitting-room reading the _Field_. He started up as
+Gifford entered, and flung away the paper. "My dear Hugh, I've been
+waiting for you," he exclaimed.
+
+"What's the matter? Anything wrong?" Gifford asked with a certain
+apprehensive curiosity, as he noticed signs of suppressed excitement in
+his friend's face.
+
+"I don't know whether it's all wrong or whether it is all right," Kelson
+replied. "Anyhow it has relieved my mind a good deal."
+
+Controlling his own tendency to excitement, Gifford put aside his hat and
+stick and sat down. "Let's hear it," he said quietly.
+
+"Well, another unaccountable thing has, it appears, happened at Wynford
+Place. A pendant, or whatever you call it, to that which has been
+troubling Muriel. What do you think? As I was riding along the Loxford
+road this afternoon I met Dick Morriston, and he told me that another
+discovery of blood-stains has been made at Wynford. On a girl's
+ball-dress too. And on whose do you suppose it is?"
+
+"Not Miss Morriston's?" Gifford suggested breathlessly.
+
+Kelson nodded, with a slight look of surprise at the correctness of the
+guess. "Yes. Isn't it queer? Poor old Dick is in rather a way about it,
+and I must say the whole business is decidedly mysterious."
+
+Gifford was thinking keenly. "How did it come out? Who found the
+marks?" he asked.
+
+"Well," Kelson answered, "it appears that Edith Morriston's maid found
+them some days ago, in fact the day after a similar discovery had been
+made on Muriel's gown. She had brought the dress which her mistress had
+worn at the Hunt Ball out of the wardrobe where it hung, in order to fold
+it away. She appears to have spread it on the bed where the sun shone on
+it and in the strong light she noticed on the dark material some
+brownish discolorations. With what had happened about the other dress in
+her mind, she examined the marks closely, and with such intentness as to
+raise the curiosity of a housemaid who happened to come into the room. At
+first Miss Morriston's maid tried to put her off, but the other girl, who
+was sharp-eyed, had seen the marks, was not to be hood-winked, and the
+mischief was done. The housemaid seems to be a foolish, babbling
+creature, and the discovery soon became the talk of the servants' hall,
+whence it spread till it reached the police."
+
+"And what are they doing about it?" Gifford asked.
+
+"Morriston says they've had a detective up at the house examining the
+gown; being so utterly at sea over the affair the police are doubtless
+glad to catch at anything. There seems little question that the stains
+are blood, and that makes the whole business still more puzzling. Dick
+Morriston is naturally very exercised about it, but I am very glad for
+Muriel's sake that the second discovery has been made. In fact I have
+been just waiting till I saw you before riding over to tell her of it,
+and relieve her mind."
+
+"Yes," Gifford responded mechanically, "of course it removes any serious
+suspicion from Miss Tredworth."
+
+"And," said Kelson eagerly, "it divides the odium, if there is any. In
+fact, to my mind, it reduces the whole suspicion to an absurdity. For
+that both girls could have been concerned in Henshaw's death is
+absolutely incredible."
+
+"Yes," Gifford agreed thoughtfully; "they could not both have had a
+hand in it."
+
+"Or either, for that matter," Kelson returned with a laugh. "Don't you
+admit that the idea is in the highest degree ridiculous?" he added more
+sharply as Gifford remained silent.
+
+"It is--inconceivable," he admitted abstractedly.
+
+Kelson, who had taken up his hat and crop and was turning to the door,
+wheeled round quickly. "My dear Hugh," he exclaimed impatiently, "what is
+the matter with you? What monstrous idea have you got in your head? You
+owe it to me, and I really must ask you, to speak out plainly. It seems
+almost an insult to Muriel to ask the question, but do you still persist
+in the notion that she had, even in the most innocent way, anything to do
+with Henshaw's death? Because I have her positive assurance that she
+knows nothing of it, beyond what is common knowledge."
+
+"I too am quite certain of that now," Gifford answered.
+
+"Why do you say now?" Kelson demanded sourly. "Surely you never seriously
+entertained such an abominable idea."
+
+"You must admit, my dear Harry," Gifford replied calmly, "that with a man
+stabbed to death in practically the next room, the blood-stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress were bound to give rise to conjecture. One would
+suspect an archbishop in a similar position. But that is all over now. I
+am as convinced as you can be that Miss Tredworth knew nothing of the
+business."
+
+"On your honour that is your opinion?"
+
+"On my honour."
+
+"This new discovery has changed your opinion?"
+
+"It has at least shown me how dangerous it may be to jump to
+conclusions."
+
+Kelson drew in a breath. "Yes, indeed. Poor Muriel has suffered from the
+suspicion as well as from the horrible shock of the discovery. Still,
+this new development, though it acquits her, does nothing towards solving
+the mystery. I wonder whether Edith Morriston has any idea as to how her
+dress got marked."
+
+"I wonder," Gifford responded abstractedly.
+
+"Well," said Kelson, "I'm off to carry the good news to Muriel. Don't
+wait dinner for me if I'm not back by seven-thirty."
+
+It was rather a relief to Gifford to be left alone that he might review
+the situation without interruption. His first thought had been, could
+this last discovery be accountable for what he had seen that afternoon?
+Doubtless, after the information reached the police it would not be long
+in being conveyed to Henshaw. And he was now making use of it to put the
+screw on, using the hold he had gained over Edith Morriston to bend her
+to his will. What was that? Marriage? To Gifford the thought was
+monstrous; yet if it should be that Henshaw had information which put
+the girl in his power, what could she do? That she had consented to meet
+him secretly and listen to him went to show that she felt her position to
+be weak. If so she might need help, an adviser, a man to stand between
+her and her persecutor.
+
+Thinking out the situation strenuously Gifford determined to seek a
+private interview with Edith Morriston and offer himself as her
+protector. At the worst she could but snub him, and the chances were, he
+thought, greatly in favour of her accepting his offer of help. For from
+her character he judged she was not a girl to make a stronger appeal to
+him than the casual invoking of his assistance which had already taken
+place. He had a very cogent reason for believing that he could be of
+assistance, although there were certain elements in the mystery which
+might, in his ignorance of them, upset his calculations.
+
+Anyhow in consideration of the trust Edith Morriston had shown in him he
+would seek an interview with her and chance what it might bring forth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN EXPLANATION
+
+
+In pursuance of this plan Gifford proposed to his friend that they should
+call at Wynford Place on the next day. Kelson had returned from the
+Tredworths in high spirits, the news he carried there having lifted a
+weight off his fiancée's mind and indeed restored the happiness of the
+whole family. There was no cloud over the engagement now, and they could
+all look forward to the marriage without a qualm.
+
+If Kelson might, in ordinary circumstances, have wondered at the motive
+for his friend's proposal, which was but thinly disguised, he was in too
+happy a state of preoccupation to trouble his head about it.
+
+"I'm your man," he responded promptly. "It so happens that Muriel is
+lunching at Wynford to-morrow, so it will suit me well enough. I
+shouldn't be surprised if we get a note in the morning asking us to
+lunch there too."
+
+The morning, however, brought no note of invitation; a failure
+which rather surprised Kelson, although Gifford thought he could
+account for it.
+
+Nevertheless he determined to go and do his best to get a private talk
+with Edith Morriston, however disinclined she might be to grant it. The
+two men went up to Wynford early in the afternoon, but it was a long time
+before Gifford got the opportunity he sought. Edith Morriston seemed as
+friendly and gracious as ever, but whether by accident or design she gave
+no chance for Gifford to get in a private word. With the knowledge of
+what he had seen on the previous afternoon and of the change in her
+attitude he was too shrewd to show any anxiety for a confidential talk.
+He watched her closely when he could do so unobserved, but her face gave
+no sign of trouble or embarrassment. He wondered if there could after all
+be anything in his idea of persecution, and the more curious he became
+the more determined he grew to find out. But somehow Miss Morriston
+contrived that they should never be alone together; when Kelson and
+Muriel Tredworth strolled off lover-like, Miss Morriston kept her brother
+with her to make a third.
+
+The three went round to the stables and inspected the hunters, then
+through the shrubbery to admire a wonderful bed of snowdrops. As they
+stood there looking over the undulating park, and Gifford, curbing his
+impatience, was talking of certain changes which had taken place since
+his early days there, the butler was seen hurrying towards them.
+
+"Callers, I suppose," Morriston observed with a half-yawn. "What is
+it, Stent?"
+
+"Could I speak to you, sir?" the man said, stopping short a little
+distance away.
+
+Morriston went forward to him, and after they had spoken together he
+turned round, and with an "Excuse me for a few minutes," went off towards
+the house with the butler.
+
+So at last the opportunity had come. Gifford glanced at his companion and
+noticed that her face had gone a shade paler than before the
+interruption.
+
+"I wonder what can be the matter," she observed, a little anxiously
+Gifford thought. Then she laughed. "I dare say it is nothing; Stent is
+becoming absurdly fussy; and all the alarms and discoveries we have had
+lately have not diminished the tendency."
+
+"The latest discovery must have come rather as a relief," Gifford
+ventured tentatively.
+
+"The marks on my dress you mean?" She laughed. "So far that I now share
+with Muriel Tredworth the suspicion of knowing all about the tragedy."
+
+"Hardly that," Gifford replied with a smile. "There can be no cause for
+that fear. By the way," he added more seriously, "I owe you an account of
+my failure to gain any information for you with regard to Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw's plans."
+
+"He is not communicative?" Miss Morriston suggested casually.
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No, I am never able to get hold of him. In fact,
+it seems as though he rather makes a point of avoiding us. And if we do
+meet, he is vagueness and reticence personified."
+
+They were walking slowly back along the shrubbery path. The girl turned
+to him for an instant, her expression softened in a look of gratitude.
+"It is very kind of you, Mr. Gifford, to take all this trouble for us.
+And I am sure it is not your fault that the result is not what you might
+wish. It was rather absurd of me to set you the task. But I am none the
+less grateful. Please think that, and do not bother about it any more."
+
+"But if the man is likely to annoy you," he urged. "Have you longer any
+reason to fear him?"
+
+She turned swiftly. "Fear him? What do you mean?"
+
+"We thought he might be unscrupulous and might make himself
+objectionable."
+
+She shrugged. "I dare say it is possible."
+
+"I must confess," he pursued, "I can't quite make the fellow out. Nor his
+motive for remaining in the place. Your brother told me he came across
+him hanging about in one of your plantations."
+
+He thought the blood left her face for an instant, but otherwise she
+showed no sign of discomposure.
+
+"How did he account for his being there?" she asked calmly.
+
+"Unsatisfactorily enough. I forget his actual excuse."
+
+"Was that all?" she demanded coldly.
+
+"I believe so. But it is hardly desirable, as your brother said, to have
+the man prowling about the property."
+
+For a moment she was silent. "No," she said as though by an afterthought.
+
+Her manner troubled him. "I hope he is not attempting to annoy you," he
+said searchingly.
+
+She looked surprised and, he thought, a little resentful at his question.
+"Me?" she returned coldly. "By hanging about in the plantation?"
+
+"If he goes no farther than that--"
+
+"Why should he?" she demanded in the same rather chilling tone.
+
+"I don't know," Gifford replied, set back by her manner. "Except that I
+have no high opinion of the fellow. It occurred to me he might possibly
+attempt to persecute you."
+
+She glanced round at him curiously with a little disdainful smile. "What
+makes you think he would do that?" she returned.
+
+Her attitude was to him not convincing. He felt there was a certain
+reservation beneath the rather cutting tone. "I am glad to know there is
+no question of that," he replied with quiet earnestness. "I hope if
+anything of the kind should occur and you should need a friend you will
+not overlook me."
+
+"You are very kind," she responded, but without turning towards him. He
+thought, however, that her low tone had softened, and it gave him hope.
+
+"I should scarcely take upon myself to suggest this," he said, "but I am
+emboldened by two facts. One that you have already asked me to be your
+ally, your friend, in this business, the other that there is something
+about Henshaw and his actions which I do not understand. I hope you will
+forgive my boldness."
+
+His companion had glanced round now, keenly, as though to probe for the
+meaning which might lie beneath his words. He speculated whether she
+might be wondering how much he knew; was he cognisant of her meeting
+with Henshaw?
+
+But, whatever her thought, she answered in the same even voice, "There is
+nothing to forgive. On the contrary I am most grateful."
+
+They were nearing the house, and Gifford was debating whether he dared
+suggest another turn along the shrubbery path, when Richard Morriston
+appeared at the hall door, beckoned to them, and went in again.
+
+"I wonder what Dick wants. Has anything more come to light?" Miss
+Morriston observed with a rather bored laugh as she slightly
+quickened her pace.
+
+As they went in she called, "Dick!" and he answered her from the library.
+There they found him with Kelson and Muriel Tredworth. A glance at their
+faces told Gifford that they were all in a state of scarcely suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I say, Edith, what do you think?" her brother exclaimed. "We've made a
+rather important discovery. Were you in the middle room of the tower
+during the dance?"
+
+For a moment his sister did not answer.
+
+"No; I don't think I was," she said, with what seemed to Gifford a
+certain amount of apprehension in her eyes, although her expression was
+calm enough.
+
+"Oh, but, my dear girl, you must have been," Morriston insisted
+vehemently. "We have found the explanation of the stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress and on yours."
+
+"You have?" his sister replied, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Yes; beyond all doubt. The mystery is made clear. Come and see."
+
+He led the way across the hall and up the first story of the tower.
+"There's the explanation," he said, pointing to some dark red patches on
+the back of a sofa and on the carpet below.
+
+"It is not a pleasant idea," Morriston said; "but you see these marks are
+directly under the place where the dead man lay in the room above. The
+blood from his wound evidently ran through the chinks of the flooring on
+to the beams of the ceiling here and so fell drop by drop on the couch
+and on any one sitting there. Rather gruesome, but I am sure we must be
+all very glad to get the simple explanation. The only wonder is that no
+one thought of it before."
+
+"Muriel was sitting just at that end of the sofa when I proposed to her,"
+Kelson said in a low voice to Gifford.
+
+"I am delighted the matter is so completely accounted for," his friend
+returned. "What fools we were ever to have taken it so tragically."
+
+But his expression changed as he glanced at Edith Morriston; she had
+denied that she had been in the room.
+
+"I have sent down to the police to tell them of the discovery," Morriston
+was saying. "The fact is that since the tragedy the servants appear to
+have rather shunned this part of the house, or at any rate to have
+devoted as little time to it as possible. Otherwise this would have come
+to light sooner. Anyhow it is a source of congratulation to Miss
+Tredworth and you, Edith. Of course you must have been in here."
+
+"I remember sitting just there; ugh!" Miss Tredworth said with a shudder.
+
+"I can swear to that," Kelson corroborated with a knowing smile.
+
+"You must have done the same or brushed against the sofa, Edith,"
+Morriston said cheerfully. "Well, I'm glad that's settled, although it
+brings us no nearer towards solving the mystery of what happened
+overhead."
+
+"No," Kelson remarked. "It looks as though that was going to remain
+a mystery."
+
+The butler came in. "Major Freeman is here, sir," he said, "with Mr.
+Henshaw, and would like to speak to you."
+
+Morriston looked surprised. "Alfred has been very quick. We sent him off
+only about a quarter of an hour ago."
+
+"Alfred met Major Freeman and Mr. Henshaw with the detective just beyond
+the lodge gates, sir."
+
+"Then they were coming up here independently of my message?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Alfred gave Major Freeman the message and came back."
+
+Morriston moved towards the door. "I will see these gentlemen at
+once," he said.
+
+"In the library, sir."
+
+Involuntarily Gifford had glanced at Edith Morriston. She was standing
+impassively with set face; and at his glance she turned away to the
+window. But not before he had caught in her eyes a look which he hated to
+see, a look which seemed to confirm a suspicion already in his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+
+With Morriston's departure a rather uncomfortable silence fell upon the
+party left in the room. Every one seemed to feel that there was
+something in the air, the shadow of a possibly serious development in
+the case. Even Kelson, who was otherwise inclined to be jubilant over
+the freeing of his fiancée from suspicion, seemed to feel it was no time
+or place just then for gaiety, and his expression grew as grave as that
+of the rest.
+
+"I wonder what these fellows have come to say," he observed as he
+paced the room.
+
+"Let's hope to announce that at last they are going to leave you in
+peace, Edith," Miss Tredworth said.
+
+Edith Morriston did not alter her position as she stood looking out of
+the window. "Thank you for your kind wish, Muriel," she responded in a
+cold voice; "but I'm afraid that is too much to hope for just yet."
+
+"Yet one doesn't see what else it can be," Kelson observed reflectively.
+"They can hardly have found out exactly how the man came by his death;
+much more likely to have abandoned their latest theory, eh, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford was looking, held by the grip of his imagination, at the tall
+figure by the window; wondering what was passing behind that veil of
+impassiveness. "I don't see what they can have found out away from this
+house," he said, rousing himself by an effort to answer; "and they don't
+seem to have been here lately."
+
+"Well, we shall see," Kelson said casually. "Ah, here comes Dick
+back again."
+
+Morriston hurried in with a serious face. In answer to Kelson's, "Well,
+Dick?" he said.
+
+"It appears a rather extraordinary piece of evidence has just come to
+light; one which, if true, completely solves the mystery of the locked
+door. I asked Freeman if there was any objection to you fellows coming
+to the library and hearing the story; he is quite agreeable. So will you
+come? You too, Edith, and Miss Tredworth; there is nothing at all
+horrible in it so far."
+
+For the first time Edith Morriston turned from the window. "Is it
+necessary, Dick?" she protested quietly. "I'd just as soon hear it
+all afterwards from you. These police visitations are rather getting
+on my nerves."
+
+"Very well, dear; you shall hear all about it later on," her brother
+responded, and led the way down to the library. Gifford was the last to
+leave the room, and his glance back showed him that Edith Morriston had
+turned again to the window and resumed her former attitude.
+
+In the library were the chief constable, Gervase Henshaw and a local
+detective.
+
+"Now, Major Freeman," Morriston said as he closed the door, "we shall be
+glad to hear this new piece of evidence."
+
+Major Freeman bowed. "Shortly, it comes to this," he began. "A young
+woman named Martha Haynes, belonging to Branchester, called at my office
+this morning and made a statement which, if reliable, must have an
+important bearing on this mysterious case.
+
+"It appears from her story that on the night of the Hunt Ball held here
+she had been paying a visit to some friends at Rapscot, a village, as you
+know, about a mile beyond Wynford. On her way back to the town, for which
+she started at about 9.45, she took as a short cut the right-of-way path
+running across the park and passing near the house. As she went by she
+was naturally attracted by the lighted windows and could hear the band
+quite plainly. She stopped to listen to the music at a point which she
+has indicated, almost directly opposite the tower.
+
+"She says she had stood there for some little time when her attention
+was suddenly diverted to what seemed a mysterious movement on the
+outside of the tower. A dark body, presumably a human being, appeared to
+be slowly sliding down the wall from the topmost window. Unfortunately
+before she could quite realize what she was looking at--and we may
+imagine that a country girl would take some little time to grasp so
+unusual a situation--a cloud drifted across the moon and threw the
+tower into shadow.
+
+"The girl continued, however, to keep her eyes fixed on the spot where
+she had seen the dark object descending, with the result that in a few
+seconds she saw it reach and pass over one side of the window of the
+lower room which was sufficiently lighted up to silhouette anything
+placed before it. She saw the object move slowly over the window and
+disappear in the darkness beneath it. When, a few seconds later, the moon
+came out again nothing more was to be seen.
+
+"The girl stayed for some time watching the tower, but without result.
+She is a more or less ignorant, unsophisticated country-woman, and what
+she had seen she was quite unable to account for. Naturally she hardly
+connected it with any sort of tragical occurrence. The house with its
+lights and music seemed given over to gaiety; that any one should just
+then have met his death in that upper room never entered her imagination.
+A vague idea that a thief might have got into the house and she had seen
+him escape by the tower window did indeed, as she says, cross her mind,
+and that supposition prevented her from approaching the tower to satisfy
+her curiosity. But as nothing more happened she began to think less of
+the significance of what she had seen, in fact almost persuaded herself
+that it had been something of an optical delusion. Presently, having had
+enough of standing in the cold wind, she resumed her way, went home and
+to bed, and early next morning left the town to enter a situation in
+another part of the country.
+
+"It appears that she had taken cold by her loitering and soon after
+reaching her destination became so ill that she had to keep her bed, and
+it was only on her recovery a few days ago that she heard what had
+happened here that night. Directly she could get away she came over and
+told her story to us."
+
+"A pity she could not have come before," Morriston remarked as the chief
+constable paused. "Her evidence is highly important, disposing as it does
+of the mystery of the locked door."
+
+"Yes," Major Freeman agreed, "and also of the suicide theory. The
+question now is--who was the person who was seen descending from
+the window?"
+
+"Could this girl tell whether it was a man or a woman?" The question came
+from Henshaw, who had hitherto kept silent.
+
+"She thinks it was a man," Major Freeman answered, "but could not swear
+to it. The fact of the object being close to the wall made it almost
+impossible in the imperfect light to distinguish plainly. But I think we
+may take it that it was a man. The feat could be hardly one a woman would
+undertake."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "And there would seem little chance of identifying
+the person."
+
+"None at all so far as the girl Haynes is concerned," Major Freeman
+replied. "But we have something to go upon; a starting point for a new
+line of inquiry. The person seen escaping must have lowered himself by
+a rope from that top window and a considerable length would be
+required. I have taken the liberty, Mr. Morriston, of setting a party
+of my men to search the grounds for the rope; they will begin by
+dragging the little lake."
+
+"By all means," Morriston assented.
+
+"Detective Sprules," the chief proceeded, "would like to make another
+examination of the ironwork of the window. May he go up now?"
+
+"Certainly," Morriston answered, and the detective left the room.
+
+Gifford spoke. "The girl saw nothing of the escaping person after he
+reached the ground?"
+
+"Nothing, she says," Major Freeman answered. "But the base of the tower
+was in deep shadow, which would prevent that."
+
+"A pity her curiosity was not a little more practical," Henshaw observed.
+
+"Yes." Gifford turned to him. "You are proved correct, Mr. Henshaw, in
+your repudiation of the suicide idea. Perhaps, in view of this latest
+development, you may have knowledge to go upon of some one from whom your
+brother might have apprehended danger?"
+
+Henshaw's set face gave indication of nothing but a studied reserve. "No
+one certainly," he answered coolly, "from whom he might apprehend danger
+to his life."
+
+"There must have been a motive for the act," Kelson observed. "Unless it
+was a sudden quarrel."
+
+"There appears," Major Freeman put in, "to be no evidence whatever of
+anything leading up to that."
+
+"No; the cause is so far quite mysterious," Henshaw said.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that there was something of undisclosed knowledge
+behind his words, and he fell to wondering how far the motive was
+mysterious to him.
+
+Morriston proceeded to acquaint Major Freeman with the discovered cause
+of the marks on the ladies' dresses, and they all went off to the lower
+room where the position of the stains was pointed out. Edith Morriston
+was no longer there.
+
+"Miss Tredworth sat at this end of the sofa," Morriston explained, "and
+so the marks on her dress are clearly accounted for."
+
+"And Miss Morriston?" Henshaw put the question in a tone which had in it,
+Gifford thought, a touch of scepticism.
+
+"Oh, my sister must have been in here too," Morriston replied. "Or how
+could her dress have been stained? Unless, indeed, she brushed against
+Miss Tredworth's or someone else's. That's clear."
+
+There seemed no alacrity in Henshaw to accept the conclusion and he did
+not respond.
+
+"I am glad this part of the mystery is so satisfactorily settled,"
+the chief constable remarked. "Now we have the issue narrowed.
+Well, Sprules?"
+
+The detective had appeared at the door.
+
+"I have examined the ironwork of the window, sir," he said, "and have
+found under the magnifying-glass traces of the fraying of a rope as
+though caused by friction against the iron staple."
+
+"Sufficient signs to bear out the young woman's statement?"
+
+"Quite, sir. There is upon close examination distinct evidence of a rope
+having been worked against the hinge of the window."
+
+"Very good, Sprules. We may consider that point settled," Major
+Freeman said.
+
+Having finally satisfied themselves as to the cause of the stains on the
+floor and sofa, the chief constable and his subordinate proposed to go to
+the lake and see whether the men who were dragging it had had any
+success. Morriston and Henshaw with Kelson and Gifford accompanied them.
+As they came in sight of the boat the detective exclaimed, "They have
+found it!" and the men were seen hauling up a rope out of the water.
+
+"Sooner than I expected," Major Freeman observed as they hurried towards
+the nearest point to the boat.
+
+The rope when landed proved to be of considerable length, sufficient when
+doubled, they calculated, to reach from the topmost window to within five
+or six feet of the ground.
+
+"The escaping person," Henshaw said, "must have slid down the doubled
+rope which had been passed through the staple of the window, and then
+when the ground was reached have pulled it away, coiled it up, carried it
+to the lake, and thrown it in. Obviously that was the procedure and it
+accounts completely for the locked door."
+
+The chief constable and the detective agreed.
+
+"A man would want some nerve to come down from that height," the
+latter remarked.
+
+"Any man, or woman either for that matter," Henshaw returned
+dogmatically, "would not hesitate to take the risk as an alternative to
+being trapped up there with his victim."
+
+"You are not suggesting it might have been a woman who was seen sliding
+down the rope?" Gifford asked pointedly.
+
+Henshaw shrugged. "I suggest nothing as to the person's identity," he
+replied in a sharply guarded tone. "That is now what remains to be
+discovered."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LOST BROOCH
+
+
+The police authorities with Henshaw and Morriston went off with the rope
+to experiment in the room of the tragedy.
+
+"I don't suppose we are wanted," Kelson said quietly to Gifford; "let's
+go for a turn round the garden. I wonder where Muriel has got to."
+
+They found Miss Tredworth on the lawn. "I am waiting for Edith," she
+said.
+
+"We'll stroll on and Gifford can bring Miss Morriston after us," Kelson
+suggested, and the lovers moved away, leaving Gifford, much to his
+satisfaction, waiting for Edith Morriston.
+
+In a few minutes she made her appearance. Gifford mentioned the
+arrangement and they strolled off by the path the others had taken.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that his companion's manner was rather abnormal;
+unlike her usual cold reserve there were signs of a certain suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I hope," she said, "that Major Freeman and his people are satisfied with
+our discovery that the marks on Muriel's dress and mine came there by
+accident."
+
+"Evidently quite convinced," Gifford answered.
+
+"That's well," she responded with a rather forced laugh. "It was
+rather too bad to suspect us, on that evidence, of knowing anything
+about the affair."
+
+"I don't suppose for a moment they did," Gifford assured her.
+
+"I don't know," the girl returned. "Anyhow it was rather an embarrassing,
+not to say painful, position for us to be in. But that is at an end now."
+
+Nevertheless Gifford could tell that she was not so thoroughly relieved
+as her words implied.
+
+"Completely," he declared. "You have heard of the new piece of evidence?"
+he added casually.
+
+For a moment she stopped with a start, instantly recovering herself.
+"No; what is that?" in a tone almost of unconcern.
+
+Gifford told her of the statement made by the country girl and its
+corroboration in the finding of the rope. As he continued he felt sure
+that the story was gripping his companion more and more closely. At last
+she stopped dead and turned to him with eyes which had in them intense
+mystification as well as fear.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, do you believe that story?"
+
+"I see no reason for disbelieving it," he answered quietly. "It is
+practically the only conceivable solution of the mystery of the
+locked door."
+
+"Surely--" she stopped, checking the vehement objection that rose to her
+lips. "This girl," she went on as though searching for a plausible
+argument, "is it not likely that she was mistaken? We know what these
+country people are. And she could not have seen very clearly."
+
+"But," Gifford argued gently, "her statement is confirmed by the finding
+of the rope."
+
+Edith Morriston was thinking strenuously, desperately, he could see
+that. The words she spoke were but mechanical, the mere froth of a
+seething brain. Yet her splendid self-command--and he recognized it with
+admiration--never deserted her, however supreme the struggle may have
+been to retain it.
+
+A seat was by them; she went across the path to it and sat down. Gifford
+saw that she was deadly pale.
+
+"I fear this wretched business is upsetting you, Miss Morriston," he said
+gently. "Let me run to the house and fetch something to revive you."
+
+She made a gesture to stay him, and by an effort seemed to shake off the
+threatening collapse. "No, no," she said; "please don't. It is very
+stupid of me, but these repeated shocks are rather trying. You see one
+has never had any experience of the sort before."
+
+"It was more than stupid of me to blunder into the story," Gifford said
+self-reproachfully. "But it never occurred to me--"
+
+"No, no; of course not," she responded. "And, after all, I am bound to
+hear all about it sooner or later. Sit down and tell me your opinion of
+the affair. Supposing the girl was not mistaken who do you think the
+person seen escaping from the window could have been?"
+
+"That is difficult to say."
+
+"A thief, no doubt."
+
+"That is a natural conclusion."
+
+"Have the police any idea?"
+
+"Not that I know of. I should say decidedly no definite idea."
+
+"Or Mr. Henshaw?"
+
+"Whatever Mr. Henshaw's ideas may be he keeps them to himself."
+
+Miss Morriston checked the remark she had seemed about to make, and for a
+few minutes there was an awkward silence. Gifford broke it.
+
+"I am so sorry that I have been unable to get any hint of his intentions.
+Believe me, it has not been for want of trying. But the man, for reasons
+best known to himself, seems determined to remain inscrutable."
+
+The girl was staring in front of her. "Yes," she responded, with a catch
+of her breath; "that is evident. But it does not much matter. I know you
+have tried your best to do what I was foolish enough to ask you. And now
+please do not think any more of it. In my ignorance of the man's
+character I set you an impossible task. All I can do now is to thank you
+for your sympathy and devotion."
+
+Her tone pained him horribly. "I hope, Miss Morriston," he replied
+warmly, "you are not asking me to end my devotion."
+
+She gave a little bitter laugh. "Seeing that it is useless I have no
+right to ask its continuance," she replied almost coldly, "nor to expect
+you to involve yourself in my--in our worries."
+
+"But if I ask to be allowed that privilege?" he urged.
+
+She shook her head. "No, no, my friend," she insisted, with less warmth
+than the words implied, "it can lead to no good and would be a mistake.
+Let the man alone. To involve yourself with him can bring you nothing but
+trouble. Promise me you will take no further heed of this unhappy
+business."
+
+She turned to him as she spoke the last words, and there seemed less
+trouble in her face than in his. For at his heart there was a sickening
+fear and suspicion of what the words portended.
+
+"I can't promise that," he objected.
+
+"But I ask you; it is my wish," she returned with a touch of command.
+
+"For my sake, or yours?" he rejoined.
+
+"For both. Give me your promise. You must if we are to remain friends."
+
+Her look and the fascination in her voice seemed to pull the very heart
+out of him.
+
+"You are asking a cruelly hard thing of me," he replied, with a tremor in
+his voice. "I don't understand--"
+
+"No, you don't understand," she interrupted quickly. "It is enough to
+know that you have taken a girl's foolish commission too seriously, so
+seriously as to run the risk of making things even worse than they
+threatened to be. Now I ask you to leave well alone."
+
+"If it is well," he said doubtfully.
+
+"Of course. Why should it not be?" she rejoined, in a not very convincing
+tone. "Now I shall rely on you--and I am sure it will not be in vain--to
+respect my wishes. Things seem to be in a horrible muddle," she added
+with a rather dreary laugh, "but let's hope they will right themselves
+before long."
+
+She rose, compelling him to rise too. Something in the tone and manner of
+her last speech made him quite unwilling to end their conference, and
+desperately anxious to speak out everything that was in his mind and try
+to bring matters to a crisis.
+
+"Don't go for a moment," he said as she began to move away towards the
+house. "I have something to say to you."
+
+She turned quickly and faced him with a suggestion of displeasure in her
+eyes. "What is it?" she said with a touch of impatience.
+
+"Only this," he answered quietly. "Have you lost a brooch, Miss
+Morriston?"
+
+At the question the blood left her cheeks as it had done a little while
+before; then surged back till her face was suffused.
+
+"A brooch? Yes; I have missed one. Have you found it?" The words were
+spoken with a calmness which failed to hide the eagerness behind them.
+
+"I think so," he answered, taking out his letter-case. "A pearl, set in
+diamonds mounted on a safety-pin?"
+
+He opened the case and showed it pinned into the soft lining.
+
+"Yes; that is mine," she said; and for a moment or two by a strange
+attraction each looked into the other's eyes.
+
+Gifford bent his head over the case as he unfastened the brooch and
+took it out.
+
+"Where--where did you find it?" Something in the girl's voice made him
+glad that he was not looking at her.
+
+"In the garden," he said.
+
+"In the garden?" she repeated. He was looking up now and saw the intense
+relief in her face. "To-day?"
+
+"No; last time I was up here. I ought to have taken it to the house at
+once but--but it was a temptation to me to keep it till I could give it
+back to you like this. Do forgive me."
+
+It was plain she divined what he meant, but her cold manner came to the
+aid of her embarrassment.
+
+"I am only too glad to have it again. I am so glad you found it."
+
+"So am I," he responded with a touch of fervour. "I wish I could relieve
+your mind of everything else as easily."
+
+"I am sure you do," she said wistfully, and impulsively half put
+out her hand.
+
+He caught it as she was in the act of checking the action and drawing it
+back. "You may be sure--quite sure, of my devotion," he said, and raised
+her hand to his lips.
+
+An exclamation and a sudden start as the hand was quickly withdrawn made
+him look up. Edith Morriston's eyes were fixed with something like fear
+on an object behind him. An intuition told him what it was before he
+looked round to see Henshaw, with his characteristic, rather stealthy
+walk, coming towards them.
+
+Gifford set his teeth hard as the two faced round and awaited
+Henshaw's approach.
+
+"This man shall not annoy you," he said in an undertone.
+
+"Don't quarrel with him, for heaven's sake," she entreated in the same
+tone, under her breath, as the disturbing presence drew near. There was
+a strange excitement in her voice, though none in the set face.
+
+"I think your brother is looking for you, Miss Morriston," Henshaw said
+in his even voice when he was within a dozen paces of them.
+
+"I was just going to look for him," the girl replied in a voice strangely
+changed from that in which she had talked with Gifford. "Isn't it lucky?
+Mr. Gifford has picked up in the garden a brooch I lost some days ago. I
+did not dare to tell Dick, as it was his gift."
+
+Henshaw gave a casual glance at the ornament. "I congratulate you," he
+responded coolly. Then Gifford saw his eyes seek hers as he added: "Where
+was it found? Near the tower?"
+
+The covert malice of the insinuation was plain in the questioner's look,
+although the tone was casual enough.
+
+"No. On the lawn," Gifford replied quietly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+
+Nothing more of importance happened that day at Wynford, and Gifford had
+no further opportunity of private talk with Edith Morriston. But it was
+evident to him, and the knowledge gave him intense concern, that the girl
+went in fear of Gervase Henshaw. That he was intimidating her, and using
+his brother's death for that purpose, was beyond doubt, and the very fact
+that Edith Morriston was a woman of uncommon courage and self-control,
+one who in ordinary circumstances would be the last to give way to fear
+or submit to bullying, showed how serious the matter had become.
+
+Gifford on his part determined that this intolerable state of things must
+come to an end, and that in spite of the command laid upon him by the
+girl, he would now pit himself against her persecutor. He had given no
+actual promise, and even if he had it would have been drawn from him in
+ignorance of certain means which he possessed of help in this crisis.
+
+And a significant circumstance which came to Gifford's knowledge a day or
+two after his interview with Edith Morriston in the garden of Wynford,
+was the cause of his beginning to take action without further delay.
+
+Late on the next Sunday afternoon Gifford had gone for a country walk
+which he had arranged to bring him round in time for the evening service
+at the little village church of Wynford standing just outside the park
+boundary. His way took him by well-remembered field-paths which, although
+towards the end of his walk darkness had set in, he had no difficulty in
+tracing. The last field he crossed brought him to a by-road joining the
+highway which ran through Wynford, the junction being about a quarter of
+a mile from the church. As he neared the stile which admitted to the road
+he saw, on the other side of the hedge and showing just above it, the
+head of a man. At the sound of his footsteps the man quickly turned,
+and, as for a moment the fitful moonlight caught his face, Gifford was
+sure he recognized Gervase Henshaw. But he took no notice and kept on his
+way to the stile, which he crossed and gained the road. As he did so he
+glanced back. A horse and trap was waiting there with Henshaw in it. He
+was now bending down, probably with the object of concealing his
+identity, and had moved on a few paces farther down the road.
+
+Why was he waiting there? Gifford asked himself the obvious question with
+a decidedly uneasy feeling. Henshaw the Londoner, on a Sunday evening,
+waiting with a horse and trap in an unfrequented lane, a road which ran
+nowhere but to a farm. What did it mean?
+
+Naturally Gifford's suspicions connected Edith Morriston with the
+circumstance, and yet he told himself the idea was monstrously
+improbable. It was more likely that Henshaw was bound upon some search
+with the police. His movements were and had been for some time
+mysterious enough.
+
+Gifford's impulse as he turned into the high road was to stay there in
+concealment and watch for the upshot of Henshaw's presence. The
+suggestion did not, however, altogether commend itself to him. He
+disliked the idea of spying even upon such a man as Henshaw, whom he had
+good reason to suspect of playing a dastardly game. It was probable, too,
+that Henshaw had recognized him and might be on the look-out; it would be
+intensely humiliating to be caught watching. So, turning the pros and
+cons over in his mind, Gifford walked slowly on in a state of
+irresolution till he came to a wicket-gate which admitted from the road
+to a path which ran through the churchyard.
+
+There he stopped, debating with himself whether he should turn back and
+keep an eye on Henshaw or go on into the church where service was just
+beginning. It did seem absurd to imagine that Henshaw with his conveyance
+could be waiting there by appointment for a girl of the character and
+position of Edith Morriston. True, he had seen them walking together in
+secret, which was strange enough, but that need not necessarily have been
+a planned meeting.
+
+Such an urgent curiosity had hold of him at the bare possibility of
+something wrong that he, temporizing with his scruples, was about to turn
+back to the lane, when he saw the figure of a woman coming towards him
+along the churchyard path. She was tall and so far as he could make out,
+muffled in a cloak and veil. His heart gave a leap, for although the
+woman's face and figure were indistinguishable the height and gait
+corresponded with those of Edith Morriston.
+
+As she came near the little gate where he stood she stopped dead, seemed
+to hesitate a moment, and then turned as though to go back. Determined to
+set his doubts at rest Gifford passed quickly through the gate and
+followed her at an overtaking pace. Evidently sensible of her pursuit,
+the woman quickened her steps and, as Gifford gained on her, turned
+quickly from the path, threading her way among the graves to escape him.
+She had gone but a few steps when in her hurry she tripped over the mound
+of a small, unmarked grave and fell to the ground.
+
+Gifford ran to her and taking her arm assisted her to rise.
+
+"Miss Morriston!" he exclaimed, for he now was sure of her identity. "I
+hope you are not hurt," he added mechanically, his mind full of a greater
+and more critical contingency.
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she responded; but he was sure she had not recognized him
+then for the first time. "Oh, no, thank you; I am not in the least hurt.
+It was stupid of me to trip and fall like that. Are you going to church?"
+she added, evidently wishing to get away.
+
+"I was," he answered. "And you?"
+
+"I was too," she said, conquering her embarrassment, "but I have a
+headache, and prefer the fresh air. Don't let me keep you," she held out
+her hand. "Service has begun."
+
+He took her hand. "Miss Morriston," he said gravely, "don't think me very
+unmannerly, but I am not going to leave you here."
+
+In the bright moonlight he could see her expression of rather haughty
+surprise. "I think you are unmannerly, Mr. Gifford," she retorted
+defiantly. "May I ask why you are not going to leave me here?"
+
+"Because," he answered with quiet decision, "Mr. Henshaw is waiting just
+there in Turner's Lane."
+
+"Is he?" The same defiant note; but there was anxiety behind the
+cold pretence.
+
+"Yes. And pardon me, I have an idea he is waiting there for you."
+
+His firm tone and manner baffled equivocation. "What is it to you if he
+is?" she returned with a brave attempt to suggest cold displeasure. But
+her lip trembled and her voice was scarcely steady.
+
+"It is something to me," he replied insistently, "because it means a
+great deal to you. This man is persecuting you. He is--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she exclaimed. "You take--"
+
+He held up his hand. "Please let me finish, Miss Morriston. I can
+convince you that I am not taking too much upon myself. I am no fool and
+am not interfering without warrant. This man Henshaw has succeeded in
+persuading you that you are in his power. That is very far from being the
+case, and I can prove it."
+
+"I don't understand you, Mr. Gifford."
+
+The tone of cold annoyance was gone now. Relief and a vague hope seemed
+to be struggling with an almost overwhelming anxiety.
+
+"You will understand directly," he replied. "I have more than a suspicion
+that this man is seeking to connect you with his brother's death and is
+making use of a certain half-knowledge he possesses to get a hold over
+you. Is that not so?"
+
+For a while she was silent, her breath coming quickly, as she hesitated
+how to meet the direct question. Gifford hated, yet somehow rejoiced, to
+see this proud, cold-mannered girl brought to this pass, and the reason
+he rejoiced lay in the knowledge that he could help her out of it.
+
+At length she spoke. "Mr. Gifford, I trust you as a man of honour. Your
+conjecture is right, but unhappily there is no help for it."
+
+"There is help," he declared reassuringly. "Can this man prove that you
+are in any way guilty of his brother's death?"
+
+The girl gave a shiver. "He can by implication," she admitted in a
+low voice.
+
+"Can he prove it?"
+
+"Not actually, perhaps. But far enough to disgrace me and mine for ever,"
+she said with a sob.
+
+"And with that idea he terrorizes you?" The question was put with quiet
+sternness.
+
+"Yes, yes; but I cannot help it! I cannot bear it. Oh, let me go." She
+seemed now in an agony of fear.
+
+Gifford laid his hand on her as she sought to move away towards the gate
+and the waiting enemy.
+
+"Miss Morriston," he said with decision, "you must not go; you must have
+no more communication with this man Henshaw. He can prove nothing against
+you, while I can prove everything in your favour."
+
+Her look of fear and impatience changed at the last words to one of
+startled incredulity.
+
+"You, Mr. Gifford? What do you mean?"
+
+"Exactly what I say," he returned decisively, "I can prove, if need be,
+that you had no hand in that cowardly ruffian's death."
+
+"You? How?" the girl gasped, staring at him with dilated eyes.
+
+"I will convince you," he answered quietly. "When I told you the
+other day that I had found your brooch on the lawn I said, for an
+obvious reason, what was not true. I found it in the room where
+Clement Henshaw died."
+
+"You did," the girl gasped almost in terror. "When?"
+
+"A few minutes after his death," Gifford replied calmly. "I happened to
+be present in the room when he came by his fatal wound."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+
+As she heard the words Edith Morriston stood for a moment as though
+transfixed, and then staggered back grasping at a tombstone for support.
+Gifford took a quick step forward, but before he could be of help she had
+recovered from the shock, and motioning him back, was looking at him with
+incredulous eyes.
+
+"You were there?" she repeated, with more suspicion now than unbelief.
+
+"In that room at the top of the tower; yes; by accident," he answered in
+a tone calculated to reassure her.
+
+"Then you know--you saw what happened?"
+
+He bowed his head in assent. "Enough to be sure that Mr. Clement Henshaw
+was a great scoundrel, and that his fate was not altogether unmerited.
+Now," he added in a tone of decision, "you will have nothing more to do
+with this Gervase Henshaw, or he with you."
+
+It was good to see the eager relief in Edith Morriston's eyes.
+
+"And you never told me this before," she said.
+
+"I could not very well," he replied. "And I should not have told you now
+had I not been forced to protect you from this man. It is a dangerous
+position for me to stand in, and I should in ordinary circumstances have
+let the affair remain a mystery."
+
+"I understand your position," she responded, with a look of gratitude.
+"But you can trust me."
+
+"Indeed I can," he assured her with infinite content.
+
+"I don't realize it now," the girl said, with signs that she was fighting
+against the effect of the reaction. "Can you trust me enough to tell me
+how it all happened?"
+
+"I would trust you with my life," he responded fervently. "Though it
+hardly comes to that. Of course I will tell you the whole story of my
+adventure. But we had better not stay here. Mr. Henshaw must be getting
+impatient by this time and may come to look for you. Before he has the
+chance of meeting you it will be well for you to hear the real facts of
+the case. Shall we come into the park, or would your brother--"
+
+"Dick is at church," she said, a little shamefacedly, it seemed. "I gave
+him the slip."
+
+"What a terrible risk you have just run," Gifford observed as they went
+through the churchyard to the private gate into the park. "If I had not
+happened to come along just then and see Henshaw waiting--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk of that now," she entreated. "I knew it meant horrible
+misery for the rest of my life, but anything seemed better than the
+terrible scandal which threatened us."
+
+"With which Henshaw threatened you, the scoundrel," Gifford corrected.
+"Now you shall see how little he really had to go upon."
+
+"And yet," she murmured, "it seemed overwhelming. I can scarcely believe
+even now that the danger is past."
+
+"Wait till you hear my story," he said with a reassuring smile.
+
+They had entered the enclosed path, called Church Walk, and passing the
+branch which led to the drive, kept on between the tall laurel hedges.
+
+"We shall be quite undisturbed here," the girl said. "Dick is sure to
+turn off and go in by the drive. Now, Mr. Gifford, do trust me and tell
+me everything."
+
+"I hope it is not necessary to talk of trust between us," he replied,
+with as much tenderness as his chivalry permitted.
+
+"No; forgive me; I hope not," she responded quietly. "Now please tell me,
+Mr. Gifford, what I am longing to hear."
+
+"You will remember," Gifford began, as they slowly paced the moon-lit
+path, "that on the evening I came down here my suitcase containing my
+evening clothes had gone astray on the railway. There was no chance of
+its turning up at the hotel before ten o'clock, and I was therefore
+prevented from appearing at the dance till quite late. Naturally I would
+not hear of Kelson waiting for me, which like the good-natured fellow he
+is, he proposed to do; he therefore went off in good time."
+
+"Yes; I remember he arrived quite early," Edith Morriston murmured.
+
+"Clement Henshaw," Gifford proceeded, "left the hotel about the
+same time. They must have reached your house within a few minutes
+of one another."
+
+As he paused, his companion looked round at him inquiringly. "Yes," she
+said, with a certain suggestion of reticence; "I remember that too."
+
+Gifford continued. "Having seen Kelson off, I went up to our sitting-room
+to wait till my kit should arrive. I was very keen on seeing again the
+old place where in my young days I used to spend such happy months, and
+my enforced waiting soon became almost intolerable boredom. The result
+was that I got a fit of the fidgets; I could not settle down to read, and
+at last, having still an hour to spare, I resolved in my restlessness to
+stroll out and take a preliminary look from outside at what was
+practically my old home."
+
+"Yes." There was a catch of growing excitement in Edith Morriston's
+voice, which was scarcely above a whisper.
+
+"The wind was sharp that night, as we all know," Gifford went on, "and
+forbade loitering. A smart walk of fifteen or twenty minutes brought me
+here, knowing as I did every path and short cut across the park. The old
+familiar house looked picturesque enough with its many lighted windows
+and every sign of gaiety. Keeping away from the front entrance where
+carriages were constantly driving up and a good many people were about, I
+went round to the other side, avoiding the stables and passing along by
+the west wing. This, of course, brought me to the old tower, the scene of
+many a game and frolic in my young days. At its foot I stood for a while
+recalling memories of the past. In the mere idleness of affectionate
+remembrance I went up to the garden door of the tower and mechanically
+turned the handle. It was unlocked.
+
+"I hardly know what made me go in; an impulse to stand again in those
+once familiar surroundings. It was fascinating to be in the old tower
+which the dim light showed me was just as I had last seen it more than a
+dozen years ago. The past came vividly back to me, and I stood there for
+a while indulging in a reverie of old days. The associations of the place
+seemed every moment to grip me more compellingly. The tower seemed quiet
+and altogether deserted; all I could hear was the dance-music away in the
+hall. There could be no risk, I thought, of being seen if I went up to
+the floor above: and I quietly ascended the stairs to the first landing.
+The narrow passage leading to the hall was lighted up with sconces; at
+its farther end I could see the movement of the dancers. The band was
+playing a favourite waltz of mine, and I stayed there rather enjoying the
+music and the sight from my safe retreat.
+
+"It did not seem likely that any one would be coming to the tower, and
+I resolved, foolishly enough, for, of course, I was in my travelling
+suit, to wander up to the next floor and take a look at the room which
+held a rather sentimental association for me. It was a stupid thing to
+do as I was there in, for the moment, a rather questionable situation,
+still I felt pretty secure from being noticed, and went up warily to
+the next floor.
+
+"There I found the room considerably altered from my recollection of it,
+especially as it was arranged as a sitting-out room, but no one was
+there, nor were there any signs of its having been used, which from its
+rather secluded position, was natural enough.
+
+"Having given a reminiscent look round I concluded that it would be best
+to make a retreat, especially as there would be ample opportunity later
+in the evening for me to visit it again. I turned and went to the door.
+On reaching the stairs I heard to my great annoyance the sounds of
+persons coming up and the subdued tones of a man's voice, I realized that
+I was caught, and my one chance of escape was to retreat up the topmost
+flight of stairs and wait in the darkness till the couple had gone into
+the room I had just quitted.
+
+"Accordingly I turned and went up the remaining flight on tip-toe, two
+stairs at a time, waiting beyond the turn in hiding till the coast
+should be clear.
+
+"The couple had now reached the landing below and, so far as I could
+tell, went into the room. I was just about to make a quick descent,
+hoping to get past that and other awkward points unnoticed, when to my
+dismay I became aware that the people whom I had thought safely settled
+in the room below had come out and were beginning to mount the topmost
+flight of stairs. This was indeed a most awkward predicament for me, and
+I debated for a moment whether my best course would not be to go boldly
+down the stairs and pass them, rather than retreat to the top room. If I
+had chosen the former course how differently things might have turned
+out; at any rate, for better or worse, the situation as it exists to-day
+might have presented itself in quite another form."
+
+Edith Morriston glanced quickly at Gifford as he uttered the reflection.
+She seemed about to speak, but checked the impulse, and he continued:
+
+"Treading noiselessly, I bolted up the remaining stairs and went into the
+dark room at the top. At the door, which stood open, I stopped and
+listened. To my intense vexation, for the situation was becoming
+decidedly unpleasant, the pair were still coming up. In silence now, but
+I could hear their approaching footsteps and the rustle of the lady's
+dress. Unfortunately, there was no corner on the top landing where I
+could stand hidden, so I was forced to draw back into the room.
+
+"Happily it had been so familiar to me from childhood that I could find
+my way about it in the dark. I well remembered the little inner room
+formed by the bartizan of the tower, and into this I tip-toed, feeling
+horribly guilty. If only I had not been in that suspicious brown suit! In
+evening clothes there would, of course, have been no necessity for this
+surreptitious retreat. I devoutly hoped that the two were merely bent on
+exploring the place and that the darkness of the old lumber-room would
+quickly satisfy their curiosity and send them down again. I heard them
+come into the room, the man speaking in a tone so low that the words were
+indistinguishable from where I stood; and then the sound of the door
+being shut struck my ear unpleasantly.
+
+"Then the man spoke in a more audible voice, a voice which in a flash I
+recognized as Henshaw's. And his first words caught my attention with an
+unpleasant grip."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+
+"'Failing to get the regular invitation I had a right to expect, I have
+had to take this mode of seeing you,' I just caught the words in
+Henshaw's metallic, rather penetrating voice.
+
+"The lady's reply was given in a tone so low that at the distance I stood
+the words were indistinguishable.
+
+"'Unmanly?' he exclaimed, evidently taking up her word. 'I don't admit
+that for a moment. You know how we stand to one another and what my
+feelings are towards you. It is no use for you to try to ignore them or
+me. I won't stand being treated like this. There is no reason why my
+advances should be repulsed as though they were an insult.'
+
+"I caught the last words of the lady's reply: '--good reason, and
+you know it.'
+
+"It was more than clear to me now that I was to be the witness of a very
+hateful piece of business. The man's tone, even more than his words, made
+my blood boil, and I began to congratulate myself on being thus
+accidentally in a position to protect, if need be, the girl whom this
+fellow was evidently bullying. With the utmost care I crept nearer to the
+small curtained arch which admitted to the larger room. The pitch
+darkness of the little turret chamber in which I stood made me feel quite
+safe from observation. And I had no qualms now about eavesdropping; the
+situation surely justified it.
+
+"I went forward till I could get a sight round the arch of the two
+persons in the room. They were standing near the window at some distance
+from me. In the obscurity, not quite as impenetrable as that out of which
+I looked, I could distinguish the tall figure of the girl in a dark
+ball-dress, and facing her, towards me, the big form of Henshaw."
+
+"You had no idea who the lady was?" Edith Morriston interrupted
+him to ask.
+
+"Naturally not the vaguest," Gifford answered. "When I had gone as far
+as was safe, I set myself to listen again.
+
+"'I don't know what your game is or whether you think you can play the
+fool with me,' Henshaw was saying in an ugly tone. 'But I warn you not to
+try it; I am not a man to be fooled. Now let us be friends again,' he
+added in a softer tone.
+
+"It seemed as though he put out his hand for a caress, for the girl
+started back and I heard her say 'Never!'
+
+"'Folly!' he exclaimed. Then took a step forward. 'You are in love with
+another man?' he demanded. I could hear the hiss of the question.
+
+"'If I were I should not tell you,' was the defiant reply in a low voice.
+
+"'You would not?' he snapped viciously. 'Let me tell you this, then. You
+shall never marry another man while I live. I hold the bar to that, as
+you will find.'
+
+"'You mean to act like a cad?' I heard the girl say.
+
+"'I mean to act,' he retorted, 'like a sensible man who has a fair
+advantage and means, in spite of your caprice, to keep it.'
+
+"'Fair?' the girl echoed in scorn.
+
+"'Yes, fair,' Henshaw insisted with some heat. 'I saved you from a
+scandal that would have ruined you, and it was natural I should ask my
+reward. But your notions of gratitude, which had led me on to love you,
+soon evaporated; but I am not so easily dismissed.'
+
+"'You mean to continue your cowardly persecution?' There was a tremor in
+the girl's voice that made me long to get at the man.
+
+"'I mean to marry you,' he retorted. 'Or at least--'
+
+"'Don't touch me!' she said hoarsely as he approached her.
+
+"'You are coming away with me to-night,' he insisted. 'You need not
+pretend to be horrified. It won't be your first nocturnal adventure, and
+I have waited quite long enough.'
+
+"He had driven her to the other corner on the window side of the room.
+As I leaned forward ready to fasten on the man when he should offer
+violence I heard a peculiar sound as of a loose piece of wood or iron
+striking the sill.
+
+"'Keep away!' the girl said in a hoarse whisper. 'If you drive me to
+desperation I swear I will kill you.'
+
+"There followed a vicious laugh from Henshaw and I could tell from the
+panting which followed that a struggle was going on. Just then the moon
+came out and I could see that Henshaw was trying to get some object--a
+weapon, I guessed--away from the girl. It is a wonder that neither of
+them saw me. In the dark opening I must have still been practically
+hidden, and they too intent on their struggle to notice anything beyond.
+
+"I was just on the point of springing out to the girl's assistance when
+she staggered back and, turning, made a rush for the door. In a moment
+Henshaw was after her, but in his blind haste he either tripped or
+stumbled and fell heavily. I think it likely that in the dark he struck
+against the corner of the rather massive oak table in the centre of the
+room and was thrown off his balance. He rose immediately, but I was now
+close behind him, and as he put out his arm to clutch the girl, who was
+then half through the doorway, I gripped him by the collar and with all
+my strength swung him back into the room.
+
+"He must have been most horribly surprised, for he uttered a gasping cry
+as he spun round, and instead of keeping his feet and rushing at me as I
+expected he went down with a thud by the window."
+
+They had stopped in their walk now, and Edith Morriston was listening
+almost breathlessly to Gifford's graphic story. Never for a moment had he
+suggested the lady's identity; for all that had passed neither of them
+might have known it.
+
+"I turned quickly to the door," Gifford continued, "but to my surprise
+the lady whom I expected to find there had disappeared. I could neither
+see nor hear any sign of her.
+
+"I took a step back into the room, fully expecting an onslaught from the
+infuriated Henshaw. 'You cowardly brute!' I exclaimed in the heat of my
+anger and excitement. But no reply came, and to my wonder he lay still on
+the floor where he had fallen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+
+"I waited for some time in silence, expecting him every moment to rise
+and retaliate. He was a big, muscular man, but it never occurred to me to
+be in any fear of him physically. For one thing my indignation was too
+hot to admit fear; I happen to be quite good enough at boxing to be able
+to take care of myself, and I was sure--all the more from his continuing
+to lie there--that such a despicable bully must be a coward.
+
+"'You had better get up and clear out of this house,' I said wrathfully,
+'before you get the thrashing you so richly deserve.'
+
+"No answer came. As I waited for one there was, save for my own
+breathing, dead silence in the room. Before speaking I had heard
+something like a long drawn sigh come from the man on the floor, but now,
+listening intently, I could hear nothing. Two explanations suggested
+themselves to account for his still lying there. One, shame at his vile
+conduct having been witnessed by a third person, the other that he had
+struck his head against the wall in falling and was stunned.
+
+"Naturally I was not greatly concerned at the fellow's condition,
+whichever it was; still it would, I concluded, be well to settle the
+matter, and if he was merely skulking see that he cleared out of the
+house. I shut the door, and then crossing to where the man lay, struck a
+match and held it out to get a view of him.
+
+"He lay on his face with his arms bent under him. I prodded him with my
+foot, but he did not stir; he lay absolutely, rather uncannily still. The
+match burned out; I struck another and leaned over to get a sight of his
+face. To my horror there met my eyes a dark wet patch on the floor which
+I instinctively felt must be blood. You may imagine the terrible thrill
+the conviction gave me. Yet I could not believe even then that anything
+really serious had happened.
+
+"I struck a fresh match and holding it up with one hand, with the other
+took the man's shoulder and turned him over on his back. Then I knew that
+I was there with a dead man. The hue of the face was unmistakably that of
+death. And the cause of it was plainly to be seen. There was a wound in
+the man's neck from which blood came freely.
+
+"How had the wound--clearly a fatal one--been caused? I searched for an
+explanation. That which forced itself upon me was that the girl had in
+her desperation stabbed her persecutor with some weapon she had found
+there or brought with her. It was a horrible idea to entertain, although
+the act would have been almost justified. I wondered if by chance the
+weapon was still there. Striking a match I looked round. Yes; there on
+the floor near the spot where Henshaw had first fallen, lay a narrow
+blood-stained chisel.
+
+"Whatever my first conclusions were I can see now the most probable
+explanation of how Henshaw came by his death-wound. He had forced the
+chisel away from the girl; he had kept it in his hand; in his eagerness
+to prevent his victim's escape he had not realized that he was holding
+it point upwards, and when he fell it had pierced him with all the force
+of his heavy body falling plump on it."
+
+"Then you know it was an accident?" Edith Morriston drew a great breath
+of relief from the painful tension with which she had listened.
+
+"I can see it was a pure accident," Gifford answered. "All the same it
+was an accident with an ugly look about it, and I quickly realized that I
+was in an equivocal--not to say dangerous, situation."
+
+"It was a terrible predicament for you," the girl said sympathetically.
+
+"It was indeed. And one which called for prompt action. Moreover the very
+fact that I was not in evening clothes made it all the more suspicious. I
+pulled my wits together and proceeded to make quite sure that the man was
+actually dead. That I found was beyond all doubt the case, and it now
+remained for me to make my escape before being found there in that
+hideous situation.
+
+"I went out to the landing, closing the door after me, with the idea of
+getting down the stairs and escaping into the garden as secretly as I had
+come in. I had crept down a very few stairs when I found this was not to
+be. A chatter of voices just below told me that people were in the tower,
+and leaning over I could see couples passing between the passage to the
+hall and the room below me.
+
+"At any moment, I realized, some of them might take it into their heads
+to explore the topmost room, when the result would be disastrous.
+Certainly in my mufti I could not get past the next floor just then
+without exciting fatal notice, and to wait for an opportunity when the
+coast might be clear was too dangerous, seeing the risk of someone
+coming up.
+
+"It was not easy to see my way of escape. I went to the top room and
+locked the door. My nerves were pretty strong, but they were severely
+tried when I shut myself in with the dead man and had the consciousness
+of having laid myself open to the charge of being his murderer. I stood
+there by the door thinking desperately what I could do. Fool that I had
+been to venture into the place in that garb. But who could have foreseen
+the result? Anyhow there was no time for reflection; it was necessary to
+act and seek a possible expedient. Hopelessly enough I went into the
+little inner room and struck a match. In a moment a thrill of hope came
+to me, for the first object the light showed me was a big coil of rope
+conspicuous among the odds and ends of lumber in the recess. The idea of
+escape by the window had only occurred to me to be dismissed as a sheer
+impossibility; the height of the tower made that quite prohibitive, but
+here seemed a chance of it. If only the rope was long enough.
+
+"I got hold of the coil as my match burned out, and pulled it away from
+the surrounding rubbish. Its weight gave me hope that it would be
+sufficient. In haste I dragged it to the outer room into which the
+moonlight was now streaming. With a shuddering glance at the dead man,
+whose ashen face stared up in ghastly fashion in the moonbeams, I opened
+the window and looked out to make sure that no one was below. Satisfied
+on that point I brought forward the rope and began paying it out of the
+window. To my content I saw that there was a strong iron stanchion at the
+side which would allow of the rope being fastened to it.
+
+"There was light enough just then to enable me to see pretty well when
+the end of the rope reached the ground, and upon examining what was left
+in the room I calculated that not much more than half was outside. In a
+flash the discovery gave me an idea. Why should I not simply pass the
+rope behind the stanchion and use it doubled? By that means I could pull
+it down after me when I reached the ground, and so not only effect my
+escape but also leave the fact unknown. That, together with the door
+locked on the inside, would tend to make Henshaw's death a mystery with a
+strong probability in favour of suicide, which would be altogether the
+happiest conclusion to arrive at. In fact my hastily formed calculation
+was, as we know, subsequently borne out and the suicide theory would
+probably have been quietly accepted had it not been for the intervention
+of Gervase Henshaw with his smartness and incredulity.
+
+"That is practically the end of my story, Miss Morriston. I laid the
+chisel by the body, went to the window, pulled in the rope, carefully got
+the centre, adjusted it through the stanchion, and with a last look at
+the dead man, got out of the window, a rather nerve-trying business, and
+began to lower myself. I had calculated that the double rope was long
+enough to take me to within a few feet of the ground, and this proved to
+be the case. When I came to the end I let go of one side and pulled the
+other with me as I dropped. Then I drew the rope down, the latter half
+when released falling with a great thud. Hastily I set off for the lake,
+dragging the rope after me. At the landing-stage by the boat-house I
+coiled it up as best I could and threw it in. As I had anticipated it was
+thick and heavy enough to sink without being weighted. Then with a last
+glance at the tower I made my way as quickly as possible to the hotel in
+a state of nerves which you may imagine, little thinking that my descent
+from the tower had been witnessed. My first intention was to abandon all
+idea of going to the dance, but on reflection I came to the conclusion
+that I had better at least put in an appearance there.
+
+"Accordingly I changed and came on late to the ball, as you know.
+Naturally a great curiosity possessed me to find out the girl who had
+played the third part in the drama which had been enacted in the tower.
+But I had not seen her face, nor heard her voice sufficiently to be able
+to recognize it. There were several tall girls in the room, yourself
+among the number, but naturally it never occurred to me--"
+
+He stopped awkwardly, just as by inadvertence he was about to say that
+which all along he had studiously refrained from suggesting.
+
+"To suspect me," Edith Morriston completed his sentence with a smile.
+
+"No," he continued frankly. "You would have been the last person to enter
+my head in that connexion. And then Kelson came out of the passage from
+the tower with Miss Tredworth, to whom he had just proposed. He
+introduced me in a way which suggested their new relationship, and we had
+just began to chat when to my horror I noticed what to my mind went to
+prove that she was the person for whom I was looking. There were dark red
+stains on the white roses she wore on her dress. It was an unpleasant
+shock to me, placing me, as it seemed, in a terribly difficult position.
+For, at the first blush of my discovery, it all seemed to fit in. Clement
+Henshaw had been, I imagined, in love with Miss Tredworth before Kelson
+appeared on the scene. She had thrown him over for my friend, and
+Henshaw, taking his rejection in bad part, had threatened to expose some
+questionable incident in her past. Now that is all happily explained
+away, and I won't retrace the steps by which my imagination led me on;
+but you see how painfully I was situated with respect to my friend.
+
+"That is my story, Miss Morriston. Had I known what I know now I should
+not have kept it to myself so long; but up to a certain point, until the
+last few days, there seemed no reason for making the dangerous secret
+known to any one. Now, when it appears necessary to protect you from this
+man, Henshaw, the account of the part I played in the tragedy must be
+told in your interest."
+
+Edith Morriston drew in a deep breath as Gifford ceased speaking. "It is
+very kind and chivalrous of you, Mr. Gifford," she said in a low voice,
+"to run this risk for me, although your telling me the story shall never
+involve you in danger."
+
+"I am ready for your sake to face any danger the telling of my secret may
+hold for me," he responded firmly.
+
+"I am sure of that, as I am sure of you," she replied. Then added with a
+change of tone, "You were certain for a while that Muriel Tredworth had
+not only been guilty of something discreditable in her past but had
+stabbed to death in your presence the man who knew her secret."
+
+"I'm afraid there seemed to me no alternative but to believe it," he
+acknowledged.
+
+"When you found out that you were mistaken in her identity and that she
+had nothing whatever to do with the tragedy you would naturally transfer
+the opinion you had held of her to--to the other woman--the one who was
+actually there?"
+
+The question was put searchingly and was not to be evaded.
+
+"That would be a natural consequence," Gifford admitted frankly. "But
+there was in my mind always a growing doubt whether the wound had not
+been given accidentally. And that doubt became almost certainty when the
+real identity of Henshaw's victim became apparent."
+
+Edith Morriston looked at him steadily. "You know it--for certain?" she
+asked almost coldly.
+
+"Naturally I cannot fail to know it now," he answered sympathetically.
+
+She gave a rather bitter laugh. "I shall not deny it to you, Mr. Gifford,
+even if I thought it could be of any use. But, knowing so much, you owe
+it to me to hear my explanation of matters which look so black against
+me, and above all to accept my absolute assurance that so far as I am
+concerned Clement Henshaw's wound was quite accidental. Indeed I never
+dreamt that he had been hurt until his body was found."
+
+Gifford seized her hand by an irresistible impulse.
+
+"Miss Morriston, if you only knew how glad and relieved I am to hear you
+say that!" he exclaimed.
+
+"When you hear my story," she said, composedly but with an underlying
+bitterness which was hardly to be concealed, "the story of a long
+martyrdom of persecution--for it has been nothing less--you will acquit
+me of being guilty of anything disreputable. What I did was innocent
+enough and it moreover was forced upon me."
+
+"Tell me," he urged tenderly.
+
+"I must tell you," she returned, "if only to set myself right in your
+eyes who have been witness of the terrible sequel to it all. But not
+to-night; it is too late, and the story is long: it must be told at
+length. Dick will be home by this and I must go. I would ask you to come
+in, but there would be no opportunity for private talk there. Will you
+meet me to-morrow morning at half-past ten by the summer-house near the
+wood that runs up to James' farm? You know it?"
+
+"Well. I will be there."
+
+"It is rather a long way for you to come," she said, "but there are
+reasons for avoiding the big wood with the rides."
+
+"I know," he replied. "Henshaw might be on the look-out there for you."
+Then he added in answer to her quick look of curiosity, "I happened once
+by accident to see him there with you."
+
+"Ah, yes," she admitted with a shudder, "I will tell you about that."
+
+"I think I can guess," he said quietly. "Now in the meantime you will
+take no notice of this man if he writes or tries to see you. He will
+probably be exasperated by your not keeping the appointment this evening
+and may determine to put the screw on."
+
+"Yes," she agreed with a lingering fear in her voice.
+
+"Leave him to me to deal with," Gifford said reassuringly. "And do make
+up your mind that all will be well."
+
+"I will, thanks to you, my friend in need."
+
+And so, with a warm pressure of the hands, they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+
+Next morning Gifford was in good time at the rendezvous, a sequestered
+corner of the park, and Edith Morriston soon joined him. "Let us come
+into the summer-house," she suggested; "it will be more convenient for my
+long story."
+
+"First of all, tell me," Gifford said, "has anything happened since last
+night? Has Henshaw made any move?"
+
+She took out a note and handed it to him. "Only that," she said with an
+uneasy laugh.
+
+"There must have been some misunderstanding last evening," Gifford read.
+"I cannot think that your not keeping the appointment was intentional.
+Anyhow I can wait till to-night, then I shall be at the lane just beyond
+the church at 7.30. That you may not repent I hope you have not
+repented." That was all.
+
+"A thinly veiled threat," Gifford observed. "The man in his way seems as
+great a bully as his brother. May I keep this? I am going to see Mr.
+Henshaw presently, and have a serious talk with him. After which I shall
+hope to be able to convince you that your troubles are at an end."
+
+"If you can do that--" she said.
+
+"The knowledge that I have been of service to you will be my great
+reward. I hope I am sufficiently a gentleman not to ask or expect
+any other."
+
+She made no reply. They had entered the little rustic summer-house,
+and sat down.
+
+"Dick has driven into Branchester," Edith Morriston said, perhaps to end
+an embarrassing pause. "He will not be back till luncheon, so we are not
+likely to be interrupted."
+
+"That's well," Gifford answered. "Now please begin what I am most
+anxious to hear."
+
+"The story I have to tell you, Mr. Gifford," Edith Morriston began, "is
+not a pleasant one and is as humiliating to me to relate as was the
+experience, the terrible experience, I had to go through. But to be fair
+to myself I must be quite frank with you, and am sure you will never
+give me cause to repent speaking unreservedly."
+
+"You can rely upon my honour to respect your confidence," Gifford
+responded warmly.
+
+"I know I may," the girl answered. "Well, then, you must know first of
+all, that my father married a second time, and he unfortunately chose a
+woman well connected enough, but heartless and an utter snob. I suppose
+men are often blind to these hateful qualities before marriage; doubtless
+a clever, unscrupulous woman is able to hide her faults when she has the
+main chance in view. My stepmother was a good deal younger than my
+father, and I dare say on the whole made him, socially at any rate, a
+fairly good wife. Her one idea was social aggrandizement at any cost, and
+I unhappily was to fall a victim to it.
+
+"I suppose we ought not to blame her for determining that I ought to
+marry well; she wanted to do the best for the family and was
+constitutionally incapable of making allowance for or considering any
+one's private feelings. To make a long story short, my stepmother, in
+pursuance of her policy, determined that I should marry a certain peer
+whose name I need not mention. He was altogether a bad lot, and I soon
+came to know it. I received certain warnings, but without them I could
+see that the man was all wrong, and I told my stepmother what I
+thought of him.
+
+"She scoffed at the idea that he was any worse than the average man. All
+I had to concern myself with was the fact that he was a peer of ancient
+lineage, of large property, and there wasn't another girl in the kingdom
+who wouldn't jump at him. I might well chance his making me unhappy since
+he could make me a countess, and to refuse him would be absolute madness;
+Mrs. Morriston's face grew black at the very thought of it. She soon got
+my father on to her side, and between them I had a hateful time of it.
+It's the old story, which will be told as long as there are worldly,
+selfish women on the earth, but it was none the less fresh and poignant
+to me who had to live through the experience.
+
+"Things got so bad through my continued refusal to fall in with my
+stepmother's wishes that I was reduced to a state bordering on despair.
+My father, whom I loved, was turned against me; his mind was so
+prejudiced in favour of the man whom I was being gradually forced to take
+as a husband that he could see no good reason, only sheer obstinacy, in
+my refusal. Altogether my life was becoming a perfect hell. Dick, who
+might have stood by me, and made things less unbearable, was away on a
+two years' tour for big game shooting; I had no one to confide in, no one
+to help me.
+
+"Just as things were at their worst and I was getting quite desperate, I
+met at a dance a man named Archie Jolliffe. He had been a sailor, but
+having come into money had given up the Service and settled down to enjoy
+himself. He and I got on very well together from the first; he was a
+breezy, genial, young fellow, fond of fun and adventure and a pleasant
+contrast in every way to the man who was threatening to ruin my life. I
+don't know that in happier circumstances I should have cared for
+Jolliffe; there wasn't much in him beyond his capacity for fun; he was
+inclined to be fast in a foolish sort of way; a man's man rather than one
+for whom a woman could feel much respect. Still he was not vicious like
+the other, for whom my dislike increased every time I saw him.
+
+"Well, Archie Jolliffe fell in love with me and in his impetuous way made
+no secret of it. I need not say it did not take long for my step-mother
+to become aware of it, and with the idea that I was encouraging him she
+became furious. Except that poor Archie was a welcome change from the
+atmosphere of my home and the hateful attentions of the man who was
+always being left alone with me, I did not really care for him, and but
+for Mrs. Morriston's attitude I should have told him it was no use his
+thinking of me. Considering the sequel, I wish I had done so; but it is
+too late now for regrets. His love-making gave me a chance of defying my
+stepmother, and I rather enjoyed baulking her plans to keep Archie and me
+apart. If I did not encourage him--indeed, I refused him every time he
+proposed--I did not dismiss him as I ought to have done, and he evidently
+had an idea that perseverance would win the day. And so, after a
+fashion, it did.
+
+"Matters reached such a pitch at last that it became plain that I must
+either consent to marry the man I loathed or leave my home for good.
+Goaded on by my apparent encouragement of Archie Jolliffe, my stepmother
+resolved to bring matters to a crisis. She started a terrific row with me
+one day, my father was brought into it, and I stood up against them both.
+The upshot was that when the interview was over I went out of the house
+boiling with indignation and for the time utterly reckless. Chance caught
+the psychological moment and threw me in the way of Archie Jolliffe. He
+saw something was wrong and pressed me to tell him what had happened. He
+was so chivalrous and sympathetic that I was led in my turbulent state of
+mind to become confidential, the more so when he told me he had known for
+some time how I was being treated.
+
+"'You must not marry that man,' he said 'It is an outrage for your people
+to suggest such a thing. He is a big swell and all that, with heaps of
+money, but any man in town who knows anything will tell you he is quite
+impossible,'
+
+"I had heard that, and had told my stepmother, but of course it did not
+suit her to heed me. She cared for nothing beyond the fact that I should
+be a countess, and said so.
+
+"Archie and I talked together for a long time and with the result that in
+my longing for protection from the powers against me and my indignation
+at the way I was being treated I had promised when we parted to marry
+him, and we had planned to elope together that very night.
+
+"At that time we were living at Haynthorpe Hall--you know it?--about ten
+miles from here. That evening I slipped out of the house after dinner and
+met Archie, who was waiting for me at a quiet spot outside the village.
+His plan was to drive across country to Branchester Junction, where it
+was not likely we should be noticed or recognized, catch the night train
+up to town and be married there next morning. You may imagine the state
+of desperation--utter desperation and recklessness--I was in to have
+consented to such a thing, but I could see no help for it, and of two
+evils I seemed to be choosing the least. The future looked hideously
+vague and dark; still Jolliffe was capable of being transformed into a
+decent husband, while the other man assuredly was not.
+
+"Archie seemed overjoyed, poor fellow, as I mounted into the dog-cart; he
+had hardly expected that I should not repent. Once we were fairly off and
+bowling along the dark road, a sense of relief came to me, and whatever
+qualms I may have felt soon vanished. However wrong my conduct was I had
+been driven to it and my father, for whom I was sorry, by taking part
+against me, deserved to lose me.
+
+"My companion had the tact not to talk much, and I was glad to think he
+could realize the seriousness of the step he had persuaded me to take.
+But the little he did say was affectionately sympathetic and, now that
+the die was cast, it comforted me to indulge hopes of him.
+
+"All went well till we were about three miles from Branchester; then an
+awful thing happened. Our horse was a fast trotter, and Archie let him
+have his head, knowing that it would never do for us to miss the train.
+As we turned a blind corner we came into collision with another dog-cart
+which we had neither seen nor heard. The force of the impact was so
+great that our off-wheel was smashed; the cart went over, we were both
+flung out, and as I fell I realized horribly that my desperate expedient
+was a failure.
+
+"I was not much hurt, for my fall was broken, and I soon scrambled to my
+feet. But Archie lay there motionless. The man who was the only occupant
+of the other dog-cart had pulled into the hedge and alighted. He came up
+to offer his help, and to express his sorrow at the accident, which he
+said, doubtless with truth, was not his fault. I dare say you will have
+guessed that the man was Clement Henshaw. Between us we raised Archie and
+carried him to the side of the road. He was quite insensible, and
+breathing heavily.
+
+"'I am afraid he is rather seriously hurt,' the man said sympathetically.
+'We ought to get him to Branchester Hospital as soon as possible.'
+
+"I was so overwhelmed by the sudden and terrible end to our adventure
+that I could think of nothing. By a great piece of luck a belated dray
+came along on its way to Branchester. Into this, with the driver's help,
+we lifted poor Archie; and then Henshaw and I drove on in his trap to
+prepare the hospital authorities for the patient's arrival. The doctor
+after a cursory examination gave very little hope, and I left the
+hospital in a most wretched state of mind, feeling more than indirectly
+responsible for the end of that bright young life. Henshaw arranged for
+the horse and smashed dogcart to be fetched from the scene of the
+accident, and then he asked where in the town he should escort me.
+
+"I thanked him and said, a good deal to his surprise, that I was not
+going to stop in Branchester, but would hire a fly and drive to my
+destination. I stood, of course, in a hideously false position, and that
+he very soon began to divine; he would not hear of my getting a fly at
+that hour of the night, but insisted on driving me in his trap to
+wherever I wished to go.
+
+"Unhappily I had no idea of the man's character, or I should never have
+dreamt of accepting his offer; but I was then in no state of mind to
+judge his nature or question his motives; he had proved himself
+infinitely kind and resourceful, so in my lonely and agitated condition I
+consented, little imagining what the dire result to me would be.
+
+"On the drive back to my home I was naturally in a horribly distressed
+state of mind, and hardly dared think of the future. My companion
+tactfully refrained from much talking, although I had an idea that his
+curiosity was greatly excited to learn the explanation of the affair; he
+put occasionally a leading question which I always evaded, when he took
+the hint and did not press his inquiries. So far as every one else was
+concerned there had been no idea of connecting me with poor Archie
+Jolliffe. The hospital people believed that he had been driving alone,
+and that I had been in the trap with Henshaw. I dare say they took me for
+his sister or his wife.
+
+"At last, after one of the most wretched hours I ever spent--and I have
+had more than my fair share of trouble--we reached Haynthorpe, and on
+the outskirts of the village I asked Henshaw to set me down. He stopped
+and looked at me curiously.
+
+"'Can't you trust me to drive you to your home?'" he said insinuatingly.
+
+"I replied that I preferred to get down where we were, and thanked him as
+warmly as I was able for all his services.
+
+"'You haven't even told me your name,' he protested, 'Mine is Clement
+Henshaw; I am staying at Flinton for hunting.'
+
+"My answer was that he must not think me ungrateful, but that I would
+rather not tell him my name. It could be of no consequence to him.
+
+"'I should like at least,' he urged, 'to be allowed to drive over and
+report how your--friend--or was it your brother?--is getting on.'
+
+"I thanked him, made the best excuse I could for refusing, got down from
+the trap and hurried off through the dark village street, thankful to get
+away from those awkward questions.
+
+"But if I thought I had finally got rid of Mr. Clement Henshaw I was, in
+my ignorance of the man, woefully mistaken."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+
+"When I reached the house luck unexpectedly favoured me. My maid, whom I
+had been obliged to take, up to a certain point, into my confidence, and
+who, after the manner of her class, had acquired more than a sympathetic
+inkling of the way my people had been treating me, was waiting up on the
+look-out for my return, and quietly let me in. She told me that no one
+but herself had any idea that I was out of the house; she had led them to
+believe that I had gone to bed early with a headache, which considering
+the stress of the past two days was plausible enough. So I got back
+safely to my room which it had not seemed likely. I should ever enter
+again, and next morning I could see that my over-night's adventure was
+quite unsuspected.
+
+"Naturally I anticipated a continuation of my stepmother's attempts to
+force me into the marriage she had in view, and it rather puzzled me to
+understand why they seemed to be dropped. The prospective bridegroom did
+not come to the house, and, stranger still, his name was not mentioned.
+The explanation was soon forthcoming. I did not see the newspapers just
+then, in fact I have an idea they were purposely kept away from me; but
+some people who were calling mentioned a big society-scandal coming on in
+the Law Courts in which this precious peer was desperately involved. The
+relief with which I heard the news was unbounded considering all it meant
+for me, but my joy was turned to bitter grief by the news that Archie
+Jolliffe after lying unconscious for nearly a week had died of his
+injury. I had contrived, during the days he lingered, to make secret
+inquiries as to his condition, and so knew that what would have seemed my
+heartless absence from his bedside had made no difference to him."
+
+"Poor fellow," Gifford commented.
+
+"It was unspeakably sad," Edith Morriston continued, "but it seemed like
+fate, seeing how things rearranged themselves afterwards. Certainly if I
+was to blame for his piteous end, I was to pay the penalty. For no sooner
+was I out of one trouble than another was ready for me.
+
+"After this long preface, I come to the most unpleasant episode of
+Henshaw and his persecution.
+
+"On the day I heard of poor Archie's death I had gone out for a walk
+possessed by a great longing to be alone in my grief. On my way home by a
+woodland path leading to the Hall grounds, I, to my great annoyance, came
+upon Clement Henshaw. I can't say I was altogether surprised, for I had
+caught a glimpse of some one very like him in the village a day or two
+before. Of that I had thought little, merely taking care that the man did
+not see me. But now there was no avoiding him, and I had more than a
+suspicion that he had been lying in wait for me. At the risk of appearing
+horribly ungrateful I made up my mind on the instant to try to pass him
+with a bow, but need not say that was utterly futile. He stood directly
+in my path, and raised his hat.
+
+"'I am sorry to be the bearer of sad news, Miss Morriston,' he said.
+
+"So he had found out my name, assuredly not by accident, and the fact
+angered me, perhaps unreasonably.
+
+"'I have heard of Mr. Jolliffe's death,' I replied coldly, 'if that is
+what you have to tell me.'
+
+"'I thought,' he rejoined, with assurance, 'it quite possible you might
+not have heard so soon.'
+
+"From his manner I began to see that the man was likely to become an
+annoyance if he were not snubbed, but soon discovered that it was not so
+easily done. I thanked him coldly enough, and tried to dismiss him, but
+he insisted on walking with me. What could I do? He seemed determined to
+force his company upon me and I could not run away. He tried to get out
+of me how I had come to be driving with Archie that night, and although I
+evaded his questions it was plain that he had a shrewd inkling of the
+reason. Not to weary you with a long account of this disagreeable and
+humiliating affair, I will only say that from that day forward I became
+subject to a determined system of persecution from Clement Henshaw. He
+waylaid me on every possible occasion, holding over me a covert threat of
+the exposure of my escapade, till at last I was absolutely afraid to go
+outside the house for fear of meeting him."
+
+"He wanted to marry you?" Gifford suggested.
+
+Edith Morriston gave a little shudder. "I suppose so. He was always
+making love to me, and was quite impervious to snubbing. When, in
+consequence of my keeping within bounds of the house and garden, he could
+not see me, he took to writing, and kept me in terror lest one of his
+letters should fall into my stepmother's hands. I wished afterwards that
+I had taken a bold line, confessed what had happened, and defied the
+consequences. I think it was the fear of being disgraced in my brother's
+eyes on his return which kept me from doing so.
+
+"In the midst of my worry my father fell into a state of bad health and
+we took him down to the Devonshire coast for change of air. Needless to
+say Henshaw soon found out our retreat, and to my dismay appeared there.
+His persecution went on with renewed vigour and I, having less chance
+there of escaping it, was nearly at my wits' end, when fate curiously
+enough again intervened. We were caught in a storm on a long country
+excursion, my stepmother got a severe chill and within a week was dead.
+We returned to Haynthorpe, my father being now in a very precarious state
+of health, Henshaw followed us with a pertinacity that was almost
+devilish. But I now ventured to defy his threats of exposing me; he
+strenuously denied any such intention and declared himself madly in love
+with me. I had now taken courage enough to reject him uncompromisingly; I
+forbade him ever to speak to me again, and, as after that he disappeared
+from the village, began to flatter myself that I had got rid of him.
+
+"My father grew worse now from day to day; he lingered through the summer
+and with the chill days of autumn the end came. Dick hurried home and
+arrived just in time to see him alive. He left a much larger fortune than
+we had supposed him to possess, and Dick, always fond of sport, was soon
+in negotiation for this place which had come into the market.
+
+"No sooner had we settled in here than, to my horror, Clement Henshaw
+began to renew his persecution. He had evidently heard that I had
+inherited a good share of my father's fortune, and was worth making
+another effort for. He recommenced to write to me, he came down secretly
+and waylaid me, and when everything else failed he resorted to threats,
+not veiled as before, but open and unmistakable. He vowed that if I
+persisted in refusing to marry him he would take good care that I should
+never marry any one else. He held, he said, my reputation in his hand; he
+hoped he should never have to use his power, but I ought to consider the
+state of his feelings towards me and not goad him to desperate measures.
+In short he took all the joy out of my life, for I had come from mere
+dislike simply to loathe the man who could show himself such a dastardly
+cad. And the worst of it was that I saw no way out of it. Dick is a good
+fellow and very fond of me, but, although you might not think it, he is
+almost absurdly proud of the family name and its unsmirched record. And
+if I had confided in him, and he had horsewhipped Henshaw, what good
+could that have done? It would simply have infuriated the man, who would
+have at once made public my escapade, and few people would have given me
+the credit of its being innocent. Dick had just sunk a large part of his
+fortune in this place, he had taken over the hounds and was certain of
+becoming popular. All that would be nullified and upset if this man,
+Henshaw, chose to let loose his tongue. For how could I even pretend to
+deny his story? At the very least the truth would mean a hateful
+reflection on my dead father, and the whole thing would have led to an
+intolerable scandal. Yet it seemed as though this could be avoided in no
+other way but by marrying my persecutor, a man whom I had reason to hate
+and who had shown himself to be such an unchivalrous bully. About this
+time--that is shortly before the Hunt Ball--rumours had got about the
+neighbourhood that I was going to marry Lord Painswick. He was certainly
+paying me a good deal of attention, and I fancy Dick would have liked
+the match, but I could not bring myself to care for Painswick, and indeed
+his courtship only added to my other worries.
+
+"But Clement Henshaw heard the rumour and it had naturally the effect of
+rousing his wretched pursuit of me to greater activity. He vowed with
+brutal vehemence that I should not marry Painswick, and declared that
+when our engagement was announced he would tell him the story he had
+against me. That in itself did not trouble me much since I had no
+intention of marrying Painswick; still the man's relentless persecution
+was getting more than I could bear.
+
+"I now come to the night of the Hunt Ball. For some days previously I had
+seen or heard nothing of Henshaw, and had even begun to hope that
+something might have happened to make the man abandon his line of
+conduct. I might have known him better. To my intense annoyance and
+dismay I saw him come into the ballroom with all the hateful assurance
+that was so familiar to me. I could not well escape, seeing that I was
+acting as hostess. For a while he, beyond a formal greeting, let me
+alone. But I felt what was surely coming, and it was almost a relief when
+he took an opportunity of asking for a dance.
+
+"He must have seen the hate in my eyes as in my hesitation they met his,
+for he said with a forced laugh, 'You need not do violence to your
+feelings by dancing with me, Miss Morriston, if you don't care to, but
+there is something I must say to you. Let us come out of the crowd to
+where we shall not be overheard.'
+
+"I had never felt so madly furious with the man as at that moment; and it
+was with a reckless desire to tell him in strong language my opinion of
+his tactics, to insult him, if that were possible, to declare that I
+would die rather than yield to him, that I led the way to the tower. My
+desire to get out of the crowd was even greater than his, for a mad hope
+possessed me that in some desperate way I might bring our relations to a
+final issue.
+
+"We went into the sitting-out room. 'Some one will be coming in here,' he
+objected. 'Is there a room upstairs where we can talk?'
+
+"'There is a room up there,' I answered, as steadily as my indignation
+would let me, and unheeding the idea of compromising myself I went up the
+dark staircase in front of him. Naturally the idea that our stormy
+interview was to have a witness would have been the last thing to enter
+my mind; it never occurred to me to make sure no one was already in the
+room when we entered it.
+
+"You know what happened, Mr. Gifford, so I need not go through that. The
+man showed himself the cowardly bully that he was. Somehow up there
+alone with him, as at least I thought, in the dark, my courage gave way,
+and it was only when the man sought in his vehemence to take hold of me
+that anger and disgust cast out fear. It was quite by accident that I
+touched and caught up the chisel lying on the window-sill. As the man's
+hand sought me it struck the edge of the chisel, and got a wound; that
+must have been how the blood came upon my dress. He seized my arm, and
+after a struggle wrenched the implement away. But I never struck him
+with it, far from giving him his death-blow. The chisel was never in my
+hand afterwards. When I rushed for the door in a sudden panic, for,
+knowing that I had hurt him, I believed the man in his rage might be
+capable of anything, and when in springing after me he stumbled and
+fell, the chisel must have been held by him edge upwards, and so pierced
+him to his death."
+
+"That, I am certain now," Gifford said, "is what must have happened."
+
+"And you thought I had stabbed him?" the girl said with a
+reproachful smile.
+
+"I hardly dare ask you to forgive me for harbouring such a thought," he
+replied. "Yet had it been true I, who had been a witness of the man's
+vile conduct, could never have blamed you. If ever an act was
+justifiable--"
+
+An elongated shadow shot forward on the ground in front of them. Gifford
+stopped abruptly, and with an involuntary action his companion clutched
+his arm as both looked up expectantly. Next moment Gervase Henshaw stood
+before them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+DEFIANCE
+
+
+For some moments Henshaw did not speak; indeed, it was probable that the
+unexpected success of his search for Edith Morriston--for such doubtless
+was his object--had so disagreeably startled him, that he was unable to
+pull those sharp wits of his together at once. But the expression which
+flashed into his eyes, and that came instantaneously, was of so vengeful
+and threatening a character, that Gifford felt glad he was there to
+protect the girl from her now enraged persecutor.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here, Miss Morriston."
+
+The words came sharply and wrathfully, when the man had found his
+glib tongue.
+
+Gifford answered. "Miss Morriston and I have been enjoying the view and
+the air of the pines."
+
+The commonplace remark naturally, as it was intended, went for nothing.
+Henshaw affected not to notice it.
+
+"I am glad I have come across you, Miss Morriston," he said, with an
+evident curbing of his chagrin, "as I have something rather important to
+say to you."
+
+"I am afraid I cannot hear it now, Mr. Henshaw," the girl returned
+coldly.
+
+Henshaw's face darkened. "I really must ask you to grant me an interview
+without delay," he retorted insistently, as though secure in his sense of
+power over the girl. "I am sure Mr. Gifford will permit--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford will do nothing of the sort," came the bold and rather
+startling reply from the person alluded to. "As a friend of Miss
+Morriston's I do not intend to allow you to hold any more private
+conversations with her."
+
+No doubt with his knowledge of the world and of his own advantage Henshaw
+put down Gifford's resolute speech to mere bluff. And Gervase Henshaw was
+too old a legal practitioner to be bluffed. "I do not for a moment admit
+your right to interfere," he retorted with an assumption of calm
+superiority. "I am addressing myself to Miss Morriston, who does not, I
+hope, approve of your somewhat singular manners."
+
+Gifford took a step out of the summerhouse and sternly faced Henshaw. "I
+am sure Miss Morriston will endorse anything I choose to say to a man who
+has constituted himself her cowardly persecutor," he said. "Now we don't
+want to have a dispute in a lady's presence," he added as Henshaw began
+an angry rejoinder. "You have got, unless you wish very unpleasant
+consequences to follow, to render an account to me, as Miss Morriston's
+friend, of your abominable conduct towards her. But not here. You had
+better come to my room at the hotel at three o'clock this afternoon and
+hear what I shall have to say. And in the meantime you will address Miss
+Morriston only at the risk of a horsewhipping."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him steadfastly through eyes that blazed with
+hate. "I wonder if you quite know whom and what you are trying to
+champion," he snarled.
+
+"Perfectly," was the cool reply. "A much wronged and cruelly persecuted
+lady. You had better postpone what you have to say till this afternoon,
+when we will come to an understanding as to your conduct. Now, as you are
+on private land, you had better take the nearest way to the public road."
+
+Henshaw looked as though he would have liked to bring the dispute to the
+issue of a physical encounter, had but the coward in him dared. "I am
+here by permission," he returned, standing his ground.
+
+"Which has been rescinded by the vile use to which you have chosen to put
+it," Gifford rejoined. "I have Miss Morriston's authority to treat you as
+a trespasser, and to order you off her brother's land."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step. "Very well, Mr. Gifford," he returned with an
+ugly sneer. "You talk with great confidence now, but we shall see. You
+will be wiser by this time tomorrow."
+
+With that he turned and walked off; Gifford, after watching him for a
+while, went back to the summer-house.
+
+"I have put things in the right train there," he remarked with a
+confident laugh. "I hope to be able to tell you this evening that Mr.
+Henshaw is a thing of the past."
+
+"You are very sanguine," she said, a little doubtfully. "I am afraid you
+do not know the man."
+
+"I'm afraid I do," he replied. "He is obviously not an easy person to
+deal with. But I think I see my way. Tell me. He has threatened you in
+order to induce you to elope with him?"
+
+"Yes. He has found evidence among his brother's correspondence of the
+hold he had over me and of his persecution. That would afford a
+sufficient motive for my killing him; and how could I prove that I did
+not strike the blow?"
+
+"It might be difficult," Gifford answered thoughtfully. "But I may be
+able to do it. Of course he knows you to be an heiress."
+
+"I am sure of that from something he once let slip. It has been my
+inheritance which has brought all this trouble upon me, at any rate its
+persistency."
+
+"Yes. This man must be something of an adventurer, as his brother was. We
+shall see," Gifford said with a grim touch. "Now, I must not keep you
+any longer. I am so grateful for the confidence you have given me. May I
+call later on and tell you the result?"
+
+Her eyes were on him in an almost piteous searching for hope in his
+resolute face. "Of course," she responded. "I shall be so terribly
+anxious to know."
+
+Chivalrously avoiding any suggestion of tenderness, he shook hands and
+went off towards the town.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ISSUE JOINED
+
+
+Punctually at the appointed time Gervase Henshaw was shown into
+Gifford's room. Kelson had received from his friend a hint of what was
+afoot and had naturally offered his services to back Gifford up, but
+they were refused.
+
+"It is very kind of you, Harry," Gifford had said, "and just what one
+would have expected from you. But, as you shall hear later, this is not a
+business in which you or any one could usefully intervene. In fact it
+would be dangerous for me, considering the man I am dealing with, to say
+what I have to say before a third person."
+
+So Kelson went off to spend the afternoon at the Tredworths'.
+
+When Henshaw came in his expression bore no indication of the terms on
+which he and Gifford had lately parted. The keen face was unruffled and
+almost genial; but Gifford was not the man to be deceived by that outward
+seeming. Henshaw bowed and took the chair the other indicated. There was
+a short pause as though each waited for the other to begin. In the end it
+was Gifford who spoke first.
+
+"I should like to come to an understanding with you, Mr. Henshaw, with
+regard to a very serious annoyance, not to say persecution, to which Miss
+Morriston has been subjected at your hands." Henshaw drew back his thin
+lips in a smile. "I have to tell you," Gifford continued, "once and for
+all that it must cease."
+
+"Miss Morriston authorizes you to tell me that?" The question was put
+with something like a sneer.
+
+"I should hope it requires no authority," Gifford retorted. "Having
+cognizance of what has been going on, it is my plain duty--"
+
+"Why yours?" Henshaw interrupted coolly.
+
+"For a very good reason," Gifford replied; "one which I may have to tell
+you presently."
+
+He saw Henshaw flush and dart a glance of hate at him. It was plain he
+had misinterpreted the reply. But the exhibition was only momentary.
+
+"Admitting in the meantime your right to interfere," Henshaw said, now
+with perfect coolness, "allow me to tell you that you are taking a very
+foolish course."
+
+"I shall be glad to know how."
+
+"The reason is, that if you have any regard, as you suggest, for Miss
+Morriston, you are going the right way to do her a terrible injury."
+
+Gifford rose and stood by the fire-place. "To come to the point at once
+without further preliminary fencing," he said quietly, "you mean, I take
+it, that I am forcing you to denounce her as being guilty of your
+brother's death."
+
+For an instant Henshaw seemed taken aback by the other's directness.
+"There can be no doubt, holding the evidence I do, that she was guilty of
+it," he retorted uncompromisingly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Henshaw," Gifford objected with decision, "there
+can be, and is, a very great deal more than a doubt of it."
+
+Henshaw shot a searching glance at the man who spoke so confidently, as
+though trying to probe what, if anything, was behind his words.
+
+"Perhaps you know then," he returned with his sneering smile, "how
+otherwise, if the lady had no hand in it, my brother came by his death?"
+
+"I do," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Then," still the smile of sneering incredulity, "it is clearly your duty
+to make it known."
+
+"Clearly," Gifford assented in a calm tone. "That is why I asked you to
+come here this afternoon."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him with a sort of malicious curiosity. In spite
+of his smartness he seemed at a loss to divine what the other was driving
+at, unless it were a well-studied line of bluff. But that Gifford could
+have, apart from what Edith Morriston might have told him, any intimate
+knowledge of the tragedy was inconceivable.
+
+"I shall be glad to hear what you have to say, Mr. Gifford," he
+responded, in perhaps much greater curiosity than he chose to show.
+
+"Then I have to inform you positively," Gifford answered, "that your
+brother's fatal wound was the result of a pure accident."
+
+Coming from Edith Morriston's champion, there was nothing surprising in
+that assertion. Certainly if that were the other's strong suit he could
+easily beat it. It was therefore in a tone of confidence and relief that
+he demanded, "You can prove it?"
+
+"I can."
+
+"By Miss Morriston's testimony?"
+
+"Not at all. By my own."
+
+"Your own?" Henshaw's question was put with a curling lip.
+
+"My own," Gifford repeated steadfastly.
+
+"May one ask what you mean by that?"
+
+Henshaw's contemptuous incredulity was by no means diminished even by the
+other's confident attitude.
+
+Gifford gave a short laugh. "Naturally you do not take my meaning.
+Obviously you think I am not a competent witness, that I know nothing
+except by hearsay. You are, extraordinary as it may seem, quite wrong.
+My testimony would be of nothing but what I myself saw and heard."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw had for a moment seemed to be calculating the
+probability of this monstrous suggestion being a fact, and had dismissed
+it with the contempt which showed itself in his question.
+
+"I mean," Gifford replied with quiet assurance, "that I happened to be a
+witness of the interview in the tower-room between your brother and Miss
+Morriston, that I was there when he received his death-wound, and that it
+was I whom the girl Haynes saw descending by a rope from the top window."
+
+Henshaw had started to his feet, his face working with an almost
+passionate astonishment. "You--you tell me all that," he cried, "and
+expect me to believe it?"
+
+"I have told you and shall tell you nothing," was the cool reply, "that I
+am not prepared to state on oath in the witness-box."
+
+For a while Henshaw seemed without the power to reply, dumbfounded, as
+his active brain tried to realize the probabilities of the declaration.
+"It seems to me," he said at length in a voice of which he was scarcely
+master, "that, whether your statement is true or otherwise, you are
+placing yourself in an uncommonly dangerous position, Mr. Gifford."
+
+"I am aware that I am inviting a certain amount of ugly suspicion,"
+Gifford agreed, "but the truth, which might have remained a mystery, has
+been forced from me by the necessity of protecting Miss Morriston.
+Perhaps you had better hear a frank account of the whole story, and the
+explanation of what I admit you are so far justified in setting down as
+concocted and wildly improbable."
+
+"I should very much like to hear it," Henshaw returned in a tone which
+held out no promise of credence.
+
+Thereupon Gifford gave him a terse account of the events and the chance
+which had led him into the tower and to be a secret witness of what
+happened there. Remembering that he was addressing the dead man's
+brother, he recounted the details of the interview without feeling;
+indeed he threw no more colour into it than if he had been opening a
+case in court. He simply stated the facts without comment. Henshaw
+listened to the singular story in an attitude of doggedly unemotional
+attention. Lawyer-like he restrained all tendency to interrupt the
+narrative and asked no question as it proceeded. Nevertheless it was
+clear he was thinking keenly, eager to note any weak points which he
+could turn to use.
+
+When the recital had come to an end he said coolly--
+
+"Your story is a very extraordinary one, Mr. Gifford; I won't call it, as
+it seems at first sight, wildly improbable, but it is at any rate an
+almost incredible coincidence. With your knowledge of the law I need
+scarcely remind you that the facts as you have just recounted them place
+you in a rather unenviable position."
+
+"As I have already said," Gifford replied, "my story is calculated to
+suggest suspicion against me. But I am prepared to risk that
+consequence."
+
+"In court," Henshaw observed, with a malicious smile, "handled by a
+counsel who knew his business, your statement could be given a very ugly
+turn indeed."
+
+"As I have just told you," Gifford returned quietly, "I would take that
+risk rather than allow Miss Morriston to remain longer under suspicion.
+As for myself I should have every confidence in the result."
+
+"It is well to be sanguine," Henshaw sneered. "If you have not already
+done so, are you prepared to repeat your story to the police?"
+
+"Most certainly I am, if necessary," was the prompt answer. "But I do not
+fancy you will wish me to do so."
+
+Henshaw's look was one of surprise, real or affected. "Indeed? Why so?"
+
+"I will tell you," Gifford replied with a touch of sternness. "Because it
+would be absolutely against your interest. For one thing it would, short
+of absolute proof, leave still the shadow of doubt over your brother's
+death, it would effectually put a stop to your designs on Miss Morriston,
+which in any case must come to an end, and it would show up your dead
+brother's character and conduct in a very disreputable light. Now what I
+have to say to you is this. I know that, following in your brother's
+footsteps, you have been subjecting Miss Morriston to an amount of very
+hateful persecution. There may have been a certain excuse for it, at any
+rate a degree of temptation, but your designs have not been welcome to
+the lady, and they must forthwith come to an end. Now unless you
+undertake to cease your attentions to Miss Morriston, in short to put an
+end at once and for all to this persecution, I shall effectually remove
+the hold you imagine you have over her by going straight to the police,
+giving them the real story of what happened in the tower that night and
+as a natural consequence shall give evidence to that effect at the
+adjourned inquest. You will know best whether it would be worth your
+while to force me to do this. I simply state the position."
+
+He waited for Henshaw's answer. The man was plainly cornered and seemed
+to be divided between a desire to let Gifford go on and place himself in
+a dangerous situation, and the more expedient course of raising a scandal
+which would touch him as well as disgrace his dead brother.
+
+"This is a clever piece of bluff, Mr. Gifford," he said at
+length; "but--"
+
+"It is no bluff at all," Gifford interrupted firmly. "I am merely
+determined to take the obvious course to save Miss Morriston from
+something a good deal worse than annoyance. I have no wish to discredit
+the dead, but I must remind you that the persecution of Miss Morriston by
+your brother had gone on for a very considerable time, and had latterly
+developed into an atrocious system of bullying. It is not an occasion for
+mincing one's expressions, and I must say that in my opinion your own
+conduct has been very little, if any, better; and that will be the
+judgment of every decent man if the truth comes out, as come out it
+shall, unless you agree to my terms before you leave this room."
+
+For a while Henshaw made no reply. He sat thinking strenuously, evidently
+weighing his chances, estimating the strength of his adversary's
+position. Now and again he shot a glance, half probing, half sullen, at
+Gifford, who leaned back against the mantelpiece coolly awaiting his
+answer. At length he spoke.
+
+"This is a very fine piece of bravado, Mr. Gifford. But I am not such a
+fool as it pleases you to think me. It is very good of you to explain to
+me my position in this affair; I am, however, quite capable of seeing
+that for myself. And you can hardly expect me to look upon your
+gratuitous advice as disinterested."
+
+The man was talking to gain time; Gifford shrewdly guessed that. "I
+might be pardoned for supposing you do not altogether realize how you
+stand," he replied quietly. "But, after all, that is, as you suggest,
+your affair."
+
+Henshaw forced a smile. "The point of view is everything," he said in a
+preoccupied tone; "and ours, yours and mine, are diametrically opposed."
+
+"The point of view which perhaps ought most to be considered," Gifford
+retorted with rising impatience, "is that of the honourable profession to
+which we both belong. If you are prepared to face the odium, professional
+and social, of an exposure--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him with a wave of the hand. "You may apply that to
+yourself and to your friend, Miss Morriston," he said sharply. "I can
+take care of myself, thank you."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Very well, then. There is no more to be said." He
+crossed the room and took up his hat. "I will go and see Major Freeman at
+once." At the door he turned, to see with surprise and a certain
+satisfaction that Henshaw, although he had risen from his chair, seemed
+in no hurry to move. "You are coming with me," he suggested. "It would be
+quite in order, I think, for you to be present at my statement--unless
+you prefer not."
+
+It seemed clear that the rather foxy Gervase Henshaw had really more than
+suspected a studied game of bluff. But now Gifford's attitude tended to
+put that out of the question.
+
+"In the circumstances, as your statement will consist mainly of a slander
+against me and my dead brother," Henshaw replied sullenly, "I prefer to
+keep out of the business for the present. I fancy," he added with an ugly
+significance, "that the police will be quite equal to dealing with the
+situation without any assistance or intervention from me."
+
+Gifford ignored the covert threat. "Very well, then," he said, throwing
+open the door and standing aside for Henshaw to pass out; "I will go
+alone. Yes; it will be better."
+
+But Henshaw did not move.
+
+"I don't quite gather," he said in answer to Gifford's glance of inquiry,
+"exactly what your object is in taking this step."
+
+"I should have thought--" Gifford began.
+
+"Is it," Henshaw proceeded, falling back now to his ordinary lawyer-like
+tone--"is it merely to checkmate what you are pleased to call my designs
+upon Miss Morriston?"
+
+"That will be a mere incidental result," Gifford answered, shutting the
+door and coming back into the room. "My object is to put it, at once and
+for all, out of your power to hold over Miss Morriston the threat that
+she is at any moment liable to be accused--by you of all people--of your
+brother's murder, and so suggest that she is in your power."
+
+"Why do you say by me, of all people?"
+
+"You who profess an affection for her."
+
+"Your word profess scarcely does me justice, Mr. Gifford," Henshaw
+returned, drawing back his shut lips. "I had, and have, a very sincere
+affection for Edith Morriston, which, it seems, I am not to be allowed to
+declare or even have credit for. As a man of the world you can hardly
+pretend to be ignorant of what a man will do when his happiness is at
+stake. What he does under such a stress is no guide to his real feelings.
+But we need not labour that point. My affection, genuine or not, seems to
+be in no fair way to be requited, and I had already made up my mind to
+leave it at that. I have merely kept up the game to this point out of
+curiosity to see how far your--shall we say knight-errantry?--would lead
+you. I will now relieve you from the necessity of going through an act of
+Quixotic folly which would assuredly, sooner or later, have unpleasant
+consequences for you."
+
+So Gifford realized with a thrill of pleasure that he had won. He felt
+that in much of his speech the man was lying; that no consideration of
+mere unrequited affection had induced him to abandon his design.
+
+"I am glad to hear you have come to a sensible conclusion," he said as
+coolly as the sense of triumph would let him. "Whatever happened you
+could hardly have expected your--plans to succeed."
+
+"I don't know that," Henshaw retorted, with a touch of a beaten man's
+malice. "Anyhow I have my own ideas on the subject. But looking into the
+future with my brother's blood between us I think it might have turned
+out a hideous mistake."
+
+"A safe conjecture," Gifford commented, between indignation and amusement
+at the cool way the man was now trying to save his face.
+
+"Anyhow there's an end of it," Henshaw said with an air and gesture of
+half scornfully dismissing the affair. "And so I bid you good afternoon."
+
+As he walked towards the door Gifford intercepted him.
+
+"Not quite so fast, Mr. Henshaw," he said resolutely. "We can't leave the
+affair like this."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw ejaculated, with a look which was half
+defiant, half apprehensive.
+
+"You have heard my story," Gifford pursued with steady decisiveness,
+"and have, I presume, accepted it."
+
+"For what it is worth." The smart of defeat prompted the futile reply.
+
+"That won't do at all," Gifford returned with sternness. "You either
+accept the account I have just given you, or you do not."
+
+There was something like murder in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "This
+bullying attitude is what I might expect from you. To put an end,
+however, to this most unpleasant interview you may take it that I accept
+your statement."
+
+"To the absolute exoneration of Miss Morriston?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"I must have your assurance in writing."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step and for a moment showed signs of an
+uncompromising refusal. "You are going a little too far, Mr. Gifford,"
+he said doggedly.
+
+"Not at all," Gifford retorted. "It is imperatively necessary."
+
+"Is it?" Henshaw sneered. "For what purpose?"
+
+"For Miss Morriston's protection."
+
+The sneer deepened. "I should have thought that purpose quite negligible,
+seeing how valiantly the lady is already protected. But I have no
+objection," he added in an offhand tone, "as you seem to distrust the
+lasting power of bluff, to give you an extra safeguard. Indeed I think it
+just as well, all things considered, that Miss Morriston should have it.
+Give me a pen and a sheet of paper." Henshaw's manner was now the
+quintessence of insolence, but Gifford could afford, although it cost him
+an effort, to ignore it. With the practised pen of a lawyer Henshaw
+quickly wrote down a short declaration, signing it with a flourish and
+then flicking it across the table to Gifford. "That should meet the
+case," he said, leaning back confidently and thrusting his hands into his
+pockets. Dealing with one who, like himself, was learned in the law he
+had, to save trouble, written a terse declaration which he knew should be
+quite acceptable. It simply stated that from certain facts which had come
+to his knowledge he was quite satisfied that his brother's death had been
+caused by an accident, and that no one was to blame for it, and he
+thereby undertook to make no future charge or imputation against any one,
+in connexion therewith.
+
+"Yes, that will do," Gifford answered curtly when he had read the
+few lines.
+
+Henshaw rose with a rather mocking smile. "I congratulate you on
+your--luck, Mr. Gifford," he said with a studied emphasis, and so
+left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+With the precious declaration in his pocket Gifford lost no time in going
+to Wynford Place. His light heart must have been reflected in his face,
+for Edith Morriston's anxious look brightened as she joined him in the
+drawing-room. All the same it seemed as though she almost feared to ask
+the result, and he was the first to speak.
+
+"I bring you good news, Miss Morriston. You have nothing more to fear
+from Gervase Henshaw."
+
+"Ah!" She caught her breath, and for a moment seemed unable to respond.
+"Tell me," she said at length, almost breathlessly.
+
+"I have had a long and, as you may imagine, not very pleasant interview
+with the fellow," he answered quietly; "and am happy to say I won all
+along the line."
+
+"You won? You mean--?"
+
+He had taken the declaration from his pocket-book and for answer handed
+it to her. With a manifest effort to control her feelings she read it
+eagerly. Then her voice trembled as she spoke.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, what can I say? I wish I knew how to thank you."
+
+"Please don't try," he replied lightly. "If you only knew the pleasure it
+has given me to get the better of this fellow you would hardly consider
+thanks necessary. Would you care to hear a short account of what
+happened?" he added tactfully, with the intention, seeing how painful the
+revulsion was, of giving her time to recover from her agitation.
+
+"Please; do tell me." She spoke mechanically, still hardly able to trust
+her voice above a whisper.
+
+They sat down and he related the salient points of his interview with
+Henshaw. "It was lucky that I happened to have something of a hold over
+him," he concluded with a laugh; "Mr. Gervase Henshaw is not wanting in
+determination, and it took a long time to persuade him that he could not
+possibly win the game he was playing; but he stood to lose more heavily
+than he could afford. The conclusion, however, was at last borne in upon
+him that the position he had taken up was untenable, and that paper is
+the result."
+
+"That paper," she said in a low voice, "means life to me instead of a
+living death; it means more than I can tell you, more than even you can
+understand."
+
+He had risen, but before he could speak she had come to him and
+impulsively taken his hand. "Mr. Gifford," she said, "tell me how I can
+repay you."
+
+Her eyes met his; they were full of gratitude and something more. But he
+resisted the temptation to answer her question in the way it was plain to
+him he was invited to do.
+
+"It is reward enough for me to have served you," he responded steadily.
+"Seeing that chance gave me the power, I could do no less."
+
+"You would have risked your life for mine," she persisted, her eyes
+still on him.
+
+"Hardly that," he returned, with an effort to force a smile. "But had it
+been necessary, I should have been quite content to do so."
+
+"And you will not tell me how I can show my gratitude?"
+
+"I did not do it for reward," he murmured, scarcely able to
+restrain himself.
+
+"I am sure of that," she assented. "But you once hinted, or at any rate
+led me to believe, that I could repay you."
+
+There could be no pretence of ignoring her meaning now. Still he felt
+that chivalry forbade his acceptance.
+
+"I was wrong," he replied with an effort, "and most unfair if I suggested
+a bargain."
+
+"Have you repented the suggestion?" she asked almost quizzingly and with
+a curious absence of her characteristic pride.
+
+"Only in a sense," he answered. "I hope I am too honourable to take an
+unfair advantage."
+
+She laughed now; joyously, it seemed. "If your scruples are so strong
+there will be nothing for it but for me to throw away mine and offer
+myself to you."
+
+"Edith," he exclaimed in a flash of rapture, then, checked the passionate
+impulse to take her in his arms. "You must not; not now, not now. It is
+not fair to yourself. At the moment of your release from this horrible
+danger you cannot be master of yourself. You must not mistake gratitude
+for love."
+
+Edith drew back with a touch of resentful pride.
+
+"If you think I don't know my own mind--" she began.
+
+"Does any one know his own mind at such a crisis as you have just passed
+through?" he said, a little wistfully. "Edith," he went on as he took her
+unresisting hand, "you must not be offended with me. Think. The whole
+object of what I have done for you has been to set you free, as free as
+though you had woke up to find the episode of these Henshaws had been no
+more than a horrible dream. You must be free, you must realize and enjoy
+your freedom. You are now relieved from the crushing weight you have
+borne so long; the release must be untouched by the shadow of a bargain
+expressed or implied. That is the only way in which a man of honour can
+regard the position."
+
+"Very well," she returned simply, "I understand. I am sorry for my
+mistake."
+
+Her manner shook his resolution. "I can't think you understand," he
+replied forcibly. "I only ask, in fairness to yourself, for time. Don't
+think that I am not desperately in love with you. You must have seen it,
+ever since our first confidential talk, that night at the Stograve dance.
+And my love has gone on increasing every day till--oh, you don't know how
+cruelly hard it is to resist taking you at your word. But I can't, I
+simply can't snatch at an unfair advantage, however great the temptation.
+I must give you time, time to know your own heart when the nightmare
+shall have passed away. I propose to return to town as soon as this man
+Henshaw has cleared out of the neighbourhood. Will you let us be as we
+are for a month, Edith, and if then you are of the same mind, send me a
+line and I will come to you by the first train. Is not that only fair?"
+
+She gave a little sigh of contentment. "Very well," she said, "if that
+will satisfy you."
+
+He took her hand. "It will seem a horribly long time to wait; but I
+feel it is right. Today is the 16th; on this day month I shall hear
+from you?"
+
+"Yes, on the 16th," she answered.
+
+"And so," he said, "you are free, unless you call me back to you."
+
+"That is understood," she said with a smile.
+
+He might have kissed her lips, her look into his eyes was almost an
+invitation, but, having steeled himself to be scrupulously fair, he
+refrained and contented himself with kissing her hand.
+
+On reaching the hotel he heard with satisfaction that Henshaw had gone
+off by the late afternoon train and had suggested the unlikelihood of his
+returning. "So I suppose he is content to let the mystery remain a
+mystery," the landlord remarked. And the Coroner's jury subsequently had
+perforce to come to the same conclusion.
+
+On the 16th of the following month, Hugh Gifford's impatience and
+anxiety were set at rest, as the morning's post brought the expected
+letter from Wynford.
+
+"Dick and I are expecting you here tomorrow, unless you have changed your
+mind--I have not. The 3.15 train shall be met if you do not wire to the
+contrary."
+
+When Gifford jumped out of the 3.15 Edith was on the platform. As they
+shook hands he read in her eyes an unwonted happiness and knew for
+certain that all was well.
+
+"I had something to do in the town and thought I might as well come on to
+the station," Edith said with a lurking smile.
+
+"I am glad you have not added even a half-hour to this long month," he
+replied as they took their seats in the carriage.
+
+"It has been long," she murmured.
+
+"Long enough to set our doubts at rest."
+
+"I never had any," she replied quietly. He drew her to him and
+kissed her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Hunt Ball Mystery, by Magnay, William
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10029 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #10029 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10029)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hunt Ball Mystery, by Magnay, William
+
+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 Hunt Ball Mystery
+
+Author: Magnay, William
+
+Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10029]
+[Date last updated: January 29, 2005]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUNT BALL MYSTERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         THE HUNT BALL MYSTERY
+
+                       BY SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY, Bt.
+
+Author of "A Prince of Lovers," "The Mystery of the Unicorn," etc., etc.
+
+                                 1918
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+Chap
+
+      I THE INTRUDER
+
+     II THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+    III THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+     IV THE MISSING GUEST
+
+      V THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+     VI THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+    VII THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+   VIII KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     IX THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+      X AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+     XI GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+    XII HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+   XIII WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+    XIV GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     XV ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+    XVI AN EXPLANATION
+
+   XVII WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+  XVIII THE LOST BROOCH
+
+    XIX IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+     XX AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+    XXI GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+   XXII HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+  XXIII EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+   XXIV HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+    XXV DEFIANCE
+
+   XXVI ISSUE JOINED
+
+  XXVII GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE INTRUDER
+
+
+"I'm afraid it must have gone on in the van, sir."
+
+"Gone on!" Hugh Gifford exclaimed angrily. "But you had no business to
+send the train on till all the luggage was put out."
+
+"The guard told me that all the luggage for Branchester was out," the
+porter protested deprecatingly. "You see, sir, the train was nearly
+twenty minutes late, and in his hurry to get off he must have overlooked
+your suit-case."
+
+"The very thing I wanted most," the owner returned. "I say, Kelson," he
+went on, addressing a tall, soldierly man who strolled up, "a nice thing
+has happened; the train has gone off with my evening clothes."
+
+Kelson whistled. "Are you sure?"
+
+"Quite." Gifford appealed to the porter, who regretfully confirmed the
+statement.
+
+"That's awkward to-night," Kelson commented with a short laugh of
+annoyance. "Look here, we'd better interview the station-master, and have
+your case wired for to the next stop. I am sorry, old fellow, I kept you
+talking instead of letting you look after your rattle-traps, but I was so
+glad to see you again after all this long time."
+
+"Thanks, my dear Harry, you've nothing to blame yourself about. It was my
+own fault being so casual. The nuisance is that if I don't get the
+suit-case back in time I shan't be able to go with you to-night."
+
+"No," his friend responded; "that would be a blow. And it's going to
+be a ripping dance. Dick Morriston, who hunts the hounds, is doing the
+thing top-hole. Now let's see what the worthy and obliging Prior can
+do for us."
+
+The station-master was prepared to do everything in his power, but
+that did not extend to altering the times of the trains or shortening
+the mileage they had to travel. He wired for the suit-case to be put
+out at Medford, the next stop, some forty miles on, and sent back by
+the next up-train. "But that," he explained, "is a slow one and is
+not due here till 9.47. However, I'll send it on directly it arrives,
+and you should get it by ten o'clock or a few minutes after. You are
+staying at the _Lion_?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Not more than ten or twelve minutes' drive. I'll do my best and there
+shall be no delay."
+
+The two men thanked him and walked out to the station yard, where a
+porter waited with the rest of Gifford's luggage.
+
+"There is a gentleman here going to the _Lion_" he said with a rather
+embarrassed air; "I told him your fly was engaged, sir; but he said
+perhaps you would let him share it with you."
+
+Kelson looked black. "I like the way some people have of taking things
+for granted. Cheek, I call it. He had better wait or walk."
+
+"The gentleman said he was in a hurry, sir," the porter observed
+apologetically.
+
+"No reason why he should squash us up in the fly," Kelson returned. "I'll
+have a word with the gentleman. Where is he?"
+
+"I think he is in the fly, sir."
+
+"The devil he is! We'll have him out, Hugh. Infernally cool." And he
+strode off towards the waiting fly.
+
+"Better see what sort of chap he is before you go for him, Harry,"
+Gifford said deprecatingly as he followed. He knew his masterful friend's
+quick temper, and anticipated a row.
+
+"If you don't mind, this is my fly, sir," Kelson was saying as Gifford
+reached him.
+
+"The porter told me it was the _Golden Lion_ conveyance," a strong,
+deeply modulated voice replied from the fly.
+
+"And I think he told you it was engaged," Kelson rejoined bluffly.
+
+"I did not quite understand that," the voice of the occupant replied in
+an even tone. "I am sorry if there has been any misunderstanding; but as
+I am going to the hotel--"
+
+"That is no reason why you should take our fly," Kelson retorted, his
+temper rising at the other's coolness. "I must ask you to vacate it at
+once," he added with heat.
+
+"How many of you are there?" The man leaned forward showing in the
+doorway a handsome face, dark almost to swarthiness. "Only two? Surely
+there is no need to turn me out. You don't want to play the dog in the
+manger. There is room for all three, and I shall be happy to contribute
+my share of the fare."
+
+"I don't want anything of the sort--"
+
+Kelson was beginning angrily when Gifford intervened pacifically.
+
+"It is all right, Harry. We can squeeze in. The fellow seems more or less
+a gentleman; don't let's be churlish," he added in an undertone.
+
+"But it is infernal impudence," Kelson protested.
+
+"Yes; but we don't want a row. It is not as though there was another
+conveyance he could take."
+
+"All right. I suppose we shall have to put up with the brute," Kelson
+assented grudgingly. "But I hate being bounced like this."
+
+Gifford took a step to the carriage-door. "I think we can all three pack
+in," he said civilly.
+
+"I'll take the front seat, if you like," the stranger said, without,
+however, showing much inclination to move.
+
+"Oh, no; stay where you are," Gifford answered. "I fancy I am the
+smallest of the three; I shall be quite comfortable there. Come
+along, Harry."
+
+With no very amiable face Kelson got in and took the vacant seat by the
+stranger. His attitude was not conducive to geniality, and so for a while
+there was silence. At length as they turned from the station approach on
+to the main road the stranger spoke. His deep-toned voice had a musical
+ring in it, yet somehow to Gifford's way of thinking it was detestable.
+Perhaps it was the speaker's rather aggressive and, to a man,
+objectionable personality, which made it seem so.
+
+"I am sorry to inconvenience you," he said, more with an air of saying
+the right thing than from any real touch of regret. "On an occasion like
+this they ought to provide more conveyances. But country towns are
+hopeless."
+
+"Oh, it is all right," Gifford responded politely. "The drive is not
+very long."
+
+"A mile?" The man's musical inflection jarred on Gifford, who began to
+wonder whether their companion could be a professional singer. One of
+their own class he certainly was not.
+
+"I presume you gentlemen are going to the Hunt Ball?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered.
+
+"Rather a new departure having it in a private house," the man said.
+"Quite a sound idea, I have no doubt Morriston will do us as well--much
+better than we should fare at the local hotel or Assembly Rooms."
+
+"Are you going?" They were the first words Kelson had uttered since the
+start, and the slight surprise in their tone was not quite complimentary.
+It must have so struck the other, seeing that he replied with a touch of
+resentment:
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"No reason at all," Kelson answered, except that I don't remember to have
+seen you out with the Cumberbatch."
+
+"I dare say not," the other rejoined easily. "It is some years since I
+hunted with them. I'm living down in the south now, and when I'm at home
+usually turn out with the Bavistock. Quite a decent little pack, _faute
+de mieux_; and Bobby Amphlett, who hunts them, is a great pal of mine."
+
+"I see," Kelson observed guardedly. "Yes, I believe they are quite good
+as far as they go."
+
+The stranger gave a short laugh. "They, or rather a topping old dog-fox,
+took us an eleven mile point the other day, which was good enough in that
+country. Being in town I thought I would run down to this dance for old
+acquaintance' sake. Dare say one will meet some old friends."
+
+"No doubt," Kelson responded dryly.
+
+"As you have been good enough to ask me to share your fly," the man
+observed, with a rather aggressive touch of irony, "I may as well let you
+know who I am. My name is Henshaw, Clement Henshaw."
+
+"Any relation to Gervase Henshaw?" Gifford asked.
+
+"He is my brother. You know him?"
+
+"Only by reputation at my profession, the Bar. And I came across a book
+of his the other day."
+
+"Ah, yes. Gervase scribbles when he has time. He is by way of being an
+authority on criminology."
+
+"And is, I should say," Gifford added civilly.
+
+"Yes; he is a smart fellow. Has the brains of the family. I'm all for
+sport and the open-air life."
+
+"And yet," thought Gifford, glancing at the dark, rather intriguing face
+opposite to him, "you don't look a sportsman. More a _viveur_ than a
+regular open-air man, more at home in London or Paris than in the
+stubbles or covert." But he merely nodded acceptance of Henshaw's
+statement.
+
+"My name is Kelson," the soldier said, supplying an omission due to
+Henshaw's talk of himself. "I have hunted this country pretty regularly
+since I left the Service. And my friend is Hugh Gifford."
+
+"Gifford? Did not Wynford Place where we are going to-night belong to the
+Giffords?" Henshaw asked, curiosity overcoming tact.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered, "to an uncle of mine. He sold it lately to
+Morriston."
+
+"Ah; a pity. Fine old place," Henshaw observed casually. "Naturally you
+know it well."
+
+"I have had very good times there," Gifford answered, with a certain
+reserve as though disinclined to discuss the subject with a stranger. "I
+have come down now also for old acquaintance' sake," he added casually.
+
+"I see," Henshaw responded. "Not altogether pleasant, though, to see an
+old family place in the hands of strangers. Personally, when a thing is
+irrevocably gone, as, I take it, Wynford Place is, I believe in letting
+it slide out of one's mind, and having no sentiment about it."
+
+"No doubt a very convenient plan," Gifford replied dryly. "All the same,
+if I can retrieve my evening kit, which has gone astray, I hope to enjoy
+myself at Wynford Place to-night without being troubled with undue
+sentimentality."
+
+"Good," Henshaw responded with what seemed a half-smothered yawn. "Regret
+for a thing that is gone past recall does not pay; though as long as
+there is a chance of getting it I believe in never calling oneself
+beaten. Here we are at the _Lion_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+
+"What do you think of our acquaintance?" Gifford said as they settled
+down in the private room of Kelson, who made the _Golden Lion_ his
+hunting quarters.
+
+"Not much. In fact, I took a particular dislike to the fellow. Wrong type
+of sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Decidedly. Fine figure of a man and good-looking enough, but spoilt by
+that objectionable, cock-sure manner."
+
+"And I should say a by no means decent character."
+
+"A swanker to the finger-tips. And that implies a liar."
+
+"Not worth discussing," Kelson said. "He goes to-morrow. I made a point
+of inquiring how long he had engaged his room for. One night."
+
+"Good. Then we shan't be under the ungracious necessity of shaking him
+off. I can't tell you how sick I am, Harry, at the loss of my things."
+
+"No more than I am, my dear fellow. If only a suit of mine would fit you.
+But that's hopeless."
+
+They both laughed ruefully at the idea, for Captain Kelson looked nearly
+twice the size of his friend.
+
+"We'll hope they'll arrive in time for you to see something of the fun at
+any rate," Kelson said. "I'm in no hurry; I'll wait with you."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort, Harry," Gifford protested. "Do you
+think I can't amuse myself for an hour or two alone? You'll go off at the
+proper time. Absurd to wait till every decent girl's card is full."
+
+"I don't like it, Hugh."
+
+"Nor do I. But it is practically my fault in not looking sharper after my
+luggage, and better one should suffer than two."
+
+So it was arranged that Captain Kelson should go on alone and his
+guest should follow as soon as his clothes turned up and he could
+change into them.
+
+That settled, they sat down to dinner.
+
+"Tell me about the Morristons, Harry," Gifford said. "He is a very good
+fellow, isn't he?"
+
+"Dick Morriston? One of the best. Straight goer to hounds and straight in
+every other capacity, I should say. You know they used to live at Friar's
+Norton, near here, before they bought your uncle's place."
+
+"Yes, I know. What is the sister like?"
+
+"A fine, handsome girl," Kelson answered, without enthusiasm. "Rather too
+cold and statuesque for my taste, although I have heard she has a bit of
+the devil in her. Quite a sportswoman, and as good after hounds as her
+brother. They say she had a thin time of it with her step-mother, and has
+come out wonderfully since the old lady died. Lord Painswick, who lives
+near here, is supposed to be very sweet on her. Perhaps the affair will
+develop to-night. The ball will be rather a toney affair."
+
+"Morriston has plenty of money?"
+
+"Heaps. And the sister is an heiress too. The old man did not nearly live
+up to his income and there were big accumulations."
+
+"Which enabled the son to buy our property," Gifford said with a tinge
+of bitterness. "Well, it might have been worse. Wynford has not passed
+into the hands of some Jew millionaire or City speculator, but has gone
+to a gentleman, a good fellow and a sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Yes; Dick Morriston is all that. As the place had to go, you could not
+have found a better man to succeed your people."
+
+When the time came to start for the ball Gifford went down to see his
+friend off and to repeat his orders concerning the immediate delivery of
+his suit-case when it should arrive. Henshaw was in the hall, bulking big
+in a fur coat and complaining in a masterful tone of the unpunctuality of
+his fly. A handsome fellow, Gifford was constrained to acknowledge, and
+of a strong, positive character; the type of man, he thought, who could
+be very fascinating to women--and very brutal.
+
+He dropped his rather bullying manner as he caught sight of the two
+friends; and, noticing Gifford's morning clothes, made a casually
+sympathetic remark on his bad luck.
+
+"Oh, I shall come on when my things arrive, which ought to be soon,"
+Gifford responded coldly, disliking the man and his rather obvious
+insincerity.
+
+"We might have driven over together," Henshaw said, addressing
+Kelson. "But I hardly cared to propose it after the line you took at
+the station."
+
+There was an unpleasant curl of the lip as he spoke the words almost
+vindictively, as though with intent to put Kelson in the wrong.
+
+But his sneer had no effect on the ex-Cavalryman.
+
+"I am driving over in my own trap," he replied coolly, ignoring the
+other's intent. "You will be a good deal more comfortable in a closed
+carriage."
+
+"Decidedly," Henshaw returned with a laugh. "I am not so fond of an east
+wind as to get more of it than can be helped. And, after all, it is best
+to go independently to an affair of this sort. One may get bored and want
+to leave early."
+
+Kelson nodded with a grim appreciation of the man's trick of argument,
+and went out to his waiting dog-cart. Henshaw's fly drove up as Gifford
+turned back from the door.
+
+"I suppose we shall see you towards midnight," he said lightly as he
+passed Gifford, his tone clearly suggesting his utter indifference in
+the matter.
+
+"I dare say," Gifford replied, and as he went upstairs he heard an
+order given for "Mr. Henshaw's fire in number 9 to be kept up against
+his return."
+
+Alone in the oak-panelled sitting-room Gifford settled down to wait for
+his clothes. He skimmed through several picture-papers that were lying
+about, and then took up a novel. But a restless fit was on him, and he
+could not settle down to read. He threw aside the book and began thinking
+of the old property which his uncle had muddled away, and recalling the
+happy times he had spent there from his schooldays onwards. Memories of
+the rambling old house and its park crowded upon him. By force of one
+circumstance or another he had not been there for nearly ten years, and a
+great impatience to see it again took hold of him. He looked at the
+clock. At the best, supposing there were no hitch, his suit-case could
+hardly arrive for another hour and a half. Wynford Place was a bare mile
+away, perhaps twenty minutes' walk; the night was fine and moonlight, he
+was getting horribly bored in that room; he would stroll out and have a
+look at the outside of the old place. After all, it was only the exterior
+that he could expect to find unaltered; doubtless the Morristons with
+their wealth had transformed the interior almost out of his knowledge.
+Anyhow he would see that later. Just then he simply longed for a sight of
+the ancient house with its detached tower and the familiar landmarks.
+
+Accordingly he filled a pipe, put on a thick overcoat and a golf cap and
+went out, leaving word of his return within the hour.
+
+But it was a good two hours before he reappeared, and the landlord, who
+met him with the news that the missing suit-case had been awaiting him in
+his room since twenty minutes past ten, was struck by a certain
+peculiarity in his manner. It was nothing very much beyond a suggestion
+of suppressed excitement and that rather wild look which lingers in a
+man's eyes when he is just fresh from a dispute or has experienced a
+narrow escape from danger. Then Gifford ordered a stiff glass of spirits
+and soda and drank it off before going up to change.
+
+"Shall you be going to Wynford Place, sir?" the landlord inquired as he
+glanced at the clock.
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Yes. Let me have a fly in a quarter of an
+hour," he answered.
+
+But it was more than double that time when he came down dressed for
+the dance.
+
+The old house looked picturesque enough in the moonlight as he approached
+it. All the windows in the main building were lighted up, and there was a
+pleasant suggestion of revelry about the ivy-clad pile. Standing some
+dozen yards from the house, but connected with it by a covered way, was a
+three-storied tower, the remains of a much older house, and from the
+lower windows of this lights also shone.
+
+Gifford entered the well-remembered hall and made his way, almost in a
+dream, to the ball-room, where many hunting men in pink made the scene
+unusually gay. Unable for the moment to catch sight of Kelson, he had to
+introduce himself to his host, who had heard of his mishap and gave him a
+cheerily sympathetic welcome. Richard Morriston was a pleasant-looking
+man of about five or six-and-thirty, the last man, Gifford thought, he
+would bear a grudge against for possessing the old home of the Giffords.
+
+"I'm afraid you must look upon me rather in the light of an intruder
+here," Morriston said pleasantly.
+
+"A very acceptable one so far as I am concerned," Gifford responded with
+something more than empty civility.
+
+"It is very kind of you to say so," his host rejoined. "Anyhow the least
+I can do is to ask you with all sincerity to make yourself free of the
+place while you are in the neighbourhood. Edith," he called to a tall,
+handsome girl who was just passing on a man's arm, "this is Mr. Gifford,
+who knows Wynford much better than we do."
+
+Miss Morriston left her partner and held out her hand. "We were so
+sorry to hear of your annoying experience," she said. "These railway
+people are too stupid. I am so glad you retrieved your luggage in time
+to come on to us."
+
+Gifford was looking at her with some curiosity during her speech, and
+quickly came to the conclusion that Kelson's description of her had
+certainly not erred on the side of exaggeration. She looked divinely
+handsome in her ball-dress of a darkish shade of blue, relieved by a
+bunch of roses in her corsage and a single diamond brooch. Statuesque,
+too statuesque, Kelson had called her; certainly her manner and bearing
+had a certain cold stateliness, but Gifford had penetration enough to
+see that behind the reserve and the society tone of her welcome there
+might easily be a depth of feeling which his friend with a lesser
+knowledge of human nature never suspected. An interesting girl,
+decidedly, Gifford concluded as he made a suitable acknowledgment of her
+greeting, and, I fancy, my friend Harry takes a rather too superficial
+view of her character, he thought, as strolling off in search of
+Kelson, he found himself watching his hostess from across the room with
+more than ordinary interest.
+
+He soon encountered Kelson coming out of a gaily decorated passage which
+he knew led to the old tower. He had a pretty girl on his arm, tall and
+fair, but with none of Miss Morriston's dignified coldness. This girl had
+a sunny, laughing face, and Gifford thought he understood why his friend
+had not been enthusiastic over the probable Lady Painswick.
+
+Kelson, receiving him with delight, introduced him, with an air of
+proprietorship it seemed, to his companion, Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Have you been exploring the old tower?" Gifford asked.
+
+"We've been sitting out there," Kelson answered with a laugh. "They have
+converted the lower rooms into quite snug retreats."
+
+"In my uncle's day they were anything but snug," Gifford observed. "I
+remember we used to play hide-and-seek up there."
+
+He spoke with preoccupation, his eyes fixed on a bunch of white flowers
+which the girl wore on her black dress. They were slightly blotched and
+sprinkled with a dark colour in a way which was certainly not natural,
+and Gifford, held by the peculiar sight, looked in wonder from the
+flowers to the girl's face.
+
+"You must give Gifford a dance," Kelson said, breaking up the rather
+awkward pause.
+
+"I'm afraid my card is full," Miss Tredworth said, holding it up.
+
+Kelson laughed happily. "Then he shall have one of mine."
+
+But Gifford protested. "Indeed I won't rob you, Harry," he declared. "I'm
+tired, and should be a stupid partner."
+
+"Tired?" Kelson remonstrated. "Why, you have been resting at the _Lion_
+waiting for your things while we have been dancing our hardest."
+
+"Resting? No; I went out for a walk," Gifford replied.
+
+"The deuce you did! Where did you go to?"
+
+"Oh, nowhere particular," Gifford answered rather evasively. "Just about
+the town."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+
+Hugh Gifford did not stay very long at the dance. He took a mouthful of
+supper, and then told Kelson that he had a headache and was going to walk
+back to the _Golden Lion_.
+
+Kelson was distressed. "My dear fellow, coming so late and going so
+early, it's too bad. This is the best time of the night. I hope the old
+place with its memories hasn't distressed you."
+
+"Oh, no," was the answer. "But something has upset me. I'll get back and
+turn in. By the way, I don't see that man Henshaw."
+
+"No," Kelson replied casually; "I haven't seen him lately. But then I've
+had something better to think about than that ineffable bounder. He was
+here all right in the early part of the evening. One couldn't see
+anything else."
+
+"Dancing?"
+
+"More or less. Well, if you will go, old fellow, do make yourself
+comfortable at the _Lion_ and call for anything you fancy. I'm dancing
+this waltz."
+
+Gifford left the dance and went back to the hotel. He seemed perplexed
+and worried, so much so that for some time he paced his room restlessly
+and then, instead of turning in, he went back to the sitting-room,
+lighted a pipe, and settled himself there to await his friend's return.
+
+It was nearly three o'clock when Kelson came in.
+
+"Why, Hugh!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Still up?"
+
+"I didn't feel like sleeping," Gifford answered, "and if I'm to keep
+awake I'd rather stay up."
+
+Kelson looked at him curiously. "I hope the visit to your old home hasn't
+been too much for you," he remarked with the limited sympathy of a strong
+man whose nerves are not easily affected.
+
+"Oh, no," Gifford assured him. "Although somehow I did feel rather out
+of it. I have had rather a teasing day, but I shall be all right in the
+morning, and am looking forward to a run round the scenes of my
+childhood."
+
+"Good," Kelson responded, relieved to think his friend's visit was not
+after all going to be as dismal as he had begun to fear. "Well, Hugh," he
+added gaily. "I have a piece of news for you."
+
+"Not that you are engaged?"
+
+Something, an almost apprehensive touch, in Gifford's tone rather took
+his friend aback.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"To Miss--the girl you were dancing with?"
+
+Again Gifford's tone gave a check to Kelson's enthusiasm.
+
+It was with a more serious face that he replied, "Muriel Tredworth, the
+best girl in England. I hope, my dear Hugh, you are not going to say you
+don't think so."
+
+"Certainly not," Gifford answered promptly. "I never saw or heard of her
+before to-night."
+
+Kelson laughed uncomfortably. A man in love and in the flush of
+acceptance wants something more than a lukewarm reception of the news.
+"I'm glad to hear it," he responded dryly. "From your tone one might
+almost imagine that you knew something against Muriel."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" Gifford ejaculated fervently.
+
+"You don't congratulate me," his friend returned with a touch of
+suspicion.
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "My dear Harry, you have taken my breath away.
+You deserve the best wife in the kingdom, and I sincerely hope you have
+got her," he said, not very convincingly.
+
+His half-heartedness, not too successfully masked, evidently struck
+Kelson. "One would hardly suppose you thought so," he said in a hurt
+tone. "I wish," he added warmly, "if there is anything at the back of
+your words you would speak out. I should hope we are old friends enough
+for that."
+
+Gifford glanced at the worried face of the big, simple-minded sportsman,
+more or less a child in his knowledge of the subtleties of human nature,
+and as he did so his heart smote him.
+
+"We are, and I hope we always shall be," he declared, grasping his hand.
+"You are making too much of my unfortunate manner to-night, and I'm
+sorry. With all my heart I congratulate you, and wish you every blessing
+and all happiness."
+
+There was an unmistakable ring of sincerity in his speech now, and,
+without going aside to question its motive, as a more penetrating
+mind might have done, Kelson accepted his friend's congratulations
+without question.
+
+"Thanks, old fellow," he responded, brightening as he returned the grasp
+of Gifford's hand. "I was sure of your good wishes. You need not fear I
+have made a mistake. Muriel is a thorough good sort, and we shall suit
+each other down to the ground. We've every chance of happiness."
+
+Before Gifford could reply there came a knock at the door. The
+landlord entered.
+
+"Beg your pardon, captain," he said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could
+you tell me whether they are keeping up the Hunt Ball very late?"
+
+"No, Mr. Dipper," Kelson answered. "It was all over long ago. I was one
+of the last to come away. We left to the strains of the National Anthem."
+
+Mr. Dipper's face assumed a perplexed expression.
+
+"Thank you, captain," he said. "My reason for asking the question is that
+Mr. Henshaw, who has a room here, has not come in."
+
+"Not come in?" Kelson repeated. "Too bad to keep you up, Mr. Dipper."
+
+"Well, captain," said the landlord, "you see it is getting on for four
+o'clock, and we want to lock up. Of course if the ball was going on we
+should be prepared to keep open all night if necessary. But my drivers
+told me an hour ago it was over."
+
+"So it was. I wonder"--Kelson turned to Gifford--"what can have become of
+the egregious Henshaw. I don't think, as I told you in the ball-room, I
+have seen him since ten o'clock."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Unless he has come across friends and gone off
+with them."
+
+"He couldn't well do that without calling here for his things,"
+Kelson objected. "I suppose he did not do that, unknown to you?" he
+asked the landlord.
+
+"No, captain. His things are all laid out in his room, and the fire kept
+up as he ordered."
+
+"Then I don't know what has become of him," Kelson returned, manifestly
+not interested in the subject. "I certainly should not keep open any
+longer. If Mr. Henshaw turns up at an unreasonable hour, let him wait and
+get in when he can. Don't you think so, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "I think, considering the hour, Mr. Dipper will be quite
+justified in locking up," he answered.
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen; I will. Goodnight," and the landlord departed.
+
+Kelson turned to a side table and poured out a drink.
+
+"Decent fellow, Dipper, and uniformly obliging," he said. "I certainly
+don't see why he should be inconvenienced and kept out of his bed by that
+swanker, who has probably gone off with some pal and hasn't had the
+decency to leave word to that effect. Bad style of man altogether. Hullo!
+What's this?"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Gifford crossed to Kelson, who was looking at his shirt-cuff.
+
+"What's this?"
+
+A dark red streak was on the white linen.
+
+"Hanged if it doesn't look like blood," Kelson said, holding it to
+the light.
+
+Gifford caught his arm and scrutinized the stain.
+
+"It is blood," he said positively.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE MISSING GUEST
+
+
+Next morning Captain Kelson took his guest for a long drive round the
+neighbourhood. Before starting he asked the landlord at what time Henshaw
+had returned.
+
+"He didn't come in at all, captain," Dipper answered in an aggrieved
+tone. "His fire was kept up all night for nothing."
+
+"I suppose he has been here this morning," Kelson observed casually.
+
+"No," was the prompt reply. "Nothing has been seen or heard of him here
+since he left last night for the ball."
+
+Kelson whistled. "That looks rather queer, doesn't it, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "Very, I should say. What do you make of it?" he asked
+the landlord.
+
+That worthy spread out his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "It's
+beyond me, gentlemen. We can none of us make it out. I've never known
+anything quite like it happen all the years I've been in the business."
+
+"Oh, you'll have an explanation in the course of the morning all right,"
+said Kelson with a smile at the host's worry. "Don't take it too
+seriously; it isn't worth it. You've got Mr. Henshaw's luggage, which
+indemnifies you, and he is manifestly a person quite capable of taking
+care of himself."
+
+Mr. Dipper gave a doubtful jerk of the head. "It is very mysterious all
+the same."
+
+Kelson laughed as he went off with his friend.
+
+"I'm afraid I can't get up much interest in the doings of the
+objectionable Henshaw," he remarked lightly as they started off. "Such
+men as he know what they are about, and are not too punctilious with
+regard to other people's inconvenience."
+
+"No," Gifford responded quietly. "All the same, his non-appearance is a
+little mysterious."
+
+Kelson blew away the suggestion of mystery in a short,
+contemptuous laugh.
+
+"Oh, he is probably up to some devilry with some fool of a girl," he
+said in an offhand tone. "I know the type of man. They have a keen scent
+for impressionable women, of whom a fellow of that sort has always
+half-a-dozen in tow. No doubt that is what he came down here for--a
+tender adventure. That's the only kind of hunting he is keen on, take my
+word for it."
+
+"I quite agree with you there," Gifford answered with conviction, and the
+subject dropped.
+
+When they returned for luncheon they found that nothing had been heard of
+the _Golden Lion's_ missing guest.
+
+"It is rather an extraordinary move of our friend's," Kelson observed
+with a laugh. "He surely can't be living all this time in his evening
+clothes. Not but what a man like that would not let a trifle stand in his
+way if he had some scampish sport in view. No doubt he is up to a dodge
+or two by way of obviating these little difficulties."
+
+In the afternoon the two friends went up to Wynford Place to call after
+the dance. Kelson had naturally been much more inclined to drive over to
+the Tredworths, about seven miles away, in order to settle his betrothal,
+but Gifford suggested that the duty call should be paid first, and so it
+was arranged. To Kelson's delight he heard that Muriel Tredworth and her
+brother were coming over next day to stay with the Morristons for another
+dance in the neighbourhood and a near meet of the hounds; so he, warming
+to the Morristons, chatted away in all a lover's high spirits.
+
+"By the way," he said presently, as they sat over tea, "rather an
+extraordinary thing has happened at the _Golden Lion_."
+
+"What's that?" asked his host.
+
+"Did you notice a man named Henshaw here last night? A big, dark fellow,
+probably a stranger to you, but by way of being a former follower of the
+Cumberbatch."
+
+"An old fellow?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Oh, no. About six-and-thirty, I should say; eh, Hugh?"
+
+"Under forty, certainly," Gifford answered.
+
+"Tall and very dark, almost to swarthiness; of course I remember the
+man."
+
+Morriston exclaimed with sudden recollection. "I introduced him to
+a partner."
+
+"I noticed the fellow," observed Lord Painswick, who also was calling.
+"Theatrical sort of chap. What has he done?"
+
+Kelson laughed. "Simply disappeared, that's all."
+
+"Disappeared!" There was a chorus of interest.
+
+"How do you mean?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Left the hotel at nine last night and has never turned up since," Kelson
+said with an air of telling an amusing story. "Poor Host Dipper is taking
+it quite tragically, notwithstanding the satisfactory point in the case
+that the egregious Henshaw's elaborate kit still remains in his
+unoccupied bedroom."
+
+"Do you mean to say he never came back all night?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"Never," Kelson assured her. "Old Dipper came to us, half asleep, at four
+o'clock to ask whether he was justified in locking up the establishment."
+
+"And nothing has been seen or heard of the man since," Gifford put in.
+
+"That is queer," Morriston said, as though scarcely knowing whether to
+take it seriously or otherwise. "Now I come to think of it I don't
+recollect seeing anything of the man after quite the first part of the
+evening. Did you, Painswick?"
+
+"No, can't say I did," Painswick answered.
+
+"And," observed Kelson, "he was not a man to be easily overlooked when
+he was on show. I missed him, not altogether disagreeably, after the
+early dances."
+
+"What is the idea?" Edith Morriston inquired. "Is there any theory to
+account for his disappearance?"
+
+"No," Kelson answered, "unless a discreditable one. Gone off at a
+tangent."
+
+"And still in his evening things?" Painswick said with a laugh. "Rather
+uncomfortable this weather."
+
+"That reminds me," Morriston said with sudden animation, "one of the
+footmen brought me a fur coat and a soft hat this morning and asked me if
+they were mine. They had been unclaimed after the dance and he had
+ascertained that they belonged to none of the men who were staying here.
+Nor were they mine."
+
+"That is most curious," Kelson said with a mystified air. "Henshaw was
+wearing a fur coat and soft hat when we saw him in the hall of the _Lion_
+just before starting. Don't you remember, Hugh?"
+
+"Yes; certainly he was," Gifford answered.
+
+"Then they must be his," Morriston concluded.
+
+"And where is he--without them?" Painswick added with a laugh.
+"Dead of cold?"
+
+"It is altogether quite mysterious," Morriston observed with a puzzled
+air. "He can't be here still."
+
+"Hardly," his sister replied. "You know him?" she asked Kelson.
+
+"Quite casually. So far as nearly coming to a rough and tumble with the
+fellow for his cheek in scoffing our fly at the station constitutes an
+acquaintance. Gifford acted as peacemaker, and we put up with the
+fellow's company to the town. But neither of us imbibed a particularly
+high opinion of the sportsman, did we, Hugh?"
+
+"No," Gifford assented; "his was not a taking character, to men at any
+rate; and we rather wondered how he came to be going to the
+Cumberbatch Ball."
+
+"No doubt he got his ticket in the ordinary way," Morriston said.
+
+"It only shows, my dear Dick," his sister observed, "you may quite easily
+run risks in giving a semi-public dance in your own house."
+
+Morriston laughed. "Oh, come, Edith," he protested, "we need not make too
+much of it. We don't know for certain that the man was a queer
+character."
+
+"One finds objectionable swaggerers everywhere," Painswick put in.
+
+"Anyhow," said Kelson, "if this Henshaw was a bad lot he had the decency
+to efface himself promptly enough. The puzzle is, what on earth has
+become of him?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Gifford," Morriston said as the two friends were
+leaving, "whether you would care for a ramble over the old place. A man
+named Piercy has written to me for permission to go over the house; he
+is, it appears, writing a book on the antiquities of the county. I have
+asked him to luncheon to-morrow, and we shall be delighted if you and
+Kelson will join us as a preliminary to a personally conducted tour of
+the house. Charlie Tredworth and his sister are coming over for a week's
+stay, so we shall be quite a respectable party."
+
+Naturally Kelson accepted the invitation with alacrity, and Gifford could
+do no less than fall in with the arrangement.
+
+"Hope you won't mind going over to Wynford," Kelson said as they drove
+back. "If it is at all painful to you from old associations, I'll make an
+excuse for you."
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Oh, no," he answered. "I'll come. There is
+no use in being sentimental about the place going out of our family, and
+these Morristons are quite the right sort of people to have it. A
+splendidly thoroughbred type of girl, Miss Morriston."
+
+Kelson laughed. "Oh, yes; a magnificent creature; cut out for a duchess.
+Only, you know, my dear Hugh, if I married a woman like that I should
+always be a little afraid of her. A magnificent chatelaine and all that,
+but too cold for my taste."
+
+"You think there is no deep feeling under the ice of her manner?"
+
+"I don't know," Kelson replied, as though the idea was quite novel to
+him. "Never got so far as to think of that. I like a girl with whom you
+can get on without going through the process of thawing her first. And
+with Edith Morriston I should say it would be a slow process. Anyhow, she
+is just the girl for Painswick, who is evidently after her."
+
+"I should say that with him the ice is a little below the surface,"
+Gifford ventured.
+
+Kelson laughed. "You've hit it, Hugh. He's easy enough, but scratch him
+and you come upon a very straight-laced aristocrat. He and the statuesque
+Edith Morriston are made for one another."
+
+As they entered the _Golden Lion_ the landlord met them.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dipper, any news of your missing guest?" Kelson inquired with
+characteristic cheeriness, ignoring the troubled expression on that
+worthy's face.
+
+"No, captain; and we can't imagine what has happened to Mr. Henshaw.
+There are three telegrams come for him, and I have just got one,
+reply-paid, to ask whether he is staying here."
+
+"And you replied?"
+
+"Went to Hunt Ball 9 last night. Not been here since," Dipper quoted. "It
+is rather awkward and unpleasant for me, sir," he added uncomfortably.
+
+"Oh, you've no responsibility in the matter," Kelson assured him. "Don't
+you worry about it, Mr. Dipper. If the man goes out and does not choose
+to come back, that, beyond the payment of your charges, can be no affair
+of yours. Isn't that so, Hugh?"
+
+"Certainly," Gifford assented.
+
+Still their host looked anything but satisfied.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's quite right; all the same, we are beginning not to like
+the look of it. It is very mysterious."
+
+"It is, Mr. Dipper, to say the least of it," Kelson replied. "Still from
+such opinion as we were able to form of Mr. Henshaw I don't think it
+worth while making much fuss about it. He'll turn up all right and
+probably call you a fool for your pains."
+
+"I would not worry about it if I were you," Gifford said quietly.
+
+As they turned to go upstairs a telegraph boy came in and handed his
+message to the landlord, who read it and handed it to Kelson.
+
+"Please wire me without fail directly Mr. Henshaw returns. Gervase
+Henshaw, 8, Stone Court, Temple, London," Kelson read.
+
+"That's his brother," Gifford observed.
+
+"All right," said Kelson. "Let him worry if he likes. All you have to do,
+Mr. Dipper, is what he asks you there."
+
+He went upstairs with Gifford, leaving the landlord reperusing the
+telegram, his plump face dark with misgiving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+
+That night the missing man did not return, nor was anything heard of him.
+The morning brought no news, and even Kelson began to think there might
+be something serious in it.
+
+"If it was anybody but that man," he said casually over a hearty
+breakfast, "I should say it would be worth while taking steps to find out
+what had become of him. But that fellow can take care of himself; and
+when you come to think of it, his coming down here, an outsider, to the
+ball, was in itself rather fishy."
+
+Gifford agreed, and they fell to discussing the day's plans. Kelson was
+going to drive over to have the momentous interview with Miss Tredworth's
+father. He anticipated no difficulty there; still, as he said, "The thing
+has got to be done, and the sooner it is over the better."
+
+"Why not go to-morrow?" Gifford suggested. "There will be rather a
+rush to-day."
+
+Kelson, a man of action, scoffed at the idea. "Oh, no; Muriel and Charlie
+are coming over to Wynford to luncheon. I shall simply get the thing
+settled and drive back with them."
+
+So it was arranged. Gifford spent the morning in a stroll about the
+familiar neighbourhood, and when luncheon time came they all met at
+Wynford Place. Miss Morriston was not present. Her brother apologized for
+her absence, saying she had been obliged to keep an engagement to lunch
+with a friend, but that she had promised to return quite early in the
+afternoon. Mr. Piercy, the antiquarian, proved to be by no means as dry
+as his pursuit suggested. He was a lively little man with a fund of
+interesting stories furnished by the lighter side of his work, and
+altogether the luncheon was quite amusing.
+
+When it was over Morriston suggested that, not to waste the daylight,
+they should begin their tour of the house; he called upon Gifford to
+share the duties of guidance, and the party moved off.
+
+"Hope you haven't been bored all the morning, Hugh," Kelson said to his
+friend as they found themselves side by side. "Any news at the _Lion_?
+Has Henshaw turned up yet?"
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No. Host Dipper has had another telegram of
+inquiry from the brother, but had nothing to tell him in return."
+
+Kelson's face became grave. "It really does begin to look serious,"
+he remarked.
+
+"Yes; Dipper has been interviewing the police on the subject."
+
+"Has he? Well, I only hope Henshaw has not been playing the fool, or
+worse, and caused all this fuss for nothing."
+
+The party moved on to the great hall where the dancing had taken
+place, and so to the passage connecting the main building with the
+ancient tower.
+
+"Now this is the part which will no doubt interest you most, Mr. Piercy,"
+Morriston said; "this fourteenth century tower, which is to-day in a
+really wonderful state of preservation."
+
+"Ah, yes," the archaeologist murmured; "they could build in those days."
+
+They examined the two lower rooms on the ground and first floors,
+remarked on the thickness of the walls, shown by the depth of the window
+embrasures, which in older days had been put to sterner purposes; they
+admired the solid strength of the ties and hammer-beams in the roofs,
+and scrutinized the few articles of ancient furniture and tapestry the
+rooms contained, and the massive oaken iron-bound door which admitted to
+the garden.
+
+"Now we will go up to the top room," Morriston proposed. "It is used only
+for lumber, but there is quite a good view from it."
+
+He preceded the rest of the party up the winding stairs to the
+topmost door.
+
+"Hullo!" he exclaimed, pushing at it, "the door is locked. And the key
+appears to have been taken away," he added, bending down and feeling
+about in the imperfect light.
+
+The whole party was consequently held up on the narrow stairs. "I'll
+go and ask what has become of the key," Morriston said, making his way
+past them.
+
+In a minute he returned, presently followed by the butler.
+
+"How is it that this top door is locked, Stent?" he asked. "And where
+is the key?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. Alfred mentioned this morning that the door was
+locked and the key taken away; we thought you must have locked it, sir."
+
+"I? No, I've not been up here since the morning of the ball, when I had
+those old things brought up from the lower room to be out of the way."
+
+"Did you lock the door then, sir?"
+
+"No. Why should I? I am certain I did not. Perhaps one of the men did.
+Just go and inquire. And have the key looked for."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+"This is rather provoking," Morriston said, as they waited. "I
+particularly wanted to show you the view, which should be lovely on a
+clear day like this. If we have to wait much longer the light will be
+going. Besides, it is quite a quaint old room with a curious recess
+formed by the bartizan you may have noticed from outside."
+
+Presently the butler returned accompanied by a footman with several keys.
+
+"We can't find the right key, sir," he announced. "No one seems to
+have seen it. Alfred has brought a few like it, thinking one might
+possibly fit."
+
+None of them, however, would go into the lock, not even the
+smallest of them.
+
+"I can't make it out, sir," said the man, kneeling to get more
+effectively to work. But no key would enter. The footman at last took a
+box of matches from his pocket, struck a light and, holding it to the
+key-hole, peered in.
+
+"Why, the key is in the lock, on the other side, sir," he said in
+astonishment.
+
+"Then the door can't be locked," Morriston said, pushing it.
+
+The footman rose and pushed too, but the door showed no sign of yielding;
+it was fastened sure enough.
+
+"This is strange," Morriston said. "Hi! Is any one in there?" he
+shouted; but no response came.
+
+"Are you sure the key is in the door on the inside?" he asked.
+
+"Certain, sir. Will you look for yourself, sir?" the man replied,
+striking another match and holding it so that his master could
+convince himself.
+
+"No doubt about that," Morriston declared, as he rose from his scrutiny.
+"It is the most extraordinary thing I have ever known. Can you account
+for it, Stent?"
+
+The butler shook his head. "No, sir. Unless someone is in there now."
+
+Morriston again shouted, but no answer came.
+
+"I presume there is no way out of the room but this door," Piercy asked.
+
+"None," Morriston answered; "except the window, and that is, I should
+say, quite eighty feet from the ground; eh, Mr. Gifford?"
+
+"A sheer drop of quite that distance," he answered.
+
+"A prohibitive mode of exit," Piercy observed with a smile.
+
+"Yes," Morriston said. "I can't understand it at all. Besides, who would
+be likely to want to play tricks here? We have had no sign of burglars,
+and in any case they would hardly have been able to bring a ladder long
+enough to reach up to that window. Well, we must have the mystery cleared
+up. I think, Stent, you had better send one of the men on a bicycle into
+Branchester to fetch a locksmith and have the door opened somehow. Have
+it explained to him that it may be a tough job. In the meantime we may as
+well go and view the tower from the outside, as we can't get in."
+
+Accordingly the whole party went down into the hall and so out to the
+garden, where they strolled round the house, Piercy meanwhile taking
+notes of its architectural features. As they came to the tower the rays
+of a late winter sun were striking it almost horizontally, lighting it up
+in a picturesque glow. Piercy, with his archaeological knowledge, was
+able to tell the owner and Gifford a good deal about the ancient
+structure of which they had previously been ignorant.
+
+"The sunset would have been worth seeing from that top window,"
+Morriston said, evidently perplexed and annoyed over the mystery of the
+locked door. "I can't make out what has happened."
+
+"The person who locked the door assuredly did not make his exit by the
+window," Kelson remarked with a laugh, as he looked up at the sheer
+surface of the upper wall; "unless he was bent on suicide, in which case
+we should have found what was left of him at the foot of the tower."
+
+As they went on round the house, Miss Morriston was seen coming up the
+drive. Her brother hurried forward to meet her.
+
+"I say, Edith," he exclaimed, "we are in a great fix. Can you explain
+how the door of the top room in the tower comes to be locked with the
+key inside?"
+
+Miss Morriston looked surprised. "What, Dick?"
+
+"We can't get in," Morriston explained. "We found the door locked and the
+key missing, and then when Alfred tried another key, he found the right
+one was in the lock but inside the room."
+
+Miss Morriston thought a moment. "My dear Dick, the door can't be
+locked."
+
+"It is, I tell you," he returned; "most certainly locked. We have tried
+it and found it quite fast."
+
+"Then there must be someone in the room," his sister said.
+
+"That," Morriston replied, "seems the only possible explanation. But I
+shouted several times and got no answer."
+
+"Someone playing you a trick," and the girl laughed.
+
+"But who? who?" he returned.
+
+His sister gave a shrug. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," she replied,
+with a smile.
+
+"I shall," he replied, as two men appeared making for the servants'
+entrance. "Here comes Henry with the locksmith."
+
+Miss Morriston in her stately way looked amused.
+
+"My dear old Dick, you have been making a fuss about it. You will
+probably find the door open when you go up."
+
+"And I'll know who has been playing this stupid trick," Morriston said
+wrathfully.
+
+"A footman making love to a housemaid turned the key in a panic at being
+trapped," Kelson said to his host.
+
+"I dare say," Morriston replied with a laugh of ill-humour. "And he'll
+have to pay for his impudence."
+
+That explanation by its feasibility was generally accepted as the simple
+solution of the mystery.
+
+"Come along!" Morriston called. "We'll all go up, and see whether the
+door is open or not. We shall just be in time to catch the sunset."
+
+He led the way through the hall and the corridor beyond and so up the
+winding stairs.
+
+"What, not open yet?" he exclaimed as the last turn showed the workman
+busy at the lock. "Well, this is extraordinary."
+
+The locksmith was kneeling and working at the door, while the footman
+stood over him holding a candle.
+
+"The key is in the lock, inside, isn't it?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," the man answered. "There is no doubt about that."
+
+"How do you account for it?"
+
+The man looked up from his task and shook his head.
+
+"Can't account for it, sir. Unless so be as there is someone inside."
+
+"Can you open it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I'll have it turned in a minute."
+
+He took from his bag a long pair of hollow pliers which he inserted in
+the lock and then screwed tightly, clutching the end of the key. Then
+fitting a transverse rod to the pliers and using it as a lever he
+carefully forced the key round, and so shot back the lock.
+
+There was a short pause while the man unscrewed his instrument; then he
+stepped back and pushed open the door.
+
+Morriston went in quickly. "There is the key, sure enough," he said,
+looking round at the inside of the door. He took a couple of steps
+farther into the room, only to utter an exclamation of intense surprise
+and horror; then turned quickly with an almost scared face.
+
+"Go back!" he cried hoarsely, holding up his hands with an arresting
+gesture. "Kelson, Mr. Gifford, come here a moment and shut the door.
+Look!" he said in a breathless whisper, pointing to the floor beneath the
+window through which the deep orange light of the declining sun was
+streaming.
+
+An exclamation came from Kelson as he saw the object which Morriston
+indicated, and he turned with a stupefied look to Gifford. "My--!"
+
+Gifford's teeth were set and he fell a step backward as though in
+repulsion. On the floor between the window and an old oak table which had
+practically hidden it from the doorway, lay the body of a man in evening
+clothes, one side of his shirt-front stained a dark colour. Although the
+face lay in the shadow of the high window-sill, there was no mistaking
+the man's identity.
+
+"Henshaw!" Kelson gasped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+
+It was the missing man, Henshaw, sure enough. The swarthy hue of his face
+had in death turned almost to black, but the features, together with the
+man's big, muscular figure were unmistakable. For some moments the three
+men stood looking at the body in something like bewilderment, scarcely
+realizing that so terrible a tragedy had been enacted in that place, amid
+those surroundings.
+
+"Suicide?" Kelson was the first to break the silence.
+
+"Must have been," Morriston responded "or how could the door have been
+locked from the inside. I will send at once for the police, and we must
+have a doctor, although that is obviously useless." He went to the door,
+then turned. "Will you stay here or--"
+
+Kelson made an irresolute movement as though wavering between the
+implied invitation to quit the room and an inclination not to run
+away from the grim business. He glanced at Gifford, who showed no
+sign of moving.
+
+"Just as you like," he replied in a hushed voice. "Perhaps we had better
+stay here till you come back."
+
+"All right," Morriston assented. "Don't let any one come in, and I
+suppose we ought not to move anything in the room till the police
+have seen it."
+
+He went out, closing the door.
+
+"I can't make this out, Hugh," Kelson said, pulling himself together and
+moving to the opposite side of the room.
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically.
+
+"He," Kelson continued, "certainly did not give one the idea of a man who
+had come down here to make away with himself."
+
+"On the contrary," his friend murmured in the same preoccupied tone.
+
+"What do you think? How can you account for it?" Kelson demanded, as
+appealing to the other's greater knowledge of the world.
+
+It seemed to be with an effort that Gifford released himself from the
+fascination that held his gaze to the tragedy. "It is an absolute
+mystery," he replied, moving to where his friend stood.
+
+"A woman in it?"
+
+For a moment Gifford did not answer. Then he said, "No doubt about it, I
+should imagine."
+
+"It's awful," Kelson said, driven, perhaps for the first time in his
+life, from his habitually casual way of regarding serious things, and
+maybe roused by Gifford's apathy. "We didn't like--the man did not appeal
+to us; but to die like this. It's horrible. And I dare say it happened
+while the dance was in full swing down there. Why, man, Muriel and I were
+in the room below. I proposed to her there. And all the time this was
+just above us."
+
+"It is horrible; one doesn't like to think of it," Gifford said
+reticently.
+
+"I cannot understand it," Kelson went on, with a sharp gesture of
+perplexity. "I can imagine some sort of love affair bringing the poor
+fellow down to this place; but that he should come up here and do this
+thing, even if it went wrong, is more than I can conceive. Taking the man
+as we knew him it is out of all reason."
+
+"Yes," Gifford assented. "But we don't know yet that it is a case
+of suicide."
+
+"What else?" Kelson returned. "How otherwise could the door have been
+locked. Unless--" He glanced sharply at the deep recess, or inner
+chamber, formed by the bartizan, hesitated a moment, and then going
+quickly to it, looked in.
+
+"No, nothing there," he announced with a breath of relief. "I had for
+the moment an idea it might have been a double tragedy," he added with
+a shudder.
+
+"So we are forced back to the suicide theory," Gifford remarked. He had
+gone to the landing outside the door.
+
+"Yes," Kelson replied as he joined him. "But as to the woman in the case,
+who could she possibly have been? I knew most of the girls who were at
+the dance, and the idea of a tragedy with any one of them seems
+inconceivable."
+
+"One would think so," Gifford responded. "And yet--"
+
+"You think it possible?" Kelson demanded incredulously.
+
+"Possible, if far from probable," the other answered with conviction.
+"There are women who can be as secret as the grave, at any rate so far as
+appearances to the outer world are concerned. I wonder whom he danced
+with. Do you remember?"
+
+"No. I seem to recollect him with a girl in a light green dress, but that
+does not take us far."
+
+Footsteps on the stairway announced their host's return.
+
+"The police will be here, directly," he reported, "and, I hope, a doctor.
+I have done my best to keep it from the ladies, and I don't think that,
+so far, any of them has an exact idea of what made me turn them back.
+Just as well the horror should be kept dark as long as possible. It is
+such an awful blow to me that I can scarcely realize it yet."
+
+"Miss Morriston does not know?" Kelson asked.
+
+"No. And I only hope it won't give her a dislike to the house when
+she does. For I am hoping to have her here a good deal with me, even
+if she marries."
+
+A police inspector accompanied by a detective and a constable now
+arrived. Morriston took them into the room of death. Gifford grasped
+Kelson's arm.
+
+"I don't think there is any use in our staying here," he suggested. "Let
+us go down."
+
+The other man nodded, and they began to descend.
+
+"You are not going, Kelson?" Morriston cried, hurrying to the door.
+
+"We thought we could be of no use and might be in the way,"
+Gifford replied.
+
+"Oh, I wish you would stay," Morriston urged, going down a few steps to
+them. "I know it is not pleasant; on the contrary it's a ghastly affair;
+but I should like to have you with me till this police business is over.
+I won't ask you to stay up here, but if you don't mind waiting downstairs
+I should be so grateful. I might want your advice. You'll find the rest
+of the party in the drawing-room."
+
+The two could do no less than promise, and, with a word of thanks,
+Morriston went back to the officials.
+
+As the two men crossed the hall the drawing-room door opened and Miss
+Morriston came out.
+
+"Is my brother coming?" she asked.
+
+"He will be down soon," Gifford answered in as casual a tone as he
+could assume.
+
+The girl seemed struck by the gravity of their faces as she glanced from
+one to the other. "I hope nothing is wrong," she observed, with just a
+shade of apprehension.
+
+There was a momentary pause as each man, hesitating between a direct
+falsehood, the truth, and a plausible excuse, rather waited for the
+other to speak.
+
+Gifford answered. "No, nothing that you need worry about, Miss Morriston.
+Your brother will tell you later on."
+
+But the hesitation seemed to have aroused the girl's suspicions. "Do tell
+me now," she said, with just a tremor of anxiety underlying the
+characteristic coldness of her tone. "Unless," she added, "it is
+something not exactly proper for me to hear."
+
+Kelson quickly availed himself of the loophole she gave him. "You had
+better wait and hear it from Dick," he said, suggesting a move towards
+the drawing-room. "In the meantime there is nothing you need be
+alarmed about."
+
+"It all sounds very mysterious," Miss Morriston returned, her
+apprehension scarcely hidden by a forced smile. "I must go and ask
+Dick--"
+
+As she turned towards the passage leading to the tower Kelson sprang
+forward and intercepted her. "No, no, Miss Morriston," he remonstrated
+with a prohibiting gesture, "don't go up there now. Take my word for it
+you had better not. Dick will be down directly to explain what is wrong."
+
+For a few moments her eyes rested on him searchingly.
+
+"Very well," she said at length. "If you say I ought not to go, I won't.
+But you don't lessen my anxiety to know what has happened."
+
+"There is no particular cause for anxiety on your part," Kelson said
+reassuringly.
+
+She had turned and now led the way to the drawing-room. As they entered
+they were received by expectant looks.
+
+"Well, is the mystery solved?" young Tredworth inquired.
+
+Kelson gave him a silencing look. "You'll hear all about it in good
+time," he replied between lightness and gravity.
+
+Piercy rose to take his leave.
+
+"Oh, you must not go yet," Miss Morriston protested. "They are just
+bringing tea."
+
+"But I fear I may be in the way if there is anything--" he urged.
+
+"Oh, no," his hostess insisted. "I don't know of anything wrong. At least
+neither Captain Kelson nor Mr. Gifford will admit anything. You must have
+tea before your long drive."
+
+The subject of the mystery in the tower was tacitly dropped, perhaps from
+a vague feeling that it was best not alluded to, at any rate by the
+ladies, and the conversation flowed, with more or less effort, on
+ordinary local topics. Tea over, Piercy took his leave.
+
+"You must come again, Mr. Piercy, while you are in this part of the
+county," Miss Morriston said graciously, "when you shall have no
+episodes of lost keys to hinder your researches. My brother shall
+write to you."
+
+Kelson took the departing visitor out into the hall to see him off.
+
+"You'll see it all in the papers to-morrow, I expect," he said in a
+confidential tone, "so there is no harm in telling you there has been
+a most gruesome discovery in that locked room. A man who was here at
+the Hunt Ball, has been found dead; suicide no doubt. The police are
+here now."
+
+"Good heavens! A mercy the ladies did not see it."
+
+"Yes; they'll have to know sooner or later. The later the better."
+
+"Yes, indeed. Any idea of the cause of the sad business?"
+
+"None, as yet. A complete mystery."
+
+"Probably a woman in it."
+
+"Not unlikely. Good-bye."
+
+As Kelson turned from the door, Morriston and another man appeared at the
+farther end of the hall and called to him.
+
+"You know Dr. Page," he said as Kelson joined them.
+
+"A terrible business this, doctor," Kelson observed as they shook hands.
+
+The medico drew in a breath. "And at first sight in the highest degree
+mysterious," he said gravely.
+
+"Dr. Page," said Morriston, "has made a cursory examination of the
+body. The autopsy will take place elsewhere. The police are making
+notes of everything important, and after dark will remove the body
+quietly by the tower door. So I hope the ladies will know nothing of
+the tragedy just yet."
+
+As they were speaking a footman had opened the hall-door and now
+approached with a card on a salver. "Can you see this gentleman,
+sir?" he said.
+
+Morriston took the card, and as he glanced at it an expression of pain
+crossed his face. He handed it silently to Kelson, who gave it back with
+a grave nod. It was the card of "Mr. Gervase Henshaw, II Stone Court,
+Temple, E.G."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+
+"Show Mr. Henshaw into the library," Morriston said to the footman. "This
+is horribly tragic," he added in a low tone to Kelson, "but it has to be
+gone through, and perhaps the sooner the better. His brother?"
+
+"Yes; he mentioned him on our way from the station the other evening. At
+any rate he will be able to see the situation for himself."
+
+"You will come with me?" Morriston suggested. "You might fetch your
+friend, Gifford."
+
+Kelson nodded, opened the drawing-room door and called Gifford out, while
+Morriston waited in the hall.
+
+"The brother has turned up," he said as the two men joined him. "No doubt
+to make inquiries. What are we to say to him?"
+
+"There is nothing to be said but the bare, inevitable truth," Gifford
+answered. "You can't now break it to him by degrees."
+
+Morriston led the way to the library. By the fire stood a keen-featured,
+sharp-eyed man of middle height and lithe figure, whose manner and first
+movements as the door opened showed alertness and energy of character.
+There was a certain likeness to his brother in the features and dark
+complexion as well as in a suggestion of unpleasant aggressiveness in the
+expression of his face, but where the dead man's personality had
+suggested determination overlaid with an easy-going, indulgent spirit of
+hedonism this man seemed to bristle with a restless mental activity, to
+be all brain; one whose pleasures lay manifestly on the intellectual
+side. One thing Gifford quickly noted, as he looked at the man with a
+painful curiosity, was that the face before him lacked much of the
+suggestion of evil which in the brother he had found so repellent. This
+man could surely be hard enough on occasion, the strong jaw and a
+certain hardness in the eyes told that, but except perhaps for an
+uncomfortable excess of sharpness, there was none of his brother's rather
+brutally scoffing cast of expression.
+
+Henshaw seemed to regard the two men following Morriston into the room
+with a certain apprehensive surprise.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my troubling you like this," he said to
+Morriston, speaking in a quick, decided tone, "but I have been rather
+anxious as to what has become of my brother, of whom I can get no news.
+He came down to the Cumberbatch Hunt Ball, which I understand was held in
+this house, and from that evening seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
+He had an important business engagement for the next day, Wednesday,
+which he failed to keep, and this may mean a considerable loss to him.
+Can you throw any light on his movements down here?"
+
+Morriston, dreading to break the news abruptly, had not interrupted his
+questions.
+
+"I am sorry to say I can," he now answered in a subdued tone.
+
+"Sorry?" Henshaw caught up the word quickly. "What do you mean? Has he
+met with an accident?"
+
+"Worse than that," Morriston answered sympathetically.
+
+Henshaw with a start fell back a step.
+
+"Worse," he repeated. "You don't mean to say--"
+
+"He is dead."
+
+"Dead!" Surprise and shock raised the word almost to a shout. "You--"
+
+"We have," Morriston said quietly, "only discovered the terrible truth
+within the last hour or so."
+
+"But dead?" Henshaw protested incredulously. "How--how can he be dead?
+How did he die? An accident?"
+
+"I am afraid it looks as though by his own hand," Morriston answered in a
+hushed voice.
+
+The expression of incredulity on Henshaw's face manifestly deepened. "By
+his own hand?" he echoed. "Suicide? Clement commit suicide? Impossible!
+Inconceivable!"
+
+"One would think so indeed," Morriston replied with sympathy. "May I tell
+you the facts, so far as we know them?"
+
+"If you please," The words were rapped out almost peremptorily.
+
+Morriston pointed to a chair, but his visitor, in his preoccupation,
+seemed to take no notice of the gesture, continuing to stand restlessly,
+in an attitude of strained attention.
+
+The other three men had seated themselves. Morriston without further
+preface related the story of the locked door in the tower and of the
+subsequent discovery when it had been opened. Henshaw heard him to the
+end in what seemed a mood of hardly restrained, somewhat resentful
+impatience.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he said when the story was finished.
+
+"Nor do any of us," Morriston returned promptly. "The whole affair is
+as mysterious as it is lamentable. Still it appears to be clearly a
+case of suicide."
+
+"Suicide!" Henshaw echoed with a certain scornful incredulity. "Why
+suicide? In connexion with my brother the idea seems utterly
+preposterous."
+
+"The door locked on the inside," Morriston suggested.
+
+"That, I grant you, is at first sight mysterious enough," Henshaw
+returned, his keen eyes fixed on Morriston. "But even that does not
+reconcile me to the monstrous improbability of my brother, Clement,
+taking his own life. I knew him too well to admit that."
+
+"Unfortunately," Morriston replied, sympathetically restraining any
+approach to an argumentative tone, "your brother was practically a
+stranger to me, and to us all. My friends here, Captain Kelson and Mr.
+Gifford, met him casually at the railway station and drove with him to
+the _Golden Lion_ in the town, where they all put up."
+
+Henshaw's sharp scrutiny was immediately transferred from Morriston to
+his companions.
+
+"Can you, gentlemen, throw any light on the matter?" he asked sharply.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say," Kelson answered readily. "I may as well
+tell you how our very slight acquaintance with him came about."
+
+"If you please," Henshaw responded, in a tone more of command than
+request.
+
+Kelson, naturally ignoring his questioner's slightly offensive manner,
+thereupon related the circumstances of the encounter at the station-yard
+and of the subsequent drive to the town, merely softening the detail of
+their preliminary altercation. Henshaw listened alertly intent, it
+seemed, to seize upon any point which did not satisfy him.
+
+"That was all you saw of my unfortunate brother?" he demanded at the end.
+
+"We saw him for a few moments in the hall of the hotel just as we were
+starting," Kelson answered.
+
+"You drove here together? No?"
+
+"No; your brother took an hotel carriage, and I drove in my own trap."
+
+"With Mr. ----?" he indicated Gifford, who up to this point had
+not spoken.
+
+"No," Gifford answered. "I came on later. A suit-case with my evening
+things had gone astray--been carried on in the train, and I had to wait
+till it was returned."
+
+Henshaw stared at him for a moment sharply as though the statement had
+about it something vaguely suspicious, seemed about to put another
+question, checked himself, and turned about with a gesture of perplexity.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he muttered. Then suddenly facing round
+again he said sharply to Gifford, "Have you anything to add, sir, to what
+your friend has told me?"
+
+"I can say nothing more," Gifford answered.
+
+Henshaw turned away again, and seemed as though but half satisfied.
+
+"The facts," he said in a lawyer-like tone, "don't appear to lead us far.
+But when ascertained facts stop short they may be supplemented. Apart
+from what is actually known--I ask this as the dead man's only
+brother--have either of you gentlemen formed any idea as to how he came
+by his death?"
+
+He was looking at Morriston, his cross-examining manner now softened by
+the human touch.
+
+"It has not occurred to me to look beyond what seems the obvious
+explanation of suicide," Morriston answered frankly.
+
+Henshaw turned to Kelson. "And you, sir; have you any idea beyond the
+known facts?"
+
+"None," was the answer, "except that he took his own life. The door
+locked on--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him sharply. "Now you are getting back to the facts,
+Captain Kelson. I tell you the idea of my brother Clement taking his own
+life is to me absolutely inconceivable. Have you any idea, however
+far-fetched, as to what really may have happened?"
+
+Kelson shook his head. "None. Except I must say he looked to me the last
+man who would do such an act."
+
+"I should think so," Henshaw returned decidedly. Then he addressed
+himself to Gifford. "I must ask you, sir, the same question."
+
+"And I can give you no more satisfactory answer," Gifford said.
+
+"As a man with knowledge of the world as I take you to be?" Henshaw
+urged keenly.
+
+"No."
+
+"At least you agree with your friend here, that my poor brother did not
+strike one as being a man liable to make away with himself?"
+
+"Certainly. But one can never tell. I knew nothing of him or his
+affairs."
+
+"But I did," Henshaw retorted vehemently. "And I tell you, gentlemen, the
+thing is utterly impossible. But we shall see. The body--is it here?"
+
+"The police have charge of it in the room where he was found. It is to be
+removed at nightfall. You will wish to see it?" Morriston answered.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Morriston led the way to the tower, explaining as he went the
+arrangements on the night of the ball. Henshaw spoke little, his mood
+seemed dissatisfied and resentful, but his sharp eyes seemed to take
+everything in. Once he asked, "Did my brother dance much?"
+
+"He was introduced to a partner," Morriston replied. "But after that no
+one seems to have noticed him in the ball-room."
+
+"You mean he disappeared quite early in the evening?"
+
+"Yes; so far as we have been able to ascertain," Morriston answered.
+"Naturally, before this awful discovery we had been much exercised by
+his mysterious disappearance and failure to return to the hotel."
+
+"All the same," Henshaw returned sourly, "one can hardly accept the
+inference that he came down here for the express purpose of making away
+with himself in your house."
+
+"No, I cannot understand it," Morriston replied, as he turned and began
+to ascend the winding stairway.
+
+On the threshold of the topmost floor he paused.
+
+"This is the door we found locked on the inside," he observed quietly.
+
+Henshaw gave a keen look round, and nodded. Morriston pushed open the
+door and they entered.
+
+The body of Clement Henshaw still lay on the floor in charge of the
+detective and the inspector, the third man having been despatched to
+the town to make arrangements for its removal. With a nod to the
+officials, Henshaw advanced to the body and bent over it. "Poor
+Clement!" he murmured.
+
+After a few moments' scrutiny, Henshaw turned to the officers. "I am the
+brother of the deceased," he said, addressing more particularly the
+detective. "What do you make of this?"
+
+The question was put in the same sharp, business-like tone which had
+characterized his utterances in the library.
+
+"Judging by the door being locked on the inside," the detective answered
+sympathetically, "it can only be a case of suicide."
+
+Henshaw frowned. "It will take a good deal to persuade me of that," he
+retorted. "Mr. ----"
+
+"Detective-Sergeant Finch."
+
+"Mr. Finch. Did the doctor say suicide?"
+
+"I did not hear him express a definite opinion. Did you, inspector?"
+
+"No, Mr. Finch. I rather presumed the doctor took it for granted."
+
+"Took it for granted!" Henshaw echoed contemptuously. "I'm not going to
+take it for granted, I can tell you. Did the doctor examine the body?"
+
+"He made a cursory examination. He is arranging to meet the police
+surgeon for an autopsy to-morrow morning."
+
+On the table lay a narrow-bladed chisel, the lower portion of the bright
+steel discoloured with the dark stain of blood.
+
+The inspector pointed to it.
+
+"That is the instrument with which the wound must have been made," he
+remarked in a subdued tone. "It was found lying beside the body."
+
+Henshaw took it up and ran his eyes over it. "How could he have got
+this?" he demanded, looking round with what seemed a distrustful glance.
+
+"I can only suggest," Morriston answered, "that one of my men must have
+left it when some work was done here a few days ago."
+
+"That is so apparently, Mr. Morriston," the detective corroborated. "It
+has been identified by Haynes, the estate carpenter."
+
+Henshaw put down the chisel and for some moments kept silence, tightening
+his thin lips as though in strenuous thought. Then suddenly he demanded,
+"Beyond the fact that the door was found locked from within, what reason
+have you for your conclusion?"
+
+Mr. Finch shrugged. "We don't see how it could be otherwise, sir," he
+replied with quiet conviction. "Clearly the deceased gentleman must have
+been alone in the room when he died."
+
+"Might he not have locked the door after the wound was given?" Henshaw
+suggested in a tone of cross-examination.
+
+"Dr. Page was of opinion that death, or at any rate unconsciousness, must
+have been almost instantaneous," Finch rejoined respectfully.
+
+"Even supposing the autopsy bears out that view I shall not be
+satisfied," Henshaw declared.
+
+The inspector took up the argument.
+
+"You see, sir, taking into consideration the position of the room it
+would be impossible for any second party who may have been here with the
+deceased to leave it undiscovered except by the door. To drop from this
+window, which is the only one large enough to admit of an adult body
+passing through, would mean pretty certain death. Anyhow the party would
+have been so injured that getting clear away would be out of the
+question. Will you see for yourself, sir?"
+
+He threw back the window and invited Henshaw to look down. The argument
+seemed conclusive.
+
+"Was the window found open or shut?"
+
+"It was found unlatched, sir," Finch answered. "But the servants think
+that it was opened that morning and owing to the extra work in the house
+that day its fastening in the evening was overlooked."
+
+"Even if a second person had let himself down from the window," the
+inspector argued, "the rope would have been here."
+
+Henshaw kept silence, seemingly indifferent to the officials' arguments.
+"I can only tell you I am far from satisfied with the suicide theory," he
+said at length. "My brother was not that sort of man. He had nerves of
+iron; he was in love with life and all it meant to him, and he made it a
+rule never to let anything worry him. Let the other fellow worry, was his
+motto. Well, we shall see."
+
+He turned towards the door, and as he did so he caught sight of a
+cardboard box in which was a collection of various articles, jewellery, a
+watch and chain, money, a pocket-handkerchief, a letter, and a dance
+programme.
+
+"The contents of deceased's pockets," the inspector observed, answering
+Henshaw's glance of curiosity. "We have collected and made a list of
+them, and they will in due course be handed to you, or to his heir, on
+the coroner's order."
+
+"Is that a letter? May I see it?"
+
+As the official hesitated, Henshaw had snatched the paper, a folded note,
+and rapidly ran his eye through its contents. Then he gave a curious
+laugh, as he turned over the paper as though seeking an address, and laid
+it back in the box.
+
+"A note from my brother to an anonymous lady," he observed quietly.
+"Perhaps if we could find out whom it was meant for she would throw some
+light on the mystery."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+"What do you think of Mr. Gervase Henshaw?" Kelson said, as, late in the
+afternoon, he and Gifford walked towards the town together. Henshaw had
+left Wynford Place half an hour previously, having kept to the end his
+attitude of resentful incredulity.
+
+"A nailer," Gifford answered shortly.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed. "He gives one the idea of a man who will make
+trouble if he can. As offensive as his brother was, I should say,
+although in a different line. I did not detect one sign of any
+consideration for the Morristons in their horribly unpleasant position."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "I was very sorry for Morriston. He behaved
+extremely well, considering the irritatingly antagonistic line the man
+chose to take up."
+
+"Brainy man, Henshaw; unpleasantly sharp, eh?"
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "Added to his legal training he is by way of
+being an expert in criminology."
+
+"I do hope," Kelson remarked thoughtfully, "he is not going to make
+himself unpleasant down here. The scandal will be quite enough without
+that. Horribly rough luck on the Morristons as new-comers here to have an
+affair like this happening in their house. I can't think what brought the
+man down here."
+
+"No; he came with a purpose, that's certain."
+
+"A woman in it, no doubt. One can quite sympathize with the brother's
+incredulity as to the suicide theory, though hardly with his manner of
+showing it. The dead man was not that sort. The idea is simply
+staggering."
+
+Gifford made no response, and for a while they walked on in silence.
+Presently he asked, "How did you get on to-day--I mean with Colonel
+Tredworth?"
+
+"Oh, everything went off beautifully," Kelson answered, his tone
+brightening with the change of subject. "The old boy gave me his consent
+and his blessing. I've scarcely been able as yet to appreciate my luck,
+with this affair at Wynford Place intervening."
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically. "It is calculated to drive
+everything else out of one's head."
+
+"It is suggested," said Kelson, "that we should be married quite soon.
+The Tredworths are going abroad next month and don't propose to hurry
+back. So it means that if the wedding does not take place before they
+leave it must be postponed till probably the autumn."
+
+"I should think the latter would be the best plan."
+
+Kelson turned quickly to his companion. "To postpone it?" he exclaimed in
+a rather hurt tone. "Why on earth should we? We have nothing to wait for,
+I mean money or anything of that sort."
+
+"No; but settlements take a long time to draw up."
+
+"Not if the lawyers are told to hurry up with them."
+
+"Then you will have to find a house, and get furniture. And there is the
+trousseau," Gifford urged.
+
+"Oh," Kelson returned with a show of impatience, "all these details can
+be got over in two or three weeks if we set ourselves to do it. I don't
+believe in waiting once the thing is settled."
+
+"I don't believe in rushing matters," Gifford rejoined. "Least of all
+matrimony."
+
+Kelson stopped dead. "Why, Hugh," he said in an expostulatory tone, "what
+is the matter with you? You are most confoundedly unsympathetic. Any one
+would think you did not want me to marry the girl."
+
+"I certainly don't want you to be in too great a hurry," Gifford
+returned calmly.
+
+"But why? Why?"
+
+"I feel it is a mistake."
+
+Kelson laughed. "You are not going to suggest we don't know our
+own minds."
+
+"Hardly. But why not wait till the family returns? Of course it is no
+business of mine."
+
+"No," Kelson replied with a laugh of annoyance; "and you can't be
+expected to enter into my feelings on the subject. But I think you might
+be a little less grudging of your sympathy."
+
+"You quite mistake me, Harry," Gifford replied warmly. "It is only in
+your own interest that I counsel you not to be in a hurry."
+
+"But why? What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" Kelson demanded, vaguely
+apprehensive.
+
+"It is a mistake to rush things, that is all," was the
+unsatisfactory answer.
+
+"If I saw the slightest chance of danger I would not hesitate to take
+your advice," Kelson said. "But I don't. Nor do you. Since when have you
+become so cautious?"
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "It is coming on with age."
+
+Kelson clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't encourage it, my dear Hugh. It
+will spoil all the enjoyment in your life, and in other people's too, if
+you force the note. I promise you I won't hurry on the wedding more than
+is absolutely necessary."
+
+"Very well," Gifford responded, and the subject dropped.
+
+They had finished dinner, at which the absorbing subject of the tragedy
+at Wynford Place was the main topic of their conversation, when the
+landlord came in to say that Mr. Gervase Henshaw, who was staying at the
+hotel, would like to see them if they were disengaged.
+
+Kelson looked across at his friend. "Shall we see him?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "We had better hear what he has to say. We don't want him
+worrying Morriston."
+
+"Ask Mr. Henshaw up," Kelson said to the landlord, and in a minute he was
+ushered in.
+
+With a quick, decisive movement Henshaw took the seat to which Kelson
+invited him.
+
+"I trust you won't think me intrusive, gentlemen," he began in his sharp
+mode of speaking, "but you will understand I am very much upset and
+horribly perplexed by the terrible fate which has overtaken my poor
+brother. I am setting myself to search for a clue, if ever so slight, to
+the mystery, the double mystery, I may say, and it occurred to me that
+perhaps a talk with you gentlemen who are, so far, the last known
+persons who spoke with him, might possibly give me a hint."
+
+"I'm afraid there is very little we can tell you," Gifford replied. "But
+we are at your service."
+
+"Thank you." It seemed the first civil word of acknowledgment they had
+heard him utter. "First of all," he proceeded, falling back to his dry,
+lawyer-like tone, "I have been to see the medical man who was summoned to
+look at the body, Dr. Page. He tells me that, so far as his cursory
+examination went, the position of the wound hardly suggests that it was
+self-inflicted."
+
+"Is he sure of it?" Kelson asked.
+
+"He won't be positive till he has made the autopsy," Henshaw answered.
+"He merely suggests that it was a very awkward and altogether unlikely
+place for a man to wound himself. Anyhow that guarded opinion is enough
+to strengthen my inclination to scout the idea of suicide."
+
+"Then," said Kelson, "we are faced by the difficulty of the locked door."
+
+Henshaw made a gesture of indifference.
+
+"That at first sight presents a problem, I admit," he said, "but not so
+complete as to look absolutely insoluble. I have, as you may be aware,
+made a study of criminology, and in my researches, which have included
+criminality, have come across incidents which to the smartest detective
+brains were at the outset quite as baffling. Clement's tragic end is a
+great blow to me, and I am not going quietly to accept the easy, obvious
+conclusion of suicide. I knew and appreciated my brother better than
+that. I mean to probe this business to the bottom."
+
+"You will be justified," Kelson murmured.
+
+"I think so--by the result," was the quick rejoinder.
+
+Gifford spoke. "What do you think was the real object in your brother
+coming down here?"
+
+Henshaw looked at his questioner keenly before he answered. "It is my
+opinion, my conviction, there was a lady in the case. May I ask what
+prompted you to ask the question?"
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Some idea of the sort was in my own mind," he replied,
+with a reserve which could scarcely be satisfying to Henshaw.
+
+"Perhaps," he said keenly, "you have also an idea who the lady was."
+
+Gifford shook his head. "Not at all," he returned promptly.
+
+"Then why should the idea have suggested itself to you," came the
+cross-examining rejoinder.
+
+"Your brother was not a member of the Hunt, and it seemed to
+us--curious."
+
+Henshaw took him up quickly. "That he should come to the ball? No doubt.
+I will be perfectly frank with you, as I expect you to be with me. It is
+perhaps not quite seemly to discuss my brother's failings at this time,
+but we want to get at the truth about his death. He had, I fear, rather
+irregular methods in his treatment of women. One can hardly blame him,
+poor fellow. His was a fascinating personality, at any rate so far as
+women were concerned. They ran after him, and one can scarcely blame him
+if he acquired a derogatory opinion of them. After all, he held them no
+cheaper than they made themselves in his eyes. That note I looked at
+which came from his pocket was written by him to make an assignation."
+
+"Was it addressed?" Gifford put the question quickly, almost eagerly.
+
+"No," Henshaw answered. "I wish it had been. In that case we should be
+near the end of the mystery."
+
+Kelson was staring at the glib speaker with astounded eyes. "Do you
+suppose a woman killed your brother?" he almost gasped.
+
+"Such things have been known," Henshaw returned with the flicker of an
+enigmatical smile. "But no, I don't suggest that--yet. At present I have
+got no farther than the conviction that Clement did not kill himself. I
+mean to find out for whom that note of his was intended."
+
+"Not an easy task," Gifford remarked, with his eye furtively on Kelson,
+who had become strangely interested.
+
+"It may or may not be easy," Henshaw returned. "But it is to be done. The
+woman who, intentionally or otherwise, drew my brother down here has to
+be found, and I mean to find her."
+
+Kelson was now staring almost stupidly at Gifford.
+
+"Neither of you gentlemen saw my brother dancing?" Henshaw demanded
+sharply.
+
+"I saw nothing of him at all in the ballroom," Gifford answered,
+"as I did not arrive till about midnight. Did you see him, Harry?" he
+asked, as though with the design of rousing Kelson from his rather
+suspicious attitude.
+
+Kelson seemed to pull himself together by an effort.
+
+"No--yes; I caught a glimpse of him, I think, with a girl in green."
+
+"You know who she was?" Henshaw demanded.
+
+"I've not the vaguest idea," Kelson answered mechanically. "I did not see
+her face."
+
+Henshaw rose. Perhaps from Kelson's manner he gathered that the men were
+tired, and had had enough of him. He shook hands, with a word of thanks
+and an apology. "We may know more after the inquest to-morrow afternoon,"
+he remarked, "although I doubt it. You will let me consult you again, if
+necessary? Thanks. Goodnight."
+
+As the door closed on Henshaw, Kelson turned quickly to Gifford with a
+scared face. "Hugh!" he cried hoarsely, in a voice subdued by fear. "The
+blood stain on my cuff that night. How did it come there? Was it--?"
+
+Gifford forced a smile. "My dear Harry, how absurd! What could that have
+had to do with it?"
+
+Kelson gave an uncomfortable laugh. "It is a grim coincidence," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+
+At the inquest which was held next day nothing was elicited which could
+offer any solution of the mystery of Clement Henshaw's death. It seemed
+to be pretty generally accepted to be a case of suicide, although that
+view was opposed in evidence, not only by Gervase Henshaw on general
+grounds, but also by the medical witnesses, who had grave doubts whether
+the mortal wound had been self-inflicted.
+
+"Just possible but decidedly improbable, both from the position of the
+wound and the direction of the blow," was Dr. Page's opinion.
+
+It was a downward, oblique stab in the throat which had pierced the
+larynx and penetrated the jugular vein. The deceased would have been
+unable to cry out and would probably have quickly become insensible from
+asphyxiation. Unless he was left-handed the stab could scarcely have been
+self-given.
+
+The police authorities committed themselves to no definite theory at that
+stage, and at their request the inquiry was adjourned for a month.
+
+Morriston, leaving the hall with Kelson and Gifford, asked them to walk
+back with him to Wynford Place.
+
+"Let us throw off this depressing business as well as we can," he said.
+"Of course I have had to break it to my sister and the others; they would
+have seen it to-day in print. Thank goodness the papers don't look beyond
+the suicide idea, so they are not making much fuss about it. If they took
+a more sensational view, as I fear they will now after the medical
+evidence, it would be a terrible nuisance."
+
+"I hope the ladies were not much upset when you told them,"
+Gifford remarked.
+
+"Well, they already had an idea that something was seriously wrong, and
+that took the edge off the announcement. Of course they were horribly
+shocked at the idea of the tragedy so close at hand, though I softened
+the details as well as I could."
+
+"If the suicide idea is to be abandoned," said Kelson, speaking with an
+unusually gloomy, preoccupied air, "the police have an uncommonly
+difficult and delicate task before them."
+
+"Yes, indeed," Morriston responded. "And I should say that abnormally
+keen person, the brother, will keep them up to collar."
+
+"He means to," Kelson replied rather grimly. "We had him for an hour
+last night cross-examining us, naturally to no purpose; we could tell
+him nothing."
+
+"He won't leave a stone unturned," Morriston said. "He proposes to return
+here after the funeral in town."
+
+"And I should say," observed Kelson, "if the mystery is to be solved he
+is the man to solve it. What do you think, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford seemed to rouse himself by an effort from an absorbing train of
+thought. "Oh, yes," he answered. "Except that it is possible to be a
+little too clever and so overlook the obvious."
+
+"If," said Morriston, obsessed by the subject, "the case is not one of
+suicide it must be one of murder. Where is Mr. Gervase Henshaw, or any
+one else, going to look for the criminal?"
+
+"Not among your guests, let's hope," Kelson said with a touch of
+uneasiness.
+
+"For one thing," Morriston replied, "they, or a good part of them, were
+not exactly my guests. I can't tell who may have got a ticket and been
+present. There was a great crowd. We may have easily rubbed shoulders
+with the murderer, if murder it was."
+
+"Yes, so we may," said Kelson alertly, though with something of a
+shudder.
+
+"Not a pleasant idea," continued Morriston. "But I don't see, if a bad
+character did get in and mix with the company, why he should have done a
+fellow guest to death, nor how he contrived to leave his victim and get
+out of the room after he had locked the door."
+
+"If the two men had a row over a girl, or anything else," Kelson said,
+"there is still that difficulty to be surmounted."
+
+Gifford spoke. "From what one could judge of the dead man's personality
+and character it is not a far-fetched supposition that he must have
+had enemies."
+
+"Down here?" Morriston objected incredulously. "Where he was a stranger?
+Unless some ingenious person, bent on vengeance, tracked him here and
+then lured him into the tower. Then how did the determined pursuer
+contrive to leave him and the key inside the locked room?"
+
+At Wynford Place, where they had now arrived, they found several callers.
+The subject of the tragedy was naturally uppermost in everybody's mind,
+and the principal topic of conversation. Morriston and his companions
+were eagerly questioned as to what had come out at the inquest, but,
+except that the medical evidence was rather sceptical of the suicide
+theory, were unable to relieve the curiosity.
+
+"I think, my dear Dick," remarked Lord Painswick, who was there, "we can
+furnish more evidence in this room than you seem to have got hold of at
+the inquest." And he looked round the company with a knowing smile.
+
+"What do you mean, Painswick?" Morriston asked eagerly. "Has anything
+more come to light?"
+
+"Only we have had a lady here, Miss Elyot, who says she danced with the
+poor fellow."
+
+"I only just took a turn with him, for the waltz was nearly over when he
+asked me," said the girl thus alluded to.
+
+"Did you wear a green dress?" Kelson asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+"Only that it must have been you I saw with him."
+
+"And can you throw any light on the mystery?" Morriston asked.
+
+The girl shook her head. "None at all, I'm afraid."
+
+"Did Mr. Henshaw's manner or state of mind strike you as being peculiar?"
+
+"Not in the least," Miss Elyot answered with decision. "During the short
+time we were together our talk was quite commonplace, mostly of the
+changes in the county."
+
+"Did he, Henshaw, know it formerly?" Morriston asked with some surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes," Miss Elyot answered, "he used to stay with some people over
+at Lamberton; you remember the Peltons, Muriel?" she turned to Miss
+Tredworth. "Of course you do."
+
+"Oh, yes," Muriel Tredworth answered. "I remember them quite well,
+although we didn't know much about them."
+
+"Don't you recollect," Miss Elyot continued, "meeting this very Mr.
+Henshaw at a big garden party they gave. I know you played tennis
+with him."
+
+"Did I?" Miss Tredworth replied. "What a memory you have, Gladys. You
+can't expect me to recollect every one of the scores of men I must have
+played tennis with."
+
+As she spoke she caught Gifford's eye; he was watching her keenly, more
+closely perhaps than manners or tact warranted. "And do you find the
+place much changed since your time, Mr. Gifford?" she inquired, as though
+to relieve the awkwardness.
+
+"Not as much as I could have imagined," he answered, through what seemed
+a fit of preoccupation.
+
+"Mr. Gifford has not had much opportunity yet of seeing how far it has
+altered, with this tragic affair to upset everything," Morriston put in.
+
+"No, it has been a most unlucky time for him to revisit Wynford," Miss
+Morriston added in her cold tone. "I hope Mr. Gifford is not going to
+hurry away from the neighbourhood in consequence."
+
+"Not if I can prevent it," Kelson replied, with a laugh.
+
+"I hope," Morriston said hospitably, "that whether his stay be short or
+long Mr. Gifford will consider himself quite at home here. And I need not
+say, my dear Kelson, that invitation includes you."
+
+Both men thanked him. "We have already done a little trespassing in your
+park," Kelson observed with a laugh.
+
+"Please don't call it trespassing again," Miss Morriston commanded. "Let
+me give you another cup of tea, Muriel."
+
+"The old house looks most picturesque by moon-light," observed Lord
+Painswick. "I was quite fascinated by it the other night."
+
+"There is a full moon now," Gifford said. "We will stroll round and
+admire when we leave."
+
+"Don't stroll over the edge of the haha as I very nearly did one night,"
+Morriston said laughingly. "When it lies in the shadow of the house it is
+a regular trap."
+
+"Moonlight has its dangers as well as its beauties," Painswick murmured
+sententiously.
+
+"The friendly cloak of night is apt to trip one up," Gifford added.
+
+As he spoke the words there came a startling little cry from Miss
+Tredworth accompanied by the crash and clatter of falling crockery.
+Gifford's remark had been made with his eyes fixed on his friend's
+_fiancée_, to whom at that moment Miss Morriston was handing the refilled
+cup of tea. A hand of each girl was upon the saucer as the words were
+uttered; by whose fault it was let fall it was impossible to say. But the
+slight cry of dismay had come from Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," she exclaimed, colouring with vexation. "How stupid
+and clumsy of me. Your lovely china."
+
+"It was my fault," Edith Morriston protested, her clear-cut face showing
+no trace of annoyance. "I thought you had hold of the cup, and I let it
+go too soon. Ring the bell, will you, Dick."
+
+"Please don't distress yourself, Miss Tredworth," Mr. Morriston entreated
+her as he crossed to the bell. "I'm sure it was not your fault."
+
+"Was that a quotation, Mr. Gifford?" Miss Morriston asked, clearly with
+the object of dismissing the unfortunate episode.
+
+"My remark about the cloak of night?" he replied. "Perhaps. I seem to
+have heard something like it somewhere."
+
+And as he spoke he glanced curiously at Miss Tredworth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+
+Next evening the two friends at the _Golden Lion_ were engaged to dine
+with the Morristons. They had been out with the hounds all day, and,
+beyond the natural gossip of the country-side, had heard nothing fresh
+concerning the tragedy. Gervase Henshaw had gone up to town for his
+brother's funeral, and Host Dipper had no fresh development to report. In
+answer to a question from Gifford, he said he expected Mr. Henshaw back
+on the morrow, or at latest the day after.
+
+"It is altogether a most mysterious affair," he observed sagely, being
+free, now that his late guest's perplexing disappearance was accounted
+for, even in that tragic fashion, to regard the business and to moralize
+over it without much personal feeling in the matter. "I fancy Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw means to work the police up to getting to the bottom of it. For
+I don't fancy that he is by any means satisfied that his unfortunate
+brother took his own life. And I must say," he added in a pronouncement
+evidently the fruit of careful deliberation, "I don't know how it strikes
+you, gentlemen, but from what I saw of the deceased it is hard to imagine
+him as making away with himself."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "But before any other conclusion can be fairly
+arrived at the police will have to account for the locked door."
+
+Evidently Mr. Dipper's lucubrations had not, so far, reached a
+satisfactory explanation of that puzzle; he could only wag his head and
+respond generally, "Ah, yes. That will be a hard nut for them to crack,
+I'm thinking."
+
+The dinner at Wynford Place was made as cheerful as, with the gloom of a
+tragedy over the house, could be possible.
+
+"We had the police with a couple of detectives here all this morning,"
+Morriston said, "and a great upset it has been. After having made the
+most minute scrutiny of the room in the tower they had every one of the
+servants in one by one and put them through a most searching examination.
+But, I imagine, without result. No one in the house, and I have
+questioned most of them casually myself, seems to be able to throw the
+smallest light on the affair."
+
+"Have the police arrived at any theory?" Gifford inquired.
+
+"Apparently they have come to no definite conclusion," Morriston
+answered. "They seemed to have an idea, though--to account for the
+problem of the locked door--that thieves might have got into the house
+with the object of making a haul in the bedrooms while every one's
+attention was engaged down below, have secreted themselves in the tower,
+been surprised by Henshaw, and, to save themselves, have taken the only
+effectual means of silencing him, poor fellow."
+
+"Then how, with the door locked on the inside did they make their
+escape?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"That can so far be only a matter of conjecture," her brother answered,
+with a shrug. "Of course they might have provided themselves with some
+sort of ladder, but there are no signs of it. And the height of the
+window in that top room is decidedly against the theory."
+
+"We hear at the _Lion_" Kelson remarked, "that the brother, Gervase
+Henshaw, is returning to-morrow or next day."
+
+Morriston did not receive the news with any appearance of satisfaction.
+"I hope he won't come fussing about here," he said, with a touch of
+protest. "Making every allowance for the sudden shock under which he was
+labouring I thought his attitude the other day most objectionable,
+didn't you?"
+
+"I did most certainly," Gifford answered promptly.
+
+"His manners struck me as deplorable," Kelson agreed.
+
+"Yes," their host continued. "It never seemed to occur to the fellow that
+some little sympathy was due also to us. But he seemed rather to suggest
+that the tragedy was our fault. In ordinary circumstances I should have
+dealt pretty shortly with him. But it was not worth while."
+
+"No," Kelson observed, "All the same, you need not allow a continuation
+of his behaviour."
+
+"I don't intend to," Morriston replied with decision. "I hope the man
+won't want to come ferreting in the place; that may well be left to the
+police; but if he does I can't very well refuse him leave. He must be
+free of the house, or at any rate of the tower."
+
+"Or," put in Kelson, "he'll have a grievance against you, and accuse you
+of trying to burk the mystery."
+
+"Is he a very objectionable person?" Miss Morriston asked. "We passed one
+another in the hall as he left the house and I received what seemed a
+rather unmannerly stare."
+
+Her brother laughed. "My dear Edith, the type of man you would simply
+loathe. Abnormally, unpleasantly sharp and suspicious; with a cleverness
+which takes no account of tact or politeness, he questions you as though
+you were in the witness-box and he a criminal barrister trying to trap
+you. I don't know whether he behaves more civilly to ladies, but from our
+experience of the man I should recommend you to keep out of his way."
+
+"I shall," his sister replied.
+
+"I should say no respecter of persons--or anything else," Kelson remarked
+with a laugh.
+
+"Let us hope he won't take it into his head to worry us," Miss Morriston
+said with quiet indifference.
+
+"I am sorry to see," Morriston observed later on when the ladies had
+left them, "that the papers are beginning to take a sensational view of
+the affair."
+
+"Yes," Kelson responded; "we noticed that. It will be a nuisance for
+you."
+
+"The trouble has already begun," his host continued somewhat ruefully.
+"We have had two or three reporters here to-day worrying the servants
+with all sorts of absurd questions. It is, of course, all to be accounted
+for by the medical evidence. That has put them on the scent of what they
+will no doubt call a sensational development. So long as it looked like
+nothing beyond suicide there was not so much likelihood of public
+interest in the case."
+
+"The police--" Gifford began.
+
+"The police," Morriston took up the word, "are fairly nonplussed. It
+seems the farther they get the less obvious does the suicide theory
+become. Well, we shall see."
+
+"In the meantime I'm afraid you and Miss Morriston are in for a heap of
+undeserved annoyance," Kelson observed sympathetically.
+
+"Yes," Morriston agreed gloomily; "I am sorry for Edith; she is plucky,
+and feels it, I expect, far more than she cares to show."
+
+When the men went into the drawing-room Muriel Tredworth made a sign to
+Kelson; he joined her and, sitting down some distance apart from the
+rest, they carried on in low tones what seemed to be a serious
+conversation.
+
+"I want to tell you of something extraordinary which has happened to me,
+Hugh." Gifford just caught the words as the girl led the way out of
+earshot. He had noticed that she had been rather preoccupied during
+dinner, an unusual mood for so lively a girl, and now he could not help
+watching the pair in the distance, she talking with an earnest, troubled
+expression, and he listening to her story in grave wonderment, now and
+again interposing a few words. Once they looked at Gifford, and he was
+certain they were speaking of him.
+
+With the gloom of a tragedy over the house the little party could not be
+very festive; avoid it as they set themselves to do, the brooding subject
+could not be ignored, general conversation flagged, and it soon became
+time for the visitors to say good-night.
+
+As they walked back to the town together Gifford noticed that his
+companion was unusually silent, and he tactfully forbore to break in upon
+his preoccupation. At length Kelson spoke.
+
+"Muriel has just been telling me of an unpleasant and unaccountable
+thing which happened to her this evening. A discovery of a rather
+alarming character. I said I would take your advice about it, Hugh, and
+she agreed."
+
+"Does it concern the affair at Wynford?"
+
+"It may," Kelson answered in a perplexed tone; "and yet I don't well see
+how it can. Anyhow it is uncommonly mysterious. We won't talk about it
+here," he added gravely, "but wait till we get in."
+
+"Miss Morriston looked well to-night," Gifford remarked, falling in with
+his friend's wish to postpone the more engrossing subject.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed casually. "She takes this ghastly business quietly
+enough. But that is her way."
+
+"I have been wondering," Gifford said, "how much she cares for
+Painswick. He is manifestly quite smitten, but I doubt her being nearly
+as keen on him."
+
+Kelson laughed. "If you ask me I don't think she cares a bit for him. And
+one can scarcely be surprised. He is not a bad fellow, but rather a prig,
+and Edith Morriston is not exactly the sort of girl to suffer that type
+of man gladly. But her brother is all for the match; from Painswick's
+point of view she is just the wife for him, money and a statuesque style
+of beauty; altogether I shall be surprised if it does not come off."
+
+"They are not engaged, then?"
+
+"I think not. They say he proposes regularly once a week. But she
+holds him off."
+
+Arrived at the _Golden Lion_ they went straight up to Kelson's room,
+where with more curiosity than he quite cared to show, Gifford settled
+himself to hear what the other had to tell him.
+
+"I dare say you noticed how worried Muriel looked all dinner-time,"
+Kelson began. "I thought that what had happened in the house had got on
+her nerves; but it was something worse than that; I mean touching her
+more nearly."
+
+"Tell me," Gifford said quietly.
+
+"You know," Kelson proceeded, "they are going to this dance at Hasborough
+to-morrow. Well, it appears that when her maid was overhauling her
+ball-dress, the same she wore here the other night, she found blood
+stains on it."
+
+"That," Gifford remarked coolly, "may satisfactorily account for the
+marks on your cuff."
+
+Kelson stared in surprise at the other's coolness.
+
+"I dare say it does," he exclaimed with a touch of impatience. "I had
+hardly connected the two. But what do you think of this? How in the name
+of all that's mysterious can it be accounted for?"
+
+"Hardly by the idea that Miss Tredworth had anything to do with the late
+tragedy," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Good heavens, man, I should hope not," Kelson cried vehemently. "That
+is too monstrously absurd."
+
+"What is Miss Tredworth's idea?"
+
+"She has none. She is completely mystified. And inclined to be horribly
+frightened."
+
+"Naturally," Gifford commented in the same even tone.
+
+His manner seemed to irritate Kelson. "I wish, my dear Hugh, I could take
+it half as coolly as you do," he exclaimed resentfully.
+
+"I don't know what you want me to do or say, Harry," Gifford
+expostulated. "The whole affair is so utterly mysterious that I can't
+pretend even to hazard an explanation."
+
+"In the meantime Muriel and I are in the most appalling position. Why,
+man, she may at any moment be arrested on suspicion if this discovery
+leaks out, as it is sure to do."
+
+"You can't try to hush it up; that would be a fatal mistake," Gifford
+said thoughtfully, "and would immediately arouse suspicion."
+
+"Naturally I am not going to be such a fool as to advise that," Kelson
+returned. "The discovery will be the subject of the servants' talk till
+it gets all over the place and into the papers. No, what I have
+determined to do, unless you see any good reason for the contrary, is to
+go first thing in the morning to the police and tell them. What do you
+say?" he added sharply, as Gifford was silent.
+
+"I should not do anything in a hurry," Gifford answered.
+
+"But surely," Kelson remonstrated, "the sooner we take the line of
+putting ourselves in the right the better."
+
+Again Gifford paused before replying.
+
+"Can Miss Tredworth give no explanation, has she no idea as to how the
+stains came on her dress?"
+
+"None whatever," was the emphatic answer.
+
+"You are absolutely sure of that?"
+
+Kelson jumped up from his chair. "Hugh, what are you driving at?" he
+cried, his eyes full of vague suspicion. "I--I don't understand the cool
+way you are taking this. There is something behind it. Tell me. I will
+know; I have a right."
+
+Evidently the man was almost beside himself with the fear of something he
+could not comprehend. Gifford rose and laid a hand sympathetically on
+his shoulder. "I am sorry to seem so brutal, Harry," he said gently, "but
+this discovery does not surprise me."
+
+Kelson recoiled as from a blow, staring at his friend with a
+horror-struck face. "Why, good heavens, what do you mean?" he gasped.
+
+"Only," Gifford answered calmly, "that when you introduced me to
+Miss Tredworth at the dance I noticed the stains on the white
+flowers she wore."
+
+"You did?" Kelson was staring stupidly at Gifford. "And you knew they
+were blood-stains?"
+
+"I could not tell that," was the answer. "But now it is pretty certain
+they were."
+
+For some seconds neither man spoke. Then with an effort Kelson seemed to
+nerve himself to put another question.
+
+"Hugh," he said, his eyes pitiful with fear, "you--you don't think Muriel
+Tredworth had anything to do with Henshaw's death?"
+
+Gifford turned away, and leaned on the mantelpiece.
+
+"I don't know what to think," he said gloomily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+
+Next morning directly after breakfast Kelson started for Wynford Place.
+As the result of deliberating fully upon the anxious problem before them,
+he and Gifford had come to the conclusion that it might be a grave
+mistake to try to keep secret the maid's discovery. It would doubtless by
+this time have become a subject of gossip and speculation in the
+household and consequently would very soon become public. Accordingly it
+was arranged that Kelson should arrive first and have a private interview
+with Muriel Tredworth with a view to ascertaining finally and for certain
+whether she could in any way account for the stain on her dress. Gifford
+was to follow half an hour later, when they would have a conference with
+the Morristons and afterwards, with their approval, go into the town and
+see the chief constable on the subject. If Gifford was doubtful as to
+the expediency of the plan, and it was with a considerable amount of
+hesitation that he brought himself to agree to it, he seemed to have no
+good reason to urge against it. And, after all, it appeared, in the
+circumstances, the only politic course to follow. Secrecy was practically
+now out of the question, and any attempt in that direction would
+inevitably fail and would in all probability produce results unpleasant
+to contemplate.
+
+When Gifford arrived at Wynford Place he found Kelson pacing the drive
+and impatiently expecting him.
+
+"Come along," he exclaimed, "the Morristons are waiting for us."
+
+"Miss Tredworth--?"
+
+"Is utterly unable to account for the state of her dress," Kelson
+declared promptly. "She is positive that if she noticed the man she never
+spoke a word to him, nor danced with him. She says that if she ever met
+him before, as according to that girl the other day was the case, she had
+quite forgotten the circumstance. So the sooner we communicate this
+discovery to the police the better. As it is, they say the servants are
+talking of it; so the present position is quite intolerable."
+
+In the library they found Morriston and his sister with the Tredworths.
+The situation was discussed and there seemed no doubt in the mind of
+any one of the party that the only thing to be done was to inform the
+police at once.
+
+"The whole affair is so mysterious," Morriston said, "that all sorts of
+absurd rumours will be afloat if we don't take a strong, straightforward
+line at once. Don't you agree, Edith?"
+
+"Certainly I do," Miss Morriston answered with decision. "I don't
+suppose," she added with a smile, "that any one would be mad enough to
+suggest, my dear Muriel, that you were in any way implicated in the
+affair; but the world is full of stupid and ill-natured people and one
+can't be too careful to put oneself in the right. Don't you agree,
+Captain Kelson?"
+
+"Most decidedly," Kelson replied, with a troubled face. Charlie Tredworth
+was also quite emphatically of opinion that his sister should make no
+secret of what had been found.
+
+"The inspector, who is here," Morriston said, "tells me that Major
+Freeman, our chief constable, intends to come here this morning. I'll say
+we want to see him directly he arrives."
+
+It was not long before the chief constable was shown into the library.
+Morriston lost no time in telling him of the mysterious circumstance
+which had come to light. Major Freeman, a keen soldierly man, with the
+stern expression and uncompromising manner naturally acquired by those
+whose business is to deal with crime, received the information with grave
+perplexity. He turned a searching look upon Muriel Tredworth.
+
+"I understand you are quite unable to account for the stains on your
+dress, Miss Tredworth?" he asked in a tone of courteous insistence.
+
+"Quite," she answered. "I did not speak to Mr. Henshaw or even notice him
+in the ball-room."
+
+"You had--pardon these questions; I am putting this in your own
+interest--you had at no time any acquaintance with Mr. Clement Henshaw?"
+
+"I can hardly say that I had," the girl replied; "although a friend has
+told me that I played tennis with him at a garden-party some years ago."
+
+"A circumstance which you do not recollect?" The question was put
+politely, even sympathetically, yet with a certain uncomfortable
+directness.
+
+"No," Muriel answered. "Even when I was reminded of it, my recollection
+was of the vaguest description. So far as that goes I could neither admit
+nor deny it with any certainty."
+
+"And naturally you never, to your knowledge, saw or communicated with the
+deceased man since?"
+
+Muriel flushed. "No; absolutely no," she returned with a touch of
+resentment at the suggestion.
+
+Major Freeman forbore to distress the girl by any further questioning.
+"Thank you," he said simply. "I am sorry to have even appeared to suggest
+such a thing, but you and your friends will appreciate that it was my
+duty to ask these questions. This looks at the moment," he continued,
+addressing himself now to the party in general, "like proving a very
+mysterious, and I will add, peculiarly delicate affair. The medical
+evidence is inclined to scout the idea of suicide, and my men who have
+the case in hand are coming round to the conclusion that the theory is
+untenable."
+
+"The locked door--" Morriston suggested.
+
+"The locked door," said Major Freeman, "presents a difficulty, but still
+one not absolutely incapable of solution. We know," he added, with a
+faint smile, "from the way the door was eventually opened, that a key can
+be turned from the other side, given the right instrument to effect it."
+
+"Which only a burglar or a locksmith would be likely to have," Kelson
+suggested.
+
+Major Freeman nodded. "Quite so. I am not for a moment suggesting that as
+an explanation of the mystery. It goes naturally much deeper than that.
+Mr. Gervase Henshaw is to look into his brother's affairs and papers
+while in town, and I am hoping that on his return here he may be able to
+give some information which will afford a clue on which we can work. In
+the meantime my men are not relaxing their efforts in this rather
+baffling case."
+
+"In which," Morriston suggested, "this new piece of evidence does not
+afford any useful clue."
+
+Major Freeman smiled, a little awkwardly, it seemed. "If anything, it
+would appear to complicate the problem still further," he replied
+guardedly. "Still, I am very glad to have it, and thank you for informing
+me so promptly. Miss Tredworth may rest assured that should we find it
+necessary to go still farther into this piece of evidence, it will be
+done with as little annoyance as possible."
+
+Some of the chief constable's habitual sternness of manner seemed to
+have returned to him as he now rose to take leave. "I will just confer
+with my men who are on the premises before I leave," he said to
+Morriston in a quiet authoritative tone. "They may have something to
+report." With that he bowed to the company and quitted the room, leaving
+behind him a rather uncomfortable feeling which every one seemed to make
+an effort to throw off.
+
+But there was clearly nothing to be done except to let the police
+researches take their course and to wait for developments. The party
+at Wynford was going over to the dance at Stowgrave that evening and
+it was arranged that they would call for Kelson and Gifford and all go
+on together.
+
+Accordingly at the appointed time the carriage stopped at the _Golden
+Lion_; Kelson joining Miss Tredworth and her brother, while Gifford drove
+with Morriston.
+
+In answer to his companion's inquiry Morriston said that he had heard of
+nothing fresh in the Henshaw case.
+
+"I saw Major Freeman for a moment as he was leaving," he said, "and
+gathered that the police were still at a loss for any satisfactory
+explanation as to how the crime was committed."
+
+"He made no suggestion as to the stains on Miss Tredworth's dress?"
+Gifford asked.
+
+"No. Although I fancy he is a good deal exercised by that piece of
+evidence. Mentioned, as delicately as possible, that it might be
+necessary to have the stains analyzed, but did not wish the girl to be
+alarmed or worried about it. I can't understand," Morriston added in a
+puzzled tone, "how on earth she could possibly have had anything to
+do with it."
+
+"No," Gifford assented thoughtfully; "it is inconceivable, unless by the
+supposition that she may by some means have come in contact with some one
+who was concerned in the crime."
+
+"You mean if a man had a stain on his coat and danced with her--"
+
+"Something of the sort. If there were blood on his lapel or sleeve."
+
+"H'm! It would be easy to ascertain for certain whom she danced with,"
+Morriston said reflectively. "But that again is almost unthinkable."
+
+"And," Gifford added, "it seems to go no way towards elucidating the
+problem of how Henshaw came to his death. As a matter of fact I should
+say Miss Tredworth danced and sat out nearly the whole of the evening
+with Kelson. You know he proposed at the dance?"
+
+"Yes, I understood that. Poor Kelson; I am sorry for him, and for them
+both. It is an ominous beginning of their betrothal."
+
+"It is horrible," Gifford observed sympathetically. "Although one tries
+to think there is really nothing in it for them to be concerned about."
+
+The dance was an enjoyable affair, and, at any rate for the time,
+dispersed the depression which had hung over the party from Wynford.
+Gifford had engaged Miss Morriston for two waltzes, and after a turn or
+two in the second his partner said she felt tired and suggested they
+should sit out the rest of it. Accordingly they strolled off to an
+adjoining room and made themselves comfortable in a retired corner,
+Gifford, nothing loath to have a quiet chat with the handsome girl whose
+self-possessed manner with its suggestion of underlying strength of
+feeling was beginning to fascinate and intrigue his imagination.
+
+"It is rather pleasant," she said a little wearily, "to get away from
+the atmosphere of mystery and police investigation we have been living
+in at home."
+
+"Which I hope and believe will very soon be over," Gifford responded
+cheeringly.
+
+Miss Morriston glanced at him curiously. "You believe that?" she returned
+almost sharply. "How can you think so? It seems to me that with little
+apparent likelihood of clearing up the mystery, the affair may drag on
+for weeks."
+
+Gifford answered with a reassuring smile. "Hardly that. If the police
+can make nothing of it, and they seem to be quite nonplussed, they will
+have to give up their investigations and fall back on their first theory
+of suicide."
+
+Leaning back and watching his companion's face in profile as she sat
+forward, he could see that his suggestion was by no means convincing.
+
+"I wish I could take your view, Mr. Gifford," she returned, with the
+suggestion of a bitter smile. "I dare say if the authorities were left to
+themselves they might give up. But you forget a very potent factor in the
+tiresome business, the brother, Mr. Gervase Henshaw; he will keep them up
+to the work of investigation, will he not?"
+
+"Up to a certain point, and one can scarcely blame him. But even then,
+the police are not likely to continue working on his theories when they
+lead to no result."
+
+"No?" Miss Morriston replied in an unconvinced tone. "But he is--" she
+turned to him. "Tell me your candid opinion of this Mr. Gervase Henshaw.
+Is he very--"
+
+"Objectionable?" Gifford supplied as she hesitated. "Unpleasantly sharp
+and energetic, I should say. Although it is, perhaps, hardly fair to
+judge a man labouring under the stress of a brother's tragic death."
+
+"He is determined to get to the explanation of the mystery?" The tinge of
+excitement she had exhibited in her former question had now passed away:
+she now spoke in her habitual cold, even tone.
+
+"He says so. Naturally he will do all he can to that end. Of course it
+would be a satisfaction to know for certain how the tragedy came about:
+not that it matters much otherwise. But unfortunately he rather poses as
+an expert in criminology, and that will make for pertinacity."
+
+For a moment Miss Morriston kept silent. "It is very unfortunate," she
+murmured at length. "It will worry poor old Dick horribly. I think he is
+already beginning to wish he had never seen Wynford."
+
+Gifford leaned forward. "Oh, but, my dear Miss Morriston," he said
+earnestly, "you and your brother must really not take the matter so
+seriously. It is all very unpleasant, one must admit, but, after all,
+except that it happened in your house, I don't see that it affects you."
+
+"You think not," Miss Morriston responded mechanically.
+
+"Indeed I think so." As he spoke Gifford could not help a slight feeling
+of wonder that this girl, from whom he would have expected an attitude
+rather of indifference, should allow herself to be so greatly worried by
+the affair. For that she was far more troubled than she allowed to appear
+he was certain. It is her pride, he told himself. A high-bred girl like
+this would naturally hate the very idea of a sensational scandal under
+her roof, and all its unpleasant, rather sordid accompaniments. "I wish,"
+he added with a touch of fervour, "that I could persuade you to dismiss
+any fear of annoyance from your mind."
+
+"I wish you could," she responded dully, with an attempt at a smile.
+Suddenly she turned to him with more animation in her manner than she had
+hitherto shown. "Mr. Gifford, you--I--" she hesitated as though at a loss
+how to put what she wished to say; "I have no right to ask you, who are a
+comparative stranger, to help us in this--this worry, but if you cared
+to be of assistance I am sure you could."
+
+"Of course, of course I will," he answered with eager gladness. "Only let
+me know what you wish and you may command the very utmost I can do. And
+please don't think of me as a stranger."
+
+Edith Morriston smiled, and to Gifford it was the most fascinating smile
+he had ever seen. "Only let me know how I can serve you," he said, his
+pulses tingling.
+
+"I am thinking of my brother," she replied, in a tone so friendly that it
+neutralized the rather damping effect of the words. "He is worrying over
+this business more than one who does not know him well would think. I had
+an idea, Mr. Gifford, that you might help us by, in a way, standing
+between us, so far as might be possible, and this Mr. Gervase Henshaw. He
+stays at your hotel, does he not?"
+
+"Yes; he is expected there to-morrow morning, if not to-night."
+
+"You may perhaps," the girl proceeded, "be able--I don't know how, and I
+have no right to ask it--"
+
+"Please, Miss Morriston!" Gifford pleaded.
+
+"To minimize any annoyance we are likely to suffer through his--his
+uncomfortable zeal," she resumed hesitatingly. "If not that, you may, if
+he is friendly with you, have an opportunity of getting to hear something
+of his plans and ideas, and warning me if he is likely to worry us at
+Wynford. We don't want the tragedy kept alive indefinitely; it would be
+intolerable. I am sure you understand how I feel. That is all."
+
+"You may rely on me to the utmost," Gifford assured her fervently, in
+answer to the question in her eyes.
+
+"Thank you," she said, as she rose. "I felt sure I might ask you this
+favour and trust you."
+
+She made a slight movement of putting out her hand. The gesture was
+coldly made; it might, indeed, have been checked, and gone for nothing.
+But Gifford, keenly on the alert for a sign of regard, was quick to take
+the hand and press it impulsively.
+
+"You may trust me, Miss Morriston," he murmured.
+
+"Thank you," she responded simply, but, he was glad to notice, with a
+touch of relief.
+
+She lightly took his arm and they went back to the ball-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+
+Next day Gervase Henshaw made his expected reappearance in Branchester.
+He left his luggage at the _Golden Lion_ and then went off to the
+police-station where he had a long interview with the chief constable.
+Mindful of his promise to Edith Morriston, Hugh Gifford kept about the
+town with the object of coming across Henshaw and getting to know, if
+possible, something of his intentions. The attraction he had, even from
+their first introduction, felt towards Miss Morriston had become quickly
+intensified by their strangely confidential talk on the previous
+evening. So far she was to him something of a puzzle, but a puzzle of
+the most fascinating kind. It was, perhaps, strangely unaccountable that
+she should have chosen to invoke his help who was little more than a
+casual acquaintance; still, he argued as he reviewed the situation, she
+had probably been drawn to him as the one man on the spot who was
+likely to be of use to them. Her brother, a good, sensible fellow of
+some character, was nevertheless an ordinary country gentleman, given up
+to sport of all kinds and naturally quite unversed in the subtleties of
+life and character which can be studied only by those who live in the
+more intellectual atmosphere of cities. The same judgment would apply to
+his friend Kelson, a chivalrous sportsman, who would unselfishly do
+anything in his power to be of help, but whose ability and penetration
+by no means matched his willingness. And probably these men were types
+of the bulk of the Morristons' friends and acquaintances, at any rate of
+those who were immediately available. Consequently, Gifford concluded,
+it had been to himself she had turned in this trouble, influenced no
+doubt by the idea that a Londoner with legal training and experience of
+the world in its many aspects would be the best man she could enlist to
+help her. That her confidence had been drawn by any particular personal
+liking he never for one moment admitted; that unfortunately was so far
+all on one side, whatever hopes the future might hold out to him.
+Anyhow he blessed his luck that an accident had so quickly broken the
+ice and established a state of confidential relationship between them.
+As to there being an adequate reason for alarm Gifford was not inclined
+to question, since he quite realized that this man Henshaw might easily
+constitute himself a grave annoyance to the Morristons. A clever girl
+like Edith Morriston, more sensitive than to a casual observer would
+appear, had naturally recognized this danger and was anxious to have the
+man, with his, perhaps, none too scrupulous methods, held in check; and
+to this service Gifford was only too happy to devote himself, glad
+beyond measure that the opportunity had been given him by the girl who
+had filled his thoughts.
+
+It was not until evening that he came across Henshaw, it being to his
+mind essential not to appear anxious or to seek out the criminologist
+with the obvious view of getting information as to his plans.
+
+"So you are back again, Mr. Henshaw," he said with a careless nod of
+greeting as they encountered in the hall of the hotel. "I hear the
+police have not yet arrived at any satisfactory conclusion."
+
+Henshaw drew back his lips in a slight smile. To Gifford the expression
+was an ugly one, and he wondered what it portended.
+
+"There is a likelihood of our not being at a loss much longer," Henshaw
+replied, speaking through his teeth with a certain grim satisfaction.
+
+"What, you have made a discovery?" Gifford exclaimed.
+
+Henshaw's face hardened. "I am not yet at liberty to say what I have
+found," he returned in an uncompromising tone. "But I think you may
+take it from me as absolutely certain that my brother did not take his
+own life."
+
+With pursed lips Gifford nodded acceptance of the statement. "That makes
+the affair look serious, not to say sensational," he responded. "I
+suppose one must not ask you whether you have a clue to the perpetrator."
+
+"No, I can hardly say that yet," Henshaw answered with a rather cunning
+look. "You, as one of our profession, Mr. Gifford, will understand that
+and the unwisdom of premature statements."
+
+"Certainly I do," Gifford agreed promptly. "And am quite content to
+restrain my curiosity till I get information from the papers."
+
+Henshaw laughed intriguingly. "There are certain things that don't find
+their way into the Press," he said meaningly. "The real story in this
+case may turn out to be one of them."
+
+Eager as he was, Gifford resolved to show no further curiosity. "You know
+best," he rejoined almost casually. "But I hope for the Morristons' sake
+the mystery will be soon satisfactorily cleared up."
+
+There was a peculiar glitter in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "No doubt
+they are anxious."
+
+"Naturally. They are getting rather worried by all this police fuss."
+
+"Naturally." Henshaw repeated Gifford's word with a curious emphasis. "It
+is unfortunate for them," he added. "But all the same it is imperative
+that the manner of my brother's death should be thoroughly investigated."
+
+He nodded, and as unwilling to discuss the matter further, opened a
+newspaper and turned away.
+
+About noon next day Gifford went with Kelson to Wynford Place. They had
+seen nothing more of Henshaw who, it seemed, was rather inclined to hold
+away from them, possibly with a view to avoiding an opportunity of
+discussing the affair, or because he was occupied in following up some
+clue he had, or thought he had, got hold of. This was naturally a
+disappointment to Gifford, who was anxious, on Miss Morriston's behalf,
+to keep himself posted as to Henshaw's intentions.
+
+"Of course," said Kelson, "the fellow will have heard of the stains found
+on Muriel's dress, and will set himself to make the most of that
+discovery. I only hope he won't take to worrying her. She is quite enough
+upset about it without that."
+
+"Doubtless that is why he is keeping away from us," Gifford observed. "He
+probably has heard of your engagement."
+
+"And has the decency to see that he cannot very well discuss the matter
+with us," Kelson added.
+
+On their arrival at Wynford Place Morriston told them that Gervase
+Henshaw was there with a detective in the room of the tragedy. "There is
+a decided improvement in his manner to-day," he said with a laugh. "He
+has been quite considerate and apologetic; so much so that I think I
+shall have to ask him to stay to luncheon; it seems rather churlish in
+the circumstances not to do so when the man is actually in the house on
+what should be to him a very sad business. But you fellows must stay too,
+to take off some of the strain."
+
+They accepted; Gifford not sorry, for more reasons than one, to stay.
+
+He presently took an opportunity of joining Edith Morriston in the
+garden.
+
+"I have been keeping a look-out for Mr. Henshaw," he said, as they
+strolled off down a secluded walk, "but so far have had a chance of
+speaking to him only once, when I ran across him in the hotel."
+
+"Yes?" she responded, with a scarcely concealed curiosity to hear what
+had passed.
+
+"He has evidently got hold of some clue, or at least thinks he has,"
+Gifford proceeded. "But what it is he did not tell me. In fact he rather
+declined to discuss the affair. I fancy he had had a long consultation
+with the police authorities."
+
+"And he would tell you nothing?"
+
+"Nothing. I rather expected he might have come, as before, to discuss the
+case with us, but he has made a point of keeping away. I hear, however,
+from your brother that he seems far less objectionable this time."
+
+Somewhat to Gifford's surprise, she gave a rather grudging assent. "Yes,
+I suppose he is. I happened to see him on his arrival, and he certainly
+was polite enough, but it is possible to be even objectionably polite."
+
+Gifford glanced at her curiously, wondering what had taken place to call
+forth the remark. "I know that," he said. "I do hope the man has not
+annoyed you. From what your brother told us--"
+
+"Oh, no," she interrupted, "I can't say he has annoyed me--from his
+point of view." She laughed. "The man tried to be particularly
+agreeable, I think."
+
+"And succeeded in being the reverse," Gifford added. "I can quite
+understand. Still, it might be worse."
+
+"Oh, yes," she agreed in a tone which did nothing to abate his curiosity.
+
+The luncheon bell rang out and they turned.
+
+"I haven't thanked you for looking after our interests, Mr. Gifford," the
+girl said.
+
+"I have unfortunately been able to do nothing," he replied deprecatingly.
+
+"But you have tried," she rejoined graciously, "and it is not your fault
+if you have not succeeded. It is a comfort to think that we have a friend
+at hand ready to help us if need be, and I am most grateful."
+
+The unusual feeling in her tone thrilled him.
+
+"I should love to do something worthy of your gratitude," he responded,
+in a subdued tone.
+
+"You take a lower view of your service than I do," she rejoined as they
+reached the house, and no more could be said.
+
+At luncheon the improvement which their host had mentioned in Henshaw's
+attitude was strikingly apparent. His dogmatic self-assertiveness which
+had before been found so irritating was laid aside; his manner was
+subdued, his tone was sympathetic as he apologized for all the annoyance
+to which his host and hostess were being put. Gifford, watching him
+alertly, wondered at the change, and more particularly at its cause,
+which set him speculating. What did it portend? It seemed as though the
+complete alteration in the man's attitude and manner might indicate that
+he had got the solution of the mystery, and no longer had that problem to
+worry him. Certainly there was little to find fault with in him to-day.
+
+One thing, however, Gifford did not like, and that was Henshaw's rather
+obvious admiration for Edith Morriston. When they took their places at
+table, she had motioned to Gifford to sit beside her, and from that
+position it gradually forced itself upon his notice that Henshaw
+scarcely took his eyes off his hostess, addressing most of his
+conversation, and he was a fluent talker, to her. It was, of course,
+scarcely to be wondered at that this handsome, capable girl should call
+forth any man's admiration. Gifford himself was indeed beginning to fall
+desperately in love with her, but this naturally made Henshaw's rather
+obvious prepossession none the less disagreeable to him. This, then, he
+reflected, was the explanation of what Miss Morriston had hinted at,
+what she had described as his objectionable excess of politeness at
+their meeting that morning. Happily, however, Gifford felt secure in his
+position as her accredited ally and in her expressed dislike to the man
+whom it seemed she had unwittingly fascinated. It was indeed unthinkable
+that this splendid, high-bred girl could ever be responsive to the
+advances of this unpleasantly sharp, rather underbred man, and he was a
+little surprised that she could respond to his remarks quite so
+genially, with more graciousness indeed than even her position as
+hostess called forth.
+
+He could not quite reconcile it with the way she had spoken of him
+previously; but then he told himself that he was making too much of the
+business, and saw what was mere politeness through the magnifying glasses
+of jealousy. And so, secure in his position, he proceeded to view
+Henshaw's attempts to ingratiate himself with an amused equanimity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+
+During the next day or two Gifford saw next to nothing of Gervase
+Henshaw. They had parted amicably enough after luncheon at Wynford Place;
+indeed, the change in Henshaw's demeanour had been something of a puzzle
+to the two friends, although Kelson did not seem much exercised by it.
+"The fellow has evidently come to the conclusion that in dealing with
+people like the Morristons an offensive brow-beating manner does not
+pay," he remarked casually. Gifford, however, had an idea that the reason
+for the change lay somewhat deeper than that. He wondered whether in the
+absence of any other apparent cause, Edith Morriston's attractiveness had
+had anything to do with it. It was not a pleasant idea; still, if it
+saved her annoyance that would be something gained, he thought; and that
+it should have any farther result was out of the question.
+
+He had not had that day an opportunity of any private talk with Miss
+Morriston, for she had driven out after luncheon to pay a call. But a
+certain suggestion of warmth in her leave-taking had assured him that she
+still looked for his help and that the conditions were not changed.
+
+What he had undertaken so eagerly was now, however, not easy of
+accomplishment. For reasons at which Gifford could only guess, Henshaw
+seemed to be playing an elusive game; he kept out of sight, or, at any
+rate, avoided all intercourse with the two friends, and on the rare
+occasions when they met he was to Gifford tantalizingly uncommunicative.
+That something was evidently behind his reticence made it all the more
+unsatisfactory, since the result was that Gifford had no object in going
+to Wynford Place, for he had nothing to tell. Indeed he learnt more from
+the Morristons than from Henshaw. The police had concluded their
+investigations on the premises, much to the relief of the household, who
+were now left in peace.
+
+"They don't seem to have come to any definite conclusion as to how the
+tragedy happened," Morriston said. "They have an idea, as I gather from
+Major Freeman, where to look for the murderer, if murder it was; which I
+am rather inclined to doubt."
+
+"Is Henshaw likely to give up the search?" Gifford asked.
+
+Morriston looked puzzled. "I can't make out," he answered in a slightly
+perplexed tone. "Even Freeman does not seem to know what his idea is. He
+is still about here."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "I caught a glimpse of him this morning."
+
+"Curious," Morriston remarked. "I came across the fellow yesterday
+afternoon in the big plantation here. He was mooning about and didn't
+seem best pleased to see me, but he was quite duly apologetic, said he
+was puzzling over the tragedy and hoped I didn't mind his trespassing on
+my property. Of course I told him he was free to come and go as he
+liked, but it did strike me as peculiar that he should be thinking out
+the case in that plantation which has no possible connexion with the
+scene of the crime."
+
+"Yes, it was curious," Gifford agreed reflectively. "Did he tell you
+what he was doing about the business?"
+
+Morriston shook his head. "No; he wasn't communicative; didn't seem to
+have much to go upon. Of course one can't tell what the fellow has at the
+back of his mind, but I was rather surprised that a Londoner of his
+energy and smartness should spend his time loafing about down here with
+what seems a poor chance of any result; and I nearly told him so."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well you didn't," Gifford replied. "He is suspicious
+enough to imagine you might have a motive in wanting to get rid of him."
+
+Morriston laughed. "I have. He is not exactly the man one wants to have
+prowling about the place; but it would not be polite to hint as much."
+
+The episode, trivial as it seemed to Morriston, gave Gifford food for
+disagreeable reflection. Why, indeed, should Henshaw be hanging about in
+the grounds of Wynford, and give so unconvincing a reason? What troubled
+Gifford most was that the man's reticent attitude precluded all hope of
+his learning anything of his plans which could usefully be imparted to
+Miss Morriston. Evidently there was nothing to be got out of him; the
+rather open confidence he had displayed on his first appearance at
+Branchester had quite disappeared, and if Gifford was to find out
+anything worth reporting it would assuredly not be due to any
+communication from the man himself.
+
+He had accordingly to be content with the resolve to keep a wary eye on
+Henshaw's movements.
+
+He was now pretty free to do this. The Tredworths had ended their visit
+at Wynford and had returned home, and naturally Kelson spent much of his
+time over there, leaving Gifford to his own devices. It had, in view of
+Gifford's commission from Miss Morriston, been arranged that he should
+share Kelson's rooms at the _Golden Lion_, no longer as a guest, so that
+both men were now independent of each other. The date of Kelson's wedding
+seemed now likely to be put off for some months, as his friend had
+suggested. The unpleasant episode of the stains on Muriel Tredworth's
+dress had, although there was no indication of attaching serious
+importance to them, nevertheless cast an uncomfortable shadow over the
+happiness of her betrothal, and without giving any specific reason she
+had declared for a postponement of the wedding, for which there was,
+after all, a quite natural reason.
+
+"Perhaps it is just as well," Kelson remarked to his friend. "Although it
+is absolutely unthinkable that Muriel could have had anything to do with
+the affair, yet one can quite appreciate her wish to wait till perhaps
+something crops up to give us the explanation beyond all question. It is
+rather a blow to me, and I hope if the mysterious Mr. Gervase Henshaw is
+really on the track of the crime he will produce his solution without
+much more delay. For a girl like Muriel to have even the faintest
+suspicion hanging over her is simply hateful."
+
+Meanwhile the mysterious Mr. Henshaw seemed in no hurry to make known his
+theory, if he had one. Yet he still remained in Branchester, writing all
+the morning and going out in the afternoon, usually with a handful of
+letters for post. He always nodded affably to Gifford when they met, but
+beyond a casual remark on the weather or the events of the day, showed no
+disposition to chat.
+
+But now while Gifford was in this unsatisfactory state of mind,
+persevering yet baffled in what he had undertaken to do, a very singular
+thing came to pass. He strolled out one afternoon, aimlessly, wondering
+whether the negative result of his efforts justified his remaining in the
+place, and yet loath to leave it, held there as he was by the attraction
+of Edith Morriston. He felt he could be making but little way in her
+favour seeing how he was failing in what he had undertaken to do for her,
+and as he walked he discussed with himself whether it would not be
+possible to hit on some more active plan of becoming acquainted with
+Henshaw's knowledge and intentions. It was obviously a delicate business,
+and after all, he thought, now that the man's undesirable presence had
+practically ceased to be an annoyance to the Morristons there scarcely
+seemed any need to bother about him. On the other hand, however, there
+was a certain strong curiosity on his own part to know Henshaw's design
+and what kept him in the town.
+
+Gifford's walk took him over well remembered ground. He was strolling
+along a path which led through the Wynford property, over a rustic bridge
+across a stream he had often fished when a boy, and so on into a wood
+which formed one of the home coverts. Making his way through this
+familiar haunt of by-gone days he came to one of the long rides which
+bisected the wood for some quarter of a mile. He turned into this and was
+just looking out for a comfortable trunk where he might sit and smoke,
+when he caught sight of two figures in the distance ahead walking slowly
+just on the fringe of the ride. A man and a woman; their backs were
+towards him, but his blood gave a leap at the sight as their identity
+flashed upon him. It was, in its unexpectedness, an almost appalling
+sight to him, as he realised that the two were none other than Henshaw
+and Edith Morriston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+Next moment Gifford had instinctively sprung back into the covert of
+the trees, almost dazed by what he had seen. Henshaw and Edith
+Morriston! Could it be possible? His eyes must have deceived him. About
+the girl there could be no doubt. Her tall, graceful figure was
+unmistakable. But the man. Surely he had been mistaken there; it must
+have been her brother, or perhaps a friend who had been lunching with
+them. Had Gifford, his mind obsessed by Henshaw, jumped to a false
+conclusion? He stooped, and creeping warily beyond the fringe of trees
+looked after the pair.
+
+They were now some thirty yards away. There could be no doubt that the
+lady was Edith Morriston; and the man? Incredible as it might seem, he
+was surely Gervase Henshaw. Gifford had seen him some two hours earlier,
+and now recognized his grey suit and dark felt hat. He stayed, crouched
+down, looking after the amazing pair, seeking a sign that the man was
+not Henshaw. After all, it was, he told himself, more likely that he had
+made a mistake than that Miss Morriston could be strolling in
+confidential talk (for such seemed the case) with that fellow. It was too
+astounding for belief.
+
+They had stopped now, at the end of the ride; the man talking earnestly,
+it seemed; Miss Morriston standing with head bent down and scoring the
+grass with her walking-stick as though in doubt or consideration. Would
+they turn and put the man's identity beyond uncertainty?
+
+Gifford had not long to wait. Miss Morriston seemed to draw off and began
+to walk back down the ride; her companion turned and promptly put himself
+by her side. There was no doubt now as to who he was. Gervase Henshaw.
+
+As one glance, now that the face was revealed, proved that, Gifford drew
+back quickly and hurried deeper into the thick wood fearful lest his
+footsteps should be heard. When he had gone a safe distance an intense
+curiosity made him halt and turn. From his place of hiding he could just
+see the light of the ride along which the couple would pass. He hated
+the idea of spying upon Edith Morriston; after all, if she chose to walk
+and talk with this man it was no business of his; but a supreme distrust
+of Henshaw, unreasonable enough, perhaps, but none the less keen, made
+him suspicious that the man might be playing some cowardly game, might
+have drawn the girl to him by unfair means. Otherwise it was surely
+inconceivable that she should have consented--condescended indeed--to
+meet him in that clandestine manner.
+
+As Gifford stayed, hesitating between a breach of good form and a
+legitimate desire to learn whether the girl was being subjected to
+unfair treatment, the sound of Henshaw's rather penetrating voice came
+into earshot, and a few seconds later they passed across the line of
+Gifford's sight.
+
+He could catch but a glimpse of them through the intervening trees as
+they went by slowly, but it was enough to tell him that Henshaw was
+talking earnestly, arguing, it seemed, and on Edith Morriston's clear-cut
+face was a look of trouble which was not good to see. It made Gifford
+flush with anger to think that this lovely high-bred girl was being
+worried, probably being made love to, by a man of that objectionable
+type; for that she could be in that situation without coercion was not to
+be believed. The reason for Henshaw's prolonged and rather puzzling stay
+in the place was now accounted for. Moreover, to Gifford's bitter
+reflection the whole business seemed clear enough. Henshaw had been
+caught and fascinated by Edith Morriston's beauty, and being, as was
+obvious, a man of energy and determination, was now in some subtle way
+making use of the tragedy as a means of forcing his unwelcome attentions
+on her. How otherwise could this astounding familiarity be arrived at?
+Sick with disgust and indignation, Gifford turned away and retraced his
+steps through the wood, dismissing, as likely to lead to a false
+position, his first impulse to appear on the scene and stop, at any rate
+for that day, Henshaw's designs. He felt that to act precipitately might
+do less good than harm. He was, after all, on private ground there, and
+had no right to intrude upon what in all likelihood Miss Morriston wished
+to be a secluded interview. What course he would take in the future was
+another matter, and one which demanded instant and serious consideration.
+The right line to adopt was indeed a perplexing problem.
+
+Gifford recalled Morriston's story of having met Henshaw hanging about
+more or less mysteriously in the plantation, and the annoyance he had
+expressed at the encounter. The reason was plain enough now. Of course
+the man was waiting either to waylay Edith Morriston or to meet her by
+appointment. It was not a pleasant reflection; since the fact showed that
+these clandestine meetings had probably been going on for some days past.
+That Henshaw's object was more or less disreputable could not be doubted,
+and to Gifford the amazing and troubling part of it was that Edith
+Morriston, the very last woman he would have suspected of consenting to
+such a course, who had professed an absolute dislike and repugnance to
+Henshaw, and fear of his annoying presence, should be meeting him thus
+willingly. Had he not seen them with his own eyes he would have scoffed
+at the idea as something inconceivable.
+
+Now what was he to do? For it was clear that, justified or not as he
+might be thought in interfering in matters which did not concern him,
+something must be done. The one obvious course which it seemed he ought
+to take was to give Richard Morriston a hint of what was on foot, if not
+a stronger and more explicit statement. For that Morriston could be privy
+to the correspondence between his sister and Henshaw was quite unlikely.
+If anything underhand was going on, if Henshaw was holding some threat
+over the girl or pursuing her with unwelcome attentions her brother, as
+her natural guardian, should be warned. That seemed to Gifford his
+manifest duty. And yet he shrank from anything which might seem treachery
+towards the girl. For, if she needed her brother's help and protection
+against the man, it would be an easy matter for her to complain of his
+persecution. Why, he wondered, had she not done so? It was all very
+mysterious. He tried to imagine how the position had come about. On
+Henshaw's side it was plain enough. Miss Morriston was not only a
+strikingly handsome girl, but she was an heiress, possessing, according
+to Kelson, a considerable fortune in her own right. There, clearly, was
+Henshaw's motive; an incentive to an unscrupulous man to use every art,
+fair and unfair, to force himself into her favour. But how had he
+succeeded so quickly as to make this rather haughty, reserved girl
+consent to meet in secret the man whom she professed to dislike and
+avoid? That this unpleasantly sharp, pushing product of the less
+dignified side of the law could have any personal attraction for one of
+Edith Morriston's taste and discrimination was impossible. And yet there
+the challenging fact remained that confidential relations had been
+established between the disparate pair. Was it possible that this man
+could have found out something connecting Edith Morriston with his
+brother's death? The feasibility of the idea came as a shock to Gifford.
+He stopped dead in his walk as the notion took form in his brain. The
+possibilities of this most mysterious case were too complicated to be
+grasped at once. And so with his mind in a whirl of vague conjecture and
+apprehension he reached his hotel. And there a new development in the
+mystery awaited him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+
+Kelson was in their sitting-room reading the _Field_. He started up as
+Gifford entered, and flung away the paper. "My dear Hugh, I've been
+waiting for you," he exclaimed.
+
+"What's the matter? Anything wrong?" Gifford asked with a certain
+apprehensive curiosity, as he noticed signs of suppressed excitement in
+his friend's face.
+
+"I don't know whether it's all wrong or whether it is all right," Kelson
+replied. "Anyhow it has relieved my mind a good deal."
+
+Controlling his own tendency to excitement, Gifford put aside his hat and
+stick and sat down. "Let's hear it," he said quietly.
+
+"Well, another unaccountable thing has, it appears, happened at Wynford
+Place. A pendant, or whatever you call it, to that which has been
+troubling Muriel. What do you think? As I was riding along the Loxford
+road this afternoon I met Dick Morriston, and he told me that another
+discovery of blood-stains has been made at Wynford. On a girl's
+ball-dress too. And on whose do you suppose it is?"
+
+"Not Miss Morriston's?" Gifford suggested breathlessly.
+
+Kelson nodded, with a slight look of surprise at the correctness of the
+guess. "Yes. Isn't it queer? Poor old Dick is in rather a way about it,
+and I must say the whole business is decidedly mysterious."
+
+Gifford was thinking keenly. "How did it come out? Who found the
+marks?" he asked.
+
+"Well," Kelson answered, "it appears that Edith Morriston's maid found
+them some days ago, in fact the day after a similar discovery had been
+made on Muriel's gown. She had brought the dress which her mistress had
+worn at the Hunt Ball out of the wardrobe where it hung, in order to fold
+it away. She appears to have spread it on the bed where the sun shone on
+it and in the strong light she noticed on the dark material some
+brownish discolorations. With what had happened about the other dress in
+her mind, she examined the marks closely, and with such intentness as to
+raise the curiosity of a housemaid who happened to come into the room. At
+first Miss Morriston's maid tried to put her off, but the other girl, who
+was sharp-eyed, had seen the marks, was not to be hood-winked, and the
+mischief was done. The housemaid seems to be a foolish, babbling
+creature, and the discovery soon became the talk of the servants' hall,
+whence it spread till it reached the police."
+
+"And what are they doing about it?" Gifford asked.
+
+"Morriston says they've had a detective up at the house examining the
+gown; being so utterly at sea over the affair the police are doubtless
+glad to catch at anything. There seems little question that the stains
+are blood, and that makes the whole business still more puzzling. Dick
+Morriston is naturally very exercised about it, but I am very glad for
+Muriel's sake that the second discovery has been made. In fact I have
+been just waiting till I saw you before riding over to tell her of it,
+and relieve her mind."
+
+"Yes," Gifford responded mechanically, "of course it removes any serious
+suspicion from Miss Tredworth."
+
+"And," said Kelson eagerly, "it divides the odium, if there is any. In
+fact, to my mind, it reduces the whole suspicion to an absurdity. For
+that both girls could have been concerned in Henshaw's death is
+absolutely incredible."
+
+"Yes," Gifford agreed thoughtfully; "they could not both have had a
+hand in it."
+
+"Or either, for that matter," Kelson returned with a laugh. "Don't you
+admit that the idea is in the highest degree ridiculous?" he added more
+sharply as Gifford remained silent.
+
+"It is--inconceivable," he admitted abstractedly.
+
+Kelson, who had taken up his hat and crop and was turning to the door,
+wheeled round quickly. "My dear Hugh," he exclaimed impatiently, "what is
+the matter with you? What monstrous idea have you got in your head? You
+owe it to me, and I really must ask you, to speak out plainly. It seems
+almost an insult to Muriel to ask the question, but do you still persist
+in the notion that she had, even in the most innocent way, anything to do
+with Henshaw's death? Because I have her positive assurance that she
+knows nothing of it, beyond what is common knowledge."
+
+"I too am quite certain of that now," Gifford answered.
+
+"Why do you say now?" Kelson demanded sourly. "Surely you never seriously
+entertained such an abominable idea."
+
+"You must admit, my dear Harry," Gifford replied calmly, "that with a man
+stabbed to death in practically the next room, the blood-stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress were bound to give rise to conjecture. One would
+suspect an archbishop in a similar position. But that is all over now. I
+am as convinced as you can be that Miss Tredworth knew nothing of the
+business."
+
+"On your honour that is your opinion?"
+
+"On my honour."
+
+"This new discovery has changed your opinion?"
+
+"It has at least shown me how dangerous it may be to jump to
+conclusions."
+
+Kelson drew in a breath. "Yes, indeed. Poor Muriel has suffered from the
+suspicion as well as from the horrible shock of the discovery. Still,
+this new development, though it acquits her, does nothing towards solving
+the mystery. I wonder whether Edith Morriston has any idea as to how her
+dress got marked."
+
+"I wonder," Gifford responded abstractedly.
+
+"Well," said Kelson, "I'm off to carry the good news to Muriel. Don't
+wait dinner for me if I'm not back by seven-thirty."
+
+It was rather a relief to Gifford to be left alone that he might review
+the situation without interruption. His first thought had been, could
+this last discovery be accountable for what he had seen that afternoon?
+Doubtless, after the information reached the police it would not be long
+in being conveyed to Henshaw. And he was now making use of it to put the
+screw on, using the hold he had gained over Edith Morriston to bend her
+to his will. What was that? Marriage? To Gifford the thought was
+monstrous; yet if it should be that Henshaw had information which put
+the girl in his power, what could she do? That she had consented to meet
+him secretly and listen to him went to show that she felt her position to
+be weak. If so she might need help, an adviser, a man to stand between
+her and her persecutor.
+
+Thinking out the situation strenuously Gifford determined to seek a
+private interview with Edith Morriston and offer himself as her
+protector. At the worst she could but snub him, and the chances were, he
+thought, greatly in favour of her accepting his offer of help. For from
+her character he judged she was not a girl to make a stronger appeal to
+him than the casual invoking of his assistance which had already taken
+place. He had a very cogent reason for believing that he could be of
+assistance, although there were certain elements in the mystery which
+might, in his ignorance of them, upset his calculations.
+
+Anyhow in consideration of the trust Edith Morriston had shown in him he
+would seek an interview with her and chance what it might bring forth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN EXPLANATION
+
+
+In pursuance of this plan Gifford proposed to his friend that they should
+call at Wynford Place on the next day. Kelson had returned from the
+Tredworths in high spirits, the news he carried there having lifted a
+weight off his fiancée's mind and indeed restored the happiness of the
+whole family. There was no cloud over the engagement now, and they could
+all look forward to the marriage without a qualm.
+
+If Kelson might, in ordinary circumstances, have wondered at the motive
+for his friend's proposal, which was but thinly disguised, he was in too
+happy a state of preoccupation to trouble his head about it.
+
+"I'm your man," he responded promptly. "It so happens that Muriel is
+lunching at Wynford to-morrow, so it will suit me well enough. I
+shouldn't be surprised if we get a note in the morning asking us to
+lunch there too."
+
+The morning, however, brought no note of invitation; a failure
+which rather surprised Kelson, although Gifford thought he could
+account for it.
+
+Nevertheless he determined to go and do his best to get a private talk
+with Edith Morriston, however disinclined she might be to grant it. The
+two men went up to Wynford early in the afternoon, but it was a long time
+before Gifford got the opportunity he sought. Edith Morriston seemed as
+friendly and gracious as ever, but whether by accident or design she gave
+no chance for Gifford to get in a private word. With the knowledge of
+what he had seen on the previous afternoon and of the change in her
+attitude he was too shrewd to show any anxiety for a confidential talk.
+He watched her closely when he could do so unobserved, but her face gave
+no sign of trouble or embarrassment. He wondered if there could after all
+be anything in his idea of persecution, and the more curious he became
+the more determined he grew to find out. But somehow Miss Morriston
+contrived that they should never be alone together; when Kelson and
+Muriel Tredworth strolled off lover-like, Miss Morriston kept her brother
+with her to make a third.
+
+The three went round to the stables and inspected the hunters, then
+through the shrubbery to admire a wonderful bed of snowdrops. As they
+stood there looking over the undulating park, and Gifford, curbing his
+impatience, was talking of certain changes which had taken place since
+his early days there, the butler was seen hurrying towards them.
+
+"Callers, I suppose," Morriston observed with a half-yawn. "What is
+it, Stent?"
+
+"Could I speak to you, sir?" the man said, stopping short a little
+distance away.
+
+Morriston went forward to him, and after they had spoken together he
+turned round, and with an "Excuse me for a few minutes," went off towards
+the house with the butler.
+
+So at last the opportunity had come. Gifford glanced at his companion and
+noticed that her face had gone a shade paler than before the
+interruption.
+
+"I wonder what can be the matter," she observed, a little anxiously
+Gifford thought. Then she laughed. "I dare say it is nothing; Stent is
+becoming absurdly fussy; and all the alarms and discoveries we have had
+lately have not diminished the tendency."
+
+"The latest discovery must have come rather as a relief," Gifford
+ventured tentatively.
+
+"The marks on my dress you mean?" She laughed. "So far that I now share
+with Muriel Tredworth the suspicion of knowing all about the tragedy."
+
+"Hardly that," Gifford replied with a smile. "There can be no cause for
+that fear. By the way," he added more seriously, "I owe you an account of
+my failure to gain any information for you with regard to Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw's plans."
+
+"He is not communicative?" Miss Morriston suggested casually.
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No, I am never able to get hold of him. In fact,
+it seems as though he rather makes a point of avoiding us. And if we do
+meet, he is vagueness and reticence personified."
+
+They were walking slowly back along the shrubbery path. The girl turned
+to him for an instant, her expression softened in a look of gratitude.
+"It is very kind of you, Mr. Gifford, to take all this trouble for us.
+And I am sure it is not your fault that the result is not what you might
+wish. It was rather absurd of me to set you the task. But I am none the
+less grateful. Please think that, and do not bother about it any more."
+
+"But if the man is likely to annoy you," he urged. "Have you longer any
+reason to fear him?"
+
+She turned swiftly. "Fear him? What do you mean?"
+
+"We thought he might be unscrupulous and might make himself
+objectionable."
+
+She shrugged. "I dare say it is possible."
+
+"I must confess," he pursued, "I can't quite make the fellow out. Nor his
+motive for remaining in the place. Your brother told me he came across
+him hanging about in one of your plantations."
+
+He thought the blood left her face for an instant, but otherwise she
+showed no sign of discomposure.
+
+"How did he account for his being there?" she asked calmly.
+
+"Unsatisfactorily enough. I forget his actual excuse."
+
+"Was that all?" she demanded coldly.
+
+"I believe so. But it is hardly desirable, as your brother said, to have
+the man prowling about the property."
+
+For a moment she was silent. "No," she said as though by an afterthought.
+
+Her manner troubled him. "I hope he is not attempting to annoy you," he
+said searchingly.
+
+She looked surprised and, he thought, a little resentful at his question.
+"Me?" she returned coldly. "By hanging about in the plantation?"
+
+"If he goes no farther than that--"
+
+"Why should he?" she demanded in the same rather chilling tone.
+
+"I don't know," Gifford replied, set back by her manner. "Except that I
+have no high opinion of the fellow. It occurred to me he might possibly
+attempt to persecute you."
+
+She glanced round at him curiously with a little disdainful smile. "What
+makes you think he would do that?" she returned.
+
+Her attitude was to him not convincing. He felt there was a certain
+reservation beneath the rather cutting tone. "I am glad to know there is
+no question of that," he replied with quiet earnestness. "I hope if
+anything of the kind should occur and you should need a friend you will
+not overlook me."
+
+"You are very kind," she responded, but without turning towards him. He
+thought, however, that her low tone had softened, and it gave him hope.
+
+"I should scarcely take upon myself to suggest this," he said, "but I am
+emboldened by two facts. One that you have already asked me to be your
+ally, your friend, in this business, the other that there is something
+about Henshaw and his actions which I do not understand. I hope you will
+forgive my boldness."
+
+His companion had glanced round now, keenly, as though to probe for the
+meaning which might lie beneath his words. He speculated whether she
+might be wondering how much he knew; was he cognisant of her meeting
+with Henshaw?
+
+But, whatever her thought, she answered in the same even voice, "There is
+nothing to forgive. On the contrary I am most grateful."
+
+They were nearing the house, and Gifford was debating whether he dared
+suggest another turn along the shrubbery path, when Richard Morriston
+appeared at the hall door, beckoned to them, and went in again.
+
+"I wonder what Dick wants. Has anything more come to light?" Miss
+Morriston observed with a rather bored laugh as she slightly
+quickened her pace.
+
+As they went in she called, "Dick!" and he answered her from the library.
+There they found him with Kelson and Muriel Tredworth. A glance at their
+faces told Gifford that they were all in a state of scarcely suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I say, Edith, what do you think?" her brother exclaimed. "We've made a
+rather important discovery. Were you in the middle room of the tower
+during the dance?"
+
+For a moment his sister did not answer.
+
+"No; I don't think I was," she said, with what seemed to Gifford a
+certain amount of apprehension in her eyes, although her expression was
+calm enough.
+
+"Oh, but, my dear girl, you must have been," Morriston insisted
+vehemently. "We have found the explanation of the stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress and on yours."
+
+"You have?" his sister replied, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Yes; beyond all doubt. The mystery is made clear. Come and see."
+
+He led the way across the hall and up the first story of the tower.
+"There's the explanation," he said, pointing to some dark red patches on
+the back of a sofa and on the carpet below.
+
+"It is not a pleasant idea," Morriston said; "but you see these marks are
+directly under the place where the dead man lay in the room above. The
+blood from his wound evidently ran through the chinks of the flooring on
+to the beams of the ceiling here and so fell drop by drop on the couch
+and on any one sitting there. Rather gruesome, but I am sure we must be
+all very glad to get the simple explanation. The only wonder is that no
+one thought of it before."
+
+"Muriel was sitting just at that end of the sofa when I proposed to her,"
+Kelson said in a low voice to Gifford.
+
+"I am delighted the matter is so completely accounted for," his friend
+returned. "What fools we were ever to have taken it so tragically."
+
+But his expression changed as he glanced at Edith Morriston; she had
+denied that she had been in the room.
+
+"I have sent down to the police to tell them of the discovery," Morriston
+was saying. "The fact is that since the tragedy the servants appear to
+have rather shunned this part of the house, or at any rate to have
+devoted as little time to it as possible. Otherwise this would have come
+to light sooner. Anyhow it is a source of congratulation to Miss
+Tredworth and you, Edith. Of course you must have been in here."
+
+"I remember sitting just there; ugh!" Miss Tredworth said with a shudder.
+
+"I can swear to that," Kelson corroborated with a knowing smile.
+
+"You must have done the same or brushed against the sofa, Edith,"
+Morriston said cheerfully. "Well, I'm glad that's settled, although it
+brings us no nearer towards solving the mystery of what happened
+overhead."
+
+"No," Kelson remarked. "It looks as though that was going to remain
+a mystery."
+
+The butler came in. "Major Freeman is here, sir," he said, "with Mr.
+Henshaw, and would like to speak to you."
+
+Morriston looked surprised. "Alfred has been very quick. We sent him off
+only about a quarter of an hour ago."
+
+"Alfred met Major Freeman and Mr. Henshaw with the detective just beyond
+the lodge gates, sir."
+
+"Then they were coming up here independently of my message?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Alfred gave Major Freeman the message and came back."
+
+Morriston moved towards the door. "I will see these gentlemen at
+once," he said.
+
+"In the library, sir."
+
+Involuntarily Gifford had glanced at Edith Morriston. She was standing
+impassively with set face; and at his glance she turned away to the
+window. But not before he had caught in her eyes a look which he hated to
+see, a look which seemed to confirm a suspicion already in his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+
+With Morriston's departure a rather uncomfortable silence fell upon the
+party left in the room. Every one seemed to feel that there was
+something in the air, the shadow of a possibly serious development in
+the case. Even Kelson, who was otherwise inclined to be jubilant over
+the freeing of his fiancée from suspicion, seemed to feel it was no time
+or place just then for gaiety, and his expression grew as grave as that
+of the rest.
+
+"I wonder what these fellows have come to say," he observed as he
+paced the room.
+
+"Let's hope to announce that at last they are going to leave you in
+peace, Edith," Miss Tredworth said.
+
+Edith Morriston did not alter her position as she stood looking out of
+the window. "Thank you for your kind wish, Muriel," she responded in a
+cold voice; "but I'm afraid that is too much to hope for just yet."
+
+"Yet one doesn't see what else it can be," Kelson observed reflectively.
+"They can hardly have found out exactly how the man came by his death;
+much more likely to have abandoned their latest theory, eh, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford was looking, held by the grip of his imagination, at the tall
+figure by the window; wondering what was passing behind that veil of
+impassiveness. "I don't see what they can have found out away from this
+house," he said, rousing himself by an effort to answer; "and they don't
+seem to have been here lately."
+
+"Well, we shall see," Kelson said casually. "Ah, here comes Dick
+back again."
+
+Morriston hurried in with a serious face. In answer to Kelson's, "Well,
+Dick?" he said.
+
+"It appears a rather extraordinary piece of evidence has just come to
+light; one which, if true, completely solves the mystery of the locked
+door. I asked Freeman if there was any objection to you fellows coming
+to the library and hearing the story; he is quite agreeable. So will you
+come? You too, Edith, and Miss Tredworth; there is nothing at all
+horrible in it so far."
+
+For the first time Edith Morriston turned from the window. "Is it
+necessary, Dick?" she protested quietly. "I'd just as soon hear it
+all afterwards from you. These police visitations are rather getting
+on my nerves."
+
+"Very well, dear; you shall hear all about it later on," her brother
+responded, and led the way down to the library. Gifford was the last to
+leave the room, and his glance back showed him that Edith Morriston had
+turned again to the window and resumed her former attitude.
+
+In the library were the chief constable, Gervase Henshaw and a local
+detective.
+
+"Now, Major Freeman," Morriston said as he closed the door, "we shall be
+glad to hear this new piece of evidence."
+
+Major Freeman bowed. "Shortly, it comes to this," he began. "A young
+woman named Martha Haynes, belonging to Branchester, called at my office
+this morning and made a statement which, if reliable, must have an
+important bearing on this mysterious case.
+
+"It appears from her story that on the night of the Hunt Ball held here
+she had been paying a visit to some friends at Rapscot, a village, as you
+know, about a mile beyond Wynford. On her way back to the town, for which
+she started at about 9.45, she took as a short cut the right-of-way path
+running across the park and passing near the house. As she went by she
+was naturally attracted by the lighted windows and could hear the band
+quite plainly. She stopped to listen to the music at a point which she
+has indicated, almost directly opposite the tower.
+
+"She says she had stood there for some little time when her attention
+was suddenly diverted to what seemed a mysterious movement on the
+outside of the tower. A dark body, presumably a human being, appeared to
+be slowly sliding down the wall from the topmost window. Unfortunately
+before she could quite realize what she was looking at--and we may
+imagine that a country girl would take some little time to grasp so
+unusual a situation--a cloud drifted across the moon and threw the
+tower into shadow.
+
+"The girl continued, however, to keep her eyes fixed on the spot where
+she had seen the dark object descending, with the result that in a few
+seconds she saw it reach and pass over one side of the window of the
+lower room which was sufficiently lighted up to silhouette anything
+placed before it. She saw the object move slowly over the window and
+disappear in the darkness beneath it. When, a few seconds later, the moon
+came out again nothing more was to be seen.
+
+"The girl stayed for some time watching the tower, but without result.
+She is a more or less ignorant, unsophisticated country-woman, and what
+she had seen she was quite unable to account for. Naturally she hardly
+connected it with any sort of tragical occurrence. The house with its
+lights and music seemed given over to gaiety; that any one should just
+then have met his death in that upper room never entered her imagination.
+A vague idea that a thief might have got into the house and she had seen
+him escape by the tower window did indeed, as she says, cross her mind,
+and that supposition prevented her from approaching the tower to satisfy
+her curiosity. But as nothing more happened she began to think less of
+the significance of what she had seen, in fact almost persuaded herself
+that it had been something of an optical delusion. Presently, having had
+enough of standing in the cold wind, she resumed her way, went home and
+to bed, and early next morning left the town to enter a situation in
+another part of the country.
+
+"It appears that she had taken cold by her loitering and soon after
+reaching her destination became so ill that she had to keep her bed, and
+it was only on her recovery a few days ago that she heard what had
+happened here that night. Directly she could get away she came over and
+told her story to us."
+
+"A pity she could not have come before," Morriston remarked as the chief
+constable paused. "Her evidence is highly important, disposing as it does
+of the mystery of the locked door."
+
+"Yes," Major Freeman agreed, "and also of the suicide theory. The
+question now is--who was the person who was seen descending from
+the window?"
+
+"Could this girl tell whether it was a man or a woman?" The question came
+from Henshaw, who had hitherto kept silent.
+
+"She thinks it was a man," Major Freeman answered, "but could not swear
+to it. The fact of the object being close to the wall made it almost
+impossible in the imperfect light to distinguish plainly. But I think we
+may take it that it was a man. The feat could be hardly one a woman would
+undertake."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "And there would seem little chance of identifying
+the person."
+
+"None at all so far as the girl Haynes is concerned," Major Freeman
+replied. "But we have something to go upon; a starting point for a new
+line of inquiry. The person seen escaping must have lowered himself by
+a rope from that top window and a considerable length would be
+required. I have taken the liberty, Mr. Morriston, of setting a party
+of my men to search the grounds for the rope; they will begin by
+dragging the little lake."
+
+"By all means," Morriston assented.
+
+"Detective Sprules," the chief proceeded, "would like to make another
+examination of the ironwork of the window. May he go up now?"
+
+"Certainly," Morriston answered, and the detective left the room.
+
+Gifford spoke. "The girl saw nothing of the escaping person after he
+reached the ground?"
+
+"Nothing, she says," Major Freeman answered. "But the base of the tower
+was in deep shadow, which would prevent that."
+
+"A pity her curiosity was not a little more practical," Henshaw observed.
+
+"Yes." Gifford turned to him. "You are proved correct, Mr. Henshaw, in
+your repudiation of the suicide idea. Perhaps, in view of this latest
+development, you may have knowledge to go upon of some one from whom your
+brother might have apprehended danger?"
+
+Henshaw's set face gave indication of nothing but a studied reserve. "No
+one certainly," he answered coolly, "from whom he might apprehend danger
+to his life."
+
+"There must have been a motive for the act," Kelson observed. "Unless it
+was a sudden quarrel."
+
+"There appears," Major Freeman put in, "to be no evidence whatever of
+anything leading up to that."
+
+"No; the cause is so far quite mysterious," Henshaw said.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that there was something of undisclosed knowledge
+behind his words, and he fell to wondering how far the motive was
+mysterious to him.
+
+Morriston proceeded to acquaint Major Freeman with the discovered cause
+of the marks on the ladies' dresses, and they all went off to the lower
+room where the position of the stains was pointed out. Edith Morriston
+was no longer there.
+
+"Miss Tredworth sat at this end of the sofa," Morriston explained, "and
+so the marks on her dress are clearly accounted for."
+
+"And Miss Morriston?" Henshaw put the question in a tone which had in it,
+Gifford thought, a touch of scepticism.
+
+"Oh, my sister must have been in here too," Morriston replied. "Or how
+could her dress have been stained? Unless, indeed, she brushed against
+Miss Tredworth's or someone else's. That's clear."
+
+There seemed no alacrity in Henshaw to accept the conclusion and he did
+not respond.
+
+"I am glad this part of the mystery is so satisfactorily settled,"
+the chief constable remarked. "Now we have the issue narrowed.
+Well, Sprules?"
+
+The detective had appeared at the door.
+
+"I have examined the ironwork of the window, sir," he said, "and have
+found under the magnifying-glass traces of the fraying of a rope as
+though caused by friction against the iron staple."
+
+"Sufficient signs to bear out the young woman's statement?"
+
+"Quite, sir. There is upon close examination distinct evidence of a rope
+having been worked against the hinge of the window."
+
+"Very good, Sprules. We may consider that point settled," Major
+Freeman said.
+
+Having finally satisfied themselves as to the cause of the stains on the
+floor and sofa, the chief constable and his subordinate proposed to go to
+the lake and see whether the men who were dragging it had had any
+success. Morriston and Henshaw with Kelson and Gifford accompanied them.
+As they came in sight of the boat the detective exclaimed, "They have
+found it!" and the men were seen hauling up a rope out of the water.
+
+"Sooner than I expected," Major Freeman observed as they hurried towards
+the nearest point to the boat.
+
+The rope when landed proved to be of considerable length, sufficient when
+doubled, they calculated, to reach from the topmost window to within five
+or six feet of the ground.
+
+"The escaping person," Henshaw said, "must have slid down the doubled
+rope which had been passed through the staple of the window, and then
+when the ground was reached have pulled it away, coiled it up, carried it
+to the lake, and thrown it in. Obviously that was the procedure and it
+accounts completely for the locked door."
+
+The chief constable and the detective agreed.
+
+"A man would want some nerve to come down from that height," the
+latter remarked.
+
+"Any man, or woman either for that matter," Henshaw returned
+dogmatically, "would not hesitate to take the risk as an alternative to
+being trapped up there with his victim."
+
+"You are not suggesting it might have been a woman who was seen sliding
+down the rope?" Gifford asked pointedly.
+
+Henshaw shrugged. "I suggest nothing as to the person's identity," he
+replied in a sharply guarded tone. "That is now what remains to be
+discovered."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LOST BROOCH
+
+
+The police authorities with Henshaw and Morriston went off with the rope
+to experiment in the room of the tragedy.
+
+"I don't suppose we are wanted," Kelson said quietly to Gifford; "let's
+go for a turn round the garden. I wonder where Muriel has got to."
+
+They found Miss Tredworth on the lawn. "I am waiting for Edith," she
+said.
+
+"We'll stroll on and Gifford can bring Miss Morriston after us," Kelson
+suggested, and the lovers moved away, leaving Gifford, much to his
+satisfaction, waiting for Edith Morriston.
+
+In a few minutes she made her appearance. Gifford mentioned the
+arrangement and they strolled off by the path the others had taken.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that his companion's manner was rather abnormal;
+unlike her usual cold reserve there were signs of a certain suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I hope," she said, "that Major Freeman and his people are satisfied with
+our discovery that the marks on Muriel's dress and mine came there by
+accident."
+
+"Evidently quite convinced," Gifford answered.
+
+"That's well," she responded with a rather forced laugh. "It was
+rather too bad to suspect us, on that evidence, of knowing anything
+about the affair."
+
+"I don't suppose for a moment they did," Gifford assured her.
+
+"I don't know," the girl returned. "Anyhow it was rather an embarrassing,
+not to say painful, position for us to be in. But that is at an end now."
+
+Nevertheless Gifford could tell that she was not so thoroughly relieved
+as her words implied.
+
+"Completely," he declared. "You have heard of the new piece of evidence?"
+he added casually.
+
+For a moment she stopped with a start, instantly recovering herself.
+"No; what is that?" in a tone almost of unconcern.
+
+Gifford told her of the statement made by the country girl and its
+corroboration in the finding of the rope. As he continued he felt sure
+that the story was gripping his companion more and more closely. At last
+she stopped dead and turned to him with eyes which had in them intense
+mystification as well as fear.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, do you believe that story?"
+
+"I see no reason for disbelieving it," he answered quietly. "It is
+practically the only conceivable solution of the mystery of the
+locked door."
+
+"Surely--" she stopped, checking the vehement objection that rose to her
+lips. "This girl," she went on as though searching for a plausible
+argument, "is it not likely that she was mistaken? We know what these
+country people are. And she could not have seen very clearly."
+
+"But," Gifford argued gently, "her statement is confirmed by the finding
+of the rope."
+
+Edith Morriston was thinking strenuously, desperately, he could see
+that. The words she spoke were but mechanical, the mere froth of a
+seething brain. Yet her splendid self-command--and he recognized it with
+admiration--never deserted her, however supreme the struggle may have
+been to retain it.
+
+A seat was by them; she went across the path to it and sat down. Gifford
+saw that she was deadly pale.
+
+"I fear this wretched business is upsetting you, Miss Morriston," he said
+gently. "Let me run to the house and fetch something to revive you."
+
+She made a gesture to stay him, and by an effort seemed to shake off the
+threatening collapse. "No, no," she said; "please don't. It is very
+stupid of me, but these repeated shocks are rather trying. You see one
+has never had any experience of the sort before."
+
+"It was more than stupid of me to blunder into the story," Gifford said
+self-reproachfully. "But it never occurred to me--"
+
+"No, no; of course not," she responded. "And, after all, I am bound to
+hear all about it sooner or later. Sit down and tell me your opinion of
+the affair. Supposing the girl was not mistaken who do you think the
+person seen escaping from the window could have been?"
+
+"That is difficult to say."
+
+"A thief, no doubt."
+
+"That is a natural conclusion."
+
+"Have the police any idea?"
+
+"Not that I know of. I should say decidedly no definite idea."
+
+"Or Mr. Henshaw?"
+
+"Whatever Mr. Henshaw's ideas may be he keeps them to himself."
+
+Miss Morriston checked the remark she had seemed about to make, and for a
+few minutes there was an awkward silence. Gifford broke it.
+
+"I am so sorry that I have been unable to get any hint of his intentions.
+Believe me, it has not been for want of trying. But the man, for reasons
+best known to himself, seems determined to remain inscrutable."
+
+The girl was staring in front of her. "Yes," she responded, with a catch
+of her breath; "that is evident. But it does not much matter. I know you
+have tried your best to do what I was foolish enough to ask you. And now
+please do not think any more of it. In my ignorance of the man's
+character I set you an impossible task. All I can do now is to thank you
+for your sympathy and devotion."
+
+Her tone pained him horribly. "I hope, Miss Morriston," he replied
+warmly, "you are not asking me to end my devotion."
+
+She gave a little bitter laugh. "Seeing that it is useless I have no
+right to ask its continuance," she replied almost coldly, "nor to expect
+you to involve yourself in my--in our worries."
+
+"But if I ask to be allowed that privilege?" he urged.
+
+She shook her head. "No, no, my friend," she insisted, with less warmth
+than the words implied, "it can lead to no good and would be a mistake.
+Let the man alone. To involve yourself with him can bring you nothing but
+trouble. Promise me you will take no further heed of this unhappy
+business."
+
+She turned to him as she spoke the last words, and there seemed less
+trouble in her face than in his. For at his heart there was a sickening
+fear and suspicion of what the words portended.
+
+"I can't promise that," he objected.
+
+"But I ask you; it is my wish," she returned with a touch of command.
+
+"For my sake, or yours?" he rejoined.
+
+"For both. Give me your promise. You must if we are to remain friends."
+
+Her look and the fascination in her voice seemed to pull the very heart
+out of him.
+
+"You are asking a cruelly hard thing of me," he replied, with a tremor in
+his voice. "I don't understand--"
+
+"No, you don't understand," she interrupted quickly. "It is enough to
+know that you have taken a girl's foolish commission too seriously, so
+seriously as to run the risk of making things even worse than they
+threatened to be. Now I ask you to leave well alone."
+
+"If it is well," he said doubtfully.
+
+"Of course. Why should it not be?" she rejoined, in a not very convincing
+tone. "Now I shall rely on you--and I am sure it will not be in vain--to
+respect my wishes. Things seem to be in a horrible muddle," she added
+with a rather dreary laugh, "but let's hope they will right themselves
+before long."
+
+She rose, compelling him to rise too. Something in the tone and manner of
+her last speech made him quite unwilling to end their conference, and
+desperately anxious to speak out everything that was in his mind and try
+to bring matters to a crisis.
+
+"Don't go for a moment," he said as she began to move away towards the
+house. "I have something to say to you."
+
+She turned quickly and faced him with a suggestion of displeasure in her
+eyes. "What is it?" she said with a touch of impatience.
+
+"Only this," he answered quietly. "Have you lost a brooch, Miss
+Morriston?"
+
+At the question the blood left her cheeks as it had done a little while
+before; then surged back till her face was suffused.
+
+"A brooch? Yes; I have missed one. Have you found it?" The words were
+spoken with a calmness which failed to hide the eagerness behind them.
+
+"I think so," he answered, taking out his letter-case. "A pearl, set in
+diamonds mounted on a safety-pin?"
+
+He opened the case and showed it pinned into the soft lining.
+
+"Yes; that is mine," she said; and for a moment or two by a strange
+attraction each looked into the other's eyes.
+
+Gifford bent his head over the case as he unfastened the brooch and
+took it out.
+
+"Where--where did you find it?" Something in the girl's voice made him
+glad that he was not looking at her.
+
+"In the garden," he said.
+
+"In the garden?" she repeated. He was looking up now and saw the intense
+relief in her face. "To-day?"
+
+"No; last time I was up here. I ought to have taken it to the house at
+once but--but it was a temptation to me to keep it till I could give it
+back to you like this. Do forgive me."
+
+It was plain she divined what he meant, but her cold manner came to the
+aid of her embarrassment.
+
+"I am only too glad to have it again. I am so glad you found it."
+
+"So am I," he responded with a touch of fervour. "I wish I could relieve
+your mind of everything else as easily."
+
+"I am sure you do," she said wistfully, and impulsively half put
+out her hand.
+
+He caught it as she was in the act of checking the action and drawing it
+back. "You may be sure--quite sure, of my devotion," he said, and raised
+her hand to his lips.
+
+An exclamation and a sudden start as the hand was quickly withdrawn made
+him look up. Edith Morriston's eyes were fixed with something like fear
+on an object behind him. An intuition told him what it was before he
+looked round to see Henshaw, with his characteristic, rather stealthy
+walk, coming towards them.
+
+Gifford set his teeth hard as the two faced round and awaited
+Henshaw's approach.
+
+"This man shall not annoy you," he said in an undertone.
+
+"Don't quarrel with him, for heaven's sake," she entreated in the same
+tone, under her breath, as the disturbing presence drew near. There was
+a strange excitement in her voice, though none in the set face.
+
+"I think your brother is looking for you, Miss Morriston," Henshaw said
+in his even voice when he was within a dozen paces of them.
+
+"I was just going to look for him," the girl replied in a voice strangely
+changed from that in which she had talked with Gifford. "Isn't it lucky?
+Mr. Gifford has picked up in the garden a brooch I lost some days ago. I
+did not dare to tell Dick, as it was his gift."
+
+Henshaw gave a casual glance at the ornament. "I congratulate you," he
+responded coolly. Then Gifford saw his eyes seek hers as he added: "Where
+was it found? Near the tower?"
+
+The covert malice of the insinuation was plain in the questioner's look,
+although the tone was casual enough.
+
+"No. On the lawn," Gifford replied quietly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+
+Nothing more of importance happened that day at Wynford, and Gifford had
+no further opportunity of private talk with Edith Morriston. But it was
+evident to him, and the knowledge gave him intense concern, that the girl
+went in fear of Gervase Henshaw. That he was intimidating her, and using
+his brother's death for that purpose, was beyond doubt, and the very fact
+that Edith Morriston was a woman of uncommon courage and self-control,
+one who in ordinary circumstances would be the last to give way to fear
+or submit to bullying, showed how serious the matter had become.
+
+Gifford on his part determined that this intolerable state of things must
+come to an end, and that in spite of the command laid upon him by the
+girl, he would now pit himself against her persecutor. He had given no
+actual promise, and even if he had it would have been drawn from him in
+ignorance of certain means which he possessed of help in this crisis.
+
+And a significant circumstance which came to Gifford's knowledge a day or
+two after his interview with Edith Morriston in the garden of Wynford,
+was the cause of his beginning to take action without further delay.
+
+Late on the next Sunday afternoon Gifford had gone for a country walk
+which he had arranged to bring him round in time for the evening service
+at the little village church of Wynford standing just outside the park
+boundary. His way took him by well-remembered field-paths which, although
+towards the end of his walk darkness had set in, he had no difficulty in
+tracing. The last field he crossed brought him to a by-road joining the
+highway which ran through Wynford, the junction being about a quarter of
+a mile from the church. As he neared the stile which admitted to the road
+he saw, on the other side of the hedge and showing just above it, the
+head of a man. At the sound of his footsteps the man quickly turned,
+and, as for a moment the fitful moonlight caught his face, Gifford was
+sure he recognized Gervase Henshaw. But he took no notice and kept on his
+way to the stile, which he crossed and gained the road. As he did so he
+glanced back. A horse and trap was waiting there with Henshaw in it. He
+was now bending down, probably with the object of concealing his
+identity, and had moved on a few paces farther down the road.
+
+Why was he waiting there? Gifford asked himself the obvious question with
+a decidedly uneasy feeling. Henshaw the Londoner, on a Sunday evening,
+waiting with a horse and trap in an unfrequented lane, a road which ran
+nowhere but to a farm. What did it mean?
+
+Naturally Gifford's suspicions connected Edith Morriston with the
+circumstance, and yet he told himself the idea was monstrously
+improbable. It was more likely that Henshaw was bound upon some search
+with the police. His movements were and had been for some time
+mysterious enough.
+
+Gifford's impulse as he turned into the high road was to stay there in
+concealment and watch for the upshot of Henshaw's presence. The
+suggestion did not, however, altogether commend itself to him. He
+disliked the idea of spying even upon such a man as Henshaw, whom he had
+good reason to suspect of playing a dastardly game. It was probable, too,
+that Henshaw had recognized him and might be on the look-out; it would be
+intensely humiliating to be caught watching. So, turning the pros and
+cons over in his mind, Gifford walked slowly on in a state of
+irresolution till he came to a wicket-gate which admitted from the road
+to a path which ran through the churchyard.
+
+There he stopped, debating with himself whether he should turn back and
+keep an eye on Henshaw or go on into the church where service was just
+beginning. It did seem absurd to imagine that Henshaw with his conveyance
+could be waiting there by appointment for a girl of the character and
+position of Edith Morriston. True, he had seen them walking together in
+secret, which was strange enough, but that need not necessarily have been
+a planned meeting.
+
+Such an urgent curiosity had hold of him at the bare possibility of
+something wrong that he, temporizing with his scruples, was about to turn
+back to the lane, when he saw the figure of a woman coming towards him
+along the churchyard path. She was tall and so far as he could make out,
+muffled in a cloak and veil. His heart gave a leap, for although the
+woman's face and figure were indistinguishable the height and gait
+corresponded with those of Edith Morriston.
+
+As she came near the little gate where he stood she stopped dead, seemed
+to hesitate a moment, and then turned as though to go back. Determined to
+set his doubts at rest Gifford passed quickly through the gate and
+followed her at an overtaking pace. Evidently sensible of her pursuit,
+the woman quickened her steps and, as Gifford gained on her, turned
+quickly from the path, threading her way among the graves to escape him.
+She had gone but a few steps when in her hurry she tripped over the mound
+of a small, unmarked grave and fell to the ground.
+
+Gifford ran to her and taking her arm assisted her to rise.
+
+"Miss Morriston!" he exclaimed, for he now was sure of her identity. "I
+hope you are not hurt," he added mechanically, his mind full of a greater
+and more critical contingency.
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she responded; but he was sure she had not recognized him
+then for the first time. "Oh, no, thank you; I am not in the least hurt.
+It was stupid of me to trip and fall like that. Are you going to church?"
+she added, evidently wishing to get away.
+
+"I was," he answered. "And you?"
+
+"I was too," she said, conquering her embarrassment, "but I have a
+headache, and prefer the fresh air. Don't let me keep you," she held out
+her hand. "Service has begun."
+
+He took her hand. "Miss Morriston," he said gravely, "don't think me very
+unmannerly, but I am not going to leave you here."
+
+In the bright moonlight he could see her expression of rather haughty
+surprise. "I think you are unmannerly, Mr. Gifford," she retorted
+defiantly. "May I ask why you are not going to leave me here?"
+
+"Because," he answered with quiet decision, "Mr. Henshaw is waiting just
+there in Turner's Lane."
+
+"Is he?" The same defiant note; but there was anxiety behind the
+cold pretence.
+
+"Yes. And pardon me, I have an idea he is waiting there for you."
+
+His firm tone and manner baffled equivocation. "What is it to you if he
+is?" she returned with a brave attempt to suggest cold displeasure. But
+her lip trembled and her voice was scarcely steady.
+
+"It is something to me," he replied insistently, "because it means a
+great deal to you. This man is persecuting you. He is--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she exclaimed. "You take--"
+
+He held up his hand. "Please let me finish, Miss Morriston. I can
+convince you that I am not taking too much upon myself. I am no fool and
+am not interfering without warrant. This man Henshaw has succeeded in
+persuading you that you are in his power. That is very far from being the
+case, and I can prove it."
+
+"I don't understand you, Mr. Gifford."
+
+The tone of cold annoyance was gone now. Relief and a vague hope seemed
+to be struggling with an almost overwhelming anxiety.
+
+"You will understand directly," he replied. "I have more than a suspicion
+that this man is seeking to connect you with his brother's death and is
+making use of a certain half-knowledge he possesses to get a hold over
+you. Is that not so?"
+
+For a while she was silent, her breath coming quickly, as she hesitated
+how to meet the direct question. Gifford hated, yet somehow rejoiced, to
+see this proud, cold-mannered girl brought to this pass, and the reason
+he rejoiced lay in the knowledge that he could help her out of it.
+
+At length she spoke. "Mr. Gifford, I trust you as a man of honour. Your
+conjecture is right, but unhappily there is no help for it."
+
+"There is help," he declared reassuringly. "Can this man prove that you
+are in any way guilty of his brother's death?"
+
+The girl gave a shiver. "He can by implication," she admitted in a
+low voice.
+
+"Can he prove it?"
+
+"Not actually, perhaps. But far enough to disgrace me and mine for ever,"
+she said with a sob.
+
+"And with that idea he terrorizes you?" The question was put with quiet
+sternness.
+
+"Yes, yes; but I cannot help it! I cannot bear it. Oh, let me go." She
+seemed now in an agony of fear.
+
+Gifford laid his hand on her as she sought to move away towards the gate
+and the waiting enemy.
+
+"Miss Morriston," he said with decision, "you must not go; you must have
+no more communication with this man Henshaw. He can prove nothing against
+you, while I can prove everything in your favour."
+
+Her look of fear and impatience changed at the last words to one of
+startled incredulity.
+
+"You, Mr. Gifford? What do you mean?"
+
+"Exactly what I say," he returned decisively, "I can prove, if need be,
+that you had no hand in that cowardly ruffian's death."
+
+"You? How?" the girl gasped, staring at him with dilated eyes.
+
+"I will convince you," he answered quietly. "When I told you the
+other day that I had found your brooch on the lawn I said, for an
+obvious reason, what was not true. I found it in the room where
+Clement Henshaw died."
+
+"You did," the girl gasped almost in terror. "When?"
+
+"A few minutes after his death," Gifford replied calmly. "I happened to
+be present in the room when he came by his fatal wound."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+
+As she heard the words Edith Morriston stood for a moment as though
+transfixed, and then staggered back grasping at a tombstone for support.
+Gifford took a quick step forward, but before he could be of help she had
+recovered from the shock, and motioning him back, was looking at him with
+incredulous eyes.
+
+"You were there?" she repeated, with more suspicion now than unbelief.
+
+"In that room at the top of the tower; yes; by accident," he answered in
+a tone calculated to reassure her.
+
+"Then you know--you saw what happened?"
+
+He bowed his head in assent. "Enough to be sure that Mr. Clement Henshaw
+was a great scoundrel, and that his fate was not altogether unmerited.
+Now," he added in a tone of decision, "you will have nothing more to do
+with this Gervase Henshaw, or he with you."
+
+It was good to see the eager relief in Edith Morriston's eyes.
+
+"And you never told me this before," she said.
+
+"I could not very well," he replied. "And I should not have told you now
+had I not been forced to protect you from this man. It is a dangerous
+position for me to stand in, and I should in ordinary circumstances have
+let the affair remain a mystery."
+
+"I understand your position," she responded, with a look of gratitude.
+"But you can trust me."
+
+"Indeed I can," he assured her with infinite content.
+
+"I don't realize it now," the girl said, with signs that she was fighting
+against the effect of the reaction. "Can you trust me enough to tell me
+how it all happened?"
+
+"I would trust you with my life," he responded fervently. "Though it
+hardly comes to that. Of course I will tell you the whole story of my
+adventure. But we had better not stay here. Mr. Henshaw must be getting
+impatient by this time and may come to look for you. Before he has the
+chance of meeting you it will be well for you to hear the real facts of
+the case. Shall we come into the park, or would your brother--"
+
+"Dick is at church," she said, a little shamefacedly, it seemed. "I gave
+him the slip."
+
+"What a terrible risk you have just run," Gifford observed as they went
+through the churchyard to the private gate into the park. "If I had not
+happened to come along just then and see Henshaw waiting--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk of that now," she entreated. "I knew it meant horrible
+misery for the rest of my life, but anything seemed better than the
+terrible scandal which threatened us."
+
+"With which Henshaw threatened you, the scoundrel," Gifford corrected.
+"Now you shall see how little he really had to go upon."
+
+"And yet," she murmured, "it seemed overwhelming. I can scarcely believe
+even now that the danger is past."
+
+"Wait till you hear my story," he said with a reassuring smile.
+
+They had entered the enclosed path, called Church Walk, and passing the
+branch which led to the drive, kept on between the tall laurel hedges.
+
+"We shall be quite undisturbed here," the girl said. "Dick is sure to
+turn off and go in by the drive. Now, Mr. Gifford, do trust me and tell
+me everything."
+
+"I hope it is not necessary to talk of trust between us," he replied,
+with as much tenderness as his chivalry permitted.
+
+"No; forgive me; I hope not," she responded quietly. "Now please tell me,
+Mr. Gifford, what I am longing to hear."
+
+"You will remember," Gifford began, as they slowly paced the moon-lit
+path, "that on the evening I came down here my suitcase containing my
+evening clothes had gone astray on the railway. There was no chance of
+its turning up at the hotel before ten o'clock, and I was therefore
+prevented from appearing at the dance till quite late. Naturally I would
+not hear of Kelson waiting for me, which like the good-natured fellow he
+is, he proposed to do; he therefore went off in good time."
+
+"Yes; I remember he arrived quite early," Edith Morriston murmured.
+
+"Clement Henshaw," Gifford proceeded, "left the hotel about the
+same time. They must have reached your house within a few minutes
+of one another."
+
+As he paused, his companion looked round at him inquiringly. "Yes," she
+said, with a certain suggestion of reticence; "I remember that too."
+
+Gifford continued. "Having seen Kelson off, I went up to our sitting-room
+to wait till my kit should arrive. I was very keen on seeing again the
+old place where in my young days I used to spend such happy months, and
+my enforced waiting soon became almost intolerable boredom. The result
+was that I got a fit of the fidgets; I could not settle down to read, and
+at last, having still an hour to spare, I resolved in my restlessness to
+stroll out and take a preliminary look from outside at what was
+practically my old home."
+
+"Yes." There was a catch of growing excitement in Edith Morriston's
+voice, which was scarcely above a whisper.
+
+"The wind was sharp that night, as we all know," Gifford went on, "and
+forbade loitering. A smart walk of fifteen or twenty minutes brought me
+here, knowing as I did every path and short cut across the park. The old
+familiar house looked picturesque enough with its many lighted windows
+and every sign of gaiety. Keeping away from the front entrance where
+carriages were constantly driving up and a good many people were about, I
+went round to the other side, avoiding the stables and passing along by
+the west wing. This, of course, brought me to the old tower, the scene of
+many a game and frolic in my young days. At its foot I stood for a while
+recalling memories of the past. In the mere idleness of affectionate
+remembrance I went up to the garden door of the tower and mechanically
+turned the handle. It was unlocked.
+
+"I hardly know what made me go in; an impulse to stand again in those
+once familiar surroundings. It was fascinating to be in the old tower
+which the dim light showed me was just as I had last seen it more than a
+dozen years ago. The past came vividly back to me, and I stood there for
+a while indulging in a reverie of old days. The associations of the place
+seemed every moment to grip me more compellingly. The tower seemed quiet
+and altogether deserted; all I could hear was the dance-music away in the
+hall. There could be no risk, I thought, of being seen if I went up to
+the floor above: and I quietly ascended the stairs to the first landing.
+The narrow passage leading to the hall was lighted up with sconces; at
+its farther end I could see the movement of the dancers. The band was
+playing a favourite waltz of mine, and I stayed there rather enjoying the
+music and the sight from my safe retreat.
+
+"It did not seem likely that any one would be coming to the tower, and
+I resolved, foolishly enough, for, of course, I was in my travelling
+suit, to wander up to the next floor and take a look at the room which
+held a rather sentimental association for me. It was a stupid thing to
+do as I was there in, for the moment, a rather questionable situation,
+still I felt pretty secure from being noticed, and went up warily to
+the next floor.
+
+"There I found the room considerably altered from my recollection of it,
+especially as it was arranged as a sitting-out room, but no one was
+there, nor were there any signs of its having been used, which from its
+rather secluded position, was natural enough.
+
+"Having given a reminiscent look round I concluded that it would be best
+to make a retreat, especially as there would be ample opportunity later
+in the evening for me to visit it again. I turned and went to the door.
+On reaching the stairs I heard to my great annoyance the sounds of
+persons coming up and the subdued tones of a man's voice, I realized that
+I was caught, and my one chance of escape was to retreat up the topmost
+flight of stairs and wait in the darkness till the couple had gone into
+the room I had just quitted.
+
+"Accordingly I turned and went up the remaining flight on tip-toe, two
+stairs at a time, waiting beyond the turn in hiding till the coast
+should be clear.
+
+"The couple had now reached the landing below and, so far as I could
+tell, went into the room. I was just about to make a quick descent,
+hoping to get past that and other awkward points unnoticed, when to my
+dismay I became aware that the people whom I had thought safely settled
+in the room below had come out and were beginning to mount the topmost
+flight of stairs. This was indeed a most awkward predicament for me, and
+I debated for a moment whether my best course would not be to go boldly
+down the stairs and pass them, rather than retreat to the top room. If I
+had chosen the former course how differently things might have turned
+out; at any rate, for better or worse, the situation as it exists to-day
+might have presented itself in quite another form."
+
+Edith Morriston glanced quickly at Gifford as he uttered the reflection.
+She seemed about to speak, but checked the impulse, and he continued:
+
+"Treading noiselessly, I bolted up the remaining stairs and went into the
+dark room at the top. At the door, which stood open, I stopped and
+listened. To my intense vexation, for the situation was becoming
+decidedly unpleasant, the pair were still coming up. In silence now, but
+I could hear their approaching footsteps and the rustle of the lady's
+dress. Unfortunately, there was no corner on the top landing where I
+could stand hidden, so I was forced to draw back into the room.
+
+"Happily it had been so familiar to me from childhood that I could find
+my way about it in the dark. I well remembered the little inner room
+formed by the bartizan of the tower, and into this I tip-toed, feeling
+horribly guilty. If only I had not been in that suspicious brown suit! In
+evening clothes there would, of course, have been no necessity for this
+surreptitious retreat. I devoutly hoped that the two were merely bent on
+exploring the place and that the darkness of the old lumber-room would
+quickly satisfy their curiosity and send them down again. I heard them
+come into the room, the man speaking in a tone so low that the words were
+indistinguishable from where I stood; and then the sound of the door
+being shut struck my ear unpleasantly.
+
+"Then the man spoke in a more audible voice, a voice which in a flash I
+recognized as Henshaw's. And his first words caught my attention with an
+unpleasant grip."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+
+"'Failing to get the regular invitation I had a right to expect, I have
+had to take this mode of seeing you,' I just caught the words in
+Henshaw's metallic, rather penetrating voice.
+
+"The lady's reply was given in a tone so low that at the distance I stood
+the words were indistinguishable.
+
+"'Unmanly?' he exclaimed, evidently taking up her word. 'I don't admit
+that for a moment. You know how we stand to one another and what my
+feelings are towards you. It is no use for you to try to ignore them or
+me. I won't stand being treated like this. There is no reason why my
+advances should be repulsed as though they were an insult.'
+
+"I caught the last words of the lady's reply: '--good reason, and
+you know it.'
+
+"It was more than clear to me now that I was to be the witness of a very
+hateful piece of business. The man's tone, even more than his words, made
+my blood boil, and I began to congratulate myself on being thus
+accidentally in a position to protect, if need be, the girl whom this
+fellow was evidently bullying. With the utmost care I crept nearer to the
+small curtained arch which admitted to the larger room. The pitch
+darkness of the little turret chamber in which I stood made me feel quite
+safe from observation. And I had no qualms now about eavesdropping; the
+situation surely justified it.
+
+"I went forward till I could get a sight round the arch of the two
+persons in the room. They were standing near the window at some distance
+from me. In the obscurity, not quite as impenetrable as that out of which
+I looked, I could distinguish the tall figure of the girl in a dark
+ball-dress, and facing her, towards me, the big form of Henshaw."
+
+"You had no idea who the lady was?" Edith Morriston interrupted
+him to ask.
+
+"Naturally not the vaguest," Gifford answered. "When I had gone as far
+as was safe, I set myself to listen again.
+
+"'I don't know what your game is or whether you think you can play the
+fool with me,' Henshaw was saying in an ugly tone. 'But I warn you not to
+try it; I am not a man to be fooled. Now let us be friends again,' he
+added in a softer tone.
+
+"It seemed as though he put out his hand for a caress, for the girl
+started back and I heard her say 'Never!'
+
+"'Folly!' he exclaimed. Then took a step forward. 'You are in love with
+another man?' he demanded. I could hear the hiss of the question.
+
+"'If I were I should not tell you,' was the defiant reply in a low voice.
+
+"'You would not?' he snapped viciously. 'Let me tell you this, then. You
+shall never marry another man while I live. I hold the bar to that, as
+you will find.'
+
+"'You mean to act like a cad?' I heard the girl say.
+
+"'I mean to act,' he retorted, 'like a sensible man who has a fair
+advantage and means, in spite of your caprice, to keep it.'
+
+"'Fair?' the girl echoed in scorn.
+
+"'Yes, fair,' Henshaw insisted with some heat. 'I saved you from a
+scandal that would have ruined you, and it was natural I should ask my
+reward. But your notions of gratitude, which had led me on to love you,
+soon evaporated; but I am not so easily dismissed.'
+
+"'You mean to continue your cowardly persecution?' There was a tremor in
+the girl's voice that made me long to get at the man.
+
+"'I mean to marry you,' he retorted. 'Or at least--'
+
+"'Don't touch me!' she said hoarsely as he approached her.
+
+"'You are coming away with me to-night,' he insisted. 'You need not
+pretend to be horrified. It won't be your first nocturnal adventure, and
+I have waited quite long enough.'
+
+"He had driven her to the other corner on the window side of the room.
+As I leaned forward ready to fasten on the man when he should offer
+violence I heard a peculiar sound as of a loose piece of wood or iron
+striking the sill.
+
+"'Keep away!' the girl said in a hoarse whisper. 'If you drive me to
+desperation I swear I will kill you.'
+
+"There followed a vicious laugh from Henshaw and I could tell from the
+panting which followed that a struggle was going on. Just then the moon
+came out and I could see that Henshaw was trying to get some object--a
+weapon, I guessed--away from the girl. It is a wonder that neither of
+them saw me. In the dark opening I must have still been practically
+hidden, and they too intent on their struggle to notice anything beyond.
+
+"I was just on the point of springing out to the girl's assistance when
+she staggered back and, turning, made a rush for the door. In a moment
+Henshaw was after her, but in his blind haste he either tripped or
+stumbled and fell heavily. I think it likely that in the dark he struck
+against the corner of the rather massive oak table in the centre of the
+room and was thrown off his balance. He rose immediately, but I was now
+close behind him, and as he put out his arm to clutch the girl, who was
+then half through the doorway, I gripped him by the collar and with all
+my strength swung him back into the room.
+
+"He must have been most horribly surprised, for he uttered a gasping cry
+as he spun round, and instead of keeping his feet and rushing at me as I
+expected he went down with a thud by the window."
+
+They had stopped in their walk now, and Edith Morriston was listening
+almost breathlessly to Gifford's graphic story. Never for a moment had he
+suggested the lady's identity; for all that had passed neither of them
+might have known it.
+
+"I turned quickly to the door," Gifford continued, "but to my surprise
+the lady whom I expected to find there had disappeared. I could neither
+see nor hear any sign of her.
+
+"I took a step back into the room, fully expecting an onslaught from the
+infuriated Henshaw. 'You cowardly brute!' I exclaimed in the heat of my
+anger and excitement. But no reply came, and to my wonder he lay still on
+the floor where he had fallen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+
+"I waited for some time in silence, expecting him every moment to rise
+and retaliate. He was a big, muscular man, but it never occurred to me to
+be in any fear of him physically. For one thing my indignation was too
+hot to admit fear; I happen to be quite good enough at boxing to be able
+to take care of myself, and I was sure--all the more from his continuing
+to lie there--that such a despicable bully must be a coward.
+
+"'You had better get up and clear out of this house,' I said wrathfully,
+'before you get the thrashing you so richly deserve.'
+
+"No answer came. As I waited for one there was, save for my own
+breathing, dead silence in the room. Before speaking I had heard
+something like a long drawn sigh come from the man on the floor, but now,
+listening intently, I could hear nothing. Two explanations suggested
+themselves to account for his still lying there. One, shame at his vile
+conduct having been witnessed by a third person, the other that he had
+struck his head against the wall in falling and was stunned.
+
+"Naturally I was not greatly concerned at the fellow's condition,
+whichever it was; still it would, I concluded, be well to settle the
+matter, and if he was merely skulking see that he cleared out of the
+house. I shut the door, and then crossing to where the man lay, struck a
+match and held it out to get a view of him.
+
+"He lay on his face with his arms bent under him. I prodded him with my
+foot, but he did not stir; he lay absolutely, rather uncannily still. The
+match burned out; I struck another and leaned over to get a sight of his
+face. To my horror there met my eyes a dark wet patch on the floor which
+I instinctively felt must be blood. You may imagine the terrible thrill
+the conviction gave me. Yet I could not believe even then that anything
+really serious had happened.
+
+"I struck a fresh match and holding it up with one hand, with the other
+took the man's shoulder and turned him over on his back. Then I knew that
+I was there with a dead man. The hue of the face was unmistakably that of
+death. And the cause of it was plainly to be seen. There was a wound in
+the man's neck from which blood came freely.
+
+"How had the wound--clearly a fatal one--been caused? I searched for an
+explanation. That which forced itself upon me was that the girl had in
+her desperation stabbed her persecutor with some weapon she had found
+there or brought with her. It was a horrible idea to entertain, although
+the act would have been almost justified. I wondered if by chance the
+weapon was still there. Striking a match I looked round. Yes; there on
+the floor near the spot where Henshaw had first fallen, lay a narrow
+blood-stained chisel.
+
+"Whatever my first conclusions were I can see now the most probable
+explanation of how Henshaw came by his death-wound. He had forced the
+chisel away from the girl; he had kept it in his hand; in his eagerness
+to prevent his victim's escape he had not realized that he was holding
+it point upwards, and when he fell it had pierced him with all the force
+of his heavy body falling plump on it."
+
+"Then you know it was an accident?" Edith Morriston drew a great breath
+of relief from the painful tension with which she had listened.
+
+"I can see it was a pure accident," Gifford answered. "All the same it
+was an accident with an ugly look about it, and I quickly realized that I
+was in an equivocal--not to say dangerous, situation."
+
+"It was a terrible predicament for you," the girl said sympathetically.
+
+"It was indeed. And one which called for prompt action. Moreover the very
+fact that I was not in evening clothes made it all the more suspicious. I
+pulled my wits together and proceeded to make quite sure that the man was
+actually dead. That I found was beyond all doubt the case, and it now
+remained for me to make my escape before being found there in that
+hideous situation.
+
+"I went out to the landing, closing the door after me, with the idea of
+getting down the stairs and escaping into the garden as secretly as I had
+come in. I had crept down a very few stairs when I found this was not to
+be. A chatter of voices just below told me that people were in the tower,
+and leaning over I could see couples passing between the passage to the
+hall and the room below me.
+
+"At any moment, I realized, some of them might take it into their heads
+to explore the topmost room, when the result would be disastrous.
+Certainly in my mufti I could not get past the next floor just then
+without exciting fatal notice, and to wait for an opportunity when the
+coast might be clear was too dangerous, seeing the risk of someone
+coming up.
+
+"It was not easy to see my way of escape. I went to the top room and
+locked the door. My nerves were pretty strong, but they were severely
+tried when I shut myself in with the dead man and had the consciousness
+of having laid myself open to the charge of being his murderer. I stood
+there by the door thinking desperately what I could do. Fool that I had
+been to venture into the place in that garb. But who could have foreseen
+the result? Anyhow there was no time for reflection; it was necessary to
+act and seek a possible expedient. Hopelessly enough I went into the
+little inner room and struck a match. In a moment a thrill of hope came
+to me, for the first object the light showed me was a big coil of rope
+conspicuous among the odds and ends of lumber in the recess. The idea of
+escape by the window had only occurred to me to be dismissed as a sheer
+impossibility; the height of the tower made that quite prohibitive, but
+here seemed a chance of it. If only the rope was long enough.
+
+"I got hold of the coil as my match burned out, and pulled it away from
+the surrounding rubbish. Its weight gave me hope that it would be
+sufficient. In haste I dragged it to the outer room into which the
+moonlight was now streaming. With a shuddering glance at the dead man,
+whose ashen face stared up in ghastly fashion in the moonbeams, I opened
+the window and looked out to make sure that no one was below. Satisfied
+on that point I brought forward the rope and began paying it out of the
+window. To my content I saw that there was a strong iron stanchion at the
+side which would allow of the rope being fastened to it.
+
+"There was light enough just then to enable me to see pretty well when
+the end of the rope reached the ground, and upon examining what was left
+in the room I calculated that not much more than half was outside. In a
+flash the discovery gave me an idea. Why should I not simply pass the
+rope behind the stanchion and use it doubled? By that means I could pull
+it down after me when I reached the ground, and so not only effect my
+escape but also leave the fact unknown. That, together with the door
+locked on the inside, would tend to make Henshaw's death a mystery with a
+strong probability in favour of suicide, which would be altogether the
+happiest conclusion to arrive at. In fact my hastily formed calculation
+was, as we know, subsequently borne out and the suicide theory would
+probably have been quietly accepted had it not been for the intervention
+of Gervase Henshaw with his smartness and incredulity.
+
+"That is practically the end of my story, Miss Morriston. I laid the
+chisel by the body, went to the window, pulled in the rope, carefully got
+the centre, adjusted it through the stanchion, and with a last look at
+the dead man, got out of the window, a rather nerve-trying business, and
+began to lower myself. I had calculated that the double rope was long
+enough to take me to within a few feet of the ground, and this proved to
+be the case. When I came to the end I let go of one side and pulled the
+other with me as I dropped. Then I drew the rope down, the latter half
+when released falling with a great thud. Hastily I set off for the lake,
+dragging the rope after me. At the landing-stage by the boat-house I
+coiled it up as best I could and threw it in. As I had anticipated it was
+thick and heavy enough to sink without being weighted. Then with a last
+glance at the tower I made my way as quickly as possible to the hotel in
+a state of nerves which you may imagine, little thinking that my descent
+from the tower had been witnessed. My first intention was to abandon all
+idea of going to the dance, but on reflection I came to the conclusion
+that I had better at least put in an appearance there.
+
+"Accordingly I changed and came on late to the ball, as you know.
+Naturally a great curiosity possessed me to find out the girl who had
+played the third part in the drama which had been enacted in the tower.
+But I had not seen her face, nor heard her voice sufficiently to be able
+to recognize it. There were several tall girls in the room, yourself
+among the number, but naturally it never occurred to me--"
+
+He stopped awkwardly, just as by inadvertence he was about to say that
+which all along he had studiously refrained from suggesting.
+
+"To suspect me," Edith Morriston completed his sentence with a smile.
+
+"No," he continued frankly. "You would have been the last person to enter
+my head in that connexion. And then Kelson came out of the passage from
+the tower with Miss Tredworth, to whom he had just proposed. He
+introduced me in a way which suggested their new relationship, and we had
+just began to chat when to my horror I noticed what to my mind went to
+prove that she was the person for whom I was looking. There were dark red
+stains on the white roses she wore on her dress. It was an unpleasant
+shock to me, placing me, as it seemed, in a terribly difficult position.
+For, at the first blush of my discovery, it all seemed to fit in. Clement
+Henshaw had been, I imagined, in love with Miss Tredworth before Kelson
+appeared on the scene. She had thrown him over for my friend, and
+Henshaw, taking his rejection in bad part, had threatened to expose some
+questionable incident in her past. Now that is all happily explained
+away, and I won't retrace the steps by which my imagination led me on;
+but you see how painfully I was situated with respect to my friend.
+
+"That is my story, Miss Morriston. Had I known what I know now I should
+not have kept it to myself so long; but up to a certain point, until the
+last few days, there seemed no reason for making the dangerous secret
+known to any one. Now, when it appears necessary to protect you from this
+man, Henshaw, the account of the part I played in the tragedy must be
+told in your interest."
+
+Edith Morriston drew in a deep breath as Gifford ceased speaking. "It is
+very kind and chivalrous of you, Mr. Gifford," she said in a low voice,
+"to run this risk for me, although your telling me the story shall never
+involve you in danger."
+
+"I am ready for your sake to face any danger the telling of my secret may
+hold for me," he responded firmly.
+
+"I am sure of that, as I am sure of you," she replied. Then added with a
+change of tone, "You were certain for a while that Muriel Tredworth had
+not only been guilty of something discreditable in her past but had
+stabbed to death in your presence the man who knew her secret."
+
+"I'm afraid there seemed to me no alternative but to believe it," he
+acknowledged.
+
+"When you found out that you were mistaken in her identity and that she
+had nothing whatever to do with the tragedy you would naturally transfer
+the opinion you had held of her to--to the other woman--the one who was
+actually there?"
+
+The question was put searchingly and was not to be evaded.
+
+"That would be a natural consequence," Gifford admitted frankly. "But
+there was in my mind always a growing doubt whether the wound had not
+been given accidentally. And that doubt became almost certainty when the
+real identity of Henshaw's victim became apparent."
+
+Edith Morriston looked at him steadily. "You know it--for certain?" she
+asked almost coldly.
+
+"Naturally I cannot fail to know it now," he answered sympathetically.
+
+She gave a rather bitter laugh. "I shall not deny it to you, Mr. Gifford,
+even if I thought it could be of any use. But, knowing so much, you owe
+it to me to hear my explanation of matters which look so black against
+me, and above all to accept my absolute assurance that so far as I am
+concerned Clement Henshaw's wound was quite accidental. Indeed I never
+dreamt that he had been hurt until his body was found."
+
+Gifford seized her hand by an irresistible impulse.
+
+"Miss Morriston, if you only knew how glad and relieved I am to hear you
+say that!" he exclaimed.
+
+"When you hear my story," she said, composedly but with an underlying
+bitterness which was hardly to be concealed, "the story of a long
+martyrdom of persecution--for it has been nothing less--you will acquit
+me of being guilty of anything disreputable. What I did was innocent
+enough and it moreover was forced upon me."
+
+"Tell me," he urged tenderly.
+
+"I must tell you," she returned, "if only to set myself right in your
+eyes who have been witness of the terrible sequel to it all. But not
+to-night; it is too late, and the story is long: it must be told at
+length. Dick will be home by this and I must go. I would ask you to come
+in, but there would be no opportunity for private talk there. Will you
+meet me to-morrow morning at half-past ten by the summer-house near the
+wood that runs up to James' farm? You know it?"
+
+"Well. I will be there."
+
+"It is rather a long way for you to come," she said, "but there are
+reasons for avoiding the big wood with the rides."
+
+"I know," he replied. "Henshaw might be on the look-out there for you."
+Then he added in answer to her quick look of curiosity, "I happened once
+by accident to see him there with you."
+
+"Ah, yes," she admitted with a shudder, "I will tell you about that."
+
+"I think I can guess," he said quietly. "Now in the meantime you will
+take no notice of this man if he writes or tries to see you. He will
+probably be exasperated by your not keeping the appointment this evening
+and may determine to put the screw on."
+
+"Yes," she agreed with a lingering fear in her voice.
+
+"Leave him to me to deal with," Gifford said reassuringly. "And do make
+up your mind that all will be well."
+
+"I will, thanks to you, my friend in need."
+
+And so, with a warm pressure of the hands, they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+
+Next morning Gifford was in good time at the rendezvous, a sequestered
+corner of the park, and Edith Morriston soon joined him. "Let us come
+into the summer-house," she suggested; "it will be more convenient for my
+long story."
+
+"First of all, tell me," Gifford said, "has anything happened since last
+night? Has Henshaw made any move?"
+
+She took out a note and handed it to him. "Only that," she said with an
+uneasy laugh.
+
+"There must have been some misunderstanding last evening," Gifford read.
+"I cannot think that your not keeping the appointment was intentional.
+Anyhow I can wait till to-night, then I shall be at the lane just beyond
+the church at 7.30. That you may not repent I hope you have not
+repented." That was all.
+
+"A thinly veiled threat," Gifford observed. "The man in his way seems as
+great a bully as his brother. May I keep this? I am going to see Mr.
+Henshaw presently, and have a serious talk with him. After which I shall
+hope to be able to convince you that your troubles are at an end."
+
+"If you can do that--" she said.
+
+"The knowledge that I have been of service to you will be my great
+reward. I hope I am sufficiently a gentleman not to ask or expect
+any other."
+
+She made no reply. They had entered the little rustic summer-house,
+and sat down.
+
+"Dick has driven into Branchester," Edith Morriston said, perhaps to end
+an embarrassing pause. "He will not be back till luncheon, so we are not
+likely to be interrupted."
+
+"That's well," Gifford answered. "Now please begin what I am most
+anxious to hear."
+
+"The story I have to tell you, Mr. Gifford," Edith Morriston began, "is
+not a pleasant one and is as humiliating to me to relate as was the
+experience, the terrible experience, I had to go through. But to be fair
+to myself I must be quite frank with you, and am sure you will never
+give me cause to repent speaking unreservedly."
+
+"You can rely upon my honour to respect your confidence," Gifford
+responded warmly.
+
+"I know I may," the girl answered. "Well, then, you must know first of
+all, that my father married a second time, and he unfortunately chose a
+woman well connected enough, but heartless and an utter snob. I suppose
+men are often blind to these hateful qualities before marriage; doubtless
+a clever, unscrupulous woman is able to hide her faults when she has the
+main chance in view. My stepmother was a good deal younger than my
+father, and I dare say on the whole made him, socially at any rate, a
+fairly good wife. Her one idea was social aggrandizement at any cost, and
+I unhappily was to fall a victim to it.
+
+"I suppose we ought not to blame her for determining that I ought to
+marry well; she wanted to do the best for the family and was
+constitutionally incapable of making allowance for or considering any
+one's private feelings. To make a long story short, my stepmother, in
+pursuance of her policy, determined that I should marry a certain peer
+whose name I need not mention. He was altogether a bad lot, and I soon
+came to know it. I received certain warnings, but without them I could
+see that the man was all wrong, and I told my stepmother what I
+thought of him.
+
+"She scoffed at the idea that he was any worse than the average man. All
+I had to concern myself with was the fact that he was a peer of ancient
+lineage, of large property, and there wasn't another girl in the kingdom
+who wouldn't jump at him. I might well chance his making me unhappy since
+he could make me a countess, and to refuse him would be absolute madness;
+Mrs. Morriston's face grew black at the very thought of it. She soon got
+my father on to her side, and between them I had a hateful time of it.
+It's the old story, which will be told as long as there are worldly,
+selfish women on the earth, but it was none the less fresh and poignant
+to me who had to live through the experience.
+
+"Things got so bad through my continued refusal to fall in with my
+stepmother's wishes that I was reduced to a state bordering on despair.
+My father, whom I loved, was turned against me; his mind was so
+prejudiced in favour of the man whom I was being gradually forced to take
+as a husband that he could see no good reason, only sheer obstinacy, in
+my refusal. Altogether my life was becoming a perfect hell. Dick, who
+might have stood by me, and made things less unbearable, was away on a
+two years' tour for big game shooting; I had no one to confide in, no one
+to help me.
+
+"Just as things were at their worst and I was getting quite desperate, I
+met at a dance a man named Archie Jolliffe. He had been a sailor, but
+having come into money had given up the Service and settled down to enjoy
+himself. He and I got on very well together from the first; he was a
+breezy, genial, young fellow, fond of fun and adventure and a pleasant
+contrast in every way to the man who was threatening to ruin my life. I
+don't know that in happier circumstances I should have cared for
+Jolliffe; there wasn't much in him beyond his capacity for fun; he was
+inclined to be fast in a foolish sort of way; a man's man rather than one
+for whom a woman could feel much respect. Still he was not vicious like
+the other, for whom my dislike increased every time I saw him.
+
+"Well, Archie Jolliffe fell in love with me and in his impetuous way made
+no secret of it. I need not say it did not take long for my step-mother
+to become aware of it, and with the idea that I was encouraging him she
+became furious. Except that poor Archie was a welcome change from the
+atmosphere of my home and the hateful attentions of the man who was
+always being left alone with me, I did not really care for him, and but
+for Mrs. Morriston's attitude I should have told him it was no use his
+thinking of me. Considering the sequel, I wish I had done so; but it is
+too late now for regrets. His love-making gave me a chance of defying my
+stepmother, and I rather enjoyed baulking her plans to keep Archie and me
+apart. If I did not encourage him--indeed, I refused him every time he
+proposed--I did not dismiss him as I ought to have done, and he evidently
+had an idea that perseverance would win the day. And so, after a
+fashion, it did.
+
+"Matters reached such a pitch at last that it became plain that I must
+either consent to marry the man I loathed or leave my home for good.
+Goaded on by my apparent encouragement of Archie Jolliffe, my stepmother
+resolved to bring matters to a crisis. She started a terrific row with me
+one day, my father was brought into it, and I stood up against them both.
+The upshot was that when the interview was over I went out of the house
+boiling with indignation and for the time utterly reckless. Chance caught
+the psychological moment and threw me in the way of Archie Jolliffe. He
+saw something was wrong and pressed me to tell him what had happened. He
+was so chivalrous and sympathetic that I was led in my turbulent state of
+mind to become confidential, the more so when he told me he had known for
+some time how I was being treated.
+
+"'You must not marry that man,' he said 'It is an outrage for your people
+to suggest such a thing. He is a big swell and all that, with heaps of
+money, but any man in town who knows anything will tell you he is quite
+impossible,'
+
+"I had heard that, and had told my stepmother, but of course it did not
+suit her to heed me. She cared for nothing beyond the fact that I should
+be a countess, and said so.
+
+"Archie and I talked together for a long time and with the result that in
+my longing for protection from the powers against me and my indignation
+at the way I was being treated I had promised when we parted to marry
+him, and we had planned to elope together that very night.
+
+"At that time we were living at Haynthorpe Hall--you know it?--about ten
+miles from here. That evening I slipped out of the house after dinner and
+met Archie, who was waiting for me at a quiet spot outside the village.
+His plan was to drive across country to Branchester Junction, where it
+was not likely we should be noticed or recognized, catch the night train
+up to town and be married there next morning. You may imagine the state
+of desperation--utter desperation and recklessness--I was in to have
+consented to such a thing, but I could see no help for it, and of two
+evils I seemed to be choosing the least. The future looked hideously
+vague and dark; still Jolliffe was capable of being transformed into a
+decent husband, while the other man assuredly was not.
+
+"Archie seemed overjoyed, poor fellow, as I mounted into the dog-cart; he
+had hardly expected that I should not repent. Once we were fairly off and
+bowling along the dark road, a sense of relief came to me, and whatever
+qualms I may have felt soon vanished. However wrong my conduct was I had
+been driven to it and my father, for whom I was sorry, by taking part
+against me, deserved to lose me.
+
+"My companion had the tact not to talk much, and I was glad to think he
+could realize the seriousness of the step he had persuaded me to take.
+But the little he did say was affectionately sympathetic and, now that
+the die was cast, it comforted me to indulge hopes of him.
+
+"All went well till we were about three miles from Branchester; then an
+awful thing happened. Our horse was a fast trotter, and Archie let him
+have his head, knowing that it would never do for us to miss the train.
+As we turned a blind corner we came into collision with another dog-cart
+which we had neither seen nor heard. The force of the impact was so
+great that our off-wheel was smashed; the cart went over, we were both
+flung out, and as I fell I realized horribly that my desperate expedient
+was a failure.
+
+"I was not much hurt, for my fall was broken, and I soon scrambled to my
+feet. But Archie lay there motionless. The man who was the only occupant
+of the other dog-cart had pulled into the hedge and alighted. He came up
+to offer his help, and to express his sorrow at the accident, which he
+said, doubtless with truth, was not his fault. I dare say you will have
+guessed that the man was Clement Henshaw. Between us we raised Archie and
+carried him to the side of the road. He was quite insensible, and
+breathing heavily.
+
+"'I am afraid he is rather seriously hurt,' the man said sympathetically.
+'We ought to get him to Branchester Hospital as soon as possible.'
+
+"I was so overwhelmed by the sudden and terrible end to our adventure
+that I could think of nothing. By a great piece of luck a belated dray
+came along on its way to Branchester. Into this, with the driver's help,
+we lifted poor Archie; and then Henshaw and I drove on in his trap to
+prepare the hospital authorities for the patient's arrival. The doctor
+after a cursory examination gave very little hope, and I left the
+hospital in a most wretched state of mind, feeling more than indirectly
+responsible for the end of that bright young life. Henshaw arranged for
+the horse and smashed dogcart to be fetched from the scene of the
+accident, and then he asked where in the town he should escort me.
+
+"I thanked him and said, a good deal to his surprise, that I was not
+going to stop in Branchester, but would hire a fly and drive to my
+destination. I stood, of course, in a hideously false position, and that
+he very soon began to divine; he would not hear of my getting a fly at
+that hour of the night, but insisted on driving me in his trap to
+wherever I wished to go.
+
+"Unhappily I had no idea of the man's character, or I should never have
+dreamt of accepting his offer; but I was then in no state of mind to
+judge his nature or question his motives; he had proved himself
+infinitely kind and resourceful, so in my lonely and agitated condition I
+consented, little imagining what the dire result to me would be.
+
+"On the drive back to my home I was naturally in a horribly distressed
+state of mind, and hardly dared think of the future. My companion
+tactfully refrained from much talking, although I had an idea that his
+curiosity was greatly excited to learn the explanation of the affair; he
+put occasionally a leading question which I always evaded, when he took
+the hint and did not press his inquiries. So far as every one else was
+concerned there had been no idea of connecting me with poor Archie
+Jolliffe. The hospital people believed that he had been driving alone,
+and that I had been in the trap with Henshaw. I dare say they took me for
+his sister or his wife.
+
+"At last, after one of the most wretched hours I ever spent--and I have
+had more than my fair share of trouble--we reached Haynthorpe, and on
+the outskirts of the village I asked Henshaw to set me down. He stopped
+and looked at me curiously.
+
+"'Can't you trust me to drive you to your home?'" he said insinuatingly.
+
+"I replied that I preferred to get down where we were, and thanked him as
+warmly as I was able for all his services.
+
+"'You haven't even told me your name,' he protested, 'Mine is Clement
+Henshaw; I am staying at Flinton for hunting.'
+
+"My answer was that he must not think me ungrateful, but that I would
+rather not tell him my name. It could be of no consequence to him.
+
+"'I should like at least,' he urged, 'to be allowed to drive over and
+report how your--friend--or was it your brother?--is getting on.'
+
+"I thanked him, made the best excuse I could for refusing, got down from
+the trap and hurried off through the dark village street, thankful to get
+away from those awkward questions.
+
+"But if I thought I had finally got rid of Mr. Clement Henshaw I was, in
+my ignorance of the man, woefully mistaken."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+
+"When I reached the house luck unexpectedly favoured me. My maid, whom I
+had been obliged to take, up to a certain point, into my confidence, and
+who, after the manner of her class, had acquired more than a sympathetic
+inkling of the way my people had been treating me, was waiting up on the
+look-out for my return, and quietly let me in. She told me that no one
+but herself had any idea that I was out of the house; she had led them to
+believe that I had gone to bed early with a headache, which considering
+the stress of the past two days was plausible enough. So I got back
+safely to my room which it had not seemed likely. I should ever enter
+again, and next morning I could see that my over-night's adventure was
+quite unsuspected.
+
+"Naturally I anticipated a continuation of my stepmother's attempts to
+force me into the marriage she had in view, and it rather puzzled me to
+understand why they seemed to be dropped. The prospective bridegroom did
+not come to the house, and, stranger still, his name was not mentioned.
+The explanation was soon forthcoming. I did not see the newspapers just
+then, in fact I have an idea they were purposely kept away from me; but
+some people who were calling mentioned a big society-scandal coming on in
+the Law Courts in which this precious peer was desperately involved. The
+relief with which I heard the news was unbounded considering all it meant
+for me, but my joy was turned to bitter grief by the news that Archie
+Jolliffe after lying unconscious for nearly a week had died of his
+injury. I had contrived, during the days he lingered, to make secret
+inquiries as to his condition, and so knew that what would have seemed my
+heartless absence from his bedside had made no difference to him."
+
+"Poor fellow," Gifford commented.
+
+"It was unspeakably sad," Edith Morriston continued, "but it seemed like
+fate, seeing how things rearranged themselves afterwards. Certainly if I
+was to blame for his piteous end, I was to pay the penalty. For no sooner
+was I out of one trouble than another was ready for me.
+
+"After this long preface, I come to the most unpleasant episode of
+Henshaw and his persecution.
+
+"On the day I heard of poor Archie's death I had gone out for a walk
+possessed by a great longing to be alone in my grief. On my way home by a
+woodland path leading to the Hall grounds, I, to my great annoyance, came
+upon Clement Henshaw. I can't say I was altogether surprised, for I had
+caught a glimpse of some one very like him in the village a day or two
+before. Of that I had thought little, merely taking care that the man did
+not see me. But now there was no avoiding him, and I had more than a
+suspicion that he had been lying in wait for me. At the risk of appearing
+horribly ungrateful I made up my mind on the instant to try to pass him
+with a bow, but need not say that was utterly futile. He stood directly
+in my path, and raised his hat.
+
+"'I am sorry to be the bearer of sad news, Miss Morriston,' he said.
+
+"So he had found out my name, assuredly not by accident, and the fact
+angered me, perhaps unreasonably.
+
+"'I have heard of Mr. Jolliffe's death,' I replied coldly, 'if that is
+what you have to tell me.'
+
+"'I thought,' he rejoined, with assurance, 'it quite possible you might
+not have heard so soon.'
+
+"From his manner I began to see that the man was likely to become an
+annoyance if he were not snubbed, but soon discovered that it was not so
+easily done. I thanked him coldly enough, and tried to dismiss him, but
+he insisted on walking with me. What could I do? He seemed determined to
+force his company upon me and I could not run away. He tried to get out
+of me how I had come to be driving with Archie that night, and although I
+evaded his questions it was plain that he had a shrewd inkling of the
+reason. Not to weary you with a long account of this disagreeable and
+humiliating affair, I will only say that from that day forward I became
+subject to a determined system of persecution from Clement Henshaw. He
+waylaid me on every possible occasion, holding over me a covert threat of
+the exposure of my escapade, till at last I was absolutely afraid to go
+outside the house for fear of meeting him."
+
+"He wanted to marry you?" Gifford suggested.
+
+Edith Morriston gave a little shudder. "I suppose so. He was always
+making love to me, and was quite impervious to snubbing. When, in
+consequence of my keeping within bounds of the house and garden, he could
+not see me, he took to writing, and kept me in terror lest one of his
+letters should fall into my stepmother's hands. I wished afterwards that
+I had taken a bold line, confessed what had happened, and defied the
+consequences. I think it was the fear of being disgraced in my brother's
+eyes on his return which kept me from doing so.
+
+"In the midst of my worry my father fell into a state of bad health and
+we took him down to the Devonshire coast for change of air. Needless to
+say Henshaw soon found out our retreat, and to my dismay appeared there.
+His persecution went on with renewed vigour and I, having less chance
+there of escaping it, was nearly at my wits' end, when fate curiously
+enough again intervened. We were caught in a storm on a long country
+excursion, my stepmother got a severe chill and within a week was dead.
+We returned to Haynthorpe, my father being now in a very precarious state
+of health, Henshaw followed us with a pertinacity that was almost
+devilish. But I now ventured to defy his threats of exposing me; he
+strenuously denied any such intention and declared himself madly in love
+with me. I had now taken courage enough to reject him uncompromisingly; I
+forbade him ever to speak to me again, and, as after that he disappeared
+from the village, began to flatter myself that I had got rid of him.
+
+"My father grew worse now from day to day; he lingered through the summer
+and with the chill days of autumn the end came. Dick hurried home and
+arrived just in time to see him alive. He left a much larger fortune than
+we had supposed him to possess, and Dick, always fond of sport, was soon
+in negotiation for this place which had come into the market.
+
+"No sooner had we settled in here than, to my horror, Clement Henshaw
+began to renew his persecution. He had evidently heard that I had
+inherited a good share of my father's fortune, and was worth making
+another effort for. He recommenced to write to me, he came down secretly
+and waylaid me, and when everything else failed he resorted to threats,
+not veiled as before, but open and unmistakable. He vowed that if I
+persisted in refusing to marry him he would take good care that I should
+never marry any one else. He held, he said, my reputation in his hand; he
+hoped he should never have to use his power, but I ought to consider the
+state of his feelings towards me and not goad him to desperate measures.
+In short he took all the joy out of my life, for I had come from mere
+dislike simply to loathe the man who could show himself such a dastardly
+cad. And the worst of it was that I saw no way out of it. Dick is a good
+fellow and very fond of me, but, although you might not think it, he is
+almost absurdly proud of the family name and its unsmirched record. And
+if I had confided in him, and he had horsewhipped Henshaw, what good
+could that have done? It would simply have infuriated the man, who would
+have at once made public my escapade, and few people would have given me
+the credit of its being innocent. Dick had just sunk a large part of his
+fortune in this place, he had taken over the hounds and was certain of
+becoming popular. All that would be nullified and upset if this man,
+Henshaw, chose to let loose his tongue. For how could I even pretend to
+deny his story? At the very least the truth would mean a hateful
+reflection on my dead father, and the whole thing would have led to an
+intolerable scandal. Yet it seemed as though this could be avoided in no
+other way but by marrying my persecutor, a man whom I had reason to hate
+and who had shown himself to be such an unchivalrous bully. About this
+time--that is shortly before the Hunt Ball--rumours had got about the
+neighbourhood that I was going to marry Lord Painswick. He was certainly
+paying me a good deal of attention, and I fancy Dick would have liked
+the match, but I could not bring myself to care for Painswick, and indeed
+his courtship only added to my other worries.
+
+"But Clement Henshaw heard the rumour and it had naturally the effect of
+rousing his wretched pursuit of me to greater activity. He vowed with
+brutal vehemence that I should not marry Painswick, and declared that
+when our engagement was announced he would tell him the story he had
+against me. That in itself did not trouble me much since I had no
+intention of marrying Painswick; still the man's relentless persecution
+was getting more than I could bear.
+
+"I now come to the night of the Hunt Ball. For some days previously I had
+seen or heard nothing of Henshaw, and had even begun to hope that
+something might have happened to make the man abandon his line of
+conduct. I might have known him better. To my intense annoyance and
+dismay I saw him come into the ballroom with all the hateful assurance
+that was so familiar to me. I could not well escape, seeing that I was
+acting as hostess. For a while he, beyond a formal greeting, let me
+alone. But I felt what was surely coming, and it was almost a relief when
+he took an opportunity of asking for a dance.
+
+"He must have seen the hate in my eyes as in my hesitation they met his,
+for he said with a forced laugh, 'You need not do violence to your
+feelings by dancing with me, Miss Morriston, if you don't care to, but
+there is something I must say to you. Let us come out of the crowd to
+where we shall not be overheard.'
+
+"I had never felt so madly furious with the man as at that moment; and it
+was with a reckless desire to tell him in strong language my opinion of
+his tactics, to insult him, if that were possible, to declare that I
+would die rather than yield to him, that I led the way to the tower. My
+desire to get out of the crowd was even greater than his, for a mad hope
+possessed me that in some desperate way I might bring our relations to a
+final issue.
+
+"We went into the sitting-out room. 'Some one will be coming in here,' he
+objected. 'Is there a room upstairs where we can talk?'
+
+"'There is a room up there,' I answered, as steadily as my indignation
+would let me, and unheeding the idea of compromising myself I went up the
+dark staircase in front of him. Naturally the idea that our stormy
+interview was to have a witness would have been the last thing to enter
+my mind; it never occurred to me to make sure no one was already in the
+room when we entered it.
+
+"You know what happened, Mr. Gifford, so I need not go through that. The
+man showed himself the cowardly bully that he was. Somehow up there
+alone with him, as at least I thought, in the dark, my courage gave way,
+and it was only when the man sought in his vehemence to take hold of me
+that anger and disgust cast out fear. It was quite by accident that I
+touched and caught up the chisel lying on the window-sill. As the man's
+hand sought me it struck the edge of the chisel, and got a wound; that
+must have been how the blood came upon my dress. He seized my arm, and
+after a struggle wrenched the implement away. But I never struck him
+with it, far from giving him his death-blow. The chisel was never in my
+hand afterwards. When I rushed for the door in a sudden panic, for,
+knowing that I had hurt him, I believed the man in his rage might be
+capable of anything, and when in springing after me he stumbled and
+fell, the chisel must have been held by him edge upwards, and so pierced
+him to his death."
+
+"That, I am certain now," Gifford said, "is what must have happened."
+
+"And you thought I had stabbed him?" the girl said with a
+reproachful smile.
+
+"I hardly dare ask you to forgive me for harbouring such a thought," he
+replied. "Yet had it been true I, who had been a witness of the man's
+vile conduct, could never have blamed you. If ever an act was
+justifiable--"
+
+An elongated shadow shot forward on the ground in front of them. Gifford
+stopped abruptly, and with an involuntary action his companion clutched
+his arm as both looked up expectantly. Next moment Gervase Henshaw stood
+before them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+DEFIANCE
+
+
+For some moments Henshaw did not speak; indeed, it was probable that the
+unexpected success of his search for Edith Morriston--for such doubtless
+was his object--had so disagreeably startled him, that he was unable to
+pull those sharp wits of his together at once. But the expression which
+flashed into his eyes, and that came instantaneously, was of so vengeful
+and threatening a character, that Gifford felt glad he was there to
+protect the girl from her now enraged persecutor.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here, Miss Morriston."
+
+The words came sharply and wrathfully, when the man had found his
+glib tongue.
+
+Gifford answered. "Miss Morriston and I have been enjoying the view and
+the air of the pines."
+
+The commonplace remark naturally, as it was intended, went for nothing.
+Henshaw affected not to notice it.
+
+"I am glad I have come across you, Miss Morriston," he said, with an
+evident curbing of his chagrin, "as I have something rather important to
+say to you."
+
+"I am afraid I cannot hear it now, Mr. Henshaw," the girl returned
+coldly.
+
+Henshaw's face darkened. "I really must ask you to grant me an interview
+without delay," he retorted insistently, as though secure in his sense of
+power over the girl. "I am sure Mr. Gifford will permit--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford will do nothing of the sort," came the bold and rather
+startling reply from the person alluded to. "As a friend of Miss
+Morriston's I do not intend to allow you to hold any more private
+conversations with her."
+
+No doubt with his knowledge of the world and of his own advantage Henshaw
+put down Gifford's resolute speech to mere bluff. And Gervase Henshaw was
+too old a legal practitioner to be bluffed. "I do not for a moment admit
+your right to interfere," he retorted with an assumption of calm
+superiority. "I am addressing myself to Miss Morriston, who does not, I
+hope, approve of your somewhat singular manners."
+
+Gifford took a step out of the summerhouse and sternly faced Henshaw. "I
+am sure Miss Morriston will endorse anything I choose to say to a man who
+has constituted himself her cowardly persecutor," he said. "Now we don't
+want to have a dispute in a lady's presence," he added as Henshaw began
+an angry rejoinder. "You have got, unless you wish very unpleasant
+consequences to follow, to render an account to me, as Miss Morriston's
+friend, of your abominable conduct towards her. But not here. You had
+better come to my room at the hotel at three o'clock this afternoon and
+hear what I shall have to say. And in the meantime you will address Miss
+Morriston only at the risk of a horsewhipping."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him steadfastly through eyes that blazed with
+hate. "I wonder if you quite know whom and what you are trying to
+champion," he snarled.
+
+"Perfectly," was the cool reply. "A much wronged and cruelly persecuted
+lady. You had better postpone what you have to say till this afternoon,
+when we will come to an understanding as to your conduct. Now, as you are
+on private land, you had better take the nearest way to the public road."
+
+Henshaw looked as though he would have liked to bring the dispute to the
+issue of a physical encounter, had but the coward in him dared. "I am
+here by permission," he returned, standing his ground.
+
+"Which has been rescinded by the vile use to which you have chosen to put
+it," Gifford rejoined. "I have Miss Morriston's authority to treat you as
+a trespasser, and to order you off her brother's land."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step. "Very well, Mr. Gifford," he returned with an
+ugly sneer. "You talk with great confidence now, but we shall see. You
+will be wiser by this time tomorrow."
+
+With that he turned and walked off; Gifford, after watching him for a
+while, went back to the summer-house.
+
+"I have put things in the right train there," he remarked with a
+confident laugh. "I hope to be able to tell you this evening that Mr.
+Henshaw is a thing of the past."
+
+"You are very sanguine," she said, a little doubtfully. "I am afraid you
+do not know the man."
+
+"I'm afraid I do," he replied. "He is obviously not an easy person to
+deal with. But I think I see my way. Tell me. He has threatened you in
+order to induce you to elope with him?"
+
+"Yes. He has found evidence among his brother's correspondence of the
+hold he had over me and of his persecution. That would afford a
+sufficient motive for my killing him; and how could I prove that I did
+not strike the blow?"
+
+"It might be difficult," Gifford answered thoughtfully. "But I may be
+able to do it. Of course he knows you to be an heiress."
+
+"I am sure of that from something he once let slip. It has been my
+inheritance which has brought all this trouble upon me, at any rate its
+persistency."
+
+"Yes. This man must be something of an adventurer, as his brother was. We
+shall see," Gifford said with a grim touch. "Now, I must not keep you
+any longer. I am so grateful for the confidence you have given me. May I
+call later on and tell you the result?"
+
+Her eyes were on him in an almost piteous searching for hope in his
+resolute face. "Of course," she responded. "I shall be so terribly
+anxious to know."
+
+Chivalrously avoiding any suggestion of tenderness, he shook hands and
+went off towards the town.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ISSUE JOINED
+
+
+Punctually at the appointed time Gervase Henshaw was shown into
+Gifford's room. Kelson had received from his friend a hint of what was
+afoot and had naturally offered his services to back Gifford up, but
+they were refused.
+
+"It is very kind of you, Harry," Gifford had said, "and just what one
+would have expected from you. But, as you shall hear later, this is not a
+business in which you or any one could usefully intervene. In fact it
+would be dangerous for me, considering the man I am dealing with, to say
+what I have to say before a third person."
+
+So Kelson went off to spend the afternoon at the Tredworths'.
+
+When Henshaw came in his expression bore no indication of the terms on
+which he and Gifford had lately parted. The keen face was unruffled and
+almost genial; but Gifford was not the man to be deceived by that outward
+seeming. Henshaw bowed and took the chair the other indicated. There was
+a short pause as though each waited for the other to begin. In the end it
+was Gifford who spoke first.
+
+"I should like to come to an understanding with you, Mr. Henshaw, with
+regard to a very serious annoyance, not to say persecution, to which Miss
+Morriston has been subjected at your hands." Henshaw drew back his thin
+lips in a smile. "I have to tell you," Gifford continued, "once and for
+all that it must cease."
+
+"Miss Morriston authorizes you to tell me that?" The question was put
+with something like a sneer.
+
+"I should hope it requires no authority," Gifford retorted. "Having
+cognizance of what has been going on, it is my plain duty--"
+
+"Why yours?" Henshaw interrupted coolly.
+
+"For a very good reason," Gifford replied; "one which I may have to tell
+you presently."
+
+He saw Henshaw flush and dart a glance of hate at him. It was plain he
+had misinterpreted the reply. But the exhibition was only momentary.
+
+"Admitting in the meantime your right to interfere," Henshaw said, now
+with perfect coolness, "allow me to tell you that you are taking a very
+foolish course."
+
+"I shall be glad to know how."
+
+"The reason is, that if you have any regard, as you suggest, for Miss
+Morriston, you are going the right way to do her a terrible injury."
+
+Gifford rose and stood by the fire-place. "To come to the point at once
+without further preliminary fencing," he said quietly, "you mean, I take
+it, that I am forcing you to denounce her as being guilty of your
+brother's death."
+
+For an instant Henshaw seemed taken aback by the other's directness.
+"There can be no doubt, holding the evidence I do, that she was guilty of
+it," he retorted uncompromisingly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Henshaw," Gifford objected with decision, "there
+can be, and is, a very great deal more than a doubt of it."
+
+Henshaw shot a searching glance at the man who spoke so confidently, as
+though trying to probe what, if anything, was behind his words.
+
+"Perhaps you know then," he returned with his sneering smile, "how
+otherwise, if the lady had no hand in it, my brother came by his death?"
+
+"I do," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Then," still the smile of sneering incredulity, "it is clearly your duty
+to make it known."
+
+"Clearly," Gifford assented in a calm tone. "That is why I asked you to
+come here this afternoon."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him with a sort of malicious curiosity. In spite
+of his smartness he seemed at a loss to divine what the other was driving
+at, unless it were a well-studied line of bluff. But that Gifford could
+have, apart from what Edith Morriston might have told him, any intimate
+knowledge of the tragedy was inconceivable.
+
+"I shall be glad to hear what you have to say, Mr. Gifford," he
+responded, in perhaps much greater curiosity than he chose to show.
+
+"Then I have to inform you positively," Gifford answered, "that your
+brother's fatal wound was the result of a pure accident."
+
+Coming from Edith Morriston's champion, there was nothing surprising in
+that assertion. Certainly if that were the other's strong suit he could
+easily beat it. It was therefore in a tone of confidence and relief that
+he demanded, "You can prove it?"
+
+"I can."
+
+"By Miss Morriston's testimony?"
+
+"Not at all. By my own."
+
+"Your own?" Henshaw's question was put with a curling lip.
+
+"My own," Gifford repeated steadfastly.
+
+"May one ask what you mean by that?"
+
+Henshaw's contemptuous incredulity was by no means diminished even by the
+other's confident attitude.
+
+Gifford gave a short laugh. "Naturally you do not take my meaning.
+Obviously you think I am not a competent witness, that I know nothing
+except by hearsay. You are, extraordinary as it may seem, quite wrong.
+My testimony would be of nothing but what I myself saw and heard."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw had for a moment seemed to be calculating the
+probability of this monstrous suggestion being a fact, and had dismissed
+it with the contempt which showed itself in his question.
+
+"I mean," Gifford replied with quiet assurance, "that I happened to be a
+witness of the interview in the tower-room between your brother and Miss
+Morriston, that I was there when he received his death-wound, and that it
+was I whom the girl Haynes saw descending by a rope from the top window."
+
+Henshaw had started to his feet, his face working with an almost
+passionate astonishment. "You--you tell me all that," he cried, "and
+expect me to believe it?"
+
+"I have told you and shall tell you nothing," was the cool reply, "that I
+am not prepared to state on oath in the witness-box."
+
+For a while Henshaw seemed without the power to reply, dumbfounded, as
+his active brain tried to realize the probabilities of the declaration.
+"It seems to me," he said at length in a voice of which he was scarcely
+master, "that, whether your statement is true or otherwise, you are
+placing yourself in an uncommonly dangerous position, Mr. Gifford."
+
+"I am aware that I am inviting a certain amount of ugly suspicion,"
+Gifford agreed, "but the truth, which might have remained a mystery, has
+been forced from me by the necessity of protecting Miss Morriston.
+Perhaps you had better hear a frank account of the whole story, and the
+explanation of what I admit you are so far justified in setting down as
+concocted and wildly improbable."
+
+"I should very much like to hear it," Henshaw returned in a tone which
+held out no promise of credence.
+
+Thereupon Gifford gave him a terse account of the events and the chance
+which had led him into the tower and to be a secret witness of what
+happened there. Remembering that he was addressing the dead man's
+brother, he recounted the details of the interview without feeling;
+indeed he threw no more colour into it than if he had been opening a
+case in court. He simply stated the facts without comment. Henshaw
+listened to the singular story in an attitude of doggedly unemotional
+attention. Lawyer-like he restrained all tendency to interrupt the
+narrative and asked no question as it proceeded. Nevertheless it was
+clear he was thinking keenly, eager to note any weak points which he
+could turn to use.
+
+When the recital had come to an end he said coolly--
+
+"Your story is a very extraordinary one, Mr. Gifford; I won't call it, as
+it seems at first sight, wildly improbable, but it is at any rate an
+almost incredible coincidence. With your knowledge of the law I need
+scarcely remind you that the facts as you have just recounted them place
+you in a rather unenviable position."
+
+"As I have already said," Gifford replied, "my story is calculated to
+suggest suspicion against me. But I am prepared to risk that
+consequence."
+
+"In court," Henshaw observed, with a malicious smile, "handled by a
+counsel who knew his business, your statement could be given a very ugly
+turn indeed."
+
+"As I have just told you," Gifford returned quietly, "I would take that
+risk rather than allow Miss Morriston to remain longer under suspicion.
+As for myself I should have every confidence in the result."
+
+"It is well to be sanguine," Henshaw sneered. "If you have not already
+done so, are you prepared to repeat your story to the police?"
+
+"Most certainly I am, if necessary," was the prompt answer. "But I do not
+fancy you will wish me to do so."
+
+Henshaw's look was one of surprise, real or affected. "Indeed? Why so?"
+
+"I will tell you," Gifford replied with a touch of sternness. "Because it
+would be absolutely against your interest. For one thing it would, short
+of absolute proof, leave still the shadow of doubt over your brother's
+death, it would effectually put a stop to your designs on Miss Morriston,
+which in any case must come to an end, and it would show up your dead
+brother's character and conduct in a very disreputable light. Now what I
+have to say to you is this. I know that, following in your brother's
+footsteps, you have been subjecting Miss Morriston to an amount of very
+hateful persecution. There may have been a certain excuse for it, at any
+rate a degree of temptation, but your designs have not been welcome to
+the lady, and they must forthwith come to an end. Now unless you
+undertake to cease your attentions to Miss Morriston, in short to put an
+end at once and for all to this persecution, I shall effectually remove
+the hold you imagine you have over her by going straight to the police,
+giving them the real story of what happened in the tower that night and
+as a natural consequence shall give evidence to that effect at the
+adjourned inquest. You will know best whether it would be worth your
+while to force me to do this. I simply state the position."
+
+He waited for Henshaw's answer. The man was plainly cornered and seemed
+to be divided between a desire to let Gifford go on and place himself in
+a dangerous situation, and the more expedient course of raising a scandal
+which would touch him as well as disgrace his dead brother.
+
+"This is a clever piece of bluff, Mr. Gifford," he said at
+length; "but--"
+
+"It is no bluff at all," Gifford interrupted firmly. "I am merely
+determined to take the obvious course to save Miss Morriston from
+something a good deal worse than annoyance. I have no wish to discredit
+the dead, but I must remind you that the persecution of Miss Morriston by
+your brother had gone on for a very considerable time, and had latterly
+developed into an atrocious system of bullying. It is not an occasion for
+mincing one's expressions, and I must say that in my opinion your own
+conduct has been very little, if any, better; and that will be the
+judgment of every decent man if the truth comes out, as come out it
+shall, unless you agree to my terms before you leave this room."
+
+For a while Henshaw made no reply. He sat thinking strenuously, evidently
+weighing his chances, estimating the strength of his adversary's
+position. Now and again he shot a glance, half probing, half sullen, at
+Gifford, who leaned back against the mantelpiece coolly awaiting his
+answer. At length he spoke.
+
+"This is a very fine piece of bravado, Mr. Gifford. But I am not such a
+fool as it pleases you to think me. It is very good of you to explain to
+me my position in this affair; I am, however, quite capable of seeing
+that for myself. And you can hardly expect me to look upon your
+gratuitous advice as disinterested."
+
+The man was talking to gain time; Gifford shrewdly guessed that. "I
+might be pardoned for supposing you do not altogether realize how you
+stand," he replied quietly. "But, after all, that is, as you suggest,
+your affair."
+
+Henshaw forced a smile. "The point of view is everything," he said in a
+preoccupied tone; "and ours, yours and mine, are diametrically opposed."
+
+"The point of view which perhaps ought most to be considered," Gifford
+retorted with rising impatience, "is that of the honourable profession to
+which we both belong. If you are prepared to face the odium, professional
+and social, of an exposure--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him with a wave of the hand. "You may apply that to
+yourself and to your friend, Miss Morriston," he said sharply. "I can
+take care of myself, thank you."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Very well, then. There is no more to be said." He
+crossed the room and took up his hat. "I will go and see Major Freeman at
+once." At the door he turned, to see with surprise and a certain
+satisfaction that Henshaw, although he had risen from his chair, seemed
+in no hurry to move. "You are coming with me," he suggested. "It would be
+quite in order, I think, for you to be present at my statement--unless
+you prefer not."
+
+It seemed clear that the rather foxy Gervase Henshaw had really more than
+suspected a studied game of bluff. But now Gifford's attitude tended to
+put that out of the question.
+
+"In the circumstances, as your statement will consist mainly of a slander
+against me and my dead brother," Henshaw replied sullenly, "I prefer to
+keep out of the business for the present. I fancy," he added with an ugly
+significance, "that the police will be quite equal to dealing with the
+situation without any assistance or intervention from me."
+
+Gifford ignored the covert threat. "Very well, then," he said, throwing
+open the door and standing aside for Henshaw to pass out; "I will go
+alone. Yes; it will be better."
+
+But Henshaw did not move.
+
+"I don't quite gather," he said in answer to Gifford's glance of inquiry,
+"exactly what your object is in taking this step."
+
+"I should have thought--" Gifford began.
+
+"Is it," Henshaw proceeded, falling back now to his ordinary lawyer-like
+tone--"is it merely to checkmate what you are pleased to call my designs
+upon Miss Morriston?"
+
+"That will be a mere incidental result," Gifford answered, shutting the
+door and coming back into the room. "My object is to put it, at once and
+for all, out of your power to hold over Miss Morriston the threat that
+she is at any moment liable to be accused--by you of all people--of your
+brother's murder, and so suggest that she is in your power."
+
+"Why do you say by me, of all people?"
+
+"You who profess an affection for her."
+
+"Your word profess scarcely does me justice, Mr. Gifford," Henshaw
+returned, drawing back his shut lips. "I had, and have, a very sincere
+affection for Edith Morriston, which, it seems, I am not to be allowed to
+declare or even have credit for. As a man of the world you can hardly
+pretend to be ignorant of what a man will do when his happiness is at
+stake. What he does under such a stress is no guide to his real feelings.
+But we need not labour that point. My affection, genuine or not, seems to
+be in no fair way to be requited, and I had already made up my mind to
+leave it at that. I have merely kept up the game to this point out of
+curiosity to see how far your--shall we say knight-errantry?--would lead
+you. I will now relieve you from the necessity of going through an act of
+Quixotic folly which would assuredly, sooner or later, have unpleasant
+consequences for you."
+
+So Gifford realized with a thrill of pleasure that he had won. He felt
+that in much of his speech the man was lying; that no consideration of
+mere unrequited affection had induced him to abandon his design.
+
+"I am glad to hear you have come to a sensible conclusion," he said as
+coolly as the sense of triumph would let him. "Whatever happened you
+could hardly have expected your--plans to succeed."
+
+"I don't know that," Henshaw retorted, with a touch of a beaten man's
+malice. "Anyhow I have my own ideas on the subject. But looking into the
+future with my brother's blood between us I think it might have turned
+out a hideous mistake."
+
+"A safe conjecture," Gifford commented, between indignation and amusement
+at the cool way the man was now trying to save his face.
+
+"Anyhow there's an end of it," Henshaw said with an air and gesture of
+half scornfully dismissing the affair. "And so I bid you good afternoon."
+
+As he walked towards the door Gifford intercepted him.
+
+"Not quite so fast, Mr. Henshaw," he said resolutely. "We can't leave the
+affair like this."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw ejaculated, with a look which was half
+defiant, half apprehensive.
+
+"You have heard my story," Gifford pursued with steady decisiveness,
+"and have, I presume, accepted it."
+
+"For what it is worth." The smart of defeat prompted the futile reply.
+
+"That won't do at all," Gifford returned with sternness. "You either
+accept the account I have just given you, or you do not."
+
+There was something like murder in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "This
+bullying attitude is what I might expect from you. To put an end,
+however, to this most unpleasant interview you may take it that I accept
+your statement."
+
+"To the absolute exoneration of Miss Morriston?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"I must have your assurance in writing."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step and for a moment showed signs of an
+uncompromising refusal. "You are going a little too far, Mr. Gifford,"
+he said doggedly.
+
+"Not at all," Gifford retorted. "It is imperatively necessary."
+
+"Is it?" Henshaw sneered. "For what purpose?"
+
+"For Miss Morriston's protection."
+
+The sneer deepened. "I should have thought that purpose quite negligible,
+seeing how valiantly the lady is already protected. But I have no
+objection," he added in an offhand tone, "as you seem to distrust the
+lasting power of bluff, to give you an extra safeguard. Indeed I think it
+just as well, all things considered, that Miss Morriston should have it.
+Give me a pen and a sheet of paper." Henshaw's manner was now the
+quintessence of insolence, but Gifford could afford, although it cost him
+an effort, to ignore it. With the practised pen of a lawyer Henshaw
+quickly wrote down a short declaration, signing it with a flourish and
+then flicking it across the table to Gifford. "That should meet the
+case," he said, leaning back confidently and thrusting his hands into his
+pockets. Dealing with one who, like himself, was learned in the law he
+had, to save trouble, written a terse declaration which he knew should be
+quite acceptable. It simply stated that from certain facts which had come
+to his knowledge he was quite satisfied that his brother's death had been
+caused by an accident, and that no one was to blame for it, and he
+thereby undertook to make no future charge or imputation against any one,
+in connexion therewith.
+
+"Yes, that will do," Gifford answered curtly when he had read the
+few lines.
+
+Henshaw rose with a rather mocking smile. "I congratulate you on
+your--luck, Mr. Gifford," he said with a studied emphasis, and so
+left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+With the precious declaration in his pocket Gifford lost no time in going
+to Wynford Place. His light heart must have been reflected in his face,
+for Edith Morriston's anxious look brightened as she joined him in the
+drawing-room. All the same it seemed as though she almost feared to ask
+the result, and he was the first to speak.
+
+"I bring you good news, Miss Morriston. You have nothing more to fear
+from Gervase Henshaw."
+
+"Ah!" She caught her breath, and for a moment seemed unable to respond.
+"Tell me," she said at length, almost breathlessly.
+
+"I have had a long and, as you may imagine, not very pleasant interview
+with the fellow," he answered quietly; "and am happy to say I won all
+along the line."
+
+"You won? You mean--?"
+
+He had taken the declaration from his pocket-book and for answer handed
+it to her. With a manifest effort to control her feelings she read it
+eagerly. Then her voice trembled as she spoke.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, what can I say? I wish I knew how to thank you."
+
+"Please don't try," he replied lightly. "If you only knew the pleasure it
+has given me to get the better of this fellow you would hardly consider
+thanks necessary. Would you care to hear a short account of what
+happened?" he added tactfully, with the intention, seeing how painful the
+revulsion was, of giving her time to recover from her agitation.
+
+"Please; do tell me." She spoke mechanically, still hardly able to trust
+her voice above a whisper.
+
+They sat down and he related the salient points of his interview with
+Henshaw. "It was lucky that I happened to have something of a hold over
+him," he concluded with a laugh; "Mr. Gervase Henshaw is not wanting in
+determination, and it took a long time to persuade him that he could not
+possibly win the game he was playing; but he stood to lose more heavily
+than he could afford. The conclusion, however, was at last borne in upon
+him that the position he had taken up was untenable, and that paper is
+the result."
+
+"That paper," she said in a low voice, "means life to me instead of a
+living death; it means more than I can tell you, more than even you can
+understand."
+
+He had risen, but before he could speak she had come to him and
+impulsively taken his hand. "Mr. Gifford," she said, "tell me how I can
+repay you."
+
+Her eyes met his; they were full of gratitude and something more. But he
+resisted the temptation to answer her question in the way it was plain to
+him he was invited to do.
+
+"It is reward enough for me to have served you," he responded steadily.
+"Seeing that chance gave me the power, I could do no less."
+
+"You would have risked your life for mine," she persisted, her eyes
+still on him.
+
+"Hardly that," he returned, with an effort to force a smile. "But had it
+been necessary, I should have been quite content to do so."
+
+"And you will not tell me how I can show my gratitude?"
+
+"I did not do it for reward," he murmured, scarcely able to
+restrain himself.
+
+"I am sure of that," she assented. "But you once hinted, or at any rate
+led me to believe, that I could repay you."
+
+There could be no pretence of ignoring her meaning now. Still he felt
+that chivalry forbade his acceptance.
+
+"I was wrong," he replied with an effort, "and most unfair if I suggested
+a bargain."
+
+"Have you repented the suggestion?" she asked almost quizzingly and with
+a curious absence of her characteristic pride.
+
+"Only in a sense," he answered. "I hope I am too honourable to take an
+unfair advantage."
+
+She laughed now; joyously, it seemed. "If your scruples are so strong
+there will be nothing for it but for me to throw away mine and offer
+myself to you."
+
+"Edith," he exclaimed in a flash of rapture, then, checked the passionate
+impulse to take her in his arms. "You must not; not now, not now. It is
+not fair to yourself. At the moment of your release from this horrible
+danger you cannot be master of yourself. You must not mistake gratitude
+for love."
+
+Edith drew back with a touch of resentful pride.
+
+"If you think I don't know my own mind--" she began.
+
+"Does any one know his own mind at such a crisis as you have just passed
+through?" he said, a little wistfully. "Edith," he went on as he took her
+unresisting hand, "you must not be offended with me. Think. The whole
+object of what I have done for you has been to set you free, as free as
+though you had woke up to find the episode of these Henshaws had been no
+more than a horrible dream. You must be free, you must realize and enjoy
+your freedom. You are now relieved from the crushing weight you have
+borne so long; the release must be untouched by the shadow of a bargain
+expressed or implied. That is the only way in which a man of honour can
+regard the position."
+
+"Very well," she returned simply, "I understand. I am sorry for my
+mistake."
+
+Her manner shook his resolution. "I can't think you understand," he
+replied forcibly. "I only ask, in fairness to yourself, for time. Don't
+think that I am not desperately in love with you. You must have seen it,
+ever since our first confidential talk, that night at the Stograve dance.
+And my love has gone on increasing every day till--oh, you don't know how
+cruelly hard it is to resist taking you at your word. But I can't, I
+simply can't snatch at an unfair advantage, however great the temptation.
+I must give you time, time to know your own heart when the nightmare
+shall have passed away. I propose to return to town as soon as this man
+Henshaw has cleared out of the neighbourhood. Will you let us be as we
+are for a month, Edith, and if then you are of the same mind, send me a
+line and I will come to you by the first train. Is not that only fair?"
+
+She gave a little sigh of contentment. "Very well," she said, "if that
+will satisfy you."
+
+He took her hand. "It will seem a horribly long time to wait; but I
+feel it is right. Today is the 16th; on this day month I shall hear
+from you?"
+
+"Yes, on the 16th," she answered.
+
+"And so," he said, "you are free, unless you call me back to you."
+
+"That is understood," she said with a smile.
+
+He might have kissed her lips, her look into his eyes was almost an
+invitation, but, having steeled himself to be scrupulously fair, he
+refrained and contented himself with kissing her hand.
+
+On reaching the hotel he heard with satisfaction that Henshaw had gone
+off by the late afternoon train and had suggested the unlikelihood of his
+returning. "So I suppose he is content to let the mystery remain a
+mystery," the landlord remarked. And the Coroner's jury subsequently had
+perforce to come to the same conclusion.
+
+On the 16th of the following month, Hugh Gifford's impatience and
+anxiety were set at rest, as the morning's post brought the expected
+letter from Wynford.
+
+"Dick and I are expecting you here tomorrow, unless you have changed your
+mind--I have not. The 3.15 train shall be met if you do not wire to the
+contrary."
+
+When Gifford jumped out of the 3.15 Edith was on the platform. As they
+shook hands he read in her eyes an unwonted happiness and knew for
+certain that all was well.
+
+"I had something to do in the town and thought I might as well come on to
+the station," Edith said with a lurking smile.
+
+"I am glad you have not added even a half-hour to this long month," he
+replied as they took their seats in the carriage.
+
+"It has been long," she murmured.
+
+"Long enough to set our doubts at rest."
+
+"I never had any," she replied quietly. He drew her to him and
+kissed her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Hunt Ball Mystery, by Magnay, William
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hunt Ball Mystery, by Magnay, William
+
+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 Hunt Ball Mystery
+
+Author: Magnay, William
+
+Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10029]
+[Date last updated: January 29, 2005]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUNT BALL MYSTERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         THE HUNT BALL MYSTERY
+
+                       BY SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY, Bt.
+
+Author of "A Prince of Lovers," "The Mystery of the Unicorn," etc., etc.
+
+                                 1918
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+Chap
+
+      I THE INTRUDER
+
+     II THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+    III THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+     IV THE MISSING GUEST
+
+      V THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+     VI THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+    VII THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+   VIII KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     IX THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+      X AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+     XI GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+    XII HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+   XIII WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+    XIV GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+     XV ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+    XVI AN EXPLANATION
+
+   XVII WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+  XVIII THE LOST BROOCH
+
+    XIX IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+     XX AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+    XXI GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+   XXII HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+  XXIII EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+   XXIV HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+    XXV DEFIANCE
+
+   XXVI ISSUE JOINED
+
+  XXVII GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE INTRUDER
+
+
+"I'm afraid it must have gone on in the van, sir."
+
+"Gone on!" Hugh Gifford exclaimed angrily. "But you had no business to
+send the train on till all the luggage was put out."
+
+"The guard told me that all the luggage for Branchester was out," the
+porter protested deprecatingly. "You see, sir, the train was nearly
+twenty minutes late, and in his hurry to get off he must have overlooked
+your suit-case."
+
+"The very thing I wanted most," the owner returned. "I say, Kelson," he
+went on, addressing a tall, soldierly man who strolled up, "a nice thing
+has happened; the train has gone off with my evening clothes."
+
+Kelson whistled. "Are you sure?"
+
+"Quite." Gifford appealed to the porter, who regretfully confirmed the
+statement.
+
+"That's awkward to-night," Kelson commented with a short laugh of
+annoyance. "Look here, we'd better interview the station-master, and have
+your case wired for to the next stop. I am sorry, old fellow, I kept you
+talking instead of letting you look after your rattle-traps, but I was so
+glad to see you again after all this long time."
+
+"Thanks, my dear Harry, you've nothing to blame yourself about. It was my
+own fault being so casual. The nuisance is that if I don't get the
+suit-case back in time I shan't be able to go with you to-night."
+
+"No," his friend responded; "that would be a blow. And it's going to
+be a ripping dance. Dick Morriston, who hunts the hounds, is doing the
+thing top-hole. Now let's see what the worthy and obliging Prior can
+do for us."
+
+The station-master was prepared to do everything in his power, but
+that did not extend to altering the times of the trains or shortening
+the mileage they had to travel. He wired for the suit-case to be put
+out at Medford, the next stop, some forty miles on, and sent back by
+the next up-train. "But that," he explained, "is a slow one and is
+not due here till 9.47. However, I'll send it on directly it arrives,
+and you should get it by ten o'clock or a few minutes after. You are
+staying at the _Lion_?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Not more than ten or twelve minutes' drive. I'll do my best and there
+shall be no delay."
+
+The two men thanked him and walked out to the station yard, where a
+porter waited with the rest of Gifford's luggage.
+
+"There is a gentleman here going to the _Lion_" he said with a rather
+embarrassed air; "I told him your fly was engaged, sir; but he said
+perhaps you would let him share it with you."
+
+Kelson looked black. "I like the way some people have of taking things
+for granted. Cheek, I call it. He had better wait or walk."
+
+"The gentleman said he was in a hurry, sir," the porter observed
+apologetically.
+
+"No reason why he should squash us up in the fly," Kelson returned. "I'll
+have a word with the gentleman. Where is he?"
+
+"I think he is in the fly, sir."
+
+"The devil he is! We'll have him out, Hugh. Infernally cool." And he
+strode off towards the waiting fly.
+
+"Better see what sort of chap he is before you go for him, Harry,"
+Gifford said deprecatingly as he followed. He knew his masterful friend's
+quick temper, and anticipated a row.
+
+"If you don't mind, this is my fly, sir," Kelson was saying as Gifford
+reached him.
+
+"The porter told me it was the _Golden Lion_ conveyance," a strong,
+deeply modulated voice replied from the fly.
+
+"And I think he told you it was engaged," Kelson rejoined bluffly.
+
+"I did not quite understand that," the voice of the occupant replied in
+an even tone. "I am sorry if there has been any misunderstanding; but as
+I am going to the hotel--"
+
+"That is no reason why you should take our fly," Kelson retorted, his
+temper rising at the other's coolness. "I must ask you to vacate it at
+once," he added with heat.
+
+"How many of you are there?" The man leaned forward showing in the
+doorway a handsome face, dark almost to swarthiness. "Only two? Surely
+there is no need to turn me out. You don't want to play the dog in the
+manger. There is room for all three, and I shall be happy to contribute
+my share of the fare."
+
+"I don't want anything of the sort--"
+
+Kelson was beginning angrily when Gifford intervened pacifically.
+
+"It is all right, Harry. We can squeeze in. The fellow seems more or less
+a gentleman; don't let's be churlish," he added in an undertone.
+
+"But it is infernal impudence," Kelson protested.
+
+"Yes; but we don't want a row. It is not as though there was another
+conveyance he could take."
+
+"All right. I suppose we shall have to put up with the brute," Kelson
+assented grudgingly. "But I hate being bounced like this."
+
+Gifford took a step to the carriage-door. "I think we can all three pack
+in," he said civilly.
+
+"I'll take the front seat, if you like," the stranger said, without,
+however, showing much inclination to move.
+
+"Oh, no; stay where you are," Gifford answered. "I fancy I am the
+smallest of the three; I shall be quite comfortable there. Come
+along, Harry."
+
+With no very amiable face Kelson got in and took the vacant seat by the
+stranger. His attitude was not conducive to geniality, and so for a while
+there was silence. At length as they turned from the station approach on
+to the main road the stranger spoke. His deep-toned voice had a musical
+ring in it, yet somehow to Gifford's way of thinking it was detestable.
+Perhaps it was the speaker's rather aggressive and, to a man,
+objectionable personality, which made it seem so.
+
+"I am sorry to inconvenience you," he said, more with an air of saying
+the right thing than from any real touch of regret. "On an occasion like
+this they ought to provide more conveyances. But country towns are
+hopeless."
+
+"Oh, it is all right," Gifford responded politely. "The drive is not
+very long."
+
+"A mile?" The man's musical inflection jarred on Gifford, who began to
+wonder whether their companion could be a professional singer. One of
+their own class he certainly was not.
+
+"I presume you gentlemen are going to the Hunt Ball?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered.
+
+"Rather a new departure having it in a private house," the man said.
+"Quite a sound idea, I have no doubt Morriston will do us as well--much
+better than we should fare at the local hotel or Assembly Rooms."
+
+"Are you going?" They were the first words Kelson had uttered since the
+start, and the slight surprise in their tone was not quite complimentary.
+It must have so struck the other, seeing that he replied with a touch of
+resentment:
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"No reason at all," Kelson answered, except that I don't remember to have
+seen you out with the Cumberbatch."
+
+"I dare say not," the other rejoined easily. "It is some years since I
+hunted with them. I'm living down in the south now, and when I'm at home
+usually turn out with the Bavistock. Quite a decent little pack, _faute
+de mieux_; and Bobby Amphlett, who hunts them, is a great pal of mine."
+
+"I see," Kelson observed guardedly. "Yes, I believe they are quite good
+as far as they go."
+
+The stranger gave a short laugh. "They, or rather a topping old dog-fox,
+took us an eleven mile point the other day, which was good enough in that
+country. Being in town I thought I would run down to this dance for old
+acquaintance' sake. Dare say one will meet some old friends."
+
+"No doubt," Kelson responded dryly.
+
+"As you have been good enough to ask me to share your fly," the man
+observed, with a rather aggressive touch of irony, "I may as well let you
+know who I am. My name is Henshaw, Clement Henshaw."
+
+"Any relation to Gervase Henshaw?" Gifford asked.
+
+"He is my brother. You know him?"
+
+"Only by reputation at my profession, the Bar. And I came across a book
+of his the other day."
+
+"Ah, yes. Gervase scribbles when he has time. He is by way of being an
+authority on criminology."
+
+"And is, I should say," Gifford added civilly.
+
+"Yes; he is a smart fellow. Has the brains of the family. I'm all for
+sport and the open-air life."
+
+"And yet," thought Gifford, glancing at the dark, rather intriguing face
+opposite to him, "you don't look a sportsman. More a _viveur_ than a
+regular open-air man, more at home in London or Paris than in the
+stubbles or covert." But he merely nodded acceptance of Henshaw's
+statement.
+
+"My name is Kelson," the soldier said, supplying an omission due to
+Henshaw's talk of himself. "I have hunted this country pretty regularly
+since I left the Service. And my friend is Hugh Gifford."
+
+"Gifford? Did not Wynford Place where we are going to-night belong to the
+Giffords?" Henshaw asked, curiosity overcoming tact.
+
+"Yes," Gifford answered, "to an uncle of mine. He sold it lately to
+Morriston."
+
+"Ah; a pity. Fine old place," Henshaw observed casually. "Naturally you
+know it well."
+
+"I have had very good times there," Gifford answered, with a certain
+reserve as though disinclined to discuss the subject with a stranger. "I
+have come down now also for old acquaintance' sake," he added casually.
+
+"I see," Henshaw responded. "Not altogether pleasant, though, to see an
+old family place in the hands of strangers. Personally, when a thing is
+irrevocably gone, as, I take it, Wynford Place is, I believe in letting
+it slide out of one's mind, and having no sentiment about it."
+
+"No doubt a very convenient plan," Gifford replied dryly. "All the same,
+if I can retrieve my evening kit, which has gone astray, I hope to enjoy
+myself at Wynford Place to-night without being troubled with undue
+sentimentality."
+
+"Good," Henshaw responded with what seemed a half-smothered yawn. "Regret
+for a thing that is gone past recall does not pay; though as long as
+there is a chance of getting it I believe in never calling oneself
+beaten. Here we are at the _Lion_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE STAINED FLOWERS
+
+
+"What do you think of our acquaintance?" Gifford said as they settled
+down in the private room of Kelson, who made the _Golden Lion_ his
+hunting quarters.
+
+"Not much. In fact, I took a particular dislike to the fellow. Wrong type
+of sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Decidedly. Fine figure of a man and good-looking enough, but spoilt by
+that objectionable, cock-sure manner."
+
+"And I should say a by no means decent character."
+
+"A swanker to the finger-tips. And that implies a liar."
+
+"Not worth discussing," Kelson said. "He goes to-morrow. I made a point
+of inquiring how long he had engaged his room for. One night."
+
+"Good. Then we shan't be under the ungracious necessity of shaking him
+off. I can't tell you how sick I am, Harry, at the loss of my things."
+
+"No more than I am, my dear fellow. If only a suit of mine would fit you.
+But that's hopeless."
+
+They both laughed ruefully at the idea, for Captain Kelson looked nearly
+twice the size of his friend.
+
+"We'll hope they'll arrive in time for you to see something of the fun at
+any rate," Kelson said. "I'm in no hurry; I'll wait with you."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort, Harry," Gifford protested. "Do you
+think I can't amuse myself for an hour or two alone? You'll go off at the
+proper time. Absurd to wait till every decent girl's card is full."
+
+"I don't like it, Hugh."
+
+"Nor do I. But it is practically my fault in not looking sharper after my
+luggage, and better one should suffer than two."
+
+So it was arranged that Captain Kelson should go on alone and his
+guest should follow as soon as his clothes turned up and he could
+change into them.
+
+That settled, they sat down to dinner.
+
+"Tell me about the Morristons, Harry," Gifford said. "He is a very good
+fellow, isn't he?"
+
+"Dick Morriston? One of the best. Straight goer to hounds and straight in
+every other capacity, I should say. You know they used to live at Friar's
+Norton, near here, before they bought your uncle's place."
+
+"Yes, I know. What is the sister like?"
+
+"A fine, handsome girl," Kelson answered, without enthusiasm. "Rather too
+cold and statuesque for my taste, although I have heard she has a bit of
+the devil in her. Quite a sportswoman, and as good after hounds as her
+brother. They say she had a thin time of it with her step-mother, and has
+come out wonderfully since the old lady died. Lord Painswick, who lives
+near here, is supposed to be very sweet on her. Perhaps the affair will
+develop to-night. The ball will be rather a toney affair."
+
+"Morriston has plenty of money?"
+
+"Heaps. And the sister is an heiress too. The old man did not nearly live
+up to his income and there were big accumulations."
+
+"Which enabled the son to buy our property," Gifford said with a tinge
+of bitterness. "Well, it might have been worse. Wynford has not passed
+into the hands of some Jew millionaire or City speculator, but has gone
+to a gentleman, a good fellow and a sportsman, eh?"
+
+"Yes; Dick Morriston is all that. As the place had to go, you could not
+have found a better man to succeed your people."
+
+When the time came to start for the ball Gifford went down to see his
+friend off and to repeat his orders concerning the immediate delivery of
+his suit-case when it should arrive. Henshaw was in the hall, bulking big
+in a fur coat and complaining in a masterful tone of the unpunctuality of
+his fly. A handsome fellow, Gifford was constrained to acknowledge, and
+of a strong, positive character; the type of man, he thought, who could
+be very fascinating to women--and very brutal.
+
+He dropped his rather bullying manner as he caught sight of the two
+friends; and, noticing Gifford's morning clothes, made a casually
+sympathetic remark on his bad luck.
+
+"Oh, I shall come on when my things arrive, which ought to be soon,"
+Gifford responded coldly, disliking the man and his rather obvious
+insincerity.
+
+"We might have driven over together," Henshaw said, addressing
+Kelson. "But I hardly cared to propose it after the line you took at
+the station."
+
+There was an unpleasant curl of the lip as he spoke the words almost
+vindictively, as though with intent to put Kelson in the wrong.
+
+But his sneer had no effect on the ex-Cavalryman.
+
+"I am driving over in my own trap," he replied coolly, ignoring the
+other's intent. "You will be a good deal more comfortable in a closed
+carriage."
+
+"Decidedly," Henshaw returned with a laugh. "I am not so fond of an east
+wind as to get more of it than can be helped. And, after all, it is best
+to go independently to an affair of this sort. One may get bored and want
+to leave early."
+
+Kelson nodded with a grim appreciation of the man's trick of argument,
+and went out to his waiting dog-cart. Henshaw's fly drove up as Gifford
+turned back from the door.
+
+"I suppose we shall see you towards midnight," he said lightly as he
+passed Gifford, his tone clearly suggesting his utter indifference in
+the matter.
+
+"I dare say," Gifford replied, and as he went upstairs he heard an
+order given for "Mr. Henshaw's fire in number 9 to be kept up against
+his return."
+
+Alone in the oak-panelled sitting-room Gifford settled down to wait for
+his clothes. He skimmed through several picture-papers that were lying
+about, and then took up a novel. But a restless fit was on him, and he
+could not settle down to read. He threw aside the book and began thinking
+of the old property which his uncle had muddled away, and recalling the
+happy times he had spent there from his schooldays onwards. Memories of
+the rambling old house and its park crowded upon him. By force of one
+circumstance or another he had not been there for nearly ten years, and a
+great impatience to see it again took hold of him. He looked at the
+clock. At the best, supposing there were no hitch, his suit-case could
+hardly arrive for another hour and a half. Wynford Place was a bare mile
+away, perhaps twenty minutes' walk; the night was fine and moonlight, he
+was getting horribly bored in that room; he would stroll out and have a
+look at the outside of the old place. After all, it was only the exterior
+that he could expect to find unaltered; doubtless the Morristons with
+their wealth had transformed the interior almost out of his knowledge.
+Anyhow he would see that later. Just then he simply longed for a sight of
+the ancient house with its detached tower and the familiar landmarks.
+
+Accordingly he filled a pipe, put on a thick overcoat and a golf cap and
+went out, leaving word of his return within the hour.
+
+But it was a good two hours before he reappeared, and the landlord, who
+met him with the news that the missing suit-case had been awaiting him in
+his room since twenty minutes past ten, was struck by a certain
+peculiarity in his manner. It was nothing very much beyond a suggestion
+of suppressed excitement and that rather wild look which lingers in a
+man's eyes when he is just fresh from a dispute or has experienced a
+narrow escape from danger. Then Gifford ordered a stiff glass of spirits
+and soda and drank it off before going up to change.
+
+"Shall you be going to Wynford Place, sir?" the landlord inquired as he
+glanced at the clock.
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Yes. Let me have a fly in a quarter of an
+hour," he answered.
+
+But it was more than double that time when he came down dressed for
+the dance.
+
+The old house looked picturesque enough in the moonlight as he approached
+it. All the windows in the main building were lighted up, and there was a
+pleasant suggestion of revelry about the ivy-clad pile. Standing some
+dozen yards from the house, but connected with it by a covered way, was a
+three-storied tower, the remains of a much older house, and from the
+lower windows of this lights also shone.
+
+Gifford entered the well-remembered hall and made his way, almost in a
+dream, to the ball-room, where many hunting men in pink made the scene
+unusually gay. Unable for the moment to catch sight of Kelson, he had to
+introduce himself to his host, who had heard of his mishap and gave him a
+cheerily sympathetic welcome. Richard Morriston was a pleasant-looking
+man of about five or six-and-thirty, the last man, Gifford thought, he
+would bear a grudge against for possessing the old home of the Giffords.
+
+"I'm afraid you must look upon me rather in the light of an intruder
+here," Morriston said pleasantly.
+
+"A very acceptable one so far as I am concerned," Gifford responded with
+something more than empty civility.
+
+"It is very kind of you to say so," his host rejoined. "Anyhow the least
+I can do is to ask you with all sincerity to make yourself free of the
+place while you are in the neighbourhood. Edith," he called to a tall,
+handsome girl who was just passing on a man's arm, "this is Mr. Gifford,
+who knows Wynford much better than we do."
+
+Miss Morriston left her partner and held out her hand. "We were so
+sorry to hear of your annoying experience," she said. "These railway
+people are too stupid. I am so glad you retrieved your luggage in time
+to come on to us."
+
+Gifford was looking at her with some curiosity during her speech, and
+quickly came to the conclusion that Kelson's description of her had
+certainly not erred on the side of exaggeration. She looked divinely
+handsome in her ball-dress of a darkish shade of blue, relieved by a
+bunch of roses in her corsage and a single diamond brooch. Statuesque,
+too statuesque, Kelson had called her; certainly her manner and bearing
+had a certain cold stateliness, but Gifford had penetration enough to
+see that behind the reserve and the society tone of her welcome there
+might easily be a depth of feeling which his friend with a lesser
+knowledge of human nature never suspected. An interesting girl,
+decidedly, Gifford concluded as he made a suitable acknowledgment of her
+greeting, and, I fancy, my friend Harry takes a rather too superficial
+view of her character, he thought, as strolling off in search of
+Kelson, he found himself watching his hostess from across the room with
+more than ordinary interest.
+
+He soon encountered Kelson coming out of a gaily decorated passage which
+he knew led to the old tower. He had a pretty girl on his arm, tall and
+fair, but with none of Miss Morriston's dignified coldness. This girl had
+a sunny, laughing face, and Gifford thought he understood why his friend
+had not been enthusiastic over the probable Lady Painswick.
+
+Kelson, receiving him with delight, introduced him, with an air of
+proprietorship it seemed, to his companion, Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Have you been exploring the old tower?" Gifford asked.
+
+"We've been sitting out there," Kelson answered with a laugh. "They have
+converted the lower rooms into quite snug retreats."
+
+"In my uncle's day they were anything but snug," Gifford observed. "I
+remember we used to play hide-and-seek up there."
+
+He spoke with preoccupation, his eyes fixed on a bunch of white flowers
+which the girl wore on her black dress. They were slightly blotched and
+sprinkled with a dark colour in a way which was certainly not natural,
+and Gifford, held by the peculiar sight, looked in wonder from the
+flowers to the girl's face.
+
+"You must give Gifford a dance," Kelson said, breaking up the rather
+awkward pause.
+
+"I'm afraid my card is full," Miss Tredworth said, holding it up.
+
+Kelson laughed happily. "Then he shall have one of mine."
+
+But Gifford protested. "Indeed I won't rob you, Harry," he declared. "I'm
+tired, and should be a stupid partner."
+
+"Tired?" Kelson remonstrated. "Why, you have been resting at the _Lion_
+waiting for your things while we have been dancing our hardest."
+
+"Resting? No; I went out for a walk," Gifford replied.
+
+"The deuce you did! Where did you go to?"
+
+"Oh, nowhere particular," Gifford answered rather evasively. "Just about
+the town."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE STREAK ON THE CUFF
+
+
+Hugh Gifford did not stay very long at the dance. He took a mouthful of
+supper, and then told Kelson that he had a headache and was going to walk
+back to the _Golden Lion_.
+
+Kelson was distressed. "My dear fellow, coming so late and going so
+early, it's too bad. This is the best time of the night. I hope the old
+place with its memories hasn't distressed you."
+
+"Oh, no," was the answer. "But something has upset me. I'll get back and
+turn in. By the way, I don't see that man Henshaw."
+
+"No," Kelson replied casually; "I haven't seen him lately. But then I've
+had something better to think about than that ineffable bounder. He was
+here all right in the early part of the evening. One couldn't see
+anything else."
+
+"Dancing?"
+
+"More or less. Well, if you will go, old fellow, do make yourself
+comfortable at the _Lion_ and call for anything you fancy. I'm dancing
+this waltz."
+
+Gifford left the dance and went back to the hotel. He seemed perplexed
+and worried, so much so that for some time he paced his room restlessly
+and then, instead of turning in, he went back to the sitting-room,
+lighted a pipe, and settled himself there to await his friend's return.
+
+It was nearly three o'clock when Kelson came in.
+
+"Why, Hugh!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Still up?"
+
+"I didn't feel like sleeping," Gifford answered, "and if I'm to keep
+awake I'd rather stay up."
+
+Kelson looked at him curiously. "I hope the visit to your old home hasn't
+been too much for you," he remarked with the limited sympathy of a strong
+man whose nerves are not easily affected.
+
+"Oh, no," Gifford assured him. "Although somehow I did feel rather out
+of it. I have had rather a teasing day, but I shall be all right in the
+morning, and am looking forward to a run round the scenes of my
+childhood."
+
+"Good," Kelson responded, relieved to think his friend's visit was not
+after all going to be as dismal as he had begun to fear. "Well, Hugh," he
+added gaily. "I have a piece of news for you."
+
+"Not that you are engaged?"
+
+Something, an almost apprehensive touch, in Gifford's tone rather took
+his friend aback.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"To Miss--the girl you were dancing with?"
+
+Again Gifford's tone gave a check to Kelson's enthusiasm.
+
+It was with a more serious face that he replied, "Muriel Tredworth, the
+best girl in England. I hope, my dear Hugh, you are not going to say you
+don't think so."
+
+"Certainly not," Gifford answered promptly. "I never saw or heard of her
+before to-night."
+
+Kelson laughed uncomfortably. A man in love and in the flush of
+acceptance wants something more than a lukewarm reception of the news.
+"I'm glad to hear it," he responded dryly. "From your tone one might
+almost imagine that you knew something against Muriel."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" Gifford ejaculated fervently.
+
+"You don't congratulate me," his friend returned with a touch of
+suspicion.
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "My dear Harry, you have taken my breath away.
+You deserve the best wife in the kingdom, and I sincerely hope you have
+got her," he said, not very convincingly.
+
+His half-heartedness, not too successfully masked, evidently struck
+Kelson. "One would hardly suppose you thought so," he said in a hurt
+tone. "I wish," he added warmly, "if there is anything at the back of
+your words you would speak out. I should hope we are old friends enough
+for that."
+
+Gifford glanced at the worried face of the big, simple-minded sportsman,
+more or less a child in his knowledge of the subtleties of human nature,
+and as he did so his heart smote him.
+
+"We are, and I hope we always shall be," he declared, grasping his hand.
+"You are making too much of my unfortunate manner to-night, and I'm
+sorry. With all my heart I congratulate you, and wish you every blessing
+and all happiness."
+
+There was an unmistakable ring of sincerity in his speech now, and,
+without going aside to question its motive, as a more penetrating
+mind might have done, Kelson accepted his friend's congratulations
+without question.
+
+"Thanks, old fellow," he responded, brightening as he returned the grasp
+of Gifford's hand. "I was sure of your good wishes. You need not fear I
+have made a mistake. Muriel is a thorough good sort, and we shall suit
+each other down to the ground. We've every chance of happiness."
+
+Before Gifford could reply there came a knock at the door. The
+landlord entered.
+
+"Beg your pardon, captain," he said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could
+you tell me whether they are keeping up the Hunt Ball very late?"
+
+"No, Mr. Dipper," Kelson answered. "It was all over long ago. I was one
+of the last to come away. We left to the strains of the National Anthem."
+
+Mr. Dipper's face assumed a perplexed expression.
+
+"Thank you, captain," he said. "My reason for asking the question is that
+Mr. Henshaw, who has a room here, has not come in."
+
+"Not come in?" Kelson repeated. "Too bad to keep you up, Mr. Dipper."
+
+"Well, captain," said the landlord, "you see it is getting on for four
+o'clock, and we want to lock up. Of course if the ball was going on we
+should be prepared to keep open all night if necessary. But my drivers
+told me an hour ago it was over."
+
+"So it was. I wonder"--Kelson turned to Gifford--"what can have become of
+the egregious Henshaw. I don't think, as I told you in the ball-room, I
+have seen him since ten o'clock."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Unless he has come across friends and gone off
+with them."
+
+"He couldn't well do that without calling here for his things,"
+Kelson objected. "I suppose he did not do that, unknown to you?" he
+asked the landlord.
+
+"No, captain. His things are all laid out in his room, and the fire kept
+up as he ordered."
+
+"Then I don't know what has become of him," Kelson returned, manifestly
+not interested in the subject. "I certainly should not keep open any
+longer. If Mr. Henshaw turns up at an unreasonable hour, let him wait and
+get in when he can. Don't you think so, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "I think, considering the hour, Mr. Dipper will be quite
+justified in locking up," he answered.
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen; I will. Goodnight," and the landlord departed.
+
+Kelson turned to a side table and poured out a drink.
+
+"Decent fellow, Dipper, and uniformly obliging," he said. "I certainly
+don't see why he should be inconvenienced and kept out of his bed by that
+swanker, who has probably gone off with some pal and hasn't had the
+decency to leave word to that effect. Bad style of man altogether. Hullo!
+What's this?"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Gifford crossed to Kelson, who was looking at his shirt-cuff.
+
+"What's this?"
+
+A dark red streak was on the white linen.
+
+"Hanged if it doesn't look like blood," Kelson said, holding it to
+the light.
+
+Gifford caught his arm and scrutinized the stain.
+
+"It is blood," he said positively.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE MISSING GUEST
+
+
+Next morning Captain Kelson took his guest for a long drive round the
+neighbourhood. Before starting he asked the landlord at what time Henshaw
+had returned.
+
+"He didn't come in at all, captain," Dipper answered in an aggrieved
+tone. "His fire was kept up all night for nothing."
+
+"I suppose he has been here this morning," Kelson observed casually.
+
+"No," was the prompt reply. "Nothing has been seen or heard of him here
+since he left last night for the ball."
+
+Kelson whistled. "That looks rather queer, doesn't it, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "Very, I should say. What do you make of it?" he asked
+the landlord.
+
+That worthy spread out his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "It's
+beyond me, gentlemen. We can none of us make it out. I've never known
+anything quite like it happen all the years I've been in the business."
+
+"Oh, you'll have an explanation in the course of the morning all right,"
+said Kelson with a smile at the host's worry. "Don't take it too
+seriously; it isn't worth it. You've got Mr. Henshaw's luggage, which
+indemnifies you, and he is manifestly a person quite capable of taking
+care of himself."
+
+Mr. Dipper gave a doubtful jerk of the head. "It is very mysterious all
+the same."
+
+Kelson laughed as he went off with his friend.
+
+"I'm afraid I can't get up much interest in the doings of the
+objectionable Henshaw," he remarked lightly as they started off. "Such
+men as he know what they are about, and are not too punctilious with
+regard to other people's inconvenience."
+
+"No," Gifford responded quietly. "All the same, his non-appearance is a
+little mysterious."
+
+Kelson blew away the suggestion of mystery in a short,
+contemptuous laugh.
+
+"Oh, he is probably up to some devilry with some fool of a girl," he
+said in an offhand tone. "I know the type of man. They have a keen scent
+for impressionable women, of whom a fellow of that sort has always
+half-a-dozen in tow. No doubt that is what he came down here for--a
+tender adventure. That's the only kind of hunting he is keen on, take my
+word for it."
+
+"I quite agree with you there," Gifford answered with conviction, and the
+subject dropped.
+
+When they returned for luncheon they found that nothing had been heard of
+the _Golden Lion's_ missing guest.
+
+"It is rather an extraordinary move of our friend's," Kelson observed
+with a laugh. "He surely can't be living all this time in his evening
+clothes. Not but what a man like that would not let a trifle stand in his
+way if he had some scampish sport in view. No doubt he is up to a dodge
+or two by way of obviating these little difficulties."
+
+In the afternoon the two friends went up to Wynford Place to call after
+the dance. Kelson had naturally been much more inclined to drive over to
+the Tredworths, about seven miles away, in order to settle his betrothal,
+but Gifford suggested that the duty call should be paid first, and so it
+was arranged. To Kelson's delight he heard that Muriel Tredworth and her
+brother were coming over next day to stay with the Morristons for another
+dance in the neighbourhood and a near meet of the hounds; so he, warming
+to the Morristons, chatted away in all a lover's high spirits.
+
+"By the way," he said presently, as they sat over tea, "rather an
+extraordinary thing has happened at the _Golden Lion_."
+
+"What's that?" asked his host.
+
+"Did you notice a man named Henshaw here last night? A big, dark fellow,
+probably a stranger to you, but by way of being a former follower of the
+Cumberbatch."
+
+"An old fellow?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Oh, no. About six-and-thirty, I should say; eh, Hugh?"
+
+"Under forty, certainly," Gifford answered.
+
+"Tall and very dark, almost to swarthiness; of course I remember the
+man."
+
+Morriston exclaimed with sudden recollection. "I introduced him to
+a partner."
+
+"I noticed the fellow," observed Lord Painswick, who also was calling.
+"Theatrical sort of chap. What has he done?"
+
+Kelson laughed. "Simply disappeared, that's all."
+
+"Disappeared!" There was a chorus of interest.
+
+"How do you mean?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Left the hotel at nine last night and has never turned up since," Kelson
+said with an air of telling an amusing story. "Poor Host Dipper is taking
+it quite tragically, notwithstanding the satisfactory point in the case
+that the egregious Henshaw's elaborate kit still remains in his
+unoccupied bedroom."
+
+"Do you mean to say he never came back all night?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"Never," Kelson assured her. "Old Dipper came to us, half asleep, at four
+o'clock to ask whether he was justified in locking up the establishment."
+
+"And nothing has been seen or heard of the man since," Gifford put in.
+
+"That is queer," Morriston said, as though scarcely knowing whether to
+take it seriously or otherwise. "Now I come to think of it I don't
+recollect seeing anything of the man after quite the first part of the
+evening. Did you, Painswick?"
+
+"No, can't say I did," Painswick answered.
+
+"And," observed Kelson, "he was not a man to be easily overlooked when
+he was on show. I missed him, not altogether disagreeably, after the
+early dances."
+
+"What is the idea?" Edith Morriston inquired. "Is there any theory to
+account for his disappearance?"
+
+"No," Kelson answered, "unless a discreditable one. Gone off at a
+tangent."
+
+"And still in his evening things?" Painswick said with a laugh. "Rather
+uncomfortable this weather."
+
+"That reminds me," Morriston said with sudden animation, "one of the
+footmen brought me a fur coat and a soft hat this morning and asked me if
+they were mine. They had been unclaimed after the dance and he had
+ascertained that they belonged to none of the men who were staying here.
+Nor were they mine."
+
+"That is most curious," Kelson said with a mystified air. "Henshaw was
+wearing a fur coat and soft hat when we saw him in the hall of the _Lion_
+just before starting. Don't you remember, Hugh?"
+
+"Yes; certainly he was," Gifford answered.
+
+"Then they must be his," Morriston concluded.
+
+"And where is he--without them?" Painswick added with a laugh.
+"Dead of cold?"
+
+"It is altogether quite mysterious," Morriston observed with a puzzled
+air. "He can't be here still."
+
+"Hardly," his sister replied. "You know him?" she asked Kelson.
+
+"Quite casually. So far as nearly coming to a rough and tumble with the
+fellow for his cheek in scoffing our fly at the station constitutes an
+acquaintance. Gifford acted as peacemaker, and we put up with the
+fellow's company to the town. But neither of us imbibed a particularly
+high opinion of the sportsman, did we, Hugh?"
+
+"No," Gifford assented; "his was not a taking character, to men at any
+rate; and we rather wondered how he came to be going to the
+Cumberbatch Ball."
+
+"No doubt he got his ticket in the ordinary way," Morriston said.
+
+"It only shows, my dear Dick," his sister observed, "you may quite easily
+run risks in giving a semi-public dance in your own house."
+
+Morriston laughed. "Oh, come, Edith," he protested, "we need not make too
+much of it. We don't know for certain that the man was a queer
+character."
+
+"One finds objectionable swaggerers everywhere," Painswick put in.
+
+"Anyhow," said Kelson, "if this Henshaw was a bad lot he had the decency
+to efface himself promptly enough. The puzzle is, what on earth has
+become of him?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Gifford," Morriston said as the two friends were
+leaving, "whether you would care for a ramble over the old place. A man
+named Piercy has written to me for permission to go over the house; he
+is, it appears, writing a book on the antiquities of the county. I have
+asked him to luncheon to-morrow, and we shall be delighted if you and
+Kelson will join us as a preliminary to a personally conducted tour of
+the house. Charlie Tredworth and his sister are coming over for a week's
+stay, so we shall be quite a respectable party."
+
+Naturally Kelson accepted the invitation with alacrity, and Gifford could
+do no less than fall in with the arrangement.
+
+"Hope you won't mind going over to Wynford," Kelson said as they drove
+back. "If it is at all painful to you from old associations, I'll make an
+excuse for you."
+
+Gifford hesitated a moment. "Oh, no," he answered. "I'll come. There is
+no use in being sentimental about the place going out of our family, and
+these Morristons are quite the right sort of people to have it. A
+splendidly thoroughbred type of girl, Miss Morriston."
+
+Kelson laughed. "Oh, yes; a magnificent creature; cut out for a duchess.
+Only, you know, my dear Hugh, if I married a woman like that I should
+always be a little afraid of her. A magnificent chatelaine and all that,
+but too cold for my taste."
+
+"You think there is no deep feeling under the ice of her manner?"
+
+"I don't know," Kelson replied, as though the idea was quite novel to
+him. "Never got so far as to think of that. I like a girl with whom you
+can get on without going through the process of thawing her first. And
+with Edith Morriston I should say it would be a slow process. Anyhow, she
+is just the girl for Painswick, who is evidently after her."
+
+"I should say that with him the ice is a little below the surface,"
+Gifford ventured.
+
+Kelson laughed. "You've hit it, Hugh. He's easy enough, but scratch him
+and you come upon a very straight-laced aristocrat. He and the statuesque
+Edith Morriston are made for one another."
+
+As they entered the _Golden Lion_ the landlord met them.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dipper, any news of your missing guest?" Kelson inquired with
+characteristic cheeriness, ignoring the troubled expression on that
+worthy's face.
+
+"No, captain; and we can't imagine what has happened to Mr. Henshaw.
+There are three telegrams come for him, and I have just got one,
+reply-paid, to ask whether he is staying here."
+
+"And you replied?"
+
+"Went to Hunt Ball 9 last night. Not been here since," Dipper quoted. "It
+is rather awkward and unpleasant for me, sir," he added uncomfortably.
+
+"Oh, you've no responsibility in the matter," Kelson assured him. "Don't
+you worry about it, Mr. Dipper. If the man goes out and does not choose
+to come back, that, beyond the payment of your charges, can be no affair
+of yours. Isn't that so, Hugh?"
+
+"Certainly," Gifford assented.
+
+Still their host looked anything but satisfied.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's quite right; all the same, we are beginning not to like
+the look of it. It is very mysterious."
+
+"It is, Mr. Dipper, to say the least of it," Kelson replied. "Still from
+such opinion as we were able to form of Mr. Henshaw I don't think it
+worth while making much fuss about it. He'll turn up all right and
+probably call you a fool for your pains."
+
+"I would not worry about it if I were you," Gifford said quietly.
+
+As they turned to go upstairs a telegraph boy came in and handed his
+message to the landlord, who read it and handed it to Kelson.
+
+"Please wire me without fail directly Mr. Henshaw returns. Gervase
+Henshaw, 8, Stone Court, Temple, London," Kelson read.
+
+"That's his brother," Gifford observed.
+
+"All right," said Kelson. "Let him worry if he likes. All you have to do,
+Mr. Dipper, is what he asks you there."
+
+He went upstairs with Gifford, leaving the landlord reperusing the
+telegram, his plump face dark with misgiving.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE LOCKED ROOM
+
+
+That night the missing man did not return, nor was anything heard of him.
+The morning brought no news, and even Kelson began to think there might
+be something serious in it.
+
+"If it was anybody but that man," he said casually over a hearty
+breakfast, "I should say it would be worth while taking steps to find out
+what had become of him. But that fellow can take care of himself; and
+when you come to think of it, his coming down here, an outsider, to the
+ball, was in itself rather fishy."
+
+Gifford agreed, and they fell to discussing the day's plans. Kelson was
+going to drive over to have the momentous interview with Miss Tredworth's
+father. He anticipated no difficulty there; still, as he said, "The thing
+has got to be done, and the sooner it is over the better."
+
+"Why not go to-morrow?" Gifford suggested. "There will be rather a
+rush to-day."
+
+Kelson, a man of action, scoffed at the idea. "Oh, no; Muriel and Charlie
+are coming over to Wynford to luncheon. I shall simply get the thing
+settled and drive back with them."
+
+So it was arranged. Gifford spent the morning in a stroll about the
+familiar neighbourhood, and when luncheon time came they all met at
+Wynford Place. Miss Morriston was not present. Her brother apologized for
+her absence, saying she had been obliged to keep an engagement to lunch
+with a friend, but that she had promised to return quite early in the
+afternoon. Mr. Piercy, the antiquarian, proved to be by no means as dry
+as his pursuit suggested. He was a lively little man with a fund of
+interesting stories furnished by the lighter side of his work, and
+altogether the luncheon was quite amusing.
+
+When it was over Morriston suggested that, not to waste the daylight,
+they should begin their tour of the house; he called upon Gifford to
+share the duties of guidance, and the party moved off.
+
+"Hope you haven't been bored all the morning, Hugh," Kelson said to his
+friend as they found themselves side by side. "Any news at the _Lion_?
+Has Henshaw turned up yet?"
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No. Host Dipper has had another telegram of
+inquiry from the brother, but had nothing to tell him in return."
+
+Kelson's face became grave. "It really does begin to look serious,"
+he remarked.
+
+"Yes; Dipper has been interviewing the police on the subject."
+
+"Has he? Well, I only hope Henshaw has not been playing the fool, or
+worse, and caused all this fuss for nothing."
+
+The party moved on to the great hall where the dancing had taken
+place, and so to the passage connecting the main building with the
+ancient tower.
+
+"Now this is the part which will no doubt interest you most, Mr. Piercy,"
+Morriston said; "this fourteenth century tower, which is to-day in a
+really wonderful state of preservation."
+
+"Ah, yes," the archaeologist murmured; "they could build in those days."
+
+They examined the two lower rooms on the ground and first floors,
+remarked on the thickness of the walls, shown by the depth of the window
+embrasures, which in older days had been put to sterner purposes; they
+admired the solid strength of the ties and hammer-beams in the roofs,
+and scrutinized the few articles of ancient furniture and tapestry the
+rooms contained, and the massive oaken iron-bound door which admitted to
+the garden.
+
+"Now we will go up to the top room," Morriston proposed. "It is used only
+for lumber, but there is quite a good view from it."
+
+He preceded the rest of the party up the winding stairs to the
+topmost door.
+
+"Hullo!" he exclaimed, pushing at it, "the door is locked. And the key
+appears to have been taken away," he added, bending down and feeling
+about in the imperfect light.
+
+The whole party was consequently held up on the narrow stairs. "I'll
+go and ask what has become of the key," Morriston said, making his way
+past them.
+
+In a minute he returned, presently followed by the butler.
+
+"How is it that this top door is locked, Stent?" he asked. "And where
+is the key?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. Alfred mentioned this morning that the door was
+locked and the key taken away; we thought you must have locked it, sir."
+
+"I? No, I've not been up here since the morning of the ball, when I had
+those old things brought up from the lower room to be out of the way."
+
+"Did you lock the door then, sir?"
+
+"No. Why should I? I am certain I did not. Perhaps one of the men did.
+Just go and inquire. And have the key looked for."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+"This is rather provoking," Morriston said, as they waited. "I
+particularly wanted to show you the view, which should be lovely on a
+clear day like this. If we have to wait much longer the light will be
+going. Besides, it is quite a quaint old room with a curious recess
+formed by the bartizan you may have noticed from outside."
+
+Presently the butler returned accompanied by a footman with several keys.
+
+"We can't find the right key, sir," he announced. "No one seems to
+have seen it. Alfred has brought a few like it, thinking one might
+possibly fit."
+
+None of them, however, would go into the lock, not even the
+smallest of them.
+
+"I can't make it out, sir," said the man, kneeling to get more
+effectively to work. But no key would enter. The footman at last took a
+box of matches from his pocket, struck a light and, holding it to the
+key-hole, peered in.
+
+"Why, the key is in the lock, on the other side, sir," he said in
+astonishment.
+
+"Then the door can't be locked," Morriston said, pushing it.
+
+The footman rose and pushed too, but the door showed no sign of yielding;
+it was fastened sure enough.
+
+"This is strange," Morriston said. "Hi! Is any one in there?" he
+shouted; but no response came.
+
+"Are you sure the key is in the door on the inside?" he asked.
+
+"Certain, sir. Will you look for yourself, sir?" the man replied,
+striking another match and holding it so that his master could
+convince himself.
+
+"No doubt about that," Morriston declared, as he rose from his scrutiny.
+"It is the most extraordinary thing I have ever known. Can you account
+for it, Stent?"
+
+The butler shook his head. "No, sir. Unless someone is in there now."
+
+Morriston again shouted, but no answer came.
+
+"I presume there is no way out of the room but this door," Piercy asked.
+
+"None," Morriston answered; "except the window, and that is, I should
+say, quite eighty feet from the ground; eh, Mr. Gifford?"
+
+"A sheer drop of quite that distance," he answered.
+
+"A prohibitive mode of exit," Piercy observed with a smile.
+
+"Yes," Morriston said. "I can't understand it at all. Besides, who would
+be likely to want to play tricks here? We have had no sign of burglars,
+and in any case they would hardly have been able to bring a ladder long
+enough to reach up to that window. Well, we must have the mystery cleared
+up. I think, Stent, you had better send one of the men on a bicycle into
+Branchester to fetch a locksmith and have the door opened somehow. Have
+it explained to him that it may be a tough job. In the meantime we may as
+well go and view the tower from the outside, as we can't get in."
+
+Accordingly the whole party went down into the hall and so out to the
+garden, where they strolled round the house, Piercy meanwhile taking
+notes of its architectural features. As they came to the tower the rays
+of a late winter sun were striking it almost horizontally, lighting it up
+in a picturesque glow. Piercy, with his archaeological knowledge, was
+able to tell the owner and Gifford a good deal about the ancient
+structure of which they had previously been ignorant.
+
+"The sunset would have been worth seeing from that top window,"
+Morriston said, evidently perplexed and annoyed over the mystery of the
+locked door. "I can't make out what has happened."
+
+"The person who locked the door assuredly did not make his exit by the
+window," Kelson remarked with a laugh, as he looked up at the sheer
+surface of the upper wall; "unless he was bent on suicide, in which case
+we should have found what was left of him at the foot of the tower."
+
+As they went on round the house, Miss Morriston was seen coming up the
+drive. Her brother hurried forward to meet her.
+
+"I say, Edith," he exclaimed, "we are in a great fix. Can you explain
+how the door of the top room in the tower comes to be locked with the
+key inside?"
+
+Miss Morriston looked surprised. "What, Dick?"
+
+"We can't get in," Morriston explained. "We found the door locked and the
+key missing, and then when Alfred tried another key, he found the right
+one was in the lock but inside the room."
+
+Miss Morriston thought a moment. "My dear Dick, the door can't be
+locked."
+
+"It is, I tell you," he returned; "most certainly locked. We have tried
+it and found it quite fast."
+
+"Then there must be someone in the room," his sister said.
+
+"That," Morriston replied, "seems the only possible explanation. But I
+shouted several times and got no answer."
+
+"Someone playing you a trick," and the girl laughed.
+
+"But who? who?" he returned.
+
+His sister gave a shrug. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," she replied,
+with a smile.
+
+"I shall," he replied, as two men appeared making for the servants'
+entrance. "Here comes Henry with the locksmith."
+
+Miss Morriston in her stately way looked amused.
+
+"My dear old Dick, you have been making a fuss about it. You will
+probably find the door open when you go up."
+
+"And I'll know who has been playing this stupid trick," Morriston said
+wrathfully.
+
+"A footman making love to a housemaid turned the key in a panic at being
+trapped," Kelson said to his host.
+
+"I dare say," Morriston replied with a laugh of ill-humour. "And he'll
+have to pay for his impudence."
+
+That explanation by its feasibility was generally accepted as the simple
+solution of the mystery.
+
+"Come along!" Morriston called. "We'll all go up, and see whether the
+door is open or not. We shall just be in time to catch the sunset."
+
+He led the way through the hall and the corridor beyond and so up the
+winding stairs.
+
+"What, not open yet?" he exclaimed as the last turn showed the workman
+busy at the lock. "Well, this is extraordinary."
+
+The locksmith was kneeling and working at the door, while the footman
+stood over him holding a candle.
+
+"The key is in the lock, inside, isn't it?" Morriston asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," the man answered. "There is no doubt about that."
+
+"How do you account for it?"
+
+The man looked up from his task and shook his head.
+
+"Can't account for it, sir. Unless so be as there is someone inside."
+
+"Can you open it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I'll have it turned in a minute."
+
+He took from his bag a long pair of hollow pliers which he inserted in
+the lock and then screwed tightly, clutching the end of the key. Then
+fitting a transverse rod to the pliers and using it as a lever he
+carefully forced the key round, and so shot back the lock.
+
+There was a short pause while the man unscrewed his instrument; then he
+stepped back and pushed open the door.
+
+Morriston went in quickly. "There is the key, sure enough," he said,
+looking round at the inside of the door. He took a couple of steps
+farther into the room, only to utter an exclamation of intense surprise
+and horror; then turned quickly with an almost scared face.
+
+"Go back!" he cried hoarsely, holding up his hands with an arresting
+gesture. "Kelson, Mr. Gifford, come here a moment and shut the door.
+Look!" he said in a breathless whisper, pointing to the floor beneath the
+window through which the deep orange light of the declining sun was
+streaming.
+
+An exclamation came from Kelson as he saw the object which Morriston
+indicated, and he turned with a stupefied look to Gifford. "My--!"
+
+Gifford's teeth were set and he fell a step backward as though in
+repulsion. On the floor between the window and an old oak table which had
+practically hidden it from the doorway, lay the body of a man in evening
+clothes, one side of his shirt-front stained a dark colour. Although the
+face lay in the shadow of the high window-sill, there was no mistaking
+the man's identity.
+
+"Henshaw!" Kelson gasped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT HENSHAW
+
+
+It was the missing man, Henshaw, sure enough. The swarthy hue of his face
+had in death turned almost to black, but the features, together with the
+man's big, muscular figure were unmistakable. For some moments the three
+men stood looking at the body in something like bewilderment, scarcely
+realizing that so terrible a tragedy had been enacted in that place, amid
+those surroundings.
+
+"Suicide?" Kelson was the first to break the silence.
+
+"Must have been," Morriston responded "or how could the door have been
+locked from the inside. I will send at once for the police, and we must
+have a doctor, although that is obviously useless." He went to the door,
+then turned. "Will you stay here or--"
+
+Kelson made an irresolute movement as though wavering between the
+implied invitation to quit the room and an inclination not to run
+away from the grim business. He glanced at Gifford, who showed no
+sign of moving.
+
+"Just as you like," he replied in a hushed voice. "Perhaps we had better
+stay here till you come back."
+
+"All right," Morriston assented. "Don't let any one come in, and I
+suppose we ought not to move anything in the room till the police
+have seen it."
+
+He went out, closing the door.
+
+"I can't make this out, Hugh," Kelson said, pulling himself together and
+moving to the opposite side of the room.
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically.
+
+"He," Kelson continued, "certainly did not give one the idea of a man who
+had come down here to make away with himself."
+
+"On the contrary," his friend murmured in the same preoccupied tone.
+
+"What do you think? How can you account for it?" Kelson demanded, as
+appealing to the other's greater knowledge of the world.
+
+It seemed to be with an effort that Gifford released himself from the
+fascination that held his gaze to the tragedy. "It is an absolute
+mystery," he replied, moving to where his friend stood.
+
+"A woman in it?"
+
+For a moment Gifford did not answer. Then he said, "No doubt about it, I
+should imagine."
+
+"It's awful," Kelson said, driven, perhaps for the first time in his
+life, from his habitually casual way of regarding serious things, and
+maybe roused by Gifford's apathy. "We didn't like--the man did not appeal
+to us; but to die like this. It's horrible. And I dare say it happened
+while the dance was in full swing down there. Why, man, Muriel and I were
+in the room below. I proposed to her there. And all the time this was
+just above us."
+
+"It is horrible; one doesn't like to think of it," Gifford said
+reticently.
+
+"I cannot understand it," Kelson went on, with a sharp gesture of
+perplexity. "I can imagine some sort of love affair bringing the poor
+fellow down to this place; but that he should come up here and do this
+thing, even if it went wrong, is more than I can conceive. Taking the man
+as we knew him it is out of all reason."
+
+"Yes," Gifford assented. "But we don't know yet that it is a case
+of suicide."
+
+"What else?" Kelson returned. "How otherwise could the door have been
+locked. Unless--" He glanced sharply at the deep recess, or inner
+chamber, formed by the bartizan, hesitated a moment, and then going
+quickly to it, looked in.
+
+"No, nothing there," he announced with a breath of relief. "I had for
+the moment an idea it might have been a double tragedy," he added with
+a shudder.
+
+"So we are forced back to the suicide theory," Gifford remarked. He had
+gone to the landing outside the door.
+
+"Yes," Kelson replied as he joined him. "But as to the woman in the case,
+who could she possibly have been? I knew most of the girls who were at
+the dance, and the idea of a tragedy with any one of them seems
+inconceivable."
+
+"One would think so," Gifford responded. "And yet--"
+
+"You think it possible?" Kelson demanded incredulously.
+
+"Possible, if far from probable," the other answered with conviction.
+"There are women who can be as secret as the grave, at any rate so far as
+appearances to the outer world are concerned. I wonder whom he danced
+with. Do you remember?"
+
+"No. I seem to recollect him with a girl in a light green dress, but that
+does not take us far."
+
+Footsteps on the stairway announced their host's return.
+
+"The police will be here, directly," he reported, "and, I hope, a doctor.
+I have done my best to keep it from the ladies, and I don't think that,
+so far, any of them has an exact idea of what made me turn them back.
+Just as well the horror should be kept dark as long as possible. It is
+such an awful blow to me that I can scarcely realize it yet."
+
+"Miss Morriston does not know?" Kelson asked.
+
+"No. And I only hope it won't give her a dislike to the house when
+she does. For I am hoping to have her here a good deal with me, even
+if she marries."
+
+A police inspector accompanied by a detective and a constable now
+arrived. Morriston took them into the room of death. Gifford grasped
+Kelson's arm.
+
+"I don't think there is any use in our staying here," he suggested. "Let
+us go down."
+
+The other man nodded, and they began to descend.
+
+"You are not going, Kelson?" Morriston cried, hurrying to the door.
+
+"We thought we could be of no use and might be in the way,"
+Gifford replied.
+
+"Oh, I wish you would stay," Morriston urged, going down a few steps to
+them. "I know it is not pleasant; on the contrary it's a ghastly affair;
+but I should like to have you with me till this police business is over.
+I won't ask you to stay up here, but if you don't mind waiting downstairs
+I should be so grateful. I might want your advice. You'll find the rest
+of the party in the drawing-room."
+
+The two could do no less than promise, and, with a word of thanks,
+Morriston went back to the officials.
+
+As the two men crossed the hall the drawing-room door opened and Miss
+Morriston came out.
+
+"Is my brother coming?" she asked.
+
+"He will be down soon," Gifford answered in as casual a tone as he
+could assume.
+
+The girl seemed struck by the gravity of their faces as she glanced from
+one to the other. "I hope nothing is wrong," she observed, with just a
+shade of apprehension.
+
+There was a momentary pause as each man, hesitating between a direct
+falsehood, the truth, and a plausible excuse, rather waited for the
+other to speak.
+
+Gifford answered. "No, nothing that you need worry about, Miss Morriston.
+Your brother will tell you later on."
+
+But the hesitation seemed to have aroused the girl's suspicions. "Do tell
+me now," she said, with just a tremor of anxiety underlying the
+characteristic coldness of her tone. "Unless," she added, "it is
+something not exactly proper for me to hear."
+
+Kelson quickly availed himself of the loophole she gave him. "You had
+better wait and hear it from Dick," he said, suggesting a move towards
+the drawing-room. "In the meantime there is nothing you need be
+alarmed about."
+
+"It all sounds very mysterious," Miss Morriston returned, her
+apprehension scarcely hidden by a forced smile. "I must go and ask
+Dick--"
+
+As she turned towards the passage leading to the tower Kelson sprang
+forward and intercepted her. "No, no, Miss Morriston," he remonstrated
+with a prohibiting gesture, "don't go up there now. Take my word for it
+you had better not. Dick will be down directly to explain what is wrong."
+
+For a few moments her eyes rested on him searchingly.
+
+"Very well," she said at length. "If you say I ought not to go, I won't.
+But you don't lessen my anxiety to know what has happened."
+
+"There is no particular cause for anxiety on your part," Kelson said
+reassuringly.
+
+She had turned and now led the way to the drawing-room. As they entered
+they were received by expectant looks.
+
+"Well, is the mystery solved?" young Tredworth inquired.
+
+Kelson gave him a silencing look. "You'll hear all about it in good
+time," he replied between lightness and gravity.
+
+Piercy rose to take his leave.
+
+"Oh, you must not go yet," Miss Morriston protested. "They are just
+bringing tea."
+
+"But I fear I may be in the way if there is anything--" he urged.
+
+"Oh, no," his hostess insisted. "I don't know of anything wrong. At least
+neither Captain Kelson nor Mr. Gifford will admit anything. You must have
+tea before your long drive."
+
+The subject of the mystery in the tower was tacitly dropped, perhaps from
+a vague feeling that it was best not alluded to, at any rate by the
+ladies, and the conversation flowed, with more or less effort, on
+ordinary local topics. Tea over, Piercy took his leave.
+
+"You must come again, Mr. Piercy, while you are in this part of the
+county," Miss Morriston said graciously, "when you shall have no
+episodes of lost keys to hinder your researches. My brother shall
+write to you."
+
+Kelson took the departing visitor out into the hall to see him off.
+
+"You'll see it all in the papers to-morrow, I expect," he said in a
+confidential tone, "so there is no harm in telling you there has been
+a most gruesome discovery in that locked room. A man who was here at
+the Hunt Ball, has been found dead; suicide no doubt. The police are
+here now."
+
+"Good heavens! A mercy the ladies did not see it."
+
+"Yes; they'll have to know sooner or later. The later the better."
+
+"Yes, indeed. Any idea of the cause of the sad business?"
+
+"None, as yet. A complete mystery."
+
+"Probably a woman in it."
+
+"Not unlikely. Good-bye."
+
+As Kelson turned from the door, Morriston and another man appeared at the
+farther end of the hall and called to him.
+
+"You know Dr. Page," he said as Kelson joined them.
+
+"A terrible business this, doctor," Kelson observed as they shook hands.
+
+The medico drew in a breath. "And at first sight in the highest degree
+mysterious," he said gravely.
+
+"Dr. Page," said Morriston, "has made a cursory examination of the
+body. The autopsy will take place elsewhere. The police are making
+notes of everything important, and after dark will remove the body
+quietly by the tower door. So I hope the ladies will know nothing of
+the tragedy just yet."
+
+As they were speaking a footman had opened the hall-door and now
+approached with a card on a salver. "Can you see this gentleman,
+sir?" he said.
+
+Morriston took the card, and as he glanced at it an expression of pain
+crossed his face. He handed it silently to Kelson, who gave it back with
+a grave nod. It was the card of "Mr. Gervase Henshaw, II Stone Court,
+Temple, E.G."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE INCREDULITY OF GERVASE HENSHAW
+
+
+"Show Mr. Henshaw into the library," Morriston said to the footman. "This
+is horribly tragic," he added in a low tone to Kelson, "but it has to be
+gone through, and perhaps the sooner the better. His brother?"
+
+"Yes; he mentioned him on our way from the station the other evening. At
+any rate he will be able to see the situation for himself."
+
+"You will come with me?" Morriston suggested. "You might fetch your
+friend, Gifford."
+
+Kelson nodded, opened the drawing-room door and called Gifford out, while
+Morriston waited in the hall.
+
+"The brother has turned up," he said as the two men joined him. "No doubt
+to make inquiries. What are we to say to him?"
+
+"There is nothing to be said but the bare, inevitable truth," Gifford
+answered. "You can't now break it to him by degrees."
+
+Morriston led the way to the library. By the fire stood a keen-featured,
+sharp-eyed man of middle height and lithe figure, whose manner and first
+movements as the door opened showed alertness and energy of character.
+There was a certain likeness to his brother in the features and dark
+complexion as well as in a suggestion of unpleasant aggressiveness in the
+expression of his face, but where the dead man's personality had
+suggested determination overlaid with an easy-going, indulgent spirit of
+hedonism this man seemed to bristle with a restless mental activity, to
+be all brain; one whose pleasures lay manifestly on the intellectual
+side. One thing Gifford quickly noted, as he looked at the man with a
+painful curiosity, was that the face before him lacked much of the
+suggestion of evil which in the brother he had found so repellent. This
+man could surely be hard enough on occasion, the strong jaw and a
+certain hardness in the eyes told that, but except perhaps for an
+uncomfortable excess of sharpness, there was none of his brother's rather
+brutally scoffing cast of expression.
+
+Henshaw seemed to regard the two men following Morriston into the room
+with a certain apprehensive surprise.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my troubling you like this," he said to
+Morriston, speaking in a quick, decided tone, "but I have been rather
+anxious as to what has become of my brother, of whom I can get no news.
+He came down to the Cumberbatch Hunt Ball, which I understand was held in
+this house, and from that evening seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
+He had an important business engagement for the next day, Wednesday,
+which he failed to keep, and this may mean a considerable loss to him.
+Can you throw any light on his movements down here?"
+
+Morriston, dreading to break the news abruptly, had not interrupted his
+questions.
+
+"I am sorry to say I can," he now answered in a subdued tone.
+
+"Sorry?" Henshaw caught up the word quickly. "What do you mean? Has he
+met with an accident?"
+
+"Worse than that," Morriston answered sympathetically.
+
+Henshaw with a start fell back a step.
+
+"Worse," he repeated. "You don't mean to say--"
+
+"He is dead."
+
+"Dead!" Surprise and shock raised the word almost to a shout. "You--"
+
+"We have," Morriston said quietly, "only discovered the terrible truth
+within the last hour or so."
+
+"But dead?" Henshaw protested incredulously. "How--how can he be dead?
+How did he die? An accident?"
+
+"I am afraid it looks as though by his own hand," Morriston answered in a
+hushed voice.
+
+The expression of incredulity on Henshaw's face manifestly deepened. "By
+his own hand?" he echoed. "Suicide? Clement commit suicide? Impossible!
+Inconceivable!"
+
+"One would think so indeed," Morriston replied with sympathy. "May I tell
+you the facts, so far as we know them?"
+
+"If you please," The words were rapped out almost peremptorily.
+
+Morriston pointed to a chair, but his visitor, in his preoccupation,
+seemed to take no notice of the gesture, continuing to stand restlessly,
+in an attitude of strained attention.
+
+The other three men had seated themselves. Morriston without further
+preface related the story of the locked door in the tower and of the
+subsequent discovery when it had been opened. Henshaw heard him to the
+end in what seemed a mood of hardly restrained, somewhat resentful
+impatience.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he said when the story was finished.
+
+"Nor do any of us," Morriston returned promptly. "The whole affair is
+as mysterious as it is lamentable. Still it appears to be clearly a
+case of suicide."
+
+"Suicide!" Henshaw echoed with a certain scornful incredulity. "Why
+suicide? In connexion with my brother the idea seems utterly
+preposterous."
+
+"The door locked on the inside," Morriston suggested.
+
+"That, I grant you, is at first sight mysterious enough," Henshaw
+returned, his keen eyes fixed on Morriston. "But even that does not
+reconcile me to the monstrous improbability of my brother, Clement,
+taking his own life. I knew him too well to admit that."
+
+"Unfortunately," Morriston replied, sympathetically restraining any
+approach to an argumentative tone, "your brother was practically a
+stranger to me, and to us all. My friends here, Captain Kelson and Mr.
+Gifford, met him casually at the railway station and drove with him to
+the _Golden Lion_ in the town, where they all put up."
+
+Henshaw's sharp scrutiny was immediately transferred from Morriston to
+his companions.
+
+"Can you, gentlemen, throw any light on the matter?" he asked sharply.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say," Kelson answered readily. "I may as well
+tell you how our very slight acquaintance with him came about."
+
+"If you please," Henshaw responded, in a tone more of command than
+request.
+
+Kelson, naturally ignoring his questioner's slightly offensive manner,
+thereupon related the circumstances of the encounter at the station-yard
+and of the subsequent drive to the town, merely softening the detail of
+their preliminary altercation. Henshaw listened alertly intent, it
+seemed, to seize upon any point which did not satisfy him.
+
+"That was all you saw of my unfortunate brother?" he demanded at the end.
+
+"We saw him for a few moments in the hall of the hotel just as we were
+starting," Kelson answered.
+
+"You drove here together? No?"
+
+"No; your brother took an hotel carriage, and I drove in my own trap."
+
+"With Mr. ----?" he indicated Gifford, who up to this point had
+not spoken.
+
+"No," Gifford answered. "I came on later. A suit-case with my evening
+things had gone astray--been carried on in the train, and I had to wait
+till it was returned."
+
+Henshaw stared at him for a moment sharply as though the statement had
+about it something vaguely suspicious, seemed about to put another
+question, checked himself, and turned about with a gesture of perplexity.
+
+"I don't understand it at all," he muttered. Then suddenly facing round
+again he said sharply to Gifford, "Have you anything to add, sir, to what
+your friend has told me?"
+
+"I can say nothing more," Gifford answered.
+
+Henshaw turned away again, and seemed as though but half satisfied.
+
+"The facts," he said in a lawyer-like tone, "don't appear to lead us far.
+But when ascertained facts stop short they may be supplemented. Apart
+from what is actually known--I ask this as the dead man's only
+brother--have either of you gentlemen formed any idea as to how he came
+by his death?"
+
+He was looking at Morriston, his cross-examining manner now softened by
+the human touch.
+
+"It has not occurred to me to look beyond what seems the obvious
+explanation of suicide," Morriston answered frankly.
+
+Henshaw turned to Kelson. "And you, sir; have you any idea beyond the
+known facts?"
+
+"None," was the answer, "except that he took his own life. The door
+locked on--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him sharply. "Now you are getting back to the facts,
+Captain Kelson. I tell you the idea of my brother Clement taking his own
+life is to me absolutely inconceivable. Have you any idea, however
+far-fetched, as to what really may have happened?"
+
+Kelson shook his head. "None. Except I must say he looked to me the last
+man who would do such an act."
+
+"I should think so," Henshaw returned decidedly. Then he addressed
+himself to Gifford. "I must ask you, sir, the same question."
+
+"And I can give you no more satisfactory answer," Gifford said.
+
+"As a man with knowledge of the world as I take you to be?" Henshaw
+urged keenly.
+
+"No."
+
+"At least you agree with your friend here, that my poor brother did not
+strike one as being a man liable to make away with himself?"
+
+"Certainly. But one can never tell. I knew nothing of him or his
+affairs."
+
+"But I did," Henshaw retorted vehemently. "And I tell you, gentlemen, the
+thing is utterly impossible. But we shall see. The body--is it here?"
+
+"The police have charge of it in the room where he was found. It is to be
+removed at nightfall. You will wish to see it?" Morriston answered.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Morriston led the way to the tower, explaining as he went the
+arrangements on the night of the ball. Henshaw spoke little, his mood
+seemed dissatisfied and resentful, but his sharp eyes seemed to take
+everything in. Once he asked, "Did my brother dance much?"
+
+"He was introduced to a partner," Morriston replied. "But after that no
+one seems to have noticed him in the ball-room."
+
+"You mean he disappeared quite early in the evening?"
+
+"Yes; so far as we have been able to ascertain," Morriston answered.
+"Naturally, before this awful discovery we had been much exercised by
+his mysterious disappearance and failure to return to the hotel."
+
+"All the same," Henshaw returned sourly, "one can hardly accept the
+inference that he came down here for the express purpose of making away
+with himself in your house."
+
+"No, I cannot understand it," Morriston replied, as he turned and began
+to ascend the winding stairway.
+
+On the threshold of the topmost floor he paused.
+
+"This is the door we found locked on the inside," he observed quietly.
+
+Henshaw gave a keen look round, and nodded. Morriston pushed open the
+door and they entered.
+
+The body of Clement Henshaw still lay on the floor in charge of the
+detective and the inspector, the third man having been despatched to
+the town to make arrangements for its removal. With a nod to the
+officials, Henshaw advanced to the body and bent over it. "Poor
+Clement!" he murmured.
+
+After a few moments' scrutiny, Henshaw turned to the officers. "I am the
+brother of the deceased," he said, addressing more particularly the
+detective. "What do you make of this?"
+
+The question was put in the same sharp, business-like tone which had
+characterized his utterances in the library.
+
+"Judging by the door being locked on the inside," the detective answered
+sympathetically, "it can only be a case of suicide."
+
+Henshaw frowned. "It will take a good deal to persuade me of that," he
+retorted. "Mr. ----"
+
+"Detective-Sergeant Finch."
+
+"Mr. Finch. Did the doctor say suicide?"
+
+"I did not hear him express a definite opinion. Did you, inspector?"
+
+"No, Mr. Finch. I rather presumed the doctor took it for granted."
+
+"Took it for granted!" Henshaw echoed contemptuously. "I'm not going to
+take it for granted, I can tell you. Did the doctor examine the body?"
+
+"He made a cursory examination. He is arranging to meet the police
+surgeon for an autopsy to-morrow morning."
+
+On the table lay a narrow-bladed chisel, the lower portion of the bright
+steel discoloured with the dark stain of blood.
+
+The inspector pointed to it.
+
+"That is the instrument with which the wound must have been made," he
+remarked in a subdued tone. "It was found lying beside the body."
+
+Henshaw took it up and ran his eyes over it. "How could he have got
+this?" he demanded, looking round with what seemed a distrustful glance.
+
+"I can only suggest," Morriston answered, "that one of my men must have
+left it when some work was done here a few days ago."
+
+"That is so apparently, Mr. Morriston," the detective corroborated. "It
+has been identified by Haynes, the estate carpenter."
+
+Henshaw put down the chisel and for some moments kept silence, tightening
+his thin lips as though in strenuous thought. Then suddenly he demanded,
+"Beyond the fact that the door was found locked from within, what reason
+have you for your conclusion?"
+
+Mr. Finch shrugged. "We don't see how it could be otherwise, sir," he
+replied with quiet conviction. "Clearly the deceased gentleman must have
+been alone in the room when he died."
+
+"Might he not have locked the door after the wound was given?" Henshaw
+suggested in a tone of cross-examination.
+
+"Dr. Page was of opinion that death, or at any rate unconsciousness, must
+have been almost instantaneous," Finch rejoined respectfully.
+
+"Even supposing the autopsy bears out that view I shall not be
+satisfied," Henshaw declared.
+
+The inspector took up the argument.
+
+"You see, sir, taking into consideration the position of the room it
+would be impossible for any second party who may have been here with the
+deceased to leave it undiscovered except by the door. To drop from this
+window, which is the only one large enough to admit of an adult body
+passing through, would mean pretty certain death. Anyhow the party would
+have been so injured that getting clear away would be out of the
+question. Will you see for yourself, sir?"
+
+He threw back the window and invited Henshaw to look down. The argument
+seemed conclusive.
+
+"Was the window found open or shut?"
+
+"It was found unlatched, sir," Finch answered. "But the servants think
+that it was opened that morning and owing to the extra work in the house
+that day its fastening in the evening was overlooked."
+
+"Even if a second person had let himself down from the window," the
+inspector argued, "the rope would have been here."
+
+Henshaw kept silence, seemingly indifferent to the officials' arguments.
+"I can only tell you I am far from satisfied with the suicide theory," he
+said at length. "My brother was not that sort of man. He had nerves of
+iron; he was in love with life and all it meant to him, and he made it a
+rule never to let anything worry him. Let the other fellow worry, was his
+motto. Well, we shall see."
+
+He turned towards the door, and as he did so he caught sight of a
+cardboard box in which was a collection of various articles, jewellery, a
+watch and chain, money, a pocket-handkerchief, a letter, and a dance
+programme.
+
+"The contents of deceased's pockets," the inspector observed, answering
+Henshaw's glance of curiosity. "We have collected and made a list of
+them, and they will in due course be handed to you, or to his heir, on
+the coroner's order."
+
+"Is that a letter? May I see it?"
+
+As the official hesitated, Henshaw had snatched the paper, a folded note,
+and rapidly ran his eye through its contents. Then he gave a curious
+laugh, as he turned over the paper as though seeking an address, and laid
+it back in the box.
+
+"A note from my brother to an anonymous lady," he observed quietly.
+"Perhaps if we could find out whom it was meant for she would throw some
+light on the mystery."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+KELSON'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+"What do you think of Mr. Gervase Henshaw?" Kelson said, as, late in the
+afternoon, he and Gifford walked towards the town together. Henshaw had
+left Wynford Place half an hour previously, having kept to the end his
+attitude of resentful incredulity.
+
+"A nailer," Gifford answered shortly.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed. "He gives one the idea of a man who will make
+trouble if he can. As offensive as his brother was, I should say,
+although in a different line. I did not detect one sign of any
+consideration for the Morristons in their horribly unpleasant position."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "I was very sorry for Morriston. He behaved
+extremely well, considering the irritatingly antagonistic line the man
+chose to take up."
+
+"Brainy man, Henshaw; unpleasantly sharp, eh?"
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "Added to his legal training he is by way of
+being an expert in criminology."
+
+"I do hope," Kelson remarked thoughtfully, "he is not going to make
+himself unpleasant down here. The scandal will be quite enough without
+that. Horribly rough luck on the Morristons as new-comers here to have an
+affair like this happening in their house. I can't think what brought the
+man down here."
+
+"No; he came with a purpose, that's certain."
+
+"A woman in it, no doubt. One can quite sympathize with the brother's
+incredulity as to the suicide theory, though hardly with his manner of
+showing it. The dead man was not that sort. The idea is simply
+staggering."
+
+Gifford made no response, and for a while they walked on in silence.
+Presently he asked, "How did you get on to-day--I mean with Colonel
+Tredworth?"
+
+"Oh, everything went off beautifully," Kelson answered, his tone
+brightening with the change of subject. "The old boy gave me his consent
+and his blessing. I've scarcely been able as yet to appreciate my luck,
+with this affair at Wynford Place intervening."
+
+"No," Gifford responded mechanically. "It is calculated to drive
+everything else out of one's head."
+
+"It is suggested," said Kelson, "that we should be married quite soon.
+The Tredworths are going abroad next month and don't propose to hurry
+back. So it means that if the wedding does not take place before they
+leave it must be postponed till probably the autumn."
+
+"I should think the latter would be the best plan."
+
+Kelson turned quickly to his companion. "To postpone it?" he exclaimed in
+a rather hurt tone. "Why on earth should we? We have nothing to wait for,
+I mean money or anything of that sort."
+
+"No; but settlements take a long time to draw up."
+
+"Not if the lawyers are told to hurry up with them."
+
+"Then you will have to find a house, and get furniture. And there is the
+trousseau," Gifford urged.
+
+"Oh," Kelson returned with a show of impatience, "all these details can
+be got over in two or three weeks if we set ourselves to do it. I don't
+believe in waiting once the thing is settled."
+
+"I don't believe in rushing matters," Gifford rejoined. "Least of all
+matrimony."
+
+Kelson stopped dead. "Why, Hugh," he said in an expostulatory tone, "what
+is the matter with you? You are most confoundedly unsympathetic. Any one
+would think you did not want me to marry the girl."
+
+"I certainly don't want you to be in too great a hurry," Gifford
+returned calmly.
+
+"But why? Why?"
+
+"I feel it is a mistake."
+
+Kelson laughed. "You are not going to suggest we don't know our
+own minds."
+
+"Hardly. But why not wait till the family returns? Of course it is no
+business of mine."
+
+"No," Kelson replied with a laugh of annoyance; "and you can't be
+expected to enter into my feelings on the subject. But I think you might
+be a little less grudging of your sympathy."
+
+"You quite mistake me, Harry," Gifford replied warmly. "It is only in
+your own interest that I counsel you not to be in a hurry."
+
+"But why? What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" Kelson demanded, vaguely
+apprehensive.
+
+"It is a mistake to rush things, that is all," was the
+unsatisfactory answer.
+
+"If I saw the slightest chance of danger I would not hesitate to take
+your advice," Kelson said. "But I don't. Nor do you. Since when have you
+become so cautious?"
+
+Gifford forced a laugh. "It is coming on with age."
+
+Kelson clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't encourage it, my dear Hugh. It
+will spoil all the enjoyment in your life, and in other people's too, if
+you force the note. I promise you I won't hurry on the wedding more than
+is absolutely necessary."
+
+"Very well," Gifford responded, and the subject dropped.
+
+They had finished dinner, at which the absorbing subject of the tragedy
+at Wynford Place was the main topic of their conversation, when the
+landlord came in to say that Mr. Gervase Henshaw, who was staying at the
+hotel, would like to see them if they were disengaged.
+
+Kelson looked across at his friend. "Shall we see him?"
+
+Gifford nodded. "We had better hear what he has to say. We don't want him
+worrying Morriston."
+
+"Ask Mr. Henshaw up," Kelson said to the landlord, and in a minute he was
+ushered in.
+
+With a quick, decisive movement Henshaw took the seat to which Kelson
+invited him.
+
+"I trust you won't think me intrusive, gentlemen," he began in his sharp
+mode of speaking, "but you will understand I am very much upset and
+horribly perplexed by the terrible fate which has overtaken my poor
+brother. I am setting myself to search for a clue, if ever so slight, to
+the mystery, the double mystery, I may say, and it occurred to me that
+perhaps a talk with you gentlemen who are, so far, the last known
+persons who spoke with him, might possibly give me a hint."
+
+"I'm afraid there is very little we can tell you," Gifford replied. "But
+we are at your service."
+
+"Thank you." It seemed the first civil word of acknowledgment they had
+heard him utter. "First of all," he proceeded, falling back to his dry,
+lawyer-like tone, "I have been to see the medical man who was summoned to
+look at the body, Dr. Page. He tells me that, so far as his cursory
+examination went, the position of the wound hardly suggests that it was
+self-inflicted."
+
+"Is he sure of it?" Kelson asked.
+
+"He won't be positive till he has made the autopsy," Henshaw answered.
+"He merely suggests that it was a very awkward and altogether unlikely
+place for a man to wound himself. Anyhow that guarded opinion is enough
+to strengthen my inclination to scout the idea of suicide."
+
+"Then," said Kelson, "we are faced by the difficulty of the locked door."
+
+Henshaw made a gesture of indifference.
+
+"That at first sight presents a problem, I admit," he said, "but not so
+complete as to look absolutely insoluble. I have, as you may be aware,
+made a study of criminology, and in my researches, which have included
+criminality, have come across incidents which to the smartest detective
+brains were at the outset quite as baffling. Clement's tragic end is a
+great blow to me, and I am not going quietly to accept the easy, obvious
+conclusion of suicide. I knew and appreciated my brother better than
+that. I mean to probe this business to the bottom."
+
+"You will be justified," Kelson murmured.
+
+"I think so--by the result," was the quick rejoinder.
+
+Gifford spoke. "What do you think was the real object in your brother
+coming down here?"
+
+Henshaw looked at his questioner keenly before he answered. "It is my
+opinion, my conviction, there was a lady in the case. May I ask what
+prompted you to ask the question?"
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Some idea of the sort was in my own mind," he replied,
+with a reserve which could scarcely be satisfying to Henshaw.
+
+"Perhaps," he said keenly, "you have also an idea who the lady was."
+
+Gifford shook his head. "Not at all," he returned promptly.
+
+"Then why should the idea have suggested itself to you," came the
+cross-examining rejoinder.
+
+"Your brother was not a member of the Hunt, and it seemed to
+us--curious."
+
+Henshaw took him up quickly. "That he should come to the ball? No doubt.
+I will be perfectly frank with you, as I expect you to be with me. It is
+perhaps not quite seemly to discuss my brother's failings at this time,
+but we want to get at the truth about his death. He had, I fear, rather
+irregular methods in his treatment of women. One can hardly blame him,
+poor fellow. His was a fascinating personality, at any rate so far as
+women were concerned. They ran after him, and one can scarcely blame him
+if he acquired a derogatory opinion of them. After all, he held them no
+cheaper than they made themselves in his eyes. That note I looked at
+which came from his pocket was written by him to make an assignation."
+
+"Was it addressed?" Gifford put the question quickly, almost eagerly.
+
+"No," Henshaw answered. "I wish it had been. In that case we should be
+near the end of the mystery."
+
+Kelson was staring at the glib speaker with astounded eyes. "Do you
+suppose a woman killed your brother?" he almost gasped.
+
+"Such things have been known," Henshaw returned with the flicker of an
+enigmatical smile. "But no, I don't suggest that--yet. At present I have
+got no farther than the conviction that Clement did not kill himself. I
+mean to find out for whom that note of his was intended."
+
+"Not an easy task," Gifford remarked, with his eye furtively on Kelson,
+who had become strangely interested.
+
+"It may or may not be easy," Henshaw returned. "But it is to be done. The
+woman who, intentionally or otherwise, drew my brother down here has to
+be found, and I mean to find her."
+
+Kelson was now staring almost stupidly at Gifford.
+
+"Neither of you gentlemen saw my brother dancing?" Henshaw demanded
+sharply.
+
+"I saw nothing of him at all in the ballroom," Gifford answered,
+"as I did not arrive till about midnight. Did you see him, Harry?" he
+asked, as though with the design of rousing Kelson from his rather
+suspicious attitude.
+
+Kelson seemed to pull himself together by an effort.
+
+"No--yes; I caught a glimpse of him, I think, with a girl in green."
+
+"You know who she was?" Henshaw demanded.
+
+"I've not the vaguest idea," Kelson answered mechanically. "I did not see
+her face."
+
+Henshaw rose. Perhaps from Kelson's manner he gathered that the men were
+tired, and had had enough of him. He shook hands, with a word of thanks
+and an apology. "We may know more after the inquest to-morrow afternoon,"
+he remarked, "although I doubt it. You will let me consult you again, if
+necessary? Thanks. Goodnight."
+
+As the door closed on Henshaw, Kelson turned quickly to Gifford with a
+scared face. "Hugh!" he cried hoarsely, in a voice subdued by fear. "The
+blood stain on my cuff that night. How did it come there? Was it--?"
+
+Gifford forced a smile. "My dear Harry, how absurd! What could that have
+had to do with it?"
+
+Kelson gave an uncomfortable laugh. "It is a grim coincidence," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLOAK OF NIGHT
+
+
+At the inquest which was held next day nothing was elicited which could
+offer any solution of the mystery of Clement Henshaw's death. It seemed
+to be pretty generally accepted to be a case of suicide, although that
+view was opposed in evidence, not only by Gervase Henshaw on general
+grounds, but also by the medical witnesses, who had grave doubts whether
+the mortal wound had been self-inflicted.
+
+"Just possible but decidedly improbable, both from the position of the
+wound and the direction of the blow," was Dr. Page's opinion.
+
+It was a downward, oblique stab in the throat which had pierced the
+larynx and penetrated the jugular vein. The deceased would have been
+unable to cry out and would probably have quickly become insensible from
+asphyxiation. Unless he was left-handed the stab could scarcely have been
+self-given.
+
+The police authorities committed themselves to no definite theory at that
+stage, and at their request the inquiry was adjourned for a month.
+
+Morriston, leaving the hall with Kelson and Gifford, asked them to walk
+back with him to Wynford Place.
+
+"Let us throw off this depressing business as well as we can," he said.
+"Of course I have had to break it to my sister and the others; they would
+have seen it to-day in print. Thank goodness the papers don't look beyond
+the suicide idea, so they are not making much fuss about it. If they took
+a more sensational view, as I fear they will now after the medical
+evidence, it would be a terrible nuisance."
+
+"I hope the ladies were not much upset when you told them,"
+Gifford remarked.
+
+"Well, they already had an idea that something was seriously wrong, and
+that took the edge off the announcement. Of course they were horribly
+shocked at the idea of the tragedy so close at hand, though I softened
+the details as well as I could."
+
+"If the suicide idea is to be abandoned," said Kelson, speaking with an
+unusually gloomy, preoccupied air, "the police have an uncommonly
+difficult and delicate task before them."
+
+"Yes, indeed," Morriston responded. "And I should say that abnormally
+keen person, the brother, will keep them up to collar."
+
+"He means to," Kelson replied rather grimly. "We had him for an hour
+last night cross-examining us, naturally to no purpose; we could tell
+him nothing."
+
+"He won't leave a stone unturned," Morriston said. "He proposes to return
+here after the funeral in town."
+
+"And I should say," observed Kelson, "if the mystery is to be solved he
+is the man to solve it. What do you think, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford seemed to rouse himself by an effort from an absorbing train of
+thought. "Oh, yes," he answered. "Except that it is possible to be a
+little too clever and so overlook the obvious."
+
+"If," said Morriston, obsessed by the subject, "the case is not one of
+suicide it must be one of murder. Where is Mr. Gervase Henshaw, or any
+one else, going to look for the criminal?"
+
+"Not among your guests, let's hope," Kelson said with a touch of
+uneasiness.
+
+"For one thing," Morriston replied, "they, or a good part of them, were
+not exactly my guests. I can't tell who may have got a ticket and been
+present. There was a great crowd. We may have easily rubbed shoulders
+with the murderer, if murder it was."
+
+"Yes, so we may," said Kelson alertly, though with something of a
+shudder.
+
+"Not a pleasant idea," continued Morriston. "But I don't see, if a bad
+character did get in and mix with the company, why he should have done a
+fellow guest to death, nor how he contrived to leave his victim and get
+out of the room after he had locked the door."
+
+"If the two men had a row over a girl, or anything else," Kelson said,
+"there is still that difficulty to be surmounted."
+
+Gifford spoke. "From what one could judge of the dead man's personality
+and character it is not a far-fetched supposition that he must have
+had enemies."
+
+"Down here?" Morriston objected incredulously. "Where he was a stranger?
+Unless some ingenious person, bent on vengeance, tracked him here and
+then lured him into the tower. Then how did the determined pursuer
+contrive to leave him and the key inside the locked room?"
+
+At Wynford Place, where they had now arrived, they found several callers.
+The subject of the tragedy was naturally uppermost in everybody's mind,
+and the principal topic of conversation. Morriston and his companions
+were eagerly questioned as to what had come out at the inquest, but,
+except that the medical evidence was rather sceptical of the suicide
+theory, were unable to relieve the curiosity.
+
+"I think, my dear Dick," remarked Lord Painswick, who was there, "we can
+furnish more evidence in this room than you seem to have got hold of at
+the inquest." And he looked round the company with a knowing smile.
+
+"What do you mean, Painswick?" Morriston asked eagerly. "Has anything
+more come to light?"
+
+"Only we have had a lady here, Miss Elyot, who says she danced with the
+poor fellow."
+
+"I only just took a turn with him, for the waltz was nearly over when he
+asked me," said the girl thus alluded to.
+
+"Did you wear a green dress?" Kelson asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+"Only that it must have been you I saw with him."
+
+"And can you throw any light on the mystery?" Morriston asked.
+
+The girl shook her head. "None at all, I'm afraid."
+
+"Did Mr. Henshaw's manner or state of mind strike you as being peculiar?"
+
+"Not in the least," Miss Elyot answered with decision. "During the short
+time we were together our talk was quite commonplace, mostly of the
+changes in the county."
+
+"Did he, Henshaw, know it formerly?" Morriston asked with some surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes," Miss Elyot answered, "he used to stay with some people over
+at Lamberton; you remember the Peltons, Muriel?" she turned to Miss
+Tredworth. "Of course you do."
+
+"Oh, yes," Muriel Tredworth answered. "I remember them quite well,
+although we didn't know much about them."
+
+"Don't you recollect," Miss Elyot continued, "meeting this very Mr.
+Henshaw at a big garden party they gave. I know you played tennis
+with him."
+
+"Did I?" Miss Tredworth replied. "What a memory you have, Gladys. You
+can't expect me to recollect every one of the scores of men I must have
+played tennis with."
+
+As she spoke she caught Gifford's eye; he was watching her keenly, more
+closely perhaps than manners or tact warranted. "And do you find the
+place much changed since your time, Mr. Gifford?" she inquired, as though
+to relieve the awkwardness.
+
+"Not as much as I could have imagined," he answered, through what seemed
+a fit of preoccupation.
+
+"Mr. Gifford has not had much opportunity yet of seeing how far it has
+altered, with this tragic affair to upset everything," Morriston put in.
+
+"No, it has been a most unlucky time for him to revisit Wynford," Miss
+Morriston added in her cold tone. "I hope Mr. Gifford is not going to
+hurry away from the neighbourhood in consequence."
+
+"Not if I can prevent it," Kelson replied, with a laugh.
+
+"I hope," Morriston said hospitably, "that whether his stay be short or
+long Mr. Gifford will consider himself quite at home here. And I need not
+say, my dear Kelson, that invitation includes you."
+
+Both men thanked him. "We have already done a little trespassing in your
+park," Kelson observed with a laugh.
+
+"Please don't call it trespassing again," Miss Morriston commanded. "Let
+me give you another cup of tea, Muriel."
+
+"The old house looks most picturesque by moon-light," observed Lord
+Painswick. "I was quite fascinated by it the other night."
+
+"There is a full moon now," Gifford said. "We will stroll round and
+admire when we leave."
+
+"Don't stroll over the edge of the haha as I very nearly did one night,"
+Morriston said laughingly. "When it lies in the shadow of the house it is
+a regular trap."
+
+"Moonlight has its dangers as well as its beauties," Painswick murmured
+sententiously.
+
+"The friendly cloak of night is apt to trip one up," Gifford added.
+
+As he spoke the words there came a startling little cry from Miss
+Tredworth accompanied by the crash and clatter of falling crockery.
+Gifford's remark had been made with his eyes fixed on his friend's
+_fiancee_, to whom at that moment Miss Morriston was handing the refilled
+cup of tea. A hand of each girl was upon the saucer as the words were
+uttered; by whose fault it was let fall it was impossible to say. But the
+slight cry of dismay had come from Miss Tredworth.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," she exclaimed, colouring with vexation. "How stupid
+and clumsy of me. Your lovely china."
+
+"It was my fault," Edith Morriston protested, her clear-cut face showing
+no trace of annoyance. "I thought you had hold of the cup, and I let it
+go too soon. Ring the bell, will you, Dick."
+
+"Please don't distress yourself, Miss Tredworth," Mr. Morriston entreated
+her as he crossed to the bell. "I'm sure it was not your fault."
+
+"Was that a quotation, Mr. Gifford?" Miss Morriston asked, clearly with
+the object of dismissing the unfortunate episode.
+
+"My remark about the cloak of night?" he replied. "Perhaps. I seem to
+have heard something like it somewhere."
+
+And as he spoke he glanced curiously at Miss Tredworth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AN ALARMING DISCOVERY
+
+
+Next evening the two friends at the _Golden Lion_ were engaged to dine
+with the Morristons. They had been out with the hounds all day, and,
+beyond the natural gossip of the country-side, had heard nothing fresh
+concerning the tragedy. Gervase Henshaw had gone up to town for his
+brother's funeral, and Host Dipper had no fresh development to report. In
+answer to a question from Gifford, he said he expected Mr. Henshaw back
+on the morrow, or at latest the day after.
+
+"It is altogether a most mysterious affair," he observed sagely, being
+free, now that his late guest's perplexing disappearance was accounted
+for, even in that tragic fashion, to regard the business and to moralize
+over it without much personal feeling in the matter. "I fancy Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw means to work the police up to getting to the bottom of it. For
+I don't fancy that he is by any means satisfied that his unfortunate
+brother took his own life. And I must say," he added in a pronouncement
+evidently the fruit of careful deliberation, "I don't know how it strikes
+you, gentlemen, but from what I saw of the deceased it is hard to imagine
+him as making away with himself."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "But before any other conclusion can be fairly
+arrived at the police will have to account for the locked door."
+
+Evidently Mr. Dipper's lucubrations had not, so far, reached a
+satisfactory explanation of that puzzle; he could only wag his head and
+respond generally, "Ah, yes. That will be a hard nut for them to crack,
+I'm thinking."
+
+The dinner at Wynford Place was made as cheerful as, with the gloom of a
+tragedy over the house, could be possible.
+
+"We had the police with a couple of detectives here all this morning,"
+Morriston said, "and a great upset it has been. After having made the
+most minute scrutiny of the room in the tower they had every one of the
+servants in one by one and put them through a most searching examination.
+But, I imagine, without result. No one in the house, and I have
+questioned most of them casually myself, seems to be able to throw the
+smallest light on the affair."
+
+"Have the police arrived at any theory?" Gifford inquired.
+
+"Apparently they have come to no definite conclusion," Morriston
+answered. "They seemed to have an idea, though--to account for the
+problem of the locked door--that thieves might have got into the house
+with the object of making a haul in the bedrooms while every one's
+attention was engaged down below, have secreted themselves in the tower,
+been surprised by Henshaw, and, to save themselves, have taken the only
+effectual means of silencing him, poor fellow."
+
+"Then how, with the door locked on the inside did they make their
+escape?" Miss Morriston asked.
+
+"That can so far be only a matter of conjecture," her brother answered,
+with a shrug. "Of course they might have provided themselves with some
+sort of ladder, but there are no signs of it. And the height of the
+window in that top room is decidedly against the theory."
+
+"We hear at the _Lion_" Kelson remarked, "that the brother, Gervase
+Henshaw, is returning to-morrow or next day."
+
+Morriston did not receive the news with any appearance of satisfaction.
+"I hope he won't come fussing about here," he said, with a touch of
+protest. "Making every allowance for the sudden shock under which he was
+labouring I thought his attitude the other day most objectionable,
+didn't you?"
+
+"I did most certainly," Gifford answered promptly.
+
+"His manners struck me as deplorable," Kelson agreed.
+
+"Yes," their host continued. "It never seemed to occur to the fellow that
+some little sympathy was due also to us. But he seemed rather to suggest
+that the tragedy was our fault. In ordinary circumstances I should have
+dealt pretty shortly with him. But it was not worth while."
+
+"No," Kelson observed, "All the same, you need not allow a continuation
+of his behaviour."
+
+"I don't intend to," Morriston replied with decision. "I hope the man
+won't want to come ferreting in the place; that may well be left to the
+police; but if he does I can't very well refuse him leave. He must be
+free of the house, or at any rate of the tower."
+
+"Or," put in Kelson, "he'll have a grievance against you, and accuse you
+of trying to burk the mystery."
+
+"Is he a very objectionable person?" Miss Morriston asked. "We passed one
+another in the hall as he left the house and I received what seemed a
+rather unmannerly stare."
+
+Her brother laughed. "My dear Edith, the type of man you would simply
+loathe. Abnormally, unpleasantly sharp and suspicious; with a cleverness
+which takes no account of tact or politeness, he questions you as though
+you were in the witness-box and he a criminal barrister trying to trap
+you. I don't know whether he behaves more civilly to ladies, but from our
+experience of the man I should recommend you to keep out of his way."
+
+"I shall," his sister replied.
+
+"I should say no respecter of persons--or anything else," Kelson remarked
+with a laugh.
+
+"Let us hope he won't take it into his head to worry us," Miss Morriston
+said with quiet indifference.
+
+"I am sorry to see," Morriston observed later on when the ladies had
+left them, "that the papers are beginning to take a sensational view of
+the affair."
+
+"Yes," Kelson responded; "we noticed that. It will be a nuisance for
+you."
+
+"The trouble has already begun," his host continued somewhat ruefully.
+"We have had two or three reporters here to-day worrying the servants
+with all sorts of absurd questions. It is, of course, all to be accounted
+for by the medical evidence. That has put them on the scent of what they
+will no doubt call a sensational development. So long as it looked like
+nothing beyond suicide there was not so much likelihood of public
+interest in the case."
+
+"The police--" Gifford began.
+
+"The police," Morriston took up the word, "are fairly nonplussed. It
+seems the farther they get the less obvious does the suicide theory
+become. Well, we shall see."
+
+"In the meantime I'm afraid you and Miss Morriston are in for a heap of
+undeserved annoyance," Kelson observed sympathetically.
+
+"Yes," Morriston agreed gloomily; "I am sorry for Edith; she is plucky,
+and feels it, I expect, far more than she cares to show."
+
+When the men went into the drawing-room Muriel Tredworth made a sign to
+Kelson; he joined her and, sitting down some distance apart from the
+rest, they carried on in low tones what seemed to be a serious
+conversation.
+
+"I want to tell you of something extraordinary which has happened to me,
+Hugh." Gifford just caught the words as the girl led the way out of
+earshot. He had noticed that she had been rather preoccupied during
+dinner, an unusual mood for so lively a girl, and now he could not help
+watching the pair in the distance, she talking with an earnest, troubled
+expression, and he listening to her story in grave wonderment, now and
+again interposing a few words. Once they looked at Gifford, and he was
+certain they were speaking of him.
+
+With the gloom of a tragedy over the house the little party could not be
+very festive; avoid it as they set themselves to do, the brooding subject
+could not be ignored, general conversation flagged, and it soon became
+time for the visitors to say good-night.
+
+As they walked back to the town together Gifford noticed that his
+companion was unusually silent, and he tactfully forbore to break in upon
+his preoccupation. At length Kelson spoke.
+
+"Muriel has just been telling me of an unpleasant and unaccountable
+thing which happened to her this evening. A discovery of a rather
+alarming character. I said I would take your advice about it, Hugh, and
+she agreed."
+
+"Does it concern the affair at Wynford?"
+
+"It may," Kelson answered in a perplexed tone; "and yet I don't well see
+how it can. Anyhow it is uncommonly mysterious. We won't talk about it
+here," he added gravely, "but wait till we get in."
+
+"Miss Morriston looked well to-night," Gifford remarked, falling in with
+his friend's wish to postpone the more engrossing subject.
+
+"Yes," Kelson agreed casually. "She takes this ghastly business quietly
+enough. But that is her way."
+
+"I have been wondering," Gifford said, "how much she cares for
+Painswick. He is manifestly quite smitten, but I doubt her being nearly
+as keen on him."
+
+Kelson laughed. "If you ask me I don't think she cares a bit for him. And
+one can scarcely be surprised. He is not a bad fellow, but rather a prig,
+and Edith Morriston is not exactly the sort of girl to suffer that type
+of man gladly. But her brother is all for the match; from Painswick's
+point of view she is just the wife for him, money and a statuesque style
+of beauty; altogether I shall be surprised if it does not come off."
+
+"They are not engaged, then?"
+
+"I think not. They say he proposes regularly once a week. But she
+holds him off."
+
+Arrived at the _Golden Lion_ they went straight up to Kelson's room,
+where with more curiosity than he quite cared to show, Gifford settled
+himself to hear what the other had to tell him.
+
+"I dare say you noticed how worried Muriel looked all dinner-time,"
+Kelson began. "I thought that what had happened in the house had got on
+her nerves; but it was something worse than that; I mean touching her
+more nearly."
+
+"Tell me," Gifford said quietly.
+
+"You know," Kelson proceeded, "they are going to this dance at Hasborough
+to-morrow. Well, it appears that when her maid was overhauling her
+ball-dress, the same she wore here the other night, she found blood
+stains on it."
+
+"That," Gifford remarked coolly, "may satisfactorily account for the
+marks on your cuff."
+
+Kelson stared in surprise at the other's coolness.
+
+"I dare say it does," he exclaimed with a touch of impatience. "I had
+hardly connected the two. But what do you think of this? How in the name
+of all that's mysterious can it be accounted for?"
+
+"Hardly by the idea that Miss Tredworth had anything to do with the late
+tragedy," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Good heavens, man, I should hope not," Kelson cried vehemently. "That
+is too monstrously absurd."
+
+"What is Miss Tredworth's idea?"
+
+"She has none. She is completely mystified. And inclined to be horribly
+frightened."
+
+"Naturally," Gifford commented in the same even tone.
+
+His manner seemed to irritate Kelson. "I wish, my dear Hugh, I could take
+it half as coolly as you do," he exclaimed resentfully.
+
+"I don't know what you want me to do or say, Harry," Gifford
+expostulated. "The whole affair is so utterly mysterious that I can't
+pretend even to hazard an explanation."
+
+"In the meantime Muriel and I are in the most appalling position. Why,
+man, she may at any moment be arrested on suspicion if this discovery
+leaks out, as it is sure to do."
+
+"You can't try to hush it up; that would be a fatal mistake," Gifford
+said thoughtfully, "and would immediately arouse suspicion."
+
+"Naturally I am not going to be such a fool as to advise that," Kelson
+returned. "The discovery will be the subject of the servants' talk till
+it gets all over the place and into the papers. No, what I have
+determined to do, unless you see any good reason for the contrary, is to
+go first thing in the morning to the police and tell them. What do you
+say?" he added sharply, as Gifford was silent.
+
+"I should not do anything in a hurry," Gifford answered.
+
+"But surely," Kelson remonstrated, "the sooner we take the line of
+putting ourselves in the right the better."
+
+Again Gifford paused before replying.
+
+"Can Miss Tredworth give no explanation, has she no idea as to how the
+stains came on her dress?"
+
+"None whatever," was the emphatic answer.
+
+"You are absolutely sure of that?"
+
+Kelson jumped up from his chair. "Hugh, what are you driving at?" he
+cried, his eyes full of vague suspicion. "I--I don't understand the cool
+way you are taking this. There is something behind it. Tell me. I will
+know; I have a right."
+
+Evidently the man was almost beside himself with the fear of something he
+could not comprehend. Gifford rose and laid a hand sympathetically on
+his shoulder. "I am sorry to seem so brutal, Harry," he said gently, "but
+this discovery does not surprise me."
+
+Kelson recoiled as from a blow, staring at his friend with a
+horror-struck face. "Why, good heavens, what do you mean?" he gasped.
+
+"Only," Gifford answered calmly, "that when you introduced me to
+Miss Tredworth at the dance I noticed the stains on the white
+flowers she wore."
+
+"You did?" Kelson was staring stupidly at Gifford. "And you knew they
+were blood-stains?"
+
+"I could not tell that," was the answer. "But now it is pretty certain
+they were."
+
+For some seconds neither man spoke. Then with an effort Kelson seemed to
+nerve himself to put another question.
+
+"Hugh," he said, his eyes pitiful with fear, "you--you don't think Muriel
+Tredworth had anything to do with Henshaw's death?"
+
+Gifford turned away, and leaned on the mantelpiece.
+
+"I don't know what to think," he said gloomily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+GIFFORD'S COMMISSION
+
+
+Next morning directly after breakfast Kelson started for Wynford Place.
+As the result of deliberating fully upon the anxious problem before them,
+he and Gifford had come to the conclusion that it might be a grave
+mistake to try to keep secret the maid's discovery. It would doubtless by
+this time have become a subject of gossip and speculation in the
+household and consequently would very soon become public. Accordingly it
+was arranged that Kelson should arrive first and have a private interview
+with Muriel Tredworth with a view to ascertaining finally and for certain
+whether she could in any way account for the stain on her dress. Gifford
+was to follow half an hour later, when they would have a conference with
+the Morristons and afterwards, with their approval, go into the town and
+see the chief constable on the subject. If Gifford was doubtful as to
+the expediency of the plan, and it was with a considerable amount of
+hesitation that he brought himself to agree to it, he seemed to have no
+good reason to urge against it. And, after all, it appeared, in the
+circumstances, the only politic course to follow. Secrecy was practically
+now out of the question, and any attempt in that direction would
+inevitably fail and would in all probability produce results unpleasant
+to contemplate.
+
+When Gifford arrived at Wynford Place he found Kelson pacing the drive
+and impatiently expecting him.
+
+"Come along," he exclaimed, "the Morristons are waiting for us."
+
+"Miss Tredworth--?"
+
+"Is utterly unable to account for the state of her dress," Kelson
+declared promptly. "She is positive that if she noticed the man she never
+spoke a word to him, nor danced with him. She says that if she ever met
+him before, as according to that girl the other day was the case, she had
+quite forgotten the circumstance. So the sooner we communicate this
+discovery to the police the better. As it is, they say the servants are
+talking of it; so the present position is quite intolerable."
+
+In the library they found Morriston and his sister with the Tredworths.
+The situation was discussed and there seemed no doubt in the mind of
+any one of the party that the only thing to be done was to inform the
+police at once.
+
+"The whole affair is so mysterious," Morriston said, "that all sorts of
+absurd rumours will be afloat if we don't take a strong, straightforward
+line at once. Don't you agree, Edith?"
+
+"Certainly I do," Miss Morriston answered with decision. "I don't
+suppose," she added with a smile, "that any one would be mad enough to
+suggest, my dear Muriel, that you were in any way implicated in the
+affair; but the world is full of stupid and ill-natured people and one
+can't be too careful to put oneself in the right. Don't you agree,
+Captain Kelson?"
+
+"Most decidedly," Kelson replied, with a troubled face. Charlie Tredworth
+was also quite emphatically of opinion that his sister should make no
+secret of what had been found.
+
+"The inspector, who is here," Morriston said, "tells me that Major
+Freeman, our chief constable, intends to come here this morning. I'll say
+we want to see him directly he arrives."
+
+It was not long before the chief constable was shown into the library.
+Morriston lost no time in telling him of the mysterious circumstance
+which had come to light. Major Freeman, a keen soldierly man, with the
+stern expression and uncompromising manner naturally acquired by those
+whose business is to deal with crime, received the information with grave
+perplexity. He turned a searching look upon Muriel Tredworth.
+
+"I understand you are quite unable to account for the stains on your
+dress, Miss Tredworth?" he asked in a tone of courteous insistence.
+
+"Quite," she answered. "I did not speak to Mr. Henshaw or even notice him
+in the ball-room."
+
+"You had--pardon these questions; I am putting this in your own
+interest--you had at no time any acquaintance with Mr. Clement Henshaw?"
+
+"I can hardly say that I had," the girl replied; "although a friend has
+told me that I played tennis with him at a garden-party some years ago."
+
+"A circumstance which you do not recollect?" The question was put
+politely, even sympathetically, yet with a certain uncomfortable
+directness.
+
+"No," Muriel answered. "Even when I was reminded of it, my recollection
+was of the vaguest description. So far as that goes I could neither admit
+nor deny it with any certainty."
+
+"And naturally you never, to your knowledge, saw or communicated with the
+deceased man since?"
+
+Muriel flushed. "No; absolutely no," she returned with a touch of
+resentment at the suggestion.
+
+Major Freeman forbore to distress the girl by any further questioning.
+"Thank you," he said simply. "I am sorry to have even appeared to suggest
+such a thing, but you and your friends will appreciate that it was my
+duty to ask these questions. This looks at the moment," he continued,
+addressing himself now to the party in general, "like proving a very
+mysterious, and I will add, peculiarly delicate affair. The medical
+evidence is inclined to scout the idea of suicide, and my men who have
+the case in hand are coming round to the conclusion that the theory is
+untenable."
+
+"The locked door--" Morriston suggested.
+
+"The locked door," said Major Freeman, "presents a difficulty, but still
+one not absolutely incapable of solution. We know," he added, with a
+faint smile, "from the way the door was eventually opened, that a key can
+be turned from the other side, given the right instrument to effect it."
+
+"Which only a burglar or a locksmith would be likely to have," Kelson
+suggested.
+
+Major Freeman nodded. "Quite so. I am not for a moment suggesting that as
+an explanation of the mystery. It goes naturally much deeper than that.
+Mr. Gervase Henshaw is to look into his brother's affairs and papers
+while in town, and I am hoping that on his return here he may be able to
+give some information which will afford a clue on which we can work. In
+the meantime my men are not relaxing their efforts in this rather
+baffling case."
+
+"In which," Morriston suggested, "this new piece of evidence does not
+afford any useful clue."
+
+Major Freeman smiled, a little awkwardly, it seemed. "If anything, it
+would appear to complicate the problem still further," he replied
+guardedly. "Still, I am very glad to have it, and thank you for informing
+me so promptly. Miss Tredworth may rest assured that should we find it
+necessary to go still farther into this piece of evidence, it will be
+done with as little annoyance as possible."
+
+Some of the chief constable's habitual sternness of manner seemed to
+have returned to him as he now rose to take leave. "I will just confer
+with my men who are on the premises before I leave," he said to
+Morriston in a quiet authoritative tone. "They may have something to
+report." With that he bowed to the company and quitted the room, leaving
+behind him a rather uncomfortable feeling which every one seemed to make
+an effort to throw off.
+
+But there was clearly nothing to be done except to let the police
+researches take their course and to wait for developments. The party
+at Wynford was going over to the dance at Stowgrave that evening and
+it was arranged that they would call for Kelson and Gifford and all go
+on together.
+
+Accordingly at the appointed time the carriage stopped at the _Golden
+Lion_; Kelson joining Miss Tredworth and her brother, while Gifford drove
+with Morriston.
+
+In answer to his companion's inquiry Morriston said that he had heard of
+nothing fresh in the Henshaw case.
+
+"I saw Major Freeman for a moment as he was leaving," he said, "and
+gathered that the police were still at a loss for any satisfactory
+explanation as to how the crime was committed."
+
+"He made no suggestion as to the stains on Miss Tredworth's dress?"
+Gifford asked.
+
+"No. Although I fancy he is a good deal exercised by that piece of
+evidence. Mentioned, as delicately as possible, that it might be
+necessary to have the stains analyzed, but did not wish the girl to be
+alarmed or worried about it. I can't understand," Morriston added in a
+puzzled tone, "how on earth she could possibly have had anything to
+do with it."
+
+"No," Gifford assented thoughtfully; "it is inconceivable, unless by the
+supposition that she may by some means have come in contact with some one
+who was concerned in the crime."
+
+"You mean if a man had a stain on his coat and danced with her--"
+
+"Something of the sort. If there were blood on his lapel or sleeve."
+
+"H'm! It would be easy to ascertain for certain whom she danced with,"
+Morriston said reflectively. "But that again is almost unthinkable."
+
+"And," Gifford added, "it seems to go no way towards elucidating the
+problem of how Henshaw came to his death. As a matter of fact I should
+say Miss Tredworth danced and sat out nearly the whole of the evening
+with Kelson. You know he proposed at the dance?"
+
+"Yes, I understood that. Poor Kelson; I am sorry for him, and for them
+both. It is an ominous beginning of their betrothal."
+
+"It is horrible," Gifford observed sympathetically. "Although one tries
+to think there is really nothing in it for them to be concerned about."
+
+The dance was an enjoyable affair, and, at any rate for the time,
+dispersed the depression which had hung over the party from Wynford.
+Gifford had engaged Miss Morriston for two waltzes, and after a turn or
+two in the second his partner said she felt tired and suggested they
+should sit out the rest of it. Accordingly they strolled off to an
+adjoining room and made themselves comfortable in a retired corner,
+Gifford, nothing loath to have a quiet chat with the handsome girl whose
+self-possessed manner with its suggestion of underlying strength of
+feeling was beginning to fascinate and intrigue his imagination.
+
+"It is rather pleasant," she said a little wearily, "to get away from
+the atmosphere of mystery and police investigation we have been living
+in at home."
+
+"Which I hope and believe will very soon be over," Gifford responded
+cheeringly.
+
+Miss Morriston glanced at him curiously. "You believe that?" she returned
+almost sharply. "How can you think so? It seems to me that with little
+apparent likelihood of clearing up the mystery, the affair may drag on
+for weeks."
+
+Gifford answered with a reassuring smile. "Hardly that. If the police
+can make nothing of it, and they seem to be quite nonplussed, they will
+have to give up their investigations and fall back on their first theory
+of suicide."
+
+Leaning back and watching his companion's face in profile as she sat
+forward, he could see that his suggestion was by no means convincing.
+
+"I wish I could take your view, Mr. Gifford," she returned, with the
+suggestion of a bitter smile. "I dare say if the authorities were left to
+themselves they might give up. But you forget a very potent factor in the
+tiresome business, the brother, Mr. Gervase Henshaw; he will keep them up
+to the work of investigation, will he not?"
+
+"Up to a certain point, and one can scarcely blame him. But even then,
+the police are not likely to continue working on his theories when they
+lead to no result."
+
+"No?" Miss Morriston replied in an unconvinced tone. "But he is--" she
+turned to him. "Tell me your candid opinion of this Mr. Gervase Henshaw.
+Is he very--"
+
+"Objectionable?" Gifford supplied as she hesitated. "Unpleasantly sharp
+and energetic, I should say. Although it is, perhaps, hardly fair to
+judge a man labouring under the stress of a brother's tragic death."
+
+"He is determined to get to the explanation of the mystery?" The tinge of
+excitement she had exhibited in her former question had now passed away:
+she now spoke in her habitual cold, even tone.
+
+"He says so. Naturally he will do all he can to that end. Of course it
+would be a satisfaction to know for certain how the tragedy came about:
+not that it matters much otherwise. But unfortunately he rather poses as
+an expert in criminology, and that will make for pertinacity."
+
+For a moment Miss Morriston kept silent. "It is very unfortunate," she
+murmured at length. "It will worry poor old Dick horribly. I think he is
+already beginning to wish he had never seen Wynford."
+
+Gifford leaned forward. "Oh, but, my dear Miss Morriston," he said
+earnestly, "you and your brother must really not take the matter so
+seriously. It is all very unpleasant, one must admit, but, after all,
+except that it happened in your house, I don't see that it affects you."
+
+"You think not," Miss Morriston responded mechanically.
+
+"Indeed I think so." As he spoke Gifford could not help a slight feeling
+of wonder that this girl, from whom he would have expected an attitude
+rather of indifference, should allow herself to be so greatly worried by
+the affair. For that she was far more troubled than she allowed to appear
+he was certain. It is her pride, he told himself. A high-bred girl like
+this would naturally hate the very idea of a sensational scandal under
+her roof, and all its unpleasant, rather sordid accompaniments. "I wish,"
+he added with a touch of fervour, "that I could persuade you to dismiss
+any fear of annoyance from your mind."
+
+"I wish you could," she responded dully, with an attempt at a smile.
+Suddenly she turned to him with more animation in her manner than she had
+hitherto shown. "Mr. Gifford, you--I--" she hesitated as though at a loss
+how to put what she wished to say; "I have no right to ask you, who are a
+comparative stranger, to help us in this--this worry, but if you cared
+to be of assistance I am sure you could."
+
+"Of course, of course I will," he answered with eager gladness. "Only let
+me know what you wish and you may command the very utmost I can do. And
+please don't think of me as a stranger."
+
+Edith Morriston smiled, and to Gifford it was the most fascinating smile
+he had ever seen. "Only let me know how I can serve you," he said, his
+pulses tingling.
+
+"I am thinking of my brother," she replied, in a tone so friendly that it
+neutralized the rather damping effect of the words. "He is worrying over
+this business more than one who does not know him well would think. I had
+an idea, Mr. Gifford, that you might help us by, in a way, standing
+between us, so far as might be possible, and this Mr. Gervase Henshaw. He
+stays at your hotel, does he not?"
+
+"Yes; he is expected there to-morrow morning, if not to-night."
+
+"You may perhaps," the girl proceeded, "be able--I don't know how, and I
+have no right to ask it--"
+
+"Please, Miss Morriston!" Gifford pleaded.
+
+"To minimize any annoyance we are likely to suffer through his--his
+uncomfortable zeal," she resumed hesitatingly. "If not that, you may, if
+he is friendly with you, have an opportunity of getting to hear something
+of his plans and ideas, and warning me if he is likely to worry us at
+Wynford. We don't want the tragedy kept alive indefinitely; it would be
+intolerable. I am sure you understand how I feel. That is all."
+
+"You may rely on me to the utmost," Gifford assured her fervently, in
+answer to the question in her eyes.
+
+"Thank you," she said, as she rose. "I felt sure I might ask you this
+favour and trust you."
+
+She made a slight movement of putting out her hand. The gesture was
+coldly made; it might, indeed, have been checked, and gone for nothing.
+But Gifford, keenly on the alert for a sign of regard, was quick to take
+the hand and press it impulsively.
+
+"You may trust me, Miss Morriston," he murmured.
+
+"Thank you," she responded simply, but, he was glad to notice, with a
+touch of relief.
+
+She lightly took his arm and they went back to the ball-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HAD HENSHAW A CLUE?
+
+
+Next day Gervase Henshaw made his expected reappearance in Branchester.
+He left his luggage at the _Golden Lion_ and then went off to the
+police-station where he had a long interview with the chief constable.
+Mindful of his promise to Edith Morriston, Hugh Gifford kept about the
+town with the object of coming across Henshaw and getting to know, if
+possible, something of his intentions. The attraction he had, even from
+their first introduction, felt towards Miss Morriston had become quickly
+intensified by their strangely confidential talk on the previous
+evening. So far she was to him something of a puzzle, but a puzzle of
+the most fascinating kind. It was, perhaps, strangely unaccountable that
+she should have chosen to invoke his help who was little more than a
+casual acquaintance; still, he argued as he reviewed the situation, she
+had probably been drawn to him as the one man on the spot who was
+likely to be of use to them. Her brother, a good, sensible fellow of
+some character, was nevertheless an ordinary country gentleman, given up
+to sport of all kinds and naturally quite unversed in the subtleties of
+life and character which can be studied only by those who live in the
+more intellectual atmosphere of cities. The same judgment would apply to
+his friend Kelson, a chivalrous sportsman, who would unselfishly do
+anything in his power to be of help, but whose ability and penetration
+by no means matched his willingness. And probably these men were types
+of the bulk of the Morristons' friends and acquaintances, at any rate of
+those who were immediately available. Consequently, Gifford concluded,
+it had been to himself she had turned in this trouble, influenced no
+doubt by the idea that a Londoner with legal training and experience of
+the world in its many aspects would be the best man she could enlist to
+help her. That her confidence had been drawn by any particular personal
+liking he never for one moment admitted; that unfortunately was so far
+all on one side, whatever hopes the future might hold out to him.
+Anyhow he blessed his luck that an accident had so quickly broken the
+ice and established a state of confidential relationship between them.
+As to there being an adequate reason for alarm Gifford was not inclined
+to question, since he quite realized that this man Henshaw might easily
+constitute himself a grave annoyance to the Morristons. A clever girl
+like Edith Morriston, more sensitive than to a casual observer would
+appear, had naturally recognized this danger and was anxious to have the
+man, with his, perhaps, none too scrupulous methods, held in check; and
+to this service Gifford was only too happy to devote himself, glad
+beyond measure that the opportunity had been given him by the girl who
+had filled his thoughts.
+
+It was not until evening that he came across Henshaw, it being to his
+mind essential not to appear anxious or to seek out the criminologist
+with the obvious view of getting information as to his plans.
+
+"So you are back again, Mr. Henshaw," he said with a careless nod of
+greeting as they encountered in the hall of the hotel. "I hear the
+police have not yet arrived at any satisfactory conclusion."
+
+Henshaw drew back his lips in a slight smile. To Gifford the expression
+was an ugly one, and he wondered what it portended.
+
+"There is a likelihood of our not being at a loss much longer," Henshaw
+replied, speaking through his teeth with a certain grim satisfaction.
+
+"What, you have made a discovery?" Gifford exclaimed.
+
+Henshaw's face hardened. "I am not yet at liberty to say what I have
+found," he returned in an uncompromising tone. "But I think you may
+take it from me as absolutely certain that my brother did not take his
+own life."
+
+With pursed lips Gifford nodded acceptance of the statement. "That makes
+the affair look serious, not to say sensational," he responded. "I
+suppose one must not ask you whether you have a clue to the perpetrator."
+
+"No, I can hardly say that yet," Henshaw answered with a rather cunning
+look. "You, as one of our profession, Mr. Gifford, will understand that
+and the unwisdom of premature statements."
+
+"Certainly I do," Gifford agreed promptly. "And am quite content to
+restrain my curiosity till I get information from the papers."
+
+Henshaw laughed intriguingly. "There are certain things that don't find
+their way into the Press," he said meaningly. "The real story in this
+case may turn out to be one of them."
+
+Eager as he was, Gifford resolved to show no further curiosity. "You know
+best," he rejoined almost casually. "But I hope for the Morristons' sake
+the mystery will be soon satisfactorily cleared up."
+
+There was a peculiar glitter in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "No doubt
+they are anxious."
+
+"Naturally. They are getting rather worried by all this police fuss."
+
+"Naturally." Henshaw repeated Gifford's word with a curious emphasis. "It
+is unfortunate for them," he added. "But all the same it is imperative
+that the manner of my brother's death should be thoroughly investigated."
+
+He nodded, and as unwilling to discuss the matter further, opened a
+newspaper and turned away.
+
+About noon next day Gifford went with Kelson to Wynford Place. They had
+seen nothing more of Henshaw who, it seemed, was rather inclined to hold
+away from them, possibly with a view to avoiding an opportunity of
+discussing the affair, or because he was occupied in following up some
+clue he had, or thought he had, got hold of. This was naturally a
+disappointment to Gifford, who was anxious, on Miss Morriston's behalf,
+to keep himself posted as to Henshaw's intentions.
+
+"Of course," said Kelson, "the fellow will have heard of the stains found
+on Muriel's dress, and will set himself to make the most of that
+discovery. I only hope he won't take to worrying her. She is quite enough
+upset about it without that."
+
+"Doubtless that is why he is keeping away from us," Gifford observed. "He
+probably has heard of your engagement."
+
+"And has the decency to see that he cannot very well discuss the matter
+with us," Kelson added.
+
+On their arrival at Wynford Place Morriston told them that Gervase
+Henshaw was there with a detective in the room of the tragedy. "There is
+a decided improvement in his manner to-day," he said with a laugh. "He
+has been quite considerate and apologetic; so much so that I think I
+shall have to ask him to stay to luncheon; it seems rather churlish in
+the circumstances not to do so when the man is actually in the house on
+what should be to him a very sad business. But you fellows must stay too,
+to take off some of the strain."
+
+They accepted; Gifford not sorry, for more reasons than one, to stay.
+
+He presently took an opportunity of joining Edith Morriston in the
+garden.
+
+"I have been keeping a look-out for Mr. Henshaw," he said, as they
+strolled off down a secluded walk, "but so far have had a chance of
+speaking to him only once, when I ran across him in the hotel."
+
+"Yes?" she responded, with a scarcely concealed curiosity to hear what
+had passed.
+
+"He has evidently got hold of some clue, or at least thinks he has,"
+Gifford proceeded. "But what it is he did not tell me. In fact he rather
+declined to discuss the affair. I fancy he had had a long consultation
+with the police authorities."
+
+"And he would tell you nothing?"
+
+"Nothing. I rather expected he might have come, as before, to discuss the
+case with us, but he has made a point of keeping away. I hear, however,
+from your brother that he seems far less objectionable this time."
+
+Somewhat to Gifford's surprise, she gave a rather grudging assent. "Yes,
+I suppose he is. I happened to see him on his arrival, and he certainly
+was polite enough, but it is possible to be even objectionably polite."
+
+Gifford glanced at her curiously, wondering what had taken place to call
+forth the remark. "I know that," he said. "I do hope the man has not
+annoyed you. From what your brother told us--"
+
+"Oh, no," she interrupted, "I can't say he has annoyed me--from his
+point of view." She laughed. "The man tried to be particularly
+agreeable, I think."
+
+"And succeeded in being the reverse," Gifford added. "I can quite
+understand. Still, it might be worse."
+
+"Oh, yes," she agreed in a tone which did nothing to abate his curiosity.
+
+The luncheon bell rang out and they turned.
+
+"I haven't thanked you for looking after our interests, Mr. Gifford," the
+girl said.
+
+"I have unfortunately been able to do nothing," he replied deprecatingly.
+
+"But you have tried," she rejoined graciously, "and it is not your fault
+if you have not succeeded. It is a comfort to think that we have a friend
+at hand ready to help us if need be, and I am most grateful."
+
+The unusual feeling in her tone thrilled him.
+
+"I should love to do something worthy of your gratitude," he responded,
+in a subdued tone.
+
+"You take a lower view of your service than I do," she rejoined as they
+reached the house, and no more could be said.
+
+At luncheon the improvement which their host had mentioned in Henshaw's
+attitude was strikingly apparent. His dogmatic self-assertiveness which
+had before been found so irritating was laid aside; his manner was
+subdued, his tone was sympathetic as he apologized for all the annoyance
+to which his host and hostess were being put. Gifford, watching him
+alertly, wondered at the change, and more particularly at its cause,
+which set him speculating. What did it portend? It seemed as though the
+complete alteration in the man's attitude and manner might indicate that
+he had got the solution of the mystery, and no longer had that problem to
+worry him. Certainly there was little to find fault with in him to-day.
+
+One thing, however, Gifford did not like, and that was Henshaw's rather
+obvious admiration for Edith Morriston. When they took their places at
+table, she had motioned to Gifford to sit beside her, and from that
+position it gradually forced itself upon his notice that Henshaw
+scarcely took his eyes off his hostess, addressing most of his
+conversation, and he was a fluent talker, to her. It was, of course,
+scarcely to be wondered at that this handsome, capable girl should call
+forth any man's admiration. Gifford himself was indeed beginning to fall
+desperately in love with her, but this naturally made Henshaw's rather
+obvious prepossession none the less disagreeable to him. This, then, he
+reflected, was the explanation of what Miss Morriston had hinted at,
+what she had described as his objectionable excess of politeness at
+their meeting that morning. Happily, however, Gifford felt secure in his
+position as her accredited ally and in her expressed dislike to the man
+whom it seemed she had unwittingly fascinated. It was indeed unthinkable
+that this splendid, high-bred girl could ever be responsive to the
+advances of this unpleasantly sharp, rather underbred man, and he was a
+little surprised that she could respond to his remarks quite so
+genially, with more graciousness indeed than even her position as
+hostess called forth.
+
+He could not quite reconcile it with the way she had spoken of him
+previously; but then he told himself that he was making too much of the
+business, and saw what was mere politeness through the magnifying glasses
+of jealousy. And so, secure in his position, he proceeded to view
+Henshaw's attempts to ingratiate himself with an amused equanimity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHAT GIFFORD SAW IN THE WOOD
+
+
+During the next day or two Gifford saw next to nothing of Gervase
+Henshaw. They had parted amicably enough after luncheon at Wynford Place;
+indeed, the change in Henshaw's demeanour had been something of a puzzle
+to the two friends, although Kelson did not seem much exercised by it.
+"The fellow has evidently come to the conclusion that in dealing with
+people like the Morristons an offensive brow-beating manner does not
+pay," he remarked casually. Gifford, however, had an idea that the reason
+for the change lay somewhat deeper than that. He wondered whether in the
+absence of any other apparent cause, Edith Morriston's attractiveness had
+had anything to do with it. It was not a pleasant idea; still, if it
+saved her annoyance that would be something gained, he thought; and that
+it should have any farther result was out of the question.
+
+He had not had that day an opportunity of any private talk with Miss
+Morriston, for she had driven out after luncheon to pay a call. But a
+certain suggestion of warmth in her leave-taking had assured him that she
+still looked for his help and that the conditions were not changed.
+
+What he had undertaken so eagerly was now, however, not easy of
+accomplishment. For reasons at which Gifford could only guess, Henshaw
+seemed to be playing an elusive game; he kept out of sight, or, at any
+rate, avoided all intercourse with the two friends, and on the rare
+occasions when they met he was to Gifford tantalizingly uncommunicative.
+That something was evidently behind his reticence made it all the more
+unsatisfactory, since the result was that Gifford had no object in going
+to Wynford Place, for he had nothing to tell. Indeed he learnt more from
+the Morristons than from Henshaw. The police had concluded their
+investigations on the premises, much to the relief of the household, who
+were now left in peace.
+
+"They don't seem to have come to any definite conclusion as to how the
+tragedy happened," Morriston said. "They have an idea, as I gather from
+Major Freeman, where to look for the murderer, if murder it was; which I
+am rather inclined to doubt."
+
+"Is Henshaw likely to give up the search?" Gifford asked.
+
+Morriston looked puzzled. "I can't make out," he answered in a slightly
+perplexed tone. "Even Freeman does not seem to know what his idea is. He
+is still about here."
+
+"Yes," Gifford replied. "I caught a glimpse of him this morning."
+
+"Curious," Morriston remarked. "I came across the fellow yesterday
+afternoon in the big plantation here. He was mooning about and didn't
+seem best pleased to see me, but he was quite duly apologetic, said he
+was puzzling over the tragedy and hoped I didn't mind his trespassing on
+my property. Of course I told him he was free to come and go as he
+liked, but it did strike me as peculiar that he should be thinking out
+the case in that plantation which has no possible connexion with the
+scene of the crime."
+
+"Yes, it was curious," Gifford agreed reflectively. "Did he tell you
+what he was doing about the business?"
+
+Morriston shook his head. "No; he wasn't communicative; didn't seem to
+have much to go upon. Of course one can't tell what the fellow has at the
+back of his mind, but I was rather surprised that a Londoner of his
+energy and smartness should spend his time loafing about down here with
+what seems a poor chance of any result; and I nearly told him so."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well you didn't," Gifford replied. "He is suspicious
+enough to imagine you might have a motive in wanting to get rid of him."
+
+Morriston laughed. "I have. He is not exactly the man one wants to have
+prowling about the place; but it would not be polite to hint as much."
+
+The episode, trivial as it seemed to Morriston, gave Gifford food for
+disagreeable reflection. Why, indeed, should Henshaw be hanging about in
+the grounds of Wynford, and give so unconvincing a reason? What troubled
+Gifford most was that the man's reticent attitude precluded all hope of
+his learning anything of his plans which could usefully be imparted to
+Miss Morriston. Evidently there was nothing to be got out of him; the
+rather open confidence he had displayed on his first appearance at
+Branchester had quite disappeared, and if Gifford was to find out
+anything worth reporting it would assuredly not be due to any
+communication from the man himself.
+
+He had accordingly to be content with the resolve to keep a wary eye on
+Henshaw's movements.
+
+He was now pretty free to do this. The Tredworths had ended their visit
+at Wynford and had returned home, and naturally Kelson spent much of his
+time over there, leaving Gifford to his own devices. It had, in view of
+Gifford's commission from Miss Morriston, been arranged that he should
+share Kelson's rooms at the _Golden Lion_, no longer as a guest, so that
+both men were now independent of each other. The date of Kelson's wedding
+seemed now likely to be put off for some months, as his friend had
+suggested. The unpleasant episode of the stains on Muriel Tredworth's
+dress had, although there was no indication of attaching serious
+importance to them, nevertheless cast an uncomfortable shadow over the
+happiness of her betrothal, and without giving any specific reason she
+had declared for a postponement of the wedding, for which there was,
+after all, a quite natural reason.
+
+"Perhaps it is just as well," Kelson remarked to his friend. "Although it
+is absolutely unthinkable that Muriel could have had anything to do with
+the affair, yet one can quite appreciate her wish to wait till perhaps
+something crops up to give us the explanation beyond all question. It is
+rather a blow to me, and I hope if the mysterious Mr. Gervase Henshaw is
+really on the track of the crime he will produce his solution without
+much more delay. For a girl like Muriel to have even the faintest
+suspicion hanging over her is simply hateful."
+
+Meanwhile the mysterious Mr. Henshaw seemed in no hurry to make known his
+theory, if he had one. Yet he still remained in Branchester, writing all
+the morning and going out in the afternoon, usually with a handful of
+letters for post. He always nodded affably to Gifford when they met, but
+beyond a casual remark on the weather or the events of the day, showed no
+disposition to chat.
+
+But now while Gifford was in this unsatisfactory state of mind,
+persevering yet baffled in what he had undertaken to do, a very singular
+thing came to pass. He strolled out one afternoon, aimlessly, wondering
+whether the negative result of his efforts justified his remaining in the
+place, and yet loath to leave it, held there as he was by the attraction
+of Edith Morriston. He felt he could be making but little way in her
+favour seeing how he was failing in what he had undertaken to do for her,
+and as he walked he discussed with himself whether it would not be
+possible to hit on some more active plan of becoming acquainted with
+Henshaw's knowledge and intentions. It was obviously a delicate business,
+and after all, he thought, now that the man's undesirable presence had
+practically ceased to be an annoyance to the Morristons there scarcely
+seemed any need to bother about him. On the other hand, however, there
+was a certain strong curiosity on his own part to know Henshaw's design
+and what kept him in the town.
+
+Gifford's walk took him over well remembered ground. He was strolling
+along a path which led through the Wynford property, over a rustic bridge
+across a stream he had often fished when a boy, and so on into a wood
+which formed one of the home coverts. Making his way through this
+familiar haunt of by-gone days he came to one of the long rides which
+bisected the wood for some quarter of a mile. He turned into this and was
+just looking out for a comfortable trunk where he might sit and smoke,
+when he caught sight of two figures in the distance ahead walking slowly
+just on the fringe of the ride. A man and a woman; their backs were
+towards him, but his blood gave a leap at the sight as their identity
+flashed upon him. It was, in its unexpectedness, an almost appalling
+sight to him, as he realised that the two were none other than Henshaw
+and Edith Morriston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GIFFORD'S PERPLEXITY
+
+
+Next moment Gifford had instinctively sprung back into the covert of
+the trees, almost dazed by what he had seen. Henshaw and Edith
+Morriston! Could it be possible? His eyes must have deceived him. About
+the girl there could be no doubt. Her tall, graceful figure was
+unmistakable. But the man. Surely he had been mistaken there; it must
+have been her brother, or perhaps a friend who had been lunching with
+them. Had Gifford, his mind obsessed by Henshaw, jumped to a false
+conclusion? He stooped, and creeping warily beyond the fringe of trees
+looked after the pair.
+
+They were now some thirty yards away. There could be no doubt that the
+lady was Edith Morriston; and the man? Incredible as it might seem, he
+was surely Gervase Henshaw. Gifford had seen him some two hours earlier,
+and now recognized his grey suit and dark felt hat. He stayed, crouched
+down, looking after the amazing pair, seeking a sign that the man was
+not Henshaw. After all, it was, he told himself, more likely that he had
+made a mistake than that Miss Morriston could be strolling in
+confidential talk (for such seemed the case) with that fellow. It was too
+astounding for belief.
+
+They had stopped now, at the end of the ride; the man talking earnestly,
+it seemed; Miss Morriston standing with head bent down and scoring the
+grass with her walking-stick as though in doubt or consideration. Would
+they turn and put the man's identity beyond uncertainty?
+
+Gifford had not long to wait. Miss Morriston seemed to draw off and began
+to walk back down the ride; her companion turned and promptly put himself
+by her side. There was no doubt now as to who he was. Gervase Henshaw.
+
+As one glance, now that the face was revealed, proved that, Gifford drew
+back quickly and hurried deeper into the thick wood fearful lest his
+footsteps should be heard. When he had gone a safe distance an intense
+curiosity made him halt and turn. From his place of hiding he could just
+see the light of the ride along which the couple would pass. He hated
+the idea of spying upon Edith Morriston; after all, if she chose to walk
+and talk with this man it was no business of his; but a supreme distrust
+of Henshaw, unreasonable enough, perhaps, but none the less keen, made
+him suspicious that the man might be playing some cowardly game, might
+have drawn the girl to him by unfair means. Otherwise it was surely
+inconceivable that she should have consented--condescended indeed--to
+meet him in that clandestine manner.
+
+As Gifford stayed, hesitating between a breach of good form and a
+legitimate desire to learn whether the girl was being subjected to
+unfair treatment, the sound of Henshaw's rather penetrating voice came
+into earshot, and a few seconds later they passed across the line of
+Gifford's sight.
+
+He could catch but a glimpse of them through the intervening trees as
+they went by slowly, but it was enough to tell him that Henshaw was
+talking earnestly, arguing, it seemed, and on Edith Morriston's clear-cut
+face was a look of trouble which was not good to see. It made Gifford
+flush with anger to think that this lovely high-bred girl was being
+worried, probably being made love to, by a man of that objectionable
+type; for that she could be in that situation without coercion was not to
+be believed. The reason for Henshaw's prolonged and rather puzzling stay
+in the place was now accounted for. Moreover, to Gifford's bitter
+reflection the whole business seemed clear enough. Henshaw had been
+caught and fascinated by Edith Morriston's beauty, and being, as was
+obvious, a man of energy and determination, was now in some subtle way
+making use of the tragedy as a means of forcing his unwelcome attentions
+on her. How otherwise could this astounding familiarity be arrived at?
+Sick with disgust and indignation, Gifford turned away and retraced his
+steps through the wood, dismissing, as likely to lead to a false
+position, his first impulse to appear on the scene and stop, at any rate
+for that day, Henshaw's designs. He felt that to act precipitately might
+do less good than harm. He was, after all, on private ground there, and
+had no right to intrude upon what in all likelihood Miss Morriston wished
+to be a secluded interview. What course he would take in the future was
+another matter, and one which demanded instant and serious consideration.
+The right line to adopt was indeed a perplexing problem.
+
+Gifford recalled Morriston's story of having met Henshaw hanging about
+more or less mysteriously in the plantation, and the annoyance he had
+expressed at the encounter. The reason was plain enough now. Of course
+the man was waiting either to waylay Edith Morriston or to meet her by
+appointment. It was not a pleasant reflection; since the fact showed that
+these clandestine meetings had probably been going on for some days past.
+That Henshaw's object was more or less disreputable could not be doubted,
+and to Gifford the amazing and troubling part of it was that Edith
+Morriston, the very last woman he would have suspected of consenting to
+such a course, who had professed an absolute dislike and repugnance to
+Henshaw, and fear of his annoying presence, should be meeting him thus
+willingly. Had he not seen them with his own eyes he would have scoffed
+at the idea as something inconceivable.
+
+Now what was he to do? For it was clear that, justified or not as he
+might be thought in interfering in matters which did not concern him,
+something must be done. The one obvious course which it seemed he ought
+to take was to give Richard Morriston a hint of what was on foot, if not
+a stronger and more explicit statement. For that Morriston could be privy
+to the correspondence between his sister and Henshaw was quite unlikely.
+If anything underhand was going on, if Henshaw was holding some threat
+over the girl or pursuing her with unwelcome attentions her brother, as
+her natural guardian, should be warned. That seemed to Gifford his
+manifest duty. And yet he shrank from anything which might seem treachery
+towards the girl. For, if she needed her brother's help and protection
+against the man, it would be an easy matter for her to complain of his
+persecution. Why, he wondered, had she not done so? It was all very
+mysterious. He tried to imagine how the position had come about. On
+Henshaw's side it was plain enough. Miss Morriston was not only a
+strikingly handsome girl, but she was an heiress, possessing, according
+to Kelson, a considerable fortune in her own right. There, clearly, was
+Henshaw's motive; an incentive to an unscrupulous man to use every art,
+fair and unfair, to force himself into her favour. But how had he
+succeeded so quickly as to make this rather haughty, reserved girl
+consent to meet in secret the man whom she professed to dislike and
+avoid? That this unpleasantly sharp, pushing product of the less
+dignified side of the law could have any personal attraction for one of
+Edith Morriston's taste and discrimination was impossible. And yet there
+the challenging fact remained that confidential relations had been
+established between the disparate pair. Was it possible that this man
+could have found out something connecting Edith Morriston with his
+brother's death? The feasibility of the idea came as a shock to Gifford.
+He stopped dead in his walk as the notion took form in his brain. The
+possibilities of this most mysterious case were too complicated to be
+grasped at once. And so with his mind in a whirl of vague conjecture and
+apprehension he reached his hotel. And there a new development in the
+mystery awaited him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ANOTHER DISCOVERY
+
+
+Kelson was in their sitting-room reading the _Field_. He started up as
+Gifford entered, and flung away the paper. "My dear Hugh, I've been
+waiting for you," he exclaimed.
+
+"What's the matter? Anything wrong?" Gifford asked with a certain
+apprehensive curiosity, as he noticed signs of suppressed excitement in
+his friend's face.
+
+"I don't know whether it's all wrong or whether it is all right," Kelson
+replied. "Anyhow it has relieved my mind a good deal."
+
+Controlling his own tendency to excitement, Gifford put aside his hat and
+stick and sat down. "Let's hear it," he said quietly.
+
+"Well, another unaccountable thing has, it appears, happened at Wynford
+Place. A pendant, or whatever you call it, to that which has been
+troubling Muriel. What do you think? As I was riding along the Loxford
+road this afternoon I met Dick Morriston, and he told me that another
+discovery of blood-stains has been made at Wynford. On a girl's
+ball-dress too. And on whose do you suppose it is?"
+
+"Not Miss Morriston's?" Gifford suggested breathlessly.
+
+Kelson nodded, with a slight look of surprise at the correctness of the
+guess. "Yes. Isn't it queer? Poor old Dick is in rather a way about it,
+and I must say the whole business is decidedly mysterious."
+
+Gifford was thinking keenly. "How did it come out? Who found the
+marks?" he asked.
+
+"Well," Kelson answered, "it appears that Edith Morriston's maid found
+them some days ago, in fact the day after a similar discovery had been
+made on Muriel's gown. She had brought the dress which her mistress had
+worn at the Hunt Ball out of the wardrobe where it hung, in order to fold
+it away. She appears to have spread it on the bed where the sun shone on
+it and in the strong light she noticed on the dark material some
+brownish discolorations. With what had happened about the other dress in
+her mind, she examined the marks closely, and with such intentness as to
+raise the curiosity of a housemaid who happened to come into the room. At
+first Miss Morriston's maid tried to put her off, but the other girl, who
+was sharp-eyed, had seen the marks, was not to be hood-winked, and the
+mischief was done. The housemaid seems to be a foolish, babbling
+creature, and the discovery soon became the talk of the servants' hall,
+whence it spread till it reached the police."
+
+"And what are they doing about it?" Gifford asked.
+
+"Morriston says they've had a detective up at the house examining the
+gown; being so utterly at sea over the affair the police are doubtless
+glad to catch at anything. There seems little question that the stains
+are blood, and that makes the whole business still more puzzling. Dick
+Morriston is naturally very exercised about it, but I am very glad for
+Muriel's sake that the second discovery has been made. In fact I have
+been just waiting till I saw you before riding over to tell her of it,
+and relieve her mind."
+
+"Yes," Gifford responded mechanically, "of course it removes any serious
+suspicion from Miss Tredworth."
+
+"And," said Kelson eagerly, "it divides the odium, if there is any. In
+fact, to my mind, it reduces the whole suspicion to an absurdity. For
+that both girls could have been concerned in Henshaw's death is
+absolutely incredible."
+
+"Yes," Gifford agreed thoughtfully; "they could not both have had a
+hand in it."
+
+"Or either, for that matter," Kelson returned with a laugh. "Don't you
+admit that the idea is in the highest degree ridiculous?" he added more
+sharply as Gifford remained silent.
+
+"It is--inconceivable," he admitted abstractedly.
+
+Kelson, who had taken up his hat and crop and was turning to the door,
+wheeled round quickly. "My dear Hugh," he exclaimed impatiently, "what is
+the matter with you? What monstrous idea have you got in your head? You
+owe it to me, and I really must ask you, to speak out plainly. It seems
+almost an insult to Muriel to ask the question, but do you still persist
+in the notion that she had, even in the most innocent way, anything to do
+with Henshaw's death? Because I have her positive assurance that she
+knows nothing of it, beyond what is common knowledge."
+
+"I too am quite certain of that now," Gifford answered.
+
+"Why do you say now?" Kelson demanded sourly. "Surely you never seriously
+entertained such an abominable idea."
+
+"You must admit, my dear Harry," Gifford replied calmly, "that with a man
+stabbed to death in practically the next room, the blood-stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress were bound to give rise to conjecture. One would
+suspect an archbishop in a similar position. But that is all over now. I
+am as convinced as you can be that Miss Tredworth knew nothing of the
+business."
+
+"On your honour that is your opinion?"
+
+"On my honour."
+
+"This new discovery has changed your opinion?"
+
+"It has at least shown me how dangerous it may be to jump to
+conclusions."
+
+Kelson drew in a breath. "Yes, indeed. Poor Muriel has suffered from the
+suspicion as well as from the horrible shock of the discovery. Still,
+this new development, though it acquits her, does nothing towards solving
+the mystery. I wonder whether Edith Morriston has any idea as to how her
+dress got marked."
+
+"I wonder," Gifford responded abstractedly.
+
+"Well," said Kelson, "I'm off to carry the good news to Muriel. Don't
+wait dinner for me if I'm not back by seven-thirty."
+
+It was rather a relief to Gifford to be left alone that he might review
+the situation without interruption. His first thought had been, could
+this last discovery be accountable for what he had seen that afternoon?
+Doubtless, after the information reached the police it would not be long
+in being conveyed to Henshaw. And he was now making use of it to put the
+screw on, using the hold he had gained over Edith Morriston to bend her
+to his will. What was that? Marriage? To Gifford the thought was
+monstrous; yet if it should be that Henshaw had information which put
+the girl in his power, what could she do? That she had consented to meet
+him secretly and listen to him went to show that she felt her position to
+be weak. If so she might need help, an adviser, a man to stand between
+her and her persecutor.
+
+Thinking out the situation strenuously Gifford determined to seek a
+private interview with Edith Morriston and offer himself as her
+protector. At the worst she could but snub him, and the chances were, he
+thought, greatly in favour of her accepting his offer of help. For from
+her character he judged she was not a girl to make a stronger appeal to
+him than the casual invoking of his assistance which had already taken
+place. He had a very cogent reason for believing that he could be of
+assistance, although there were certain elements in the mystery which
+might, in his ignorance of them, upset his calculations.
+
+Anyhow in consideration of the trust Edith Morriston had shown in him he
+would seek an interview with her and chance what it might bring forth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN EXPLANATION
+
+
+In pursuance of this plan Gifford proposed to his friend that they should
+call at Wynford Place on the next day. Kelson had returned from the
+Tredworths in high spirits, the news he carried there having lifted a
+weight off his fiancee's mind and indeed restored the happiness of the
+whole family. There was no cloud over the engagement now, and they could
+all look forward to the marriage without a qualm.
+
+If Kelson might, in ordinary circumstances, have wondered at the motive
+for his friend's proposal, which was but thinly disguised, he was in too
+happy a state of preoccupation to trouble his head about it.
+
+"I'm your man," he responded promptly. "It so happens that Muriel is
+lunching at Wynford to-morrow, so it will suit me well enough. I
+shouldn't be surprised if we get a note in the morning asking us to
+lunch there too."
+
+The morning, however, brought no note of invitation; a failure
+which rather surprised Kelson, although Gifford thought he could
+account for it.
+
+Nevertheless he determined to go and do his best to get a private talk
+with Edith Morriston, however disinclined she might be to grant it. The
+two men went up to Wynford early in the afternoon, but it was a long time
+before Gifford got the opportunity he sought. Edith Morriston seemed as
+friendly and gracious as ever, but whether by accident or design she gave
+no chance for Gifford to get in a private word. With the knowledge of
+what he had seen on the previous afternoon and of the change in her
+attitude he was too shrewd to show any anxiety for a confidential talk.
+He watched her closely when he could do so unobserved, but her face gave
+no sign of trouble or embarrassment. He wondered if there could after all
+be anything in his idea of persecution, and the more curious he became
+the more determined he grew to find out. But somehow Miss Morriston
+contrived that they should never be alone together; when Kelson and
+Muriel Tredworth strolled off lover-like, Miss Morriston kept her brother
+with her to make a third.
+
+The three went round to the stables and inspected the hunters, then
+through the shrubbery to admire a wonderful bed of snowdrops. As they
+stood there looking over the undulating park, and Gifford, curbing his
+impatience, was talking of certain changes which had taken place since
+his early days there, the butler was seen hurrying towards them.
+
+"Callers, I suppose," Morriston observed with a half-yawn. "What is
+it, Stent?"
+
+"Could I speak to you, sir?" the man said, stopping short a little
+distance away.
+
+Morriston went forward to him, and after they had spoken together he
+turned round, and with an "Excuse me for a few minutes," went off towards
+the house with the butler.
+
+So at last the opportunity had come. Gifford glanced at his companion and
+noticed that her face had gone a shade paler than before the
+interruption.
+
+"I wonder what can be the matter," she observed, a little anxiously
+Gifford thought. Then she laughed. "I dare say it is nothing; Stent is
+becoming absurdly fussy; and all the alarms and discoveries we have had
+lately have not diminished the tendency."
+
+"The latest discovery must have come rather as a relief," Gifford
+ventured tentatively.
+
+"The marks on my dress you mean?" She laughed. "So far that I now share
+with Muriel Tredworth the suspicion of knowing all about the tragedy."
+
+"Hardly that," Gifford replied with a smile. "There can be no cause for
+that fear. By the way," he added more seriously, "I owe you an account of
+my failure to gain any information for you with regard to Mr. Gervase
+Henshaw's plans."
+
+"He is not communicative?" Miss Morriston suggested casually.
+
+Gifford shook his head. "No, I am never able to get hold of him. In fact,
+it seems as though he rather makes a point of avoiding us. And if we do
+meet, he is vagueness and reticence personified."
+
+They were walking slowly back along the shrubbery path. The girl turned
+to him for an instant, her expression softened in a look of gratitude.
+"It is very kind of you, Mr. Gifford, to take all this trouble for us.
+And I am sure it is not your fault that the result is not what you might
+wish. It was rather absurd of me to set you the task. But I am none the
+less grateful. Please think that, and do not bother about it any more."
+
+"But if the man is likely to annoy you," he urged. "Have you longer any
+reason to fear him?"
+
+She turned swiftly. "Fear him? What do you mean?"
+
+"We thought he might be unscrupulous and might make himself
+objectionable."
+
+She shrugged. "I dare say it is possible."
+
+"I must confess," he pursued, "I can't quite make the fellow out. Nor his
+motive for remaining in the place. Your brother told me he came across
+him hanging about in one of your plantations."
+
+He thought the blood left her face for an instant, but otherwise she
+showed no sign of discomposure.
+
+"How did he account for his being there?" she asked calmly.
+
+"Unsatisfactorily enough. I forget his actual excuse."
+
+"Was that all?" she demanded coldly.
+
+"I believe so. But it is hardly desirable, as your brother said, to have
+the man prowling about the property."
+
+For a moment she was silent. "No," she said as though by an afterthought.
+
+Her manner troubled him. "I hope he is not attempting to annoy you," he
+said searchingly.
+
+She looked surprised and, he thought, a little resentful at his question.
+"Me?" she returned coldly. "By hanging about in the plantation?"
+
+"If he goes no farther than that--"
+
+"Why should he?" she demanded in the same rather chilling tone.
+
+"I don't know," Gifford replied, set back by her manner. "Except that I
+have no high opinion of the fellow. It occurred to me he might possibly
+attempt to persecute you."
+
+She glanced round at him curiously with a little disdainful smile. "What
+makes you think he would do that?" she returned.
+
+Her attitude was to him not convincing. He felt there was a certain
+reservation beneath the rather cutting tone. "I am glad to know there is
+no question of that," he replied with quiet earnestness. "I hope if
+anything of the kind should occur and you should need a friend you will
+not overlook me."
+
+"You are very kind," she responded, but without turning towards him. He
+thought, however, that her low tone had softened, and it gave him hope.
+
+"I should scarcely take upon myself to suggest this," he said, "but I am
+emboldened by two facts. One that you have already asked me to be your
+ally, your friend, in this business, the other that there is something
+about Henshaw and his actions which I do not understand. I hope you will
+forgive my boldness."
+
+His companion had glanced round now, keenly, as though to probe for the
+meaning which might lie beneath his words. He speculated whether she
+might be wondering how much he knew; was he cognisant of her meeting
+with Henshaw?
+
+But, whatever her thought, she answered in the same even voice, "There is
+nothing to forgive. On the contrary I am most grateful."
+
+They were nearing the house, and Gifford was debating whether he dared
+suggest another turn along the shrubbery path, when Richard Morriston
+appeared at the hall door, beckoned to them, and went in again.
+
+"I wonder what Dick wants. Has anything more come to light?" Miss
+Morriston observed with a rather bored laugh as she slightly
+quickened her pace.
+
+As they went in she called, "Dick!" and he answered her from the library.
+There they found him with Kelson and Muriel Tredworth. A glance at their
+faces told Gifford that they were all in a state of scarcely suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I say, Edith, what do you think?" her brother exclaimed. "We've made a
+rather important discovery. Were you in the middle room of the tower
+during the dance?"
+
+For a moment his sister did not answer.
+
+"No; I don't think I was," she said, with what seemed to Gifford a
+certain amount of apprehension in her eyes, although her expression was
+calm enough.
+
+"Oh, but, my dear girl, you must have been," Morriston insisted
+vehemently. "We have found the explanation of the stains on Miss
+Tredworth's dress and on yours."
+
+"You have?" his sister replied, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Yes; beyond all doubt. The mystery is made clear. Come and see."
+
+He led the way across the hall and up the first story of the tower.
+"There's the explanation," he said, pointing to some dark red patches on
+the back of a sofa and on the carpet below.
+
+"It is not a pleasant idea," Morriston said; "but you see these marks are
+directly under the place where the dead man lay in the room above. The
+blood from his wound evidently ran through the chinks of the flooring on
+to the beams of the ceiling here and so fell drop by drop on the couch
+and on any one sitting there. Rather gruesome, but I am sure we must be
+all very glad to get the simple explanation. The only wonder is that no
+one thought of it before."
+
+"Muriel was sitting just at that end of the sofa when I proposed to her,"
+Kelson said in a low voice to Gifford.
+
+"I am delighted the matter is so completely accounted for," his friend
+returned. "What fools we were ever to have taken it so tragically."
+
+But his expression changed as he glanced at Edith Morriston; she had
+denied that she had been in the room.
+
+"I have sent down to the police to tell them of the discovery," Morriston
+was saying. "The fact is that since the tragedy the servants appear to
+have rather shunned this part of the house, or at any rate to have
+devoted as little time to it as possible. Otherwise this would have come
+to light sooner. Anyhow it is a source of congratulation to Miss
+Tredworth and you, Edith. Of course you must have been in here."
+
+"I remember sitting just there; ugh!" Miss Tredworth said with a shudder.
+
+"I can swear to that," Kelson corroborated with a knowing smile.
+
+"You must have done the same or brushed against the sofa, Edith,"
+Morriston said cheerfully. "Well, I'm glad that's settled, although it
+brings us no nearer towards solving the mystery of what happened
+overhead."
+
+"No," Kelson remarked. "It looks as though that was going to remain
+a mystery."
+
+The butler came in. "Major Freeman is here, sir," he said, "with Mr.
+Henshaw, and would like to speak to you."
+
+Morriston looked surprised. "Alfred has been very quick. We sent him off
+only about a quarter of an hour ago."
+
+"Alfred met Major Freeman and Mr. Henshaw with the detective just beyond
+the lodge gates, sir."
+
+"Then they were coming up here independently of my message?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Alfred gave Major Freeman the message and came back."
+
+Morriston moved towards the door. "I will see these gentlemen at
+once," he said.
+
+"In the library, sir."
+
+Involuntarily Gifford had glanced at Edith Morriston. She was standing
+impassively with set face; and at his glance she turned away to the
+window. But not before he had caught in her eyes a look which he hated to
+see, a look which seemed to confirm a suspicion already in his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WHAT A GIRL SAW
+
+
+With Morriston's departure a rather uncomfortable silence fell upon the
+party left in the room. Every one seemed to feel that there was
+something in the air, the shadow of a possibly serious development in
+the case. Even Kelson, who was otherwise inclined to be jubilant over
+the freeing of his fiancee from suspicion, seemed to feel it was no time
+or place just then for gaiety, and his expression grew as grave as that
+of the rest.
+
+"I wonder what these fellows have come to say," he observed as he
+paced the room.
+
+"Let's hope to announce that at last they are going to leave you in
+peace, Edith," Miss Tredworth said.
+
+Edith Morriston did not alter her position as she stood looking out of
+the window. "Thank you for your kind wish, Muriel," she responded in a
+cold voice; "but I'm afraid that is too much to hope for just yet."
+
+"Yet one doesn't see what else it can be," Kelson observed reflectively.
+"They can hardly have found out exactly how the man came by his death;
+much more likely to have abandoned their latest theory, eh, Hugh?"
+
+Gifford was looking, held by the grip of his imagination, at the tall
+figure by the window; wondering what was passing behind that veil of
+impassiveness. "I don't see what they can have found out away from this
+house," he said, rousing himself by an effort to answer; "and they don't
+seem to have been here lately."
+
+"Well, we shall see," Kelson said casually. "Ah, here comes Dick
+back again."
+
+Morriston hurried in with a serious face. In answer to Kelson's, "Well,
+Dick?" he said.
+
+"It appears a rather extraordinary piece of evidence has just come to
+light; one which, if true, completely solves the mystery of the locked
+door. I asked Freeman if there was any objection to you fellows coming
+to the library and hearing the story; he is quite agreeable. So will you
+come? You too, Edith, and Miss Tredworth; there is nothing at all
+horrible in it so far."
+
+For the first time Edith Morriston turned from the window. "Is it
+necessary, Dick?" she protested quietly. "I'd just as soon hear it
+all afterwards from you. These police visitations are rather getting
+on my nerves."
+
+"Very well, dear; you shall hear all about it later on," her brother
+responded, and led the way down to the library. Gifford was the last to
+leave the room, and his glance back showed him that Edith Morriston had
+turned again to the window and resumed her former attitude.
+
+In the library were the chief constable, Gervase Henshaw and a local
+detective.
+
+"Now, Major Freeman," Morriston said as he closed the door, "we shall be
+glad to hear this new piece of evidence."
+
+Major Freeman bowed. "Shortly, it comes to this," he began. "A young
+woman named Martha Haynes, belonging to Branchester, called at my office
+this morning and made a statement which, if reliable, must have an
+important bearing on this mysterious case.
+
+"It appears from her story that on the night of the Hunt Ball held here
+she had been paying a visit to some friends at Rapscot, a village, as you
+know, about a mile beyond Wynford. On her way back to the town, for which
+she started at about 9.45, she took as a short cut the right-of-way path
+running across the park and passing near the house. As she went by she
+was naturally attracted by the lighted windows and could hear the band
+quite plainly. She stopped to listen to the music at a point which she
+has indicated, almost directly opposite the tower.
+
+"She says she had stood there for some little time when her attention
+was suddenly diverted to what seemed a mysterious movement on the
+outside of the tower. A dark body, presumably a human being, appeared to
+be slowly sliding down the wall from the topmost window. Unfortunately
+before she could quite realize what she was looking at--and we may
+imagine that a country girl would take some little time to grasp so
+unusual a situation--a cloud drifted across the moon and threw the
+tower into shadow.
+
+"The girl continued, however, to keep her eyes fixed on the spot where
+she had seen the dark object descending, with the result that in a few
+seconds she saw it reach and pass over one side of the window of the
+lower room which was sufficiently lighted up to silhouette anything
+placed before it. She saw the object move slowly over the window and
+disappear in the darkness beneath it. When, a few seconds later, the moon
+came out again nothing more was to be seen.
+
+"The girl stayed for some time watching the tower, but without result.
+She is a more or less ignorant, unsophisticated country-woman, and what
+she had seen she was quite unable to account for. Naturally she hardly
+connected it with any sort of tragical occurrence. The house with its
+lights and music seemed given over to gaiety; that any one should just
+then have met his death in that upper room never entered her imagination.
+A vague idea that a thief might have got into the house and she had seen
+him escape by the tower window did indeed, as she says, cross her mind,
+and that supposition prevented her from approaching the tower to satisfy
+her curiosity. But as nothing more happened she began to think less of
+the significance of what she had seen, in fact almost persuaded herself
+that it had been something of an optical delusion. Presently, having had
+enough of standing in the cold wind, she resumed her way, went home and
+to bed, and early next morning left the town to enter a situation in
+another part of the country.
+
+"It appears that she had taken cold by her loitering and soon after
+reaching her destination became so ill that she had to keep her bed, and
+it was only on her recovery a few days ago that she heard what had
+happened here that night. Directly she could get away she came over and
+told her story to us."
+
+"A pity she could not have come before," Morriston remarked as the chief
+constable paused. "Her evidence is highly important, disposing as it does
+of the mystery of the locked door."
+
+"Yes," Major Freeman agreed, "and also of the suicide theory. The
+question now is--who was the person who was seen descending from
+the window?"
+
+"Could this girl tell whether it was a man or a woman?" The question came
+from Henshaw, who had hitherto kept silent.
+
+"She thinks it was a man," Major Freeman answered, "but could not swear
+to it. The fact of the object being close to the wall made it almost
+impossible in the imperfect light to distinguish plainly. But I think we
+may take it that it was a man. The feat could be hardly one a woman would
+undertake."
+
+"No," Gifford agreed. "And there would seem little chance of identifying
+the person."
+
+"None at all so far as the girl Haynes is concerned," Major Freeman
+replied. "But we have something to go upon; a starting point for a new
+line of inquiry. The person seen escaping must have lowered himself by
+a rope from that top window and a considerable length would be
+required. I have taken the liberty, Mr. Morriston, of setting a party
+of my men to search the grounds for the rope; they will begin by
+dragging the little lake."
+
+"By all means," Morriston assented.
+
+"Detective Sprules," the chief proceeded, "would like to make another
+examination of the ironwork of the window. May he go up now?"
+
+"Certainly," Morriston answered, and the detective left the room.
+
+Gifford spoke. "The girl saw nothing of the escaping person after he
+reached the ground?"
+
+"Nothing, she says," Major Freeman answered. "But the base of the tower
+was in deep shadow, which would prevent that."
+
+"A pity her curiosity was not a little more practical," Henshaw observed.
+
+"Yes." Gifford turned to him. "You are proved correct, Mr. Henshaw, in
+your repudiation of the suicide idea. Perhaps, in view of this latest
+development, you may have knowledge to go upon of some one from whom your
+brother might have apprehended danger?"
+
+Henshaw's set face gave indication of nothing but a studied reserve. "No
+one certainly," he answered coolly, "from whom he might apprehend danger
+to his life."
+
+"There must have been a motive for the act," Kelson observed. "Unless it
+was a sudden quarrel."
+
+"There appears," Major Freeman put in, "to be no evidence whatever of
+anything leading up to that."
+
+"No; the cause is so far quite mysterious," Henshaw said.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that there was something of undisclosed knowledge
+behind his words, and he fell to wondering how far the motive was
+mysterious to him.
+
+Morriston proceeded to acquaint Major Freeman with the discovered cause
+of the marks on the ladies' dresses, and they all went off to the lower
+room where the position of the stains was pointed out. Edith Morriston
+was no longer there.
+
+"Miss Tredworth sat at this end of the sofa," Morriston explained, "and
+so the marks on her dress are clearly accounted for."
+
+"And Miss Morriston?" Henshaw put the question in a tone which had in it,
+Gifford thought, a touch of scepticism.
+
+"Oh, my sister must have been in here too," Morriston replied. "Or how
+could her dress have been stained? Unless, indeed, she brushed against
+Miss Tredworth's or someone else's. That's clear."
+
+There seemed no alacrity in Henshaw to accept the conclusion and he did
+not respond.
+
+"I am glad this part of the mystery is so satisfactorily settled,"
+the chief constable remarked. "Now we have the issue narrowed.
+Well, Sprules?"
+
+The detective had appeared at the door.
+
+"I have examined the ironwork of the window, sir," he said, "and have
+found under the magnifying-glass traces of the fraying of a rope as
+though caused by friction against the iron staple."
+
+"Sufficient signs to bear out the young woman's statement?"
+
+"Quite, sir. There is upon close examination distinct evidence of a rope
+having been worked against the hinge of the window."
+
+"Very good, Sprules. We may consider that point settled," Major
+Freeman said.
+
+Having finally satisfied themselves as to the cause of the stains on the
+floor and sofa, the chief constable and his subordinate proposed to go to
+the lake and see whether the men who were dragging it had had any
+success. Morriston and Henshaw with Kelson and Gifford accompanied them.
+As they came in sight of the boat the detective exclaimed, "They have
+found it!" and the men were seen hauling up a rope out of the water.
+
+"Sooner than I expected," Major Freeman observed as they hurried towards
+the nearest point to the boat.
+
+The rope when landed proved to be of considerable length, sufficient when
+doubled, they calculated, to reach from the topmost window to within five
+or six feet of the ground.
+
+"The escaping person," Henshaw said, "must have slid down the doubled
+rope which had been passed through the staple of the window, and then
+when the ground was reached have pulled it away, coiled it up, carried it
+to the lake, and thrown it in. Obviously that was the procedure and it
+accounts completely for the locked door."
+
+The chief constable and the detective agreed.
+
+"A man would want some nerve to come down from that height," the
+latter remarked.
+
+"Any man, or woman either for that matter," Henshaw returned
+dogmatically, "would not hesitate to take the risk as an alternative to
+being trapped up there with his victim."
+
+"You are not suggesting it might have been a woman who was seen sliding
+down the rope?" Gifford asked pointedly.
+
+Henshaw shrugged. "I suggest nothing as to the person's identity," he
+replied in a sharply guarded tone. "That is now what remains to be
+discovered."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LOST BROOCH
+
+
+The police authorities with Henshaw and Morriston went off with the rope
+to experiment in the room of the tragedy.
+
+"I don't suppose we are wanted," Kelson said quietly to Gifford; "let's
+go for a turn round the garden. I wonder where Muriel has got to."
+
+They found Miss Tredworth on the lawn. "I am waiting for Edith," she
+said.
+
+"We'll stroll on and Gifford can bring Miss Morriston after us," Kelson
+suggested, and the lovers moved away, leaving Gifford, much to his
+satisfaction, waiting for Edith Morriston.
+
+In a few minutes she made her appearance. Gifford mentioned the
+arrangement and they strolled off by the path the others had taken.
+
+It seemed to Gifford that his companion's manner was rather abnormal;
+unlike her usual cold reserve there were signs of a certain suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"I hope," she said, "that Major Freeman and his people are satisfied with
+our discovery that the marks on Muriel's dress and mine came there by
+accident."
+
+"Evidently quite convinced," Gifford answered.
+
+"That's well," she responded with a rather forced laugh. "It was
+rather too bad to suspect us, on that evidence, of knowing anything
+about the affair."
+
+"I don't suppose for a moment they did," Gifford assured her.
+
+"I don't know," the girl returned. "Anyhow it was rather an embarrassing,
+not to say painful, position for us to be in. But that is at an end now."
+
+Nevertheless Gifford could tell that she was not so thoroughly relieved
+as her words implied.
+
+"Completely," he declared. "You have heard of the new piece of evidence?"
+he added casually.
+
+For a moment she stopped with a start, instantly recovering herself.
+"No; what is that?" in a tone almost of unconcern.
+
+Gifford told her of the statement made by the country girl and its
+corroboration in the finding of the rope. As he continued he felt sure
+that the story was gripping his companion more and more closely. At last
+she stopped dead and turned to him with eyes which had in them intense
+mystification as well as fear.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, do you believe that story?"
+
+"I see no reason for disbelieving it," he answered quietly. "It is
+practically the only conceivable solution of the mystery of the
+locked door."
+
+"Surely--" she stopped, checking the vehement objection that rose to her
+lips. "This girl," she went on as though searching for a plausible
+argument, "is it not likely that she was mistaken? We know what these
+country people are. And she could not have seen very clearly."
+
+"But," Gifford argued gently, "her statement is confirmed by the finding
+of the rope."
+
+Edith Morriston was thinking strenuously, desperately, he could see
+that. The words she spoke were but mechanical, the mere froth of a
+seething brain. Yet her splendid self-command--and he recognized it with
+admiration--never deserted her, however supreme the struggle may have
+been to retain it.
+
+A seat was by them; she went across the path to it and sat down. Gifford
+saw that she was deadly pale.
+
+"I fear this wretched business is upsetting you, Miss Morriston," he said
+gently. "Let me run to the house and fetch something to revive you."
+
+She made a gesture to stay him, and by an effort seemed to shake off the
+threatening collapse. "No, no," she said; "please don't. It is very
+stupid of me, but these repeated shocks are rather trying. You see one
+has never had any experience of the sort before."
+
+"It was more than stupid of me to blunder into the story," Gifford said
+self-reproachfully. "But it never occurred to me--"
+
+"No, no; of course not," she responded. "And, after all, I am bound to
+hear all about it sooner or later. Sit down and tell me your opinion of
+the affair. Supposing the girl was not mistaken who do you think the
+person seen escaping from the window could have been?"
+
+"That is difficult to say."
+
+"A thief, no doubt."
+
+"That is a natural conclusion."
+
+"Have the police any idea?"
+
+"Not that I know of. I should say decidedly no definite idea."
+
+"Or Mr. Henshaw?"
+
+"Whatever Mr. Henshaw's ideas may be he keeps them to himself."
+
+Miss Morriston checked the remark she had seemed about to make, and for a
+few minutes there was an awkward silence. Gifford broke it.
+
+"I am so sorry that I have been unable to get any hint of his intentions.
+Believe me, it has not been for want of trying. But the man, for reasons
+best known to himself, seems determined to remain inscrutable."
+
+The girl was staring in front of her. "Yes," she responded, with a catch
+of her breath; "that is evident. But it does not much matter. I know you
+have tried your best to do what I was foolish enough to ask you. And now
+please do not think any more of it. In my ignorance of the man's
+character I set you an impossible task. All I can do now is to thank you
+for your sympathy and devotion."
+
+Her tone pained him horribly. "I hope, Miss Morriston," he replied
+warmly, "you are not asking me to end my devotion."
+
+She gave a little bitter laugh. "Seeing that it is useless I have no
+right to ask its continuance," she replied almost coldly, "nor to expect
+you to involve yourself in my--in our worries."
+
+"But if I ask to be allowed that privilege?" he urged.
+
+She shook her head. "No, no, my friend," she insisted, with less warmth
+than the words implied, "it can lead to no good and would be a mistake.
+Let the man alone. To involve yourself with him can bring you nothing but
+trouble. Promise me you will take no further heed of this unhappy
+business."
+
+She turned to him as she spoke the last words, and there seemed less
+trouble in her face than in his. For at his heart there was a sickening
+fear and suspicion of what the words portended.
+
+"I can't promise that," he objected.
+
+"But I ask you; it is my wish," she returned with a touch of command.
+
+"For my sake, or yours?" he rejoined.
+
+"For both. Give me your promise. You must if we are to remain friends."
+
+Her look and the fascination in her voice seemed to pull the very heart
+out of him.
+
+"You are asking a cruelly hard thing of me," he replied, with a tremor in
+his voice. "I don't understand--"
+
+"No, you don't understand," she interrupted quickly. "It is enough to
+know that you have taken a girl's foolish commission too seriously, so
+seriously as to run the risk of making things even worse than they
+threatened to be. Now I ask you to leave well alone."
+
+"If it is well," he said doubtfully.
+
+"Of course. Why should it not be?" she rejoined, in a not very convincing
+tone. "Now I shall rely on you--and I am sure it will not be in vain--to
+respect my wishes. Things seem to be in a horrible muddle," she added
+with a rather dreary laugh, "but let's hope they will right themselves
+before long."
+
+She rose, compelling him to rise too. Something in the tone and manner of
+her last speech made him quite unwilling to end their conference, and
+desperately anxious to speak out everything that was in his mind and try
+to bring matters to a crisis.
+
+"Don't go for a moment," he said as she began to move away towards the
+house. "I have something to say to you."
+
+She turned quickly and faced him with a suggestion of displeasure in her
+eyes. "What is it?" she said with a touch of impatience.
+
+"Only this," he answered quietly. "Have you lost a brooch, Miss
+Morriston?"
+
+At the question the blood left her cheeks as it had done a little while
+before; then surged back till her face was suffused.
+
+"A brooch? Yes; I have missed one. Have you found it?" The words were
+spoken with a calmness which failed to hide the eagerness behind them.
+
+"I think so," he answered, taking out his letter-case. "A pearl, set in
+diamonds mounted on a safety-pin?"
+
+He opened the case and showed it pinned into the soft lining.
+
+"Yes; that is mine," she said; and for a moment or two by a strange
+attraction each looked into the other's eyes.
+
+Gifford bent his head over the case as he unfastened the brooch and
+took it out.
+
+"Where--where did you find it?" Something in the girl's voice made him
+glad that he was not looking at her.
+
+"In the garden," he said.
+
+"In the garden?" she repeated. He was looking up now and saw the intense
+relief in her face. "To-day?"
+
+"No; last time I was up here. I ought to have taken it to the house at
+once but--but it was a temptation to me to keep it till I could give it
+back to you like this. Do forgive me."
+
+It was plain she divined what he meant, but her cold manner came to the
+aid of her embarrassment.
+
+"I am only too glad to have it again. I am so glad you found it."
+
+"So am I," he responded with a touch of fervour. "I wish I could relieve
+your mind of everything else as easily."
+
+"I am sure you do," she said wistfully, and impulsively half put
+out her hand.
+
+He caught it as she was in the act of checking the action and drawing it
+back. "You may be sure--quite sure, of my devotion," he said, and raised
+her hand to his lips.
+
+An exclamation and a sudden start as the hand was quickly withdrawn made
+him look up. Edith Morriston's eyes were fixed with something like fear
+on an object behind him. An intuition told him what it was before he
+looked round to see Henshaw, with his characteristic, rather stealthy
+walk, coming towards them.
+
+Gifford set his teeth hard as the two faced round and awaited
+Henshaw's approach.
+
+"This man shall not annoy you," he said in an undertone.
+
+"Don't quarrel with him, for heaven's sake," she entreated in the same
+tone, under her breath, as the disturbing presence drew near. There was
+a strange excitement in her voice, though none in the set face.
+
+"I think your brother is looking for you, Miss Morriston," Henshaw said
+in his even voice when he was within a dozen paces of them.
+
+"I was just going to look for him," the girl replied in a voice strangely
+changed from that in which she had talked with Gifford. "Isn't it lucky?
+Mr. Gifford has picked up in the garden a brooch I lost some days ago. I
+did not dare to tell Dick, as it was his gift."
+
+Henshaw gave a casual glance at the ornament. "I congratulate you," he
+responded coolly. Then Gifford saw his eyes seek hers as he added: "Where
+was it found? Near the tower?"
+
+The covert malice of the insinuation was plain in the questioner's look,
+although the tone was casual enough.
+
+"No. On the lawn," Gifford replied quietly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN THE CHURCHYARD
+
+
+Nothing more of importance happened that day at Wynford, and Gifford had
+no further opportunity of private talk with Edith Morriston. But it was
+evident to him, and the knowledge gave him intense concern, that the girl
+went in fear of Gervase Henshaw. That he was intimidating her, and using
+his brother's death for that purpose, was beyond doubt, and the very fact
+that Edith Morriston was a woman of uncommon courage and self-control,
+one who in ordinary circumstances would be the last to give way to fear
+or submit to bullying, showed how serious the matter had become.
+
+Gifford on his part determined that this intolerable state of things must
+come to an end, and that in spite of the command laid upon him by the
+girl, he would now pit himself against her persecutor. He had given no
+actual promise, and even if he had it would have been drawn from him in
+ignorance of certain means which he possessed of help in this crisis.
+
+And a significant circumstance which came to Gifford's knowledge a day or
+two after his interview with Edith Morriston in the garden of Wynford,
+was the cause of his beginning to take action without further delay.
+
+Late on the next Sunday afternoon Gifford had gone for a country walk
+which he had arranged to bring him round in time for the evening service
+at the little village church of Wynford standing just outside the park
+boundary. His way took him by well-remembered field-paths which, although
+towards the end of his walk darkness had set in, he had no difficulty in
+tracing. The last field he crossed brought him to a by-road joining the
+highway which ran through Wynford, the junction being about a quarter of
+a mile from the church. As he neared the stile which admitted to the road
+he saw, on the other side of the hedge and showing just above it, the
+head of a man. At the sound of his footsteps the man quickly turned,
+and, as for a moment the fitful moonlight caught his face, Gifford was
+sure he recognized Gervase Henshaw. But he took no notice and kept on his
+way to the stile, which he crossed and gained the road. As he did so he
+glanced back. A horse and trap was waiting there with Henshaw in it. He
+was now bending down, probably with the object of concealing his
+identity, and had moved on a few paces farther down the road.
+
+Why was he waiting there? Gifford asked himself the obvious question with
+a decidedly uneasy feeling. Henshaw the Londoner, on a Sunday evening,
+waiting with a horse and trap in an unfrequented lane, a road which ran
+nowhere but to a farm. What did it mean?
+
+Naturally Gifford's suspicions connected Edith Morriston with the
+circumstance, and yet he told himself the idea was monstrously
+improbable. It was more likely that Henshaw was bound upon some search
+with the police. His movements were and had been for some time
+mysterious enough.
+
+Gifford's impulse as he turned into the high road was to stay there in
+concealment and watch for the upshot of Henshaw's presence. The
+suggestion did not, however, altogether commend itself to him. He
+disliked the idea of spying even upon such a man as Henshaw, whom he had
+good reason to suspect of playing a dastardly game. It was probable, too,
+that Henshaw had recognized him and might be on the look-out; it would be
+intensely humiliating to be caught watching. So, turning the pros and
+cons over in his mind, Gifford walked slowly on in a state of
+irresolution till he came to a wicket-gate which admitted from the road
+to a path which ran through the churchyard.
+
+There he stopped, debating with himself whether he should turn back and
+keep an eye on Henshaw or go on into the church where service was just
+beginning. It did seem absurd to imagine that Henshaw with his conveyance
+could be waiting there by appointment for a girl of the character and
+position of Edith Morriston. True, he had seen them walking together in
+secret, which was strange enough, but that need not necessarily have been
+a planned meeting.
+
+Such an urgent curiosity had hold of him at the bare possibility of
+something wrong that he, temporizing with his scruples, was about to turn
+back to the lane, when he saw the figure of a woman coming towards him
+along the churchyard path. She was tall and so far as he could make out,
+muffled in a cloak and veil. His heart gave a leap, for although the
+woman's face and figure were indistinguishable the height and gait
+corresponded with those of Edith Morriston.
+
+As she came near the little gate where he stood she stopped dead, seemed
+to hesitate a moment, and then turned as though to go back. Determined to
+set his doubts at rest Gifford passed quickly through the gate and
+followed her at an overtaking pace. Evidently sensible of her pursuit,
+the woman quickened her steps and, as Gifford gained on her, turned
+quickly from the path, threading her way among the graves to escape him.
+She had gone but a few steps when in her hurry she tripped over the mound
+of a small, unmarked grave and fell to the ground.
+
+Gifford ran to her and taking her arm assisted her to rise.
+
+"Miss Morriston!" he exclaimed, for he now was sure of her identity. "I
+hope you are not hurt," he added mechanically, his mind full of a greater
+and more critical contingency.
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she responded; but he was sure she had not recognized him
+then for the first time. "Oh, no, thank you; I am not in the least hurt.
+It was stupid of me to trip and fall like that. Are you going to church?"
+she added, evidently wishing to get away.
+
+"I was," he answered. "And you?"
+
+"I was too," she said, conquering her embarrassment, "but I have a
+headache, and prefer the fresh air. Don't let me keep you," she held out
+her hand. "Service has begun."
+
+He took her hand. "Miss Morriston," he said gravely, "don't think me very
+unmannerly, but I am not going to leave you here."
+
+In the bright moonlight he could see her expression of rather haughty
+surprise. "I think you are unmannerly, Mr. Gifford," she retorted
+defiantly. "May I ask why you are not going to leave me here?"
+
+"Because," he answered with quiet decision, "Mr. Henshaw is waiting just
+there in Turner's Lane."
+
+"Is he?" The same defiant note; but there was anxiety behind the
+cold pretence.
+
+"Yes. And pardon me, I have an idea he is waiting there for you."
+
+His firm tone and manner baffled equivocation. "What is it to you if he
+is?" she returned with a brave attempt to suggest cold displeasure. But
+her lip trembled and her voice was scarcely steady.
+
+"It is something to me," he replied insistently, "because it means a
+great deal to you. This man is persecuting you. He is--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford!" she exclaimed. "You take--"
+
+He held up his hand. "Please let me finish, Miss Morriston. I can
+convince you that I am not taking too much upon myself. I am no fool and
+am not interfering without warrant. This man Henshaw has succeeded in
+persuading you that you are in his power. That is very far from being the
+case, and I can prove it."
+
+"I don't understand you, Mr. Gifford."
+
+The tone of cold annoyance was gone now. Relief and a vague hope seemed
+to be struggling with an almost overwhelming anxiety.
+
+"You will understand directly," he replied. "I have more than a suspicion
+that this man is seeking to connect you with his brother's death and is
+making use of a certain half-knowledge he possesses to get a hold over
+you. Is that not so?"
+
+For a while she was silent, her breath coming quickly, as she hesitated
+how to meet the direct question. Gifford hated, yet somehow rejoiced, to
+see this proud, cold-mannered girl brought to this pass, and the reason
+he rejoiced lay in the knowledge that he could help her out of it.
+
+At length she spoke. "Mr. Gifford, I trust you as a man of honour. Your
+conjecture is right, but unhappily there is no help for it."
+
+"There is help," he declared reassuringly. "Can this man prove that you
+are in any way guilty of his brother's death?"
+
+The girl gave a shiver. "He can by implication," she admitted in a
+low voice.
+
+"Can he prove it?"
+
+"Not actually, perhaps. But far enough to disgrace me and mine for ever,"
+she said with a sob.
+
+"And with that idea he terrorizes you?" The question was put with quiet
+sternness.
+
+"Yes, yes; but I cannot help it! I cannot bear it. Oh, let me go." She
+seemed now in an agony of fear.
+
+Gifford laid his hand on her as she sought to move away towards the gate
+and the waiting enemy.
+
+"Miss Morriston," he said with decision, "you must not go; you must have
+no more communication with this man Henshaw. He can prove nothing against
+you, while I can prove everything in your favour."
+
+Her look of fear and impatience changed at the last words to one of
+startled incredulity.
+
+"You, Mr. Gifford? What do you mean?"
+
+"Exactly what I say," he returned decisively, "I can prove, if need be,
+that you had no hand in that cowardly ruffian's death."
+
+"You? How?" the girl gasped, staring at him with dilated eyes.
+
+"I will convince you," he answered quietly. "When I told you the
+other day that I had found your brooch on the lawn I said, for an
+obvious reason, what was not true. I found it in the room where
+Clement Henshaw died."
+
+"You did," the girl gasped almost in terror. "When?"
+
+"A few minutes after his death," Gifford replied calmly. "I happened to
+be present in the room when he came by his fatal wound."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
+
+
+As she heard the words Edith Morriston stood for a moment as though
+transfixed, and then staggered back grasping at a tombstone for support.
+Gifford took a quick step forward, but before he could be of help she had
+recovered from the shock, and motioning him back, was looking at him with
+incredulous eyes.
+
+"You were there?" she repeated, with more suspicion now than unbelief.
+
+"In that room at the top of the tower; yes; by accident," he answered in
+a tone calculated to reassure her.
+
+"Then you know--you saw what happened?"
+
+He bowed his head in assent. "Enough to be sure that Mr. Clement Henshaw
+was a great scoundrel, and that his fate was not altogether unmerited.
+Now," he added in a tone of decision, "you will have nothing more to do
+with this Gervase Henshaw, or he with you."
+
+It was good to see the eager relief in Edith Morriston's eyes.
+
+"And you never told me this before," she said.
+
+"I could not very well," he replied. "And I should not have told you now
+had I not been forced to protect you from this man. It is a dangerous
+position for me to stand in, and I should in ordinary circumstances have
+let the affair remain a mystery."
+
+"I understand your position," she responded, with a look of gratitude.
+"But you can trust me."
+
+"Indeed I can," he assured her with infinite content.
+
+"I don't realize it now," the girl said, with signs that she was fighting
+against the effect of the reaction. "Can you trust me enough to tell me
+how it all happened?"
+
+"I would trust you with my life," he responded fervently. "Though it
+hardly comes to that. Of course I will tell you the whole story of my
+adventure. But we had better not stay here. Mr. Henshaw must be getting
+impatient by this time and may come to look for you. Before he has the
+chance of meeting you it will be well for you to hear the real facts of
+the case. Shall we come into the park, or would your brother--"
+
+"Dick is at church," she said, a little shamefacedly, it seemed. "I gave
+him the slip."
+
+"What a terrible risk you have just run," Gifford observed as they went
+through the churchyard to the private gate into the park. "If I had not
+happened to come along just then and see Henshaw waiting--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk of that now," she entreated. "I knew it meant horrible
+misery for the rest of my life, but anything seemed better than the
+terrible scandal which threatened us."
+
+"With which Henshaw threatened you, the scoundrel," Gifford corrected.
+"Now you shall see how little he really had to go upon."
+
+"And yet," she murmured, "it seemed overwhelming. I can scarcely believe
+even now that the danger is past."
+
+"Wait till you hear my story," he said with a reassuring smile.
+
+They had entered the enclosed path, called Church Walk, and passing the
+branch which led to the drive, kept on between the tall laurel hedges.
+
+"We shall be quite undisturbed here," the girl said. "Dick is sure to
+turn off and go in by the drive. Now, Mr. Gifford, do trust me and tell
+me everything."
+
+"I hope it is not necessary to talk of trust between us," he replied,
+with as much tenderness as his chivalry permitted.
+
+"No; forgive me; I hope not," she responded quietly. "Now please tell me,
+Mr. Gifford, what I am longing to hear."
+
+"You will remember," Gifford began, as they slowly paced the moon-lit
+path, "that on the evening I came down here my suitcase containing my
+evening clothes had gone astray on the railway. There was no chance of
+its turning up at the hotel before ten o'clock, and I was therefore
+prevented from appearing at the dance till quite late. Naturally I would
+not hear of Kelson waiting for me, which like the good-natured fellow he
+is, he proposed to do; he therefore went off in good time."
+
+"Yes; I remember he arrived quite early," Edith Morriston murmured.
+
+"Clement Henshaw," Gifford proceeded, "left the hotel about the
+same time. They must have reached your house within a few minutes
+of one another."
+
+As he paused, his companion looked round at him inquiringly. "Yes," she
+said, with a certain suggestion of reticence; "I remember that too."
+
+Gifford continued. "Having seen Kelson off, I went up to our sitting-room
+to wait till my kit should arrive. I was very keen on seeing again the
+old place where in my young days I used to spend such happy months, and
+my enforced waiting soon became almost intolerable boredom. The result
+was that I got a fit of the fidgets; I could not settle down to read, and
+at last, having still an hour to spare, I resolved in my restlessness to
+stroll out and take a preliminary look from outside at what was
+practically my old home."
+
+"Yes." There was a catch of growing excitement in Edith Morriston's
+voice, which was scarcely above a whisper.
+
+"The wind was sharp that night, as we all know," Gifford went on, "and
+forbade loitering. A smart walk of fifteen or twenty minutes brought me
+here, knowing as I did every path and short cut across the park. The old
+familiar house looked picturesque enough with its many lighted windows
+and every sign of gaiety. Keeping away from the front entrance where
+carriages were constantly driving up and a good many people were about, I
+went round to the other side, avoiding the stables and passing along by
+the west wing. This, of course, brought me to the old tower, the scene of
+many a game and frolic in my young days. At its foot I stood for a while
+recalling memories of the past. In the mere idleness of affectionate
+remembrance I went up to the garden door of the tower and mechanically
+turned the handle. It was unlocked.
+
+"I hardly know what made me go in; an impulse to stand again in those
+once familiar surroundings. It was fascinating to be in the old tower
+which the dim light showed me was just as I had last seen it more than a
+dozen years ago. The past came vividly back to me, and I stood there for
+a while indulging in a reverie of old days. The associations of the place
+seemed every moment to grip me more compellingly. The tower seemed quiet
+and altogether deserted; all I could hear was the dance-music away in the
+hall. There could be no risk, I thought, of being seen if I went up to
+the floor above: and I quietly ascended the stairs to the first landing.
+The narrow passage leading to the hall was lighted up with sconces; at
+its farther end I could see the movement of the dancers. The band was
+playing a favourite waltz of mine, and I stayed there rather enjoying the
+music and the sight from my safe retreat.
+
+"It did not seem likely that any one would be coming to the tower, and
+I resolved, foolishly enough, for, of course, I was in my travelling
+suit, to wander up to the next floor and take a look at the room which
+held a rather sentimental association for me. It was a stupid thing to
+do as I was there in, for the moment, a rather questionable situation,
+still I felt pretty secure from being noticed, and went up warily to
+the next floor.
+
+"There I found the room considerably altered from my recollection of it,
+especially as it was arranged as a sitting-out room, but no one was
+there, nor were there any signs of its having been used, which from its
+rather secluded position, was natural enough.
+
+"Having given a reminiscent look round I concluded that it would be best
+to make a retreat, especially as there would be ample opportunity later
+in the evening for me to visit it again. I turned and went to the door.
+On reaching the stairs I heard to my great annoyance the sounds of
+persons coming up and the subdued tones of a man's voice, I realized that
+I was caught, and my one chance of escape was to retreat up the topmost
+flight of stairs and wait in the darkness till the couple had gone into
+the room I had just quitted.
+
+"Accordingly I turned and went up the remaining flight on tip-toe, two
+stairs at a time, waiting beyond the turn in hiding till the coast
+should be clear.
+
+"The couple had now reached the landing below and, so far as I could
+tell, went into the room. I was just about to make a quick descent,
+hoping to get past that and other awkward points unnoticed, when to my
+dismay I became aware that the people whom I had thought safely settled
+in the room below had come out and were beginning to mount the topmost
+flight of stairs. This was indeed a most awkward predicament for me, and
+I debated for a moment whether my best course would not be to go boldly
+down the stairs and pass them, rather than retreat to the top room. If I
+had chosen the former course how differently things might have turned
+out; at any rate, for better or worse, the situation as it exists to-day
+might have presented itself in quite another form."
+
+Edith Morriston glanced quickly at Gifford as he uttered the reflection.
+She seemed about to speak, but checked the impulse, and he continued:
+
+"Treading noiselessly, I bolted up the remaining stairs and went into the
+dark room at the top. At the door, which stood open, I stopped and
+listened. To my intense vexation, for the situation was becoming
+decidedly unpleasant, the pair were still coming up. In silence now, but
+I could hear their approaching footsteps and the rustle of the lady's
+dress. Unfortunately, there was no corner on the top landing where I
+could stand hidden, so I was forced to draw back into the room.
+
+"Happily it had been so familiar to me from childhood that I could find
+my way about it in the dark. I well remembered the little inner room
+formed by the bartizan of the tower, and into this I tip-toed, feeling
+horribly guilty. If only I had not been in that suspicious brown suit! In
+evening clothes there would, of course, have been no necessity for this
+surreptitious retreat. I devoutly hoped that the two were merely bent on
+exploring the place and that the darkness of the old lumber-room would
+quickly satisfy their curiosity and send them down again. I heard them
+come into the room, the man speaking in a tone so low that the words were
+indistinguishable from where I stood; and then the sound of the door
+being shut struck my ear unpleasantly.
+
+"Then the man spoke in a more audible voice, a voice which in a flash I
+recognized as Henshaw's. And his first words caught my attention with an
+unpleasant grip."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+GIFFORD CONTINUES HIS STORY
+
+
+"'Failing to get the regular invitation I had a right to expect, I have
+had to take this mode of seeing you,' I just caught the words in
+Henshaw's metallic, rather penetrating voice.
+
+"The lady's reply was given in a tone so low that at the distance I stood
+the words were indistinguishable.
+
+"'Unmanly?' he exclaimed, evidently taking up her word. 'I don't admit
+that for a moment. You know how we stand to one another and what my
+feelings are towards you. It is no use for you to try to ignore them or
+me. I won't stand being treated like this. There is no reason why my
+advances should be repulsed as though they were an insult.'
+
+"I caught the last words of the lady's reply: '--good reason, and
+you know it.'
+
+"It was more than clear to me now that I was to be the witness of a very
+hateful piece of business. The man's tone, even more than his words, made
+my blood boil, and I began to congratulate myself on being thus
+accidentally in a position to protect, if need be, the girl whom this
+fellow was evidently bullying. With the utmost care I crept nearer to the
+small curtained arch which admitted to the larger room. The pitch
+darkness of the little turret chamber in which I stood made me feel quite
+safe from observation. And I had no qualms now about eavesdropping; the
+situation surely justified it.
+
+"I went forward till I could get a sight round the arch of the two
+persons in the room. They were standing near the window at some distance
+from me. In the obscurity, not quite as impenetrable as that out of which
+I looked, I could distinguish the tall figure of the girl in a dark
+ball-dress, and facing her, towards me, the big form of Henshaw."
+
+"You had no idea who the lady was?" Edith Morriston interrupted
+him to ask.
+
+"Naturally not the vaguest," Gifford answered. "When I had gone as far
+as was safe, I set myself to listen again.
+
+"'I don't know what your game is or whether you think you can play the
+fool with me,' Henshaw was saying in an ugly tone. 'But I warn you not to
+try it; I am not a man to be fooled. Now let us be friends again,' he
+added in a softer tone.
+
+"It seemed as though he put out his hand for a caress, for the girl
+started back and I heard her say 'Never!'
+
+"'Folly!' he exclaimed. Then took a step forward. 'You are in love with
+another man?' he demanded. I could hear the hiss of the question.
+
+"'If I were I should not tell you,' was the defiant reply in a low voice.
+
+"'You would not?' he snapped viciously. 'Let me tell you this, then. You
+shall never marry another man while I live. I hold the bar to that, as
+you will find.'
+
+"'You mean to act like a cad?' I heard the girl say.
+
+"'I mean to act,' he retorted, 'like a sensible man who has a fair
+advantage and means, in spite of your caprice, to keep it.'
+
+"'Fair?' the girl echoed in scorn.
+
+"'Yes, fair,' Henshaw insisted with some heat. 'I saved you from a
+scandal that would have ruined you, and it was natural I should ask my
+reward. But your notions of gratitude, which had led me on to love you,
+soon evaporated; but I am not so easily dismissed.'
+
+"'You mean to continue your cowardly persecution?' There was a tremor in
+the girl's voice that made me long to get at the man.
+
+"'I mean to marry you,' he retorted. 'Or at least--'
+
+"'Don't touch me!' she said hoarsely as he approached her.
+
+"'You are coming away with me to-night,' he insisted. 'You need not
+pretend to be horrified. It won't be your first nocturnal adventure, and
+I have waited quite long enough.'
+
+"He had driven her to the other corner on the window side of the room.
+As I leaned forward ready to fasten on the man when he should offer
+violence I heard a peculiar sound as of a loose piece of wood or iron
+striking the sill.
+
+"'Keep away!' the girl said in a hoarse whisper. 'If you drive me to
+desperation I swear I will kill you.'
+
+"There followed a vicious laugh from Henshaw and I could tell from the
+panting which followed that a struggle was going on. Just then the moon
+came out and I could see that Henshaw was trying to get some object--a
+weapon, I guessed--away from the girl. It is a wonder that neither of
+them saw me. In the dark opening I must have still been practically
+hidden, and they too intent on their struggle to notice anything beyond.
+
+"I was just on the point of springing out to the girl's assistance when
+she staggered back and, turning, made a rush for the door. In a moment
+Henshaw was after her, but in his blind haste he either tripped or
+stumbled and fell heavily. I think it likely that in the dark he struck
+against the corner of the rather massive oak table in the centre of the
+room and was thrown off his balance. He rose immediately, but I was now
+close behind him, and as he put out his arm to clutch the girl, who was
+then half through the doorway, I gripped him by the collar and with all
+my strength swung him back into the room.
+
+"He must have been most horribly surprised, for he uttered a gasping cry
+as he spun round, and instead of keeping his feet and rushing at me as I
+expected he went down with a thud by the window."
+
+They had stopped in their walk now, and Edith Morriston was listening
+almost breathlessly to Gifford's graphic story. Never for a moment had he
+suggested the lady's identity; for all that had passed neither of them
+might have known it.
+
+"I turned quickly to the door," Gifford continued, "but to my surprise
+the lady whom I expected to find there had disappeared. I could neither
+see nor hear any sign of her.
+
+"I took a step back into the room, fully expecting an onslaught from the
+infuriated Henshaw. 'You cowardly brute!' I exclaimed in the heat of my
+anger and excitement. But no reply came, and to my wonder he lay still on
+the floor where he had fallen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+HOW GIFFORD ESCAPED
+
+
+"I waited for some time in silence, expecting him every moment to rise
+and retaliate. He was a big, muscular man, but it never occurred to me to
+be in any fear of him physically. For one thing my indignation was too
+hot to admit fear; I happen to be quite good enough at boxing to be able
+to take care of myself, and I was sure--all the more from his continuing
+to lie there--that such a despicable bully must be a coward.
+
+"'You had better get up and clear out of this house,' I said wrathfully,
+'before you get the thrashing you so richly deserve.'
+
+"No answer came. As I waited for one there was, save for my own
+breathing, dead silence in the room. Before speaking I had heard
+something like a long drawn sigh come from the man on the floor, but now,
+listening intently, I could hear nothing. Two explanations suggested
+themselves to account for his still lying there. One, shame at his vile
+conduct having been witnessed by a third person, the other that he had
+struck his head against the wall in falling and was stunned.
+
+"Naturally I was not greatly concerned at the fellow's condition,
+whichever it was; still it would, I concluded, be well to settle the
+matter, and if he was merely skulking see that he cleared out of the
+house. I shut the door, and then crossing to where the man lay, struck a
+match and held it out to get a view of him.
+
+"He lay on his face with his arms bent under him. I prodded him with my
+foot, but he did not stir; he lay absolutely, rather uncannily still. The
+match burned out; I struck another and leaned over to get a sight of his
+face. To my horror there met my eyes a dark wet patch on the floor which
+I instinctively felt must be blood. You may imagine the terrible thrill
+the conviction gave me. Yet I could not believe even then that anything
+really serious had happened.
+
+"I struck a fresh match and holding it up with one hand, with the other
+took the man's shoulder and turned him over on his back. Then I knew that
+I was there with a dead man. The hue of the face was unmistakably that of
+death. And the cause of it was plainly to be seen. There was a wound in
+the man's neck from which blood came freely.
+
+"How had the wound--clearly a fatal one--been caused? I searched for an
+explanation. That which forced itself upon me was that the girl had in
+her desperation stabbed her persecutor with some weapon she had found
+there or brought with her. It was a horrible idea to entertain, although
+the act would have been almost justified. I wondered if by chance the
+weapon was still there. Striking a match I looked round. Yes; there on
+the floor near the spot where Henshaw had first fallen, lay a narrow
+blood-stained chisel.
+
+"Whatever my first conclusions were I can see now the most probable
+explanation of how Henshaw came by his death-wound. He had forced the
+chisel away from the girl; he had kept it in his hand; in his eagerness
+to prevent his victim's escape he had not realized that he was holding
+it point upwards, and when he fell it had pierced him with all the force
+of his heavy body falling plump on it."
+
+"Then you know it was an accident?" Edith Morriston drew a great breath
+of relief from the painful tension with which she had listened.
+
+"I can see it was a pure accident," Gifford answered. "All the same it
+was an accident with an ugly look about it, and I quickly realized that I
+was in an equivocal--not to say dangerous, situation."
+
+"It was a terrible predicament for you," the girl said sympathetically.
+
+"It was indeed. And one which called for prompt action. Moreover the very
+fact that I was not in evening clothes made it all the more suspicious. I
+pulled my wits together and proceeded to make quite sure that the man was
+actually dead. That I found was beyond all doubt the case, and it now
+remained for me to make my escape before being found there in that
+hideous situation.
+
+"I went out to the landing, closing the door after me, with the idea of
+getting down the stairs and escaping into the garden as secretly as I had
+come in. I had crept down a very few stairs when I found this was not to
+be. A chatter of voices just below told me that people were in the tower,
+and leaning over I could see couples passing between the passage to the
+hall and the room below me.
+
+"At any moment, I realized, some of them might take it into their heads
+to explore the topmost room, when the result would be disastrous.
+Certainly in my mufti I could not get past the next floor just then
+without exciting fatal notice, and to wait for an opportunity when the
+coast might be clear was too dangerous, seeing the risk of someone
+coming up.
+
+"It was not easy to see my way of escape. I went to the top room and
+locked the door. My nerves were pretty strong, but they were severely
+tried when I shut myself in with the dead man and had the consciousness
+of having laid myself open to the charge of being his murderer. I stood
+there by the door thinking desperately what I could do. Fool that I had
+been to venture into the place in that garb. But who could have foreseen
+the result? Anyhow there was no time for reflection; it was necessary to
+act and seek a possible expedient. Hopelessly enough I went into the
+little inner room and struck a match. In a moment a thrill of hope came
+to me, for the first object the light showed me was a big coil of rope
+conspicuous among the odds and ends of lumber in the recess. The idea of
+escape by the window had only occurred to me to be dismissed as a sheer
+impossibility; the height of the tower made that quite prohibitive, but
+here seemed a chance of it. If only the rope was long enough.
+
+"I got hold of the coil as my match burned out, and pulled it away from
+the surrounding rubbish. Its weight gave me hope that it would be
+sufficient. In haste I dragged it to the outer room into which the
+moonlight was now streaming. With a shuddering glance at the dead man,
+whose ashen face stared up in ghastly fashion in the moonbeams, I opened
+the window and looked out to make sure that no one was below. Satisfied
+on that point I brought forward the rope and began paying it out of the
+window. To my content I saw that there was a strong iron stanchion at the
+side which would allow of the rope being fastened to it.
+
+"There was light enough just then to enable me to see pretty well when
+the end of the rope reached the ground, and upon examining what was left
+in the room I calculated that not much more than half was outside. In a
+flash the discovery gave me an idea. Why should I not simply pass the
+rope behind the stanchion and use it doubled? By that means I could pull
+it down after me when I reached the ground, and so not only effect my
+escape but also leave the fact unknown. That, together with the door
+locked on the inside, would tend to make Henshaw's death a mystery with a
+strong probability in favour of suicide, which would be altogether the
+happiest conclusion to arrive at. In fact my hastily formed calculation
+was, as we know, subsequently borne out and the suicide theory would
+probably have been quietly accepted had it not been for the intervention
+of Gervase Henshaw with his smartness and incredulity.
+
+"That is practically the end of my story, Miss Morriston. I laid the
+chisel by the body, went to the window, pulled in the rope, carefully got
+the centre, adjusted it through the stanchion, and with a last look at
+the dead man, got out of the window, a rather nerve-trying business, and
+began to lower myself. I had calculated that the double rope was long
+enough to take me to within a few feet of the ground, and this proved to
+be the case. When I came to the end I let go of one side and pulled the
+other with me as I dropped. Then I drew the rope down, the latter half
+when released falling with a great thud. Hastily I set off for the lake,
+dragging the rope after me. At the landing-stage by the boat-house I
+coiled it up as best I could and threw it in. As I had anticipated it was
+thick and heavy enough to sink without being weighted. Then with a last
+glance at the tower I made my way as quickly as possible to the hotel in
+a state of nerves which you may imagine, little thinking that my descent
+from the tower had been witnessed. My first intention was to abandon all
+idea of going to the dance, but on reflection I came to the conclusion
+that I had better at least put in an appearance there.
+
+"Accordingly I changed and came on late to the ball, as you know.
+Naturally a great curiosity possessed me to find out the girl who had
+played the third part in the drama which had been enacted in the tower.
+But I had not seen her face, nor heard her voice sufficiently to be able
+to recognize it. There were several tall girls in the room, yourself
+among the number, but naturally it never occurred to me--"
+
+He stopped awkwardly, just as by inadvertence he was about to say that
+which all along he had studiously refrained from suggesting.
+
+"To suspect me," Edith Morriston completed his sentence with a smile.
+
+"No," he continued frankly. "You would have been the last person to enter
+my head in that connexion. And then Kelson came out of the passage from
+the tower with Miss Tredworth, to whom he had just proposed. He
+introduced me in a way which suggested their new relationship, and we had
+just began to chat when to my horror I noticed what to my mind went to
+prove that she was the person for whom I was looking. There were dark red
+stains on the white roses she wore on her dress. It was an unpleasant
+shock to me, placing me, as it seemed, in a terribly difficult position.
+For, at the first blush of my discovery, it all seemed to fit in. Clement
+Henshaw had been, I imagined, in love with Miss Tredworth before Kelson
+appeared on the scene. She had thrown him over for my friend, and
+Henshaw, taking his rejection in bad part, had threatened to expose some
+questionable incident in her past. Now that is all happily explained
+away, and I won't retrace the steps by which my imagination led me on;
+but you see how painfully I was situated with respect to my friend.
+
+"That is my story, Miss Morriston. Had I known what I know now I should
+not have kept it to myself so long; but up to a certain point, until the
+last few days, there seemed no reason for making the dangerous secret
+known to any one. Now, when it appears necessary to protect you from this
+man, Henshaw, the account of the part I played in the tragedy must be
+told in your interest."
+
+Edith Morriston drew in a deep breath as Gifford ceased speaking. "It is
+very kind and chivalrous of you, Mr. Gifford," she said in a low voice,
+"to run this risk for me, although your telling me the story shall never
+involve you in danger."
+
+"I am ready for your sake to face any danger the telling of my secret may
+hold for me," he responded firmly.
+
+"I am sure of that, as I am sure of you," she replied. Then added with a
+change of tone, "You were certain for a while that Muriel Tredworth had
+not only been guilty of something discreditable in her past but had
+stabbed to death in your presence the man who knew her secret."
+
+"I'm afraid there seemed to me no alternative but to believe it," he
+acknowledged.
+
+"When you found out that you were mistaken in her identity and that she
+had nothing whatever to do with the tragedy you would naturally transfer
+the opinion you had held of her to--to the other woman--the one who was
+actually there?"
+
+The question was put searchingly and was not to be evaded.
+
+"That would be a natural consequence," Gifford admitted frankly. "But
+there was in my mind always a growing doubt whether the wound had not
+been given accidentally. And that doubt became almost certainty when the
+real identity of Henshaw's victim became apparent."
+
+Edith Morriston looked at him steadily. "You know it--for certain?" she
+asked almost coldly.
+
+"Naturally I cannot fail to know it now," he answered sympathetically.
+
+She gave a rather bitter laugh. "I shall not deny it to you, Mr. Gifford,
+even if I thought it could be of any use. But, knowing so much, you owe
+it to me to hear my explanation of matters which look so black against
+me, and above all to accept my absolute assurance that so far as I am
+concerned Clement Henshaw's wound was quite accidental. Indeed I never
+dreamt that he had been hurt until his body was found."
+
+Gifford seized her hand by an irresistible impulse.
+
+"Miss Morriston, if you only knew how glad and relieved I am to hear you
+say that!" he exclaimed.
+
+"When you hear my story," she said, composedly but with an underlying
+bitterness which was hardly to be concealed, "the story of a long
+martyrdom of persecution--for it has been nothing less--you will acquit
+me of being guilty of anything disreputable. What I did was innocent
+enough and it moreover was forced upon me."
+
+"Tell me," he urged tenderly.
+
+"I must tell you," she returned, "if only to set myself right in your
+eyes who have been witness of the terrible sequel to it all. But not
+to-night; it is too late, and the story is long: it must be told at
+length. Dick will be home by this and I must go. I would ask you to come
+in, but there would be no opportunity for private talk there. Will you
+meet me to-morrow morning at half-past ten by the summer-house near the
+wood that runs up to James' farm? You know it?"
+
+"Well. I will be there."
+
+"It is rather a long way for you to come," she said, "but there are
+reasons for avoiding the big wood with the rides."
+
+"I know," he replied. "Henshaw might be on the look-out there for you."
+Then he added in answer to her quick look of curiosity, "I happened once
+by accident to see him there with you."
+
+"Ah, yes," she admitted with a shudder, "I will tell you about that."
+
+"I think I can guess," he said quietly. "Now in the meantime you will
+take no notice of this man if he writes or tries to see you. He will
+probably be exasperated by your not keeping the appointment this evening
+and may determine to put the screw on."
+
+"Yes," she agreed with a lingering fear in her voice.
+
+"Leave him to me to deal with," Gifford said reassuringly. "And do make
+up your mind that all will be well."
+
+"I will, thanks to you, my friend in need."
+
+And so, with a warm pressure of the hands, they parted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+EDITH MORRISTON'S STORY
+
+
+Next morning Gifford was in good time at the rendezvous, a sequestered
+corner of the park, and Edith Morriston soon joined him. "Let us come
+into the summer-house," she suggested; "it will be more convenient for my
+long story."
+
+"First of all, tell me," Gifford said, "has anything happened since last
+night? Has Henshaw made any move?"
+
+She took out a note and handed it to him. "Only that," she said with an
+uneasy laugh.
+
+"There must have been some misunderstanding last evening," Gifford read.
+"I cannot think that your not keeping the appointment was intentional.
+Anyhow I can wait till to-night, then I shall be at the lane just beyond
+the church at 7.30. That you may not repent I hope you have not
+repented." That was all.
+
+"A thinly veiled threat," Gifford observed. "The man in his way seems as
+great a bully as his brother. May I keep this? I am going to see Mr.
+Henshaw presently, and have a serious talk with him. After which I shall
+hope to be able to convince you that your troubles are at an end."
+
+"If you can do that--" she said.
+
+"The knowledge that I have been of service to you will be my great
+reward. I hope I am sufficiently a gentleman not to ask or expect
+any other."
+
+She made no reply. They had entered the little rustic summer-house,
+and sat down.
+
+"Dick has driven into Branchester," Edith Morriston said, perhaps to end
+an embarrassing pause. "He will not be back till luncheon, so we are not
+likely to be interrupted."
+
+"That's well," Gifford answered. "Now please begin what I am most
+anxious to hear."
+
+"The story I have to tell you, Mr. Gifford," Edith Morriston began, "is
+not a pleasant one and is as humiliating to me to relate as was the
+experience, the terrible experience, I had to go through. But to be fair
+to myself I must be quite frank with you, and am sure you will never
+give me cause to repent speaking unreservedly."
+
+"You can rely upon my honour to respect your confidence," Gifford
+responded warmly.
+
+"I know I may," the girl answered. "Well, then, you must know first of
+all, that my father married a second time, and he unfortunately chose a
+woman well connected enough, but heartless and an utter snob. I suppose
+men are often blind to these hateful qualities before marriage; doubtless
+a clever, unscrupulous woman is able to hide her faults when she has the
+main chance in view. My stepmother was a good deal younger than my
+father, and I dare say on the whole made him, socially at any rate, a
+fairly good wife. Her one idea was social aggrandizement at any cost, and
+I unhappily was to fall a victim to it.
+
+"I suppose we ought not to blame her for determining that I ought to
+marry well; she wanted to do the best for the family and was
+constitutionally incapable of making allowance for or considering any
+one's private feelings. To make a long story short, my stepmother, in
+pursuance of her policy, determined that I should marry a certain peer
+whose name I need not mention. He was altogether a bad lot, and I soon
+came to know it. I received certain warnings, but without them I could
+see that the man was all wrong, and I told my stepmother what I
+thought of him.
+
+"She scoffed at the idea that he was any worse than the average man. All
+I had to concern myself with was the fact that he was a peer of ancient
+lineage, of large property, and there wasn't another girl in the kingdom
+who wouldn't jump at him. I might well chance his making me unhappy since
+he could make me a countess, and to refuse him would be absolute madness;
+Mrs. Morriston's face grew black at the very thought of it. She soon got
+my father on to her side, and between them I had a hateful time of it.
+It's the old story, which will be told as long as there are worldly,
+selfish women on the earth, but it was none the less fresh and poignant
+to me who had to live through the experience.
+
+"Things got so bad through my continued refusal to fall in with my
+stepmother's wishes that I was reduced to a state bordering on despair.
+My father, whom I loved, was turned against me; his mind was so
+prejudiced in favour of the man whom I was being gradually forced to take
+as a husband that he could see no good reason, only sheer obstinacy, in
+my refusal. Altogether my life was becoming a perfect hell. Dick, who
+might have stood by me, and made things less unbearable, was away on a
+two years' tour for big game shooting; I had no one to confide in, no one
+to help me.
+
+"Just as things were at their worst and I was getting quite desperate, I
+met at a dance a man named Archie Jolliffe. He had been a sailor, but
+having come into money had given up the Service and settled down to enjoy
+himself. He and I got on very well together from the first; he was a
+breezy, genial, young fellow, fond of fun and adventure and a pleasant
+contrast in every way to the man who was threatening to ruin my life. I
+don't know that in happier circumstances I should have cared for
+Jolliffe; there wasn't much in him beyond his capacity for fun; he was
+inclined to be fast in a foolish sort of way; a man's man rather than one
+for whom a woman could feel much respect. Still he was not vicious like
+the other, for whom my dislike increased every time I saw him.
+
+"Well, Archie Jolliffe fell in love with me and in his impetuous way made
+no secret of it. I need not say it did not take long for my step-mother
+to become aware of it, and with the idea that I was encouraging him she
+became furious. Except that poor Archie was a welcome change from the
+atmosphere of my home and the hateful attentions of the man who was
+always being left alone with me, I did not really care for him, and but
+for Mrs. Morriston's attitude I should have told him it was no use his
+thinking of me. Considering the sequel, I wish I had done so; but it is
+too late now for regrets. His love-making gave me a chance of defying my
+stepmother, and I rather enjoyed baulking her plans to keep Archie and me
+apart. If I did not encourage him--indeed, I refused him every time he
+proposed--I did not dismiss him as I ought to have done, and he evidently
+had an idea that perseverance would win the day. And so, after a
+fashion, it did.
+
+"Matters reached such a pitch at last that it became plain that I must
+either consent to marry the man I loathed or leave my home for good.
+Goaded on by my apparent encouragement of Archie Jolliffe, my stepmother
+resolved to bring matters to a crisis. She started a terrific row with me
+one day, my father was brought into it, and I stood up against them both.
+The upshot was that when the interview was over I went out of the house
+boiling with indignation and for the time utterly reckless. Chance caught
+the psychological moment and threw me in the way of Archie Jolliffe. He
+saw something was wrong and pressed me to tell him what had happened. He
+was so chivalrous and sympathetic that I was led in my turbulent state of
+mind to become confidential, the more so when he told me he had known for
+some time how I was being treated.
+
+"'You must not marry that man,' he said 'It is an outrage for your people
+to suggest such a thing. He is a big swell and all that, with heaps of
+money, but any man in town who knows anything will tell you he is quite
+impossible,'
+
+"I had heard that, and had told my stepmother, but of course it did not
+suit her to heed me. She cared for nothing beyond the fact that I should
+be a countess, and said so.
+
+"Archie and I talked together for a long time and with the result that in
+my longing for protection from the powers against me and my indignation
+at the way I was being treated I had promised when we parted to marry
+him, and we had planned to elope together that very night.
+
+"At that time we were living at Haynthorpe Hall--you know it?--about ten
+miles from here. That evening I slipped out of the house after dinner and
+met Archie, who was waiting for me at a quiet spot outside the village.
+His plan was to drive across country to Branchester Junction, where it
+was not likely we should be noticed or recognized, catch the night train
+up to town and be married there next morning. You may imagine the state
+of desperation--utter desperation and recklessness--I was in to have
+consented to such a thing, but I could see no help for it, and of two
+evils I seemed to be choosing the least. The future looked hideously
+vague and dark; still Jolliffe was capable of being transformed into a
+decent husband, while the other man assuredly was not.
+
+"Archie seemed overjoyed, poor fellow, as I mounted into the dog-cart; he
+had hardly expected that I should not repent. Once we were fairly off and
+bowling along the dark road, a sense of relief came to me, and whatever
+qualms I may have felt soon vanished. However wrong my conduct was I had
+been driven to it and my father, for whom I was sorry, by taking part
+against me, deserved to lose me.
+
+"My companion had the tact not to talk much, and I was glad to think he
+could realize the seriousness of the step he had persuaded me to take.
+But the little he did say was affectionately sympathetic and, now that
+the die was cast, it comforted me to indulge hopes of him.
+
+"All went well till we were about three miles from Branchester; then an
+awful thing happened. Our horse was a fast trotter, and Archie let him
+have his head, knowing that it would never do for us to miss the train.
+As we turned a blind corner we came into collision with another dog-cart
+which we had neither seen nor heard. The force of the impact was so
+great that our off-wheel was smashed; the cart went over, we were both
+flung out, and as I fell I realized horribly that my desperate expedient
+was a failure.
+
+"I was not much hurt, for my fall was broken, and I soon scrambled to my
+feet. But Archie lay there motionless. The man who was the only occupant
+of the other dog-cart had pulled into the hedge and alighted. He came up
+to offer his help, and to express his sorrow at the accident, which he
+said, doubtless with truth, was not his fault. I dare say you will have
+guessed that the man was Clement Henshaw. Between us we raised Archie and
+carried him to the side of the road. He was quite insensible, and
+breathing heavily.
+
+"'I am afraid he is rather seriously hurt,' the man said sympathetically.
+'We ought to get him to Branchester Hospital as soon as possible.'
+
+"I was so overwhelmed by the sudden and terrible end to our adventure
+that I could think of nothing. By a great piece of luck a belated dray
+came along on its way to Branchester. Into this, with the driver's help,
+we lifted poor Archie; and then Henshaw and I drove on in his trap to
+prepare the hospital authorities for the patient's arrival. The doctor
+after a cursory examination gave very little hope, and I left the
+hospital in a most wretched state of mind, feeling more than indirectly
+responsible for the end of that bright young life. Henshaw arranged for
+the horse and smashed dogcart to be fetched from the scene of the
+accident, and then he asked where in the town he should escort me.
+
+"I thanked him and said, a good deal to his surprise, that I was not
+going to stop in Branchester, but would hire a fly and drive to my
+destination. I stood, of course, in a hideously false position, and that
+he very soon began to divine; he would not hear of my getting a fly at
+that hour of the night, but insisted on driving me in his trap to
+wherever I wished to go.
+
+"Unhappily I had no idea of the man's character, or I should never have
+dreamt of accepting his offer; but I was then in no state of mind to
+judge his nature or question his motives; he had proved himself
+infinitely kind and resourceful, so in my lonely and agitated condition I
+consented, little imagining what the dire result to me would be.
+
+"On the drive back to my home I was naturally in a horribly distressed
+state of mind, and hardly dared think of the future. My companion
+tactfully refrained from much talking, although I had an idea that his
+curiosity was greatly excited to learn the explanation of the affair; he
+put occasionally a leading question which I always evaded, when he took
+the hint and did not press his inquiries. So far as every one else was
+concerned there had been no idea of connecting me with poor Archie
+Jolliffe. The hospital people believed that he had been driving alone,
+and that I had been in the trap with Henshaw. I dare say they took me for
+his sister or his wife.
+
+"At last, after one of the most wretched hours I ever spent--and I have
+had more than my fair share of trouble--we reached Haynthorpe, and on
+the outskirts of the village I asked Henshaw to set me down. He stopped
+and looked at me curiously.
+
+"'Can't you trust me to drive you to your home?'" he said insinuatingly.
+
+"I replied that I preferred to get down where we were, and thanked him as
+warmly as I was able for all his services.
+
+"'You haven't even told me your name,' he protested, 'Mine is Clement
+Henshaw; I am staying at Flinton for hunting.'
+
+"My answer was that he must not think me ungrateful, but that I would
+rather not tell him my name. It could be of no consequence to him.
+
+"'I should like at least,' he urged, 'to be allowed to drive over and
+report how your--friend--or was it your brother?--is getting on.'
+
+"I thanked him, made the best excuse I could for refusing, got down from
+the trap and hurried off through the dark village street, thankful to get
+away from those awkward questions.
+
+"But if I thought I had finally got rid of Mr. Clement Henshaw I was, in
+my ignorance of the man, woefully mistaken."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+HOW THE STORY ENDED
+
+
+"When I reached the house luck unexpectedly favoured me. My maid, whom I
+had been obliged to take, up to a certain point, into my confidence, and
+who, after the manner of her class, had acquired more than a sympathetic
+inkling of the way my people had been treating me, was waiting up on the
+look-out for my return, and quietly let me in. She told me that no one
+but herself had any idea that I was out of the house; she had led them to
+believe that I had gone to bed early with a headache, which considering
+the stress of the past two days was plausible enough. So I got back
+safely to my room which it had not seemed likely. I should ever enter
+again, and next morning I could see that my over-night's adventure was
+quite unsuspected.
+
+"Naturally I anticipated a continuation of my stepmother's attempts to
+force me into the marriage she had in view, and it rather puzzled me to
+understand why they seemed to be dropped. The prospective bridegroom did
+not come to the house, and, stranger still, his name was not mentioned.
+The explanation was soon forthcoming. I did not see the newspapers just
+then, in fact I have an idea they were purposely kept away from me; but
+some people who were calling mentioned a big society-scandal coming on in
+the Law Courts in which this precious peer was desperately involved. The
+relief with which I heard the news was unbounded considering all it meant
+for me, but my joy was turned to bitter grief by the news that Archie
+Jolliffe after lying unconscious for nearly a week had died of his
+injury. I had contrived, during the days he lingered, to make secret
+inquiries as to his condition, and so knew that what would have seemed my
+heartless absence from his bedside had made no difference to him."
+
+"Poor fellow," Gifford commented.
+
+"It was unspeakably sad," Edith Morriston continued, "but it seemed like
+fate, seeing how things rearranged themselves afterwards. Certainly if I
+was to blame for his piteous end, I was to pay the penalty. For no sooner
+was I out of one trouble than another was ready for me.
+
+"After this long preface, I come to the most unpleasant episode of
+Henshaw and his persecution.
+
+"On the day I heard of poor Archie's death I had gone out for a walk
+possessed by a great longing to be alone in my grief. On my way home by a
+woodland path leading to the Hall grounds, I, to my great annoyance, came
+upon Clement Henshaw. I can't say I was altogether surprised, for I had
+caught a glimpse of some one very like him in the village a day or two
+before. Of that I had thought little, merely taking care that the man did
+not see me. But now there was no avoiding him, and I had more than a
+suspicion that he had been lying in wait for me. At the risk of appearing
+horribly ungrateful I made up my mind on the instant to try to pass him
+with a bow, but need not say that was utterly futile. He stood directly
+in my path, and raised his hat.
+
+"'I am sorry to be the bearer of sad news, Miss Morriston,' he said.
+
+"So he had found out my name, assuredly not by accident, and the fact
+angered me, perhaps unreasonably.
+
+"'I have heard of Mr. Jolliffe's death,' I replied coldly, 'if that is
+what you have to tell me.'
+
+"'I thought,' he rejoined, with assurance, 'it quite possible you might
+not have heard so soon.'
+
+"From his manner I began to see that the man was likely to become an
+annoyance if he were not snubbed, but soon discovered that it was not so
+easily done. I thanked him coldly enough, and tried to dismiss him, but
+he insisted on walking with me. What could I do? He seemed determined to
+force his company upon me and I could not run away. He tried to get out
+of me how I had come to be driving with Archie that night, and although I
+evaded his questions it was plain that he had a shrewd inkling of the
+reason. Not to weary you with a long account of this disagreeable and
+humiliating affair, I will only say that from that day forward I became
+subject to a determined system of persecution from Clement Henshaw. He
+waylaid me on every possible occasion, holding over me a covert threat of
+the exposure of my escapade, till at last I was absolutely afraid to go
+outside the house for fear of meeting him."
+
+"He wanted to marry you?" Gifford suggested.
+
+Edith Morriston gave a little shudder. "I suppose so. He was always
+making love to me, and was quite impervious to snubbing. When, in
+consequence of my keeping within bounds of the house and garden, he could
+not see me, he took to writing, and kept me in terror lest one of his
+letters should fall into my stepmother's hands. I wished afterwards that
+I had taken a bold line, confessed what had happened, and defied the
+consequences. I think it was the fear of being disgraced in my brother's
+eyes on his return which kept me from doing so.
+
+"In the midst of my worry my father fell into a state of bad health and
+we took him down to the Devonshire coast for change of air. Needless to
+say Henshaw soon found out our retreat, and to my dismay appeared there.
+His persecution went on with renewed vigour and I, having less chance
+there of escaping it, was nearly at my wits' end, when fate curiously
+enough again intervened. We were caught in a storm on a long country
+excursion, my stepmother got a severe chill and within a week was dead.
+We returned to Haynthorpe, my father being now in a very precarious state
+of health, Henshaw followed us with a pertinacity that was almost
+devilish. But I now ventured to defy his threats of exposing me; he
+strenuously denied any such intention and declared himself madly in love
+with me. I had now taken courage enough to reject him uncompromisingly; I
+forbade him ever to speak to me again, and, as after that he disappeared
+from the village, began to flatter myself that I had got rid of him.
+
+"My father grew worse now from day to day; he lingered through the summer
+and with the chill days of autumn the end came. Dick hurried home and
+arrived just in time to see him alive. He left a much larger fortune than
+we had supposed him to possess, and Dick, always fond of sport, was soon
+in negotiation for this place which had come into the market.
+
+"No sooner had we settled in here than, to my horror, Clement Henshaw
+began to renew his persecution. He had evidently heard that I had
+inherited a good share of my father's fortune, and was worth making
+another effort for. He recommenced to write to me, he came down secretly
+and waylaid me, and when everything else failed he resorted to threats,
+not veiled as before, but open and unmistakable. He vowed that if I
+persisted in refusing to marry him he would take good care that I should
+never marry any one else. He held, he said, my reputation in his hand; he
+hoped he should never have to use his power, but I ought to consider the
+state of his feelings towards me and not goad him to desperate measures.
+In short he took all the joy out of my life, for I had come from mere
+dislike simply to loathe the man who could show himself such a dastardly
+cad. And the worst of it was that I saw no way out of it. Dick is a good
+fellow and very fond of me, but, although you might not think it, he is
+almost absurdly proud of the family name and its unsmirched record. And
+if I had confided in him, and he had horsewhipped Henshaw, what good
+could that have done? It would simply have infuriated the man, who would
+have at once made public my escapade, and few people would have given me
+the credit of its being innocent. Dick had just sunk a large part of his
+fortune in this place, he had taken over the hounds and was certain of
+becoming popular. All that would be nullified and upset if this man,
+Henshaw, chose to let loose his tongue. For how could I even pretend to
+deny his story? At the very least the truth would mean a hateful
+reflection on my dead father, and the whole thing would have led to an
+intolerable scandal. Yet it seemed as though this could be avoided in no
+other way but by marrying my persecutor, a man whom I had reason to hate
+and who had shown himself to be such an unchivalrous bully. About this
+time--that is shortly before the Hunt Ball--rumours had got about the
+neighbourhood that I was going to marry Lord Painswick. He was certainly
+paying me a good deal of attention, and I fancy Dick would have liked
+the match, but I could not bring myself to care for Painswick, and indeed
+his courtship only added to my other worries.
+
+"But Clement Henshaw heard the rumour and it had naturally the effect of
+rousing his wretched pursuit of me to greater activity. He vowed with
+brutal vehemence that I should not marry Painswick, and declared that
+when our engagement was announced he would tell him the story he had
+against me. That in itself did not trouble me much since I had no
+intention of marrying Painswick; still the man's relentless persecution
+was getting more than I could bear.
+
+"I now come to the night of the Hunt Ball. For some days previously I had
+seen or heard nothing of Henshaw, and had even begun to hope that
+something might have happened to make the man abandon his line of
+conduct. I might have known him better. To my intense annoyance and
+dismay I saw him come into the ballroom with all the hateful assurance
+that was so familiar to me. I could not well escape, seeing that I was
+acting as hostess. For a while he, beyond a formal greeting, let me
+alone. But I felt what was surely coming, and it was almost a relief when
+he took an opportunity of asking for a dance.
+
+"He must have seen the hate in my eyes as in my hesitation they met his,
+for he said with a forced laugh, 'You need not do violence to your
+feelings by dancing with me, Miss Morriston, if you don't care to, but
+there is something I must say to you. Let us come out of the crowd to
+where we shall not be overheard.'
+
+"I had never felt so madly furious with the man as at that moment; and it
+was with a reckless desire to tell him in strong language my opinion of
+his tactics, to insult him, if that were possible, to declare that I
+would die rather than yield to him, that I led the way to the tower. My
+desire to get out of the crowd was even greater than his, for a mad hope
+possessed me that in some desperate way I might bring our relations to a
+final issue.
+
+"We went into the sitting-out room. 'Some one will be coming in here,' he
+objected. 'Is there a room upstairs where we can talk?'
+
+"'There is a room up there,' I answered, as steadily as my indignation
+would let me, and unheeding the idea of compromising myself I went up the
+dark staircase in front of him. Naturally the idea that our stormy
+interview was to have a witness would have been the last thing to enter
+my mind; it never occurred to me to make sure no one was already in the
+room when we entered it.
+
+"You know what happened, Mr. Gifford, so I need not go through that. The
+man showed himself the cowardly bully that he was. Somehow up there
+alone with him, as at least I thought, in the dark, my courage gave way,
+and it was only when the man sought in his vehemence to take hold of me
+that anger and disgust cast out fear. It was quite by accident that I
+touched and caught up the chisel lying on the window-sill. As the man's
+hand sought me it struck the edge of the chisel, and got a wound; that
+must have been how the blood came upon my dress. He seized my arm, and
+after a struggle wrenched the implement away. But I never struck him
+with it, far from giving him his death-blow. The chisel was never in my
+hand afterwards. When I rushed for the door in a sudden panic, for,
+knowing that I had hurt him, I believed the man in his rage might be
+capable of anything, and when in springing after me he stumbled and
+fell, the chisel must have been held by him edge upwards, and so pierced
+him to his death."
+
+"That, I am certain now," Gifford said, "is what must have happened."
+
+"And you thought I had stabbed him?" the girl said with a
+reproachful smile.
+
+"I hardly dare ask you to forgive me for harbouring such a thought," he
+replied. "Yet had it been true I, who had been a witness of the man's
+vile conduct, could never have blamed you. If ever an act was
+justifiable--"
+
+An elongated shadow shot forward on the ground in front of them. Gifford
+stopped abruptly, and with an involuntary action his companion clutched
+his arm as both looked up expectantly. Next moment Gervase Henshaw stood
+before them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+DEFIANCE
+
+
+For some moments Henshaw did not speak; indeed, it was probable that the
+unexpected success of his search for Edith Morriston--for such doubtless
+was his object--had so disagreeably startled him, that he was unable to
+pull those sharp wits of his together at once. But the expression which
+flashed into his eyes, and that came instantaneously, was of so vengeful
+and threatening a character, that Gifford felt glad he was there to
+protect the girl from her now enraged persecutor.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here, Miss Morriston."
+
+The words came sharply and wrathfully, when the man had found his
+glib tongue.
+
+Gifford answered. "Miss Morriston and I have been enjoying the view and
+the air of the pines."
+
+The commonplace remark naturally, as it was intended, went for nothing.
+Henshaw affected not to notice it.
+
+"I am glad I have come across you, Miss Morriston," he said, with an
+evident curbing of his chagrin, "as I have something rather important to
+say to you."
+
+"I am afraid I cannot hear it now, Mr. Henshaw," the girl returned
+coldly.
+
+Henshaw's face darkened. "I really must ask you to grant me an interview
+without delay," he retorted insistently, as though secure in his sense of
+power over the girl. "I am sure Mr. Gifford will permit--"
+
+"Mr. Gifford will do nothing of the sort," came the bold and rather
+startling reply from the person alluded to. "As a friend of Miss
+Morriston's I do not intend to allow you to hold any more private
+conversations with her."
+
+No doubt with his knowledge of the world and of his own advantage Henshaw
+put down Gifford's resolute speech to mere bluff. And Gervase Henshaw was
+too old a legal practitioner to be bluffed. "I do not for a moment admit
+your right to interfere," he retorted with an assumption of calm
+superiority. "I am addressing myself to Miss Morriston, who does not, I
+hope, approve of your somewhat singular manners."
+
+Gifford took a step out of the summerhouse and sternly faced Henshaw. "I
+am sure Miss Morriston will endorse anything I choose to say to a man who
+has constituted himself her cowardly persecutor," he said. "Now we don't
+want to have a dispute in a lady's presence," he added as Henshaw began
+an angry rejoinder. "You have got, unless you wish very unpleasant
+consequences to follow, to render an account to me, as Miss Morriston's
+friend, of your abominable conduct towards her. But not here. You had
+better come to my room at the hotel at three o'clock this afternoon and
+hear what I shall have to say. And in the meantime you will address Miss
+Morriston only at the risk of a horsewhipping."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him steadfastly through eyes that blazed with
+hate. "I wonder if you quite know whom and what you are trying to
+champion," he snarled.
+
+"Perfectly," was the cool reply. "A much wronged and cruelly persecuted
+lady. You had better postpone what you have to say till this afternoon,
+when we will come to an understanding as to your conduct. Now, as you are
+on private land, you had better take the nearest way to the public road."
+
+Henshaw looked as though he would have liked to bring the dispute to the
+issue of a physical encounter, had but the coward in him dared. "I am
+here by permission," he returned, standing his ground.
+
+"Which has been rescinded by the vile use to which you have chosen to put
+it," Gifford rejoined. "I have Miss Morriston's authority to treat you as
+a trespasser, and to order you off her brother's land."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step. "Very well, Mr. Gifford," he returned with an
+ugly sneer. "You talk with great confidence now, but we shall see. You
+will be wiser by this time tomorrow."
+
+With that he turned and walked off; Gifford, after watching him for a
+while, went back to the summer-house.
+
+"I have put things in the right train there," he remarked with a
+confident laugh. "I hope to be able to tell you this evening that Mr.
+Henshaw is a thing of the past."
+
+"You are very sanguine," she said, a little doubtfully. "I am afraid you
+do not know the man."
+
+"I'm afraid I do," he replied. "He is obviously not an easy person to
+deal with. But I think I see my way. Tell me. He has threatened you in
+order to induce you to elope with him?"
+
+"Yes. He has found evidence among his brother's correspondence of the
+hold he had over me and of his persecution. That would afford a
+sufficient motive for my killing him; and how could I prove that I did
+not strike the blow?"
+
+"It might be difficult," Gifford answered thoughtfully. "But I may be
+able to do it. Of course he knows you to be an heiress."
+
+"I am sure of that from something he once let slip. It has been my
+inheritance which has brought all this trouble upon me, at any rate its
+persistency."
+
+"Yes. This man must be something of an adventurer, as his brother was. We
+shall see," Gifford said with a grim touch. "Now, I must not keep you
+any longer. I am so grateful for the confidence you have given me. May I
+call later on and tell you the result?"
+
+Her eyes were on him in an almost piteous searching for hope in his
+resolute face. "Of course," she responded. "I shall be so terribly
+anxious to know."
+
+Chivalrously avoiding any suggestion of tenderness, he shook hands and
+went off towards the town.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ISSUE JOINED
+
+
+Punctually at the appointed time Gervase Henshaw was shown into
+Gifford's room. Kelson had received from his friend a hint of what was
+afoot and had naturally offered his services to back Gifford up, but
+they were refused.
+
+"It is very kind of you, Harry," Gifford had said, "and just what one
+would have expected from you. But, as you shall hear later, this is not a
+business in which you or any one could usefully intervene. In fact it
+would be dangerous for me, considering the man I am dealing with, to say
+what I have to say before a third person."
+
+So Kelson went off to spend the afternoon at the Tredworths'.
+
+When Henshaw came in his expression bore no indication of the terms on
+which he and Gifford had lately parted. The keen face was unruffled and
+almost genial; but Gifford was not the man to be deceived by that outward
+seeming. Henshaw bowed and took the chair the other indicated. There was
+a short pause as though each waited for the other to begin. In the end it
+was Gifford who spoke first.
+
+"I should like to come to an understanding with you, Mr. Henshaw, with
+regard to a very serious annoyance, not to say persecution, to which Miss
+Morriston has been subjected at your hands." Henshaw drew back his thin
+lips in a smile. "I have to tell you," Gifford continued, "once and for
+all that it must cease."
+
+"Miss Morriston authorizes you to tell me that?" The question was put
+with something like a sneer.
+
+"I should hope it requires no authority," Gifford retorted. "Having
+cognizance of what has been going on, it is my plain duty--"
+
+"Why yours?" Henshaw interrupted coolly.
+
+"For a very good reason," Gifford replied; "one which I may have to tell
+you presently."
+
+He saw Henshaw flush and dart a glance of hate at him. It was plain he
+had misinterpreted the reply. But the exhibition was only momentary.
+
+"Admitting in the meantime your right to interfere," Henshaw said, now
+with perfect coolness, "allow me to tell you that you are taking a very
+foolish course."
+
+"I shall be glad to know how."
+
+"The reason is, that if you have any regard, as you suggest, for Miss
+Morriston, you are going the right way to do her a terrible injury."
+
+Gifford rose and stood by the fire-place. "To come to the point at once
+without further preliminary fencing," he said quietly, "you mean, I take
+it, that I am forcing you to denounce her as being guilty of your
+brother's death."
+
+For an instant Henshaw seemed taken aback by the other's directness.
+"There can be no doubt, holding the evidence I do, that she was guilty of
+it," he retorted uncompromisingly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Henshaw," Gifford objected with decision, "there
+can be, and is, a very great deal more than a doubt of it."
+
+Henshaw shot a searching glance at the man who spoke so confidently, as
+though trying to probe what, if anything, was behind his words.
+
+"Perhaps you know then," he returned with his sneering smile, "how
+otherwise, if the lady had no hand in it, my brother came by his death?"
+
+"I do," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Then," still the smile of sneering incredulity, "it is clearly your duty
+to make it known."
+
+"Clearly," Gifford assented in a calm tone. "That is why I asked you to
+come here this afternoon."
+
+Henshaw was looking at him with a sort of malicious curiosity. In spite
+of his smartness he seemed at a loss to divine what the other was driving
+at, unless it were a well-studied line of bluff. But that Gifford could
+have, apart from what Edith Morriston might have told him, any intimate
+knowledge of the tragedy was inconceivable.
+
+"I shall be glad to hear what you have to say, Mr. Gifford," he
+responded, in perhaps much greater curiosity than he chose to show.
+
+"Then I have to inform you positively," Gifford answered, "that your
+brother's fatal wound was the result of a pure accident."
+
+Coming from Edith Morriston's champion, there was nothing surprising in
+that assertion. Certainly if that were the other's strong suit he could
+easily beat it. It was therefore in a tone of confidence and relief that
+he demanded, "You can prove it?"
+
+"I can."
+
+"By Miss Morriston's testimony?"
+
+"Not at all. By my own."
+
+"Your own?" Henshaw's question was put with a curling lip.
+
+"My own," Gifford repeated steadfastly.
+
+"May one ask what you mean by that?"
+
+Henshaw's contemptuous incredulity was by no means diminished even by the
+other's confident attitude.
+
+Gifford gave a short laugh. "Naturally you do not take my meaning.
+Obviously you think I am not a competent witness, that I know nothing
+except by hearsay. You are, extraordinary as it may seem, quite wrong.
+My testimony would be of nothing but what I myself saw and heard."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw had for a moment seemed to be calculating the
+probability of this monstrous suggestion being a fact, and had dismissed
+it with the contempt which showed itself in his question.
+
+"I mean," Gifford replied with quiet assurance, "that I happened to be a
+witness of the interview in the tower-room between your brother and Miss
+Morriston, that I was there when he received his death-wound, and that it
+was I whom the girl Haynes saw descending by a rope from the top window."
+
+Henshaw had started to his feet, his face working with an almost
+passionate astonishment. "You--you tell me all that," he cried, "and
+expect me to believe it?"
+
+"I have told you and shall tell you nothing," was the cool reply, "that I
+am not prepared to state on oath in the witness-box."
+
+For a while Henshaw seemed without the power to reply, dumbfounded, as
+his active brain tried to realize the probabilities of the declaration.
+"It seems to me," he said at length in a voice of which he was scarcely
+master, "that, whether your statement is true or otherwise, you are
+placing yourself in an uncommonly dangerous position, Mr. Gifford."
+
+"I am aware that I am inviting a certain amount of ugly suspicion,"
+Gifford agreed, "but the truth, which might have remained a mystery, has
+been forced from me by the necessity of protecting Miss Morriston.
+Perhaps you had better hear a frank account of the whole story, and the
+explanation of what I admit you are so far justified in setting down as
+concocted and wildly improbable."
+
+"I should very much like to hear it," Henshaw returned in a tone which
+held out no promise of credence.
+
+Thereupon Gifford gave him a terse account of the events and the chance
+which had led him into the tower and to be a secret witness of what
+happened there. Remembering that he was addressing the dead man's
+brother, he recounted the details of the interview without feeling;
+indeed he threw no more colour into it than if he had been opening a
+case in court. He simply stated the facts without comment. Henshaw
+listened to the singular story in an attitude of doggedly unemotional
+attention. Lawyer-like he restrained all tendency to interrupt the
+narrative and asked no question as it proceeded. Nevertheless it was
+clear he was thinking keenly, eager to note any weak points which he
+could turn to use.
+
+When the recital had come to an end he said coolly--
+
+"Your story is a very extraordinary one, Mr. Gifford; I won't call it, as
+it seems at first sight, wildly improbable, but it is at any rate an
+almost incredible coincidence. With your knowledge of the law I need
+scarcely remind you that the facts as you have just recounted them place
+you in a rather unenviable position."
+
+"As I have already said," Gifford replied, "my story is calculated to
+suggest suspicion against me. But I am prepared to risk that
+consequence."
+
+"In court," Henshaw observed, with a malicious smile, "handled by a
+counsel who knew his business, your statement could be given a very ugly
+turn indeed."
+
+"As I have just told you," Gifford returned quietly, "I would take that
+risk rather than allow Miss Morriston to remain longer under suspicion.
+As for myself I should have every confidence in the result."
+
+"It is well to be sanguine," Henshaw sneered. "If you have not already
+done so, are you prepared to repeat your story to the police?"
+
+"Most certainly I am, if necessary," was the prompt answer. "But I do not
+fancy you will wish me to do so."
+
+Henshaw's look was one of surprise, real or affected. "Indeed? Why so?"
+
+"I will tell you," Gifford replied with a touch of sternness. "Because it
+would be absolutely against your interest. For one thing it would, short
+of absolute proof, leave still the shadow of doubt over your brother's
+death, it would effectually put a stop to your designs on Miss Morriston,
+which in any case must come to an end, and it would show up your dead
+brother's character and conduct in a very disreputable light. Now what I
+have to say to you is this. I know that, following in your brother's
+footsteps, you have been subjecting Miss Morriston to an amount of very
+hateful persecution. There may have been a certain excuse for it, at any
+rate a degree of temptation, but your designs have not been welcome to
+the lady, and they must forthwith come to an end. Now unless you
+undertake to cease your attentions to Miss Morriston, in short to put an
+end at once and for all to this persecution, I shall effectually remove
+the hold you imagine you have over her by going straight to the police,
+giving them the real story of what happened in the tower that night and
+as a natural consequence shall give evidence to that effect at the
+adjourned inquest. You will know best whether it would be worth your
+while to force me to do this. I simply state the position."
+
+He waited for Henshaw's answer. The man was plainly cornered and seemed
+to be divided between a desire to let Gifford go on and place himself in
+a dangerous situation, and the more expedient course of raising a scandal
+which would touch him as well as disgrace his dead brother.
+
+"This is a clever piece of bluff, Mr. Gifford," he said at
+length; "but--"
+
+"It is no bluff at all," Gifford interrupted firmly. "I am merely
+determined to take the obvious course to save Miss Morriston from
+something a good deal worse than annoyance. I have no wish to discredit
+the dead, but I must remind you that the persecution of Miss Morriston by
+your brother had gone on for a very considerable time, and had latterly
+developed into an atrocious system of bullying. It is not an occasion for
+mincing one's expressions, and I must say that in my opinion your own
+conduct has been very little, if any, better; and that will be the
+judgment of every decent man if the truth comes out, as come out it
+shall, unless you agree to my terms before you leave this room."
+
+For a while Henshaw made no reply. He sat thinking strenuously, evidently
+weighing his chances, estimating the strength of his adversary's
+position. Now and again he shot a glance, half probing, half sullen, at
+Gifford, who leaned back against the mantelpiece coolly awaiting his
+answer. At length he spoke.
+
+"This is a very fine piece of bravado, Mr. Gifford. But I am not such a
+fool as it pleases you to think me. It is very good of you to explain to
+me my position in this affair; I am, however, quite capable of seeing
+that for myself. And you can hardly expect me to look upon your
+gratuitous advice as disinterested."
+
+The man was talking to gain time; Gifford shrewdly guessed that. "I
+might be pardoned for supposing you do not altogether realize how you
+stand," he replied quietly. "But, after all, that is, as you suggest,
+your affair."
+
+Henshaw forced a smile. "The point of view is everything," he said in a
+preoccupied tone; "and ours, yours and mine, are diametrically opposed."
+
+"The point of view which perhaps ought most to be considered," Gifford
+retorted with rising impatience, "is that of the honourable profession to
+which we both belong. If you are prepared to face the odium, professional
+and social, of an exposure--"
+
+Henshaw interrupted him with a wave of the hand. "You may apply that to
+yourself and to your friend, Miss Morriston," he said sharply. "I can
+take care of myself, thank you."
+
+Gifford shrugged. "Very well, then. There is no more to be said." He
+crossed the room and took up his hat. "I will go and see Major Freeman at
+once." At the door he turned, to see with surprise and a certain
+satisfaction that Henshaw, although he had risen from his chair, seemed
+in no hurry to move. "You are coming with me," he suggested. "It would be
+quite in order, I think, for you to be present at my statement--unless
+you prefer not."
+
+It seemed clear that the rather foxy Gervase Henshaw had really more than
+suspected a studied game of bluff. But now Gifford's attitude tended to
+put that out of the question.
+
+"In the circumstances, as your statement will consist mainly of a slander
+against me and my dead brother," Henshaw replied sullenly, "I prefer to
+keep out of the business for the present. I fancy," he added with an ugly
+significance, "that the police will be quite equal to dealing with the
+situation without any assistance or intervention from me."
+
+Gifford ignored the covert threat. "Very well, then," he said, throwing
+open the door and standing aside for Henshaw to pass out; "I will go
+alone. Yes; it will be better."
+
+But Henshaw did not move.
+
+"I don't quite gather," he said in answer to Gifford's glance of inquiry,
+"exactly what your object is in taking this step."
+
+"I should have thought--" Gifford began.
+
+"Is it," Henshaw proceeded, falling back now to his ordinary lawyer-like
+tone--"is it merely to checkmate what you are pleased to call my designs
+upon Miss Morriston?"
+
+"That will be a mere incidental result," Gifford answered, shutting the
+door and coming back into the room. "My object is to put it, at once and
+for all, out of your power to hold over Miss Morriston the threat that
+she is at any moment liable to be accused--by you of all people--of your
+brother's murder, and so suggest that she is in your power."
+
+"Why do you say by me, of all people?"
+
+"You who profess an affection for her."
+
+"Your word profess scarcely does me justice, Mr. Gifford," Henshaw
+returned, drawing back his shut lips. "I had, and have, a very sincere
+affection for Edith Morriston, which, it seems, I am not to be allowed to
+declare or even have credit for. As a man of the world you can hardly
+pretend to be ignorant of what a man will do when his happiness is at
+stake. What he does under such a stress is no guide to his real feelings.
+But we need not labour that point. My affection, genuine or not, seems to
+be in no fair way to be requited, and I had already made up my mind to
+leave it at that. I have merely kept up the game to this point out of
+curiosity to see how far your--shall we say knight-errantry?--would lead
+you. I will now relieve you from the necessity of going through an act of
+Quixotic folly which would assuredly, sooner or later, have unpleasant
+consequences for you."
+
+So Gifford realized with a thrill of pleasure that he had won. He felt
+that in much of his speech the man was lying; that no consideration of
+mere unrequited affection had induced him to abandon his design.
+
+"I am glad to hear you have come to a sensible conclusion," he said as
+coolly as the sense of triumph would let him. "Whatever happened you
+could hardly have expected your--plans to succeed."
+
+"I don't know that," Henshaw retorted, with a touch of a beaten man's
+malice. "Anyhow I have my own ideas on the subject. But looking into the
+future with my brother's blood between us I think it might have turned
+out a hideous mistake."
+
+"A safe conjecture," Gifford commented, between indignation and amusement
+at the cool way the man was now trying to save his face.
+
+"Anyhow there's an end of it," Henshaw said with an air and gesture of
+half scornfully dismissing the affair. "And so I bid you good afternoon."
+
+As he walked towards the door Gifford intercepted him.
+
+"Not quite so fast, Mr. Henshaw," he said resolutely. "We can't leave the
+affair like this."
+
+"What do you mean?" Henshaw ejaculated, with a look which was half
+defiant, half apprehensive.
+
+"You have heard my story," Gifford pursued with steady decisiveness,
+"and have, I presume, accepted it."
+
+"For what it is worth." The smart of defeat prompted the futile reply.
+
+"That won't do at all," Gifford returned with sternness. "You either
+accept the account I have just given you, or you do not."
+
+There was something like murder in Henshaw's eyes as he replied, "This
+bullying attitude is what I might expect from you. To put an end,
+however, to this most unpleasant interview you may take it that I accept
+your statement."
+
+"To the absolute exoneration of Miss Morriston?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"I must have your assurance in writing."
+
+Henshaw fell back a step and for a moment showed signs of an
+uncompromising refusal. "You are going a little too far, Mr. Gifford,"
+he said doggedly.
+
+"Not at all," Gifford retorted. "It is imperatively necessary."
+
+"Is it?" Henshaw sneered. "For what purpose?"
+
+"For Miss Morriston's protection."
+
+The sneer deepened. "I should have thought that purpose quite negligible,
+seeing how valiantly the lady is already protected. But I have no
+objection," he added in an offhand tone, "as you seem to distrust the
+lasting power of bluff, to give you an extra safeguard. Indeed I think it
+just as well, all things considered, that Miss Morriston should have it.
+Give me a pen and a sheet of paper." Henshaw's manner was now the
+quintessence of insolence, but Gifford could afford, although it cost him
+an effort, to ignore it. With the practised pen of a lawyer Henshaw
+quickly wrote down a short declaration, signing it with a flourish and
+then flicking it across the table to Gifford. "That should meet the
+case," he said, leaning back confidently and thrusting his hands into his
+pockets. Dealing with one who, like himself, was learned in the law he
+had, to save trouble, written a terse declaration which he knew should be
+quite acceptable. It simply stated that from certain facts which had come
+to his knowledge he was quite satisfied that his brother's death had been
+caused by an accident, and that no one was to blame for it, and he
+thereby undertook to make no future charge or imputation against any one,
+in connexion therewith.
+
+"Yes, that will do," Gifford answered curtly when he had read the
+few lines.
+
+Henshaw rose with a rather mocking smile. "I congratulate you on
+your--luck, Mr. Gifford," he said with a studied emphasis, and so
+left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+GIFFORD'S REWARD
+
+
+With the precious declaration in his pocket Gifford lost no time in going
+to Wynford Place. His light heart must have been reflected in his face,
+for Edith Morriston's anxious look brightened as she joined him in the
+drawing-room. All the same it seemed as though she almost feared to ask
+the result, and he was the first to speak.
+
+"I bring you good news, Miss Morriston. You have nothing more to fear
+from Gervase Henshaw."
+
+"Ah!" She caught her breath, and for a moment seemed unable to respond.
+"Tell me," she said at length, almost breathlessly.
+
+"I have had a long and, as you may imagine, not very pleasant interview
+with the fellow," he answered quietly; "and am happy to say I won all
+along the line."
+
+"You won? You mean--?"
+
+He had taken the declaration from his pocket-book and for answer handed
+it to her. With a manifest effort to control her feelings she read it
+eagerly. Then her voice trembled as she spoke.
+
+"Mr. Gifford, what can I say? I wish I knew how to thank you."
+
+"Please don't try," he replied lightly. "If you only knew the pleasure it
+has given me to get the better of this fellow you would hardly consider
+thanks necessary. Would you care to hear a short account of what
+happened?" he added tactfully, with the intention, seeing how painful the
+revulsion was, of giving her time to recover from her agitation.
+
+"Please; do tell me." She spoke mechanically, still hardly able to trust
+her voice above a whisper.
+
+They sat down and he related the salient points of his interview with
+Henshaw. "It was lucky that I happened to have something of a hold over
+him," he concluded with a laugh; "Mr. Gervase Henshaw is not wanting in
+determination, and it took a long time to persuade him that he could not
+possibly win the game he was playing; but he stood to lose more heavily
+than he could afford. The conclusion, however, was at last borne in upon
+him that the position he had taken up was untenable, and that paper is
+the result."
+
+"That paper," she said in a low voice, "means life to me instead of a
+living death; it means more than I can tell you, more than even you can
+understand."
+
+He had risen, but before he could speak she had come to him and
+impulsively taken his hand. "Mr. Gifford," she said, "tell me how I can
+repay you."
+
+Her eyes met his; they were full of gratitude and something more. But he
+resisted the temptation to answer her question in the way it was plain to
+him he was invited to do.
+
+"It is reward enough for me to have served you," he responded steadily.
+"Seeing that chance gave me the power, I could do no less."
+
+"You would have risked your life for mine," she persisted, her eyes
+still on him.
+
+"Hardly that," he returned, with an effort to force a smile. "But had it
+been necessary, I should have been quite content to do so."
+
+"And you will not tell me how I can show my gratitude?"
+
+"I did not do it for reward," he murmured, scarcely able to
+restrain himself.
+
+"I am sure of that," she assented. "But you once hinted, or at any rate
+led me to believe, that I could repay you."
+
+There could be no pretence of ignoring her meaning now. Still he felt
+that chivalry forbade his acceptance.
+
+"I was wrong," he replied with an effort, "and most unfair if I suggested
+a bargain."
+
+"Have you repented the suggestion?" she asked almost quizzingly and with
+a curious absence of her characteristic pride.
+
+"Only in a sense," he answered. "I hope I am too honourable to take an
+unfair advantage."
+
+She laughed now; joyously, it seemed. "If your scruples are so strong
+there will be nothing for it but for me to throw away mine and offer
+myself to you."
+
+"Edith," he exclaimed in a flash of rapture, then, checked the passionate
+impulse to take her in his arms. "You must not; not now, not now. It is
+not fair to yourself. At the moment of your release from this horrible
+danger you cannot be master of yourself. You must not mistake gratitude
+for love."
+
+Edith drew back with a touch of resentful pride.
+
+"If you think I don't know my own mind--" she began.
+
+"Does any one know his own mind at such a crisis as you have just passed
+through?" he said, a little wistfully. "Edith," he went on as he took her
+unresisting hand, "you must not be offended with me. Think. The whole
+object of what I have done for you has been to set you free, as free as
+though you had woke up to find the episode of these Henshaws had been no
+more than a horrible dream. You must be free, you must realize and enjoy
+your freedom. You are now relieved from the crushing weight you have
+borne so long; the release must be untouched by the shadow of a bargain
+expressed or implied. That is the only way in which a man of honour can
+regard the position."
+
+"Very well," she returned simply, "I understand. I am sorry for my
+mistake."
+
+Her manner shook his resolution. "I can't think you understand," he
+replied forcibly. "I only ask, in fairness to yourself, for time. Don't
+think that I am not desperately in love with you. You must have seen it,
+ever since our first confidential talk, that night at the Stograve dance.
+And my love has gone on increasing every day till--oh, you don't know how
+cruelly hard it is to resist taking you at your word. But I can't, I
+simply can't snatch at an unfair advantage, however great the temptation.
+I must give you time, time to know your own heart when the nightmare
+shall have passed away. I propose to return to town as soon as this man
+Henshaw has cleared out of the neighbourhood. Will you let us be as we
+are for a month, Edith, and if then you are of the same mind, send me a
+line and I will come to you by the first train. Is not that only fair?"
+
+She gave a little sigh of contentment. "Very well," she said, "if that
+will satisfy you."
+
+He took her hand. "It will seem a horribly long time to wait; but I
+feel it is right. Today is the 16th; on this day month I shall hear
+from you?"
+
+"Yes, on the 16th," she answered.
+
+"And so," he said, "you are free, unless you call me back to you."
+
+"That is understood," she said with a smile.
+
+He might have kissed her lips, her look into his eyes was almost an
+invitation, but, having steeled himself to be scrupulously fair, he
+refrained and contented himself with kissing her hand.
+
+On reaching the hotel he heard with satisfaction that Henshaw had gone
+off by the late afternoon train and had suggested the unlikelihood of his
+returning. "So I suppose he is content to let the mystery remain a
+mystery," the landlord remarked. And the Coroner's jury subsequently had
+perforce to come to the same conclusion.
+
+On the 16th of the following month, Hugh Gifford's impatience and
+anxiety were set at rest, as the morning's post brought the expected
+letter from Wynford.
+
+"Dick and I are expecting you here tomorrow, unless you have changed your
+mind--I have not. The 3.15 train shall be met if you do not wire to the
+contrary."
+
+When Gifford jumped out of the 3.15 Edith was on the platform. As they
+shook hands he read in her eyes an unwonted happiness and knew for
+certain that all was well.
+
+"I had something to do in the town and thought I might as well come on to
+the station," Edith said with a lurking smile.
+
+"I am glad you have not added even a half-hour to this long month," he
+replied as they took their seats in the carriage.
+
+"It has been long," she murmured.
+
+"Long enough to set our doubts at rest."
+
+"I never had any," she replied quietly. He drew her to him and
+kissed her.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Hunt Ball Mystery, by Magnay, William
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