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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
+
+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 Seven Secrets
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2008 [EBook #27549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN SECRETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Seven Secrets
+
+ BY
+
+ WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+ _Author of "The Gamblers," "The Under-Secretary," "Whoso findeth
+ a Wife," "Of Royal Blood," etc._
+
+ _Second Edition_
+
+ London:
+ HUTCHINSON & CO.
+ PATERNOSTER ROW
+ 1903
+
+
+
+
+ A. C. FOWLER,
+ PRINTER,
+ MOORFIELDS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+WILLIAM LE QUEUX'S NOVELS.
+
+
+"As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr.
+William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers."--_The
+Athenæum._
+
+"It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of
+mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux's most
+ardent admirers. Long ago, when his 'Zoraida' was issued, she gave an
+order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux's
+books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer's
+books reaches her."--_The Queen._
+
+"The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that
+of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the
+most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day.
+His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the
+string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until
+the end is reached and everything made clear."--_Literary World._
+
+"Mr. William Le Queux's name is favourably known to all readers of
+sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds
+his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that
+light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or
+the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament."--_Daily
+News._
+
+"Mr. William Le Queux's novels are one of my chief foibles. I can
+always read his stories greedily, and 'Free Lancers' should buy his
+books."--Mr. CLEMENT SCOTT in the _Free Lance._
+
+_Crown 8vo, 6s._
+
+THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition.
+
+THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition.
+
+OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+      I.  INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS                            9
+
+     II.  "A VERY UGLY SECRET"                               15
+
+    III.  THE COURTENAYS                                     20
+
+     IV.  A NIGHT CALL                                       27
+
+      V.  DISCLOSES A MYSTERY                                33
+
+     VI.  IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY                        43
+
+    VII.  THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY                        54
+
+   VIII. AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE                        65
+
+     IX.  SHADOWS                                            76
+
+      X.  WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS                          87
+
+     XI.  CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS                        98
+
+    XII.  I RECEIVE A VISITOR                               109
+
+   XIII.  MY LOVE                                           119
+
+    XIV.  IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS                             128
+
+     XV.  I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION                      139
+
+    XVI.  REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT                        150
+
+   XVII.  DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS                         162
+
+  XVIII.  WORDS OF THE DEAD                                 173
+
+    XIX. JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS                            183
+
+     XX. MY NEW PATIENT                                     194
+
+    XXI. WOMAN'S WILES                                      203
+
+   XXII.  A MESSAGE                                         215
+
+  XXIII.  THE MYSTERY OF MARY                               226
+
+   XXIV.  ETHELWYNN IS SILENT                               236
+
+    XXV. FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA                         249
+
+   XXVI. AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY                              256
+
+  XXVII. MR. LANE'S ROMANCE                                 274
+
+ XXVIII. "POOR MRS. COURTENAY!"                             281
+
+   XXIX. THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT                            290
+
+    XXX. SIR BERNARD'S DECISION                             298
+
+   XXXI. CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH                           306
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN SECRETS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS.
+
+
+"Ah! You don't take the matter at all seriously!" I observed, a trifle
+annoyed.
+
+"Why should I?" asked my friend, Ambler Jevons, with a deep pull at
+his well-coloured briar. "What you've told me shows quite plainly that
+you have in the first place viewed one little circumstance with
+suspicion, then brooded over it until it has become magnified and now
+occupies your whole mind. Take my advice, old chap, and think nothing
+more about it. Why should you make yourself miserable for no earthly
+reason? You're a rising man--hard up like most of us--but under old
+Eyton's wing you've got a brilliant future before you. Unlike myself,
+a mere nobody, struggling against the tide of adversity, you're
+already a long way up the medical ladder. If you climb straight you'll
+end with an appointment of Physician-in-Ordinary and a knighthood
+thrown in as makeweight. Old Macalister used to prophesy it, you
+remember, when we were up at Edinburgh. Therefore, I can't, for the
+life of me, discover any cause why you should allow yourself to have
+these touches of the blues--unless it's liver, or some other internal
+organ about which you know a lot more than I do. Why, man, you've got
+the whole world before you, and as for Ethelwynn----"
+
+"Ethelwynn!" I ejaculated, starting up from my chair. "Leave her out
+of the question! We need not discuss her," and I walked to the
+mantelshelf to light a fresh cigarette.
+
+"As you wish, my dear fellow," said my merry, easy-going friend. "I
+merely wish to point out the utter folly of all this suspicion."
+
+"I don't suspect her," I snapped.
+
+"I didn't suggest that." Then, after a pause during which he smoked on
+vigorously, he suddenly asked, "Well now, be frank, Ralph, whom do you
+really suspect?"
+
+I was silent. Truth to tell, his question entirely nonplussed me. I
+had suspicions--distinct suspicions--that certain persons surrounding
+me were acting in accord towards some sinister end, but which of those
+persons were culpable I certainly could not determine. It was that
+very circumstance which was puzzling me to the point of distraction.
+
+"Ah!" I replied. "That's the worst of it. I know that the whole affair
+seems quite absurd, but I must admit that I can't fix suspicion upon
+anyone in particular."
+
+Jevons laughed outright.
+
+"In that case, my dear Boyd, you ought really to see the folly of the
+thing."
+
+"Perhaps I ought, but I don't," I answered, facing him with my back to
+the fire. "To you, my most intimate friend, I've explained, in
+strictest confidence, the matter which is puzzling me. I live in
+hourly dread of some catastrophe the nature of which I'm utterly at a
+loss to determine. Can you define intuition?"
+
+My question held him in pensive silence. His manner changed as he
+looked me straight in the face. Unlike his usual careless self--for
+his was a curious character of the semi-Bohemian order and Savage Club
+type--he grew serious and thoughtful, regarding me with critical gaze
+after removing his pipe from his lips.
+
+"Well," he exclaimed at last. "I'll tell you what it is, Boyd. This
+intuition, or whatever you may call it, is an infernally bad thing for
+you. I'm your friend--one of your best and most devoted friends, old
+chap--and if there's anything in it, I'll render you whatever help I
+can."
+
+"Thank you, Ambler," I said gratefully, taking his hand. "I have told
+you all this to-night in order to enlist your sympathy, although I
+scarcely liked to ask your aid. Your life is a busy one--busier even
+than my own, perhaps--and you have no desire to be bothered with my
+personal affairs."
+
+"On the contrary, old fellow," he said. "Remember that in mystery I'm
+in my element."
+
+"I know," I replied. "But at present there is no mystery--only
+suspicion."
+
+What Ambler Jevons had asserted was a fact. He was an investigator of
+mysteries, making it his hobby just as other men take to collecting
+curios or pictures. About his personal appearance there was nothing
+very remarkable. When pre-occupied he had an abrupt, rather brusque
+manner, but at all other times he was a very easy-going man of the
+world, possessor of an ample income left him by his aunt, and this he
+augmented by carrying on, in partnership with an elder man, a
+profitable tea-blending business in Mark Lane.
+
+He had entered the tea trade not because of necessity, but because he
+considered it a bad thing for a man to lead an idle life.
+Nevertheless, the chief object of his existence had always seemed to
+be the unravelling of mysteries of police and crime. Surely few men,
+even those professional investigators at Scotland Yard, held such a
+record of successes. He was a born detective, with a keen scent for
+clues, an ingenuity that was marvellous, and a patience and endurance
+that were inexhaustible. At Scotland Yard the name of Ambler Jevons
+had for several years been synonymous with all that is clever and
+astute in the art of detecting crime.
+
+To be a good criminal investigator a man must be born such. He must be
+physically strong; he must be untiring in his search after truth; he
+must be able to scent a mystery as a hound does a fox, to follow up
+the trail with energy unflagging, and seize opportunities without
+hesitation; he must possess a cool presence of mind, and above all be
+able to calmly distinguish the facts which are of importance in the
+strengthening of the clue from those that are merely superfluous. All
+these, besides other qualities, are necessary for the successful
+penetration of criminal mysteries; hence it is that the average
+amateur, who takes up the hobby without any natural instinct, is
+invariably a blunderer.
+
+Ambler Jevons, blender of teas and investigator of mysteries, was
+lolling back in my armchair, his dreamy eyes half-closed, smoking on
+in silence.
+
+Myself, I was thirty-three, and I fear not much of an ornament to the
+medical profession. True, at Edinburgh I had taken my M.B. and C.M.
+with highest honours, and three years later had graduated M.D., but my
+friends thought a good deal more of my success than I did, for they
+overlooked my shortcomings and magnified my talents.
+
+I suppose it was because my father had represented a county
+constituency in the House of Commons, and therefore I possessed that
+very useful advantage which is vaguely termed family influence, that I
+had been appointed assistant physician at Guy's. My own practice was
+very small, therefore I devilled, as the lawyers would term it, for my
+chief, Sir Bernard Eyton, knight, the consulting physician to my
+hospital.
+
+Sir Bernard, whom all the smart world of London knew as the first
+specialist in nervous disorders, had his professional headquarters in
+Harley Street, but lived down at Hove, in order to avoid night work or
+the calls which Society made upon him. I lived a stone's-throw away
+from his house in Harley Street, just round the corner in Harley
+Place, and it was my duty to take charge of his extensive practice
+during his absence at night or while on holidays.
+
+I must here declare that my own position was not at all disagreeable.
+True, I sometimes had night work, which is never very pleasant, but
+being one of the evils of the life of every medical man he accepts it
+as such. I had very comfortable bachelor quarters in an ancient and
+rather grimy house, with an old fashioned dark-panelled sitting-room,
+a dining-room, bedroom and dressing-room, and, save for the fact that
+I was compelled to be on duty after four o'clock, when Sir Bernard
+drove to Victoria Station, my time in the evening was very much my
+own.
+
+Many a man would, I suppose, have envied me. It is not every day that
+a first-class physician requires an assistant, and certainly no man
+could have been more generous and kindly disposed than Sir Bernard
+himself, even though his character was something of the miser. Yet all
+of us find some petty shortcomings in the good things of this world,
+and I was no exception. Sometimes I grumbled, but generally, be it
+said, without much cause.
+
+Truth to tell, a mysterious feeling of insecurity had been gradually
+creeping upon me through several months; indeed ever since I had
+returned from a holiday in Scotland in the spring. I could not define
+it, not really knowing what had excited the curious apprehensions
+within me. Nevertheless, I had that night told my secret to Ambler
+Jevons, who was often my visitor of an evening, and over our whiskies
+had asked his advice, with the unsatisfactory result which I have
+already written down.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"A VERY UGLY SECRET."
+
+
+The consulting-room in Harley Street, where Sir Bernard Eyton saw his
+patients and gathered in his guineas for his ill-scribbled
+prescriptions, differed little from a hundred others in the same
+severe and depressing thoroughfare.
+
+It was a very sombre apartment. The walls were painted dark green and
+hung with two or three old portraits in oils; the furniture was of a
+style long past, heavy and covered in brown morocco, and the big
+writing-table, behind which the great doctor would sit blinking at his
+patient through the circular gold-rimmed glasses, that gave him a
+somewhat Teutonic appearance, was noted for its prim neatness and
+orderly array. On the one side was an adjustable couch; on the other a
+bookcase with glass doors containing a number of instruments which
+were, however, not visible because of curtains of green silk behind
+the glass.
+
+Into that room, on three days a week, Ford, the severely respectable
+footman, ushered in patients one after the other, many of them Society
+women suffering from what is known in these degenerate days as
+"nerves." Indeed, Eyton was _par excellence_ a ladies' doctor, for so
+many of the gentler sex get burnt up in the mad rush of a London
+season.
+
+I had made up my mind to consult my chief, and with that object
+entered his room on the following afternoon at a quarter before four.
+
+"Well, Boyd, anything fresh?" he asked, putting off his severely
+professional air and lolling back in his padded writing-chair as I
+entered.
+
+"No, nothing," I responded, throwing myself in the patient's chair
+opposite him and tossing my gloves on the table. "A hard day down at
+the hospital, that's all. You've been busy as usual, I suppose."
+
+"Busy!" the old man echoed, "why, these confounded women never let me
+alone for a single instant! Always the same story--excitement, late
+hours, little worries over erring husbands, and all that sort of
+thing. I always know what's coming as soon as they get seated and
+settled. I really don't know what Society's coming to, Boyd," and he
+blinked over at me through his heavy-framed spectacles.
+
+About sixty, of middle height, he was slightly inclined to rotundity,
+with hair almost white, a stubbly grey beard, and a pair of keen eyes
+rather prominently set in a bony but not unpleasant countenance. He
+had a peculiar habit of stroking his left ear when puzzled, and was
+not without those little eccentricities which run hand in hand with
+genius. One of them was his fondness for amateur theatricals, for he
+was a leading member of the Dramatic Club at Hove and nearly always
+took part in the performances. But he was a pronounced miser. Each day
+when he arrived at Victoria Station from Hove, he purchased three ham
+sandwiches at the refreshment bar and carried them in his black bag to
+Harley Street. He there concealed them in a drawer in the
+writing-table and stealthily ate them instead of taking half-an-hour
+for luncheon. Sometimes he sent Ford out to the nearest greengrocer's
+in the Marylebone Road for a penny apple, which he surreptitiously ate
+as dessert.
+
+Indeed, he was finishing his last sandwich when I entered, and his
+mouth was full.
+
+It may have been that small fact which caused me to hesitate. At any
+rate, sitting there with those big round eyes peering forth upon me, I
+felt the absurdity of the situation.
+
+Presently, when he had finished his sandwich, carefully brushed the
+crumbs from his blotting-pad and cast the bag into the waste-paper
+basket, he raised his head and with his big eyes again blinking
+through his spectacles, said:
+
+"You've had no call to poor old Courtenay, I suppose?"
+
+"No," I responded. "Why?"
+
+"Because he's in a bad way."
+
+"Worse?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I'm rather anxious about him. He'll have to keep
+to his bed, I fear."
+
+I did not in the least doubt this. Old Mr. Henry Courtenay, one of the
+Devonshire Courtenays, a very wealthy if somewhat eccentric old
+gentleman, lived in one of those prim, pleasant, detached houses in
+Richmond Road, facing Kew Gardens, and was one of Sir Bernard's best
+patients. He had been under him for a number of years until they had
+become personal friends. One of his eccentricities was to insist on
+paying heavy fees to his medical adviser, believing, perhaps, that by
+so doing he would secure greater and more careful attention.
+
+But, strangely enough, mention of the name suddenly gave me the clue
+so long wanting. It aroused within me a sense of impending evil
+regarding the very man of whom we were speaking. The sound of the name
+seemed to strike the sympathetic chord within my brain, and I at once
+became cognisant that the unaccountable presage of impending
+misfortune was connected with that rather incongruous household down
+at Kew.
+
+Therefore, when Sir Bernard imparted to me his misgivings, I was
+quickly on the alert, and questioned him regarding the progress of old
+Mr. Courtenay's disease.
+
+"The poor fellow is sinking, I'm afraid, Boyd," exclaimed my chief,
+confidentially. "He doesn't believe himself half so ill as he is. When
+did you see him last?"
+
+"Only a few days ago. I thought he seemed much improved," I said.
+
+"Ah! of course," the old doctor snapped; his manner towards me in an
+instant changed. "You're a frequent visitor there, I forgot. Feminine
+attraction and all that sort of thing. Dangerous, Boyd! Dangerous to
+run after a woman of her sort. I'm an older man than you. Why haven't
+you taken the hint I gave you long ago?"
+
+"Because I could see no reason why I should not continue my friendship
+with Ethelwynn Mivart."
+
+"My dear Boyd," he responded, in a sympathetic fatherly manner, which
+he sometimes assumed, "I'm an old bachelor, and I see quite sufficient
+of women in this room--too much of them, in fact. The majority are
+utterly worthless. Recollect that I have never taken away a woman's
+character yet, and I refuse to do so now--especially to her lover. I
+merely warn you, Boyd, to drop her. That's all. If you don't, depend
+upon it you'll regret it."
+
+"Then there's some secret or other of her past which she conceals, I
+suppose?" I said hoarsely, feeling confident that being so intimate
+with his patient, old Mr. Courtenay, he had discovered it.
+
+"Yes," he replied, blinking again at me through his glasses. "There
+is--a very ugly secret."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COURTENAYS.
+
+
+I determined to spend that evening at Richmond Road with open eyes.
+
+The house was a large red-brick one, modern, gabled, and typically
+suburban. Mr. Courtenay, although a wealthy man with a large estate in
+Devonshire and extensive properties in Canada, where as a young man he
+had amassed a large fortune, lived in that London suburb in order to
+be near his old friends. Besides, his wife was young and objected to
+being buried in the country. With her husband an invalid she was
+unable to entertain, therefore she had found the country dull very
+soon after her marriage and gladly welcomed removal to London, even
+though they sank their individuality in becoming suburban residents.
+
+Short, the prim manservant, who admitted me, showed me at once up to
+his master's room, and I stayed for half-an-hour with him. He was
+sitting before the fire in a padded dressing gown, a rather thick-set
+figure with grey hair, wan cheeks, and bright eyes. The hand he gave
+me was chill and bony, yet I saw plainly that he was much better than
+when I had last seen him. He was up, and that was a distinctly good
+sign. I examined him, questioned him, and as far as I could make out
+he was, contrary to my chief's opinion, very much improved.
+
+Indeed, he spoke quite gaily, offered me a whisky and soda, and made
+me tell him the stories I had heard an hour earlier at the Savage. The
+poor old fellow was suffering from that most malignant disease, cancer
+of the tongue, which had caused him to develop peripheral neuritis.
+His doctors had recommended an operation, but knowing it to be a very
+serious one he had declined it, and as he had suffered great pain and
+inconvenience he had taken to drink heavily. He was a lonely man, and
+I often pitied him. A doctor can very quickly tell whether domestic
+felicity reigns in a household, and I had long ago seen that with the
+difference of age between Mrs. Courtenay and her husband--he sixty-two
+and she only twenty-nine--they had but few ideas in common.
+
+That she nursed him tenderly I was well aware, but from her manner I
+had long ago detected that her devotedness was only assumed in order
+to humour him, and that she possessed little or no real affection for
+him. Nor was it much wonder, after all. A smart young woman, fond of
+society and amusement, is never the kind of wife for a snappy invalid
+of old Courtenay's type. She had married him, some five years before,
+for his money, her uncharitable enemies said. Perhaps that was so. In
+any case it was difficult to believe that a pretty woman of her stamp
+could ever entertain any genuine affection for a man of his age, and
+it was most certainly true that whatever bond of sympathy had existed
+between them at the time of their marriage had now been snapped.
+
+Instead of remaining at home of an evening and posing as a dutiful
+wife as she once had done, she was now in the habit of going up to
+town to her friends the Penn-Pagets, who lived in Brook Street, or the
+Hennikers in Redcliffe Square, accompanying them to dances and
+theatres with all the defiance of the "covenances" allowed nowadays to
+the married woman. On such occasions, growing each week more frequent,
+her sister Ethelwynn remained at home to see that Mr. Courtenay was
+properly attended to by the nurse, and exhibited a patience that I
+could not help but admire.
+
+Yes, the more I reflected upon it the more curious seemed that
+ill-assorted _ménage_. On her marriage Mary Mivart had declared that
+her new home in Devonshire was deadly dull, and had induced her
+indulgent husband to allow her sister to come and live with her, and
+Ethelwynn and her maid had formed part of the household ever since.
+
+We doctors, providing we have not a brass plate in lieu of a practice,
+see some queer things, and being in the confidence of our patients,
+know of many strange and incomprehensible families. The one at
+Richmond Road was a case in point. I had gradually seen how young Mrs.
+Courtenay had tired of her wifely duties, until, by slow degrees, she
+had cast off the shackles altogether--until she now thought more of
+her new frocks, smart suppers at the Carlton, first-nights and "shows"
+in Mayfair than she did of the poor suffering old man whom she had not
+so long ago vowed to "love, honour and obey." It was to be regretted,
+but in my position I had no necessity nor inclination to interfere.
+Even Ethelwynn made no remark, although this sudden breaking forth of
+her sister must have pained her considerably.
+
+When at length I shook hands with my patient, left him in the hands of
+the nurse and descended to the drawing room, I found Ethelwynn
+awaiting me.
+
+She rose and came forward, both her slim white hands outstretched in
+glad welcome.
+
+"Short told me you were here," she exclaimed. "What a long time you
+have been upstairs. Nothing serious, I hope," she added with a touch
+of anxiety, I thought.
+
+"Nothing at all," I assured her, walking with her across to the fire
+and seating myself in the cosy-corner, while she threw herself upon a
+low lounge chair and pillowed her dark head upon a big cushion of
+yellow silk. "Where is Mary?" I asked.
+
+"Out. She's dining with the Hennikers to-night, I think."
+
+"And leaves you at home to look after the invalid?" I remarked.
+
+"Oh, I don't mind in the least," she declared, laughing.
+
+"And the old gentleman? What does he say to her constant absence in
+the evening?"
+
+"Well, to tell the truth, Ralph, he seldom knows. He usually believes
+her to be at home, and I never undeceive him. Why should I?"
+
+I grunted, for I was not at all well pleased with her connivance at
+her sister's deceit. The sound that escaped my lips caused her to
+glance across at me in quick surprise.
+
+"You are displeased, dear," she said. "Tell me why. What have I done?"
+
+"I'm not displeased with you," I declared. "Only, as you know, I'm not
+in favour of deception, and especially so in a wife."
+
+She pursed her lips, and I thought her face went a trifle paler. She
+was silent for a moment, then said:
+
+"I don't see why we should discuss that, Ralph. Mary's actions concern
+neither of us. It is not for us to prevent her amusing herself,
+neither is it our duty to create unpleasantness between husband and
+wife."
+
+I did not reply, but sat looking at her, drinking in her beauty in a
+long, full draught. How can I describe her? Her form was graceful in
+every line; her face perfect in its contour, open, finely-moulded, and
+with a marvellous complexion--a calm, sweet countenance that reminded
+one of Raphael's "Madonna" in Florence, indeed almost its counterpart.
+Her beauty had been remarked everywhere. She had sat to a well-known
+R.A. for his Academy picture two years before, and the artist had
+declared her to be one of the most perfect types of English beauty.
+
+Was it any wonder, then, that I was in love with her? Was it any
+wonder that those wonderful dark eyes held me beneath their spell, or
+those dark locks that I sometimes stroked from off her fair white brow
+should be to me the most beautiful in all the world? Man is but
+mortal, and a beautiful woman always enchants.
+
+As she sat before me in her evening gown of some flimsy cream stuff,
+all frills and furbelows, she seemed perfect in her loveliness. The
+surroundings suited her to perfection--the old Chippendale and the
+palms, while the well-shaded electric lamp in its wrought-iron stand
+shed a mellow glow upon her, softening her features and harmonising
+the tints of the objects around. From beneath the hem of her skirt a
+neat ankle encased in its black silk stocking was thrust coquettishly
+forward, and her tiny patent leather slipper was stretched out to the
+warmth of the fire. Her pose was, however, restful and natural. She
+loved luxury, and made no secret of it. The hour after dinner was
+always her hour of laziness, and she usually spent it in that
+self-same chair, in that self-same position.
+
+She was twenty-five, the youngest daughter of old Thomas Mivart, who
+was squire of Neneford, in Northamptonshire, a well-known hunting-man
+of his day, who had died two years ago leaving a widow, a charming
+lady, who lived alone at the Manor. To me it had always been a mystery
+why the craving for gaiety and amusement had never seized Ethelwynn.
+She was by far the more beautiful of the pair, the smartest in dress,
+and the wittier in speech, for possessed of a keen sense of humour,
+she was interesting as well as handsome--the two qualities which are
+_par excellence_ necessary for a woman to attain social success.
+
+She stirred slightly as she broke the silence, and then I detected in
+her a nervousness which I had not noticed on first entering the room.
+
+"Sir Bernard Eyton was down here yesterday and spent over an hour with
+the old gentleman. They sent the nurse out of the room and talked
+together for a long time, upon some private business, nurse thinks.
+When Sir Bernard came down he told me in confidence that Mr. Courtenay
+was distinctly weaker."
+
+"Yes," I said, "Sir Bernard told me that, but I must confess that
+to-night I find a decided improvement in him. He's sitting up quite
+lively."
+
+"Very different to a month ago," my well-beloved remarked. "Do you
+recollect when Short went to London in a hansom and brought you down
+at three in the morning?"
+
+"I gave up all hope when I saw him on that occasion," I said; "but he
+certainly seems to have taken a new lease of life."
+
+"Do you think he really has?" she inquired with an undisguised
+eagerness which struck me as distinctly curious. "Do you believe that
+Sir Bernard's fears are after all ungrounded?"
+
+I looked at her surprised. She had never before evinced such a keen
+interest in her sister's husband, and I was puzzled.
+
+"I really can't give an opinion," I responded mechanically, for want
+of something or other to say.
+
+It was curious, that question of hers--very curious.
+
+Yet after all I was in love--and all lovers are fools in their
+jealousy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A NIGHT CALL.
+
+
+"Do you know, Ralph," she faltered presently, "I have a faint
+suspicion that you are annoyed about something. What is it? Be frank
+now and tell me."
+
+"Annoyed?" I laughed. "Not at all, dearest. Nervous and impatient,
+perhaps. You must make allowances for me. A doctor's life is full of
+professional worries. I've had a trying day at the hospital, and I
+suppose I'm quarrelsome--eh?"
+
+"No, not quarrelsome, but just inclined to be a little suspicious."
+
+"Suspicious? Of what?"
+
+Her woman's power of penetration to the innermost secrets of the heart
+was marvellous.
+
+"Of me?"
+
+"How absurd!" I exclaimed. "Why should I be suspicious--and of what?"
+
+"Well," she laughed, "I really don't know, only your manner is
+peculiar. Why not be frank with me, Ralph, dear, and tell me what it
+is that you don't like. Have I offended you?"
+
+"Not at all, darling," I hastened to assure her. "Why, you're the best
+little woman in the world. Offend me--how absurd!"
+
+"Then who has offended you?"
+
+I hesitated. When a woman really loves, a man can have but few secrets
+from her. Ethelwynn always read me like an open book.
+
+"I'm worried over a critical case," I said, in an endeavour to evade
+her question.
+
+"But your patients don't annoy you, surely," she exclaimed. "There is
+a distinction between annoyance and worry."
+
+I saw that she had detected my suspicion, and at once hastened to
+reassure her that she had my entire confidence.
+
+"If Mary finds her life a trifle dull with her husband it is surely no
+reason why I should be blamed for it," she said, in a tone of mild
+complaint.
+
+"No, you entirely misunderstand me," I said. "No blame whatever
+attaches to you. Your sister's actions are no affair of ours. It is
+merely a pity that she cannot see her error. With her husband lying
+ill she should at least remain at home."
+
+"She declares that she has suffered martyrdom for his sake long
+enough," my well-beloved said. "Perhaps she is right, for between
+ourselves the old gentleman is a terrible trial."
+
+"That is only to be expected from one suffering from such a disease.
+Yet it can serve no excuse for his wife taking up with that gay set,
+the Penn-Pagets and the Hennikers. I must say I'm very surprised."
+
+"And so am I, Ralph. But what can I do? I'm utterly powerless. She is
+mistress here, and does exactly as she likes. The old gentleman dotes
+on her and allows her to have her way in everything. She has ever
+been wilful, even from a child."
+
+She did not attempt to shield her sister, and yet she uttered no
+condemnation of her conduct. I could not, even then, understand the
+situation. To me one of two things was apparent. Either she feared to
+displease her sister because of some power the latter held over her,
+or this neglect of old Mr. Courtenay was pleasing to her.
+
+"I wonder you don't give Mary a hint that her conduct is being noticed
+and remarked upon. Of course, don't say that I've spoken of it. Merely
+put it to her in the manner of a vague suggestion."
+
+"Very well, if you wish it," she responded promptly, for she was ever
+ready to execute my smallest desire.
+
+"And you love me quite as truly and as well as you did a year ago?" I
+asked, eagerly, stroking the dark tendrils from her white brow.
+
+"Love you?" she echoed. "Yes, Ralph," she went on, looking up into my
+face with unwavering gaze. "I may be distrait and pre-occupied
+sometimes, but, nevertheless, I swear to you, as I did on that
+summer's evening long ago when we were boating together at Shepperton,
+that you are the only man I have ever loved--or shall ever love."
+
+I returned her caress with a passion that was heartfelt. I was devoted
+to her, and these tender words of hers confirmed my belief in her
+truth and purity.
+
+"Need I repeat what I have told you so many times, dearest?" I asked,
+in a low voice, as her head rested upon my shoulder and she stood in
+my embrace. "Need I tell you how fondly I love you--how that I am
+entirely yours? No. You are mine, Ethelwynn--mine."
+
+"And you will never think ill of me?" she asked, in a faltering tone.
+"You will never be suspicious of me as you have been to-night? You
+cannot tell how all this upsets me. Perfect love surely demands
+perfect confidence. And our love is perfect--is it not?"
+
+"It is," I cried. "It is. Forgive me, dearest. Forgive me for my
+churlish conduct to-night. It is my fault--all my fault. I love you,
+and have every confidence in you."
+
+"But will your love last always?" she asked, with just a tinge of
+doubt in her voice.
+
+"Yes, always," I declared.
+
+"No matter what may happen?" she asked.
+
+"No matter what may happen."
+
+I kissed her fervently with warm words of passionate devotion upon my
+lips, and went forth into the rainy winter's night with my suspicions
+swept away and with love renewed within me.
+
+I had been foolish in my suspicions and apprehensions, and hated
+myself for it. Her sweet devotedness to me was sufficient proof of her
+honesty. I was not wealthy by any means, and I knew that if she chose
+she could, with her notable beauty, captivate a rich husband without
+much difficulty. Husbands are only unattainable by the blue-stocking,
+the flirt and the personally angular.
+
+The rain pelted down in torrents as I walked to Kew Gardens Station,
+and as it generally happens to the unlucky doctor that calls are made
+upon him in the most inclement weather, I found, on returning to
+Harley Place, that Lady Langley, in Hill Street, had sent a message
+asking me to go round at once. I was therefore compelled to pay the
+visit, for her ladyship--a snappy old dowager--was a somewhat exacting
+patient of Sir Bernard's.
+
+She was a fussy old person who believed herself to be much worse than
+she really was, and it was, therefore, not until past one o'clock that
+I smoked my final pipe, drained my peg, and retired to bed, full of
+recollections of my well-beloved.
+
+Just before turning in my man brought me a telegram from Sir Bernard,
+dispatched from Brighton, regarding a case to be seen on the following
+day. He was very erratic about telegrams and sent them to me at all
+hours, therefore it was no extraordinary circumstance. He always
+preferred telegraphing to writing letters. I read the message, tossed
+it with its envelope upon the fire, and then retired with a fervent
+hope that I should at least be allowed to have a complete night's
+rest. Sir Bernard's patients were, however, of that class who call the
+doctor at any hour for the slightest attack of indigestion, and
+summonses at night were consequently very frequent.
+
+I suppose I had been in bed a couple of hours when I was awakened by
+the electric bell sounding in my man's room, and a few minutes later
+he entered, saying:--
+
+"There's a man who wants to see you immediately, sir. He says he's
+from Mr. Courtenay's, down at Kew."
+
+"Mr. Courtenay's!" I echoed, sitting up in bed. "Bring him in here."
+
+A few moments later the caller was shown in.
+
+"Why, Short!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter?"
+
+"Matter, doctor," the man stammered. "It's awful, sir!"
+
+"What's awful?"
+
+"My poor master, sir. He's dead--he's been murdered!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DISCLOSES A MYSTERY.
+
+
+The man's amazing announcement held me speechless.
+
+"Murdered!" I cried when I found tongue. "Impossible!"
+
+"Ah! sir, it's too true. He's quite dead."
+
+"But surely he has died from natural causes--eh?"
+
+"No, sir. My poor master has been foully murdered."
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked breathlessly. "Tell me all the facts."
+
+I saw by the man's agitation, his white face, and the hurried manner
+in which he had evidently dressed to come in search of me, that
+something tragic had really occurred.
+
+"We know nothing yet, sir," was his quick response. "I entered his
+room at two o'clock, as usual, to see if he wanted anything, and saw
+that he was quite still, apparently asleep. The lamp was turned low,
+but as I looked over the bed I saw a small dark patch upon the sheet.
+This I discovered to be blood, and a moment later was horrified to
+discover a small wound close to the heart, and from it the blood was
+slowly oozing."
+
+"Then he's been stabbed, you think?" I gasped, springing up and
+beginning to dress myself hastily.
+
+"We think so, sir. It's awful!"
+
+"Terrible!" I said, utterly dumbfounded by the man's amazing story.
+"After you made the discovery, how did you act?"
+
+"I awoke the nurse, who slept in the room adjoining. And then we
+aroused Miss Mivart. The shock to her was terrible, poor young lady.
+When she saw the body of the old gentleman she burst into tears, and
+at once sent me to you. I didn't find a cab till I'd walked almost to
+Hammersmith, and then I came straight on here."
+
+"But is there undoubtedly foul play, Short?"
+
+"No doubt whatever, sir. I'm nothing of a doctor, but I could see the
+wound plainly, like a small clean cut just under the heart."
+
+"No weapon about?"
+
+"I didn't see anything, sir."
+
+"Have you called the police?"
+
+"No, sir. Miss Mivart said she would wait until you arrived. She wants
+your opinion."
+
+"And Mrs. Courtenay. How does she bear the tragedy?"
+
+"The poor lady doesn't know yet."
+
+"Doesn't know? Haven't you told her?"
+
+"No, sir. She's not at home."
+
+"What? She hasn't returned?"
+
+"No, sir," responded the man.
+
+That fact was in itself peculiar. Yet there was, I felt sure, some
+strong reason if young Mrs. Courtenay remained the night with her
+friends, the Hennikers. Trains run to Kew after the theatres, but she
+had possibly missed the last, and had been induced by her friends to
+remain the night with them in town.
+
+Yet the whole of the tragic affair was certainly very extraordinary.
+It was Short's duty to rise at two o'clock each morning and go to his
+master's room to ascertain if the invalid wanted anything. Generally,
+however, the old gentleman slept well, hence there had been no
+necessity for a night nurse.
+
+When I entered the cab, and the man having taken a seat beside me, we
+had set out on our long night drive to Kew, I endeavoured to obtain
+more details regarding the Courtenay _ménage_. In an ordinary way I
+could scarcely have questioned a servant regarding his master and
+mistress, but on this drive I saw an occasion to obtain knowledge, and
+seized it.
+
+Short, although a well-trained servant, was communicative. The shock
+he had sustained in discovering his master made him so.
+
+After ten years' service he was devoted to his master, but from the
+remarks he let drop during our drive I detected that he entertained a
+strong dislike of the old gentleman's young wife. He was, of course,
+well aware of my affection for Ethelwynn, and carefully concealed his
+antipathy towards her, an antipathy which I somehow felt convinced
+existed. He regarded both sisters with equal mistrust.
+
+"Does your mistress often remain in town with her friends at night?"
+
+"Sometimes, when she goes to balls."
+
+"And is that often?"
+
+"Not very often."
+
+"And didn't the old gentleman know of his wife's absence?"
+
+"Sometimes. He used to ask me whether Mrs. Courtenay was at home, and
+then I was bound to tell the truth."
+
+By his own admission then, this man Short had informed the invalid of
+his wife's frequent absences. He was an informer, and as such most
+probably the enemy of both Mary and Ethelwynn. I knew him to be the
+confidential servant of the old gentleman, but had not before
+suspected him of tale-telling. Without doubt Mrs. Courtenay's recent
+neglect had sorely grieved the old gentleman. He doted upon her,
+indulged her in every whim and fancy and, like many an aged husband
+who has a smart young wife, dared not to differ from her or complain
+of any of her actions. There is a deal of truth in the adage, "There's
+no fool like an old fool."
+
+But the mystery was increasing, and as we drove together down that
+long interminable high road through Hammersmith to Chiswick, wet, dark
+and silent at that hour, I reflected that the strange presage of
+insecurity which had so long oppressed me was actually being
+fulfilled. Ambler Jevons had laughed at it. But would he laugh now?
+To-morrow, without doubt, he would be working at the mystery in the
+interests of justice. To try to keep the affair out of the Press
+would, I knew too well, be impossible. Those men, in journalistic
+parlance called "liners," are everywhere, hungry for copy, and always
+eager to seize upon anything tragic or mysterious.
+
+From Short I gathered a few additional details. Not many, be it said,
+but sufficient to make it quite clear that he was intensely
+antagonistic towards his mistress. This struck me as curious, for as
+far as I had seen she had always treated him with the greatest
+kindness and consideration, had given him holidays, and to my
+knowledge had, a few months before, raised his wages of her own
+accord. Nevertheless, the _ménage_ was a strange one, incongruous in
+every respect.
+
+My chief thoughts were, however, with my love. The shock to her must,
+I knew, be terrible, especially as Mary was absent and she was alone
+with the nurse and servants.
+
+When I sprang from the cab and entered the house she met me in the
+hall. She had dressed hastily and wore a light shawl over her head,
+probably to conceal her disordered hair, but her face was blanched to
+the lips.
+
+"Oh, Ralph!" she cried in a trembling voice. "I thought you were never
+coming. It's terrible--terrible!"
+
+"Come in here," I said, leading her into the dining room. "Tell me all
+you know of the affair."
+
+"Short discovered him just after two o'clock. He was then quite
+still."
+
+"But there may be life," I exclaimed suddenly, and leaving her I
+rushed up the stairs and into the room where the old man had chatted
+to me so merrily not many hours before.
+
+The instant my gaze fell upon him I knew the truth. Cadaveric rigidity
+had supervened, and he had long been beyond hope of human aid. His
+furrowed face was as white as ivory, and his lower jaw had dropped in
+that manner that unmistakably betrays the presence of death.
+
+As the man had described, the sheet was stained with blood. But there
+was not much, and I was some moments before I discovered the wound. It
+was just beneath the heart, cleanly cut, and about three-quarters of
+an inch long, evidently inflicted by some sharp instrument. He had no
+doubt been struck in his sleep, and with such precision that he had
+died without being able to raise the alarm.
+
+The murderer, whoever he was, had carried the weapon away.
+
+I turned and saw Ethelwynn, a pale wan figure in her light gown and
+shawl, standing on the threshold, watching me intently. She stood
+there white and trembling, as though fearing to enter the presence of
+the dead.
+
+I made a hasty tour of the room, examining the window and finding it
+fastened. As far as I could discover, nothing whatever was disturbed.
+
+Then I went out to her and, closing the door behind me, said--
+
+"Short must go along to the police station. We must report it."
+
+"But is it really necessary?" she asked anxiously. "Think of the awful
+exposure in the papers. Can't we hush it up? Do, Ralph--for my sake,"
+she implored.
+
+"But I can't give a death certificate when a person has been
+murdered," I explained. "Before burial there must be a _post-mortem_
+and an inquest."
+
+"Then you think he has actually been murdered?"
+
+"Of course, without a doubt. It certainly isn't suicide."
+
+The discovery had caused her to become rigid, almost statuesque.
+Sudden terror often acts thus upon women of her highly nervous
+temperament. She allowed me to lead her downstairs and back to the
+dining room. On the way I met Short in the hall, and ordered him to go
+at once to the police station.
+
+"Now, dearest," I said, taking her hand tenderly in mine when we were
+alone together with the door closed, "tell me calmly all you know of
+this awful affair."
+
+"I--I know nothing," she declared. "Nothing except what you already
+know. Short knocked at my door and I dressed hastily, only to discover
+that the poor old gentleman was dead."
+
+"Was the house still locked up?"
+
+"I believe so. The servants could, I suppose, tell that."
+
+"But is it not strange that Mary is still absent?" I remarked,
+perplexed.
+
+"No, not very. Sometimes she has missed her last train and has stopped
+the night with the Penn-Pagets or the Hennikers. It is difficult, she
+says, to go to supper after the theatre and catch the last train. It
+leaves Charing Cross so early."
+
+Again there seemed a distinct inclination on her part to shield her
+sister.
+
+"The whole thing is a most profound mystery," she went on. "I must
+have slept quite lightly, for I heard the church clock strike each
+quarter until one o'clock, yet not an unusual sound reached me.
+Neither did nurse hear anything."
+
+Nurse Kate was an excellent woman whom I had known at Guy's through
+several years. Both Sir Bernard and myself had every confidence in
+her, and she had been the invalid's attendant for the past two years.
+
+"It certainly is a mystery--one which we must leave to the police to
+investigate. In the meantime, however, we must send Short to Redcliffe
+Square to find Mary. He must not tell her the truth, but merely say
+that her husband is much worse. To tell her of the tragedy at once
+would probably prove too great a blow."
+
+"She ought never to have gone to town and left him," declared my
+well-beloved in sudden condemnation of her sister's conduct. "She will
+never forgive herself."
+
+"Regrets will not bring the poor fellow to life again," I said with a
+sigh. "We must act, and act promptly, in order to discover the
+identity of the murderer and the motive of the crime. That there is a
+motive is certain; yet it is indeed strange that anyone should
+actually kill a man suffering from a disease which, in a few months at
+most, must prove fatal. The motive was therefore his immediate
+decease, and that fact will probably greatly assist the police in
+their investigations."
+
+"But who could have killed him?"
+
+"Ah! that's the mystery. If, as you believe, the house was found to be
+still secured when the alarm was raised, then it would appear that
+someone who slept beneath this roof was guilty."
+
+"Oh! Impossible! Remember there are only myself and the servants. You
+surely don't suspect either of them?"
+
+"I have no suspicion of anyone at present," I answered. "Let the
+police search the place, and they may discover something which will
+furnish them with a clue."
+
+I noticed some telegraph-forms in the stationery rack on a small
+writing-table, and taking one scribbled a couple of lines to Sir
+Bernard, at Hove, informing him of the mysterious affair. This I
+folded and placed in my pocket in readiness for the re-opening of the
+telegraph office at eight o'clock.
+
+Shortly afterwards we heard the wheels of the cab outside, and a few
+minutes later were joined by a police inspector in uniform and an
+officer in plain clothes.
+
+In a few brief sentences I explained to them the tragic circumstances,
+and then led them upstairs to the dead man's room.
+
+After a cursory glance around, they went forth again out upon the
+landing in order to await the arrival of two other plain-clothes
+officers who had come round on foot, one of them the sergeant of the
+Criminal Investigation Department attached to the Kew station. Then,
+after giving orders to the constable on the beat to station himself at
+the door and allow no one to enter or leave without permission, the
+three detectives and the inspector entered the room where the dead man
+lay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+Having explained who I was, I followed the men in and assisted them in
+making a careful and minute examination of the place.
+
+Search for the weapon with which the crime had been committed proved
+fruitless; hence it was plain that the murderer had carried it away.
+There were no signs whatever of a struggle, and nothing to indicate
+that the blow had been struck by any burglar with a motive of
+silencing the prostrate man.
+
+The room was a large front one on the first floor, with two French
+windows opening upon a balcony formed by the big square portico. Both
+were found to be secured, not only by the latches, but also by long
+screws as an extra precaution against thieves, old Mr. Courtenay, like
+many other elderly people, being extremely nervous of midnight
+intruders. The bedroom itself was well furnished in genuine Sheraton,
+which he had brought up from his palatial home in Devonshire, for the
+old man denied himself no personal comfort. The easy chair in which he
+had sat when I had paid my visit was still in its place at the
+fireside, with the footstool just as he had left it; the drawers which
+we opened one after another showed no sign of having been rummaged,
+and the sum result of our investigations was absolutely _nil_.
+
+"It looks very much as though someone in the house had done it,"
+whispered the inspector seriously to me, having first glanced at the
+door to ascertain that it was closed.
+
+"Yes," I admitted, "appearances certainly do point to that."
+
+"Who was the young lady who met us downstairs?" inquired the detective
+sergeant, producing a small note-book and pencil.
+
+"Miss Ethelwynn Mivart, sister to Mrs. Courtenay."
+
+"And is Mrs. Courtenay at home?" he inquired, making a note of the
+name.
+
+"No. We have sent for her. She's staying with friends in London."
+
+"Hulloa! There's an iron safe here!" exclaimed one of the men
+rummaging at the opposite side of the room. He had pulled away a chest
+of drawers from the wall, revealing what I had never noticed before,
+the door of a small fireproof safe built into the wall.
+
+"Is it locked?" inquired the inspector.
+
+The man, after trying the knob and examining the keyhole, replied in
+the affirmative.
+
+"Keeps his deeds and jewellery there, I suppose," remarked one of the
+other detectives. "He seems to have been very much afraid of burglars.
+I wonder whether he had any reason for that?"
+
+"Like many old men he was a trifle eccentric," I replied. "Thieves
+once broke into his country house years ago, I believe, and he
+therefore entertained a horror of them."
+
+We all examined the keyhole of the safe, but there was certainly no
+evidence to show that it had been tampered with. On the contrary, the
+little oval brass plate which closed the hole was rusty, and had not
+apparently been touched for weeks.
+
+While they were searching in other parts of the room I directed my
+attention to the position and appearance of my late patient. He was
+lying on his right side with one arm slightly raised in quite a
+natural attitude for one sleeping. His features, although the pallor
+of death was upon them and they were relaxed, showed no sign of
+suffering. The blow had been unerring, and had no doubt penetrated to
+the heart. The crime had been committed swiftly, and the murderer had
+escaped unseen and unheard.
+
+The eider-down quilt, a rich one of Gobelin blue satin, had scarcely
+been disturbed, and save for the small spot of blood upon the sheet,
+traces of a terrible crime were in no way apparent.
+
+While, however, I stood at the bedside, at the same spot most probably
+where the murderer had stood, I suddenly felt something uneven between
+the sole of my boot and the carpet. So intent was I upon the
+examination I was making that at first my attention was not attracted
+by it, but on stepping on it a second time I looked down and saw
+something white, which I quickly picked up.
+
+The instant I saw it I closed my hand and hid it from view.
+
+Then I glanced furtively around, and seeing that my action had been
+unobserved I quickly transferred it to my vest pocket, covering the
+movement by taking out my watch to glance at it.
+
+I confess that my heart beat quickly, and in all probability the
+colour at that moment had left my face, for I had, by sheer accident,
+discovered a clue.
+
+To examine it there was impossible, for of such a character was it
+that I had no intention, as yet, to arouse the suspicions of the
+police. I intended at the earliest moment to apprise my friend, Ambler
+Jevons, of the facts and with him pursue an entirely independent
+inquiry.
+
+Scarcely had I safely pocketed the little object I had picked up from
+where the murderer must have stood when the inspector went out upon
+the landing and called to the constable in the hall:
+
+"Four-sixty-two, lock that door and come up here a moment."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered a gruff voice from below, and in a few moments
+the constable entered, closing the door after him.
+
+"How many times have you passed this house on your beat to-night,
+four-sixty-two?" inquired the inspector.
+
+"About eight, sir. My beat's along the Richmond Road, from the Lion
+Gate down to the museum, and then around the back streets."
+
+"Saw nothing?"
+
+"I saw a man come out of this house hurriedly, soon after I came on
+duty. I was standing on the opposite side, under the wall of the
+Gardens. The lady what's downstairs let him out and told him to fetch
+the doctor quickly."
+
+"Ah! Short, the servant," I observed.
+
+"Where is he?" asked the inspector, while the detective with the ready
+note-book scribbled down the name.
+
+"He came to fetch me, and Miss Mivart has now sent him to fetch her
+sister. He was the first to make the discovery."
+
+"Oh, was he?" exclaimed the detective-sergeant, with some suspicion.
+"It's rather a pity that he's been sent out again. He might be able to
+tell us something."
+
+"He'll be back in an hour, I should think."
+
+"Yes, but every hour is of consequence in a matter of this sort,"
+remarked the sergeant. "Look here, Davidson," he added, turning to one
+of the plain-clothes men, "just go round to the station and send a
+wire to the Yard, asking for extra assistance. Give them a brief
+outline of the case. They'll probably send down Franks or Moreland. If
+I'm not mistaken, there's a good deal more in this mystery than meets
+the eye."
+
+The man addressed obeyed promptly, and left.
+
+"What do you know of the servants here?" asked the inspector of the
+constable.
+
+"Not much, sir. Six-forty-eight walks out with the cook, I've heard.
+She's a respectable woman. Her father's a lighterman at Kew Bridge. I
+know 'em all here by sight, of course. But there's nothing against
+them, to my knowledge, and I've been a constable in this sub-division
+for eighteen years."
+
+"The man--what's his name?--Short. Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I've often seen him in the 'Star and Garter' at Kew
+Bridge."
+
+"Drinks?"
+
+"Not much, sir. He was fined over at Brentford six months ago for
+letting a dog go unmuzzled. His greatest friend is one of the
+gardeners at the Palace--a man named Burford, a most respectable
+fellow."
+
+"Then there's no suspicion of anyone as yet?" remarked the inspector,
+with an air of dissatisfaction. In criminal mysteries the police often
+bungle from the outset, and to me it appeared as though, having no
+clue, they were bent on manufacturing one.
+
+I felt in my vest pocket and touched the little object with a feeling
+of secret satisfaction. How I longed to be alone for five minutes in
+order to investigate it!
+
+The inspector, having dismissed the constable and sent him back to his
+post to unlock the door for the detective to pass out, next turned his
+attention to the servants and the remainder of the house. With that
+object we all descended to the dining-room.
+
+Ethelwynn met us at the foot of the stairs, still wearing the shawl
+about her head and shoulders. She placed a trembling hand upon my arm
+as I passed, asking in a low anxious voice:
+
+"Have you found anything, Ralph? Tell me."
+
+"No, nothing," I replied, and then passed into the dining-room, where
+the nurse and domestics had been assembled.
+
+The nurse, a plain matter-of-fact woman, was the first person to be
+questioned. She explained to us how she had given her patient his last
+dose of medicine at half-past eleven, just after Miss Mivart had
+wished her good-night and retired to her room. Previously she had been
+down in the drawing-room chatting with the young lady. The man Short
+was then upstairs with his master.
+
+"Was the deceased gentleman aware of his wife's absence?" the
+inspector asked presently.
+
+"Yes. He remarked to me that it was time she returned. I presume that
+Short had told him."
+
+"What time was this?"
+
+"Oh! about half-past ten, I should think," replied Nurse Kate. "He
+said something about it being a bad night to go out to a theatre, and
+hoped she would not take cold."
+
+"He was not angry?"
+
+"Not in the least. He was never angry when she went to town. He used
+to say to me, 'My wife's a young woman, nurse. She wants a little
+amusement sometimes, and I'm sure I don't begrudge it to her.'"
+
+This puzzled me quite as much as it puzzled the detective. I had
+certainly been under the impression that husband and wife had
+quarrelled over the latter's frequent absences from home. Indeed, in a
+household where the wife is young and the husband elderly, quarrels of
+that character are almost sure to occur sooner or later. As a doctor I
+knew the causes of domestic infelicity in a good many homes. Men in my
+profession see a good deal, and hear more. Every doctor could unfold
+strange tales of queer households if he were not debarred by the bond
+of professional secrecy.
+
+"You heard no noise during the night?" inquired the inspector.
+
+"None. I'm a light sleeper as a rule, and wake at the slightest
+sound," the woman replied. "But I heard absolutely nothing."
+
+"Anyone, in order to enter the dead man's room, must have passed your
+door, I think?"
+
+"Yes, and what's more, the light was burning and my door was ajar. I
+always kept it so in order to hear if my patient wanted anything."
+
+"Then the murderer could see you as he stood on the landing?"
+
+"No. There's a screen at the end of my bed. He could not see far into
+the room. But I shudder to think that to-night I've had an assassin a
+dozen feet from me while I slept," she added.
+
+Finding that she could throw no light upon the mysterious affair, the
+officer turned his attention to the four frightened domestics, each in
+turn.
+
+All, save one, declared that they heard not a single sound. The one
+exception was Alice, the under housemaid, a young fair-haired girl,
+who stated that during the night she had distinctly heard a sound like
+the low creaking of light shoes on the landing below where they slept.
+
+This first aroused our interest, but on full reflection it seemed so
+utterly improbable that an assassin would wear a pair of creaky boots
+when on such an errand that we were inclined to disregard the girl's
+statement as a piece of imagination. The feminine mind is much given
+to fiction on occasions of tragic events.
+
+But the girl over and over again asserted that she had heard it. She
+slept alone in a small room at the top of the second flight of stairs
+and had heard the sound quite distinctly.
+
+"When you heard it what did you do?"
+
+"I lay and listened."
+
+"For how long?"
+
+"Oh, quite a quarter of an hour, I should think. It was just before
+half-past one when I heard the noise, for the church clock struck
+almost immediately afterwards. The sound of the movement was such as I
+had never before heard at night, and at first I felt frightened. But I
+always lock my door, therefore I felt secure. The noise was just like
+someone creeping along very slowly, with one boot creaking."
+
+"But if it was so loud that you could hear it with your door closed,
+it is strange that no one else heard it," the detective-sergeant
+remarked dubiously.
+
+"I don't care what anybody else heard, I heard it quite plainly," the
+girl asserted.
+
+"How long did it continue?" asked the detective.
+
+"Oh, only just as though someone was stealing along the corridor. We
+often hear movements at nights, because Short is always astir at two
+o'clock, giving the master his medicine. If it hadn't ha' been for the
+creaking I should not have taken notice of it. But I lay quite wide
+awake for over half an hour--until Short came banging at our doors,
+telling us to get up at once, as we were wanted downstairs."
+
+"Well," exclaimed the inspector, "now, I want to ask all of you a very
+simple question, and wish to obtain an honest and truthful reply. Was
+any door or window left unfastened when you went to bed?"
+
+"No, sir," the cook replied promptly. "I always go round myself, and
+see that everything is fastened."
+
+"The front door, for example?"
+
+"I bolted it at Miss Ethelwynn's orders."
+
+"At what time?"
+
+"One o'clock. She told me to wait up till then, and if mistress did
+not return I was to lock up and go to bed."
+
+"Then the tragedy must have been enacted about half an hour later?"
+
+"I think so, sir."
+
+"You haven't examined the doors and windows to see if any have been
+forced?"
+
+"As far as I can see, they are just as I left them when I went to bed,
+sir."
+
+"That's strange--very strange," remarked the inspector, turning to us.
+"We must make an examination and satisfy ourselves."
+
+The point was one that was most important in the conduct of the
+inquiry. If all doors and windows were still locked, then the assassin
+was one of that strange household.
+
+Led by the cook, the officers began a round of the lower premises. One
+of the detectives borrowed the constable's bull's-eye and, accompanied
+by a second officer, went outside to make an examination of the
+window sashes, while we remained inside assisting them in their search
+for any marks.
+
+Ethelwynn had been called aside by one of the detectives, and was
+answering some questions addressed to her, therefore for an instant I
+found myself alone. It was the moment I had been waiting for, to
+secretly examine the clue I had obtained.
+
+I was near the door of the morning room, and for a second slipped
+inside and switched on the electric light.
+
+Then I took from my vest pocket the tiny little object I had found and
+carefully examined it.
+
+My heart stood still. My eyes riveted themselves upon it. The mystery
+was solved.
+
+I alone knew the truth!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY.
+
+
+A light footstep sounded behind me, and scarcely had I time to thrust
+the little object hastily back into my pocket when my well-beloved
+entered in search of me.
+
+"What do the police think, Ralph?" she asked eagerly. "Have they any
+clue? Do tell me."
+
+"They have no clue," I answered, in a voice which I fear sounded hard
+and somewhat abrupt.
+
+Then I turned from her, as though fully occupied with the
+investigations at which I was assisting, and went past her, leaving
+her standing alone.
+
+The police were busy examining the doors and windows of the back
+premises, kitchens, scullery, and pantry, but could find no evidence
+of any lock or fastening having been tampered with. The house, I must
+explain, was a large detached red brick one, standing in a lawn that
+was quite spacious for a suburban house, and around it ran an asphalte
+path which diverged from the right hand corner of the building and ran
+in two parts to the road, one a semi-circular drive which came up to
+the portico from the road, and the other, a tradesmen's path, that ran
+to the opposite extremity of the property.
+
+From the back kitchen a door led out upon this asphalted tradesmen's
+path, and as I rejoined the searchers some discussion was in
+progress as to whether the door in question had been secured. The
+detective-sergeant had found it unbolted and unlocked, but the cook
+most positively asserted that she had both locked and bolted it at
+half-past ten, when the under housemaid had come in from her "evening
+out." None of the servants, however, recollected having undone the
+door either before the alarm or after. Perhaps Short had done so, but
+he was absent, in search of the dead man's widow.
+
+The police certainly spared no pains in their search. They turned the
+whole place upside down. One man on his hands and knees, and carrying
+a candle, carefully examined the blue stair-carpet to see if he could
+find the marks of unusual feet. It was wet outside, and if an intruder
+had been there, there would probably remain marks of muddy feet. He
+found many, but they were those of the constable and detectives. Hence
+the point was beyond solution.
+
+The drawing-room, the dining-room, the morning-room, and the big
+conservatory were all closely inspected, but without any satisfactory
+result. My love followed us everywhere, white-faced and nervous, with
+the cream chenille shawl still over her shoulders. She had hastily put
+up her wealth of dark hair, and now wore the shawl wrapped lightly
+about her.
+
+That shawl attracted me. I managed to speak with her alone for a
+moment, asking her quite an unimportant question, but nevertheless
+with a distinct object. As we stood there I placed my hand upon her
+shoulder--and upon the shawl. It was for that very reason--in order
+to feel the texture of the silk--that I returned to her.
+
+The contact of my hand with the silk was convincing. I turned from her
+once again, and rejoined the shrewd men whose object it was to fasten
+the guilt upon the assassin.
+
+Presently we heard the welcome sound of cab wheels outside, and a few
+minutes later young Mrs. Courtenay, wild eyed and breathless, rushed
+into the hall and dashed headlong up the stairs. I, however, barred
+her passage.
+
+"Let me pass!" she cried wildly. "Short has told me he is worse and
+has asked for me. Let me pass!"
+
+"No, Mary, not so quickly. Let me tell you something," I answered
+gravely, placing my hand firmly upon her arm. The police were again
+re-examining the back premises below, and only Ethelwynn was present
+at the top of the stairs, where I arrested her progress to the dead
+man's room.
+
+"But is there danger?" she demanded anxiously. "Tell me."
+
+"The crisis is over," I responded ambiguously. "But is not your
+absence to-night rather unusual?"
+
+"It was entirely my own fault," she admitted. "I shall never forgive
+myself for this neglect. After the theatre we had supper at the Savoy,
+and I lost my last train. Dolly Henniker, of course, asked me to stay,
+and I could not refuse." Then glancing from my face to that of her
+sister she asked: "Why do you both look so strange? Tell me," she
+shrieked. "Tell me the worst. Is he--is he _dead_?"
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+For a second she stood dumb, then gave vent to a long wail, and would
+have fallen senseless if I had not caught her in my arms and laid her
+back upon the long settee placed in an alcove on the landing. She,
+like all the others, had dressed hurriedly. Her hair was dishevelled
+beneath her hat, but her disordered dress was concealed by her long
+ulster heavily lined with silver fox, a magnificent garment which her
+doting husband had purchased through a friend at Moscow, and presented
+to her as a birthday gift.
+
+From her manner it was only too plain that she was filled with
+remorse. I really pitied her, for she was a light-hearted, flighty,
+little woman who loved gaiety, and, without an evil thought, had no
+doubt allowed her friends to draw her into that round of amusement.
+They sympathised with her--as every woman who marries an old man is
+sympathised with--and they gave her what pleasures they could. Alas!
+that such a clanship between women so often proves fatal to domestic
+happiness. Judged from a logical point of view it was merely natural
+that young Mrs. Courtenay should, after a year or two with an invalid
+husband, aged and eccentric, beat her wings against the bars. She was
+a pretty woman, almost as pretty as her sister, but two years older,
+with fair hair, blue eyes, and a pink and white, almost doll-like
+complexion. Indeed, I knew quite well that she had long had a host of
+admirers, and that just prior to her marriage with Courtenay it had
+been rumoured that she was to marry the heir to an earldom, a rather
+rakish young cavalry officer up at York.
+
+To restore her to consciousness was not a difficult matter, but after
+she had requested me to tell her the whole of the ghastly truth she
+sat speechless, as though turned to stone.
+
+Her manner was unaccountable. She spoke at last, and to me it seemed
+as though the fainting fit had caused her an utter loss of memory. She
+uttered words at random, allowing her tongue to ramble on in strange
+disjointed sentences, of which I could make nothing.
+
+"My head! Oh! my head!" she kept on exclaiming, passing her hand
+across her brow as though to clear her brain.
+
+"Does it pain you?" I inquired.
+
+"It seems as though a band of iron were round it. I can't think. I--I
+can't remember!" And she glanced about her helplessly, her eyes with a
+wild strange look in them, her face so haggard and drawn that it gave
+her a look of premature age.
+
+"Oh! Mary, dear!" cried Ethelwynn, taking both her cold hands. "Why,
+what's the matter? Calm yourself, dear." Then turning to me she asked,
+"Can nothing be done, Ralph? See--she's not herself. The shock has
+unbalanced her brain."
+
+"Ralph! Ethelwynn!" gasped the unfortunate woman, looking at us with
+an expression of sudden wonder. "What has happened? Did I understand
+you aright? Poor Henry is dead?"
+
+"Unfortunately that is the truth." I was compelled to reply. "It is a
+sad affair, Mary, and you have all our sympathy. But recollect he was
+an invalid, and for a long time his life has been despaired of."
+
+I dared not yet tell her the terrible truth that he had been the
+victim of foul play.
+
+"It is my fault!" she cried. "My place was here--at home. But--but why
+was I not here?" she added with a blank look. "Where did I go?"
+
+"Don't you remember that you went to London with the Hennikers?" I
+said.
+
+"Ah! of course!" she exclaimed. "How very stupid of me to forget. But
+do you know, I've never experienced such a strange sensation before.
+My memory is a perfect blank. How did I return here?"
+
+"Short fetched you in a cab."
+
+"Short? I--I don't recollect seeing him. Somebody knocked at my door
+and said I was wanted, because my husband had been taken worse, so I
+dressed and went down. But after that I don't recollect anything."
+
+"Her mind is a trifle affected by the shock," I whispered to my love.
+"Best take her downstairs into one of the rooms and lock the door.
+Don't let her see the police. She didn't notice the constable at the
+door. She'll be better presently."
+
+I uttered these words mechanically, but, truth to tell, these
+extraordinary symptoms alarmed and puzzled me. She had fainted at
+hearing of the death of her husband, just as many other wives might
+have fainted; but to me there seemed no reason whatsoever why the
+swoon should be followed by that curious lapse of memory. The question
+she had put to me showed her mind to be a blank. I could discern
+nothing to account for the symptoms, and the only remedy I could
+suggest was perfect quiet. I intended that, as soon as daylight came,
+both women should be removed to the house of some friend in the
+vicinity.
+
+The scene of the tragedy was no place for two delicate women.
+
+Notwithstanding Mrs. Courtenay's determination to enter her husband's
+room I managed at last to get them both into the morning-room and
+called the nurse and cook to go in and assist in calming her, for her
+lapse of memory had suddenly been followed by a fit of violence.
+
+"I must see him!" she shrieked. "I will see him! You can't prevent me.
+I am his wife. My place is at his side!"
+
+My love exchanged looks with me. Her sister's extraordinary manner
+utterly confounded us.
+
+"You shall see him later," I promised, endeavouring to calm her. "At
+present remain quiet. No good can possibly be done by this wild
+conduct."
+
+"Where is Sir Bernard?" she inquired suddenly. "Have you telegraphed
+for him? I must see him."
+
+"As soon as the office is open I shall wire."
+
+"Yes, telegraph at the earliest moment. Tell him of the awful blow
+that has fallen upon us."
+
+Presently, by dint of much persuasion, we managed to quiet her. The
+nurse removed her hat, helped her out of her fur-lined coat, and she
+sat huddled up in a big "grandfather" chair, her handsome evening gown
+crushed and tumbled, the flowers she had worn in her corsage on the
+previous night drooping and withered.
+
+For some time she sat motionless, her chin sunk upon her breast, the
+picture of dejection, until, of a sudden, she roused herself, and
+before we were aware of her intention she had torn off her marriage
+ring and cast it across the room, crying wildly:
+
+"It is finished. He is dead--dead!"
+
+And she sank back again, among the cushions, as though exhausted by
+the effort.
+
+What was passing through her brain at that moment I wondered. Why
+should a repulsion of the marriage bond seize her so suddenly, and
+cause her to tear off the golden fetter under which she had so long
+chafed? There was some reason, without a doubt; but at present all was
+an enigma--all save one single point.
+
+When I returned to the police to urge them not to disturb Mrs.
+Courtenay, I found them assembled in the conservatory discussing an
+open window, by which anyone might easily have entered and left. The
+mystery of the kitchen door had been cleared up by Short, who admitted
+that after the discovery he had unlocked and unbolted it, in order to
+go round the outside of the house and see whether anyone was lurking
+in the garden.
+
+When I was told this story I remarked that he had displayed some
+bravery in acting in such a manner. No man cares to face an assassin
+unarmed.
+
+The man looked across at me with a curious apprehensive glance, and
+replied:
+
+"I was armed, sir. I took down one of the old Indian daggers from the
+hall."
+
+"Where is it now?" inquired the inspector, quickly, for at such a
+moment the admission that he had had a knife in his possession was
+sufficient to arouse a strong suspicion.
+
+"I hung it up again, sir, before going out to call the doctor," he
+replied quite calmly.
+
+"Show me which it was," I said; and he accompanied me out to the hall
+and pointed to a long thin knife which formed part of a trophy of
+antique Indian weapons.
+
+In an instant I saw that such a knife had undoubtedly inflicted the
+wound in the dead man's breast.
+
+"So you armed yourself with this?" I remarked, taking down the knife
+with affected carelessness, and examining it.
+
+"Yes, doctor. It was the first thing that came to hand. It's sharp,
+for I cut myself once when cleaning it."
+
+I tried its edge, and found it almost as keen as a razor. It was about
+ten inches long, and not more than half an inch broad, with a hilt of
+carved ivory, yellow with age, and inlaid with fine lines of silver.
+Certainly a very dangerous weapon. The sheath was of purple velvet,
+very worn and faded.
+
+I walked back to where the detectives were standing, and examined the
+blade beneath the light. It was bright, and had apparently been
+recently cleaned. It might have been cleaned and oil smeared upon it
+after the commission of the crime. Yet as far as I could discern with
+the naked eye there was no evidence that it had recently been used.
+
+It was the man's curious apprehensive glance that had first aroused my
+suspicion, and the admissions that he had opened the back door, and
+that he had been armed, both increased my mistrust. The detectives,
+too, were interested in the weapon, but were soon satisfied that,
+although a dangerous knife, it bore no stain of blood.
+
+So I put it back in its case and replaced it. But I experienced some
+difficulty in getting the loop of wire back upon the brass-headed nail
+from which it was suspended; and it then occurred to me that Short, in
+the excitement of the discovery, and ordered by Ethelwynn to go at
+once in search of me, would not without some motive remain there,
+striving to return the knife to its place. Such action was unnatural.
+He would probably have cast it aside and dashed out in search of a
+cab. Indeed, the constable on the beat had seen him rush forth
+hurriedly and, urged by Ethelwynn, run in the direction of Kew Bridge.
+
+No. Somehow I could not rid myself of the suspicion that the man was
+lying. To my professional eye the weapon with which the wound had been
+inflicted was the one which he admitted had been in his possession.
+
+The story that he had unlocked the door and gone in search of the
+assassin struck the inspector, as it did myself, as a distinctly lame
+tale.
+
+I longed for the opening of the telegraph office, so that I might
+summon my friend Jevons to my aid. He revelled in mysteries, and if
+the present one admitted of solution I felt confident that he would
+solve it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE.
+
+
+People were about me the whole time. Hence I had no opportunity of
+re-examining the little object I had picked up from the spot where the
+murderer must have stood.
+
+When morning dawned two detectives from Scotland Yard arrived, made
+notes of the circumstances, examined the open window in the
+conservatory, hazarded a few wise remarks, and closely scrutinised the
+dagger in the hall.
+
+Ethelwynn had taken her sister to a friend in the vicinity,
+accompanied by the nurse and the cook. The house was now in the
+possession of the police, and it had already become known in the
+neighbourhood that old Mr. Courtenay was dead. In all probability
+early passers-by, men on their way to work, had noticed a constable in
+uniform enter or leave, and that had excited public curiosity. I hoped
+that Ambler Jevons would not delay, for I intended that he should be
+first in the field. If ever he had had a good mystery before him this
+certainly was one. I knew how keen was his scent for clues, and how
+carefully and ingeniously he worked when assisting the police to get
+at the bottom of any such affair.
+
+He came a little after nine in hot haste, having driven from
+Hammersmith in a hansom. I was upstairs when I heard his deep cheery
+voice crying to the inspector from Scotland Yard:
+
+"Hulloa, Thorpe. What's occurred? My friend Doctor Boyd has just wired
+to me."
+
+"Murder," responded the inspector. "You'll find the doctor somewhere
+about. He'll explain it all to you. Queer case--very queer case, sir,
+it seems."
+
+"Is that you, Ambler?" I called over the banisters. "Come up here."
+
+He came up breathlessly, two steps at a time, and gripping my hand,
+asked:
+
+"Who's been murdered?"
+
+"Old Mr. Courtenay."
+
+"The devil!" he ejaculated.
+
+"A most mysterious affair," I went on. "They called me soon after
+three, and I came down here, only to find the poor old gentleman stone
+dead--stabbed to the heart."
+
+"Let me see him," my friend said in a sharp business-like tone, which
+showed that he intended to lose no time in sifting the matter. He had
+his own peculiar methods of getting at the bottom of a mystery. He
+worked independently, and although he assisted the police and was
+therefore always welcomed by them, his efforts were always apart, and
+generally marked by cunning ingenuity and swift logical reasoning that
+were alike remarkable and marvellous.
+
+I gave him a brief terse outline of the tragedy, and then, unlocking
+the door of the room where the dead man still lay in the same position
+as when discovered, allowed him in.
+
+The place was in darkness, so I drew up the Venetian blinds, letting
+in the grey depressing light of the wintry morning.
+
+He advanced to the bed, stood in the exact spot where I had stood, and
+where without doubt the murderer had stood, and folding his arms gazed
+straight and long upon the dead man's features.
+
+Then he gave vent to a kind of dissatisfied grunt, and turned down the
+coverlet in order to examine the wound, while I stood by his side in
+silence.
+
+Suddenly he swung round on his heel, and measured the paces between
+the bed and the door. Then he went to the window and looked out;
+afterwards making a tour of the room slowly, his dark eyes searching
+everywhere. He did not open his lips in the presence of the dead. He
+only examined everything, swiftly and yet carefully, opening the door
+slowly and closing it just as slowly, in order to see whether it
+creaked or not.
+
+It creaked when closed very slowly. The creaking was evidently what
+the under-housemaid had heard and believed to be the creaking of
+boots. The murderer, finding that it creaked, had probably closed it
+by degrees; hence it gave a series of creaks, which to the girl had
+sounded in the silence of the night like those of new boots.
+
+Ambler Jevons had, almost at the opening of his inquiry, cleared up
+one point which had puzzled us.
+
+When he had concluded his examination of the room and re-covered the
+dead face with the sheet, we emerged into the corridor. Then I told
+him of the servant's statement.
+
+"Boots!" he echoed in a tone of impatience. "Would a murderer wear
+creaking boots? It was the door, of course. It opens noiselessly, but
+when closed quietly it creaks. Curious, however, that he should have
+risked the creaking and the awakening of the household in order to
+close it. He had some strong motive in doing so."
+
+"He evidently had a motive in the crime," I remarked. "If we could
+only discover it, we might perhaps fix upon the assassin."
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed, thoughtfully. "But to tell the truth, Ralph, old
+chap, the fact which is puzzling me most of all at this moment is that
+extraordinary foreboding of evil which you confessed to me the day
+before yesterday. You had your suspicions aroused, somehow. Cudgel
+your brains, and think what induced that very curious presage of
+evil."
+
+"I've tried and tried over again, but I can fix on nothing. Only
+yesterday afternoon, when Sir Bernard incidentally mentioned old Mr.
+Courtenay, it suddenly occurred to me that the curious excitement
+within me had some connection with him. Of course he was a patient,
+and I may have studied his case and given a lot of thought to it, but
+that wouldn't account for such an oppression as that from which I've
+been suffering."
+
+"You certainly did have the blues badly the night before last," he
+said frankly. "And by some unaccountable manner your curious feeling
+was an intuition of this tragic occurrence. Very odd and mysterious,
+to say the least."
+
+"Uncanny, I call it," I declared.
+
+"Yes, I agree with you," he answered. "It is an uncanny affair
+altogether. Tell me about the ladies. Where are they?"
+
+I explained how Mrs. Courtenay had been absent, and how she had been
+prostrated by the news of his death.
+
+He stroked his moustache slowly, deeply reflecting.
+
+"Then at present she doesn't know that he's been murdered? She thinks
+that he was taken ill, and expired suddenly?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+And I went on to describe the wild scene which followed my admission
+that her husband was dead. I explained it to him in detail, for I saw
+that his thoughts were following in the same channel as my own. We
+both pitied the unfortunate woman. My friend knew her well, for he had
+often accompanied me there and had spent the evening with us.
+Ethelwynn liked him for his careless Bohemianism, and for the fund of
+stories always at his command. Sometimes he used to entertain us for
+hours together, relating details of mysteries upon which he had at one
+time or another been engaged. Women are always fond of mysteries, and
+he often held both of them breathless by his vivid narratives.
+
+Thorpe, the detective from Scotland Yard, a big, sturdily-built,
+middle-aged man, whose hair was tinged with grey, and whose round,
+rosy face made him appear the picture of good health, joined us a
+moment later. In a low, mysterious tone he explained to my friend the
+circumstance of Short having admitted possession of the knife hanging
+in the hall.
+
+In it Ambler Jevons at once scented a clue.
+
+"I never liked that fellow!" he exclaimed, turning to me. "My
+impression has always been that he was a sneak, and told old Courtenay
+everything that went on, either in drawing-room or kitchen."
+
+Thorpe, continuing, explained how the back door had been found
+unfastened, and how Short had admitted unfastening it in order to go
+forth to seek the assassin.
+
+"A ridiculous story--utterly absurd!" declared Jevons. "A man doesn't
+rush out to shed blood for blood like that!"
+
+"Of course not," agreed the detective. "To my mind appearances are
+entirely against this fellow. Yet, we have one fact to bear in mind,
+namely, that being sent to town twice he was afforded every
+opportunity for escape."
+
+"He was artful," I remarked. "He knew that his safest plan was to
+remain and face it. If, as seems very probable, the crime was planned,
+it was certainly carried out at a most propitious moment."
+
+"It certainly was," observed my friend, carefully scrutinising the
+knife, which Thorpe had brought to him. "This," he said, "must be
+examined microscopically. You can do that, Boyd. It will be easy to
+see if there are any traces of blood upon it. To all appearances it
+has been recently cleaned and oiled."
+
+"Short admits cleaning it, but he says he did so three days ago," I
+exclaimed.
+
+He gave vent to another low grunt, from which I knew that the
+explanation was unsatisfactory, and replaced the knife in its faded
+velvet sheath.
+
+Save for the man upon whom suspicion had thus fallen, the servants had
+all gone to the house where their mistress was lodged, after being
+cautioned by the police to say nothing of the matter, and to keep
+their mouths closed to all the reporters who would no doubt very soon
+be swarming into the district eager for every scrap of information.
+Their evidence would be required at the inquest, and the police
+forbade them, until then, to make any comment, or to give any
+explanation of the mysterious affair. The tongues of domestics wag
+quickly and wildly in such cases, and have many times been the means
+of defeating the ends of justice by giving away important clues to the
+Press.
+
+Ambler Jevons, however, was a practised hand at mysteries. He sat down
+in the library, and with his crabbed handwriting covered two sheets of
+paper with notes upon the case. I watched as his pencil went swiftly
+to work, and when he had finished I saw him underline certain words he
+had written.
+
+"Thorpe appears to suspect that fellow Short," he remarked, when I met
+him again in the library a quarter of an hour later. "I've just been
+chatting with him, and to me his demeanour is not that of a guilty
+man. He's actually been upstairs with the coroner's officer in the
+dead man's room. A murderer generally excuses himself from entering
+the presence of his victim."
+
+"Well," I exclaimed, after a pause, "you know the whole circumstances
+now. Can you see any clue which may throw light on the affair?"
+
+He slowly twisted his moustache again; then twisted his plain gold
+ring slowly round the little finger on the left hand--a habit of his
+when perplexed.
+
+"No, Ralph, old chap; can't say I do," he answered. "There's an
+unfathomable mystery somewhere, but in what direction I'm utterly at a
+loss to distinguish."
+
+"But do you think that the assassin is a member of the household? That
+seems to me our first point to clear up."
+
+"That's just where we're perplexed. Thorpe suspects Short; but the
+police so often rush to conclusions on a single suspicion. Before
+condemning him it is necessary to watch him narrowly, and note his
+demeanour and his movements. If he is guilty he'll betray himself
+sooner or later. Thorpe was foolish to take down that knife a second
+time. The fellow might have seen him and had his suspicions aroused
+thereby. That's the worst of police inquiries. They display so little
+ingenuity. It is all method--method--method. Everything must be done
+by rule. They appear to overlook the fact that a window in the
+conservatory was undoubtedly left open," he added.
+
+"Well?" I asked, noticing that he was gazing at me strangely, full in
+the face.
+
+"Well, has it not occurred to you that that window might have been
+purposely left open?"
+
+"You mean that the assassin entered and left by that window?"
+
+"I mean to suggest that the murder might have been connived at by one
+of the household, if the man we suspect were not the actual assassin
+himself."
+
+The theory was a curious one, but I saw that there were considerable
+grounds for it. As in many suburban houses, the conservatory joined
+the drawing-room, an unlocked glass door being between them. The
+window that had been left unfastened was situated at the further end,
+and being low down was in such a position that any intruder might
+easily have entered and left. Therefore the suggestion appeared a
+sound one--more especially so because the cook had most solemnly
+declared that she had fastened it securely before going up to bed.
+
+In that case someone must have crept down and unfastened it after the
+woman had retired, and done so with the object of assisting the
+assassin.
+
+But Ambler Jevons was not a man to remain idle for a single moment
+when once he became interested in a mystery. To his keen perception
+and calm logical reasoning had been due the solution of "The
+Mornington Crescent Mystery," which, as all readers of this narrative
+will remember, for six months utterly perplexed Scotland Yard; while
+in a dozen other notable cases his discoveries had placed the police
+on the scent of the guilty person. Somehow he seemed to possess a
+peculiar facility in the solving of enigmas. At ordinary times he
+struck one as a rather careless, easy-going man, who drifted on
+through life, tasting and dealing in tea, with regular attendance at
+Mark Lane each day. Sometimes he wore a pair of cheap pince-nez, the
+frames of which were rusty, but these he seldom assumed unless he was
+what he termed "at work." He was at work now, and therefore had stuck
+the pince-nez on the bridge of his nose, giving him a keener and
+rather more intelligent appearance.
+
+"Excuse me," he exclaimed, suddenly twisting his ring again round his
+finger. "I've just thought of something else. I won't be a moment,"
+and he rushed from the library and ran upstairs to the floor above.
+
+His absence gave me an opportunity to re-examine the little object
+which I had picked up from the floor at the earlier stages of the
+inquiry; and advancing to the window I took it from my pocket and
+looked again at it, utterly confounded.
+
+Its appearance presented nothing extraordinary, for it was merely a
+soft piece of hard-knotted cream-coloured chenille about half-an-inch
+long. But sight of it lying in the palm of my hand held me spellbound
+in horror.
+
+It told me the awful truth. It was nothing less than a portion of the
+fringe of the cream shawl which my love had been wearing, and just as
+chenille fringes will come to pieces, it had become detached and
+fallen where she had stood at that spot beside the victim's bed.
+
+There was a smear of blood upon it.
+
+I recollected her strangely nervous manner, her anxiety to ascertain
+what clue we had discovered and to know the opinion of the police.
+Yes, if guilt were ever written upon a woman's face, it was upon hers.
+
+Should I show the tiny fragment to my friend? Should I put it into his
+hands and tell him the bitter truth--the truth that I believed my love
+to be a murderess?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SHADOWS.
+
+
+The revelation held me utterly dumfounded.
+
+Already I had, by placing my hand in contact with the shawl,
+ascertained its exact texture, and saw that both its tint and its
+fabric were unquestionably the same as the knotted fragment I held in
+my hand. Chenille shawls, as every woman knows, must be handled
+carefully or the lightly-made fringe will come asunder; for the kind
+of cord of floss silk is generally made upon a single thread, which
+will break with the slightest strain.
+
+By some means the shawl in question had accidentally become
+entangled--or perhaps been strained by the sudden uplifting of the arm
+of the wearer. In any case the little innocent-looking fragment had
+snapped, and dropped at the bedside of the murdered man.
+
+The grave suspicions of Ethelwynn which I had held on the previous
+night when she endeavoured to justify her sister's neglect again
+crowded upon me, and Sir Bernard's hint at the secret of her past
+thrust the iron deeply into my heart.
+
+My eyes were fixed upon the little object in my palm--the silent but
+damning evidence--and my mind became filled by bitterest regrets. I
+saw how cleverly I had been duped--I recognised that this woman, whom
+I thought an angel, was only a cunning assassin.
+
+No, believe me: I was not prejudging her! The thought had already
+occurred to me that she might have entered the room wearing that shawl
+perhaps to wish the invalid good-night. She had, however, in answer to
+my question, declared that she had retired to bed without seeing
+him--for Nurse Kate had told her that he was sleeping. She had
+therefore not disturbed him.
+
+Then, yet another thought had occurred to me. She might have worn the
+shawl when she entered after the raising of the alarm. In order to
+clear up that point I had questioned the servants, one by one, and all
+had told me the same story, namely, that Miss Ethelwynn had not
+entered the room at all. She had only come to the door and glanced in,
+then turned away in horror and shut herself in her own room. As far as
+anyone knew, she had not summoned sufficient courage to go in and look
+upon the dead man's face. She declared herself horrified, and dared
+not to enter the death chamber.
+
+In the light of my discovery all these facts as related to me made the
+truth only too apparent. She had entered there unknown to anyone, and
+that her presence had been with a fell purpose I could no longer
+doubt.
+
+If I gave the clue into Ambler Jevons' hands he would, I knew, quickly
+follow it, gathering up the threads of the tangled skein one by one,
+until he could openly charge her with the crime. I stood undecided
+how to act. Should I leave my friend to make his own investigations
+independently and unbiassed, or should I frankly tell him of my own
+startling discovery?
+
+I carefully went through the whole of the circumstances, weighing
+point after point, and decided at last to still retain the knowledge I
+had gained. The point which outbalanced my intention was that curious
+admission of Short regarding the possession of the knife. So I
+resolved to say nothing to my friend until after the inquest.
+
+As may be imagined, the London papers that afternoon were full of the
+mystery. Nothing like a first-class "sensation," sub-editors will tell
+you. There is art in alliterative headlines and startling
+"cross-heads." The inevitable interview with "a member of the
+family"--who is generally anonymous, be it said--is sure to be eagerly
+devoured by the public. The world may sneer at sensational journalism,
+but after all it loves to have its curiosity excited over the tragic
+dénouement of some domestic secret. As soon as the first information
+reached the Central News and Press Association, therefore, reporters
+crowded upon us. Representatives, not only of the metropolitan press,
+but those of the local newspapers, the "Richmond and Twickenham
+Times," the "Independent," over at Brentford, the "Middlesex
+Chronicle" at Hounslow, and the "Middlesex Mercury," of Isleworth, all
+vied with each other in obtaining the most accurate information.
+
+"Say nothing," Jevons urged. "Be civil, but keep your mouth closed
+tight. There are one or two friends of mine among the crowd. I'll see
+them and give them something that will carry the story further.
+Remember, you mustn't make any statement whatsoever."
+
+I obeyed him, and although the reporters followed me about all the
+morning, and outside the house the police had difficulty in preventing
+a crowd assembling, I refused to express any opinion or describe
+anything I had witnessed.
+
+At eleven o'clock I received a wire from Sir Bernard at Hove as
+follows:--
+
+"Much shocked at news. Unfortunately very unwell, but shall endeavour
+to be with you later in the day."
+
+At mid-day I called at the neighbour's house close to Kew Gardens
+Station, where the widow and her sister had taken refuge. Mrs.
+Courtenay was utterly broken down, for Ethelwynn had told her the
+terrible truth that her husband had been murdered, and both women
+pounced upon me eagerly to ascertain what theory the police now held.
+
+I looked at the woman who had held me so long beneath her spell. Was
+it possible that one so open-faced and pure could be the author of so
+dastardly and cowardly a crime? Her face was white and anxious, but
+the countenance had now reassumed its normal innocence of expression,
+and in her eyes I saw the genuine love-look of old. She had arranged
+her hair and dress, and no longer wore the shawl.
+
+"It's terrible--terrible, Ralph," she cried. "Poor Mary! The blow has
+utterly crushed her."
+
+"I am to blame--it is my own fault!" exclaimed the young widow,
+hoarsely. "But I had no idea that his end was so near. I tried to be a
+dutiful wife, but oh--only Ethelwynn knows how hard it was, and how I
+suffered. His malady made him unbearable, and instead of quarrelling I
+thought the better plan was to go out and leave him with the nurse.
+What people have always said, was, alas! too true. Owing to the
+difference of our ages our marriage was a ghastly failure. And now it
+has ended in a tragedy."
+
+I responded in words as sympathetic as I could find tongue to utter.
+Her eyes were red with crying, and her pretty face was swollen and
+ugly. I knew that she now felt a genuine regret at the loss of her
+husband, even though her life had been so dull and unhappy.
+
+While she sat in a big armchair bowed in silence, I turned to
+Ethelwynn and discussed the situation with her. Their friends were
+most kind, she said. The husband was churchwarden at Kew Church, and
+his wife was an ardent church worker, hence they had long ago become
+excellent friends.
+
+"You have your friend, Mr. Jevons, with you, I hear. Nurse has just
+returned and told me so."
+
+"Yes," I responded. "He is making an independent inquiry."
+
+"And what has he found?" she inquired breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+Then, as I watched her closely, I saw that she breathed again more
+freely. By the manner in which she uttered Ambler's name I detected
+that she was not at all well-disposed towards him. Indeed, she spoke
+as though she feared that he might discover the truth.
+
+After half-an-hour I left, and more puzzled than ever, returned to the
+house in Richmond Road. Sometimes I felt entirely convinced that my
+love was authoress of the foul deed; yet at others there seemed
+something wanting in the confirmation of my suspicions. Regarding the
+latter I could not overlook the fact that Short had told a story which
+was false on the face of it, while the utter absence of any motive on
+my love's part in murdering the old gentleman seemed to point in an
+entirely opposite direction.
+
+Dr. Diplock, the coroner, had fixed the inquest for eleven o'clock on
+the morrow; therefore I assisted Dr. Farmer, of Kew, the police
+surgeon, to make the post-mortem.
+
+We made the examination in the afternoon, before the light faded, and
+if the circumstances of the crime were mysterious, the means by which
+the unfortunate man was murdered were, we found, doubly so.
+
+Outwardly, the wound was an ordinary one, one inch in breadth,
+inflicted by a blow delivered from left to right. The weapon had
+entered between the fourth and fifth ribs, and the heart had been
+completely transfixed by some sharp cutting instrument. The injuries
+we discovered within, however, increased the mystery ten-fold, for we
+found two extraordinary lateral incisions, which almost completely
+divided the heart from side to side, the only remaining attachment of
+the upper portion to the lower being a small portion of the anterior
+wall of the heart behind the sternum.
+
+Such a wound was absolutely beyond explanation.
+
+The instrument with which the crime had been committed by striking
+between the ribs had penetrated to the heart with an unerring
+precision, making a terrible wound eight times the size within, as
+compared with the exterior puncture. And yet the weapon had been
+withdrawn, and was missing!
+
+For fully an hour we measured and discussed the strange discovery,
+hoping all the time that Sir Bernard would arrive. The knife which the
+man Short confessed he had taken down in self-defence we compared with
+the exterior wound and found, as we anticipated, that just such a
+wound could be caused by it. But the fact that the exterior cut was
+cleanly done, while the internal injuries were jagged and the tissues
+torn in a most terrible manner, caused a doubt to arise whether the
+Indian knife, which was double-edged, had actually been used. To be
+absolutely clear upon this point it would be necessary to examine it
+microscopically, for the corpuscles of human blood are easily
+distinguished beneath the lens.
+
+We were about to conclude our examination in despair, utterly unable
+to account for the extraordinary wound, when the door opened and Sir
+Bernard entered.
+
+He looked upon the body of his old friend, not a pleasing spectacle
+indeed, and then grasped my hand without a word.
+
+"I read the evening paper on my way up," he said at last in a voice
+trembling with emotion. "The affair seems very mysterious. Poor
+Courtenay! Poor fellow!"
+
+"It is sad--very sad," I remarked. "We have just concluded the
+post-mortem;" and then I introduced the police surgeon to the man
+whose name was a household word throughout the medical profession.
+
+I showed my chief the wound, explained its extraordinary features, and
+asked his opinion. He removed his coat, turned up his shirt-cuffs,
+adjusted his big spectacles, and, bending beside the board upon which
+the body lay, made a long and careful inspection of the injury.
+
+"Extraordinary!" he ejaculated. "I've never known of such a wound
+before. One would almost suspect an explosive bullet, if it were not
+for the clean incised wound on the exterior. The ribs seem grazed, yet
+the manner in which such a hurt has been inflicted is utterly
+unaccountable."
+
+"We have been unable to solve the enigma," Dr. Farmer observed. "I was
+an army surgeon before I entered private practice, but I have never
+seen a similar case."
+
+"Nor have I," responded Sir Bernard. "It is most puzzling."
+
+"Do you think that this knife could have been used?" I asked, handing
+my chief the weapon.
+
+He looked at it, raised it in his hand as though to strike, felt its
+edge, and then shook his head, saying: "No, I think not. The
+instrument used was only sharp on one edge. This has both edges
+sharpened."
+
+It was a point we had overlooked, but at once we agreed with him, and
+abandoned our half-formed theory that the Indian dagger had caused the
+wound.
+
+With Sir Bernard we made an examination of the tongue and other
+organs, in order to ascertain the progress of the disease from which
+the deceased had been suffering, but a detailed account of our
+discoveries can have no interest for the lay reader.
+
+In a word, our conclusions were that the murdered man could easily
+have lived another year or more. The disease was not so advanced as we
+had believed. Sir Bernard had a patient to see in Grosvenor Square;
+therefore he left at about four o'clock, regretting that he had not
+time to call round at the neighbour's and express his sympathy with
+the widow.
+
+"Give her all my sympathies, poor young lady," he said to me. "And
+tell her that I will call upon her to-morrow." Then, after promising
+to attend the inquest and give evidence regarding the post-mortem, he
+shook hands with us both and left.
+
+At eight o'clock that evening I was back in my own rooms in Harley
+Place, eating my dinner alone, when Ambler Jevons entered.
+
+He was not as cheery as usual. He did not exclaim, as was his habit,
+"Well, my boy, how goes it? Whom have you killed to-day?" or some such
+grim pleasantry.
+
+On the contrary, he came in with scarcely a word, threw his hat upon a
+side table, and sank into his usual armchair with scarcely a word,
+save the question uttered in almost a growl:
+
+"May I smoke?"
+
+"Of course," I said, continuing my meal. "Where have you been?"
+
+"I left while you were cutting up the body," he said. "I've been about
+a lot since then, and I'm a bit tired."
+
+"You look it. Have a drink?"
+
+"No," he responded, shaking his head. "I don't drink when I'm
+bothered. This case is an absolute mystery." And striking a match he
+lit his foul pipe and puffed away vigorously, staring straight into
+the fire the while.
+
+"Well," I asked, after a long silence. "What's your opinion now?"
+
+"I've none," he answered, gloomily. "What's yours?"
+
+"Mine is that the mystery increases hourly."
+
+"What did you find at the cutting-up?"
+
+In a few words I explained the unaccountable nature of the wound,
+drawing for him a rough diagram on the back of an old envelope, which
+I tossed over to where he sat.
+
+He looked at it for a long time without speaking, then observed:
+
+"H'm! Just as I thought. The police theory regarding that fellow Short
+and the knife is all a confounded myth. Depend upon it, Boyd, old
+chap, that gentleman is no fool. He's tricked Thorpe finely--and with
+a motive, too."
+
+"What motive do you suspect?" I inquired, eagerly, for this was an
+entirely fresh theory.
+
+"One that you'd call absurd if I were to tell it to you now. I'll
+explain later on, when my suspicions are confirmed--as I feel sure
+they will be before long."
+
+"You're mysterious, Ambler," I said, surprised. "Why?"
+
+"I have a reason, my dear chap," was all the reply he vouchsafed. Then
+he puffed again vigorously at his pipe, and filled the room with
+clouds of choking smoke of a not particularly good brand of tobacco.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS.
+
+
+At the inquest held in the big upstair room of the Star and Garter
+Hotel at Kew Bridge there was a crowded attendance. By this time the
+public excitement had risen to fever-heat. It had by some
+unaccountable means leaked out that at the post-mortem we had been
+puzzled; therefore the mystery was much increased, and the papers that
+morning without exception gave prominence to the startling affair.
+
+The coroner, seated at the table at the head of the room, took the
+usual formal evidence of identification, writing down the depositions
+upon separate sheets of blue foolscap.
+
+Samuel Short was the first witness of importance, and those in the
+room listened breathlessly to the story of how his alarum clock had
+awakened him at two o'clock; how he had risen as usual and gone to his
+master's room, only to discover him dead.
+
+"You noticed no sign of a struggle?" inquired the coroner, looking
+sharply up at the witness.
+
+"None, sir. My master was lying on his side, and except for the stain
+of blood which attracted my attention it looked as though he had died
+in his sleep."
+
+"And what did you do?"
+
+"I raised the alarm," answered Short; and then he went on to describe
+how he switched on the electric light, rushed downstairs, seized the
+knife hanging in the hall, opened one of the back doors and rushed
+outside.
+
+"And why did you do that, pray?" asked the coroner, looking at him
+fixedly.
+
+"I thought that someone might be lurking in the garden," the man
+responded, a trifle lamely.
+
+The solicitor of Mrs. Courtenay's family, to whom she had sent asking
+him to be present on her behalf, rose at this juncture and addressing
+the coroner, said:
+
+"I should like to put a question to the witness, sir. I represent the
+deceased's family."
+
+"As you wish," replied the coroner. "But do you consider such a course
+wise at this stage of the inquiry? There must be an adjournment."
+
+He understood the coroner's objection and, acquiescing, sat down.
+
+Nurse Kate and the cook were called, and afterwards Ethelwynn, who,
+dressed in black and wearing a veil, looked pale and fragile as she
+drew off her glove in order to take the oath.
+
+As she stood there our eyes met for an instant; then she turned
+towards her questioner, bracing herself for the ordeal.
+
+"When did you last see the deceased alive?" asked the coroner, after
+the usual formal inquiry as to her name and connection with the
+family.
+
+"At ten o'clock in the evening. Dr. Boyd visited him, and found him
+much better. After the doctor had gone I went upstairs and found the
+nurse with him, giving him his medicine. He was still sitting before
+the fire."
+
+"Was he in his usual spirits?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"What was the character of your conversation with him? I understand
+that Mrs. Courtenay, your sister, was out at the time. Did he remark
+upon her absence?"
+
+"Yes. He said it was a wet night, and he hoped she would not take
+cold, for she was so careless of herself."
+
+The coroner bent to his paper and wrote down her reply.
+
+"And you did not see him alive again."
+
+"No."
+
+"You entered the room after he was dead, I presume?"
+
+"No. I--I hadn't the courage," she faltered. "They told me that he was
+dead--that he had been stabbed to the heart."
+
+Again the coroner bent to his writing. What, I wondered, would those
+present think if I produced the little piece of stained chenille which
+I kept wrapped in tissue paper and hidden in my fusee-box?
+
+To them it, of course, seemed quite natural that a delicate woman
+should hesitate to view a murdered man. But if they knew of my
+discovery they would detect that she was an admirable actress--that
+her horror of the dead was feigned, and that she was not telling the
+truth. I, who knew her countenance so well, saw even through her veil
+how agitated she was, and with what desperate resolve she was
+concealing the awful anxiety consuming her.
+
+"One witness has told us that the deceased was very much afraid of
+burglars," observed the coroner. "Had he ever spoken to you on the
+subject?"
+
+"Often. At his country house some years ago a burglary was committed,
+and one of the burglars fired at him but missed. I think that unnerved
+him, for he always kept a loaded revolver in the drawer of a table
+beside his bed. In addition to this he had electrical contrivances
+attached to the windows, so as to ring an alarm."
+
+"But it appears they did not ring," said the coroner, quickly.
+
+"They were out of order, the servants tell me. The bells had been
+silent for a fortnight or so."
+
+"It seems probable, then, that the murderer knew of that," remarked
+Dr. Diplock, again writing with his scratchy quill. Turning to the
+solicitor, he asked, "Have you any questions to put to the witness?"
+
+"None," was the response.
+
+And then the woman whom I had loved so fervently and well, turned and
+re-seated herself. She glanced across at me. Did she read my thoughts?
+
+Her glance was a glance of triumph.
+
+Medical evidence was next taken, Sir Bernard Eyton being the first
+witness. He gave his opinion in his habitual sharp, snappy voice,
+terse and to the point.
+
+In technical language he explained the disease from which his patient
+had been suffering, and then proceeded to describe the result of the
+post-mortem, how the wound inside was eight times larger than the
+exterior incision.
+
+"That seems very remarkable!" exclaimed the coroner, himself a surgeon
+of no mean repute, laying down his pen and regarding the physician
+with interest suddenly aroused. "Have you ever seen a similar wound in
+your experience, Sir Bernard?"
+
+"Never!" was the reply. "My friends, Doctor Boyd and Doctor Farmer,
+were with me, and we are agreed that it is utterly impossible that the
+cardiac injuries I have described could have been caused by the
+external wound."
+
+"Then how were they caused?" asked the coroner.
+
+"I cannot tell."
+
+There was no cross-examination. I followed, merely corroborating what
+my chief had said. Then, after the police surgeon had given his
+evidence, Dr. Diplock turned to the twelve Kew tradesmen who had been
+"summoned and sworn" as jurymen, and addressing them said:
+
+"I think, gentlemen, you have heard sufficient to show you that this
+is a more than usually serious case. There are certain elements both
+extraordinary and mysterious, and that being so I would suggest an
+adjournment, in order that the police should be enabled to make
+further enquiries into the matter. The deceased was a gentleman whose
+philanthropy was probably well known to you all, and we must all
+therefore regret that he should have come to such a sudden and tragic
+end. You may, of course, come to a verdict to-day if you wish, but I
+would strongly urge an adjournment--until, say, this day week."
+
+The jury conferred for a few moments, and after some whispering the
+foreman, a grocer at Kew Bridge, announced that his fellow jurymen
+acquiesced in the coroner's suggestion, and the public rose and slowly
+left, more puzzled than ever.
+
+Ambler Jevons had been present, sitting at the back of the room, and
+in order to avoid the others we lunched together at an obscure
+public-house in Brentford, on the opposite side of the Thames to Kew
+Gardens. It was the only place we could discover, save the hotel where
+the inquest had been held, and we had no desire to be interrupted, for
+during the inquiry he had passed me a scrap of paper upon which he had
+written an earnest request to see me alone afterwards.
+
+Therefore when I had put Ethelwynn into a cab, and had bade farewell
+to Sir Bernard and received certain private instructions from him, we
+walked together into the narrow, rather dirty High Street of
+Brentford, the county town of Middlesex.
+
+The inn we entered was close to a soap works, the odour from which was
+not conducive to a good appetite, but we obtained a room to ourselves
+and ate our meal of cold beef almost in silence.
+
+"I was up early this morning," Ambler observed at last. "I was at Kew
+at eight o'clock."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"In the night an idea struck me, and when such ideas occur I always
+seek to put them promptly into action."
+
+"What was the idea?" I asked.
+
+"I thought about that safe in the old man's bedroom," he replied,
+laying down his knife and fork and looking at me.
+
+"What about it? There's surely nothing extraordinary in a man having a
+safe in his room?"
+
+"No. But there's something extraordinary in the key of that safe being
+missing," he said. "Thorpe has apparently overlooked the point;
+therefore this morning I went down to Kew, and finding only a
+constable in charge, I made a thorough search through the place. In
+the dead man's room I naturally expected to find it, and after nearly
+a couple of hours searching in every nook and every crack I succeeded.
+It was hidden in the mould of a small pot-fern, standing in the
+corridor outside the room."
+
+"You examined the safe, then?"
+
+"No, I didn't. There might be money and valuables within, and I had no
+right to open it without the presence of a witness. I've waited for
+you to accompany me. We'll go there after luncheon and examine its
+contents."
+
+"But the executors might have something to say regarding such an
+action," I remarked.
+
+"Executors be hanged! I saw them this morning, a couple of dry-as-dust
+old fossils--city men, I believe, who only think of house property
+and dividends. Our duty is to solve this mystery. The executors can
+have their turn, old chap, when we've finished. At present they
+haven't the key, or any notion where it is. One of them mentioned it,
+and said he supposed it was in the widow's possession."
+
+"Well," I remarked, "I must say that I don't half like the idea of
+turning out a safe without the presence of the executors."
+
+"Police enquiries come before executors' inventories," he replied.
+"They'll get their innings all in good time. The house is, at present,
+in the occupation of the police, and nobody therefore can disturb us."
+
+"Have you told Thorpe?"
+
+"No. He's gone up to Scotland Yard to make his report. He'll probably
+be down again this afternoon. Let's finish, and take the ferry
+across."
+
+Thus persuaded I drained my ale, and together we went down to the
+ferry, landing at Kew Gardens, and crossing them until we emerged by
+the Unicorn Gate, almost opposite the house.
+
+There were loiterers still outside, men, women, and children, who
+lounged in the vicinity, staring blankly up at the drawn blinds. A
+constable in uniform admitted us. He had his lunch, a pot of beer and
+some bread and cheese which his wife had probably brought him, on the
+dining-room table, and we had disturbed him with his mouth full.
+
+He was the same man whom Ambler Jevons had seen in the morning, and as
+we entered he saluted, saying:
+
+"Inspector Thorpe has left a message for you, sir. He'll be back from
+the Yard about half-past three, and would very much like to see you."
+
+"Do you know why he wants to see me?"
+
+"It appears, sir, that one of the witnesses who gave evidence this
+morning is missing."
+
+"Missing!" he cried, pricking up his ears. "Who's missing?"
+
+"The manservant, sir. My sergeant told me an hour ago that as soon as
+the man had given evidence he went out, and was seen hurrying towards
+Gunnersbury Station. They believe he's absconded."
+
+I exchanged significant glances with my companion, but neither of us
+uttered a word. Ambler gave vent to his habitual grunt of
+dissatisfaction, and then led the way upstairs.
+
+The body had been removed from the room in which it had been found,
+and the bed was dismantled. When inside the apartment, he turned to me
+calmly, saying:
+
+"There seems something in Thorpe's theory regarding that fellow Short,
+after all."
+
+"If he has really absconded, it is an admission of guilt," I remarked.
+
+"Most certainly," he replied. "It's a suspicious circumstance, in any
+case, that he did not remain until the conclusion of the inquiry."
+
+We pulled the chest of drawers, a beautiful piece of old Sheraton,
+away from the door of the safe, and before placing the key in the lock
+my companion examined the exterior minutely. The key was partly
+rusted, and appeared as though it had not been used for many months.
+
+Could it be that the assassin was in search of that key and had been
+unsuccessful?
+
+He showed me the artful manner in which it had been concealed. The
+small hardy fern had been rooted up and stuck back again heedlessly
+into its pot. Certainly no one would ever have thought to search for a
+safe-key there. The dampness of the mould had caused the rust, hence
+before we could open the iron door we were compelled to oil the key
+with some brilliantine which was discovered on the dead man's dressing
+table.
+
+The interior, we found, was a kind of small strong-room--built of
+fire-brick, and lined with steel. It was filled with papers of all
+kinds neatly arranged.
+
+We drew up a table, and the first packet my friend handed out was a
+substantial one of five pound notes, secured by an elastic band,
+beneath which was a slip on which the amount was pencilled. Securities
+of various sorts followed, and then large packets of parchment deeds
+which, on examination, we found related to his Devonshire property and
+his farms in Canada.
+
+"Here's something!" cried Ambler at length, tossing across to me a
+small packet methodically tied with pink tape. "The old boy's
+love-letters--by the look of them."
+
+I undid the loop eagerly, and opened the first letter. It was in a
+feminine hand, and proved a curious, almost unintelligible
+communication.
+
+I glanced at the signature. My heart ceased its beating, and a sudden
+cry involuntarily escaped me, although next moment I saw that by it I
+had betrayed myself, for Ambler Jevons sprang to my side in an
+instant.
+
+But next instant I covered the signature with my hand, grasped the
+packet swift as thought, and turned upon him defiantly, without
+uttering a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS.
+
+
+"What have you found there?" inquired Ambler Jevons, quickly
+interested, and yet surprised at my determination to conceal it from
+him.
+
+"Something that concerns me," I replied briefly.
+
+"Concerns you?" he ejaculated. "I don't understand. How can anything
+among the old man's private papers concern you?"
+
+"This concerns me personally," I answered. "Surely that is sufficient
+explanation."
+
+"No," my friend said. "Forgive me, Ralph, for speaking quite plainly,
+but in this affair we are both working towards the same end--namely,
+to elucidate the mystery. We cannot hope for success if you are bent
+upon concealing your discoveries from me."
+
+"This is a private affair of my own," I declared doggedly. "What I
+have found only concerns myself."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct dissatisfaction.
+
+"Even if it is a purely private matter we are surely good friends
+enough to be cognisant of one another's secrets," he remarked.
+
+"Of course," I replied dubiously. "But only up to a certain point."
+
+"Then, in other words, you imply that you can't trust me?"
+
+"I can trust you, Ambler," I answered calmly. "We are the best of
+friends, and I hope we shall always be so. Will you not forgive me for
+refusing to show you these letters?"
+
+"I only ask you one question. Have they anything to do with the matter
+we are investigating?"
+
+I hesitated. With his quick perception he saw that a lie was not ready
+upon my lips.
+
+"They have. Your silence tells me so. In that case it is your duty to
+show me them," he said, quietly.
+
+I protested again, but he overwhelmed my arguments. In common fairness
+to him I ought not, I knew, keep back the truth. And yet it was the
+greatest and most terrible blow that had ever fallen upon me. He saw
+that I was crushed and stammering, and he stood by me wondering.
+
+"Forgive me, Ambler," I urged again. "When you have read this letter
+you will fully understand why I have endeavoured to conceal it from
+you; why, if you were not present here at this moment, I would burn
+them all and not leave a trace behind."
+
+Then I handed it to him.
+
+He took it eagerly, skimmed it through, and started just as I had
+started when he saw the signature. Upon his face was a blank
+expression, and he returned it to me without a word.
+
+"Well?" I asked. "What is your opinion?"
+
+"My opinion is the same as your own, Ralph, old fellow," he
+answered slowly, looking me straight in the face. "It is
+amazing--startling--tragic."
+
+"You think, then, that the motive of the crime was jealousy?"
+
+"The letter makes it quite plain," he answered huskily. "Give me the
+others. Let me examine them. I know how severe this blow must be to
+you, old fellow," he added, sympathetically.
+
+"Yes, it has staggered me," I stammered. "I'm utterly dumfounded by
+the unexpected revelation!" and I handed him the packet of
+correspondence, which he placed upon the table, and, seating himself,
+commenced eagerly to examine letter after letter.
+
+While he was thus engaged I took up the first letter, and read it
+through--right to the bitter end.
+
+It was apparently the last of a long correspondence, for all the
+letters were arranged chronologically, and this was the last of the
+packet. Written from Neneford Manor, Northamptonshire, and vaguely
+dated "Wednesday," as is a woman's habit, it was addressed to Mr.
+Courtenay, and ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Words cannot express my contempt for a man who breaks his
+     word as easily as you break yours. A year ago, when you were
+     my father's guest, you told me that you loved me, and urged
+     me to marry you. At first I laughed at your proposal; then
+     when I found you really serious, I pointed out the
+     difference of our ages. You, in return, declared that you
+     loved me with all the ardour of a young man; that I was your
+     ideal; and you promised, by all you held most sacred, that
+     if I consented I should never regret. I believed you, and
+     believed the false words of feigned devotion which you
+     wrote to me later under seal of strictest secrecy. You went
+     to Cairo, and none knew of our secret--the secret that you
+     intended to make me your wife. And how have you kept your
+     promise? To-day my father has informed me that you are to
+     marry Mary! Imagine the blow to me! My father expects me to
+     rejoice, little dreaming how I have been fooled; how lightly
+     you have treated a woman's affections and aspirations. Some
+     there are who, finding themselves in my position, would
+     place in Mary's hands the packet of your correspondence
+     which is before me as I write, and thus open her eyes to the
+     fact that she is but the dupe of a man devoid of honour.
+     Shall I do so? No. Rest assured that I shall not. If my
+     sister is happy, let her remain so. My vendetta lies not in
+     that direction. The fire of hatred may be stifled, but it
+     can never be quenched. We shall be quits some day, and you
+     will regret bitterly that you have broken your word so
+     lightly. My revenge--the vengeance of a jealous woman--will
+     fall upon you at a moment and in a manner you will little
+     dream of. I return you your letters, as you may not care for
+     them to fall into other hands, and from to-day I shall never
+     again refer to what has passed. I am young, and may still
+     obtain an upright and honourable man as husband. You are
+     old, and are tottering slowly to your doom. Farewell._
+
+                    "ETHELWYNN MIVART."
+
+The letter fully explained a circumstance of which I had been entirely
+ignorant, namely, that the woman I had loved had actually been
+engaged to old Mr. Courtenay before her sister had married him. Its
+tenor showed how intensely antagonistic she was towards the man who
+had fooled her, and in the concluding sentence there was a distinct if
+covert threat--a threat of bitter revenge.
+
+She had returned the old man's letters apparently in order to show
+that in her hand she held a further and more powerful weapon; she had
+not sought to break off his marriage with Mary, but had rather stood
+by, swallowed her anger, and calmly calculated upon a fierce vendetta
+at a moment when he would least expect it.
+
+Truly those startling words spoken by Sir Bernard had been full of
+truth. I remembered them now, and discerned his meaning. He was at
+least an honest upright man who, although sometimes a trifle
+eccentric, had my interests deeply at heart. In the progress I had
+made in my profession I owed much to him, and even in my private
+affairs he had sought to guide me, although I had, alas! disregarded
+his repeated warnings.
+
+I took up one after another of the letters my friend had examined, and
+found them to be the correspondence of a woman who was either angling
+after a wealthy husband, or who loved him with all the strength of her
+affection. Some of the communications were full of passion, and
+betrayed that poetry of soul that was innate in her. The letters were
+dated from Neneford, from Oban, and from various Mediterranean ports,
+where she had gone yachting with her uncle, Sir Thomas Heaton, the
+great Lancashire coal-owner. Sometimes she addressed him as "Dearest,"
+at others as "Beloved," usually signing herself "Your Own." So full
+were they of the ardent passion characteristic of her that they held
+me in amazement. It was passion developed under its most profound and
+serious aspects; they showed the calm and thoughtful, not the
+brilliant side of intellect.
+
+In Ethelwynn's character the passionate and the imaginative were
+blended equally and in the highest conceivable degree as combined with
+delicate female nature. Those letters, although written to a man in
+whose heart romance must long ago have been dead, showed how complex
+was her character, how fervent, enthusiastic and self-forgetting her
+love. At first I believed that those passionate outpourings were
+merely designed to captivate the old gentleman for his money; but when
+I read on I saw how intense her passion became towards the end, and
+how the culmination of it all was that wild reproachful missive
+written when the crushing blow fell so suddenly upon her.
+
+Ethelwynn was a woman of extraordinary character, full of picturesque
+charm and glowing romance. To be tremblingly alive to the gentle
+impressions, and yet be able to preserve, when the prosecution of a
+design requires it, an immovable heart, amidst even the most imperious
+causes of subduing emotion, is perhaps not an impossible constitution
+of mind, but it is the utmost and rarest endowment of humanity. I knew
+her as a woman of highest mental powers touched with a melancholy
+sweetness. I was now aware of the cause of that melancholy.
+
+Yet it was apparent that the serious and energetic part of her
+character was founded on deep passion, for after her sister's marriage
+with the man she had herself loved and had threatened, she had
+actually come there beneath their roof, and lived as her sister's
+companion, stifling all the hatred that had entered her heart, and
+preserving an outward calm that had no doubt entirely disarmed him.
+
+Such a circumstance was extraordinary. To me, as to Ambler Jevons who
+knew her well, it seemed almost inconceivable that old Mr. Courtenay
+should allow her to live there after receiving such a wild
+communication as that final letter. Especially curious, too, that Mary
+had never suspected or discovered her sister's jealousy. Yet so
+skilfully had Ethelwynn concealed her intention of revenge that both
+husband and wife had been entirely deceived.
+
+Love, considered under its poetical aspect, is the union of passion
+and imagination. I had foolishly believed that this calm, sweet-voiced
+woman had loved me, but those letters made it plain that I had been
+utterly fooled. "Le mystère de l'existence," said Madame de Stael to
+her daughter, "c'est la rapport de nos erreurs avec nos peines."
+
+And although there was in her, in her character, and in her terrible
+situation, a concentration of all the interests that belong to
+humanity, she was nevertheless a murderess.
+
+"The truth is here," remarked my friend, laying his hand upon the heap
+of tender correspondence which had been brought to such an abrupt
+conclusion by the letter I have printed in its entirety. "It is a
+strange, romantic story, to say the least."
+
+"Then you really believe that she is guilty?" I exclaimed, hoarsely.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders significantly, but no word escaped his lips.
+
+In the silence that fell between us, I glanced at him. His chin was
+sunk upon his breast, his brows knit, his thin fingers toying idly
+with the plain gold ring.
+
+"Well?" I managed to exclaim at last. "What shall we do?"
+
+"Do?" he echoed. "What can we do, my dear fellow? That woman's future
+is in your hands."
+
+"Why in mine?" I asked. "In yours also, surely?"
+
+"No," he answered resolutely, taking my hand and grasping it warmly.
+"No, Ralph; I know--I can see how you are suffering. You believed her
+to be a pure and honest woman--one above the common run--a woman fit
+for helpmate and wife. Well, I, too, must confess myself very much
+misled. I believed her to be all that you imagined; indeed, if her
+face be any criterion, she is utterly unspoiled by the world and its
+wickedness. In my careful studies in physiognomy I have found that
+very seldom does a perfect face like hers cover an evil heart. Hence,
+I confess, that this discovery has amazed me quite as much as it has
+you. I somehow feel----"
+
+"I don't believe it!" I cried, interrupting him. "I don't believe,
+Ambler, that she murdered him--I can't believe it. Her's is not the
+face of a murderess."
+
+"Faces sometimes deceive," he said quietly. "Recollect that a clever
+woman can give a truthful appearance to a lie where a man utterly
+fails."
+
+"I know--I know. But even with this circumstantial proof I can't and
+won't believe it."
+
+"Please yourself, my dear fellow," he answered. "I know it is hard to
+believe ill of a woman whom one loves so devotedly as you've loved
+Ethelwynn. But be brave, bear up, and face the situation like a man."
+
+"I am facing it," I said resolutely. "I will face it by refusing to
+believe that she killed him. The letters are plain enough. She was
+engaged secretly to old Courtenay, who threw her over in favour of her
+sister. But is there anything so very extraordinary in that? One hears
+of such things very often."
+
+"But the final letter?"
+
+"It bears evidence of being written in the first moments of wild anger
+on realising that she had been abandoned in favour of Mary. Probably
+she has by this time quite forgotten the words she wrote. And in any
+case the fact of her living beneath the same roof, supervising the
+household, and attending to the sick man during Mary's absence,
+entirely negatives any idea of revenge."
+
+Jevons smiled dubiously, and I myself knew that my argument was not
+altogether logical.
+
+"Well?" I continued. "And is not that your opinion?"
+
+"No. It is not," he replied, bluntly.
+
+"Then what is to be done?" I asked, after a pause.
+
+"The matter rests entirely with you, Ralph," he replied. "I know what
+I should do in a similar case."
+
+"What would you do? Advise me," I urged eagerly.
+
+"I should take the whole of the correspondence, just as it is, place
+it in the grate there, and burn it," he said.
+
+I was not prepared for such a suggestion. A similar idea had occurred
+to me, but I feared to suggest to him such a mode of defeating the
+ends of justice.
+
+"But if I do that will you give me a vow of secrecy?" I asked,
+quickly. "Recollect that such a step is a serious offence against the
+law."
+
+"When I pass out of this room I shall have no further recollection of
+ever having seen any letters," he answered, again giving me his hand.
+"In this matter my desire is only to help you. If, as you believe,
+Ethelwynn is innocent, then no harm can be done in destroying the
+letters, whereas if she is actually the assassin she must, sooner or
+later, betray her guilt. A woman may be clever, but she can never
+successfully cover the crime of murder."
+
+"Then you are willing that I, as finder of those letters, shall burn
+them? And further, that no word shall pass regarding this discovery?"
+
+"Most willing," he replied. "Come," he added, commencing to gather
+them together. "Let us lose no time, or perhaps the constable on duty
+below or one of the plain-clothes men may come prying in here."
+
+Then at his direction and with his assistance I willingly tore up each
+letter in small pieces, placed the whole in the grate where dead
+cinders still remained, and with a vesta set a light to them. For a
+few moments they blazed fiercely up the chimney, then died out,
+leaving only black tinder.
+
+"We must make a feint of having tried to light the fire," said Jevons,
+taking an old newspaper, twisting it up, and setting light to it in
+the grate, afterwards stirring up the dead tinder with the tinder of
+the letters. "I'll remark incidentally to the constable that we've
+tried to get a fire, and didn't succeed. That will prevent Thorpe
+poking his nose into it."
+
+So when the whole of the letters had been destroyed, all traces of
+their remains effaced and the safe re-locked, we went downstairs--not,
+however, before my companion had made a satisfactory explanation to
+the constable and entirely misled him as to what we had been doing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+I RECEIVE A VISITOR.
+
+
+The adjourned inquest was resumed on the day appointed in the big room
+at the Star and Garter at Kew, and the public, eager as ever for
+sensational details, overflowed through the bar and out into the
+street, until the police were compelled to disperse the crowd. The
+evening papers had worked up all kinds of theories, some worthy of
+attention, others ridiculous; hence the excitement and interest had
+become intense.
+
+The extraordinary nature of the wound which caused Mr. Courtenay's
+death was the chief element of mystery. Our medical evidence had
+produced a sensation, for we had been agreed that to inflict such a
+wound with any instrument which could pass through the exterior
+orifice was an absolute impossibility. Sir Bernard and myself were
+still both bewildered. In the consulting room at Harley Street we had
+discussed it a dozen times, but could arrive at no definite conclusion
+as to how such a terrible wound could possibly have been caused.
+
+I noticed a change in Sir Bernard. He seemed mopish, thoughtful, and
+somewhat despondent. Usually he was a busy, bustling man, whose manner
+with his patients was rather brusque, and who, unlike the majority of
+my own profession, went to the point at once. There is no profession
+in which one is compelled to exercise so much affected patience and
+courtesy as in the profession of medicine. Patients will bore you to
+death with long and tedious histories of all their ailments since the
+days when they chewed a gutta-percha teething-ring, and to appear
+impatient is to court a reputation for flippancy and want of
+attention. Great men may hold up their hands and cry "Enough!" But
+small men must sit with pencil poised, apparently intensely
+interested, and listen through until the patient has exhausted his
+long-winded recollections of all his ills.
+
+Contrary to his usual custom, Sir Bernard did not now return to Hove
+each evening, but remained at Harley Street--dining alone off a chop
+or a steak, and going out afterwards, probably to his club. His change
+of manner surprised me. I noticed in him distinct signs of nervous
+disorder; and on several afternoons he sent round to me at the
+Hospital, saying that he could not see his patients, and asking me to
+run back to Harley Street and take his place.
+
+On the evening before the adjourned inquest I remarked to him that he
+did not appear very well, and his reply, in a strained, desponding
+voice, was:
+
+"Poor Courtenay has gone. He was my best friend."
+
+Yes, it was as I expected, he was sorrowing over his friend.
+
+When we had re-assembled at the Star and Garter, he entered quietly
+and took a seat beside me just before the commencement of the
+proceedings.
+
+The Coroner, having read over all the depositions taken on the first
+occasion, asked the police if they had any further evidence to offer,
+whereupon the local inspector of the T Division answered with an air
+of mystery:
+
+"We have nothing, sir, which we can make public. Active inquiries are
+still in progress."
+
+"No further medical evidence?" asked the coroner.
+
+I turned towards Sir Bernard inquiringly, and as I did so my eye
+caught a face hidden by a black veil, seated among the public at the
+far side of the room. It was Ethelwynn herself--come there to watch
+the proceedings and hear with her own ears whether the police had
+obtained traces of the assassin!
+
+Her anxious countenance shone through her veil haggard and white; her
+eyes were fixed upon the Coroner. She hung breathlessly upon his every
+word.
+
+"We have no further evidence," replied the inspector.
+
+There was a pause. The public who were there in search of some
+solution of the bewildering mystery which had been published in every
+paper through the land, were disappointed. They had expected at least
+to hear some expert evidence--which, if not always reliable, is always
+interesting. But there seemed an inclination on the part of the police
+to maintain a silence which increased rather than lessened the
+mystery.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," exclaimed Dr. Diplock, turning at last to the
+twelve local tradesmen who formed the jury, "you have heard the
+evidence in this curious case, and your duty is to decide in what
+manner the deceased came by his death, whether by accidental means, or
+by foul play. I think in the circumstances you will have very little
+difficulty in deciding. The case is a mysterious one--a very
+mysterious one. The deceased was a gentleman of means who was
+suffering from a malignant disease, and that disease must have proved
+fatal within a short time. Now this fact appears to have been well
+known to himself, to the members of his household, and probably to
+most of his friends. Nevertheless, he was found dead in circumstances
+which point most strongly to wilful murder. If he was actually
+murdered, the assassin, whoever he was, had some very strong incentive
+in killing him at once, because he might well have waited another few
+months for the fatal termination of the disease. That fact, however,
+is not for you to consider, gentlemen. You are here for the sole
+purpose of deciding whether or not this case is one of murder. If, in
+your opinion it is, then it becomes your duty to return a verdict to
+that effect and leave it to the police to discover the assassin. To
+comment at length on the many mysterious circumstances surrounding the
+tragedy is, I think, needless. The depositions I have just read are
+sufficiently full and explanatory, especially the evidence of Sir
+Bernard Eyton and of Doctor Boyd, both of whom, besides being
+well-known in the profession, were personal friends of the deceased.
+In considering your verdict I would further beg of you not to heed any
+theories you may have read in the newspapers, but adjudge the matter
+from a fair and impartial standpoint, and give your verdict as you
+honestly believe the truth to be."
+
+The dead silence which had prevailed during the Coroner's address was
+at once broken by the uneasy moving of the crowd. I glanced across at
+Ethelwynn, and saw her sitting immovable, breathless, statuesque.
+
+She watched the foreman of the jury whispering to two or three of his
+colleagues in the immediate vicinity. The twelve tradesmen consulted
+together in an undertone, while the reporters at the table conversed
+audibly. They, too, were disappointed at being unable to obtain any
+sensational "copy."
+
+"If you wish to retire in order to consider your verdict, gentlemen,
+you are quite at liberty to do so," remarked the coroner.
+
+"That is unnecessary," replied the foreman. "We are agreed
+unanimously."
+
+"Upon what?"
+
+"Our verdict is that the deceased was wilfully murdered by some person
+or persons unknown."
+
+"Very well, gentlemen. Of course in my position I am not permitted to
+give you advice, but I think that you could have arrived at no other
+verdict. The police will use every endeavour to discover the identity
+of the assassin."
+
+I glanced at Ethelwynn, and at that instant she turned her head, and
+her eyes met mine. She started quickly, her face blanched to the lips;
+then she rose unsteadily, and with the crowd went slowly out.
+
+Ambler Jevons, who had been seated at the opposite side of the room,
+got up and rushed away; therefore I had no chance to get a word with
+him. He had glanced at me significantly, and I knew well what passed
+through his mind. Like myself, he was thinking of that strange letter
+we had found among the dead man's effects and had agreed to destroy.
+
+About nine o'clock that same night I had left Sir Bernard's and was
+strolling slowly round to my rooms, when my friend's cheery voice
+sounded behind me. He was on his way to have a smoke with me as usual,
+he explained. So we entered together, and after I had turned up the
+light and brought out the drinks he flung himself into his habitual
+chair, and stretching himself wearily said--
+
+"The affair becomes more mysterious hourly."
+
+"How?" I inquired quickly.
+
+"I've been down to Kew this afternoon," was his rather ambiguous
+response. "I had to go to my office directly after the inquest, but I
+returned at once."
+
+"And what have you discovered? Anything fresh?"
+
+"Yes," he responded slowly. "A fresh fact or two--facts that still
+increase the mystery."
+
+"What are they? Tell me," I urged.
+
+"No, Ralph, old chap. When I am certain of their true importance I'll
+explain them to you. At present I desire to pursue my own methods
+until I arrive at some clear conclusion."
+
+This disinclination to tell me the truth was annoying. He had always
+been quite frank and open, explaining all his theories, and showing to
+me any weak points in the circumstantial evidence. Yet suddenly, as it
+seemed to me, he had become filled with a strange mistrust. Why, I
+could not conceive.
+
+"But surely you can tell me the nature of your discoveries?" I said.
+"There need be no secrets between us in this affair."
+
+"No, Ralph. But I'm superstitious enough to believe that ill-luck
+follows a premature exposure of one's plans," he said.
+
+His excuse was a lame one--a very lame one. I smiled--in order to show
+him that I read through such a transparent attempt to mislead me.
+
+"I might have refused to show you that letter of Ethelwynn's," I
+protested. "Yet our interests being mutual I handed it to you."
+
+"And it is well that you did."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because knowledge of it has changed the whole course of my
+inquiries."
+
+"Changed them from one direction to another?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And you are now prosecuting them in the direction of Ethelwynn?"
+
+"No," he answered. "Not exactly."
+
+I looked at his face, and saw upon it an expression of profound
+mysteriousness. His dark, well-marked countenance was a complex one
+always, but at that moment I was utterly unable to discern whether he
+spoke the truth, or whether he only wished to mislead my suspicions
+into a different channel. That he was the acme of shrewdness, that his
+powers of deduction were extraordinary, and that his patience in
+unravelling a secret was almost beyond comprehension I knew well. Even
+those great trackers of criminals, Shaw and Maddox, of New Scotland
+Yard, held him in respect, and admired his acute intelligence and
+marvellous power of perception.
+
+Yet his attempt to evade a question which so closely concerned my own
+peace of mind and future happiness tried my patience. If he had really
+discovered some fresh facts I considered it but right that I should be
+acquainted with them.
+
+"Has your opinion changed as to the identity of the person who
+committed the crime?" I asked him, rather abruptly.
+
+"Not in the least," he responded, slowly lighting his foul pipe. "How
+can it, in the face of the letter we burnt?"
+
+"Then you think that jealousy was the cause of the tragedy? That
+she----"
+
+"No, not jealousy," he interrupted, speaking quite calmly. "The facts
+I have discovered go to show that the motive was not jealousy."
+
+"Hatred, then?"
+
+"No, not hatred."
+
+"Then what?"
+
+"That's just where I fail to form a theory," he answered, after a
+brief silence, during which he watched the blue smoke curl upward to
+the sombre ceiling of my room. "In a few days I hope to discover the
+motive."
+
+"You will let me assist you?" I urged, eagerly. "I am at your disposal
+at any hour."
+
+"No," he answered, decisively. "You are prejudiced, Ralph. You
+unfortunately still love that woman."
+
+A sigh escaped me. What he said was, alas! too true. I had adored her
+through those happy months prior to the tragedy. She had come into my
+lonely bachelor life as the one ray of sunlight that gave me hope and
+happiness, and I had lived for her alone. Because of her I had striven
+to rise in the profession, and had laboured hard so that in a little
+while I might be in a position to marry and buy that quiet country
+practice that was my ideal existence. And even now, with my idol
+broken by the knowledge of her previous engagement to the man now
+dead, I confess that I nevertheless still entertained a strong
+affection for her. The memory of a past love is often more sweet than
+the love itself--and to men it is so very often fatal.
+
+I had risen to pour out some whiskey for my companion when, of a
+sudden, my man opened the door and announced:
+
+"There's a lady to see you, sir."
+
+"A lady?" we both exclaimed, with one voice.
+
+"Yes, sir," and he handed me a card.
+
+I glanced at it. My visitor was the very last person I desired to meet
+at that moment, for she was none other than Ethelwynn herself.
+
+"I'll go, old chap," Jevons cried, springing to his feet, and draining
+his glass at a single draught. "She mustn't meet me here. Good-bye
+till to-morrow. Remember, betray no sign to her that you know the
+truth. It's certainly a curious affair, as it now stands; but depend
+upon it that there's more complication and mystery in it than we have
+yet suspected."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MY LOVE.
+
+
+As soon as Ambler Jevons had slipped out through my little study my
+love came slowly forward, as though with some unwillingness.
+
+She was dressed, as at the inquest, in deep mourning, wearing a
+smartly-cut tailor-made dress trimmed with astrachan and a neat toque,
+her pale countenance covered with a thick spotted veil.
+
+"Ralph," she exclaimed in a low voice, "forgive me for calling upon
+you at this hour. I know it's indiscreet, but I am very anxious to see
+you."
+
+I returned her greeting, rather coldly I am afraid, and led her to the
+big armchair which had only a moment before been vacated by my friend.
+
+When she seated herself and faced me I saw how changed she was, even
+though she did not lift her veil. Her dark eyes seemed haggard and
+sunken, her cheeks, usually pink with the glow of health, were white,
+almost ghastly, and her slim, well-gloved hand, resting upon the chair
+arm, trembled perceptibly.
+
+"You have not come to me for two whole days, Ralph," she commenced in
+a tone of complaint. "Surely you do not intend to desert me in these
+hours of distress?"
+
+"I must apologise," I responded quickly, remembering Jevons' advice.
+"But the fact is I myself have been very upset over the sad affair,
+and, in addition, I've had several serious cases during the past few
+days. Sir Bernard has been unwell, and I've been compelled to look
+after his practice."
+
+"Sir Bernard!" she ejaculated, in a tone which instantly struck me as
+strange. It was as though she held him in abhorrence. "Do you know,
+Ralph, I hate to think of you in association with that man."
+
+"Why?" I asked, much surprised, while at that same moment the thought
+flashed through my mind how often Sir Bernard had given me vague
+warnings regarding her.
+
+They were evidently bitter enemies.
+
+"I have no intention to give my reasons," she replied, her brows
+slightly knit. "I merely give it as my opinion that you should no
+longer remain in association with him."
+
+"But surely you are alone in that opinion!" I said. "He bears a high
+character, and is certainly one of the first physicians in London. His
+practice is perhaps the most valuable of any medical man at the
+present moment."
+
+"I don't deny that," she said, her gloved fingers twitching nervously.
+"A man may be a king, and at the same time a knave."
+
+I smiled. It was apparent that her intention was to separate me from
+the man to whom I owed nearly all, if not quite all, my success. And
+why? Because he knew of her past, and she feared that he might, in a
+moment of confidence, betray all to me.
+
+"Vague hints are always irritating," I remarked. "Cannot you give me
+some reason for your desire that my friendship with him should end?"
+
+"No. If I did, you would accuse me of selfish motives," she said,
+fixing her dark eyes upon me.
+
+Could a woman with a Madonna-like countenance be actually guilty of
+murder? It seemed incredible. And yet her manner was that of a woman
+haunted by the terrible secret of her crime. At that moment she was
+seeking, by ingenious means, to conceal the truth regarding the past.
+She feared that my intimate friendship with the great physician might
+result in her unmasking.
+
+"I can't see that selfish motives enter into this affair at all," I
+remarked. "Whatever you tell me, Ethelwynn, is, I know, for my own
+benefit. Therefore you should at least be explicit."
+
+"I can't be more explicit."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I have no right to utter a libel without being absolutely
+certain of the facts."
+
+"I don't quite follow you," I said, rather puzzled.
+
+"I mean that at present the information I have is vague," she replied.
+"But if it is the truth, as I expect to establish it, then you must
+dissociate yourself from him, Ralph."
+
+"You have only suspicions?"
+
+"Only suspicions."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Of a fact which will some day astound you."
+
+Our eyes met again, and I saw in hers a look of intense earnestness
+that caused me to wonder. To what could she possibly be referring?
+
+"You certainly arouse my curiosity," I said, affecting to laugh. "Do
+you really think Sir Bernard such a very dreadful person, then?"
+
+"Ah! You do not take my words seriously," she remarked. "I am warning
+you, Ralph, for your own benefit. It is a pity you do not heed me."
+
+"I do heed you," I declared. "Only your statement is so strange that
+it appears almost incredible."
+
+"Incredible it may seem; but one day ere long you will be convinced
+that what I say to-night is the truth."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"I say that Sir Bernard Eyton, the man in whom you place every
+confidence, and whose example as a great man in his profession you are
+so studiously following, is not your friend."
+
+"Nor yours, I suppose?"
+
+"No, neither is he mine."
+
+This admission was at least the truth. I had known it long ago. But
+what had been the cause of difference between them was hidden in
+deepest mystery. Sir Bernard, as old Mr. Courtenay's most intimate
+friend, knew, in all probability, of his engagement to her, and of its
+rupture in favour of her sister Mary. It might even be that Sir
+Bernard had had a hand in the breaking of the engagement. If so, that
+would well account for her violent hostility towards him.
+
+Such thoughts, with others, flashed through my mind as I sat
+there facing her. She was leaning back, her hands fallen idly
+upon her lap, peering straight at me through that spotted veil
+which, half-concealing her wondrous beauty, imparted to her an
+additional air of mystery.
+
+"You have quarrelled with Sir Bernard, I presume?" I hazarded.
+
+"Quarrelled!" she echoed. "We were never friends."
+
+Truly she possessed all a clever woman's presence of mind in the
+evasion of a leading question.
+
+"He was an acquaintance of yours?"
+
+"An acquaintance--yes. But I have always distrusted him."
+
+"Mary likes him, I believe," I remarked. "He was poor Courtenay's most
+intimate friend for many years."
+
+"She judges him from that standpoint alone. Any of her husband's
+friends were hers, and she was fully cognisant of Sir Bernard's
+unceasing attention to the sufferer."
+
+"If that is so it is rather a pity that she was recently so
+neglectful," I said.
+
+"I know, Ralph--I know the reason of it all," she faltered. "I can't
+explain to you, because it is not just that I should expose my
+sister's secret. But I know the truth which, when revealed, will make
+it clear to the world that her apparent neglect was not culpable. She
+had a motive."
+
+"A motive in going to town of an evening and enjoying herself!" I
+exclaimed. "Of course, the motive was to obtain relaxation. When a man
+is more than twice the age of his wife, the latter is apt to chafe
+beneath the golden fetter. It's the same everywhere--in Mayfair as in
+Mile End; in Suburbia as in a rural village. Difference of age is
+difference of temperament; and difference of temperament opens a
+breach which only a lover can fill."
+
+She was silent--her eyes cast down. She saw that the attempt to
+vindicate her sister had, as before, utterly and ignominiously failed.
+
+"Yes, Ralph, you are right," she admitted at last. "Judged from a
+philosophic standpoint a wife ought not to be more than ten years her
+husband's junior. Love which arises out of mere weakness is as easily
+fixed upon one object as another; and consequently is at all times
+transferable. It is so pleasant to us women to be admired, and so
+soothing to be loved that the grand trial of constancy to a young
+woman married to an elderly man is not to add one more conquest to her
+triumphs, but to earn the respect and esteem of the man who is her
+husband. And it is difficult. Of that I am convinced."
+
+There was for the first time a true ring of earnestness in her voice,
+and I saw by her manner that her heart was overburdened by the sorrow
+that had fallen upon her sister. Her character was a complex one which
+I had failed always to analyse, and it seemed just then as though her
+endeavour was to free her sister of all the responsibilities of her
+married life. She had made that effort once before, prior to the
+tragedy, but its motive was hidden in obscurity.
+
+"Women are often very foolish," she went on, half-apologetically.
+"Having chosen their lover for his suitability they usually allow the
+natural propensity of their youthful minds to invest him with every
+ideal of excellence. That is a fatal error committed by the majority
+of women. We ought to be satisfied with him as he is, rather than
+imagine him what he never can be."
+
+"Yes," I said, smiling at her philosophy. "It would certainly save
+them a world of disappointment in after life. It has always struck me
+that the extravagant investiture of fancy does not belong, as is
+commonly supposed, to the meek, true and abiding attachment which it
+is woman's highest virtue and noblest distinction to feel. I strongly
+suspect it is vanity, and not affection, which leads a woman to
+believe her lover perfect; because it enhances her triumph to be the
+choice of such a man."
+
+"Ah! I'm glad that we agree, Ralph," she said with a sigh and an air
+of deep seriousness. "The part of the true-hearted woman is to be
+satisfied with her lover such as he is, old or young, and to consider
+him, with all his faults, as sufficiently perfect for her. No after
+development of character can then shake her faith, no ridicule or
+exposure can weaken her tenderness for a single moment; while, on the
+other hand, she who has blindly believed her lover to be without a
+fault, must ever be in danger of awaking to the conviction that her
+love exists no longer."
+
+"As in your own case," I added, in an endeavour to obtain from her the
+reason of this curious discourse.
+
+"My own case!" she echoed. "No, Ralph. I have never believed you to be
+a perfect ideal. I have loved you because I knew that you loved me.
+Our tastes are in common, our admiration for each other is mutual,
+and our affection strong and ever-increasing--until--until----"
+
+And faltering, she stopped abruptly, without concluding her sentence.
+
+"Until what?" I asked.
+
+Tears sprang to her eyes. One drop rolled down her white cheek until
+it reached her veil, and stood there sparkling beneath the light.
+
+"You know well," she said hoarsely. "Until the tragedy. From that
+moment, Ralph, you changed. You are not the same to me as formerly. I
+feel--I feel," she confessed, covering her face with her hands and
+sobbing bitterly, "I feel that I have lost you."
+
+"Lost me! I don't understand," I said, feigning not to comprehend her.
+
+"I feel as though you no longer hold me in esteem," she faltered
+through her tears. "Something tells me, Ralph, that--that your love
+for me has vanished, never to return!"
+
+With a sudden movement she raised her veil, and I saw how white and
+anxious was her fair countenance. I could not bring myself to believe
+that such a perfect face could conceal a heart blackened by the crime
+of murder. But, alas! all men are weak where a pretty woman is
+concerned. After all, it is feminine wiles and feminine graces that
+rule our world. Man is but a poor mortal at best, easily moved to
+sympathy by a woman's tears, and as easily misled by the touch of a
+soft hand or a passionate caress upon the lips. Diplomacy is inborn in
+woman, and although every woman is not an adventuress, yet one and
+all are clever actresses when the game of love is being played.
+
+The thought of that letter I had read and destroyed again recurred to
+me. Yes, she had concealed her secret--the secret of her attempt to
+marry Courtenay for his money. And yet if, as seemed so apparent, she
+had nursed her hatred, was it not but natural that she should assume a
+hostile attitude towards her sister--the woman who had eclipsed her in
+the old man's affections? Nevertheless, on the contrary, she was
+always apologetic where Mary was concerned, and had always sought to
+conceal her shortcomings and domestic infelicity. It was that point
+which so sorely puzzled me.
+
+"Why should my love for you become suddenly extinguished?" I asked,
+for want of something other to say.
+
+"I don't know," she faltered. "I cannot tell why, but I have a
+distinct distrust of the future, a feeling that we are drifting
+apart."
+
+She spoke the truth. A woman in love is quick of perception, and no
+feigned affection on the man's part can ever blind her.
+
+I saw that she read my heart like an open book, and at once strove to
+reassure her, trying to bring myself to believe that I had misjudged
+her.
+
+"No, no, dearest," I said, rising with a hollow pretence of caressing
+her tears away. "You are nervous, and upset by the tragedy. Try to
+forget it all."
+
+"Forget!" she echoed in a hard voice, her eyes cast down despondently.
+"Forget that night! Ah, no, I can never forget it--never!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS.
+
+
+The dark days of the London winter brightened into spring, but the
+mystery of old Mr. Courtenay's death remained an enigma inexplicable
+to police and public. Ambler Jevons had prosecuted independent
+inquiries assiduously in various quarters, detectives had watched the
+subsequent movements of Short and the other servants, but all to no
+purpose. The sudden disappearance of Short was discovered to be due to
+the illness of his brother.
+
+The identity of the assassin, as well as the mode in which the
+extraordinary wound had been inflicted, both remained mysteries
+impenetrable.
+
+At Guy's we were a trifle under-staffed, and my work was consequently
+heavy; while, added to that, Sir Bernard was suffering from the
+effects of a severe chill, and had not been able to come to town for
+nearly a month. Therefore, I had been kept at it practically night and
+day, dividing my time between the hospital, Harley Street, and my own
+rooms. I saw little of my friend Jevons, for his partner had been
+ordered to Bournemouth for his health, and therefore his constant
+attendance at his office in Mark Lane was imperative. Ambler had now
+but little leisure save on Sundays, when we would usually dine
+together at the Cavour, the Globe, the Florence, or some other foreign
+restaurant.
+
+Whenever I spoke to him of the tragedy, he would sigh, his face would
+assume a puzzled expression, and he would declare that the affair
+utterly passed his comprehension. Once or twice he referred to
+Ethelwynn, but it struck me that he did not give tongue to what passed
+within his mind for fear of offending me. His methods were based on
+patience, therefore I often wondered whether he was still secretly at
+work upon the case, and if so, whether he had gained any additional
+facts. Yet he told me nothing. It was a mystery, he said--that was
+all.
+
+Of Ethelwynn I saw but little, making my constant occupation with Sir
+Bernard's patients my excuse. She had taken up her abode with Mrs.
+Henniker--the cousin at whose house Mary had stayed on the night of
+the tragedy. The furniture at Richmond Road had been removed and the
+house advertised for sale, young Mrs. Courtenay having moved to her
+aunt's house in the country, a few miles from Bath.
+
+On several occasions I had dined at Redcliffe Square, finding both
+Mrs. Henniker and her husband extremely agreeable. Henniker was
+partner in a big brewing concern at Clapham, and a very good fellow;
+while his wife was a middle-aged, fair-haired woman, of the type who
+shop of afternoons in High Street, Kensington. Ethelwynn had always
+been a particular favourite with both, hence she was a welcome guest
+at Redcliffe Square. Old Mr. Courtenay had had business relations with
+Henniker a couple of years before, and a slight difference had led to
+an open quarrel. For that reason they had not of late visited at Kew.
+
+On the occasions I had spent the evening with Ethelwynn at their house
+I had watched her narrowly, yet neither by look nor by action did she
+betray any sign of a guilty secret. Her manner had during those weeks
+changed entirely; for she seemed perfectly calm and self-possessed,
+and although she alluded but seldom to our love, she treated me with
+that same sweet tenderness as before the fatal night of her
+brother-in-law's assassination.
+
+I must admit that her attitude, although it inspired me with a certain
+amount of confidence, nevertheless caused me to ponder deeply. I knew
+enough of human nature to be aware that it is woman's métier to keep
+up appearances. Was she keeping up an appearance of innocence,
+although her heart was blackened by a crime?
+
+One evening, when we chanced to be left alone in the little
+smoking-room after dinner, she suddenly turned to me, saying:
+
+"I've often thought how strange you must have thought my visit to your
+rooms that night, Ralph. It was unpardonable, I know--only I wanted to
+warn you of that man."
+
+"Of Sir Bernard?" I observed, laughing.
+
+"Yes. But it appears that you have not heeded me," she sighed. "I
+fear, Ralph, that you will regret some day."
+
+"Why should I regret? Your fears are surely baseless."
+
+"No," she answered decisively. "They are not baseless. I have
+reasons--strong ones--for urging you to break your connexion with him.
+He is no friend to you."
+
+I smiled. I knew quite well that he was no friend of hers. Once or
+twice of late he had said in that peevish snappy voice of his:
+
+"I wonder what that woman, Mrs. Courtenay's sister, is doing? I hear
+nothing of her."
+
+I did not enlighten him, for I had no desire to hear her maligned. I
+knew the truth myself sufficiently well.
+
+But turning to her I looked straight into her dark luminous eyes,
+those eyes that held me always as beneath their spell, saying:
+
+"He has proved himself my best friend, up to the present. I have no
+reason to doubt him."
+
+"But you will have. I warn you."
+
+"In what manner, then, is he my enemy?"
+
+She hesitated, as though half-fearing to respond to my question.
+Presently she said:
+
+"He is my enemy--and therefore yours."
+
+"Why is he your enemy?" I asked, eager to clear up a point which had
+so long puzzled me.
+
+"I cannot tell," she responded. "One sometimes gives offence and makes
+enemies without being aware of it."
+
+The evasion was a clever one. Another illustration of tactful
+ingenuity.
+
+By dint of careful cross-examination I endeavoured to worm from her
+the secret of my chief's antagonism, but she was dumb to every
+inquiry, fencing with me in a manner that would have done credit to a
+police-court solicitor. Though sweet, innocent, and intensely
+charming, yet there was a reverse side of her character, strong,
+firm-minded, almost stern in its austerity.
+
+I must here say that our love, once so passionate and displayed by
+fond kisses and hand-pressing, in the usual manner of lovers, had
+gradually slackened. A kiss on arrival and another on departure was
+all the demonstration of affection that now passed between us. I
+doubted her; and though I strove hard to conceal my true feelings, I
+fear that my coldness was apparent, not only to her but to the
+Hennikers also. She had complained of it when she called at my rooms,
+and certainly she had full reason for doing so. I am not one of those
+who can feign love. Some men can; I cannot.
+
+Thus it will be seen that although a certain coolness had arisen
+between us, in a manner that seemed almost mutual, we were
+nevertheless the best of friends. Once or twice she dined with me at a
+restaurant, and went to a play afterwards, on such occasions remarking
+that it seemed like "old times," in the early days of our blissful
+love. And sometimes she would recall those sweet halcyon hours, until
+I felt a pang of regret that my trust in her had been shaken by that
+letter found among the dead man's effects and that tiny piece of
+chenille. But I steeled my heart, because I felt assured that the
+truth must out some day.
+
+Mine was a strange position for any man. I loved this woman, remember;
+loved her with all my heart and with all my soul. Yet that letter
+penned by her had shown me that she had once angled for larger spoils,
+and was not the sweet unsophisticated woman I had always supposed her
+to be. It showed me, too, that in her heart had rankled a fierce,
+undying hatred.
+
+Because of this I did not seek her society frequently, but occupied
+myself diligently with my patients--seeking solace in my work, as many
+another professional man does where love or domestic happiness is
+concerned. There are few men in my profession who have not had their
+affairs of the heart, many of them serious ones. The world never knows
+how difficult it is for a doctor to remain heart-whole. Sometimes his
+lady patients deliberately set themselves to capture him, and will
+speak ill-naturedly of him if he refuses to fall into their net. At
+others, sympathy with a sufferer leads to a flirtation during
+convalescence, and often a word spoken in jest in order to cheer is
+taken seriously by romantic girls who believe that to marry a doctor
+is to attain social status and distinction.
+
+Heigho! When I think of all my own little love episodes, and of the
+ingenious diplomacy to which I have been compelled to resort in order
+to avoid tumbling into pitfalls set by certain designing Daughters of
+Eve, I cannot but sympathise with every other medical man who is on
+the right side of forty and sound of wind and limb. There is not a
+doctor in all the long list in the medical register who could not
+relate strange stories of his own love episodes--romances which have
+sometimes narrowly escaped developing into tragedies, and plots
+concocted by women to inveigle and to allure. It is so easy for a
+woman to feign illness and call in the doctor to chat to her and amuse
+her. Lots of women in London do that regularly. They will play with a
+doctor's heart as a sort of pastime, while the unfortunate medico
+often cannot afford to hold aloof for fear of offending. If he does,
+then evil gossip will spread among his patients and his practice may
+suffer considerably; for in no profession does a man rely so entirely
+upon his good name and a reputation for care and integrity as in that
+of medicine.
+
+I do not wish it for a moment to be taken that I am antagonistic to
+women, or that I would ever speak ill of them. I merely refer to the
+mean method of some of the idling class, who deliberately call in the
+doctor for the purpose of flirtation and then boast of it to their
+intimates. To such, a man's heart or a man's future are of no
+consequence. The doctor is easily visible, and is therefore the
+easiest prey to all and sundry.
+
+In my own practice I had had a good deal of experience of it. And I am
+not alone. Every other medical man, if not a grey-headed fossil or a
+wizened woman-hater, has had similar episodes; many strange--some even
+startling.
+
+Reader, in this narrative of curious events and remarkable happenings,
+I am taking you entirely and completely into my confidence. I seek to
+conceal nothing, nor to exaggerate in any particular, but to present
+the truth as a plain matter-of-fact statement of what actually
+occurred. I was a unit among a hundred thousand others engaged in the
+practice of medicine, not more skilled than the majority, even though
+Sir Bernard's influence and friendship had placed me in a position of
+prominence. But in this brief life of ours it is woman who makes us
+dance as puppets on our miniature stage, who leads us to brilliant
+success or to black ruin, who exalts us above our fellows or hurls us
+into oblivion. Woman--always woman.
+
+Since that awful suspicion had fallen upon me that the hand that had
+struck old Mr. Courtenay was that soft delicate one that I had so
+often carried to my lips, a blank had opened in my life. Consumed by
+conflicting thoughts, I recollected how sweet and true had been our
+affection; with what an intense passionate love-look she had gazed
+upon me with those wonderful eyes of hers; with what wild fierce
+passion her lips would meet mine in fond caress.
+
+Alas! it had all ended. She had acted a lie to me. That letter told
+the bitter truth. Hence, we were gradually drifting apart.
+
+One Sunday morning in May, just as I had finished my breakfast and
+flung myself into an armchair to smoke, as was my habit on the day of
+rest, my man entered, saying that Lady Twickenham had sent to ask if I
+could go round to Park Lane at once. Not at all pleased with this
+call, just at a moment of laziness, I was, nevertheless, obliged to
+respond, because her ladyship was one of Sir Bernard's best patients;
+and suffering as she was from a malignant internal complaint, I knew
+it was necessary to respond at once to the summons.
+
+On arrival at her bedside I quickly saw the gravity of the situation;
+but, unfortunately, I knew very little of the case, because Sir
+Bernard himself always made a point of attending her personally.
+Although elderly, she was a prominent woman in society, and had
+recommended many patients to my chief in earlier days, before he
+attained the fame he had now achieved. I remained with her a couple of
+hours; but finding myself utterly confused regarding her symptoms, I
+resolved to take the afternoon train down to Hove and consult Sir
+Bernard. I suggested this course to her ladyship, who was at once
+delighted with the suggestion. Therefore, promising to return at ten
+o'clock that night, I went out, swallowed a hasty luncheon, and took
+train down to Brighton.
+
+The house was one of those handsome mansions facing the sea at Hove,
+and as I drove up to it on that bright, sunny afternoon, it seemed to
+me an ideal residence for a man jaded by the eternal worries of a
+physician's life. The sea-breeze stirred the sun-blinds before the
+windows, and the flowers in the well-kept boxes were already gay with
+bloom. I knew the place well, for I had been down many times before;
+therefore, when the page opened the door he showed me at once to the
+study, a room which lay at the back of the big drawing-room.
+
+"Sir Bernard is in, sir," the page said. "I'll tell him at once you're
+here," and he closed the door, leaving me alone.
+
+I walked towards the window, which looked out upon a small flower
+garden, and in so doing, passed the writing table. A sheet of foolscap
+lay upon it, and curiosity prompted me to glance at it.
+
+What I saw puzzled me considerably; for beside the paper was a letter
+of my own that I had sent him on the previous day, while upon the
+foolscap were many lines of writing in excellent imitation of my own!
+
+He had been practising the peculiarities of my own handwriting. But
+with what purpose was a profound mystery.
+
+I was bending over, closely examining the words and noting how
+carefully they had been traced in imitation, when, of a sudden, I
+heard a voice in the drawing-room adjoining--a woman's voice.
+
+I pricked my ears and listened--for the eccentric old fellow to
+entertain was most unusual. He always hated women, because he saw too
+much of their wiles and wilfulness as patients.
+
+Nevertheless it was apparent that he had a lady visitor in the
+adjoining room, and a moment later it was equally apparent that they
+were not on the most friendly terms; for, of a sudden, the voice
+sounded again quite distinctly--raised in a cry of horror, as though
+at some sudden and terrible discovery.
+
+"Ah! I see--I see it all now!" shrieked the unknown woman. "You have
+deceived me! Coward! You call yourself a man--you, who would sell a
+woman's soul to the devil!"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" cried a gruff voice which I recognised as Sir
+Bernard's. "You may be overheard. Recollect that your safety can only
+be secured by your secrecy."
+
+"I shall tell the truth!" the woman declared.
+
+"Very well," laughed the man who was my chief in a tone of defiance.
+"Tell it, and condemn yourself."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION.
+
+
+The incident was certainly a puzzling one, for when, a few minutes
+later, my chief entered the study, his face, usually ashen grey, was
+flushed with excitement.
+
+"I've been having trouble with a lunatic," he explained, after
+greeting me, and inquiring why I had come down to consult him. "The
+woman's people are anxious to place her under restraint; yet, for the
+present, there is not quite sufficient evidence of insanity to sign
+the certificate. Did you overhear her in the next room?" And, seating
+himself at his table, he looked at me through his glasses with those
+keen penetrating eyes that age had not dimmed or time dulled.
+
+"I heard voices," I admitted, "that was all." The circumstance was a
+strange one, and those words were so ominous that I was determined not
+to reveal to him the conversation I had overheard.
+
+"Like many other women patients suffering from brain troubles, she has
+taken a violent dislike to me, and believes that I'm the very devil in
+human form," he said, smiling. "Fortunately, she had a friend with
+her, or she might have attacked me tooth and nail just now," and
+leaning back in his chair he laughed at the idea--laughed so lightly
+that my suspicions were almost disarmed.
+
+But not quite. Had you been in my place you would have had your
+curiosity and suspicion aroused to no mean degree--not only by the
+words uttered by the woman and Sir Bernard's defiant reply, but also
+by the fact that the female voice sounded familiar.
+
+A man knows the voice of his love above all. The voice that I had
+heard in that adjoining room was, to the best of my belief, that of
+Ethelwynn.
+
+With a resolution to probe this mystery slowly, and without unseemly
+haste, I dropped the subject, and commenced to ask his advice
+regarding the complicated case of Lady Twickenham. The history of it,
+and the directions he gave can serve no purpose if written here;
+therefore suffice it to say that I remained to dinner and caught the
+nine o'clock express back to London.
+
+While at dinner, a meal served in that severe style which
+characterised the austere old man's daily life, I commenced to talk of
+the antics of insane persons and their extraordinary antipathies, but
+quickly discerned that he had neither intention nor desire to speak of
+them. He replied in those snappy monosyllables which told me plainly
+that the subject was distasteful to him, and when I bade him good-bye
+and drove to the station I was more puzzled than ever by his strange
+behaviour. He was eccentric, it was true; but I knew all his little
+odd ways, the eccentricity of genius, and could plainly see that his
+recent indisposition, which had prevented him from attending at Harley
+Street, was due to nerves rather than to a chill.
+
+The trains from Brighton to London on Sunday evenings are always
+crowded, mainly by business people compelled to return to town in
+readiness for the toil of the coming week. Week-end trippers and day
+excursionists fill the compartments to overflowing, whether it be
+chilly spring or blazing summer, for Brighton is ever popular with the
+jaded Londoner who is enabled to "run down" without fatigue, and get a
+cheap health-giving sea-breeze for a few hours after the busy turmoil
+of the Metropolis.
+
+On this Sunday night it was no exception. The first-class compartment
+was crowded, mostly be it said, by third-class passengers who had
+"tipped" the guard, and when we had started I noticed in the far
+corner opposite me a pale-faced young girl of about twenty or so,
+plainly dressed in shabby black. She was evidently a third-class
+passenger, and the guard, taking compassion upon her fragile form in
+the mad rush for seats, had put her into our carriage. She was not
+good-looking, indeed rather plain; her countenance wearing a sad,
+pre-occupied expression as she leaned her chin upon her hand and gazed
+out upon the lights of the town we were leaving.
+
+I noticed that her chest rose and fell in a long-drawn sigh, and that
+she wore black cotton gloves, one finger of which was worn through.
+Yes, she was the picture of poor respectability.
+
+The other passengers, two of whom were probably City clerks with their
+loves, regarded her with some surprise that she should be a
+first-class passenger, and there seemed an inclination on the part of
+the loudly-dressed females to regard her with contempt.
+
+Presently, when we had left the sea and were speeding through the open
+country, she turned her sad face from the window and examined her
+fellow passengers one after the other until, of a sudden, her eyes met
+mine. In an instant she dropped them modestly and busied herself in
+the pages of the sixpenny reprint of a popular novel which she carried
+with her.
+
+In that moment, however, I somehow entertained a belief that we had
+met before. Under what circumstances, or where, I could not recollect.
+The wistfulness of that white face, the slight hollowness of the
+cheeks, the unnaturally dark eyes, all seemed familiar to me; yet
+although for half an hour I strove to bring back to my mind where I
+had seen her, it was to no purpose. In all probability I had attended
+her at Guy's. A doctor in a big London hospital sees so many faces
+that to recollect all is utterly impossible. Many a time I have been
+accosted and thanked by people whom I have had no recollection of ever
+having seen in my life. Men do not realise that they look very
+different when lying in bed with a fortnight's growth of beard to when
+shaven and spruce, as is their ordinary habit: while women, when
+smartly dressed with fashionable hats and flimsy veils, are very
+different to when, in illness, they lie with hair unbound, faces
+pinched and eyes sunken, which is the only recollection their doctor
+has of them. The duchess and the servant girl present very similar
+figures when lying on a sick bed in a critical condition.
+
+There was an element of romantic mystery in that fragile little figure
+huddled up in the far corner of the carriage. Once or twice, when she
+believed my gaze to be averted, she raised her eyes furtively as
+though to reassure herself of my identity, and in her restless manner
+I discerned a desire to speak with me. It was very probable that she
+was some poor girl of the lady's maid or governess class to whom I had
+shown attention during an illness. We have so many in the female wards
+at Guy's.
+
+But during that journey a further and much more important matter
+recurred to me, eclipsing all thought of the sad-faced girl opposite.
+I recollected those words I had overheard, and felt convinced that the
+speaker had been none other than Ethelwynn herself.
+
+Sometimes when a man's mind is firmly fixed upon an object the events
+of his daily life curiously tend towards it. Have you never
+experienced that strange phenomenon for which medical science has
+never yet accounted, namely, the impression of form upon the
+imagination? You have one day suddenly thought of a person long
+absent. You have not seen him for years, when, without any apparent
+cause, you have recollected him. In the hurry and bustle of city life
+a thousand faces are passing you hourly. Like a flash one man passes,
+and you turn to look, for the countenance bears a striking resemblance
+to your absent friend. You are disappointed, for it is not the man. A
+second face appears in the human phantasmagoria of the street, and the
+similarity is almost startling. You are amazed that two persons should
+pass so very like your friend. Then, an hour after, a third
+face--actually that of your long-lost friend himself. All of us have
+experienced similar vagaries of coincidence. How can we account for
+them?
+
+And so it was in my own case. So deeply had my mind been occupied by
+thoughts of my love that several times that day, in London and in
+Brighton, I had been startled by striking resemblances. Thus I
+wondered whether that voice I had heard was actually hers, or only a
+distorted hallucination. At any rate, the woman had expressed hatred
+of Sir Bernard just as Ethelwynn had done, and further, the old man
+had openly defied her, with a harsh laugh, which showed confidence in
+himself and an utter disregard for any statement she might make.
+
+At Victoria the pale-faced girl descended quickly, and, swallowed in a
+moment in the crowd on the platform, I saw her no more.
+
+She had, before descending, given me a final glance, and I fancied
+that a faint smile of recognition played about her lips. But in the
+uncertain light of a railway carriage the shadows are heavy, and I
+could not see sufficiently distinctly to warrant my returning her
+salute. So the wan little figure, so full of romantic mystery, went
+forth again into oblivion.
+
+I was going my round at Guy's on the following morning when a telegram
+was put into my hand. It was from Ethelwynn's mother--Mrs. Mivart, at
+Neneford--asking me to go down there without delay, but giving no
+reason for the urgency. I had always been a favourite with the old
+lady, and to obey was, of course, imperative--even though I were
+compelled to ask Bartlett, one of my colleagues, to look after Sir
+Bernard's private practice in my absence.
+
+Neneford Manor was an ancient, rambling old Queen Anne place, about
+nine miles from Peterborough on the high road to Leicester. Standing
+in the midst of the richest grass country in England, with its grounds
+sloping to the brimming river that wound through meadows which in May
+were a blaze of golden buttercups, it was a typical English home, with
+quaint old gables, high chimney stacks and old-world garden with yew
+hedges trimmed fantastically as in the days of wigs and patches. I had
+snatched a week-end several times to be old Mrs. Mivart's guest;
+therefore I knew the picturesque old place well, and had been
+entranced by its many charms.
+
+Soon after five o'clock that afternoon I descended from the train at
+the roadside station, and, mounting into the dog-cart, was driven
+across the hill to the Manor. In the hall the sweet-faced,
+silver-haired old lady, in her neat black and white cap greeted me,
+holding both my hands and pressing them for a moment, apparently
+unable to utter a word. I had expected to find her unwell; but, on the
+contrary, she seemed quite as active as usual, notwithstanding the
+senile decay which I knew had already laid its hand heavily upon her.
+
+"You are so good to come to me, Doctor. How can I sufficiently thank
+you?" she managed to exclaim at last, leading me into the
+drawing-room, a long old-fashioned apartment with low ceiling
+supported by black oak beams, and quaint diamond-paned windows at each
+end.
+
+"Well?" I inquired, when she had seated herself, and, with the evening
+light upon her face, I saw how blanched and anxious she was.
+
+"I want to consult you, Doctor, upon a serious and confidential
+matter," she began, leaning forward, her thin white hands clasped in
+her lap. "We have not met since the terrible blow fell upon us--the
+death of poor Mary's husband."
+
+"It must have been a great blow to you," I said sympathetically, for I
+liked the old lady, and realised how deeply she had suffered.
+
+"Yes, but to poor Mary most of all," she said. "They were so happy
+together; and she was so devoted to him."
+
+This was scarcely the truth; but mothers are often deceived as to
+their daughters' domestic felicity. A wife is always prone to hide her
+sorrows from her parents as far as possible. Therefore the old lady
+had no doubt been the victim of natural deception.
+
+"Yes," I agreed; "it was a tragic and terrible thing. The mystery is
+quite unsolved."
+
+"To me, the police are worse than useless," she said, in her slow,
+weak voice; "they don't seem to have exerted themselves in the least
+after that utterly useless inquest, with its futile verdict. As far
+as I can gather, not one single point has been cleared up."
+
+"No," I said; "not one."
+
+"And my poor Mary!" exclaimed old Mrs. Mivart; "she is beside herself
+with grief. Time seems to increase her melancholy, instead of bringing
+forgetfulness, as I hoped it would."
+
+"Where is Mrs. Courtenay?" I asked.
+
+"Here. She's been back with me for nearly a month. It was to see her,
+speak with her, and give me an opinion that I asked you to come down."
+
+"Is she unwell?"
+
+"I really don't know what ails her. She talks of her husband
+incessantly, calls him by name, and sometimes behaves so strangely
+that I have once or twice been much alarmed."
+
+Her statement startled me. I had no idea that the young widow had
+taken the old gentleman's death so much to heart. As far as I had been
+able to judge, it seemed very much as though she had every desire to
+regain her freedom from a matrimonial bond that galled her. That she
+was grief-stricken over his death showed that I had entirely misjudged
+her character.
+
+"Is she at home now?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, in her own sitting-room--the room we used as a schoolroom when
+the girls were at home. Sometimes she mopes there all day, only
+speaking at meals. At others, she takes her dressing-bag and goes away
+for two or three days--just as the fancy takes her. She absolutely
+declines to have a maid."
+
+"You mean that she's just a little--well, eccentric," I remarked
+seriously.
+
+"Yes, Doctor," answered the old lady, in a strange voice quite unusual
+to her, and fixing her eyes upon me. "To tell the truth I fear her
+mind is slowly giving way."
+
+I remained silent, thinking deeply; and as I did not reply, she added:
+
+"You will meet her at dinner. I shall not let her know you are here.
+Then you can judge for yourself."
+
+The situation was becoming more complicated. Since the conclusion of
+the inquest I had seen nothing of the widow. She had stayed several
+days with Ethelwynn at the Hennikers', then had visited her aunt near
+Bath. That was all I knew of her movements, for, truth to tell, I held
+her in some contempt for her giddy pleasure-seeking during her
+husband's illness. Surely a woman who had a single spark of affection
+for the man she had married could not go out each night to theatres
+and supper parties, leaving him to the care of his man and a nurse.
+That one fact alone proved that her professions of love had been
+hollow and false.
+
+While the twilight fell I sat in that long, sombre old room that
+breathed an air of a century past, chatting with old Mrs. Mivart, and
+learning from her full particulars of Mary's eccentricities. My
+hostess told me of the proving of the will, which left the Devonshire
+estate to her daughter, and of the slow action of the executors. The
+young widow's actions, as described to me, were certainly strange, and
+made me strongly suspect that she was not quite responsible for them.
+That Mary's remorse was overwhelming was plain; and that fact aroused
+within my mind a very strong suspicion of a circumstance I had not
+before contemplated, namely, that during the life of her husband there
+had been a younger male attraction. The acuteness of her grief seemed
+proof of this. And yet, if argued logically, the existence of a secret
+lover should cause her to congratulate herself upon her liberty.
+
+The whole situation was an absolute enigma.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT.
+
+
+Dinner was announced, and I took Mrs. Mivart into the room on the
+opposite side of the big old-fashioned hall, a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment the size of the drawing-room, and hung with some fine old
+family portraits and miniatures. Old Squire Mivart had been an
+enthusiastic collector of antique china, and the specimens of old
+Montelupo and Urbino hanging upon the walls were remarkable as being
+the finest in any private collection in this country. Many were the
+visits he had made to Italy to acquire those queer-looking old
+mediæval plates, with their crude colouring and rude, inartistic
+drawings, and certainly he was an acknowledged expert in antique
+porcelain.
+
+The big red-shaded lamp in the centre of the table shed a soft light
+upon the snowy cloth, the flowers and the glittering silver; and as my
+hostess took her seat she sighed slightly, and for the first time
+asked of Ethelwynn.
+
+"I haven't seen her for a week," I was compelled to admit. "Patients
+have been so numerous that I haven't had time to go out to see her,
+except at hours when calling at a friend's house was out of the
+question."
+
+"Do you like the Hennikers?" her mother inquired, raising her eyes
+inquiringly to mine.
+
+"Yes, I've found them very agreeable and pleasant."
+
+"H'm," the old lady ejaculated dubiously. "Well, I don't. I met Mrs.
+Henniker once, and I must say that I did not care for her in the
+least. Ethelwynn is very fond of her, but to my mind she's fast, and
+not at all a suitable companion for a girl of my daughter's
+disposition. It may be that I have an old woman's prejudices, living
+as I do in the country always, but somehow I can never bring myself to
+like her."
+
+Mrs. Mivart, like the majority of elderly widows who have given up the
+annual visit to London in the season, was a trifle behind the times.
+More charming an old lady could not be, but, in common with all who
+vegetate in the depths of rural England, she was just a trifle
+narrow-minded. In religion, she found fault constantly with the
+village parson, who, she declared, was guilty of ritualistic
+practices, and on the subject of her daughters she bemoaned the
+latter-day emancipation of women, which allowed them to go hither and
+thither at their own free will. Like all such mothers, she considered
+wealth a necessary adjunct to happiness, and it had been with her
+heartiest approval that Mary had married the unfortunate Courtenay,
+notwithstanding the difference between the ages of bride and
+bridegroom. In every particular the old lady was a typical specimen of
+the squire's widow, as found in rural England to-day.
+
+Scarcely had we seated ourselves and I had replied to her question
+when the door opened and a slim figure in deep black entered and
+mechanically took the empty chair. She crossed the room, looking
+straight before her, and did not notice my presence until she had
+seated herself face to face with me.
+
+Of a sudden her thin wan face lit up with a smile of recognition, and
+she cried:
+
+"Why, Doctor! Wherever did you come from? No one told me you were
+here," and across the table she stretched out her hand in greeting.
+
+"I thought you were reposing after your long walk this morning, dear;
+so I did not disturb you," her mother explained.
+
+But, heedless of the explanation, she continued putting to me
+questions as to when I had left town, and the reason of my visit
+there. To the latter I returned an evasive answer, declaring that I
+had run down because I had heard that her mother was not altogether
+well.
+
+"Yes, that's true," she said. "Poor mother has been very queer of
+late. She seems so distracted, and worries quite unnecessarily over
+me. I wish you'd give her advice. Her state causes me considerable
+anxiety."
+
+"Very well," I said, feigning to laugh, "I must diagnose the ailment
+and see what can be done."
+
+The soup had been served, and as I carried my spoon to my mouth I
+examined her furtively. My hostess had excused me from dressing, but
+her daughter, neat in her widow's collar and cuffs, sat prim and
+upright, her eyes now and then raised to mine in undisguised
+inquisitiveness.
+
+She was a trifle paler than heretofore, but her pallor was probably
+rendered the more noticeable by the dead black she wore. Her hands
+seemed thin, and her fingers toyed nervously with her spoon in a
+manner that betrayed concealed agitation. Outwardly, however, I
+detected no extraordinary signs of either grief or anxiety. She spoke
+calmly, it was true, in the tone of one upon whom a great calamity had
+fallen, but that was only natural. I did not expect to find her
+bright, laughing, and light-hearted, like her old self in Richmond
+Road.
+
+As dinner proceeded I began to believe that, with a fond mother's
+solicitude for her daughter's welfare, Mrs. Mivart had slightly
+exaggerated Mary's symptoms. They certainly were not those of a woman
+plunged in inconsolable grief, for she was neither mopish nor
+artificially gay. As far as I could detect, not even a single sigh
+escaped her.
+
+She inquired of Ethelwynn and of the Hennikers, remarking that she had
+seen nothing of them for over three weeks; and then, when the servants
+had left the room, she placed her elbows upon the table, at the risk
+of a breach of good manners, and resting her chin upon her hands,
+looked me full in the face, saying:
+
+"Now, tell me the truth, Doctor. What has been discovered regarding my
+poor husband's death? Have the police obtained any clue to the
+assassin?"
+
+"None--none whatever, I regret to say," was my response.
+
+"They are useless--worse than useless!" she burst forth angrily; "they
+blundered from the very first."
+
+"That's entirely my own opinion, dear," her mother said. "Our police
+system nowadays is a mere farce. The foreigners are far ahead of us,
+even in the detection of crime. Surely the mystery of your poor
+husband's death might have been solved, if they had worked
+assiduously."
+
+"I believe that everything that could be done has been done," I
+remarked. "The case was placed in the hands of two of the smartest and
+most experienced men at Scotland Yard, with personal instructions from
+the Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department to leave
+no stone unturned in order to arrive at a successful issue."
+
+"And what has been done?" asked the young widow, in a tone of
+discontent; "why, absolutely nothing! There has, I suppose, been a
+pretence at trying to solve the mystery; but, finding it too
+difficult, they have given it up, and turned their attention to some
+other crime more open and plain-sailing. I've no faith in the police
+whatever. It's scandalous!"
+
+I smiled; then said:
+
+"My friend, Ambler Jevons--you know him, for he dined at Richmond Road
+one evening--has been most active in the affair."
+
+"But he's not a detective. How can he expect to triumph where the
+police fail?"
+
+"He often does," I declared. "His methods are different from the
+hard-and-fast rules followed by the police. He commences at whatever
+point presents itself, and laboriously works backwards with a patience
+that is absolutely extraordinary. He has unearthed a dozen crimes
+where Scotland Yard has failed."
+
+"And is he engaged upon my poor husband's case?" asked Mary, suddenly
+interested.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Well--because he is one of those for whom a mystery of crime has a
+fascinating attraction."
+
+"But he must have some motive in devoting time and patience to a
+matter which does not concern him in the least," Mrs. Mivart remarked.
+
+"Whatever is the motive, I can assure you that it is an entirely
+disinterested one," I said.
+
+"But what has he discovered? Tell me," Mary urged.
+
+"I am quite in ignorance," I said. "We are most intimate friends, but
+when engaged on such investigations he tells me nothing of their
+result until they are complete. All I know is that so active is he at
+this moment that I seldom see him. He is often tied to his office in
+the City, but has, I believe, recently been on a flying visit abroad
+for two or three days."
+
+"Abroad!" she echoed. "Where?"
+
+"I don't know. I met a mutual friend in the Strand yesterday, and he
+told me that he had returned yesterday."
+
+"Has he been abroad in connection with his inquiries, do you think?"
+Mrs. Mivart inquired.
+
+"I really don't know. Probably he has. When he takes up a case he goes
+into it with a greater thoroughness than any detective living."
+
+"Yes," Mary remarked, "I recollect, now, the stories you used to tell
+us regarding him--of his exciting adventures--of his patient tracking
+of the guilty ones, and of his marvellous ingenuity in laying traps
+to get them to betray themselves. I recollect quite well that evening
+he came to Richmond Road with you. He was a most interesting man."
+
+"Let us hope he will be more successful than the police," I said.
+
+"Yes, Doctor," she remarked, sighing for the first time. "I hope he
+will--for the mystery of it all drives me to distraction." Then
+placing both hands to her brow, she added, "Ah! if we could only
+discover the truth--the real truth!"
+
+"Have patience," I urged. "A complicated mystery such as it is cannot
+be cleared up without long and careful inquiry."
+
+"But in the months that have gone by surely the police should have at
+least made some discovery?" she said, in a voice of complaint; "yet
+they have not the slightest clue."
+
+"We can only wait," I said. "Personally, I have confidence in Jevons.
+If there is a clue to be obtained, depend upon it he will scent it
+out."
+
+I did not tell them of my misgivings, nor did I explain how Ambler,
+having found himself utterly baffled, had told me of his intention to
+relinquish further effort. The flying trip abroad might be in
+connection with the case, but I felt confident that it was not. He
+knew, as well as I did, that the truth was to be found in England.
+
+Again we spoke of Ethelwynn; and from Mary's references to her sister
+I gathered that a slight coolness had fallen between them. She did
+not, somehow, speak of her in the same terms of affection as
+formerly. It might be that she shared her mother's prejudices, and did
+not approve of her taking up her abode with the Hennikers. Be it how
+it might, there were palpable signs of strained relations.
+
+Could it be possible, I wondered, that Mary had learnt of her sister's
+secret engagement to her husband?
+
+I looked full at her as that thought flashed through my mind. Yes, she
+presented a picture of sweet and interesting widowhood. In her voice,
+as in her countenance, was just that slight touch of grief which told
+me plainly that she was a heart-broken, remorseful woman--a woman,
+like many another, who knew not the value of a tender, honest and
+indulgent husband until he had been snatched from her. Mother and
+daughter, both widows, were a truly sad and sympathetic pair.
+
+As we spoke I watched her eyes, noted her every movement attentively,
+but failed utterly to discern any suggestion of what her mother had
+remarked.
+
+Once, at mention of her dead husband, she had of a sudden exclaimed in
+a low voice, full of genuine emotion:
+
+"Ah, yes. He was so kind, so good always. I cannot believe that he
+will never come back," and she burst into tears, which her mother,
+with a word of apology to me, quietly soothed away.
+
+When we arose I accompanied them to the drawing-room; but without any
+music, and with Mary's sad, half-tragic countenance before us, the
+evening was by no means a merry one; therefore I was glad when, in
+pursuance of the country habit of retiring early, the maid brought my
+candle and showed me to my room.
+
+It was not yet ten o'clock, and feeling in no mood for sleep, I took
+from my bag the novel I had been reading on my journey and, throwing
+myself into an armchair, first gave myself up to deep reflection over
+a pipe, and afterwards commenced to read.
+
+The chiming of the church clock down in the village aroused me,
+causing me to glance at my watch. It was midnight. I rose, and going
+to the window, pulled aside the blind, and looked out upon the rural
+view lying calm and mysterious beneath the brilliant moonlight.
+
+How different was that peaceful aspect to the one to which I was,
+alas! accustomed--that long blank wall in the Marylebone Road. There
+the cab bells tinkled all night, market wagons rumbled through till
+dawn, and the moonbeams revealed drunken revellers after "closing
+time."
+
+A strong desire seized me to go forth and enjoy the splendid night.
+Such a treat of peace and solitude was seldom afforded me, stifled as
+I was by the disinfectants in hospital wards and the variety of
+perfumes and pastilles in the rooms of wealthy patients. Truly the
+life of a London doctor is the most monotonous and laborious of any of
+the learned professions, and little wonder is it that when the jaded
+medico finds himself in the country or by the sea he seldom fails to
+take his fill of fresh air.
+
+At first a difficulty presented itself in letting myself out unheard;
+but I recollected that in the new wing of the house, in which I had
+been placed, there were no other bedrooms, therefore with a little
+care I might descend undetected. So taking my hat and stick I opened
+the door, stole noiselessly down the stairs, and in a few minutes had
+made an adventurous exit by a window--fearing the grating bolts of the
+door--and was soon strolling across the grounds by the private path,
+which I knew led through the churchyard and afterwards down to the
+river-bank.
+
+With Ethelwynn I had walked across the meadows by that path on several
+occasions, and in the dead silence of the brilliant night vivid
+recollections of a warm summer's evening long past came back to
+me--sweet remembrances of days when we were childishly happy in each
+other's love.
+
+Nothing broke the quiet save the shrill cry of some night bird down by
+the river, and the low roar of the distant weir. The sky was
+cloudless, and the moon so bright that I could have read a newspaper.
+I strolled on slowly, breathing the refreshing air, and thinking
+deeply over the complications of the situation. In the final hour I
+had spent in the drawing-room I had certainly detected in the young
+widow a slight eccentricity of manner, not at all accentuated, but yet
+sufficient to show me that she had been strenuously concealing her
+grief during my presence there.
+
+Having swung myself over the stile I passed round the village
+churchyard, where the moss-grown gravestones stood grim and ghostly in
+the white light, and out across the meadows down to where the waters
+of the Nene, rippling on, were touched with silver. The river-path was
+wide, running by the winding bank away to the fen-lands and beyond. As
+I gained the river's edge and walked beneath the willows I heard now
+and then a sharp, swift rustling in the sedges as some water-rat or
+otter, disturbed by my presence, slipped away into hiding. The rural
+peace of that brilliant night attracted me, and finding a hurdle I
+seated myself upon it, and taking out my pipe enjoyed a smoke.
+
+Ever since my student days I had longed for a country life. The
+pleasures of the world of London had no attraction for me, my ideal
+being a snug country practice with Ethelwynn as my wife. But alas! my
+idol had been shattered, like that of many a better man.
+
+With this bitter reflection still in my mind, my attention was
+attracted by low voices--as though of two persons speaking earnestly
+together. Surprised at such interruption, I glanced quickly around,
+but saw no one.
+
+Again I listened, when, of a sudden, footsteps sounded, coming down
+the path I had already traversed. Beneath the deep shadow I saw the
+dark figures of two persons. They were speaking together, but in a
+tone so low that I could not catch any word uttered.
+
+Nevertheless, as they emerged from the semi-darkness the moon shone
+full upon them, revealing to me that they were a man and a woman.
+
+Next instant a cry of blank amazement escaped me, for I was utterly
+unprepared for the sight I witnessed. I could not believe my eyes; nor
+could you, my reader, had you been in my place.
+
+The woman walking there, close to me, was young Mrs. Courtenay--the
+man was none other than her dead husband!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS.
+
+
+Reader, I know that what I have narrated is astounding. It astounded
+me just as it astounded you.
+
+There are moments when one's brain becomes dulled by sudden
+bewilderment at sight of the absolutely impossible.
+
+It certainly seemed beyond credence that the man whose fatal and
+mysterious wound I had myself examined should be there, walking with
+his wife in lover-like attitude. And yet there was no question that
+the pair were there. A small bush separated us, so that they passed
+arm-in-arm within three feet of me. As I have already explained, the
+moon was so bright that I could see to read; therefore, shining full
+upon their faces, it was impossible to mistake the features of two
+persons whom I knew so well.
+
+Fortunately they had not overheard my involuntary exclamation of
+astonishment, or, if they had, both evidently believed it to be one of
+the many distorted sounds of the night. Upon Mary's face there was
+revealed a calm expression of perfect content, different indeed from
+the tearful countenance of a few hours before, while her husband,
+grey-faced and serious, just as he had been before his last illness,
+had her arm linked in his, and walked with her, whispering some low
+indistinct words which brought to her lips a smile of perfect
+felicity.
+
+Now had I been a superstitious man I should have promptly declared the
+whole thing to have been an apparition. But as I do not believe in
+borderland theories, any more than I believe that a man whose heart is
+nearly cut in twain can again breathe and live, I could only stand
+aghast, bewildered and utterly dumfounded.
+
+Hidden from them by a low thorn-bush, I stood in silent stupefaction
+as they passed by. That it was no chimera of the imagination was
+proved by the fact that their footsteps sounded upon the path, and
+just as they had passed I heard Courtenay address his wife by name.
+The transformation of her countenance from the ineffable picture of
+grief and sorrow to the calm, sweet expression of content had been
+marvellous, to say the least--an event stranger, indeed, than any I
+had ever before witnessed. In the wild writings of the old romancers
+the dead have sometimes been resuscitated, but never in this workaday
+world of ours. There is a finality in death that is decisive.
+
+Yet, as I here write these lines, I stake my professional reputation
+that the man I saw was the same whom I had seen dead in that upper
+room in Kew. I knew his gait, his cough, and his countenance too well
+to mistake his identity.
+
+That night's adventure was certainly the most startling, and at the
+same time the most curious, that ever befel a man. Thus I became
+seized with curiosity, and at risk of detection crept forth from my
+hiding-place and looked out after them. To betray my presence would be
+to bar from myself any chance of learning the secret of it all;
+therefore I was compelled to exercise the greatest caution. Mary
+mourned the loss of her husband towards the world, and yet met him in
+secret at night--wandering with him by that solitary bye-path along
+which no villager ever passed after dark, and lovers avoided because
+of the popular tradition that a certain unfortunate Lady of the Manor
+of a century ago "walked" there. In the fact of the mourning so well
+feigned I detected the concealment of some remarkable secret.
+
+The situation was, without doubt, an extraordinary one. The man upon
+whose body I had made a post-mortem examination was alive and well,
+walking with his wife, although for months before his assassination he
+had been a bed-ridden invalid. Such a thing was startling, incredible!
+Little wonder was it that at first I could scarce believe my own eyes.
+Only when I looked full into his face and recognised his features,
+with all their senile peculiarities, did the amazing truth become
+impressed upon me.
+
+Around the bend in the river I stole stealthily after them, in order
+to watch their movements, trying to catch their conversation,
+although, unfortunately, it was in too low an undertone. He never
+released her arm or changed his affectionate attitude towards her, but
+appeared to be relating to her some long and interesting chain of
+events to which she listened with rapt attention.
+
+Along the river's edge, out in the open moonlight, it was difficult to
+follow them without risk of observation. Now and then the elder-bushes
+and drooping willows afforded cover beneath their deep shadow, but in
+places where the river wound through the open water-meadows my
+presence might at any moment be detected. Therefore the utmost
+ingenuity and caution were necessary.
+
+Having made the staggering discovery, I was determined to thoroughly
+probe the mystery. The tragedy of old Mr. Courtenay's death had
+resolved itself into a romance of the most mysterious and startling
+character. As I crept forward over the grass, mostly on tiptoe, so as
+to avoid the sound of my footfalls, I tried to form some theory to
+account for the bewildering circumstance, but could discern absolutely
+none.
+
+Mary was still wearing her mourning; but about her head was wrapped a
+white silk shawl, and on her shoulders a small fur cape, for the
+spring night was chilly. Her husband had on a dark overcoat and soft
+felt hat of the type he always wore, and carried in his hand a light
+walking-stick. Once or twice he halted when he seemed to be impressing
+his words the more forcibly upon her, and then I was compelled to stop
+also and to conceal myself. I would have given much to overhear the
+trend of their conversation, but strive how I would I was unable. They
+seemed to fear eavesdroppers, and only spoke in low half-whispers.
+
+I noticed how old Mr. Courtenay kept from time to time glancing around
+him, as though in fear of detection; hence I was in constant dread
+lest he should look behind him and discover me slinking along their
+path. I am by no means an adept at following persons, but in this case
+the stake was so great--the revelation of some startling and
+unparalleled mystery--that I strained every nerve and every muscle to
+conceal my presence while pushing forward after them.
+
+Picture to yourself for a moment my position. The whole of my future
+happiness, and consequently my prosperity in life, was at stake at
+that instant. To clear up the mystery successfully might be to clear
+my love of the awful stigma upon her. To watch and to listen was the
+only way; but the difficulties in the dead silence of the night were
+well-nigh insurmountable, for I dare not approach sufficiently near to
+catch a single word. I had crept on after them for about a mile, until
+we were approaching the tumbling waters of the weir. The dull roar
+swallowed up the sound of their voices, but it assisted me, for I had
+no further need to tread noiselessly.
+
+On nearing the lock-keeper's cottage, a little white-washed house
+wherein the inmates were sleeping soundly, they made a wide detour
+around the meadow, in order to avoid the chance of being seen. Mary
+was well known to the old lock-keeper who had controlled those great
+sluices for thirty years or more, and she knew that at night he was
+often compelled to be on duty, and might at that very moment be
+sitting on the bench outside his house, smoking his short clay.
+
+I, however, had no such fear. Stepping lightly upon the grass beside
+the path I went past the house and continued onward by the riverside,
+passing at once into the deep shadow of the willows, which
+effectually concealed me.
+
+The pair were walking at the same slow, deliberate pace beneath the
+high hedge on the further side of the meadow, evidently intending to
+rejoin the river-path some distance further up. This gave me an
+opportunity to get on in front of them, and I seized it without delay;
+for I was anxious to obtain another view of the face of the man whom I
+had for months believed to be in his grave.
+
+Keeping in the shadow of the trees and bushes that overhung the
+stream, I sped onward for ten minutes or more until I came to the
+boundary of the great pasture, passing through the swing gate by which
+I felt confident that they must also pass. I turned to look before
+leaving the meadow, and could just distinguish their figures. They had
+turned at right angles, and, as I had expected, were walking in my
+direction.
+
+Forward I went again, and after some hurried search discovered a spot
+close to the path where concealment behind a great old tree seemed
+possible; so at that coign of vantage I waited breathlessly for their
+approach. The roaring of the waters behind would, I feared, prevent
+any of their words from reaching me; nevertheless, I waited anxiously.
+
+A great barn owl flapped lazily past, hooting weirdly as it went; then
+all nature became still again, save the dull sound of the tumbling
+flood. Ambler Jevons, had he been with me, would, no doubt, have acted
+differently. But it must be remembered that I was the merest tyro in
+the unravelling of a mystery, whereas, with him, it was a kind of
+natural occupation. And yet would he believe me when I told him that I
+had actually seen the dead man walking there with his wife?
+
+I was compelled to admit within myself that such a statement from the
+lips of any man would be received with incredulity. Indeed, had such a
+thing been related to me, I should have put the narrator down as
+either a liar or a lunatic.
+
+At last they came. I remained motionless, standing in the shadow, not
+daring to breathe. My eyes were fixed upon him, my ears strained to
+catch every sound.
+
+He said something to her. What it was I could not gather. Then he
+pushed open the creaking gate to allow her to pass. Across the moon's
+face had drifted a white, fleecy cloud; therefore the light was not so
+brilliant as half an hour before. Still, I could see his features
+almost as plainly as I see this paper upon which I am penning my
+strange adventure, and could recognise every lineament and peculiarity
+of his countenance.
+
+Having passed through the gate, he took her ungloved hand with an air
+of old-fashioned gallantry and raised it to his lips. She laughed
+merrily in rapturous content, and then slowly, very slowly, they
+strolled along the path that ran within a few feet of where I stood.
+
+My heart leapt with excitement. Their voices sounded above the rushing
+of the waters, and they were lingering as though unwilling to walk
+further.
+
+"Ethelwynn has told me," he was saying. "I can't make out the reason
+of his coldness towards her. Poor girl! she seems utterly
+heart-broken."
+
+"He suspects," his wife replied.
+
+"But what ground has he for suspicion?"
+
+I stood there transfixed. They were talking of myself!
+
+They had halted quite close to where I was, and in that low roar had
+raised their voices so that I could distinguish every word.
+
+"Well," remarked his wife, "the whole affair was mysterious, that you
+must admit. With his friend, a man named Jevons, he has been
+endeavouring to solve the problem."
+
+"A curse on Ambler Jevons!" he blurted forth in anger, as though he
+were well acquainted with my friend.
+
+"If between them they managed to get at the truth it would be very
+awkward," she said.
+
+"No fear of that," he laughed in full confidence. "A man once dead and
+buried, with a coroner's verdict upon him, is not easily believed to
+be alive and well. No, my dear; rest assured that these men will never
+get at our secret--never."
+
+I smiled within myself. How little did he dream that the man of whom
+he had been speaking was actually overhearing his words!
+
+"But Ethelwynn, in order to regain her place in the doctor's heart,
+may betray us," his wife remarked dubiously.
+
+"She dare not," was the reply. "From her we have nothing whatever to
+fear. As long as you keep up the appearance of deep mourning, are
+discreet in all your actions, and exercise proper caution on the
+occasions when we meet, our secret must remain hidden from all."
+
+"But I am doubtful of Ethelwynn. A woman as fondly in love with a man,
+as she is with Ralph, is apt to throw discretion to the winds," the
+woman observed. "Recollect that the breach between them is on our
+account, and that a word from her could expose the whole thing, and at
+the same time bring back to her the man for whose lost love she is
+pining. It is because of that I am in constant fear."
+
+"Your apprehensions are entirely groundless," he declared in a
+decisive voice. "She's the only other person in the secret besides
+ourselves; but to betray us would be fatal to her."
+
+"She may consider that she has made sufficient self-sacrifice?"
+
+"Then all the greater reason why she should remain silent. She has her
+reputation to lose by divulging."
+
+By his argument she appeared only half-convinced, for I saw upon her
+brow a heavy, thoughtful expression, similar to that I had noticed
+when sitting opposite her at dinner. The reason of her constant
+preoccupation was that she feared that her sister might give me the
+clue to her secret.
+
+That a remarkable conspiracy had been in progress was now made quite
+plain; and, further, one very valuable fact I had ascertained was that
+Ethelwynn was the only other person who knew the truth, and yet dared
+not reveal it.
+
+This man who stood before me was old Mr. Courtenay, without a doubt.
+That being so, who could have been the unfortunate man who had been
+struck to the heart so mysteriously?
+
+So strange and complicated were all the circumstances, and so cleverly
+had the chief actors in the drama arranged its details, that Courtenay
+himself was convinced that for others to learn the truth was utterly
+impossible. Yet it was more than remarkable that he sought not to
+disguise his personal appearance if he wished to remain dead to the
+world. Perhaps, however, being unknown in that rural district--for he
+once had told me that he had never visited his wife's home since his
+marriage--he considered himself perfectly safe from recognition.
+Besides, from their conversation I gathered that they only met on rare
+occasions, and certainly Mary kept up the fiction of mourning with the
+greatest assiduity.
+
+I recollected what old Mrs. Mivart had told me of her daughter's
+erratic movements; of her short mysterious absences with her
+dressing-bag and without a maid. It was evident that she made flying
+visits in various directions in order to meet her "dead" husband.
+
+Courtenay spoke again, after a brief silence, saying:
+
+"I had no idea that the doctor was down here, or I should have kept
+away. To be seen by him would expose the whole affair."
+
+"I was quite ignorant of his visit until I went in to dinner and found
+him already seated at table," she answered. "But he will leave
+to-morrow. He said to-night that to remain away from his patients for
+a single day was very difficult."
+
+"Is he down here in pursuance of his inquiries, do you think?"
+suggested her husband.
+
+"He may be. Mother evidently knew of his impending arrival, but told
+me nothing. I was annoyed, for he was the very last person I wished to
+meet."
+
+"Well, he'll go in the morning, so we have nothing to fear. He's safe
+enough in bed, and sleeping soundly--confound him!"
+
+The temptation was great to respond aloud to the compliment; but I
+refrained, laughing within myself at the valuable information I was
+obtaining.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+WORDS OF THE DEAD.
+
+
+Justice is always vigilant--it stops not to weigh causes or motives,
+but overtakes the criminal, no matter whether his deeds be the
+suggestion of malice or the consequence of provoked revenge. I was all
+eagerness to face the pair in the full light and demand an
+explanation, yet I hesitated, fearing lest precipitation might prevent
+me gaining knowledge of the truth.
+
+That they had no inclination to walk further was evident, for they
+still stood there in conversation, facing each other and speaking
+earnestly. I listened attentively to every word, my heart thumping so
+loudly that I wondered they did not hear its excited pulsations.
+
+"You've seen nothing of Sir Bernard?" she was saying.
+
+"Sir Bernard!" he echoed. "Why, of course not. To him I am dead and
+buried, just as I am to the rest of the world. My executors have
+proved my will at Somerset House, and very soon you will receive its
+benefits. To meet the old doctor would be to reveal the whole thing."
+
+"It is all so strange," she said with a low sigh, "that sometimes,
+when I am alone, I can't believe it to be true. We have deceived the
+world so completely."
+
+"Of course. That was my intention."
+
+"But could it not have been done without the sacrifice of that man's
+life?" she queried. "Remember! The crime of murder was committed."
+
+"You are only dreaming!" he replied, in a hard voice. "A mystery was
+necessary for our success."
+
+"And it is a mystery which has entirely baffled the police in every
+particular."
+
+"As I intended it should. I laid my plans with care, so that there
+should be no hitch or point by which Scotland Yard could obtain a
+clue."
+
+"But our future life?" she murmured. "When may I return again to you?
+At present I am compelled to feign mourning, and present a perfect
+picture of interesting widowhood; but--but I hate this playing at
+death."
+
+"Have patience, dear," he urged in a sympathetic tone. "For the moment
+we must remain entirely apart, holding no communication with each
+other save in secret, on the first and fifteenth day of every month as
+we arranged. As soon as I find myself in a position of safety we will
+disappear together, and you will leave the world wondering at the
+second mystery following upon the first."
+
+"In how long a time do you anticipate?" she asked, looking earnestly
+into his eyes.
+
+"A few months at most," was his answer. "If it were possible you
+should return to me at once; but you know how strange and romantic is
+my life, compelled to disguise my personality, and for ever moving
+from place to place, like the Wandering Jew. To return to me at
+present is quite impossible. Besides--you are in the hands of the
+executors; and before long must be in evidence in order to receive my
+money."
+
+"Money is useless to me without happiness," she declared, in a voice
+of complaint. "My position at present is one of constant dread."
+
+"Whom and what do you fear?"
+
+"I believe that Dr. Boyd has some vague suspicion of the truth," she
+responded, after a pause.
+
+"What?" he cried, in quick surprise. "Tell me why. Explain it all to
+me."
+
+"There is nothing to explain--save that to-night he seemed to regard
+my movements with suspicion."
+
+"Ah! my dear, your fears are utterly groundless," he laughed. "What
+can the fellow possibly know? He is assured that I am dead, for he
+signed my certificate and followed me to my grave at Woking. A man who
+attends his friend's funeral has no suspicion that the dead is still
+living, depend upon it. If there is any object in this world that is
+convincing it is a corpse."
+
+"I merely tell you the result of my observations," she said. "In my
+opinion he has come here to learn what he can."
+
+"He can learn nothing," answered the "dead" man. "If it were his
+confounded friend Jevons, now, we might have some apprehension; for
+the ingenuity of that man is, I've heard, absolutely astounding. Even
+Scotland Yard seeks his aid in the solving of the more difficult
+criminal problems."
+
+"I tell you plainly that I fear Ethelwynn may expose us," his wife
+went on slowly, a distinctly anxious look upon her countenance. "As
+you know, there is a coolness between us, and rather than risk losing
+the doctor altogether she may make a clean breast of the affair."
+
+"No, no, my dear. Rest assured that she will never betray us,"
+answered Courtenay, with a light reassuring laugh. "True, you are not
+very friendly, yet you must recollect that she and I are friends. Her
+interests are identical with our own; therefore to expose us would be
+to expose herself at the same time."
+
+"A woman sometimes acts without forethought."
+
+"Quite true; but Ethelwynn is not one of those. She's careful to
+preserve her own position in the eyes of her lover, knowing quite well
+that to tell the truth would be to expose her own baseness. A man may
+overlook many offences in the woman he loves, but this particular one
+of which she is guilty a man never forgives."
+
+His words went deep into my heart. Was not this further proof that the
+crime--for undoubtedly a crime had been accomplished in that house at
+Kew--had been committed by the hand of the woman I so fondly loved?
+All was so amazing, so utterly bewildering, that I stood there
+concealed by the tree, motionless as though turned to stone.
+
+There was a motive wanting in it all. Yet I ask you who read this
+narrative of mine if, like myself, you would not have been staggered
+into dumbness at seeing and hearing a man whom you had certified to be
+dead, moving and speaking, and, moreover, in his usual health?
+
+"He loves her!" his wife exclaimed, speaking of me. "He would forgive
+her anything. My own opinion is that if we would be absolutely secure
+it is for us to heal the breach between them."
+
+He remained thoughtful for a few moments, apparently in doubt as to
+the wisdom of acting upon her suggestion. Surely in the situation was
+an element of humour, for, happily, I was being forearmed.
+
+"It might possibly be good policy," he remarked at last. "If we could
+only bring them together again he would cease his constant striving to
+solve the enigma. We know well that he can never do that; nevertheless
+his constant efforts are as annoying as they are dangerous."
+
+"That's just my opinion. There is danger to us in his constant
+inquiries, which are much more ingenious and careful than we imagine."
+
+"Well, my child," he said, "you've stuck to me in this in a manner
+that few women would have dared. If you really think it necessary to
+bring Boyd and Ethelwynn together again you must do it entirely alone,
+for I could not possibly appear on the scene. He must never meet me,
+or the whole thing would be revealed."
+
+"For your sake I am prepared to make the attempt," she said. "The fact
+of being Ethelwynn's sister gives me freedom to speak my mind to him."
+
+"And to tell him some pretty little fiction about her?" he added,
+laughing.
+
+"Yes. It will certainly be necessary to put an entirely innocent face
+on recent events in order to smooth matters over," she admitted,
+joining in his laughter.
+
+"Rather a difficult task to make the affair at Kew appear innocent,"
+he observed. "But you're really a wonderful woman, Mary. The way
+you've acted your part in this affair is simply marvellous. You've
+deceived everyone--even that old potterer, Sir Bernard himself."
+
+"I've done it for your sake," was her response. "I made a promise, and
+I've kept it. Up to the present we are safe, but we cannot take too
+many precautions. We have enemies and scandal-seekers on every side."
+
+"I admit that," he replied, rather impatiently, I thought. "If you
+think it a wise course you had better lose no time in placing
+Ethelwynn's innocence before her lover. You will see him in the
+morning, I suppose?"
+
+"Probably not. He leaves by the eight o'clock train," she said. "When
+my plans are matured I will call upon him in London."
+
+"And if any woman can deceive him, you can, Mary," he laughed. "In
+those widow's weeds of yours you could deceive the very devil
+himself!"
+
+Mrs. Courtenay's airy talk of deception threw an entirely fresh light
+upon her character. Hitherto I had held her in considerable esteem as
+a woman who, being bored to death by the eccentricities of her invalid
+husband, had sought distraction with her friends in town, but
+nevertheless honest and devoted to the man she had wedded. But these
+words of hers caused doubt to arise within my mind. That she had been
+devoted to her husband's interest was proved by the clever imposture
+she was practising; indeed it seemed to me very much as if those
+frequent visits to town had been at the "dead" man's suggestion and
+with his entire consent. But the more I reflected upon the
+extraordinary details of the tragedy and its astounding dénouement,
+the more hopeless and maddening became the problem.
+
+"I shall probably go to town to-morrow," she exclaimed, after smiling
+at his declaration. "Where are you in hiding just now?"
+
+"In Birmingham. A large town is safer than a village. I return by the
+six o'clock train, and go again into close concealment."
+
+"But you know people in Birmingham, don't you? We stayed there once
+with some people called Tremlett, I recollect."
+
+"Ah, yes," he laughed. "But I am careful to avoid them. The district
+in which I live is far removed from them. Besides, I never by any
+chance go out by day. I'm essentially a nocturnal roamer."
+
+"And when shall we meet again?"
+
+"By appointment, in the usual way."
+
+"At the usual place?" she asked.
+
+"There can be no better, I think. It does not take you from home, and
+I am quite unknown down here."
+
+"If any of the villagers ever discovered us they might talk, and
+declare that I met a secret lover," she laughed.
+
+"If you are ever recognised, which I don't anticipate is probable, we
+can at once change our place of meeting. At present there is no
+necessity for changing it."
+
+"Then, in the meantime, I will exercise my woman's diplomacy to effect
+peace between Ethelwynn and the doctor," she said. "It is the only way
+by which we can obtain security."
+
+"For the life of me I can't discern the reason of his coolness towards
+her," remarked my "dead" patient.
+
+"He suspects her."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Suspects the truth. She has told me so."
+
+Old Henry Courtenay grunted in dissatisfaction.
+
+"Hasn't she tried to convince him to the contrary?" he asked. "I was
+always under the impression that she could twist him round her
+finger--so hopelessly was he in love with her."
+
+"So she could before this unfortunate affair."
+
+"And now that he suspects the truth he's disinclined to have any more
+to do with her--eh? Well," he added, "after all, it's only natural.
+She's not so devilish clever as you, Mary, otherwise she would never
+have allowed herself to fall beneath suspicion. She must have somehow
+blundered."
+
+"To-morrow I shall go to town," she said in a reflective voice. "No
+time should be lost in effecting the reconciliation between them."
+
+"You are right," he declared. "You should commence at once. Call and
+talk with him. He believes so entirely in you. But promise me one
+thing; that you will not go to Ethelwynn," he urged.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it is quite unnecessary," he answered. "You are not good
+friends; therefore your influence upon the doctor should be a hidden
+one. She will believe that he has returned to her of his own free
+will; hence our position will be rendered the stronger. Act
+diplomatically. If she believes that you are interesting yourself in
+her affairs it may anger her."
+
+"Then you suggest that I should call upon the doctor in secret, and
+try and influence him in her favour without her being aware of it?"
+
+"Exactly. After the reconciliation is effected you may tell her. At
+present, however, it is not wise to show our hand. By your visit to
+the doctor you may be able to obtain from him how much he knows, and
+what are his suspicions. One thing is certain, that with all his
+shrewdness he doesn't dream the truth."
+
+"Who would?" she asked with a smile. "If the story were told, nobody
+would believe it."
+
+"That's just it! The incredibility of the whole affair is what places
+us in such a position of security; for as long as I lie low and you
+continue to act the part of the interesting widow, nobody can possibly
+get at the truth."
+
+"I think I've acted my part well, up to the present," she said, "and I
+hope to continue to do so. To influence the doctor will be a difficult
+task, I fear. But I'll do my utmost, because I see that by the
+reconciliation Ethelwynn's lips would be sealed."
+
+"Act with discretion, my dear," urged the old man. "But remember that
+Boyd is not a man to be trifled with--and as for that accursed friend
+of his, Ambler Jevons, he seems second cousin to the very King of
+Darkness himself."
+
+"Never fear," she laughed confidently. "Leave it to me--leave all to
+me."
+
+And then, agreeing that it was time they went back, they turned,
+retraced their steps, and passing through the small gate into the
+meadow, were soon afterwards lost to sight.
+
+Truly my night's adventure had been as strange and startling as any
+that has happened to living man, for what I had seen and heard opened
+up a hundred theories, each more remarkable and tragic than the other,
+until I stood utterly dumfounded and aghast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS.
+
+
+On coming down to breakfast on the following morning I found Mrs.
+Mivart awaiting me alone. The old lady apologised for Mary's
+non-appearance, saying that it was her habit to have her tea in her
+room, but that she sent me a message of farewell.
+
+Had it been at all possible I would have left by a later train, for I
+was extremely anxious to watch her demeanour after last night's
+clandestine meeting, but with such a crowd of patients awaiting me it
+was imperative to leave by the first train. Even that would not bring
+me to King's Cross before nearly eleven o'clock.
+
+"Well now, doctor," Mrs. Mivart commenced rather anxiously when we
+were seated, and she had handed me my coffee. "You saw Mary last
+night, and had an opportunity of speaking with her. What is your
+opinion? Don't hesitate to tell me frankly, for I consider that it is
+my duty to face the worst."
+
+"Really!" I exclaimed, looking straight at her after a moment's
+reflection. "To speak candidly I failed to detect anything radically
+wrong in your daughter's demeanour."
+
+"But didn't you notice, doctor, how extremely nervous she is; how in
+her eyes there is a haunting, suspicious look, and how blank is her
+mind upon every other subject but the great calamity that has
+befallen her?"
+
+"I must really confess that these things were not apparent to me," I
+answered. "I watched her carefully, but beyond the facts that she is
+greatly unnerved by the sad affair and that she is mourning deeply for
+her dead husband, I can discover nothing abnormal."
+
+"You are not of opinion, then, that her mind is growing unbalanced by
+the strain?"
+
+"Not in the least," I reassured her. "The symptoms she betrays are but
+natural in a woman of her nervous, highly-strung temperament."
+
+"But she unfortunately grieves too much," remarked the old lady with a
+sigh. "His name is upon her lips at every hour. I've tried to distract
+her and urged her to accompany me abroad for a time, but all to no
+purpose. She won't hear of it."
+
+I alone knew the reason of her refusal. In conspiracy with her "dead"
+husband it was impossible to be apart from him for long together. The
+undue accentuation of her daughter's feigned grief had alarmed the old
+lady--and justly so. Now that I recollected, her conduct at table on
+the previous night was remarkable, having regard to the true facts of
+the case. I confess I had myself been entirely deceived into believing
+that her sorrow at Henry Courtenay's death was unbounded. In every
+detail her acting was perfect, and bound to attract sympathy among her
+friends and arouse interest among strangers. I longed to explain to
+the quiet, charming old lady what I had seen during my midnight
+ramble; but such a course was, as yet, impossible. Indeed, if I made a
+plain statement, such as I have given in the foregoing pages, surely
+no one would believe me. But every man has his romance, and this was
+mine.
+
+Unable to reveal Mary's secret, I was compelled reluctantly to take
+leave of her mother, who accompanied me out to where the dog-cart was
+in waiting.
+
+"I scarcely know, doctor, how to thank you sufficiently," the dear old
+lady said as I took her hand. "What you have told me reassures me. Of
+late I have been extremely anxious, as you may imagine."
+
+"You need feel no anxiety," I declared. "She's nervous and run
+down--that's all. Take her away for a change, if possible. But if she
+refuses, don't force her. Quiet is the chief medicine in her case.
+Good-bye."
+
+She pressed my hand again in grateful acknowledgment, and then I
+mounted into the conveyance and was driven to the station.
+
+On the journey back to town I pondered long and deeply. Of a verity my
+short visit to Mrs. Mivart had been fraught with good results, and I
+was contemplating seeking Ambler Jevons at the earliest possible
+moment and relating to him my astounding discovery. The fact that old
+Courtenay was still living was absolutely beyond my comprehension. To
+endeavour to form any theory, or to try and account for the
+bewildering phenomenon, was utterly useless. I had seen him, and had
+overheard his words. I could surely believe my eyes and ears. And
+there it ended. The why and wherefore I put aside for the present,
+remembering Mary's promise to him to come to town and have an
+interview with me.
+
+Surely that meeting ought to be most interesting. I awaited it with
+the most intense anxiety, and yet in fear lest I might be led by her
+clever imposture to blurt out what I knew. I felt myself on the eve of
+a startling revelation; and my expectations were realized to the full,
+as the further portion of this strange romance will show.
+
+I know that many narratives have been written detailing the remarkable
+and almost inconceivable machinations of those who have stained their
+hands with crime, but I honestly believe that the extraordinary
+features of my own life-romance are as strange as, if not stranger
+than, any hitherto recorded. Even my worst enemy could not dub me
+egotistical, I think; and surely the facts I have set down here are
+plain and unvarnished, without any attempt at misleading the reader
+into believing that which is untrue. Mine is a plain chronicle of a
+chain of extraordinary circumstances which led to an amazing
+dénouement.
+
+From King's Cross to Guy's is a considerable distance, and when I
+alighted from the cab in the courtyard of the hospital it was nearly
+mid-day. Until two o'clock I was kept busy in the wards, and after a
+sandwich and a glass of sherry I drove to Harley Street, where I found
+Sir Bernard in his consulting-room for the first time for a month.
+
+"Ah! Boyd," he cried merrily, when I entered. "Thought I'd surprise
+you to-day. I felt quite well this morning, so resolved to come up and
+see Lady Twickenham and one or two others. I'm not at home to
+patients, and have left them to you."
+
+"Delighted to see you better," I declared, wringing his hand. "They
+were asking after you at the hospital to-day. Vernon said he intended
+going down to see you to-morrow."
+
+"Kind of him," the old man laughed, placing his thin hands together,
+after rubbing and readjusting his glasses. "You were away last night;
+out of town, they said."
+
+"Yes, I wanted a breath of fresh air," I answered, laughing. I did not
+care to tell him where I had been, knowing that he held my love for
+Ethelwynn as the possible ruin of my career.
+
+His curiosity seemed aroused; but, although he put to me an ingenious
+question, I steadfastly refused to satisfy him. I recollected too well
+his open condemnation of my love on previous occasions. Now that the
+"murdered" man was proved to be still alive, I surely had no further
+grounds for my suspicion of Ethelwynn. That she had, by her silence,
+deceived me regarding her engagement to Mr. Courtenay was plain, but
+the theory that it was her hand that had assassinated him was
+certainly disproved. Thus, although the discovery of the "dead" man's
+continued existence deepened the mystery a thousandfold, it
+nevertheless dispelled from my heart a good deal of the suspicion
+regarding my well-beloved; and, in consequence, I was not desirous
+that any further hostile word should be uttered against her.
+
+While Sir Bernard went out to visit her ladyship and two or three
+other nervous women living in the same neighbourhood, I seated myself
+in his chair and saw the afternoon callers one after another. I fear
+that the advice I gave during those couple of hours was not very
+notable for its shrewdness or brilliancy. As in other professions, so
+in medicine, when one's brain is overflowing with private affairs, one
+cannot attend properly to patients. On such occasions one is apt to
+ask the usual questions mechanically, hear the replies and scribble a
+prescription of some harmless formula. On the afternoon in question I
+certainly believe myself guilty of such lapse of professional
+attention. Yet even we doctors are human, although our patients
+frequently forget that fact. The medico is a long-suffering person,
+even in these days of scarcity of properly-qualified men--the first
+person called on emergency, and the very last to be paid!
+
+It was past five o'clock before I was able to return to my rooms, and
+on arrival I found upon my table a note from Jevons. It was dated from
+the Yorick Club, a small but exceedingly comfortable Bohemian centre
+in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and had evidently been written
+hurriedly on the previous night:--
+
+     _"I hear you are absent in the country. That is unfortunate.
+     But as soon as you receive this, lose no time in calling at
+     the Hennikers' and making casual inquiries regarding Miss
+     Mivart. Something has happened, but what it is I have failed
+     to discover. You stand a better chance. Go at once. I must
+     leave for Bath to-night. Address me at the Royal Hotel, G.
+     W. Station._
+
+                    "AMBLER JEVONS."
+
+What could have transpired? And why had my friend's movements been so
+exceedingly erratic of late, if he had not been following some clue?
+Would that clue lead him to the truth, I wondered? Or was he still
+suspicious of Ethelwynn's guilt?
+
+Puzzled by this vague note, and wondering what had occurred, and
+whether the trip to Bath was in connection with it, I made a hasty
+toilet and drove in a hansom to the Hennikers'.
+
+Mrs. Henniker met me in the drawing-room, just as gushing and charming
+as ever. She was one of those many women in London who seek to hang on
+to the skirts of polite society by reason of a distant connexion being
+a countess--a fact of which she never failed to remind the stranger
+before half-an-hour's acquaintance. She found it always a pleasant
+manner in which to open a conversation at dinner, dance, or soirée:
+"Oh! do you happen to know my cousin, Lady Nassington?" She never
+sufficiently realised it as bad form, and therefore in her own circle
+was known among the women, who jeered at her behind her back, as "The
+Cousin of Lady Nassington." She was daintily dressed, and evidently
+just come in from visiting, for she still had her hat on when she
+entered.
+
+"Ah!" she cried, with her usual buoyant air. "You truant! We've all
+been wondering what had become of you. Busy, of course! Always the
+same excuse! Find something fresh. You used it a fortnight ago to
+refuse my invitation to take pot-luck with us."
+
+I laughed at her unconventional greeting, replying, "If I say
+something fresh it must be a lie. You know, Mrs. Henniker, how hard
+I'm kept at it, with hospital work and private practice."
+
+"That's all very well," she said, with a slight pout of her
+well-shaped mouth--for she was really a pretty woman, even though full
+of airs and caprices. "But it doesn't excuse you for keeping away from
+us altogether."
+
+"I don't keep away altogether," I protested. "I've called now."
+
+She pulled a wry face, in order to emphasise her dissatisfaction at my
+explanation, and said:
+
+"And I suppose you are prepared to receive castigation? Ethelwynn has
+begun to complain because people are saying that your engagement is
+broken off."
+
+"Who says so?" I inquired rather angrily, for I hated all the
+tittle-tattle of that little circle of gossips who dawdle over the
+tea-cups of Redcliffe Square and its neighbourhood. I had attended a
+good many of them professionally at various times, and was well
+acquainted with all their ways and all their exaggerations. The
+gossiping circle in flat-land about Earl's Court was bad enough, but
+the Redcliffe Square set, being slightly higher in the social scale,
+was infinitely worse.
+
+"Oh! all the ill-natured people are commenting upon your apparent
+coolness. Once, not long ago, you used to be seen everywhere with
+Ethelwynn, and now no one ever sees you. People form a natural
+conclusion, of course," said the fair-haired, fussy little woman,
+whose married state gave her the right to censure me on my neglect.
+
+"Ethelwynn is, of course, still with you?" I asked, in anger that
+outsiders should seek to interfere in my private affairs.
+
+"She still makes our house her home, not caring to go back to the
+dulness of Neneford," was her reply. "But at present she's away
+visiting one of her old schoolfellows--a girl who married a country
+banker and lives near Hereford."
+
+"Then she's in the country?"
+
+"Yes, she went three days ago. I thought she had written to you. She
+told me she intended doing so."
+
+I had received no letter from her. Indeed, our recent correspondence
+had been of a very infrequent and formal character. With a woman's
+quick perception she had noted my coldness and had sought to show
+equal callousness. With the knowledge of Courtenay's continued
+existence now in my mind, I was beside myself with grief and anger at
+having doubted her. But how could I act at that moment, save in
+obedience to my friend Jevons' instructions? He had urged me to go and
+find out some details regarding her recent life with the Hennikers;
+and with that object I remarked:
+
+"She hasn't been very well of late, I fear. The change of air should
+do her good."
+
+"That's true, poor girl. She's seemed very unwell, and I've often
+told her that only one doctor in the world could cure her
+malady--yourself."
+
+I smiled. The malady was, I knew too well, the grief of a disappointed
+love, and a perfect cure for that could only be accomplished by
+reconciliation. I was filled with regret that she was absent, for I
+longed there and then to take her to my breast and whisper into her
+ear my heart's outpourings. Yes; we men are very foolish in our
+impetuosity.
+
+"How long will she be away?"
+
+"Why?" inquired the smartly-dressed little woman, mischievously. "What
+can it matter to you?"
+
+"I have her welfare at heart, Mrs. Henniker," I answered seriously.
+
+"Then you have a curious way of showing your solicitude on her
+behalf," she said bluntly, smiling again. "Poor Ethelwynn has been
+pining day after day for a word from you; but you seldom, if ever,
+write, and when you do the coldness of your letters adds to her burden
+of grief. I knew always when she had received one by the traces of
+secret tears upon her cheeks. Forgive me for saying so, Doctor, but
+you men, either in order to test the strength of a woman's affection,
+or perhaps out of mere caprice, often try her patience until the
+strained thread snaps, and she who was a good and pure woman becomes
+reckless of everything--her name, her family pride, and even her own
+honour."
+
+Her words aroused my curiosity.
+
+"And you believe that Ethelwynn's patience is exhausted?" I asked,
+anxiously.
+
+Her eyes met mine, and I saw a mysterious expression in them. There is
+always something strange in the eyes of a pretty woman who is hiding a
+secret.
+
+"Well, Doctor," she answered, in a voice quite calm and deliberate,
+"you've already shown yourself so openly as being disinclined to
+further associate yourself publicly with poor Ethelwynn, because of
+the tragedy that befell the household, that you surely cannot complain
+if you find your place usurped by a new and more devoted lover."
+
+"What!" I cried, starting up, fiercely. "What is this you tell me?
+Ethelwynn has a lover?"
+
+"I have nothing whatever to do with her affairs, Doctor," said the
+tantalising woman, who affected all the foibles of the smarter set.
+"Now that you have forsaken her she is, of course, entirely mistress
+of her own actions."
+
+"But I haven't forsaken her!" I blurted forth.
+
+She only smiled superciliously, with the same mysterious look--an
+expression that I cannot define, but by which I knew that she had told
+me the crushing truth. Ethelwynn, believing that I had cast her aside,
+had allowed herself to be loved by another!
+
+Who was the man who had usurped my place? I deserved it all, without a
+doubt. You, reader, have already in your heart condemned me as being
+hard and indifferent towards the woman I once loved so truly and so
+well. But, in extenuation, I would ask you to recollect how grave were
+the suspicions against her--how every fact seemed to prove
+conclusively that her sister's husband had died by her hand.
+
+I saw plainly in Mrs. Henniker's veiled words a statement of the
+truth; and, after obtaining from her Ethelwynn's address near
+Hereford, bade her farewell and blindly left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+MY NEW PATIENT.
+
+
+In the feverish restlessness of the London night, with its rumbling
+market-wagons and the constant tinkling of cab-bells, so different to
+the calm, moonlit stillness of the previous night in rural England, I
+wrote a long explanatory letter to my love.
+
+I admitted that I had wronged her by my apparent coldness and
+indifference, but sought to excuse myself on the ground of the
+pressure of work upon me. She knew well that I was not a rich man, and
+in that slavery to which I was now tied I had an object--the object I
+had placed before her in the dawning days of our affection--namely,
+the snug country practice with an old-fashioned comfortable house in
+one of the quiet villages or smaller towns in the Midlands. In those
+days she had been just as enthusiastic about it as I had been. She
+hated town life, I knew; and even if the wife of a country doctor is
+allowed few diversions, she can always form a select little
+tea-and-tennis circle of friends.
+
+The fashion nowadays is for girls of middle-class to regard the
+prospect of becoming a country doctor's wife with considerable
+hesitation--"too slow," they term it; and declare that to live in the
+country and drive in a governess-cart is synonymous with being buried.
+Many girls marry just as servants change their places--in order "to
+better themselves;" and alas! that parents encourage this latter-day
+craze for artificiality and glitter of town life that so often
+fascinates and spoils a bride ere the honeymoon is over. The majority
+of girls to-day are not content to marry the hard-working professional
+man whose lot is cast in the country, but prefer to marry a man in
+town, so that they may take part in the pleasures of theatres, variety
+and otherwise, suppers at restaurants, and the thousand and one
+attractions provided for the reveller in London. They have obtained
+their knowledge of "life" from the society papers, and they see no
+reason why they should not taste of those pleasures enjoyed by their
+wealthier sisters, whose goings and comings are so carefully
+chronicled. The majority of girls have a desire to shine beyond their
+own sphere; and the attempt, alas! is accountable for very many of the
+unhappy marriages. This may sound prosy, I know, but the reader will
+forgive when he reflects upon the cases in point which arise to his
+memory--cases of personal friends, perhaps even of relations, to whom
+marriage was a failure owing to this uncontrollable desire on the part
+of the woman to assume a position to which neither birth nor wealth
+entitled her.
+
+To the general rule, however, my love was an exception. Times without
+number had she declared her anxiety to settle in the country; for,
+being country born and bred, she was an excellent horsewoman, and in
+every essential a thorough English girl of the Grass Country, fond of
+a run with either fox or otter hounds; therefore, in suburban life at
+Kew, she had been entirely out of her element.
+
+In that letter I wrote, composing it slowly and carefully--for like
+most medical men I am a bad hand at literary composition--I sought her
+forgiveness, and asked for an immediate interview. The wisdom of being
+so precipitous never occurred to me. I only know that in those night
+hours over my pipe I resolved to forget once and for all that letter I
+had discovered among the "dead" man's effects, and determined that,
+while I sought reconciliation with Ethelwynn, I would keep an open and
+watchful eye upon Mary and her fellow conspirator.
+
+The suggestion that Ethelwynn, believing herself forsaken, had
+accepted the declarations of a man she considered more worthy than
+myself, lashed me to a frenzy of madness. He should never have her,
+whoever he might be. She had been mine, and should remain so, come
+what might. I added a postscript, asking her to wire me permission to
+travel down to Hereford to see her; then, sealing up the letter, I
+went out along the Marylebone Road and posted it in the pillar-box,
+which I knew was cleared at five o'clock in the morning.
+
+It was then about three o'clock, calm, but rather overcast. The
+Marylebone Road had at last become hushed in silence. Wagons and cabs
+had both ceased, and save for a solitary policeman here and there the
+long thoroughfare, so full of traffic by day, was utterly deserted. I
+retraced my steps slowly towards the corner of Harley Street, and was
+about to open the door of the house wherein I had "diggings" when I
+heard a light, hurried footstep behind me, and turning, confronted the
+figure of a slim woman of middle height wearing a golf cape, the hood
+of which had been thrown over her head in lieu of a hat.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," she cried, in a breathless voice, "but are you
+Doctor Boyd?"
+
+I replied that such was my name.
+
+"Oh, I'm in such distress," she said, in the tone of one whose heart
+is full of anguish. "My poor father!"
+
+"Is your father ill?" I inquired, turning from the door and looking
+full at her. I was standing on the step, and she was on the pavement,
+having evidently approached from the opposite direction. She stood
+with her back to the street lamp, so I could discern nothing of her
+features. Only her voice told me that she was young.
+
+"Oh, he's very ill," she replied anxiously. "He was taken queer at
+eleven o'clock, but he wouldn't hear of me coming to you. He's one of
+those men who don't like doctors."
+
+"Ah!" I remarked; "there are many of his sort about. But they are
+compelled to seek our aid now and then. Well, what can I do for you? I
+suppose you want me to see him--eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if you'd be so kind. I know its awfully late; but, as
+you've been out, perhaps you wouldn't mind running round to our house.
+It's quite close, and I'll take you there." She spoke with the
+peculiar drawl and dropped her "h's" in the manner of the true
+London-bred girl.
+
+"I'll come if you'll wait a minute," I said, and then, leaving her
+outside, I entered the house and obtained my thermometer and
+stethoscope.
+
+When I rejoined her and closed the door I made some inquiries about
+the sufferer's symptoms, but the description she gave me was so
+utterly vague and contradictory that I could make nothing out of it.
+Her muddled idea of his illness I put down to her fear and anxiety for
+his welfare.
+
+She had no mother, she told me; and her father had, of late, given way
+just a little to drink. He "used" the Haycock, in Edgware Road; and
+she feared that he had fallen among a hard-drinking set. He was a
+pianoforte-maker, and had been employed at Brinsmead's for eighteen
+years. Since her mother died, six years ago, however, he had never
+been the same.
+
+"It was then that he took to drink?" I hazarded.
+
+"Yes," she responded. "He was devoted to her. They never had a wry
+word."
+
+"What has he been complaining of? Pains in the head--or what?"
+
+"Oh, he's seemed thoroughly out of sorts," she answered after some
+slight hesitation, which struck me as peculiar. She was greatly
+agitated regarding his illness, yet she could not describe one single
+symptom clearly. The only direct statement she made was that her
+father had certainly not been drinking on the previous night, for he
+had remained indoors ever since he came home from the works, as
+usual, at seven o'clock.
+
+As she led me along the Marylebone Road, in the same direction as
+that I had just traversed--which somewhat astonished me--I glanced
+surreptitiously at her, just at the moment when we were approaching
+a street lamp, and saw to my surprise that she was a sad-faced girl
+whose features were familiar. I recognised her in a moment as the girl
+who had been my fellow passenger from Brighton on that Sunday night.
+Her hair, however, was dishevelled, as though she had turned out from
+her bed in too great alarm to think of tidying it. I was rather
+surprised, but did not claim acquaintance with her. She led me
+past Madame Tussaud's, around Baker Street Station, and then into
+the maze of those small cross-streets that lie between Upper Baker
+Street and Lisson Grove until she stopped before a small, rather
+respectable-looking house, half-way along a short side-street,
+entering with a latch-key.
+
+In the narrow hall it was quite dark, but she struck a match and lit
+a cheap paraffin lamp which stood there in readiness, then led me
+upstairs to a small sitting-room on the first floor, a dingy, stuffy
+little place of a character which showed me that she and her father
+lived in lodgings. Having set the lamp on the table, and saying that
+she would go and acquaint the invalid with my arrival, she went out,
+closing the door quietly after her. The room was evidently the home of
+a studious, if poor, man, for in a small deal bookcase I noticed,
+well-kept and well-arranged, a number of standard works on science
+and theology, as well as various volumes which told me mutely that
+their owner was a student, while upon the table lay a couple of
+critical reviews, the "Saturday" and "Spectator."
+
+I took up the latter and glanced it over in order to pass the time,
+for my conductress seemed to be in consultation with her father. My
+eye caught an article that interested me, and I read it through,
+forgetting for a moment all about my call there. Fully ten minutes
+elapsed, when of a sudden I heard the voice of a man speaking somewhat
+indistinctly in a room above that in which I was sitting. He seemed to
+be talking low and gruffly, so that I was unable to distinguish what
+was said. At last, however, the girl returned, and, asking me to
+follow her, conducted me to a bedroom on the next floor.
+
+The only illumination was a single night-light burning in a saucer,
+casting a faint, uncertain glimmer over everything, and shaded with an
+open book so that the occupant of the bed lay in deepest shadow.
+Unlike what one would have expected to find in such a house, an iron
+bedstead with brass rail, the bed was a great old-fashioned one with
+heavy wool damask hangings; and advancing towards it, while the girl
+retired and closed the door after her, I bent down to see the invalid.
+
+In the shadow I could just distinguish on the pillow a dark-bearded
+face whose appearance was certainly not prepossessing.
+
+"You are not well?" I said, inquiringly, as our eyes met in the dim
+half-light. "Your daughter is distressed about you."
+
+"Yes, I'm a bit queer," he growled. "But she needn't have bothered
+you."
+
+"Let me remove the shade from the light, so that I can see your face,"
+I suggested. "It's too dark to see anything."
+
+"No," he snapped; "I can't bear the light. You can see quite enough of
+me here."
+
+"Very well," I said, reluctantly, and taking his wrist in one hand I
+held my watch in the other.
+
+"I fancy you'll find me a bit feverish," he said in a curious tone,
+almost as though he were joking, and by his manner I at once put him
+down as one of those eccentric persons who are sceptical of any
+achievements of medical science.
+
+I was holding his wrist and bending towards the light, in order to
+distinguish the hands of my watch, when a strange thing happened.
+
+There was a deafening explosion close behind me, which caused me to
+jump back startled. I dropped the man's hand and turned quickly in the
+direction of the sound; but, as I did so, a second shot from a
+revolver held by an unknown person was discharged full in my face.
+
+The truth was instantly plain. I had been entrapped for my watch and
+jewellery--like many another medical man in London has been before me;
+doctors being always an easy prey for thieves. The ruffian shamming
+illness sprang from his bed fully dressed, and at the same moment two
+other blackguards, who had been hidden in the room, flung themselves
+upon me ere I could realize my deadly peril.
+
+The whole thing had been carefully planned, and it was apparent that
+the gang were quite fearless of neighbours overhearing the shots. The
+place bore a bad reputation, I knew; but I had never suspected that a
+man might be fired at from behind in that cowardly way.
+
+So sudden and startling were the circumstances that I stood for a
+moment motionless, unable to fully comprehend their intention. There
+was but one explanation. These men intended to kill me!
+
+Without a second's hesitation they rushed upon me, and I realized with
+heart-sinking that to attempt to resist would be utterly futile. I was
+entirely helpless in their hands!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+WOMAN'S WILES.
+
+
+"Look sharp!" cried the black-bearded ruffian who had feigned illness.
+"Give him a settler, 'Arry. He wants his nerves calmin' a bit!"
+
+The fellow had seized my wrists, and I saw that one of the men who had
+sprung from his place of concealment was pouring some liquid from a
+bottle upon a sponge. I caught a whiff of its odour--an odour too
+familiar to me--the sickly smell of chloroform.
+
+Fortunately I am pretty athletic, and with a sudden wrench I freed my
+wrists from the fellow's grip, and, hitting him one from the shoulder
+right between the eyes, sent him spinning back against the chest of
+drawers. To act swiftly was my only chance. If once they succeeded in
+pressing that sponge to my nostrils and holding it there, then all
+would be over; for by their appearance I saw they were dangerous
+criminals, and not men to stick at trifles. They would murder me.
+
+As I sent down the man who had shammed illness, his two companions
+dashed towards me with imprecations upon their lips; but with
+lightning speed I sprang towards the door and placed my back against
+it. So long as I could face them I intended to fight for life. Their
+desire was, I knew, to attack me from behind, as they had already
+done. I had surely had a narrow escape from their bullets, for they
+had fired at close range.
+
+At Guy's many stories have been told of similar cases where doctors,
+known to wear valuable watches, diamond rings or scarf pins, have been
+called at night by daring thieves and robbed; therefore I always, as
+precaution, placed my revolver in my pocket when I received a night
+call to a case with which I was not acquainted.
+
+I had not disregarded my usual habit when I had placed my thermometer
+and stethoscope in my pocket previous to accompanying the girl;
+therefore it reposed there fully loaded, a fact of which my assailants
+were unaware.
+
+In much quicker time than it takes to narrate the incident I was again
+pounced upon by all three, the man with the sponge in readiness to
+dash it to my mouth and nostrils.
+
+But as they sprang forward to seize me, I raised my hand swiftly, took
+aim, and fired straight at the holder of the sponge, the bullet
+passing through his shoulder and causing him to drop the anæsthetic as
+though it were a live coal, and to spring several feet from the
+ground.
+
+"God! I'm shot!" he cried.
+
+But ere the words had left his mouth I fired a second chamber,
+inflicting a nasty wound in the neck of the fellow with the black
+beard.
+
+"Shoot! shoot!" he cried to the third man, but it was evident that in
+the first struggle, when I had been seized, the man's revolver had
+dropped on the carpet, and in the semi-darkness he could not recover
+it.
+
+Recognising this, I fired a pot shot in the man's direction; then,
+opening the door, sprang down the stairs into the hall. One of them
+followed, but the other two, wounded as they were, did not care to
+face my weapon again. They saw that I knew how to shoot, and probably
+feared that I might inflict a fatal hurt.
+
+As I approached the front door, and was fumbling with the lock, the
+third man flung himself upon me, determined that I should not escape.
+With great good fortune, however, I managed to unbolt the door, and
+after a desperate struggle, in which he endeavoured to wrest the
+weapon from my hand, I succeeded at last in gripping him by the
+throat, and after nearly strangling him flung him to the ground and
+escaped into the street, just as his associates, hearing his cries of
+distress, dashed downstairs to his assistance.
+
+Without doubt it was the narrowest escape of my life that I have ever
+had, and so excited was I that I dashed down the street hatless until
+I emerged into Lisson Grove. Then, and only then, it occurred to me
+that, having taken no note of the house, I should be unable to
+recognise it and denounce it to the police. But when one is in peril
+of one's life all other thoughts or instincts are submerged in the one
+frantic effort of self-preservation. Still, it was annoying to think
+that such scoundrels should be allowed to go scot free.
+
+Breathless, excited, and with nerves unstrung, I opened my door with
+my latch-key and returned to my room, where the reading-lamp had
+burned low, for it had been alight all through the night. I mixed
+myself a stiff brandy and soda, tossed it off, and then turned to look
+at myself in the glass.
+
+The picture I presented was disreputable and unkempt. My hair was
+ruffled, my collar torn open from its stud, and one sleeve of my coat
+had been torn out, so that the lining showed through. I had a nasty
+scratch across the neck, too, inflicted by the fingernails of one of
+the blackguards, and from the abrasion blood had flowed and made a
+mess of my collar.
+
+Altogether I presented a very brilliant and entertaining spectacle.
+But my watch, ring and scarf-pin were in their places. If robbery had
+been their motive, as no doubt it had been, then they had profited
+nothing, and two of them had been winged into the bargain. The only
+mode by which their identity could by chance be discovered was in the
+event of those wounds being troublesome. In that case they would
+consult a medical man; but as they would, in all probability, go to
+some doctor in a distant quarter of London, the hope of tracing them
+by such means was but a slender one.
+
+Feeling a trifle faint I sat in my chair, resting for a quarter of an
+hour or so; then, becoming more composed, I put out the study lights,
+and after a refreshing wash went to bed.
+
+The morning's reflections were somewhat disconcerting. A deliberate
+and dastardly attempt had been made upon my life; but with what
+motive? The young woman, whose face was familiar, had, I recollected,
+asked most distinctly whether I was Doctor Boyd--a fact which showed
+that the trap had been prepared. I now saw the reason why she was
+unable to describe the man's sham illness, and during the morning,
+while at work in the hospital wards, my suspicions became aroused that
+there had been some deeper motive in it all than the robbery of my
+watch or scarf-pin. Human life had been taken for far less value than
+that of my jewellery, I knew; nevertheless, the deliberate shooting at
+me while I felt the patient's pulse showed a determination to
+assassinate. By good fortune, however, I had escaped, and resolved to
+exercise more care in future when answering night calls to unknown
+houses.
+
+Sir Bernard did not come to town that day; therefore I was compelled
+to spend the afternoon in the severe consulting-room at Harley Street,
+busy the whole time. Shortly before six o'clock, utterly worn out, I
+strolled round to my rooms to change my coat before going down to the
+Savage Club to dine with my friends--for it was Saturday night, and I
+seldom missed the genial house-dinner of that most Bohemian of
+institutions.
+
+Without ceremony I threw open the door of my sitting-room and entered,
+but next instant stood still, for, seated in my chair patiently
+awaiting me was the slim, well-dressed figure of Mary Courtenay. Her
+widow's weeds became her well; and as she rose with a rustle of silk,
+a bright laugh rippled from her lips, and she said:
+
+"I know I'm an unexpected visitor, Doctor, but you'll forgive my
+calling in this manner, won't you?"
+
+"Forgive you? Of course," I answered; and with politeness which I
+confess was feigned, I invited her to be seated. True to the promise
+made to her husband, she had lost no time in coming to see me, but I
+was fortunately well aware of the purport of her errand.
+
+"I had no idea you were in London," I said, by way of allowing her to
+explain the object of her visit, for, in the light of the knowledge I
+had gained on the Nene bank two nights previously, her call was of
+considerable interest.
+
+"I'm only up for a couple of days," she answered. "London has not the
+charm for me that it used to have," and she sighed heavily, as though
+her mind were crowded by bitter memories. Then raising her veil, and
+revealing her pale, handsome face, she said bluntly, "The reason of my
+call is to talk to you about Ethelwynn."
+
+"Well, what of her?" I asked, looking straight into her face and
+noticing for the first time a curious shifty look in her eyes, such as
+I had never before noticed in her. She tried to remain calm, but, by
+the nervous twitching of her fingers and lower lip, I knew that within
+her was concealed a tempest of conflicting emotions.
+
+"To speak quite frankly, Ralph," she said in a calm, serious voice, "I
+don't think you are treating her honourably, poor girl. You seem to
+have forsaken her altogether, and the neglect has broken her heart."
+
+"No, Mrs. Courtenay; you misunderstand the situation," I protested.
+"That I have neglected her slightly I admit; nevertheless the neglect
+was not wilful, but owing to my constant occupation in my practice."
+
+"She's desperate. Besides, it's common talk that you've broken off the
+engagement."
+
+"Gossip does not affect me; therefore why should she take any heed of
+it?"
+
+"Well, she loves you. That you know quite well. You surely could not
+have been deceived in those days at Kew, for her devotion to you was
+absolute and complete." She was pleading her sister's cause just as
+Courtenay had directed her. I felt annoyed that she should thus
+endeavour to impose upon me, yet saw the folly of betraying the fact
+that I knew her secret. My intention was to wait and watch.
+
+"I called at the Hennikers' a couple of days ago, but Ethelwynn is no
+longer there. She's gone into the country, it seems," I remarked.
+
+"Where to?" she asked quickly.
+
+"She's visiting someone near Hereford."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, as though a sudden light dawned upon her. "I
+know, then. Why, I wonder, did she not tell me. I intended to call on
+her this evening, but it is useless. I'm glad to know, for I don't
+care much for Mrs. Henniker. She's such a very shallow woman."
+
+"Ethelwynn seems to have wandered about a good deal since the sad
+affair at Kew," I observed.
+
+"Yes, and so have I," she responded. "As you are well aware, the blow
+was such a terrible one to me that--that somehow I feel I shall never
+get over it--never!" I saw tears, genuine tears, welling in her eyes.
+If she could betray emotion in that manner she was surely a wonderful
+actress.
+
+"Time will efface your sorrow," I said, in a voice meant to be
+sympathetic. "In a year or two your grief will not be so poignant, and
+the past will gradually fade from your memory. It is always so."
+
+She shook her head mournfully.
+
+"No," she said, "for in addition to my grief there is the mystery of
+it all--a mystery that grows each day more and more inscrutable."
+
+I glanced sharply at her in surprise. Was she trying to mislead me, or
+were her words spoken in real earnest? I could not determine.
+
+"Yes," I acquiesced. "The mystery is as complete as ever."
+
+"Has no single clue been found, either by the police or by your
+friend--Jevons is, I think, his name?" she asked, with keen anxiety.
+
+"One or two points have, I believe, been elucidated," I answered; "but
+the mystery still remains unsolved."
+
+"As it ever will be," she added, with a sigh which appeared to me to
+be one of satisfaction, rather than of regret. "The details were so
+cleverly arranged that the police have been baffled in every
+endeavour. Is not that so?"
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"And your friend Jevons? Has he given up all hope of any satisfactory
+discovery?"
+
+"I really don't know," I answered. "I've not seen him for quite a long
+time. And in any case he has told me nothing regarding the result of
+his investigations. It is his habit to be mute until he has gained
+some tangible result."
+
+A puzzled, apprehensive expression crossed her white brow for a
+moment; then it vanished into a pleasant smile, as she asked in
+confidence:
+
+"Now, tell me, Ralph, what is your own private opinion of the
+situation?"
+
+"Well, it is both complicated and puzzling. If we could discover any
+reason for the brutal deed we might get a clue to the assassin; but as
+far as the police have been able to gather, it seems that there is an
+entire absence of motive; hence the impossibility of carrying the
+inquiries further."
+
+"Then the investigation is actually dropped?" she exclaimed, unable to
+further conceal her anxiety.
+
+"I presume it is," I replied.
+
+Her chest heaved slightly, and slowly fell again. By its movement I
+knew that my answer allowed her to breathe more freely.
+
+"You also believe that your friend Jevons has been compelled, owing to
+negative results, to relinquish his efforts?" she asked.
+
+"Such is my opinion. But I have not seen him lately in order to
+consult him."
+
+In silence she listened to my answer, and was evidently reassured by
+it; yet I could not, for the life of me, understand her manner--at one
+moment nervous and apprehensive, and at the next full of an almost
+imperious self-confidence. At times the expression in her eyes was
+such as justified her mother in the fears she had expressed to me. I
+tried to diagnose her symptoms, but they were too complicated and
+contradictory.
+
+She spoke again of her sister, returning to the main point upon which
+she had sought the interview. She was a decidedly attractive woman,
+with a face rendered more interesting by her widow's garb.
+
+But why was she masquerading so cleverly? For what reason had old
+Courtenay contrived to efface his identity so thoroughly? As I looked
+at her, mourning for a man who was alive and well, I utterly failed to
+comprehend one single fact of the astounding affair. It staggered
+belief!
+
+"Let me speak candidly to you, Ralph," she said, after we had been
+discussing Ethelwynn for some little time. "As you may readily
+imagine, I have my sister's welfare very much at heart, and my only
+desire is to see her happy and comfortable, instead of pining in
+melancholy as she now is. I ask you frankly, have you quarrelled?"
+
+"No, we have not," I answered promptly.
+
+"Then if you have not, your neglect is all the more remarkable," she
+said. "Forgive me for speaking like this, but our intimate
+acquaintanceship in the past gives me a kind of prerogative to speak
+my mind. You won't be offended, will you?" she asked, with one of
+those sweet smiles of hers that I knew so well.
+
+"Offended? Certainly not, Mrs. Courtenay. We are too old friends for
+that."
+
+"Then take my advice and see Ethelwynn again," she urged. "I know how
+she adores you; I know how your coldness has crushed all the life out
+of her. She hides her secret from mother, and for that reason will not
+come down to Neneford. See her, and return to her; for it is a
+thousand pities that two lives should be wrecked so completely by some
+little misunderstanding which will probably be explained away in a
+dozen words. You may consider this appeal an extraordinary one, made
+by one sister on behalf of another, but when I tell you that I have
+not consulted Ethelwynn, nor does she know that I am here on her
+behalf, you will readily understand that I have both your interests
+equally at heart. To me it seems a grievous thing that you should be
+placed apart in this manner; that the strong love you bear each other
+should be crushed, and your future happiness be sacrificed. Tell me
+plainly," she asked in earnestness. "You love her still--don't you?"
+
+"I do," was my frank, outspoken answer, and it was the honest truth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+A MESSAGE.
+
+
+The pretty woman in her widow's weeds stirred slightly and settled her
+skirts, as though my answer had given her the greatest satisfaction.
+
+"Then take my advice, Ralph," she went on. "See her again before it is
+too late."
+
+"You refer to her fresh lover--eh?" I inquired bitterly.
+
+"Her fresh lover?" she cried in surprise. "I don't understand you. Who
+is he, pray?"
+
+"I'm in ignorance of his name."
+
+"But how do you know of his existence? I have heard nothing of him,
+and surely she would have told me. All her correspondence, all her
+poignant grief, and all her regrets have been of you."
+
+"Mrs. Henniker gave me to understand that my place in your sister's
+heart has been filled by another man," I said, in a hard voice.
+
+"Mrs. Henniker!" she cried in disgust. "Just like that evil-tongued
+mischief-maker! I've told you already that I detest her. She was my
+friend once--it was she who allured me from my husband's side. Why
+she exercises such an influence over poor Ethelwynn, I can't tell. I
+do hope she'll leave their house and come back home. You must try and
+persuade her to do so."
+
+"Do you think, then, that the woman has lied?" I asked.
+
+"I'm certain of it. Ethelwynn has never a thought for any man save
+yourself. I'll vouch for that."
+
+"But what object can she have in telling me an untruth?"
+
+The widow smiled.
+
+"A very deep one, probably. You don't know her as well as I do, or you
+would suspect all her actions of ulterior motive."
+
+"Well," I said, after a pause, "to tell the truth, I wrote to
+Ethelwynn last night with a view to reconciliation."
+
+"You did!" she cried joyously. "Then you have anticipated me, and my
+appeal to you has been forestalled by your own conscience--eh?"
+
+"Exactly," I laughed. "She has my letter by this time, and I am
+expecting a wire in reply. I have asked her to meet me at the earliest
+possible moment."
+
+"Then you have all my felicitations, Ralph," she said, in a voice that
+seemed to quiver with emotion. "She loves you--loves you with a
+fiercer and even more passionate affection than that I entertained
+towards my poor dead husband. Of your happiness I have no doubt, for I
+have seen how you idolised her, and how supreme was your mutual
+content when in each other's society. Destiny, that unknown influence
+that shapes our ends, has placed you together and forged a bond
+between you that is unbreakable--the bond of perfect love."
+
+There seemed such a genuine ring in her voice, and she spoke with such
+solicitude for our welfare, that in the conversation I entirely forgot
+that after all she was only trying to bring us together again in order
+to prevent her own secret from being exposed.
+
+At some moments she seemed the perfection of honesty and integrity,
+without the slightest affectation of interest or artificiality of
+manner, and it was this fresh complexity of her character that utterly
+baffled me. I could not determine whether, or not, she was in earnest.
+
+"If it is really destiny I suppose that to try and resist it is quite
+futile," I remarked mechanically.
+
+"Absolutely. Ethelwynn will become your wife, and you have all my good
+wishes for prosperity and happiness."
+
+I thanked her, but pointed out that the matrimonial project was, as
+yet, immature.
+
+"How foolish you are, Ralph!" she said. "You know very well that you'd
+marry her to-morrow if you could."
+
+"Ah! if I could," I repeated wistfully. "Unfortunately my position is
+not yet sufficiently well assured to justify my marrying. Wedded
+poverty is never a pleasing prospect."
+
+"But you have the world before you. I've heard Sir Bernard say so,
+times without number. He believes implicitly in you as a man who will
+rise to the head of your profession."
+
+I laughed dubiously, shaking my head.
+
+"I only hope that his anticipations may be realized," I said. "But I
+fear I'm no more brilliant than a hundred other men in the hospitals.
+It takes a smart man nowadays to boom himself into notoriety. As in
+literature and law, so in the medical profession, it isn't the clever
+man who rises to the top of the tree. More often it is a second-rate
+man, who has private influence, and has gauged the exact worth of
+self-advertisement. This is an age of reputations quickly made, and
+just as rapidly lost. In the professional world a new man rises with
+every moon."
+
+"But that need not be so in your case," she pointed out. "With Sir
+Bernard as your chief, you are surely in an assured position."
+
+Taking her into my confidence, I told her of my ideal of a snug
+country practice--one of those in which the assistant does the
+night-work and attends to the club people, while there is a circle of
+county people as patients. There are hundreds of such practices in
+England, where a doctor, although scarcely known outside his own
+district, is in a position which Harley Street, with all its turmoil
+of fashionable fads and fancies, envies as the elysium of what life
+should be. The village doctor of Little Perkington may be an ignorant
+old buffer; but his life, with its three days' hunting a week, its
+constant invitations to shoot over the best preserves, and its free
+fishing whenever in the humour, is a thousand times preferable to the
+silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician.
+
+I had long ago talked it all over with Ethelwynn, and she entirely
+agreed with me. I had not the slightest desire to have a
+consulting-room of my own in Harley Street. All I longed for was a
+life in open air and rural tranquillity; a life far from the tinkle of
+the cab-bell and the milkman's strident cry; a life of ease and bliss,
+with my well-beloved ever at my side. The unfortunate man compelled to
+live in London is deprived of half of God's generous gifts.
+
+"Though this unaccountable coldness has fallen between you," Mary
+said, looking straight at me, "you surely cannot have doubted the
+strength of her affection?"
+
+"But Mrs. Henniker's insinuation puzzles me. Besides, her recent
+movements have been rather erratic, and almost seem to bear out the
+suggestion."
+
+"That woman is utterly unscrupulous!" she cried angrily. "Depend upon
+it that she has some deep motive in making that slanderous statement.
+On one occasion she almost caused a breach between myself and my poor
+husband. Had he not possessed the most perfect confidence in me, the
+consequences might have been most serious for both of us. The outcome
+of a mere word, uttered half in jest, it came near ruining my
+happiness for ever. I did not know her true character in those days."
+
+"I had no idea that she was a dangerous woman," I remarked, rather
+surprised at this statement. Hitherto I had regarded her as quite a
+harmless person, who, by making a strenuous effort to obtain a footing
+in good society, often rendered herself ridiculous in the eyes of her
+friends.
+
+"Her character!" she echoed fiercely. "She's one of the most
+evil-tongued women in London. Here is an illustration. While posing as
+Ethelwynn's friend, and entertaining her beneath her roof, she
+actually insinuates to you the probability of a secret lover! Is it
+fair? Is it the action of an honest, trustworthy woman?"
+
+I was compelled to admit that it was not. Yet, was this action of her
+own, in coming to me in those circumstances, in any way more
+straightforward? Had she known that I was well aware of the secret
+existence of her husband, she would assuredly never have dared to
+speak in the manner she had. Indeed, as I sat there facing her, I
+could scarcely believe it possible that she could act the imposture so
+perfectly. Her manner was flawless; her self-possession marvellous.
+
+But the motive of it all--what could it be? The problem had been a
+maddening one from first to last.
+
+I longed to speak out my mind then and there; to tell her of what I
+knew, and of what I had witnessed with my own eyes. Yet such a course
+was useless. I was proceeding carefully, watching and noting
+everything, determined not to blunder.
+
+Had you been in my place, my reader, what would you have done?
+Recollect, I had witnessed a scene on the river-bank that was
+absolutely without explanation, and which surpassed all human
+credence. I am a matter-of-fact man, not given to exaggerate or to
+recount incidents that have not occurred, but I confess openly and
+freely that since I had walked along that path I hourly debated within
+myself whether I was actually awake and in the full possession of my
+faculties, or whether I had dreamt the whole thing.
+
+Yet it was no dream. Certain solid facts convinced me of its stern,
+astounding reality. The man upon whose body I had helped to make an
+autopsy was actually alive.
+
+In reply to my questions my visitor told me that she was staying at
+Martin's, in Cork Street--a small private hotel which the Mivarts had
+patronised for many years--and that on the following morning she
+intended returning again to Neneford.
+
+Then, after she had again urged me to lose no time in seeing
+Ethelwynn, and had imposed upon me silence as to what had passed
+between us, I assisted her into a hansom, and she drove away, waving
+her hand in farewell.
+
+The interview had been a curious one, and I could not in the least
+understand its import. Regarded in the light of the knowledge I had
+gained when down at Neneford, it was, of course, plain that both she
+and her "dead" husband were anxious to secure Ethelwynn's silence, and
+believed they could effect this by inducing us to marry. The
+conspiracy was deeply-laid and ingenious, as indeed was the whole of
+the amazing plot. Yet, some how, when I reflected upon it on my return
+from the club, I could not help sitting till far into the night trying
+to solve the remarkable enigma.
+
+A telegram from Ethelwynn had reached me at the Savage at nine
+o'clock, stating that she had received my letter, and was returning to
+town the day after to-morrow. She had, she said, replied to me by that
+night's post.
+
+I felt anxious to see her, to question her, and to try, if possible,
+to gather from her some fact which would lead me to discern a motive
+in the feigned death of Henry Courtenay. But I could only wait in
+patience for the explanation. Mary's declaration that her sister
+possessed no other lover besides myself reassured me. I had not
+believed it of her from the first; yet it was passing strange that
+such an insinuation should have fallen from the lips of a woman who
+now posed as her dearest friend.
+
+Next day, Sir Bernard came to town to see two unusual cases at the
+hospital, and afterwards drove me back with him to Harley Street,
+where he had an appointment with a German Princess, who had come to
+London to consult him as a specialist. As usual, he made his lunch off
+two ham sandwiches, which he had brought with him from Victoria
+Station refreshment-room and carried in a paper bag. I suggested that
+we should eat together at a restaurant; but the old man declined,
+declaring that if he ate more than his usual sandwiches for luncheon
+when in town he never had any appetite for dinner.
+
+So I left him alone in his consulting-room, munching bread and ham,
+and sipping his wineglassful of dry sherry.
+
+About half-past three, just before he returned to Brighton, I saw him
+again as usual to hear any instructions he wished to give, for
+sometimes he saw patients once, and then left them in my hands. He
+seemed wearied, and was sitting resting his brow upon his thin bony
+hands. During the day he certainly had been fully occupied, and I had
+noticed that of late he was unable to resist the strain as he once
+could.
+
+"Aren't you well?" I asked, when seated before him.
+
+"Oh, yes," he answered, with a sigh. "There's not much the matter with
+me. I'm tired, I suppose, that's all. The eternal chatter of those
+confounded women bores me to death. They can't tell their symptoms
+without going into all the details of family history and domestic
+infelicity," he snapped. "They think me doctor, lawyer, and parson
+rolled into one."
+
+I laughed at his criticism. What he said was, indeed, quite true.
+Women often grew confidential towards me, at my age; therefore I could
+quite realize how they laid bare all their troubles to him.
+
+"Oh, by the way!" he said, as though suddenly recollecting. "Have you
+met your friend Ambler Jevons lately?"
+
+"No," I replied. "He's been away for some weeks, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I saw him yesterday in King's Road. He was driving in a fly,
+and had one eye bandaged up. Met with an accident, I should think."
+
+"An accident!" I exclaimed in consternation. "He wrote to me the other
+day, but did not mention it."
+
+"He's been trying his hand at unravelling the mystery of poor
+Courtenay's death, hasn't he?" the old man asked.
+
+"I believe so?"
+
+"And failed--eh?"
+
+"I don't think his efforts have been crowned with very much success,
+although he has told me nothing," I said.
+
+In response the old man grunted in dissatisfaction. I knew how
+disgusted he had been at the bungling and utter failure of the police
+inquiries, for he was always declaring Scotland Yard seemed to be
+useless, save for the recovery of articles left in cabs.
+
+He glanced at his watch, snatched up his silk hat, buttoned his coat,
+and, wishing me good-bye, went out to catch the Pullman train.
+
+Next day about two o'clock I was in one of the wards at Guy's, seeing
+the last of my patients, when a telegram was handed to me by one of
+the nurses.
+
+I tore it open eagerly, expecting that it was from Ethelwynn,
+announcing the hour of her arrival at Paddington.
+
+But the message upon which my eyes fell was so astounding, so
+appalling, and so tragic that my heart stood still.
+
+The few words upon the flimsy paper increased the mystery to an even
+more bewildering degree than before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE MYSTERY OF MARY.
+
+
+The astounding message, despatched from Neneford and signed by
+Parkinson, the butler, ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Regret to inform you that Mrs. Courtenay was found drowned
+     in the river this morning. Can you come here? My mistress
+     very anxious to see you."_
+
+Without a moment's delay I sent a reply in the affirmative, and, after
+searching in the "A.B.C.," found that I had a train at three o'clock
+from King's Cross. This I took, and after an anxious journey arrived
+duly at the Manor, all the blinds of which were closely drawn.
+
+Parkinson, white-faced and agitated, a thin, nervous figure in a coat
+too large for him, had been watching my approach up the drive, and
+held open the door for me.
+
+"Ah, Doctor!" the old fellow gasped. "It's terrible--terrible! To
+think that poor Miss Mary should die like that!"
+
+"Tell me all about it," I demanded, quickly. "Come!" and I led the way
+into the morning room.
+
+"We don't know anything about it, sir; it's all a mystery," the
+grey-faced old man replied. "When one of the housemaids went up to
+Miss Mary's room at eight o'clock this morning to take her tea, as
+usual, she received no answer to her knock. Thinking she was asleep
+she returned half-an-hour later, only to find her absent, and that the
+bed had not been slept in. We told the mistress, never thinking that
+such an awful fate had befallen poor Miss Mary. Mistress was inclined
+to believe that she had gone off on some wild excursion somewhere, for
+of late she's been in the habit of going away for a day or two without
+telling us. At first none of us dreamed that anything had happened,
+until, just before twelve o'clock, Reuben Dixon's lad, who'd been out
+fishing, came up, shouting that poor Miss Mary was in the water under
+some bushes close to the stile that leads into Monk's Wood. At first
+we couldn't believe it; but, with the others, I flew down post-haste,
+and there she was, poor thing, under the surface, with her dress
+caught in the bushes that droop into the water. Her hat was gone, and
+her hair, unbound, floated out, waving with the current. We at once
+got a boat and took her out, but she was quite dead. Four men from the
+village carried her up here, and they've placed her in her own room."
+
+"The police know about it, of course?"
+
+"Yes, we told old Jarvis, the constable. He's sent a telegram to
+Oundle, I think."
+
+"And what doctor has seen her?"
+
+"Doctor Govitt. He's here now."
+
+"Ah! I must see him. He has examined the body, I suppose?"
+
+"I expect so, sir. He's been a long time in the room."
+
+"And how is it believed that the poor young lady got into the water?"
+I asked, anxious to obtain the local theory.
+
+"It's believed that she either fell in or was pushed in a long way
+higher up, because half-a-mile away, not far from the lock, there's
+distinct marks in the long grass, showing that somebody went off the
+path to the brink of the river. And close by that spot they found her
+black silk shawl."
+
+"She went out without a hat, then?" I remarked, recollecting that when
+she had met her husband in secret she had worn a shawl. Could it be
+possible that she had met him again, and that he had made away with
+her? The theory seemed a sound one in the present circumstances.
+
+"It seems to me, sir, that the very fact of her taking her shawl
+showed that she did not intend to be out very long," the butler said.
+
+"It would almost appear that she went out in the night in order to
+meet somebody," I observed.
+
+The old man shook his head sorrowfully, saying:
+
+"Poor Miss Mary's never been the same since her husband died, Doctor.
+She was often very strange in her manner. Between ourselves, I
+strongly suspect it to be a case of deliberate suicide. She was
+utterly broken down by the awful blow."
+
+"I don't see any motive for suicide," I remarked. Then I asked, "Has
+she ever been known to meet anyone on the river-bank at night?"
+
+Old Parkinson was usually an impenetrable person. He fidgeted, and I
+saw that my question was an awkward one for him to answer without
+telling a lie.
+
+"The truth will have to be discovered about this, you know," I went
+on. "Therefore, if you have any knowledge likely to assist us at the
+inquest it is your duty to explain."
+
+"Well, sir," he answered, after a short pause, "to tell the truth, in
+this last week there have been some funny rumours in the village."
+
+"About what?"
+
+"People say that she was watched by Drake, Lord Nassington's
+gamekeeper, who saw her at two o'clock in the morning walking
+arm-in-arm with an old gentleman. I heard the rumour down at the
+Golden Ball, but I wouldn't believe it. Why, Mr. Courtenay's only been
+dead a month or two. The man Drake is a bragging fellow, and I think
+most people discredit his statement."
+
+"Well," I said, "it might possibly have been true. It seems hardly
+conceivable that she should go wandering alone by the river at night.
+She surely had some motive in going there. Was she only seen by the
+gamekeeper on one occasion?"
+
+"Only once. But, of course, he soon spread it about the village, and
+it formed a nice little tit-bit of gossip. As soon as I heard it I
+took steps to deny it."
+
+"It never reached the young lady's ears?"
+
+"Oh, no," the old servant answered. "We were careful to keep the
+scandal to ourselves, knowing how it would pain her. She's had
+sufficient trouble in her life, poor thing." And with tears in his
+grey old eyes, he added: "I have known her ever since she was a child
+in her cradle. It's awful that her end should come like this."
+
+He was a most trustworthy and devoted servant, having spent nearly
+thirty years of his life in the service of the family, until he had
+become almost part of it. His voice quivered with emotion when he
+spoke of the dead daughter of the house, but he knew that towards me
+it was not a servant's privilege to entirely express the grief he
+felt.
+
+I put other questions regarding the dead woman's recent actions, and
+he was compelled to admit that they had, of late, been quite
+unaccountable. Her absences were frequent, and she appeared to
+sometimes make long and mysterious journeys in various directions,
+while her days at home were usually spent in the solitude of her own
+room. Some friends of the family, he said, attributed it to grief at
+the great blow she had sustained, while others suspected that her mind
+had become slightly unhinged. I recollected, myself, how strange had
+been her manner when she had visited me, and inwardly confessed to
+being utterly mystified.
+
+Doctor Govitt I found to be a stout middle-aged man, of the usual type
+of old-fashioned practitioner of a cathedral town, whose methods and
+ideas were equally old-fashioned. Before I entered the room where the
+unfortunate woman was lying, he explained to me that life had
+evidently been extinct about seven hours prior to the discovery of the
+body.
+
+"There are no marks of foul play?" I inquired anxiously.
+
+"None, as far as I've been able to find--only a scratch on the left
+cheek, evidently inflicted after death."
+
+"What's your opinion?"
+
+"Suicide. Without a doubt. The hour at which she fell into the water
+is shown by her watch. It stopped at 2.28."
+
+"You have no suspicion of foul play?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+I did not reply; but by the compression of my lips I presume he saw
+that I was dubious.
+
+"Ah! I see you are suspicious," he said. "Of course, in tragic
+circumstances like these the natural conclusion is to doubt. The poor
+young lady's husband was mysteriously done to death, and I honestly
+believe that her mind gave way beneath the strain of grief. I've
+attended her professionally two or three times of late, and noted
+certain abnormal features in her case that aroused my suspicions that
+her brain had become unbalanced. I never, however, suspected her of
+suicidal tendency."
+
+"Her mother, Mrs. Mivart, did," I responded. "She told me so only a
+few days ago."
+
+"I know, I know," he answered. "Of course, her mother had more
+frequent and intimate opportunities for watching her than we had. In
+any case it is a very dreadful thing for the family."
+
+"Very!" I said.
+
+"And the mystery surrounding the death of Mr. Courtenay--was it never
+cleared up? Did the police never discover any clue to the assassin?"
+
+"No. Not a single fact regarding it, beyond those related at the
+inquest, has ever been brought to light."
+
+"Extraordinary--very extraordinary!"
+
+I went with him into the darkened bedroom wherein lay the body, white
+and composed, her hair dishevelled about her shoulders, and her white
+waxen hands crossed about her breast. The expression upon her
+countenance--that face that looked so charming beneath its veil of
+widowhood as she had sat in my room at Harley Place--was calm and
+restful, for indeed, in the graceful curl of the lips, there was a
+kind of half-smile, as though, poor thing, she had at last found
+perfect peace.
+
+Govitt drew up the blind, allowing the golden sunset to stream into
+the room, thereby giving me sufficient light to make my examination.
+The latter occupied some little time, my object being to discover any
+marks of violence. In persons drowned by force, and especially in
+women, the doctor expects to find red or livid marks upon the wrists,
+arms or neck, where the assailant had seized the victim. Of course,
+these are not always discernible, for it is easier to entice the
+unfortunate one to the water's edge and give a gentle push than
+grapple in violence and hurl a person into the stream by main force.
+The push leaves no trace; therefore, the verdict in hundreds of cases
+of wilful murder has been "Suicide," or an open one, because the
+necessary evidence of foul play has been wanting.
+
+Here was a case in point. The scratch on the face that Govitt had
+described was undoubtedly a post-mortem injury, and, with the
+exception of another slight scratch on the ball of the left thumb, I
+could find no trace whatever of violence. And yet, to me, the most
+likely theory was that she had again met her husband in secret, and
+had lost her life at his hands. To attribute a motive was utterly
+impossible. I merely argued logically within myself that it could not
+possibly be a case of suicide, for without a doubt she had met
+clandestinely the eccentric old man whom the world believed to be
+dead.
+
+But if he were alive, who was the man who had died at Kew?
+
+The facts within my knowledge were important and startling; yet if I
+related them to any second person I felt that my words would be
+scouted as improbable, and my allegations would certainly not be
+accepted. Therefore I still kept my own counsel, longing to meet
+Jevons and hear the result of his further inquiries.
+
+Mrs. Mivart I found seated in her own room, tearful and utterly
+crushed. Poor Mary's end had come upon her as an overwhelming burden
+of grief, and I stood beside her full of heartfelt sympathy. A strong
+bond of affection had always existed between us; but, as I took her
+inert hand and uttered words of comfort, she only shook her head
+sorrowfully and burst into a torrent of tears. Truly the Manor was a
+dismal house of mourning.
+
+To Ethelwynn I sent a telegram addressed to the Hennikers, in order
+that she should receive it the instant she arrived in town. Briefly I
+explained the tragedy, and asked her to come down to the Manor at
+once, feeling assured that Mrs. Mivart, in the hour of her distress,
+desired her daughter at her side. Then I accompanied the local
+constable, and the three police officers who had come over from
+Oundle, down to the riverside.
+
+The brilliant afterglow tinged the broad, brimming river with a
+crimson light, and the trees beside the water already threw heavy
+shadows, for the day was dying, and the glamour of the fading sunset
+and the dead stillness of departing day had fallen upon everything.
+Escorted by a small crowd of curious villagers, we walked along the
+footpath over the familiar ground that I had traversed when following
+the pair. Eagerly we searched everywhere for traces of a struggle, but
+the only spot where the long grass was trodden down was at a point a
+little beyond the ferry. Yet as far as I could see there was no actual
+sign of any struggle. It was merely as though the grass had been
+flattened by the trailing of a woman's skirt across it. Examination
+showed, too, imprints of Louis XV. heels in the soft clay bank. One
+print was perfect, but the other, close to the edge, gave evidence
+that the foot had slipped, thus establishing the spot as that where
+the unfortunate young lady had fallen into the water. When examining
+the body I had noticed that she was wearing Louis XV. shoes, and also
+that there was still mud upon the heels. She had always been rather
+proud of her feet, and surely there is nothing which sets off the
+shape of a woman's foot better than the neat little shoe, with its
+high instep and heel.
+
+We searched on until twilight darkened into night, traversing that
+path every detail of which had impressed itself so indelibly upon my
+brain. We passed the stile near which I had stood hidden in the bushes
+and overheard that remarkable conversation between the "dead" man and
+his wife. All the memories of that never-to-be-forgotten night
+returned to me. Alas! that I had not questioned Mary when she had
+called upon me on the previous day.
+
+She had died, and her secret was lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+ETHELWYNN IS SILENT.
+
+
+At midnight I was seated in the drawing-room of the Manor. Before me,
+dressed in plain black which made her beautiful face look even paler
+than it was, sat my love, bowed, despondent, silent. The household,
+although still astir, was hushed by the presence of the dead; the long
+old room itself, usually so bright and pleasant, seemed full of dark
+shadows, for the lamp, beneath its yellow shade, burned but dimly, and
+everywhere there reigned an air of mourning.
+
+Half-demented by grief, my love had arrived in hot haste about ten
+o'clock, and, rushing to poor Mary's room, had thrown herself upon her
+knees beside the poor inanimate clay; for, even though of late
+differences might have existed between them, the sisters were
+certainly devoted to each other. The scene in that room was an unhappy
+one, for although Ethelwynn betrayed nothing by her lips, I saw by her
+manner that she was full of remorse over the might-have-beens, and
+that she was bitterly reproaching herself for some fact of which I had
+no knowledge.
+
+Of the past we had not spoken. She had been too full of grief, too
+utterly overcome by the tragedy of the situation. Her mournful figure
+struck a sympathetic chord in my heart. Perhaps I had misjudged her;
+perhaps I had attributed to her sinister motives that were
+non-existent. Alas! wherever mystery exists, little charity enters
+man's heart. Jealousy dries up the milk of human kindness.
+
+"Dearest," I said, rising and taking her slim white hand that lay idly
+in her lap, "in this hour of your distress you have at least one
+person who would console and comfort you--one man who loves you."
+
+She raised her eyes to mine quickly, with a strange, eager look. Her
+glance was as though she did not fully realize the purport of my
+words. I knew myself to be a sad blunderer in the art of love, and
+wondered if my words were too blunt and abrupt.
+
+"Ah!" she sighed. "If only I believed that those words came direct
+from your heart, Ralph!"
+
+"They do," I assured her. "You received my letter at Hereford--you
+read what I wrote to you?"
+
+"Yes," she answered. "I read it. But how can I believe in you further,
+after your unaccountable treatment? You forsook me without giving any
+reason. You can't deny that."
+
+"I don't seek to deny it," I said. "On the contrary, I accept all the
+blame that may attach to me. I only ask your forgiveness," and bending
+to her in deep earnestness, I pressed the small hand that was within
+my grasp.
+
+"But if you loved me, as you declare you have always done, why did you
+desert me in that manner?" she inquired, her large dark eyes turned
+seriously to mine.
+
+I hesitated. Should I tell her the truth openly and honestly?
+
+"Because of a fact which came to my knowledge," I answered, after a
+long pause.
+
+"What fact?" she asked with some anxiety.
+
+"I made a discovery," I said ambiguously.
+
+"Regarding me?"
+
+"Yes, regarding yourself," I replied, with my eyes fixed full upon
+hers. I saw that she started at my words, her countenance fell, and
+she caught her breath quickly.
+
+"Well, tell me what it is," she asked in a hard tone, a tone which
+showed me that she had steeled herself for the worst.
+
+"Forgive me if I speak the truth," I exclaimed. "You have asked me,
+and I will be perfectly frank with you. Well, I discovered amongst old
+Mr. Courtenay's papers a letter written by you several years ago which
+revealed the truth."
+
+"The truth!" she gasped, her face blanched in an instant. "The truth
+of what?"
+
+"That you were once engaged to become his wife."
+
+Her breast heaved quickly, and I saw that my words had relieved her of
+some grave apprehension. When I declared that I knew "the truth" she
+believed that I spoke of the secret of Courtenay's masquerading. The
+fact of her previous engagement was, to her, of only secondary
+importance, for she replied:
+
+"Well, and is that the sole cause of your displeasure?"
+
+I felt assured, from the feigned flippancy of her words, that she held
+knowledge of the strange secret.
+
+"It was the main cause," I said. "You concealed the truth from me, and
+lived in that man's house after he had married Mary."
+
+"I had a reason for doing so," she exclaimed, in a quiet voice. "I did
+not live there by preference."
+
+"You were surely not forced to do so."
+
+"No; I was not forced. It was a duty." Then, after a pause, she
+covered her face with her hands and suddenly burst into tears, crying,
+"Ah, Ralph! If you could know all--all that I have suffered, you would
+not think ill of me! Appearances have been against me, that I know
+quite well. The discovery of that letter must have convinced you that
+I was a schemer and unworthy, and the fact that I lived beneath the
+roof of the man who had cast me off added colour to the theory that I
+had conceived some deep plot. Probably," she went on, speaking between
+her sobs, "probably you even suspected me of having had a hand in the
+terrible crime. Tell me frankly," she asked, gripping my arm, and
+looking up into my face. "Did you ever suspect me of being the
+assassin?"
+
+I paused. What could I reply? Surely it was best to be open and
+straightforward. So I told her that I had not been alone in the
+suspicion, and that Ambler Jevons had shared it with me.
+
+"Ah! that accounts for his marvellous ingenuity in watching me. For
+weeks past he has seemed to be constantly near me, making inquiries
+regarding my movements wherever I went. You both suspected me. But is
+it necessary that I should assert my innocence of such a deed?" she
+asked. "Are you not now convinced that it was not my hand that struck
+down old Mr. Courtenay?"
+
+"Forgive me," I urged. "The suspicion was based upon ill-formed
+conclusions, and was heightened by your own peculiar conduct after the
+tragedy."
+
+"That my conduct was strange was surely natural. The discovery was
+quite as appalling to me as to you; and, knowing that somewhere among
+the dead man's papers my letters were preserved, I dreaded lest they
+should fall into the hands of the police and thereby connect me with
+the crime. It was fear that my final letter should be discovered that
+gave my actions the appearance of guilt."
+
+I took both her hands in mine, and fixing my gaze straight into those
+dear eyes wherein the love-look shone--that look by which a man is
+able to read a woman's heart--I asked her a question.
+
+"Ethelwynn," I said, calmly and seriously, "we love each other. I know
+I've been suspicious without cause and cruel in my neglect;
+nevertheless the separation has quickened my affection, and has shown
+that to me life without you is impossible. You, darling, are the only
+woman who has entered my life. I have championed no woman save
+yourself; by no ties have I been bound to any woman in this world.
+This I would have you believe, for it is the truth. I could not lie to
+you if I would; it is the truth--God is my witness."
+
+She made me no answer. Her hands trembled, and she bowed her head so
+that I could not see her face.
+
+"Will you not forgive, dearest?" I urged. The great longing to speak
+out my mind had overcome me, and having eased myself of my burden I
+stood awaiting her response. "Will you not be mine again, as in the
+old days before this chain of tragedy fell upon your house?"
+
+Again she hesitated for several minutes. Then, of a sudden, she lifted
+her tear-stained face towards me, all rosy with blushes and wearing
+that sweet look which I had known so well in the happy days bygone.
+
+"If you wish it, Ralph," she faltered, "we will forget that any breach
+between us has ever existed. I desire nothing else; for, as you well
+know, I love no one else but you. I have been foolish, I know. I ought
+to have explained the girlish romantic affection I once entertained
+for that man who afterwards married Mary. In those days he was my
+ideal. Why, I cannot tell. Girls in their teens have strange
+caprices, and that was mine. Just as schoolboys fall violently in love
+with married women, so are schoolgirls sometimes attracted towards
+aged men. People wonder when they hear of May and December marriages;
+but they are not always from mercenary motives, as is popularly
+supposed. Nevertheless I acted wrongly in not telling you the truth
+from the first. I am alone to blame."
+
+So much she said, though with many a pause, and with so keen a
+self-reproach in her tone that I could hardly bear to hear her, when I
+interrupted----
+
+"There is mutual blame on both sides. Let us forget it all," and I
+bent until my lips met hers and we sealed our compact with a long,
+clinging caress.
+
+"Yes, dear heart. Let us forget it," she whispered. "We have both
+suffered--both of us," and I felt her arms tighten about my neck. "Oh,
+how you must have hated me!"
+
+"No," I declared. "I never hated you. I was mystified and suspicious,
+because I felt assured that you knew the truth regarding the tragedy
+at Kew, and remained silent."
+
+She looked into my eyes, as though she would read my soul.
+
+"Unfortunately," she answered, "I am not aware of the truth."
+
+"But you are in possession of certain strange facts--eh?"
+
+"That I am in possession of facts that lead me to certain conclusions,
+is the truth. But the clue is wanting. I have been seeking for it
+through all these months, but without success."
+
+"Cannot we act in accord in this matter, dearest? May I not be
+acquainted with the facts which, with your intimate knowledge of the
+Courtenay household, you were fully acquainted with at the time of the
+tragedy?" I urged.
+
+"No, Ralph," she replied, shaking her head, and at the same time
+pressing my hand. "I cannot yet tell you anything."
+
+"Then you have no confidence in me?" I asked reproachfully.
+
+"It is not a question of confidence, but one of honour," she replied.
+
+"But you will at least satisfy my curiosity upon one point?" I
+exclaimed. "You will tell me the reason you lived beneath Courtenay's
+roof?"
+
+"You know the reason well. He was an invalid, and I went there to keep
+Mary company."
+
+I smiled at the lameness of her explanation. It was, however, an
+ingenious evasion of the truth, for, after all, I could not deny that
+I had known this through several years. Old Courtenay, being
+practically confined to his room, had himself suggested Ethelwynn
+bearing his young wife company.
+
+"Answer me truthfully, dearest. Was there no further reason?"
+
+She paused; and in her hesitation I detected a desire to deceive,
+even though I loved her so fondly.
+
+"Yes, there was," she admitted at last, bowing her head.
+
+"Explain it."
+
+"Alas! I cannot. It is a secret."
+
+"A secret from me?"
+
+"Yes, dear heart!" she cried, clutching my hands with a wild movement.
+"Even from you."
+
+My face must have betrayed the annoyance that I felt, for the next
+second she hastened to soften her reply by saying:
+
+"At present it is impossible for me to explain. Think! Poor Mary is
+lying upstairs. I can say nothing at present--nothing--you
+understand."
+
+"Then afterwards--after the burial--you will tell me what you know?"
+
+"Until I discover the truth I am resolved to maintain silence. All I
+can tell you is that the whole affair is so remarkable and astounding
+that its explanation will be even more bewildering than the tangled
+chain of circumstances."
+
+"Then you are actually in possession of the truth," I remarked with
+some impatience. "What use is there to deny it?"
+
+"At present I have suspicions--grave ones. That is all," she
+protested.
+
+"What is your theory regarding poor Mary's death?" I asked, hoping to
+learn something from her.
+
+"Suicide. Of that there seems not a shadow of doubt."
+
+I was wondering if she knew of the "dead" man's existence. Being in
+sisterly confidence with Mary, she probably did.
+
+"Did it ever strike you," I asked, "that the personal appearance of
+Mr. Courtenay changed very considerably after death. You saw the body
+several times after the discovery. Did you notice the change?"
+
+She looked at me sharply, as though endeavouring to discern my
+meaning.
+
+"I saw the body several times, and certainly noticed a change in the
+features. But surely the countenance changes considerably if death is
+sudden?"
+
+"Quite true," I answered. "But I recollect that, in making the
+post-mortem, Sir Bernard remarked upon the unusual change. He seemed
+to have grown fully ten years older than when I had seen him alive
+four hours before."
+
+"Well," she asked, "is that any circumstance likely to lead to a
+solution of the mystery? I don't exactly see the point."
+
+"It may," I answered ambiguously, puzzled at her manner and wondering
+if she were aware of that most unaccountable feature of the
+conspiracy.
+
+"How?" she asked.
+
+But as she had steadfastly refused to reveal her knowledge to me, or
+the reason of her residence beneath Courtenay's roof, I myself claimed
+the right to be equally vague.
+
+We were still playing at cross-purposes; therefore I urged her to be
+frank with me. But she strenuously resisted all my persuasion.
+
+"No. With poor Mary lying dead I can say nothing. Later, when I have
+found the clue for which I am searching, I will tell you what I know.
+Till then, no word shall pass my lips."
+
+I knew too well that when my love made up her mind it was useless to
+try and turn her from her purpose. She was no shallow, empty-headed
+girl, whose opinion could be turned by any breath of the social wind
+or any invention of the faddists; her mind was strong and
+well-balanced, so that she always had the courage of her own
+convictions. Her sister, on the contrary, had been one of those giddy
+women who follow every frill and furbelow of Fashion, and who take up
+all the latest crazes with a seriousness worthy of better objects. In
+temperament, in disposition, in character, and in strength of mind
+they had been the exact opposite of each other; the one sister flighty
+and thoughtless, the other patient and forbearing, with an utter
+disregard for the hollow artificialities of Society.
+
+"But in this matter we may be of mutual assistance to each other," I
+urged, in an effort to persuade her. "As far as I can discern, the
+mystery contains no fewer than seven complete and distinct secrets. To
+obtain the truth regarding one would probably furnish the key to the
+whole."
+
+"Then you think that poor Mary's untimely death is closely connected
+with the tragedy at Kew?" she asked.
+
+"Most certainly. But I do not share your opinion of suicide."
+
+"What? You suspect foul play?" she cried.
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"You believe that poor Mary was actually murdered?" she exclaimed,
+anxiously. "Have you found marks of violence, then?"
+
+"No, I have found nothing. My opinion is formed upon a surmise."
+
+"What surmise?"
+
+I hesitated whether to tell her all the facts that I had discovered,
+for I was disappointed and annoyed that she should still preserve a
+dogged silence, now that a reconciliation had been brought about.
+
+"Well," I answered, after a pause, "my suspicion of foul play is based
+upon logical conclusions. I have myself been witness of one most
+astonishing fact--namely, that she was in the habit of meeting a
+certain man clandestinely at night, and that their favourite walk was
+along the river bank."
+
+"What!" she cried, starting up in alarm, all the colour fading from
+her face. "You have actually seen them together?"
+
+"I have not only seen them, but I have overheard their conversation,"
+I answered, surprised at the effect my words had produced upon her.
+
+"Then you already know the truth!" she cried, in a wild voice that was
+almost a shriek. "Forgive me--forgive me, Ralph!" And throwing herself
+suddenly upon her knees she looked up into my face imploringly, her
+white hands clasped in an attitude of supplication, crying in a voice
+broken by emotion: "Forgive me, Ralph! Have compassion upon me!" and
+she burst into a flood of tears which no caress or tender effort of
+mine could stem.
+
+I adored her with a passionate madness that was beyond control. She
+was, as she had ever been, my ideal--my all in all. And yet the
+mystery surrounding her was still impenetrable; an enigma that grew
+more complicated, more impossible of solution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA.
+
+
+"Found Drowned" was the verdict of the twelve respectable villagers
+who formed the Coroner's jury to inquire into the tragic death of
+young Mrs. Courtenay. It was the only conclusion that could be arrived
+at in the circumstances, there being no marks of violence, and no
+evidence to show how the unfortunate lady got into the river.
+
+Ambler Jevons, who had seen a brief account of the affair in the
+papers, arrived hurriedly in time to attend the inquest; therefore it
+was not until the inquiry was over that we were enabled to chat. His
+appearance had changed during the weeks of his absence: his face
+seemed thinner and wore a worried, anxious expression.
+
+"Well, Ralph, old fellow, this turns out to be a curious business,
+doesn't it?" he exclaimed, when, after leaving the public room of the
+Golden Ball, wherein the inquiry had been held, we had strolled on
+through the long straggling village of homely cottages with thatched
+roofs, and out upon the white, level highroad.
+
+"Yes," I admitted. "It's more than curious. Frankly, I have a distinct
+suspicion that Mary was murdered."
+
+"That's exactly my own opinion," he exclaimed quickly. "There's been
+foul play somewhere. Of that I'm certain."
+
+"And do you agree with me, further, that it is the outcome of the
+tragedy at Kew?"
+
+"Most certainly," he said. "That both husband and wife should be
+murdered only a few months after one another points to motives of
+revenge. You'll remember how nervous old Courtenay was. He went in
+constant fear of his life, it was said. That fact proves conclusively
+that he was aware of some secret enemy."
+
+"Yes. Now that you speak of it, I recollect it quite well," I
+remarked, adding, "But where, in the name of Fortune, have you been
+keeping yourself during all these weeks of silence?"
+
+"I've been travelling," he responded rather vaguely. "I've been going
+about a lot."
+
+"And keeping watch on Ethelwynn during part of the time," I laughed.
+
+"She told you, eh?" he exclaimed, rather apprehensively. "I didn't
+know that she ever recognised me. But women are always sharper than
+men. Still, I'm sorry that she saw me."
+
+"There's no harm done--providing you've made some discovery regarding
+the seven secrets that compose the mystery," I said.
+
+"Seven secrets!" he repeated thoughtfully, and then was silent a few
+moments, as though counting to himself the various points that
+required elucidation. "Yes," he said at last, "you're right, Ralph,
+there are seven of them--seven of the most extraordinary secrets that
+have ever been presented to mortal being as part of one and the same
+mystery."
+
+He did not, of course, enumerate them in his mind, as I had done, for
+he was not aware of all the facts. The Seven Secrets, as they
+presented themselves to me, were: First, the identity of the secret
+assassin of Henry Courtenay; second, the manner in which that
+extraordinary wound had been caused; thirdly, the secret of Ethelwynn,
+held by Sir Bernard; fourthly, the secret motive of Ethelwynn in
+remaining under the roof of the man who had discarded her in favour of
+her sister; fifthly, the secret of Courtenay's reappearance after
+burial; sixthly, the secret of the dastardly attempt on my life by
+those ruffians of Lisson Grove; and, seventhly, the secret of Mary
+Courtenay's death. Each and every one of the problems was inscrutable.
+Others, of which I was unaware, had probably occurred to my friend. To
+him, just as to me, the secrets were seven.
+
+"Now, be frank with me, Ambler," I said, after a long pause. "You've
+gained knowledge of some of them, haven't you?"
+
+By his manner I saw that he was in possession of information of no
+ordinary character.
+
+He paused, and slowly twisted his small dark moustache, at last
+admitting----
+
+"Yes, Ralph, I have."
+
+"What have you discovered?" I cried, in fierce eagerness. "Tell me the
+result of your inquiries regarding Ethelwynn. It is her connection
+with the affair which occupies my chief thoughts."
+
+"For the present, my dear fellow, we must leave her entirely out of
+it," my friend said quietly. "To tell you the truth, after announcing
+my intention to give up the affair as a mystery impenetrable, I set to
+work and slowly formed a theory. Then I drew up a deliberate plan of
+campaign, which I carried out in its entirety."
+
+"And the result?"
+
+"Its result--" he laughed. "Well, when I'd spent several anxious weeks
+in making the most careful inquiries, I found, to my chagrin, that I
+was upon an entirely wrong scent, and that the person I suspected of
+being the assassin at Kew was innocent. There was no help for it but
+to begin all over again, and I did so. My inquiries then led me in an
+entirely opposite direction. I followed my new and somewhat startling
+theory, and found to my satisfaction that I had at length struck the
+right trail. Through a whole fortnight I worked on night and day,
+often snatching a few hours of sleep in railway carriages, and
+sometimes watching through the whole night--for when one pursues
+inquiries alone it is frequently imperative to keep watchful vigil. To
+Bath, to Hereford, to Edinburgh, to Birmingham, to Newcastle, and also
+to several places far distant in the South of England I travelled in
+rapid succession, until at last I found a clue, but one so
+extraordinary that at first I could not give it credence. Ten days
+have passed, and even now I refuse to believe that such a thing could
+be. I'm absolutely bewildered by it."
+
+"Then you believe that you've at last gained the key to the mystery?"
+I said, eagerly drinking in his words.
+
+"It seems as though I have. Yet my information is so very vague and
+shadowy that I can really form no decisive opinion. It is this
+mysterious death of Mrs. Courtenay that has utterly upset all my
+theories. Tell me plainly, Ralph, what causes you to suspect foul
+play? This is not a time for prevarication. We must be open and
+straightforward to each other. Tell me the absolute truth."
+
+Should I tell him frankly of the amazing discovery I had made? I
+feared to do so, lest he should laugh me to scorn. The actual
+existence of Courtenay seemed too incredible. And yet as he was
+working to solve the problem, just as I was, there seemed every reason
+why we should be aware of each other's discoveries. We had both
+pursued independent inquiries into the Seven Secrets until that
+moment, and it was now high time we compared results.
+
+"Well, Jevons," I exclaimed, hesitatingly, at last, "I have during the
+week elucidated one fact, a fact so strange that, when I tell you, I
+know you will declare that I was dreaming. I myself cannot account for
+it in the least. But that I was witness of it I will vouch. The
+mystery is a remarkable one, but what I've discovered adds to its
+inscrutability."
+
+"Tell me," he urged quickly, halting and turning to me in eagerness.
+"What have you found out?"
+
+"Listen!" I said. "Hear me through, until you discredit my story."
+Then, just as I have already written down the strange incidents in the
+foregoing chapters, I related to him everything that had occurred
+since the last evening he sat smoking with me in Harley Place.
+
+He heard me in silence, the movements of his face at one moment
+betraying satisfaction, and at the next bewilderment. Once or twice he
+grunted, as though dissatisfied, until I came to the midnight incident
+beside the river, and explained how I had watched and what I had
+witnessed.
+
+"What?" he cried, starting in sudden astonishment. "You actually saw
+him? You recognised Henry Courtenay!"
+
+"Yes. He was walking with his wife, sometimes arm-in-arm."
+
+He did not reply, but stood in silence in the centre of the road,
+drawing a geometrical design in the dust with the ferrule of his
+stick. It was his habit when thinking deeply.
+
+I watched his dark countenance--that of a man whose whole thought and
+energy were centred upon one object.
+
+"Ralph," he said at last, "what time is the next train to London?"
+
+"Two-thirty, I think."
+
+"I must go at once to town. There's work for me there--delicate work.
+What you've told me presents a new phase of the affair," he said in a
+strange, anxious tone.
+
+"Does it strengthen your clue?" I asked.
+
+"In a certain degree--yes. It makes clear one point which was hitherto
+a mystery."
+
+"And also makes plain that poor Mrs. Courtenay met with foul play?" I
+suggested.
+
+"Ah! For the moment, this latest development of the affair is quite
+beyond the question. We must hark back to that night at Richmond Road.
+I must go at once to London," he added, glancing at his watch. "Will
+you come with me?"
+
+"Most willingly. Perhaps I can help you."
+
+"Perhaps; we will see."
+
+So we turned and retraced our steps to the house of mourning, where,
+having pleaded urgent consultations with patients, I took leave of
+Ethelwynn. We were alone, and I bent and kissed her lips in order to
+show her that my love and confidence had not one whit abated. Her
+countenance brightened, and with sudden joy she flung her arms around
+my neck and returned my caress, pleading--"Ralph! You will
+forgive--you will forgive me, won't you?"
+
+"I love you, dearest!" was all that I could reply; and it was the
+honest truth, direct from a heart overburdened by mystery and
+suspicion.
+
+Then with a last kiss I turned and left her, driving with Ambler
+Jevons to catch the London train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY.
+
+
+The sleepy-eyed tea-blender of Mark Lane remained plunged in a deep
+reverie during the greater part of the journey to town, and on arrival
+at King's Cross declined to allow me to accompany him. This
+disappointed me. I was eager to pursue the clue, but no amount of
+persuasion on my part would induce him to alter his decision.
+
+"At present I must continue alone, old fellow," he answered kindly.
+"It is best, after all. Later on I may want your help."
+
+"The facts I've told you are of importance, I suppose?"
+
+"Of the greatest importance," he responded. "I begin to see light
+through the veil. But if what I suspect is correct, then the affair
+will be found to be absolutely astounding."
+
+"Of that I'm certain," I said. "When will you come in and spend an
+hour?"
+
+"As soon as ever I can spare time," he answered. "To-morrow, or next
+day, perhaps. At present I have a very difficult task before me.
+Good-bye for the present." And hailing a hansom he jumped in and drove
+away, being careful not to give the address to the driver while within
+my hearing. Ambler Jevons had been born with the instincts of a
+detective. The keenness of his intellect was perfectly marvellous.
+
+On leaving him I drove to Harley Street, where I found Sir Bernard
+busy with patients, and in rather an ill-temper, having been worried
+unusually by some smart woman who had been to consult him and had been
+pouring into his ear all her domestic woes.
+
+"I do wish such women would go and consult somebody else," he growled,
+after he had been explaining her case to me. "Same symptoms as all of
+them. Nerves--owing to indigestion, late hours, and an artificial
+life. Wants me to order her to Carlsbad or somewhere abroad--so that
+she can be rid of her husband for a month or so. I can see the reason
+plain enough. She's got some little game to play. Faugh!" cried the
+old man, "such women only fill one with disgust."
+
+I went on to tell him of the verdict upon the death of Mrs. Courtenay,
+and his manner instantly changed to one of sympathy.
+
+"Poor Henry!" he exclaimed. "Poor little woman! I wonder that nothing
+has transpired to give the police a clue. To my mind, Boyd, there was
+some mysterious element in Courtenay's life that he entirely hid from
+his friends. In later years he lived in constant dread of
+assassination."
+
+"Yes, that has always struck me as strange," I remarked.
+
+"Has nothing yet been discovered?" asked my chief. "Didn't the police
+follow that manservant Short?"
+
+"Yes, but to no purpose. They proved to their own satisfaction that he
+was innocent."
+
+"And your friend Jevons--the tea-dealer who makes it a kind of hobby
+to assist the police. What of him? Has he continued his activity?"
+
+"I believe so. He has, I understand, discovered a clue."
+
+"What has he found?" demanded the old man, bending forward in
+eagerness across the table. He had been devoted to his friend
+Courtenay, and was constantly inquiring of me whether the police had
+met with any success.
+
+"At present he will tell me nothing," I replied.
+
+Sir Bernard gave vent to an exclamation of dissatisfaction, observing
+that he hoped Jevons' efforts would meet with success, as it was
+scandalous that a double tragedy of that character could occur in a
+civilized community without the truth being revealed and the assassin
+arrested.
+
+"There's no doubt that the tragedy was a double one," I observed.
+"Although the jury have returned a verdict of 'Found Drowned' in the
+widow's case, the facts, even as far as at present known, point
+undoubtedly to murder."
+
+"To murder!" he cried. "Then is it believed that she's been wilfully
+drowned?"
+
+"That is the local surmise."
+
+"Why?" he asked, with an eager look upon his countenance, for he took
+the most intense interest in every feature of the affair.
+
+"Well, because it is rumoured that she had been seen late one night
+walking along the river-bank, near the spot where she was found,
+accompanied by a strange man."
+
+"A strange man?" he echoed, his interest increased. "Did anyone see
+him sufficiently close to recognise him?"
+
+"I believe not," I answered, hesitating at that moment to tell him all
+I knew. "The local police are making active inquiries, I believe."
+
+"I wonder who it could have been?" Sir Bernard exclaimed reflectively.
+"Mrs. Courtenay was always so devoted to poor Henry, that the story of
+the stranger appears to me very like some invention of the villagers.
+Whenever a tragedy occurs in a rural district all kinds of absurd
+canards are started. Probably that's one of them. It is only natural
+for the rustic mind to connect a lover with a pretty young widow."
+
+"Exactly. But I have certain reasons for believing the clandestine
+meeting to have taken place," I said.
+
+"What causes you to give credence to the story?"
+
+"Statements made to me," I replied vaguely. "And further, all the
+evidence points to murder."
+
+"Then why did the jury return an open verdict?"
+
+"It was the best thing they could do in the circumstances, as it
+leaves the police with a free hand."
+
+"But who could possibly have any motive for the poor little woman's
+death?" he asked, with a puzzled, rather anxious expression upon his
+grey brow.
+
+"The lover may have wished to get rid of her," I suggested.
+
+"You speak rather ungenerously, Boyd," he protested. "Remember, we
+don't know for certain that there was a lover in the case, and we
+should surely accept the rumours of country yokels with considerable
+hesitation."
+
+"I make no direct accusation," I said. "I merely give as my opinion
+that she was murdered by the man she was evidently in the habit of
+meeting. That's all."
+
+"Well, if that is so, then I hope the police will be successful in
+making an arrest," declared the old physician. "Poor little woman!
+When is the funeral?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow."
+
+"I must send a wreath. How sad it is! How very sad!" And he sighed
+sympathetically, and sat staring with fixed eyes at the dark green
+wall opposite.
+
+"It's time you caught your train," I remarked, glancing at the clock.
+
+"No," he answered. "I'm dining at the House of Commons to-night with
+my friend Houston. I shall remain in town all night. I so very seldom
+allow myself any dissipation," and he smiled rather sadly.
+
+Truly he led an anchorite's life, going to and fro with clockwork
+regularity, and denying himself all those diversions in Society which
+are ever at the command of a notable man. Very rarely did he accept an
+invitation to dine, and the fact that he lived down at Hove was in
+order to have a good excuse to evade people. He was a great man, with
+all a great man's little eccentricities.
+
+The two following days passed uneventfully. Each evening, about ten,
+Ambler Jevons came in to smoke and drink. He stayed an hour,
+apparently nervous, tired, and fidgety in a manner quite unusual; but
+to my inquiries regarding the success of his investigations he
+remained dumb.
+
+"Have you discovered anything?" I asked, eagerly, on the occasion of
+his second visit.
+
+He hesitated, at length answering----
+
+"Yes--and no. I must see Ethelwynn without delay. Telegraph and ask
+her to meet you here. I want to ask her a question."
+
+"Do you still suspect her?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct vagueness.
+
+"Wire to her to-night," he urged. "Your man can take the message down
+to the Charing Cross office, and she'll get it at eight o'clock in the
+morning. The funeral is over, so there is nothing to prevent her
+coming to town."
+
+I was compelled to agree to his suggestion, although loth to again
+bring pain and annoyance to my love. I knew how she had suffered when,
+a few days ago, I had questioned her, and I felt convinced by her
+manner that, although she had refused to speak, she herself was
+innocent. Her lips were sealed by word of honour.
+
+According to appointment Jevons met me when I had finished my next
+morning's work at Guy's, and we took a glass of sherry together in a
+neighbouring bar. Then at his invitation I accompanied him along the
+Borough High Street and Newington Causeway to the London Road, until
+we came to a row of costermongers' barrows drawn up beside the
+pavement. Before one of these, piled with vegetables ready for the
+Saturday-night market, he stopped, and was immediately recognised by
+the owner--a tall, consumptive-looking man, whose face struck me
+somehow as being familiar.
+
+"Well, Lane?" my companion said. "Busy, eh?"
+
+"Not very, sir," was the answer, with the true cockney twang. "Trade
+ain't very brisk. There's too bloomin' many of us 'ere nowadays."
+
+Leaving my side my companion advanced towards the man and whispered
+some confidential words that I could not catch, at the same time
+pulling something from his breast-pocket and showing it to him.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir. No doubt abawt it!" I heard the man exclaim.
+
+Then, in reply to a further question from Jevons, he said:
+
+"'Arry 'Arding used to work at Curtis's. So I fancy that 'ud be the
+place to find out somethink. I'm keepin' my ears open, you bet," and
+he winked knowingly.
+
+Where I had seen the man before I could not remember. But his face was
+certainly familiar.
+
+When we left him and continued along the busy thoroughfare of cheap
+shops and itinerant vendors I asked my friend who he was, to which he
+merely replied:
+
+"Well, he's a man who knows something of the affair. I'll explain
+later. In the meantime come with me to Gray's Inn Road. I have to
+make a call there," and he hailed a hansom, into which we mounted.
+
+Twenty minutes later we alighted before a dingy-looking barber's shop
+and inquired for Mr. Harding--an assistant who was at that moment
+shaving a customer of the working class. It was a house where one
+could be shaved for a penny, but where the toilet accessories were
+somewhat primitive.
+
+While I stood on the threshold Ambler Jevons asked the barber's
+assistant if he had ever worked at Curtis's, and if, while there, he
+knew a man whose photograph he showed him.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the barber, without a moment's hesitation.
+"That's Mr. Slade. He was a very good customer, and Mr. Curtis used
+always to attend on him himself."
+
+"Slade, you say, is his name?" repeated my friend.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Then, thanking him, we re-entered the cab and drove to an address in a
+street off Shaftesbury Avenue.
+
+"Slade! Slade!" repeated Ambler Jevons to himself as we drove along.
+"That's the name I've been in search of for weeks. If I am successful
+I believe the Seven Secrets will resolve themselves into one of the
+most remarkable conspiracies of modern times. I must, however,
+make this call alone, Ralph. The presence of a second person may
+possibly prevent the man I'm going to see from making a full and
+straightforward statement. We must not risk failure in this inquiry,
+for I anticipate that it may give us the key to the whole situation.
+There's a bar opposite the Palace Theatre. I'll set you down there,
+and you can wait for me. You don't mind, do you?"
+
+"Not at all, if you'll promise to explain the result of your
+investigations afterwards."
+
+"You shall know everything later," he assured me, and a few minutes
+afterwards I alighted at the saloon bar he had indicated, a long
+lounge patronised a good deal by theatrical people.
+
+He was absent nearly half-an-hour, and when he returned I saw from his
+face that he had obtained some information that was eminently
+satisfactory.
+
+"I hope to learn something further this afternoon," he said before we
+parted. "If I do I shall be with you at four." Then he jumped into a
+hansom and disappeared. Jevons was a strange fellow. He rushed hither
+and thither, telling no one his business or his motives.
+
+About the hour he had named he was ushered into my room. He had made a
+complete change in his appearance, wearing a tall hat and frock coat,
+with a black fancy waistcoat whereon white flowers were embroidered.
+By a few artistic touches he had altered the expression of his
+features too--adding nearly twenty years to his age. His countenance
+was one of those round, flexible ones that are so easily altered by a
+few dark lines.
+
+"Well, Ambler?" I said anxiously, when we were alone. "What have you
+discovered?"
+
+"Several rather remarkable facts," was his philosophic response. "If
+you care to accompany me I can show you to-night something very
+interesting."
+
+"Care to accompany you?" I echoed. "I'm only too anxious."
+
+He glanced at his watch, then flinging himself into the chair opposite
+me, said, "We've an hour yet. Have you got a drop of brandy handy?"
+
+Then for the first time I noticed that the fresh colour of his cheeks
+was artificial, and that in reality he was exhausted and white as
+death. The difficulty in speaking that I had attributed to excitement
+was really due to exhaustion.
+
+Quickly I produced the brandy, and gave him a stiff peg, which he
+swallowed at a single gulp. His eyes were no longer sleepy-looking,
+but there was a quick fire in them which showed me that, although
+suppressed, there burned within his heart a fierce desire to get at
+the truth. Evidently he had learned something since I left him, but
+what it was I could not gather.
+
+I looked at the clock, and saw it was twenty minutes past six. He
+noticed my action, and said:
+
+"If we start in an hour we shall have sufficient time."
+
+Ambler Jevons was never communicative. But as he sat before me his
+brows were knit in deep thought, his hands chafed with suppressed
+agitation, and he took a second brandy-and-soda, an unusual
+indulgence, which betrayed an absent mind.
+
+At length he rose, carefully brushed his silk hat, settled the hang of
+his frock-coat before the glass, tugged at his cravat, and then,
+putting on his light overcoat, announced his readiness to set out.
+
+About half-an-hour later our cab set us down in Upper Street,
+Islington, close to the Agricultural Hall, and, proceeding on foot a
+short distance, we turned up a kind of court, over the entrance of
+which a lamp was burning, revealing the words "Lecture Hall."
+
+Jevons produced two tickets, whereupon we were admitted into a long,
+low room filled by a mixed audience consisting of men. Upon the
+platform at the further end was a man of middle age, with short fair
+beard, grey eyes, and an alert, resolute manner--a foreigner by his
+dress--and beside him an Englishman of spruce professional
+appearance--much older, slightly bent, with grey countenance and white
+hair.
+
+We arrived just at the moment of the opening of the proceedings. The
+Englishman, whom I set down to be a medical man, rose, and in
+introducing the lecturer beside him, said:
+
+"I have the honour, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce to you Doctor
+Paul Deboutin--who, as most of you know, is one of the most celebrated
+medical men in Paris, professor at the Salpêtrière, and author of many
+works upon nervous disorders. The study of the latter is not,
+unfortunately, sufficiently taken up in this country, and it is in
+order to demonstrate the necessity of such study that my friends and
+myself have invited Doctor Deboutin to give this lecture before an
+audience of both medical men and the laity. The doctor asks me to
+apologise to you for his inability to express himself well in English,
+but personally I have no fear that you will misunderstand him."
+
+Then he turned, introduced the lecturer, and re-seated himself.
+
+I was quite unprepared for such a treat. Deboutin, as every medical
+man is aware, is the first authority on nervous disorders, and his
+lectures have won for him a world-wide reputation. I had read all his
+books, and being especially struck with "Névroses et Idées Fixes," a
+most convincing work, had longed to be present at one of his
+demonstrations. Therefore, forgetful that I was there for some unknown
+reason, I settled myself to listen.
+
+Rapidly and clearly he spoke in fairly good English, with a decision
+that showed him to be perfect master at once of his subject and of the
+phrases with which he intended to clothe his thoughts. He briefly
+outlined the progress of his experiments at the Salpêtrière, and at
+the hospitals of Lyons and Marseilles, then without long preliminary,
+proceeded to demonstrate a most interesting case.
+
+A girl of about twenty-five, with a countenance only relieved from
+ugliness by a fine pair of bright dark eyes, was led in by an
+assistant and seated in a chair. She was of the usual type seen in the
+streets of Islington, poorly dressed with some attempt at faded
+finery--probably a workgirl in some city factory. She cast an uneasy
+glance upon the audience, and then turned towards the doctor, who drew
+his chair towards the patient so that her knees nearly touched his.
+
+It was a case of nervous "Hémianopsie," or one-eyed vision, he
+explained.
+
+Now the existence of this has always been denied, therefore the
+experiment was of the most intense interest to every medical man
+present.
+
+First the doctor, after ordering the patient to look him straight in
+the face, held a pencil on the left side of her head, and found that,
+in common with most of us, she was conscious of its presence without
+moving her eyes, even when it was almost at the level of her ear. Then
+he tried the same experiment on the right side of the face, when it
+was at once plain that the power of lateral vision had broken
+down--for she answered, "No, sir. No, no," as he moved the pencil to
+and fro with the inquiry whether she could see it. Nevertheless he
+demonstrated that the power of seeing straight was quite unimpaired,
+and presently he gave to his assistant a kind of glass hemisphere,
+which he placed over the girl's head, and by which he measured the
+exact point on its scale where the power of lateral vision ceased.
+
+This being found and noted, Professor Deboutin placed his hand upon
+the patient's eyes, and with a brief "You may sleep now, my girl," in
+broken English, she was asleep in a few seconds.
+
+Then came the lecture. He verbally dissected her, giving a full and
+lucid explanation of the nervous system, from the spinal marrow and
+its termination in the coccyx, up to the cortex of the brain, in which
+he was of opinion that there was in that case a lesion--probably
+curable--amply accounting for the phenomenon present. So clear,
+indeed, were his remarks that even a layman could follow them.
+
+At last the doctor awoke the patient, and was about to proceed with
+another experiment when his quick eye noticed a hardly-perceptible
+flutter of the eyelids. "Ah, you are tired," he said. "It is enough."
+And he conducted her to the little side door that gave exit from the
+platform.
+
+The next case was one of the kind which is always the despair
+of doctors--hysteria. A girl, accompanied by her mother, a
+neatly-dressed, respectable-looking body, was led forward, but her
+hands were trembling, and her face working so nervously that the
+doctor had to reassure her. With a true cockney accent she said that
+she lived in Mile End, and worked at a pickle factory. Her symptoms
+were constant headache, sudden falls, and complete absence of
+sensation in her left hand, which greatly interfered with her work.
+Some of the questions were inconvenient--until, in answer to one
+regarding her father, she gave a cry that "Poor father died last
+year," and broke into an agony of weeping. In a moment the doctor took
+up an anthropometric instrument from the table, and made a movement as
+though to touch her presumably insensible hand.
+
+"Ah, you'll hurt me!" she said. Presently, while her attention was
+attracted in another direction, he touched the hand with the
+instrument, when she drew it back with a yell of pain, showing that
+the belief that her hand was insensible was entirely due to hysteria.
+He analysed her case just as he had done the first, and declared that
+by a certain method of treatment, too technical to be here explained,
+a complete cure could be effected.
+
+Another case of hysteria followed, and then a terrible exhibition of a
+wild-haired woman suffering from what the lecturer described as a
+"crise des nerfs," which caused her at will to execute all manner of
+horrible contortions as though she were possessed. She threw herself
+on the floor on her back, with her body arched so that it rested only
+on her head and heels, while she delivered kicks at those in front of
+her, not with her toes, but with her heels. Meanwhile her face was so
+congested as to appear almost black.
+
+The audience were, I think, relieved when the poor unfortunate woman,
+calmed by Deboutin's method of suggestion, was led quietly away, and
+her place taken by a slim, red-haired girl of more refined appearance
+than the others, but with a strange stony stare as though unconscious
+of her surroundings. She was accompanied by a short, wizened-faced old
+lady, her grandmother.
+
+At this juncture the chairman rose and said:
+
+"This case is of great interest, inasmuch as it is a discovery made by
+my respected colleague, whom we all know by repute, Sir Bernard
+Eyton."
+
+The mention of my chief's name was startling. I had no idea he had
+taken any interest in the French methods. Indeed, he had always
+declared to me that Charcot and his followers were a set of
+charlatans.
+
+"We have the pleasure of welcoming Sir Bernard here this evening,"
+continued the chairman; "and I shall ask him to kindly explain the
+case."
+
+With apparent reluctance the well-known physician rose, after being
+cordially welcomed to the platform by the French savant, adjusted his
+old-fashioned glasses, and commenced to introduce the subject. His
+appearance there was certainly quite unexpected, but as I glanced at
+Ambler I saw a look of triumph in his face. We were sitting at the
+back of the hall, and I knew that Sir Bernard, being short-sighted,
+could not recognise us at the distance.
+
+"I am here at Doctor Fulton's invitation to meet our great master,
+Professor Deboutin, of whom for many years I have been a follower."
+Then he went on to express the pleasure it gave him to demonstrate
+before them a case which he declared was not at all uncommon, although
+hitherto unsuspected by medical men.
+
+Behind the chair of the new-comer stood the strange-looking old
+lady--who answered for her grand-daughter, the latter being mute. Her
+case was one, Sir Bernard explained, of absence of will. With a few
+quick questions he placed the history of the case before his hearers.
+There was a bad family history--a father who drank, and a mother who
+suffered from epilepsy. At thirteen the girl had received a sudden
+fright owing to a practical joke, and from that moment she gradually
+came under the influence of some hidden unknown terror so that she
+even refused to eat altogether. The strangest fact, however, was that
+she could still eat and speak in secret, although in public she was
+entirely dumb, and no amount of pleasure or pain would induce her to
+utter a sound.
+
+"This," explained Sir Bernard, "is one of the many cases of absence of
+will, partial or entire, which has recently come beneath my notice. My
+medical friends, and also Professor Deboutin, will agree that at the
+age the patient received her fright many girls are apt to tend towards
+what the Charcot School term 'aboulie,' or, in plain English, absence
+of will. Now one of the most extraordinary symptoms of this is terror.
+Terror," he said, "of performing the simplest functions of nature;
+terror of movement, terror of eating--though sane in every other
+respect. Some there are, too, in whom this terror is developed upon
+one point only, and in such the inequality of mental balance can, as a
+rule, only be detected by one who has made deep research in this
+particular branch of nervous disorders."
+
+The French professor followed with a lengthy discourse, in which he
+bestowed the highest praise upon Sir Bernard for his long and patient
+experiments, which, he said, had up to the present been conducted in
+secret, because he feared that if it were known he had taken up that
+branch of medical science he might lose his reputation as a lady's
+doctor.
+
+Then, just as the meeting was being brought to a conclusion, Jevons
+touched me on the shoulder, and we both slipped out.
+
+"Well," he asked. "What do you think of it all?"
+
+"I've been highly interested," I replied. "But how does this further
+our inquiries, or throw any light on the tragedy?"
+
+"Be patient," was his response, as we walked together in the direction
+of the Angel. "Be patient, and I will show you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+MR. LANE'S ROMANCE.
+
+
+The Seven Secrets, each distinct from each other and yet connected;
+each one in itself a complete enigma, formed a problem of which even
+Ambler Jevons himself could not discover the solution.
+
+Contrary to his usual methods, he allowed me to accompany him in
+various directions, making curious inquiries that had apparently
+nothing to connect them with the mystery of the death of Mr. and Mrs.
+Courtenay.
+
+In reply to a wire I had sent to Ethelwynn came a message saying that
+her mother was entirely prostrated, therefore she could not at present
+leave her. This, when shown to Ambler, caused him to purse his lips
+and raise his shoulders with that gesture of suspicion which was a
+peculiarity of his. Was it possible that he actually suspected her?
+
+The name of Slade seemed ever in Jevons' mind. Indeed, most of his
+inquiries were regarding some person of that name.
+
+One evening, after dining together, he took me in a cab across the
+City to the Three Nuns Hotel, at Aldgate--where, in the saloon bar, we
+sat drinking. Before setting out he had urged me to put on a shabby
+suit of clothes and a soft hat, so that in the East End we should not
+attract attention as "swells." As for his own personal appearance, it
+was certainly not that of the spruce city man. He was an adept at
+disguises, and on this occasion wore a reefer jacket, a peaked cap,
+and a dark violet scarf in lieu of collar, thus presenting the aspect
+of a seafarer ashore. He smoked a pipe of the most approved nautical
+type, and as we sat together in the saloon he told me sea stories, in
+order that a group of men sitting near might overhear.
+
+That he had some object in all this was quite certain, but what it was
+I could not gather.
+
+Suddenly, after an hour, a little under-sized old man of dirty and
+neglected appearance, who had been drinking at the bar, shuffled up to
+us, and whispered something to Ambler that I did not catch. The words,
+nevertheless, caused my companion to start, and, disregarding the
+fresh whiskey and soda he had just ordered, he rose and walked out--an
+example which I followed.
+
+"Lanky sent me, sir," the old man said, addressing Ambler, when we
+were out in the street. "He couldn't come hisself. 'E said you'd like
+to know the news."
+
+"Of course, I was waiting for it," replied my companion, alert and
+eager.
+
+"Well," he said, "I suppose I'd better tell yer the truth at once,
+sir."
+
+"Certainly. What is it?"
+
+"Well, Lanky's dead."
+
+"Dead?" cried Ambler. "Impossible. I was waiting for him."
+
+"I know. This morning in the Borough Market he told me to come 'ere
+and find you, because he wasn't able to come. 'E had a previous
+engagement. Lanky's engagements were always interestin'," he added,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"Well, go on," said Ambler, eagerly. "What followed?"
+
+"'E told me to go down to Tait Street and see 'im at eight o'clock, as
+'e had a message for you. I went, and when I got there I found 'im
+lying on the floor of his room stone dead."
+
+"You went to the police, of course?"
+
+"No, I didn't; I came here to see you instead. I believe the poor
+bloke's been murdered. 'E was a good un, too--poor Lanky Lane!"
+
+"What!" I exclaimed. "Is that man Lane dead?"
+
+"It seems so," Jevons responded. "If he is, then there we have further
+mystery."
+
+"If you doubt it, sir, come with me down to Shadwell," the old man
+said in his cockney drawl. "Nobody knows about it yet. I ought to have
+told the p'lice, but I know you're better at mysterious affairs than
+the silly coppers in Leman Street."
+
+Jevons' fame as an investigator of crime had spread even to that class
+known as the submerged tenth. How fashions change! A year or two ago
+it was the mode in Society to go "slumming." To-day only social
+reformers and missionaries make excursions to the homes of the lower
+class in East London. A society woman would not to-day dare admit that
+she had been further east than Leadenhall Street.
+
+"Let's go and see what has really happened," Ambler said to me. "If
+Lane is dead, then it proves that his enemy is yours."
+
+"I can't see that. How?" I asked.
+
+"You will see later. For the moment we must occupy ourselves with his
+death, and ascertain whether it is owing to natural causes or to foul
+play. He was a heavy drinker, and it may have been that."
+
+"No," declared the little old man, "Lanky wasn't drunk to-day--that
+I'll swear. I saw 'im in Commercial Road at seven, talkin' to a feller
+wot's in love wiv 'is sister."
+
+"Then how do you account for this discovery of yours?" asked my
+companion.
+
+"I can't account for it, guv'nor. I simply found 'im lying on the
+floor, and it give me a shock, I can tell yer. 'E was as cold as ice."
+
+"Let's go and see ourselves," Ambler said: so together we hurried
+through the Whitechapel High Street, at that hour busy with its
+costermonger market, and along Commercial Road East, arriving at last
+in the dirty, insalubrious thoroughfare, a veritable hive of the
+lowest class of humanity, Tait Street, Shadwell.
+
+Up the dark stairs of one of the dirtiest of the dwellings our
+conductor guided us, lighting our steps with wax vestas, struck upon
+the wall, and on gaining the third floor of the evil-smelling place he
+pushed open a door, and we found ourselves in an unlit room.
+
+"Don't move, gentlemen," the old man urged. "You may fall over 'im.
+'E's right there, just where you're standin'. I'll light the lamp."
+
+Then he struck another match, and by its fickle light we saw the body
+of Lane, the street-hawker, lying full length only a yard from us,
+just as our conductor had described.
+
+The cheap and smelling paraffin lamp being lit, I took a hasty glance
+around the poor man's home. There was but little furniture save the
+bed, a chair or two, and a rickety table. Upon the latter was one of
+those flat bottles known as a "quartern." Our first attention,
+however, was to the prostrate man. A single glance was sufficient to
+show that he was dead. His eyes were closed, his hands clenched, and
+his body was bent as though he had expired in a final paroxysm of
+agony. The teeth, too, were hard set, and there were certain features
+about his appearance that caused me to entertain grave suspicion from
+the first. His thin, consumptive face, now blanched, was strangely
+drawn, as though the muscles had suddenly contracted, and there was an
+absence of that composure one generally expects to find in the faces
+of those who die naturally.
+
+As a medical man I very soon noted sufficient appearances to tell me
+that death had been due either to suicide or foul play. The former
+seemed to me the most likely.
+
+"Well?" asked Ambler, rising from his knees when I had concluded the
+examination of the dead man's skinny, ill-nourished body. "What's your
+opinion, Ralph?"
+
+"He's taken poison," I declared.
+
+"Poison? You believe he's been poisoned."
+
+"It may have been wilful murder, or he may have taken it voluntarily,"
+I answered. "But it is most evident that the symptoms are those of
+poisoning."
+
+Ambler gave vent to a low grunt, half of satisfaction, half of
+suspicion. I knew that grunt well. When on the verge of any discovery
+he always emitted that guttural sound.
+
+"We'd better inform the police," I remarked. "That's all we can do.
+The poor fellow is dead."
+
+"Dead! Yes, we know that. But we must find out who killed him."
+
+"Well," I said, "I think at present, Ambler, we've quite sufficient on
+our hands without attempting to solve any further problems. The poor
+man may have been in despair and have taken poison wilfully."
+
+"In despair!" echoed the old man. "No fear. Lanky was happy enough. 'E
+wasn't the sort of fellow to hurry hisself out o' the world. He liked
+life too jolly well. Besides, he 'ad a tidy bit o' money in the
+Savin's Bank. 'E was well orf once, wer' Lanky. Excuse me for
+interruptin'."
+
+"Well, if he didn't commit suicide," I remarked, "then, according to
+all appearances, poison was administered to him wilfully."
+
+"That appears to be the most feasible theory," Ambler said. "Here we
+have still a further mystery."
+
+Of course, the post-mortem appearances of poisoning, except in a few
+instances, are not very characteristic. As every medical man is aware,
+poison, if administered with a criminal intent, is generally in such a
+dose as to take immediate effect--although this is by no means
+necessary, as there are numerous substances which accumulate in the
+system, and when given in small and repeated quantities ultimately
+prove fatal--notably, antimony. The diagnosis of the effects of
+irritant poisons is not so difficult as it is in the case of narcotics
+or other neurotics, where the symptoms are very similar to those
+produced by apoplexy, epilepsy, tetanus, convulsions, or other forms
+of disease of the brain. Besides, one of the most difficult facts we
+have to contend with in such cases is that poison may be found in the
+body, and yet a question may arise as to its having been the cause of
+death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+"POOR MRS. COURTENAY."
+
+
+Ambler appeared to be much concerned regarding the poor man's death.
+When we had first met beside his vegetable barrow in the London Road
+he certainly seemed a hard-working, respectable fellow, with a voice
+rendered hoarse and rough by constantly shouting his wares. But by the
+whispered words that had passed I knew that Ambler was in his
+confidence. The nature of this I had several times tried to fathom.
+
+His unexpected death appeared to have upset all Ambler's plans. He
+grunted and took a tour round the poorly-furnished chamber.
+
+"Look here!" he said, halting in front of me. "There's been foul play
+here. We must lose no time in calling the police--not that they are
+likely to discover the truth."
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"Because the poor fellow has been the victim of a secret assassin."
+
+"Then you suspect a motive?"
+
+"I believe that there is a motive why his lips should be closed--a
+strange and remote one." Then, turning to the old fellow who had been
+the dead man's friend, he asked: "Do you know anyone by the name of
+Slade?"
+
+"Slade?" repeated the croaking old fellow. "Slade? No, sir. I don't
+recollect anyone of that name. Is it a man or a woman?"
+
+"Either."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Do you know if Lanky Lane ever had visitors here--I mean visitors not
+of his own class?"
+
+"I never 'eard of none. Lanky wasn't the sort o' chap to trouble about
+callers. He used to spend 'is nights in the Three Nuns wiv us; but
+he'd sit 'ours over two o' gin. 'E saved 'is money, 'e did."
+
+"But look here," exclaimed Ambler, seriously. "Are you quite certain
+that you've never seen him with any stranger at nights?"
+
+"Never to my knowledge."
+
+"Well," my companion said, "you'd better go and call the police."
+
+When the old fellow had shuffled away down the rickety stairs, Ambler,
+turning to me, said abruptly:
+
+"That fellow is lying; he knows something about this affair."
+
+I had taken up the empty dram bottle and smelt it. The spirit it had
+contained was rum--which had evidently been drunk from the bottle, as
+there was no glass near. A slight quantity remained, and this I placed
+aside for analysis if necessary.
+
+"I can't see what this poor fellow has to do with the inquiry upon
+which we are engaged, Ambler," I remarked. "I do wish you'd be more
+explicit. Mystery seems to heap upon mystery."
+
+"Yes. You're right," he said reflectively. "Slowly--very slowly, I am
+working out the problem, Ralph. It has been a long and difficult
+matter; but by degrees I seem to be drawing towards a conclusion.
+This," and he pointed to the man lying dead, "is another of London's
+many mysteries, but it carries us one step further."
+
+"I can't, for the life of me, see what connection the death of this
+poor street hawker has with the strange events of the immediate past."
+
+"Remain patient. Let us watch the blustering inquiries of the police,"
+he laughed. "They'll make a great fuss, but will find out nothing. The
+author of this crime is far too wary."
+
+"But this man Slade?" I said. "Of late your inquiries have always been
+of him. What is his connection with the affair?"
+
+"Ah, that we have yet to discover. He may have no connection, for
+aught I know. It is mere supposition, based upon a logical
+conclusion."
+
+"What motive had you in meeting this man here to-night?" I inquired,
+hoping to gather some tangible clue to the reason of his erratic
+movements.
+
+"Ah! that's just the point," he responded. "If this poor fellow had
+lived he would have revealed to me a secret--we should have known the
+truth!"
+
+"The truth!" I gasped. "Then at the very moment when he intended to
+confess to you he has been struck down."
+
+"Yes. His lips have been sealed by his enemy--and yours. Both are
+identical," he replied, and his lips snapped together in that peculiar
+manner that was his habit. I knew it was useless to question him
+further.
+
+Indeed, at that moment heavy footsteps sounded upon the stairs, and
+two constables, conducted by the shuffling old man, appeared upon the
+scene.
+
+"We have sent for you," Ambler explained. "This man is dead--died
+suddenly, we believe."
+
+"Who is he, sir?" inquired the elder of the pair, bending over the
+prostrate man, and taking up the smoky lamp in order to examine his
+features more carefully.
+
+"His name is Lane--a costermonger, known as Lanky Lane. The man with
+you is one of his friends, and can tell you more about him than I
+can."
+
+"Is he dead?" queried the second constable, touching the thin, pallid
+face.
+
+"Certainly," I answered. "I'm a doctor, and have already made an
+examination. He's been dead some time."
+
+My name and address was taken, together with that of my companion.
+When, however, Ambler told the officers his name, both were visibly
+impressed. The name of Jevons was well known to the police, who held
+him in something like awe as a smart criminal investigator.
+
+"I know Inspector Barton at Leman Street--your station, I suppose?" he
+added.
+
+"Yes, sir," responded the first constable. "And begging your pardon,
+sir, I'm honoured to meet you. We all heard how you beat the C. I.
+Department in the Bowyer Square Mystery, and how you gave the whole
+information to Sergeant Payling without taking any of the credit to
+yourself. He got all the honour, sir, and your name didn't appear at
+the Old Bailey."
+
+Jevons laughed. He was never fond of seeing his name in print. He made
+a study of the ways and methods of the criminal, but only for his own
+gratification. The police knew him well, but he hid his light under
+the proverbial bushel always.
+
+"What is your own opinion of the affair, sir?" the officer continued,
+ready to take his opinion before that of the sergeant of the Criminal
+Investigation Department attached to his station.
+
+"Well," said Ambler, "it looks like sudden death, doesn't it? Perhaps
+it's poison."
+
+"Suicide?"
+
+"Murder, very possibly," was Jevons' quiet response.
+
+"Then you really think there's a mystery, sir?" exclaimed the
+constable quickly.
+
+"It seems suspiciously like one. Let us search the room. Come along
+Ralph," he added, addressing me. "Just lend a hand."
+
+There was not much furniture in the place to search, and before long,
+with the aid of the constable's lantern, we had investigated every
+nook and cranny.
+
+Only one discovery of note was made, and it was certainly a strange
+one.
+
+Beneath a loose board, near the fireplace, Jevons discovered the dead
+man's hoard. It consisted of several papers carefully folded together.
+We examined them, and found them to consist of a hawker's licence, a
+receipt for the payment for a barrow and donkey, a post-office savings
+bank book, showing a balance of twenty-six pounds four shillings, and
+several letters from a correspondent unsigned. They were type-written,
+in order that the handwriting should not be betrayed, and upon that
+flimsy paper used in commercial offices. All of them were of the
+highest interest. The first, read aloud by Ambler, ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Dear Lane,--I have known you a good many years, and never
+     thought you were such a fool as to neglect a good thing.
+     Surely you will reconsider the proposal I made to you the
+     night before last in the bar of the Elephant and Castle? You
+     once did me a very good turn long ago, and now I am in a
+     position to put a good remunerative bit of business in your
+     way. Yet you are timid that all may not turn out well!
+     Apparently you do not fully recognise the stake I hold in
+     the matter, and the fact that any exposure would mean ruin
+     to me. Surely I have far more to lose than you have.
+     Therefore that, in itself, should be sufficient guarantee to
+     you. Reconsider your reply, and give me your decision
+     to-morrow night. You will find me in the saloon bar of the
+     King Lud, in Ludgate Hill, at eight o'clock. Do not speak to
+     me there, but show yourself, and then wait outside until I
+     join you. Have a care that you are not followed. That hawk
+     Ambler Jevons has scent of us. Therefore, remain dumb and
+     watchful--Z."_
+
+"That's curious," I remarked. "Whoever wrote that letter was inciting
+Lane to conspiracy, and at the same time held you in fear, Ambler."
+
+My companion laughed again--a quiet self-satisfied laugh. Then he
+commenced the second letter, type-written like the first, but
+evidently upon another machine.
+
+     _"Dear Lane,--Your terms seem exorbitant. I quite understand
+     that at least four or five of you must be in the affair, but
+     the price asked is ridiculous. Besides, I didn't like
+     Bennett's tone when he spoke to me yesterday. He was almost
+     threatening. What have you told him? Recollect that each of
+     us knows something to the detriment of the other, and even
+     in these days of so-called equality the man with money is
+     always the best. You must contrive to shut Bennett's mouth.
+     Give him money, if he wants it--up to ten pounds. But, of
+     course, do not say that it comes from me. You can, of
+     course, pose as my friend, as you have done before. I shall
+     be at the usual place to-night.--Z."_
+
+"Looks as though there's been some blackmailing," one of the
+constables remarked. "Who's Bennett?"
+
+"I expect that's Bobby Bennett who works in the Meat Market," replied
+the atom of a man who had accosted us at Aldgate. "He was a friend of
+Lanky's, and a bad 'un. I've 'eard say that 'e 'ad a record at the Old
+Bailey."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"'Ousebreakin'."
+
+"Is he working now?" Ambler inquired.
+
+"Yes. I saw 'im in Farrin'don Street yesterday."
+
+"Ah!" remarked the constable. "We shall probably want to have a chat
+with him. But the chief mystery is the identity of the writer of these
+letters. At all events it is evident that this poor man Lane knew
+something to his detriment, and was probably trying to make money out
+of that knowledge."
+
+"Not at all an unusual case," I said.
+
+Jevons grunted, and appeared to view the letters with considerable
+satisfaction. Any documentary evidence surrounding a case of
+mysterious death is always of interest. In this case, being of such a
+suspicious nature, it was doubly so.
+
+     "_Are you quite decided not to assist me?"_ another letter
+     ran. It was likewise type-written, and from the same source.
+     _"Recollect you did so once, and were well paid for it. You
+     had enough to keep you in luxury for years had you not so
+     foolishly frittered it away on your so-called friends. Any
+     of the latter would give you away to the police to-morrow
+     for a five-pound note. This, however, is my last appeal to
+     you. If you help me I shall give you one hundred pounds,
+     which is not bad payment for an hour's work. If you do not,
+     then you will not hear from me again.--Z."_
+
+"Seems a bit brief, and to the point," was the elder constable's
+remark. "I wonder what is the affair mentioned by this mysterious
+correspondent? Evidently the fellow intended to bring off a robbery,
+or something, and Lane refused to give his aid."
+
+"Apparently so," replied Ambler, fingering the last letter remaining
+in his hand. "But this communication is even of greater interest," he
+added, turning to me and showing me writing in a well-known hand.
+
+"I know that writing!" I cried. "Why--that letter is from poor Mrs.
+Courtenay!"
+
+"It is," he said, quietly. "Did I not tell you that we were on the eve
+of a discovery, and that the dead man lying there could have told us
+the truth?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT.
+
+
+Ambler Jevons read the letter, then handed it to me without comment.
+
+It was written upon the note-paper I knew so well, stamped with the
+neat address "Neneford," in black, but bearing no date. What I read
+was as follows:--
+
+     _"Sir,--I fail to comprehend the meaning of your words when
+     you followed me into the train at Huntingdon last night. I
+     am in no fear of any catastrophe; therefore I can only take
+     your offer of assistance as an attempt to obtain money from
+     me. If you presume to address me again I shall have no other
+     course than to acquaint the police._
+
+                    "_Yours truly_
+
+                         "MARY COURTENAY."
+
+"Ah!" I exclaimed. "Then he warned her, and she misunderstood his
+intention."
+
+"Without a doubt," said Ambler, taking the letter from my hand. "This
+was written probably only a few days before her death. That man," and
+he glanced at the prostrate body, "was the only one who could give us
+the clue by which to unravel the mystery."
+
+But the dead man's lips had closed, and his secret was held for ever.
+Only those letters remained to connect him with the river tragedy; or
+rather to show that he had communicated with the unfortunate Mrs.
+Courtenay.
+
+In company we walked to Leman Street Police Station, one of the chief
+centres of the Metropolitan Police in the East End, and there, in an
+upper office, Ambler had a long consultation with the sergeant of the
+Criminal Investigation Department.
+
+I described the appearance of the body, and stated my suspicions of
+poisoning, all of which the detective carefully noted before going
+forth to make his own examination. My address was taken, so that I
+might assist at the post-mortem, and then, shortly after midnight I
+drove back westward through the City with Ambler at my side.
+
+He spoke little, and when in Oxford Street, just at the corner of
+Newman Street, he descended, wished me a hurried good-night, and
+disappeared into the darkness. He was often given to strange vagaries
+of erratic movement. It was as though some thought had suddenly
+occurred to him, and he acted at once upon it.
+
+That night I scarcely closed my eyes. My brain was awhirl with
+thoughts of all the curious events of the past few months--the
+inexplicable presence of old Mr. Courtenay, and the subsequent death
+of Mary and of the only man who, according to Ambler, knew the
+remarkable secret.
+
+Ethelwynn's strange words worried me. What could she mean? What did
+she know? Surely hers could not be a guilty conscience. Yet, in her
+words and actions I had detected that cowardice which a heavy
+conscience always engenders. One by one I dissected and analysed the
+Seven Secrets, but not in one single instance could I obtain a gleam
+of the truth.
+
+While at the hospital next day I was served with a notice to assist at
+the post-mortem of the unfortunate Lane, whose body was lying in the
+Shadwell mortuary; and that same afternoon I met by appointment Doctor
+Tatham, of the London Hospital, who, as is well known, is an expert
+toxicologist.
+
+To describe in technical detail the examination we made would not
+interest the general reader of this strange narrative. The average man
+or woman knows nothing or cares less for the duodenum or the pylorus;
+therefore it is not my intention to go into long and wearying detail.
+Suffice it to say that we preserved certain portions of the body for
+subsequent examination, and together were engaged the whole evening in
+the laboratory of the hospital. Tatham was well skilled in the minutiæ
+of the tests. The exact determination of the cause of death in cases
+of poisoning always depends partly on the symptoms noted before death,
+and partly on the appearances found after death. Regarding the former,
+neither of us knew anything; hence our difficulties were greatly
+increased. The object of the analyst is to obtain the substances which
+he has to examine chemically in as pure a condition as possible, so
+that there may be no doubt about the results of his tests; also, of
+course, to separate active substances from those that are inert, all
+being mixed together in the stomach and alimentary canal. Again, in
+dealing with such fluids as the blood, or the tissues of the body,
+their natural constituents must be got rid of before the foreign and
+poisonous body can be reached. There is this difficulty further to
+contend with: that some of the most poisonous of substances are of
+unstable composition and are readily altered by chemical reagents; to
+this group belong many vegetable and most animal poisons. These,
+therefore, must be treated differently from the more stable inorganic
+compounds. With an inorganic poison we may destroy all organic
+materials mixed with it, trusting to find the poison still
+recognisable after this process. Not so with an organic substance;
+that must be separated by other than destructive means.
+
+Through the whole evening we tested for the various groups of
+poisons--corrosives, simple irritants, specific irritants and
+neurotics. It was a long and scientific search.
+
+Some of the tests with which I was not acquainted I watched with the
+keenest interest, for, of all the medical men in London, Tatham was
+the most up to date in such analyses.
+
+At length, after much work with acids, filtration, and distillation,
+we determined that a neurotic had been employed, and that its action
+on the vasomotor system of the nerves was very similar, if not
+identical, with nitrate of amyl.
+
+Further than that, even Tatham, expert in such matters, could not
+proceed. Hours of hard work resulted in that conclusion, and with it
+we were compelled to be satisfied.
+
+In due course the inquest was held at Shadwell, and with Ambler I
+attended as a witness. The reporters, of course, expected a sensation;
+but, on the contrary, our evidence went to show that, as the poisonous
+substance was found in the "quartern" bottle on deceased's table,
+death was in all probability due to suicide.
+
+Some members of the jury took an opposite view. Then the letters we
+had found concealed were produced by the police, and, of course,
+created a certain amount of interest. But to the readers of newspapers
+the poisoning of a costermonger at Shadwell is of little interest as
+compared with a similar catastrophe in that quarter of London vaguely
+known as "the West End." The letters were suspicious, and both coroner
+and jury accepted them as evidence that Lane was engaged upon an
+elaborate scheme of blackmail.
+
+"Who is this Mary Courtenay, who writes to him from Neneford?"
+inquired the coroner of the inspector.
+
+"Well, sir," the latter responded, "the writer herself is dead. She
+was found drowned a few days ago near her home under suspicious
+circumstances."
+
+Then the reporters commenced to realize that something extraordinary
+was underlying the inquiry.
+
+"Ah!" remarked the coroner, one of the most acute officials of his
+class. "Then, in face of this, her letter seems to be more than
+curious. For aught we know the tragedy at Neneford may have been
+wilful murder; and we have now the suicide of the assassin?"
+
+"That, sir, is the police theory," replied the inspector.
+
+"Police theory be hanged!" ejaculated Ambler, almost loud enough to be
+heard. "The police know nothing of the case, and will never learn
+anything. If the jury are content to accept such an explanation, and
+brand poor Lane as a murderer, they must be allowed to do so."
+
+I knew Jevons held coroners' juries in the most supreme contempt;
+sometimes rather unreasonably so, I thought.
+
+"Well," the coroner said, "this is certainly remarkable evidence," and
+he turned the dead woman's letter over in his hand. "It is quite plain
+that the deceased approached the lady ostensibly to give her warning
+of some danger, but really to blackmail her; for what reason does not
+at present appear. He may have feared her threat to give information
+to the police; hence his crime, and subsequent suicide."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Jevons in my ear. "They are actually trying the
+dead man for a crime he could not possibly have committed! They've got
+hold of the wrong end of the stick, as usual. Why don't they give a
+verdict of suicide and have done with it. We can't afford to waste a
+whole day explaining theories to a set of uneducated gentlemen of the
+Whitechapel Road. The English law is utterly ridiculous where
+coroners' juries are concerned."
+
+The coroner heard his whispering, and looked towards us severely.
+
+"We have not had sufficient time to investigate the whole of the facts
+connected with Mrs. Courtenay's mysterious death," the inspector went
+on. "You will probably recollect, sir, a mystery down at Kew some
+little time ago. It was fully reported in the papers, and created
+considerable sensation--an old gentleman was murdered under remarkable
+circumstances. Well, sir, the gentleman in question was Mrs.
+Courtenay's husband."
+
+The coroner sat back in his chair and stared at the officer who had
+spoken, while in the court a great sensation was caused. Mention of
+the Kew Mystery brought its details vividly back to the minds of
+everyone. Yes. After all, the death of that poor costermonger, Lanky
+Lane, was of greater public interest than the representatives of the
+Press anticipated.
+
+"Are you quite certain of this?" the coroner queried.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am here by the direction of the Chief Inspector of
+Scotland Yard to give evidence. I was engaged upon the case at Kew,
+and have also made inquiries into the mystery at Neneford."
+
+"Then you have suspicion that the deceased was--well, a person of bad
+character?"
+
+"We have."
+
+"Fools!" growled Ambler. "Lane was a policeman's 'nose,' and often
+obtained payment from Scotland Yard for information regarding the
+doings of a certain gang of thieves. And yet they actually declare him
+to be a bad character. Preposterous!"
+
+"Do you apply for an adjournment?"
+
+"No, sir. We anticipate that the verdict will be suicide--the only one
+possible in face of the evidence."
+
+And then, as though the jury were compelled to act upon the
+inspector's suggestion, they returned a simple verdict. "That the
+deceased committed suicide by poisoning while of unsound mind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+SIR BERNARD'S DECISION.
+
+
+For fully a week I saw nothing of Ambler.
+
+Sir Bernard was unwell, and remained down at Hove; therefore I was
+compelled to attend to his practice. There were several serious cases,
+the patients being persons of note; thus I was kept very busy.
+
+My friend's silence was puzzling. I wrote to him, but received no
+response. A wire to his office in the City elicited the fact that Mr.
+Jevons was out of town. Probably he was still pursuing the inquiry he
+had so actively taken up. Nevertheless, I was dissatisfied that he
+should leave me so entirely in the dark as to his intentions and
+discoveries.
+
+Ethelwynn came to town for the day, and I spent several hours shopping
+with her. She was strangely nervous, and all the old spontaneous
+gaiety seemed to have left her. She had read in the papers of the
+curious connection between the death of the man Lane and that of her
+unfortunate sister; therefore our conversation was mainly upon the
+river mystery. Sometimes she seemed ill at ease with me, as though
+fearing some discovery. Perhaps, however, it was merely my fancy.
+
+I loved her. She was all the world to me; and yet in her eyes I seemed
+to read some hidden secret which she was endeavouring, with all the
+power at her command, to conceal. In such circumstances there was
+bound to arise between us a certain reserve that we had not before
+known. Her conversation was carried on in a mechanical manner, as
+though distracted by her inner thoughts; and when, after having tea
+together in Bond Street, we drove to the station, and I saw her off on
+her return to Neneford, my mind was full of darkest apprehensions.
+
+Yes. That interview convinced me more than ever that she was, in some
+manner, cognisant of the truth. The secret existence of old Mr.
+Courtenay, the man whom I myself had pronounced dead, was the crowning
+point of the strange affair; and yet I felt by some inward intuition
+that this fact was not unknown to her.
+
+All the remarkable events of that moonlit night when I had followed
+husband and wife along the river-bank came back to me, and I saw
+vividly the old man's face, haggard and drawn, just as it had been in
+life. Surely there could be no stranger current of events than those
+which formed the Seven Secrets. They were beyond explanation--all of
+them. I knew nothing. I had certainly seen results; but I knew not
+their cause.
+
+Nitrate of amyl was not a drug which a costermonger would select with
+a view to committing suicide. Indeed, I daresay few of my readers,
+unless they are doctors or chemists, have ever before heard of it.
+Therefore my own conclusion, fully endorsed by the erratic Ambler,
+was that the poor fellow had been secretly poisoned.
+
+Nearly a fortnight passed, and I heard nothing of Ambler. He was still
+"out of town." Day by day passed, but nothing of note transpired. Sir
+Bernard was still suffering from a slight touch of sciatica at home,
+and on visiting him one Sunday I found him confined to his bed,
+grumbling and peevish. He was eccentric in his miserly habits and his
+hatred of society, beyond doubt; and the absurdities which his enemies
+attributed to him were not altogether unfounded. But he had, at all
+events, the rare quality of entertaining for his profession a respect
+nearly akin to enthusiasm. Indeed, according to his views, the faculty
+possessed almost infallible qualities. In confidence he had more than
+once admitted to me that certain of his colleagues practising in
+Harley Street were amazing donkeys; but he would never have allowed
+anyone else to say so. From the moment a man acquired that diploma
+which gave him the right over life and death, that man became, in his
+eyes, an august personage for the world at large. It was a crime, he
+thought, for a patient not to submit to his decision, and certainly it
+must be admitted that his success in the treatment of nervous
+disorders had been most remarkable.
+
+"You were at that lecture by Deboutin, of Paris, the other day!" he
+exclaimed to me suddenly, while I was seated at his bedside describing
+the work I had been doing for him in London. "Why didn't you tell me
+you were going there?"
+
+"I went quite unexpectedly--with a friend."
+
+"With whom?"
+
+"Ambler Jevons."
+
+"Oh, that detective fellow!" laughed the old physician. "Well," he
+added, "it was all very interesting, wasn't it?"
+
+"Very--especially your own demonstrations. I had no idea that you were
+in correspondence with Deboutin."
+
+He laughed; then, with a knowing look, said:
+
+"Ah, my dear fellow, nowadays it doesn't do to tell anyone of your own
+researches. The only way is to spring it upon the profession as a
+great triumph: just as Koch did his cure for tuberculosis. One must
+create an impression, if only with a quack remedy. The day of the
+steady plodder is past; it's all hustle, even in medicine."
+
+"Well, you certainly did make an impression," I said, smiling. "Your
+experiments were a revelation to the profession. They were talking of
+them at the hospital only yesterday."
+
+"H'm. They thought me an old fogey, eh? But, you see, I've been
+keeping pace with the times, Boyd. A man to succeed nowadays must make
+a boom with something, it matters not what. For years I've been
+experimenting in secret, and some day I will show them further results
+of my researches--and they will come upon the profession like a
+thunderclap, staggering belief."
+
+The old man chuckled to himself as he thought of his scientific
+triumph, and how one day he would give forth to the world a truth
+hitherto unsuspected.
+
+We chatted for a long time, mostly upon technicalities which cannot
+interest the reader, until suddenly he said:
+
+"I'm getting old, Boyd. These constant attacks I have render me unfit
+to go to town and sit in judgment on that pack of silly women who rush
+to consult me whenever they have a headache or an erring husband. I
+think that very soon I ought to retire. I've done sufficient hard work
+all the years since I was a 'locum' down in Oxfordshire. I'm worn
+out."
+
+"Oh, no," I said. "You mustn't retire yet. If you did, the profession
+would lose one of its most brilliant men."
+
+"Enough of compliments," he snapped, turning wearily on his pillow.
+"I'm sick to death of it all. Better to retire while I have fame, than
+to outlive it. When I give up you will step into my shoes, Boyd, and
+it will be a good thing for you."
+
+Such a suggestion was quite unexpected. I had never dreamed that he
+contemplated handing over his practice to me. Certainly it would be a
+good thing for me if he did. It would give me a chance such as few men
+ever had. True, I was well known to his patients and had worked hard
+in his interests, but that he intended to hand his practice over to me
+I had never contemplated. Hence I thanked him most heartily. Yes, Sir
+Bernard had been my benefactor always.
+
+"All the women know you," he went on in his snappish way. "You are the
+only man to take my place. They would come to you; but not to a new
+man. All I can hope is that they won't bore you with their domestic
+troubles--as they have done me," and he smiled.
+
+"Oh," I said. "More than once I, too, have been compelled to listen to
+the domestic secrets of certain households. It really is astonishing
+what a woman will tell her doctor, even though he may be young."
+
+The old man laughed again.
+
+"Ah!" he sighed. "You don't know women as I know them, Boyd. You've
+got your experience to gain. Then you'll hold them in abhorrence--just
+as I do. They call me a woman-hater," he grunted. "Perhaps I am--for
+I've had cause to hold the feminine mind and the feminine passion
+equally in contempt."
+
+"Well," I laughed, "there's not a man in London who is more qualified
+to speak from personal experience than yourself. So I anticipate a
+pretty rough time when I've had years of it, as you have."
+
+"And yet you want to marry!" he snapped, looking me straight in the
+face. "Of course, you love Ethelwynn Mivart. Every man at your age
+loves. It is a malady that occurs in the 'teens and declines in the
+thirties. I should have thought that your affection of the heart had
+been about cured. It is surely time it was."
+
+"It is true that I love Ethelwynn," I declared, rather annoyed, "and I
+intend to marry her."
+
+"If you do, then you'll spoil all your chances of success. The class
+of women who are my patients would much rather consult a confirmed
+bachelor than a man who has a jealous wife hanging to his coat-tails.
+The doctor's wife must always be a long-suffering person."
+
+I smiled; and then our conversation turned upon his proposed
+retirement, which was to take place in six months' time.
+
+I returned to London by the last train, and on entering my room found
+a telegram from Ambler making an appointment to call on the following
+evening. The message was dated from Eastbourne, and was the first I
+had received from him for some days.
+
+Next morning I sat in Sir Bernard's consulting-room as usual,
+receiving patients, and the afternoon I spent on the usual hospital
+round. About six o'clock Ambler arrived, drank a brandy and soda with
+a reflective air, and then suggested that we might dine together at
+the Cavour--a favourite haunt of his.
+
+At table I endeavoured to induce him to explain his movements and what
+he had discovered; but he was still disinclined to tell me anything.
+He worked always in secret, and until facts were clear said nothing.
+It was a peculiarity of his to remain dumb, even to his most intimate
+friends concerning any inquiries he was making. He was a man of moods,
+with an active mind and a still tongue--two qualities essential to the
+successful unravelling of mysteries.
+
+Having finished dinner we lit cigars, and took a cab back to my rooms.
+On passing along Harley Street it suddenly occurred to me that in the
+morning I had left a case of instruments in Sir Bernard's
+consulting-room, and that I might require them for one of my patients
+if called that night.
+
+Therefore I stopped the cab, dismissed it, and knocked at Sir
+Bernard's door. Ford, on opening it, surprised me by announcing that
+his master, whom I had left in bed on the previous night, had returned
+to town suddenly, but was engaged.
+
+Ambler waited in the hall, while I passed along to the door of the
+consulting-room with the intention of asking permission to enter, as I
+always did when Sir Bernard was engaged with a patient.
+
+On approaching the door, however, I was startled by hearing a woman's
+voice raised in angry, reproachful words, followed immediately by the
+sound of a scuffle, and then a stifled cry. Without further hesitation
+I turned the handle.
+
+The door was locked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH.
+
+
+A sudden idea occurred to me, and I acted instantly upon its impulse.
+There was a second entrance through the morning room; and I dashed
+round to the other door, which fortunately yielded.
+
+The sight that met my gaze was absolutely staggering. I stood upon the
+threshold aghast. Sir Bernard, his dark eyes starting from his ashen
+face, stood, holding a woman within his grasp, pinning her to the
+wall, and struggling to cover her mouth with his hands and prevent her
+cries from being overheard.
+
+The woman was none other than Ethelwynn.
+
+At my unexpected entry he released his hold, shrinking back with a
+wild, fierce look in his face, such as I had never before seen.
+
+"Ralph!" cried my love, rushing forward and clinging to my neck.
+"Ralph! For God's sake save me from that fiend! Save me!"
+
+I put my arm around her to protect her, at the same instant shouting
+to Jevons, who entered, as much astounded as myself. My love had
+evidently come to town and kept an appointment with the old man. The
+situation was startling, and required explanation.
+
+"Tell me, Ethelwynn," I said, in a hard, stern voice. "What does all
+this mean?"
+
+She drew herself up and tried to face me firmly, but was unable. I had
+burst in upon her unexpectedly, and she seemed to fear how much of the
+conversation I had overheard.
+
+Noticing her silence, my friend Jevons addressed her, saying:
+
+"Miss Mivart, you are aware of all the circumstances of the tragedy at
+Kew. Please explain them. Only by frank admission can you clear
+yourself, remember. To prevaricate further is quite useless."
+
+She glanced at the cringing old fellow standing on the further side of
+the room--the man who had raised his hand against her. Then, with a
+sudden resolution, she spoke, saying:
+
+"It is true that I am aware of many facts which have been until to-day
+kept secret. But now that I know the horrible truth they shall remain
+mysteries no longer. I have been the victim of a long and dastardly
+persecution, but I now hope to clear my honour before you, Ralph, and
+before my Creator." Then she paused, and, taking breath and drawing
+herself up straight with an air of determined resolution, went on:
+
+"First, let us go back to the days soon after Mary's marriage. I think
+it was about a year after the wedding when I suddenly noticed a change
+in her. Her intellect seemed somehow weakened. Hitherto she had
+possessed a strong, well-defined character; this suddenly developed
+into a weak, almost childish balance of the brain. Instead of
+possessing a will of her own, she was no longer the mistress of her
+actions, but as easily led as an infant. Only to myself and to my
+mother was this change apparent. To all her friends and acquaintances
+she was just the same. About that time she consulted this man
+here--Sir Bernard Eyton, her husband's friend--regarding some other
+ailment, and he no doubt at once detected that her intellect had given
+way. Although devoted to her husband, nevertheless the influence of
+any friend of the moment was irresistible, and for that reason she
+drifted into the pleasure-seeking set in town."
+
+"But the tragedy?" Jevons exclaimed. "Tell us of that. My own
+inquiries show that you are aware of it all. Mrs. Courtenay murdered
+her husband, I know."
+
+"Mary----the assassin!" I gasped.
+
+"Alas! it is too true. Now that my poor sister is dead, concealment is
+no longer necessary," my love responded, with a deep sigh. "Mary
+killed her husband. She returned home, entered the house secretly,
+and, ascending to his room, struck him to the heart."
+
+"But the wound--how was it inflicted?" I demanded eagerly.
+
+"With that pair of long, sharp-pointed scissors which used to be on
+poor Henry's writing-table. You remember them. They were about eight
+inches long, with ivory handles and a red morocco case. The wound
+puzzled you, but to me it seems plain that, after striking the blow,
+in an endeavour to extricate the weapon she opened it and closed it
+again, thereby inflicting those internal injuries that were so
+minutely described at the inquest. Well, on that night I heard a
+sound, and, fearing that the invalid wanted something, crept from my
+room. As I gained the door I met Mary upon the threshold. She stood
+facing me with a weird, fixed look, and in her hand was the weapon
+with which she had killed her husband. That awful moment is fixed
+indelibly upon my memory. I shall carry its recollection to the grave.
+I dashed quickly into the room, and to my horror saw what had
+occurred. Then my thoughts were for Mary--to conceal her guilt.
+Whispering to her to obey me I led her downstairs, through the back
+premises, and so out into the street. A cab was passing, and I put her
+into it, telling the man to drive to the Hennikers', with whom she had
+been spending the evening. Then, cleaning the scissors of blood by
+thrusting them several times into the mould of a garden I was passing,
+I crossed the road and tossed them over the high wall into the thick
+undergrowth which flanks Kew Gardens. At that spot I felt certain that
+they would never be discovered. As quickly as possible I re-entered
+the house, secured the door by which I had made my exit, and returned
+again to my room with the awful knowledge of my sister's crime upon my
+conscience."
+
+"What hour was that?"
+
+"When I retired again to bed my watch showed that it was barely
+half-past one. At two o'clock Short, awakened by his alarum clock,
+made the discovery and aroused the house. What followed you know well
+enough. I need not describe it. You can imagine what I felt, and how
+guilty was my conscience with the awful knowledge of it all."
+
+"The circumstances were certainly most puzzling," I remarked. "It
+almost appears as though matters were cleverly arranged in order to
+baffle detection."
+
+"To a certain extent they undoubtedly were. I knew that the
+Hennikers would say nothing of poor Mary's erratic return to them.
+I did all in my power to withdraw suspicion from my sister, at the
+risk of it falling upon myself. You suspected me, Ralph. And only
+naturally--after that letter you discovered."
+
+"But Mary's homicidal tendency seems to have been carefully
+concealed," I said. "I recollect having detected in her a strange
+vagueness of manner, but it never occurred to me that she was mentally
+weak. In the days immediately preceding the tragedy I certainly saw
+but little of her. She was out nearly every evening."
+
+"She was not responsible for her actions for several weeks together
+sometimes," Sir Bernard interrupted. "I discovered it over a year
+ago."
+
+"And you profited by your discovery!" my love cried, turning upon him
+fiercely. "The crime was committed at your instigation!" she declared.
+
+"At my instigation!" he echoed, with a dry laugh. "I suppose you will
+say next that I hypnotised her--or some bunkum of that sort!"
+
+"I'm no believer in hypnotic theories. They were exploded long ago,"
+she answered. "But what I do believe--nay, what is positively proved
+from my poor sister's own lips by a statement made before
+witnesses--is that you were the instigator of the crime. You met her
+by appointment that night at Kew Bridge. You opened the door of the
+house for her, and you compelled her to go in and commit the deed.
+Although demented, she recollected it all in her saner moments. You
+told her terrible stories of old Mr. Courtenay, for whom you had
+feigned such friendship, and for weeks you urged her to kill him
+secretly until, in the frenzy of insanity to which you had brought
+her, she carried out your design with all that careful ingenuity that
+is so often characteristic of madness."
+
+"You lie, woman!" the old man snapped. "I had nothing whatever to do
+with the affair! I was at home at Hove on that night."
+
+"No! no! you were not," interrupted Jevons. "Your memory requires
+refreshing. Reflect a moment, and you'll find that you arrived at
+Brighton Station at seven o'clock next morning from Victoria. You
+spent the night in London; and further, you were recognised by a
+police inspector walking along the Chiswick Road as early as half-past
+three. I have not been idle, Sir Bernard, and have spent a good deal
+of time at Hove of late."
+
+"What do you allege, then?" he cried in fierce anger, a dark, evil
+expression on his pale, drawn face. "I suppose you'll declare that
+I'm a murderer next!"
+
+"I allege that, at your instigation, a serious and desperate attempt
+was made, a short time ago, upon the life of my friend Boyd by
+ruffians who were well paid by you."
+
+"Another lie!" he blurted forth defiantly.
+
+"What?" I cried. "Is that the truth, Ambler? Was I entrapped at the
+instigation of this man?"
+
+"Yes. He had reasons for getting rid of you--as you will discern
+later."
+
+"I tell you it's an untruth!" shouted the old man, in a frenzy of
+rage.
+
+"Deny it if you will," answered my friend, with a nonchalant air. "It,
+however, may be interesting to you to know that the man 'Lanky Lane,'
+one of the desperate gang whom you bribed to call up Boyd on the night
+in question, is what is known at Scotland Yard as a policeman's
+'nose,' or informer; and that he made a plain statement of the whole
+affair before he fell a victim to your carefully-laid plan by which
+his lips were sealed."
+
+In an instant I recollected that the costermonger of the London Road
+was one of the ruffians.
+
+The old man's lips compressed. He saw that he was cornered.
+
+The revelation that to his clever cunning was due the many remarkable
+features of the mystery held me utterly bewildered. At first it seemed
+impossible; but as the discussion grew more heated, and the facts
+poured forth from the mouth of the woman I loved, and from the man
+who was my best friend, I became convinced that at last the whole of
+the mysterious affair would be elucidated.
+
+One point, however, still puzzled me, namely, the inexplicable scene I
+had witnessed on the bank of the Nene.
+
+I referred to it; whereupon Ambler Jevons drew from his breast-pocket
+two photographs, and, holding them before the eyes of the trembling
+old man, said:
+
+"You recognise these? For a long time past I've been making inquiries
+into your keen interest in amateur theatricals. My information led me
+to Curtis's, the wigmakers; and they furnished me with this picture,
+showing you made up as as Henry Courtenay. It seems that, under the
+name of Slade, you furnished them with a portrait of the dead man and
+ordered the disguise to be copied exactly--a fact to which a dozen
+witnesses are prepared to swear. This caused me to wonder what game
+you were playing, and, after watching, I found that on certain nights
+you wore the disguise--a most complete and excellent one--and with it
+imposed upon the unfortunate widow of weak intellect. You posed as her
+husband, and she believed you to be him. So completely was the woman
+in your thrall that you actually led her to believe that Courtenay was
+not dead after all! You had a deeper game to play. It was a clever and
+daring piece of imposture. Representing yourself as her husband who,
+for financial reasons, had been compelled to disappear and was
+believed to be dead, you had formed a plan whereby to obtain the
+widow's fortune as soon as the executors had given her complete
+mastery of it. You had arranged it all with her. She was to pose as a
+widow, mourn your loss, and then sell the Devonshire estate and hand
+you the money, believing you to be her husband and rightly entitled to
+it. The terrible crime which the unfortunate woman had committed at
+your instigation had turned her brain, as you anticipated, and she,
+docile and half-witted, was entirely beneath your influence until----"
+and he paused.
+
+"Until what?" I asked, utterly astounded at this remarkable
+explanation of what I had considered to be an absolutely inexplicable
+phenomenon.
+
+He spoke again, quite calmly:
+
+"Until this man, to his dismay, found that poor Mrs. Courtenay's
+intellect was regaining its strength. They met beside the river, and,
+her brain suddenly regaining its balance, she discovered the ingenious
+fraud he was imposing upon her." Turning to Sir Bernard, he said, "She
+tore off your disguise and declared that she would go to the police
+and tell the truth of the whole circumstances--how that you had
+induced her to go to the house in Kew and kill her husband. You saw
+that your game was up if she were not silenced; therefore, without
+further ado, you sent the poor woman to her last account."
+
+"You lie!" the old man cried, his drawn face blanched to the lips.
+"She fell in--accidentally."
+
+"She did not. You threw her in," declared Ambler Jevons, firmly. "I
+followed you there. I was witness of the scene between you; and,
+although too far off to save poor Mrs. Courtenay, I was witness of
+your crime!"
+
+"You!" he gasped, glaring at my companion in fear, as though he
+foresaw the horror of his punishment.
+
+"Yes!" responded Jevons, in his dry, matter-of-fact voice, his sleepy
+eyes brightening for a moment. "Since the day of the tragedy at Kew
+until this afternoon I have never relinquished the inquiry. The Seven
+Secrets I took one by one, and gradually penetrated them, at the same
+time keeping always near you and watching your movements when you
+least expected it. But enough--I never reveal my methods. Suffice it
+to say that in this I have succeeded by sheer patience and
+application. Every word of my allegation I am prepared to substantiate
+in due course at the Old Bailey." Then, after a second's pause, he
+looked straight at the culprit standing there, crushed and dumb before
+him, and declared: "Sir Bernard Eyton, you are a murderer!"
+
+With my love's hand held in mine I stood speechless at those
+staggering revelations. I saw how Ethelwynn watched the contortions of
+the old doctor's face with secret satisfaction, for he had ever been
+her enemy, just as he had been mine. He had uttered those libellous
+hints regarding her with a view to parting us, so as to give him
+greater freedom to work his will with poor Mary. Then, when he had
+feared that through my love I had obtained knowledge of his dastardly
+offence, he had made an attempt upon my life by means of hired
+ruffians. The woman who had been in his drawing-room at Hove on the
+occasion of my visit was Mary, as I afterwards found out, and the
+attractive young person in the Brighton train had also been a caller
+at his house in connection with the attempt planned to be made upon
+me.
+
+"You--you intend to arrest me?" Sir Bernard gasped at last, with some
+difficulty, his brow like ivory beneath the tight-drawn skin. A change
+had come over him, and he was standing with his back to a bookcase,
+swaying unsteadily as though he must fall.
+
+"I certainly do," was Ambler Jevons' prompt response. "You have been
+the means of committing a double murder for the purposes of
+gain--because you knew that your friend Courtenay had left a will in
+your favour in the event of his wife's decease. That will has already
+been proved; but perhaps it may interest you to know that the latest
+and therefore the valid will is in my own possession, I having found
+it during a search of the dead man's effects in company with my friend
+Boyd. It is dated only a month before his death, and leaves the
+fortune to the widow, and in the event of her death to her sister
+Ethelwynn."
+
+"To me!" cried my love, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, Miss Ethelwynn. Everything is left to you unreservedly," he
+explained. Then, turning again to the clever impostor before him, he
+added: "You will therefore recognise that all your plotting, so well
+matured and so carefully planned that your demoniacal ingenuity
+almost surpasses the comprehension of man, has been in vain. By the
+neglect of one small detail, namely to sufficiently disguise your
+identity when dealing with Curtis, I have been enabled, after a long
+and tedious search, to fix you as the man who on several occasions was
+made up to present in the night the appearance of the dead Courtenay.
+The work has taken me many tedious weeks. I visited every wig-maker
+and half the hairdressers in London unsuccessfully until, by mere
+chance, the ruffian whom you employed to entrap my friend Boyd gave me
+a clue to the fact that Curtis made wigs as well as theatrical
+costumes. The inquiry has been a long and hazardous one," he went on.
+"But from the very first I was determined to get at the bottom of the
+mystery, cost me what it might--and I have fortunately succeeded."
+Then, turning again to the cringing wretch, upon whom the terrible
+denunciation had fallen as a thunderbolt, he added: "The forgiveness
+of man, Sir Bernard Eyton, you will never obtain. It has been ever law
+that the murderer shall die--and you will be no exception."
+
+The effect of those words upon the guilty man was almost electrical.
+He drew himself up stiffly, his keen, wild eyes starting from his
+blanched face as he glared at his accuser. His lips moved. No sound,
+however, came from them. The muscles of his jaws seemed to suddenly
+become paralysed, for he was unable to close his mouth. He stood for a
+moment, an awful spectacle, the brand of Cain upon him. A strange
+gurgling sound escaped him, as though he were trying to articulate,
+but was unable; then he made wild signs with both his hands, clutched
+suddenly at the air, and fell forward in a fit.
+
+I went to him, loosened his collar, and applied restoratives, but in
+ten minutes I saw that he was beyond human aid. What I had at first
+believed to be a fit was a sudden cessation of the functions of the
+heart--caused by wild excitement and the knowledge that punishment was
+upon him.
+
+Within fifteen minutes of that final accusation the old man lay back
+upon the carpet lifeless, struck dead by natural causes at the moment
+that his crimes had become revealed.
+
+Thus were the Seven Secrets explained; and thus were the Central
+Criminal Court and the public spared what would have been one of the
+most sensational trials of modern times.
+
+The papers on Monday reported "with deepest regret" the sudden death
+from heart disease of Sir Bernard Eyton, whom they termed "one of the
+greatest and most skilful physicians of modern times."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Just two years have passed since that memorable evening.
+
+You, my reader, are probably curious to know whether I have succeeded
+in obtaining the quiet country practice that was my ideal. Well, yes,
+I have. And what is more, I have obtained in Ethelwynn a wife who is
+devoted to me and beloved by all the countryside--a wife who is the
+very perfection of all that is noble and good in woman. The Courtenay
+estate is ours; but I am not an idle man. Somehow I cannot be.
+
+My practice? Where is it? Well, it is in Leicestershire. I dare not be
+more explicit, for Ethelwynn has urged me to conceal our identity, in
+order that we may not be remarked as a couple whose wooing was so
+strangely tragic and romantic.
+
+Ambler Jevons still carries on his tea-blending business in the City,
+the most confirmed of bachelors, and the shrewdest of all criminal
+investigators. Even though we have been so intimate for years, and he
+often visits me at ---- I was nearly, by a slip, writing the name of
+the Leicestershire village--he has never explained to me his methods,
+and seldom, if ever, speaks of those wonderful successes by which
+Scotland Yard is so frequently glad to profit.
+
+Only a few days ago, while we were sitting on the lawn behind my
+quaint old-fashioned house awaiting dinner, I chanced to remark upon
+the happiness which his ingenuity and perseverance had brought me;
+whereupon, turning to me with a slight, reflective smile, he replied:
+
+"Ah, yes! Ralph, old fellow. I gave up that problem in despair fully a
+dozen times, and it was only because I knew that the future happiness
+of you both depended upon its satisfactory solution that I began
+afresh and strove on, determined not to be beaten. I watched
+carefully, not only Eyton, but Ethelwynn and yourself. I was often
+near you when you least suspected my presence. But that crafty old
+scoundrel was possessed of the ingenuity of Satan himself, combined
+with all the shrewd qualities that go to make a good detective; hence
+in every movement, every wile, and every action he was careful to
+cover himself, so that he could establish an _alibi_ on every point.
+For that reason the work was extremely difficult. He was a veritable
+artist in crime. Yes," he added, "of the many inquiries I've taken up,
+the most curious and most complicated of them all was that of The
+Seven Secrets."
+
+THE END.
+
+PRINTED BY A. C. FOWLER, MOORFIELDS, E.C., AND SHOREDITCH, E.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors;
+otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's
+words and intent.
+
+
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+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
+
+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 Seven Secrets
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2008 [EBook #27549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN SECRETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>The Seven Secrets</h1>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM LE QUEUX</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Author of &#8220;The Gamblers,&#8221; &#8220;The Under-Secretary,&#8221; &#8220;Whoso findeth a Wife,&#8221;<br />
+&#8220;Of Royal Blood,&#8221; etc.</i></p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h4><i>Second Edition</i></h4>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>London:</h3>
+<h2>HUTCHINSON &amp; CO.</h2>
+<h3>PATERNOSTER ROW</h3>
+<h3>1903</h3>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">A. C. FOWLER,<br />
+PRINTER,<br />
+MOORFIELDS, LONDON.</p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<div class="centerbox bbox">
+
+<h3>WILLIAM LE QUEUX&#8217;S NOVELS.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr.
+William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The
+Athen&aelig;um.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of
+mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux&#8217;s most
+ardent admirers. Long ago, when his &#8216;Zoraida&#8217; was issued, she gave an
+order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux&#8217;s
+books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer&#8217;s
+books reaches her.&#8221;&mdash;<i>The Queen.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that
+of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the
+most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day.
+His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the
+string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until
+the end is reached and everything made clear.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. William Le Queux&#8217;s name is favourably known to all readers of
+sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds
+his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that
+light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or
+the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament.&#8221;&mdash;<i>Daily
+News.</i></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mr. William Le Queux&#8217;s novels are one of my chief foibles. I can
+always read his stories greedily, and &#8216;Free Lancers&#8217; should buy his
+books.&#8221;&mdash;Mr. <span class="smcap">Clement Scott</span> in the <i>Free Lance.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Crown 8vo, 6s.</i></p>
+
+<p class="left">THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition.</p>
+
+<p class="left">THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition.</p>
+
+<p class="left">OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">CHAPTER</td>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I.</td>
+<td align="left">INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#THE_SEVEN_SECRETS">9</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II.</td>
+<td align="left">&#8220;A VERY UGLY SECRET&#8221;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">15</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III.</td>
+<td align="left">THE COURTENAYS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">20</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV.</td>
+<td align="left">A NIGHT CALL</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">27</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V.</td>
+<td align="left">DISCLOSES A MYSTERY</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">33</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI.</td>
+<td align="left">IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">43</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII.</td>
+<td align="left">THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">54</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII.</td>
+<td align="left">AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">65</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX.</td>
+<td align="left">SHADOWS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">76</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X.</td>
+<td align="left">WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">87</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI.</td>
+<td align="left">CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">98</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII.</td>
+<td align="left">I RECEIVE A VISITOR</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">109</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIII.</td>
+<td align="left">MY LOVE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">119</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIV.</td>
+<td align="left">IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">128</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XV.</td>
+<td align="left">I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">139</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVI.</td>
+<td align="left">REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">150</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVII.</td>
+<td align="left">DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">162</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVIII.</td>
+<td align="left">WORDS OF THE DEAD</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">173</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIX.</td>
+<td align="left">JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">183</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XX.</td>
+<td align="left">MY NEW PATIENT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">194</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXI.</td>
+<td align="left">WOMAN&#8217;S WILES</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">203</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXII.</td>
+<td align="left">A MESSAGE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">215</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXIII.</td>
+<td align="left">THE MYSTERY OF MARY</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">226</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXIV.</td>
+<td align="left">ETHELWYNN IS SILENT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">236</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXV.</td>
+<td align="left">FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">249</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXVI.</td>
+<td align="left">AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">256</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXVII.</td>
+<td align="left">MR. LANE&#8217;S ROMANCE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">274</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXVIII.</td>
+<td align="left">&#8220;POOR MRS. COURTENAY!&#8221;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">281</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXIX.</td>
+<td align="left">THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">290</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXX.</td>
+<td align="left">SIR BERNARD&#8217;S DECISION</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">298</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XXXI.</td>
+<td align="left">CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">306</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_SEVEN_SECRETS" id="THE_SEVEN_SECRETS"></a>THE SEVEN SECRETS.</h2>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! You don&#8217;t take the matter at all seriously!&#8221; I observed, a trifle
+annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why should I?&#8221; asked my friend, Ambler Jevons, with a deep pull at
+his well-coloured briar. &#8220;What you&#8217;ve told me shows quite plainly that
+you have in the first place viewed one little circumstance with
+suspicion, then brooded over it until it has become magnified and now
+occupies your whole mind. Take my advice, old chap, and think nothing
+more about it. Why should you make yourself miserable for no earthly
+reason? You&#8217;re a rising man&mdash;hard up like most of us&mdash;but under old
+Eyton&#8217;s wing you&#8217;ve got a brilliant future before you. Unlike myself,
+a mere nobody, struggling against the tide of adversity, you&#8217;re
+already a long way up the medical ladder. If you climb straight you&#8217;ll
+end with an appointment of Physician-in-Ordinary and a knighthood
+thrown in as makeweight. Old Macalister used to prophesy it, you
+remember, when we were up at Edinburgh. Therefore, I can&#8217;t, for the
+life of me, discover any cause why you should allow yourself to have
+these touches of the blues&mdash;unless it&#8217;s liver, or some other <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>internal
+organ about which you know a lot more than I do. Why, man, you&#8217;ve got
+the whole world before you, and as for Ethelwynn&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ethelwynn!&#8221; I ejaculated, starting up from my chair. &#8220;Leave her out
+of the question! We need not discuss her,&#8221; and I walked to the
+mantelshelf to light a fresh cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As you wish, my dear fellow,&#8221; said my merry, easy-going friend. &#8220;I
+merely wish to point out the utter folly of all this suspicion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t suspect her,&#8221; I snapped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t suggest that.&#8221; Then, after a pause during which he smoked on
+vigorously, he suddenly asked, &#8220;Well now, be frank, Ralph, whom do you
+really suspect?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was silent. Truth to tell, his question entirely nonplussed me. I
+had suspicions&mdash;distinct suspicions&mdash;that certain persons surrounding
+me were acting in accord towards some sinister end, but which of those
+persons were culpable I certainly could not determine. It was that
+very circumstance which was puzzling me to the point of distraction.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; I replied. &#8220;That&#8217;s the worst of it. I know that the whole affair
+seems quite absurd, but I must admit that I can&#8217;t fix suspicion upon
+anyone in particular.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jevons laughed outright.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In that case, my dear Boyd, you ought really to see the folly of the
+thing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps I ought, but I don&#8217;t,&#8221; I answered, facing him with my back to
+the fire. &#8220;To you, my most <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>intimate friend, I&#8217;ve explained, in
+strictest confidence, the matter which is puzzling me. I live in
+hourly dread of some catastrophe the nature of which I&#8217;m utterly at a
+loss to determine. Can you define intuition?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My question held him in pensive silence. His manner changed as he
+looked me straight in the face. Unlike his usual careless self&mdash;for
+his was a curious character of the semi-Bohemian order and Savage Club
+type&mdash;he grew serious and thoughtful, regarding me with critical gaze
+after removing his pipe from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he exclaimed at last. &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what it is, Boyd. This
+intuition, or whatever you may call it, is an infernally bad thing for
+you. I&#8217;m your friend&mdash;one of your best and most devoted friends, old
+chap&mdash;and if there&#8217;s anything in it, I&#8217;ll render you whatever help I
+can.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, Ambler,&#8221; I said gratefully, taking his hand. &#8220;I have told
+you all this to-night in order to enlist your sympathy, although I
+scarcely liked to ask your aid. Your life is a busy one&mdash;busier even
+than my own, perhaps&mdash;and you have no desire to be bothered with my
+personal affairs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;On the contrary, old fellow,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Remember that in mystery I&#8217;m
+in my element.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;But at present there is no mystery&mdash;only
+suspicion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>What Ambler Jevons had asserted was a fact. He was an investigator of
+mysteries, making it his hobby just as other men take to collecting
+curios or pictures. About his personal appearance there was nothing
+very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>remarkable. When pre-occupied he had an abrupt, rather brusque
+manner, but at all other times he was a very easy-going man of the
+world, possessor of an ample income left him by his aunt, and this he
+augmented by carrying on, in partnership with an elder man, a
+profitable tea-blending business in Mark Lane.</p>
+
+<p>He had entered the tea trade not because of necessity, but because he
+considered it a bad thing for a man to lead an idle life.
+Nevertheless, the chief object of his existence had always seemed to
+be the unravelling of mysteries of police and crime. Surely few men,
+even those professional investigators at Scotland Yard, held such a
+record of successes. He was a born detective, with a keen scent for
+clues, an ingenuity that was marvellous, and a patience and endurance
+that were inexhaustible. At Scotland Yard the name of Ambler Jevons
+had for several years been synonymous with all that is clever and
+astute in the art of detecting crime.</p>
+
+<p>To be a good criminal investigator a man must be born such. He must be
+physically strong; he must be untiring in his search after truth; he
+must be able to scent a mystery as a hound does a fox, to follow up
+the trail with energy unflagging, and seize opportunities without
+hesitation; he must possess a cool presence of mind, and above all be
+able to calmly distinguish the facts which are of importance in the
+strengthening of the clue from those that are merely superfluous. All
+these, besides other qualities, are necessary for the successful
+penetration of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>criminal mysteries; hence it is that the average
+amateur, who takes up the hobby without any natural instinct, is
+invariably a blunderer.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons, blender of teas and investigator of mysteries, was
+lolling back in my armchair, his dreamy eyes half-closed, smoking on
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Myself, I was thirty-three, and I fear not much of an ornament to the
+medical profession. True, at Edinburgh I had taken my M.B. and C.M.
+with highest honours, and three years later had graduated M.D., but my
+friends thought a good deal more of my success than I did, for they
+overlooked my shortcomings and magnified my talents.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose it was because my father had represented a county
+constituency in the House of Commons, and therefore I possessed that
+very useful advantage which is vaguely termed family influence, that I
+had been appointed assistant physician at Guy&#8217;s. My own practice was
+very small, therefore I devilled, as the lawyers would term it, for my
+chief, Sir Bernard Eyton, knight, the consulting physician to my
+hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Bernard, whom all the smart world of London knew as the first
+specialist in nervous disorders, had his professional headquarters in
+Harley Street, but lived down at Hove, in order to avoid night work or
+the calls which Society made upon him. I lived a stone&#8217;s-throw away
+from his house in Harley Street, just round the corner in Harley
+Place, and it was my duty to take charge of his extensive practice
+during his absence at night or while on holidays.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>I must here declare that my own position was not at all disagreeable.
+True, I sometimes had night work, which is never very pleasant, but
+being one of the evils of the life of every medical man he accepts it
+as such. I had very comfortable bachelor quarters in an ancient and
+rather grimy house, with an old fashioned dark-panelled sitting-room,
+a dining-room, bedroom and dressing-room, and, save for the fact that
+I was compelled to be on duty after four o&#8217;clock, when Sir Bernard
+drove to Victoria Station, my time in the evening was very much my
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Many a man would, I suppose, have envied me. It is not every day that
+a first-class physician requires an assistant, and certainly no man
+could have been more generous and kindly disposed than Sir Bernard
+himself, even though his character was something of the miser. Yet all
+of us find some petty shortcomings in the good things of this world,
+and I was no exception. Sometimes I grumbled, but generally, be it
+said, without much cause.</p>
+
+<p>Truth to tell, a mysterious feeling of insecurity had been gradually
+creeping upon me through several months; indeed ever since I had
+returned from a holiday in Scotland in the spring. I could not define
+it, not really knowing what had excited the curious apprehensions
+within me. Nevertheless, I had that night told my secret to Ambler
+Jevons, who was often my visitor of an evening, and over our whiskies
+had asked his advice, with the unsatisfactory result which I have
+already written down.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>&#8220;A VERY UGLY SECRET.&#8221;</h3>
+
+<p>The consulting-room in Harley Street, where Sir Bernard Eyton saw his
+patients and gathered in his guineas for his ill-scribbled
+prescriptions, differed little from a hundred others in the same
+severe and depressing thoroughfare.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very sombre apartment. The walls were painted dark green and
+hung with two or three old portraits in oils; the furniture was of a
+style long past, heavy and covered in brown morocco, and the big
+writing-table, behind which the great doctor would sit blinking at his
+patient through the circular gold-rimmed glasses, that gave him a
+somewhat Teutonic appearance, was noted for its prim neatness and
+orderly array. On the one side was an adjustable couch; on the other a
+bookcase with glass doors containing a number of instruments which
+were, however, not visible because of curtains of green silk behind
+the glass.</p>
+
+<p>Into that room, on three days a week, Ford, the severely respectable
+footman, ushered in patients one after the other, many of them Society
+women suffering from what is known in these degenerate days as
+&#8220;nerves.&#8221; Indeed, Eyton was <i>par excellence</i> a ladies&#8217; doctor, for so
+many of the gentler sex get burnt up in the mad rush of a London
+season.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>I had made up my mind to consult my chief, and with that object
+entered his room on the following afternoon at a quarter before four.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Boyd, anything fresh?&#8221; he asked, putting off his severely
+professional air and lolling back in his padded writing-chair as I
+entered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, nothing,&#8221; I responded, throwing myself in the patient&#8217;s chair
+opposite him and tossing my gloves on the table. &#8220;A hard day down at
+the hospital, that&#8217;s all. You&#8217;ve been busy as usual, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Busy!&#8221; the old man echoed, &#8220;why, these confounded women never let me
+alone for a single instant! Always the same story&mdash;excitement, late
+hours, little worries over erring husbands, and all that sort of
+thing. I always know what&#8217;s coming as soon as they get seated and
+settled. I really don&#8217;t know what Society&#8217;s coming to, Boyd,&#8221; and he
+blinked over at me through his heavy-framed spectacles.</p>
+
+<p>About sixty, of middle height, he was slightly inclined to rotundity,
+with hair almost white, a stubbly grey beard, and a pair of keen eyes
+rather prominently set in a bony but not unpleasant countenance. He
+had a peculiar habit of stroking his left ear when puzzled, and was
+not without those little eccentricities which run hand in hand with
+genius. One of them was his fondness for amateur theatricals, for he
+was a leading member of the Dramatic Club at Hove and nearly always
+took part in the performances. But he was a pronounced miser. Each day
+when he arrived at Victoria Station from Hove, he purchased three <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>ham
+sandwiches at the refreshment bar and carried them in his black bag to
+Harley Street. He there concealed them in a drawer in the
+writing-table and stealthily ate them instead of taking half-an-hour
+for luncheon. Sometimes he sent Ford out to the nearest greengrocer&#8217;s
+in the Marylebone Road for a penny apple, which he surreptitiously ate
+as dessert.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, he was finishing his last sandwich when I entered, and his
+mouth was full.</p>
+
+<p>It may have been that small fact which caused me to hesitate. At any
+rate, sitting there with those big round eyes peering forth upon me, I
+felt the absurdity of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, when he had finished his sandwich, carefully brushed the
+crumbs from his blotting-pad and cast the bag into the waste-paper
+basket, he raised his head and with his big eyes again blinking
+through his spectacles, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve had no call to poor old Courtenay, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because he&#8217;s in a bad way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Worse?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;I&#8217;m rather anxious about him. He&#8217;ll have to keep
+to his bed, I fear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did not in the least doubt this. Old Mr. Henry Courtenay, one of the
+Devonshire Courtenays, a very wealthy if somewhat eccentric old
+gentleman, lived in one of those prim, pleasant, detached houses in
+Richmond Road, facing Kew Gardens, and was one of Sir Bernard&#8217;s best
+patients. He had been under him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>for a number of years until they had
+become personal friends. One of his eccentricities was to insist on
+paying heavy fees to his medical adviser, believing, perhaps, that by
+so doing he would secure greater and more careful attention.</p>
+
+<p>But, strangely enough, mention of the name suddenly gave me the clue
+so long wanting. It aroused within me a sense of impending evil
+regarding the very man of whom we were speaking. The sound of the name
+seemed to strike the sympathetic chord within my brain, and I at once
+became cognisant that the unaccountable presage of impending
+misfortune was connected with that rather incongruous household down
+at Kew.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when Sir Bernard imparted to me his misgivings, I was
+quickly on the alert, and questioned him regarding the progress of old
+Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s disease.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The poor fellow is sinking, I&#8217;m afraid, Boyd,&#8221; exclaimed my chief,
+confidentially. &#8220;He doesn&#8217;t believe himself half so ill as he is. When
+did you see him last?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only a few days ago. I thought he seemed much improved,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! of course,&#8221; the old doctor snapped; his manner towards me in an
+instant changed. &#8220;You&#8217;re a frequent visitor there, I forgot. Feminine
+attraction and all that sort of thing. Dangerous, Boyd! Dangerous to
+run after a woman of her sort. I&#8217;m an older man than you. Why haven&#8217;t
+you taken the hint I gave you long ago?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>&#8220;Because I could see no reason why I should not continue my friendship
+with Ethelwynn Mivart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My dear Boyd,&#8221; he responded, in a sympathetic fatherly manner, which
+he sometimes assumed, &#8220;I&#8217;m an old bachelor, and I see quite sufficient
+of women in this room&mdash;too much of them, in fact. The majority are
+utterly worthless. Recollect that I have never taken away a woman&#8217;s
+character yet, and I refuse to do so now&mdash;especially to her lover. I
+merely warn you, Boyd, to drop her. That&#8217;s all. If you don&#8217;t, depend
+upon it you&#8217;ll regret it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then there&#8217;s some secret or other of her past which she conceals, I
+suppose?&#8221; I said hoarsely, feeling confident that being so intimate
+with his patient, old Mr. Courtenay, he had discovered it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied, blinking again at me through his glasses. &#8220;There
+is&mdash;a very ugly secret.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COURTENAYS.</h3>
+
+<p>I determined to spend that evening at Richmond Road with open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The house was a large red-brick one, modern, gabled, and typically
+suburban. Mr. Courtenay, although a wealthy man with a large estate in
+Devonshire and extensive properties in Canada, where as a young man he
+had amassed a large fortune, lived in that London suburb in order to
+be near his old friends. Besides, his wife was young and objected to
+being buried in the country. With her husband an invalid she was unable
+to entertain, therefore she had found the country dull very soon after
+her marriage and gladly welcomed removal to London, even though they
+sank their individuality in becoming suburban residents.</p>
+
+<p>Short, the prim manservant, who admitted me, showed me at once up to
+his master&#8217;s room, and I stayed for half-an-hour with him. He was
+sitting before the fire in a padded dressing gown, a rather thick-set
+figure with grey hair, wan cheeks, and bright eyes. The hand he gave
+me was chill and bony, yet I saw plainly that he was much better than
+when I had last seen him. He was up, and that was a distinctly good
+sign. I examined him, questioned him, and as far as I could make out
+he was, contrary to my chief&#8217;s opinion, very much improved.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>Indeed, he spoke quite gaily, offered me a whisky and soda, and made
+me tell him the stories I had heard an hour earlier at the Savage. The
+poor old fellow was suffering from that most malignant disease, cancer
+of the tongue, which had caused him to develop peripheral neuritis.
+His doctors had recommended an operation, but knowing it to be a very
+serious one he had declined it, and as he had suffered great pain and
+inconvenience he had taken to drink heavily. He was a lonely man, and
+I often pitied him. A doctor can very quickly tell whether domestic
+felicity reigns in a household, and I had long ago seen that with the
+difference of age between Mrs. Courtenay and her husband&mdash;he sixty-two
+and she only twenty-nine&mdash;they had but few ideas in common.</p>
+
+<p>That she nursed him tenderly I was well aware, but from her manner I
+had long ago detected that her devotedness was only assumed in order
+to humour him, and that she possessed little or no real affection for
+him. Nor was it much wonder, after all. A smart young woman, fond of
+society and amusement, is never the kind of wife for a snappy invalid
+of old Courtenay&#8217;s type. She had married him, some five years before,
+for his money, her uncharitable enemies said. Perhaps that was so. In
+any case it was difficult to believe that a pretty woman of her stamp
+could ever entertain any genuine affection for a man of his age, and
+it was most certainly true that whatever bond of sympathy had existed
+between them at the time of their marriage had now been snapped.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>Instead of remaining at home of an evening and posing as a dutiful
+wife as she once had done, she was now in the habit of going up to
+town to her friends the Penn-Pagets, who lived in Brook Street, or the
+Hennikers in Redcliffe Square, accompanying them to dances and
+theatres with all the defiance of the &#8220;covenances&#8221; allowed nowadays to
+the married woman. On such occasions, growing each week more frequent,
+her sister Ethelwynn remained at home to see that Mr. Courtenay was
+properly attended to by the nurse, and exhibited a patience that I
+could not help but admire.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the more I reflected upon it the more curious seemed that
+ill-assorted <i>m&eacute;nage</i>. On her marriage Mary Mivart had declared that
+her new home in Devonshire was deadly dull, and had induced her
+indulgent husband to allow her sister to come and live with her, and
+Ethelwynn and her maid had formed part of the household ever since.</p>
+
+<p>We doctors, providing we have not a brass plate in lieu of a practice,
+see some queer things, and being in the confidence of our patients,
+know of many strange and incomprehensible families. The one at
+Richmond Road was a case in point. I had gradually seen how young Mrs.
+Courtenay had tired of her wifely duties, until, by slow degrees, she
+had cast off the shackles altogether&mdash;until she now thought more of
+her new frocks, smart suppers at the Carlton, first-nights and &#8220;shows&#8221;
+in Mayfair than she did of the poor suffering old man whom she had not
+so long ago vowed to &#8220;love, honour and obey.&#8221; It was to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>regretted,
+but in my position I had no necessity nor inclination to interfere.
+Even Ethelwynn made no remark, although this sudden breaking forth of
+her sister must have pained her considerably.</p>
+
+<p>When at length I shook hands with my patient, left him in the hands of
+the nurse and descended to the drawing room, I found Ethelwynn
+awaiting me.</p>
+
+<p>She rose and came forward, both her slim white hands outstretched in
+glad welcome.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Short told me you were here,&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;What a long time you
+have been upstairs. Nothing serious, I hope,&#8221; she added with a touch
+of anxiety, I thought.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing at all,&#8221; I assured her, walking with her across to the fire
+and seating myself in the cosy-corner, while she threw herself upon a
+low lounge chair and pillowed her dark head upon a big cushion of
+yellow silk. &#8220;Where is Mary?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Out. She&#8217;s dining with the Hennikers to-night, I think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And leaves you at home to look after the invalid?&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I don&#8217;t mind in the least,&#8221; she declared, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the old gentleman? What does he say to her constant absence in
+the evening?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, to tell the truth, Ralph, he seldom knows. He usually believes
+her to be at home, and I never undeceive him. Why should I?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I grunted, for I was not at all well pleased with her connivance at
+her sister&#8217;s deceit. The sound that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>escaped my lips caused her to
+glance across at me in quick surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are displeased, dear,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Tell me why. What have I done?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not displeased with you,&#8221; I declared. &#8220;Only, as you know, I&#8217;m not
+in favour of deception, and especially so in a wife.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She pursed her lips, and I thought her face went a trifle paler. She
+was silent for a moment, then said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see why we should discuss that, Ralph. Mary&#8217;s actions concern
+neither of us. It is not for us to prevent her amusing herself,
+neither is it our duty to create unpleasantness between husband and
+wife.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did not reply, but sat looking at her, drinking in her beauty in a
+long, full draught. How can I describe her? Her form was graceful in
+every line; her face perfect in its contour, open, finely-moulded, and
+with a marvellous complexion&mdash;a calm, sweet countenance that reminded
+one of Raphael&#8217;s &#8220;Madonna&#8221; in Florence, indeed almost its counterpart.
+Her beauty had been remarked everywhere. She had sat to a well-known
+R.A. for his Academy picture two years before, and the artist had
+declared her to be one of the most perfect types of English beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Was it any wonder, then, that I was in love with her? Was it any
+wonder that those wonderful dark eyes held me beneath their spell, or
+those dark locks that I sometimes stroked from off her fair white brow
+should be to me the most beautiful in all the world? Man is but
+mortal, and a beautiful woman always enchants.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>As she sat before me in her evening gown of some flimsy cream stuff,
+all frills and furbelows, she seemed perfect in her loveliness. The
+surroundings suited her to perfection&mdash;the old Chippendale and the
+palms, while the well-shaded electric lamp in its wrought-iron stand
+shed a mellow glow upon her, softening her features and harmonising
+the tints of the objects around. From beneath the hem of her skirt a
+neat ankle encased in its black silk stocking was thrust coquettishly
+forward, and her tiny patent leather slipper was stretched out to the
+warmth of the fire. Her pose was, however, restful and natural. She
+loved luxury, and made no secret of it. The hour after dinner was
+always her hour of laziness, and she usually spent it in that
+self-same chair, in that self-same position.</p>
+
+<p>She was twenty-five, the youngest daughter of old Thomas Mivart, who
+was squire of Neneford, in Northamptonshire, a well-known hunting-man
+of his day, who had died two years ago leaving a widow, a charming
+lady, who lived alone at the Manor. To me it had always been a mystery
+why the craving for gaiety and amusement had never seized Ethelwynn.
+She was by far the more beautiful of the pair, the smartest in dress,
+and the wittier in speech, for possessed of a keen sense of humour,
+she was interesting as well as handsome&mdash;the two qualities which are
+<i>par excellence</i> necessary for a woman to attain social success.</p>
+
+<p>She stirred slightly as she broke the silence, and then I detected in
+her a nervousness which I had not noticed on first entering the room.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>&#8220;Sir Bernard Eyton was down here yesterday and spent over an hour with
+the old gentleman. They sent the nurse out of the room and talked
+together for a long time, upon some private business, nurse thinks.
+When Sir Bernard came down he told me in confidence that Mr. Courtenay
+was distinctly weaker.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I said, &#8220;Sir Bernard told me that, but I must confess that
+to-night I find a decided improvement in him. He&#8217;s sitting up quite
+lively.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very different to a month ago,&#8221; my well-beloved remarked. &#8220;Do you
+recollect when Short went to London in a hansom and brought you down
+at three in the morning?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I gave up all hope when I saw him on that occasion,&#8221; I said; &#8220;but he
+certainly seems to have taken a new lease of life.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think he really has?&#8221; she inquired with an undisguised
+eagerness which struck me as distinctly curious. &#8220;Do you believe that
+Sir Bernard&#8217;s fears are after all ungrounded?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I looked at her surprised. She had never before evinced such a keen
+interest in her sister&#8217;s husband, and I was puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I really can&#8217;t give an opinion,&#8221; I responded mechanically, for want
+of something or other to say.</p>
+
+<p>It was curious, that question of hers&mdash;very curious.</p>
+
+<p>Yet after all I was in love&mdash;and all lovers are fools in their
+jealousy.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A NIGHT CALL.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know, Ralph,&#8221; she faltered presently, &#8220;I have a faint
+suspicion that you are annoyed about something. What is it? Be frank
+now and tell me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Annoyed?&#8221; I laughed. &#8220;Not at all, dearest. Nervous and impatient,
+perhaps. You must make allowances for me. A doctor&#8217;s life is full of
+professional worries. I&#8217;ve had a trying day at the hospital, and I
+suppose I&#8217;m quarrelsome&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not quarrelsome, but just inclined to be a little suspicious.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suspicious? Of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her woman&#8217;s power of penetration to the innermost secrets of the heart
+was marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How absurd!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;Why should I be suspicious&mdash;and of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she laughed, &#8220;I really don&#8217;t know, only your manner is
+peculiar. Why not be frank with me, Ralph, dear, and tell me what it
+is that you don&#8217;t like. Have I offended you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all, darling,&#8221; I hastened to assure her. &#8220;Why, you&#8217;re the best
+little woman in the world. Offend me&mdash;how absurd!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then who has offended you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>I hesitated. When a woman really loves, a man can have but few secrets
+from her. Ethelwynn always read me like an open book.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m worried over a critical case,&#8221; I said, in an endeavour to evade
+her question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But your patients don&#8217;t annoy you, surely,&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;There is
+a distinction between annoyance and worry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I saw that she had detected my suspicion, and at once hastened to
+reassure her that she had my entire confidence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If Mary finds her life a trifle dull with her husband it is surely no
+reason why I should be blamed for it,&#8221; she said, in a tone of mild
+complaint.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, you entirely misunderstand me,&#8221; I said. &#8220;No blame whatever
+attaches to you. Your sister&#8217;s actions are no affair of ours. It is
+merely a pity that she cannot see her error. With her husband lying
+ill she should at least remain at home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She declares that she has suffered martyrdom for his sake long
+enough,&#8221; my well-beloved said. &#8220;Perhaps she is right, for between
+ourselves the old gentleman is a terrible trial.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is only to be expected from one suffering from such a disease.
+Yet it can serve no excuse for his wife taking up with that gay set,
+the Penn-Pagets and the Hennikers. I must say I&#8217;m very surprised.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And so am I, Ralph. But what can I do? I&#8217;m utterly powerless. She is
+mistress here, and does exactly as she likes. The old gentleman dotes
+on her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>and allows her to have her way in everything. She has ever
+been wilful, even from a child.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She did not attempt to shield her sister, and yet she uttered no
+condemnation of her conduct. I could not, even then, understand the
+situation. To me one of two things was apparent. Either she feared to
+displease her sister because of some power the latter held over her,
+or this neglect of old Mr. Courtenay was pleasing to her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder you don&#8217;t give Mary a hint that her conduct is being noticed
+and remarked upon. Of course, don&#8217;t say that I&#8217;ve spoken of it. Merely
+put it to her in the manner of a vague suggestion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, if you wish it,&#8221; she responded promptly, for she was ever
+ready to execute my smallest desire.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you love me quite as truly and as well as you did a year ago?&#8221; I
+asked, eagerly, stroking the dark tendrils from her white brow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Love you?&#8221; she echoed. &#8220;Yes, Ralph,&#8221; she went on, looking up into my
+face with unwavering gaze. &#8220;I may be distrait and pre-occupied
+sometimes, but, nevertheless, I swear to you, as I did on that
+summer&#8217;s evening long ago when we were boating together at Shepperton,
+that you are the only man I have ever loved&mdash;or shall ever love.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I returned her caress with a passion that was heartfelt. I was devoted
+to her, and these tender words of hers confirmed my belief in her
+truth and purity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Need I repeat what I have told you so many times, dearest?&#8221; I asked,
+in a low voice, as her head rested upon my shoulder and she stood in
+my embrace. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>&#8220;Need I tell you how fondly I love you&mdash;how that I am
+entirely yours? No. You are mine, Ethelwynn&mdash;mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you will never think ill of me?&#8221; she asked, in a faltering tone.
+&#8220;You will never be suspicious of me as you have been to-night? You
+cannot tell how all this upsets me. Perfect love surely demands
+perfect confidence. And our love is perfect&mdash;is it not?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is,&#8221; I cried. &#8220;It is. Forgive me, dearest. Forgive me for my
+churlish conduct to-night. It is my fault&mdash;all my fault. I love you,
+and have every confidence in you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But will your love last always?&#8221; she asked, with just a tinge of
+doubt in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, always,&#8221; I declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No matter what may happen?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No matter what may happen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I kissed her fervently with warm words of passionate devotion upon my
+lips, and went forth into the rainy winter&#8217;s night with my suspicions
+swept away and with love renewed within me.</p>
+
+<p>I had been foolish in my suspicions and apprehensions, and hated
+myself for it. Her sweet devotedness to me was sufficient proof of her
+honesty. I was not wealthy by any means, and I knew that if she chose
+she could, with her notable beauty, captivate a rich husband without
+much difficulty. Husbands are only unattainable by the blue-stocking,
+the flirt and the personally angular.</p>
+
+<p>The rain pelted down in torrents as I walked to Kew Gardens Station,
+and as it generally happens <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>to the unlucky doctor that calls are made
+upon him in the most inclement weather, I found, on returning to
+Harley Place, that Lady Langley, in Hill Street, had sent a message
+asking me to go round at once. I was therefore compelled to pay the
+visit, for her ladyship&mdash;a snappy old dowager&mdash;was a somewhat exacting
+patient of Sir Bernard&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>She was a fussy old person who believed herself to be much worse than
+she really was, and it was, therefore, not until past one o&#8217;clock that
+I smoked my final pipe, drained my peg, and retired to bed, full of
+recollections of my well-beloved.</p>
+
+<p>Just before turning in my man brought me a telegram from Sir Bernard,
+dispatched from Brighton, regarding a case to be seen on the following
+day. He was very erratic about telegrams and sent them to me at all
+hours, therefore it was no extraordinary circumstance. He always
+preferred telegraphing to writing letters. I read the message, tossed
+it with its envelope upon the fire, and then retired with a fervent
+hope that I should at least be allowed to have a complete night&#8217;s
+rest. Sir Bernard&#8217;s patients were, however, of that class who call the
+doctor at any hour for the slightest attack of indigestion, and
+summonses at night were consequently very frequent.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose I had been in bed a couple of hours when I was awakened by
+the electric bell sounding in my man&#8217;s room, and a few minutes later
+he entered, saying:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a man who wants to see you immediately, sir. He says he&#8217;s
+from Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s, down at Kew.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>&#8220;Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s!&#8221; I echoed, sitting up in bed. &#8220;Bring him in here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the caller was shown in.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Short!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;What&#8217;s the matter?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Matter, doctor,&#8221; the man stammered. &#8220;It&#8217;s awful, sir!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s awful?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My poor master, sir. He&#8217;s dead&mdash;he&#8217;s been murdered!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>DISCLOSES A MYSTERY.</h3>
+
+<p>The man&#8217;s amazing announcement held me speechless.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Murdered!&#8221; I cried when I found tongue. &#8220;Impossible!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! sir, it&#8217;s too true. He&#8217;s quite dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But surely he has died from natural causes&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. My poor master has been foully murdered.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How do you know that?&#8221; I asked breathlessly. &#8220;Tell me all the facts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I saw by the man&#8217;s agitation, his white face, and the hurried manner
+in which he had evidently dressed to come in search of me, that
+something tragic had really occurred.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We know nothing yet, sir,&#8221; was his quick response. &#8220;I entered his
+room at two o&#8217;clock, as usual, to see if he wanted anything, and saw
+that he was quite still, apparently asleep. The lamp was turned low,
+but as I looked over the bed I saw a small dark patch upon the sheet.
+This I discovered to be blood, and a moment later was horrified to
+discover a small wound close to the heart, and from it the blood was
+slowly oozing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then he&#8217;s been stabbed, you think?&#8221; I gasped, springing up and
+beginning to dress myself hastily.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>&#8220;We think so, sir. It&#8217;s awful!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Terrible!&#8221; I said, utterly dumbfounded by the man&#8217;s amazing story.
+&#8220;After you made the discovery, how did you act?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I awoke the nurse, who slept in the room adjoining. And then we
+aroused Miss Mivart. The shock to her was terrible, poor young lady.
+When she saw the body of the old gentleman she burst into tears, and
+at once sent me to you. I didn&#8217;t find a cab till I&#8217;d walked almost to
+Hammersmith, and then I came straight on here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But is there undoubtedly foul play, Short?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No doubt whatever, sir. I&#8217;m nothing of a doctor, but I could see the
+wound plainly, like a small clean cut just under the heart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No weapon about?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t see anything, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you called the police?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. Miss Mivart said she would wait until you arrived. She wants
+your opinion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And Mrs. Courtenay. How does she bear the tragedy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The poor lady doesn&#8217;t know yet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Doesn&#8217;t know? Haven&#8217;t you told her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. She&#8217;s not at home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What? She hasn&#8217;t returned?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir,&#8221; responded the man.</p>
+
+<p>That fact was in itself peculiar. Yet there was, I felt sure, some
+strong reason if young Mrs. Courtenay remained the night with her
+friends, the Hennikers. Trains run to Kew after the theatres, but she
+had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>possibly missed the last, and had been induced by her friends to
+remain the night with them in town.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the whole of the tragic affair was certainly very extraordinary.
+It was Short&#8217;s duty to rise at two o&#8217;clock each morning and go to his
+master&#8217;s room to ascertain if the invalid wanted anything. Generally,
+however, the old gentleman slept well, hence there had been no
+necessity for a night nurse.</p>
+
+<p>When I entered the cab, and the man having taken a seat beside me, we
+had set out on our long night drive to Kew, I endeavoured to obtain
+more details regarding the Courtenay <i>m&eacute;nage</i>. In an ordinary way I
+could scarcely have questioned a servant regarding his master and
+mistress, but on this drive I saw an occasion to obtain knowledge, and
+seized it.</p>
+
+<p>Short, although a well-trained servant, was communicative. The shock
+he had sustained in discovering his master made him so.</p>
+
+<p>After ten years&#8217; service he was devoted to his master, but from the
+remarks he let drop during our drive I detected that he entertained a
+strong dislike of the old gentleman&#8217;s young wife. He was, of course,
+well aware of my affection for Ethelwynn, and carefully concealed his
+antipathy towards her, an antipathy which I somehow felt convinced
+existed. He regarded both sisters with equal mistrust.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Does your mistress often remain in town with her friends at night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sometimes, when she goes to balls.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And is that often?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not very often.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>&#8220;And didn&#8217;t the old gentleman know of his wife&#8217;s absence?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sometimes. He used to ask me whether Mrs. Courtenay was at home, and
+then I was bound to tell the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By his own admission then, this man Short had informed the invalid of
+his wife&#8217;s frequent absences. He was an informer, and as such most
+probably the enemy of both Mary and Ethelwynn. I knew him to be the
+confidential servant of the old gentleman, but had not before
+suspected him of tale-telling. Without doubt Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s recent
+neglect had sorely grieved the old gentleman. He doted upon her,
+indulged her in every whim and fancy and, like many an aged husband
+who has a smart young wife, dared not to differ from her or complain
+of any of her actions. There is a deal of truth in the adage, &#8220;There&#8217;s
+no fool like an old fool.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But the mystery was increasing, and as we drove together down that
+long interminable high road through Hammersmith to Chiswick, wet, dark
+and silent at that hour, I reflected that the strange presage of
+insecurity which had so long oppressed me was actually being
+fulfilled. Ambler Jevons had laughed at it. But would he laugh now?
+To-morrow, without doubt, he would be working at the mystery in the
+interests of justice. To try to keep the affair out of the Press
+would, I knew too well, be impossible. Those men, in journalistic
+parlance called &#8220;liners,&#8221; are everywhere, hungry for copy, and always
+eager to seize upon anything tragic or mysterious.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>From Short I gathered a few additional details. Not many, be it said,
+but sufficient to make it quite clear that he was intensely
+antagonistic towards his mistress. This struck me as curious, for as
+far as I had seen she had always treated him with the greatest
+kindness and consideration, had given him holidays, and to my
+knowledge had, a few months before, raised his wages of her own
+accord. Nevertheless, the <i>m&eacute;nage</i> was a strange one, incongruous in
+every respect.</p>
+
+<p>My chief thoughts were, however, with my love. The shock to her must,
+I knew, be terrible, especially as Mary was absent and she was alone
+with the nurse and servants.</p>
+
+<p>When I sprang from the cab and entered the house she met me in the
+hall. She had dressed hastily and wore a light shawl over her head,
+probably to conceal her disordered hair, but her face was blanched to
+the lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Ralph!&#8221; she cried in a trembling voice. &#8220;I thought you were never
+coming. It&#8217;s terrible&mdash;terrible!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come in here,&#8221; I said, leading her into the dining room. &#8220;Tell me all
+you know of the affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Short discovered him just after two o&#8217;clock. He was then quite
+still.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But there may be life,&#8221; I exclaimed suddenly, and leaving her I
+rushed up the stairs and into the room where the old man had chatted
+to me so merrily not many hours before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>The instant my gaze fell upon him I knew the truth. Cadaveric rigidity
+had supervened, and he had long been beyond hope of human aid. His
+furrowed face was as white as ivory, and his lower jaw had dropped in
+that manner that unmistakably betrays the presence of death.</p>
+
+<p>As the man had described, the sheet was stained with blood. But there
+was not much, and I was some moments before I discovered the wound. It
+was just beneath the heart, cleanly cut, and about three-quarters of
+an inch long, evidently inflicted by some sharp instrument. He had no
+doubt been struck in his sleep, and with such precision that he had
+died without being able to raise the alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The murderer, whoever he was, had carried the weapon away.</p>
+
+<p>I turned and saw Ethelwynn, a pale wan figure in her light gown and
+shawl, standing on the threshold, watching me intently. She stood
+there white and trembling, as though fearing to enter the presence of
+the dead.</p>
+
+<p>I made a hasty tour of the room, examining the window and finding it
+fastened. As far as I could discover, nothing whatever was disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>Then I went out to her and, closing the door behind me, said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Short must go along to the police station. We must report it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But is it really necessary?&#8221; she asked anxiously. &#8220;Think of the awful
+exposure in the papers. Can&#8217;t we hush it up? Do, Ralph&mdash;for my sake,&#8221;
+she implored.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>&#8220;But I can&#8217;t give a death certificate when a person has been
+murdered,&#8221; I explained. &#8220;Before burial there must be a <i>post-mortem</i>
+and an inquest.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you think he has actually been murdered?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course, without a doubt. It certainly isn&#8217;t suicide.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The discovery had caused her to become rigid, almost statuesque.
+Sudden terror often acts thus upon women of her highly nervous
+temperament. She allowed me to lead her downstairs and back to the
+dining room. On the way I met Short in the hall, and ordered him to go
+at once to the police station.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, dearest,&#8221; I said, taking her hand tenderly in mine when we were
+alone together with the door closed, &#8220;tell me calmly all you know of
+this awful affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&mdash;I know nothing,&#8221; she declared. &#8220;Nothing except what you already
+know. Short knocked at my door and I dressed hastily, only to discover
+that the poor old gentleman was dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Was the house still locked up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe so. The servants could, I suppose, tell that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But is it not strange that Mary is still absent?&#8221; I remarked,
+perplexed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not very. Sometimes she has missed her last train and has stopped
+the night with the Penn-Pagets or the Hennikers. It is difficult, she
+says, to go to supper after the theatre and catch the last train. It
+leaves Charing Cross so early.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>Again there seemed a distinct inclination on her part to shield her
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The whole thing is a most profound mystery,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;I must
+have slept quite lightly, for I heard the church clock strike each
+quarter until one o&#8217;clock, yet not an unusual sound reached me.
+Neither did nurse hear anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Nurse Kate was an excellent woman whom I had known at Guy&#8217;s through
+several years. Both Sir Bernard and myself had every confidence in
+her, and she had been the invalid&#8217;s attendant for the past two years.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly is a mystery&mdash;one which we must leave to the police to
+investigate. In the meantime, however, we must send Short to Redcliffe
+Square to find Mary. He must not tell her the truth, but merely say
+that her husband is much worse. To tell her of the tragedy at once
+would probably prove too great a blow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She ought never to have gone to town and left him,&#8221; declared my
+well-beloved in sudden condemnation of her sister&#8217;s conduct. &#8220;She will
+never forgive herself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Regrets will not bring the poor fellow to life again,&#8221; I said with a
+sigh. &#8220;We must act, and act promptly, in order to discover the
+identity of the murderer and the motive of the crime. That there is a
+motive is certain; yet it is indeed strange that anyone should
+actually kill a man suffering from a disease which, in a few months at
+most, must prove fatal. The motive was therefore his immediate
+decease, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>and that fact will probably greatly assist the police in
+their investigations.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But who could have killed him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! that&#8217;s the mystery. If, as you believe, the house was found to be
+still secured when the alarm was raised, then it would appear that
+someone who slept beneath this roof was guilty.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! Impossible! Remember there are only myself and the servants. You
+surely don&#8217;t suspect either of them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have no suspicion of anyone at present,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;Let the
+police search the place, and they may discover something which will
+furnish them with a clue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I noticed some telegraph-forms in the stationery rack on a small
+writing-table, and taking one scribbled a couple of lines to Sir
+Bernard, at Hove, informing him of the mysterious affair. This I
+folded and placed in my pocket in readiness for the re-opening of the
+telegraph office at eight o&#8217;clock.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards we heard the wheels of the cab outside, and a few
+minutes later were joined by a police inspector in uniform and an
+officer in plain clothes.</p>
+
+<p>In a few brief sentences I explained to them the tragic circumstances,
+and then led them upstairs to the dead man&#8217;s room.</p>
+
+<p>After a cursory glance around, they went forth again out upon the
+landing in order to await the arrival of two other plain-clothes
+officers who had come round on foot, one of them the sergeant of the
+Criminal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Investigation Department attached to the Kew station. Then,
+after giving orders to the constable on the beat to station himself at
+the door and allow no one to enter or leave without permission, the
+three detectives and the inspector entered the room where the dead man
+lay.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY.</h3>
+
+<p>Having explained who I was, I followed the men in and assisted them in
+making a careful and minute examination of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Search for the weapon with which the crime had been committed proved
+fruitless; hence it was plain that the murderer had carried it away.
+There were no signs whatever of a struggle, and nothing to indicate
+that the blow had been struck by any burglar with a motive of
+silencing the prostrate man.</p>
+
+<p>The room was a large front one on the first floor, with two French
+windows opening upon a balcony formed by the big square portico. Both
+were found to be secured, not only by the latches, but also by long
+screws as an extra precaution against thieves, old Mr. Courtenay, like
+many other elderly people, being extremely nervous of midnight
+intruders. The bedroom itself was well furnished in genuine Sheraton,
+which he had brought up from his palatial home in Devonshire, for the
+old man denied himself no personal comfort. The easy chair in which he
+had sat when I had paid my visit was still in its place at the
+fireside, with the footstool just as he had left it; the drawers which
+we opened one after another showed no sign of having been rummaged,
+and the sum result of our investigations was absolutely <i>nil</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>&#8220;It looks very much as though someone in the house had done it,&#8221;
+whispered the inspector seriously to me, having first glanced at the
+door to ascertain that it was closed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I admitted, &#8220;appearances certainly do point to that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who was the young lady who met us downstairs?&#8221; inquired the detective
+sergeant, producing a small note-book and pencil.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Miss Ethelwynn Mivart, sister to Mrs. Courtenay.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And is Mrs. Courtenay at home?&#8221; he inquired, making a note of the
+name.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. We have sent for her. She&#8217;s staying with friends in London.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hulloa! There&#8217;s an iron safe here!&#8221; exclaimed one of the men
+rummaging at the opposite side of the room. He had pulled away a chest
+of drawers from the wall, revealing what I had never noticed before,
+the door of a small fireproof safe built into the wall.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is it locked?&#8221; inquired the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>The man, after trying the knob and examining the keyhole, replied in
+the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keeps his deeds and jewellery there, I suppose,&#8221; remarked one of the
+other detectives. &#8220;He seems to have been very much afraid of burglars.
+I wonder whether he had any reason for that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Like many old men he was a trifle eccentric,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;Thieves
+once broke into his country house years ago, I believe, and he
+therefore entertained a horror of them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>We all examined the keyhole of the safe, but there was certainly no
+evidence to show that it had been tampered with. On the contrary, the
+little oval brass plate which closed the hole was rusty, and had not
+apparently been touched for weeks.</p>
+
+<p>While they were searching in other parts of the room I directed my
+attention to the position and appearance of my late patient. He was
+lying on his right side with one arm slightly raised in quite a
+natural attitude for one sleeping. His features, although the pallor
+of death was upon them and they were relaxed, showed no sign of
+suffering. The blow had been unerring, and had no doubt penetrated to
+the heart. The crime had been committed swiftly, and the murderer had
+escaped unseen and unheard.</p>
+
+<p>The eider-down quilt, a rich one of Gobelin blue satin, had scarcely
+been disturbed, and save for the small spot of blood upon the sheet,
+traces of a terrible crime were in no way apparent.</p>
+
+<p>While, however, I stood at the bedside, at the same spot most probably
+where the murderer had stood, I suddenly felt something uneven between
+the sole of my boot and the carpet. So intent was I upon the
+examination I was making that at first my attention was not attracted
+by it, but on stepping on it a second time I looked down and saw
+something white, which I quickly picked up.</p>
+
+<p>The instant I saw it I closed my hand and hid it from view.</p>
+
+<p>Then I glanced furtively around, and seeing that my action had been
+unobserved I quickly transferred <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>it to my vest pocket, covering the
+movement by taking out my watch to glance at it.</p>
+
+<p>I confess that my heart beat quickly, and in all probability the
+colour at that moment had left my face, for I had, by sheer accident,
+discovered a clue.</p>
+
+<p>To examine it there was impossible, for of such a character was it
+that I had no intention, as yet, to arouse the suspicions of the
+police. I intended at the earliest moment to apprise my friend, Ambler
+Jevons, of the facts and with him pursue an entirely independent
+inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had I safely pocketed the little object I had picked up from
+where the murderer must have stood when the inspector went out upon
+the landing and called to the constable in the hall:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Four-sixty-two, lock that door and come up here a moment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; answered a gruff voice from below, and in a few moments
+the constable entered, closing the door after him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How many times have you passed this house on your beat to-night,
+four-sixty-two?&#8221; inquired the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About eight, sir. My beat&#8217;s along the Richmond Road, from the Lion
+Gate down to the museum, and then around the back streets.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Saw nothing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw a man come out of this house hurriedly, soon after I came on
+duty. I was standing on the opposite side, under the wall of the
+Gardens. The lady <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>what&#8217;s downstairs let him out and told him to fetch
+the doctor quickly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! Short, the servant,&#8221; I observed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where is he?&#8221; asked the inspector, while the detective with the ready
+note-book scribbled down the name.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He came to fetch me, and Miss Mivart has now sent him to fetch her
+sister. He was the first to make the discovery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, was he?&#8221; exclaimed the detective-sergeant, with some suspicion.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s rather a pity that he&#8217;s been sent out again. He might be able to
+tell us something.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll be back in an hour, I should think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but every hour is of consequence in a matter of this sort,&#8221;
+remarked the sergeant. &#8220;Look here, Davidson,&#8221; he added, turning to one
+of the plain-clothes men, &#8220;just go round to the station and send a
+wire to the Yard, asking for extra assistance. Give them a brief
+outline of the case. They&#8217;ll probably send down Franks or Moreland. If
+I&#8217;m not mistaken, there&#8217;s a good deal more in this mystery than meets
+the eye.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The man addressed obeyed promptly, and left.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you know of the servants here?&#8221; asked the inspector of the
+constable.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not much, sir. Six-forty-eight walks out with the cook, I&#8217;ve heard.
+She&#8217;s a respectable woman. Her father&#8217;s a lighterman at Kew Bridge. I
+know &#8217;em all here by sight, of course. But there&#8217;s nothing against
+them, to my knowledge, and I&#8217;ve been a constable in this sub-division
+for eighteen years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>&#8220;The man&mdash;what&#8217;s his name?&mdash;Short. Do you know him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I&#8217;ve often seen him in the &#8216;Star and Garter&#8217; at Kew
+Bridge.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Drinks?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not much, sir. He was fined over at Brentford six months ago for
+letting a dog go unmuzzled. His greatest friend is one of the
+gardeners at the Palace&mdash;a man named Burford, a most respectable
+fellow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then there&#8217;s no suspicion of anyone as yet?&#8221; remarked the inspector,
+with an air of dissatisfaction. In criminal mysteries the police often
+bungle from the outset, and to me it appeared as though, having no
+clue, they were bent on manufacturing one.</p>
+
+<p>I felt in my vest pocket and touched the little object with a feeling
+of secret satisfaction. How I longed to be alone for five minutes in
+order to investigate it!</p>
+
+<p>The inspector, having dismissed the constable and sent him back to his
+post to unlock the door for the detective to pass out, next turned his
+attention to the servants and the remainder of the house. With that
+object we all descended to the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn met us at the foot of the stairs, still wearing the shawl
+about her head and shoulders. She placed a trembling hand upon my arm
+as I passed, asking in a low anxious voice:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you found anything, Ralph? Tell me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, nothing,&#8221; I replied, and then passed into the dining-room, where
+the nurse and domestics had been assembled.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>The nurse, a plain matter-of-fact woman, was the first person to be
+questioned. She explained to us how she had given her patient his last
+dose of medicine at half-past eleven, just after Miss Mivart had
+wished her good-night and retired to her room. Previously she had been
+down in the drawing-room chatting with the young lady. The man Short
+was then upstairs with his master.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Was the deceased gentleman aware of his wife&#8217;s absence?&#8221; the
+inspector asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. He remarked to me that it was time she returned. I presume that
+Short had told him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What time was this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! about half-past ten, I should think,&#8221; replied Nurse Kate. &#8220;He
+said something about it being a bad night to go out to a theatre, and
+hoped she would not take cold.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He was not angry?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not in the least. He was never angry when she went to town. He used
+to say to me, &#8216;My wife&#8217;s a young woman, nurse. She wants a little
+amusement sometimes, and I&#8217;m sure I don&#8217;t begrudge it to her.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This puzzled me quite as much as it puzzled the detective. I had
+certainly been under the impression that husband and wife had
+quarrelled over the latter&#8217;s frequent absences from home. Indeed, in a
+household where the wife is young and the husband elderly, quarrels of
+that character are almost sure to occur sooner or later. As a doctor I
+knew the causes of domestic infelicity in a good many homes. Men in my
+profession see a good deal, and hear more. Every <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>doctor could unfold
+strange tales of queer households if he were not debarred by the bond
+of professional secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You heard no noise during the night?&#8221; inquired the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None. I&#8217;m a light sleeper as a rule, and wake at the slightest
+sound,&#8221; the woman replied. &#8220;But I heard absolutely nothing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Anyone, in order to enter the dead man&#8217;s room, must have passed your
+door, I think?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and what&#8217;s more, the light was burning and my door was ajar. I
+always kept it so in order to hear if my patient wanted anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then the murderer could see you as he stood on the landing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. There&#8217;s a screen at the end of my bed. He could not see far into
+the room. But I shudder to think that to-night I&#8217;ve had an assassin a
+dozen feet from me while I slept,&#8221; she added.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that she could throw no light upon the mysterious affair, the
+officer turned his attention to the four frightened domestics, each in
+turn.</p>
+
+<p>All, save one, declared that they heard not a single sound. The one
+exception was Alice, the under housemaid, a young fair-haired girl,
+who stated that during the night she had distinctly heard a sound like
+the low creaking of light shoes on the landing below where they slept.</p>
+
+<p>This first aroused our interest, but on full reflection it seemed so
+utterly improbable that an assassin would wear a pair of creaky boots
+when on such an errand <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>that we were inclined to disregard the girl&#8217;s
+statement as a piece of imagination. The feminine mind is much given
+to fiction on occasions of tragic events.</p>
+
+<p>But the girl over and over again asserted that she had heard it. She
+slept alone in a small room at the top of the second flight of stairs
+and had heard the sound quite distinctly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When you heard it what did you do?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I lay and listened.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For how long?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, quite a quarter of an hour, I should think. It was just before
+half-past one when I heard the noise, for the church clock struck
+almost immediately afterwards. The sound of the movement was such as I
+had never before heard at night, and at first I felt frightened. But I
+always lock my door, therefore I felt secure. The noise was just like
+someone creeping along very slowly, with one boot creaking.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But if it was so loud that you could hear it with your door closed,
+it is strange that no one else heard it,&#8221; the detective-sergeant
+remarked dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t care what anybody else heard, I heard it quite plainly,&#8221; the
+girl asserted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How long did it continue?&#8221; asked the detective.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, only just as though someone was stealing along the corridor. We
+often hear movements at nights, because Short is always astir at two
+o&#8217;clock, giving the master his medicine. If it hadn&#8217;t ha&#8217; been for the
+creaking I should not have taken notice of it. But I lay quite wide
+awake for over half an hour&mdash;until Short came banging at our doors,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>telling us to get up at once, as we were wanted downstairs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; exclaimed the inspector, &#8220;now, I want to ask all of you a very
+simple question, and wish to obtain an honest and truthful reply. Was
+any door or window left unfastened when you went to bed?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir,&#8221; the cook replied promptly. &#8220;I always go round myself, and
+see that everything is fastened.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The front door, for example?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I bolted it at Miss Ethelwynn&#8217;s orders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At what time?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One o&#8217;clock. She told me to wait up till then, and if mistress did
+not return I was to lock up and go to bed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then the tragedy must have been enacted about half an hour later?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think so, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You haven&#8217;t examined the doors and windows to see if any have been
+forced?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As far as I can see, they are just as I left them when I went to bed,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s strange&mdash;very strange,&#8221; remarked the inspector, turning to us.
+&#8220;We must make an examination and satisfy ourselves.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The point was one that was most important in the conduct of the
+inquiry. If all doors and windows were still locked, then the assassin
+was one of that strange household.</p>
+
+<p>Led by the cook, the officers began a round of the lower premises. One
+of the detectives borrowed the constable&#8217;s bull&#8217;s-eye and, accompanied
+by a second <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>officer, went outside to make an examination of the
+window sashes, while we remained inside assisting them in their search
+for any marks.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn had been called aside by one of the detectives, and was
+answering some questions addressed to her, therefore for an instant I
+found myself alone. It was the moment I had been waiting for, to
+secretly examine the clue I had obtained.</p>
+
+<p>I was near the door of the morning room, and for a second slipped
+inside and switched on the electric light.</p>
+
+<p>Then I took from my vest pocket the tiny little object I had found and
+carefully examined it.</p>
+
+<p>My heart stood still. My eyes riveted themselves upon it. The mystery
+was solved.</p>
+
+<p>I alone knew the truth!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY.</h3>
+
+<p>A light footstep sounded behind me, and scarcely had I time to thrust
+the little object hastily back into my pocket when my well-beloved
+entered in search of me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do the police think, Ralph?&#8221; she asked eagerly. &#8220;Have they any
+clue? Do tell me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They have no clue,&#8221; I answered, in a voice which I fear sounded hard
+and somewhat abrupt.</p>
+
+<p>Then I turned from her, as though fully occupied with the
+investigations at which I was assisting, and went past her, leaving
+her standing alone.</p>
+
+<p>The police were busy examining the doors and windows of the back
+premises, kitchens, scullery, and pantry, but could find no evidence
+of any lock or fastening having been tampered with. The house, I must
+explain, was a large detached red brick one, standing in a lawn that
+was quite spacious for a suburban house, and around it ran an asphalte
+path which diverged from the right hand corner of the building and ran
+in two parts to the road, one a semi-circular drive which came up to
+the portico from the road, and the other, a tradesmen&#8217;s path, that ran
+to the opposite extremity of the property.</p>
+
+<p>From the back kitchen a door led out upon this asphalted tradesmen&#8217;s
+path, and as I rejoined the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>searchers some discussion was in progress
+as to whether the door in question had been secured. The
+detective-sergeant had found it unbolted and unlocked, but the cook
+most positively asserted that she had both locked and bolted it at
+half-past ten, when the under housemaid had come in from her &#8220;evening
+out.&#8221; None of the servants, however, recollected having undone the
+door either before the alarm or after. Perhaps Short had done so, but
+he was absent, in search of the dead man&#8217;s widow.</p>
+
+<p>The police certainly spared no pains in their search. They turned the
+whole place upside down. One man on his hands and knees, and carrying
+a candle, carefully examined the blue stair-carpet to see if he could
+find the marks of unusual feet. It was wet outside, and if an intruder
+had been there, there would probably remain marks of muddy feet. He
+found many, but they were those of the constable and detectives. Hence
+the point was beyond solution.</p>
+
+<p>The drawing-room, the dining-room, the morning-room, and the big
+conservatory were all closely inspected, but without any satisfactory
+result. My love followed us everywhere, white-faced and nervous, with
+the cream chenille shawl still over her shoulders. She had hastily put
+up her wealth of dark hair, and now wore the shawl wrapped lightly
+about her.</p>
+
+<p>That shawl attracted me. I managed to speak with her alone for a
+moment, asking her quite an unimportant question, but nevertheless
+with a distinct object. As we stood there I placed my hand upon her
+shoulder&mdash;and upon the shawl. It was for that very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>reason&mdash;in order
+to feel the texture of the silk&mdash;that I returned to her.</p>
+
+<p>The contact of my hand with the silk was convincing. I turned from her
+once again, and rejoined the shrewd men whose object it was to fasten
+the guilt upon the assassin.</p>
+
+<p>Presently we heard the welcome sound of cab wheels outside, and a few
+minutes later young Mrs. Courtenay, wild eyed and breathless, rushed
+into the hall and dashed headlong up the stairs. I, however, barred
+her passage.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me pass!&#8221; she cried wildly. &#8220;Short has told me he is worse and
+has asked for me. Let me pass!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Mary, not so quickly. Let me tell you something,&#8221; I answered
+gravely, placing my hand firmly upon her arm. The police were again
+re-examining the back premises below, and only Ethelwynn was present
+at the top of the stairs, where I arrested her progress to the dead
+man&#8217;s room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But is there danger?&#8221; she demanded anxiously. &#8220;Tell me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The crisis is over,&#8221; I responded ambiguously. &#8220;But is not your
+absence to-night rather unusual?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was entirely my own fault,&#8221; she admitted. &#8220;I shall never forgive
+myself for this neglect. After the theatre we had supper at the Savoy,
+and I lost my last train. Dolly Henniker, of course, asked me to stay,
+and I could not refuse.&#8221; Then glancing from my face to that of her
+sister she asked: &#8220;Why do you both look so strange? Tell me,&#8221; she
+shrieked. &#8220;Tell me the worst. Is he&mdash;is he <i>dead</i>?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>I nodded in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>For a second she stood dumb, then gave vent to a long wail, and would
+have fallen senseless if I had not caught her in my arms and laid her
+back upon the long settee placed in an alcove on the landing. She,
+like all the others, had dressed hurriedly. Her hair was dishevelled
+beneath her hat, but her disordered dress was concealed by her long
+ulster heavily lined with silver fox, a magnificent garment which her
+doting husband had purchased through a friend at Moscow, and presented
+to her as a birthday gift.</p>
+
+<p>From her manner it was only too plain that she was filled with
+remorse. I really pitied her, for she was a light-hearted, flighty,
+little woman who loved gaiety, and, without an evil thought, had no
+doubt allowed her friends to draw her into that round of amusement.
+They sympathised with her&mdash;as every woman who marries an old man is
+sympathised with&mdash;and they gave her what pleasures they could. Alas!
+that such a clanship between women so often proves fatal to domestic
+happiness. Judged from a logical point of view it was merely natural
+that young Mrs. Courtenay should, after a year or two with an invalid
+husband, aged and eccentric, beat her wings against the bars. She was
+a pretty woman, almost as pretty as her sister, but two years older,
+with fair hair, blue eyes, and a pink and white, almost doll-like
+complexion. Indeed, I knew quite well that she had long had a host of
+admirers, and that just prior to her marriage with Courtenay it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>had
+been rumoured that she was to marry the heir to an earldom, a rather
+rakish young cavalry officer up at York.</p>
+
+<p>To restore her to consciousness was not a difficult matter, but after
+she had requested me to tell her the whole of the ghastly truth she
+sat speechless, as though turned to stone.</p>
+
+<p>Her manner was unaccountable. She spoke at last, and to me it seemed
+as though the fainting fit had caused her an utter loss of memory. She
+uttered words at random, allowing her tongue to ramble on in strange
+disjointed sentences, of which I could make nothing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My head! Oh! my head!&#8221; she kept on exclaiming, passing her hand
+across her brow as though to clear her brain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Does it pain you?&#8221; I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems as though a band of iron were round it. I can&#8217;t think. I&mdash;I
+can&#8217;t remember!&#8221; And she glanced about her helplessly, her eyes with a
+wild strange look in them, her face so haggard and drawn that it gave
+her a look of premature age.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! Mary, dear!&#8221; cried Ethelwynn, taking both her cold hands. &#8220;Why,
+what&#8217;s the matter? Calm yourself, dear.&#8221; Then turning to me she asked,
+&#8220;Can nothing be done, Ralph? See&mdash;she&#8217;s not herself. The shock has
+unbalanced her brain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ralph! Ethelwynn!&#8221; gasped the unfortunate woman, looking at us with
+an expression of sudden wonder. &#8220;What has happened? Did I understand
+you aright? Poor Henry is dead?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>&#8220;Unfortunately that is the truth.&#8221; I was compelled to reply. &#8220;It is a
+sad affair, Mary, and you have all our sympathy. But recollect he was
+an invalid, and for a long time his life has been despaired of.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I dared not yet tell her the terrible truth that he had been the
+victim of foul play.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is my fault!&#8221; she cried. &#8220;My place was here&mdash;at home. But&mdash;but why
+was I not here?&#8221; she added with a blank look. &#8220;Where did I go?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you remember that you went to London with the Hennikers?&#8221; I
+said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! of course!&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;How very stupid of me to forget. But
+do you know, I&#8217;ve never experienced such a strange sensation before.
+My memory is a perfect blank. How did I return here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Short fetched you in a cab.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Short? I&mdash;I don&#8217;t recollect seeing him. Somebody knocked at my door
+and said I was wanted, because my husband had been taken worse, so I
+dressed and went down. But after that I don&#8217;t recollect anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Her mind is a trifle affected by the shock,&#8221; I whispered to my love.
+&#8220;Best take her downstairs into one of the rooms and lock the door.
+Don&#8217;t let her see the police. She didn&#8217;t notice the constable at the
+door. She&#8217;ll be better presently.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I uttered these words mechanically, but, truth to tell, these
+extraordinary symptoms alarmed and puzzled me. She had fainted at
+hearing of the death of her husband, just as many other wives might
+have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>fainted; but to me there seemed no reason whatsoever why the
+swoon should be followed by that curious lapse of memory. The question
+she had put to me showed her mind to be a blank. I could discern
+nothing to account for the symptoms, and the only remedy I could
+suggest was perfect quiet. I intended that, as soon as daylight came,
+both women should be removed to the house of some friend in the
+vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>The scene of the tragedy was no place for two delicate women.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s determination to enter her husband&#8217;s
+room I managed at last to get them both into the morning-room and
+called the nurse and cook to go in and assist in calming her, for her
+lapse of memory had suddenly been followed by a fit of violence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must see him!&#8221; she shrieked. &#8220;I will see him! You can&#8217;t prevent me.
+I am his wife. My place is at his side!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My love exchanged looks with me. Her sister&#8217;s extraordinary manner
+utterly confounded us.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You shall see him later,&#8221; I promised, endeavouring to calm her. &#8220;At
+present remain quiet. No good can possibly be done by this wild
+conduct.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where is Sir Bernard?&#8221; she inquired suddenly. &#8220;Have you telegraphed
+for him? I must see him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As soon as the office is open I shall wire.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, telegraph at the earliest moment. Tell him of the awful blow
+that has fallen upon us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Presently, by dint of much persuasion, we managed to quiet her. The
+nurse removed her hat, helped her out of her fur-lined coat, and she
+sat huddled up in a big &#8220;grandfather&#8221; chair, her handsome evening gown
+crushed and tumbled, the flowers she had worn in her corsage on the
+previous night drooping and withered.</p>
+
+<p>For some time she sat motionless, her chin sunk upon her breast, the
+picture of dejection, until, of a sudden, she roused herself, and
+before we were aware of her intention she had torn off her marriage
+ring and cast it across the room, crying wildly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is finished. He is dead&mdash;dead!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And she sank back again, among the cushions, as though exhausted by
+the effort.</p>
+
+<p>What was passing through her brain at that moment I wondered. Why
+should a repulsion of the marriage bond seize her so suddenly, and
+cause her to tear off the golden fetter under which she had so long
+chafed? There was some reason, without a doubt; but at present all was
+an enigma&mdash;all save one single point.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned to the police to urge them not to disturb Mrs.
+Courtenay, I found them assembled in the conservatory discussing an
+open window, by which anyone might easily have entered and left. The
+mystery of the kitchen door had been cleared up by Short, who admitted
+that after the discovery he had unlocked and unbolted it, in order to
+go round the outside of the house and see whether anyone was lurking
+in the garden.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>When I was told this story I remarked that he had displayed some
+bravery in acting in such a manner. No man cares to face an assassin
+unarmed.</p>
+
+<p>The man looked across at me with a curious apprehensive glance, and
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was armed, sir. I took down one of the old Indian daggers from the
+hall.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where is it now?&#8221; inquired the inspector, quickly, for at such a
+moment the admission that he had had a knife in his possession was
+sufficient to arouse a strong suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hung it up again, sir, before going out to call the doctor,&#8221; he
+replied quite calmly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Show me which it was,&#8221; I said; and he accompanied me out to the hall
+and pointed to a long thin knife which formed part of a trophy of
+antique Indian weapons.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I saw that such a knife had undoubtedly inflicted the
+wound in the dead man&#8217;s breast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So you armed yourself with this?&#8221; I remarked, taking down the knife
+with affected carelessness, and examining it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, doctor. It was the first thing that came to hand. It&#8217;s sharp,
+for I cut myself once when cleaning it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I tried its edge, and found it almost as keen as a razor. It was about
+ten inches long, and not more than half an inch broad, with a hilt of
+carved ivory, yellow with age, and inlaid with fine lines of silver.
+Certainly a very dangerous weapon. The sheath was of purple velvet,
+very worn and faded.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>I walked back to where the detectives were standing, and examined the
+blade beneath the light. It was bright, and had apparently been
+recently cleaned. It might have been cleaned and oil smeared upon it
+after the commission of the crime. Yet as far as I could discern with
+the naked eye there was no evidence that it had recently been used.</p>
+
+<p>It was the man&#8217;s curious apprehensive glance that had first aroused my
+suspicion, and the admissions that he had opened the back door, and
+that he had been armed, both increased my mistrust. The detectives,
+too, were interested in the weapon, but were soon satisfied that,
+although a dangerous knife, it bore no stain of blood.</p>
+
+<p>So I put it back in its case and replaced it. But I experienced some
+difficulty in getting the loop of wire back upon the brass-headed nail
+from which it was suspended; and it then occurred to me that Short, in
+the excitement of the discovery, and ordered by Ethelwynn to go at
+once in search of me, would not without some motive remain there,
+striving to return the knife to its place. Such action was unnatural.
+He would probably have cast it aside and dashed out in search of a
+cab. Indeed, the constable on the beat had seen him rush forth
+hurriedly and, urged by Ethelwynn, run in the direction of Kew Bridge.</p>
+
+<p>No. Somehow I could not rid myself of the suspicion that the man was
+lying. To my professional eye the weapon with which the wound had been
+inflicted was the one which he admitted had been in his possession.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>The story that he had unlocked the door and gone in search of the
+assassin struck the inspector, as it did myself, as a distinctly lame
+tale.</p>
+
+<p>I longed for the opening of the telegraph office, so that I might
+summon my friend Jevons to my aid. He revelled in mysteries, and if
+the present one admitted of solution I felt confident that he would
+solve it.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE.</h3>
+
+<p>People were about me the whole time. Hence I had no opportunity of
+re-examining the little object I had picked up from the spot where the
+murderer must have stood.</p>
+
+<p>When morning dawned two detectives from Scotland Yard arrived, made
+notes of the circumstances, examined the open window in the
+conservatory, hazarded a few wise remarks, and closely scrutinised the
+dagger in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn had taken her sister to a friend in the vicinity,
+accompanied by the nurse and the cook. The house was now in the
+possession of the police, and it had already become known in the
+neighbourhood that old Mr. Courtenay was dead. In all probability
+early passers-by, men on their way to work, had noticed a constable in
+uniform enter or leave, and that had excited public curiosity. I hoped
+that Ambler Jevons would not delay, for I intended that he should be
+first in the field. If ever he had had a good mystery before him this
+certainly was one. I knew how keen was his scent for clues, and how
+carefully and ingeniously he worked when assisting the police to get
+at the bottom of any such affair.</p>
+
+<p>He came a little after nine in hot haste, having driven from
+Hammersmith in a hansom. I was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>upstairs when I heard his deep cheery
+voice crying to the inspector from Scotland Yard:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hulloa, Thorpe. What&#8217;s occurred? My friend Doctor Boyd has just wired
+to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Murder,&#8221; responded the inspector. &#8220;You&#8217;ll find the doctor somewhere
+about. He&#8217;ll explain it all to you. Queer case&mdash;very queer case, sir,
+it seems.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that you, Ambler?&#8221; I called over the banisters. &#8220;Come up here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He came up breathlessly, two steps at a time, and gripping my hand,
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s been murdered?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Old Mr. Courtenay.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The devil!&#8221; he ejaculated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A most mysterious affair,&#8221; I went on. &#8220;They called me soon after
+three, and I came down here, only to find the poor old gentleman stone
+dead&mdash;stabbed to the heart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me see him,&#8221; my friend said in a sharp business-like tone, which
+showed that he intended to lose no time in sifting the matter. He had
+his own peculiar methods of getting at the bottom of a mystery. He
+worked independently, and although he assisted the police and was
+therefore always welcomed by them, his efforts were always apart, and
+generally marked by cunning ingenuity and swift logical reasoning that
+were alike remarkable and marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>I gave him a brief terse outline of the tragedy, and then, unlocking
+the door of the room where the dead man still lay in the same position
+as when discovered, allowed him in.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>The place was in darkness, so I drew up the Venetian blinds, letting
+in the grey depressing light of the wintry morning.</p>
+
+<p>He advanced to the bed, stood in the exact spot where I had stood, and
+where without doubt the murderer had stood, and folding his arms gazed
+straight and long upon the dead man&#8217;s features.</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave vent to a kind of dissatisfied grunt, and turned down the
+coverlet in order to examine the wound, while I stood by his side in
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he swung round on his heel, and measured the paces between
+the bed and the door. Then he went to the window and looked out;
+afterwards making a tour of the room slowly, his dark eyes searching
+everywhere. He did not open his lips in the presence of the dead. He
+only examined everything, swiftly and yet carefully, opening the door
+slowly and closing it just as slowly, in order to see whether it
+creaked or not.</p>
+
+<p>It creaked when closed very slowly. The creaking was evidently what
+the under-housemaid had heard and believed to be the creaking of
+boots. The murderer, finding that it creaked, had probably closed it
+by degrees; hence it gave a series of creaks, which to the girl had
+sounded in the silence of the night like those of new boots.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons had, almost at the opening of his inquiry, cleared up
+one point which had puzzled us.</p>
+
+<p>When he had concluded his examination of the room and re-covered the
+dead face with the sheet, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>we emerged into the corridor. Then I told
+him of the servant&#8217;s statement.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boots!&#8221; he echoed in a tone of impatience. &#8220;Would a murderer wear
+creaking boots? It was the door, of course. It opens noiselessly, but
+when closed quietly it creaks. Curious, however, that he should have
+risked the creaking and the awakening of the household in order to
+close it. He had some strong motive in doing so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He evidently had a motive in the crime,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;If we could
+only discover it, we might perhaps fix upon the assassin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he exclaimed, thoughtfully. &#8220;But to tell the truth, Ralph, old
+chap, the fact which is puzzling me most of all at this moment is that
+extraordinary foreboding of evil which you confessed to me the day
+before yesterday. You had your suspicions aroused, somehow. Cudgel
+your brains, and think what induced that very curious presage of
+evil.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve tried and tried over again, but I can fix on nothing. Only
+yesterday afternoon, when Sir Bernard incidentally mentioned old Mr.
+Courtenay, it suddenly occurred to me that the curious excitement
+within me had some connection with him. Of course he was a patient,
+and I may have studied his case and given a lot of thought to it, but
+that wouldn&#8217;t account for such an oppression as that from which I&#8217;ve
+been suffering.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You certainly did have the blues badly the night before last,&#8221; he
+said frankly. &#8220;And by some unaccountable manner your curious feeling
+was an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>intuition of this tragic occurrence. Very odd and mysterious,
+to say the least.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Uncanny, I call it,&#8221; I declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I agree with you,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;It is an uncanny affair
+altogether. Tell me about the ladies. Where are they?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I explained how Mrs. Courtenay had been absent, and how she had been
+prostrated by the news of his death.</p>
+
+<p>He stroked his moustache slowly, deeply reflecting.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then at present she doesn&#8217;t know that he&#8217;s been murdered? She thinks
+that he was taken ill, and expired suddenly?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And I went on to describe the wild scene which followed my admission
+that her husband was dead. I explained it to him in detail, for I saw
+that his thoughts were following in the same channel as my own. We
+both pitied the unfortunate woman. My friend knew her well, for he had
+often accompanied me there and had spent the evening with us.
+Ethelwynn liked him for his careless Bohemianism, and for the fund of
+stories always at his command. Sometimes he used to entertain us for
+hours together, relating details of mysteries upon which he had at one
+time or another been engaged. Women are always fond of mysteries, and
+he often held both of them breathless by his vivid narratives.</p>
+
+<p>Thorpe, the detective from Scotland Yard, a big, sturdily-built,
+middle-aged man, whose hair was tinged with grey, and whose round,
+rosy face made him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>appear the picture of good health, joined us a
+moment later. In a low, mysterious tone he explained to my friend the
+circumstance of Short having admitted possession of the knife hanging
+in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>In it Ambler Jevons at once scented a clue.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I never liked that fellow!&#8221; he exclaimed, turning to me. &#8220;My
+impression has always been that he was a sneak, and told old Courtenay
+everything that went on, either in drawing-room or kitchen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thorpe, continuing, explained how the back door had been found
+unfastened, and how Short had admitted unfastening it in order to go
+forth to seek the assassin.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A ridiculous story&mdash;utterly absurd!&#8221; declared Jevons. &#8220;A man doesn&#8217;t
+rush out to shed blood for blood like that!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course not,&#8221; agreed the detective. &#8220;To my mind appearances are
+entirely against this fellow. Yet, we have one fact to bear in mind,
+namely, that being sent to town twice he was afforded every
+opportunity for escape.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He was artful,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;He knew that his safest plan was to
+remain and face it. If, as seems very probable, the crime was planned,
+it was certainly carried out at a most propitious moment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly was,&#8221; observed my friend, carefully scrutinising the
+knife, which Thorpe had brought to him. &#8220;This,&#8221; he said, &#8220;must be
+examined microscopically. You can do that, Boyd. It will be easy to
+see if there are any traces of blood upon it. To all appearances it
+has been recently cleaned and oiled.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>&#8220;Short admits cleaning it, but he says he did so three days ago,&#8221; I
+exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>He gave vent to another low grunt, from which I knew that the
+explanation was unsatisfactory, and replaced the knife in its faded
+velvet sheath.</p>
+
+<p>Save for the man upon whom suspicion had thus fallen, the servants had
+all gone to the house where their mistress was lodged, after being
+cautioned by the police to say nothing of the matter, and to keep
+their mouths closed to all the reporters who would no doubt very soon
+be swarming into the district eager for every scrap of information.
+Their evidence would be required at the inquest, and the police
+forbade them, until then, to make any comment, or to give any
+explanation of the mysterious affair. The tongues of domestics wag
+quickly and wildly in such cases, and have many times been the means
+of defeating the ends of justice by giving away important clues to the
+Press.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons, however, was a practised hand at mysteries. He sat down
+in the library, and with his crabbed handwriting covered two sheets of
+paper with notes upon the case. I watched as his pencil went swiftly
+to work, and when he had finished I saw him underline certain words he
+had written.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thorpe appears to suspect that fellow Short,&#8221; he remarked, when I met
+him again in the library a quarter of an hour later. &#8220;I&#8217;ve just been
+chatting with him, and to me his demeanour is not that of a guilty
+man. He&#8217;s actually been upstairs with the coroner&#8217;s officer in the
+dead man&#8217;s room. A murderer <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>generally excuses himself from entering
+the presence of his victim.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I exclaimed, after a pause, &#8220;you know the whole circumstances
+now. Can you see any clue which may throw light on the affair?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He slowly twisted his moustache again; then twisted his plain gold
+ring slowly round the little finger on the left hand&mdash;a habit of his
+when perplexed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Ralph, old chap; can&#8217;t say I do,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;There&#8217;s an
+unfathomable mystery somewhere, but in what direction I&#8217;m utterly at a
+loss to distinguish.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But do you think that the assassin is a member of the household? That
+seems to me our first point to clear up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just where we&#8217;re perplexed. Thorpe suspects Short; but the
+police so often rush to conclusions on a single suspicion. Before
+condemning him it is necessary to watch him narrowly, and note his
+demeanour and his movements. If he is guilty he&#8217;ll betray himself
+sooner or later. Thorpe was foolish to take down that knife a second
+time. The fellow might have seen him and had his suspicions aroused
+thereby. That&#8217;s the worst of police inquiries. They display so little
+ingenuity. It is all method&mdash;method&mdash;method. Everything must be done
+by rule. They appear to overlook the fact that a window in the
+conservatory was undoubtedly left open,&#8221; he added.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I asked, noticing that he was gazing at me strangely, full in
+the face.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>&#8220;Well, has it not occurred to you that that window might have been
+purposely left open?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You mean that the assassin entered and left by that window?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I mean to suggest that the murder might have been connived at by one
+of the household, if the man we suspect were not the actual assassin
+himself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The theory was a curious one, but I saw that there were considerable
+grounds for it. As in many suburban houses, the conservatory joined
+the drawing-room, an unlocked glass door being between them. The
+window that had been left unfastened was situated at the further end,
+and being low down was in such a position that any intruder might
+easily have entered and left. Therefore the suggestion appeared a
+sound one&mdash;more especially so because the cook had most solemnly
+declared that she had fastened it securely before going up to bed.</p>
+
+<p>In that case someone must have crept down and unfastened it after the
+woman had retired, and done so with the object of assisting the
+assassin.</p>
+
+<p>But Ambler Jevons was not a man to remain idle for a single moment
+when once he became interested in a mystery. To his keen perception
+and calm logical reasoning had been due the solution of &#8220;The
+Mornington Crescent Mystery,&#8221; which, as all readers of this narrative
+will remember, for six months utterly perplexed Scotland Yard; while
+in a dozen other notable cases his discoveries had placed the police
+on the scent of the guilty person. Somehow he seemed to possess a
+peculiar facility in the solving of enigmas. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>At ordinary times he
+struck one as a rather careless, easy-going man, who drifted on
+through life, tasting and dealing in tea, with regular attendance at
+Mark Lane each day. Sometimes he wore a pair of cheap pince-nez, the
+frames of which were rusty, but these he seldom assumed unless he was
+what he termed &#8220;at work.&#8221; He was at work now, and therefore had stuck
+the pince-nez on the bridge of his nose, giving him a keener and
+rather more intelligent appearance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excuse me,&#8221; he exclaimed, suddenly twisting his ring again round his
+finger. &#8220;I&#8217;ve just thought of something else. I won&#8217;t be a moment,&#8221;
+and he rushed from the library and ran upstairs to the floor above.</p>
+
+<p>His absence gave me an opportunity to re-examine the little object
+which I had picked up from the floor at the earlier stages of the
+inquiry; and advancing to the window I took it from my pocket and
+looked again at it, utterly confounded.</p>
+
+<p>Its appearance presented nothing extraordinary, for it was merely a
+soft piece of hard-knotted cream-coloured chenille about half-an-inch
+long. But sight of it lying in the palm of my hand held me spellbound
+in horror.</p>
+
+<p>It told me the awful truth. It was nothing less than a portion of the
+fringe of the cream shawl which my love had been wearing, and just as
+chenille fringes will come to pieces, it had become detached and
+fallen where she had stood at that spot beside the victim&#8217;s bed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>There was a smear of blood upon it.</p>
+
+<p>I recollected her strangely nervous manner, her anxiety to ascertain
+what clue we had discovered and to know the opinion of the police.
+Yes, if guilt were ever written upon a woman&#8217;s face, it was upon hers.</p>
+
+<p>Should I show the tiny fragment to my friend? Should I put it into his
+hands and tell him the bitter truth&mdash;the truth that I believed my love
+to be a murderess?</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>SHADOWS.</h3>
+
+<p>The revelation held me utterly dumfounded.</p>
+
+<p>Already I had, by placing my hand in contact with the shawl,
+ascertained its exact texture, and saw that both its tint and its
+fabric were unquestionably the same as the knotted fragment I held in
+my hand. Chenille shawls, as every woman knows, must be handled
+carefully or the lightly-made fringe will come asunder; for the kind
+of cord of floss silk is generally made upon a single thread, which
+will break with the slightest strain.</p>
+
+<p>By some means the shawl in question had accidentally become
+entangled&mdash;or perhaps been strained by the sudden uplifting of the arm
+of the wearer. In any case the little innocent-looking fragment had
+snapped, and dropped at the bedside of the murdered man.</p>
+
+<p>The grave suspicions of Ethelwynn which I had held on the previous
+night when she endeavoured to justify her sister&#8217;s neglect again
+crowded upon me, and Sir Bernard&#8217;s hint at the secret of her past
+thrust the iron deeply into my heart.</p>
+
+<p>My eyes were fixed upon the little object in my palm&mdash;the silent but
+damning evidence&mdash;and my mind became filled by bitterest regrets. I
+saw how cleverly I had been duped&mdash;I recognised that this woman, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>whom
+I thought an angel, was only a cunning assassin.</p>
+
+<p>No, believe me: I was not prejudging her! The thought had already
+occurred to me that she might have entered the room wearing that shawl
+perhaps to wish the invalid good-night. She had, however, in answer to
+my question, declared that she had retired to bed without seeing
+him&mdash;for Nurse Kate had told her that he was sleeping. She had
+therefore not disturbed him.</p>
+
+<p>Then, yet another thought had occurred to me. She might have worn the
+shawl when she entered after the raising of the alarm. In order to
+clear up that point I had questioned the servants, one by one, and all
+had told me the same story, namely, that Miss Ethelwynn had not
+entered the room at all. She had only come to the door and glanced in,
+then turned away in horror and shut herself in her own room. As far as
+anyone knew, she had not summoned sufficient courage to go in and look
+upon the dead man&#8217;s face. She declared herself horrified, and dared
+not to enter the death chamber.</p>
+
+<p>In the light of my discovery all these facts as related to me made the
+truth only too apparent. She had entered there unknown to anyone, and
+that her presence had been with a fell purpose I could no longer
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p>If I gave the clue into Ambler Jevons&#8217; hands he would, I knew, quickly
+follow it, gathering up the threads of the tangled skein one by one,
+until he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>could openly charge her with the crime. I stood undecided
+how to act. Should I leave my friend to make his own investigations
+independently and unbiassed, or should I frankly tell him of my own
+startling discovery?</p>
+
+<p>I carefully went through the whole of the circumstances, weighing
+point after point, and decided at last to still retain the knowledge I
+had gained. The point which outbalanced my intention was that curious
+admission of Short regarding the possession of the knife. So I
+resolved to say nothing to my friend until after the inquest.</p>
+
+<p>As may be imagined, the London papers that afternoon were full of the
+mystery. Nothing like a first-class &#8220;sensation,&#8221; sub-editors will tell
+you. There is art in alliterative headlines and startling
+&#8220;cross-heads.&#8221; The inevitable interview with &#8220;a member of the
+family&#8221;&mdash;who is generally anonymous, be it said&mdash;is sure to be eagerly
+devoured by the public. The world may sneer at sensational journalism,
+but after all it loves to have its curiosity excited over the tragic
+d&eacute;nouement of some domestic secret. As soon as the first information
+reached the Central News and Press Association, therefore, reporters
+crowded upon us. Representatives, not only of the metropolitan press,
+but those of the local newspapers, the &#8220;Richmond and Twickenham
+Times,&#8221; the &#8220;Independent,&#8221; over at Brentford, the &#8220;Middlesex
+Chronicle&#8221; at Hounslow, and the &#8220;Middlesex Mercury,&#8221; of Isleworth, all
+vied with each other in obtaining the most accurate information.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>&#8220;Say nothing,&#8221; Jevons urged. &#8220;Be civil, but keep your mouth closed
+tight. There are one or two friends of mine among the crowd. I&#8217;ll see
+them and give them something that will carry the story further.
+Remember, you mustn&#8217;t make any statement whatsoever.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I obeyed him, and although the reporters followed me about all the
+morning, and outside the house the police had difficulty in preventing
+a crowd assembling, I refused to express any opinion or describe
+anything I had witnessed.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven o&#8217;clock I received a wire from Sir Bernard at Hove as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Much shocked at news. Unfortunately very unwell, but shall endeavour
+to be with you later in the day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At mid-day I called at the neighbour&#8217;s house close to Kew Gardens
+Station, where the widow and her sister had taken refuge. Mrs.
+Courtenay was utterly broken down, for Ethelwynn had told her the
+terrible truth that her husband had been murdered, and both women
+pounced upon me eagerly to ascertain what theory the police now held.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the woman who had held me so long beneath her spell. Was
+it possible that one so open-faced and pure could be the author of so
+dastardly and cowardly a crime? Her face was white and anxious, but
+the countenance had now reassumed its normal innocence of expression,
+and in her eyes I saw the genuine love-look of old. She had arranged
+her hair and dress, and no longer wore the shawl.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>&#8220;It&#8217;s terrible&mdash;terrible, Ralph,&#8221; she cried. &#8220;Poor Mary! The blow has
+utterly crushed her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am to blame&mdash;it is my own fault!&#8221; exclaimed the young widow,
+hoarsely. &#8220;But I had no idea that his end was so near. I tried to be a
+dutiful wife, but oh&mdash;only Ethelwynn knows how hard it was, and how I
+suffered. His malady made him unbearable, and instead of quarrelling I
+thought the better plan was to go out and leave him with the nurse.
+What people have always said, was, alas! too true. Owing to the
+difference of our ages our marriage was a ghastly failure. And now it
+has ended in a tragedy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I responded in words as sympathetic as I could find tongue to utter.
+Her eyes were red with crying, and her pretty face was swollen and
+ugly. I knew that she now felt a genuine regret at the loss of her
+husband, even though her life had been so dull and unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>While she sat in a big armchair bowed in silence, I turned to
+Ethelwynn and discussed the situation with her. Their friends were
+most kind, she said. The husband was churchwarden at Kew Church, and
+his wife was an ardent church worker, hence they had long ago become
+excellent friends.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have your friend, Mr. Jevons, with you, I hear. Nurse has just
+returned and told me so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;He is making an independent inquiry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what has he found?&#8221; she inquired breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>Then, as I watched her closely, I saw that she breathed again more
+freely. By the manner in which she uttered Ambler&#8217;s name I detected
+that she was not at all well-disposed towards him. Indeed, she spoke
+as though she feared that he might discover the truth.</p>
+
+<p>After half-an-hour I left, and more puzzled than ever, returned to the
+house in Richmond Road. Sometimes I felt entirely convinced that my
+love was authoress of the foul deed; yet at others there seemed
+something wanting in the confirmation of my suspicions. Regarding the
+latter I could not overlook the fact that Short had told a story which
+was false on the face of it, while the utter absence of any motive on
+my love&#8217;s part in murdering the old gentleman seemed to point in an
+entirely opposite direction.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Diplock, the coroner, had fixed the inquest for eleven o&#8217;clock on
+the morrow; therefore I assisted Dr. Farmer, of Kew, the police
+surgeon, to make the post-mortem.</p>
+
+<p>We made the examination in the afternoon, before the light faded, and
+if the circumstances of the crime were mysterious, the means by which
+the unfortunate man was murdered were, we found, doubly so.</p>
+
+<p>Outwardly, the wound was an ordinary one, one inch in breadth,
+inflicted by a blow delivered from left to right. The weapon had
+entered between the fourth and fifth ribs, and the heart had been
+completely transfixed by some sharp cutting instrument. The injuries
+we discovered within, however, increased the mystery ten-fold, for we
+found two extraordinary <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>lateral incisions, which almost completely
+divided the heart from side to side, the only remaining attachment of
+the upper portion to the lower being a small portion of the anterior
+wall of the heart behind the sternum.</p>
+
+<p>Such a wound was absolutely beyond explanation.</p>
+
+<p>The instrument with which the crime had been committed by striking
+between the ribs had penetrated to the heart with an unerring
+precision, making a terrible wound eight times the size within, as
+compared with the exterior puncture. And yet the weapon had been
+withdrawn, and was missing!</p>
+
+<p>For fully an hour we measured and discussed the strange discovery,
+hoping all the time that Sir Bernard would arrive. The knife which the
+man Short confessed he had taken down in self-defence we compared with
+the exterior wound and found, as we anticipated, that just such a
+wound could be caused by it. But the fact that the exterior cut was
+cleanly done, while the internal injuries were jagged and the tissues
+torn in a most terrible manner, caused a doubt to arise whether the
+Indian knife, which was double-edged, had actually been used. To be
+absolutely clear upon this point it would be necessary to examine it
+microscopically, for the corpuscles of human blood are easily
+distinguished beneath the lens.</p>
+
+<p>We were about to conclude our examination in despair, utterly unable
+to account for the extraordinary wound, when the door opened and Sir
+Bernard entered.</p>
+
+<p>He looked upon the body of his old friend, not a pleasing spectacle
+indeed, and then grasped my hand without a word.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>&#8220;I read the evening paper on my way up,&#8221; he said at last in a voice
+trembling with emotion. &#8220;The affair seems very mysterious. Poor
+Courtenay! Poor fellow!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is sad&mdash;very sad,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;We have just concluded the
+post-mortem;&#8221; and then I introduced the police surgeon to the man
+whose name was a household word throughout the medical profession.</p>
+
+<p>I showed my chief the wound, explained its extraordinary features, and
+asked his opinion. He removed his coat, turned up his shirt-cuffs,
+adjusted his big spectacles, and, bending beside the board upon which
+the body lay, made a long and careful inspection of the injury.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Extraordinary!&#8221; he ejaculated. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never known of such a wound
+before. One would almost suspect an explosive bullet, if it were not
+for the clean incised wound on the exterior. The ribs seem grazed, yet
+the manner in which such a hurt has been inflicted is utterly
+unaccountable.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have been unable to solve the enigma,&#8221; Dr. Farmer observed. &#8220;I was
+an army surgeon before I entered private practice, but I have never
+seen a similar case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor have I,&#8221; responded Sir Bernard. &#8220;It is most puzzling.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think that this knife could have been used?&#8221; I asked, handing
+my chief the weapon.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at it, raised it in his hand as though to strike, felt its
+edge, and then shook his head, saying: &#8220;No, I think not. The
+instrument used was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>only sharp on one edge. This has both edges
+sharpened.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a point we had overlooked, but at once we agreed with him, and
+abandoned our half-formed theory that the Indian dagger had caused the
+wound.</p>
+
+<p>With Sir Bernard we made an examination of the tongue and other
+organs, in order to ascertain the progress of the disease from which
+the deceased had been suffering, but a detailed account of our
+discoveries can have no interest for the lay reader.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, our conclusions were that the murdered man could easily
+have lived another year or more. The disease was not so advanced as we
+had believed. Sir Bernard had a patient to see in Grosvenor Square;
+therefore he left at about four o&#8217;clock, regretting that he had not
+time to call round at the neighbour&#8217;s and express his sympathy with
+the widow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Give her all my sympathies, poor young lady,&#8221; he said to me. &#8220;And
+tell her that I will call upon her to-morrow.&#8221; Then, after promising
+to attend the inquest and give evidence regarding the post-mortem, he
+shook hands with us both and left.</p>
+
+<p>At eight o&#8217;clock that evening I was back in my own rooms in Harley
+Place, eating my dinner alone, when Ambler Jevons entered.</p>
+
+<p>He was not as cheery as usual. He did not exclaim, as was his habit,
+&#8220;Well, my boy, how goes it? Whom have you killed to-day?&#8221; or some such
+grim pleasantry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>On the contrary, he came in with scarcely a word, threw his hat upon a
+side table, and sank into his usual armchair with scarcely a word,
+save the question uttered in almost a growl:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I smoke?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; I said, continuing my meal. &#8220;Where have you been?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I left while you were cutting up the body,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been about
+a lot since then, and I&#8217;m a bit tired.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You look it. Have a drink?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he responded, shaking his head. &#8220;I don&#8217;t drink when I&#8217;m
+bothered. This case is an absolute mystery.&#8221; And striking a match he
+lit his foul pipe and puffed away vigorously, staring straight into
+the fire the while.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I asked, after a long silence. &#8220;What&#8217;s your opinion now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve none,&#8221; he answered, gloomily. &#8220;What&#8217;s yours?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mine is that the mystery increases hourly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What did you find at the cutting-up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In a few words I explained the unaccountable nature of the wound,
+drawing for him a rough diagram on the back of an old envelope, which
+I tossed over to where he sat.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at it for a long time without speaking, then observed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m! Just as I thought. The police theory regarding that fellow Short
+and the knife is all a confounded myth. Depend upon it, Boyd, old
+chap, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>that gentleman is no fool. He&#8217;s tricked Thorpe finely&mdash;and with
+a motive, too.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What motive do you suspect?&#8221; I inquired, eagerly, for this was an
+entirely fresh theory.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One that you&#8217;d call absurd if I were to tell it to you now. I&#8217;ll
+explain later on, when my suspicions are confirmed&mdash;as I feel sure
+they will be before long.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re mysterious, Ambler,&#8221; I said, surprised. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have a reason, my dear chap,&#8221; was all the reply he vouchsafed. Then
+he puffed again vigorously at his pipe, and filled the room with
+clouds of choking smoke of a not particularly good brand of tobacco.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS.</h3>
+
+<p>At the inquest held in the big upstair room of the Star and Garter
+Hotel at Kew Bridge there was a crowded attendance. By this time the
+public excitement had risen to fever-heat. It had by some
+unaccountable means leaked out that at the post-mortem we had been
+puzzled; therefore the mystery was much increased, and the papers that
+morning without exception gave prominence to the startling affair.</p>
+
+<p>The coroner, seated at the table at the head of the room, took the
+usual formal evidence of identification, writing down the depositions
+upon separate sheets of blue foolscap.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Short was the first witness of importance, and those in the
+room listened breathlessly to the story of how his alarum clock had
+awakened him at two o&#8217;clock; how he had risen as usual and gone to his
+master&#8217;s room, only to discover him dead.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You noticed no sign of a struggle?&#8221; inquired the coroner, looking
+sharply up at the witness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None, sir. My master was lying on his side, and except for the stain
+of blood which attracted my attention it looked as though he had died
+in his sleep.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>&#8220;And what did you do?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I raised the alarm,&#8221; answered Short; and then he went on to describe
+how he switched on the electric light, rushed downstairs, seized the
+knife hanging in the hall, opened one of the back doors and rushed
+outside.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And why did you do that, pray?&#8221; asked the coroner, looking at him
+fixedly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought that someone might be lurking in the garden,&#8221; the man
+responded, a trifle lamely.</p>
+
+<p>The solicitor of Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s family, to whom she had sent asking
+him to be present on her behalf, rose at this juncture and addressing
+the coroner, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should like to put a question to the witness, sir. I represent the
+deceased&#8217;s family.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As you wish,&#8221; replied the coroner. &#8220;But do you consider such a course
+wise at this stage of the inquiry? There must be an adjournment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He understood the coroner&#8217;s objection and, acquiescing, sat down.</p>
+
+<p>Nurse Kate and the cook were called, and afterwards Ethelwynn, who,
+dressed in black and wearing a veil, looked pale and fragile as she
+drew off her glove in order to take the oath.</p>
+
+<p>As she stood there our eyes met for an instant; then she turned
+towards her questioner, bracing herself for the ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When did you last see the deceased alive?&#8221; asked the coroner, after
+the usual formal inquiry as to her name and connection with the
+family.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>&#8220;At ten o&#8217;clock in the evening. Dr. Boyd visited him, and found him
+much better. After the doctor had gone I went upstairs and found the
+nurse with him, giving him his medicine. He was still sitting before
+the fire.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Was he in his usual spirits?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What was the character of your conversation with him? I understand
+that Mrs. Courtenay, your sister, was out at the time. Did he remark
+upon her absence?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. He said it was a wet night, and he hoped she would not take
+cold, for she was so careless of herself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The coroner bent to his paper and wrote down her reply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you did not see him alive again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You entered the room after he was dead, I presume?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. I&mdash;I hadn&#8217;t the courage,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;They told me that he was
+dead&mdash;that he had been stabbed to the heart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again the coroner bent to his writing. What, I wondered, would those
+present think if I produced the little piece of stained chenille which
+I kept wrapped in tissue paper and hidden in my fusee-box?</p>
+
+<p>To them it, of course, seemed quite natural that a delicate woman
+should hesitate to view a murdered man. But if they knew of my
+discovery they would detect that she was an admirable actress&mdash;that
+her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>horror of the dead was feigned, and that she was not telling the
+truth. I, who knew her countenance so well, saw even through her veil
+how agitated she was, and with what desperate resolve she was
+concealing the awful anxiety consuming her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One witness has told us that the deceased was very much afraid of
+burglars,&#8221; observed the coroner. &#8220;Had he ever spoken to you on the
+subject?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Often. At his country house some years ago a burglary was committed,
+and one of the burglars fired at him but missed. I think that unnerved
+him, for he always kept a loaded revolver in the drawer of a table
+beside his bed. In addition to this he had electrical contrivances
+attached to the windows, so as to ring an alarm.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But it appears they did not ring,&#8221; said the coroner, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They were out of order, the servants tell me. The bells had been
+silent for a fortnight or so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems probable, then, that the murderer knew of that,&#8221; remarked
+Dr. Diplock, again writing with his scratchy quill. Turning to the
+solicitor, he asked, &#8220;Have you any questions to put to the witness?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None,&#8221; was the response.</p>
+
+<p>And then the woman whom I had loved so fervently and well, turned and
+re-seated herself. She glanced across at me. Did she read my thoughts?</p>
+
+<p>Her glance was a glance of triumph.</p>
+
+<p>Medical evidence was next taken, Sir Bernard Eyton being the first
+witness. He gave his opinion in his habitual sharp, snappy voice,
+terse and to the point.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>In technical language he explained the disease from which his patient
+had been suffering, and then proceeded to describe the result of the
+post-mortem, how the wound inside was eight times larger than the
+exterior incision.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That seems very remarkable!&#8221; exclaimed the coroner, himself a surgeon
+of no mean repute, laying down his pen and regarding the physician
+with interest suddenly aroused. &#8220;Have you ever seen a similar wound in
+your experience, Sir Bernard?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never!&#8221; was the reply. &#8220;My friends, Doctor Boyd and Doctor Farmer,
+were with me, and we are agreed that it is utterly impossible that the
+cardiac injuries I have described could have been caused by the
+external wound.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then how were they caused?&#8221; asked the coroner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I cannot tell.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was no cross-examination. I followed, merely corroborating what
+my chief had said. Then, after the police surgeon had given his
+evidence, Dr. Diplock turned to the twelve Kew tradesmen who had been
+&#8220;summoned and sworn&#8221; as jurymen, and addressing them said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I think, gentlemen, you have heard sufficient to show you that this
+is a more than usually serious case. There are certain elements both
+extraordinary and mysterious, and that being so I would suggest an
+adjournment, in order that the police should be enabled to make
+further enquiries into the matter. The deceased was a gentleman whose
+philanthropy was probably well known to you all, and we must all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>therefore regret that he should have come to such a sudden and tragic
+end. You may, of course, come to a verdict to-day if you wish, but I
+would strongly urge an adjournment&mdash;until, say, this day week.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The jury conferred for a few moments, and after some whispering the
+foreman, a grocer at Kew Bridge, announced that his fellow jurymen
+acquiesced in the coroner&#8217;s suggestion, and the public rose and slowly
+left, more puzzled than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons had been present, sitting at the back of the room, and
+in order to avoid the others we lunched together at an obscure
+public-house in Brentford, on the opposite side of the Thames to Kew
+Gardens. It was the only place we could discover, save the hotel where
+the inquest had been held, and we had no desire to be interrupted, for
+during the inquiry he had passed me a scrap of paper upon which he had
+written an earnest request to see me alone afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore when I had put Ethelwynn into a cab, and had bade farewell
+to Sir Bernard and received certain private instructions from him, we
+walked together into the narrow, rather dirty High Street of
+Brentford, the county town of Middlesex.</p>
+
+<p>The inn we entered was close to a soap works, the odour from which was
+not conducive to a good appetite, but we obtained a room to ourselves
+and ate our meal of cold beef almost in silence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I was up early this morning,&#8221; Ambler observed at last. &#8220;I was at Kew
+at eight o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>&#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In the night an idea struck me, and when such ideas occur I always
+seek to put them promptly into action.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What was the idea?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought about that safe in the old man&#8217;s bedroom,&#8221; he replied,
+laying down his knife and fork and looking at me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What about it? There&#8217;s surely nothing extraordinary in a man having a
+safe in his room?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. But there&#8217;s something extraordinary in the key of that safe being
+missing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Thorpe has apparently overlooked the point;
+therefore this morning I went down to Kew, and finding only a
+constable in charge, I made a thorough search through the place. In
+the dead man&#8217;s room I naturally expected to find it, and after nearly
+a couple of hours searching in every nook and every crack I succeeded.
+It was hidden in the mould of a small pot-fern, standing in the
+corridor outside the room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You examined the safe, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I didn&#8217;t. There might be money and valuables within, and I had no
+right to open it without the presence of a witness. I&#8217;ve waited for
+you to accompany me. We&#8217;ll go there after luncheon and examine its
+contents.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the executors might have something to say regarding such an
+action,&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Executors be hanged! I saw them this morning, a couple of dry-as-dust
+old fossils&mdash;city men, I believe, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>who only think of house property
+and dividends. Our duty is to solve this mystery. The executors can
+have their turn, old chap, when we&#8217;ve finished. At present they
+haven&#8217;t the key, or any notion where it is. One of them mentioned it,
+and said he supposed it was in the widow&#8217;s possession.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I remarked, &#8220;I must say that I don&#8217;t half like the idea of
+turning out a safe without the presence of the executors.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Police enquiries come before executors&#8217; inventories,&#8221; he replied.
+&#8220;They&#8217;ll get their innings all in good time. The house is, at present,
+in the occupation of the police, and nobody therefore can disturb us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you told Thorpe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. He&#8217;s gone up to Scotland Yard to make his report. He&#8217;ll probably
+be down again this afternoon. Let&#8217;s finish, and take the ferry
+across.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thus persuaded I drained my ale, and together we went down to the
+ferry, landing at Kew Gardens, and crossing them until we emerged by
+the Unicorn Gate, almost opposite the house.</p>
+
+<p>There were loiterers still outside, men, women, and children, who
+lounged in the vicinity, staring blankly up at the drawn blinds. A
+constable in uniform admitted us. He had his lunch, a pot of beer and
+some bread and cheese which his wife had probably brought him, on the
+dining-room table, and we had disturbed him with his mouth full.</p>
+
+<p>He was the same man whom Ambler Jevons had seen in the morning, and as
+we entered he saluted, saying:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>&#8220;Inspector Thorpe has left a message for you, sir. He&#8217;ll be back from
+the Yard about half-past three, and would very much like to see you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know why he wants to see me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It appears, sir, that one of the witnesses who gave evidence this
+morning is missing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Missing!&#8221; he cried, pricking up his ears. &#8220;Who&#8217;s missing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The manservant, sir. My sergeant told me an hour ago that as soon as
+the man had given evidence he went out, and was seen hurrying towards
+Gunnersbury Station. They believe he&#8217;s absconded.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I exchanged significant glances with my companion, but neither of us
+uttered a word. Ambler gave vent to his habitual grunt of
+dissatisfaction, and then led the way upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>The body had been removed from the room in which it had been found,
+and the bed was dismantled. When inside the apartment, he turned to me
+calmly, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There seems something in Thorpe&#8217;s theory regarding that fellow Short,
+after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If he has really absconded, it is an admission of guilt,&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most certainly,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;It&#8217;s a suspicious circumstance, in any
+case, that he did not remain until the conclusion of the inquiry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We pulled the chest of drawers, a beautiful piece of old Sheraton,
+away from the door of the safe, and before placing the key in the lock
+my companion examined the exterior minutely. The key was partly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>rusted, and appeared as though it had not been used for many months.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be that the assassin was in search of that key and had been
+unsuccessful?</p>
+
+<p>He showed me the artful manner in which it had been concealed. The
+small hardy fern had been rooted up and stuck back again heedlessly
+into its pot. Certainly no one would ever have thought to search for a
+safe-key there. The dampness of the mould had caused the rust, hence
+before we could open the iron door we were compelled to oil the key
+with some brilliantine which was discovered on the dead man&#8217;s dressing
+table.</p>
+
+<p>The interior, we found, was a kind of small strong-room&mdash;built of
+fire-brick, and lined with steel. It was filled with papers of all
+kinds neatly arranged.</p>
+
+<p>We drew up a table, and the first packet my friend handed out was a
+substantial one of five pound notes, secured by an elastic band,
+beneath which was a slip on which the amount was pencilled. Securities
+of various sorts followed, and then large packets of parchment deeds
+which, on examination, we found related to his Devonshire property and
+his farms in Canada.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s something!&#8221; cried Ambler at length, tossing across to me a
+small packet methodically tied with pink tape. &#8220;The old boy&#8217;s
+love-letters&mdash;by the look of them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I undid the loop eagerly, and opened the first letter. It was in a
+feminine hand, and proved a curious, almost unintelligible
+communication.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>I glanced at the signature. My heart ceased its beating, and a sudden
+cry involuntarily escaped me, although next moment I saw that by it I
+had betrayed myself, for Ambler Jevons sprang to my side in an
+instant.</p>
+
+<p>But next instant I covered the signature with my hand, grasped the
+packet swift as thought, and turned upon him defiantly, without
+uttering a word.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;What have you found there?&#8221; inquired Ambler Jevons, quickly
+interested, and yet surprised at my determination to conceal it from
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Something that concerns me,&#8221; I replied briefly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Concerns you?&#8221; he ejaculated. &#8220;I don&#8217;t understand. How can anything
+among the old man&#8217;s private papers concern you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This concerns me personally,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;Surely that is sufficient
+explanation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; my friend said. &#8220;Forgive me, Ralph, for speaking quite plainly,
+but in this affair we are both working towards the same end&mdash;namely,
+to elucidate the mystery. We cannot hope for success if you are bent
+upon concealing your discoveries from me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is a private affair of my own,&#8221; I declared doggedly. &#8220;What I
+have found only concerns myself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct dissatisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Even if it is a purely private matter we are surely good friends
+enough to be cognisant of one another&#8217;s secrets,&#8221; he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; I replied dubiously. &#8220;But only up to a certain point.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then, in other words, you imply that you can&#8217;t trust me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>&#8220;I can trust you, Ambler,&#8221; I answered calmly. &#8220;We are the best of
+friends, and I hope we shall always be so. Will you not forgive me for
+refusing to show you these letters?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only ask you one question. Have they anything to do with the matter
+we are investigating?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated. With his quick perception he saw that a lie was not ready
+upon my lips.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They have. Your silence tells me so. In that case it is your duty to
+show me them,&#8221; he said, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>I protested again, but he overwhelmed my arguments. In common fairness
+to him I ought not, I knew, keep back the truth. And yet it was the
+greatest and most terrible blow that had ever fallen upon me. He saw
+that I was crushed and stammering, and he stood by me wondering.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Forgive me, Ambler,&#8221; I urged again. &#8220;When you have read this letter
+you will fully understand why I have endeavoured to conceal it from
+you; why, if you were not present here at this moment, I would burn
+them all and not leave a trace behind.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then I handed it to him.</p>
+
+<p>He took it eagerly, skimmed it through, and started just as I had
+started when he saw the signature. Upon his face was a blank
+expression, and he returned it to me without a word.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;What is your opinion?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My opinion is the same as your own, Ralph, old fellow,&#8221; he
+answered slowly, looking me straight in the face. &#8220;It is
+amazing&mdash;startling&mdash;tragic.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>&#8220;You think, then, that the motive of the crime was jealousy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The letter makes it quite plain,&#8221; he answered huskily. &#8220;Give me the
+others. Let me examine them. I know how severe this blow must be to
+you, old fellow,&#8221; he added, sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it has staggered me,&#8221; I stammered. &#8220;I&#8217;m utterly dumfounded by
+the unexpected revelation!&#8221; and I handed him the packet of
+correspondence, which he placed upon the table, and, seating himself,
+commenced eagerly to examine letter after letter.</p>
+
+<p>While he was thus engaged I took up the first letter, and read it
+through&mdash;right to the bitter end.</p>
+
+<p>It was apparently the last of a long correspondence, for all the
+letters were arranged chronologically, and this was the last of the
+packet. Written from Neneford Manor, Northamptonshire, and vaguely
+dated &#8220;Wednesday,&#8221; as is a woman&#8217;s habit, it was addressed to Mr.
+Courtenay, and ran as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;Words cannot express my contempt for a man who breaks his
+word as easily as you break yours. A year ago, when you were
+my father&#8217;s guest, you told me that you loved me, and urged
+me to marry you. At first I laughed at your proposal; then
+when I found you really serious, I pointed out the
+difference of our ages. You, in return, declared that you
+loved me with all the ardour of a young man; that I was your
+ideal; and you promised, by all you held most sacred, that
+if I consented I should never regret. I believed you, and
+believed the false words of feigned devotion which you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>wrote to me later under seal of strictest secrecy. You went
+to Cairo, and none knew of our secret&mdash;the secret that you
+intended to make me your wife. And how have you kept your
+promise? To-day my father has informed me that you are to
+marry Mary! Imagine the blow to me! My father expects me to
+rejoice, little dreaming how I have been fooled; how lightly
+you have treated a woman&#8217;s affections and aspirations. Some
+there are who, finding themselves in my position, would
+place in Mary&#8217;s hands the packet of your correspondence
+which is before me as I write, and thus open her eyes to the
+fact that she is but the dupe of a man devoid of honour.
+Shall I do so? No. Rest assured that I shall not. If my
+sister is happy, let her remain so. My vendetta lies not in
+that direction. The fire of hatred may be stifled, but it
+can never be quenched. We shall be quits some day, and you
+will regret bitterly that you have broken your word so
+lightly. My revenge&mdash;the vengeance of a jealous woman&mdash;will
+fall upon you at a moment and in a manner you will little
+dream of. I return you your letters, as you may not care for
+them to fall into other hands, and from to-day I shall never
+again refer to what has passed. I am young, and may still
+obtain an upright and honourable man as husband. You are
+old, and are tottering slowly to your doom. Farewell.</i></p>
+
+<p class="left3">&#8220;<span class="smcap">Ethelwynn Mivart</span>.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>The letter fully explained a circumstance of which I had been entirely
+ignorant, namely, that the woman <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>I had loved had actually been
+engaged to old Mr. Courtenay before her sister had married him. Its
+tenor showed how intensely antagonistic she was towards the man who
+had fooled her, and in the concluding sentence there was a distinct if
+covert threat&mdash;a threat of bitter revenge.</p>
+
+<p>She had returned the old man&#8217;s letters apparently in order to show
+that in her hand she held a further and more powerful weapon; she had
+not sought to break off his marriage with Mary, but had rather stood
+by, swallowed her anger, and calmly calculated upon a fierce vendetta
+at a moment when he would least expect it.</p>
+
+<p>Truly those startling words spoken by Sir Bernard had been full of
+truth. I remembered them now, and discerned his meaning. He was at
+least an honest upright man who, although sometimes a trifle
+eccentric, had my interests deeply at heart. In the progress I had
+made in my profession I owed much to him, and even in my private
+affairs he had sought to guide me, although I had, alas! disregarded
+his repeated warnings.</p>
+
+<p>I took up one after another of the letters my friend had examined, and
+found them to be the correspondence of a woman who was either angling
+after a wealthy husband, or who loved him with all the strength of her
+affection. Some of the communications were full of passion, and
+betrayed that poetry of soul that was innate in her. The letters were
+dated from Neneford, from Oban, and from various Mediterranean ports,
+where she had gone yachting with her uncle, Sir <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>Thomas Heaton, the
+great Lancashire coal-owner. Sometimes she addressed him as &#8220;Dearest,&#8221;
+at others as &#8220;Beloved,&#8221; usually signing herself &#8220;Your Own.&#8221; So full
+were they of the ardent passion characteristic of her that they held
+me in amazement. It was passion developed under its most profound and
+serious aspects; they showed the calm and thoughtful, not the
+brilliant side of intellect.</p>
+
+<p>In Ethelwynn&#8217;s character the passionate and the imaginative were
+blended equally and in the highest conceivable degree as combined with
+delicate female nature. Those letters, although written to a man in
+whose heart romance must long ago have been dead, showed how complex
+was her character, how fervent, enthusiastic and self-forgetting her
+love. At first I believed that those passionate outpourings were
+merely designed to captivate the old gentleman for his money; but when
+I read on I saw how intense her passion became towards the end, and
+how the culmination of it all was that wild reproachful missive
+written when the crushing blow fell so suddenly upon her.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn was a woman of extraordinary character, full of picturesque
+charm and glowing romance. To be tremblingly alive to the gentle
+impressions, and yet be able to preserve, when the prosecution of a
+design requires it, an immovable heart, amidst even the most imperious
+causes of subduing emotion, is perhaps not an impossible constitution
+of mind, but it is the utmost and rarest endowment of humanity. I knew
+her as a woman of highest mental powers touched with a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>melancholy
+sweetness. I was now aware of the cause of that melancholy.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was apparent that the serious and energetic part of her
+character was founded on deep passion, for after her sister&#8217;s marriage
+with the man she had herself loved and had threatened, she had
+actually come there beneath their roof, and lived as her sister&#8217;s
+companion, stifling all the hatred that had entered her heart, and
+preserving an outward calm that had no doubt entirely disarmed him.</p>
+
+<p>Such a circumstance was extraordinary. To me, as to Ambler Jevons who
+knew her well, it seemed almost inconceivable that old Mr. Courtenay
+should allow her to live there after receiving such a wild
+communication as that final letter. Especially curious, too, that Mary
+had never suspected or discovered her sister&#8217;s jealousy. Yet so
+skilfully had Ethelwynn concealed her intention of revenge that both
+husband and wife had been entirely deceived.</p>
+
+<p>Love, considered under its poetical aspect, is the union of passion
+and imagination. I had foolishly believed that this calm, sweet-voiced
+woman had loved me, but those letters made it plain that I had been
+utterly fooled. &#8220;Le myst&egrave;re de l&#8217;existence,&#8221; said Madame de Stael to
+her daughter, &#8220;c&#8217;est la rapport de nos erreurs avec nos peines.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And although there was in her, in her character, and in her terrible
+situation, a concentration of all the interests that belong to
+humanity, she was nevertheless a murderess.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>&#8220;The truth is here,&#8221; remarked my friend, laying his hand upon the heap
+of tender correspondence which had been brought to such an abrupt
+conclusion by the letter I have printed in its entirety. &#8220;It is a
+strange, romantic story, to say the least.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you really believe that she is guilty?&#8221; I exclaimed, hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders significantly, but no word escaped his lips.</p>
+
+<p>In the silence that fell between us, I glanced at him. His chin was
+sunk upon his breast, his brows knit, his thin fingers toying idly
+with the plain gold ring.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I managed to exclaim at last. &#8220;What shall we do?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do?&#8221; he echoed. &#8220;What can we do, my dear fellow? That woman&#8217;s future
+is in your hands.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why in mine?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;In yours also, surely?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he answered resolutely, taking my hand and grasping it warmly.
+&#8220;No, Ralph; I know&mdash;I can see how you are suffering. You believed her
+to be a pure and honest woman&mdash;one above the common run&mdash;a woman fit
+for helpmate and wife. Well, I, too, must confess myself very much
+misled. I believed her to be all that you imagined; indeed, if her
+face be any criterion, she is utterly unspoiled by the world and its
+wickedness. In my careful studies in physiognomy I have found that
+very seldom does a perfect face like hers cover an evil heart. Hence,
+I confess, that this discovery has amazed me quite as much as it has
+you. I somehow feel&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe it!&#8221; I cried, interrupting him. &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe,
+Ambler, that she murdered him&mdash;I can&#8217;t believe it. Her&#8217;s is not the
+face of a murderess.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Faces sometimes deceive,&#8221; he said quietly. &#8220;Recollect that a clever
+woman can give a truthful appearance to a lie where a man utterly
+fails.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know&mdash;I know. But even with this circumstantial proof I can&#8217;t and
+won&#8217;t believe it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Please yourself, my dear fellow,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I know it is hard to
+believe ill of a woman whom one loves so devotedly as you&#8217;ve loved
+Ethelwynn. But be brave, bear up, and face the situation like a man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am facing it,&#8221; I said resolutely. &#8220;I will face it by refusing to
+believe that she killed him. The letters are plain enough. She was
+engaged secretly to old Courtenay, who threw her over in favour of her
+sister. But is there anything so very extraordinary in that? One hears
+of such things very often.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the final letter?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It bears evidence of being written in the first moments of wild anger
+on realising that she had been abandoned in favour of Mary. Probably
+she has by this time quite forgotten the words she wrote. And in any
+case the fact of her living beneath the same roof, supervising the
+household, and attending to the sick man during Mary&#8217;s absence,
+entirely negatives any idea of revenge.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jevons smiled dubiously, and I myself knew that my argument was not
+altogether logical.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I continued. &#8220;And is not that your opinion?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>&#8220;No. It is not,&#8221; he replied, bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then what is to be done?&#8221; I asked, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The matter rests entirely with you, Ralph,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;I know what
+I should do in a similar case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What would you do? Advise me,&#8221; I urged eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should take the whole of the correspondence, just as it is, place
+it in the grate there, and burn it,&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<p>I was not prepared for such a suggestion. A similar idea had occurred
+to me, but I feared to suggest to him such a mode of defeating the
+ends of justice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But if I do that will you give me a vow of secrecy?&#8221; I asked,
+quickly. &#8220;Recollect that such a step is a serious offence against the
+law.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When I pass out of this room I shall have no further recollection of
+ever having seen any letters,&#8221; he answered, again giving me his hand.
+&#8220;In this matter my desire is only to help you. If, as you believe,
+Ethelwynn is innocent, then no harm can be done in destroying the
+letters, whereas if she is actually the assassin she must, sooner or
+later, betray her guilt. A woman may be clever, but she can never
+successfully cover the crime of murder.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you are willing that I, as finder of those letters, shall burn
+them? And further, that no word shall pass regarding this discovery?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most willing,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Come,&#8221; he added, commencing to gather
+them together. &#8220;Let us lose no time, or perhaps the constable on duty
+below or one of the plain-clothes men may come prying in here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>Then at his direction and with his assistance I willingly tore up each
+letter in small pieces, placed the whole in the grate where dead
+cinders still remained, and with a vesta set a light to them. For a
+few moments they blazed fiercely up the chimney, then died out,
+leaving only black tinder.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We must make a feint of having tried to light the fire,&#8221; said Jevons,
+taking an old newspaper, twisting it up, and setting light to it in
+the grate, afterwards stirring up the dead tinder with the tinder of
+the letters. &#8220;I&#8217;ll remark incidentally to the constable that we&#8217;ve
+tried to get a fire, and didn&#8217;t succeed. That will prevent Thorpe
+poking his nose into it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So when the whole of the letters had been destroyed, all traces of
+their remains effaced and the safe re-locked, we went downstairs&mdash;not,
+however, before my companion had made a satisfactory explanation to
+the constable and entirely misled him as to what we had been doing.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>I RECEIVE A VISITOR.</h3>
+
+<p>The adjourned inquest was resumed on the day appointed in the big room
+at the Star and Garter at Kew, and the public, eager as ever for
+sensational details, overflowed through the bar and out into the
+street, until the police were compelled to disperse the crowd. The
+evening papers had worked up all kinds of theories, some worthy of
+attention, others ridiculous; hence the excitement and interest had
+become intense.</p>
+
+<p>The extraordinary nature of the wound which caused Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s
+death was the chief element of mystery. Our medical evidence had
+produced a sensation, for we had been agreed that to inflict such a
+wound with any instrument which could pass through the exterior
+orifice was an absolute impossibility. Sir Bernard and myself were
+still both bewildered. In the consulting room at Harley Street we had
+discussed it a dozen times, but could arrive at no definite conclusion
+as to how such a terrible wound could possibly have been caused.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed a change in Sir Bernard. He seemed mopish, thoughtful, and
+somewhat despondent. Usually he was a busy, bustling man, whose manner
+with his patients was rather brusque, and who, unlike the majority of
+my own profession, went to the point <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>at once. There is no profession
+in which one is compelled to exercise so much affected patience and
+courtesy as in the profession of medicine. Patients will bore you to
+death with long and tedious histories of all their ailments since the
+days when they chewed a gutta-percha teething-ring, and to appear
+impatient is to court a reputation for flippancy and want of
+attention. Great men may hold up their hands and cry &#8220;Enough!&#8221; But
+small men must sit with pencil poised, apparently intensely
+interested, and listen through until the patient has exhausted his
+long-winded recollections of all his ills.</p>
+
+<p>Contrary to his usual custom, Sir Bernard did not now return to Hove
+each evening, but remained at Harley Street&mdash;dining alone off a chop
+or a steak, and going out afterwards, probably to his club. His change
+of manner surprised me. I noticed in him distinct signs of nervous
+disorder; and on several afternoons he sent round to me at the
+Hospital, saying that he could not see his patients, and asking me to
+run back to Harley Street and take his place.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening before the adjourned inquest I remarked to him that he
+did not appear very well, and his reply, in a strained, desponding
+voice, was:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor Courtenay has gone. He was my best friend.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was as I expected, he was sorrowing over his friend.</p>
+
+<p>When we had re-assembled at the Star and Garter, he entered quietly
+and took a seat beside me just before the commencement of the
+proceedings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>The Coroner, having read over all the depositions taken on the first
+occasion, asked the police if they had any further evidence to offer,
+whereupon the local inspector of the T Division answered with an air
+of mystery:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have nothing, sir, which we can make public. Active inquiries are
+still in progress.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No further medical evidence?&#8221; asked the coroner.</p>
+
+<p>I turned towards Sir Bernard inquiringly, and as I did so my eye
+caught a face hidden by a black veil, seated among the public at the
+far side of the room. It was Ethelwynn herself&mdash;come there to watch
+the proceedings and hear with her own ears whether the police had
+obtained traces of the assassin!</p>
+
+<p>Her anxious countenance shone through her veil haggard and white; her
+eyes were fixed upon the Coroner. She hung breathlessly upon his every
+word.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have no further evidence,&#8221; replied the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause. The public who were there in search of some
+solution of the bewildering mystery which had been published in every
+paper through the land, were disappointed. They had expected at least
+to hear some expert evidence&mdash;which, if not always reliable, is always
+interesting. But there seemed an inclination on the part of the police
+to maintain a silence which increased rather than lessened the
+mystery.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, gentlemen,&#8221; exclaimed Dr. Diplock, turning at last to the
+twelve local tradesmen who formed the jury, &#8220;you have heard the
+evidence in this curious <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>case, and your duty is to decide in what
+manner the deceased came by his death, whether by accidental means, or
+by foul play. I think in the circumstances you will have very little
+difficulty in deciding. The case is a mysterious one&mdash;a very
+mysterious one. The deceased was a gentleman of means who was
+suffering from a malignant disease, and that disease must have proved
+fatal within a short time. Now this fact appears to have been well
+known to himself, to the members of his household, and probably to
+most of his friends. Nevertheless, he was found dead in circumstances
+which point most strongly to wilful murder. If he was actually
+murdered, the assassin, whoever he was, had some very strong incentive
+in killing him at once, because he might well have waited another few
+months for the fatal termination of the disease. That fact, however,
+is not for you to consider, gentlemen. You are here for the sole
+purpose of deciding whether or not this case is one of murder. If, in
+your opinion it is, then it becomes your duty to return a verdict to
+that effect and leave it to the police to discover the assassin. To
+comment at length on the many mysterious circumstances surrounding the
+tragedy is, I think, needless. The depositions I have just read are
+sufficiently full and explanatory, especially the evidence of Sir
+Bernard Eyton and of Doctor Boyd, both of whom, besides being
+well-known in the profession, were personal friends of the deceased.
+In considering your verdict I would further beg of you not to heed any
+theories you may have read in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>newspapers, but adjudge the matter
+from a fair and impartial standpoint, and give your verdict as you
+honestly believe the truth to be.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The dead silence which had prevailed during the Coroner&#8217;s address was
+at once broken by the uneasy moving of the crowd. I glanced across at
+Ethelwynn, and saw her sitting immovable, breathless, statuesque.</p>
+
+<p>She watched the foreman of the jury whispering to two or three of his
+colleagues in the immediate vicinity. The twelve tradesmen consulted
+together in an undertone, while the reporters at the table conversed
+audibly. They, too, were disappointed at being unable to obtain any
+sensational &#8220;copy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you wish to retire in order to consider your verdict, gentlemen,
+you are quite at liberty to do so,&#8221; remarked the coroner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is unnecessary,&#8221; replied the foreman. &#8220;We are agreed
+unanimously.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Upon what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Our verdict is that the deceased was wilfully murdered by some person
+or persons unknown.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, gentlemen. Of course in my position I am not permitted to
+give you advice, but I think that you could have arrived at no other
+verdict. The police will use every endeavour to discover the identity
+of the assassin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I glanced at Ethelwynn, and at that instant she turned her head, and
+her eyes met mine. She started quickly, her face blanched to the lips;
+then she rose unsteadily, and with the crowd went slowly out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>Ambler Jevons, who had been seated at the opposite side of the room,
+got up and rushed away; therefore I had no chance to get a word with
+him. He had glanced at me significantly, and I knew well what passed
+through his mind. Like myself, he was thinking of that strange letter
+we had found among the dead man&#8217;s effects and had agreed to destroy.</p>
+
+<p>About nine o&#8217;clock that same night I had left Sir Bernard&#8217;s and was
+strolling slowly round to my rooms, when my friend&#8217;s cheery voice
+sounded behind me. He was on his way to have a smoke with me as usual,
+he explained. So we entered together, and after I had turned up the
+light and brought out the drinks he flung himself into his habitual
+chair, and stretching himself wearily said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The affair becomes more mysterious hourly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221; I inquired quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been down to Kew this afternoon,&#8221; was his rather ambiguous
+response. &#8220;I had to go to my office directly after the inquest, but I
+returned at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what have you discovered? Anything fresh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he responded slowly. &#8220;A fresh fact or two&mdash;facts that still
+increase the mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What are they? Tell me,&#8221; I urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Ralph, old chap. When I am certain of their true importance I&#8217;ll
+explain them to you. At present I desire to pursue my own methods
+until I arrive at some clear conclusion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>This disinclination to tell me the truth was annoying. He had always
+been quite frank and open, explaining all his theories, and showing to
+me any weak points in the circumstantial evidence. Yet suddenly, as it
+seemed to me, he had become filled with a strange mistrust. Why, I
+could not conceive.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But surely you can tell me the nature of your discoveries?&#8221; I said.
+&#8220;There need be no secrets between us in this affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Ralph. But I&#8217;m superstitious enough to believe that ill-luck
+follows a premature exposure of one&#8217;s plans,&#8221; he said.</p>
+
+<p>His excuse was a lame one&mdash;a very lame one. I smiled&mdash;in order to show
+him that I read through such a transparent attempt to mislead me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I might have refused to show you that letter of Ethelwynn&#8217;s,&#8221; I
+protested. &#8220;Yet our interests being mutual I handed it to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And it is well that you did.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because knowledge of it has changed the whole course of my
+inquiries.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Changed them from one direction to another?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you are now prosecuting them in the direction of Ethelwynn?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;Not exactly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I looked at his face, and saw upon it an expression of profound
+mysteriousness. His dark, well-marked countenance was a complex one
+always, but at that moment I was utterly unable to discern whether he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>spoke the truth, or whether he only wished to mislead my suspicions
+into a different channel. That he was the acme of shrewdness, that his
+powers of deduction were extraordinary, and that his patience in
+unravelling a secret was almost beyond comprehension I knew well. Even
+those great trackers of criminals, Shaw and Maddox, of New Scotland
+Yard, held him in respect, and admired his acute intelligence and
+marvellous power of perception.</p>
+
+<p>Yet his attempt to evade a question which so closely concerned my own
+peace of mind and future happiness tried my patience. If he had really
+discovered some fresh facts I considered it but right that I should be
+acquainted with them.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Has your opinion changed as to the identity of the person who
+committed the crime?&#8221; I asked him, rather abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not in the least,&#8221; he responded, slowly lighting his foul pipe. &#8220;How
+can it, in the face of the letter we burnt?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you think that jealousy was the cause of the tragedy? That
+she&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not jealousy,&#8221; he interrupted, speaking quite calmly. &#8220;The facts
+I have discovered go to show that the motive was not jealousy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hatred, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not hatred.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just where I fail to form a theory,&#8221; he answered, after a
+brief silence, during which he watched the blue smoke curl upward to
+the sombre <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>ceiling of my room. &#8220;In a few days I hope to discover the
+motive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will let me assist you?&#8221; I urged, eagerly. &#8220;I am at your disposal
+at any hour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he answered, decisively. &#8220;You are prejudiced, Ralph. You
+unfortunately still love that woman.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A sigh escaped me. What he said was, alas! too true. I had adored her
+through those happy months prior to the tragedy. She had come into my
+lonely bachelor life as the one ray of sunlight that gave me hope and
+happiness, and I had lived for her alone. Because of her I had striven
+to rise in the profession, and had laboured hard so that in a little
+while I might be in a position to marry and buy that quiet country
+practice that was my ideal existence. And even now, with my idol
+broken by the knowledge of her previous engagement to the man now
+dead, I confess that I nevertheless still entertained a strong
+affection for her. The memory of a past love is often more sweet than
+the love itself&mdash;and to men it is so very often fatal.</p>
+
+<p>I had risen to pour out some whiskey for my companion when, of a
+sudden, my man opened the door and announced:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lady to see you, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A lady?&#8221; we both exclaimed, with one voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; and he handed me a card.</p>
+
+<p>I glanced at it. My visitor was the very last person I desired to meet
+at that moment, for she was none other than Ethelwynn herself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go, old chap,&#8221; Jevons cried, springing to his feet, and draining
+his glass at a single draught. &#8220;She mustn&#8217;t meet me here. Good-bye
+till to-morrow. Remember, betray no sign to her that you know the
+truth. It&#8217;s certainly a curious affair, as it now stands; but depend
+upon it that there&#8217;s more complication and mystery in it than we have
+yet suspected.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>MY LOVE.</h3>
+
+<p>As soon as Ambler Jevons had slipped out through my little study my
+love came slowly forward, as though with some unwillingness.</p>
+
+<p>She was dressed, as at the inquest, in deep mourning, wearing a
+smartly-cut tailor-made dress trimmed with astrachan and a neat toque,
+her pale countenance covered with a thick spotted veil.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ralph,&#8221; she exclaimed in a low voice, &#8220;forgive me for calling upon
+you at this hour. I know it&#8217;s indiscreet, but I am very anxious to see
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I returned her greeting, rather coldly I am afraid, and led her to the
+big armchair which had only a moment before been vacated by my friend.</p>
+
+<p>When she seated herself and faced me I saw how changed she was, even
+though she did not lift her veil. Her dark eyes seemed haggard and
+sunken, her cheeks, usually pink with the glow of health, were white,
+almost ghastly, and her slim, well-gloved hand, resting upon the chair
+arm, trembled perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have not come to me for two whole days, Ralph,&#8221; she commenced in
+a tone of complaint. &#8220;Surely you do not intend to desert me in these
+hours of distress?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must apologise,&#8221; I responded quickly, remembering <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>Jevons&#8217; advice.
+&#8220;But the fact is I myself have been very upset over the sad affair,
+and, in addition, I&#8217;ve had several serious cases during the past few
+days. Sir Bernard has been unwell, and I&#8217;ve been compelled to look
+after his practice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sir Bernard!&#8221; she ejaculated, in a tone which instantly struck me as
+strange. It was as though she held him in abhorrence. &#8220;Do you know,
+Ralph, I hate to think of you in association with that man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked, much surprised, while at that same moment the thought
+flashed through my mind how often Sir Bernard had given me vague
+warnings regarding her.</p>
+
+<p>They were evidently bitter enemies.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have no intention to give my reasons,&#8221; she replied, her brows
+slightly knit. &#8220;I merely give it as my opinion that you should no
+longer remain in association with him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But surely you are alone in that opinion!&#8221; I said. &#8220;He bears a high
+character, and is certainly one of the first physicians in London. His
+practice is perhaps the most valuable of any medical man at the
+present moment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t deny that,&#8221; she said, her gloved fingers twitching nervously.
+&#8220;A man may be a king, and at the same time a knave.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled. It was apparent that her intention was to separate me from
+the man to whom I owed nearly all, if not quite all, my success. And
+why? Because he knew of her past, and she feared that he might, in a
+moment of confidence, betray all to me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>&#8220;Vague hints are always irritating,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;Cannot you give me
+some reason for your desire that my friendship with him should end?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. If I did, you would accuse me of selfish motives,&#8221; she said,
+fixing her dark eyes upon me.</p>
+
+<p>Could a woman with a Madonna-like countenance be actually guilty of
+murder? It seemed incredible. And yet her manner was that of a woman
+haunted by the terrible secret of her crime. At that moment she was
+seeking, by ingenious means, to conceal the truth regarding the past.
+She feared that my intimate friendship with the great physician might
+result in her unmasking.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t see that selfish motives enter into this affair at all,&#8221; I
+remarked. &#8220;Whatever you tell me, Ethelwynn, is, I know, for my own
+benefit. Therefore you should at least be explicit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t be more explicit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because I have no right to utter a libel without being absolutely
+certain of the facts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t quite follow you,&#8221; I said, rather puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I mean that at present the information I have is vague,&#8221; she replied.
+&#8220;But if it is the truth, as I expect to establish it, then you must
+dissociate yourself from him, Ralph.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have only suspicions?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only suspicions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of a fact which will some day astound you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Our eyes met again, and I saw in hers a look of intense earnestness
+that caused me to wonder. To what could she possibly be referring?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You certainly arouse my curiosity,&#8221; I said, affecting to laugh. &#8220;Do
+you really think Sir Bernard such a very dreadful person, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! You do not take my words seriously,&#8221; she remarked. &#8220;I am warning
+you, Ralph, for your own benefit. It is a pity you do not heed me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do heed you,&#8221; I declared. &#8220;Only your statement is so strange that
+it appears almost incredible.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Incredible it may seem; but one day ere long you will be convinced
+that what I say to-night is the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I say that Sir Bernard Eyton, the man in whom you place every
+confidence, and whose example as a great man in his profession you are
+so studiously following, is not your friend.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor yours, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, neither is he mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This admission was at least the truth. I had known it long ago. But
+what had been the cause of difference between them was hidden in
+deepest mystery. Sir Bernard, as old Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s most intimate
+friend, knew, in all probability, of his engagement to her, and of its
+rupture in favour of her sister Mary. It might even be that Sir
+Bernard had had a hand in the breaking of the engagement. If so, that
+would well account for her violent hostility towards him.</p>
+
+<p>Such thoughts, with others, flashed through my mind as I sat there
+facing her. She was leaning back, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>her hands fallen idly upon her lap,
+peering straight at me through that spotted veil which,
+half-concealing her wondrous beauty, imparted to her an additional air
+of mystery.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have quarrelled with Sir Bernard, I presume?&#8221; I hazarded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quarrelled!&#8221; she echoed. &#8220;We were never friends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Truly she possessed all a clever woman&#8217;s presence of mind in the
+evasion of a leading question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He was an acquaintance of yours?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An acquaintance&mdash;yes. But I have always distrusted him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mary likes him, I believe,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;He was poor Courtenay&#8217;s most
+intimate friend for many years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She judges him from that standpoint alone. Any of her husband&#8217;s
+friends were hers, and she was fully cognisant of Sir Bernard&#8217;s
+unceasing attention to the sufferer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If that is so it is rather a pity that she was recently so
+neglectful,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know, Ralph&mdash;I know the reason of it all,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;I can&#8217;t
+explain to you, because it is not just that I should expose my
+sister&#8217;s secret. But I know the truth which, when revealed, will make
+it clear to the world that her apparent neglect was not culpable. She
+had a motive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A motive in going to town of an evening and enjoying herself!&#8221; I
+exclaimed. &#8220;Of course, the motive was to obtain relaxation. When a man
+is more than twice the age of his wife, the latter is apt to chafe
+beneath the golden fetter. It&#8217;s the same <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>everywhere&mdash;in Mayfair as in
+Mile End; in Suburbia as in a rural village. Difference of age is
+difference of temperament; and difference of temperament opens a
+breach which only a lover can fill.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She was silent&mdash;her eyes cast down. She saw that the attempt to
+vindicate her sister had, as before, utterly and ignominiously failed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Ralph, you are right,&#8221; she admitted at last. &#8220;Judged from a
+philosophic standpoint a wife ought not to be more than ten years her
+husband&#8217;s junior. Love which arises out of mere weakness is as easily
+fixed upon one object as another; and consequently is at all times
+transferable. It is so pleasant to us women to be admired, and so
+soothing to be loved that the grand trial of constancy to a young
+woman married to an elderly man is not to add one more conquest to her
+triumphs, but to earn the respect and esteem of the man who is her
+husband. And it is difficult. Of that I am convinced.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was for the first time a true ring of earnestness in her voice,
+and I saw by her manner that her heart was overburdened by the sorrow
+that had fallen upon her sister. Her character was a complex one which
+I had failed always to analyse, and it seemed just then as though her
+endeavour was to free her sister of all the responsibilities of her
+married life. She had made that effort once before, prior to the
+tragedy, but its motive was hidden in obscurity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Women are often very foolish,&#8221; she went on, half-apologetically.
+&#8220;Having chosen their lover for his suitability they usually allow the
+natural propensity of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>their youthful minds to invest him with every
+ideal of excellence. That is a fatal error committed by the majority
+of women. We ought to be satisfied with him as he is, rather than
+imagine him what he never can be.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I said, smiling at her philosophy. &#8220;It would certainly save
+them a world of disappointment in after life. It has always struck me
+that the extravagant investiture of fancy does not belong, as is
+commonly supposed, to the meek, true and abiding attachment which it
+is woman&#8217;s highest virtue and noblest distinction to feel. I strongly
+suspect it is vanity, and not affection, which leads a woman to
+believe her lover perfect; because it enhances her triumph to be the
+choice of such a man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I&#8217;m glad that we agree, Ralph,&#8221; she said with a sigh and an air
+of deep seriousness. &#8220;The part of the true-hearted woman is to be
+satisfied with her lover such as he is, old or young, and to consider
+him, with all his faults, as sufficiently perfect for her. No after
+development of character can then shake her faith, no ridicule or
+exposure can weaken her tenderness for a single moment; while, on the
+other hand, she who has blindly believed her lover to be without a
+fault, must ever be in danger of awaking to the conviction that her
+love exists no longer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As in your own case,&#8221; I added, in an endeavour to obtain from her the
+reason of this curious discourse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My own case!&#8221; she echoed. &#8220;No, Ralph. I have never believed you to be
+a perfect ideal. I have loved you because I knew that you loved me.
+Our tastes <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>are in common, our admiration for each other is mutual,
+and our affection strong and ever-increasing&mdash;until&mdash;until&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And faltering, she stopped abruptly, without concluding her sentence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Until what?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>Tears sprang to her eyes. One drop rolled down her white cheek until
+it reached her veil, and stood there sparkling beneath the light.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You know well,&#8221; she said hoarsely. &#8220;Until the tragedy. From that
+moment, Ralph, you changed. You are not the same to me as formerly. I
+feel&mdash;I feel,&#8221; she confessed, covering her face with her hands and
+sobbing bitterly, &#8220;I feel that I have lost you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lost me! I don&#8217;t understand,&#8221; I said, feigning not to comprehend her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel as though you no longer hold me in esteem,&#8221; she faltered
+through her tears. &#8220;Something tells me, Ralph, that&mdash;that your love
+for me has vanished, never to return!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden movement she raised her veil, and I saw how white and
+anxious was her fair countenance. I could not bring myself to believe
+that such a perfect face could conceal a heart blackened by the crime
+of murder. But, alas! all men are weak where a pretty woman is
+concerned. After all, it is feminine wiles and feminine graces that
+rule our world. Man is but a poor mortal at best, easily moved to
+sympathy by a woman&#8217;s tears, and as easily misled by the touch of a
+soft hand or a passionate caress upon the lips. Diplomacy is inborn in
+woman, and although every <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>woman is not an adventuress, yet one and
+all are clever actresses when the game of love is being played.</p>
+
+<p>The thought of that letter I had read and destroyed again recurred to
+me. Yes, she had concealed her secret&mdash;the secret of her attempt to
+marry Courtenay for his money. And yet if, as seemed so apparent, she
+had nursed her hatred, was it not but natural that she should assume a
+hostile attitude towards her sister&mdash;the woman who had eclipsed her in
+the old man&#8217;s affections? Nevertheless, on the contrary, she was
+always apologetic where Mary was concerned, and had always sought to
+conceal her shortcomings and domestic infelicity. It was that point
+which so sorely puzzled me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why should my love for you become suddenly extinguished?&#8221; I asked,
+for want of something other to say.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;I cannot tell why, but I have a
+distinct distrust of the future, a feeling that we are drifting
+apart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She spoke the truth. A woman in love is quick of perception, and no
+feigned affection on the man&#8217;s part can ever blind her.</p>
+
+<p>I saw that she read my heart like an open book, and at once strove to
+reassure her, trying to bring myself to believe that I had misjudged
+her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no, dearest,&#8221; I said, rising with a hollow pretence of caressing
+her tears away. &#8220;You are nervous, and upset by the tragedy. Try to
+forget it all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Forget!&#8221; she echoed in a hard voice, her eyes cast down despondently.
+&#8220;Forget that night! Ah, no, I can never forget it&mdash;never!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS.</h3>
+
+<p>The dark days of the London winter brightened into spring, but the
+mystery of old Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s death remained an enigma inexplicable
+to police and public. Ambler Jevons had prosecuted independent
+inquiries assiduously in various quarters, detectives had watched the
+subsequent movements of Short and the other servants, but all to no
+purpose. The sudden disappearance of Short was discovered to be due to
+the illness of his brother.</p>
+
+<p>The identity of the assassin, as well as the mode in which the
+extraordinary wound had been inflicted, both remained mysteries
+impenetrable.</p>
+
+<p>At Guy&#8217;s we were a trifle under-staffed, and my work was consequently
+heavy; while, added to that, Sir Bernard was suffering from the
+effects of a severe chill, and had not been able to come to town for
+nearly a month. Therefore, I had been kept at it practically night and
+day, dividing my time between the hospital, Harley Street, and my own
+rooms. I saw little of my friend Jevons, for his partner had been
+ordered to Bournemouth for his health, and therefore his constant
+attendance at his office in Mark Lane was imperative. Ambler had now
+but little leisure save on Sundays, when we would usually dine
+together at the Cavour, the Globe, the Florence, or some other foreign
+restaurant.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>Whenever I spoke to him of the tragedy, he would sigh, his face would
+assume a puzzled expression, and he would declare that the affair
+utterly passed his comprehension. Once or twice he referred to
+Ethelwynn, but it struck me that he did not give tongue to what passed
+within his mind for fear of offending me. His methods were based on
+patience, therefore I often wondered whether he was still secretly at
+work upon the case, and if so, whether he had gained any additional
+facts. Yet he told me nothing. It was a mystery, he said&mdash;that was
+all.</p>
+
+<p>Of Ethelwynn I saw but little, making my constant occupation with Sir
+Bernard&#8217;s patients my excuse. She had taken up her abode with Mrs.
+Henniker&mdash;the cousin at whose house Mary had stayed on the night of
+the tragedy. The furniture at Richmond Road had been removed and the
+house advertised for sale, young Mrs. Courtenay having moved to her
+aunt&#8217;s house in the country, a few miles from Bath.</p>
+
+<p>On several occasions I had dined at Redcliffe Square, finding both
+Mrs. Henniker and her husband extremely agreeable. Henniker was
+partner in a big brewing concern at Clapham, and a very good fellow;
+while his wife was a middle-aged, fair-haired woman, of the type who
+shop of afternoons in High Street, Kensington. Ethelwynn had always
+been a particular favourite with both, hence she was a welcome guest
+at Redcliffe Square. Old Mr. Courtenay had had business relations with
+Henniker a couple of years before, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>a slight difference had led to
+an open quarrel. For that reason they had not of late visited at Kew.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasions I had spent the evening with Ethelwynn at their house
+I had watched her narrowly, yet neither by look nor by action did she
+betray any sign of a guilty secret. Her manner had during those weeks
+changed entirely; for she seemed perfectly calm and self-possessed,
+and although she alluded but seldom to our love, she treated me with
+that same sweet tenderness as before the fatal night of her
+brother-in-law&#8217;s assassination.</p>
+
+<p>I must admit that her attitude, although it inspired me with a certain
+amount of confidence, nevertheless caused me to ponder deeply. I knew
+enough of human nature to be aware that it is woman&#8217;s m&eacute;tier to keep
+up appearances. Was she keeping up an appearance of innocence,
+although her heart was blackened by a crime?</p>
+
+<p>One evening, when we chanced to be left alone in the little
+smoking-room after dinner, she suddenly turned to me, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve often thought how strange you must have thought my visit to your
+rooms that night, Ralph. It was unpardonable, I know&mdash;only I wanted to
+warn you of that man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of Sir Bernard?&#8221; I observed, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. But it appears that you have not heeded me,&#8221; she sighed. &#8220;I
+fear, Ralph, that you will regret some day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why should I regret? Your fears are surely baseless.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>&#8220;No,&#8221; she answered decisively. &#8220;They are not baseless. I have
+reasons&mdash;strong ones&mdash;for urging you to break your connexion with him.
+He is no friend to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled. I knew quite well that he was no friend of hers. Once or
+twice of late he had said in that peevish snappy voice of his:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder what that woman, Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s sister, is doing? I hear
+nothing of her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did not enlighten him, for I had no desire to hear her maligned. I
+knew the truth myself sufficiently well.</p>
+
+<p>But turning to her I looked straight into her dark luminous eyes,
+those eyes that held me always as beneath their spell, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He has proved himself my best friend, up to the present. I have no
+reason to doubt him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you will have. I warn you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In what manner, then, is he my enemy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated, as though half-fearing to respond to my question.
+Presently she said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He is my enemy&mdash;and therefore yours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why is he your enemy?&#8221; I asked, eager to clear up a point which had
+so long puzzled me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I cannot tell,&#8221; she responded. &#8220;One sometimes gives offence and makes
+enemies without being aware of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The evasion was a clever one. Another illustration of tactful
+ingenuity.</p>
+
+<p>By dint of careful cross-examination I endeavoured to worm from her
+the secret of my chief&#8217;s antagonism, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>but she was dumb to every
+inquiry, fencing with me in a manner that would have done credit to a
+police-court solicitor. Though sweet, innocent, and intensely
+charming, yet there was a reverse side of her character, strong,
+firm-minded, almost stern in its austerity.</p>
+
+<p>I must here say that our love, once so passionate and displayed by
+fond kisses and hand-pressing, in the usual manner of lovers, had
+gradually slackened. A kiss on arrival and another on departure was
+all the demonstration of affection that now passed between us. I
+doubted her; and though I strove hard to conceal my true feelings, I
+fear that my coldness was apparent, not only to her but to the
+Hennikers also. She had complained of it when she called at my rooms,
+and certainly she had full reason for doing so. I am not one of those
+who can feign love. Some men can; I cannot.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it will be seen that although a certain coolness had arisen
+between us, in a manner that seemed almost mutual, we were
+nevertheless the best of friends. Once or twice she dined with me at a
+restaurant, and went to a play afterwards, on such occasions remarking
+that it seemed like &#8220;old times,&#8221; in the early days of our blissful
+love. And sometimes she would recall those sweet halcyon hours, until
+I felt a pang of regret that my trust in her had been shaken by that
+letter found among the dead man&#8217;s effects and that tiny piece of
+chenille. But I steeled my heart, because I felt assured that the
+truth must out some day.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>Mine was a strange position for any man. I loved this woman, remember;
+loved her with all my heart and with all my soul. Yet that letter
+penned by her had shown me that she had once angled for larger spoils,
+and was not the sweet unsophisticated woman I had always supposed her
+to be. It showed me, too, that in her heart had rankled a fierce,
+undying hatred.</p>
+
+<p>Because of this I did not seek her society frequently, but occupied
+myself diligently with my patients&mdash;seeking solace in my work, as many
+another professional man does where love or domestic happiness is
+concerned. There are few men in my profession who have not had their
+affairs of the heart, many of them serious ones. The world never knows
+how difficult it is for a doctor to remain heart-whole. Sometimes his
+lady patients deliberately set themselves to capture him, and will
+speak ill-naturedly of him if he refuses to fall into their net. At
+others, sympathy with a sufferer leads to a flirtation during
+convalescence, and often a word spoken in jest in order to cheer is
+taken seriously by romantic girls who believe that to marry a doctor
+is to attain social status and distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Heigho! When I think of all my own little love episodes, and of the
+ingenious diplomacy to which I have been compelled to resort in order
+to avoid tumbling into pitfalls set by certain designing Daughters of
+Eve, I cannot but sympathise with every other medical man who is on
+the right side of forty and sound of wind and limb. There is not a
+doctor in all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>the long list in the medical register who could not
+relate strange stories of his own love episodes&mdash;romances which have
+sometimes narrowly escaped developing into tragedies, and plots
+concocted by women to inveigle and to allure. It is so easy for a
+woman to feign illness and call in the doctor to chat to her and amuse
+her. Lots of women in London do that regularly. They will play with a
+doctor&#8217;s heart as a sort of pastime, while the unfortunate medico
+often cannot afford to hold aloof for fear of offending. If he does,
+then evil gossip will spread among his patients and his practice may
+suffer considerably; for in no profession does a man rely so entirely
+upon his good name and a reputation for care and integrity as in that
+of medicine.</p>
+
+<p>I do not wish it for a moment to be taken that I am antagonistic to
+women, or that I would ever speak ill of them. I merely refer to the
+mean method of some of the idling class, who deliberately call in the
+doctor for the purpose of flirtation and then boast of it to their
+intimates. To such, a man&#8217;s heart or a man&#8217;s future are of no
+consequence. The doctor is easily visible, and is therefore the
+easiest prey to all and sundry.</p>
+
+<p>In my own practice I had had a good deal of experience of it. And I am
+not alone. Every other medical man, if not a grey-headed fossil or a
+wizened woman-hater, has had similar episodes; many strange&mdash;some even
+startling.</p>
+
+<p>Reader, in this narrative of curious events and remarkable happenings,
+I am taking you entirely and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>completely into my confidence. I seek to
+conceal nothing, nor to exaggerate in any particular, but to present
+the truth as a plain matter-of-fact statement of what actually
+occurred. I was a unit among a hundred thousand others engaged in the
+practice of medicine, not more skilled than the majority, even though
+Sir Bernard&#8217;s influence and friendship had placed me in a position of
+prominence. But in this brief life of ours it is woman who makes us
+dance as puppets on our miniature stage, who leads us to brilliant
+success or to black ruin, who exalts us above our fellows or hurls us
+into oblivion. Woman&mdash;always woman.</p>
+
+<p>Since that awful suspicion had fallen upon me that the hand that had
+struck old Mr. Courtenay was that soft delicate one that I had so
+often carried to my lips, a blank had opened in my life. Consumed by
+conflicting thoughts, I recollected how sweet and true had been our
+affection; with what an intense passionate love-look she had gazed
+upon me with those wonderful eyes of hers; with what wild fierce
+passion her lips would meet mine in fond caress.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! it had all ended. She had acted a lie to me. That letter told
+the bitter truth. Hence, we were gradually drifting apart.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday morning in May, just as I had finished my breakfast and
+flung myself into an armchair to smoke, as was my habit on the day of
+rest, my man entered, saying that Lady Twickenham had sent to ask if I
+could go round to Park Lane at once. Not at all pleased with this
+call, just at a moment of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>laziness, I was, nevertheless, obliged to
+respond, because her ladyship was one of Sir Bernard&#8217;s best patients;
+and suffering as she was from a malignant internal complaint, I knew
+it was necessary to respond at once to the summons.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at her bedside I quickly saw the gravity of the situation;
+but, unfortunately, I knew very little of the case, because Sir
+Bernard himself always made a point of attending her personally.
+Although elderly, she was a prominent woman in society, and had
+recommended many patients to my chief in earlier days, before he
+attained the fame he had now achieved. I remained with her a couple of
+hours; but finding myself utterly confused regarding her symptoms, I
+resolved to take the afternoon train down to Hove and consult Sir
+Bernard. I suggested this course to her ladyship, who was at once
+delighted with the suggestion. Therefore, promising to return at ten
+o&#8217;clock that night, I went out, swallowed a hasty luncheon, and took
+train down to Brighton.</p>
+
+<p>The house was one of those handsome mansions facing the sea at Hove,
+and as I drove up to it on that bright, sunny afternoon, it seemed to
+me an ideal residence for a man jaded by the eternal worries of a
+physician&#8217;s life. The sea-breeze stirred the sun-blinds before the
+windows, and the flowers in the well-kept boxes were already gay with
+bloom. I knew the place well, for I had been down many times before;
+therefore, when the page opened the door he showed me at once to the
+study, a room which lay at the back of the big drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>&#8220;Sir Bernard is in, sir,&#8221; the page said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell him at once you&#8217;re
+here,&#8221; and he closed the door, leaving me alone.</p>
+
+<p>I walked towards the window, which looked out upon a small flower
+garden, and in so doing, passed the writing table. A sheet of foolscap
+lay upon it, and curiosity prompted me to glance at it.</p>
+
+<p>What I saw puzzled me considerably; for beside the paper was a letter
+of my own that I had sent him on the previous day, while upon the
+foolscap were many lines of writing in excellent imitation of my own!</p>
+
+<p>He had been practising the peculiarities of my own handwriting. But
+with what purpose was a profound mystery.</p>
+
+<p>I was bending over, closely examining the words and noting how
+carefully they had been traced in imitation, when, of a sudden, I
+heard a voice in the drawing-room adjoining&mdash;a woman&#8217;s voice.</p>
+
+<p>I pricked my ears and listened&mdash;for the eccentric old fellow to
+entertain was most unusual. He always hated women, because he saw too
+much of their wiles and wilfulness as patients.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless it was apparent that he had a lady visitor in the
+adjoining room, and a moment later it was equally apparent that they
+were not on the most friendly terms; for, of a sudden, the voice
+sounded again quite distinctly&mdash;raised in a cry of horror, as though
+at some sudden and terrible discovery.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I see&mdash;I see it all now!&#8221; shrieked the unknown woman. &#8220;You have
+deceived me! Coward! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>You call yourself a man&mdash;you, who would sell a
+woman&#8217;s soul to the devil!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hold your tongue!&#8221; cried a gruff voice which I recognised as Sir
+Bernard&#8217;s. &#8220;You may be overheard. Recollect that your safety can only
+be secured by your secrecy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall tell the truth!&#8221; the woman declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; laughed the man who was my chief in a tone of defiance.
+&#8220;Tell it, and condemn yourself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>The incident was certainly a puzzling one, for when, a few minutes
+later, my chief entered the study, his face, usually ashen grey, was
+flushed with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been having trouble with a lunatic,&#8221; he explained, after
+greeting me, and inquiring why I had come down to consult him. &#8220;The
+woman&#8217;s people are anxious to place her under restraint; yet, for the
+present, there is not quite sufficient evidence of insanity to sign
+the certificate. Did you overhear her in the next room?&#8221; And, seating
+himself at his table, he looked at me through his glasses with those
+keen penetrating eyes that age had not dimmed or time dulled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I heard voices,&#8221; I admitted, &#8220;that was all.&#8221; The circumstance was a
+strange one, and those words were so ominous that I was determined not
+to reveal to him the conversation I had overheard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Like many other women patients suffering from brain troubles, she has
+taken a violent dislike to me, and believes that I&#8217;m the very devil in
+human form,&#8221; he said, smiling. &#8220;Fortunately, she had a friend with
+her, or she might have attacked me tooth and nail just now,&#8221; and
+leaning back in his chair he laughed at the idea&mdash;laughed so lightly
+that my suspicions were almost disarmed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>But not quite. Had you been in my place you would have had your
+curiosity and suspicion aroused to no mean degree&mdash;not only by the
+words uttered by the woman and Sir Bernard&#8217;s defiant reply, but also
+by the fact that the female voice sounded familiar.</p>
+
+<p>A man knows the voice of his love above all. The voice that I had
+heard in that adjoining room was, to the best of my belief, that of
+Ethelwynn.</p>
+
+<p>With a resolution to probe this mystery slowly, and without unseemly
+haste, I dropped the subject, and commenced to ask his advice
+regarding the complicated case of Lady Twickenham. The history of it,
+and the directions he gave can serve no purpose if written here;
+therefore suffice it to say that I remained to dinner and caught the
+nine o&#8217;clock express back to London.</p>
+
+<p>While at dinner, a meal served in that severe style which
+characterised the austere old man&#8217;s daily life, I commenced to talk of
+the antics of insane persons and their extraordinary antipathies, but
+quickly discerned that he had neither intention nor desire to speak of
+them. He replied in those snappy monosyllables which told me plainly
+that the subject was distasteful to him, and when I bade him good-bye
+and drove to the station I was more puzzled than ever by his strange
+behaviour. He was eccentric, it was true; but I knew all his little
+odd ways, the eccentricity of genius, and could plainly see that his
+recent indisposition, which had prevented him from attending at Harley
+Street, was due to nerves rather than to a chill.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>The trains from Brighton to London on Sunday evenings are always
+crowded, mainly by business people compelled to return to town in
+readiness for the toil of the coming week. Week-end trippers and day
+excursionists fill the compartments to overflowing, whether it be
+chilly spring or blazing summer, for Brighton is ever popular with the
+jaded Londoner who is enabled to &#8220;run down&#8221; without fatigue, and get a
+cheap health-giving sea-breeze for a few hours after the busy turmoil
+of the Metropolis.</p>
+
+<p>On this Sunday night it was no exception. The first-class compartment
+was crowded, mostly be it said, by third-class passengers who had
+&#8220;tipped&#8221; the guard, and when we had started I noticed in the far
+corner opposite me a pale-faced young girl of about twenty or so,
+plainly dressed in shabby black. She was evidently a third-class
+passenger, and the guard, taking compassion upon her fragile form in
+the mad rush for seats, had put her into our carriage. She was not
+good-looking, indeed rather plain; her countenance wearing a sad,
+pre-occupied expression as she leaned her chin upon her hand and gazed
+out upon the lights of the town we were leaving.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed that her chest rose and fell in a long-drawn sigh, and that
+she wore black cotton gloves, one finger of which was worn through.
+Yes, she was the picture of poor respectability.</p>
+
+<p>The other passengers, two of whom were probably City clerks with their
+loves, regarded her with some surprise that she should be a
+first-class passenger, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>and there seemed an inclination on the part of
+the loudly-dressed females to regard her with contempt.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, when we had left the sea and were speeding through the open
+country, she turned her sad face from the window and examined her
+fellow passengers one after the other until, of a sudden, her eyes met
+mine. In an instant she dropped them modestly and busied herself in
+the pages of the sixpenny reprint of a popular novel which she carried
+with her.</p>
+
+<p>In that moment, however, I somehow entertained a belief that we had
+met before. Under what circumstances, or where, I could not recollect.
+The wistfulness of that white face, the slight hollowness of the
+cheeks, the unnaturally dark eyes, all seemed familiar to me; yet
+although for half an hour I strove to bring back to my mind where I
+had seen her, it was to no purpose. In all probability I had attended
+her at Guy&#8217;s. A doctor in a big London hospital sees so many faces
+that to recollect all is utterly impossible. Many a time I have been
+accosted and thanked by people whom I have had no recollection of ever
+having seen in my life. Men do not realise that they look very
+different when lying in bed with a fortnight&#8217;s growth of beard to when
+shaven and spruce, as is their ordinary habit: while women, when
+smartly dressed with fashionable hats and flimsy veils, are very
+different to when, in illness, they lie with hair unbound, faces
+pinched and eyes sunken, which is the only recollection their doctor
+has of them. The duchess <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>and the servant girl present very similar
+figures when lying on a sick bed in a critical condition.</p>
+
+<p>There was an element of romantic mystery in that fragile little figure
+huddled up in the far corner of the carriage. Once or twice, when she
+believed my gaze to be averted, she raised her eyes furtively as
+though to reassure herself of my identity, and in her restless manner
+I discerned a desire to speak with me. It was very probable that she
+was some poor girl of the lady&#8217;s maid or governess class to whom I had
+shown attention during an illness. We have so many in the female wards
+at Guy&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>But during that journey a further and much more important matter
+recurred to me, eclipsing all thought of the sad-faced girl opposite.
+I recollected those words I had overheard, and felt convinced that the
+speaker had been none other than Ethelwynn herself.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes when a man&#8217;s mind is firmly fixed upon an object the events
+of his daily life curiously tend towards it. Have you never
+experienced that strange phenomenon for which medical science has
+never yet accounted, namely, the impression of form upon the
+imagination? You have one day suddenly thought of a person long
+absent. You have not seen him for years, when, without any apparent
+cause, you have recollected him. In the hurry and bustle of city life
+a thousand faces are passing you hourly. Like a flash one man passes,
+and you turn to look, for the countenance bears a striking resemblance
+to your absent friend. You are disappointed, for it is not the man. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>A
+second face appears in the human phantasmagoria of the street, and the
+similarity is almost startling. You are amazed that two persons should
+pass so very like your friend. Then, an hour after, a third
+face&mdash;actually that of your long-lost friend himself. All of us have
+experienced similar vagaries of coincidence. How can we account for
+them?</p>
+
+<p>And so it was in my own case. So deeply had my mind been occupied by
+thoughts of my love that several times that day, in London and in
+Brighton, I had been startled by striking resemblances. Thus I
+wondered whether that voice I had heard was actually hers, or only a
+distorted hallucination. At any rate, the woman had expressed hatred
+of Sir Bernard just as Ethelwynn had done, and further, the old man
+had openly defied her, with a harsh laugh, which showed confidence in
+himself and an utter disregard for any statement she might make.</p>
+
+<p>At Victoria the pale-faced girl descended quickly, and, swallowed in a
+moment in the crowd on the platform, I saw her no more.</p>
+
+<p>She had, before descending, given me a final glance, and I fancied
+that a faint smile of recognition played about her lips. But in the
+uncertain light of a railway carriage the shadows are heavy, and I
+could not see sufficiently distinctly to warrant my returning her
+salute. So the wan little figure, so full of romantic mystery, went
+forth again into oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>I was going my round at Guy&#8217;s on the following morning when a telegram
+was put into my hand. It was from Ethelwynn&#8217;s mother&mdash;Mrs. Mivart, at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Neneford&mdash;asking me to go down there without delay, but giving no
+reason for the urgency. I had always been a favourite with the old
+lady, and to obey was, of course, imperative&mdash;even though I were
+compelled to ask Bartlett, one of my colleagues, to look after Sir
+Bernard&#8217;s private practice in my absence.</p>
+
+<p>Neneford Manor was an ancient, rambling old Queen Anne place, about
+nine miles from Peterborough on the high road to Leicester. Standing
+in the midst of the richest grass country in England, with its grounds
+sloping to the brimming river that wound through meadows which in May
+were a blaze of golden buttercups, it was a typical English home, with
+quaint old gables, high chimney stacks and old-world garden with yew
+hedges trimmed fantastically as in the days of wigs and patches. I had
+snatched a week-end several times to be old Mrs. Mivart&#8217;s guest;
+therefore I knew the picturesque old place well, and had been
+entranced by its many charms.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after five o&#8217;clock that afternoon I descended from the train at
+the roadside station, and, mounting into the dog-cart, was driven
+across the hill to the Manor. In the hall the sweet-faced,
+silver-haired old lady, in her neat black and white cap greeted me,
+holding both my hands and pressing them for a moment, apparently
+unable to utter a word. I had expected to find her unwell; but, on the
+contrary, she seemed quite as active as usual, notwithstanding the
+senile decay which I knew had already laid its hand heavily upon her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>&#8220;You are so good to come to me, Doctor. How can I sufficiently thank
+you?&#8221; she managed to exclaim at last, leading me into the
+drawing-room, a long old-fashioned apartment with low ceiling
+supported by black oak beams, and quaint diamond-paned windows at each
+end.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; I inquired, when she had seated herself, and, with the evening
+light upon her face, I saw how blanched and anxious she was.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I want to consult you, Doctor, upon a serious and confidential
+matter,&#8221; she began, leaning forward, her thin white hands clasped in
+her lap. &#8220;We have not met since the terrible blow fell upon us&mdash;the
+death of poor Mary&#8217;s husband.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must have been a great blow to you,&#8221; I said sympathetically, for I
+liked the old lady, and realised how deeply she had suffered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but to poor Mary most of all,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They were so happy
+together; and she was so devoted to him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This was scarcely the truth; but mothers are often deceived as to
+their daughters&#8217; domestic felicity. A wife is always prone to hide her
+sorrows from her parents as far as possible. Therefore the old lady
+had no doubt been the victim of natural deception.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I agreed; &#8220;it was a tragic and terrible thing. The mystery is
+quite unsolved.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To me, the police are worse than useless,&#8221; she said, in her slow,
+weak voice; &#8220;they don&#8217;t seem to have exerted themselves in the least
+after that utterly useless inquest, with its futile verdict. As <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>far
+as I can gather, not one single point has been cleared up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I said; &#8220;not one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And my poor Mary!&#8221; exclaimed old Mrs. Mivart; &#8220;she is beside herself
+with grief. Time seems to increase her melancholy, instead of bringing
+forgetfulness, as I hoped it would.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where is Mrs. Courtenay?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here. She&#8217;s been back with me for nearly a month. It was to see her,
+speak with her, and give me an opinion that I asked you to come down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is she unwell?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I really don&#8217;t know what ails her. She talks of her husband
+incessantly, calls him by name, and sometimes behaves so strangely
+that I have once or twice been much alarmed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her statement startled me. I had no idea that the young widow had
+taken the old gentleman&#8217;s death so much to heart. As far as I had been
+able to judge, it seemed very much as though she had every desire to
+regain her freedom from a matrimonial bond that galled her. That she
+was grief-stricken over his death showed that I had entirely misjudged
+her character.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is she at home now?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, in her own sitting-room&mdash;the room we used as a schoolroom when
+the girls were at home. Sometimes she mopes there all day, only
+speaking at meals. At others, she takes her dressing-bag and goes away
+for two or three days&mdash;just as the fancy takes her. She absolutely
+declines to have a maid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>&#8220;You mean that she&#8217;s just a little&mdash;well, eccentric,&#8221; I remarked
+seriously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Doctor,&#8221; answered the old lady, in a strange voice quite unusual
+to her, and fixing her eyes upon me. &#8220;To tell the truth I fear her
+mind is slowly giving way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I remained silent, thinking deeply; and as I did not reply, she added:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will meet her at dinner. I shall not let her know you are here.
+Then you can judge for yourself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The situation was becoming more complicated. Since the conclusion of
+the inquest I had seen nothing of the widow. She had stayed several
+days with Ethelwynn at the Hennikers&#8217;, then had visited her aunt near
+Bath. That was all I knew of her movements, for, truth to tell, I held
+her in some contempt for her giddy pleasure-seeking during her
+husband&#8217;s illness. Surely a woman who had a single spark of affection
+for the man she had married could not go out each night to theatres
+and supper parties, leaving him to the care of his man and a nurse.
+That one fact alone proved that her professions of love had been
+hollow and false.</p>
+
+<p>While the twilight fell I sat in that long, sombre old room that
+breathed an air of a century past, chatting with old Mrs. Mivart, and
+learning from her full particulars of Mary&#8217;s eccentricities. My
+hostess told me of the proving of the will, which left the Devonshire
+estate to her daughter, and of the slow action of the executors. The
+young widow&#8217;s actions, as described to me, were certainly strange, and
+made me strongly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>suspect that she was not quite responsible for them.
+That Mary&#8217;s remorse was overwhelming was plain; and that fact aroused
+within my mind a very strong suspicion of a circumstance I had not
+before contemplated, namely, that during the life of her husband there
+had been a younger male attraction. The acuteness of her grief seemed
+proof of this. And yet, if argued logically, the existence of a secret
+lover should cause her to congratulate herself upon her liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The whole situation was an absolute enigma.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT.</h3>
+
+<p>Dinner was announced, and I took Mrs. Mivart into the room on the
+opposite side of the big old-fashioned hall, a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment the size of the drawing-room, and hung with some fine old
+family portraits and miniatures. Old Squire Mivart had been an
+enthusiastic collector of antique china, and the specimens of old
+Montelupo and Urbino hanging upon the walls were remarkable as being
+the finest in any private collection in this country. Many were the
+visits he had made to Italy to acquire those queer-looking old
+medi&aelig;val plates, with their crude colouring and rude, inartistic
+drawings, and certainly he was an acknowledged expert in antique
+porcelain.</p>
+
+<p>The big red-shaded lamp in the centre of the table shed a soft light
+upon the snowy cloth, the flowers and the glittering silver; and as my
+hostess took her seat she sighed slightly, and for the first time
+asked of Ethelwynn.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen her for a week,&#8221; I was compelled to admit. &#8220;Patients
+have been so numerous that I haven&#8217;t had time to go out to see her,
+except at hours when calling at a friend&#8217;s house was out of the
+question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you like the Hennikers?&#8221; her mother inquired, raising her eyes
+inquiringly to mine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, I&#8217;ve found them very agreeable and pleasant.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m,&#8221; the old lady ejaculated dubiously. &#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t. I met Mrs.
+Henniker once, and I must say that I did not care for her in the
+least. Ethelwynn is very fond of her, but to my mind she&#8217;s fast, and
+not at all a suitable companion for a girl of my daughter&#8217;s
+disposition. It may be that I have an old woman&#8217;s prejudices, living
+as I do in the country always, but somehow I can never bring myself to
+like her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Mivart, like the majority of elderly widows who have given up the
+annual visit to London in the season, was a trifle behind the times.
+More charming an old lady could not be, but, in common with all who
+vegetate in the depths of rural England, she was just a trifle
+narrow-minded. In religion, she found fault constantly with the
+village parson, who, she declared, was guilty of ritualistic
+practices, and on the subject of her daughters she bemoaned the
+latter-day emancipation of women, which allowed them to go hither and
+thither at their own free will. Like all such mothers, she considered
+wealth a necessary adjunct to happiness, and it had been with her
+heartiest approval that Mary had married the unfortunate Courtenay,
+notwithstanding the difference between the ages of bride and
+bridegroom. In every particular the old lady was a typical specimen of
+the squire&#8217;s widow, as found in rural England to-day.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had we seated ourselves and I had replied to her question
+when the door opened and a slim figure in deep black entered and
+mechanically took the empty chair. She crossed the room, looking
+straight <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>before her, and did not notice my presence until she had
+seated herself face to face with me.</p>
+
+<p>Of a sudden her thin wan face lit up with a smile of recognition, and
+she cried:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Doctor! Wherever did you come from? No one told me you were
+here,&#8221; and across the table she stretched out her hand in greeting.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought you were reposing after your long walk this morning, dear;
+so I did not disturb you,&#8221; her mother explained.</p>
+
+<p>But, heedless of the explanation, she continued putting to me
+questions as to when I had left town, and the reason of my visit
+there. To the latter I returned an evasive answer, declaring that I
+had run down because I had heard that her mother was not altogether
+well.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s true,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Poor mother has been very queer of
+late. She seems so distracted, and worries quite unnecessarily over
+me. I wish you&#8217;d give her advice. Her state causes me considerable
+anxiety.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; I said, feigning to laugh, &#8220;I must diagnose the ailment
+and see what can be done.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The soup had been served, and as I carried my spoon to my mouth I
+examined her furtively. My hostess had excused me from dressing, but
+her daughter, neat in her widow&#8217;s collar and cuffs, sat prim and
+upright, her eyes now and then raised to mine in undisguised
+inquisitiveness.</p>
+
+<p>She was a trifle paler than heretofore, but her pallor was probably
+rendered the more noticeable by the dead black she wore. Her hands
+seemed thin, and her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>fingers toyed nervously with her spoon in a
+manner that betrayed concealed agitation. Outwardly, however, I
+detected no extraordinary signs of either grief or anxiety. She spoke
+calmly, it was true, in the tone of one upon whom a great calamity had
+fallen, but that was only natural. I did not expect to find her
+bright, laughing, and light-hearted, like her old self in Richmond
+Road.</p>
+
+<p>As dinner proceeded I began to believe that, with a fond mother&#8217;s
+solicitude for her daughter&#8217;s welfare, Mrs. Mivart had slightly
+exaggerated Mary&#8217;s symptoms. They certainly were not those of a woman
+plunged in inconsolable grief, for she was neither mopish nor
+artificially gay. As far as I could detect, not even a single sigh
+escaped her.</p>
+
+<p>She inquired of Ethelwynn and of the Hennikers, remarking that she had
+seen nothing of them for over three weeks; and then, when the servants
+had left the room, she placed her elbows upon the table, at the risk
+of a breach of good manners, and resting her chin upon her hands,
+looked me full in the face, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, tell me the truth, Doctor. What has been discovered regarding my
+poor husband&#8217;s death? Have the police obtained any clue to the
+assassin?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None&mdash;none whatever, I regret to say,&#8221; was my response.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are useless&mdash;worse than useless!&#8221; she burst forth angrily; &#8220;they
+blundered from the very first.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s entirely my own opinion, dear,&#8221; her mother said. &#8220;Our police
+system nowadays is a mere farce. The foreigners are far ahead of us,
+even in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>detection of crime. Surely the mystery of your poor
+husband&#8217;s death might have been solved, if they had worked
+assiduously.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe that everything that could be done has been done,&#8221; I
+remarked. &#8220;The case was placed in the hands of two of the smartest and
+most experienced men at Scotland Yard, with personal instructions from
+the Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department to leave
+no stone unturned in order to arrive at a successful issue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what has been done?&#8221; asked the young widow, in a tone of
+discontent; &#8220;why, absolutely nothing! There has, I suppose, been a
+pretence at trying to solve the mystery; but, finding it too
+difficult, they have given it up, and turned their attention to some
+other crime more open and plain-sailing. I&#8217;ve no faith in the police
+whatever. It&#8217;s scandalous!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled; then said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My friend, Ambler Jevons&mdash;you know him, for he dined at Richmond Road
+one evening&mdash;has been most active in the affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But he&#8217;s not a detective. How can he expect to triumph where the
+police fail?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He often does,&#8221; I declared. &#8220;His methods are different from the
+hard-and-fast rules followed by the police. He commences at whatever
+point presents itself, and laboriously works backwards with a patience
+that is absolutely extraordinary. He has unearthed a dozen crimes
+where Scotland Yard has failed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And is he engaged upon my poor husband&#8217;s case?&#8221; asked Mary, suddenly
+interested.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For what reason?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&mdash;because he is one of those for whom a mystery of crime has a
+fascinating attraction.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But he must have some motive in devoting time and patience to a
+matter which does not concern him in the least,&#8221; Mrs. Mivart remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whatever is the motive, I can assure you that it is an entirely
+disinterested one,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what has he discovered? Tell me,&#8221; Mary urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am quite in ignorance,&#8221; I said. &#8220;We are most intimate friends, but
+when engaged on such investigations he tells me nothing of their
+result until they are complete. All I know is that so active is he at
+this moment that I seldom see him. He is often tied to his office in
+the City, but has, I believe, recently been on a flying visit abroad
+for two or three days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Abroad!&#8221; she echoed. &#8220;Where?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I met a mutual friend in the Strand yesterday, and he
+told me that he had returned yesterday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Has he been abroad in connection with his inquiries, do you think?&#8221;
+Mrs. Mivart inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I really don&#8217;t know. Probably he has. When he takes up a case he goes
+into it with a greater thoroughness than any detective living.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Mary remarked, &#8220;I recollect, now, the stories you used to tell
+us regarding him&mdash;of his exciting adventures&mdash;of his patient tracking
+of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>guilty ones, and of his marvellous ingenuity in laying traps
+to get them to betray themselves. I recollect quite well that evening
+he came to Richmond Road with you. He was a most interesting man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let us hope he will be more successful than the police,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Doctor,&#8221; she remarked, sighing for the first time. &#8220;I hope he
+will&mdash;for the mystery of it all drives me to distraction.&#8221; Then
+placing both hands to her brow, she added, &#8220;Ah! if we could only
+discover the truth&mdash;the real truth!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have patience,&#8221; I urged. &#8220;A complicated mystery such as it is cannot
+be cleared up without long and careful inquiry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But in the months that have gone by surely the police should have at
+least made some discovery?&#8221; she said, in a voice of complaint; &#8220;yet
+they have not the slightest clue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We can only wait,&#8221; I said. &#8220;Personally, I have confidence in Jevons.
+If there is a clue to be obtained, depend upon it he will scent it
+out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did not tell them of my misgivings, nor did I explain how Ambler,
+having found himself utterly baffled, had told me of his intention to
+relinquish further effort. The flying trip abroad might be in
+connection with the case, but I felt confident that it was not. He
+knew, as well as I did, that the truth was to be found in England.</p>
+
+<p>Again we spoke of Ethelwynn; and from Mary&#8217;s references to her sister
+I gathered that a slight coolness had fallen between them. She did
+not, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>somehow, speak of her in the same terms of affection as
+formerly. It might be that she shared her mother&#8217;s prejudices, and did
+not approve of her taking up her abode with the Hennikers. Be it how
+it might, there were palpable signs of strained relations.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be possible, I wondered, that Mary had learnt of her sister&#8217;s
+secret engagement to her husband?</p>
+
+<p>I looked full at her as that thought flashed through my mind. Yes, she
+presented a picture of sweet and interesting widowhood. In her voice,
+as in her countenance, was just that slight touch of grief which told
+me plainly that she was a heart-broken, remorseful woman&mdash;a woman,
+like many another, who knew not the value of a tender, honest and
+indulgent husband until he had been snatched from her. Mother and
+daughter, both widows, were a truly sad and sympathetic pair.</p>
+
+<p>As we spoke I watched her eyes, noted her every movement attentively,
+but failed utterly to discern any suggestion of what her mother had
+remarked.</p>
+
+<p>Once, at mention of her dead husband, she had of a sudden exclaimed in
+a low voice, full of genuine emotion:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, yes. He was so kind, so good always. I cannot believe that he
+will never come back,&#8221; and she burst into tears, which her mother,
+with a word of apology to me, quietly soothed away.</p>
+
+<p>When we arose I accompanied them to the drawing-room; but without any
+music, and with Mary&#8217;s sad, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>half-tragic countenance before us, the
+evening was by no means a merry one; therefore I was glad when, in
+pursuance of the country habit of retiring early, the maid brought my
+candle and showed me to my room.</p>
+
+<p>It was not yet ten o&#8217;clock, and feeling in no mood for sleep, I took
+from my bag the novel I had been reading on my journey and, throwing
+myself into an armchair, first gave myself up to deep reflection over
+a pipe, and afterwards commenced to read.</p>
+
+<p>The chiming of the church clock down in the village aroused me,
+causing me to glance at my watch. It was midnight. I rose, and going
+to the window, pulled aside the blind, and looked out upon the rural
+view lying calm and mysterious beneath the brilliant moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>How different was that peaceful aspect to the one to which I was,
+alas! accustomed&mdash;that long blank wall in the Marylebone Road. There
+the cab bells tinkled all night, market wagons rumbled through till
+dawn, and the moonbeams revealed drunken revellers after &#8220;closing
+time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A strong desire seized me to go forth and enjoy the splendid night.
+Such a treat of peace and solitude was seldom afforded me, stifled as
+I was by the disinfectants in hospital wards and the variety of
+perfumes and pastilles in the rooms of wealthy patients. Truly the
+life of a London doctor is the most monotonous and laborious of any of
+the learned professions, and little wonder is it that when the jaded
+medico finds himself in the country or by the sea he seldom fails to
+take his fill of fresh air.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>At first a difficulty presented itself in letting myself out unheard;
+but I recollected that in the new wing of the house, in which I had
+been placed, there were no other bedrooms, therefore with a little
+care I might descend undetected. So taking my hat and stick I opened
+the door, stole noiselessly down the stairs, and in a few minutes had
+made an adventurous exit by a window&mdash;fearing the grating bolts of the
+door&mdash;and was soon strolling across the grounds by the private path,
+which I knew led through the churchyard and afterwards down to the
+river-bank.</p>
+
+<p>With Ethelwynn I had walked across the meadows by that path on several
+occasions, and in the dead silence of the brilliant night vivid
+recollections of a warm summer&#8217;s evening long past came back to
+me&mdash;sweet remembrances of days when we were childishly happy in each
+other&#8217;s love.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing broke the quiet save the shrill cry of some night bird down by
+the river, and the low roar of the distant weir. The sky was
+cloudless, and the moon so bright that I could have read a newspaper.
+I strolled on slowly, breathing the refreshing air, and thinking
+deeply over the complications of the situation. In the final hour I
+had spent in the drawing-room I had certainly detected in the young
+widow a slight eccentricity of manner, not at all accentuated, but yet
+sufficient to show me that she had been strenuously concealing her
+grief during my presence there.</p>
+
+<p>Having swung myself over the stile I passed round the village
+churchyard, where the moss-grown gravestones stood grim and ghostly in
+the white light, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>out across the meadows down to where the waters
+of the Nene, rippling on, were touched with silver. The river-path was
+wide, running by the winding bank away to the fen-lands and beyond. As
+I gained the river&#8217;s edge and walked beneath the willows I heard now
+and then a sharp, swift rustling in the sedges as some water-rat or
+otter, disturbed by my presence, slipped away into hiding. The rural
+peace of that brilliant night attracted me, and finding a hurdle I
+seated myself upon it, and taking out my pipe enjoyed a smoke.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since my student days I had longed for a country life. The
+pleasures of the world of London had no attraction for me, my ideal
+being a snug country practice with Ethelwynn as my wife. But alas! my
+idol had been shattered, like that of many a better man.</p>
+
+<p>With this bitter reflection still in my mind, my attention was
+attracted by low voices&mdash;as though of two persons speaking earnestly
+together. Surprised at such interruption, I glanced quickly around,
+but saw no one.</p>
+
+<p>Again I listened, when, of a sudden, footsteps sounded, coming down
+the path I had already traversed. Beneath the deep shadow I saw the
+dark figures of two persons. They were speaking together, but in a
+tone so low that I could not catch any word uttered.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, as they emerged from the semi-darkness the moon shone
+full upon them, revealing to me that they were a man and a woman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>Next instant a cry of blank amazement escaped me, for I was utterly
+unprepared for the sight I witnessed. I could not believe my eyes; nor
+could you, my reader, had you been in my place.</p>
+
+<p>The woman walking there, close to me, was young Mrs. Courtenay&mdash;the
+man was none other than her dead husband!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS.</h3>
+
+<p>Reader, I know that what I have narrated is astounding. It astounded
+me just as it astounded you.</p>
+
+<p>There are moments when one&#8217;s brain becomes dulled by sudden
+bewilderment at sight of the absolutely impossible.</p>
+
+<p>It certainly seemed beyond credence that the man whose fatal and
+mysterious wound I had myself examined should be there, walking with
+his wife in lover-like attitude. And yet there was no question that
+the pair were there. A small bush separated us, so that they passed
+arm-in-arm within three feet of me. As I have already explained, the
+moon was so bright that I could see to read; therefore, shining full
+upon their faces, it was impossible to mistake the features of two
+persons whom I knew so well.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately they had not overheard my involuntary exclamation of
+astonishment, or, if they had, both evidently believed it to be one of
+the many distorted sounds of the night. Upon Mary&#8217;s face there was
+revealed a calm expression of perfect content, different indeed from
+the tearful countenance of a few hours before, while her husband,
+grey-faced and serious, just as he had been before his last illness,
+had her arm linked in his, and walked with her, whispering some low
+indistinct words which brought to her lips a smile of perfect
+felicity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>Now had I been a superstitious man I should have promptly declared the
+whole thing to have been an apparition. But as I do not believe in
+borderland theories, any more than I believe that a man whose heart is
+nearly cut in twain can again breathe and live, I could only stand
+aghast, bewildered and utterly dumfounded.</p>
+
+<p>Hidden from them by a low thorn-bush, I stood in silent stupefaction
+as they passed by. That it was no chimera of the imagination was
+proved by the fact that their footsteps sounded upon the path, and
+just as they had passed I heard Courtenay address his wife by name.
+The transformation of her countenance from the ineffable picture of
+grief and sorrow to the calm, sweet expression of content had been
+marvellous, to say the least&mdash;an event stranger, indeed, than any I
+had ever before witnessed. In the wild writings of the old romancers
+the dead have sometimes been resuscitated, but never in this workaday
+world of ours. There is a finality in death that is decisive.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, as I here write these lines, I stake my professional reputation
+that the man I saw was the same whom I had seen dead in that upper
+room in Kew. I knew his gait, his cough, and his countenance too well
+to mistake his identity.</p>
+
+<p>That night&#8217;s adventure was certainly the most startling, and at the
+same time the most curious, that ever befel a man. Thus I became
+seized with curiosity, and at risk of detection crept forth from my
+hiding-place and looked out after them. To betray my presence would be
+to bar from myself any chance of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>learning the secret of it all;
+therefore I was compelled to exercise the greatest caution. Mary
+mourned the loss of her husband towards the world, and yet met him in
+secret at night&mdash;wandering with him by that solitary bye-path along
+which no villager ever passed after dark, and lovers avoided because
+of the popular tradition that a certain unfortunate Lady of the Manor
+of a century ago &#8220;walked&#8221; there. In the fact of the mourning so well
+feigned I detected the concealment of some remarkable secret.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was, without doubt, an extraordinary one. The man upon
+whose body I had made a post-mortem examination was alive and well,
+walking with his wife, although for months before his assassination he
+had been a bed-ridden invalid. Such a thing was startling, incredible!
+Little wonder was it that at first I could scarce believe my own eyes.
+Only when I looked full into his face and recognised his features,
+with all their senile peculiarities, did the amazing truth become
+impressed upon me.</p>
+
+<p>Around the bend in the river I stole stealthily after them, in order
+to watch their movements, trying to catch their conversation,
+although, unfortunately, it was in too low an undertone. He never
+released her arm or changed his affectionate attitude towards her, but
+appeared to be relating to her some long and interesting chain of
+events to which she listened with rapt attention.</p>
+
+<p>Along the river&#8217;s edge, out in the open moonlight, it was difficult to
+follow them without risk of observation. Now and then the elder-bushes
+and drooping willows <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>afforded cover beneath their deep shadow, but in
+places where the river wound through the open water-meadows my
+presence might at any moment be detected. Therefore the utmost
+ingenuity and caution were necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Having made the staggering discovery, I was determined to thoroughly
+probe the mystery. The tragedy of old Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s death had
+resolved itself into a romance of the most mysterious and startling
+character. As I crept forward over the grass, mostly on tiptoe, so as
+to avoid the sound of my footfalls, I tried to form some theory to
+account for the bewildering circumstance, but could discern absolutely
+none.</p>
+
+<p>Mary was still wearing her mourning; but about her head was wrapped a
+white silk shawl, and on her shoulders a small fur cape, for the
+spring night was chilly. Her husband had on a dark overcoat and soft
+felt hat of the type he always wore, and carried in his hand a light
+walking-stick. Once or twice he halted when he seemed to be impressing
+his words the more forcibly upon her, and then I was compelled to stop
+also and to conceal myself. I would have given much to overhear the
+trend of their conversation, but strive how I would I was unable. They
+seemed to fear eavesdroppers, and only spoke in low half-whispers.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed how old Mr. Courtenay kept from time to time glancing around
+him, as though in fear of detection; hence I was in constant dread
+lest he should look behind him and discover me slinking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>along their
+path. I am by no means an adept at following persons, but in this case
+the stake was so great&mdash;the revelation of some startling and
+unparalleled mystery&mdash;that I strained every nerve and every muscle to
+conceal my presence while pushing forward after them.</p>
+
+<p>Picture to yourself for a moment my position. The whole of my future
+happiness, and consequently my prosperity in life, was at stake at
+that instant. To clear up the mystery successfully might be to clear
+my love of the awful stigma upon her. To watch and to listen was the
+only way; but the difficulties in the dead silence of the night were
+well-nigh insurmountable, for I dare not approach sufficiently near to
+catch a single word. I had crept on after them for about a mile, until
+we were approaching the tumbling waters of the weir. The dull roar
+swallowed up the sound of their voices, but it assisted me, for I had
+no further need to tread noiselessly.</p>
+
+<p>On nearing the lock-keeper&#8217;s cottage, a little white-washed house
+wherein the inmates were sleeping soundly, they made a wide detour
+around the meadow, in order to avoid the chance of being seen. Mary
+was well known to the old lock-keeper who had controlled those great
+sluices for thirty years or more, and she knew that at night he was
+often compelled to be on duty, and might at that very moment be
+sitting on the bench outside his house, smoking his short clay.</p>
+
+<p>I, however, had no such fear. Stepping lightly upon the grass beside
+the path I went past the house and continued onward by the riverside,
+passing at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>once into the deep shadow of the willows, which
+effectually concealed me.</p>
+
+<p>The pair were walking at the same slow, deliberate pace beneath the
+high hedge on the further side of the meadow, evidently intending to
+rejoin the river-path some distance further up. This gave me an
+opportunity to get on in front of them, and I seized it without delay;
+for I was anxious to obtain another view of the face of the man whom I
+had for months believed to be in his grave.</p>
+
+<p>Keeping in the shadow of the trees and bushes that overhung the
+stream, I sped onward for ten minutes or more until I came to the
+boundary of the great pasture, passing through the swing gate by which
+I felt confident that they must also pass. I turned to look before
+leaving the meadow, and could just distinguish their figures. They had
+turned at right angles, and, as I had expected, were walking in my
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>Forward I went again, and after some hurried search discovered a spot
+close to the path where concealment behind a great old tree seemed
+possible; so at that coign of vantage I waited breathlessly for their
+approach. The roaring of the waters behind would, I feared, prevent
+any of their words from reaching me; nevertheless, I waited anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>A great barn owl flapped lazily past, hooting weirdly as it went; then
+all nature became still again, save the dull sound of the tumbling
+flood. Ambler Jevons, had he been with me, would, no doubt, have acted
+differently. But it must be remembered that I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>was the merest tyro in
+the unravelling of a mystery, whereas, with him, it was a kind of
+natural occupation. And yet would he believe me when I told him that I
+had actually seen the dead man walking there with his wife?</p>
+
+<p>I was compelled to admit within myself that such a statement from the
+lips of any man would be received with incredulity. Indeed, had such a
+thing been related to me, I should have put the narrator down as
+either a liar or a lunatic.</p>
+
+<p>At last they came. I remained motionless, standing in the shadow, not
+daring to breathe. My eyes were fixed upon him, my ears strained to
+catch every sound.</p>
+
+<p>He said something to her. What it was I could not gather. Then he
+pushed open the creaking gate to allow her to pass. Across the moon&#8217;s
+face had drifted a white, fleecy cloud; therefore the light was not so
+brilliant as half an hour before. Still, I could see his features
+almost as plainly as I see this paper upon which I am penning my
+strange adventure, and could recognise every lineament and peculiarity
+of his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>Having passed through the gate, he took her ungloved hand with an air
+of old-fashioned gallantry and raised it to his lips. She laughed
+merrily in rapturous content, and then slowly, very slowly, they
+strolled along the path that ran within a few feet of where I stood.</p>
+
+<p>My heart leapt with excitement. Their voices sounded above the rushing
+of the waters, and they were lingering as though unwilling to walk
+further.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>&#8220;Ethelwynn has told me,&#8221; he was saying. &#8220;I can&#8217;t make out the reason
+of his coldness towards her. Poor girl! she seems utterly
+heart-broken.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He suspects,&#8221; his wife replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what ground has he for suspicion?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I stood there transfixed. They were talking of myself!</p>
+
+<p>They had halted quite close to where I was, and in that low roar had
+raised their voices so that I could distinguish every word.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; remarked his wife, &#8220;the whole affair was mysterious, that you
+must admit. With his friend, a man named Jevons, he has been
+endeavouring to solve the problem.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A curse on Ambler Jevons!&#8221; he blurted forth in anger, as though he
+were well acquainted with my friend.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If between them they managed to get at the truth it would be very
+awkward,&#8221; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No fear of that,&#8221; he laughed in full confidence. &#8220;A man once dead and
+buried, with a coroner&#8217;s verdict upon him, is not easily believed to
+be alive and well. No, my dear; rest assured that these men will never
+get at our secret&mdash;never.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled within myself. How little did he dream that the man of whom
+he had been speaking was actually overhearing his words!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Ethelwynn, in order to regain her place in the doctor&#8217;s heart,
+may betray us,&#8221; his wife remarked dubiously.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>&#8220;She dare not,&#8221; was the reply. &#8220;From her we have nothing whatever to
+fear. As long as you keep up the appearance of deep mourning, are
+discreet in all your actions, and exercise proper caution on the
+occasions when we meet, our secret must remain hidden from all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I am doubtful of Ethelwynn. A woman as fondly in love with a man,
+as she is with Ralph, is apt to throw discretion to the winds,&#8221; the
+woman observed. &#8220;Recollect that the breach between them is on our
+account, and that a word from her could expose the whole thing, and at
+the same time bring back to her the man for whose lost love she is
+pining. It is because of that I am in constant fear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your apprehensions are entirely groundless,&#8221; he declared in a
+decisive voice. &#8220;She&#8217;s the only other person in the secret besides
+ourselves; but to betray us would be fatal to her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She may consider that she has made sufficient self-sacrifice?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then all the greater reason why she should remain silent. She has her
+reputation to lose by divulging.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By his argument she appeared only half-convinced, for I saw upon her
+brow a heavy, thoughtful expression, similar to that I had noticed
+when sitting opposite her at dinner. The reason of her constant
+preoccupation was that she feared that her sister might give me the
+clue to her secret.</p>
+
+<p>That a remarkable conspiracy had been in progress was now made quite
+plain; and, further, one very valuable fact I had ascertained was that
+Ethelwynn <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>was the only other person who knew the truth, and yet dared
+not reveal it.</p>
+
+<p>This man who stood before me was old Mr. Courtenay, without a doubt.
+That being so, who could have been the unfortunate man who had been
+struck to the heart so mysteriously?</p>
+
+<p>So strange and complicated were all the circumstances, and so cleverly
+had the chief actors in the drama arranged its details, that Courtenay
+himself was convinced that for others to learn the truth was utterly
+impossible. Yet it was more than remarkable that he sought not to
+disguise his personal appearance if he wished to remain dead to the
+world. Perhaps, however, being unknown in that rural district&mdash;for he
+once had told me that he had never visited his wife&#8217;s home since his
+marriage&mdash;he considered himself perfectly safe from recognition.
+Besides, from their conversation I gathered that they only met on rare
+occasions, and certainly Mary kept up the fiction of mourning with the
+greatest assiduity.</p>
+
+<p>I recollected what old Mrs. Mivart had told me of her daughter&#8217;s
+erratic movements; of her short mysterious absences with her
+dressing-bag and without a maid. It was evident that she made flying
+visits in various directions in order to meet her &#8220;dead&#8221; husband.</p>
+
+<p>Courtenay spoke again, after a brief silence, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had no idea that the doctor was down here, or I should have kept
+away. To be seen by him would expose the whole affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>&#8220;I was quite ignorant of his visit until I went in to dinner and found
+him already seated at table,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;But he will leave
+to-morrow. He said to-night that to remain away from his patients for
+a single day was very difficult.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is he down here in pursuance of his inquiries, do you think?&#8221;
+suggested her husband.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He may be. Mother evidently knew of his impending arrival, but told
+me nothing. I was annoyed, for he was the very last person I wished to
+meet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, he&#8217;ll go in the morning, so we have nothing to fear. He&#8217;s safe
+enough in bed, and sleeping soundly&mdash;confound him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The temptation was great to respond aloud to the compliment; but I
+refrained, laughing within myself at the valuable information I was
+obtaining.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>WORDS OF THE DEAD.</h3>
+
+<p>Justice is always vigilant&mdash;it stops not to weigh causes or motives,
+but overtakes the criminal, no matter whether his deeds be the
+suggestion of malice or the consequence of provoked revenge. I was all
+eagerness to face the pair in the full light and demand an
+explanation, yet I hesitated, fearing lest precipitation might prevent
+me gaining knowledge of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>That they had no inclination to walk further was evident, for they
+still stood there in conversation, facing each other and speaking
+earnestly. I listened attentively to every word, my heart thumping so
+loudly that I wondered they did not hear its excited pulsations.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve seen nothing of Sir Bernard?&#8221; she was saying.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sir Bernard!&#8221; he echoed. &#8220;Why, of course not. To him I am dead and
+buried, just as I am to the rest of the world. My executors have
+proved my will at Somerset House, and very soon you will receive its
+benefits. To meet the old doctor would be to reveal the whole thing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is all so strange,&#8221; she said with a low sigh, &#8220;that sometimes,
+when I am alone, I can&#8217;t believe <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>it to be true. We have deceived the
+world so completely.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course. That was my intention.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But could it not have been done without the sacrifice of that man&#8217;s
+life?&#8221; she queried. &#8220;Remember! The crime of murder was committed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are only dreaming!&#8221; he replied, in a hard voice. &#8220;A mystery was
+necessary for our success.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And it is a mystery which has entirely baffled the police in every
+particular.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As I intended it should. I laid my plans with care, so that there
+should be no hitch or point by which Scotland Yard could obtain a
+clue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But our future life?&#8221; she murmured. &#8220;When may I return again to you?
+At present I am compelled to feign mourning, and present a perfect
+picture of interesting widowhood; but&mdash;but I hate this playing at
+death.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have patience, dear,&#8221; he urged in a sympathetic tone. &#8220;For the moment
+we must remain entirely apart, holding no communication with each
+other save in secret, on the first and fifteenth day of every month as
+we arranged. As soon as I find myself in a position of safety we will
+disappear together, and you will leave the world wondering at the
+second mystery following upon the first.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In how long a time do you anticipate?&#8221; she asked, looking earnestly
+into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A few months at most,&#8221; was his answer. &#8220;If it were possible you
+should return to me at once; but you know how strange and romantic is
+my life, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>compelled to disguise my personality, and for ever moving
+from place to place, like the Wandering Jew. To return to me at
+present is quite impossible. Besides&mdash;you are in the hands of the
+executors; and before long must be in evidence in order to receive my
+money.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Money is useless to me without happiness,&#8221; she declared, in a voice
+of complaint. &#8220;My position at present is one of constant dread.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whom and what do you fear?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe that Dr. Boyd has some vague suspicion of the truth,&#8221; she
+responded, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; he cried, in quick surprise. &#8220;Tell me why. Explain it all to
+me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There is nothing to explain&mdash;save that to-night he seemed to regard
+my movements with suspicion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! my dear, your fears are utterly groundless,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;What
+can the fellow possibly know? He is assured that I am dead, for he
+signed my certificate and followed me to my grave at Woking. A man who
+attends his friend&#8217;s funeral has no suspicion that the dead is still
+living, depend upon it. If there is any object in this world that is
+convincing it is a corpse.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I merely tell you the result of my observations,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In my
+opinion he has come here to learn what he can.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He can learn nothing,&#8221; answered the &#8220;dead&#8221; man. &#8220;If it were his
+confounded friend Jevons, now, we might have some apprehension; for
+the ingenuity <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>of that man is, I&#8217;ve heard, absolutely astounding. Even
+Scotland Yard seeks his aid in the solving of the more difficult
+criminal problems.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I tell you plainly that I fear Ethelwynn may expose us,&#8221; his wife
+went on slowly, a distinctly anxious look upon her countenance. &#8220;As
+you know, there is a coolness between us, and rather than risk losing
+the doctor altogether she may make a clean breast of the affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no, my dear. Rest assured that she will never betray us,&#8221;
+answered Courtenay, with a light reassuring laugh. &#8220;True, you are not
+very friendly, yet you must recollect that she and I are friends. Her
+interests are identical with our own; therefore to expose us would be
+to expose herself at the same time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A woman sometimes acts without forethought.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite true; but Ethelwynn is not one of those. She&#8217;s careful to
+preserve her own position in the eyes of her lover, knowing quite well
+that to tell the truth would be to expose her own baseness. A man may
+overlook many offences in the woman he loves, but this particular one
+of which she is guilty a man never forgives.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His words went deep into my heart. Was not this further proof that the
+crime&mdash;for undoubtedly a crime had been accomplished in that house at
+Kew&mdash;had been committed by the hand of the woman I so fondly loved?
+All was so amazing, so utterly bewildering, that I stood there
+concealed by the tree, motionless as though turned to stone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>There was a motive wanting in it all. Yet I ask you who read this
+narrative of mine if, like myself, you would not have been staggered
+into dumbness at seeing and hearing a man whom you had certified to be
+dead, moving and speaking, and, moreover, in his usual health?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He loves her!&#8221; his wife exclaimed, speaking of me. &#8220;He would forgive
+her anything. My own opinion is that if we would be absolutely secure
+it is for us to heal the breach between them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He remained thoughtful for a few moments, apparently in doubt as to
+the wisdom of acting upon her suggestion. Surely in the situation was
+an element of humour, for, happily, I was being forearmed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It might possibly be good policy,&#8221; he remarked at last. &#8220;If we could
+only bring them together again he would cease his constant striving to
+solve the enigma. We know well that he can never do that; nevertheless
+his constant efforts are as annoying as they are dangerous.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just my opinion. There is danger to us in his constant
+inquiries, which are much more ingenious and careful than we imagine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, my child,&#8221; he said, &#8220;you&#8217;ve stuck to me in this in a manner
+that few women would have dared. If you really think it necessary to
+bring Boyd and Ethelwynn together again you must do it entirely alone,
+for I could not possibly appear on the scene. He must never meet me,
+or the whole thing would be revealed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>&#8220;For your sake I am prepared to make the attempt,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The fact
+of being Ethelwynn&#8217;s sister gives me freedom to speak my mind to him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And to tell him some pretty little fiction about her?&#8221; he added,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. It will certainly be necessary to put an entirely innocent face
+on recent events in order to smooth matters over,&#8221; she admitted,
+joining in his laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Rather a difficult task to make the affair at Kew appear innocent,&#8221;
+he observed. &#8220;But you&#8217;re really a wonderful woman, Mary. The way
+you&#8217;ve acted your part in this affair is simply marvellous. You&#8217;ve
+deceived everyone&mdash;even that old potterer, Sir Bernard himself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve done it for your sake,&#8221; was her response. &#8220;I made a promise, and
+I&#8217;ve kept it. Up to the present we are safe, but we cannot take too
+many precautions. We have enemies and scandal-seekers on every side.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I admit that,&#8221; he replied, rather impatiently, I thought. &#8220;If you
+think it a wise course you had better lose no time in placing
+Ethelwynn&#8217;s innocence before her lover. You will see him in the
+morning, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Probably not. He leaves by the eight o&#8217;clock train,&#8221; she said. &#8220;When
+my plans are matured I will call upon him in London.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And if any woman can deceive him, you can, Mary,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;In
+those widow&#8217;s weeds of yours you could deceive the very devil
+himself!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s airy talk of deception threw an entirely fresh light
+upon her character. Hitherto I had held her in considerable esteem as
+a woman who, being bored to death by the eccentricities of her invalid
+husband, had sought distraction with her friends in town, but
+nevertheless honest and devoted to the man she had wedded. But these
+words of hers caused doubt to arise within my mind. That she had been
+devoted to her husband&#8217;s interest was proved by the clever imposture
+she was practising; indeed it seemed to me very much as if those
+frequent visits to town had been at the &#8220;dead&#8221; man&#8217;s suggestion and
+with his entire consent. But the more I reflected upon the
+extraordinary details of the tragedy and its astounding d&eacute;nouement,
+the more hopeless and maddening became the problem.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shall probably go to town to-morrow,&#8221; she exclaimed, after smiling
+at his declaration. &#8220;Where are you in hiding just now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In Birmingham. A large town is safer than a village. I return by the
+six o&#8217;clock train, and go again into close concealment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you know people in Birmingham, don&#8217;t you? We stayed there once
+with some people called Tremlett, I recollect.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, yes,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;But I am careful to avoid them. The district
+in which I live is far removed from them. Besides, I never by any
+chance go out by day. I&#8217;m essentially a nocturnal roamer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And when shall we meet again?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By appointment, in the usual way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>&#8220;At the usual place?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There can be no better, I think. It does not take you from home, and
+I am quite unknown down here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If any of the villagers ever discovered us they might talk, and
+declare that I met a secret lover,&#8221; she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you are ever recognised, which I don&#8217;t anticipate is probable, we
+can at once change our place of meeting. At present there is no
+necessity for changing it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then, in the meantime, I will exercise my woman&#8217;s diplomacy to effect
+peace between Ethelwynn and the doctor,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is the only way
+by which we can obtain security.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For the life of me I can&#8217;t discern the reason of his coolness towards
+her,&#8221; remarked my &#8220;dead&#8221; patient.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He suspects her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suspects the truth. She has told me so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Old Henry Courtenay grunted in dissatisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hasn&#8217;t she tried to convince him to the contrary?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;I was
+always under the impression that she could twist him round her
+finger&mdash;so hopelessly was he in love with her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So she could before this unfortunate affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And now that he suspects the truth he&#8217;s disinclined to have any more
+to do with her&mdash;eh? Well,&#8221; he added, &#8220;after all, it&#8217;s only natural.
+She&#8217;s not so devilish clever as you, Mary, otherwise she would never
+have allowed herself to fall beneath suspicion. She must have somehow
+blundered.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>&#8220;To-morrow I shall go to town,&#8221; she said in a reflective voice. &#8220;No
+time should be lost in effecting the reconciliation between them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are right,&#8221; he declared. &#8220;You should commence at once. Call and
+talk with him. He believes so entirely in you. But promise me one
+thing; that you will not go to Ethelwynn,&#8221; he urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because it is quite unnecessary,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;You are not good
+friends; therefore your influence upon the doctor should be a hidden
+one. She will believe that he has returned to her of his own free
+will; hence our position will be rendered the stronger. Act
+diplomatically. If she believes that you are interesting yourself in
+her affairs it may anger her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you suggest that I should call upon the doctor in secret, and
+try and influence him in her favour without her being aware of it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. After the reconciliation is effected you may tell her. At
+present, however, it is not wise to show our hand. By your visit to
+the doctor you may be able to obtain from him how much he knows, and
+what are his suspicions. One thing is certain, that with all his
+shrewdness he doesn&#8217;t dream the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who would?&#8221; she asked with a smile. &#8220;If the story were told, nobody
+would believe it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just it! The incredibility of the whole affair is what places
+us in such a position of security; for as long as I lie low and you
+continue to act the part of the interesting widow, nobody can possibly
+get at the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>&#8220;I think I&#8217;ve acted my part well, up to the present,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and I
+hope to continue to do so. To influence the doctor will be a difficult
+task, I fear. But I&#8217;ll do my utmost, because I see that by the
+reconciliation Ethelwynn&#8217;s lips would be sealed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Act with discretion, my dear,&#8221; urged the old man. &#8220;But remember that
+Boyd is not a man to be trifled with&mdash;and as for that accursed friend
+of his, Ambler Jevons, he seems second cousin to the very King of
+Darkness himself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never fear,&#8221; she laughed confidently. &#8220;Leave it to me&mdash;leave all to
+me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then, agreeing that it was time they went back, they turned,
+retraced their steps, and passing through the small gate into the
+meadow, were soon afterwards lost to sight.</p>
+
+<p>Truly my night&#8217;s adventure had been as strange and startling as any
+that has happened to living man, for what I had seen and heard opened
+up a hundred theories, each more remarkable and tragic than the other,
+until I stood utterly dumfounded and aghast.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS.</h3>
+
+<p>On coming down to breakfast on the following morning I found Mrs.
+Mivart awaiting me alone. The old lady apologised for Mary&#8217;s
+non-appearance, saying that it was her habit to have her tea in her
+room, but that she sent me a message of farewell.</p>
+
+<p>Had it been at all possible I would have left by a later train, for I
+was extremely anxious to watch her demeanour after last night&#8217;s
+clandestine meeting, but with such a crowd of patients awaiting me it
+was imperative to leave by the first train. Even that would not bring
+me to King&#8217;s Cross before nearly eleven o&#8217;clock.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well now, doctor,&#8221; Mrs. Mivart commenced rather anxiously when we
+were seated, and she had handed me my coffee. &#8220;You saw Mary last
+night, and had an opportunity of speaking with her. What is your
+opinion? Don&#8217;t hesitate to tell me frankly, for I consider that it is
+my duty to face the worst.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Really!&#8221; I exclaimed, looking straight at her after a moment&#8217;s
+reflection. &#8220;To speak candidly I failed to detect anything radically
+wrong in your daughter&#8217;s demeanour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But didn&#8217;t you notice, doctor, how extremely nervous she is; how in
+her eyes there is a haunting, suspicious look, and how blank is her
+mind upon <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>every other subject but the great calamity that has
+befallen her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must really confess that these things were not apparent to me,&#8221; I
+answered. &#8220;I watched her carefully, but beyond the facts that she is
+greatly unnerved by the sad affair and that she is mourning deeply for
+her dead husband, I can discover nothing abnormal.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You are not of opinion, then, that her mind is growing unbalanced by
+the strain?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not in the least,&#8221; I reassured her. &#8220;The symptoms she betrays are but
+natural in a woman of her nervous, highly-strung temperament.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But she unfortunately grieves too much,&#8221; remarked the old lady with a
+sigh. &#8220;His name is upon her lips at every hour. I&#8217;ve tried to distract
+her and urged her to accompany me abroad for a time, but all to no
+purpose. She won&#8217;t hear of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I alone knew the reason of her refusal. In conspiracy with her &#8220;dead&#8221;
+husband it was impossible to be apart from him for long together. The
+undue accentuation of her daughter&#8217;s feigned grief had alarmed the old
+lady&mdash;and justly so. Now that I recollected, her conduct at table on
+the previous night was remarkable, having regard to the true facts of
+the case. I confess I had myself been entirely deceived into believing
+that her sorrow at Henry Courtenay&#8217;s death was unbounded. In every
+detail her acting was perfect, and bound to attract sympathy among her
+friends and arouse interest among strangers. I longed to explain to
+the quiet, charming old lady what I had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>seen during my midnight
+ramble; but such a course was, as yet, impossible. Indeed, if I made a
+plain statement, such as I have given in the foregoing pages, surely
+no one would believe me. But every man has his romance, and this was
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>Unable to reveal Mary&#8217;s secret, I was compelled reluctantly to take
+leave of her mother, who accompanied me out to where the dog-cart was
+in waiting.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I scarcely know, doctor, how to thank you sufficiently,&#8221; the dear old
+lady said as I took her hand. &#8220;What you have told me reassures me. Of
+late I have been extremely anxious, as you may imagine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You need feel no anxiety,&#8221; I declared. &#8220;She&#8217;s nervous and run
+down&mdash;that&#8217;s all. Take her away for a change, if possible. But if she
+refuses, don&#8217;t force her. Quiet is the chief medicine in her case.
+Good-bye.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She pressed my hand again in grateful acknowledgment, and then I
+mounted into the conveyance and was driven to the station.</p>
+
+<p>On the journey back to town I pondered long and deeply. Of a verity my
+short visit to Mrs. Mivart had been fraught with good results, and I
+was contemplating seeking Ambler Jevons at the earliest possible
+moment and relating to him my astounding discovery. The fact that old
+Courtenay was still living was absolutely beyond my comprehension. To
+endeavour to form any theory, or to try and account for the
+bewildering phenomenon, was utterly useless. I had seen him, and had
+overheard his words. I could surely believe my eyes and ears. And
+there it ended. The why and wherefore I put aside for the present,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>remembering Mary&#8217;s promise to him to come to town and have an
+interview with me.</p>
+
+<p>Surely that meeting ought to be most interesting. I awaited it with
+the most intense anxiety, and yet in fear lest I might be led by her
+clever imposture to blurt out what I knew. I felt myself on the eve of
+a startling revelation; and my expectations were realized to the full,
+as the further portion of this strange romance will show.</p>
+
+<p>I know that many narratives have been written detailing the remarkable
+and almost inconceivable machinations of those who have stained their
+hands with crime, but I honestly believe that the extraordinary
+features of my own life-romance are as strange as, if not stranger
+than, any hitherto recorded. Even my worst enemy could not dub me
+egotistical, I think; and surely the facts I have set down here are
+plain and unvarnished, without any attempt at misleading the reader
+into believing that which is untrue. Mine is a plain chronicle of a
+chain of extraordinary circumstances which led to an amazing
+d&eacute;nouement.</p>
+
+<p>From King&#8217;s Cross to Guy&#8217;s is a considerable distance, and when I
+alighted from the cab in the courtyard of the hospital it was nearly
+mid-day. Until two o&#8217;clock I was kept busy in the wards, and after a
+sandwich and a glass of sherry I drove to Harley Street, where I found
+Sir Bernard in his consulting-room for the first time for a month.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! Boyd,&#8221; he cried merrily, when I entered. &#8220;Thought I&#8217;d surprise
+you to-day. I felt quite well this morning, so resolved to come up and
+see Lady <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>Twickenham and one or two others. I&#8217;m not at home to
+patients, and have left them to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Delighted to see you better,&#8221; I declared, wringing his hand. &#8220;They
+were asking after you at the hospital to-day. Vernon said he intended
+going down to see you to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Kind of him,&#8221; the old man laughed, placing his thin hands together,
+after rubbing and readjusting his glasses. &#8220;You were away last night;
+out of town, they said.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I wanted a breath of fresh air,&#8221; I answered, laughing. I did not
+care to tell him where I had been, knowing that he held my love for
+Ethelwynn as the possible ruin of my career.</p>
+
+<p>His curiosity seemed aroused; but, although he put to me an ingenious
+question, I steadfastly refused to satisfy him. I recollected too well
+his open condemnation of my love on previous occasions. Now that the
+&#8220;murdered&#8221; man was proved to be still alive, I surely had no further
+grounds for my suspicion of Ethelwynn. That she had, by her silence,
+deceived me regarding her engagement to Mr. Courtenay was plain, but
+the theory that it was her hand that had assassinated him was
+certainly disproved. Thus, although the discovery of the &#8220;dead&#8221; man&#8217;s
+continued existence deepened the mystery a thousandfold, it
+nevertheless dispelled from my heart a good deal of the suspicion
+regarding my well-beloved; and, in consequence, I was not desirous
+that any further hostile word should be uttered against her.</p>
+
+<p>While Sir Bernard went out to visit her ladyship and two or three
+other nervous women living in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>same neighbourhood, I seated myself
+in his chair and saw the afternoon callers one after another. I fear
+that the advice I gave during those couple of hours was not very
+notable for its shrewdness or brilliancy. As in other professions, so
+in medicine, when one&#8217;s brain is overflowing with private affairs, one
+cannot attend properly to patients. On such occasions one is apt to
+ask the usual questions mechanically, hear the replies and scribble a
+prescription of some harmless formula. On the afternoon in question I
+certainly believe myself guilty of such lapse of professional
+attention. Yet even we doctors are human, although our patients
+frequently forget that fact. The medico is a long-suffering person,
+even in these days of scarcity of properly-qualified men&mdash;the first
+person called on emergency, and the very last to be paid!</p>
+
+<p>It was past five o&#8217;clock before I was able to return to my rooms, and
+on arrival I found upon my table a note from Jevons. It was dated from
+the Yorick Club, a small but exceedingly comfortable Bohemian centre
+in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and had evidently been written
+hurriedly on the previous night:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;I hear you are absent in the country. That is unfortunate.
+But as soon as you receive this, lose no time in calling at
+the Hennikers&#8217; and making casual inquiries regarding Miss
+Mivart. Something has happened, but what it is I have failed
+to discover. You stand a better chance. Go at once. I must
+leave for Bath to-night. Address me at the Royal Hotel, G.
+W. Station.</i></p>
+
+<p class="left3">&#8220;<span class="smcap">Ambler Jevons</span>.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>What could have transpired? And why had my friend&#8217;s movements been so
+exceedingly erratic of late, if he had not been following some clue?
+Would that clue lead him to the truth, I wondered? Or was he still
+suspicious of Ethelwynn&#8217;s guilt?</p>
+
+<p>Puzzled by this vague note, and wondering what had occurred, and
+whether the trip to Bath was in connection with it, I made a hasty
+toilet and drove in a hansom to the Hennikers&#8217;.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Henniker met me in the drawing-room, just as gushing and charming
+as ever. She was one of those many women in London who seek to hang on
+to the skirts of polite society by reason of a distant connexion being
+a countess&mdash;a fact of which she never failed to remind the stranger
+before half-an-hour&#8217;s acquaintance. She found it always a pleasant
+manner in which to open a conversation at dinner, dance, or soir&eacute;e:
+&#8220;Oh! do you happen to know my cousin, Lady Nassington?&#8221; She never
+sufficiently realised it as bad form, and therefore in her own circle
+was known among the women, who jeered at her behind her back, as &#8220;The
+Cousin of Lady Nassington.&#8221; She was daintily dressed, and evidently
+just come in from visiting, for she still had her hat on when she
+entered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; she cried, with her usual buoyant air. &#8220;You truant! We&#8217;ve all
+been wondering what had become of you. Busy, of course! Always the
+same excuse! Find something fresh. You used it a fortnight ago to
+refuse my invitation to take pot-luck with us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I laughed at her unconventional greeting, replying, &#8220;If I say
+something fresh it must be a lie. You know, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>Mrs. Henniker, how hard
+I&#8217;m kept at it, with hospital work and private practice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all very well,&#8221; she said, with a slight pout of her
+well-shaped mouth&mdash;for she was really a pretty woman, even though full
+of airs and caprices. &#8220;But it doesn&#8217;t excuse you for keeping away from
+us altogether.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t keep away altogether,&#8221; I protested. &#8220;I&#8217;ve called now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She pulled a wry face, in order to emphasise her dissatisfaction at my
+explanation, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And I suppose you are prepared to receive castigation? Ethelwynn has
+begun to complain because people are saying that your engagement is
+broken off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who says so?&#8221; I inquired rather angrily, for I hated all the
+tittle-tattle of that little circle of gossips who dawdle over the
+tea-cups of Redcliffe Square and its neighbourhood. I had attended a
+good many of them professionally at various times, and was well
+acquainted with all their ways and all their exaggerations. The
+gossiping circle in flat-land about Earl&#8217;s Court was bad enough, but
+the Redcliffe Square set, being slightly higher in the social scale,
+was infinitely worse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! all the ill-natured people are commenting upon your apparent
+coolness. Once, not long ago, you used to be seen everywhere with
+Ethelwynn, and now no one ever sees you. People form a natural
+conclusion, of course,&#8221; said the fair-haired, fussy little woman,
+whose married state gave her the right to censure me on my neglect.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>&#8220;Ethelwynn is, of course, still with you?&#8221; I asked, in anger that
+outsiders should seek to interfere in my private affairs.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She still makes our house her home, not caring to go back to the
+dulness of Neneford,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;But at present she&#8217;s away
+visiting one of her old schoolfellows&mdash;a girl who married a country
+banker and lives near Hereford.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then she&#8217;s in the country?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she went three days ago. I thought she had written to you. She
+told me she intended doing so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I had received no letter from her. Indeed, our recent correspondence
+had been of a very infrequent and formal character. With a woman&#8217;s
+quick perception she had noted my coldness and had sought to show
+equal callousness. With the knowledge of Courtenay&#8217;s continued
+existence now in my mind, I was beside myself with grief and anger at
+having doubted her. But how could I act at that moment, save in
+obedience to my friend Jevons&#8217; instructions? He had urged me to go and
+find out some details regarding her recent life with the Hennikers;
+and with that object I remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She hasn&#8217;t been very well of late, I fear. The change of air should
+do her good.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true, poor girl. She&#8217;s seemed very unwell, and I&#8217;ve often
+told her that only one doctor in the world could cure her
+malady&mdash;yourself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled. The malady was, I knew too well, the grief of a disappointed
+love, and a perfect cure for that could only be accomplished by
+reconciliation. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>I was filled with regret that she was absent, for I
+longed there and then to take her to my breast and whisper into her
+ear my heart&#8217;s outpourings. Yes; we men are very foolish in our
+impetuosity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How long will she be away?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; inquired the smartly-dressed little woman, mischievously. &#8220;What
+can it matter to you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have her welfare at heart, Mrs. Henniker,&#8221; I answered seriously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you have a curious way of showing your solicitude on her
+behalf,&#8221; she said bluntly, smiling again. &#8220;Poor Ethelwynn has been
+pining day after day for a word from you; but you seldom, if ever,
+write, and when you do the coldness of your letters adds to her burden
+of grief. I knew always when she had received one by the traces of
+secret tears upon her cheeks. Forgive me for saying so, Doctor, but
+you men, either in order to test the strength of a woman&#8217;s affection,
+or perhaps out of mere caprice, often try her patience until the
+strained thread snaps, and she who was a good and pure woman becomes
+reckless of everything&mdash;her name, her family pride, and even her own
+honour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her words aroused my curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you believe that Ethelwynn&#8217;s patience is exhausted?&#8221; I asked,
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes met mine, and I saw a mysterious expression in them. There is
+always something strange in the eyes of a pretty woman who is hiding a
+secret.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Doctor,&#8221; she answered, in a voice quite calm and deliberate,
+&#8220;you&#8217;ve already shown yourself <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>so openly as being disinclined to
+further associate yourself publicly with poor Ethelwynn, because of
+the tragedy that befell the household, that you surely cannot complain
+if you find your place usurped by a new and more devoted lover.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221; I cried, starting up, fiercely. &#8220;What is this you tell me?
+Ethelwynn has a lover?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have nothing whatever to do with her affairs, Doctor,&#8221; said the
+tantalising woman, who affected all the foibles of the smarter set.
+&#8220;Now that you have forsaken her she is, of course, entirely mistress
+of her own actions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But I haven&#8217;t forsaken her!&#8221; I blurted forth.</p>
+
+<p>She only smiled superciliously, with the same mysterious look&mdash;an
+expression that I cannot define, but by which I knew that she had told
+me the crushing truth. Ethelwynn, believing that I had cast her aside,
+had allowed herself to be loved by another!</p>
+
+<p>Who was the man who had usurped my place? I deserved it all, without a
+doubt. You, reader, have already in your heart condemned me as being
+hard and indifferent towards the woman I once loved so truly and so
+well. But, in extenuation, I would ask you to recollect how grave were
+the suspicions against her&mdash;how every fact seemed to prove
+conclusively that her sister&#8217;s husband had died by her hand.</p>
+
+<p>I saw plainly in Mrs. Henniker&#8217;s veiled words a statement of the
+truth; and, after obtaining from her Ethelwynn&#8217;s address near
+Hereford, bade her farewell and blindly left the house.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>MY NEW PATIENT.</h3>
+
+<p>In the feverish restlessness of the London night, with its rumbling
+market-wagons and the constant tinkling of cab-bells, so different to
+the calm, moonlit stillness of the previous night in rural England, I
+wrote a long explanatory letter to my love.</p>
+
+<p>I admitted that I had wronged her by my apparent coldness and
+indifference, but sought to excuse myself on the ground of the
+pressure of work upon me. She knew well that I was not a rich man, and
+in that slavery to which I was now tied I had an object&mdash;the object I
+had placed before her in the dawning days of our affection&mdash;namely,
+the snug country practice with an old-fashioned comfortable house in
+one of the quiet villages or smaller towns in the Midlands. In those
+days she had been just as enthusiastic about it as I had been. She
+hated town life, I knew; and even if the wife of a country doctor is
+allowed few diversions, she can always form a select little
+tea-and-tennis circle of friends.</p>
+
+<p>The fashion nowadays is for girls of middle-class to regard the
+prospect of becoming a country doctor&#8217;s wife with considerable
+hesitation&mdash;&#8220;too slow,&#8221; they term it; and declare that to live in the
+country and drive in a governess-cart is synonymous with being buried.
+Many girls marry just as servants change <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>their places&mdash;in order &#8220;to
+better themselves;&#8221; and alas! that parents encourage this latter-day
+craze for artificiality and glitter of town life that so often
+fascinates and spoils a bride ere the honeymoon is over. The majority
+of girls to-day are not content to marry the hard-working professional
+man whose lot is cast in the country, but prefer to marry a man in
+town, so that they may take part in the pleasures of theatres, variety
+and otherwise, suppers at restaurants, and the thousand and one
+attractions provided for the reveller in London. They have obtained
+their knowledge of &#8220;life&#8221; from the society papers, and they see no
+reason why they should not taste of those pleasures enjoyed by their
+wealthier sisters, whose goings and comings are so carefully
+chronicled. The majority of girls have a desire to shine beyond their
+own sphere; and the attempt, alas! is accountable for very many of the
+unhappy marriages. This may sound prosy, I know, but the reader will
+forgive when he reflects upon the cases in point which arise to his
+memory&mdash;cases of personal friends, perhaps even of relations, to whom
+marriage was a failure owing to this uncontrollable desire on the part
+of the woman to assume a position to which neither birth nor wealth
+entitled her.</p>
+
+<p>To the general rule, however, my love was an exception. Times without
+number had she declared her anxiety to settle in the country; for,
+being country born and bred, she was an excellent horsewoman, and in
+every essential a thorough English girl of the Grass Country, fond of
+a run with either fox or otter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>hounds; therefore, in suburban life at
+Kew, she had been entirely out of her element.</p>
+
+<p>In that letter I wrote, composing it slowly and carefully&mdash;for like
+most medical men I am a bad hand at literary composition&mdash;I sought her
+forgiveness, and asked for an immediate interview. The wisdom of being
+so precipitous never occurred to me. I only know that in those night
+hours over my pipe I resolved to forget once and for all that letter I
+had discovered among the &#8220;dead&#8221; man&#8217;s effects, and determined that,
+while I sought reconciliation with Ethelwynn, I would keep an open and
+watchful eye upon Mary and her fellow conspirator.</p>
+
+<p>The suggestion that Ethelwynn, believing herself forsaken, had
+accepted the declarations of a man she considered more worthy than
+myself, lashed me to a frenzy of madness. He should never have her,
+whoever he might be. She had been mine, and should remain so, come
+what might. I added a postscript, asking her to wire me permission to
+travel down to Hereford to see her; then, sealing up the letter, I
+went out along the Marylebone Road and posted it in the pillar-box,
+which I knew was cleared at five o&#8217;clock in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>It was then about three o&#8217;clock, calm, but rather overcast. The
+Marylebone Road had at last become hushed in silence. Wagons and cabs
+had both ceased, and save for a solitary policeman here and there the
+long thoroughfare, so full of traffic by day, was utterly deserted. I
+retraced my steps slowly towards the corner of Harley Street, and was
+about <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>to open the door of the house wherein I had &#8220;diggings&#8221; when I
+heard a light, hurried footstep behind me, and turning, confronted the
+figure of a slim woman of middle height wearing a golf cape, the hood
+of which had been thrown over her head in lieu of a hat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excuse me, sir,&#8221; she cried, in a breathless voice, &#8220;but are you
+Doctor Boyd?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I replied that such was my name.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m in such distress,&#8221; she said, in the tone of one whose heart
+is full of anguish. &#8220;My poor father!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is your father ill?&#8221; I inquired, turning from the door and looking
+full at her. I was standing on the step, and she was on the pavement,
+having evidently approached from the opposite direction. She stood
+with her back to the street lamp, so I could discern nothing of her
+features. Only her voice told me that she was young.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, he&#8217;s very ill,&#8221; she replied anxiously. &#8220;He was taken queer at
+eleven o&#8217;clock, but he wouldn&#8217;t hear of me coming to you. He&#8217;s one of
+those men who don&#8217;t like doctors.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; I remarked; &#8220;there are many of his sort about. But they are
+compelled to seek our aid now and then. Well, what can I do for you? I
+suppose you want me to see him&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir, if you&#8217;d be so kind. I know its awfully late; but, as
+you&#8217;ve been out, perhaps you wouldn&#8217;t mind running round to our house.
+It&#8217;s quite close, and I&#8217;ll take you there.&#8221; She spoke with the
+peculiar <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>drawl and dropped her &#8220;h&#8217;s&#8221; in the manner of the true
+London-bred girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll come if you&#8217;ll wait a minute,&#8221; I said, and then, leaving her
+outside, I entered the house and obtained my thermometer and
+stethoscope.</p>
+
+<p>When I rejoined her and closed the door I made some inquiries about
+the sufferer&#8217;s symptoms, but the description she gave me was so
+utterly vague and contradictory that I could make nothing out of it.
+Her muddled idea of his illness I put down to her fear and anxiety for
+his welfare.</p>
+
+<p>She had no mother, she told me; and her father had, of late, given way
+just a little to drink. He &#8220;used&#8221; the Haycock, in Edgware Road; and
+she feared that he had fallen among a hard-drinking set. He was a
+pianoforte-maker, and had been employed at Brinsmead&#8217;s for eighteen
+years. Since her mother died, six years ago, however, he had never
+been the same.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was then that he took to drink?&#8221; I hazarded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she responded. &#8220;He was devoted to her. They never had a wry
+word.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What has he been complaining of? Pains in the head&mdash;or what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, he&#8217;s seemed thoroughly out of sorts,&#8221; she answered after some
+slight hesitation, which struck me as peculiar. She was greatly
+agitated regarding his illness, yet she could not describe one single
+symptom clearly. The only direct statement she made was that her
+father had certainly not been drinking on the previous night, for he
+had remained <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>indoors ever since he came home from the works, as
+usual, at seven o&#8217;clock.</p>
+
+<p>As she led me along the Marylebone Road, in the same direction as
+that I had just traversed&mdash;which somewhat astonished me&mdash;I glanced
+surreptitiously at her, just at the moment when we were approaching
+a street lamp, and saw to my surprise that she was a sad-faced girl
+whose features were familiar. I recognised her in a moment as the girl
+who had been my fellow passenger from Brighton on that Sunday night.
+Her hair, however, was dishevelled, as though she had turned out from
+her bed in too great alarm to think of tidying it. I was rather
+surprised, but did not claim acquaintance with her. She led me
+past Madame Tussaud&#8217;s, around Baker Street Station, and then into
+the maze of those small cross-streets that lie between Upper Baker
+Street and Lisson Grove until she stopped before a small, rather
+respectable-looking house, half-way along a short side-street,
+entering with a latch-key.</p>
+
+<p>In the narrow hall it was quite dark, but she struck a match and lit
+a cheap paraffin lamp which stood there in readiness, then led me
+upstairs to a small sitting-room on the first floor, a dingy, stuffy
+little place of a character which showed me that she and her father
+lived in lodgings. Having set the lamp on the table, and saying that
+she would go and acquaint the invalid with my arrival, she went out,
+closing the door quietly after her. The room was evidently the home of
+a studious, if poor, man, for in a small deal bookcase I noticed,
+well-kept and well-arranged, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>a number of standard works on science
+and theology, as well as various volumes which told me mutely that
+their owner was a student, while upon the table lay a couple of
+critical reviews, the &#8220;Saturday&#8221; and &#8220;Spectator.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I took up the latter and glanced it over in order to pass the time,
+for my conductress seemed to be in consultation with her father. My
+eye caught an article that interested me, and I read it through,
+forgetting for a moment all about my call there. Fully ten minutes
+elapsed, when of a sudden I heard the voice of a man speaking somewhat
+indistinctly in a room above that in which I was sitting. He seemed to
+be talking low and gruffly, so that I was unable to distinguish what
+was said. At last, however, the girl returned, and, asking me to
+follow her, conducted me to a bedroom on the next floor.</p>
+
+<p>The only illumination was a single night-light burning in a saucer,
+casting a faint, uncertain glimmer over everything, and shaded with an
+open book so that the occupant of the bed lay in deepest shadow.
+Unlike what one would have expected to find in such a house, an iron
+bedstead with brass rail, the bed was a great old-fashioned one with
+heavy wool damask hangings; and advancing towards it, while the girl
+retired and closed the door after her, I bent down to see the invalid.</p>
+
+<p>In the shadow I could just distinguish on the pillow a dark-bearded
+face whose appearance was certainly not prepossessing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>&#8220;You are not well?&#8221; I said, inquiringly, as our eyes met in the dim
+half-light. &#8220;Your daughter is distressed about you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I&#8217;m a bit queer,&#8221; he growled. &#8220;But she needn&#8217;t have bothered
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me remove the shade from the light, so that I can see your face,&#8221;
+I suggested. &#8220;It&#8217;s too dark to see anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he snapped; &#8220;I can&#8217;t bear the light. You can see quite enough of
+me here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; I said, reluctantly, and taking his wrist in one hand I
+held my watch in the other.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I fancy you&#8217;ll find me a bit feverish,&#8221; he said in a curious tone,
+almost as though he were joking, and by his manner I at once put him
+down as one of those eccentric persons who are sceptical of any
+achievements of medical science.</p>
+
+<p>I was holding his wrist and bending towards the light, in order to
+distinguish the hands of my watch, when a strange thing happened.</p>
+
+<p>There was a deafening explosion close behind me, which caused me to
+jump back startled. I dropped the man&#8217;s hand and turned quickly in the
+direction of the sound; but, as I did so, a second shot from a
+revolver held by an unknown person was discharged full in my face.</p>
+
+<p>The truth was instantly plain. I had been entrapped for my watch and
+jewellery&mdash;like many another medical man in London has been before me;
+doctors being always an easy prey for thieves. The ruffian shamming
+illness sprang from his bed fully dressed, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>and at the same moment two
+other blackguards, who had been hidden in the room, flung themselves
+upon me ere I could realize my deadly peril.</p>
+
+<p>The whole thing had been carefully planned, and it was apparent that
+the gang were quite fearless of neighbours overhearing the shots. The
+place bore a bad reputation, I knew; but I had never suspected that a
+man might be fired at from behind in that cowardly way.</p>
+
+<p>So sudden and startling were the circumstances that I stood for a
+moment motionless, unable to fully comprehend their intention. There
+was but one explanation. These men intended to kill me!</p>
+
+<p>Without a second&#8217;s hesitation they rushed upon me, and I realized with
+heart-sinking that to attempt to resist would be utterly futile. I was
+entirely helpless in their hands!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>WOMAN&#8217;S WILES.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look sharp!&#8221; cried the black-bearded ruffian who had feigned illness.
+&#8220;Give him a settler, &#8217;Arry. He wants his nerves calmin&#8217; a bit!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The fellow had seized my wrists, and I saw that one of the men who had
+sprung from his place of concealment was pouring some liquid from a
+bottle upon a sponge. I caught a whiff of its odour&mdash;an odour too
+familiar to me&mdash;the sickly smell of chloroform.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately I am pretty athletic, and with a sudden wrench I freed my
+wrists from the fellow&#8217;s grip, and, hitting him one from the shoulder
+right between the eyes, sent him spinning back against the chest of
+drawers. To act swiftly was my only chance. If once they succeeded in
+pressing that sponge to my nostrils and holding it there, then all
+would be over; for by their appearance I saw they were dangerous
+criminals, and not men to stick at trifles. They would murder me.</p>
+
+<p>As I sent down the man who had shammed illness, his two companions
+dashed towards me with imprecations upon their lips; but with
+lightning speed I sprang <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>towards the door and placed my back against
+it. So long as I could face them I intended to fight for life. Their
+desire was, I knew, to attack me from behind, as they had already
+done. I had surely had a narrow escape from their bullets, for they
+had fired at close range.</p>
+
+<p>At Guy&#8217;s many stories have been told of similar cases where doctors,
+known to wear valuable watches, diamond rings or scarf pins, have been
+called at night by daring thieves and robbed; therefore I always, as
+precaution, placed my revolver in my pocket when I received a night
+call to a case with which I was not acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>I had not disregarded my usual habit when I had placed my thermometer
+and stethoscope in my pocket previous to accompanying the girl;
+therefore it reposed there fully loaded, a fact of which my assailants
+were unaware.</p>
+
+<p>In much quicker time than it takes to narrate the incident I was again
+pounced upon by all three, the man with the sponge in readiness to
+dash it to my mouth and nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>But as they sprang forward to seize me, I raised my hand swiftly, took
+aim, and fired straight at the holder of the sponge, the bullet
+passing through his shoulder and causing him to drop the an&aelig;sthetic as
+though it were a live coal, and to spring several feet from the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;God! I&#8217;m shot!&#8221; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>But ere the words had left his mouth I fired a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>second chamber,
+inflicting a nasty wound in the neck of the fellow with the black
+beard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Shoot! shoot!&#8221; he cried to the third man, but it was evident that in
+the first struggle, when I had been seized, the man&#8217;s revolver had
+dropped on the carpet, and in the semi-darkness he could not recover
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Recognising this, I fired a pot shot in the man&#8217;s direction; then,
+opening the door, sprang down the stairs into the hall. One of them
+followed, but the other two, wounded as they were, did not care to
+face my weapon again. They saw that I knew how to shoot, and probably
+feared that I might inflict a fatal hurt.</p>
+
+<p>As I approached the front door, and was fumbling with the lock, the
+third man flung himself upon me, determined that I should not escape.
+With great good fortune, however, I managed to unbolt the door, and
+after a desperate struggle, in which he endeavoured to wrest the
+weapon from my hand, I succeeded at last in gripping him by the
+throat, and after nearly strangling him flung him to the ground and
+escaped into the street, just as his associates, hearing his cries of
+distress, dashed downstairs to his assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt it was the narrowest escape of my life that I have ever
+had, and so excited was I that I dashed down the street hatless until
+I emerged into Lisson Grove. Then, and only then, it occurred to me
+that, having taken no note of the house, I should be unable to
+recognise <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>it and denounce it to the police. But when one is in peril
+of one&#8217;s life all other thoughts or instincts are submerged in the one
+frantic effort of self-preservation. Still, it was annoying to think
+that such scoundrels should be allowed to go scot free.</p>
+
+<p>Breathless, excited, and with nerves unstrung, I opened my door with
+my latch-key and returned to my room, where the reading-lamp had
+burned low, for it had been alight all through the night. I mixed
+myself a stiff brandy and soda, tossed it off, and then turned to look
+at myself in the glass.</p>
+
+<p>The picture I presented was disreputable and unkempt. My hair was
+ruffled, my collar torn open from its stud, and one sleeve of my coat
+had been torn out, so that the lining showed through. I had a nasty
+scratch across the neck, too, inflicted by the fingernails of one of
+the blackguards, and from the abrasion blood had flowed and made a
+mess of my collar.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether I presented a very brilliant and entertaining spectacle.
+But my watch, ring and scarf-pin were in their places. If robbery had
+been their motive, as no doubt it had been, then they had profited
+nothing, and two of them had been winged into the bargain. The only
+mode by which their identity could by chance be discovered was in the
+event of those wounds being troublesome. In that case they would
+consult a medical man; but as they would, in all probability, go to
+some doctor in a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>distant quarter of London, the hope of tracing them
+by such means was but a slender one.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling a trifle faint I sat in my chair, resting for a quarter of an
+hour or so; then, becoming more composed, I put out the study lights,
+and after a refreshing wash went to bed.</p>
+
+<p>The morning&#8217;s reflections were somewhat disconcerting. A deliberate
+and dastardly attempt had been made upon my life; but with what
+motive? The young woman, whose face was familiar, had, I recollected,
+asked most distinctly whether I was Doctor Boyd&mdash;a fact which showed
+that the trap had been prepared. I now saw the reason why she was
+unable to describe the man&#8217;s sham illness, and during the morning,
+while at work in the hospital wards, my suspicions became aroused that
+there had been some deeper motive in it all than the robbery of my
+watch or scarf-pin. Human life had been taken for far less value than
+that of my jewellery, I knew; nevertheless, the deliberate shooting at
+me while I felt the patient&#8217;s pulse showed a determination to
+assassinate. By good fortune, however, I had escaped, and resolved to
+exercise more care in future when answering night calls to unknown
+houses.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Bernard did not come to town that day; therefore I was compelled
+to spend the afternoon in the severe consulting-room at Harley Street,
+busy the whole time. Shortly before six o&#8217;clock, utterly worn out, I
+strolled round to my rooms to change my coat before going down to the
+Savage Club <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>to dine with my friends&mdash;for it was Saturday night, and I
+seldom missed the genial house-dinner of that most Bohemian of
+institutions.</p>
+
+<p>Without ceremony I threw open the door of my sitting-room and entered,
+but next instant stood still, for, seated in my chair patiently
+awaiting me was the slim, well-dressed figure of Mary Courtenay. Her
+widow&#8217;s weeds became her well; and as she rose with a rustle of silk,
+a bright laugh rippled from her lips, and she said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know I&#8217;m an unexpected visitor, Doctor, but you&#8217;ll forgive my
+calling in this manner, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Forgive you? Of course,&#8221; I answered; and with politeness which I
+confess was feigned, I invited her to be seated. True to the promise
+made to her husband, she had lost no time in coming to see me, but I
+was fortunately well aware of the purport of her errand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had no idea you were in London,&#8221; I said, by way of allowing her to
+explain the object of her visit, for, in the light of the knowledge I
+had gained on the Nene bank two nights previously, her call was of
+considerable interest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m only up for a couple of days,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;London has not the
+charm for me that it used to have,&#8221; and she sighed heavily, as though
+her mind were crowded by bitter memories. Then raising her veil, and
+revealing her pale, handsome face, she said bluntly, &#8220;The reason of my
+call is to talk to you about Ethelwynn.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>&#8220;Well, what of her?&#8221; I asked, looking straight into her face and
+noticing for the first time a curious shifty look in her eyes, such as
+I had never before noticed in her. She tried to remain calm, but, by
+the nervous twitching of her fingers and lower lip, I knew that within
+her was concealed a tempest of conflicting emotions.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To speak quite frankly, Ralph,&#8221; she said in a calm, serious voice, &#8220;I
+don&#8217;t think you are treating her honourably, poor girl. You seem to
+have forsaken her altogether, and the neglect has broken her heart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Mrs. Courtenay; you misunderstand the situation,&#8221; I protested.
+&#8220;That I have neglected her slightly I admit; nevertheless the neglect
+was not wilful, but owing to my constant occupation in my practice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s desperate. Besides, it&#8217;s common talk that you&#8217;ve broken off the
+engagement.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Gossip does not affect me; therefore why should she take any heed of
+it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, she loves you. That you know quite well. You surely could not
+have been deceived in those days at Kew, for her devotion to you was
+absolute and complete.&#8221; She was pleading her sister&#8217;s cause just as
+Courtenay had directed her. I felt annoyed that she should thus
+endeavour to impose upon me, yet saw the folly of betraying the fact
+that I knew her secret. My intention was to wait and watch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I called at the Hennikers&#8217; a couple of days ago, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>but Ethelwynn is no
+longer there. She&#8217;s gone into the country, it seems,&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where to?&#8221; she asked quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s visiting someone near Hereford.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she exclaimed, as though a sudden light dawned upon her. &#8220;I
+know, then. Why, I wonder, did she not tell me. I intended to call on
+her this evening, but it is useless. I&#8217;m glad to know, for I don&#8217;t
+care much for Mrs. Henniker. She&#8217;s such a very shallow woman.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ethelwynn seems to have wandered about a good deal since the sad
+affair at Kew,&#8221; I observed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and so have I,&#8221; she responded. &#8220;As you are well aware, the blow
+was such a terrible one to me that&mdash;that somehow I feel I shall never
+get over it&mdash;never!&#8221; I saw tears, genuine tears, welling in her eyes.
+If she could betray emotion in that manner she was surely a wonderful
+actress.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Time will efface your sorrow,&#8221; I said, in a voice meant to be
+sympathetic. &#8220;In a year or two your grief will not be so poignant, and
+the past will gradually fade from your memory. It is always so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; she said, &#8220;for in addition to my grief there is the mystery of
+it all&mdash;a mystery that grows each day more and more inscrutable.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I glanced sharply at her in surprise. Was she trying to mislead me, or
+were her words spoken in real earnest? I could not determine.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I acquiesced. &#8220;The mystery is as complete as ever.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>&#8220;Has no single clue been found, either by the police or by your
+friend&mdash;Jevons is, I think, his name?&#8221; she asked, with keen anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One or two points have, I believe, been elucidated,&#8221; I answered; &#8220;but
+the mystery still remains unsolved.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As it ever will be,&#8221; she added, with a sigh which appeared to me to
+be one of satisfaction, rather than of regret. &#8220;The details were so
+cleverly arranged that the police have been baffled in every
+endeavour. Is not that so?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I nodded in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And your friend Jevons? Has he given up all hope of any satisfactory
+discovery?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I really don&#8217;t know,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I&#8217;ve not seen him for quite a long
+time. And in any case he has told me nothing regarding the result of
+his investigations. It is his habit to be mute until he has gained
+some tangible result.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>A puzzled, apprehensive expression crossed her white brow for a
+moment; then it vanished into a pleasant smile, as she asked in
+confidence:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, tell me, Ralph, what is your own private opinion of the
+situation?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, it is both complicated and puzzling. If we could discover any
+reason for the brutal deed we might get a clue to the assassin; but as
+far as the police have been able to gather, it seems that there is an
+entire absence of motive; hence the impossibility of carrying the
+inquiries further.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>&#8220;Then the investigation is actually dropped?&#8221; she exclaimed, unable to
+further conceal her anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I presume it is,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>Her chest heaved slightly, and slowly fell again. By its movement I
+knew that my answer allowed her to breathe more freely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You also believe that your friend Jevons has been compelled, owing to
+negative results, to relinquish his efforts?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Such is my opinion. But I have not seen him lately in order to
+consult him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In silence she listened to my answer, and was evidently reassured by
+it; yet I could not, for the life of me, understand her manner&mdash;at one
+moment nervous and apprehensive, and at the next full of an almost
+imperious self-confidence. At times the expression in her eyes was
+such as justified her mother in the fears she had expressed to me. I
+tried to diagnose her symptoms, but they were too complicated and
+contradictory.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke again of her sister, returning to the main point upon which
+she had sought the interview. She was a decidedly attractive woman,
+with a face rendered more interesting by her widow&#8217;s garb.</p>
+
+<p>But why was she masquerading so cleverly? For what reason had old
+Courtenay contrived to efface his identity so thoroughly? As I looked
+at her, mourning for a man who was alive and well, I utterly failed to
+comprehend one single fact of the astounding affair. It staggered
+belief!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>&#8220;Let me speak candidly to you, Ralph,&#8221; she said, after we had been
+discussing Ethelwynn for some little time. &#8220;As you may readily
+imagine, I have my sister&#8217;s welfare very much at heart, and my only
+desire is to see her happy and comfortable, instead of pining in
+melancholy as she now is. I ask you frankly, have you quarrelled?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, we have not,&#8221; I answered promptly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then if you have not, your neglect is all the more remarkable,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;Forgive me for speaking like this, but our intimate
+acquaintanceship in the past gives me a kind of prerogative to speak
+my mind. You won&#8217;t be offended, will you?&#8221; she asked, with one of
+those sweet smiles of hers that I knew so well.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Offended? Certainly not, Mrs. Courtenay. We are too old friends for
+that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then take my advice and see Ethelwynn again,&#8221; she urged. &#8220;I know how
+she adores you; I know how your coldness has crushed all the life out
+of her. She hides her secret from mother, and for that reason will not
+come down to Neneford. See her, and return to her; for it is a
+thousand pities that two lives should be wrecked so completely by some
+little misunderstanding which will probably be explained away in a
+dozen words. You may consider this appeal an extraordinary one, made
+by one sister on behalf of another, but when I tell you that I have
+not consulted Ethelwynn, nor does she know that I am here on her
+behalf, you will readily understand that I have both your interests
+equally at heart. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>To me it seems a grievous thing that you should be
+placed apart in this manner; that the strong love you bear each other
+should be crushed, and your future happiness be sacrificed. Tell me
+plainly,&#8221; she asked in earnestness. &#8220;You love her still&mdash;don&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do,&#8221; was my frank, outspoken answer, and it was the honest truth.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A MESSAGE.</h3>
+
+<p>The pretty woman in her widow&#8217;s weeds stirred slightly and settled her
+skirts, as though my answer had given her the greatest satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then take my advice, Ralph,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;See her again before it is
+too late.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You refer to her fresh lover&mdash;eh?&#8221; I inquired bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Her fresh lover?&#8221; she cried in surprise. &#8220;I don&#8217;t understand you. Who
+is he, pray?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m in ignorance of his name.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But how do you know of his existence? I have heard nothing of him,
+and surely she would have told me. All her correspondence, all her
+poignant grief, and all her regrets have been of you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. Henniker gave me to understand that my place in your sister&#8217;s
+heart has been filled by another man,&#8221; I said, in a hard voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. Henniker!&#8221; she cried in disgust. &#8220;Just like that evil-tongued
+mischief-maker! I&#8217;ve told you already that I detest her. She was my
+friend once&mdash;it was she who allured me from my husband&#8217;s side. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>Why
+she exercises such an influence over poor Ethelwynn, I can&#8217;t tell. I
+do hope she&#8217;ll leave their house and come back home. You must try and
+persuade her to do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think, then, that the woman has lied?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m certain of it. Ethelwynn has never a thought for any man save
+yourself. I&#8217;ll vouch for that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But what object can she have in telling me an untruth?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The widow smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A very deep one, probably. You don&#8217;t know her as well as I do, or you
+would suspect all her actions of ulterior motive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I said, after a pause, &#8220;to tell the truth, I wrote to
+Ethelwynn last night with a view to reconciliation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You did!&#8221; she cried joyously. &#8220;Then you have anticipated me, and my
+appeal to you has been forestalled by your own conscience&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly,&#8221; I laughed. &#8220;She has my letter by this time, and I am
+expecting a wire in reply. I have asked her to meet me at the earliest
+possible moment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you have all my felicitations, Ralph,&#8221; she said, in a voice that
+seemed to quiver with emotion. &#8220;She loves you&mdash;loves you with a
+fiercer and even more passionate affection than that I entertained
+towards my poor dead husband. Of your happiness I have no doubt, for I
+have seen how you idolised her, and how supreme was your mutual
+content when <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>in each other&#8217;s society. Destiny, that unknown influence
+that shapes our ends, has placed you together and forged a bond
+between you that is unbreakable&mdash;the bond of perfect love.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There seemed such a genuine ring in her voice, and she spoke with such
+solicitude for our welfare, that in the conversation I entirely forgot
+that after all she was only trying to bring us together again in order
+to prevent her own secret from being exposed.</p>
+
+<p>At some moments she seemed the perfection of honesty and integrity,
+without the slightest affectation of interest or artificiality of
+manner, and it was this fresh complexity of her character that utterly
+baffled me. I could not determine whether, or not, she was in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If it is really destiny I suppose that to try and resist it is quite
+futile,&#8221; I remarked mechanically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Absolutely. Ethelwynn will become your wife, and you have all my good
+wishes for prosperity and happiness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I thanked her, but pointed out that the matrimonial project was, as
+yet, immature.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How foolish you are, Ralph!&#8221; she said. &#8220;You know very well that you&#8217;d
+marry her to-morrow if you could.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! if I could,&#8221; I repeated wistfully. &#8220;Unfortunately my position is
+not yet sufficiently well assured to justify my marrying. Wedded
+poverty is never a pleasing prospect.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you have the world before you. I&#8217;ve heard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>Sir Bernard say so,
+times without number. He believes implicitly in you as a man who will
+rise to the head of your profession.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I laughed dubiously, shaking my head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only hope that his anticipations may be realized,&#8221; I said. &#8220;But I
+fear I&#8217;m no more brilliant than a hundred other men in the hospitals.
+It takes a smart man nowadays to boom himself into notoriety. As in
+literature and law, so in the medical profession, it isn&#8217;t the clever
+man who rises to the top of the tree. More often it is a second-rate
+man, who has private influence, and has gauged the exact worth of
+self-advertisement. This is an age of reputations quickly made, and
+just as rapidly lost. In the professional world a new man rises with
+every moon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But that need not be so in your case,&#8221; she pointed out. &#8220;With Sir
+Bernard as your chief, you are surely in an assured position.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Taking her into my confidence, I told her of my ideal of a snug
+country practice&mdash;one of those in which the assistant does the
+night-work and attends to the club people, while there is a circle of
+county people as patients. There are hundreds of such practices in
+England, where a doctor, although scarcely known outside his own
+district, is in a position which Harley Street, with all its turmoil
+of fashionable fads and fancies, envies as the elysium of what life
+should be. The village doctor of Little Perkington may be an ignorant
+old buffer; but his life, with its three days&#8217; hunting a week, its
+constant invitations <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>to shoot over the best preserves, and its free
+fishing whenever in the humour, is a thousand times preferable to the
+silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician.</p>
+
+<p>I had long ago talked it all over with Ethelwynn, and she entirely
+agreed with me. I had not the slightest desire to have a
+consulting-room of my own in Harley Street. All I longed for was a
+life in open air and rural tranquillity; a life far from the tinkle of
+the cab-bell and the milkman&#8217;s strident cry; a life of ease and bliss,
+with my well-beloved ever at my side. The unfortunate man compelled to
+live in London is deprived of half of God&#8217;s generous gifts.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Though this unaccountable coldness has fallen between you,&#8221; Mary
+said, looking straight at me, &#8220;you surely cannot have doubted the
+strength of her affection?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Mrs. Henniker&#8217;s insinuation puzzles me. Besides, her recent
+movements have been rather erratic, and almost seem to bear out the
+suggestion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That woman is utterly unscrupulous!&#8221; she cried angrily. &#8220;Depend upon
+it that she has some deep motive in making that slanderous statement.
+On one occasion she almost caused a breach between myself and my poor
+husband. Had he not possessed the most perfect confidence in me, the
+consequences might have been most serious for both of us. The outcome
+of a mere word, uttered half in jest, it came near ruining my
+happiness for ever. I did not know her true character in those days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>&#8220;I had no idea that she was a dangerous woman,&#8221; I remarked, rather
+surprised at this statement. Hitherto I had regarded her as quite a
+harmless person, who, by making a strenuous effort to obtain a footing
+in good society, often rendered herself ridiculous in the eyes of her
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Her character!&#8221; she echoed fiercely. &#8220;She&#8217;s one of the most
+evil-tongued women in London. Here is an illustration. While posing as
+Ethelwynn&#8217;s friend, and entertaining her beneath her roof, she
+actually insinuates to you the probability of a secret lover! Is it
+fair? Is it the action of an honest, trustworthy woman?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was compelled to admit that it was not. Yet, was this action of her
+own, in coming to me in those circumstances, in any way more
+straightforward? Had she known that I was well aware of the secret
+existence of her husband, she would assuredly never have dared to
+speak in the manner she had. Indeed, as I sat there facing her, I
+could scarcely believe it possible that she could act the imposture so
+perfectly. Her manner was flawless; her self-possession marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>But the motive of it all&mdash;what could it be? The problem had been a
+maddening one from first to last.</p>
+
+<p>I longed to speak out my mind then and there; to tell her of what I
+knew, and of what I had witnessed with my own eyes. Yet such a course
+was useless. I was proceeding carefully, watching and noting
+everything, determined not to blunder.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>Had you been in my place, my reader, what would you have done?
+Recollect, I had witnessed a scene on the river-bank that was
+absolutely without explanation, and which surpassed all human
+credence. I am a matter-of-fact man, not given to exaggerate or to
+recount incidents that have not occurred, but I confess openly and
+freely that since I had walked along that path I hourly debated within
+myself whether I was actually awake and in the full possession of my
+faculties, or whether I had dreamt the whole thing.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was no dream. Certain solid facts convinced me of its stern,
+astounding reality. The man upon whose body I had helped to make an
+autopsy was actually alive.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to my questions my visitor told me that she was staying at
+Martin&#8217;s, in Cork Street&mdash;a small private hotel which the Mivarts had
+patronised for many years&mdash;and that on the following morning she
+intended returning again to Neneford.</p>
+
+<p>Then, after she had again urged me to lose no time in seeing
+Ethelwynn, and had imposed upon me silence as to what had passed
+between us, I assisted her into a hansom, and she drove away, waving
+her hand in farewell.</p>
+
+<p>The interview had been a curious one, and I could not in the least
+understand its import. Regarded in the light of the knowledge I had
+gained when down at Neneford, it was, of course, plain that both she
+and her &#8220;dead&#8221; husband were anxious to secure Ethelwynn&#8217;s silence, and
+believed they could effect this by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>inducing us to marry. The
+conspiracy was deeply-laid and ingenious, as indeed was the whole of
+the amazing plot. Yet, some how, when I reflected upon it on my return
+from the club, I could not help sitting till far into the night trying
+to solve the remarkable enigma.</p>
+
+<p>A telegram from Ethelwynn had reached me at the Savage at nine
+o&#8217;clock, stating that she had received my letter, and was returning to
+town the day after to-morrow. She had, she said, replied to me by that
+night&#8217;s post.</p>
+
+<p>I felt anxious to see her, to question her, and to try, if possible,
+to gather from her some fact which would lead me to discern a motive
+in the feigned death of Henry Courtenay. But I could only wait in
+patience for the explanation. Mary&#8217;s declaration that her sister
+possessed no other lover besides myself reassured me. I had not
+believed it of her from the first; yet it was passing strange that
+such an insinuation should have fallen from the lips of a woman who
+now posed as her dearest friend.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, Sir Bernard came to town to see two unusual cases at the
+hospital, and afterwards drove me back with him to Harley Street,
+where he had an appointment with a German Princess, who had come to
+London to consult him as a specialist. As usual, he made his lunch off
+two ham sandwiches, which he had brought with him from Victoria
+Station refreshment-room and carried in a paper bag. I suggested that
+we should eat <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>together at a restaurant; but the old man declined,
+declaring that if he ate more than his usual sandwiches for luncheon
+when in town he never had any appetite for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>So I left him alone in his consulting-room, munching bread and ham,
+and sipping his wineglassful of dry sherry.</p>
+
+<p>About half-past three, just before he returned to Brighton, I saw him
+again as usual to hear any instructions he wished to give, for
+sometimes he saw patients once, and then left them in my hands. He
+seemed wearied, and was sitting resting his brow upon his thin bony
+hands. During the day he certainly had been fully occupied, and I had
+noticed that of late he was unable to resist the strain as he once
+could.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Aren&#8217;t you well?&#8221; I asked, when seated before him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes,&#8221; he answered, with a sigh. &#8220;There&#8217;s not much the matter with
+me. I&#8217;m tired, I suppose, that&#8217;s all. The eternal chatter of those
+confounded women bores me to death. They can&#8217;t tell their symptoms
+without going into all the details of family history and domestic
+infelicity,&#8221; he snapped. &#8220;They think me doctor, lawyer, and parson
+rolled into one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I laughed at his criticism. What he said was, indeed, quite true.
+Women often grew confidential towards me, at my age; therefore I could
+quite realize how they laid bare all their troubles to him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>&#8220;Oh, by the way!&#8221; he said, as though suddenly recollecting. &#8220;Have you
+met your friend Ambler Jevons lately?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;He&#8217;s been away for some weeks, I think. Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because I saw him yesterday in King&#8217;s Road. He was driving in a fly,
+and had one eye bandaged up. Met with an accident, I should think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An accident!&#8221; I exclaimed in consternation. &#8220;He wrote to me the other
+day, but did not mention it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been trying his hand at unravelling the mystery of poor
+Courtenay&#8217;s death, hasn&#8217;t he?&#8221; the old man asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe so?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And failed&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think his efforts have been crowned with very much success,
+although he has told me nothing,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>In response the old man grunted in dissatisfaction. I knew how
+disgusted he had been at the bungling and utter failure of the police
+inquiries, for he was always declaring Scotland Yard seemed to be
+useless, save for the recovery of articles left in cabs.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at his watch, snatched up his silk hat, buttoned his coat,
+and, wishing me good-bye, went out to catch the Pullman train.</p>
+
+<p>Next day about two o&#8217;clock I was in one of the wards at Guy&#8217;s, seeing
+the last of my patients, when a telegram was handed to me by one of
+the nurses.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>I tore it open eagerly, expecting that it was from Ethelwynn,
+announcing the hour of her arrival at Paddington.</p>
+
+<p>But the message upon which my eyes fell was so astounding, so
+appalling, and so tragic that my heart stood still.</p>
+
+<p>The few words upon the flimsy paper increased the mystery to an even
+more bewildering degree than before!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MYSTERY OF MARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The astounding message, despatched from Neneford and signed by
+Parkinson, the butler, ran as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;Regret to inform you that Mrs. Courtenay was found drowned
+in the river this morning. Can you come here? My mistress
+very anxious to see you.&#8221;</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Without a moment&#8217;s delay I sent a reply in the affirmative, and, after
+searching in the &#8220;A.B.C.,&#8221; found that I had a train at three o&#8217;clock
+from King&#8217;s Cross. This I took, and after an anxious journey arrived
+duly at the Manor, all the blinds of which were closely drawn.</p>
+
+<p>Parkinson, white-faced and agitated, a thin, nervous figure in a coat
+too large for him, had been watching my approach up the drive, and
+held open the door for me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, Doctor!&#8221; the old fellow gasped. &#8220;It&#8217;s terrible&mdash;terrible! To
+think that poor Miss Mary should die like that!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tell me all about it,&#8221; I demanded, quickly. &#8220;Come!&#8221; and I led the way
+into the morning room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know anything about it, sir; it&#8217;s all a mystery,&#8221; the
+grey-faced old man replied. &#8220;When one of the housemaids went up to
+Miss Mary&#8217;s room at eight o&#8217;clock this morning to take her tea, as
+usual, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>she received no answer to her knock. Thinking she was asleep
+she returned half-an-hour later, only to find her absent, and that the
+bed had not been slept in. We told the mistress, never thinking that
+such an awful fate had befallen poor Miss Mary. Mistress was inclined
+to believe that she had gone off on some wild excursion somewhere, for
+of late she&#8217;s been in the habit of going away for a day or two without
+telling us. At first none of us dreamed that anything had happened,
+until, just before twelve o&#8217;clock, Reuben Dixon&#8217;s lad, who&#8217;d been out
+fishing, came up, shouting that poor Miss Mary was in the water under
+some bushes close to the stile that leads into Monk&#8217;s Wood. At first
+we couldn&#8217;t believe it; but, with the others, I flew down post-haste,
+and there she was, poor thing, under the surface, with her dress
+caught in the bushes that droop into the water. Her hat was gone, and
+her hair, unbound, floated out, waving with the current. We at once
+got a boat and took her out, but she was quite dead. Four men from the
+village carried her up here, and they&#8217;ve placed her in her own room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The police know about it, of course?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we told old Jarvis, the constable. He&#8217;s sent a telegram to
+Oundle, I think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what doctor has seen her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Doctor Govitt. He&#8217;s here now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I must see him. He has examined the body, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect so, sir. He&#8217;s been a long time in the room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>&#8220;And how is it believed that the poor young lady got into the water?&#8221;
+I asked, anxious to obtain the local theory.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s believed that she either fell in or was pushed in a long way
+higher up, because half-a-mile away, not far from the lock, there&#8217;s
+distinct marks in the long grass, showing that somebody went off the
+path to the brink of the river. And close by that spot they found her
+black silk shawl.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She went out without a hat, then?&#8221; I remarked, recollecting that when
+she had met her husband in secret she had worn a shawl. Could it be
+possible that she had met him again, and that he had made away with
+her? The theory seemed a sound one in the present circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems to me, sir, that the very fact of her taking her shawl
+showed that she did not intend to be out very long,&#8221; the butler said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It would almost appear that she went out in the night in order to
+meet somebody,&#8221; I observed.</p>
+
+<p>The old man shook his head sorrowfully, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor Miss Mary&#8217;s never been the same since her husband died, Doctor.
+She was often very strange in her manner. Between ourselves, I
+strongly suspect it to be a case of deliberate suicide. She was
+utterly broken down by the awful blow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see any motive for suicide,&#8221; I remarked. Then I asked, &#8220;Has
+she ever been known to meet anyone on the river-bank at night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Old Parkinson was usually an impenetrable person. He fidgeted, and I
+saw that my question was an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>awkward one for him to answer without
+telling a lie.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The truth will have to be discovered about this, you know,&#8221; I went
+on. &#8220;Therefore, if you have any knowledge likely to assist us at the
+inquest it is your duty to explain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, sir,&#8221; he answered, after a short pause, &#8220;to tell the truth, in
+this last week there have been some funny rumours in the village.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;People say that she was watched by Drake, Lord Nassington&#8217;s
+gamekeeper, who saw her at two o&#8217;clock in the morning walking
+arm-in-arm with an old gentleman. I heard the rumour down at the
+Golden Ball, but I wouldn&#8217;t believe it. Why, Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s only been
+dead a month or two. The man Drake is a bragging fellow, and I think
+most people discredit his statement.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I said, &#8220;it might possibly have been true. It seems hardly
+conceivable that she should go wandering alone by the river at night.
+She surely had some motive in going there. Was she only seen by the
+gamekeeper on one occasion?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only once. But, of course, he soon spread it about the village, and
+it formed a nice little tit-bit of gossip. As soon as I heard it I
+took steps to deny it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It never reached the young lady&#8217;s ears?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; the old servant answered. &#8220;We were careful to keep the
+scandal to ourselves, knowing how it would pain her. She&#8217;s had
+sufficient trouble in her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>life, poor thing.&#8221; And with tears in his
+grey old eyes, he added: &#8220;I have known her ever since she was a child
+in her cradle. It&#8217;s awful that her end should come like this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was a most trustworthy and devoted servant, having spent nearly
+thirty years of his life in the service of the family, until he had
+become almost part of it. His voice quivered with emotion when he
+spoke of the dead daughter of the house, but he knew that towards me
+it was not a servant&#8217;s privilege to entirely express the grief he
+felt.</p>
+
+<p>I put other questions regarding the dead woman&#8217;s recent actions, and
+he was compelled to admit that they had, of late, been quite
+unaccountable. Her absences were frequent, and she appeared to
+sometimes make long and mysterious journeys in various directions,
+while her days at home were usually spent in the solitude of her own
+room. Some friends of the family, he said, attributed it to grief at
+the great blow she had sustained, while others suspected that her mind
+had become slightly unhinged. I recollected, myself, how strange had
+been her manner when she had visited me, and inwardly confessed to
+being utterly mystified.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Govitt I found to be a stout middle-aged man, of the usual type
+of old-fashioned practitioner of a cathedral town, whose methods and
+ideas were equally old-fashioned. Before I entered the room where the
+unfortunate woman was lying, he explained to me that life had
+evidently been extinct about seven hours prior to the discovery of the
+body.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>&#8220;There are no marks of foul play?&#8221; I inquired anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None, as far as I&#8217;ve been able to find&mdash;only a scratch on the left
+cheek, evidently inflicted after death.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s your opinion?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suicide. Without a doubt. The hour at which she fell into the water
+is shown by her watch. It stopped at 2.28.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You have no suspicion of foul play?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;None whatever.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did not reply; but by the compression of my lips I presume he saw
+that I was dubious.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I see you are suspicious,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Of course, in tragic
+circumstances like these the natural conclusion is to doubt. The poor
+young lady&#8217;s husband was mysteriously done to death, and I honestly
+believe that her mind gave way beneath the strain of grief. I&#8217;ve
+attended her professionally two or three times of late, and noted
+certain abnormal features in her case that aroused my suspicions that
+her brain had become unbalanced. I never, however, suspected her of
+suicidal tendency.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Her mother, Mrs. Mivart, did,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;She told me so only a
+few days ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know, I know,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;Of course, her mother had more
+frequent and intimate opportunities for watching her than we had. In
+any case it is a very dreadful thing for the family.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very!&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>&#8220;And the mystery surrounding the death of Mr. Courtenay&mdash;was it never
+cleared up? Did the police never discover any clue to the assassin?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Not a single fact regarding it, beyond those related at the
+inquest, has ever been brought to light.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Extraordinary&mdash;very extraordinary!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I went with him into the darkened bedroom wherein lay the body, white
+and composed, her hair dishevelled about her shoulders, and her white
+waxen hands crossed about her breast. The expression upon her
+countenance&mdash;that face that looked so charming beneath its veil of
+widowhood as she had sat in my room at Harley Place&mdash;was calm and
+restful, for indeed, in the graceful curl of the lips, there was a
+kind of half-smile, as though, poor thing, she had at last found
+perfect peace.</p>
+
+<p>Govitt drew up the blind, allowing the golden sunset to stream into
+the room, thereby giving me sufficient light to make my examination.
+The latter occupied some little time, my object being to discover any
+marks of violence. In persons drowned by force, and especially in
+women, the doctor expects to find red or livid marks upon the wrists,
+arms or neck, where the assailant had seized the victim. Of course,
+these are not always discernible, for it is easier to entice the
+unfortunate one to the water&#8217;s edge and give a gentle push than
+grapple in violence and hurl a person into the stream by main force.
+The push leaves no trace; therefore, the verdict in hundreds of cases
+of wilful murder has been &#8220;Suicide,&#8221; or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>an open one, because the
+necessary evidence of foul play has been wanting.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a case in point. The scratch on the face that Govitt had
+described was undoubtedly a post-mortem injury, and, with the
+exception of another slight scratch on the ball of the left thumb, I
+could find no trace whatever of violence. And yet, to me, the most
+likely theory was that she had again met her husband in secret, and
+had lost her life at his hands. To attribute a motive was utterly
+impossible. I merely argued logically within myself that it could not
+possibly be a case of suicide, for without a doubt she had met
+clandestinely the eccentric old man whom the world believed to be
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>But if he were alive, who was the man who had died at Kew?</p>
+
+<p>The facts within my knowledge were important and startling; yet if I
+related them to any second person I felt that my words would be
+scouted as improbable, and my allegations would certainly not be
+accepted. Therefore I still kept my own counsel, longing to meet
+Jevons and hear the result of his further inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Mivart I found seated in her own room, tearful and utterly
+crushed. Poor Mary&#8217;s end had come upon her as an overwhelming burden
+of grief, and I stood beside her full of heartfelt sympathy. A strong
+bond of affection had always existed between us; but, as I took her
+inert hand and uttered words of comfort, she only shook her head
+sorrowfully and burst into a torrent of tears. Truly the Manor was a
+dismal house of mourning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>To Ethelwynn I sent a telegram addressed to the Hennikers, in order
+that she should receive it the instant she arrived in town. Briefly I
+explained the tragedy, and asked her to come down to the Manor at
+once, feeling assured that Mrs. Mivart, in the hour of her distress,
+desired her daughter at her side. Then I accompanied the local
+constable, and the three police officers who had come over from
+Oundle, down to the riverside.</p>
+
+<p>The brilliant afterglow tinged the broad, brimming river with a
+crimson light, and the trees beside the water already threw heavy
+shadows, for the day was dying, and the glamour of the fading sunset
+and the dead stillness of departing day had fallen upon everything.
+Escorted by a small crowd of curious villagers, we walked along the
+footpath over the familiar ground that I had traversed when following
+the pair. Eagerly we searched everywhere for traces of a struggle, but
+the only spot where the long grass was trodden down was at a point a
+little beyond the ferry. Yet as far as I could see there was no actual
+sign of any struggle. It was merely as though the grass had been
+flattened by the trailing of a woman&#8217;s skirt across it. Examination
+showed, too, imprints of Louis XV. heels in the soft clay bank. One
+print was perfect, but the other, close to the edge, gave evidence
+that the foot had slipped, thus establishing the spot as that where
+the unfortunate young lady had fallen into the water. When examining
+the body I had noticed that she was wearing Louis XV. shoes, and also
+that there was still mud upon the heels. She had always been rather
+proud of her feet, and surely there is nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>which sets off the
+shape of a woman&#8217;s foot better than the neat little shoe, with its
+high instep and heel.</p>
+
+<p>We searched on until twilight darkened into night, traversing that
+path every detail of which had impressed itself so indelibly upon my
+brain. We passed the stile near which I had stood hidden in the bushes
+and overheard that remarkable conversation between the &#8220;dead&#8221; man and
+his wife. All the memories of that never-to-be-forgotten night
+returned to me. Alas! that I had not questioned Mary when she had
+called upon me on the previous day.</p>
+
+<p>She had died, and her secret was lost.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ETHELWYNN IS SILENT.</h3>
+
+<p>At midnight I was seated in the drawing-room of the Manor. Before me,
+dressed in plain black which made her beautiful face look even paler
+than it was, sat my love, bowed, despondent, silent. The household,
+although still astir, was hushed by the presence of the dead; the long
+old room itself, usually so bright and pleasant, seemed full of dark
+shadows, for the lamp, beneath its yellow shade, burned but dimly, and
+everywhere there reigned an air of mourning.</p>
+
+<p>Half-demented by grief, my love had arrived in hot haste about ten
+o&#8217;clock, and, rushing to poor Mary&#8217;s room, had thrown herself upon her
+knees beside the poor inanimate clay; for, even though of late
+differences might have existed between them, the sisters were
+certainly devoted to each other. The scene in that room was an unhappy
+one, for although Ethelwynn betrayed nothing by her lips, I saw by her
+manner that she was full of remorse over the might-have-beens, and
+that she was bitterly reproaching herself for some fact of which I had
+no knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Of the past we had not spoken. She had been too full of grief, too
+utterly overcome by the tragedy of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>the situation. Her mournful figure
+struck a sympathetic chord in my heart. Perhaps I had misjudged her;
+perhaps I had attributed to her sinister motives that were
+non-existent. Alas! wherever mystery exists, little charity enters
+man&#8217;s heart. Jealousy dries up the milk of human kindness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Dearest,&#8221; I said, rising and taking her slim white hand that lay idly
+in her lap, &#8220;in this hour of your distress you have at least one
+person who would console and comfort you&mdash;one man who loves you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes to mine quickly, with a strange, eager look. Her
+glance was as though she did not fully realize the purport of my
+words. I knew myself to be a sad blunderer in the art of love, and
+wondered if my words were too blunt and abrupt.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; she sighed. &#8220;If only I believed that those words came direct
+from your heart, Ralph!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They do,&#8221; I assured her. &#8220;You received my letter at Hereford&mdash;you
+read what I wrote to you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;I read it. But how can I believe in you further,
+after your unaccountable treatment? You forsook me without giving any
+reason. You can&#8217;t deny that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t seek to deny it,&#8221; I said. &#8220;On the contrary, I accept all the
+blame that may attach to me. I only ask your forgiveness,&#8221; and bending
+to her in deep earnestness, I pressed the small hand that was within
+my grasp.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>&#8220;But if you loved me, as you declare you have always done, why did you
+desert me in that manner?&#8221; she inquired, her large dark eyes turned
+seriously to mine.</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated. Should I tell her the truth openly and honestly?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because of a fact which came to my knowledge,&#8221; I answered, after a
+long pause.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What fact?&#8221; she asked with some anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I made a discovery,&#8221; I said ambiguously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Regarding me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, regarding yourself,&#8221; I replied, with my eyes fixed full upon
+hers. I saw that she started at my words, her countenance fell, and
+she caught her breath quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, tell me what it is,&#8221; she asked in a hard tone, a tone which
+showed me that she had steeled herself for the worst.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Forgive me if I speak the truth,&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;You have asked me,
+and I will be perfectly frank with you. Well, I discovered amongst old
+Mr. Courtenay&#8217;s papers a letter written by you several years ago which
+revealed the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The truth!&#8221; she gasped, her face blanched in an instant. &#8220;The truth
+of what?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That you were once engaged to become his wife.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her breast heaved quickly, and I saw that my words had relieved her of
+some grave apprehension. When I declared that I knew &#8220;the truth&#8221; she
+believed that I spoke of the secret of Courtenay&#8217;s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>masquerading. The
+fact of her previous engagement was, to her, of only secondary
+importance, for she replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, and is that the sole cause of your displeasure?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I felt assured, from the feigned flippancy of her words, that she held
+knowledge of the strange secret.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was the main cause,&#8221; I said. &#8220;You concealed the truth from me, and
+lived in that man&#8217;s house after he had married Mary.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had a reason for doing so,&#8221; she exclaimed, in a quiet voice. &#8220;I did
+not live there by preference.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were surely not forced to do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No; I was not forced. It was a duty.&#8221; Then, after a pause, she
+covered her face with her hands and suddenly burst into tears, crying,
+&#8220;Ah, Ralph! If you could know all&mdash;all that I have suffered, you would
+not think ill of me! Appearances have been against me, that I know
+quite well. The discovery of that letter must have convinced you that
+I was a schemer and unworthy, and the fact that I lived beneath the
+roof of the man who had cast me off added colour to the theory that I
+had conceived some deep plot. Probably,&#8221; she went on, speaking between
+her sobs, &#8220;probably you even suspected me of having had a hand in the
+terrible crime. Tell me frankly,&#8221; she asked, gripping my arm, and
+looking up into my face. &#8220;Did you ever suspect me of being the
+assassin?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>I paused. What could I reply? Surely it was best to be open and
+straightforward. So I told her that I had not been alone in the
+suspicion, and that Ambler Jevons had shared it with me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! that accounts for his marvellous ingenuity in watching me. For
+weeks past he has seemed to be constantly near me, making inquiries
+regarding my movements wherever I went. You both suspected me. But is
+it necessary that I should assert my innocence of such a deed?&#8221; she
+asked. &#8220;Are you not now convinced that it was not my hand that struck
+down old Mr. Courtenay?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Forgive me,&#8221; I urged. &#8220;The suspicion was based upon ill-formed
+conclusions, and was heightened by your own peculiar conduct after the
+tragedy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That my conduct was strange was surely natural. The discovery was
+quite as appalling to me as to you; and, knowing that somewhere among
+the dead man&#8217;s papers my letters were preserved, I dreaded lest they
+should fall into the hands of the police and thereby connect me with
+the crime. It was fear that my final letter should be discovered that
+gave my actions the appearance of guilt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I took both her hands in mine, and fixing my gaze straight into those
+dear eyes wherein the love-look shone&mdash;that look by which a man is
+able to read a woman&#8217;s heart&mdash;I asked her a question.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ethelwynn,&#8221; I said, calmly and seriously, &#8220;we love each other. I know
+I&#8217;ve been suspicious <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>without cause and cruel in my neglect;
+nevertheless the separation has quickened my affection, and has shown
+that to me life without you is impossible. You, darling, are the only
+woman who has entered my life. I have championed no woman save
+yourself; by no ties have I been bound to any woman in this world.
+This I would have you believe, for it is the truth. I could not lie to
+you if I would; it is the truth&mdash;God is my witness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She made me no answer. Her hands trembled, and she bowed her head so
+that I could not see her face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Will you not forgive, dearest?&#8221; I urged. The great longing to speak
+out my mind had overcome me, and having eased myself of my burden I
+stood awaiting her response. &#8220;Will you not be mine again, as in the
+old days before this chain of tragedy fell upon your house?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Again she hesitated for several minutes. Then, of a sudden, she lifted
+her tear-stained face towards me, all rosy with blushes and wearing
+that sweet look which I had known so well in the happy days bygone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you wish it, Ralph,&#8221; she faltered, &#8220;we will forget that any breach
+between us has ever existed. I desire nothing else; for, as you well
+know, I love no one else but you. I have been foolish, I know. I ought
+to have explained the girlish romantic affection I once entertained
+for that man who afterwards married Mary. In those days he was my
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>ideal. Why, I cannot tell. Girls in their teens have strange
+caprices, and that was mine. Just as schoolboys fall violently in love
+with married women, so are schoolgirls sometimes attracted towards
+aged men. People wonder when they hear of May and December marriages;
+but they are not always from mercenary motives, as is popularly
+supposed. Nevertheless I acted wrongly in not telling you the truth
+from the first. I am alone to blame.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So much she said, though with many a pause, and with so keen a
+self-reproach in her tone that I could hardly bear to hear her, when I
+interrupted&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There is mutual blame on both sides. Let us forget it all,&#8221; and I
+bent until my lips met hers and we sealed our compact with a long,
+clinging caress.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, dear heart. Let us forget it,&#8221; she whispered. &#8220;We have both
+suffered&mdash;both of us,&#8221; and I felt her arms tighten about my neck. &#8220;Oh,
+how you must have hated me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I declared. &#8220;I never hated you. I was mystified and suspicious,
+because I felt assured that you knew the truth regarding the tragedy
+at Kew, and remained silent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She looked into my eyes, as though she would read my soul.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Unfortunately,&#8221; she answered, &#8220;I am not aware of the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you are in possession of certain strange facts&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>&#8220;That I am in possession of facts that lead me to certain conclusions,
+is the truth. But the clue is wanting. I have been seeking for it
+through all these months, but without success.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Cannot we act in accord in this matter, dearest? May I not be
+acquainted with the facts which, with your intimate knowledge of the
+Courtenay household, you were fully acquainted with at the time of the
+tragedy?&#8221; I urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Ralph,&#8221; she replied, shaking her head, and at the same time
+pressing my hand. &#8220;I cannot yet tell you anything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you have no confidence in me?&#8221; I asked reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is not a question of confidence, but one of honour,&#8221; she replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But you will at least satisfy my curiosity upon one point?&#8221; I
+exclaimed. &#8220;You will tell me the reason you lived beneath Courtenay&#8217;s
+roof?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You know the reason well. He was an invalid, and I went there to keep
+Mary company.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled at the lameness of her explanation. It was, however, an
+ingenious evasion of the truth, for, after all, I could not deny that
+I had known this through several years. Old Courtenay, being
+practically confined to his room, had himself suggested Ethelwynn
+bearing his young wife company.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Answer me truthfully, dearest. Was there no further reason?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She paused; and in her hesitation I detected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>a desire to deceive,
+even though I loved her so fondly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, there was,&#8221; she admitted at last, bowing her head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Explain it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Alas! I cannot. It is a secret.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A secret from me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, dear heart!&#8221; she cried, clutching my hands with a wild movement.
+&#8220;Even from you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My face must have betrayed the annoyance that I felt, for the next
+second she hastened to soften her reply by saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At present it is impossible for me to explain. Think! Poor Mary is
+lying upstairs. I can say nothing at present&mdash;nothing&mdash;you
+understand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then afterwards&mdash;after the burial&mdash;you will tell me what you know?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Until I discover the truth I am resolved to maintain silence. All I
+can tell you is that the whole affair is so remarkable and astounding
+that its explanation will be even more bewildering than the tangled
+chain of circumstances.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you are actually in possession of the truth,&#8221; I remarked with
+some impatience. &#8220;What use is there to deny it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At present I have suspicions&mdash;grave ones. That is all,&#8221; she
+protested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is your theory regarding poor Mary&#8217;s death?&#8221; I asked, hoping to
+learn something from her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suicide. Of that there seems not a shadow of doubt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>I was wondering if she knew of the &#8220;dead&#8221; man&#8217;s existence. Being in
+sisterly confidence with Mary, she probably did.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did it ever strike you,&#8221; I asked, &#8220;that the personal appearance of
+Mr. Courtenay changed very considerably after death. You saw the body
+several times after the discovery. Did you notice the change?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She looked at me sharply, as though endeavouring to discern my
+meaning.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw the body several times, and certainly noticed a change in the
+features. But surely the countenance changes considerably if death is
+sudden?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite true,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;But I recollect that, in making the
+post-mortem, Sir Bernard remarked upon the unusual change. He seemed
+to have grown fully ten years older than when I had seen him alive
+four hours before.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she asked, &#8220;is that any circumstance likely to lead to a
+solution of the mystery? I don&#8217;t exactly see the point.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It may,&#8221; I answered ambiguously, puzzled at her manner and wondering
+if she were aware of that most unaccountable feature of the
+conspiracy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>But as she had steadfastly refused to reveal her knowledge to me, or
+the reason of her residence beneath Courtenay&#8217;s roof, I myself claimed
+the right to be equally vague.</p>
+
+<p>We were still playing at cross-purposes; therefore I urged her to be
+frank with me. But she strenuously resisted all my persuasion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>&#8220;No. With poor Mary lying dead I can say nothing. Later, when I have
+found the clue for which I am searching, I will tell you what I know.
+Till then, no word shall pass my lips.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I knew too well that when my love made up her mind it was useless to
+try and turn her from her purpose. She was no shallow, empty-headed
+girl, whose opinion could be turned by any breath of the social wind
+or any invention of the faddists; her mind was strong and
+well-balanced, so that she always had the courage of her own
+convictions. Her sister, on the contrary, had been one of those giddy
+women who follow every frill and furbelow of Fashion, and who take up
+all the latest crazes with a seriousness worthy of better objects. In
+temperament, in disposition, in character, and in strength of mind
+they had been the exact opposite of each other; the one sister flighty
+and thoughtless, the other patient and forbearing, with an utter
+disregard for the hollow artificialities of Society.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But in this matter we may be of mutual assistance to each other,&#8221; I
+urged, in an effort to persuade her. &#8220;As far as I can discern, the
+mystery contains no fewer than seven complete and distinct secrets. To
+obtain the truth regarding one would probably furnish the key to the
+whole.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you think that poor Mary&#8217;s untimely death is closely connected
+with the tragedy at Kew?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most certainly. But I do not share your opinion of suicide.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>&#8220;What? You suspect foul play?&#8221; she cried.</p>
+
+<p>I nodded in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You believe that poor Mary was actually murdered?&#8221; she exclaimed,
+anxiously. &#8220;Have you found marks of violence, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I have found nothing. My opinion is formed upon a surmise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What surmise?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated whether to tell her all the facts that I had discovered,
+for I was disappointed and annoyed that she should still preserve a
+dogged silence, now that a reconciliation had been brought about.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I answered, after a pause, &#8220;my suspicion of foul play is based
+upon logical conclusions. I have myself been witness of one most
+astonishing fact&mdash;namely, that she was in the habit of meeting a
+certain man clandestinely at night, and that their favourite walk was
+along the river bank.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221; she cried, starting up in alarm, all the colour fading from
+her face. &#8220;You have actually seen them together?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have not only seen them, but I have overheard their conversation,&#8221;
+I answered, surprised at the effect my words had produced upon her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you already know the truth!&#8221; she cried, in a wild voice that was
+almost a shriek. &#8220;Forgive me&mdash;forgive me, Ralph!&#8221; And throwing herself
+suddenly upon her knees she looked up into my face imploringly, her
+white hands clasped in an attitude of supplication, crying in a voice
+broken by emotion: &#8220;Forgive me, Ralph! Have compassion upon me!&#8221; and
+she burst <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>into a flood of tears which no caress or tender effort of
+mine could stem.</p>
+
+<p>I adored her with a passionate madness that was beyond control. She
+was, as she had ever been, my ideal&mdash;my all in all. And yet the
+mystery surrounding her was still impenetrable; an enigma that grew
+more complicated, more impossible of solution.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA.</h3>
+
+<p>&#8220;Found Drowned&#8221; was the verdict of the twelve respectable villagers
+who formed the Coroner&#8217;s jury to inquire into the tragic death of
+young Mrs. Courtenay. It was the only conclusion that could be arrived
+at in the circumstances, there being no marks of violence, and no
+evidence to show how the unfortunate lady got into the river.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons, who had seen a brief account of the affair in the
+papers, arrived hurriedly in time to attend the inquest; therefore it
+was not until the inquiry was over that we were enabled to chat. His
+appearance had changed during the weeks of his absence: his face
+seemed thinner and wore a worried, anxious expression.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Ralph, old fellow, this turns out to be a curious business,
+doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221; he exclaimed, when, after leaving the public room of the
+Golden Ball, wherein the inquiry had been held, we had strolled on
+through the long straggling village of homely cottages with thatched
+roofs, and out upon the white, level highroad.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;It&#8217;s more than curious. Frankly, I have a distinct
+suspicion that Mary was murdered.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>&#8220;That&#8217;s exactly my own opinion,&#8221; he exclaimed quickly. &#8220;There&#8217;s been
+foul play somewhere. Of that I&#8217;m certain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And do you agree with me, further, that it is the outcome of the
+tragedy at Kew?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most certainly,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That both husband and wife should be
+murdered only a few months after one another points to motives of
+revenge. You&#8217;ll remember how nervous old Courtenay was. He went in
+constant fear of his life, it was said. That fact proves conclusively
+that he was aware of some secret enemy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Now that you speak of it, I recollect it quite well,&#8221; I
+remarked, adding, &#8220;But where, in the name of Fortune, have you been
+keeping yourself during all these weeks of silence?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been travelling,&#8221; he responded rather vaguely. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been going
+about a lot.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And keeping watch on Ethelwynn during part of the time,&#8221; I laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She told you, eh?&#8221; he exclaimed, rather apprehensively. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t
+know that she ever recognised me. But women are always sharper than
+men. Still, I&#8217;m sorry that she saw me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no harm done&mdash;providing you&#8217;ve made some discovery regarding
+the seven secrets that compose the mystery,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Seven secrets!&#8221; he repeated thoughtfully, and then was silent a few
+moments, as though counting to himself the various points that
+required elucidation. &#8220;Yes,&#8221; he said at last, &#8220;you&#8217;re right, Ralph,
+there are seven of them&mdash;seven of the most extraordinary secrets <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>that
+have ever been presented to mortal being as part of one and the same
+mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He did not, of course, enumerate them in his mind, as I had done, for
+he was not aware of all the facts. The Seven Secrets, as they
+presented themselves to me, were: First, the identity of the secret
+assassin of Henry Courtenay; second, the manner in which that
+extraordinary wound had been caused; thirdly, the secret of Ethelwynn,
+held by Sir Bernard; fourthly, the secret motive of Ethelwynn in
+remaining under the roof of the man who had discarded her in favour of
+her sister; fifthly, the secret of Courtenay&#8217;s reappearance after
+burial; sixthly, the secret of the dastardly attempt on my life by
+those ruffians of Lisson Grove; and, seventhly, the secret of Mary
+Courtenay&#8217;s death. Each and every one of the problems was inscrutable.
+Others, of which I was unaware, had probably occurred to my friend. To
+him, just as to me, the secrets were seven.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, be frank with me, Ambler,&#8221; I said, after a long pause. &#8220;You&#8217;ve
+gained knowledge of some of them, haven&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By his manner I saw that he was in possession of information of no
+ordinary character.</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and slowly twisted his small dark moustache, at last
+admitting&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Ralph, I have.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What have you discovered?&#8221; I cried, in fierce eagerness. &#8220;Tell me the
+result of your inquiries regarding Ethelwynn. It is her connection
+with the affair which occupies my chief thoughts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>&#8220;For the present, my dear fellow, we must leave her entirely out of
+it,&#8221; my friend said quietly. &#8220;To tell you the truth, after announcing
+my intention to give up the affair as a mystery impenetrable, I set to
+work and slowly formed a theory. Then I drew up a deliberate plan of
+campaign, which I carried out in its entirety.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the result?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Its result&mdash;&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;Well, when I&#8217;d spent several anxious weeks
+in making the most careful inquiries, I found, to my chagrin, that I
+was upon an entirely wrong scent, and that the person I suspected of
+being the assassin at Kew was innocent. There was no help for it but
+to begin all over again, and I did so. My inquiries then led me in an
+entirely opposite direction. I followed my new and somewhat startling
+theory, and found to my satisfaction that I had at length struck the
+right trail. Through a whole fortnight I worked on night and day,
+often snatching a few hours of sleep in railway carriages, and
+sometimes watching through the whole night&mdash;for when one pursues
+inquiries alone it is frequently imperative to keep watchful vigil. To
+Bath, to Hereford, to Edinburgh, to Birmingham, to Newcastle, and also
+to several places far distant in the South of England I travelled in
+rapid succession, until at last I found a clue, but one so
+extraordinary that at first I could not give it credence. Ten days
+have passed, and even now I refuse to believe that such a thing could
+be. I&#8217;m absolutely bewildered by it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you believe that you&#8217;ve at last gained the key to the mystery?&#8221;
+I said, eagerly drinking in his words.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>&#8220;It seems as though I have. Yet my information is so very vague and
+shadowy that I can really form no decisive opinion. It is this
+mysterious death of Mrs. Courtenay that has utterly upset all my
+theories. Tell me plainly, Ralph, what causes you to suspect foul
+play? This is not a time for prevarication. We must be open and
+straightforward to each other. Tell me the absolute truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Should I tell him frankly of the amazing discovery I had made? I
+feared to do so, lest he should laugh me to scorn. The actual
+existence of Courtenay seemed too incredible. And yet as he was
+working to solve the problem, just as I was, there seemed every reason
+why we should be aware of each other&#8217;s discoveries. We had both
+pursued independent inquiries into the Seven Secrets until that
+moment, and it was now high time we compared results.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Jevons,&#8221; I exclaimed, hesitatingly, at last, &#8220;I have during the
+week elucidated one fact, a fact so strange that, when I tell you, I
+know you will declare that I was dreaming. I myself cannot account for
+it in the least. But that I was witness of it I will vouch. The
+mystery is a remarkable one, but what I&#8217;ve discovered adds to its
+inscrutability.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tell me,&#8221; he urged quickly, halting and turning to me in eagerness.
+&#8220;What have you found out?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen!&#8221; I said. &#8220;Hear me through, until you discredit my story.&#8221;
+Then, just as I have already written down the strange incidents in the
+foregoing chapters, I related to him everything that had occurred
+since the last evening he sat smoking with me in Harley Place.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>He heard me in silence, the movements of his face at one moment
+betraying satisfaction, and at the next bewilderment. Once or twice he
+grunted, as though dissatisfied, until I came to the midnight incident
+beside the river, and explained how I had watched and what I had
+witnessed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; he cried, starting in sudden astonishment. &#8220;You actually saw
+him? You recognised Henry Courtenay!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. He was walking with his wife, sometimes arm-in-arm.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply, but stood in silence in the centre of the road,
+drawing a geometrical design in the dust with the ferrule of his
+stick. It was his habit when thinking deeply.</p>
+
+<p>I watched his dark countenance&mdash;that of a man whose whole thought and
+energy were centred upon one object.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ralph,&#8221; he said at last, &#8220;what time is the next train to London?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Two-thirty, I think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must go at once to town. There&#8217;s work for me there&mdash;delicate work.
+What you&#8217;ve told me presents a new phase of the affair,&#8221; he said in a
+strange, anxious tone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Does it strengthen your clue?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In a certain degree&mdash;yes. It makes clear one point which was hitherto
+a mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And also makes plain that poor Mrs. Courtenay met with foul play?&#8221; I
+suggested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! For the moment, this latest development of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>the affair is quite
+beyond the question. We must hark back to that night at Richmond Road.
+I must go at once to London,&#8221; he added, glancing at his watch. &#8220;Will
+you come with me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Most willingly. Perhaps I can help you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps; we will see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So we turned and retraced our steps to the house of mourning, where,
+having pleaded urgent consultations with patients, I took leave of
+Ethelwynn. We were alone, and I bent and kissed her lips in order to
+show her that my love and confidence had not one whit abated. Her
+countenance brightened, and with sudden joy she flung her arms around
+my neck and returned my caress, pleading&mdash;&#8220;Ralph! You will
+forgive&mdash;you will forgive me, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I love you, dearest!&#8221; was all that I could reply; and it was the
+honest truth, direct from a heart overburdened by mystery and
+suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>Then with a last kiss I turned and left her, driving with Ambler
+Jevons to catch the London train.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY.</h3>
+
+<p>The sleepy-eyed tea-blender of Mark Lane remained plunged in a deep
+reverie during the greater part of the journey to town, and on arrival
+at King&#8217;s Cross declined to allow me to accompany him. This
+disappointed me. I was eager to pursue the clue, but no amount of
+persuasion on my part would induce him to alter his decision.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At present I must continue alone, old fellow,&#8221; he answered kindly.
+&#8220;It is best, after all. Later on I may want your help.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The facts I&#8217;ve told you are of importance, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of the greatest importance,&#8221; he responded. &#8220;I begin to see light
+through the veil. But if what I suspect is correct, then the affair
+will be found to be absolutely astounding.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of that I&#8217;m certain,&#8221; I said. &#8220;When will you come in and spend an
+hour?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As soon as ever I can spare time,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;To-morrow, or next
+day, perhaps. At present I have a very difficult task before me.
+Good-bye for the present.&#8221; And hailing a hansom he jumped in and drove
+away, being careful not to give the address to the driver while within
+my hearing. Ambler Jevons <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>had been born with the instincts of a
+detective. The keenness of his intellect was perfectly marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving him I drove to Harley Street, where I found Sir Bernard
+busy with patients, and in rather an ill-temper, having been worried
+unusually by some smart woman who had been to consult him and had been
+pouring into his ear all her domestic woes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I do wish such women would go and consult somebody else,&#8221; he growled,
+after he had been explaining her case to me. &#8220;Same symptoms as all of
+them. Nerves&mdash;owing to indigestion, late hours, and an artificial
+life. Wants me to order her to Carlsbad or somewhere abroad&mdash;so that
+she can be rid of her husband for a month or so. I can see the reason
+plain enough. She&#8217;s got some little game to play. Faugh!&#8221; cried the
+old man, &#8220;such women only fill one with disgust.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I went on to tell him of the verdict upon the death of Mrs. Courtenay,
+and his manner instantly changed to one of sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor Henry!&#8221; he exclaimed. &#8220;Poor little woman! I wonder that nothing
+has transpired to give the police a clue. To my mind, Boyd, there was
+some mysterious element in Courtenay&#8217;s life that he entirely hid from
+his friends. In later years he lived in constant dread of
+assassination.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that has always struck me as strange,&#8221; I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Has nothing yet been discovered?&#8221; asked my chief. &#8220;Didn&#8217;t the police
+follow that manservant Short?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, but to no purpose. They proved to their own satisfaction that he
+was innocent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And your friend Jevons&mdash;the tea-dealer who makes it a kind of hobby
+to assist the police. What of him? Has he continued his activity?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe so. He has, I understand, discovered a clue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What has he found?&#8221; demanded the old man, bending forward in
+eagerness across the table. He had been devoted to his friend
+Courtenay, and was constantly inquiring of me whether the police had
+met with any success.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At present he will tell me nothing,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Bernard gave vent to an exclamation of dissatisfaction, observing
+that he hoped Jevons&#8217; efforts would meet with success, as it was
+scandalous that a double tragedy of that character could occur in a
+civilized community without the truth being revealed and the assassin
+arrested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no doubt that the tragedy was a double one,&#8221; I observed.
+&#8220;Although the jury have returned a verdict of &#8216;Found Drowned&#8217; in the
+widow&#8217;s case, the facts, even as far as at present known, point
+undoubtedly to murder.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To murder!&#8221; he cried. &#8220;Then is it believed that she&#8217;s been wilfully
+drowned?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is the local surmise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; he asked, with an eager look upon his countenance, for he took
+the most intense interest in every feature of the affair.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, because it is rumoured that she had been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>seen late one night
+walking along the river-bank, near the spot where she was found,
+accompanied by a strange man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A strange man?&#8221; he echoed, his interest increased. &#8220;Did anyone see
+him sufficiently close to recognise him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe not,&#8221; I answered, hesitating at that moment to tell him all
+I knew. &#8220;The local police are making active inquiries, I believe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder who it could have been?&#8221; Sir Bernard exclaimed reflectively.
+&#8220;Mrs. Courtenay was always so devoted to poor Henry, that the story of
+the stranger appears to me very like some invention of the villagers.
+Whenever a tragedy occurs in a rural district all kinds of absurd
+canards are started. Probably that&#8217;s one of them. It is only natural
+for the rustic mind to connect a lover with a pretty young widow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. But I have certain reasons for believing the clandestine
+meeting to have taken place,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What causes you to give credence to the story?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Statements made to me,&#8221; I replied vaguely. &#8220;And further, all the
+evidence points to murder.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then why did the jury return an open verdict?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It was the best thing they could do in the circumstances, as it
+leaves the police with a free hand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But who could possibly have any motive for the poor little woman&#8217;s
+death?&#8221; he asked, with a puzzled, rather anxious expression upon his
+grey brow.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The lover may have wished to get rid of her,&#8221; I suggested.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>&#8220;You speak rather ungenerously, Boyd,&#8221; he protested. &#8220;Remember, we
+don&#8217;t know for certain that there was a lover in the case, and we
+should surely accept the rumours of country yokels with considerable
+hesitation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I make no direct accusation,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I merely give as my opinion
+that she was murdered by the man she was evidently in the habit of
+meeting. That&#8217;s all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, if that is so, then I hope the police will be successful in
+making an arrest,&#8221; declared the old physician. &#8220;Poor little woman!
+When is the funeral?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The day after to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must send a wreath. How sad it is! How very sad!&#8221; And he sighed
+sympathetically, and sat staring with fixed eyes at the dark green
+wall opposite.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time you caught your train,&#8221; I remarked, glancing at the clock.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I&#8217;m dining at the House of Commons to-night with
+my friend Houston. I shall remain in town all night. I so very seldom
+allow myself any dissipation,&#8221; and he smiled rather sadly.</p>
+
+<p>Truly he led an anchorite&#8217;s life, going to and fro with clockwork
+regularity, and denying himself all those diversions in Society which
+are ever at the command of a notable man. Very rarely did he accept an
+invitation to dine, and the fact that he lived down at Hove was in
+order to have a good excuse to evade people. He was a great man, with
+all a great man&#8217;s little eccentricities.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>The two following days passed uneventfully. Each evening, about ten,
+Ambler Jevons came in to smoke and drink. He stayed an hour,
+apparently nervous, tired, and fidgety in a manner quite unusual; but
+to my inquiries regarding the success of his investigations he
+remained dumb.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you discovered anything?&#8221; I asked, eagerly, on the occasion of
+his second visit.</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, at length answering&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;and no. I must see Ethelwynn without delay. Telegraph and ask
+her to meet you here. I want to ask her a question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you still suspect her?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct vagueness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wire to her to-night,&#8221; he urged. &#8220;Your man can take the message down
+to the Charing Cross office, and she&#8217;ll get it at eight o&#8217;clock in the
+morning. The funeral is over, so there is nothing to prevent her
+coming to town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was compelled to agree to his suggestion, although loth to again
+bring pain and annoyance to my love. I knew how she had suffered when,
+a few days ago, I had questioned her, and I felt convinced by her
+manner that, although she had refused to speak, she herself was
+innocent. Her lips were sealed by word of honour.</p>
+
+<p>According to appointment Jevons met me when I had finished my next
+morning&#8217;s work at Guy&#8217;s, and we took a glass of sherry together in a
+neighbouring bar. Then at his invitation I accompanied him along the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>Borough High Street and Newington Causeway to the London Road, until
+we came to a row of costermongers&#8217; barrows drawn up beside the
+pavement. Before one of these, piled with vegetables ready for the
+Saturday-night market, he stopped, and was immediately recognised by
+the owner&mdash;a tall, consumptive-looking man, whose face struck me
+somehow as being familiar.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Lane?&#8221; my companion said. &#8220;Busy, eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not very, sir,&#8221; was the answer, with the true cockney twang. &#8220;Trade
+ain&#8217;t very brisk. There&#8217;s too bloomin&#8217; many of us &#8217;ere nowadays.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Leaving my side my companion advanced towards the man and whispered
+some confidential words that I could not catch, at the same time
+pulling something from his breast-pocket and showing it to him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, sir. No doubt abawt it!&#8221; I heard the man exclaim.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in reply to a further question from Jevons, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Arry &#8217;Arding used to work at Curtis&#8217;s. So I fancy that &#8217;ud be the
+place to find out somethink. I&#8217;m keepin&#8217; my ears open, you bet,&#8221; and
+he winked knowingly.</p>
+
+<p>Where I had seen the man before I could not remember. But his face was
+certainly familiar.</p>
+
+<p>When we left him and continued along the busy thoroughfare of cheap
+shops and itinerant vendors I asked my friend who he was, to which he
+merely replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, he&#8217;s a man who knows something of the affair. I&#8217;ll explain
+later. In the meantime come with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>me to Gray&#8217;s Inn Road. I have to
+make a call there,&#8221; and he hailed a hansom, into which we mounted.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty minutes later we alighted before a dingy-looking barber&#8217;s shop
+and inquired for Mr. Harding&mdash;an assistant who was at that moment
+shaving a customer of the working class. It was a house where one
+could be shaved for a penny, but where the toilet accessories were
+somewhat primitive.</p>
+
+<p>While I stood on the threshold Ambler Jevons asked the barber&#8217;s
+assistant if he had ever worked at Curtis&#8217;s, and if, while there, he
+knew a man whose photograph he showed him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; answered the barber, without a moment&#8217;s hesitation.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s Mr. Slade. He was a very good customer, and Mr. Curtis used
+always to attend on him himself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Slade, you say, is his name?&#8221; repeated my friend.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, thanking him, we re-entered the cab and drove to an address in a
+street off Shaftesbury Avenue.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Slade! Slade!&#8221; repeated Ambler Jevons to himself as we drove along.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s the name I&#8217;ve been in search of for weeks. If I am successful
+I believe the Seven Secrets will resolve themselves into one of the
+most remarkable conspiracies of modern times. I must, however, make
+this call alone, Ralph. The presence of a second person may possibly
+prevent the man I&#8217;m going to see from making a full and
+straightforward statement. We must not risk failure in this inquiry,
+for I anticipate that it may give us the key to the whole situation.
+There&#8217;s a bar opposite the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>Palace Theatre. I&#8217;ll set you down there,
+and you can wait for me. You don&#8217;t mind, do you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all, if you&#8217;ll promise to explain the result of your
+investigations afterwards.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You shall know everything later,&#8221; he assured me, and a few minutes
+afterwards I alighted at the saloon bar he had indicated, a long
+lounge patronised a good deal by theatrical people.</p>
+
+<p>He was absent nearly half-an-hour, and when he returned I saw from his
+face that he had obtained some information that was eminently
+satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope to learn something further this afternoon,&#8221; he said before we
+parted. &#8220;If I do I shall be with you at four.&#8221; Then he jumped into a
+hansom and disappeared. Jevons was a strange fellow. He rushed hither
+and thither, telling no one his business or his motives.</p>
+
+<p>About the hour he had named he was ushered into my room. He had made a
+complete change in his appearance, wearing a tall hat and frock coat,
+with a black fancy waistcoat whereon white flowers were embroidered.
+By a few artistic touches he had altered the expression of his
+features too&mdash;adding nearly twenty years to his age. His countenance
+was one of those round, flexible ones that are so easily altered by a
+few dark lines.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Ambler?&#8221; I said anxiously, when we were alone. &#8220;What have you
+discovered?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Several rather remarkable facts,&#8221; was his philosophic response. &#8220;If
+you care to accompany me I can show you to-night something very
+interesting.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>&#8220;Care to accompany you?&#8221; I echoed. &#8220;I&#8217;m only too anxious.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at his watch, then flinging himself into the chair opposite
+me, said, &#8220;We&#8217;ve an hour yet. Have you got a drop of brandy handy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then for the first time I noticed that the fresh colour of his cheeks
+was artificial, and that in reality he was exhausted and white as
+death. The difficulty in speaking that I had attributed to excitement
+was really due to exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>Quickly I produced the brandy, and gave him a stiff peg, which he
+swallowed at a single gulp. His eyes were no longer sleepy-looking,
+but there was a quick fire in them which showed me that, although
+suppressed, there burned within his heart a fierce desire to get at
+the truth. Evidently he had learned something since I left him, but
+what it was I could not gather.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the clock, and saw it was twenty minutes past six. He
+noticed my action, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If we start in an hour we shall have sufficient time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons was never communicative. But as he sat before me his
+brows were knit in deep thought, his hands chafed with suppressed
+agitation, and he took a second brandy-and-soda, an unusual
+indulgence, which betrayed an absent mind.</p>
+
+<p>At length he rose, carefully brushed his silk hat, settled the hang of
+his frock-coat before the glass, tugged at his cravat, and then,
+putting on his light overcoat, announced his readiness to set out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>About half-an-hour later our cab set us down in Upper Street,
+Islington, close to the Agricultural Hall, and, proceeding on foot a
+short distance, we turned up a kind of court, over the entrance of
+which a lamp was burning, revealing the words &#8220;Lecture Hall.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jevons produced two tickets, whereupon we were admitted into a long,
+low room filled by a mixed audience consisting of men. Upon the
+platform at the further end was a man of middle age, with short fair
+beard, grey eyes, and an alert, resolute manner&mdash;a foreigner by his
+dress&mdash;and beside him an Englishman of spruce professional
+appearance&mdash;much older, slightly bent, with grey countenance and white
+hair.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived just at the moment of the opening of the proceedings. The
+Englishman, whom I set down to be a medical man, rose, and in
+introducing the lecturer beside him, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have the honour, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce to you Doctor
+Paul Deboutin&mdash;who, as most of you know, is one of the most celebrated
+medical men in Paris, professor at the Salp&ecirc;tri&egrave;re, and author of many
+works upon nervous disorders. The study of the latter is not,
+unfortunately, sufficiently taken up in this country, and it is in
+order to demonstrate the necessity of such study that my friends and
+myself have invited Doctor Deboutin to give this lecture before an
+audience of both medical men and the laity. The doctor asks me to
+apologise to you for his inability to express himself well in English,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>but personally I have no fear that you will misunderstand him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned, introduced the lecturer, and re-seated himself.</p>
+
+<p>I was quite unprepared for such a treat. Deboutin, as every medical
+man is aware, is the first authority on nervous disorders, and his
+lectures have won for him a world-wide reputation. I had read all his
+books, and being especially struck with &#8220;N&eacute;vroses et Id&eacute;es Fixes,&#8221; a
+most convincing work, had longed to be present at one of his
+demonstrations. Therefore, forgetful that I was there for some unknown
+reason, I settled myself to listen.</p>
+
+<p>Rapidly and clearly he spoke in fairly good English, with a decision
+that showed him to be perfect master at once of his subject and of the
+phrases with which he intended to clothe his thoughts. He briefly
+outlined the progress of his experiments at the Salp&ecirc;tri&egrave;re, and at
+the hospitals of Lyons and Marseilles, then without long preliminary,
+proceeded to demonstrate a most interesting case.</p>
+
+<p>A girl of about twenty-five, with a countenance only relieved from
+ugliness by a fine pair of bright dark eyes, was led in by an
+assistant and seated in a chair. She was of the usual type seen in the
+streets of Islington, poorly dressed with some attempt at faded
+finery&mdash;probably a workgirl in some city factory. She cast an uneasy
+glance upon the audience, and then turned towards the doctor, who drew
+his chair towards the patient so that her knees nearly touched his.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>It was a case of nervous &#8220;H&eacute;mianopsie,&#8221; or one-eyed vision, he
+explained.</p>
+
+<p>Now the existence of this has always been denied, therefore the
+experiment was of the most intense interest to every medical man
+present.</p>
+
+<p>First the doctor, after ordering the patient to look him straight in
+the face, held a pencil on the left side of her head, and found that,
+in common with most of us, she was conscious of its presence without
+moving her eyes, even when it was almost at the level of her ear. Then
+he tried the same experiment on the right side of the face, when it
+was at once plain that the power of lateral vision had broken
+down&mdash;for she answered, &#8220;No, sir. No, no,&#8221; as he moved the pencil to
+and fro with the inquiry whether she could see it. Nevertheless he
+demonstrated that the power of seeing straight was quite unimpaired,
+and presently he gave to his assistant a kind of glass hemisphere,
+which he placed over the girl&#8217;s head, and by which he measured the
+exact point on its scale where the power of lateral vision ceased.</p>
+
+<p>This being found and noted, Professor Deboutin placed his hand upon
+the patient&#8217;s eyes, and with a brief &#8220;You may sleep now, my girl,&#8221; in
+broken English, she was asleep in a few seconds.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the lecture. He verbally dissected her, giving a full and
+lucid explanation of the nervous system, from the spinal marrow and
+its termination in the coccyx, up to the cortex of the brain, in which
+he was of opinion that there was in that case a lesion&mdash;probably
+curable&mdash;amply accounting for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>phenomenon present. So clear,
+indeed, were his remarks that even a layman could follow them.</p>
+
+<p>At last the doctor awoke the patient, and was about to proceed with
+another experiment when his quick eye noticed a hardly-perceptible
+flutter of the eyelids. &#8220;Ah, you are tired,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is enough.&#8221;
+And he conducted her to the little side door that gave exit from the
+platform.</p>
+
+<p>The next case was one of the kind which is always the despair of
+doctors&mdash;hysteria. A girl, accompanied by her mother, a
+neatly-dressed, respectable-looking body, was led forward, but her
+hands were trembling, and her face working so nervously that the
+doctor had to reassure her. With a true cockney accent she said that
+she lived in Mile End, and worked at a pickle factory. Her symptoms
+were constant headache, sudden falls, and complete absence of
+sensation in her left hand, which greatly interfered with her work.
+Some of the questions were inconvenient&mdash;until, in answer to one
+regarding her father, she gave a cry that &#8220;Poor father died last
+year,&#8221; and broke into an agony of weeping. In a moment the doctor took
+up an anthropometric instrument from the table, and made a movement as
+though to touch her presumably insensible hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, you&#8217;ll hurt me!&#8221; she said. Presently, while her attention was
+attracted in another direction, he touched the hand with the
+instrument, when she drew it back with a yell of pain, showing that
+the belief that her hand was insensible was entirely due to hysteria.
+He analysed her case just as he had done <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>the first, and declared that
+by a certain method of treatment, too technical to be here explained,
+a complete cure could be effected.</p>
+
+<p>Another case of hysteria followed, and then a terrible exhibition of a
+wild-haired woman suffering from what the lecturer described as a
+&#8220;crise des nerfs,&#8221; which caused her at will to execute all manner of
+horrible contortions as though she were possessed. She threw herself
+on the floor on her back, with her body arched so that it rested only
+on her head and heels, while she delivered kicks at those in front of
+her, not with her toes, but with her heels. Meanwhile her face was so
+congested as to appear almost black.</p>
+
+<p>The audience were, I think, relieved when the poor unfortunate woman,
+calmed by Deboutin&#8217;s method of suggestion, was led quietly away, and
+her place taken by a slim, red-haired girl of more refined appearance
+than the others, but with a strange stony stare as though unconscious
+of her surroundings. She was accompanied by a short, wizened-faced old
+lady, her grandmother.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the chairman rose and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This case is of great interest, inasmuch as it is a discovery made by
+my respected colleague, whom we all know by repute, Sir Bernard
+Eyton.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The mention of my chief&#8217;s name was startling. I had no idea he had
+taken any interest in the French methods. Indeed, he had always
+declared to me that Charcot and his followers were a set of
+charlatans.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>&#8220;We have the pleasure of welcoming Sir Bernard here this evening,&#8221;
+continued the chairman; &#8220;and I shall ask him to kindly explain the
+case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With apparent reluctance the well-known physician rose, after being
+cordially welcomed to the platform by the French savant, adjusted his
+old-fashioned glasses, and commenced to introduce the subject. His
+appearance there was certainly quite unexpected, but as I glanced at
+Ambler I saw a look of triumph in his face. We were sitting at the
+back of the hall, and I knew that Sir Bernard, being short-sighted,
+could not recognise us at the distance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I am here at Doctor Fulton&#8217;s invitation to meet our great master,
+Professor Deboutin, of whom for many years I have been a follower.&#8221;
+Then he went on to express the pleasure it gave him to demonstrate
+before them a case which he declared was not at all uncommon, although
+hitherto unsuspected by medical men.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the chair of the new-comer stood the strange-looking old
+lady&mdash;who answered for her grand-daughter, the latter being mute. Her
+case was one, Sir Bernard explained, of absence of will. With a few
+quick questions he placed the history of the case before his hearers.
+There was a bad family history&mdash;a father who drank, and a mother who
+suffered from epilepsy. At thirteen the girl had received a sudden
+fright owing to a practical joke, and from that moment she gradually
+came under the influence of some hidden unknown terror so that she
+even refused to eat <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>altogether. The strangest fact, however, was that
+she could still eat and speak in secret, although in public she was
+entirely dumb, and no amount of pleasure or pain would induce her to
+utter a sound.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This,&#8221; explained Sir Bernard, &#8220;is one of the many cases of absence of
+will, partial or entire, which has recently come beneath my notice. My
+medical friends, and also Professor Deboutin, will agree that at the
+age the patient received her fright many girls are apt to tend towards
+what the Charcot School term &#8216;aboulie,&#8217; or, in plain English, absence
+of will. Now one of the most extraordinary symptoms of this is terror.
+Terror,&#8221; he said, &#8220;of performing the simplest functions of nature;
+terror of movement, terror of eating&mdash;though sane in every other
+respect. Some there are, too, in whom this terror is developed upon
+one point only, and in such the inequality of mental balance can, as a
+rule, only be detected by one who has made deep research in this
+particular branch of nervous disorders.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The French professor followed with a lengthy discourse, in which he
+bestowed the highest praise upon Sir Bernard for his long and patient
+experiments, which, he said, had up to the present been conducted in
+secret, because he feared that if it were known he had taken up that
+branch of medical science he might lose his reputation as a lady&#8217;s
+doctor.</p>
+
+<p>Then, just as the meeting was being brought to a conclusion, Jevons
+touched me on the shoulder, and we both slipped out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he asked. &#8220;What do you think of it all?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been highly interested,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;But how does this further
+our inquiries, or throw any light on the tragedy?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Be patient,&#8221; was his response, as we walked together in the direction
+of the Angel. &#8220;Be patient, and I will show you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>MR. LANE&#8217;S ROMANCE.</h3>
+
+<p>The Seven Secrets, each distinct from each other and yet connected;
+each one in itself a complete enigma, formed a problem of which even
+Ambler Jevons himself could not discover the solution.</p>
+
+<p>Contrary to his usual methods, he allowed me to accompany him in
+various directions, making curious inquiries that had apparently
+nothing to connect them with the mystery of the death of Mr. and Mrs.
+Courtenay.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to a wire I had sent to Ethelwynn came a message saying that
+her mother was entirely prostrated, therefore she could not at present
+leave her. This, when shown to Ambler, caused him to purse his lips
+and raise his shoulders with that gesture of suspicion which was a
+peculiarity of his. Was it possible that he actually suspected her?</p>
+
+<p>The name of Slade seemed ever in Jevons&#8217; mind. Indeed, most of his
+inquiries were regarding some person of that name.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, after dining together, he took me in a cab across the
+City to the Three Nuns Hotel, at Aldgate&mdash;where, in the saloon bar, we
+sat drinking. Before setting out he had urged me to put on a shabby
+suit of clothes and a soft hat, so that in the East End we should not
+attract attention as &#8220;swells.&#8221; As for his own personal appearance, it
+was certainly not that of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>the spruce city man. He was an adept at
+disguises, and on this occasion wore a reefer jacket, a peaked cap,
+and a dark violet scarf in lieu of collar, thus presenting the aspect
+of a seafarer ashore. He smoked a pipe of the most approved nautical
+type, and as we sat together in the saloon he told me sea stories, in
+order that a group of men sitting near might overhear.</p>
+
+<p>That he had some object in all this was quite certain, but what it was
+I could not gather.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, after an hour, a little under-sized old man of dirty and
+neglected appearance, who had been drinking at the bar, shuffled up to
+us, and whispered something to Ambler that I did not catch. The words,
+nevertheless, caused my companion to start, and, disregarding the
+fresh whiskey and soda he had just ordered, he rose and walked out&mdash;an
+example which I followed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lanky sent me, sir,&#8221; the old man said, addressing Ambler, when we
+were out in the street. &#8220;He couldn&#8217;t come hisself. &#8217;E said you&#8217;d like
+to know the news.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course, I was waiting for it,&#8221; replied my companion, alert and
+eager.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I suppose I&#8217;d better tell yer the truth at once,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly. What is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Lanky&#8217;s dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Dead?&#8221; cried Ambler. &#8220;Impossible. I was waiting for him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know. This morning in the Borough Market he told me to come &#8217;ere
+and find you, because he wasn&#8217;t able to come. &#8217;E had a previous
+engagement. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>Lanky&#8217;s engagements were always interestin&#8217;,&#8221; he added,
+with a grim smile.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, go on,&#8221; said Ambler, eagerly. &#8220;What followed?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;E told me to go down to Tait Street and see &#8217;im at eight o&#8217;clock, as
+&#8217;e had a message for you. I went, and when I got there I found &#8217;im
+lying on the floor of his room stone dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You went to the police, of course?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I didn&#8217;t; I came here to see you instead. I believe the poor
+bloke&#8217;s been murdered. &#8217;E was a good un, too&mdash;poor Lanky Lane!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;Is that man Lane dead?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems so,&#8221; Jevons responded. &#8220;If he is, then there we have further
+mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you doubt it, sir, come with me down to Shadwell,&#8221; the old man
+said in his cockney drawl. &#8220;Nobody knows about it yet. I ought to have
+told the p&#8217;lice, but I know you&#8217;re better at mysterious affairs than
+the silly coppers in Leman Street.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jevons&#8217; fame as an investigator of crime had spread even to that class
+known as the submerged tenth. How fashions change! A year or two ago
+it was the mode in Society to go &#8220;slumming.&#8221; To-day only social
+reformers and missionaries make excursions to the homes of the lower
+class in East London. A society woman would not to-day dare admit that
+she had been further east than Leadenhall Street.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s go and see what has really happened,&#8221; Ambler said to me. &#8220;If
+Lane is dead, then it proves that his enemy is yours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>&#8220;I can&#8217;t see that. How?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You will see later. For the moment we must occupy ourselves with his
+death, and ascertain whether it is owing to natural causes or to foul
+play. He was a heavy drinker, and it may have been that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; declared the little old man, &#8220;Lanky wasn&#8217;t drunk to-day&mdash;that
+I&#8217;ll swear. I saw &#8217;im in Commercial Road at seven, talkin&#8217; to a feller
+wot&#8217;s in love wiv &#8217;is sister.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then how do you account for this discovery of yours?&#8221; asked my
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t account for it, guv&#8217;nor. I simply found &#8217;im lying on the
+floor, and it give me a shock, I can tell yer. &#8217;E was as cold as ice.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s go and see ourselves,&#8221; Ambler said: so together we hurried
+through the Whitechapel High Street, at that hour busy with its
+costermonger market, and along Commercial Road East, arriving at last
+in the dirty, insalubrious thoroughfare, a veritable hive of the
+lowest class of humanity, Tait Street, Shadwell.</p>
+
+<p>Up the dark stairs of one of the dirtiest of the dwellings our
+conductor guided us, lighting our steps with wax vestas, struck upon
+the wall, and on gaining the third floor of the evil-smelling place he
+pushed open a door, and we found ourselves in an unlit room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t move, gentlemen,&#8221; the old man urged. &#8220;You may fall over &#8217;im.
+&#8217;E&#8217;s right there, just where you&#8217;re standin&#8217;. I&#8217;ll light the lamp.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he struck another match, and by its fickle light we saw the body
+of Lane, the street-hawker, lying <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>full length only a yard from us,
+just as our conductor had described.</p>
+
+<p>The cheap and smelling paraffin lamp being lit, I took a hasty glance
+around the poor man&#8217;s home. There was but little furniture save the
+bed, a chair or two, and a rickety table. Upon the latter was one of
+those flat bottles known as a &#8220;quartern.&#8221; Our first attention,
+however, was to the prostrate man. A single glance was sufficient to
+show that he was dead. His eyes were closed, his hands clenched, and
+his body was bent as though he had expired in a final paroxysm of
+agony. The teeth, too, were hard set, and there were certain features
+about his appearance that caused me to entertain grave suspicion from
+the first. His thin, consumptive face, now blanched, was strangely
+drawn, as though the muscles had suddenly contracted, and there was an
+absence of that composure one generally expects to find in the faces
+of those who die naturally.</p>
+
+<p>As a medical man I very soon noted sufficient appearances to tell me
+that death had been due either to suicide or foul play. The former
+seemed to me the most likely.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; asked Ambler, rising from his knees when I had concluded the
+examination of the dead man&#8217;s skinny, ill-nourished body. &#8220;What&#8217;s your
+opinion, Ralph?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s taken poison,&#8221; I declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poison? You believe he&#8217;s been poisoned.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It may have been wilful murder, or he may have taken it voluntarily,&#8221;
+I answered. &#8220;But it is most evident that the symptoms are those of
+poisoning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>Ambler gave vent to a low grunt, half of satisfaction, half of
+suspicion. I knew that grunt well. When on the verge of any discovery
+he always emitted that guttural sound.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;d better inform the police,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;That&#8217;s all we can do.
+The poor fellow is dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Dead! Yes, we know that. But we must find out who killed him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I said, &#8220;I think at present, Ambler, we&#8217;ve quite sufficient on
+our hands without attempting to solve any further problems. The poor
+man may have been in despair and have taken poison wilfully.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In despair!&#8221; echoed the old man. &#8220;No fear. Lanky was happy enough. &#8217;E
+wasn&#8217;t the sort of fellow to hurry hisself out o&#8217; the world. He liked
+life too jolly well. Besides, he &#8217;ad a tidy bit o&#8217; money in the
+Savin&#8217;s Bank. &#8217;E was well orf once, wer&#8217; Lanky. Excuse me for
+interruptin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, if he didn&#8217;t commit suicide,&#8221; I remarked, &#8220;then, according to
+all appearances, poison was administered to him wilfully.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That appears to be the most feasible theory,&#8221; Ambler said. &#8220;Here we
+have still a further mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the post-mortem appearances of poisoning, except in a few
+instances, are not very characteristic. As every medical man is aware,
+poison, if administered with a criminal intent, is generally in such a
+dose as to take immediate effect&mdash;although this is by no means
+necessary, as there are numerous substances which accumulate in the
+system, and when given in small <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>and repeated quantities ultimately
+prove fatal&mdash;notably, antimony. The diagnosis of the effects of
+irritant poisons is not so difficult as it is in the case of narcotics
+or other neurotics, where the symptoms are very similar to those
+produced by apoplexy, epilepsy, tetanus, convulsions, or other forms
+of disease of the brain. Besides, one of the most difficult facts we
+have to contend with in such cases is that poison may be found in the
+body, and yet a question may arise as to its having been the cause of
+death.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>&#8220;POOR MRS. COURTENAY.&#8221;</h3>
+
+<p>Ambler appeared to be much concerned regarding the poor man&#8217;s death.
+When we had first met beside his vegetable barrow in the London Road
+he certainly seemed a hard-working, respectable fellow, with a voice
+rendered hoarse and rough by constantly shouting his wares. But by the
+whispered words that had passed I knew that Ambler was in his
+confidence. The nature of this I had several times tried to fathom.</p>
+
+<p>His unexpected death appeared to have upset all Ambler&#8217;s plans. He
+grunted and took a tour round the poorly-furnished chamber.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here!&#8221; he said, halting in front of me. &#8220;There&#8217;s been foul play
+here. We must lose no time in calling the police&mdash;not that they are
+likely to discover the truth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why do you say that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because the poor fellow has been the victim of a secret assassin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you suspect a motive?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I believe that there is a motive why his lips should be closed&mdash;a
+strange and remote one.&#8221; Then, turning to the old fellow who had been
+the dead man&#8217;s friend, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>he asked: &#8220;Do you know anyone by the name of
+Slade?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Slade?&#8221; repeated the croaking old fellow. &#8220;Slade? No, sir. I don&#8217;t
+recollect anyone of that name. Is it a man or a woman?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Either.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you know if Lanky Lane ever had visitors here&mdash;I mean visitors not
+of his own class?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I never &#8217;eard of none. Lanky wasn&#8217;t the sort o&#8217; chap to trouble about
+callers. He used to spend &#8217;is nights in the Three Nuns wiv us; but
+he&#8217;d sit &#8217;ours over two o&#8217; gin. &#8217;E saved &#8217;is money, &#8217;e did.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But look here,&#8221; exclaimed Ambler, seriously. &#8220;Are you quite certain
+that you&#8217;ve never seen him with any stranger at nights?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never to my knowledge.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; my companion said, &#8220;you&#8217;d better go and call the police.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the old fellow had shuffled away down the rickety stairs, Ambler,
+turning to me, said abruptly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That fellow is lying; he knows something about this affair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I had taken up the empty dram bottle and smelt it. The spirit it had
+contained was rum&mdash;which had evidently been drunk from the bottle, as
+there was no glass near. A slight quantity remained, and this I placed
+aside for analysis if necessary.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t see what this poor fellow has to do with the inquiry upon
+which we are engaged, Ambler,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;I do wish you&#8217;d be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>more
+explicit. Mystery seems to heap upon mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. You&#8217;re right,&#8221; he said reflectively. &#8220;Slowly&mdash;very slowly, I am
+working out the problem, Ralph. It has been a long and difficult
+matter; but by degrees I seem to be drawing towards a conclusion.
+This,&#8221; and he pointed to the man lying dead, &#8220;is another of London&#8217;s
+many mysteries, but it carries us one step further.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t, for the life of me, see what connection the death of this
+poor street hawker has with the strange events of the immediate past.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Remain patient. Let us watch the blustering inquiries of the police,&#8221;
+he laughed. &#8220;They&#8217;ll make a great fuss, but will find out nothing. The
+author of this crime is far too wary.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But this man Slade?&#8221; I said. &#8220;Of late your inquiries have always been
+of him. What is his connection with the affair?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, that we have yet to discover. He may have no connection, for
+aught I know. It is mere supposition, based upon a logical
+conclusion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What motive had you in meeting this man here to-night?&#8221; I inquired,
+hoping to gather some tangible clue to the reason of his erratic
+movements.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! that&#8217;s just the point,&#8221; he responded. &#8220;If this poor fellow had
+lived he would have revealed to me a secret&mdash;we should have known the
+truth!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The truth!&#8221; I gasped. &#8220;Then at the very moment when he intended to
+confess to you he has been struck down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>&#8220;Yes. His lips have been sealed by his enemy&mdash;and yours. Both are
+identical,&#8221; he replied, and his lips snapped together in that peculiar
+manner that was his habit. I knew it was useless to question him
+further.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, at that moment heavy footsteps sounded upon the stairs, and
+two constables, conducted by the shuffling old man, appeared upon the
+scene.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have sent for you,&#8221; Ambler explained. &#8220;This man is dead&mdash;died
+suddenly, we believe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is he, sir?&#8221; inquired the elder of the pair, bending over the
+prostrate man, and taking up the smoky lamp in order to examine his
+features more carefully.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;His name is Lane&mdash;a costermonger, known as Lanky Lane. The man with
+you is one of his friends, and can tell you more about him than I
+can.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is he dead?&#8221; queried the second constable, touching the thin, pallid
+face.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I&#8217;m a doctor, and have already made an
+examination. He&#8217;s been dead some time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My name and address was taken, together with that of my companion.
+When, however, Ambler told the officers his name, both were visibly
+impressed. The name of Jevons was well known to the police, who held
+him in something like awe as a smart criminal investigator.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know Inspector Barton at Leman Street&mdash;your station, I suppose?&#8221; he
+added.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; responded the first constable. &#8220;And begging your pardon,
+sir, I&#8217;m honoured to meet you. We all heard how you beat the C. I.
+Department in the Bowyer Square Mystery, and how you gave the whole
+information to Sergeant Payling without taking any of the credit to
+yourself. He got all the honour, sir, and your name didn&#8217;t appear at
+the Old Bailey.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jevons laughed. He was never fond of seeing his name in print. He made
+a study of the ways and methods of the criminal, but only for his own
+gratification. The police knew him well, but he hid his light under
+the proverbial bushel always.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is your own opinion of the affair, sir?&#8221; the officer continued,
+ready to take his opinion before that of the sergeant of the Criminal
+Investigation Department attached to his station.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said Ambler, &#8220;it looks like sudden death, doesn&#8217;t it? Perhaps
+it&#8217;s poison.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Suicide?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Murder, very possibly,&#8221; was Jevons&#8217; quiet response.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you really think there&#8217;s a mystery, sir?&#8221; exclaimed the
+constable quickly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems suspiciously like one. Let us search the room. Come along
+Ralph,&#8221; he added, addressing me. &#8220;Just lend a hand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was not much furniture in the place to search, and before long,
+with the aid of the constable&#8217;s lantern, we had investigated every
+nook and cranny.</p>
+
+<p>Only one discovery of note was made, and it was certainly a strange
+one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>Beneath a loose board, near the fireplace, Jevons discovered the dead
+man&#8217;s hoard. It consisted of several papers carefully folded together.
+We examined them, and found them to consist of a hawker&#8217;s licence, a
+receipt for the payment for a barrow and donkey, a post-office savings
+bank book, showing a balance of twenty-six pounds four shillings, and
+several letters from a correspondent unsigned. They were type-written,
+in order that the handwriting should not be betrayed, and upon that
+flimsy paper used in commercial offices. All of them were of the
+highest interest. The first, read aloud by Ambler, ran as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;Dear Lane,&mdash;I have known you a good many years, and never
+thought you were such a fool as to neglect a good thing.
+Surely you will reconsider the proposal I made to you the
+night before last in the bar of the Elephant and Castle? You
+once did me a very good turn long ago, and now I am in a
+position to put a good remunerative bit of business in your
+way. Yet you are timid that all may not turn out well!
+Apparently you do not fully recognise the stake I hold in
+the matter, and the fact that any exposure would mean ruin
+to me. Surely I have far more to lose than you have.
+Therefore that, in itself, should be sufficient guarantee to
+you. Reconsider your reply, and give me your decision
+to-morrow night. You will find me in the saloon bar of the
+King Lud, in Ludgate Hill, at eight o&#8217;clock. Do not speak to
+me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>there, but show yourself, and then wait outside until I
+join you. Have a care that you are not followed. That hawk
+Ambler Jevons has scent of us. Therefore, remain dumb and
+watchful&mdash;Z.&#8221;</i></p></div>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s curious,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;Whoever wrote that letter was inciting
+Lane to conspiracy, and at the same time held you in fear, Ambler.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My companion laughed again&mdash;a quiet self-satisfied laugh. Then he
+commenced the second letter, type-written like the first, but
+evidently upon another machine.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;Dear Lane,&mdash;Your terms seem exorbitant. I quite understand
+that at least four or five of you must be in the affair, but
+the price asked is ridiculous. Besides, I didn&#8217;t like
+Bennett&#8217;s tone when he spoke to me yesterday. He was almost
+threatening. What have you told him? Recollect that each of
+us knows something to the detriment of the other, and even
+in these days of so-called equality the man with money is
+always the best. You must contrive to shut Bennett&#8217;s mouth.
+Give him money, if he wants it&mdash;up to ten pounds. But, of
+course, do not say that it comes from me. You can, of
+course, pose as my friend, as you have done before. I shall
+be at the usual place to-night.&mdash;Z.&#8221;</i></p></div>
+
+<p>&#8220;Looks as though there&#8217;s been some blackmailing,&#8221; one of the
+constables remarked. &#8220;Who&#8217;s Bennett?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect that&#8217;s Bobby Bennett who works in the Meat Market,&#8221; replied
+the atom of a man who had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>accosted us at Aldgate. &#8220;He was a friend of
+Lanky&#8217;s, and a bad &#8217;un. I&#8217;ve &#8217;eard say that &#8217;e &#8217;ad a record at the Old
+Bailey.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Ousebreakin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is he working now?&#8221; Ambler inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I saw &#8217;im in Farrin&#8217;don Street yesterday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; remarked the constable. &#8220;We shall probably want to have a chat
+with him. But the chief mystery is the identity of the writer of these
+letters. At all events it is evident that this poor man Lane knew
+something to his detriment, and was probably trying to make money out
+of that knowledge.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all an unusual case,&#8221; I said.</p>
+
+<p>Jevons grunted, and appeared to view the letters with considerable
+satisfaction. Any documentary evidence surrounding a case of
+mysterious death is always of interest. In this case, being of such a
+suspicious nature, it was doubly so.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;<i>Are you quite decided not to assist me?&#8221;</i> another letter
+ran. It was likewise type-written, and from the same source.
+<i>&#8220;Recollect you did so once, and were well paid for it. You
+had enough to keep you in luxury for years had you not so
+foolishly frittered it away on your so-called friends. Any
+of the latter would give you away to the police to-morrow
+for a five-pound note. This, however, is my last appeal to
+you. If you help me I shall give you one hundred pounds,
+which is not bad payment for an hour&#8217;s work. If you do not,
+then you will not hear from me again.&mdash;Z.&#8221;</i></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>&#8220;Seems a bit brief, and to the point,&#8221; was the elder constable&#8217;s
+remark. &#8220;I wonder what is the affair mentioned by this mysterious
+correspondent? Evidently the fellow intended to bring off a robbery,
+or something, and Lane refused to give his aid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Apparently so,&#8221; replied Ambler, fingering the last letter remaining
+in his hand. &#8220;But this communication is even of greater interest,&#8221; he
+added, turning to me and showing me writing in a well-known hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know that writing!&#8221; I cried. &#8220;Why&mdash;that letter is from poor Mrs.
+Courtenay!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is,&#8221; he said, quietly. &#8220;Did I not tell you that we were on the eve
+of a discovery, and that the dead man lying there could have told us
+the truth?&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT.</h3>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons read the letter, then handed it to me without comment.</p>
+
+<p>It was written upon the note-paper I knew so well, stamped with the
+neat address &#8220;Neneford,&#8221; in black, but bearing no date. What I read
+was as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>&#8220;Sir,&mdash;I fail to comprehend the meaning of your words when
+you followed me into the train at Huntingdon last night. I
+am in no fear of any catastrophe; therefore I can only take
+your offer of assistance as an attempt to obtain money from
+me. If you presume to address me again I shall have no other
+course than to acquaint the police.</i></p>
+
+<p class="left2">&#8221;<i>Yours truly</i></p>
+
+<p class="left3">&#8220;<span class="smcap">Mary Courtenay.</span>&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;Then he warned her, and she misunderstood his
+intention.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Without a doubt,&#8221; said Ambler, taking the letter from my hand. &#8220;This
+was written probably only a few days before her death. That man,&#8221; and
+he glanced at the prostrate body, &#8220;was the only one who could give us
+the clue by which to unravel the mystery.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But the dead man&#8217;s lips had closed, and his secret was held for ever.
+Only those letters remained to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>connect him with the river tragedy; or
+rather to show that he had communicated with the unfortunate Mrs.
+Courtenay.</p>
+
+<p>In company we walked to Leman Street Police Station, one of the chief
+centres of the Metropolitan Police in the East End, and there, in an
+upper office, Ambler had a long consultation with the sergeant of the
+Criminal Investigation Department.</p>
+
+<p>I described the appearance of the body, and stated my suspicions of
+poisoning, all of which the detective carefully noted before going
+forth to make his own examination. My address was taken, so that I
+might assist at the post-mortem, and then, shortly after midnight I
+drove back westward through the City with Ambler at my side.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke little, and when in Oxford Street, just at the corner of
+Newman Street, he descended, wished me a hurried good-night, and
+disappeared into the darkness. He was often given to strange vagaries
+of erratic movement. It was as though some thought had suddenly
+occurred to him, and he acted at once upon it.</p>
+
+<p>That night I scarcely closed my eyes. My brain was awhirl with
+thoughts of all the curious events of the past few months&mdash;the
+inexplicable presence of old Mr. Courtenay, and the subsequent death
+of Mary and of the only man who, according to Ambler, knew the
+remarkable secret.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn&#8217;s strange words worried me. What could she mean? What did
+she know? Surely hers could not be a guilty conscience. Yet, in her
+words <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>and actions I had detected that cowardice which a heavy
+conscience always engenders. One by one I dissected and analysed the
+Seven Secrets, but not in one single instance could I obtain a gleam
+of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>While at the hospital next day I was served with a notice to assist at
+the post-mortem of the unfortunate Lane, whose body was lying in the
+Shadwell mortuary; and that same afternoon I met by appointment Doctor
+Tatham, of the London Hospital, who, as is well known, is an expert
+toxicologist.</p>
+
+<p>To describe in technical detail the examination we made would not
+interest the general reader of this strange narrative. The average man
+or woman knows nothing or cares less for the duodenum or the pylorus;
+therefore it is not my intention to go into long and wearying detail.
+Suffice it to say that we preserved certain portions of the body for
+subsequent examination, and together were engaged the whole evening in
+the laboratory of the hospital. Tatham was well skilled in the minuti&aelig;
+of the tests. The exact determination of the cause of death in cases
+of poisoning always depends partly on the symptoms noted before death,
+and partly on the appearances found after death. Regarding the former,
+neither of us knew anything; hence our difficulties were greatly
+increased. The object of the analyst is to obtain the substances which
+he has to examine chemically in as pure a condition as possible, so
+that there may be no doubt about the results of his tests; also, of
+course, to separate active substances from those that are inert, all
+being mixed together in the stomach and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>alimentary canal. Again, in
+dealing with such fluids as the blood, or the tissues of the body,
+their natural constituents must be got rid of before the foreign and
+poisonous body can be reached. There is this difficulty further to
+contend with: that some of the most poisonous of substances are of
+unstable composition and are readily altered by chemical reagents; to
+this group belong many vegetable and most animal poisons. These,
+therefore, must be treated differently from the more stable inorganic
+compounds. With an inorganic poison we may destroy all organic
+materials mixed with it, trusting to find the poison still
+recognisable after this process. Not so with an organic substance;
+that must be separated by other than destructive means.</p>
+
+<p>Through the whole evening we tested for the various groups of
+poisons&mdash;corrosives, simple irritants, specific irritants and
+neurotics. It was a long and scientific search.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the tests with which I was not acquainted I watched with the
+keenest interest, for, of all the medical men in London, Tatham was
+the most up to date in such analyses.</p>
+
+<p>At length, after much work with acids, filtration, and distillation,
+we determined that a neurotic had been employed, and that its action
+on the vasomotor system of the nerves was very similar, if not
+identical, with nitrate of amyl.</p>
+
+<p>Further than that, even Tatham, expert in such matters, could not
+proceed. Hours of hard work resulted in that conclusion, and with it
+we were compelled to be satisfied.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>In due course the inquest was held at Shadwell, and with Ambler I
+attended as a witness. The reporters, of course, expected a sensation;
+but, on the contrary, our evidence went to show that, as the poisonous
+substance was found in the &#8220;quartern&#8221; bottle on deceased&#8217;s table,
+death was in all probability due to suicide.</p>
+
+<p>Some members of the jury took an opposite view. Then the letters we
+had found concealed were produced by the police, and, of course,
+created a certain amount of interest. But to the readers of newspapers
+the poisoning of a costermonger at Shadwell is of little interest as
+compared with a similar catastrophe in that quarter of London vaguely
+known as &#8220;the West End.&#8221; The letters were suspicious, and both coroner
+and jury accepted them as evidence that Lane was engaged upon an
+elaborate scheme of blackmail.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is this Mary Courtenay, who writes to him from Neneford?&#8221;
+inquired the coroner of the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, sir,&#8221; the latter responded, &#8220;the writer herself is dead. She
+was found drowned a few days ago near her home under suspicious
+circumstances.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then the reporters commenced to realize that something extraordinary
+was underlying the inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; remarked the coroner, one of the most acute officials of his
+class. &#8220;Then, in face of this, her letter seems to be more than
+curious. For aught we know the tragedy at Neneford may have been
+wilful murder; and we have now the suicide of the assassin?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>&#8220;That, sir, is the police theory,&#8221; replied the inspector.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Police theory be hanged!&#8221; ejaculated Ambler, almost loud enough to be
+heard. &#8220;The police know nothing of the case, and will never learn
+anything. If the jury are content to accept such an explanation, and
+brand poor Lane as a murderer, they must be allowed to do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I knew Jevons held coroners&#8217; juries in the most supreme contempt;
+sometimes rather unreasonably so, I thought.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; the coroner said, &#8220;this is certainly remarkable evidence,&#8221; and
+he turned the dead woman&#8217;s letter over in his hand. &#8220;It is quite plain
+that the deceased approached the lady ostensibly to give her warning
+of some danger, but really to blackmail her; for what reason does not
+at present appear. He may have feared her threat to give information
+to the police; hence his crime, and subsequent suicide.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Listen!&#8221; exclaimed Jevons in my ear. &#8220;They are actually trying the
+dead man for a crime he could not possibly have committed! They&#8217;ve got
+hold of the wrong end of the stick, as usual. Why don&#8217;t they give a
+verdict of suicide and have done with it. We can&#8217;t afford to waste a
+whole day explaining theories to a set of uneducated gentlemen of the
+Whitechapel Road. The English law is utterly ridiculous where
+coroners&#8217; juries are concerned.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The coroner heard his whispering, and looked towards us severely.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>&#8220;We have not had sufficient time to investigate the whole of the facts
+connected with Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s mysterious death,&#8221; the inspector went
+on. &#8220;You will probably recollect, sir, a mystery down at Kew some
+little time ago. It was fully reported in the papers, and created
+considerable sensation&mdash;an old gentleman was murdered under remarkable
+circumstances. Well, sir, the gentleman in question was Mrs.
+Courtenay&#8217;s husband.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The coroner sat back in his chair and stared at the officer who had
+spoken, while in the court a great sensation was caused. Mention of
+the Kew Mystery brought its details vividly back to the minds of
+everyone. Yes. After all, the death of that poor costermonger, Lanky
+Lane, was of greater public interest than the representatives of the
+Press anticipated.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you quite certain of this?&#8221; the coroner queried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I am here by the direction of the Chief Inspector of
+Scotland Yard to give evidence. I was engaged upon the case at Kew,
+and have also made inquiries into the mystery at Neneford.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then you have suspicion that the deceased was&mdash;well, a person of bad
+character?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fools!&#8221; growled Ambler. &#8220;Lane was a policeman&#8217;s &#8216;nose,&#8217; and often
+obtained payment from Scotland Yard for information regarding the
+doings of a certain gang of thieves. And yet they actually declare him
+to be a bad character. Preposterous!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>&#8220;Do you apply for an adjournment?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. We anticipate that the verdict will be suicide&mdash;the only one
+possible in face of the evidence.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then, as though the jury were compelled to act upon the
+inspector&#8217;s suggestion, they returned a simple verdict. &#8220;That the
+deceased committed suicide by poisoning while of unsound mind.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+<h3>SIR BERNARD&#8217;S DECISION.</h3>
+
+<p>For fully a week I saw nothing of Ambler.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Bernard was unwell, and remained down at Hove; therefore I was
+compelled to attend to his practice. There were several serious cases,
+the patients being persons of note; thus I was kept very busy.</p>
+
+<p>My friend&#8217;s silence was puzzling. I wrote to him, but received no
+response. A wire to his office in the City elicited the fact that Mr.
+Jevons was out of town. Probably he was still pursuing the inquiry he
+had so actively taken up. Nevertheless, I was dissatisfied that he
+should leave me so entirely in the dark as to his intentions and
+discoveries.</p>
+
+<p>Ethelwynn came to town for the day, and I spent several hours shopping
+with her. She was strangely nervous, and all the old spontaneous
+gaiety seemed to have left her. She had read in the papers of the
+curious connection between the death of the man Lane and that of her
+unfortunate sister; therefore our conversation was mainly upon the
+river mystery. Sometimes she seemed ill at ease with me, as though
+fearing some discovery. Perhaps, however, it was merely my fancy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>I loved her. She was all the world to me; and yet in her eyes I seemed
+to read some hidden secret which she was endeavouring, with all the
+power at her command, to conceal. In such circumstances there was
+bound to arise between us a certain reserve that we had not before
+known. Her conversation was carried on in a mechanical manner, as
+though distracted by her inner thoughts; and when, after having tea
+together in Bond Street, we drove to the station, and I saw her off on
+her return to Neneford, my mind was full of darkest apprehensions.</p>
+
+<p>Yes. That interview convinced me more than ever that she was, in some
+manner, cognisant of the truth. The secret existence of old Mr.
+Courtenay, the man whom I myself had pronounced dead, was the crowning
+point of the strange affair; and yet I felt by some inward intuition
+that this fact was not unknown to her.</p>
+
+<p>All the remarkable events of that moonlit night when I had followed
+husband and wife along the river-bank came back to me, and I saw
+vividly the old man&#8217;s face, haggard and drawn, just as it had been in
+life. Surely there could be no stranger current of events than those
+which formed the Seven Secrets. They were beyond explanation&mdash;all of
+them. I knew nothing. I had certainly seen results; but I knew not
+their cause.</p>
+
+<p>Nitrate of amyl was not a drug which a costermonger would select with
+a view to committing suicide. Indeed, I daresay few of my readers,
+unless they are doctors or chemists, have ever before heard of it.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>Therefore my own conclusion, fully endorsed by the erratic Ambler,
+was that the poor fellow had been secretly poisoned.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly a fortnight passed, and I heard nothing of Ambler. He was still
+&#8220;out of town.&#8221; Day by day passed, but nothing of note transpired. Sir
+Bernard was still suffering from a slight touch of sciatica at home,
+and on visiting him one Sunday I found him confined to his bed,
+grumbling and peevish. He was eccentric in his miserly habits and his
+hatred of society, beyond doubt; and the absurdities which his enemies
+attributed to him were not altogether unfounded. But he had, at all
+events, the rare quality of entertaining for his profession a respect
+nearly akin to enthusiasm. Indeed, according to his views, the faculty
+possessed almost infallible qualities. In confidence he had more than
+once admitted to me that certain of his colleagues practising in
+Harley Street were amazing donkeys; but he would never have allowed
+anyone else to say so. From the moment a man acquired that diploma
+which gave him the right over life and death, that man became, in his
+eyes, an august personage for the world at large. It was a crime, he
+thought, for a patient not to submit to his decision, and certainly it
+must be admitted that his success in the treatment of nervous
+disorders had been most remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were at that lecture by Deboutin, of Paris, the other day!&#8221; he
+exclaimed to me suddenly, while I was seated at his bedside describing
+the work I had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>been doing for him in London. &#8220;Why didn&#8217;t you tell me
+you were going there?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I went quite unexpectedly&mdash;with a friend.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;With whom?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ambler Jevons.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that detective fellow!&#8221; laughed the old physician. &#8220;Well,&#8221; he
+added, &#8220;it was all very interesting, wasn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very&mdash;especially your own demonstrations. I had no idea that you were
+in correspondence with Deboutin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He laughed; then, with a knowing look, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, my dear fellow, nowadays it doesn&#8217;t do to tell anyone of your own
+researches. The only way is to spring it upon the profession as a
+great triumph: just as Koch did his cure for tuberculosis. One must
+create an impression, if only with a quack remedy. The day of the
+steady plodder is past; it&#8217;s all hustle, even in medicine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you certainly did make an impression,&#8221; I said, smiling. &#8220;Your
+experiments were a revelation to the profession. They were talking of
+them at the hospital only yesterday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m. They thought me an old fogey, eh? But, you see, I&#8217;ve been
+keeping pace with the times, Boyd. A man to succeed nowadays must make
+a boom with something, it matters not what. For years I&#8217;ve been
+experimenting in secret, and some day I will show them further results
+of my researches&mdash;and they will come upon the profession like a
+thunderclap, staggering belief.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>The old man chuckled to himself as he thought of his scientific
+triumph, and how one day he would give forth to the world a truth
+hitherto unsuspected.</p>
+
+<p>We chatted for a long time, mostly upon technicalities which cannot
+interest the reader, until suddenly he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting old, Boyd. These constant attacks I have render me unfit
+to go to town and sit in judgment on that pack of silly women who rush
+to consult me whenever they have a headache or an erring husband. I
+think that very soon I ought to retire. I&#8217;ve done sufficient hard work
+all the years since I was a &#8216;locum&#8217; down in Oxfordshire. I&#8217;m worn
+out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; I said. &#8220;You mustn&#8217;t retire yet. If you did, the profession
+would lose one of its most brilliant men.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Enough of compliments,&#8221; he snapped, turning wearily on his pillow.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m sick to death of it all. Better to retire while I have fame, than
+to outlive it. When I give up you will step into my shoes, Boyd, and
+it will be a good thing for you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Such a suggestion was quite unexpected. I had never dreamed that he
+contemplated handing over his practice to me. Certainly it would be a
+good thing for me if he did. It would give me a chance such as few men
+ever had. True, I was well known to his patients and had worked hard
+in his interests, but that he intended to hand his practice over to me
+I had never contemplated. Hence I thanked him most heartily. Yes, Sir
+Bernard had been my benefactor always.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>&#8220;All the women know you,&#8221; he went on in his snappish way. &#8220;You are the
+only man to take my place. They would come to you; but not to a new
+man. All I can hope is that they won&#8217;t bore you with their domestic
+troubles&mdash;as they have done me,&#8221; and he smiled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh,&#8221; I said. &#8220;More than once I, too, have been compelled to listen to
+the domestic secrets of certain households. It really is astonishing
+what a woman will tell her doctor, even though he may be young.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The old man laughed again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221; he sighed. &#8220;You don&#8217;t know women as I know them, Boyd. You&#8217;ve
+got your experience to gain. Then you&#8217;ll hold them in abhorrence&mdash;just
+as I do. They call me a woman-hater,&#8221; he grunted. &#8220;Perhaps I am&mdash;for
+I&#8217;ve had cause to hold the feminine mind and the feminine passion
+equally in contempt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; I laughed, &#8220;there&#8217;s not a man in London who is more qualified
+to speak from personal experience than yourself. So I anticipate a
+pretty rough time when I&#8217;ve had years of it, as you have.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And yet you want to marry!&#8221; he snapped, looking me straight in the
+face. &#8220;Of course, you love Ethelwynn Mivart. Every man at your age
+loves. It is a malady that occurs in the &#8217;teens and declines in the
+thirties. I should have thought that your affection of the heart had
+been about cured. It is surely time it was.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is true that I love Ethelwynn,&#8221; I declared, rather annoyed, &#8220;and I
+intend to marry her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>&#8220;If you do, then you&#8217;ll spoil all your chances of success. The class
+of women who are my patients would much rather consult a confirmed
+bachelor than a man who has a jealous wife hanging to his coat-tails.
+The doctor&#8217;s wife must always be a long-suffering person.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I smiled; and then our conversation turned upon his proposed
+retirement, which was to take place in six months&#8217; time.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to London by the last train, and on entering my room found
+a telegram from Ambler making an appointment to call on the following
+evening. The message was dated from Eastbourne, and was the first I
+had received from him for some days.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning I sat in Sir Bernard&#8217;s consulting-room as usual,
+receiving patients, and the afternoon I spent on the usual hospital
+round. About six o&#8217;clock Ambler arrived, drank a brandy and soda with
+a reflective air, and then suggested that we might dine together at
+the Cavour&mdash;a favourite haunt of his.</p>
+
+<p>At table I endeavoured to induce him to explain his movements and what
+he had discovered; but he was still disinclined to tell me anything.
+He worked always in secret, and until facts were clear said nothing.
+It was a peculiarity of his to remain dumb, even to his most intimate
+friends concerning any inquiries he was making. He was a man of moods,
+with an active mind and a still tongue&mdash;two qualities essential to the
+successful unravelling of mysteries.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished dinner we lit cigars, and took a cab back to my rooms.
+On passing along Harley Street <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>it suddenly occurred to me that in the
+morning I had left a case of instruments in Sir Bernard&#8217;s
+consulting-room, and that I might require them for one of my patients
+if called that night.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore I stopped the cab, dismissed it, and knocked at Sir
+Bernard&#8217;s door. Ford, on opening it, surprised me by announcing that
+his master, whom I had left in bed on the previous night, had returned
+to town suddenly, but was engaged.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler waited in the hall, while I passed along to the door of the
+consulting-room with the intention of asking permission to enter, as I
+always did when Sir Bernard was engaged with a patient.</p>
+
+<p>On approaching the door, however, I was startled by hearing a woman&#8217;s
+voice raised in angry, reproachful words, followed immediately by the
+sound of a scuffle, and then a stifled cry. Without further hesitation
+I turned the handle.</p>
+
+<p>The door was locked.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH.</h3>
+
+<p>A sudden idea occurred to me, and I acted instantly upon its impulse.
+There was a second entrance through the morning room; and I dashed
+round to the other door, which fortunately yielded.</p>
+
+<p>The sight that met my gaze was absolutely staggering. I stood upon the
+threshold aghast. Sir Bernard, his dark eyes starting from his ashen
+face, stood, holding a woman within his grasp, pinning her to the
+wall, and struggling to cover her mouth with his hands and prevent her
+cries from being overheard.</p>
+
+<p>The woman was none other than Ethelwynn.</p>
+
+<p>At my unexpected entry he released his hold, shrinking back with a
+wild, fierce look in his face, such as I had never before seen.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ralph!&#8221; cried my love, rushing forward and clinging to my neck.
+&#8220;Ralph! For God&#8217;s sake save me from that fiend! Save me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I put my arm around her to protect her, at the same instant shouting
+to Jevons, who entered, as much astounded as myself. My love had
+evidently come to town and kept an appointment with the old man. The
+situation was startling, and required explanation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>&#8220;Tell me, Ethelwynn,&#8221; I said, in a hard, stern voice. &#8220;What does all
+this mean?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She drew herself up and tried to face me firmly, but was unable. I had
+burst in upon her unexpectedly, and she seemed to fear how much of the
+conversation I had overheard.</p>
+
+<p>Noticing her silence, my friend Jevons addressed her, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Miss Mivart, you are aware of all the circumstances of the tragedy at
+Kew. Please explain them. Only by frank admission can you clear
+yourself, remember. To prevaricate further is quite useless.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at the cringing old fellow standing on the further side of
+the room&mdash;the man who had raised his hand against her. Then, with a
+sudden resolution, she spoke, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is true that I am aware of many facts which have been until to-day
+kept secret. But now that I know the horrible truth they shall remain
+mysteries no longer. I have been the victim of a long and dastardly
+persecution, but I now hope to clear my honour before you, Ralph, and
+before my Creator.&#8221; Then she paused, and, taking breath and drawing
+herself up straight with an air of determined resolution, went on:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;First, let us go back to the days soon after Mary&#8217;s marriage. I think
+it was about a year after the wedding when I suddenly noticed a change
+in her. Her intellect seemed somehow weakened. Hitherto she had
+possessed a strong, well-defined character; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>this suddenly developed
+into a weak, almost childish balance of the brain. Instead of
+possessing a will of her own, she was no longer the mistress of her
+actions, but as easily led as an infant. Only to myself and to my
+mother was this change apparent. To all her friends and acquaintances
+she was just the same. About that time she consulted this man
+here&mdash;Sir Bernard Eyton, her husband&#8217;s friend&mdash;regarding some other
+ailment, and he no doubt at once detected that her intellect had given
+way. Although devoted to her husband, nevertheless the influence of
+any friend of the moment was irresistible, and for that reason she
+drifted into the pleasure-seeking set in town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the tragedy?&#8221; Jevons exclaimed. &#8220;Tell us of that. My own
+inquiries show that you are aware of it all. Mrs. Courtenay murdered
+her husband, I know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Mary&mdash;&mdash;the assassin!&#8221; I gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Alas! it is too true. Now that my poor sister is dead, concealment is
+no longer necessary,&#8221; my love responded, with a deep sigh. &#8220;Mary
+killed her husband. She returned home, entered the house secretly,
+and, ascending to his room, struck him to the heart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the wound&mdash;how was it inflicted?&#8221; I demanded eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;With that pair of long, sharp-pointed scissors which used to be on
+poor Henry&#8217;s writing-table. You remember them. They were about eight
+inches long, with ivory handles and a red morocco case. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>wound
+puzzled you, but to me it seems plain that, after striking the blow,
+in an endeavour to extricate the weapon she opened it and closed it
+again, thereby inflicting those internal injuries that were so
+minutely described at the inquest. Well, on that night I heard a
+sound, and, fearing that the invalid wanted something, crept from my
+room. As I gained the door I met Mary upon the threshold. She stood
+facing me with a weird, fixed look, and in her hand was the weapon
+with which she had killed her husband. That awful moment is fixed
+indelibly upon my memory. I shall carry its recollection to the grave.
+I dashed quickly into the room, and to my horror saw what had
+occurred. Then my thoughts were for Mary&mdash;to conceal her guilt.
+Whispering to her to obey me I led her downstairs, through the back
+premises, and so out into the street. A cab was passing, and I put her
+into it, telling the man to drive to the Hennikers&#8217;, with whom she had
+been spending the evening. Then, cleaning the scissors of blood by
+thrusting them several times into the mould of a garden I was passing,
+I crossed the road and tossed them over the high wall into the thick
+undergrowth which flanks Kew Gardens. At that spot I felt certain that
+they would never be discovered. As quickly as possible I re-entered
+the house, secured the door by which I had made my exit, and returned
+again to my room with the awful knowledge of my sister&#8217;s crime upon my
+conscience.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What hour was that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>&#8220;When I retired again to bed my watch showed that it was barely
+half-past one. At two o&#8217;clock Short, awakened by his alarum clock,
+made the discovery and aroused the house. What followed you know well
+enough. I need not describe it. You can imagine what I felt, and how
+guilty was my conscience with the awful knowledge of it all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The circumstances were certainly most puzzling,&#8221; I remarked. &#8220;It
+almost appears as though matters were cleverly arranged in order to
+baffle detection.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To a certain extent they undoubtedly were. I knew that the
+Hennikers would say nothing of poor Mary&#8217;s erratic return to them.
+I did all in my power to withdraw suspicion from my sister, at the
+risk of it falling upon myself. You suspected me, Ralph. And only
+naturally&mdash;after that letter you discovered.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Mary&#8217;s homicidal tendency seems to have been carefully
+concealed,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I recollect having detected in her a strange
+vagueness of manner, but it never occurred to me that she was mentally
+weak. In the days immediately preceding the tragedy I certainly saw
+but little of her. She was out nearly every evening.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She was not responsible for her actions for several weeks together
+sometimes,&#8221; Sir Bernard interrupted. &#8220;I discovered it over a year
+ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you profited by your discovery!&#8221; my love cried, turning upon him
+fiercely. &#8220;The crime was committed at your instigation!&#8221; she declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At my instigation!&#8221; he echoed, with a dry laugh.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> &#8220;I suppose you will
+say next that I hypnotised her&mdash;or some bunkum of that sort!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m no believer in hypnotic theories. They were exploded long ago,&#8221;
+she answered. &#8220;But what I do believe&mdash;nay, what is positively proved
+from my poor sister&#8217;s own lips by a statement made before
+witnesses&mdash;is that you were the instigator of the crime. You met her
+by appointment that night at Kew Bridge. You opened the door of the
+house for her, and you compelled her to go in and commit the deed.
+Although demented, she recollected it all in her saner moments. You
+told her terrible stories of old Mr. Courtenay, for whom you had
+feigned such friendship, and for weeks you urged her to kill him
+secretly until, in the frenzy of insanity to which you had brought
+her, she carried out your design with all that careful ingenuity that
+is so often characteristic of madness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You lie, woman!&#8221; the old man snapped. &#8220;I had nothing whatever to do
+with the affair! I was at home at Hove on that night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No! no! you were not,&#8221; interrupted Jevons. &#8220;Your memory requires
+refreshing. Reflect a moment, and you&#8217;ll find that you arrived at
+Brighton Station at seven o&#8217;clock next morning from Victoria. You
+spent the night in London; and further, you were recognised by a
+police inspector walking along the Chiswick Road as early as half-past
+three. I have not been idle, Sir Bernard, and have spent a good deal
+of time at Hove of late.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you allege, then?&#8221; he cried in fierce anger, a dark, evil
+expression on his pale, drawn <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>face. &#8220;I suppose you&#8217;ll declare that
+I&#8217;m a murderer next!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I allege that, at your instigation, a serious and desperate attempt
+was made, a short time ago, upon the life of my friend Boyd by
+ruffians who were well paid by you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Another lie!&#8221; he blurted forth defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; I cried. &#8220;Is that the truth, Ambler? Was I entrapped at the
+instigation of this man?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. He had reasons for getting rid of you&mdash;as you will discern
+later.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I tell you it&#8217;s an untruth!&#8221; shouted the old man, in a frenzy of
+rage.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Deny it if you will,&#8221; answered my friend, with a nonchalant air. &#8220;It,
+however, may be interesting to you to know that the man &#8216;Lanky Lane,&#8217;
+one of the desperate gang whom you bribed to call up Boyd on the night
+in question, is what is known at Scotland Yard as a policeman&#8217;s
+&#8216;nose,&#8217; or informer; and that he made a plain statement of the whole
+affair before he fell a victim to your carefully-laid plan by which
+his lips were sealed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I recollected that the costermonger of the London Road
+was one of the ruffians.</p>
+
+<p>The old man&#8217;s lips compressed. He saw that he was cornered.</p>
+
+<p>The revelation that to his clever cunning was due the many remarkable
+features of the mystery held me utterly bewildered. At first it seemed
+impossible; but as the discussion grew more heated, and the facts
+poured forth from the mouth of the woman I loved, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>and from the man
+who was my best friend, I became convinced that at last the whole of
+the mysterious affair would be elucidated.</p>
+
+<p>One point, however, still puzzled me, namely, the inexplicable scene I
+had witnessed on the bank of the Nene.</p>
+
+<p>I referred to it; whereupon Ambler Jevons drew from his breast-pocket
+two photographs, and, holding them before the eyes of the trembling
+old man, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You recognise these? For a long time past I&#8217;ve been making inquiries
+into your keen interest in amateur theatricals. My information led me
+to Curtis&#8217;s, the wigmakers; and they furnished me with this picture,
+showing you made up as as Henry Courtenay. It seems that, under the
+name of Slade, you furnished them with a portrait of the dead man and
+ordered the disguise to be copied exactly&mdash;a fact to which a dozen
+witnesses are prepared to swear. This caused me to wonder what game
+you were playing, and, after watching, I found that on certain nights
+you wore the disguise&mdash;a most complete and excellent one&mdash;and with it
+imposed upon the unfortunate widow of weak intellect. You posed as her
+husband, and she believed you to be him. So completely was the woman
+in your thrall that you actually led her to believe that Courtenay was
+not dead after all! You had a deeper game to play. It was a clever and
+daring piece of imposture. Representing yourself as her husband who,
+for financial reasons, had been compelled to disappear and was
+believed to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>dead, you had formed a plan whereby to obtain the
+widow&#8217;s fortune as soon as the executors had given her complete
+mastery of it. You had arranged it all with her. She was to pose as a
+widow, mourn your loss, and then sell the Devonshire estate and hand
+you the money, believing you to be her husband and rightly entitled to
+it. The terrible crime which the unfortunate woman had committed at
+your instigation had turned her brain, as you anticipated, and she,
+docile and half-witted, was entirely beneath your influence until&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;
+and he paused.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Until what?&#8221; I asked, utterly astounded at this remarkable
+explanation of what I had considered to be an absolutely inexplicable
+phenomenon.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke again, quite calmly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Until this man, to his dismay, found that poor Mrs. Courtenay&#8217;s
+intellect was regaining its strength. They met beside the river, and,
+her brain suddenly regaining its balance, she discovered the ingenious
+fraud he was imposing upon her.&#8221; Turning to Sir Bernard, he said, &#8220;She
+tore off your disguise and declared that she would go to the police
+and tell the truth of the whole circumstances&mdash;how that you had
+induced her to go to the house in Kew and kill her husband. You saw
+that your game was up if she were not silenced; therefore, without
+further ado, you sent the poor woman to her last account.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You lie!&#8221; the old man cried, his drawn face blanched to the lips.
+&#8220;She fell in&mdash;accidentally.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She did not. You threw her in,&#8221; declared Ambler Jevons, firmly. &#8220;I
+followed you there. I was witness <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>of the scene between you; and,
+although too far off to save poor Mrs. Courtenay, I was witness of
+your crime!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You!&#8221; he gasped, glaring at my companion in fear, as though he
+foresaw the horror of his punishment.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes!&#8221; responded Jevons, in his dry, matter-of-fact voice, his sleepy
+eyes brightening for a moment. &#8220;Since the day of the tragedy at Kew
+until this afternoon I have never relinquished the inquiry. The Seven
+Secrets I took one by one, and gradually penetrated them, at the same
+time keeping always near you and watching your movements when you
+least expected it. But enough&mdash;I never reveal my methods. Suffice it
+to say that in this I have succeeded by sheer patience and
+application. Every word of my allegation I am prepared to substantiate
+in due course at the Old Bailey.&#8221; Then, after a second&#8217;s pause, he
+looked straight at the culprit standing there, crushed and dumb before
+him, and declared: &#8220;Sir Bernard Eyton, you are a murderer!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With my love&#8217;s hand held in mine I stood speechless at those
+staggering revelations. I saw how Ethelwynn watched the contortions of
+the old doctor&#8217;s face with secret satisfaction, for he had ever been
+her enemy, just as he had been mine. He had uttered those libellous
+hints regarding her with a view to parting us, so as to give him
+greater freedom to work his will with poor Mary. Then, when he had
+feared that through my love I had obtained knowledge of his dastardly
+offence, he had made an attempt upon my life by means of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>hired
+ruffians. The woman who had been in his drawing-room at Hove on the
+occasion of my visit was Mary, as I afterwards found out, and the
+attractive young person in the Brighton train had also been a caller
+at his house in connection with the attempt planned to be made upon
+me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&mdash;you intend to arrest me?&#8221; Sir Bernard gasped at last, with some
+difficulty, his brow like ivory beneath the tight-drawn skin. A change
+had come over him, and he was standing with his back to a bookcase,
+swaying unsteadily as though he must fall.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly do,&#8221; was Ambler Jevons&#8217; prompt response. &#8220;You have been
+the means of committing a double murder for the purposes of
+gain&mdash;because you knew that your friend Courtenay had left a will in
+your favour in the event of his wife&#8217;s decease. That will has already
+been proved; but perhaps it may interest you to know that the latest
+and therefore the valid will is in my own possession, I having found
+it during a search of the dead man&#8217;s effects in company with my friend
+Boyd. It is dated only a month before his death, and leaves the
+fortune to the widow, and in the event of her death to her sister
+Ethelwynn.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To me!&#8221; cried my love, in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Miss Ethelwynn. Everything is left to you unreservedly,&#8221; he
+explained. Then, turning again to the clever impostor before him, he
+added: &#8220;You will therefore recognise that all your plotting, so well
+matured and so carefully planned that your demoniacal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>ingenuity
+almost surpasses the comprehension of man, has been in vain. By the
+neglect of one small detail, namely to sufficiently disguise your
+identity when dealing with Curtis, I have been enabled, after a long
+and tedious search, to fix you as the man who on several occasions was
+made up to present in the night the appearance of the dead Courtenay.
+The work has taken me many tedious weeks. I visited every wig-maker
+and half the hairdressers in London unsuccessfully until, by mere
+chance, the ruffian whom you employed to entrap my friend Boyd gave me
+a clue to the fact that Curtis made wigs as well as theatrical
+costumes. The inquiry has been a long and hazardous one,&#8221; he went on.
+&#8220;But from the very first I was determined to get at the bottom of the
+mystery, cost me what it might&mdash;and I have fortunately succeeded.&#8221;
+Then, turning again to the cringing wretch, upon whom the terrible
+denunciation had fallen as a thunderbolt, he added: &#8220;The forgiveness
+of man, Sir Bernard Eyton, you will never obtain. It has been ever law
+that the murderer shall die&mdash;and you will be no exception.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The effect of those words upon the guilty man was almost electrical.
+He drew himself up stiffly, his keen, wild eyes starting from his
+blanched face as he glared at his accuser. His lips moved. No sound,
+however, came from them. The muscles of his jaws seemed to suddenly
+become paralysed, for he was unable to close his mouth. He stood for a
+moment, an awful spectacle, the brand of Cain upon him. A strange
+gurgling sound escaped him, as though he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>were trying to articulate,
+but was unable; then he made wild signs with both his hands, clutched
+suddenly at the air, and fell forward in a fit.</p>
+
+<p>I went to him, loosened his collar, and applied restoratives, but in
+ten minutes I saw that he was beyond human aid. What I had at first
+believed to be a fit was a sudden cessation of the functions of the
+heart&mdash;caused by wild excitement and the knowledge that punishment was
+upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Within fifteen minutes of that final accusation the old man lay back
+upon the carpet lifeless, struck dead by natural causes at the moment
+that his crimes had become revealed.</p>
+
+<p>Thus were the Seven Secrets explained; and thus were the Central
+Criminal Court and the public spared what would have been one of the
+most sensational trials of modern times.</p>
+
+<p>The papers on Monday reported &#8220;with deepest regret&#8221; the sudden death
+from heart disease of Sir Bernard Eyton, whom they termed &#8220;one of the
+greatest and most skilful physicians of modern times.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+
+<p>Just two years have passed since that memorable evening.</p>
+
+<p>You, my reader, are probably curious to know whether I have succeeded
+in obtaining the quiet country practice that was my ideal. Well, yes,
+I have. And what is more, I have obtained in Ethelwynn a wife who is
+devoted to me and beloved by all the countryside&mdash;a wife who is the
+very perfection of all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>that is noble and good in woman. The Courtenay
+estate is ours; but I am not an idle man. Somehow I cannot be.</p>
+
+<p>My practice? Where is it? Well, it is in Leicestershire. I dare not be
+more explicit, for Ethelwynn has urged me to conceal our identity, in
+order that we may not be remarked as a couple whose wooing was so
+strangely tragic and romantic.</p>
+
+<p>Ambler Jevons still carries on his tea-blending business in the City,
+the most confirmed of bachelors, and the shrewdest of all criminal
+investigators. Even though we have been so intimate for years, and he
+often visits me at &mdash;&mdash; I was nearly, by a slip, writing the name of
+the Leicestershire village&mdash;he has never explained to me his methods,
+and seldom, if ever, speaks of those wonderful successes by which
+Scotland Yard is so frequently glad to profit.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few days ago, while we were sitting on the lawn behind my
+quaint old-fashioned house awaiting dinner, I chanced to remark upon
+the happiness which his ingenuity and perseverance had brought me;
+whereupon, turning to me with a slight, reflective smile, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, yes! Ralph, old fellow. I gave up that problem in despair fully a
+dozen times, and it was only because I knew that the future happiness
+of you both depended upon its satisfactory solution that I began
+afresh and strove on, determined not to be beaten. I watched
+carefully, not only Eyton, but Ethelwynn and yourself. I was often
+near you when you least suspected my presence. But that crafty old
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>scoundrel was possessed of the ingenuity of Satan himself, combined
+with all the shrewd qualities that go to make a good detective; hence
+in every movement, every wile, and every action he was careful to
+cover himself, so that he could establish an <i>alibi</i> on every point.
+For that reason the work was extremely difficult. He was a veritable
+artist in crime. Yes,&#8221; he added, &#8220;of the many inquiries I&#8217;ve taken up,
+the most curious and most complicated of them all was that of The
+Seven Secrets.&#8221;</p>
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+<p class="center">PRINTED BY A. C. FOWLER, MOORFIELDS, E.C., AND SHOREDITCH, E.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</span></h3>
+
+<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters&#8217; errors; otherwise, every effort has
+been made to remain true to the author's words and intent.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
+
+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 Seven Secrets
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2008 [EBook #27549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN SECRETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Seven Secrets
+
+ BY
+
+ WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+ _Author of "The Gamblers," "The Under-Secretary," "Whoso findeth
+ a Wife," "Of Royal Blood," etc._
+
+ _Second Edition_
+
+ London:
+ HUTCHINSON & CO.
+ PATERNOSTER ROW
+ 1903
+
+
+
+
+ A. C. FOWLER,
+ PRINTER,
+ MOORFIELDS, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+WILLIAM LE QUEUX'S NOVELS.
+
+
+"As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr.
+William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers."--_The
+Athenaeum._
+
+"It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of
+mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux's most
+ardent admirers. Long ago, when his 'Zoraida' was issued, she gave an
+order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux's
+books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer's
+books reaches her."--_The Queen._
+
+"The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that
+of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the
+most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day.
+His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the
+string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until
+the end is reached and everything made clear."--_Literary World._
+
+"Mr. William Le Queux's name is favourably known to all readers of
+sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds
+his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that
+light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or
+the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament."--_Daily
+News._
+
+"Mr. William Le Queux's novels are one of my chief foibles. I can
+always read his stories greedily, and 'Free Lancers' should buy his
+books."--Mr. CLEMENT SCOTT in the _Free Lance._
+
+_Crown 8vo, 6s._
+
+THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition.
+
+THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition.
+
+OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+      I.  INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS                            9
+
+     II.  "A VERY UGLY SECRET"                               15
+
+    III.  THE COURTENAYS                                     20
+
+     IV.  A NIGHT CALL                                       27
+
+      V.  DISCLOSES A MYSTERY                                33
+
+     VI.  IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY                        43
+
+    VII.  THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY                        54
+
+   VIII. AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE                        65
+
+     IX.  SHADOWS                                            76
+
+      X.  WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS                          87
+
+     XI.  CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS                        98
+
+    XII.  I RECEIVE A VISITOR                               109
+
+   XIII.  MY LOVE                                           119
+
+    XIV.  IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS                             128
+
+     XV.  I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION                      139
+
+    XVI.  REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT                        150
+
+   XVII.  DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS                         162
+
+  XVIII.  WORDS OF THE DEAD                                 173
+
+    XIX. JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS                            183
+
+     XX. MY NEW PATIENT                                     194
+
+    XXI. WOMAN'S WILES                                      203
+
+   XXII.  A MESSAGE                                         215
+
+  XXIII.  THE MYSTERY OF MARY                               226
+
+   XXIV.  ETHELWYNN IS SILENT                               236
+
+    XXV. FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA                         249
+
+   XXVI. AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY                              256
+
+  XXVII. MR. LANE'S ROMANCE                                 274
+
+ XXVIII. "POOR MRS. COURTENAY!"                             281
+
+   XXIX. THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT                            290
+
+    XXX. SIR BERNARD'S DECISION                             298
+
+   XXXI. CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH                           306
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN SECRETS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS.
+
+
+"Ah! You don't take the matter at all seriously!" I observed, a trifle
+annoyed.
+
+"Why should I?" asked my friend, Ambler Jevons, with a deep pull at
+his well-coloured briar. "What you've told me shows quite plainly that
+you have in the first place viewed one little circumstance with
+suspicion, then brooded over it until it has become magnified and now
+occupies your whole mind. Take my advice, old chap, and think nothing
+more about it. Why should you make yourself miserable for no earthly
+reason? You're a rising man--hard up like most of us--but under old
+Eyton's wing you've got a brilliant future before you. Unlike myself,
+a mere nobody, struggling against the tide of adversity, you're
+already a long way up the medical ladder. If you climb straight you'll
+end with an appointment of Physician-in-Ordinary and a knighthood
+thrown in as makeweight. Old Macalister used to prophesy it, you
+remember, when we were up at Edinburgh. Therefore, I can't, for the
+life of me, discover any cause why you should allow yourself to have
+these touches of the blues--unless it's liver, or some other internal
+organ about which you know a lot more than I do. Why, man, you've got
+the whole world before you, and as for Ethelwynn----"
+
+"Ethelwynn!" I ejaculated, starting up from my chair. "Leave her out
+of the question! We need not discuss her," and I walked to the
+mantelshelf to light a fresh cigarette.
+
+"As you wish, my dear fellow," said my merry, easy-going friend. "I
+merely wish to point out the utter folly of all this suspicion."
+
+"I don't suspect her," I snapped.
+
+"I didn't suggest that." Then, after a pause during which he smoked on
+vigorously, he suddenly asked, "Well now, be frank, Ralph, whom do you
+really suspect?"
+
+I was silent. Truth to tell, his question entirely nonplussed me. I
+had suspicions--distinct suspicions--that certain persons surrounding
+me were acting in accord towards some sinister end, but which of those
+persons were culpable I certainly could not determine. It was that
+very circumstance which was puzzling me to the point of distraction.
+
+"Ah!" I replied. "That's the worst of it. I know that the whole affair
+seems quite absurd, but I must admit that I can't fix suspicion upon
+anyone in particular."
+
+Jevons laughed outright.
+
+"In that case, my dear Boyd, you ought really to see the folly of the
+thing."
+
+"Perhaps I ought, but I don't," I answered, facing him with my back to
+the fire. "To you, my most intimate friend, I've explained, in
+strictest confidence, the matter which is puzzling me. I live in
+hourly dread of some catastrophe the nature of which I'm utterly at a
+loss to determine. Can you define intuition?"
+
+My question held him in pensive silence. His manner changed as he
+looked me straight in the face. Unlike his usual careless self--for
+his was a curious character of the semi-Bohemian order and Savage Club
+type--he grew serious and thoughtful, regarding me with critical gaze
+after removing his pipe from his lips.
+
+"Well," he exclaimed at last. "I'll tell you what it is, Boyd. This
+intuition, or whatever you may call it, is an infernally bad thing for
+you. I'm your friend--one of your best and most devoted friends, old
+chap--and if there's anything in it, I'll render you whatever help I
+can."
+
+"Thank you, Ambler," I said gratefully, taking his hand. "I have told
+you all this to-night in order to enlist your sympathy, although I
+scarcely liked to ask your aid. Your life is a busy one--busier even
+than my own, perhaps--and you have no desire to be bothered with my
+personal affairs."
+
+"On the contrary, old fellow," he said. "Remember that in mystery I'm
+in my element."
+
+"I know," I replied. "But at present there is no mystery--only
+suspicion."
+
+What Ambler Jevons had asserted was a fact. He was an investigator of
+mysteries, making it his hobby just as other men take to collecting
+curios or pictures. About his personal appearance there was nothing
+very remarkable. When pre-occupied he had an abrupt, rather brusque
+manner, but at all other times he was a very easy-going man of the
+world, possessor of an ample income left him by his aunt, and this he
+augmented by carrying on, in partnership with an elder man, a
+profitable tea-blending business in Mark Lane.
+
+He had entered the tea trade not because of necessity, but because he
+considered it a bad thing for a man to lead an idle life.
+Nevertheless, the chief object of his existence had always seemed to
+be the unravelling of mysteries of police and crime. Surely few men,
+even those professional investigators at Scotland Yard, held such a
+record of successes. He was a born detective, with a keen scent for
+clues, an ingenuity that was marvellous, and a patience and endurance
+that were inexhaustible. At Scotland Yard the name of Ambler Jevons
+had for several years been synonymous with all that is clever and
+astute in the art of detecting crime.
+
+To be a good criminal investigator a man must be born such. He must be
+physically strong; he must be untiring in his search after truth; he
+must be able to scent a mystery as a hound does a fox, to follow up
+the trail with energy unflagging, and seize opportunities without
+hesitation; he must possess a cool presence of mind, and above all be
+able to calmly distinguish the facts which are of importance in the
+strengthening of the clue from those that are merely superfluous. All
+these, besides other qualities, are necessary for the successful
+penetration of criminal mysteries; hence it is that the average
+amateur, who takes up the hobby without any natural instinct, is
+invariably a blunderer.
+
+Ambler Jevons, blender of teas and investigator of mysteries, was
+lolling back in my armchair, his dreamy eyes half-closed, smoking on
+in silence.
+
+Myself, I was thirty-three, and I fear not much of an ornament to the
+medical profession. True, at Edinburgh I had taken my M.B. and C.M.
+with highest honours, and three years later had graduated M.D., but my
+friends thought a good deal more of my success than I did, for they
+overlooked my shortcomings and magnified my talents.
+
+I suppose it was because my father had represented a county
+constituency in the House of Commons, and therefore I possessed that
+very useful advantage which is vaguely termed family influence, that I
+had been appointed assistant physician at Guy's. My own practice was
+very small, therefore I devilled, as the lawyers would term it, for my
+chief, Sir Bernard Eyton, knight, the consulting physician to my
+hospital.
+
+Sir Bernard, whom all the smart world of London knew as the first
+specialist in nervous disorders, had his professional headquarters in
+Harley Street, but lived down at Hove, in order to avoid night work or
+the calls which Society made upon him. I lived a stone's-throw away
+from his house in Harley Street, just round the corner in Harley
+Place, and it was my duty to take charge of his extensive practice
+during his absence at night or while on holidays.
+
+I must here declare that my own position was not at all disagreeable.
+True, I sometimes had night work, which is never very pleasant, but
+being one of the evils of the life of every medical man he accepts it
+as such. I had very comfortable bachelor quarters in an ancient and
+rather grimy house, with an old fashioned dark-panelled sitting-room,
+a dining-room, bedroom and dressing-room, and, save for the fact that
+I was compelled to be on duty after four o'clock, when Sir Bernard
+drove to Victoria Station, my time in the evening was very much my
+own.
+
+Many a man would, I suppose, have envied me. It is not every day that
+a first-class physician requires an assistant, and certainly no man
+could have been more generous and kindly disposed than Sir Bernard
+himself, even though his character was something of the miser. Yet all
+of us find some petty shortcomings in the good things of this world,
+and I was no exception. Sometimes I grumbled, but generally, be it
+said, without much cause.
+
+Truth to tell, a mysterious feeling of insecurity had been gradually
+creeping upon me through several months; indeed ever since I had
+returned from a holiday in Scotland in the spring. I could not define
+it, not really knowing what had excited the curious apprehensions
+within me. Nevertheless, I had that night told my secret to Ambler
+Jevons, who was often my visitor of an evening, and over our whiskies
+had asked his advice, with the unsatisfactory result which I have
+already written down.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"A VERY UGLY SECRET."
+
+
+The consulting-room in Harley Street, where Sir Bernard Eyton saw his
+patients and gathered in his guineas for his ill-scribbled
+prescriptions, differed little from a hundred others in the same
+severe and depressing thoroughfare.
+
+It was a very sombre apartment. The walls were painted dark green and
+hung with two or three old portraits in oils; the furniture was of a
+style long past, heavy and covered in brown morocco, and the big
+writing-table, behind which the great doctor would sit blinking at his
+patient through the circular gold-rimmed glasses, that gave him a
+somewhat Teutonic appearance, was noted for its prim neatness and
+orderly array. On the one side was an adjustable couch; on the other a
+bookcase with glass doors containing a number of instruments which
+were, however, not visible because of curtains of green silk behind
+the glass.
+
+Into that room, on three days a week, Ford, the severely respectable
+footman, ushered in patients one after the other, many of them Society
+women suffering from what is known in these degenerate days as
+"nerves." Indeed, Eyton was _par excellence_ a ladies' doctor, for so
+many of the gentler sex get burnt up in the mad rush of a London
+season.
+
+I had made up my mind to consult my chief, and with that object
+entered his room on the following afternoon at a quarter before four.
+
+"Well, Boyd, anything fresh?" he asked, putting off his severely
+professional air and lolling back in his padded writing-chair as I
+entered.
+
+"No, nothing," I responded, throwing myself in the patient's chair
+opposite him and tossing my gloves on the table. "A hard day down at
+the hospital, that's all. You've been busy as usual, I suppose."
+
+"Busy!" the old man echoed, "why, these confounded women never let me
+alone for a single instant! Always the same story--excitement, late
+hours, little worries over erring husbands, and all that sort of
+thing. I always know what's coming as soon as they get seated and
+settled. I really don't know what Society's coming to, Boyd," and he
+blinked over at me through his heavy-framed spectacles.
+
+About sixty, of middle height, he was slightly inclined to rotundity,
+with hair almost white, a stubbly grey beard, and a pair of keen eyes
+rather prominently set in a bony but not unpleasant countenance. He
+had a peculiar habit of stroking his left ear when puzzled, and was
+not without those little eccentricities which run hand in hand with
+genius. One of them was his fondness for amateur theatricals, for he
+was a leading member of the Dramatic Club at Hove and nearly always
+took part in the performances. But he was a pronounced miser. Each day
+when he arrived at Victoria Station from Hove, he purchased three ham
+sandwiches at the refreshment bar and carried them in his black bag to
+Harley Street. He there concealed them in a drawer in the
+writing-table and stealthily ate them instead of taking half-an-hour
+for luncheon. Sometimes he sent Ford out to the nearest greengrocer's
+in the Marylebone Road for a penny apple, which he surreptitiously ate
+as dessert.
+
+Indeed, he was finishing his last sandwich when I entered, and his
+mouth was full.
+
+It may have been that small fact which caused me to hesitate. At any
+rate, sitting there with those big round eyes peering forth upon me, I
+felt the absurdity of the situation.
+
+Presently, when he had finished his sandwich, carefully brushed the
+crumbs from his blotting-pad and cast the bag into the waste-paper
+basket, he raised his head and with his big eyes again blinking
+through his spectacles, said:
+
+"You've had no call to poor old Courtenay, I suppose?"
+
+"No," I responded. "Why?"
+
+"Because he's in a bad way."
+
+"Worse?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I'm rather anxious about him. He'll have to keep
+to his bed, I fear."
+
+I did not in the least doubt this. Old Mr. Henry Courtenay, one of the
+Devonshire Courtenays, a very wealthy if somewhat eccentric old
+gentleman, lived in one of those prim, pleasant, detached houses in
+Richmond Road, facing Kew Gardens, and was one of Sir Bernard's best
+patients. He had been under him for a number of years until they had
+become personal friends. One of his eccentricities was to insist on
+paying heavy fees to his medical adviser, believing, perhaps, that by
+so doing he would secure greater and more careful attention.
+
+But, strangely enough, mention of the name suddenly gave me the clue
+so long wanting. It aroused within me a sense of impending evil
+regarding the very man of whom we were speaking. The sound of the name
+seemed to strike the sympathetic chord within my brain, and I at once
+became cognisant that the unaccountable presage of impending
+misfortune was connected with that rather incongruous household down
+at Kew.
+
+Therefore, when Sir Bernard imparted to me his misgivings, I was
+quickly on the alert, and questioned him regarding the progress of old
+Mr. Courtenay's disease.
+
+"The poor fellow is sinking, I'm afraid, Boyd," exclaimed my chief,
+confidentially. "He doesn't believe himself half so ill as he is. When
+did you see him last?"
+
+"Only a few days ago. I thought he seemed much improved," I said.
+
+"Ah! of course," the old doctor snapped; his manner towards me in an
+instant changed. "You're a frequent visitor there, I forgot. Feminine
+attraction and all that sort of thing. Dangerous, Boyd! Dangerous to
+run after a woman of her sort. I'm an older man than you. Why haven't
+you taken the hint I gave you long ago?"
+
+"Because I could see no reason why I should not continue my friendship
+with Ethelwynn Mivart."
+
+"My dear Boyd," he responded, in a sympathetic fatherly manner, which
+he sometimes assumed, "I'm an old bachelor, and I see quite sufficient
+of women in this room--too much of them, in fact. The majority are
+utterly worthless. Recollect that I have never taken away a woman's
+character yet, and I refuse to do so now--especially to her lover. I
+merely warn you, Boyd, to drop her. That's all. If you don't, depend
+upon it you'll regret it."
+
+"Then there's some secret or other of her past which she conceals, I
+suppose?" I said hoarsely, feeling confident that being so intimate
+with his patient, old Mr. Courtenay, he had discovered it.
+
+"Yes," he replied, blinking again at me through his glasses. "There
+is--a very ugly secret."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COURTENAYS.
+
+
+I determined to spend that evening at Richmond Road with open eyes.
+
+The house was a large red-brick one, modern, gabled, and typically
+suburban. Mr. Courtenay, although a wealthy man with a large estate in
+Devonshire and extensive properties in Canada, where as a young man he
+had amassed a large fortune, lived in that London suburb in order to
+be near his old friends. Besides, his wife was young and objected to
+being buried in the country. With her husband an invalid she was
+unable to entertain, therefore she had found the country dull very
+soon after her marriage and gladly welcomed removal to London, even
+though they sank their individuality in becoming suburban residents.
+
+Short, the prim manservant, who admitted me, showed me at once up to
+his master's room, and I stayed for half-an-hour with him. He was
+sitting before the fire in a padded dressing gown, a rather thick-set
+figure with grey hair, wan cheeks, and bright eyes. The hand he gave
+me was chill and bony, yet I saw plainly that he was much better than
+when I had last seen him. He was up, and that was a distinctly good
+sign. I examined him, questioned him, and as far as I could make out
+he was, contrary to my chief's opinion, very much improved.
+
+Indeed, he spoke quite gaily, offered me a whisky and soda, and made
+me tell him the stories I had heard an hour earlier at the Savage. The
+poor old fellow was suffering from that most malignant disease, cancer
+of the tongue, which had caused him to develop peripheral neuritis.
+His doctors had recommended an operation, but knowing it to be a very
+serious one he had declined it, and as he had suffered great pain and
+inconvenience he had taken to drink heavily. He was a lonely man, and
+I often pitied him. A doctor can very quickly tell whether domestic
+felicity reigns in a household, and I had long ago seen that with the
+difference of age between Mrs. Courtenay and her husband--he sixty-two
+and she only twenty-nine--they had but few ideas in common.
+
+That she nursed him tenderly I was well aware, but from her manner I
+had long ago detected that her devotedness was only assumed in order
+to humour him, and that she possessed little or no real affection for
+him. Nor was it much wonder, after all. A smart young woman, fond of
+society and amusement, is never the kind of wife for a snappy invalid
+of old Courtenay's type. She had married him, some five years before,
+for his money, her uncharitable enemies said. Perhaps that was so. In
+any case it was difficult to believe that a pretty woman of her stamp
+could ever entertain any genuine affection for a man of his age, and
+it was most certainly true that whatever bond of sympathy had existed
+between them at the time of their marriage had now been snapped.
+
+Instead of remaining at home of an evening and posing as a dutiful
+wife as she once had done, she was now in the habit of going up to
+town to her friends the Penn-Pagets, who lived in Brook Street, or the
+Hennikers in Redcliffe Square, accompanying them to dances and
+theatres with all the defiance of the "covenances" allowed nowadays to
+the married woman. On such occasions, growing each week more frequent,
+her sister Ethelwynn remained at home to see that Mr. Courtenay was
+properly attended to by the nurse, and exhibited a patience that I
+could not help but admire.
+
+Yes, the more I reflected upon it the more curious seemed that
+ill-assorted _menage_. On her marriage Mary Mivart had declared that
+her new home in Devonshire was deadly dull, and had induced her
+indulgent husband to allow her sister to come and live with her, and
+Ethelwynn and her maid had formed part of the household ever since.
+
+We doctors, providing we have not a brass plate in lieu of a practice,
+see some queer things, and being in the confidence of our patients,
+know of many strange and incomprehensible families. The one at
+Richmond Road was a case in point. I had gradually seen how young Mrs.
+Courtenay had tired of her wifely duties, until, by slow degrees, she
+had cast off the shackles altogether--until she now thought more of
+her new frocks, smart suppers at the Carlton, first-nights and "shows"
+in Mayfair than she did of the poor suffering old man whom she had not
+so long ago vowed to "love, honour and obey." It was to be regretted,
+but in my position I had no necessity nor inclination to interfere.
+Even Ethelwynn made no remark, although this sudden breaking forth of
+her sister must have pained her considerably.
+
+When at length I shook hands with my patient, left him in the hands of
+the nurse and descended to the drawing room, I found Ethelwynn
+awaiting me.
+
+She rose and came forward, both her slim white hands outstretched in
+glad welcome.
+
+"Short told me you were here," she exclaimed. "What a long time you
+have been upstairs. Nothing serious, I hope," she added with a touch
+of anxiety, I thought.
+
+"Nothing at all," I assured her, walking with her across to the fire
+and seating myself in the cosy-corner, while she threw herself upon a
+low lounge chair and pillowed her dark head upon a big cushion of
+yellow silk. "Where is Mary?" I asked.
+
+"Out. She's dining with the Hennikers to-night, I think."
+
+"And leaves you at home to look after the invalid?" I remarked.
+
+"Oh, I don't mind in the least," she declared, laughing.
+
+"And the old gentleman? What does he say to her constant absence in
+the evening?"
+
+"Well, to tell the truth, Ralph, he seldom knows. He usually believes
+her to be at home, and I never undeceive him. Why should I?"
+
+I grunted, for I was not at all well pleased with her connivance at
+her sister's deceit. The sound that escaped my lips caused her to
+glance across at me in quick surprise.
+
+"You are displeased, dear," she said. "Tell me why. What have I done?"
+
+"I'm not displeased with you," I declared. "Only, as you know, I'm not
+in favour of deception, and especially so in a wife."
+
+She pursed her lips, and I thought her face went a trifle paler. She
+was silent for a moment, then said:
+
+"I don't see why we should discuss that, Ralph. Mary's actions concern
+neither of us. It is not for us to prevent her amusing herself,
+neither is it our duty to create unpleasantness between husband and
+wife."
+
+I did not reply, but sat looking at her, drinking in her beauty in a
+long, full draught. How can I describe her? Her form was graceful in
+every line; her face perfect in its contour, open, finely-moulded, and
+with a marvellous complexion--a calm, sweet countenance that reminded
+one of Raphael's "Madonna" in Florence, indeed almost its counterpart.
+Her beauty had been remarked everywhere. She had sat to a well-known
+R.A. for his Academy picture two years before, and the artist had
+declared her to be one of the most perfect types of English beauty.
+
+Was it any wonder, then, that I was in love with her? Was it any
+wonder that those wonderful dark eyes held me beneath their spell, or
+those dark locks that I sometimes stroked from off her fair white brow
+should be to me the most beautiful in all the world? Man is but
+mortal, and a beautiful woman always enchants.
+
+As she sat before me in her evening gown of some flimsy cream stuff,
+all frills and furbelows, she seemed perfect in her loveliness. The
+surroundings suited her to perfection--the old Chippendale and the
+palms, while the well-shaded electric lamp in its wrought-iron stand
+shed a mellow glow upon her, softening her features and harmonising
+the tints of the objects around. From beneath the hem of her skirt a
+neat ankle encased in its black silk stocking was thrust coquettishly
+forward, and her tiny patent leather slipper was stretched out to the
+warmth of the fire. Her pose was, however, restful and natural. She
+loved luxury, and made no secret of it. The hour after dinner was
+always her hour of laziness, and she usually spent it in that
+self-same chair, in that self-same position.
+
+She was twenty-five, the youngest daughter of old Thomas Mivart, who
+was squire of Neneford, in Northamptonshire, a well-known hunting-man
+of his day, who had died two years ago leaving a widow, a charming
+lady, who lived alone at the Manor. To me it had always been a mystery
+why the craving for gaiety and amusement had never seized Ethelwynn.
+She was by far the more beautiful of the pair, the smartest in dress,
+and the wittier in speech, for possessed of a keen sense of humour,
+she was interesting as well as handsome--the two qualities which are
+_par excellence_ necessary for a woman to attain social success.
+
+She stirred slightly as she broke the silence, and then I detected in
+her a nervousness which I had not noticed on first entering the room.
+
+"Sir Bernard Eyton was down here yesterday and spent over an hour with
+the old gentleman. They sent the nurse out of the room and talked
+together for a long time, upon some private business, nurse thinks.
+When Sir Bernard came down he told me in confidence that Mr. Courtenay
+was distinctly weaker."
+
+"Yes," I said, "Sir Bernard told me that, but I must confess that
+to-night I find a decided improvement in him. He's sitting up quite
+lively."
+
+"Very different to a month ago," my well-beloved remarked. "Do you
+recollect when Short went to London in a hansom and brought you down
+at three in the morning?"
+
+"I gave up all hope when I saw him on that occasion," I said; "but he
+certainly seems to have taken a new lease of life."
+
+"Do you think he really has?" she inquired with an undisguised
+eagerness which struck me as distinctly curious. "Do you believe that
+Sir Bernard's fears are after all ungrounded?"
+
+I looked at her surprised. She had never before evinced such a keen
+interest in her sister's husband, and I was puzzled.
+
+"I really can't give an opinion," I responded mechanically, for want
+of something or other to say.
+
+It was curious, that question of hers--very curious.
+
+Yet after all I was in love--and all lovers are fools in their
+jealousy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A NIGHT CALL.
+
+
+"Do you know, Ralph," she faltered presently, "I have a faint
+suspicion that you are annoyed about something. What is it? Be frank
+now and tell me."
+
+"Annoyed?" I laughed. "Not at all, dearest. Nervous and impatient,
+perhaps. You must make allowances for me. A doctor's life is full of
+professional worries. I've had a trying day at the hospital, and I
+suppose I'm quarrelsome--eh?"
+
+"No, not quarrelsome, but just inclined to be a little suspicious."
+
+"Suspicious? Of what?"
+
+Her woman's power of penetration to the innermost secrets of the heart
+was marvellous.
+
+"Of me?"
+
+"How absurd!" I exclaimed. "Why should I be suspicious--and of what?"
+
+"Well," she laughed, "I really don't know, only your manner is
+peculiar. Why not be frank with me, Ralph, dear, and tell me what it
+is that you don't like. Have I offended you?"
+
+"Not at all, darling," I hastened to assure her. "Why, you're the best
+little woman in the world. Offend me--how absurd!"
+
+"Then who has offended you?"
+
+I hesitated. When a woman really loves, a man can have but few secrets
+from her. Ethelwynn always read me like an open book.
+
+"I'm worried over a critical case," I said, in an endeavour to evade
+her question.
+
+"But your patients don't annoy you, surely," she exclaimed. "There is
+a distinction between annoyance and worry."
+
+I saw that she had detected my suspicion, and at once hastened to
+reassure her that she had my entire confidence.
+
+"If Mary finds her life a trifle dull with her husband it is surely no
+reason why I should be blamed for it," she said, in a tone of mild
+complaint.
+
+"No, you entirely misunderstand me," I said. "No blame whatever
+attaches to you. Your sister's actions are no affair of ours. It is
+merely a pity that she cannot see her error. With her husband lying
+ill she should at least remain at home."
+
+"She declares that she has suffered martyrdom for his sake long
+enough," my well-beloved said. "Perhaps she is right, for between
+ourselves the old gentleman is a terrible trial."
+
+"That is only to be expected from one suffering from such a disease.
+Yet it can serve no excuse for his wife taking up with that gay set,
+the Penn-Pagets and the Hennikers. I must say I'm very surprised."
+
+"And so am I, Ralph. But what can I do? I'm utterly powerless. She is
+mistress here, and does exactly as she likes. The old gentleman dotes
+on her and allows her to have her way in everything. She has ever
+been wilful, even from a child."
+
+She did not attempt to shield her sister, and yet she uttered no
+condemnation of her conduct. I could not, even then, understand the
+situation. To me one of two things was apparent. Either she feared to
+displease her sister because of some power the latter held over her,
+or this neglect of old Mr. Courtenay was pleasing to her.
+
+"I wonder you don't give Mary a hint that her conduct is being noticed
+and remarked upon. Of course, don't say that I've spoken of it. Merely
+put it to her in the manner of a vague suggestion."
+
+"Very well, if you wish it," she responded promptly, for she was ever
+ready to execute my smallest desire.
+
+"And you love me quite as truly and as well as you did a year ago?" I
+asked, eagerly, stroking the dark tendrils from her white brow.
+
+"Love you?" she echoed. "Yes, Ralph," she went on, looking up into my
+face with unwavering gaze. "I may be distrait and pre-occupied
+sometimes, but, nevertheless, I swear to you, as I did on that
+summer's evening long ago when we were boating together at Shepperton,
+that you are the only man I have ever loved--or shall ever love."
+
+I returned her caress with a passion that was heartfelt. I was devoted
+to her, and these tender words of hers confirmed my belief in her
+truth and purity.
+
+"Need I repeat what I have told you so many times, dearest?" I asked,
+in a low voice, as her head rested upon my shoulder and she stood in
+my embrace. "Need I tell you how fondly I love you--how that I am
+entirely yours? No. You are mine, Ethelwynn--mine."
+
+"And you will never think ill of me?" she asked, in a faltering tone.
+"You will never be suspicious of me as you have been to-night? You
+cannot tell how all this upsets me. Perfect love surely demands
+perfect confidence. And our love is perfect--is it not?"
+
+"It is," I cried. "It is. Forgive me, dearest. Forgive me for my
+churlish conduct to-night. It is my fault--all my fault. I love you,
+and have every confidence in you."
+
+"But will your love last always?" she asked, with just a tinge of
+doubt in her voice.
+
+"Yes, always," I declared.
+
+"No matter what may happen?" she asked.
+
+"No matter what may happen."
+
+I kissed her fervently with warm words of passionate devotion upon my
+lips, and went forth into the rainy winter's night with my suspicions
+swept away and with love renewed within me.
+
+I had been foolish in my suspicions and apprehensions, and hated
+myself for it. Her sweet devotedness to me was sufficient proof of her
+honesty. I was not wealthy by any means, and I knew that if she chose
+she could, with her notable beauty, captivate a rich husband without
+much difficulty. Husbands are only unattainable by the blue-stocking,
+the flirt and the personally angular.
+
+The rain pelted down in torrents as I walked to Kew Gardens Station,
+and as it generally happens to the unlucky doctor that calls are made
+upon him in the most inclement weather, I found, on returning to
+Harley Place, that Lady Langley, in Hill Street, had sent a message
+asking me to go round at once. I was therefore compelled to pay the
+visit, for her ladyship--a snappy old dowager--was a somewhat exacting
+patient of Sir Bernard's.
+
+She was a fussy old person who believed herself to be much worse than
+she really was, and it was, therefore, not until past one o'clock that
+I smoked my final pipe, drained my peg, and retired to bed, full of
+recollections of my well-beloved.
+
+Just before turning in my man brought me a telegram from Sir Bernard,
+dispatched from Brighton, regarding a case to be seen on the following
+day. He was very erratic about telegrams and sent them to me at all
+hours, therefore it was no extraordinary circumstance. He always
+preferred telegraphing to writing letters. I read the message, tossed
+it with its envelope upon the fire, and then retired with a fervent
+hope that I should at least be allowed to have a complete night's
+rest. Sir Bernard's patients were, however, of that class who call the
+doctor at any hour for the slightest attack of indigestion, and
+summonses at night were consequently very frequent.
+
+I suppose I had been in bed a couple of hours when I was awakened by
+the electric bell sounding in my man's room, and a few minutes later
+he entered, saying:--
+
+"There's a man who wants to see you immediately, sir. He says he's
+from Mr. Courtenay's, down at Kew."
+
+"Mr. Courtenay's!" I echoed, sitting up in bed. "Bring him in here."
+
+A few moments later the caller was shown in.
+
+"Why, Short!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter?"
+
+"Matter, doctor," the man stammered. "It's awful, sir!"
+
+"What's awful?"
+
+"My poor master, sir. He's dead--he's been murdered!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DISCLOSES A MYSTERY.
+
+
+The man's amazing announcement held me speechless.
+
+"Murdered!" I cried when I found tongue. "Impossible!"
+
+"Ah! sir, it's too true. He's quite dead."
+
+"But surely he has died from natural causes--eh?"
+
+"No, sir. My poor master has been foully murdered."
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked breathlessly. "Tell me all the facts."
+
+I saw by the man's agitation, his white face, and the hurried manner
+in which he had evidently dressed to come in search of me, that
+something tragic had really occurred.
+
+"We know nothing yet, sir," was his quick response. "I entered his
+room at two o'clock, as usual, to see if he wanted anything, and saw
+that he was quite still, apparently asleep. The lamp was turned low,
+but as I looked over the bed I saw a small dark patch upon the sheet.
+This I discovered to be blood, and a moment later was horrified to
+discover a small wound close to the heart, and from it the blood was
+slowly oozing."
+
+"Then he's been stabbed, you think?" I gasped, springing up and
+beginning to dress myself hastily.
+
+"We think so, sir. It's awful!"
+
+"Terrible!" I said, utterly dumbfounded by the man's amazing story.
+"After you made the discovery, how did you act?"
+
+"I awoke the nurse, who slept in the room adjoining. And then we
+aroused Miss Mivart. The shock to her was terrible, poor young lady.
+When she saw the body of the old gentleman she burst into tears, and
+at once sent me to you. I didn't find a cab till I'd walked almost to
+Hammersmith, and then I came straight on here."
+
+"But is there undoubtedly foul play, Short?"
+
+"No doubt whatever, sir. I'm nothing of a doctor, but I could see the
+wound plainly, like a small clean cut just under the heart."
+
+"No weapon about?"
+
+"I didn't see anything, sir."
+
+"Have you called the police?"
+
+"No, sir. Miss Mivart said she would wait until you arrived. She wants
+your opinion."
+
+"And Mrs. Courtenay. How does she bear the tragedy?"
+
+"The poor lady doesn't know yet."
+
+"Doesn't know? Haven't you told her?"
+
+"No, sir. She's not at home."
+
+"What? She hasn't returned?"
+
+"No, sir," responded the man.
+
+That fact was in itself peculiar. Yet there was, I felt sure, some
+strong reason if young Mrs. Courtenay remained the night with her
+friends, the Hennikers. Trains run to Kew after the theatres, but she
+had possibly missed the last, and had been induced by her friends to
+remain the night with them in town.
+
+Yet the whole of the tragic affair was certainly very extraordinary.
+It was Short's duty to rise at two o'clock each morning and go to his
+master's room to ascertain if the invalid wanted anything. Generally,
+however, the old gentleman slept well, hence there had been no
+necessity for a night nurse.
+
+When I entered the cab, and the man having taken a seat beside me, we
+had set out on our long night drive to Kew, I endeavoured to obtain
+more details regarding the Courtenay _menage_. In an ordinary way I
+could scarcely have questioned a servant regarding his master and
+mistress, but on this drive I saw an occasion to obtain knowledge, and
+seized it.
+
+Short, although a well-trained servant, was communicative. The shock
+he had sustained in discovering his master made him so.
+
+After ten years' service he was devoted to his master, but from the
+remarks he let drop during our drive I detected that he entertained a
+strong dislike of the old gentleman's young wife. He was, of course,
+well aware of my affection for Ethelwynn, and carefully concealed his
+antipathy towards her, an antipathy which I somehow felt convinced
+existed. He regarded both sisters with equal mistrust.
+
+"Does your mistress often remain in town with her friends at night?"
+
+"Sometimes, when she goes to balls."
+
+"And is that often?"
+
+"Not very often."
+
+"And didn't the old gentleman know of his wife's absence?"
+
+"Sometimes. He used to ask me whether Mrs. Courtenay was at home, and
+then I was bound to tell the truth."
+
+By his own admission then, this man Short had informed the invalid of
+his wife's frequent absences. He was an informer, and as such most
+probably the enemy of both Mary and Ethelwynn. I knew him to be the
+confidential servant of the old gentleman, but had not before
+suspected him of tale-telling. Without doubt Mrs. Courtenay's recent
+neglect had sorely grieved the old gentleman. He doted upon her,
+indulged her in every whim and fancy and, like many an aged husband
+who has a smart young wife, dared not to differ from her or complain
+of any of her actions. There is a deal of truth in the adage, "There's
+no fool like an old fool."
+
+But the mystery was increasing, and as we drove together down that
+long interminable high road through Hammersmith to Chiswick, wet, dark
+and silent at that hour, I reflected that the strange presage of
+insecurity which had so long oppressed me was actually being
+fulfilled. Ambler Jevons had laughed at it. But would he laugh now?
+To-morrow, without doubt, he would be working at the mystery in the
+interests of justice. To try to keep the affair out of the Press
+would, I knew too well, be impossible. Those men, in journalistic
+parlance called "liners," are everywhere, hungry for copy, and always
+eager to seize upon anything tragic or mysterious.
+
+From Short I gathered a few additional details. Not many, be it said,
+but sufficient to make it quite clear that he was intensely
+antagonistic towards his mistress. This struck me as curious, for as
+far as I had seen she had always treated him with the greatest
+kindness and consideration, had given him holidays, and to my
+knowledge had, a few months before, raised his wages of her own
+accord. Nevertheless, the _menage_ was a strange one, incongruous in
+every respect.
+
+My chief thoughts were, however, with my love. The shock to her must,
+I knew, be terrible, especially as Mary was absent and she was alone
+with the nurse and servants.
+
+When I sprang from the cab and entered the house she met me in the
+hall. She had dressed hastily and wore a light shawl over her head,
+probably to conceal her disordered hair, but her face was blanched to
+the lips.
+
+"Oh, Ralph!" she cried in a trembling voice. "I thought you were never
+coming. It's terrible--terrible!"
+
+"Come in here," I said, leading her into the dining room. "Tell me all
+you know of the affair."
+
+"Short discovered him just after two o'clock. He was then quite
+still."
+
+"But there may be life," I exclaimed suddenly, and leaving her I
+rushed up the stairs and into the room where the old man had chatted
+to me so merrily not many hours before.
+
+The instant my gaze fell upon him I knew the truth. Cadaveric rigidity
+had supervened, and he had long been beyond hope of human aid. His
+furrowed face was as white as ivory, and his lower jaw had dropped in
+that manner that unmistakably betrays the presence of death.
+
+As the man had described, the sheet was stained with blood. But there
+was not much, and I was some moments before I discovered the wound. It
+was just beneath the heart, cleanly cut, and about three-quarters of
+an inch long, evidently inflicted by some sharp instrument. He had no
+doubt been struck in his sleep, and with such precision that he had
+died without being able to raise the alarm.
+
+The murderer, whoever he was, had carried the weapon away.
+
+I turned and saw Ethelwynn, a pale wan figure in her light gown and
+shawl, standing on the threshold, watching me intently. She stood
+there white and trembling, as though fearing to enter the presence of
+the dead.
+
+I made a hasty tour of the room, examining the window and finding it
+fastened. As far as I could discover, nothing whatever was disturbed.
+
+Then I went out to her and, closing the door behind me, said--
+
+"Short must go along to the police station. We must report it."
+
+"But is it really necessary?" she asked anxiously. "Think of the awful
+exposure in the papers. Can't we hush it up? Do, Ralph--for my sake,"
+she implored.
+
+"But I can't give a death certificate when a person has been
+murdered," I explained. "Before burial there must be a _post-mortem_
+and an inquest."
+
+"Then you think he has actually been murdered?"
+
+"Of course, without a doubt. It certainly isn't suicide."
+
+The discovery had caused her to become rigid, almost statuesque.
+Sudden terror often acts thus upon women of her highly nervous
+temperament. She allowed me to lead her downstairs and back to the
+dining room. On the way I met Short in the hall, and ordered him to go
+at once to the police station.
+
+"Now, dearest," I said, taking her hand tenderly in mine when we were
+alone together with the door closed, "tell me calmly all you know of
+this awful affair."
+
+"I--I know nothing," she declared. "Nothing except what you already
+know. Short knocked at my door and I dressed hastily, only to discover
+that the poor old gentleman was dead."
+
+"Was the house still locked up?"
+
+"I believe so. The servants could, I suppose, tell that."
+
+"But is it not strange that Mary is still absent?" I remarked,
+perplexed.
+
+"No, not very. Sometimes she has missed her last train and has stopped
+the night with the Penn-Pagets or the Hennikers. It is difficult, she
+says, to go to supper after the theatre and catch the last train. It
+leaves Charing Cross so early."
+
+Again there seemed a distinct inclination on her part to shield her
+sister.
+
+"The whole thing is a most profound mystery," she went on. "I must
+have slept quite lightly, for I heard the church clock strike each
+quarter until one o'clock, yet not an unusual sound reached me.
+Neither did nurse hear anything."
+
+Nurse Kate was an excellent woman whom I had known at Guy's through
+several years. Both Sir Bernard and myself had every confidence in
+her, and she had been the invalid's attendant for the past two years.
+
+"It certainly is a mystery--one which we must leave to the police to
+investigate. In the meantime, however, we must send Short to Redcliffe
+Square to find Mary. He must not tell her the truth, but merely say
+that her husband is much worse. To tell her of the tragedy at once
+would probably prove too great a blow."
+
+"She ought never to have gone to town and left him," declared my
+well-beloved in sudden condemnation of her sister's conduct. "She will
+never forgive herself."
+
+"Regrets will not bring the poor fellow to life again," I said with a
+sigh. "We must act, and act promptly, in order to discover the
+identity of the murderer and the motive of the crime. That there is a
+motive is certain; yet it is indeed strange that anyone should
+actually kill a man suffering from a disease which, in a few months at
+most, must prove fatal. The motive was therefore his immediate
+decease, and that fact will probably greatly assist the police in
+their investigations."
+
+"But who could have killed him?"
+
+"Ah! that's the mystery. If, as you believe, the house was found to be
+still secured when the alarm was raised, then it would appear that
+someone who slept beneath this roof was guilty."
+
+"Oh! Impossible! Remember there are only myself and the servants. You
+surely don't suspect either of them?"
+
+"I have no suspicion of anyone at present," I answered. "Let the
+police search the place, and they may discover something which will
+furnish them with a clue."
+
+I noticed some telegraph-forms in the stationery rack on a small
+writing-table, and taking one scribbled a couple of lines to Sir
+Bernard, at Hove, informing him of the mysterious affair. This I
+folded and placed in my pocket in readiness for the re-opening of the
+telegraph office at eight o'clock.
+
+Shortly afterwards we heard the wheels of the cab outside, and a few
+minutes later were joined by a police inspector in uniform and an
+officer in plain clothes.
+
+In a few brief sentences I explained to them the tragic circumstances,
+and then led them upstairs to the dead man's room.
+
+After a cursory glance around, they went forth again out upon the
+landing in order to await the arrival of two other plain-clothes
+officers who had come round on foot, one of them the sergeant of the
+Criminal Investigation Department attached to the Kew station. Then,
+after giving orders to the constable on the beat to station himself at
+the door and allow no one to enter or leave without permission, the
+three detectives and the inspector entered the room where the dead man
+lay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+Having explained who I was, I followed the men in and assisted them in
+making a careful and minute examination of the place.
+
+Search for the weapon with which the crime had been committed proved
+fruitless; hence it was plain that the murderer had carried it away.
+There were no signs whatever of a struggle, and nothing to indicate
+that the blow had been struck by any burglar with a motive of
+silencing the prostrate man.
+
+The room was a large front one on the first floor, with two French
+windows opening upon a balcony formed by the big square portico. Both
+were found to be secured, not only by the latches, but also by long
+screws as an extra precaution against thieves, old Mr. Courtenay, like
+many other elderly people, being extremely nervous of midnight
+intruders. The bedroom itself was well furnished in genuine Sheraton,
+which he had brought up from his palatial home in Devonshire, for the
+old man denied himself no personal comfort. The easy chair in which he
+had sat when I had paid my visit was still in its place at the
+fireside, with the footstool just as he had left it; the drawers which
+we opened one after another showed no sign of having been rummaged,
+and the sum result of our investigations was absolutely _nil_.
+
+"It looks very much as though someone in the house had done it,"
+whispered the inspector seriously to me, having first glanced at the
+door to ascertain that it was closed.
+
+"Yes," I admitted, "appearances certainly do point to that."
+
+"Who was the young lady who met us downstairs?" inquired the detective
+sergeant, producing a small note-book and pencil.
+
+"Miss Ethelwynn Mivart, sister to Mrs. Courtenay."
+
+"And is Mrs. Courtenay at home?" he inquired, making a note of the
+name.
+
+"No. We have sent for her. She's staying with friends in London."
+
+"Hulloa! There's an iron safe here!" exclaimed one of the men
+rummaging at the opposite side of the room. He had pulled away a chest
+of drawers from the wall, revealing what I had never noticed before,
+the door of a small fireproof safe built into the wall.
+
+"Is it locked?" inquired the inspector.
+
+The man, after trying the knob and examining the keyhole, replied in
+the affirmative.
+
+"Keeps his deeds and jewellery there, I suppose," remarked one of the
+other detectives. "He seems to have been very much afraid of burglars.
+I wonder whether he had any reason for that?"
+
+"Like many old men he was a trifle eccentric," I replied. "Thieves
+once broke into his country house years ago, I believe, and he
+therefore entertained a horror of them."
+
+We all examined the keyhole of the safe, but there was certainly no
+evidence to show that it had been tampered with. On the contrary, the
+little oval brass plate which closed the hole was rusty, and had not
+apparently been touched for weeks.
+
+While they were searching in other parts of the room I directed my
+attention to the position and appearance of my late patient. He was
+lying on his right side with one arm slightly raised in quite a
+natural attitude for one sleeping. His features, although the pallor
+of death was upon them and they were relaxed, showed no sign of
+suffering. The blow had been unerring, and had no doubt penetrated to
+the heart. The crime had been committed swiftly, and the murderer had
+escaped unseen and unheard.
+
+The eider-down quilt, a rich one of Gobelin blue satin, had scarcely
+been disturbed, and save for the small spot of blood upon the sheet,
+traces of a terrible crime were in no way apparent.
+
+While, however, I stood at the bedside, at the same spot most probably
+where the murderer had stood, I suddenly felt something uneven between
+the sole of my boot and the carpet. So intent was I upon the
+examination I was making that at first my attention was not attracted
+by it, but on stepping on it a second time I looked down and saw
+something white, which I quickly picked up.
+
+The instant I saw it I closed my hand and hid it from view.
+
+Then I glanced furtively around, and seeing that my action had been
+unobserved I quickly transferred it to my vest pocket, covering the
+movement by taking out my watch to glance at it.
+
+I confess that my heart beat quickly, and in all probability the
+colour at that moment had left my face, for I had, by sheer accident,
+discovered a clue.
+
+To examine it there was impossible, for of such a character was it
+that I had no intention, as yet, to arouse the suspicions of the
+police. I intended at the earliest moment to apprise my friend, Ambler
+Jevons, of the facts and with him pursue an entirely independent
+inquiry.
+
+Scarcely had I safely pocketed the little object I had picked up from
+where the murderer must have stood when the inspector went out upon
+the landing and called to the constable in the hall:
+
+"Four-sixty-two, lock that door and come up here a moment."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered a gruff voice from below, and in a few moments
+the constable entered, closing the door after him.
+
+"How many times have you passed this house on your beat to-night,
+four-sixty-two?" inquired the inspector.
+
+"About eight, sir. My beat's along the Richmond Road, from the Lion
+Gate down to the museum, and then around the back streets."
+
+"Saw nothing?"
+
+"I saw a man come out of this house hurriedly, soon after I came on
+duty. I was standing on the opposite side, under the wall of the
+Gardens. The lady what's downstairs let him out and told him to fetch
+the doctor quickly."
+
+"Ah! Short, the servant," I observed.
+
+"Where is he?" asked the inspector, while the detective with the ready
+note-book scribbled down the name.
+
+"He came to fetch me, and Miss Mivart has now sent him to fetch her
+sister. He was the first to make the discovery."
+
+"Oh, was he?" exclaimed the detective-sergeant, with some suspicion.
+"It's rather a pity that he's been sent out again. He might be able to
+tell us something."
+
+"He'll be back in an hour, I should think."
+
+"Yes, but every hour is of consequence in a matter of this sort,"
+remarked the sergeant. "Look here, Davidson," he added, turning to one
+of the plain-clothes men, "just go round to the station and send a
+wire to the Yard, asking for extra assistance. Give them a brief
+outline of the case. They'll probably send down Franks or Moreland. If
+I'm not mistaken, there's a good deal more in this mystery than meets
+the eye."
+
+The man addressed obeyed promptly, and left.
+
+"What do you know of the servants here?" asked the inspector of the
+constable.
+
+"Not much, sir. Six-forty-eight walks out with the cook, I've heard.
+She's a respectable woman. Her father's a lighterman at Kew Bridge. I
+know 'em all here by sight, of course. But there's nothing against
+them, to my knowledge, and I've been a constable in this sub-division
+for eighteen years."
+
+"The man--what's his name?--Short. Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I've often seen him in the 'Star and Garter' at Kew
+Bridge."
+
+"Drinks?"
+
+"Not much, sir. He was fined over at Brentford six months ago for
+letting a dog go unmuzzled. His greatest friend is one of the
+gardeners at the Palace--a man named Burford, a most respectable
+fellow."
+
+"Then there's no suspicion of anyone as yet?" remarked the inspector,
+with an air of dissatisfaction. In criminal mysteries the police often
+bungle from the outset, and to me it appeared as though, having no
+clue, they were bent on manufacturing one.
+
+I felt in my vest pocket and touched the little object with a feeling
+of secret satisfaction. How I longed to be alone for five minutes in
+order to investigate it!
+
+The inspector, having dismissed the constable and sent him back to his
+post to unlock the door for the detective to pass out, next turned his
+attention to the servants and the remainder of the house. With that
+object we all descended to the dining-room.
+
+Ethelwynn met us at the foot of the stairs, still wearing the shawl
+about her head and shoulders. She placed a trembling hand upon my arm
+as I passed, asking in a low anxious voice:
+
+"Have you found anything, Ralph? Tell me."
+
+"No, nothing," I replied, and then passed into the dining-room, where
+the nurse and domestics had been assembled.
+
+The nurse, a plain matter-of-fact woman, was the first person to be
+questioned. She explained to us how she had given her patient his last
+dose of medicine at half-past eleven, just after Miss Mivart had
+wished her good-night and retired to her room. Previously she had been
+down in the drawing-room chatting with the young lady. The man Short
+was then upstairs with his master.
+
+"Was the deceased gentleman aware of his wife's absence?" the
+inspector asked presently.
+
+"Yes. He remarked to me that it was time she returned. I presume that
+Short had told him."
+
+"What time was this?"
+
+"Oh! about half-past ten, I should think," replied Nurse Kate. "He
+said something about it being a bad night to go out to a theatre, and
+hoped she would not take cold."
+
+"He was not angry?"
+
+"Not in the least. He was never angry when she went to town. He used
+to say to me, 'My wife's a young woman, nurse. She wants a little
+amusement sometimes, and I'm sure I don't begrudge it to her.'"
+
+This puzzled me quite as much as it puzzled the detective. I had
+certainly been under the impression that husband and wife had
+quarrelled over the latter's frequent absences from home. Indeed, in a
+household where the wife is young and the husband elderly, quarrels of
+that character are almost sure to occur sooner or later. As a doctor I
+knew the causes of domestic infelicity in a good many homes. Men in my
+profession see a good deal, and hear more. Every doctor could unfold
+strange tales of queer households if he were not debarred by the bond
+of professional secrecy.
+
+"You heard no noise during the night?" inquired the inspector.
+
+"None. I'm a light sleeper as a rule, and wake at the slightest
+sound," the woman replied. "But I heard absolutely nothing."
+
+"Anyone, in order to enter the dead man's room, must have passed your
+door, I think?"
+
+"Yes, and what's more, the light was burning and my door was ajar. I
+always kept it so in order to hear if my patient wanted anything."
+
+"Then the murderer could see you as he stood on the landing?"
+
+"No. There's a screen at the end of my bed. He could not see far into
+the room. But I shudder to think that to-night I've had an assassin a
+dozen feet from me while I slept," she added.
+
+Finding that she could throw no light upon the mysterious affair, the
+officer turned his attention to the four frightened domestics, each in
+turn.
+
+All, save one, declared that they heard not a single sound. The one
+exception was Alice, the under housemaid, a young fair-haired girl,
+who stated that during the night she had distinctly heard a sound like
+the low creaking of light shoes on the landing below where they slept.
+
+This first aroused our interest, but on full reflection it seemed so
+utterly improbable that an assassin would wear a pair of creaky boots
+when on such an errand that we were inclined to disregard the girl's
+statement as a piece of imagination. The feminine mind is much given
+to fiction on occasions of tragic events.
+
+But the girl over and over again asserted that she had heard it. She
+slept alone in a small room at the top of the second flight of stairs
+and had heard the sound quite distinctly.
+
+"When you heard it what did you do?"
+
+"I lay and listened."
+
+"For how long?"
+
+"Oh, quite a quarter of an hour, I should think. It was just before
+half-past one when I heard the noise, for the church clock struck
+almost immediately afterwards. The sound of the movement was such as I
+had never before heard at night, and at first I felt frightened. But I
+always lock my door, therefore I felt secure. The noise was just like
+someone creeping along very slowly, with one boot creaking."
+
+"But if it was so loud that you could hear it with your door closed,
+it is strange that no one else heard it," the detective-sergeant
+remarked dubiously.
+
+"I don't care what anybody else heard, I heard it quite plainly," the
+girl asserted.
+
+"How long did it continue?" asked the detective.
+
+"Oh, only just as though someone was stealing along the corridor. We
+often hear movements at nights, because Short is always astir at two
+o'clock, giving the master his medicine. If it hadn't ha' been for the
+creaking I should not have taken notice of it. But I lay quite wide
+awake for over half an hour--until Short came banging at our doors,
+telling us to get up at once, as we were wanted downstairs."
+
+"Well," exclaimed the inspector, "now, I want to ask all of you a very
+simple question, and wish to obtain an honest and truthful reply. Was
+any door or window left unfastened when you went to bed?"
+
+"No, sir," the cook replied promptly. "I always go round myself, and
+see that everything is fastened."
+
+"The front door, for example?"
+
+"I bolted it at Miss Ethelwynn's orders."
+
+"At what time?"
+
+"One o'clock. She told me to wait up till then, and if mistress did
+not return I was to lock up and go to bed."
+
+"Then the tragedy must have been enacted about half an hour later?"
+
+"I think so, sir."
+
+"You haven't examined the doors and windows to see if any have been
+forced?"
+
+"As far as I can see, they are just as I left them when I went to bed,
+sir."
+
+"That's strange--very strange," remarked the inspector, turning to us.
+"We must make an examination and satisfy ourselves."
+
+The point was one that was most important in the conduct of the
+inquiry. If all doors and windows were still locked, then the assassin
+was one of that strange household.
+
+Led by the cook, the officers began a round of the lower premises. One
+of the detectives borrowed the constable's bull's-eye and, accompanied
+by a second officer, went outside to make an examination of the
+window sashes, while we remained inside assisting them in their search
+for any marks.
+
+Ethelwynn had been called aside by one of the detectives, and was
+answering some questions addressed to her, therefore for an instant I
+found myself alone. It was the moment I had been waiting for, to
+secretly examine the clue I had obtained.
+
+I was near the door of the morning room, and for a second slipped
+inside and switched on the electric light.
+
+Then I took from my vest pocket the tiny little object I had found and
+carefully examined it.
+
+My heart stood still. My eyes riveted themselves upon it. The mystery
+was solved.
+
+I alone knew the truth!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY.
+
+
+A light footstep sounded behind me, and scarcely had I time to thrust
+the little object hastily back into my pocket when my well-beloved
+entered in search of me.
+
+"What do the police think, Ralph?" she asked eagerly. "Have they any
+clue? Do tell me."
+
+"They have no clue," I answered, in a voice which I fear sounded hard
+and somewhat abrupt.
+
+Then I turned from her, as though fully occupied with the
+investigations at which I was assisting, and went past her, leaving
+her standing alone.
+
+The police were busy examining the doors and windows of the back
+premises, kitchens, scullery, and pantry, but could find no evidence
+of any lock or fastening having been tampered with. The house, I must
+explain, was a large detached red brick one, standing in a lawn that
+was quite spacious for a suburban house, and around it ran an asphalte
+path which diverged from the right hand corner of the building and ran
+in two parts to the road, one a semi-circular drive which came up to
+the portico from the road, and the other, a tradesmen's path, that ran
+to the opposite extremity of the property.
+
+From the back kitchen a door led out upon this asphalted tradesmen's
+path, and as I rejoined the searchers some discussion was in
+progress as to whether the door in question had been secured. The
+detective-sergeant had found it unbolted and unlocked, but the cook
+most positively asserted that she had both locked and bolted it at
+half-past ten, when the under housemaid had come in from her "evening
+out." None of the servants, however, recollected having undone the
+door either before the alarm or after. Perhaps Short had done so, but
+he was absent, in search of the dead man's widow.
+
+The police certainly spared no pains in their search. They turned the
+whole place upside down. One man on his hands and knees, and carrying
+a candle, carefully examined the blue stair-carpet to see if he could
+find the marks of unusual feet. It was wet outside, and if an intruder
+had been there, there would probably remain marks of muddy feet. He
+found many, but they were those of the constable and detectives. Hence
+the point was beyond solution.
+
+The drawing-room, the dining-room, the morning-room, and the big
+conservatory were all closely inspected, but without any satisfactory
+result. My love followed us everywhere, white-faced and nervous, with
+the cream chenille shawl still over her shoulders. She had hastily put
+up her wealth of dark hair, and now wore the shawl wrapped lightly
+about her.
+
+That shawl attracted me. I managed to speak with her alone for a
+moment, asking her quite an unimportant question, but nevertheless
+with a distinct object. As we stood there I placed my hand upon her
+shoulder--and upon the shawl. It was for that very reason--in order
+to feel the texture of the silk--that I returned to her.
+
+The contact of my hand with the silk was convincing. I turned from her
+once again, and rejoined the shrewd men whose object it was to fasten
+the guilt upon the assassin.
+
+Presently we heard the welcome sound of cab wheels outside, and a few
+minutes later young Mrs. Courtenay, wild eyed and breathless, rushed
+into the hall and dashed headlong up the stairs. I, however, barred
+her passage.
+
+"Let me pass!" she cried wildly. "Short has told me he is worse and
+has asked for me. Let me pass!"
+
+"No, Mary, not so quickly. Let me tell you something," I answered
+gravely, placing my hand firmly upon her arm. The police were again
+re-examining the back premises below, and only Ethelwynn was present
+at the top of the stairs, where I arrested her progress to the dead
+man's room.
+
+"But is there danger?" she demanded anxiously. "Tell me."
+
+"The crisis is over," I responded ambiguously. "But is not your
+absence to-night rather unusual?"
+
+"It was entirely my own fault," she admitted. "I shall never forgive
+myself for this neglect. After the theatre we had supper at the Savoy,
+and I lost my last train. Dolly Henniker, of course, asked me to stay,
+and I could not refuse." Then glancing from my face to that of her
+sister she asked: "Why do you both look so strange? Tell me," she
+shrieked. "Tell me the worst. Is he--is he _dead_?"
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+For a second she stood dumb, then gave vent to a long wail, and would
+have fallen senseless if I had not caught her in my arms and laid her
+back upon the long settee placed in an alcove on the landing. She,
+like all the others, had dressed hurriedly. Her hair was dishevelled
+beneath her hat, but her disordered dress was concealed by her long
+ulster heavily lined with silver fox, a magnificent garment which her
+doting husband had purchased through a friend at Moscow, and presented
+to her as a birthday gift.
+
+From her manner it was only too plain that she was filled with
+remorse. I really pitied her, for she was a light-hearted, flighty,
+little woman who loved gaiety, and, without an evil thought, had no
+doubt allowed her friends to draw her into that round of amusement.
+They sympathised with her--as every woman who marries an old man is
+sympathised with--and they gave her what pleasures they could. Alas!
+that such a clanship between women so often proves fatal to domestic
+happiness. Judged from a logical point of view it was merely natural
+that young Mrs. Courtenay should, after a year or two with an invalid
+husband, aged and eccentric, beat her wings against the bars. She was
+a pretty woman, almost as pretty as her sister, but two years older,
+with fair hair, blue eyes, and a pink and white, almost doll-like
+complexion. Indeed, I knew quite well that she had long had a host of
+admirers, and that just prior to her marriage with Courtenay it had
+been rumoured that she was to marry the heir to an earldom, a rather
+rakish young cavalry officer up at York.
+
+To restore her to consciousness was not a difficult matter, but after
+she had requested me to tell her the whole of the ghastly truth she
+sat speechless, as though turned to stone.
+
+Her manner was unaccountable. She spoke at last, and to me it seemed
+as though the fainting fit had caused her an utter loss of memory. She
+uttered words at random, allowing her tongue to ramble on in strange
+disjointed sentences, of which I could make nothing.
+
+"My head! Oh! my head!" she kept on exclaiming, passing her hand
+across her brow as though to clear her brain.
+
+"Does it pain you?" I inquired.
+
+"It seems as though a band of iron were round it. I can't think. I--I
+can't remember!" And she glanced about her helplessly, her eyes with a
+wild strange look in them, her face so haggard and drawn that it gave
+her a look of premature age.
+
+"Oh! Mary, dear!" cried Ethelwynn, taking both her cold hands. "Why,
+what's the matter? Calm yourself, dear." Then turning to me she asked,
+"Can nothing be done, Ralph? See--she's not herself. The shock has
+unbalanced her brain."
+
+"Ralph! Ethelwynn!" gasped the unfortunate woman, looking at us with
+an expression of sudden wonder. "What has happened? Did I understand
+you aright? Poor Henry is dead?"
+
+"Unfortunately that is the truth." I was compelled to reply. "It is a
+sad affair, Mary, and you have all our sympathy. But recollect he was
+an invalid, and for a long time his life has been despaired of."
+
+I dared not yet tell her the terrible truth that he had been the
+victim of foul play.
+
+"It is my fault!" she cried. "My place was here--at home. But--but why
+was I not here?" she added with a blank look. "Where did I go?"
+
+"Don't you remember that you went to London with the Hennikers?" I
+said.
+
+"Ah! of course!" she exclaimed. "How very stupid of me to forget. But
+do you know, I've never experienced such a strange sensation before.
+My memory is a perfect blank. How did I return here?"
+
+"Short fetched you in a cab."
+
+"Short? I--I don't recollect seeing him. Somebody knocked at my door
+and said I was wanted, because my husband had been taken worse, so I
+dressed and went down. But after that I don't recollect anything."
+
+"Her mind is a trifle affected by the shock," I whispered to my love.
+"Best take her downstairs into one of the rooms and lock the door.
+Don't let her see the police. She didn't notice the constable at the
+door. She'll be better presently."
+
+I uttered these words mechanically, but, truth to tell, these
+extraordinary symptoms alarmed and puzzled me. She had fainted at
+hearing of the death of her husband, just as many other wives might
+have fainted; but to me there seemed no reason whatsoever why the
+swoon should be followed by that curious lapse of memory. The question
+she had put to me showed her mind to be a blank. I could discern
+nothing to account for the symptoms, and the only remedy I could
+suggest was perfect quiet. I intended that, as soon as daylight came,
+both women should be removed to the house of some friend in the
+vicinity.
+
+The scene of the tragedy was no place for two delicate women.
+
+Notwithstanding Mrs. Courtenay's determination to enter her husband's
+room I managed at last to get them both into the morning-room and
+called the nurse and cook to go in and assist in calming her, for her
+lapse of memory had suddenly been followed by a fit of violence.
+
+"I must see him!" she shrieked. "I will see him! You can't prevent me.
+I am his wife. My place is at his side!"
+
+My love exchanged looks with me. Her sister's extraordinary manner
+utterly confounded us.
+
+"You shall see him later," I promised, endeavouring to calm her. "At
+present remain quiet. No good can possibly be done by this wild
+conduct."
+
+"Where is Sir Bernard?" she inquired suddenly. "Have you telegraphed
+for him? I must see him."
+
+"As soon as the office is open I shall wire."
+
+"Yes, telegraph at the earliest moment. Tell him of the awful blow
+that has fallen upon us."
+
+Presently, by dint of much persuasion, we managed to quiet her. The
+nurse removed her hat, helped her out of her fur-lined coat, and she
+sat huddled up in a big "grandfather" chair, her handsome evening gown
+crushed and tumbled, the flowers she had worn in her corsage on the
+previous night drooping and withered.
+
+For some time she sat motionless, her chin sunk upon her breast, the
+picture of dejection, until, of a sudden, she roused herself, and
+before we were aware of her intention she had torn off her marriage
+ring and cast it across the room, crying wildly:
+
+"It is finished. He is dead--dead!"
+
+And she sank back again, among the cushions, as though exhausted by
+the effort.
+
+What was passing through her brain at that moment I wondered. Why
+should a repulsion of the marriage bond seize her so suddenly, and
+cause her to tear off the golden fetter under which she had so long
+chafed? There was some reason, without a doubt; but at present all was
+an enigma--all save one single point.
+
+When I returned to the police to urge them not to disturb Mrs.
+Courtenay, I found them assembled in the conservatory discussing an
+open window, by which anyone might easily have entered and left. The
+mystery of the kitchen door had been cleared up by Short, who admitted
+that after the discovery he had unlocked and unbolted it, in order to
+go round the outside of the house and see whether anyone was lurking
+in the garden.
+
+When I was told this story I remarked that he had displayed some
+bravery in acting in such a manner. No man cares to face an assassin
+unarmed.
+
+The man looked across at me with a curious apprehensive glance, and
+replied:
+
+"I was armed, sir. I took down one of the old Indian daggers from the
+hall."
+
+"Where is it now?" inquired the inspector, quickly, for at such a
+moment the admission that he had had a knife in his possession was
+sufficient to arouse a strong suspicion.
+
+"I hung it up again, sir, before going out to call the doctor," he
+replied quite calmly.
+
+"Show me which it was," I said; and he accompanied me out to the hall
+and pointed to a long thin knife which formed part of a trophy of
+antique Indian weapons.
+
+In an instant I saw that such a knife had undoubtedly inflicted the
+wound in the dead man's breast.
+
+"So you armed yourself with this?" I remarked, taking down the knife
+with affected carelessness, and examining it.
+
+"Yes, doctor. It was the first thing that came to hand. It's sharp,
+for I cut myself once when cleaning it."
+
+I tried its edge, and found it almost as keen as a razor. It was about
+ten inches long, and not more than half an inch broad, with a hilt of
+carved ivory, yellow with age, and inlaid with fine lines of silver.
+Certainly a very dangerous weapon. The sheath was of purple velvet,
+very worn and faded.
+
+I walked back to where the detectives were standing, and examined the
+blade beneath the light. It was bright, and had apparently been
+recently cleaned. It might have been cleaned and oil smeared upon it
+after the commission of the crime. Yet as far as I could discern with
+the naked eye there was no evidence that it had recently been used.
+
+It was the man's curious apprehensive glance that had first aroused my
+suspicion, and the admissions that he had opened the back door, and
+that he had been armed, both increased my mistrust. The detectives,
+too, were interested in the weapon, but were soon satisfied that,
+although a dangerous knife, it bore no stain of blood.
+
+So I put it back in its case and replaced it. But I experienced some
+difficulty in getting the loop of wire back upon the brass-headed nail
+from which it was suspended; and it then occurred to me that Short, in
+the excitement of the discovery, and ordered by Ethelwynn to go at
+once in search of me, would not without some motive remain there,
+striving to return the knife to its place. Such action was unnatural.
+He would probably have cast it aside and dashed out in search of a
+cab. Indeed, the constable on the beat had seen him rush forth
+hurriedly and, urged by Ethelwynn, run in the direction of Kew Bridge.
+
+No. Somehow I could not rid myself of the suspicion that the man was
+lying. To my professional eye the weapon with which the wound had been
+inflicted was the one which he admitted had been in his possession.
+
+The story that he had unlocked the door and gone in search of the
+assassin struck the inspector, as it did myself, as a distinctly lame
+tale.
+
+I longed for the opening of the telegraph office, so that I might
+summon my friend Jevons to my aid. He revelled in mysteries, and if
+the present one admitted of solution I felt confident that he would
+solve it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE.
+
+
+People were about me the whole time. Hence I had no opportunity of
+re-examining the little object I had picked up from the spot where the
+murderer must have stood.
+
+When morning dawned two detectives from Scotland Yard arrived, made
+notes of the circumstances, examined the open window in the
+conservatory, hazarded a few wise remarks, and closely scrutinised the
+dagger in the hall.
+
+Ethelwynn had taken her sister to a friend in the vicinity,
+accompanied by the nurse and the cook. The house was now in the
+possession of the police, and it had already become known in the
+neighbourhood that old Mr. Courtenay was dead. In all probability
+early passers-by, men on their way to work, had noticed a constable in
+uniform enter or leave, and that had excited public curiosity. I hoped
+that Ambler Jevons would not delay, for I intended that he should be
+first in the field. If ever he had had a good mystery before him this
+certainly was one. I knew how keen was his scent for clues, and how
+carefully and ingeniously he worked when assisting the police to get
+at the bottom of any such affair.
+
+He came a little after nine in hot haste, having driven from
+Hammersmith in a hansom. I was upstairs when I heard his deep cheery
+voice crying to the inspector from Scotland Yard:
+
+"Hulloa, Thorpe. What's occurred? My friend Doctor Boyd has just wired
+to me."
+
+"Murder," responded the inspector. "You'll find the doctor somewhere
+about. He'll explain it all to you. Queer case--very queer case, sir,
+it seems."
+
+"Is that you, Ambler?" I called over the banisters. "Come up here."
+
+He came up breathlessly, two steps at a time, and gripping my hand,
+asked:
+
+"Who's been murdered?"
+
+"Old Mr. Courtenay."
+
+"The devil!" he ejaculated.
+
+"A most mysterious affair," I went on. "They called me soon after
+three, and I came down here, only to find the poor old gentleman stone
+dead--stabbed to the heart."
+
+"Let me see him," my friend said in a sharp business-like tone, which
+showed that he intended to lose no time in sifting the matter. He had
+his own peculiar methods of getting at the bottom of a mystery. He
+worked independently, and although he assisted the police and was
+therefore always welcomed by them, his efforts were always apart, and
+generally marked by cunning ingenuity and swift logical reasoning that
+were alike remarkable and marvellous.
+
+I gave him a brief terse outline of the tragedy, and then, unlocking
+the door of the room where the dead man still lay in the same position
+as when discovered, allowed him in.
+
+The place was in darkness, so I drew up the Venetian blinds, letting
+in the grey depressing light of the wintry morning.
+
+He advanced to the bed, stood in the exact spot where I had stood, and
+where without doubt the murderer had stood, and folding his arms gazed
+straight and long upon the dead man's features.
+
+Then he gave vent to a kind of dissatisfied grunt, and turned down the
+coverlet in order to examine the wound, while I stood by his side in
+silence.
+
+Suddenly he swung round on his heel, and measured the paces between
+the bed and the door. Then he went to the window and looked out;
+afterwards making a tour of the room slowly, his dark eyes searching
+everywhere. He did not open his lips in the presence of the dead. He
+only examined everything, swiftly and yet carefully, opening the door
+slowly and closing it just as slowly, in order to see whether it
+creaked or not.
+
+It creaked when closed very slowly. The creaking was evidently what
+the under-housemaid had heard and believed to be the creaking of
+boots. The murderer, finding that it creaked, had probably closed it
+by degrees; hence it gave a series of creaks, which to the girl had
+sounded in the silence of the night like those of new boots.
+
+Ambler Jevons had, almost at the opening of his inquiry, cleared up
+one point which had puzzled us.
+
+When he had concluded his examination of the room and re-covered the
+dead face with the sheet, we emerged into the corridor. Then I told
+him of the servant's statement.
+
+"Boots!" he echoed in a tone of impatience. "Would a murderer wear
+creaking boots? It was the door, of course. It opens noiselessly, but
+when closed quietly it creaks. Curious, however, that he should have
+risked the creaking and the awakening of the household in order to
+close it. He had some strong motive in doing so."
+
+"He evidently had a motive in the crime," I remarked. "If we could
+only discover it, we might perhaps fix upon the assassin."
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed, thoughtfully. "But to tell the truth, Ralph, old
+chap, the fact which is puzzling me most of all at this moment is that
+extraordinary foreboding of evil which you confessed to me the day
+before yesterday. You had your suspicions aroused, somehow. Cudgel
+your brains, and think what induced that very curious presage of
+evil."
+
+"I've tried and tried over again, but I can fix on nothing. Only
+yesterday afternoon, when Sir Bernard incidentally mentioned old Mr.
+Courtenay, it suddenly occurred to me that the curious excitement
+within me had some connection with him. Of course he was a patient,
+and I may have studied his case and given a lot of thought to it, but
+that wouldn't account for such an oppression as that from which I've
+been suffering."
+
+"You certainly did have the blues badly the night before last," he
+said frankly. "And by some unaccountable manner your curious feeling
+was an intuition of this tragic occurrence. Very odd and mysterious,
+to say the least."
+
+"Uncanny, I call it," I declared.
+
+"Yes, I agree with you," he answered. "It is an uncanny affair
+altogether. Tell me about the ladies. Where are they?"
+
+I explained how Mrs. Courtenay had been absent, and how she had been
+prostrated by the news of his death.
+
+He stroked his moustache slowly, deeply reflecting.
+
+"Then at present she doesn't know that he's been murdered? She thinks
+that he was taken ill, and expired suddenly?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+And I went on to describe the wild scene which followed my admission
+that her husband was dead. I explained it to him in detail, for I saw
+that his thoughts were following in the same channel as my own. We
+both pitied the unfortunate woman. My friend knew her well, for he had
+often accompanied me there and had spent the evening with us.
+Ethelwynn liked him for his careless Bohemianism, and for the fund of
+stories always at his command. Sometimes he used to entertain us for
+hours together, relating details of mysteries upon which he had at one
+time or another been engaged. Women are always fond of mysteries, and
+he often held both of them breathless by his vivid narratives.
+
+Thorpe, the detective from Scotland Yard, a big, sturdily-built,
+middle-aged man, whose hair was tinged with grey, and whose round,
+rosy face made him appear the picture of good health, joined us a
+moment later. In a low, mysterious tone he explained to my friend the
+circumstance of Short having admitted possession of the knife hanging
+in the hall.
+
+In it Ambler Jevons at once scented a clue.
+
+"I never liked that fellow!" he exclaimed, turning to me. "My
+impression has always been that he was a sneak, and told old Courtenay
+everything that went on, either in drawing-room or kitchen."
+
+Thorpe, continuing, explained how the back door had been found
+unfastened, and how Short had admitted unfastening it in order to go
+forth to seek the assassin.
+
+"A ridiculous story--utterly absurd!" declared Jevons. "A man doesn't
+rush out to shed blood for blood like that!"
+
+"Of course not," agreed the detective. "To my mind appearances are
+entirely against this fellow. Yet, we have one fact to bear in mind,
+namely, that being sent to town twice he was afforded every
+opportunity for escape."
+
+"He was artful," I remarked. "He knew that his safest plan was to
+remain and face it. If, as seems very probable, the crime was planned,
+it was certainly carried out at a most propitious moment."
+
+"It certainly was," observed my friend, carefully scrutinising the
+knife, which Thorpe had brought to him. "This," he said, "must be
+examined microscopically. You can do that, Boyd. It will be easy to
+see if there are any traces of blood upon it. To all appearances it
+has been recently cleaned and oiled."
+
+"Short admits cleaning it, but he says he did so three days ago," I
+exclaimed.
+
+He gave vent to another low grunt, from which I knew that the
+explanation was unsatisfactory, and replaced the knife in its faded
+velvet sheath.
+
+Save for the man upon whom suspicion had thus fallen, the servants had
+all gone to the house where their mistress was lodged, after being
+cautioned by the police to say nothing of the matter, and to keep
+their mouths closed to all the reporters who would no doubt very soon
+be swarming into the district eager for every scrap of information.
+Their evidence would be required at the inquest, and the police
+forbade them, until then, to make any comment, or to give any
+explanation of the mysterious affair. The tongues of domestics wag
+quickly and wildly in such cases, and have many times been the means
+of defeating the ends of justice by giving away important clues to the
+Press.
+
+Ambler Jevons, however, was a practised hand at mysteries. He sat down
+in the library, and with his crabbed handwriting covered two sheets of
+paper with notes upon the case. I watched as his pencil went swiftly
+to work, and when he had finished I saw him underline certain words he
+had written.
+
+"Thorpe appears to suspect that fellow Short," he remarked, when I met
+him again in the library a quarter of an hour later. "I've just been
+chatting with him, and to me his demeanour is not that of a guilty
+man. He's actually been upstairs with the coroner's officer in the
+dead man's room. A murderer generally excuses himself from entering
+the presence of his victim."
+
+"Well," I exclaimed, after a pause, "you know the whole circumstances
+now. Can you see any clue which may throw light on the affair?"
+
+He slowly twisted his moustache again; then twisted his plain gold
+ring slowly round the little finger on the left hand--a habit of his
+when perplexed.
+
+"No, Ralph, old chap; can't say I do," he answered. "There's an
+unfathomable mystery somewhere, but in what direction I'm utterly at a
+loss to distinguish."
+
+"But do you think that the assassin is a member of the household? That
+seems to me our first point to clear up."
+
+"That's just where we're perplexed. Thorpe suspects Short; but the
+police so often rush to conclusions on a single suspicion. Before
+condemning him it is necessary to watch him narrowly, and note his
+demeanour and his movements. If he is guilty he'll betray himself
+sooner or later. Thorpe was foolish to take down that knife a second
+time. The fellow might have seen him and had his suspicions aroused
+thereby. That's the worst of police inquiries. They display so little
+ingenuity. It is all method--method--method. Everything must be done
+by rule. They appear to overlook the fact that a window in the
+conservatory was undoubtedly left open," he added.
+
+"Well?" I asked, noticing that he was gazing at me strangely, full in
+the face.
+
+"Well, has it not occurred to you that that window might have been
+purposely left open?"
+
+"You mean that the assassin entered and left by that window?"
+
+"I mean to suggest that the murder might have been connived at by one
+of the household, if the man we suspect were not the actual assassin
+himself."
+
+The theory was a curious one, but I saw that there were considerable
+grounds for it. As in many suburban houses, the conservatory joined
+the drawing-room, an unlocked glass door being between them. The
+window that had been left unfastened was situated at the further end,
+and being low down was in such a position that any intruder might
+easily have entered and left. Therefore the suggestion appeared a
+sound one--more especially so because the cook had most solemnly
+declared that she had fastened it securely before going up to bed.
+
+In that case someone must have crept down and unfastened it after the
+woman had retired, and done so with the object of assisting the
+assassin.
+
+But Ambler Jevons was not a man to remain idle for a single moment
+when once he became interested in a mystery. To his keen perception
+and calm logical reasoning had been due the solution of "The
+Mornington Crescent Mystery," which, as all readers of this narrative
+will remember, for six months utterly perplexed Scotland Yard; while
+in a dozen other notable cases his discoveries had placed the police
+on the scent of the guilty person. Somehow he seemed to possess a
+peculiar facility in the solving of enigmas. At ordinary times he
+struck one as a rather careless, easy-going man, who drifted on
+through life, tasting and dealing in tea, with regular attendance at
+Mark Lane each day. Sometimes he wore a pair of cheap pince-nez, the
+frames of which were rusty, but these he seldom assumed unless he was
+what he termed "at work." He was at work now, and therefore had stuck
+the pince-nez on the bridge of his nose, giving him a keener and
+rather more intelligent appearance.
+
+"Excuse me," he exclaimed, suddenly twisting his ring again round his
+finger. "I've just thought of something else. I won't be a moment,"
+and he rushed from the library and ran upstairs to the floor above.
+
+His absence gave me an opportunity to re-examine the little object
+which I had picked up from the floor at the earlier stages of the
+inquiry; and advancing to the window I took it from my pocket and
+looked again at it, utterly confounded.
+
+Its appearance presented nothing extraordinary, for it was merely a
+soft piece of hard-knotted cream-coloured chenille about half-an-inch
+long. But sight of it lying in the palm of my hand held me spellbound
+in horror.
+
+It told me the awful truth. It was nothing less than a portion of the
+fringe of the cream shawl which my love had been wearing, and just as
+chenille fringes will come to pieces, it had become detached and
+fallen where she had stood at that spot beside the victim's bed.
+
+There was a smear of blood upon it.
+
+I recollected her strangely nervous manner, her anxiety to ascertain
+what clue we had discovered and to know the opinion of the police.
+Yes, if guilt were ever written upon a woman's face, it was upon hers.
+
+Should I show the tiny fragment to my friend? Should I put it into his
+hands and tell him the bitter truth--the truth that I believed my love
+to be a murderess?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SHADOWS.
+
+
+The revelation held me utterly dumfounded.
+
+Already I had, by placing my hand in contact with the shawl,
+ascertained its exact texture, and saw that both its tint and its
+fabric were unquestionably the same as the knotted fragment I held in
+my hand. Chenille shawls, as every woman knows, must be handled
+carefully or the lightly-made fringe will come asunder; for the kind
+of cord of floss silk is generally made upon a single thread, which
+will break with the slightest strain.
+
+By some means the shawl in question had accidentally become
+entangled--or perhaps been strained by the sudden uplifting of the arm
+of the wearer. In any case the little innocent-looking fragment had
+snapped, and dropped at the bedside of the murdered man.
+
+The grave suspicions of Ethelwynn which I had held on the previous
+night when she endeavoured to justify her sister's neglect again
+crowded upon me, and Sir Bernard's hint at the secret of her past
+thrust the iron deeply into my heart.
+
+My eyes were fixed upon the little object in my palm--the silent but
+damning evidence--and my mind became filled by bitterest regrets. I
+saw how cleverly I had been duped--I recognised that this woman, whom
+I thought an angel, was only a cunning assassin.
+
+No, believe me: I was not prejudging her! The thought had already
+occurred to me that she might have entered the room wearing that shawl
+perhaps to wish the invalid good-night. She had, however, in answer to
+my question, declared that she had retired to bed without seeing
+him--for Nurse Kate had told her that he was sleeping. She had
+therefore not disturbed him.
+
+Then, yet another thought had occurred to me. She might have worn the
+shawl when she entered after the raising of the alarm. In order to
+clear up that point I had questioned the servants, one by one, and all
+had told me the same story, namely, that Miss Ethelwynn had not
+entered the room at all. She had only come to the door and glanced in,
+then turned away in horror and shut herself in her own room. As far as
+anyone knew, she had not summoned sufficient courage to go in and look
+upon the dead man's face. She declared herself horrified, and dared
+not to enter the death chamber.
+
+In the light of my discovery all these facts as related to me made the
+truth only too apparent. She had entered there unknown to anyone, and
+that her presence had been with a fell purpose I could no longer
+doubt.
+
+If I gave the clue into Ambler Jevons' hands he would, I knew, quickly
+follow it, gathering up the threads of the tangled skein one by one,
+until he could openly charge her with the crime. I stood undecided
+how to act. Should I leave my friend to make his own investigations
+independently and unbiassed, or should I frankly tell him of my own
+startling discovery?
+
+I carefully went through the whole of the circumstances, weighing
+point after point, and decided at last to still retain the knowledge I
+had gained. The point which outbalanced my intention was that curious
+admission of Short regarding the possession of the knife. So I
+resolved to say nothing to my friend until after the inquest.
+
+As may be imagined, the London papers that afternoon were full of the
+mystery. Nothing like a first-class "sensation," sub-editors will tell
+you. There is art in alliterative headlines and startling
+"cross-heads." The inevitable interview with "a member of the
+family"--who is generally anonymous, be it said--is sure to be eagerly
+devoured by the public. The world may sneer at sensational journalism,
+but after all it loves to have its curiosity excited over the tragic
+denouement of some domestic secret. As soon as the first information
+reached the Central News and Press Association, therefore, reporters
+crowded upon us. Representatives, not only of the metropolitan press,
+but those of the local newspapers, the "Richmond and Twickenham
+Times," the "Independent," over at Brentford, the "Middlesex
+Chronicle" at Hounslow, and the "Middlesex Mercury," of Isleworth, all
+vied with each other in obtaining the most accurate information.
+
+"Say nothing," Jevons urged. "Be civil, but keep your mouth closed
+tight. There are one or two friends of mine among the crowd. I'll see
+them and give them something that will carry the story further.
+Remember, you mustn't make any statement whatsoever."
+
+I obeyed him, and although the reporters followed me about all the
+morning, and outside the house the police had difficulty in preventing
+a crowd assembling, I refused to express any opinion or describe
+anything I had witnessed.
+
+At eleven o'clock I received a wire from Sir Bernard at Hove as
+follows:--
+
+"Much shocked at news. Unfortunately very unwell, but shall endeavour
+to be with you later in the day."
+
+At mid-day I called at the neighbour's house close to Kew Gardens
+Station, where the widow and her sister had taken refuge. Mrs.
+Courtenay was utterly broken down, for Ethelwynn had told her the
+terrible truth that her husband had been murdered, and both women
+pounced upon me eagerly to ascertain what theory the police now held.
+
+I looked at the woman who had held me so long beneath her spell. Was
+it possible that one so open-faced and pure could be the author of so
+dastardly and cowardly a crime? Her face was white and anxious, but
+the countenance had now reassumed its normal innocence of expression,
+and in her eyes I saw the genuine love-look of old. She had arranged
+her hair and dress, and no longer wore the shawl.
+
+"It's terrible--terrible, Ralph," she cried. "Poor Mary! The blow has
+utterly crushed her."
+
+"I am to blame--it is my own fault!" exclaimed the young widow,
+hoarsely. "But I had no idea that his end was so near. I tried to be a
+dutiful wife, but oh--only Ethelwynn knows how hard it was, and how I
+suffered. His malady made him unbearable, and instead of quarrelling I
+thought the better plan was to go out and leave him with the nurse.
+What people have always said, was, alas! too true. Owing to the
+difference of our ages our marriage was a ghastly failure. And now it
+has ended in a tragedy."
+
+I responded in words as sympathetic as I could find tongue to utter.
+Her eyes were red with crying, and her pretty face was swollen and
+ugly. I knew that she now felt a genuine regret at the loss of her
+husband, even though her life had been so dull and unhappy.
+
+While she sat in a big armchair bowed in silence, I turned to
+Ethelwynn and discussed the situation with her. Their friends were
+most kind, she said. The husband was churchwarden at Kew Church, and
+his wife was an ardent church worker, hence they had long ago become
+excellent friends.
+
+"You have your friend, Mr. Jevons, with you, I hear. Nurse has just
+returned and told me so."
+
+"Yes," I responded. "He is making an independent inquiry."
+
+"And what has he found?" she inquired breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+Then, as I watched her closely, I saw that she breathed again more
+freely. By the manner in which she uttered Ambler's name I detected
+that she was not at all well-disposed towards him. Indeed, she spoke
+as though she feared that he might discover the truth.
+
+After half-an-hour I left, and more puzzled than ever, returned to the
+house in Richmond Road. Sometimes I felt entirely convinced that my
+love was authoress of the foul deed; yet at others there seemed
+something wanting in the confirmation of my suspicions. Regarding the
+latter I could not overlook the fact that Short had told a story which
+was false on the face of it, while the utter absence of any motive on
+my love's part in murdering the old gentleman seemed to point in an
+entirely opposite direction.
+
+Dr. Diplock, the coroner, had fixed the inquest for eleven o'clock on
+the morrow; therefore I assisted Dr. Farmer, of Kew, the police
+surgeon, to make the post-mortem.
+
+We made the examination in the afternoon, before the light faded, and
+if the circumstances of the crime were mysterious, the means by which
+the unfortunate man was murdered were, we found, doubly so.
+
+Outwardly, the wound was an ordinary one, one inch in breadth,
+inflicted by a blow delivered from left to right. The weapon had
+entered between the fourth and fifth ribs, and the heart had been
+completely transfixed by some sharp cutting instrument. The injuries
+we discovered within, however, increased the mystery ten-fold, for we
+found two extraordinary lateral incisions, which almost completely
+divided the heart from side to side, the only remaining attachment of
+the upper portion to the lower being a small portion of the anterior
+wall of the heart behind the sternum.
+
+Such a wound was absolutely beyond explanation.
+
+The instrument with which the crime had been committed by striking
+between the ribs had penetrated to the heart with an unerring
+precision, making a terrible wound eight times the size within, as
+compared with the exterior puncture. And yet the weapon had been
+withdrawn, and was missing!
+
+For fully an hour we measured and discussed the strange discovery,
+hoping all the time that Sir Bernard would arrive. The knife which the
+man Short confessed he had taken down in self-defence we compared with
+the exterior wound and found, as we anticipated, that just such a
+wound could be caused by it. But the fact that the exterior cut was
+cleanly done, while the internal injuries were jagged and the tissues
+torn in a most terrible manner, caused a doubt to arise whether the
+Indian knife, which was double-edged, had actually been used. To be
+absolutely clear upon this point it would be necessary to examine it
+microscopically, for the corpuscles of human blood are easily
+distinguished beneath the lens.
+
+We were about to conclude our examination in despair, utterly unable
+to account for the extraordinary wound, when the door opened and Sir
+Bernard entered.
+
+He looked upon the body of his old friend, not a pleasing spectacle
+indeed, and then grasped my hand without a word.
+
+"I read the evening paper on my way up," he said at last in a voice
+trembling with emotion. "The affair seems very mysterious. Poor
+Courtenay! Poor fellow!"
+
+"It is sad--very sad," I remarked. "We have just concluded the
+post-mortem;" and then I introduced the police surgeon to the man
+whose name was a household word throughout the medical profession.
+
+I showed my chief the wound, explained its extraordinary features, and
+asked his opinion. He removed his coat, turned up his shirt-cuffs,
+adjusted his big spectacles, and, bending beside the board upon which
+the body lay, made a long and careful inspection of the injury.
+
+"Extraordinary!" he ejaculated. "I've never known of such a wound
+before. One would almost suspect an explosive bullet, if it were not
+for the clean incised wound on the exterior. The ribs seem grazed, yet
+the manner in which such a hurt has been inflicted is utterly
+unaccountable."
+
+"We have been unable to solve the enigma," Dr. Farmer observed. "I was
+an army surgeon before I entered private practice, but I have never
+seen a similar case."
+
+"Nor have I," responded Sir Bernard. "It is most puzzling."
+
+"Do you think that this knife could have been used?" I asked, handing
+my chief the weapon.
+
+He looked at it, raised it in his hand as though to strike, felt its
+edge, and then shook his head, saying: "No, I think not. The
+instrument used was only sharp on one edge. This has both edges
+sharpened."
+
+It was a point we had overlooked, but at once we agreed with him, and
+abandoned our half-formed theory that the Indian dagger had caused the
+wound.
+
+With Sir Bernard we made an examination of the tongue and other
+organs, in order to ascertain the progress of the disease from which
+the deceased had been suffering, but a detailed account of our
+discoveries can have no interest for the lay reader.
+
+In a word, our conclusions were that the murdered man could easily
+have lived another year or more. The disease was not so advanced as we
+had believed. Sir Bernard had a patient to see in Grosvenor Square;
+therefore he left at about four o'clock, regretting that he had not
+time to call round at the neighbour's and express his sympathy with
+the widow.
+
+"Give her all my sympathies, poor young lady," he said to me. "And
+tell her that I will call upon her to-morrow." Then, after promising
+to attend the inquest and give evidence regarding the post-mortem, he
+shook hands with us both and left.
+
+At eight o'clock that evening I was back in my own rooms in Harley
+Place, eating my dinner alone, when Ambler Jevons entered.
+
+He was not as cheery as usual. He did not exclaim, as was his habit,
+"Well, my boy, how goes it? Whom have you killed to-day?" or some such
+grim pleasantry.
+
+On the contrary, he came in with scarcely a word, threw his hat upon a
+side table, and sank into his usual arm chair with scarcely a word,
+save the question uttered in almost a growl:
+
+"May I smoke?"
+
+"Of course," I said, continuing my meal. "Where have you been?"
+
+"I left while you were cutting up the body," he said. "I've been about
+a lot since then, and I'm a bit tired."
+
+"You look it. Have a drink?"
+
+"No," he responded, shaking his head. "I don't drink when I'm
+bothered. This case is an absolute mystery." And striking a match he
+lit his foul pipe and puffed away vigorously, staring straight into
+the fire the while.
+
+"Well," I asked, after a long silence. "What's your opinion now?"
+
+"I've none," he answered, gloomily. "What's yours?"
+
+"Mine is that the mystery increases hourly."
+
+"What did you find at the cutting-up?"
+
+In a few words I explained the unaccountable nature of the wound,
+drawing for him a rough diagram on the back of an old envelope, which
+I tossed over to where he sat.
+
+He looked at it for a long time without speaking, then observed:
+
+"H'm! Just as I thought. The police theory regarding that fellow Short
+and the knife is all a confounded myth. Depend upon it, Boyd, old
+chap, that gentleman is no fool. He's tricked Thorpe finely--and with
+a motive, too."
+
+"What motive do you suspect?" I inquired, eagerly, for this was an
+entirely fresh theory.
+
+"One that you'd call absurd if I were to tell it to you now. I'll
+explain later on, when my suspicions are confirmed--as I feel sure
+they will be before long."
+
+"You're mysterious, Ambler," I said, surprised. "Why?"
+
+"I have a reason, my dear chap," was all the reply he vouchsafed. Then
+he puffed again vigorously at his pipe, and filled the room with
+clouds of choking smoke of a not particularly good brand of tobacco.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS.
+
+
+At the inquest held in the big upstair room of the Star and Garter
+Hotel at Kew Bridge there was a crowded attendance. By this time the
+public excitement had risen to fever-heat. It had by some
+unaccountable means leaked out that at the post-mortem we had been
+puzzled; therefore the mystery was much increased, and the papers that
+morning without exception gave prominence to the startling affair.
+
+The coroner, seated at the table at the head of the room, took the
+usual formal evidence of identification, writing down the depositions
+upon separate sheets of blue foolscap.
+
+Samuel Short was the first witness of importance, and those in the
+room listened breathlessly to the story of how his alarum clock had
+awakened him at two o'clock; how he had risen as usual and gone to his
+master's room, only to discover him dead.
+
+"You noticed no sign of a struggle?" inquired the coroner, looking
+sharply up at the witness.
+
+"None, sir. My master was lying on his side, and except for the stain
+of blood which attracted my attention it looked as though he had died
+in his sleep."
+
+"And what did you do?"
+
+"I raised the alarm," answered Short; and then he went on to describe
+how he switched on the electric light, rushed downstairs, seized the
+knife hanging in the hall, opened one of the back doors and rushed
+outside.
+
+"And why did you do that, pray?" asked the coroner, looking at him
+fixedly.
+
+"I thought that someone might be lurking in the garden," the man
+responded, a trifle lamely.
+
+The solicitor of Mrs. Courtenay's family, to whom she had sent asking
+him to be present on her behalf, rose at this juncture and addressing
+the coroner, said:
+
+"I should like to put a question to the witness, sir. I represent the
+deceased's family."
+
+"As you wish," replied the coroner. "But do you consider such a course
+wise at this stage of the inquiry? There must be an adjournment."
+
+He understood the coroner's objection and, acquiescing, sat down.
+
+Nurse Kate and the cook were called, and afterwards Ethelwynn, who,
+dressed in black and wearing a veil, looked pale and fragile as she
+drew off her glove in order to take the oath.
+
+As she stood there our eyes met for an instant; then she turned
+towards her questioner, bracing herself for the ordeal.
+
+"When did you last see the deceased alive?" asked the coroner, after
+the usual formal inquiry as to her name and connection with the
+family.
+
+"At ten o'clock in the evening. Dr. Boyd visited him, and found him
+much better. After the doctor had gone I went upstairs and found the
+nurse with him, giving him his medicine. He was still sitting before
+the fire."
+
+"Was he in his usual spirits?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"What was the character of your conversation with him? I understand
+that Mrs. Courtenay, your sister, was out at the time. Did he remark
+upon her absence?"
+
+"Yes. He said it was a wet night, and he hoped she would not take
+cold, for she was so careless of herself."
+
+The coroner bent to his paper and wrote down her reply.
+
+"And you did not see him alive again."
+
+"No."
+
+"You entered the room after he was dead, I presume?"
+
+"No. I--I hadn't the courage," she faltered. "They told me that he was
+dead--that he had been stabbed to the heart."
+
+Again the coroner bent to his writing. What, I wondered, would those
+present think if I produced the little piece of stained chenille which
+I kept wrapped in tissue paper and hidden in my fusee-box?
+
+To them it, of course, seemed quite natural that a delicate woman
+should hesitate to view a murdered man. But if they knew of my
+discovery they would detect that she was an admirable actress--that
+her horror of the dead was feigned, and that she was not telling the
+truth. I, who knew her countenance so well, saw even through her veil
+how agitated she was, and with what desperate resolve she was
+concealing the awful anxiety consuming her.
+
+"One witness has told us that the deceased was very much afraid of
+burglars," observed the coroner. "Had he ever spoken to you on the
+subject?"
+
+"Often. At his country house some years ago a burglary was committed,
+and one of the burglars fired at him but missed. I think that unnerved
+him, for he always kept a loaded revolver in the drawer of a table
+beside his bed. In addition to this he had electrical contrivances
+attached to the windows, so as to ring an alarm."
+
+"But it appears they did not ring," said the coroner, quickly.
+
+"They were out of order, the servants tell me. The bells had been
+silent for a fortnight or so."
+
+"It seems probable, then, that the murderer knew of that," remarked
+Dr. Diplock, again writing with his scratchy quill. Turning to the
+solicitor, he asked, "Have you any questions to put to the witness?"
+
+"None," was the response.
+
+And then the woman whom I had loved so fervently and well, turned and
+re-seated herself. She glanced across at me. Did she read my thoughts?
+
+Her glance was a glance of triumph.
+
+Medical evidence was next taken, Sir Bernard Eyton being the first
+witness. He gave his opinion in his habitual sharp, snappy voice,
+terse and to the point.
+
+In technical language he explained the disease from which his patient
+had been suffering, and then proceeded to describe the result of the
+post-mortem, how the wound inside was eight times larger than the
+exterior incision.
+
+"That seems very remarkable!" exclaimed the coroner, himself a surgeon
+of no mean repute, laying down his pen and regarding the physician
+with interest suddenly aroused. "Have you ever seen a similar wound in
+your experience, Sir Bernard?"
+
+"Never!" was the reply. "My friends, Doctor Boyd and Doctor Farmer,
+were with me, and we are agreed that it is utterly impossible that the
+cardiac injuries I have described could have been caused by the
+external wound."
+
+"Then how were they caused?" asked the coroner.
+
+"I cannot tell."
+
+There was no cross-examination. I followed, merely corroborating what
+my chief had said. Then, after the police surgeon had given his
+evidence, Dr. Diplock turned to the twelve Kew tradesmen who had been
+"summoned and sworn" as jurymen, and addressing them said:
+
+"I think, gentlemen, you have heard sufficient to show you that this
+is a more than usually serious case. There are certain elements both
+extraordinary and mysterious, and that being so I would suggest an
+adjournment, in order that the police should be enabled to make
+further enquiries into the matter. The deceased was a gentleman whose
+philanthropy was probably well known to you all, and we must all
+therefore regret that he should have come to such a sudden and tragic
+end. You may, of course, come to a verdict to-day if you wish, but I
+would strongly urge an adjournment--until, say, this day week."
+
+The jury conferred for a few moments, and after some whispering the
+foreman, a grocer at Kew Bridge, announced that his fellow jurymen
+acquiesced in the coroner's suggestion, and the public rose and slowly
+left, more puzzled than ever.
+
+Ambler Jevons had been present, sitting at the back of the room, and
+in order to avoid the others we lunched together at an obscure
+public-house in Brentford, on the opposite side of the Thames to Kew
+Gardens. It was the only place we could discover, save the hotel where
+the inquest had been held, and we had no desire to be interrupted, for
+during the inquiry he had passed me a scrap of paper upon which he had
+written an earnest request to see me alone afterwards.
+
+Therefore when I had put Ethelwynn into a cab, and had bade farewell
+to Sir Bernard and received certain private instructions from him, we
+walked together into the narrow, rather dirty High Street of
+Brentford, the county town of Middlesex.
+
+The inn we entered was close to a soap works, the odour from which was
+not conducive to a good appetite, but we obtained a room to ourselves
+and ate our meal of cold beef almost in silence.
+
+"I was up early this morning," Ambler observed at last. "I was at Kew
+at eight o'clock."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"In the night an idea struck me, and when such ideas occur I always
+seek to put them promptly into action."
+
+"What was the idea?" I asked.
+
+"I thought about that safe in the old man's bedroom," he replied,
+laying down his knife and fork and looking at me.
+
+"What about it? There's surely nothing extraordinary in a man having a
+safe in his room?"
+
+"No. But there's something extraordinary in the key of that safe being
+missing," he said. "Thorpe has apparently overlooked the point;
+therefore this morning I went down to Kew, and finding only a
+constable in charge, I made a thorough search through the place. In
+the dead man's room I naturally expected to find it, and after nearly
+a couple of hours searching in every nook and every crack I succeeded.
+It was hidden in the mould of a small pot-fern, standing in the
+corridor outside the room."
+
+"You examined the safe, then?"
+
+"No, I didn't. There might be money and valuables within, and I had no
+right to open it without the presence of a witness. I've waited for
+you to accompany me. We'll go there after luncheon and examine its
+contents."
+
+"But the executors might have something to say regarding such an
+action," I remarked.
+
+"Executors be hanged! I saw them this morning, a couple of dry-as-dust
+old fossils--city men, I believe, who only think of house property
+and dividends. Our duty is to solve this mystery. The executors can
+have their turn, old chap, when we've finished. At present they
+haven't the key, or any notion where it is. One of them mentioned it,
+and said he supposed it was in the widow's possession."
+
+"Well," I remarked, "I must say that I don't half like the idea of
+turning out a safe without the presence of the executors."
+
+"Police enquiries come before executors' inventories," he replied.
+"They'll get their innings all in good time. The house is, at present,
+in the occupation of the police, and nobody therefore can disturb us."
+
+"Have you told Thorpe?"
+
+"No. He's gone up to Scotland Yard to make his report. He'll probably
+be down again this afternoon. Let's finish, and take the ferry
+across."
+
+Thus persuaded I drained my ale, and together we went down to the
+ferry, landing at Kew Gardens, and crossing them until we emerged by
+the Unicorn Gate, almost opposite the house.
+
+There were loiterers still outside, men, women, and children, who
+lounged in the vicinity, staring blankly up at the drawn blinds. A
+constable in uniform admitted us. He had his lunch, a pot of beer and
+some bread and cheese which his wife had probably brought him, on the
+dining-room table, and we had disturbed him with his mouth full.
+
+He was the same man whom Ambler Jevons had seen in the morning, and as
+we entered he saluted, saying:
+
+"Inspector Thorpe has left a message for you, sir. He'll be back from
+the Yard about half-past three, and would very much like to see you."
+
+"Do you know why he wants to see me?"
+
+"It appears, sir, that one of the witnesses who gave evidence this
+morning is missing."
+
+"Missing!" he cried, pricking up his ears. "Who's missing?"
+
+"The manservant, sir. My sergeant told me an hour ago that as soon as
+the man had given evidence he went out, and was seen hurrying towards
+Gunnersbury Station. They believe he's absconded."
+
+I exchanged significant glances with my companion, but neither of us
+uttered a word. Ambler gave vent to his habitual grunt of
+dissatisfaction, and then led the way upstairs.
+
+The body had been removed from the room in which it had been found,
+and the bed was dismantled. When inside the apartment, he turned to me
+calmly, saying:
+
+"There seems something in Thorpe's theory regarding that fellow Short,
+after all."
+
+"If he has really absconded, it is an admission of guilt," I remarked.
+
+"Most certainly," he replied. "It's a suspicious circumstance, in any
+case, that he did not remain until the conclusion of the inquiry."
+
+We pulled the chest of drawers, a beautiful piece of old Sheraton,
+away from the door of the safe, and before placing the key in the lock
+my companion examined the exterior minutely. The key was partly
+rusted, and appeared as though it had not been used for many months.
+
+Could it be that the assassin was in search of that key and had been
+unsuccessful?
+
+He showed me the artful manner in which it had been concealed. The
+small hardy fern had been rooted up and stuck back again heedlessly
+into its pot. Certainly no one would ever have thought to search for a
+safe-key there. The dampness of the mould had caused the rust, hence
+before we could open the iron door we were compelled to oil the key
+with some brilliantine which was discovered on the dead man's dressing
+table.
+
+The interior, we found, was a kind of small strong-room--built of
+fire-brick, and lined with steel. It was filled with papers of all
+kinds neatly arranged.
+
+We drew up a table, and the first packet my friend handed out was a
+substantial one of five pound notes, secured by an elastic band,
+beneath which was a slip on which the amount was pencilled. Securities
+of various sorts followed, and then large packets of parchment deeds
+which, on examination, we found related to his Devonshire property and
+his farms in Canada.
+
+"Here's something!" cried Ambler at length, tossing across to me a
+small packet methodically tied with pink tape. "The old boy's
+love-letters--by the look of them."
+
+I undid the loop eagerly, and opened the first letter. It was in a
+feminine hand, and proved a curious, almost unintelligible
+communication.
+
+I glanced at the signature. My heart ceased its beating, and a sudden
+cry involuntarily escaped me, although next moment I saw that by it I
+had betrayed myself, for Ambler Jevons sprang to my side in an
+instant.
+
+But next instant I covered the signature with my hand, grasped the
+packet swift as thought, and turned upon him defiantly, without
+uttering a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS.
+
+
+"What have you found there?" inquired Ambler Jevons, quickly
+interested, and yet surprised at my determination to conceal it from
+him.
+
+"Something that concerns me," I replied briefly.
+
+"Concerns you?" he ejaculated. "I don't understand. How can anything
+among the old man's private papers concern you?"
+
+"This concerns me personally," I answered. "Surely that is sufficient
+explanation."
+
+"No," my friend said. "Forgive me, Ralph, for speaking quite plainly,
+but in this affair we are both working towards the same end--namely,
+to elucidate the mystery. We cannot hope for success if you are bent
+upon concealing your discoveries from me."
+
+"This is a private affair of my own," I declared doggedly. "What I
+have found only concerns myself."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct dissatisfaction.
+
+"Even if it is a purely private matter we are surely good friends
+enough to be cognisant of one another's secrets," he remarked.
+
+"Of course," I replied dubiously. "But only up to a certain point."
+
+"Then, in other words, you imply that you can't trust me?"
+
+"I can trust you, Ambler," I answered calmly. "We are the best of
+friends, and I hope we shall always be so. Will you not forgive me for
+refusing to show you these letters?"
+
+"I only ask you one question. Have they anything to do with the matter
+we are investigating?"
+
+I hesitated. With his quick perception he saw that a lie was not ready
+upon my lips.
+
+"They have. Your silence tells me so. In that case it is your duty to
+show me them," he said, quietly.
+
+I protested again, but he overwhelmed my arguments. In common fairness
+to him I ought not, I knew, keep back the truth. And yet it was the
+greatest and most terrible blow that had ever fallen upon me. He saw
+that I was crushed and stammering, and he stood by me wondering.
+
+"Forgive me, Ambler," I urged again. "When you have read this letter
+you will fully understand why I have endeavoured to conceal it from
+you; why, if you were not present here at this moment, I would burn
+them all and not leave a trace behind."
+
+Then I handed it to him.
+
+He took it eagerly, skimmed it through, and started just as I had
+started when he saw the signature. Upon his face was a blank
+expression, and he returned it to me without a word.
+
+"Well?" I asked. "What is your opinion?"
+
+"My opinion is the same as your own, Ralph, old fellow," he
+answered slowly, looking me straight in the face. "It is
+amazing--startling--tragic."
+
+"You think, then, that the motive of the crime was jealousy?"
+
+"The letter makes it quite plain," he answered huskily. "Give me the
+others. Let me examine them. I know how severe this blow must be to
+you, old fellow," he added, sympathetically.
+
+"Yes, it has staggered me," I stammered. "I'm utterly dumfounded by
+the unexpected revelation!" and I handed him the packet of
+correspondence, which he placed upon the table, and, seating himself,
+commenced eagerly to examine letter after letter.
+
+While he was thus engaged I took up the first letter, and read it
+through--right to the bitter end.
+
+It was apparently the last of a long correspondence, for all the
+letters were arranged chronologically, and this was the last of the
+packet. Written from Neneford Manor, Northamptonshire, and vaguely
+dated "Wednesday," as is a woman's habit, it was addressed to Mr.
+Courtenay, and ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Words cannot express my contempt for a man who breaks his
+     word as easily as you break yours. A year ago, when you were
+     my father's guest, you told me that you loved me, and urged
+     me to marry you. At first I laughed at your proposal; then
+     when I found you really serious, I pointed out the
+     difference of our ages. You, in return, declared that you
+     loved me with all the ardour of a young man; that I was your
+     ideal; and you promised, by all you held most sacred, that
+     if I consented I should never regret. I believed you, and
+     believed the false words of feigned devotion which you
+     wrote to me later under seal of strictest secrecy. You went
+     to Cairo, and none knew of our secret--the secret that you
+     intended to make me your wife. And how have you kept your
+     promise? To-day my father has informed me that you are to
+     marry Mary! Imagine the blow to me! My father expects me to
+     rejoice, little dreaming how I have been fooled; how lightly
+     you have treated a woman's affections and aspirations. Some
+     there are who, finding themselves in my position, would
+     place in Mary's hands the packet of your correspondence
+     which is before me as I write, and thus open her eyes to the
+     fact that she is but the dupe of a man devoid of honour.
+     Shall I do so? No. Rest assured that I shall not. If my
+     sister is happy, let her remain so. My vendetta lies not in
+     that direction. The fire of hatred may be stifled, but it
+     can never be quenched. We shall be quits some day, and you
+     will regret bitterly that you have broken your word so
+     lightly. My revenge--the vengeance of a jealous woman--will
+     fall upon you at a moment and in a manner you will little
+     dream of. I return you your letters, as you may not care for
+     them to fall into other hands, and from to-day I shall never
+     again refer to what has passed. I am young, and may still
+     obtain an upright and honourable man as husband. You are
+     old, and are tottering slowly to your doom. Farewell._
+
+                    "ETHELWYNN MIVART."
+
+The letter fully explained a circumstance of which I had been entirely
+ignorant, namely, that the woman I had loved had actually been
+engaged to old Mr. Courtenay before her sister had married him. Its
+tenor showed how intensely antagonistic she was towards the man who
+had fooled her, and in the concluding sentence there was a distinct if
+covert threat--a threat of bitter revenge.
+
+She had returned the old man's letters apparently in order to show
+that in her hand she held a further and more powerful weapon; she had
+not sought to break off his marriage with Mary, but had rather stood
+by, swallowed her anger, and calmly calculated upon a fierce vendetta
+at a moment when he would least expect it.
+
+Truly those startling words spoken by Sir Bernard had been full of
+truth. I remembered them now, and discerned his meaning. He was at
+least an honest upright man who, although sometimes a trifle
+eccentric, had my interests deeply at heart. In the progress I had
+made in my profession I owed much to him, and even in my private
+affairs he had sought to guide me, although I had, alas! disregarded
+his repeated warnings.
+
+I took up one after another of the letters my friend had examined, and
+found them to be the correspondence of a woman who was either angling
+after a wealthy husband, or who loved him with all the strength of her
+affection. Some of the communications were full of passion, and
+betrayed that poetry of soul that was innate in her. The letters were
+dated from Neneford, from Oban, and from various Mediterranean ports,
+where she had gone yachting with her uncle, Sir Thomas Heaton, the
+great Lancashire coal-owner. Sometimes she addressed him as "Dearest,"
+at others as "Beloved," usually signing herself "Your Own." So full
+were they of the ardent passion characteristic of her that they held
+me in amazement. It was passion developed under its most profound and
+serious aspects; they showed the calm and thoughtful, not the
+brilliant side of intellect.
+
+In Ethelwynn's character the passionate and the imaginative were
+blended equally and in the highest conceivable degree as combined with
+delicate female nature. Those letters, although written to a man in
+whose heart romance must long ago have been dead, showed how complex
+was her character, how fervent, enthusiastic and self-forgetting her
+love. At first I believed that those passionate outpourings were
+merely designed to captivate the old gentleman for his money; but when
+I read on I saw how intense her passion became towards the end, and
+how the culmination of it all was that wild reproachful missive
+written when the crushing blow fell so suddenly upon her.
+
+Ethelwynn was a woman of extraordinary character, full of picturesque
+charm and glowing romance. To be tremblingly alive to the gentle
+impressions, and yet be able to preserve, when the prosecution of a
+design requires it, an immovable heart, amidst even the most imperious
+causes of subduing emotion, is perhaps not an impossible constitution
+of mind, but it is the utmost and rarest endowment of humanity. I knew
+her as a woman of highest mental powers touched with a melancholy
+sweetness. I was now aware of the cause of that melancholy.
+
+Yet it was apparent that the serious and energetic part of her
+character was founded on deep passion, for after her sister's marriage
+with the man she had herself loved and had threatened, she had
+actually come there beneath their roof, and lived as her sister's
+companion, stifling all the hatred that had entered her heart, and
+preserving an outward calm that had no doubt entirely disarmed him.
+
+Such a circumstance was extraordinary. To me, as to Ambler Jevons who
+knew her well, it seemed almost inconceivable that old Mr. Courtenay
+should allow her to live there after receiving such a wild
+communication as that final letter. Especially curious, too, that Mary
+had never suspected or discovered her sister's jealousy. Yet so
+skilfully had Ethelwynn concealed her intention of revenge that both
+husband and wife had been entirely deceived.
+
+Love, considered under its poetical aspect, is the union of passion
+and imagination. I had foolishly believed that this calm, sweet-voiced
+woman had loved me, but those letters made it plain that I had been
+utterly fooled. "Le mystere de l'existence," said Madame de Stael to
+her daughter, "c'est la rapport de nos erreurs avec nos peines."
+
+And although there was in her, in her character, and in her terrible
+situation, a concentration of all the interests that belong to
+humanity, she was nevertheless a murderess.
+
+"The truth is here," remarked my friend, laying his hand upon the heap
+of tender correspondence which had been brought to such an abrupt
+conclusion by the letter I have printed in its entirety. "It is a
+strange, romantic story, to say the least."
+
+"Then you really believe that she is guilty?" I exclaimed, hoarsely.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders significantly, but no word escaped his lips.
+
+In the silence that fell between us, I glanced at him. His chin was
+sunk upon his breast, his brows knit, his thin fingers toying idly
+with the plain gold ring.
+
+"Well?" I managed to exclaim at last. "What shall we do?"
+
+"Do?" he echoed. "What can we do, my dear fellow? That woman's future
+is in your hands."
+
+"Why in mine?" I asked. "In yours also, surely?"
+
+"No," he answered resolutely, taking my hand and grasping it warmly.
+"No, Ralph; I know--I can see how you are suffering. You believed her
+to be a pure and honest woman--one above the common run--a woman fit
+for helpmate and wife. Well, I, too, must confess myself very much
+misled. I believed her to be all that you imagined; indeed, if her
+face be any criterion, she is utterly unspoiled by the world and its
+wickedness. In my careful studies in physiognomy I have found that
+very seldom does a perfect face like hers cover an evil heart. Hence,
+I confess, that this discovery has amazed me quite as much as it has
+you. I somehow feel----"
+
+"I don't believe it!" I cried, interrupting him. "I don't believe,
+Ambler, that she murdered him--I can't believe it. Her's is not the
+face of a murderess."
+
+"Faces sometimes deceive," he said quietly. "Recollect that a clever
+woman can give a truthful appearance to a lie where a man utterly
+fails."
+
+"I know--I know. But even with this circumstantial proof I can't and
+won't believe it."
+
+"Please yourself, my dear fellow," he answered. "I know it is hard to
+believe ill of a woman whom one loves so devotedly as you've loved
+Ethelwynn. But be brave, bear up, and face the situation like a man."
+
+"I am facing it," I said resolutely. "I will face it by refusing to
+believe that she killed him. The letters are plain enough. She was
+engaged secretly to old Courtenay, who threw her over in favour of her
+sister. But is there anything so very extraordinary in that? One hears
+of such things very often."
+
+"But the final letter?"
+
+"It bears evidence of being written in the first moments of wild anger
+on realising that she had been abandoned in favour of Mary. Probably
+she has by this time quite forgotten the words she wrote. And in any
+case the fact of her living beneath the same roof, supervising the
+household, and attending to the sick man during Mary's absence,
+entirely negatives any idea of revenge."
+
+Jevons smiled dubiously, and I myself knew that my argument was not
+altogether logical.
+
+"Well?" I continued. "And is not that your opinion?"
+
+"No. It is not," he replied, bluntly.
+
+"Then what is to be done?" I asked, after a pause.
+
+"The matter rests entirely with you, Ralph," he replied. "I know what
+I should do in a similar case."
+
+"What would you do? Advise me," I urged eagerly.
+
+"I should take the whole of the correspondence, just as it is, place
+it in the grate there, and burn it," he said.
+
+I was not prepared for such a suggestion. A similar idea had occurred
+to me, but I feared to suggest to him such a mode of defeating the
+ends of justice.
+
+"But if I do that will you give me a vow of secrecy?" I asked,
+quickly. "Recollect that such a step is a serious offence against the
+law."
+
+"When I pass out of this room I shall have no further recollection of
+ever having seen any letters," he answered, again giving me his hand.
+"In this matter my desire is only to help you. If, as you believe,
+Ethelwynn is innocent, then no harm can be done in destroying the
+letters, whereas if she is actually the assassin she must, sooner or
+later, betray her guilt. A woman may be clever, but she can never
+successfully cover the crime of murder."
+
+"Then you are willing that I, as finder of those letters, shall burn
+them? And further, that no word shall pass regarding this discovery?"
+
+"Most willing," he replied. "Come," he added, commencing to gather
+them together. "Let us lose no time, or perhaps the constable on duty
+below or one of the plain-clothes men may come prying in here."
+
+Then at his direction and with his assistance I willingly tore up each
+letter in small pieces, placed the whole in the grate where dead
+cinders still remained, and with a vesta set a light to them. For a
+few moments they blazed fiercely up the chimney, then died out,
+leaving only black tinder.
+
+"We must make a feint of having tried to light the fire," said Jevons,
+taking an old newspaper, twisting it up, and setting light to it in
+the grate, afterwards stirring up the dead tinder with the tinder of
+the letters. "I'll remark incidentally to the constable that we've
+tried to get a fire, and didn't succeed. That will prevent Thorpe
+poking his nose into it."
+
+So when the whole of the letters had been destroyed, all traces of
+their remains effaced and the safe re-locked, we went downstairs--not,
+however, before my companion had made a satisfactory explanation to
+the constable and entirely misled him as to what we had been doing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+I RECEIVE A VISITOR.
+
+
+The adjourned inquest was resumed on the day appointed in the big room
+at the Star and Garter at Kew, and the public, eager as ever for
+sensational details, overflowed through the bar and out into the
+street, until the police were compelled to disperse the crowd. The
+evening papers had worked up all kinds of theories, some worthy of
+attention, others ridiculous; hence the excitement and interest had
+become intense.
+
+The extraordinary nature of the wound which caused Mr. Courtenay's
+death was the chief element of mystery. Our medical evidence had
+produced a sensation, for we had been agreed that to inflict such a
+wound with any instrument which could pass through the exterior
+orifice was an absolute impossibility. Sir Bernard and myself were
+still both bewildered. In the consulting room at Harley Street we had
+discussed it a dozen times, but could arrive at no definite conclusion
+as to how such a terrible wound could possibly have been caused.
+
+I noticed a change in Sir Bernard. He seemed mopish, thoughtful, and
+somewhat despondent. Usually he was a busy, bustling man, whose manner
+with his patients was rather brusque, and who, unlike the majority of
+my own profession, went to the point at once. There is no profession
+in which one is compelled to exercise so much affected patience and
+courtesy as in the profession of medicine. Patients will bore you to
+death with long and tedious histories of all their ailments since the
+days when they chewed a gutta-percha teething-ring, and to appear
+impatient is to court a reputation for flippancy and want of
+attention. Great men may hold up their hands and cry "Enough!" But
+small men must sit with pencil poised, apparently intensely
+interested, and listen through until the patient has exhausted his
+long-winded recollections of all his ills.
+
+Contrary to his usual custom, Sir Bernard did not now return to Hove
+each evening, but remained at Harley Street--dining alone off a chop
+or a steak, and going out afterwards, probably to his club. His change
+of manner surprised me. I noticed in him distinct signs of nervous
+disorder; and on several afternoons he sent round to me at the
+Hospital, saying that he could not see his patients, and asking me to
+run back to Harley Street and take his place.
+
+On the evening before the adjourned inquest I remarked to him that he
+did not appear very well, and his reply, in a strained, desponding
+voice, was:
+
+"Poor Courtenay has gone. He was my best friend."
+
+Yes, it was as I expected, he was sorrowing over his friend.
+
+When we had re-assembled at the Star and Garter, he entered quietly
+and took a seat beside me just before the commencement of the
+proceedings.
+
+The Coroner, having read over all the depositions taken on the first
+occasion, asked the police if they had any further evidence to offer,
+whereupon the local inspector of the T Division answered with an air
+of mystery:
+
+"We have nothing, sir, which we can make public. Active inquiries are
+still in progress."
+
+"No further medical evidence?" asked the coroner.
+
+I turned towards Sir Bernard inquiringly, and as I did so my eye
+caught a face hidden by a black veil, seated among the public at the
+far side of the room. It was Ethelwynn herself--come there to watch
+the proceedings and hear with her own ears whether the police had
+obtained traces of the assassin!
+
+Her anxious countenance shone through her veil haggard and white; her
+eyes were fixed upon the Coroner. She hung breathlessly upon his every
+word.
+
+"We have no further evidence," replied the inspector.
+
+There was a pause. The public who were there in search of some
+solution of the bewildering mystery which had been published in every
+paper through the land, were disappointed. They had expected at least
+to hear some expert evidence--which, if not always reliable, is always
+interesting. But there seemed an inclination on the part of the police
+to maintain a silence which increased rather than lessened the
+mystery.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," exclaimed Dr. Diplock, turning at last to the
+twelve local tradesmen who formed the jury, "you have heard the
+evidence in this curious case, and your duty is to decide in what
+manner the deceased came by his death, whether by accidental means, or
+by foul play. I think in the circumstances you will have very little
+difficulty in deciding. The case is a mysterious one--a very
+mysterious one. The deceased was a gentleman of means who was
+suffering from a malignant disease, and that disease must have proved
+fatal within a short time. Now this fact appears to have been well
+known to himself, to the members of his household, and probably to
+most of his friends. Nevertheless, he was found dead in circumstances
+which point most strongly to wilful murder. If he was actually
+murdered, the assassin, whoever he was, had some very strong incentive
+in killing him at once, because he might well have waited another few
+months for the fatal termination of the disease. That fact, however,
+is not for you to consider, gentlemen. You are here for the sole
+purpose of deciding whether or not this case is one of murder. If, in
+your opinion it is, then it becomes your duty to return a verdict to
+that effect and leave it to the police to discover the assassin. To
+comment at length on the many mysterious circumstances surrounding the
+tragedy is, I think, needless. The depositions I have just read are
+sufficiently full and explanatory, especially the evidence of Sir
+Bernard Eyton and of Doctor Boyd, both of whom, besides being
+well-known in the profession, were personal friends of the deceased.
+In considering your verdict I would further beg of you not to heed any
+theories you may have read in the newspapers, but adjudge the matter
+from a fair and impartial standpoint, and give your verdict as you
+honestly believe the truth to be."
+
+The dead silence which had prevailed during the Coroner's address was
+at once broken by the uneasy moving of the crowd. I glanced across at
+Ethelwynn, and saw her sitting immovable, breathless, statuesque.
+
+She watched the foreman of the jury whispering to two or three of his
+colleagues in the immediate vicinity. The twelve tradesmen consulted
+together in an undertone, while the reporters at the table conversed
+audibly. They, too, were disappointed at being unable to obtain any
+sensational "copy."
+
+"If you wish to retire in order to consider your verdict, gentlemen,
+you are quite at liberty to do so," remarked the coroner.
+
+"That is unnecessary," replied the foreman. "We are agreed
+unanimously."
+
+"Upon what?"
+
+"Our verdict is that the deceased was wilfully murdered by some person
+or persons unknown."
+
+"Very well, gentlemen. Of course in my position I am not permitted to
+give you advice, but I think that you could have arrived at no other
+verdict. The police will use every endeavour to discover the identity
+of the assassin."
+
+I glanced at Ethelwynn, and at that instant she turned her head, and
+her eyes met mine. She started quickly, her face blanched to the lips;
+then she rose unsteadily, and with the crowd went slowly out.
+
+Ambler Jevons, who had been seated at the opposite side of the room,
+got up and rushed away; therefore I had no chance to get a word with
+him. He had glanced at me significantly, and I knew well what passed
+through his mind. Like myself, he was thinking of that strange letter
+we had found among the dead man's effects and had agreed to destroy.
+
+About nine o'clock that same night I had left Sir Bernard's and was
+strolling slowly round to my rooms, when my friend's cheery voice
+sounded behind me. He was on his way to have a smoke with me as usual,
+he explained. So we entered together, and after I had turned up the
+light and brought out the drinks he flung himself into his habitual
+chair, and stretching himself wearily said--
+
+"The affair becomes more mysterious hourly."
+
+"How?" I inquired quickly.
+
+"I've been down to Kew this afternoon," was his rather ambiguous
+response. "I had to go to my office directly after the inquest, but I
+returned at once."
+
+"And what have you discovered? Anything fresh?"
+
+"Yes," he responded slowly. "A fresh fact or two--facts that still
+increase the mystery."
+
+"What are they? Tell me," I urged.
+
+"No, Ralph, old chap. When I am certain of their true importance I'll
+explain them to you. At present I desire to pursue my own methods
+until I arrive at some clear conclusion."
+
+This disinclination to tell me the truth was annoying. He had always
+been quite frank and open, explaining all his theories, and showing to
+me any weak points in the circumstantial evidence. Yet suddenly, as it
+seemed to me, he had become filled with a strange mistrust. Why, I
+could not conceive.
+
+"But surely you can tell me the nature of your discoveries?" I said.
+"There need be no secrets between us in this affair."
+
+"No, Ralph. But I'm superstitious enough to believe that ill-luck
+follows a premature exposure of one's plans," he said.
+
+His excuse was a lame one--a very lame one. I smiled--in order to show
+him that I read through such a transparent attempt to mislead me.
+
+"I might have refused to show you that letter of Ethelwynn's," I
+protested. "Yet our interests being mutual I handed it to you."
+
+"And it is well that you did."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because knowledge of it has changed the whole course of my
+inquiries."
+
+"Changed them from one direction to another?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And you are now prosecuting them in the direction of Ethelwynn?"
+
+"No," he answered. "Not exactly."
+
+I looked at his face, and saw upon it an expression of profound
+mysteriousness. His dark, well-marked countenance was a complex one
+always, but at that moment I was utterly unable to discern whether he
+spoke the truth, or whether he only wished to mislead my suspicions
+into a different channel. That he was the acme of shrewdness, that his
+powers of deduction were extraordinary, and that his patience in
+unravelling a secret was almost beyond comprehension I knew well. Even
+those great trackers of criminals, Shaw and Maddox, of New Scotland
+Yard, held him in respect, and admired his acute intelligence and
+marvellous power of perception.
+
+Yet his attempt to evade a question which so closely concerned my own
+peace of mind and future happiness tried my patience. If he had really
+discovered some fresh facts I considered it but right that I should be
+acquainted with them.
+
+"Has your opinion changed as to the identity of the person who
+committed the crime?" I asked him, rather abruptly.
+
+"Not in the least," he responded, slowly lighting his foul pipe. "How
+can it, in the face of the letter we burnt?"
+
+"Then you think that jealousy was the cause of the tragedy? That
+she----"
+
+"No, not jealousy," he interrupted, speaking quite calmly. "The facts
+I have discovered go to show that the motive was not jealousy."
+
+"Hatred, then?"
+
+"No, not hatred."
+
+"Then what?"
+
+"That's just where I fail to form a theory," he answered, after a
+brief silence, during which he watched the blue smoke curl upward to
+the sombre ceiling of my room. "In a few days I hope to discover the
+motive."
+
+"You will let me assist you?" I urged, eagerly. "I am at your disposal
+at any hour."
+
+"No," he answered, decisively. "You are prejudiced, Ralph. You
+unfortunately still love that woman."
+
+A sigh escaped me. What he said was, alas! too true. I had adored her
+through those happy months prior to the tragedy. She had come into my
+lonely bachelor life as the one ray of sunlight that gave me hope and
+happiness, and I had lived for her alone. Because of her I had striven
+to rise in the profession, and had laboured hard so that in a little
+while I might be in a position to marry and buy that quiet country
+practice that was my ideal existence. And even now, with my idol
+broken by the knowledge of her previous engagement to the man now
+dead, I confess that I nevertheless still entertained a strong
+affection for her. The memory of a past love is often more sweet than
+the love itself--and to men it is so very often fatal.
+
+I had risen to pour out some whiskey for my companion when, of a
+sudden, my man opened the door and announced:
+
+"There's a lady to see you, sir."
+
+"A lady?" we both exclaimed, with one voice.
+
+"Yes, sir," and he handed me a card.
+
+I glanced at it. My visitor was the very last person I desired to meet
+at that moment, for she was none other than Ethelwynn herself.
+
+"I'll go, old chap," Jevons cried, springing to his feet, and draining
+his glass at a single draught. "She mustn't meet me here. Good-bye
+till to-morrow. Remember, betray no sign to her that you know the
+truth. It's certainly a curious affair, as it now stands; but depend
+upon it that there's more complication and mystery in it than we have
+yet suspected."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MY LOVE.
+
+
+As soon as Ambler Jevons had slipped out through my little study my
+love came slowly forward, as though with some unwillingness.
+
+She was dressed, as at the inquest, in deep mourning, wearing a
+smartly-cut tailor-made dress trimmed with astrachan and a neat toque,
+her pale countenance covered with a thick spotted veil.
+
+"Ralph," she exclaimed in a low voice, "forgive me for calling upon
+you at this hour. I know it's indiscreet, but I am very anxious to see
+you."
+
+I returned her greeting, rather coldly I am afraid, and led her to the
+big armchair which had only a moment before been vacated by my friend.
+
+When she seated herself and faced me I saw how changed she was, even
+though she did not lift her veil. Her dark eyes seemed haggard and
+sunken, her cheeks, usually pink with the glow of health, were white,
+almost ghastly, and her slim, well-gloved hand, resting upon the chair
+arm, trembled perceptibly.
+
+"You have not come to me for two whole days, Ralph," she commenced in
+a tone of complaint. "Surely you do not intend to desert me in these
+hours of distress?"
+
+"I must apologise," I responded quickly, remembering Jevons' advice.
+"But the fact is I myself have been very upset over the sad affair,
+and, in addition, I've had several serious cases during the past few
+days. Sir Bernard has been unwell, and I've been compelled to look
+after his practice."
+
+"Sir Bernard!" she ejaculated, in a tone which instantly struck me as
+strange. It was as though she held him in abhorrence. "Do you know,
+Ralph, I hate to think of you in association with that man."
+
+"Why?" I asked, much surprised, while at that same moment the thought
+flashed through my mind how often Sir Bernard had given me vague
+warnings regarding her.
+
+They were evidently bitter enemies.
+
+"I have no intention to give my reasons," she replied, her brows
+slightly knit. "I merely give it as my opinion that you should no
+longer remain in association with him."
+
+"But surely you are alone in that opinion!" I said. "He bears a high
+character, and is certainly one of the first physicians in London. His
+practice is perhaps the most valuable of any medical man at the
+present moment."
+
+"I don't deny that," she said, her gloved fingers twitching nervously.
+"A man may be a king, and at the same time a knave."
+
+I smiled. It was apparent that her intention was to separate me from
+the man to whom I owed nearly all, if not quite all, my success. And
+why? Because he knew of her past, and she feared that he might, in a
+moment of confidence, betray all to me.
+
+"Vague hints are always irritating," I remarked. "Cannot you give me
+some reason for your desire that my friendship with him should end?"
+
+"No. If I did, you would accuse me of selfish motives," she said,
+fixing her dark eyes upon me.
+
+Could a woman with a Madonna-like countenance be actually guilty of
+murder? It seemed incredible. And yet her manner was that of a woman
+haunted by the terrible secret of her crime. At that moment she was
+seeking, by ingenious means, to conceal the truth regarding the past.
+She feared that my intimate friendship with the great physician might
+result in her unmasking.
+
+"I can't see that selfish motives enter into this affair at all," I
+remarked. "Whatever you tell me, Ethelwynn, is, I know, for my own
+benefit. Therefore you should at least be explicit."
+
+"I can't be more explicit."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I have no right to utter a libel without being absolutely
+certain of the facts."
+
+"I don't quite follow you," I said, rather puzzled.
+
+"I mean that at present the information I have is vague," she replied.
+"But if it is the truth, as I expect to establish it, then you must
+dissociate yourself from him, Ralph."
+
+"You have only suspicions?"
+
+"Only suspicions."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Of a fact which will some day astound you."
+
+Our eyes met again, and I saw in hers a look of intense earnestness
+that caused me to wonder. To what could she possibly be referring?
+
+"You certainly arouse my curiosity," I said, affecting to laugh. "Do
+you really think Sir Bernard such a very dreadful person, then?"
+
+"Ah! You do not take my words seriously," she remarked. "I am warning
+you, Ralph, for your own benefit. It is a pity you do not heed me."
+
+"I do heed you," I declared. "Only your statement is so strange that
+it appears almost incredible."
+
+"Incredible it may seem; but one day ere long you will be convinced
+that what I say to-night is the truth."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"I say that Sir Bernard Eyton, the man in whom you place every
+confidence, and whose example as a great man in his profession you are
+so studiously following, is not your friend."
+
+"Nor yours, I suppose?"
+
+"No, neither is he mine."
+
+This admission was at least the truth. I had known it long ago. But
+what had been the cause of difference between them was hidden in
+deepest mystery. Sir Bernard, as old Mr. Courtenay's most intimate
+friend, knew, in all probability, of his engagement to her, and of its
+rupture in favour of her sister Mary. It might even be that Sir
+Bernard had had a hand in the breaking of the engagement. If so, that
+would well account for her violent hostility towards him.
+
+Such thoughts, with others, flashed through my mind as I sat
+there facing her. She was leaning back, her hands fallen idly
+upon her lap, peering straight at me through that spotted veil
+which, half-concealing her wondrous beauty, imparted to her an
+additional air of mystery.
+
+"You have quarrelled with Sir Bernard, I presume?" I hazarded.
+
+"Quarrelled!" she echoed. "We were never friends."
+
+Truly she possessed all a clever woman's presence of mind in the
+evasion of a leading question.
+
+"He was an acquaintance of yours?"
+
+"An acquaintance--yes. But I have always distrusted him."
+
+"Mary likes him, I believe," I remarked. "He was poor Courtenay's most
+intimate friend for many years."
+
+"She judges him from that standpoint alone. Any of her husband's
+friends were hers, and she was fully cognisant of Sir Bernard's
+unceasing attention to the sufferer."
+
+"If that is so it is rather a pity that she was recently so
+neglectful," I said.
+
+"I know, Ralph--I know the reason of it all," she faltered. "I can't
+explain to you, because it is not just that I should expose my
+sister's secret. But I know the truth which, when revealed, will make
+it clear to the world that her apparent neglect was not culpable. She
+had a motive."
+
+"A motive in going to town of an evening and enjoying herself!" I
+exclaimed. "Of course, the motive was to obtain relaxation. When a man
+is more than twice the age of his wife, the latter is apt to chafe
+beneath the golden fetter. It's the same everywhere--in Mayfair as in
+Mile End; in Suburbia as in a rural village. Difference of age is
+difference of temperament; and difference of temperament opens a
+breach which only a lover can fill."
+
+She was silent--her eyes cast down. She saw that the attempt to
+vindicate her sister had, as before, utterly and ignominiously failed.
+
+"Yes, Ralph, you are right," she admitted at last. "Judged from a
+philosophic standpoint a wife ought not to be more than ten years her
+husband's junior. Love which arises out of mere weakness is as easily
+fixed upon one object as another; and consequently is at all times
+transferable. It is so pleasant to us women to be admired, and so
+soothing to be loved that the grand trial of constancy to a young
+woman married to an elderly man is not to add one more conquest to her
+triumphs, but to earn the respect and esteem of the man who is her
+husband. And it is difficult. Of that I am convinced."
+
+There was for the first time a true ring of earnestness in her voice,
+and I saw by her manner that her heart was overburdened by the sorrow
+that had fallen upon her sister. Her character was a complex one which
+I had failed always to analyse, and it seemed just then as though her
+endeavour was to free her sister of all the responsibilities of her
+married life. She had made that effort once before, prior to the
+tragedy, but its motive was hidden in obscurity.
+
+"Women are often very foolish," she went on, half-apologetically.
+"Having chosen their lover for his suitability they usually allow the
+natural propensity of their youthful minds to invest him with every
+ideal of excellence. That is a fatal error committed by the majority
+of women. We ought to be satisfied with him as he is, rather than
+imagine him what he never can be."
+
+"Yes," I said, smiling at her philosophy. "It would certainly save
+them a world of disappointment in after life. It has always struck me
+that the extravagant investiture of fancy does not belong, as is
+commonly supposed, to the meek, true and abiding attachment which it
+is woman's highest virtue and noblest distinction to feel. I strongly
+suspect it is vanity, and not affection, which leads a woman to
+believe her lover perfect; because it enhances her triumph to be the
+choice of such a man."
+
+"Ah! I'm glad that we agree, Ralph," she said with a sigh and an air
+of deep seriousness. "The part of the true-hearted woman is to be
+satisfied with her lover such as he is, old or young, and to consider
+him, with all his faults, as sufficiently perfect for her. No after
+development of character can then shake her faith, no ridicule or
+exposure can weaken her tenderness for a single moment; while, on the
+other hand, she who has blindly believed her lover to be without a
+fault, must ever be in danger of awaking to the conviction that her
+love exists no longer."
+
+"As in your own case," I added, in an endeavour to obtain from her the
+reason of this curious discourse.
+
+"My own case!" she echoed. "No, Ralph. I have never believed you to be
+a perfect ideal. I have loved you because I knew that you loved me.
+Our tastes are in common, our admiration for each other is mutual,
+and our affection strong and ever-increasing--until--until----"
+
+And faltering, she stopped abruptly, without concluding her sentence.
+
+"Until what?" I asked.
+
+Tears sprang to her eyes. One drop rolled down her white cheek until
+it reached her veil, and stood there sparkling beneath the light.
+
+"You know well," she said hoarsely. "Until the tragedy. From that
+moment, Ralph, you changed. You are not the same to me as formerly. I
+feel--I feel," she confessed, covering her face with her hands and
+sobbing bitterly, "I feel that I have lost you."
+
+"Lost me! I don't understand," I said, feigning not to comprehend her.
+
+"I feel as though you no longer held me in esteem," she faltered
+through her tears. "Something tells me, Ralph, that--that your love
+for me has vanished, never to return!"
+
+With a sudden movement she raised her veil, and I saw how white and
+anxious was her fair countenance. I could not bring myself to believe
+that such a perfect face could conceal a heart blackened by the crime
+of murder. But, alas! all men are weak where a pretty woman is
+concerned. After all, it is feminine wiles and feminine graces that
+rule our world. Man is but a poor mortal at best, easily moved to
+sympathy by a woman's tears, and as easily misled by the touch of a
+soft hand or a passionate caress upon the lips. Diplomacy is inborn in
+woman, and although every woman is not an adventuress, yet one and
+all are clever actresses when the game of love is being played.
+
+The thought of that letter I had read and destroyed again recurred to
+me. Yes, she had concealed her secret--the secret of her attempt to
+marry Courtenay for his money. And yet if, as seemed so apparent, she
+had nursed her hatred, was it not but natural that she should assume a
+hostile attitude towards her sister--the woman who had eclipsed her in
+the old man's affections? Nevertheless, on the contrary, she was
+always apologetic where Mary was concerned, and had always sought to
+conceal her shortcomings and domestic infelicity. It was that point
+which so sorely puzzled me.
+
+"Why should my love for you become suddenly extinguished?" I asked,
+for want of something other to say.
+
+"I don't know," she faltered. "I cannot tell why, but I have a
+distinct distrust of the future, a feeling that we are drifting
+apart."
+
+She spoke the truth. A woman in love is quick of perception, and no
+feigned affection on the man's part can ever blind her.
+
+I saw that she read my heart like an open book, and at once strove to
+reassure her, trying to bring myself to believe that I had misjudged
+her.
+
+"No, no, dearest," I said, rising with a hollow pretence of caressing
+her tears away. "You are nervous, and upset by the tragedy. Try to
+forget it all."
+
+"Forget!" she echoed in a hard voice, her eyes cast down despondently.
+"Forget that night! Ah, no, I can never forget it--never!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS.
+
+
+The dark days of the London winter brightened into spring, but the
+mystery of old Mr. Courtenay's death remained an enigma inexplicable
+to police and public. Ambler Jevons had prosecuted independent
+inquiries assiduously in various quarters, detectives had watched the
+subsequent movements of Short and the other servants, but all to no
+purpose. The sudden disappearance of Short was discovered to be due to
+the illness of his brother.
+
+The identity of the assassin, as well as the mode in which the
+extraordinary wound had been inflicted, both remained mysteries
+impenetrable.
+
+At Guy's we were a trifle under-staffed, and my work was consequently
+heavy; while, added to that, Sir Bernard was suffering from the
+effects of a severe chill, and had not been able to come to town for
+nearly a month. Therefore, I had been kept at it practically night and
+day, dividing my time between the hospital, Harley Street, and my own
+rooms. I saw little of my friend Jevons, for his partner had been
+ordered to Bournemouth for his health, and therefore his constant
+attendance at his office in Mark Lane was imperative. Ambler had now
+but little leisure save on Sundays, when we would usually dine
+together at the Cavour, the Globe, the Florence, or some other foreign
+restaurant.
+
+Whenever I spoke to him of the tragedy, he would sigh, his face would
+assume a puzzled expression, and he would declare that the affair
+utterly passed his comprehension. Once or twice he referred to
+Ethelwynn, but it struck me that he did not give tongue to what passed
+within his mind for fear of offending me. His methods were based on
+patience, therefore I often wondered whether he was still secretly at
+work upon the case, and if so, whether he had gained any additional
+facts. Yet he told me nothing. It was a mystery, he said--that was
+all.
+
+Of Ethelwynn I saw but little, making my constant occupation with Sir
+Bernard's patients my excuse. She had taken up her abode with Mrs.
+Henniker--the cousin at whose house Mary had stayed on the night of
+the tragedy. The furniture at Richmond Road had been removed and the
+house advertised for sale, young Mrs. Courtenay having moved to her
+aunt's house in the country, a few miles from Bath.
+
+On several occasions I had dined at Redcliffe Square, finding both
+Mrs. Henniker and her husband extremely agreeable. Henniker was
+partner in a big brewing concern at Clapham, and a very good fellow;
+while his wife was a middle-aged, fair-haired woman, of the type who
+shop of afternoons in High Street, Kensington. Ethelwynn had always
+been a particular favourite with both, hence she was a welcome guest
+at Redcliffe Square. Old Mr. Courtenay had had business relations with
+Henniker a couple of years before, and a slight difference had led to
+an open quarrel. For that reason they had not of late visited at Kew.
+
+On the occasions I had spent the evening with Ethelwynn at their house
+I had watched her narrowly, yet neither by look nor by action did she
+betray any sign of a guilty secret. Her manner had during those weeks
+changed entirely; for she seemed perfectly calm and self-possessed,
+and although she alluded but seldom to our love, she treated me with
+that same sweet tenderness as before the fatal night of her
+brother-in-law's assassination.
+
+I must admit that her attitude, although it inspired me with a certain
+amount of confidence, nevertheless caused me to ponder deeply. I knew
+enough of human nature to be aware that it is woman's metier to keep
+up appearances. Was she keeping up an appearance of innocence,
+although her heart was blackened by a crime?
+
+One evening, when we chanced to be left alone in the little
+smoking-room after dinner, she suddenly turned to me, saying:
+
+"I've often thought how strange you must have thought my visit to your
+rooms that night, Ralph. It was unpardonable, I know--only I wanted to
+warn you of that man."
+
+"Of Sir Bernard?" I observed, laughing.
+
+"Yes. But it appears that you have not heeded me," she sighed. "I
+fear, Ralph, that you will regret some day."
+
+"Why should I regret? Your fears are surely baseless."
+
+"No," she answered decisively. "They are not baseless. I have
+reasons--strong ones--for urging you to break your connexion with him.
+He is no friend to you."
+
+I smiled. I knew quite well that he was no friend of hers. Once or
+twice of late he had said in that peevish snappy voice of his:
+
+"I wonder what that woman, Mrs. Courtenay's sister, is doing? I hear
+nothing of her."
+
+I did not enlighten him, for I had no desire to hear her maligned. I
+knew the truth myself sufficiently well.
+
+But turning to her I looked straight into her dark luminous eyes,
+those eyes that held me always as beneath their spell, saying:
+
+"He has proved himself my best friend, up to the present. I have no
+reason to doubt him."
+
+"But you will have. I warn you."
+
+"In what manner, then, is he my enemy?"
+
+She hesitated, as though half-fearing to respond to my question.
+Presently she said:
+
+"He is my enemy--and therefore yours."
+
+"Why is he your enemy?" I asked, eager to clear up a point which had
+so long puzzled me.
+
+"I cannot tell," she responded. "One sometimes gives offence and makes
+enemies without being aware of it."
+
+The evasion was a clever one. Another illustration of tactful
+ingenuity.
+
+By dint of careful cross-examination I endeavoured to worm from her
+the secret of my chief's antagonism, but she was dumb to every
+inquiry, fencing with me in a manner that would have done credit to a
+police-court solicitor. Though sweet, innocent, and intensely
+charming, yet there was a reverse side of her character, strong,
+firm-minded, almost stern in its austerity.
+
+I must here say that our love, once so passionate and displayed by
+fond kisses and hand-pressing, in the usual manner of lovers, had
+gradually slackened. A kiss on arrival and another on departure was
+all the demonstration of affection that now passed between us. I
+doubted her; and though I strove hard to conceal my true feelings, I
+fear that my coldness was apparent, not only to her but to the
+Hennikers also. She had complained of it when she called at my rooms,
+and certainly she had full reason for doing so. I am not one of those
+who can feign love. Some men can; I cannot.
+
+Thus it will be seen that although a certain coolness had arisen
+between us, in a manner that seemed almost mutual, we were
+nevertheless the best of friends. Once or twice she dined with me at a
+restaurant, and went to a play afterwards, on such occasions remarking
+that it seemed like "old times," in the early days of our blissful
+love. And sometimes she would recall those sweet halcyon hours, until
+I felt a pang of regret that my trust in her had been shaken by that
+letter found among the dead man's effects and that tiny piece of
+chenille. But I steeled my heart, because I felt assured that the
+truth must out some day.
+
+Mine was a strange position for any man. I loved this woman, remember;
+loved her with all my heart and with all my soul. Yet that letter
+penned by her had shown me that she had once angled for larger spoils,
+and was not the sweet unsophisticated woman I had always supposed her
+to be. It showed me, too, that in her heart had rankled a fierce,
+undying hatred.
+
+Because of this I did not seek her society frequently, but occupied
+myself diligently with my patients--seeking solace in my work, as many
+another professional man does where love or domestic happiness is
+concerned. There are few men in my profession who have not had their
+affairs of the heart, many of them serious ones. The world never knows
+how difficult it is for a doctor to remain heart-whole. Sometimes his
+lady patients deliberately set themselves to capture him, and will
+speak ill-naturedly of him if he refuses to fall into their net. At
+others, sympathy with a sufferer leads to a flirtation during
+convalescence, and often a word spoken in jest in order to cheer is
+taken seriously by romantic girls who believe that to marry a doctor
+is to attain social status and distinction.
+
+Heigho! When I think of all my own little love episodes, and of the
+ingenious diplomacy to which I have been compelled to resort in order
+to avoid tumbling into pitfalls set by certain designing Daughters of
+Eve, I cannot but sympathise with every other medical man who is on
+the right side of forty and sound of wind and limb. There is not a
+doctor in all the long list in the medical register who could not
+relate strange stories of his own love episodes--romances which have
+sometimes narrowly escaped developing into tragedies, and plots
+concocted by women to inveigle and to allure. It is so easy for a
+woman to feign illness and call in the doctor to chat to her and amuse
+her. Lots of women in London do that regularly. They will play with a
+doctor's heart as a sort of pastime, while the unfortunate medico
+often cannot afford to hold aloof for fear of offending. If he does,
+then evil gossip will spread among his patients and his practice may
+suffer considerably; for in no profession does a man rely so entirely
+upon his good name and a reputation for care and integrity as in that
+of medicine.
+
+I do not wish it for a moment to be taken that I am antagonistic to
+women, or that I would ever speak ill of them. I merely refer to the
+mean method of some of the idling class, who deliberately call in the
+doctor for the purpose of flirtation and then boast of it to their
+intimates. To such, a man's heart or a man's future are of no
+consequence. The doctor is easily visible, and is therefore the
+easiest prey to all and sundry.
+
+In my own practice I had had a good deal of experience of it. And I am
+not alone. Every other medical man, if not a grey-headed fossil or a
+wizened woman-hater, has had similar episodes; many strange--some even
+startling.
+
+Reader, in this narrative of curious events and remarkable happenings,
+I am taking you entirely and completely into my confidence. I seek to
+conceal nothing, nor to exaggerate in any particular, but to present
+the truth as a plain matter-of-fact statement of what actually
+occurred. I was a unit among a hundred thousand others engaged in the
+practice of medicine, not more skilled than the majority, even though
+Sir Bernard's influence and friendship had placed me in a position of
+prominence. But in this brief life of ours it is woman who makes us
+dance as puppets on our miniature stage, who leads us to brilliant
+success or to black ruin, who exalts us above our fellows or hurls us
+into oblivion. Woman--always woman.
+
+Since that awful suspicion had fallen upon me that the hand that had
+struck old Mr. Courtenay was that soft delicate one that I had so
+often carried to my lips, a blank had opened in my life. Consumed by
+conflicting thoughts, I recollected how sweet and true had been our
+affection; with what an intense passionate love-look she had gazed
+upon me with those wonderful eyes of hers; with what wild fierce
+passion her lips would meet mine in fond caress.
+
+Alas! it had all ended. She had acted a lie to me. That letter told
+the bitter truth. Hence, we were gradually drifting apart.
+
+One Sunday morning in May, just as I had finished my breakfast and
+flung myself into an armchair to smoke, as was my habit on the day of
+rest, my man entered, saying that Lady Twickenham had sent to ask if I
+could go round to Park Lane at once. Not at all pleased with this
+call, just at a moment of laziness, I was, nevertheless, obliged to
+respond, because her ladyship was one of Sir Bernard's best patients;
+and suffering as she was from a malignant internal complaint, I knew
+it was necessary to respond at once to the summons.
+
+On arrival at her bedside I quickly saw the gravity of the situation;
+but, unfortunately, I knew very little of the case, because Sir
+Bernard himself always made a point of attending her personally.
+Although elderly, she was a prominent woman in society, and had
+recommended many patients to my chief in earlier days, before he
+attained the fame he had now achieved. I remained with her a couple of
+hours; but finding myself utterly confused regarding her symptoms, I
+resolved to take the afternoon train down to Hove and consult Sir
+Bernard. I suggested this course to her ladyship, who was at once
+delighted with the suggestion. Therefore, promising to return at ten
+o'clock that night, I went out, swallowed a hasty luncheon, and took
+train down to Brighton.
+
+The house was one of those handsome mansions facing the sea at Hove,
+and as I drove up to it on that bright, sunny afternoon, it seemed to
+me an ideal residence for a man jaded by the eternal worries of a
+physician's life. The sea-breeze stirred the sun-blinds before the
+windows, and the flowers in the well-kept boxes were already gay with
+bloom. I knew the place well, for I had been down many times before;
+therefore, when the page opened the door he showed me at once to the
+study, a room which lay at the back of the big drawing-room.
+
+"Sir Bernard is in, sir," the page said. "I'll tell him at once you're
+here," and he closed the door, leaving me alone.
+
+I walked towards the window, which looked out upon a small flower
+garden, and in so doing, passed the writing table. A sheet of foolscap
+lay upon it, and curiosity prompted me to glance at it.
+
+What I saw puzzled me considerably; for beside the paper was a letter
+of my own that I had sent him on the previous day, while upon the
+foolscap were many lines of writing in excellent imitation of my own!
+
+He had been practising the peculiarities of my own handwriting. But
+with what purpose was a profound mystery.
+
+I was bending over, closely examining the words and noting how
+carefully they had been traced in imitation, when, of a sudden, I
+heard a voice in the drawing-room adjoining--a woman's voice.
+
+I pricked my ears and listened--for the eccentric old fellow to
+entertain was most unusual. He always hated women, because he saw too
+much of their wiles and wilfulness as patients.
+
+Nevertheless it was apparent that he had a lady visitor in the
+adjoining room, and a moment later it was equally apparent that they
+were not on the most friendly terms; for, of a sudden, the voice
+sounded again quite distinctly--raised in a cry of horror, as though
+at some sudden and terrible discovery.
+
+"Ah! I see--I see it all now!" shrieked the unknown woman. "You have
+deceived me! Coward! You call yourself a man--you, who would sell a
+woman's soul to the devil!"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" cried a gruff voice which I recognised as Sir
+Bernard's. "You may be overheard. Recollect that your safety can only
+be secured by your secrecy."
+
+"I shall tell the truth!" the woman declared.
+
+"Very well," laughed the man who was my chief in a tone of defiance.
+"Tell it, and condemn yourself."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION.
+
+
+The incident was certainly a puzzling one, for when, a few minutes
+later, my chief entered the study, his face, usually ashen grey, was
+flushed with excitement.
+
+"I've been having trouble with a lunatic," he explained, after
+greeting me, and inquiring why I had come down to consult him. "The
+woman's people are anxious to place her under restraint; yet, for the
+present, there is not quite sufficient evidence of insanity to sign
+the certificate. Did you overhear her in the next room?" And, seating
+himself at his table, he looked at me through his glasses with those
+keen penetrating eyes that age had not dimmed or time dulled.
+
+"I heard voices," I admitted, "that was all." The circumstance was a
+strange one, and those words were so ominous that I was determined not
+to reveal to him the conversation I had overheard.
+
+"Like many other women patients suffering from brain troubles, she has
+taken a violent dislike to me, and believes that I'm the very devil in
+human form," he said, smiling. "Fortunately, she had a friend with
+her, or she might have attacked me tooth and nail just now," and
+leaning back in his chair he laughed at the idea--laughed so lightly
+that my suspicions were almost disarmed.
+
+But not quite. Had you been in my place you would have had your
+curiosity and suspicion aroused to no mean degree--not only by the
+words uttered by the woman and Sir Bernard's defiant reply, but also
+by the fact that the female voice sounded familiar.
+
+A man knows the voice of his love above all. The voice that I had
+heard in that adjoining room was, to the best of my belief, that of
+Ethelwynn.
+
+With a resolution to probe this mystery slowly, and without unseemly
+haste, I dropped the subject, and commenced to ask his advice
+regarding the complicated case of Lady Twickenham. The history of it,
+and the directions he gave can serve no purpose if written here;
+therefore suffice it to say that I remained to dinner and caught the
+nine o'clock express back to London.
+
+While at dinner, a meal served in that severe style which
+characterised the austere old man's daily life, I commenced to talk of
+the antics of insane persons and their extraordinary antipathies, but
+quickly discerned that he had neither intention nor desire to speak of
+them. He replied in those snappy monosyllables which told me plainly
+that the subject was distasteful to him, and when I bade him good-bye
+and drove to the station I was more puzzled than ever by his strange
+behaviour. He was eccentric, it was true; but I knew all his little
+odd ways, the eccentricity of genius, and could plainly see that his
+recent indisposition, which had prevented him from attending at Harley
+Street, was due to nerves rather than to a chill.
+
+The trains from Brighton to London on Sunday evenings are always
+crowded, mainly by business people compelled to return to town in
+readiness for the toil of the coming week. Week-end trippers and day
+excursionists fill the compartments to overflowing, whether it be
+chilly spring or blazing summer, for Brighton is ever popular with the
+jaded Londoner who is enabled to "run down" without fatigue, and get a
+cheap health-giving sea-breeze for a few hours after the busy turmoil
+of the Metropolis.
+
+On this Sunday night it was no exception. The first-class compartment
+was crowded, mostly be it said, by third-class passengers who had
+"tipped" the guard, and when we had started I noticed in the far
+corner opposite me a pale-faced young girl of about twenty or so,
+plainly dressed in shabby black. She was evidently a third-class
+passenger, and the guard, taking compassion upon her fragile form in
+the mad rush for seats, had put her into our carriage. She was not
+good-looking, indeed rather plain; her countenance wearing a sad,
+pre-occupied expression as she leaned her chin upon her hand and gazed
+out upon the lights of the town we were leaving.
+
+I noticed that her chest rose and fell in a long-drawn sigh, and that
+she wore black cotton gloves, one finger of which was worn through.
+Yes, she was the picture of poor respectability.
+
+The other passengers, two of whom were probably City clerks with their
+loves, regarded her with some surprise that she should be a
+first-class passenger, and there seemed an inclination on the part of
+the loudly-dressed females to regard her with contempt.
+
+Presently, when we had left the sea and were speeding through the open
+country, she turned her sad face from the window and examined her
+fellow passengers one after the other until, of a sudden, her eyes met
+mine. In an instant she dropped them modestly and busied herself in
+the pages of the sixpenny reprint of a popular novel which she carried
+with her.
+
+In that moment, however, I somehow entertained a belief that we had
+met before. Under what circumstances, or where, I could not recollect.
+The wistfulness of that white face, the slight hollowness of the
+cheeks, the unnaturally dark eyes, all seemed familiar to me; yet
+although for half an hour I strove to bring back to my mind where I
+had seen her, it was to no purpose. In all probability I had attended
+her at Guy's. A doctor in a big London hospital sees so many faces
+that to recollect all is utterly impossible. Many a time I have been
+accosted and thanked by people whom I have had no recollection of ever
+having seen in my life. Men do not realise that they look very
+different when lying in bed with a fortnight's growth of beard to when
+shaven and spruce, as is their ordinary habit: while women, when
+smartly dressed with fashionable hats and flimsy veils, are very
+different to when, in illness, they lie with hair unbound, faces
+pinched and eyes sunken, which is the only recollection their doctor
+has of them. The duchess and the servant girl present very similar
+figures when lying on a sick bed in a critical condition.
+
+There was an element of romantic mystery in that fragile little figure
+huddled up in the far corner of the carriage. Once or twice, when she
+believed my gaze to be averted, she raised her eyes furtively as
+though to reassure herself of my identity, and in her restless manner
+I discerned a desire to speak with me. It was very probable that she
+was some poor girl of the lady's maid or governess class to whom I had
+shown attention during an illness. We have so many in the female wards
+at Guy's.
+
+But during that journey a further and much more important matter
+recurred to me, eclipsing all thought of the sad-faced girl opposite.
+I recollected those words I had overheard, and felt convinced that the
+speaker had been none other than Ethelwynn herself.
+
+Sometimes when a man's mind is firmly fixed upon an object the events
+of his daily life curiously tend towards it. Have you never
+experienced that strange phenomenon for which medical science has
+never yet accounted, namely, the impression of form upon the
+imagination? You have one day suddenly thought of a person long
+absent. You have not seen him for years, when, without any apparent
+cause, you have recollected him. In the hurry and bustle of city life
+a thousand faces are passing you hourly. Like a flash one man passes,
+and you turn to look, for the countenance bears a striking resemblance
+to your absent friend. You are disappointed, for it is not the man. A
+second face appears in the human phantasmagoria of the street, and the
+similarity is almost startling. You are amazed that two persons should
+pass so very like your friend. Then, an hour after, a third
+face--actually that of your long-lost friend himself. All of us have
+experienced similar vagaries of coincidence. How can we account for
+them?
+
+And so it was in my own case. So deeply had my mind been occupied by
+thoughts of my love that several times that day, in London and in
+Brighton, I had been startled by striking resemblances. Thus I
+wondered whether that voice I had heard was actually hers, or only a
+distorted hallucination. At any rate, the woman had expressed hatred
+of Sir Bernard just as Ethelwynn had done, and further, the old man
+had openly defied her, with a harsh laugh, which showed confidence in
+himself and an utter disregard for any statement she might make.
+
+At Victoria the pale-faced girl descended quickly, and, swallowed in a
+moment in the crowd on the platform, I saw her no more.
+
+She had, before descending, given me a final glance, and I fancied
+that a faint smile of recognition played about her lips. But in the
+uncertain light of a railway carriage the shadows are heavy, and I
+could not see sufficiently distinctly to warrant my returning her
+salute. So the wan little figure, so full of romantic mystery, went
+forth again into oblivion.
+
+I was going my round at Guy's on the following morning when a telegram
+was put into my hand. It was from Ethelwynn's mother--Mrs. Mivart, at
+Neneford--asking me to go down there without delay, but giving no
+reason for the urgency. I had always been a favourite with the old
+lady, and to obey was, of course, imperative--even though I were
+compelled to ask Bartlett, one of my colleagues, to look after Sir
+Bernard's private practice in my absence.
+
+Neneford Manor was an ancient, rambling old Queen Anne place, about
+nine miles from Peterborough on the high road to Leicester. Standing
+in the midst of the richest grass country in England, with its grounds
+sloping to the brimming river that wound through meadows which in May
+were a blaze of golden buttercups, it was a typical English home, with
+quaint old gables, high chimney stacks and old-world garden with yew
+hedges trimmed fantastically as in the days of wigs and patches. I had
+snatched a week-end several times to be old Mrs. Mivart's guest;
+therefore I knew the picturesque old place well, and had been
+entranced by its many charms.
+
+Soon after five o'clock that afternoon I descended from the train at
+the roadside station, and, mounting into the dog-cart, was driven
+across the hill to the Manor. In the hall the sweet-faced,
+silver-haired old lady, in her neat black and white cap greeted me,
+holding both my hands and pressing them for a moment, apparently
+unable to utter a word. I had expected to find her unwell; but, on the
+contrary, she seemed quite as active as usual, notwithstanding the
+senile decay which I knew had already laid its hand heavily upon her.
+
+"You are so good to come to me, Doctor. How can I sufficiently thank
+you?" she managed to exclaim at last, leading me into the
+drawing-room, a long old-fashioned apartment with low ceiling
+supported by black oak beams, and quaint diamond-paned windows at each
+end.
+
+"Well?" I inquired, when she had seated herself, and, with the evening
+light upon her face, I saw how blanched and anxious she was.
+
+"I want to consult you, Doctor, upon a serious and confidential
+matter," she began, leaning forward, her thin white hands clasped in
+her lap. "We have not met since the terrible blow fell upon us--the
+death of poor Mary's husband."
+
+"It must have been a great blow to you," I said sympathetically, for I
+liked the old lady, and realised how deeply she had suffered.
+
+"Yes, but to poor Mary most of all," she said. "They were so happy
+together; and she was so devoted to him."
+
+This was scarcely the truth; but mothers are often deceived as to
+their daughters' domestic felicity. A wife is always prone to hide her
+sorrows from her parents as far as possible. Therefore the old lady
+had no doubt been the victim of natural deception.
+
+"Yes," I agreed; "it was a tragic and terrible thing. The mystery is
+quite unsolved."
+
+"To me, the police are worse than useless," she said, in her slow,
+weak voice; "they don't seem to have exerted themselves in the least
+after that utterly useless inquest, with its futile verdict. As far
+as I can gather, not one single point has been cleared up."
+
+"No," I said; "not one."
+
+"And my poor Mary!" exclaimed old Mrs. Mivart; "she is beside herself
+with grief. Time seems to increase her melancholy, instead of bringing
+forgetfulness, as I hoped it would."
+
+"Where is Mrs. Courtenay?" I asked.
+
+"Here. She's been back with me for nearly a month. It was to see her,
+speak with her, and give me an opinion that I asked you to come down."
+
+"Is she unwell?"
+
+"I really don't know what ails her. She talks of her husband
+incessantly, calls him by name, and sometimes behaves so strangely
+that I have once or twice been much alarmed."
+
+Her statement startled me. I had no idea that the young widow had
+taken the old gentleman's death so much to heart. As far as I had been
+able to judge, it seemed very much as though she had every desire to
+regain her freedom from a matrimonial bond that galled her. That she
+was grief-stricken over his death showed that I had entirely misjudged
+her character.
+
+"Is she at home now?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, in her own sitting-room--the room we used as a schoolroom when
+the girls were at home. Sometimes she mopes there all day, only
+speaking at meals. At others, she takes her dressing-bag and goes away
+for two or three days--just as the fancy takes her. She absolutely
+declines to have a maid."
+
+"You mean that she's just a little--well, eccentric," I remarked
+seriously.
+
+"Yes, Doctor," answered the old lady, in a strange voice quite unusual
+to her, and fixing her eyes upon me. "To tell the truth I fear her
+mind is slowly giving way."
+
+I remained silent, thinking deeply; and as I did not reply, she added:
+
+"You will meet her at dinner. I shall not let her know you are here.
+Then you can judge for yourself."
+
+The situation was becoming more complicated. Since the conclusion of
+the inquest I had seen nothing of the widow. She had stayed several
+days with Ethelwynn at the Hennikers', then had visited her aunt near
+Bath. That was all I knew of her movements, for, truth to tell, I held
+her in some contempt for her giddy pleasure-seeking during her
+husband's illness. Surely a woman who had a single spark of affection
+for the man she had married could not go out each night to theatres
+and supper parties, leaving him to the care of his man and a nurse.
+That one fact alone proved that her professions of love had been
+hollow and false.
+
+While the twilight fell I sat in that long, sombre old room that
+breathed an air of a century past, chatting with old Mrs. Mivart, and
+learning from her full particulars of Mary's eccentricities. My
+hostess told me of the proving of the will, which left the Devonshire
+estate to her daughter, and of the slow action of the executors. The
+young widow's actions, as described to me, were certainly strange, and
+made me strongly suspect that she was not quite responsible for them.
+That Mary's remorse was overwhelming was plain; and that fact aroused
+within my mind a very strong suspicion of a circumstance I had not
+before contemplated, namely, that during the life of her husband there
+had been a younger male attraction. The acuteness of her grief seemed
+proof of this. And yet, if argued logically, the existence of a secret
+lover should cause her to congratulate herself upon her liberty.
+
+The whole situation was an absolute enigma.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT.
+
+
+Dinner was announced, and I took Mrs. Mivart into the room on the
+opposite side of the big old-fashioned hall, a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment the size of the drawing-room, and hung with some fine old
+family portraits and miniatures. Old Squire Mivart had been an
+enthusiastic collector of antique china, and the specimens of old
+Montelupo and Urbino hanging upon the walls were remarkable as being
+the finest in any private collection in this country. Many were the
+visits he had made to Italy to acquire those queer-looking old
+mediaeval plates, with their crude colouring and rude, inartistic
+drawings, and certainly he was an acknowledged expert in antique
+porcelain.
+
+The big red-shaded lamp in the centre of the table shed a soft light
+upon the snowy cloth, the flowers and the glittering silver; and as my
+hostess took her seat she sighed slightly, and for the first time
+asked of Ethelwynn.
+
+"I haven't seen her for a week," I was compelled to admit. "Patients
+have been so numerous that I haven't had time to go out to see her,
+except at hours when calling at a friend's house was out of the
+question."
+
+"Do you like the Hennikers?" her mother inquired, raising her eyes
+inquiringly to mine.
+
+"Yes, I've found them very agreeable and pleasant."
+
+"H'm," the old lady ejaculated dubiously. "Well, I don't. I met Mrs.
+Henniker once, and I must say that I did not care for her in the
+least. Ethelwynn is very fond of her, but to my mind she's fast, and
+not at all a suitable companion for a girl of my daughter's
+disposition. It may be that I have an old woman's prejudices, living
+as I do in the country always, but somehow I can never bring myself to
+like her."
+
+Mrs. Mivart, like the majority of elderly widows who have given up the
+annual visit to London in the season, was a trifle behind the times.
+More charming an old lady could not be, but, in common with all who
+vegetate in the depths of rural England, she was just a trifle
+narrow-minded. In religion, she found fault constantly with the
+village parson, who, she declared, was guilty of ritualistic
+practices, and on the subject of her daughters she bemoaned the
+latter-day emancipation of women, which allowed them to go hither and
+thither at their own free will. Like all such mothers, she considered
+wealth a necessary adjunct to happiness, and it had been with her
+heartiest approval that Mary had married the unfortunate Courtenay,
+notwithstanding the difference between the ages of bride and
+bridegroom. In every particular the old lady was a typical specimen of
+the squire's widow, as found in rural England to-day.
+
+Scarcely had we seated ourselves and I had replied to her question
+when the door opened and a slim figure in deep black entered and
+mechanically took the empty chair. She crossed the room, looking
+straight before her, and did not notice my presence until she had
+seated herself face to face with me.
+
+Of a sudden her thin wan face lit up with a smile of recognition, and
+she cried:
+
+"Why, Doctor! Wherever did you come from? No one told me you were
+here," and across the table she stretched out her hand in greeting.
+
+"I thought you were reposing after your long walk this morning, dear;
+so I did not disturb you," her mother explained.
+
+But, heedless of the explanation, she continued putting to me
+questions as to when I had left town, and the reason of my visit
+there. To the latter I returned an evasive answer, declaring that I
+had run down because I had heard that her mother was not altogether
+well.
+
+"Yes, that's true," she said. "Poor mother has been very queer of
+late. She seems so distracted, and worries quite unnecessarily over
+me. I wish you'd give her advice. Her state causes me considerable
+anxiety."
+
+"Very well," I said, feigning to laugh, "I must diagnose the ailment
+and see what can be done."
+
+The soup had been served, and as I carried my spoon to my mouth I
+examined her furtively. My hostess had excused me from dressing, but
+her daughter, neat in her widow's collar and cuffs, sat prim and
+upright, her eyes now and then raised to mine in undisguised
+inquisitiveness.
+
+She was a trifle paler than heretofore, but her pallor was probably
+rendered the more noticeable by the dead black she wore. Her hands
+seemed thin, and her fingers toyed nervously with her spoon in a
+manner that betrayed concealed agitation. Outwardly, however, I
+detected no extraordinary signs of either grief or anxiety. She spoke
+calmly, it was true, in the tone of one upon whom a great calamity had
+fallen, but that was only natural. I did not expect to find her
+bright, laughing, and light-hearted, like her old self in Richmond
+Road.
+
+As dinner proceeded I began to believe that, with a fond mother's
+solicitude for her daughter's welfare, Mrs. Mivart had slightly
+exaggerated Mary's symptoms. They certainly were not those of a woman
+plunged in inconsolable grief, for she was neither mopish nor
+artificially gay. As far as I could detect, not even a single sigh
+escaped her.
+
+She inquired of Ethelwynn and of the Hennikers, remarking that she had
+seen nothing of them for over three weeks; and then, when the servants
+had left the room, she placed her elbows upon the table, at the risk
+of a breach of good manners, and resting her chin upon her hands,
+looked me full in the face, saying:
+
+"Now, tell me the truth, Doctor. What has been discovered regarding my
+poor husband's death? Have the police obtained any clue to the
+assassin?"
+
+"None--none whatever, I regret to say," was my response.
+
+"They are useless--worse than useless!" she burst forth angrily; "they
+blundered from the very first."
+
+"That's entirely my own opinion, dear," her mother said. "Our police
+system nowadays is a mere farce. The foreigners are far ahead of us,
+even in the detection of crime. Surely the mystery of your poor
+husband's death might have been solved, if they had worked
+assiduously."
+
+"I believe that everything that could be done has been done," I
+remarked. "The case was placed in the hands of two of the smartest and
+most experienced men at Scotland Yard, with personal instructions from
+the Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department to leave
+no stone unturned in order to arrive at a successful issue."
+
+"And what has been done?" asked the young widow, in a tone of
+discontent; "why, absolutely nothing! There has, I suppose, been a
+pretence at trying to solve the mystery; but, finding it too
+difficult, they have given it up, and turned their attention to some
+other crime more open and plain-sailing. I've no faith in the police
+whatever. It's scandalous!"
+
+I smiled; then said:
+
+"My friend, Ambler Jevons--you know him, for he dined at Richmond Road
+one evening--has been most active in the affair."
+
+"But he's not a detective. How can he expect to triumph where the
+police fail?"
+
+"He often does," I declared. "His methods are different from the
+hard-and-fast rules followed by the police. He commences at whatever
+point presents itself, and laboriously works backwards with a patience
+that is absolutely extraordinary. He has unearthed a dozen crimes
+where Scotland Yard has failed."
+
+"And is he engaged upon my poor husband's case?" asked Mary, suddenly
+interested.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Well--because he is one of those for whom a mystery of crime has a
+fascinating attraction."
+
+"But he must have some motive in devoting time and patience to a
+matter which does not concern him in the least," Mrs. Mivart remarked.
+
+"Whatever is the motive, I can assure you that it is an entirely
+disinterested one," I said.
+
+"But what has he discovered? Tell me," Mary urged.
+
+"I am quite in ignorance," I said. "We are most intimate friends, but
+when engaged on such investigations he tells me nothing of their
+result until they are complete. All I know is that so active is he at
+this moment that I seldom see him. He is often tied to his office in
+the City, but has, I believe, recently been on a flying visit abroad
+for two or three days."
+
+"Abroad!" she echoed. "Where?"
+
+"I don't know. I met a mutual friend in the Strand yesterday, and he
+told me that he had returned yesterday."
+
+"Has he been abroad in connection with his inquiries, do you think?"
+Mrs. Mivart inquired.
+
+"I really don't know. Probably he has. When he takes up a case he goes
+into it with a greater thoroughness than any detective living."
+
+"Yes," Mary remarked, "I recollect, now, the stories you used to tell
+us regarding him--of his exciting adventures--of his patient tracking
+of the guilty ones, and of his marvellous ingenuity in laying traps
+to get them to betray themselves. I recollect quite well that evening
+he came to Richmond Road with you. He was a most interesting man."
+
+"Let us hope he will be more successful than the police," I said.
+
+"Yes, Doctor," she remarked, sighing for the first time. "I hope he
+will--for the mystery of it all drives me to distraction." Then
+placing both hands to her brow, she added, "Ah! if we could only
+discover the truth--the real truth!"
+
+"Have patience," I urged. "A complicated mystery such as it is cannot
+be cleared up without long and careful inquiry."
+
+"But in the months that have gone by surely the police should have at
+least made some discovery?" she said, in a voice of complaint; "yet
+they have not the slightest clue."
+
+"We can only wait," I said. "Personally, I have confidence in Jevons.
+If there is a clue to be obtained, depend upon it he will scent it
+out."
+
+I did not tell them of my misgivings, nor did I explain how Ambler,
+having found himself utterly baffled, had told me of his intention to
+relinquish further effort. The flying trip abroad might be in
+connection with the case, but I felt confident that it was not. He
+knew, as well as I did, that the truth was to be found in England.
+
+Again we spoke of Ethelwynn; and from Mary's references to her sister
+I gathered that a slight coolness had fallen between them. She did
+not, somehow, speak of her in the same terms of affection as
+formerly. It might be that she shared her mother's prejudices, and did
+not approve of her taking up her abode with the Hennikers. Be it how
+it might, there were palpable signs of strained relations.
+
+Could it be possible, I wondered, that Mary had learnt of her sister's
+secret engagement to her husband?
+
+I looked full at her as that thought flashed through my mind. Yes, she
+presented a picture of sweet and interesting widowhood. In her voice,
+as in her countenance, was just that slight touch of grief which told
+me plainly that she was a heart-broken, remorseful woman--a woman,
+like many another, who knew not the value of a tender, honest and
+indulgent husband until he had been snatched from her. Mother and
+daughter, both widows, were a truly sad and sympathetic pair.
+
+As we spoke I watched her eyes, noted her every movement attentively,
+but failed utterly to discern any suggestion of what her mother had
+remarked.
+
+Once, at mention of her dead husband, she had of a sudden exclaimed in
+a low voice, full of genuine emotion:
+
+"Ah, yes. He was so kind, so good always. I cannot believe that he
+will never come back," and she burst into tears, which her mother,
+with a word of apology to me, quietly soothed away.
+
+When we arose I accompanied them to the drawing-room; but without any
+music, and with Mary's sad, half-tragic countenance before us, the
+evening was by no means a merry one; therefore I was glad when, in
+pursuance of the country habit of retiring early, the maid brought my
+candle and showed me to my room.
+
+It was not yet ten o'clock, and feeling in no mood for sleep, I took
+from my bag the novel I had been reading on my journey and, throwing
+myself into an armchair, first gave myself up to deep reflection over
+a pipe, and afterwards commenced to read.
+
+The chiming of the church clock down in the village aroused me,
+causing me to glance at my watch. It was midnight. I rose, and going
+to the window, pulled aside the blind, and looked out upon the rural
+view lying calm and mysterious beneath the brilliant moonlight.
+
+How different was that peaceful aspect to the one to which I was,
+alas! accustomed--that long blank wall in the Marylebone Road. There
+the cab bells tinkled all night, market wagons rumbled through till
+dawn, and the moonbeams revealed drunken revellers after "closing
+time."
+
+A strong desire seized me to go forth and enjoy the splendid night.
+Such a treat of peace and solitude was seldom afforded me, stifled as
+I was by the disinfectants in hospital wards and the variety of
+perfumes and pastilles in the rooms of wealthy patients. Truly the
+life of a London doctor is the most monotonous and laborious of any of
+the learned professions, and little wonder is it that when the jaded
+medico finds himself in the country or by the sea he seldom fails to
+take his fill of fresh air.
+
+At first a difficulty presented itself in letting myself out unheard;
+but I recollected that in the new wing of the house, in which I had
+been placed, there were no other bedrooms, therefore with a little
+care I might descend undetected. So taking my hat and stick I opened
+the door, stole noiselessly down the stairs, and in a few minutes had
+made an adventurous exit by a window--fearing the grating bolts of the
+door--and was soon strolling across the grounds by the private path,
+which I knew led through the churchyard and afterwards down to the
+river-bank.
+
+With Ethelwynn I had walked across the meadows by that path on several
+occasions, and in the dead silence of the brilliant night vivid
+recollections of a warm summer's evening long past came back to
+me--sweet remembrances of days when we were childishly happy in each
+other's love.
+
+Nothing broke the quiet save the shrill cry of some night bird down by
+the river, and the low roar of the distant weir. The sky was
+cloudless, and the moon so bright that I could have read a newspaper.
+I strolled on slowly, breathing the refreshing air, and thinking
+deeply over the complications of the situation. In the final hour I
+had spent in the drawing-room I had certainly detected in the young
+widow a slight eccentricity of manner, not at all accentuated, but yet
+sufficient to show me that she had been strenuously concealing her
+grief during my presence there.
+
+Having swung myself over the stile I passed round the village
+churchyard, where the moss-grown gravestones stood grim and ghostly in
+the white light, and out across the meadows down to where the waters
+of the Nene, rippling on, were touched with silver. The river-path was
+wide, running by the winding bank away to the fen-lands and beyond. As
+I gained the river's edge and walked beneath the willows I heard now
+and then a sharp, swift rustling in the sedges as some water-rat or
+otter, disturbed by my presence, slipped away into hiding. The rural
+peace of that brilliant night attracted me, and finding a hurdle I
+seated myself upon it, and taking out my pipe enjoyed a smoke.
+
+Ever since my student days I had longed for a country life. The
+pleasures of the world of London had no attraction for me, my ideal
+being a snug country practice with Ethelwynn as my wife. But alas! my
+idol had been shattered, like that of many a better man.
+
+With this bitter reflection still in my mind, my attention was
+attracted by low voices--as though of two persons speaking earnestly
+together. Surprised at such interruption, I glanced quickly around,
+but saw no one.
+
+Again I listened, when, of a sudden, footsteps sounded, coming down
+the path I had already traversed. Beneath the deep shadow I saw the
+dark figures of two persons. They were speaking together, but in a
+tone so low that I could not catch any word uttered.
+
+Nevertheless, as they emerged from the semi-darkness the moon shone
+full upon them, revealing to me that they were a man and a woman.
+
+Next instant a cry of blank amazement escaped me, for I was utterly
+unprepared for the sight I witnessed. I could not believe my eyes; nor
+could you, my reader, had you been in my place.
+
+The woman walking there, close to me, was young Mrs. Courtenay--the
+man was none other than her dead husband!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS.
+
+
+Reader, I know that what I have narrated is astounding. It astounded
+me just as it astounded you.
+
+There are moments when one's brain becomes dulled by sudden
+bewilderment at sight of the absolutely impossible.
+
+It certainly seemed beyond credence that the man whose fatal and
+mysterious wound I had myself examined should be there, walking with
+his wife in lover-like attitude. And yet there was no question that
+the pair were there. A small bush separated us, so that they passed
+arm-in-arm within three feet of me. As I have already explained, the
+moon was so bright that I could see to read; therefore, shining full
+upon their faces, it was impossible to mistake the features of two
+persons whom I knew so well.
+
+Fortunately they had not overheard my involuntary exclamation of
+astonishment, or, if they had, both evidently believed it to be one of
+the many distorted sounds of the night. Upon Mary's face there was
+revealed a calm expression of perfect content, different indeed from
+the tearful countenance of a few hours before, while her husband,
+grey-faced and serious, just as he had been before his last illness,
+had her arm linked in his, and walked with her, whispering some low
+indistinct words which brought to her lips a smile of perfect
+felicity.
+
+Now had I been a superstitious man I should have promptly declared the
+whole thing to have been an apparition. But as I do not believe in
+borderland theories, any more than I believe that a man whose heart is
+nearly cut in twain can again breathe and live, I could only stand
+aghast, bewildered and utterly dumfounded.
+
+Hidden from them by a low thorn-bush, I stood in silent stupefaction
+as they passed by. That it was no chimera of the imagination was
+proved by the fact that their footsteps sounded upon the path, and
+just as they had passed I heard Courtenay address his wife by name.
+The transformation of her countenance from the ineffable picture of
+grief and sorrow to the calm, sweet expression of content had been
+marvellous, to say the least--an event stranger, indeed, than any I
+had ever before witnessed. In the wild writings of the old romancers
+the dead have sometimes been resuscitated, but never in this workaday
+world of ours. There is a finality in death that is decisive.
+
+Yet, as I here write these lines, I stake my professional reputation
+that the man I saw was the same whom I had seen dead in that upper
+room in Kew. I knew his gait, his cough, and his countenance too well
+to mistake his identity.
+
+That night's adventure was certainly the most startling, and at the
+same time the most curious, that ever befel a man. Thus I became
+seized with curiosity, and at risk of detection crept forth from my
+hiding-place and looked out after them. To betray my presence would be
+to bar from myself any chance of learning the secret of it all;
+therefore I was compelled to exercise the greatest caution. Mary
+mourned the loss of her husband towards the world, and yet met him in
+secret at night--wandering with him by that solitary bye-path along
+which no villager ever passed after dark, and lovers avoided because
+of the popular tradition that a certain unfortunate Lady of the Manor
+of a century ago "walked" there. In the fact of the mourning so well
+feigned I detected the concealment of some remarkable secret.
+
+The situation was, without doubt, an extraordinary one. The man upon
+whose body I had made a post-mortem examination was alive and well,
+walking with his wife, although for months before his assassination he
+had been a bed-ridden invalid. Such a thing was startling, incredible!
+Little wonder was it that at first I could scarce believe my own eyes.
+Only when I looked full into his face and recognised his features,
+with all their senile peculiarities, did the amazing truth become
+impressed upon me.
+
+Around the bend in the river I stole stealthily after them, in order
+to watch their movements, trying to catch their conversation,
+although, unfortunately, it was in too low an undertone. He never
+released her arm or changed his affectionate attitude towards her, but
+appeared to be relating to her some long and interesting chain of
+events to which she listened with rapt attention.
+
+Along the river's edge, out in the open moonlight, it was difficult to
+follow them without risk of observation. Now and then the elder-bushes
+and drooping willows afforded cover beneath their deep shadow, but in
+places where the river wound through the open water-meadows my
+presence might at any moment be detected. Therefore the utmost
+ingenuity and caution were necessary.
+
+Having made the staggering discovery, I was determined to thoroughly
+probe the mystery. The tragedy of old Mr. Courtenay's death had
+resolved itself into a romance of the most mysterious and startling
+character. As I crept forward over the grass, mostly on tiptoe, so as
+to avoid the sound of my footfalls, I tried to form some theory to
+account for the bewildering circumstance, but could discern absolutely
+none.
+
+Mary was still wearing her mourning; but about her head was wrapped a
+white silk shawl, and on her shoulders a small fur cape, for the
+spring night was chilly. Her husband had on a dark overcoat and soft
+felt hat of the type he always wore, and carried in his hand a light
+walking-stick. Once or twice he halted when he seemed to be impressing
+his words the more forcibly upon her, and then I was compelled to stop
+also and to conceal myself. I would have given much to overhear the
+trend of their conversation, but strive how I would I was unable. They
+seemed to fear eavesdroppers, and only spoke in low half-whispers.
+
+I noticed how old Mr. Courtenay kept from time to time glancing around
+him, as though in fear of detection; hence I was in constant dread
+lest he should look behind him and discover me slinking along their
+path. I am by no means an adept at following persons, but in this case
+the stake was so great--the revelation of some startling and
+unparalleled mystery--that I strained every nerve and every muscle to
+conceal my presence while pushing forward after them.
+
+Picture to yourself for a moment my position. The whole of my future
+happiness, and consequently my prosperity in life, was at stake at
+that instant. To clear up the mystery successfully might be to clear
+my love of the awful stigma upon her. To watch and to listen was the
+only way; but the difficulties in the dead silence of the night were
+well-nigh insurmountable, for I dare not approach sufficiently near to
+catch a single word. I had crept on after them for about a mile, until
+we were approaching the tumbling waters of the weir. The dull roar
+swallowed up the sound of their voices, but it assisted me, for I had
+no further need to tread noiselessly.
+
+On nearing the lock-keeper's cottage, a little white-washed house
+wherein the inmates were sleeping soundly, they made a wide detour
+around the meadow, in order to avoid the chance of being seen. Mary
+was well known to the old lock-keeper who had controlled those great
+sluices for thirty years or more, and she knew that at night he was
+often compelled to be on duty, and might at that very moment be
+sitting on the bench outside his house, smoking his short clay.
+
+I, however, had no such fear. Stepping lightly upon the grass beside
+the path I went past the house and continued onward by the riverside,
+passing at once into the deep shadow of the willows, which
+effectually concealed me.
+
+The pair were walking at the same slow, deliberate pace beneath the
+high hedge on the further side of the meadow, evidently intending to
+rejoin the river-path some distance further up. This gave me an
+opportunity to get on in front of them, and I seized it without delay;
+for I was anxious to obtain another view of the face of the man whom I
+had for months believed to be in his grave.
+
+Keeping in the shadow of the trees and bushes that overhung the
+stream, I sped onward for ten minutes or more until I came to the
+boundary of the great pasture, passing through the swing gate by which
+I felt confident that they must also pass. I turned to look before
+leaving the meadow, and could just distinguish their figures. They had
+turned at right angles, and, as I had expected, were walking in my
+direction.
+
+Forward I went again, and after some hurried search discovered a spot
+close to the path where concealment behind a great old tree seemed
+possible; so at that coign of vantage I waited breathlessly for their
+approach. The roaring of the waters behind would, I feared, prevent
+any of their words from reaching me; nevertheless, I waited anxiously.
+
+A great barn owl flapped lazily past, hooting weirdly as it went; then
+all nature became still again, save the dull sound of the tumbling
+flood. Ambler Jevons, had he been with me, would, no doubt, have acted
+differently. But it must be remembered that I was the merest tyro in
+the unravelling of a mystery, whereas, with him, it was a kind of
+natural occupation. And yet would he believe me when I told him that I
+had actually seen the dead man walking there with his wife?
+
+I was compelled to admit within myself that such a statement from the
+lips of any man would be received with incredulity. Indeed, had such a
+thing been related to me, I should have put the narrator down as
+either a liar or a lunatic.
+
+At last they came. I remained motionless, standing in the shadow, not
+daring to breathe. My eyes were fixed upon him, my ears strained to
+catch every sound.
+
+He said something to her. What it was I could not gather. Then he
+pushed open the creaking gate to allow her to pass. Across the moon's
+face had drifted a white, fleecy cloud; therefore the light was not so
+brilliant as half an hour before. Still, I could see his features
+almost as plainly as I see this paper upon which I am penning my
+strange adventure, and could recognise every lineament and peculiarity
+of his countenance.
+
+Having passed through the gate, he took her ungloved hand with an air
+of old-fashioned gallantry and raised it to his lips. She laughed
+merrily in rapturous content, and then slowly, very slowly, they
+strolled along the path that ran within a few feet of where I stood.
+
+My heart leapt with excitement. Their voices sounded above the rushing
+of the waters, and they were lingering as though unwilling to walk
+further.
+
+"Ethelwynn has told me," he was saying. "I can't make out the reason
+of his coldness towards her. Poor girl! she seems utterly
+heart-broken."
+
+"He suspects," his wife replied.
+
+"But what ground has he for suspicion?"
+
+I stood there transfixed. They were talking of myself!
+
+They had halted quite close to where I was, and in that low roar had
+raised their voices so that I could distinguish every word.
+
+"Well," remarked his wife, "the whole affair was mysterious, that you
+must admit. With his friend, a man named Jevons, he has been
+endeavouring to solve the problem."
+
+"A curse on Ambler Jevons!" he blurted forth in anger, as though he
+were well acquainted with my friend.
+
+"If between them they managed to get at the truth it would be very
+awkward," she said.
+
+"No fear of that," he laughed in full confidence. "A man once dead and
+buried, with a coroner's verdict upon him, is not easily believed to
+be alive and well. No, my dear; rest assured that these men will never
+get at our secret--never."
+
+I smiled within myself. How little did he dream that the man of whom
+he had been speaking was actually overhearing his words!
+
+"But Ethelwynn, in order to regain her place in the doctor's heart,
+may betray us," his wife remarked dubiously.
+
+"She dare not," was the reply. "From her we have nothing whatever to
+fear. As long as you keep up the appearance of deep mourning, are
+discreet in all your actions, and exercise proper caution on the
+occasions when we meet, our secret must remain hidden from all."
+
+"But I am doubtful of Ethelwynn. A woman as fondly in love with a man,
+as she is with Ralph, is apt to throw discretion to the winds," the
+woman observed. "Recollect that the breach between them is on our
+account, and that a word from her could expose the whole thing, and at
+the same time bring back to her the man for whose lost love she is
+pining. It is because of that I am in constant fear."
+
+"Your apprehensions are entirely groundless," he declared in a
+decisive voice. "She's the only other person in the secret besides
+ourselves; but to betray us would be fatal to her."
+
+"She may consider that she has made sufficient self-sacrifice?"
+
+"Then all the greater reason why she should remain silent. She has her
+reputation to lose by divulging."
+
+By his argument she appeared only half-convinced, for I saw upon her
+brow a heavy, thoughtful expression, similar to that I had noticed
+when sitting opposite her at dinner. The reason of her constant
+preoccupation was that she feared that her sister might give me the
+clue to her secret.
+
+That a remarkable conspiracy had been in progress was now made quite
+plain; and, further, one very valuable fact I had ascertained was that
+Ethelwynn was the only other person who knew the truth, and yet dared
+not reveal it.
+
+This man who stood before me was old Mr. Courtenay, without a doubt.
+That being so, who could have been the unfortunate man who had been
+struck to the heart so mysteriously?
+
+So strange and complicated were all the circumstances, and so cleverly
+had the chief actors in the drama arranged its details, that Courtenay
+himself was convinced that for others to learn the truth was utterly
+impossible. Yet it was more than remarkable that he sought not to
+disguise his personal appearance if he wished to remain dead to the
+world. Perhaps, however, being unknown in that rural district--for he
+once had told me that he had never visited his wife's home since his
+marriage--he considered himself perfectly safe from recognition.
+Besides, from their conversation I gathered that they only met on rare
+occasions, and certainly Mary kept up the fiction of mourning with the
+greatest assiduity.
+
+I recollected what old Mrs. Mivart had told me of her daughter's
+erratic movements; of her short mysterious absences with her
+dressing-bag and without a maid. It was evident that she made flying
+visits in various directions in order to meet her "dead" husband.
+
+Courtenay spoke again, after a brief silence, saying:
+
+"I had no idea that the doctor was down here, or I should have kept
+away. To be seen by him would expose the whole affair."
+
+"I was quite ignorant of his visit until I went in to dinner and found
+him already seated at table," she answered. "But he will leave
+to-morrow. He said to-night that to remain away from his patients for
+a single day was very difficult."
+
+"Is he down here in pursuance of his inquiries, do you think?"
+suggested her husband.
+
+"He may be. Mother evidently knew of his impending arrival, but told
+me nothing. I was annoyed, for he was the very last person I wished to
+meet."
+
+"Well, he'll go in the morning, so we have nothing to fear. He's safe
+enough in bed, and sleeping soundly--confound him!"
+
+The temptation was great to respond aloud to the compliment; but I
+refrained, laughing within myself at the valuable information I was
+obtaining.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+WORDS OF THE DEAD.
+
+
+Justice is always vigilant--it stops not to weigh causes or motives,
+but overtakes the criminal, no matter whether his deeds be the
+suggestion of malice or the consequence of provoked revenge. I was all
+eagerness to face the pair in the full light and demand an
+explanation, yet I hesitated, fearing lest precipitation might prevent
+me gaining knowledge of the truth.
+
+That they had no inclination to walk further was evident, for they
+still stood there in conversation, facing each other and speaking
+earnestly. I listened attentively to every word, my heart thumping so
+loudly that I wondered they did not hear its excited pulsations.
+
+"You've seen nothing of Sir Bernard?" she was saying.
+
+"Sir Bernard!" he echoed. "Why, of course not. To him I am dead and
+buried, just as I am to the rest of the world. My executors have
+proved my will at Somerset House, and very soon you will receive its
+benefits. To meet the old doctor would be to reveal the whole thing."
+
+"It is all so strange," she said with a low sigh, "that sometimes,
+when I am alone, I can't believe it to be true. We have deceived the
+world so completely."
+
+"Of course. That was my intention."
+
+"But could it not have been done without the sacrifice of that man's
+life?" she queried. "Remember! The crime of murder was committed."
+
+"You are only dreaming!" he replied, in a hard voice. "A mystery was
+necessary for our success."
+
+"And it is a mystery which has entirely baffled the police in every
+particular."
+
+"As I intended it should. I laid my plans with care, so that there
+should be no hitch or point by which Scotland Yard could obtain a
+clue."
+
+"But our future life?" she murmured. "When may I return again to you?
+At present I am compelled to feign mourning, and present a perfect
+picture of interesting widowhood; but--but I hate this playing at
+death."
+
+"Have patience, dear," he urged in a sympathetic tone. "For the moment
+we must remain entirely apart, holding no communication with each
+other save in secret, on the first and fifteenth day of every month as
+we arranged. As soon as I find myself in a position of safety we will
+disappear together, and you will leave the world wondering at the
+second mystery following upon the first."
+
+"In how long a time do you anticipate?" she asked, looking earnestly
+into his eyes.
+
+"A few months at most," was his answer. "If it were possible you
+should return to me at once; but you know how strange and romantic is
+my life, compelled to disguise my personality, and for ever moving
+from place to place, like the Wandering Jew. To return to me at
+present is quite impossible. Besides--you are in the hands of the
+executors; and before long must be in evidence in order to receive my
+money."
+
+"Money is useless to me without happiness," she declared, in a voice
+of complaint. "My position at present is one of constant dread."
+
+"Whom and what do you fear?"
+
+"I believe that Dr. Boyd has some vague suspicion of the truth," she
+responded, after a pause.
+
+"What?" he cried, in quick surprise. "Tell me why. Explain it all to
+me."
+
+"There is nothing to explain--save that to-night he seemed to regard
+my movements with suspicion."
+
+"Ah! my dear, your fears are utterly groundless," he laughed. "What
+can the fellow possibly know? He is assured that I am dead, for he
+signed my certificate and followed me to my grave at Woking. A man who
+attends his friend's funeral has no suspicion that the dead is still
+living, depend upon it. If there is any object in this world that is
+convincing it is a corpse."
+
+"I merely tell you the result of my observations," she said. "In my
+opinion he has come here to learn what he can."
+
+"He can learn nothing," answered the "dead" man. "If it were his
+confounded friend Jevons, now, we might have some apprehension; for
+the ingenuity of that man is, I've heard, absolutely astounding. Even
+Scotland Yard seeks his aid in the solving of the more difficult
+criminal problems."
+
+"I tell you plainly that I fear Ethelwynn may expose us," his wife
+went on slowly, a distinctly anxious look upon her countenance. "As
+you know, there is a coolness between us, and rather than risk losing
+the doctor altogether she may make a clean breast of the affair."
+
+"No, no, my dear. Rest assured that she will never betray us,"
+answered Courtenay, with a light reassuring laugh. "True, you are not
+very friendly, yet you must recollect that she and I are friends. Her
+interests are identical with our own; therefore to expose us would be
+to expose herself at the same time."
+
+"A woman sometimes acts without forethought."
+
+"Quite true; but Ethelwynn is not one of those. She's careful to
+preserve her own position in the eyes of her lover, knowing quite well
+that to tell the truth would be to expose her own baseness. A man may
+overlook many offences in the woman he loves, but this particular one
+of which she is guilty a man never forgives."
+
+His words went deep into my heart. Was not this further proof that the
+crime--for undoubtedly a crime had been accomplished in that house at
+Kew--had been committed by the hand of the woman I so fondly loved?
+All was so amazing, so utterly bewildering, that I stood there
+concealed by the tree, motionless as though turned to stone.
+
+There was a motive wanting in it all. Yet I ask you who read this
+narrative of mine if, like myself, you would not have been staggered
+into dumbness at seeing and hearing a man whom you had certified to be
+dead, moving and speaking, and, moreover, in his usual health?
+
+"He loves her!" his wife exclaimed, speaking of me. "He would forgive
+her anything. My own opinion is that if we would be absolutely secure
+it is for us to heal the breach between them."
+
+He remained thoughtful for a few moments, apparently in doubt as to
+the wisdom of acting upon her suggestion. Surely in the situation was
+an element of humor, for, happily, I was being forearmed.
+
+"It might possibly be good policy," he remarked at last. "If we could
+only bring them together again he would cease his constant striving to
+solve the enigma. We know well that he can never do that; nevertheless
+his constant efforts are as annoying as they are dangerous."
+
+"That's just my opinion. There is danger to us in his constant
+inquiries, which are much more ingenious and careful than we imagine."
+
+"Well, my child," he said, "you've stuck to me in this in a manner
+that few women would have dared. If you really think it necessary to
+bring Boyd and Ethelwynn together again you must do it entirely alone,
+for I could not possibly appear on the scene. He must never meet me,
+or the whole thing would be revealed."
+
+"For your sake I am prepared to make the attempt," she said. "The fact
+of being Ethelwynn's sister gives me freedom to speak my mind to him."
+
+"And to tell him some pretty little fiction about her?" he added,
+laughing.
+
+"Yes. It will certainly be necessary to put an entirely innocent face
+on recent events in order to smooth matters over," she admitted,
+joining in his laughter.
+
+"Rather a difficult task to make the affair at Kew appear innocent,"
+he observed. "But you're really a wonderful woman, Mary. The way
+you've acted your part in this affair is simply marvellous. You've
+deceived everyone--even that old potterer, Sir Bernard himself."
+
+"I've done it for your sake," was her response. "I made a promise, and
+I've kept it. Up to the present we are safe, but we cannot take too
+many precautions. We have enemies and scandal-seekers on every side."
+
+"I admit that," he replied, rather impatiently, I thought. "If you
+think it a wise course you had better lose no time in placing
+Ethelwynn's innocence before her lover. You will see him in the
+morning, I suppose?"
+
+"Probably not. He leaves by the eight o'clock train," she said. "When
+my plans are matured I will call upon him in London."
+
+"And if any woman can deceive him, you can, Mary," he laughed. "In
+those widow's weeds of yours you could deceive the very devil
+himself!"
+
+Mrs. Courtenay's airy talk of deception threw an entirely fresh light
+upon her character. Hitherto I had held her in considerable esteem as
+a woman who, being bored to death by the eccentricities of her invalid
+husband, had sought distraction with her friends in town, but
+nevertheless honest and devoted to the man she had wedded. But these
+words of hers caused doubt to arise within my mind. That she had been
+devoted to her husband's interest was proved by the clever imposture
+she was practising; indeed it seemed to me very much as if those
+frequent visits to town had been at the "dead" man's suggestion and
+with his entire consent. But the more I reflected upon the
+extraordinary details of the tragedy and its astounding denouement,
+the more hopeless and maddening became the problem.
+
+"I shall probably go to town to-morrow," she exclaimed, after smiling
+at his declaration. "Where are you in hiding just now?"
+
+"In Birmingham. A large town is safer than a village. I return by the
+six o'clock train, and go again into close concealment."
+
+"But you know people in Birmingham, don't you? We stayed there once
+with some people called Tremlett, I recollect."
+
+"Ah, yes," he laughed. "But I am careful to avoid them. The district
+in which I live is far removed from them. Besides, I never by any
+chance go out by day. I'm essentially a nocturnal roamer."
+
+"And when shall we meet again?"
+
+"By appointment, in the usual way."
+
+"At the usual place?" she asked.
+
+"There can be no better, I think. It does not take you from home, and
+I am quite unknown down here."
+
+"If any of the villagers ever discovered us they might talk, and
+declare that I met a secret lover," she laughed.
+
+"If you are ever recognised, which I don't anticipate is probable, we
+can at once change our place of meeting. At present there is no
+necessity for changing it."
+
+"Then, in the meantime, I will exercise my woman's diplomacy to effect
+peace between Ethelwynn and the doctor," she said. "It is the only way
+by which we can obtain security."
+
+"For the life of me I can't discern the reason of his coolness towards
+her," remarked my "dead" patient.
+
+"He suspects her."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Suspects the truth. She has told me so."
+
+Old Henry Courtenay grunted in dissatisfaction.
+
+"Hasn't she tried to convince him to the contrary?" he asked. "I was
+always under the impression that she could twist him round her
+finger--so hopelessly was he in love with her."
+
+"So she could before this unfortunate affair."
+
+"And now that he suspects the truth he's disinclined to have any more
+to do with her--eh? Well," he added, "after all, it's only natural.
+She's not so devilish clever as you, Mary, otherwise she would never
+have allowed herself to fall beneath suspicion. She must have somehow
+blundered."
+
+"To-morrow I shall go to town," she said in a reflective voice. "No
+time should be lost in effecting the reconciliation between them."
+
+"You are right," he declared. "You should commence at once. Call and
+talk with him. He believes so entirely in you. But promise me one
+thing; that you will not go to Ethelwynn," he urged.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it is quite unnecessary," he answered. "You are not good
+friends; therefore your influence upon the doctor should be a hidden
+one. She will believe that he has returned to her of his own free
+will; hence our position will be rendered the stronger. Act
+diplomatically. If she believes that you are interesting yourself in
+her affairs it may anger her."
+
+"Then you suggest that I should call upon the doctor in secret, and
+try and influence him in her favour without her being aware of it?"
+
+"Exactly. After the reconciliation is effected you may tell her. At
+present, however, it is not wise to show our hand. By your visit to
+the doctor you may be able to obtain from him how much he knows, and
+what are his suspicions. One thing is certain, that with all his
+shrewdness he doesn't dream the truth."
+
+"Who would?" she asked with a smile. "If the story were told, nobody
+would believe it."
+
+"That's just it! The incredibility of the whole affair is what places
+us in such a position of security; for as long as I lie low and you
+continue to act the part of the interesting widow, nobody can possibly
+get at the truth."
+
+"I think I've acted my part well, up to the present," she said, "and I
+hope to continue to do so. To influence the doctor will be a difficult
+task, I fear. But I'll do my utmost, because I see that by the
+reconciliation Ethelwynn's lips would be sealed."
+
+"Act with discretion, my dear," urged the old man. "But remember that
+Boyd is not a man to be trifled with--and as for that accursed friend
+of his, Ambler Jevons, he seems second cousin to the very King of
+Darkness himself."
+
+"Never fear," she laughed confidently. "Leave it to me--leave all to
+me."
+
+And then, agreeing that it was time they went back, they turned,
+retraced their steps, and passing through the small gate into the
+meadow, were soon afterwards lost to sight.
+
+Truly my night's adventure had been as strange and startling as any
+that has happened to living man, for what I had seen and heard opened
+up a hundred theories, each more remarkable and tragic than the other,
+until I stood utterly dumfounded and aghast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS.
+
+
+On coming down to breakfast on the following morning I found Mrs.
+Mivart awaiting me alone. The old lady apologised for Mary's
+non-appearance, saying that it was her habit to have her tea in her
+room, but that she sent me a message of farewell.
+
+Had it been at all possible I would have left by a later train, for I
+was extremely anxious to watch her demeanour after last night's
+clandestine meeting, but with such a crowd of patients awaiting me it
+was imperative to leave by the first train. Even that would not bring
+me to King's Cross before nearly eleven o'clock.
+
+"Well now, doctor," Mrs. Mivart commenced rather anxiously when we
+were seated, and she had handed me my coffee. "You saw Mary last
+night, and had an opportunity of speaking with her. What is your
+opinion? Don't hesitate to tell me frankly, for I consider that it is
+my duty to face the worst."
+
+"Really!" I exclaimed, looking straight at her after a moment's
+reflection. "To speak candidly I failed to detect anything radically
+wrong in your daughter's demeanour."
+
+"But didn't you notice, doctor, how extremely nervous she is; how in
+her eyes there is a haunting, suspicious look, and how blank is her
+mind upon every other subject but the great calamity that has
+befallen her?"
+
+"I must really confess that these things were not apparent to me," I
+answered. "I watched her carefully, but beyond the facts that she is
+greatly unnerved by the sad affair and that she is mourning deeply for
+her dead husband, I can discover nothing abnormal."
+
+"You are not of opinion, then, that her mind is growing unbalanced by
+the strain?"
+
+"Not in the least," I reassured her. "The symptoms she betrays are but
+natural in a woman of her nervous, highly-strung temperament."
+
+"But she unfortunately grieves too much," remarked the old lady with a
+sigh. "His name is upon her lips at every hour. I've tried to distract
+her and urged her to accompany me abroad for a time, but all to no
+purpose. She won't hear of it."
+
+I alone knew the reason of her refusal. In conspiracy with her "dead"
+husband it was impossible to be apart from him for long together. The
+undue accentuation of her daughter's feigned grief had alarmed the old
+lady--and justly so. Now that I recollected, her conduct at table on
+the previous night was remarkable, having regard to the true facts of
+the case. I confess I had myself been entirely deceived into believing
+that her sorrow at Henry Courtenay's death was unbounded. In every
+detail her acting was perfect, and bound to attract sympathy among her
+friends and arouse interest among strangers. I longed to explain to
+the quiet, charming old lady what I had seen during my midnight
+ramble; but such a course was, as yet, impossible. Indeed, if I made a
+plain statement, such as I have given in the foregoing pages, surely
+no one would believe me. But every man has his romance, and this was
+mine.
+
+Unable to reveal Mary's secret, I was compelled reluctantly to take
+leave of her mother, who accompanied me out to where the dog-cart was
+in waiting.
+
+"I scarcely know, doctor, how to thank you sufficiently," the dear old
+lady said as I took her hand. "What you have told me reassures me. Of
+late I have been extremely anxious, as you may imagine."
+
+"You need feel no anxiety," I declared. "She's nervous and run
+down--that's all. Take her away for a change, if possible. But if she
+refuses, don't force her. Quiet is the chief medicine in her case.
+Good-bye."
+
+She pressed my hand again in grateful acknowledgment, and then I
+mounted into the conveyance and was driven to the station.
+
+On the journey back to town I pondered long and deeply. Of a verity my
+short visit to Mrs. Mivart had been fraught with good results, and I
+was contemplating seeking Ambler Jevons at the earliest possible
+moment and relating to him my astounding discovery. The fact that old
+Courtenay was still living was absolutely beyond my comprehension. To
+endeavour to form any theory, or to try and account for the
+bewildering phenomenon, was utterly useless. I had seen him, and had
+overheard his words. I could surely believe my eyes and ears. And
+there it ended. The why and wherefore I put aside for the present,
+remembering Mary's promise to him to come to town and have an
+interview with me.
+
+Surely that meeting ought to be most interesting. I awaited it with
+the most intense anxiety, and yet in fear lest I might be led by her
+clever imposture to blurt out what I knew. I felt myself on the eve of
+a startling revelation; and my expectations were realized to the full,
+as the further portion of this strange romance will show.
+
+I know that many narratives have been written detailing the remarkable
+and almost inconceivable machinations of those who have stained their
+hands with crime, but I honestly believe that the extraordinary
+features of my own life-romance are as strange as, if not stranger
+than, any hitherto recorded. Even my worst enemy could not dub me
+egotistical, I think; and surely the facts I have set down here are
+plain and unvarnished, without any attempt at misleading the reader
+into believing that which is untrue. Mine is a plain chronicle of a
+chain of extraordinary circumstances which led to an amazing
+denouement.
+
+From King's Cross to Guy's is a considerable distance, and when I
+alighted from the cab in the courtyard of the hospital it was nearly
+mid-day. Until two o'clock I was kept busy in the wards, and after a
+sandwich and a glass of sherry I drove to Harley Street, where I found
+Sir Bernard in his consulting-room for the first time for a month.
+
+"Ah! Boyd," he cried merrily, when I entered. "Thought I'd surprise
+you to-day. I felt quite well this morning, so resolved to come up and
+see Lady Twickenham and one or two others. I'm not at home to
+patients, and have left them to you."
+
+"Delighted to see you better," I declared, wringing his hand. "They
+were asking after you at the hospital to-day. Vernon said he intended
+going down to see you to-morrow."
+
+"Kind of him," the old man laughed, placing his thin hands together,
+after rubbing and readjusting his glasses. "You were away last night;
+out of town, they said."
+
+"Yes, I wanted a breath of fresh air," I answered, laughing. I did not
+care to tell him where I had been, knowing that he held my love for
+Ethelwynn as the possible ruin of my career.
+
+His curiosity seemed aroused; but, although he put to me an ingenious
+question, I steadfastly refused to satisfy him. I recollected too well
+his open condemnation of my love on previous occasions. Now that the
+"murdered" man was proved to be still alive, I surely had no further
+grounds for my suspicion of Ethelwynn. That she had, by her silence,
+deceived me regarding her engagement to Mr. Courtenay was plain, but
+the theory that it was her hand that had assassinated him was
+certainly disproved. Thus, although the discovery of the "dead" man's
+continued existence deepened the mystery a thousandfold, it
+nevertheless dispelled from my heart a good deal of the suspicion
+regarding my well-beloved; and, in consequence, I was not desirous
+that any further hostile word should be uttered against her.
+
+While Sir Bernard went out to visit her ladyship and two or three
+other nervous women living in the same neighbourhood, I seated myself
+in his chair and saw the afternoon callers one after another. I fear
+that the advice I gave during those couple of hours was not very
+notable for its shrewdness or brilliancy. As in other professions, so
+in medicine, when one's brain is overflowing with private affairs, one
+cannot attend properly to patients. On such occasions one is apt to
+ask the usual questions mechanically, hear the replies and scribble a
+prescription of some harmless formula. On the afternoon in question I
+certainly believe myself guilty of such lapse of professional
+attention. Yet even we doctors are human, although our patients
+frequently forget that fact. The medico is a long-suffering person,
+even in these days of scarcity of properly-qualified men--the first
+person called on emergency, and the very last to be paid!
+
+It was past five o'clock before I was able to return to my rooms, and
+on arrival I found upon my table a note from Jevons. It was dated from
+the Yorick Club, a small but exceedingly comfortable Bohemian centre
+in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and had evidently been written
+hurriedly on the previous night:--
+
+     _"I hear you are absent in the country. That is unfortunate.
+     But as soon as you receive this, lose no time in calling at
+     the Hennikers' and making casual inquiries regarding Miss
+     Mivart. Something has happened, but what it is I have failed
+     to discover. You stand a better chance. Go at once. I must
+     leave for Bath to-night. Address me at the Royal Hotel, G.
+     W. Station._
+
+                    "AMBLER JEVONS."
+
+What could have transpired? And why had my friend's movements been so
+exceedingly erratic of late, if he had not been following some clue?
+Would that clue lead him to the truth, I wondered? Or was he still
+suspicious of Ethelwynn's guilt?
+
+Puzzled by this vague note, and wondering what had occurred, and
+whether the trip to Bath was in connection with it, I made a hasty
+toilet and drove in a hansom to the Hennikers'.
+
+Mrs. Henniker met me in the drawing-room, just as gushing and charming
+as ever. She was one of those many women in London who seek to hang on
+to the skirts of polite society by reason of a distant connexion being
+a countess--a fact of which she never failed to remind the stranger
+before half-an-hour's acquaintance. She found it always a pleasant
+manner in which to open a conversation at dinner, dance, or soiree:
+"Oh! do you happen to know my cousin, Lady Nassington?" She never
+sufficiently realised it as bad form, and therefore in her own circle
+was known among the women, who jeered at her behind her back, as "The
+Cousin of Lady Nassington." She was daintily dressed, and evidently
+just come in from visiting, for she still had her hat on when she
+entered.
+
+"Ah!" she cried, with her usual buoyant air. "You truant! We've all
+been wondering what had become of you. Busy, of course! Always the
+same excuse! Find something fresh. You used it a fortnight ago to
+refuse my invitation to take pot-luck with us."
+
+I laughed at her unconventional greeting, replying, "If I say
+something fresh it must be a lie. You know, Mrs. Henniker, how hard
+I'm kept at it, with hospital work and private practice."
+
+"That's all very well," she said, with a slight pout of her
+well-shaped mouth--for she was really a pretty woman, even though full
+of airs and caprices. "But it doesn't excuse you for keeping away from
+us altogether."
+
+"I don't keep away altogether," I protested. "I've called now."
+
+She pulled a wry face, in order to emphasise her dissatisfaction at my
+explanation, and said:
+
+"And I suppose you are prepared to receive castigation? Ethelwynn has
+begun to complain because people are saying that your engagement is
+broken off."
+
+"Who says so?" I inquired rather angrily, for I hated all the
+tittle-tattle of that little circle of gossips who dawdle over the
+tea-cups of Redcliffe Square and its neighbourhood. I had attended a
+good many of them professionally at various times, and was well
+acquainted with all their ways and all their exaggerations. The
+gossiping circle in flat-land about Earl's Court was bad enough, but
+the Redcliffe Square set, being slightly higher in the social scale,
+was infinitely worse.
+
+"Oh! all the ill-natured people are commenting upon your apparent
+coolness. Once, not long ago, you used to be seen everywhere with
+Ethelwynn, and now no one ever sees you. People form a natural
+conclusion, of course," said the fair-haired, fussy little woman,
+whose married state gave her the right to censure me on my neglect.
+
+"Ethelwynn is, of course, still with you?" I asked, in anger that
+outsiders should seek to interfere in my private affairs.
+
+"She still makes our house her home, not caring to go back to the
+dulness of Neneford," was her reply. "But at present she's away
+visiting one of her old schoolfellows--a girl who married a country
+banker and lives near Hereford."
+
+"Then she's in the country?"
+
+"Yes, she went three days ago. I thought she had written to you. She
+told me she intended doing so."
+
+I had received no letter from her. Indeed, our recent correspondence
+had been of a very infrequent and formal character. With a woman's
+quick perception she had noted my coldness and had sought to show
+equal callousness. With the knowledge of Courtenay's continued
+existence now in my mind, I was beside myself with grief and anger at
+having doubted her. But how could I act at that moment, save in
+obedience to my friend Jevons' instructions? He had urged me to go and
+find out some details regarding her recent life with the Hennikers;
+and with that object I remarked:
+
+"She hasn't been very well of late, I fear. The change of air should
+do her good."
+
+"That's true, poor girl. She's seemed very unwell, and I've often
+told her that only one doctor in the world could cure her
+malady--yourself."
+
+I smiled. The malady was, I knew too well, the grief of a disappointed
+love, and a perfect cure for that could only be accomplished by
+reconciliation. I was filled with regret that she was absent, for I
+longed there and then to take her to my breast and whisper into her
+ear my heart's outpourings. Yes; we men are very foolish in our
+impetuosity.
+
+"How long will she be away?"
+
+"Why?" inquired the smartly-dressed little woman, mischievously. "What
+can it matter to you?"
+
+"I have her welfare at heart, Mrs. Henniker," I answered seriously.
+
+"Then you have a curious way of showing your solicitude on her
+behalf," she said bluntly, smiling again. "Poor Ethelwynn has been
+pining day after day for a word from you; but you seldom, if ever,
+write, and when you do the coldness of your letters adds to her burden
+of grief. I knew always when she had received one by the traces of
+secret tears upon her cheeks. Forgive me for saying so, Doctor, but
+you men, either in order to test the strength of a woman's affection,
+or perhaps out of mere caprice, often try her patience until the
+strained thread snaps, and she who was a good and pure woman becomes
+reckless of everything--her name, her family pride, and even her own
+honour."
+
+Her words aroused my curiosity.
+
+"And you believe that Ethelwynn's patience is exhausted?" I asked,
+anxiously.
+
+Her eyes met mine, and I saw a mysterious expression in them. There is
+always something strange in the eyes of a pretty woman who is hiding a
+secret.
+
+"Well, Doctor," she answered, in a voice quite calm and deliberate,
+"you've already shown yourself so openly as being disinclined to
+further associate yourself publicly with poor Ethelwynn, because of
+the tragedy that befell the household, that you surely cannot complain
+if you find your place usurped by a new and more devoted lover."
+
+"What!" I cried, starting up, fiercely. "What is this you tell me?
+Ethelwynn has a lover?"
+
+"I have nothing whatever to do with her affairs, Doctor," said the
+tantalising woman, who affected all the foibles of the smarter set.
+"Now that you have forsaken her she is, of course, entirely mistress
+of her own actions."
+
+"But I haven't forsaken her!" I blurted forth.
+
+She only smiled superciliously, with the same mysterious look--an
+expression that I cannot define, but by which I knew that she had told
+me the crushing truth. Ethelwynn, believing that I had cast her aside,
+had allowed herself to be loved by another!
+
+Who was the man who had usurped my place? I deserved it all, without a
+doubt. You, reader, have already in your heart condemned me as being
+hard and indifferent towards the woman I once loved so truly and so
+well. But, in extenuation, I would ask you to recollect how grave were
+the suspicions against her--how every fact seemed to prove
+conclusively that her sister's husband had died by her hand.
+
+I saw plainly in Mrs. Henniker's veiled words a statement of the
+truth; and, after obtaining from her Ethelwynn's address near
+Hereford, bade her farewell and blindly left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+MY NEW PATIENT.
+
+
+In the feverish restlessness of the London night, with its rumbling
+market-wagons and the constant tinkling of cab-bells, so different to
+the calm, moonlit stillness of the previous night in rural England, I
+wrote a long explanatory letter to my love.
+
+I admitted that I had wronged her by my apparent coldness and
+indifference, but sought to excuse myself on the ground of the
+pressure of work upon me. She knew well that I was not a rich man, and
+in that slavery to which I was now tied I had an object--the object I
+had placed before her in the dawning days of our affection--namely,
+the snug country practice with an old-fashioned comfortable house in
+one of the quiet villages or smaller towns in the Midlands. In those
+days she had been just as enthusiastic about it as I had been. She
+hated town life, I knew; and even if the wife of a country doctor is
+allowed few diversions, she can always form a select little
+tea-and-tennis circle of friends.
+
+The fashion nowadays is for girls of middle-class to regard the
+prospect of becoming a country doctor's wife with considerable
+hesitation--"too slow," they term it; and declare that to live in the
+country and drive in a governess-cart is synonymous with being buried.
+Many girls marry just as servants change their places--in order "to
+better themselves;" and alas! that parents encourage this latter-day
+craze for artificiality and glitter of town life that so often
+fascinates and spoils a bride ere the honeymoon is over. The majority
+of girls to-day are not content to marry the hard-working professional
+man whose lot is cast in the country, but prefer to marry a man in
+town, so that they may take part in the pleasures of theatres, variety
+and otherwise, suppers at restaurants, and the thousand and one
+attractions provided for the reveller in London. They have obtained
+their knowledge of "life" from the society papers, and they see no
+reason why they should not taste of those pleasures enjoyed by their
+wealthier sisters, whose goings and comings are so carefully
+chronicled. The majority of girls have a desire to shine beyond their
+own sphere; and the attempt, alas! is accountable for very many of the
+unhappy marriages. This may sound prosy, I know, but the reader will
+forgive when he reflects upon the cases in point which arise to his
+memory--cases of personal friends, perhaps even of relations, to whom
+marriage was a failure owing to this uncontrollable desire on the part
+of the woman to assume a position to which neither birth nor wealth
+entitled her.
+
+To the general rule, however, my love was an exception. Times without
+number had she declared her anxiety to settle in the country; for,
+being country born and bred, she was an excellent horsewoman, and in
+every essential a thorough English girl of the Grass Country, fond of
+a run with either fox or otter hounds; therefore, in suburban life at
+Kew, she had been entirely out of her element.
+
+In that letter I wrote, composing it slowly and carefully--for like
+most medical men I am a bad hand at literary composition--I sought her
+forgiveness, and asked for an immediate interview. The wisdom of being
+so precipitous never occurred to me. I only know that in those night
+hours over my pipe I resolved to forget once and for all that letter I
+had discovered among the "dead" man's effects, and determined that,
+while I sought reconciliation with Ethelwynn, I would keep an open and
+watchful eye upon Mary and her fellow conspirator.
+
+The suggestion that Ethelwynn, believing herself forsaken, had
+accepted the declarations of a man she considered more worthy than
+myself, lashed me to a frenzy of madness. He should never have her,
+whoever he might be. She had been mine, and should remain so, come
+what might. I added a postscript, asking her to wire me permission to
+travel down to Hereford to see her; then, sealing up the letter, I
+went out along the Marylebone Road and posted it in the pillar-box,
+which I knew was cleared at five o'clock in the morning.
+
+It was then about three o'clock, calm, but rather overcast. The
+Marylebone Road had at last become hushed in silence. Wagons and cabs
+had both ceased, and save for a solitary policeman here and there the
+long thoroughfare, so full of traffic by day, was utterly deserted. I
+retraced my steps slowly towards the corner of Harley Street, and was
+about to open the door of the house wherein I had "diggings" when I
+heard a light, hurried footstep behind me, and turning, confronted the
+figure of a slim woman of middle height wearing a golf cape, the hood
+of which had been thrown over her head in lieu of a hat.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," she cried, in a breathless voice, "but are you
+Doctor Boyd?"
+
+I replied that such was my name.
+
+"Oh, I'm in such distress," she said, in the tone of one whose heart
+is full of anguish. "My poor father!"
+
+"Is your father ill?" I inquired, turning from the door and looking
+full at her. I was standing on the step, and she was on the pavement,
+having evidently approached from the opposite direction. She stood
+with her back to the street lamp, so I could discern nothing of her
+features. Only her voice told me that she was young.
+
+"Oh, he's very ill," she replied anxiously. "He was taken queer at
+eleven o'clock, but he wouldn't hear of me coming to you. He's one of
+those men who don't like doctors."
+
+"Ah!" I remarked; "there are many of his sort about. But they are
+compelled to seek our aid now and then. Well, what can I do for you? I
+suppose you want me to see him--eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if you'd be so kind. I know its awfully late; but, as
+you've been out, perhaps you wouldn't mind running round to our house.
+It's quite close, and I'll take you there." She spoke with the
+peculiar drawl and dropped her "h's" in the manner of the true
+London-bred girl.
+
+"I'll come if you'll wait a minute," I said, and then, leaving her
+outside, I entered the house and obtained my thermometer and
+stethoscope.
+
+When I rejoined her and closed the door I made some inquiries about
+the sufferer's symptoms, but the description she gave me was so
+utterly vague and contradictory that I could make nothing out of it.
+Her muddled idea of his illness I put down to her fear and anxiety for
+his welfare.
+
+She had no mother, she told me; and her father had, of late, given way
+just a little to drink. He "used" the Haycock, in Edgware Road; and
+she feared that he had fallen among a hard-drinking set. He was a
+pianoforte-maker, and had been employed at Brinsmead's for eighteen
+years. Since her mother died, six years ago, however, he had never
+been the same.
+
+"It was then that he took to drink?" I hazarded.
+
+"Yes," she responded. "He was devoted to her. They never had a wry
+word."
+
+"What has he been complaining of? Pains in the head--or what?"
+
+"Oh, he's seemed thoroughly out of sorts," she answered after some
+slight hesitation, which struck me as peculiar. She was greatly
+agitated regarding his illness, yet she could not describe one single
+symptom clearly. The only direct statement she made was that her
+father had certainly not been drinking on the previous night, for he
+had remained indoors ever since he came home from the works, as
+usual, at seven o'clock.
+
+As she led me along the Marylebone Road, in the same direction as
+that I had just traversed--which somewhat astonished me--I glanced
+surreptitiously at her, just at the moment when we were approaching
+a street lamp, and saw to my surprise that she was a sad-faced girl
+whose features were familiar. I recognised her in a moment as the girl
+who had been my fellow passenger from Brighton on that Sunday night.
+Her hair, however, was dishevelled, as though she had turned out from
+her bed in too great alarm to think of tidying it. I was rather
+surprised, but did not claim acquaintance with her. She led me
+past Madame Tussaud's, around Baker Street Station, and then into
+the maze of those small cross-streets that lie between Upper Baker
+Street and Lisson Grove until she stopped before a small, rather
+respectable-looking house, half-way along a short side-street,
+entering with a latch-key.
+
+In the narrow hall it was quite dark, but she struck a match and lit
+a cheap paraffin lamp which stood there in readiness, then led me
+upstairs to a small sitting-room on the first floor, a dingy, stuffy
+little place of a character which showed me that she and her father
+lived in lodgings. Having set the lamp on the table, and saying that
+she would go and acquaint the invalid with my arrival, she went out,
+closing the door quietly after her. The room was evidently the home of
+a studious, if poor, man, for in a small deal bookcase I noticed,
+well-kept and well-arranged, a number of standard works on science
+and theology, as well as various volumes which told me mutely that
+their owner was a student, while upon the table lay a couple of
+critical reviews, the "Saturday" and "Spectator."
+
+I took up the latter and glanced it over in order to pass the time,
+for my conductress seemed to be in consultation with her father. My
+eye caught an article that interested me, and I read it through,
+forgetting for a moment all about my call there. Fully ten minutes
+elapsed, when of a sudden I heard the voice of a man speaking somewhat
+indistinctly in a room above that in which I was sitting. He seemed to
+be talking low and gruffly, so that I was unable to distinguish what
+was said. At last, however, the girl returned, and, asking me to
+follow her, conducted me to a bedroom on the next floor.
+
+The only illumination was a single night-light burning in a saucer,
+casting a faint, uncertain glimmer over everything, and shaded with an
+open book so that the occupant of the bed lay in deepest shadow.
+Unlike what one would have expected to find in such a house, an iron
+bedstead with brass rail, the bed was a great old-fashioned one with
+heavy wool damask hangings; and advancing towards it, while the girl
+retired and closed the door after her, I bent down to see the invalid.
+
+In the shadow I could just distinguish on the pillow a dark-bearded
+face whose appearance was certainly not prepossessing.
+
+"You are not well?" I said, inquiringly, as our eyes met in the dim
+half-light. "Your daughter is distressed about you."
+
+"Yes, I'm a bit queer," he growled. "But she needn't have bothered
+you."
+
+"Let me remove the shade from the light, so that I can see your face,"
+I suggested. "It's too dark to see anything."
+
+"No," he snapped; "I can't bear the light. You can see quite enough of
+me here."
+
+"Very well," I said, reluctantly, and taking his wrist in one hand I
+held my watch in the other.
+
+"I fancy you'll find me a bit feverish," he said in a curious tone,
+almost as though he were joking, and by his manner I at once put him
+down as one of those eccentric persons who are sceptical of any
+achievements of medical science.
+
+I was holding his wrist and bending towards the light, in order to
+distinguish the hands of my watch, when a strange thing happened.
+
+There was a deafening explosion close behind me, which caused me to
+jump back startled. I dropped the man's hand and turned quickly in the
+direction of the sound; but, as I did so, a second shot from a
+revolver held by an unknown person was discharged full in my face.
+
+The truth was instantly plain. I had been entrapped for my watch and
+jewellery--like many another medical man in London has been before me;
+doctors being always an easy prey for thieves. The ruffian shamming
+illness sprang from his bed fully dressed, and at the same moment two
+other blackguards, who had been hidden in the room, flung themselves
+upon me ere I could realize my deadly peril.
+
+The whole thing had been carefully planned, and it was apparent that
+the gang were quite fearless of neighbours overhearing the shots. The
+place bore a bad reputation, I knew; but I had never suspected that a
+man might be fired at from behind in that cowardly way.
+
+So sudden and startling were the circumstances that I stood for a
+moment motionless, unable to fully comprehend their intention. There
+was but one explanation. These men intended to kill me!
+
+Without a second's hesitation they rushed upon me, and I realized with
+heart-sinking that to attempt to resist would be utterly futile. I was
+entirely helpless in their hands!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+WOMAN'S WILES.
+
+
+"Look sharp!" cried the black-bearded ruffian who had feigned illness.
+"Give him a settler, 'Arry. He wants his nerves calmin' a bit!"
+
+The fellow had seized my wrists, and I saw that one of the men who had
+sprung from his place of concealment was pouring some liquid from a
+bottle upon a sponge. I caught a whiff of its odour--an odour too
+familiar to me--the sickly smell of chloroform.
+
+Fortunately I am pretty athletic, and with a sudden wrench I freed my
+wrists from the fellow's grip, and, hitting him one from the shoulder
+right between the eyes, sent him spinning back against the chest of
+drawers. To act swiftly was my only chance. If once they succeeded in
+pressing that sponge to my nostrils and holding it there, then all
+would be over; for by their appearance I saw they were dangerous
+criminals, and not men to stick at trifles. They would murder me.
+
+As I sent down the man who had shammed illness, his two companions
+dashed towards me with imprecations upon their lips; but with
+lightning speed I sprang towards the door and placed my back against
+it. So long as I could face them I intended to fight for life. Their
+desire was, I knew, to attack me from behind, as they had already
+done. I had surely had a narrow escape from their bullets, for they
+had fired at close range.
+
+At Guy's many stories have been told of similar cases where doctors,
+known to wear valuable watches, diamond rings or scarf pins, have been
+called at night by daring thieves and robbed; therefore I always, as
+precaution, placed my revolver in my pocket when I received a night
+call to a case with which I was not acquainted.
+
+I had not disregarded my usual habit when I had placed my thermometer
+and stethoscope in my pocket previous to accompanying the girl;
+therefore it reposed there fully loaded, a fact of which my assailants
+were unaware.
+
+In much quicker time than it takes to narrate the incident I was again
+pounced upon by all three, the man with the sponge in readiness to
+dash it to my mouth and nostrils.
+
+But as they sprang forward to seize me, I raised my hand swiftly, took
+aim, and fired straight at the holder of the sponge, the bullet
+passing through his shoulder and causing him to drop the anaesthetic as
+though it were a live coal, and to spring several feet from the
+ground.
+
+"God! I'm shot!" he cried.
+
+But ere the words had left his mouth I fired a second chamber,
+inflicting a nasty wound in the neck of the fellow with the black
+beard.
+
+"Shoot! shoot!" he cried to the third man, but it was evident that in
+the first struggle, when I had been seized, the man's revolver had
+dropped on the carpet, and in the semi-darkness he could not recover
+it.
+
+Recognising this, I fired a pot shot in the man's direction; then,
+opening the door, sprang down the stairs into the hall. One of them
+followed, but the other two, wounded as they were, did not care to
+face my weapon again. They saw that I knew how to shoot, and probably
+feared that I might inflict a fatal hurt.
+
+As I approached the front door, and was fumbling with the lock, the
+third man flung himself upon me, determined that I should not escape.
+With great good fortune, however, I managed to unbolt the door, and
+after a desperate struggle, in which he endeavoured to wrest the
+weapon from my hand, I succeeded at last in gripping him by the
+throat, and after nearly strangling him flung him to the ground and
+escaped into the street, just as his associates, hearing his cries of
+distress, dashed downstairs to his assistance.
+
+Without doubt it was the narrowest escape of my life that I have ever
+had, and so excited was I that I dashed down the street hatless until
+I emerged into Lisson Grove. Then, and only then, it occurred to me
+that, having taken no note of the house, I should be unable to
+recognise it and denounce it to the police. But when one is in peril
+of one's life all other thoughts or instincts are submerged in the one
+frantic effort of self-preservation. Still, it was annoying to think
+that such scoundrels should be allowed to go scot free.
+
+Breathless, excited, and with nerves unstrung, I opened my door with
+my latch-key and returned to my room, where the reading-lamp had
+burned low, for it had been alight all through the night. I mixed
+myself a stiff brandy and soda, tossed it off, and then turned to look
+at myself in the glass.
+
+The picture I presented was disreputable and unkempt. My hair was
+ruffled, my collar torn open from its stud, and one sleeve of my coat
+had been torn out, so that the lining showed through. I had a nasty
+scratch across the neck, too, inflicted by the fingernails of one of
+the blackguards, and from the abrasion blood had flowed and made a
+mess of my collar.
+
+Altogether I presented a very brilliant and entertaining spectacle.
+But my watch, ring and scarf-pin were in their places. If robbery had
+been their motive, as no doubt it had been, then they had profited
+nothing, and two of them had been winged into the bargain. The only
+mode by which their identity could by chance be discovered was in the
+event of those wounds being troublesome. In that case they would
+consult a medical man; but as they would, in all probability, go to
+some doctor in a distant quarter of London, the hope of tracing them
+by such means was but a slender one.
+
+Feeling a trifle faint I sat in my chair, resting for a quarter of an
+hour or so; then, becoming more composed, I put out the study lights,
+and after a refreshing wash went to bed.
+
+The morning's reflections were somewhat disconcerting. A deliberate
+and dastardly attempt had been made upon my life; but with what
+motive? The young woman, whose face was familiar, had, I recollected,
+asked most distinctly whether I was Doctor Boyd--a fact which showed
+that the trap had been prepared. I now saw the reason why she was
+unable to describe the man's sham illness, and during the morning,
+while at work in the hospital wards, my suspicions became aroused that
+there had been some deeper motive in it all than the robbery of my
+watch or scarf-pin. Human life had been taken for far less value than
+that of my jewellery, I knew; nevertheless, the deliberate shooting at
+me while I felt the patient's pulse showed a determination to
+assassinate. By good fortune, however, I had escaped, and resolved to
+exercise more care in future when answering night calls to unknown
+houses.
+
+Sir Bernard did not come to town that day; therefore I was compelled
+to spend the afternoon in the severe consulting-room at Harley Street,
+busy the whole time. Shortly before six o'clock, utterly worn out, I
+strolled round to my rooms to change my coat before going down to the
+Savage Club to dine with my friends--for it was Saturday night, and I
+seldom missed the genial house-dinner of that most Bohemian of
+institutions.
+
+Without ceremony I threw open the door of my sitting-room and entered,
+but next instant stood still, for, seated in my chair patiently
+awaiting me was the slim, well-dressed figure of Mary Courtenay. Her
+widow's weeds became her well; and as she rose with a rustle of silk,
+a bright laugh rippled from her lips, and she said:
+
+"I know I'm an unexpected visitor, Doctor, but you'll forgive my
+calling in this manner, won't you?"
+
+"Forgive you? Of course," I answered; and with politeness which I
+confess was feigned, I invited her to be seated. True to the promise
+made to her husband, she had lost no time in coming to see me, but I
+was fortunately well aware of the purport of her errand.
+
+"I had no idea you were in London," I said, by way of allowing her to
+explain the object of her visit, for, in the light of the knowledge I
+had gained on the Nene bank two nights previously, her call was of
+considerable interest.
+
+"I'm only up for a couple of days," she answered. "London has not the
+charm for me that it used to have," and she sighed heavily, as though
+her mind were crowded by bitter memories. Then raising her veil, and
+revealing her pale, handsome face, she said bluntly, "The reason of my
+call is to talk to you about Ethelwynn."
+
+"Well, what of her?" I asked, looking straight into her face and
+noticing for the first time a curious shifty look in her eyes, such as
+I had never before noticed in her. She tried to remain calm, but, by
+the nervous twitching of her fingers and lower lip, I knew that within
+her was concealed a tempest of conflicting emotions.
+
+"To speak quite frankly, Ralph," she said in a calm, serious voice, "I
+don't think you are treating her honourably, poor girl. You seem to
+have forsaken her altogether, and the neglect has broken her heart."
+
+"No, Mrs. Courtenay; you misunderstand the situation," I protested.
+"That I have neglected her slightly I admit; nevertheless the neglect
+was not wilful, but owing to my constant occupation in my practice."
+
+"She's desperate. Besides, it's common talk that you've broken off the
+engagement."
+
+"Gossip does not affect me; therefore why should she take any heed of
+it?"
+
+"Well, she loves you. That you know quite well. You surely could not
+have been deceived in those days at Kew, for her devotion to you was
+absolute and complete." She was pleading her sister's cause just as
+Courtenay had directed her. I felt annoyed that she should thus
+endeavour to impose upon me, yet saw the folly of betraying the fact
+that I knew her secret. My intention was to wait and watch.
+
+"I called at the Hennikers' a couple of days ago, but Ethelwynn is no
+longer there. She's gone into the country, it seems," I remarked.
+
+"Where to?" she asked quickly.
+
+"She's visiting someone near Hereford."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, as though a sudden light dawned upon her. "I
+know, then. Why, I wonder, did she not tell me. I intended to call on
+her this evening, but it is useless. I'm glad to know, for I don't
+care much for Mrs. Henniker. She's such a very shallow woman."
+
+"Ethelwynn seems to have wandered about a good deal since the sad
+affair at Kew," I observed.
+
+"Yes, and so have I," she responded. "As you are well aware, the blow
+was such a terrible one to me that--that somehow I feel I shall never
+get over it--never!" I saw tears, genuine tears, welling in her eyes.
+If she could betray emotion in that manner she was surely a wonderful
+actress.
+
+"Time will efface your sorrow," I said, in a voice meant to be
+sympathetic. "In a year or two your grief will not be so poignant, and
+the past will gradually fade from your memory. It is always so."
+
+She shook her head mournfully.
+
+"No," she said, "for in addition to my grief there is the mystery of
+it all--a mystery that grows each day more and more inscrutable."
+
+I glanced sharply at her in surprise. Was she trying to mislead me, or
+were her words spoken in real earnest? I could not determine.
+
+"Yes," I acquiesced. "The mystery is as complete as ever."
+
+"Has no single clue been found, either by the police or by your
+friend--Jevons is, I think, his name?" she asked, with keen anxiety.
+
+"One or two points have, I believe, been elucidated," I answered; "but
+the mystery still remains unsolved."
+
+"As it ever will be," she added, with a sigh which appeared to me to
+be one of satisfaction, rather than of regret. "The details were so
+cleverly arranged that the police have been baffled in every
+endeavour. Is not that so?"
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"And your friend Jevons? Has he given up all hope of any satisfactory
+discovery?"
+
+"I really don't know," I answered. "I've not seen him for quite a long
+time. And in any case he has told me nothing regarding the result of
+his investigations. It is his habit to be mute until he has gained
+some tangible result."
+
+A puzzled, apprehensive expression crossed her white brow for a
+moment; then it vanished into a pleasant smile, as she asked in
+confidence:
+
+"Now, tell me, Ralph, what is your own private opinion of the
+situation?"
+
+"Well, it is both complicated and puzzling. If we could discover any
+reason for the brutal deed we might get a clue to the assassin; but as
+far as the police have been able to gather, it seems that there is an
+entire absence of motive; hence the impossibility of carrying the
+inquiries further."
+
+"Then the investigation is actually dropped?" she exclaimed, unable to
+further conceal her anxiety.
+
+"I presume it is," I replied.
+
+Her chest heaved slightly, and slowly fell again. By its movement I
+knew that my answer allowed her to breathe more freely.
+
+"You also believe that your friend Jevons has been compelled, owing to
+negative results, to relinquish his efforts?" she asked.
+
+"Such is my opinion. But I have not seen him lately in order to
+consult him."
+
+In silence she listened to my answer, and was evidently reassured by
+it; yet I could not, for the life of me, understand her manner--at one
+moment nervous and apprehensive, and at the next full of an almost
+imperious self-confidence. At times the expression in her eyes was
+such as justified her mother in the fears she had expressed to me. I
+tried to diagnose her symptoms, but they were too complicated and
+contradictory.
+
+She spoke again of her sister, returning to the main point upon which
+she had sought the interview. She was a decidedly attractive woman,
+with a face rendered more interesting by her widow's garb.
+
+But why was she masquerading so cleverly? For what reason had old
+Courtenay contrived to efface his identity so thoroughly? As I looked
+at her, mourning for a man who was alive and well, I utterly failed to
+comprehend one single fact of the astounding affair. It staggered
+belief!
+
+"Let me speak candidly to you, Ralph," she said, after we had been
+discussing Ethelwynn for some little time. "As you may readily
+imagine, I have my sister's welfare very much at heart, and my only
+desire is to see her happy and comfortable, instead of pining in
+melancholy as she now is. I ask you frankly, have you quarrelled?"
+
+"No, we have not," I answered promptly.
+
+"Then if you have not, your neglect is all the more remarkable," she
+said. "Forgive me for speaking like this, but our intimate
+acquaintanceship in the past gives me a kind of prerogative to speak
+my mind. You won't be offended, will you?" she asked, with one of
+those sweet smiles of hers that I knew so well.
+
+"Offended? Certainly not, Mrs. Courtenay. We are too old friends for
+that."
+
+"Then take my advice and see Ethelwynn again," she urged. "I know how
+she adores you; I know how your coldness has crushed all the life out
+of her. She hides her secret from mother, and for that reason will not
+come down to Neneford. See her, and return to her; for it is a
+thousand pities that two lives should be wrecked so completely by some
+little misunderstanding which will probably be explained away in a
+dozen words. You may consider this appeal an extraordinary one, made
+by one sister on behalf of another, but when I tell you that I have
+not consulted Ethelwynn, nor does she know that I am here on her
+behalf, you will readily understand that I have both your interests
+equally at heart. To me it seems a grievous thing that you should be
+placed apart in this manner; that the strong love you bear each other
+should be crushed, and your future happiness be sacrificed. Tell me
+plainly," she asked in earnestness. "You love her still--don't you?"
+
+"I do," was my frank, outspoken answer, and it was the honest truth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+A MESSAGE.
+
+
+The pretty woman in her widow's weeds stirred slightly and settled her
+skirts, as though my answer had given her the greatest satisfaction.
+
+"Then take my advice, Ralph," she went on. "See her again before it is
+too late."
+
+"You refer to her fresh lover--eh?" I inquired bitterly.
+
+"Her fresh lover?" she cried in surprise. "I don't understand you. Who
+is he, pray?"
+
+"I'm in ignorance of his name."
+
+"But how do you know of his existence? I have heard nothing of him,
+and surely she would have told me. All her correspondence, all her
+poignant grief, and all her regrets have been of you."
+
+"Mrs. Henniker gave me to understand that my place in your sister's
+heart has been filled by another man," I said, in a hard voice.
+
+"Mrs. Henniker!" she cried in disgust. "Just like that evil-tongued
+mischief-maker! I've told you already that I detest her. She was my
+friend once--it was she who allured me from my husband's side. Why
+she exercises such an influence over poor Ethelwynn, I can't tell. I
+do hope she'll leave their house and come back home. You must try and
+persuade her to do so."
+
+"Do you think, then, that the woman has lied?" I asked.
+
+"I'm certain of it. Ethelwynn has never a thought for any man save
+yourself. I'll vouch for that."
+
+"But what object can she have in telling me an untruth?"
+
+The widow smiled.
+
+"A very deep one, probably. You don't know her as well as I do, or you
+would suspect all her actions of ulterior motive."
+
+"Well," I said, after a pause, "to tell the truth, I wrote to
+Ethelwynn last night with a view to reconciliation."
+
+"You did!" she cried joyously. "Then you have anticipated me, and my
+appeal to you has been forestalled by your own conscience--eh?"
+
+"Exactly," I laughed. "She has my letter by this time, and I am
+expecting a wire in reply. I have asked her to meet me at the earliest
+possible moment."
+
+"Then you have all my felicitations, Ralph," she said, in a voice that
+seemed to quiver with emotion. "She loves you--loves you with a
+fiercer and even more passionate affection than that I entertained
+towards my poor dead husband. Of your happiness I have no doubt, for I
+have seen how you idolised her, and how supreme was your mutual
+content when in each other's society. Destiny, that unknown influence
+that shapes our ends, has placed you together and forged a bond
+between you that is unbreakable--the bond of perfect love."
+
+There seemed such a genuine ring in her voice, and she spoke with such
+solicitude for our welfare, that in the conversation I entirely forgot
+that after all she was only trying to bring us together again in order
+to prevent her own secret from being exposed.
+
+At some moments she seemed the perfection of honesty and integrity,
+without the slightest affectation of interest or artificiality of
+manner, and it was this fresh complexity of her character that utterly
+baffled me. I could not determine whether, or not, she was in earnest.
+
+"If it is really destiny I suppose that to try and resist it is quite
+futile," I remarked mechanically.
+
+"Absolutely. Ethelwynn will become your wife, and you have all my good
+wishes for prosperity and happiness."
+
+I thanked her, but pointed out that the matrimonial project was, as
+yet, immature.
+
+"How foolish you are, Ralph!" she said. "You know very well that you'd
+marry her to-morrow if you could."
+
+"Ah! if I could," I repeated wistfully. "Unfortunately my position is
+not yet sufficiently well assured to justify my marrying. Wedded
+poverty is never a pleasing prospect."
+
+"But you have the world before you. I've heard Sir Bernard say so,
+times without number. He believes implicitly in you as a man who will
+rise to the head of your profession."
+
+I laughed dubiously, shaking my head.
+
+"I only hope that his anticipations may be realized," I said. "But I
+fear I'm no more brilliant than a hundred other men in the hospitals.
+It takes a smart man nowadays to boom himself into notoriety. As in
+literature and law, so in the medical profession, it isn't the clever
+man who rises to the top of the tree. More often it is a second-rate
+man, who has private influence, and has gauged the exact worth of
+self-advertisement. This is an age of reputations quickly made, and
+just as rapidly lost. In the professional world a new man rises with
+every moon."
+
+"But that need not be so in your case," she pointed out. "With Sir
+Bernard as your chief, you are surely in an assured position."
+
+Taking her into my confidence, I told her of my ideal of a snug
+country practice--one of those in which the assistant does the
+night-work and attends to the club people, while there is a circle of
+county people as patients. There are hundreds of such practices in
+England, where a doctor, although scarcely known outside his own
+district, is in a position which Harley Street, with all its turmoil
+of fashionable fads and fancies, envies as the elysium of what life
+should be. The village doctor of Little Perkington may be an ignorant
+old buffer; but his life, with its three days' hunting a week, its
+constant invitations to shoot over the best preserves, and its free
+fishing whenever in the humour, is a thousand times preferable to the
+silk-hatted, frock-coated existence of the fashionable physician.
+
+I had long ago talked it all over with Ethelwynn, and she entirely
+agreed with me. I had not the slightest desire to have a
+consulting-room of my own in Harley Street. All I longed for was a
+life in open air and rural tranquillity; a life far from the tinkle of
+the cab-bell and the milkman's strident cry; a life of ease and bliss,
+with my well-beloved ever at my side. The unfortunate man compelled to
+live in London is deprived of half of God's generous gifts.
+
+"Though this unaccountable coldness has fallen between you," Mary
+said, looking straight at me, "you surely cannot have doubted the
+strength of her affection?"
+
+"But Mrs. Henniker's insinuation puzzles me. Besides, her recent
+movements have been rather erratic, and almost seem to bear out the
+suggestion."
+
+"That woman is utterly unscrupulous!" she cried angrily. "Depend upon
+it that she has some deep motive in making that slanderous statement.
+On one occasion she almost caused a breach between myself and my poor
+husband. Had he not possessed the most perfect confidence in me, the
+consequences might have been most serious for both of us. The outcome
+of a mere word, uttered half in jest, it came near ruining my
+happiness for ever. I did not know her true character in those days."
+
+"I had no idea that she was a dangerous woman," I remarked, rather
+surprised at this statement. Hitherto I had regarded her as quite a
+harmless person, who, by making a strenuous effort to obtain a footing
+in good society, often rendered herself ridiculous in the eyes of her
+friends.
+
+"Her character!" she echoed fiercely. "She's one of the most
+evil-tongued women in London. Here is an illustration. While posing as
+Ethelwynn's friend, and entertaining her beneath her roof, she
+actually insinuates to you the probability of a secret lover! Is it
+fair? Is it the action of an honest, trustworthy woman?"
+
+I was compelled to admit that it was not. Yet, was this action of her
+own, in coming to me in those circumstances, in any way more
+straightforward? Had she known that I was well aware of the secret
+existence of her husband, she would assuredly never have dared to
+speak in the manner she had. Indeed, as I sat there facing her, I
+could scarcely believe it possible that she could act the imposture so
+perfectly. Her manner was flawless; her self-possession marvellous.
+
+But the motive of it all--what could it be? The problem had been a
+maddening one from first to last.
+
+I longed to speak out my mind then and there; to tell her of what I
+knew, and of what I had witnessed with my own eyes. Yet such a course
+was useless. I was proceeding carefully, watching and noting
+everything, determined not to blunder.
+
+Had you been in my place, my reader, what would you have done?
+Recollect, I had witnessed a scene on the river-bank that was
+absolutely without explanation, and which surpassed all human
+credence. I am a matter-of-fact man, not given to exaggerate or to
+recount incidents that have not occurred, but I confess openly and
+freely that since I had walked along that path I hourly debated within
+myself whether I was actually awake and in the full possession of my
+faculties, or whether I had dreamt the whole thing.
+
+Yet it was no dream. Certain solid facts convinced me of its stern,
+astounding reality. The man upon whose body I had helped to make an
+autopsy was actually alive.
+
+In reply to my questions my visitor told me that she was staying at
+Martin's, in Cork Street--a small private hotel which the Mivarts had
+patronised for many years--and that on the following morning she
+intended returning again to Neneford.
+
+Then, after she had again urged me to lose no time in seeing
+Ethelwynn, and had imposed upon me silence as to what had passed
+between us, I assisted her into a hansom, and she drove away, waving
+her hand in farewell.
+
+The interview had been a curious one, and I could not in the least
+understand its import. Regarded in the light of the knowledge I had
+gained when down at Neneford, it was, of course, plain that both she
+and her "dead" husband were anxious to secure Ethelwynn's silence, and
+believed they could effect this by inducing us to marry. The
+conspiracy was deeply-laid and ingenious, as indeed was the whole of
+the amazing plot. Yet, some how, when I reflected upon it on my return
+from the club, I could not help sitting till far into the night trying
+to solve the remarkable enigma.
+
+A telegram from Ethelwynn had reached me at the Savage at nine
+o'clock, stating that she had received my letter, and was returning to
+town the day after to-morrow. She had, she said, replied to me by that
+night's post.
+
+I felt anxious to see her, to question her, and to try, if possible,
+to gather from her some fact which would lead me to discern a motive
+in the feigned death of Henry Courtenay. But I could only wait in
+patience for the explanation. Mary's declaration that her sister
+possessed no other lover besides myself reassured me. I had not
+believed it of her from the first; yet it was passing strange that
+such an insinuation should have fallen from the lips of a woman who
+now posed as her dearest friend.
+
+Next day, Sir Bernard came to town to see two unusual cases at the
+hospital, and afterwards drove me back with him to Harley Street,
+where he had an appointment with a German Princess, who had come to
+London to consult him as a specialist. As usual, he made his lunch off
+two ham sandwiches, which he had brought with him from Victoria
+Station refreshment-room and carried in a paper bag. I suggested that
+we should eat together at a restaurant; but the old man declined,
+declaring that if he ate more than his usual sandwiches for luncheon
+when in town he never had any appetite for dinner.
+
+So I left him alone in his consulting-room, munching bread and ham,
+and sipping his wineglassful of dry sherry.
+
+About half-past three, just before he returned to Brighton, I saw him
+again as usual to hear any instructions he wished to give, for
+sometimes he saw patients once, and then left them in my hands. He
+seemed wearied, and was sitting resting his brow upon his thin bony
+hands. During the day he certainly had been fully occupied, and I had
+noticed that of late he was unable to resist the strain as he once
+could.
+
+"Aren't you well?" I asked, when seated before him.
+
+"Oh, yes," he answered, with a sigh. "There's not much the matter with
+me. I'm tired, I suppose, that's all. The eternal chatter of those
+confounded women bores me to death. They can't tell their symptoms
+without going into all the details of family history and domestic
+infelicity," he snapped. "They think me doctor, lawyer, and parson
+rolled into one."
+
+I laughed at his criticism. What he said was, indeed, quite true.
+Women often grew confidential towards me, at my age; therefore I could
+quite realize how they laid bare all their troubles to him.
+
+"Oh, by the way!" he said, as though suddenly recollecting. "Have you
+met your friend Ambler Jevons lately?"
+
+"No," I replied. "He's been away for some weeks, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I saw him yesterday in King's Road. He was driving in a fly,
+and had one eye bandaged up. Met with an accident, I should think."
+
+"An accident!" I exclaimed in consternation. "He wrote to me the other
+day, but did not mention it."
+
+"He's been trying his hand at unravelling the mystery of poor
+Courtenay's death, hasn't he?" the old man asked.
+
+"I believe so?"
+
+"And failed--eh?"
+
+"I don't think his efforts have been crowned with very much success,
+although he has told me nothing," I said.
+
+In response the old man grunted in dissatisfaction. I knew how
+disgusted he had been at the bungling and utter failure of the police
+inquiries, for he was always declaring Scotland Yard seemed to be
+useless, save for the recovery of articles left in cabs.
+
+He glanced at his watch, snatched up his silk hat, buttoned his coat,
+and, wishing me good-bye, went out to catch the Pullman train.
+
+Next day about two o'clock I was in one of the wards at Guy's, seeing
+the last of my patients, when a telegram was handed to me by one of
+the nurses.
+
+I tore it open eagerly, expecting that it was from Ethelwynn,
+announcing the hour of her arrival at Paddington.
+
+But the message upon which my eyes fell was so astounding, so
+appalling, and so tragic that my heart stood still.
+
+The few words upon the flimsy paper increased the mystery to an even
+more bewildering degree than before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE MYSTERY OF MARY.
+
+
+The astounding message, despatched from Neneford and signed by
+Parkinson, the butler, ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Regret to inform you that Mrs. Courtenay was found drowned
+     in the river this morning. Can you come here? My mistress
+     very anxious to see you."_
+
+Without a moment's delay I sent a reply in the affirmative, and, after
+searching in the "A.B.C.," found that I had a train at three o'clock
+from King's Cross. This I took, and after an anxious journey arrived
+duly at the Manor, all the blinds of which were closely drawn.
+
+Parkinson, white-faced and agitated, a thin, nervous figure in a coat
+too large for him, had been watching my approach up the drive, and
+held open the door for me.
+
+"Ah, Doctor!" the old fellow gasped. "It's terrible--terrible! To
+think that poor Miss Mary should die like that!"
+
+"Tell me all about it," I demanded, quickly. "Come!" and I led the way
+into the morning room.
+
+"We don't know anything about it, sir; it's all a mystery," the
+grey-faced old man replied. "When one of the housemaids went up to
+Miss Mary's room at eight o'clock this morning to take her tea, as
+usual, she received no answer to her knock. Thinking she was asleep
+she returned half-an-hour later, only to find her absent, and that the
+bed had not been slept in. We told the mistress, never thinking that
+such an awful fate had befallen poor Miss Mary. Mistress was inclined
+to believe that she had gone off on some wild excursion somewhere, for
+of late she's been in the habit of going away for a day or two without
+telling us. At first none of us dreamed that anything had happened,
+until, just before twelve o'clock, Reuben Dixon's lad, who'd been out
+fishing, came up, shouting that poor Miss Mary was in the water under
+some bushes close to the stile that leads into Monk's Wood. At first
+we couldn't believe it; but, with the others, I flew down post-haste,
+and there she was, poor thing, under the surface, with her dress
+caught in the bushes that droop into the water. Her hat was gone, and
+her hair, unbound, floated out, waving with the current. We at once
+got a boat and took her out, but she was quite dead. Four men from the
+village carried her up here, and they've placed her in her own room."
+
+"The police know about it, of course?"
+
+"Yes, we told old Jarvis, the constable. He's sent a telegram to
+Oundle, I think."
+
+"And what doctor has seen her?"
+
+"Doctor Govitt. He's here now."
+
+"Ah! I must see him. He has examined the body, I suppose?"
+
+"I expect so, sir. He's been a long time in the room."
+
+"And how is it believed that the poor young lady got into the water?"
+I asked, anxious to obtain the local theory.
+
+"It's believed that she either fell in or was pushed in a long way
+higher up, because half-a-mile away, not far from the lock, there's
+distinct marks in the long grass, showing that somebody went off the
+path to the brink of the river. And close by that spot they found her
+black silk shawl."
+
+"She went out without a hat, then?" I remarked, recollecting that when
+she had met her husband in secret she had worn a shawl. Could it be
+possible that she had met him again, and that he had made away with
+her? The theory seemed a sound one in the present circumstances.
+
+"It seems to me, sir, that the very fact of her taking her shawl
+showed that she did not intend to be out very long," the butler said.
+
+"It would almost appear that she went out in the night in order to
+meet somebody," I observed.
+
+The old man shook his head sorrowfully, saying:
+
+"Poor Miss Mary's never been the same since her husband died, Doctor.
+She was often very strange in her manner. Between ourselves, I
+strongly suspect it to be a case of deliberate suicide. She was
+utterly broken down by the awful blow."
+
+"I don't see any motive for suicide," I remarked. Then I asked, "Has
+she ever been known to meet anyone on the river-bank at night?"
+
+Old Parkinson was usually an impenetrable person. He fidgeted, and I
+saw that my question was an awkward one for him to answer without
+telling a lie.
+
+"The truth will have to be discovered about this, you know," I went
+on. "Therefore, if you have any knowledge likely to assist us at the
+inquest it is your duty to explain."
+
+"Well, sir," he answered, after a short pause, "to tell the truth, in
+this last week there have been some funny rumours in the village."
+
+"About what?"
+
+"People say that she was watched by Drake, Lord Nassington's
+gamekeeper, who saw her at two o'clock in the morning walking
+arm-in-arm with an old gentleman. I heard the rumour down at the
+Golden Ball, but I wouldn't believe it. Why, Mr. Courtenay's only been
+dead a month or two. The man Drake is a bragging fellow, and I think
+most people discredit his statement."
+
+"Well," I said, "it might possibly have been true. It seems hardly
+conceivable that she should go wandering alone by the river at night.
+She surely had some motive in going there. Was she only seen by the
+gamekeeper on one occasion?"
+
+"Only once. But, of course, he soon spread it about the village, and
+it formed a nice little tit-bit of gossip. As soon as I heard it I
+took steps to deny it."
+
+"It never reached the young lady's ears?"
+
+"Oh, no," the old servant answered. "We were careful to keep the
+scandal to ourselves, knowing how it would pain her. She's had
+sufficient trouble in her life, poor thing." And with tears in his
+grey old eyes, he added: "I have known her ever since she was a child
+in her cradle. It's awful that her end should come like this."
+
+He was a most trustworthy and devoted servant, having spent nearly
+thirty years of his life in the service of the family, until he had
+become almost part of it. His voice quivered with emotion when he
+spoke of the dead daughter of the house, but he knew that towards me
+it was not a servant's privilege to entirely express the grief he
+felt.
+
+I put other questions regarding the dead woman's recent actions, and
+he was compelled to admit that they had, of late, been quite
+unaccountable. Her absences were frequent, and she appeared to
+sometimes make long and mysterious journeys in various directions,
+while her days at home were usually spent in the solitude of her own
+room. Some friends of the family, he said, attributed it to grief at
+the great blow she had sustained, while others suspected that her mind
+had become slightly unhinged. I recollected, myself, how strange had
+been her manner when she had visited me, and inwardly confessed to
+being utterly mystified.
+
+Doctor Govitt I found to be a stout middle-aged man, of the usual type
+of old-fashioned practitioner of a cathedral town, whose methods and
+ideas were equally old-fashioned. Before I entered the room where the
+unfortunate woman was lying, he explained to me that life had
+evidently been extinct about seven hours prior to the discovery of the
+body.
+
+"There are no marks of foul play?" I inquired anxiously.
+
+"None, as far as I've been able to find--only a scratch on the left
+cheek, evidently inflicted after death."
+
+"What's your opinion?"
+
+"Suicide. Without a doubt. The hour at which she fell into the water
+is shown by her watch. It stopped at 2.28."
+
+"You have no suspicion of foul play?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+I did not reply; but by the compression of my lips I presume he saw
+that I was dubious.
+
+"Ah! I see you are suspicious," he said. "Of course, in tragic
+circumstances like these the natural conclusion is to doubt. The poor
+young lady's husband was mysteriously done to death, and I honestly
+believe that her mind gave way beneath the strain of grief. I've
+attended her professionally two or three times of late, and noted
+certain abnormal features in her case that aroused my suspicions that
+her brain had become unbalanced. I never, however, suspected her of
+suicidal tendency."
+
+"Her mother, Mrs. Mivart, did," I responded. "She told me so only a
+few days ago."
+
+"I know, I know," he answered. "Of course, her mother had more
+frequent and intimate opportunities for watching her than we had. In
+any case it is a very dreadful thing for the family."
+
+"Very!" I said.
+
+"And the mystery surrounding the death of Mr. Courtenay--was it never
+cleared up? Did the police never discover any clue to the assassin?"
+
+"No. Not a single fact regarding it, beyond those related at the
+inquest, has ever been brought to light."
+
+"Extraordinary--very extraordinary!"
+
+I went with him into the darkened bedroom wherein lay the body, white
+and composed, her hair dishevelled about her shoulders, and her white
+waxen hands crossed about her breast. The expression upon her
+countenance--that face that looked so charming beneath its veil of
+widowhood as she had sat in my room at Harley Place--was calm and
+restful, for indeed, in the graceful curl of the lips, there was a
+kind of half-smile, as though, poor thing, she had at last found
+perfect peace.
+
+Govitt drew up the blind, allowing the golden sunset to stream into
+the room, thereby giving me sufficient light to make my examination.
+The latter occupied some little time, my object being to discover any
+marks of violence. In persons drowned by force, and especially in
+women, the doctor expects to find red or livid marks upon the wrists,
+arms or neck, where the assailant had seized the victim. Of course,
+these are not always discernible, for it is easier to entice the
+unfortunate one to the water's edge and give a gentle push than
+grapple in violence and hurl a person into the stream by main force.
+The push leaves no trace; therefore, the verdict in hundreds of cases
+of wilful murder has been "Suicide," or an open one, because the
+necessary evidence of foul play has been wanting.
+
+Here was a case in point. The scratch on the face that Govitt had
+described was undoubtedly a post-mortem injury, and, with the
+exception of another slight scratch on the ball of the left thumb, I
+could find no trace whatever of violence. And yet, to me, the most
+likely theory was that she had again met her husband in secret, and
+had lost her life at his hands. To attribute a motive was utterly
+impossible. I merely argued logically within myself that it could not
+possibly be a case of suicide, for without a doubt she had met
+clandestinely the eccentric old man whom the world believed to be
+dead.
+
+But if he were alive, who was the man who had died at Kew?
+
+The facts within my knowledge were important and startling; yet if I
+related them to any second person I felt that my words would be
+scouted as improbable, and my allegations would certainly not be
+accepted. Therefore I still kept my own counsel, longing to meet
+Jevons and hear the result of his further inquiries.
+
+Mrs. Mivart I found seated in her own room, tearful and utterly
+crushed. Poor Mary's end had come upon her as an overwhelming burden
+of grief, and I stood beside her full of heartfelt sympathy. A strong
+bond of affection had always existed between us; but, as I took her
+inert hand and uttered words of comfort, she only shook her head
+sorrowfully and burst into a torrent of tears. Truly the Manor was a
+dismal house of mourning.
+
+To Ethelwynn I sent a telegram addressed to the Hennikers, in order
+that she should receive it the instant she arrived in town. Briefly I
+explained the tragedy, and asked her to come down to the Manor at
+once, feeling assured that Mrs. Mivart, in the hour of her distress,
+desired her daughter at her side. Then I accompanied the local
+constable, and the three police officers who had come over from
+Oundle, down to the riverside.
+
+The brilliant afterglow tinged the broad, brimming river with a
+crimson light, and the trees beside the water already threw heavy
+shadows, for the day was dying, and the glamour of the fading sunset
+and the dead stillness of departing day had fallen upon everything.
+Escorted by a small crowd of curious villagers, we walked along the
+footpath over the familiar ground that I had traversed when following
+the pair. Eagerly we searched everywhere for traces of a struggle, but
+the only spot where the long grass was trodden down was at a point a
+little beyond the ferry. Yet as far as I could see there was no actual
+sign of any struggle. It was merely as though the grass had been
+flattened by the trailing of a woman's skirt across it. Examination
+showed, too, imprints of Louis XV. heels in the soft clay bank. One
+print was perfect, but the other, close to the edge, gave evidence
+that the foot had slipped, thus establishing the spot as that where
+the unfortunate young lady had fallen into the water. When examining
+the body I had noticed that she was wearing Louis XV. shoes, and also
+that there was still mud upon the heels. She had always been rather
+proud of her feet, and surely there is nothing which sets off the
+shape of a woman's foot better than the neat little shoe, with its
+high instep and heel.
+
+We searched on until twilight darkened into night, traversing that
+path every detail of which had impressed itself so indelibly upon my
+brain. We passed the stile near which I had stood hidden in the bushes
+and overheard that remarkable conversation between the "dead" man and
+his wife. All the memories of that never-to-be-forgotten night
+returned to me. Alas! that I had not questioned Mary when she had
+called upon me on the previous day.
+
+She had died, and her secret was lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+ETHELWYNN IS SILENT.
+
+
+At midnight I was seated in the drawing-room of the Manor. Before me,
+dressed in plain black which made her beautiful face look even paler
+than it was, sat my love, bowed, despondent, silent. The household,
+although still astir, was hushed by the presence of the dead; the long
+old room itself, usually so bright and pleasant, seemed full of dark
+shadows, for the lamp, beneath its yellow shade, burned but dimly, and
+everywhere there reigned an air of mourning.
+
+Half-demented by grief, my love had arrived in hot haste about ten
+o'clock, and, rushing to poor Mary's room, had thrown herself upon her
+knees beside the poor inanimate clay; for, even though of late
+differences might have existed between them, the sisters were
+certainly devoted to each other. The scene in that room was an unhappy
+one, for although Ethelwynn betrayed nothing by her lips, I saw by her
+manner that she was full of remorse over the might-have-beens, and
+that she was bitterly reproaching herself for some fact of which I had
+no knowledge.
+
+Of the past we had not spoken. She had been too full of grief, too
+utterly overcome by the tragedy of the situation. Her mournful figure
+struck a sympathetic chord in my heart. Perhaps I had misjudged her;
+perhaps I had attributed to her sinister motives that were
+non-existent. Alas! wherever mystery exists, little charity enters
+man's heart. Jealousy dries up the milk of human kindness.
+
+"Dearest," I said, rising and taking her slim white hand that lay idly
+in her lap, "in this hour of your distress you have at least one
+person who would console and comfort you--one man who loves you."
+
+She raised her eyes to mine quickly, with a strange, eager look. Her
+glance was as though she did not fully realize the purport of my
+words. I knew myself to be a sad blunderer in the art of love, and
+wondered if my words were too blunt and abrupt.
+
+"Ah!" she sighed. "If only I believed that those words came direct
+from your heart, Ralph!"
+
+"They do," I assured her. "You received my letter at Hereford--you
+read what I wrote to you?"
+
+"Yes," she answered. "I read it. But how can I believe in you further,
+after your unaccountable treatment? You forsook me without giving any
+reason. You can't deny that."
+
+"I don't seek to deny it," I said. "On the contrary, I accept all the
+blame that may attach to me. I only ask your forgiveness," and bending
+to her in deep earnestness, I pressed the small hand that was within
+my grasp.
+
+"But if you loved me, as you declare you have always done, why did you
+desert me in that manner?" she inquired, her large dark eyes turned
+seriously to mine.
+
+I hesitated. Should I tell her the truth openly and honestly?
+
+"Because of a fact which came to my knowledge," I answered, after a
+long pause.
+
+"What fact?" she asked with some anxiety.
+
+"I made a discovery," I said ambiguously.
+
+"Regarding me?"
+
+"Yes, regarding yourself," I replied, with my eyes fixed full upon
+hers. I saw that she started at my words, her countenance fell, and
+she caught her breath quickly.
+
+"Well, tell me what it is," she asked in a hard tone, a tone which
+showed me that she had steeled herself for the worst.
+
+"Forgive me if I speak the truth," I exclaimed. "You have asked me,
+and I will be perfectly frank with you. Well, I discovered amongst old
+Mr. Courtenay's papers a letter written by you several years ago which
+revealed the truth."
+
+"The truth!" she gasped, her face blanched in an instant. "The truth
+of what?"
+
+"That you were once engaged to become his wife."
+
+Her breast heaved quickly, and I saw that my words had relieved her of
+some grave apprehension. When I declared that I knew "the truth" she
+believed that I spoke of the secret of Courtenay's masquerading. The
+fact of her previous engagement was, to her, of only secondary
+importance, for she replied:
+
+"Well, and is that the sole cause of your displeasure?"
+
+I felt assured, from the feigned flippancy of her words, that she held
+knowledge of the strange secret.
+
+"It was the main cause," I said. "You concealed the truth from me, and
+lived in that man's house after he had married Mary."
+
+"I had a reason for doing so," she exclaimed, in a quiet voice. "I did
+not live there by preference."
+
+"You were surely not forced to do so."
+
+"No; I was not forced. It was a duty." Then, after a pause, she
+covered her face with her hands and suddenly burst into tears, crying,
+"Ah, Ralph! If you could know all--all that I have suffered, you would
+not think ill of me! Appearances have been against me, that I know
+quite well. The discovery of that letter must have convinced you that
+I was a schemer and unworthy, and the fact that I lived beneath the
+roof of the man who had cast me off added colour to the theory that I
+had conceived some deep plot. Probably," she went on, speaking between
+her sobs, "probably you even suspected me of having had a hand in the
+terrible crime. Tell me frankly," she asked, gripping my arm, and
+looking up into my face. "Did you ever suspect me of being the
+assassin?"
+
+I paused. What could I reply? Surely it was best to be open and
+straightforward. So I told her that I had not been alone in the
+suspicion, and that Ambler Jevons had shared it with me.
+
+"Ah! that accounts for his marvellous ingenuity in watching me. For
+weeks past he has seemed to be constantly near me, making inquiries
+regarding my movements wherever I went. You both suspected me. But is
+it necessary that I should assert my innocence of such a deed?" she
+asked. "Are you not now convinced that it was not my hand that struck
+down old Mr. Courtenay?"
+
+"Forgive me," I urged. "The suspicion was based upon ill-formed
+conclusions, and was heightened by your own peculiar conduct after the
+tragedy."
+
+"That my conduct was strange was surely natural. The discovery was
+quite as appalling to me as to you; and, knowing that somewhere among
+the dead man's papers my letters were preserved, I dreaded lest they
+should fall into the hands of the police and thereby connect me with
+the crime. It was fear that my final letter should be discovered that
+gave my actions the appearance of guilt."
+
+I took both her hands in mine, and fixing my gaze straight into those
+dear eyes wherein the love-look shone--that look by which a man is
+able to read a woman's heart--I asked her a question.
+
+"Ethelwynn," I said, calmly and seriously, "we love each other. I know
+I've been suspicious without cause and cruel in my neglect;
+nevertheless the separation has quickened my affection, and has shown
+that to me life without you is impossible. You, darling, are the only
+woman who has entered my life. I have championed no woman save
+yourself; by no ties have I been bound to any woman in this world.
+This I would have you believe, for it is the truth. I could not lie to
+you if I would; it is the truth--God is my witness."
+
+She made me no answer. Her hands trembled, and she bowed her head so
+that I could not see her face.
+
+"Will you not forgive, dearest?" I urged. The great longing to speak
+out my mind had overcome me, and having eased myself of my burden I
+stood awaiting her response. "Will you not be mine again, as in the
+old days before this chain of tragedy fell upon your house?"
+
+Again she hesitated for several minutes. Then, of a sudden, she lifted
+her tear-stained face towards me, all rosy with blushes and wearing
+that sweet look which I had known so well in the happy days bygone.
+
+"If you wish it, Ralph," she faltered, "we will forget that any breach
+between us has ever existed. I desire nothing else; for, as you well
+know, I love no one else but you. I have been foolish, I know. I ought
+to have explained the girlish romantic affection I once entertained
+for that man who afterwards married Mary. In those days he was my
+ideal. Why, I cannot tell. Girls in their teens have strange
+caprices, and that was mine. Just as schoolboys fall violently in love
+with married women, so are schoolgirls sometimes attracted towards
+aged men. People wonder when they hear of May and December marriages;
+but they are not always from mercenary motives, as is popularly
+supposed. Nevertheless I acted wrongly in not telling you the truth
+from the first. I am alone to blame."
+
+So much she said, though with many a pause, and with so keen a
+self-reproach in her tone that I could hardly bear to hear her, when I
+interrupted----
+
+"There is mutual blame on both sides. Let us forget it all," and I
+bent until my lips met hers and we sealed our compact with a long,
+clinging caress.
+
+"Yes, dear heart. Let us forget it," she whispered. "We have both
+suffered--both of us," and I felt her arms tighten about my neck. "Oh,
+how you must have hated me!"
+
+"No," I declared. "I never hated you. I was mystified and suspicious,
+because I felt assured that you knew the truth regarding the tragedy
+at Kew, and remained silent."
+
+She looked into my eyes, as though she would read my soul.
+
+"Unfortunately," she answered, "I am not aware of the truth."
+
+"But you are in possession of certain strange facts--eh?"
+
+"That I am in possession of facts that lead me to certain conclusions,
+is the truth. But the clue is wanting. I have been seeking for it
+through all these months, but without success."
+
+"Cannot we act in accord in this matter, dearest? May I not be
+acquainted with the facts which, with your intimate knowledge of the
+Courtenay household, you were fully acquainted with at the time of the
+tragedy?" I urged.
+
+"No, Ralph," she replied, shaking her head, and at the same time
+pressing my hand. "I cannot yet tell you anything."
+
+"Then you have no confidence in me?" I asked reproachfully.
+
+"It is not a question of confidence, but one of honour," she replied.
+
+"But you will at least satisfy my curiosity upon one point?" I
+exclaimed. "You will tell me the reason you lived beneath Courtenay's
+roof?"
+
+"You know the reason well. He was an invalid, and I went there to keep
+Mary company."
+
+I smiled at the lameness of her explanation. It was, however, an
+ingenious evasion of the truth, for, after all, I could not deny that
+I had known this through several years. Old Courtenay, being
+practically confined to his room, had himself suggested Ethelwynn
+bearing his young wife company.
+
+"Answer me truthfully, dearest. Was there no further reason?"
+
+She paused; and in her hesitation I detected a desire to deceive,
+even though I loved her so fondly.
+
+"Yes, there was," she admitted at last, bowing her head.
+
+"Explain it."
+
+"Alas! I cannot. It is a secret."
+
+"A secret from me?"
+
+"Yes, dear heart!" she cried, clutching my hands with a wild movement.
+"Even from you."
+
+My face must have betrayed the annoyance that I felt, for the next
+second she hastened to soften her reply by saying:
+
+"At present it is impossible for me to explain. Think! Poor Mary is
+lying upstairs. I can say nothing at present--nothing--you
+understand."
+
+"Then afterwards--after the burial--you will tell me what you know?"
+
+"Until I discover the truth I am resolved to maintain silence. All I
+can tell you is that the whole affair is so remarkable and astounding
+that its explanation will be even more bewildering than the tangled
+chain of circumstances."
+
+"Then you are actually in possession of the truth," I remarked with
+some impatience. "What use is there to deny it?"
+
+"At present I have suspicions--grave ones. That is all," she
+protested.
+
+"What is your theory regarding poor Mary's death?" I asked, hoping to
+learn something from her.
+
+"Suicide. Of that there seems not a shadow of doubt."
+
+I was wondering if she knew of the "dead" man's existence. Being in
+sisterly confidence with Mary, she probably did.
+
+"Did it ever strike you," I asked, "that the personal appearance of
+Mr. Courtenay changed very considerably after death. You saw the body
+several times after the discovery. Did you notice the change?"
+
+She looked at me sharply, as though endeavouring to discern my
+meaning.
+
+"I saw the body several times, and certainly noticed a change in the
+features. But surely the countenance changes considerably if death is
+sudden?"
+
+"Quite true," I answered. "But I recollect that, in making the
+post-mortem, Sir Bernard remarked upon the unusual change. He seemed
+to have grown fully ten years older than when I had seen him alive
+four hours before."
+
+"Well," she asked, "is that any circumstance likely to lead to a
+solution of the mystery? I don't exactly see the point."
+
+"It may," I answered ambiguously, puzzled at her manner and wondering
+if she were aware of that most unaccountable feature of the
+conspiracy.
+
+"How?" she asked.
+
+But as she had steadfastly refused to reveal her knowledge to me, or
+the reason of her residence beneath Courtenay's roof, I myself claimed
+the right to be equally vague.
+
+We were still playing at cross-purposes; therefore I urged her to be
+frank with me. But she strenuously resisted all my persuasion.
+
+"No. With poor Mary lying dead I can say nothing. Later, when I have
+found the clue for which I am searching, I will tell you what I know.
+Till then, no word shall pass my lips."
+
+I knew too well that when my love made up her mind it was useless to
+try and turn her from her purpose. She was no shallow, empty-headed
+girl, whose opinion could be turned by any breath of the social wind
+or any invention of the faddists; her mind was strong and
+well-balanced, so that she always had the courage of her own
+convictions. Her sister, on the contrary, had been one of those giddy
+women who follow every frill and furbelow of Fashion, and who take up
+all the latest crazes with a seriousness worthy of better objects. In
+temperament, in disposition, in character, and in strength of mind
+they had been the exact opposite of each other; the one sister flighty
+and thoughtless, the other patient and forbearing, with an utter
+disregard for the hollow artificialities of Society.
+
+"But in this matter we may be of mutual assistance to each other," I
+urged, in an effort to persuade her. "As far as I can discern, the
+mystery contains no fewer than seven complete and distinct secrets. To
+obtain the truth regarding one would probably furnish the key to the
+whole."
+
+"Then you think that poor Mary's untimely death is closely connected
+with the tragedy at Kew?" she asked.
+
+"Most certainly. But I do not share your opinion of suicide."
+
+"What? You suspect foul play?" she cried.
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"You believe that poor Mary was actually murdered?" she exclaimed,
+anxiously. "Have you found marks of violence, then?"
+
+"No, I have found nothing. My opinion is formed upon a surmise."
+
+"What surmise?"
+
+I hesitated whether to tell her all the facts that I had discovered,
+for I was disappointed and annoyed that she should still preserve a
+dogged silence, now that a reconciliation had been brought about.
+
+"Well," I answered, after a pause, "my suspicion of foul play is based
+upon logical conclusions. I have myself been witness of one most
+astonishing fact--namely, that she was in the habit of meeting a
+certain man clandestinely at night, and that their favourite walk was
+along the river bank."
+
+"What!" she cried, starting up in alarm, all the colour fading from
+her face. "You have actually seen them together?"
+
+"I have not only seen them, but I have overheard their conversation,"
+I answered, surprised at the effect my words had produced upon her.
+
+"Then you already know the truth!" she cried, in a wild voice that was
+almost a shriek. "Forgive me--forgive me, Ralph!" And throwing herself
+suddenly upon her knees she looked up into my face imploringly, her
+white hands clasped in an attitude of supplication, crying in a voice
+broken by emotion: "Forgive me, Ralph! Have compassion upon me!" and
+she burst into a flood of tears which no caress or tender effort of
+mine could stem.
+
+I adored her with a passionate madness that was beyond control. She
+was, as she had ever been, my ideal--my all in all. And yet the
+mystery surrounding her was still impenetrable; an enigma that grew
+more complicated, more impossible of solution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA.
+
+
+"Found Drowned" was the verdict of the twelve respectable villagers
+who formed the Coroner's jury to inquire into the tragic death of
+young Mrs. Courtenay. It was the only conclusion that could be arrived
+at in the circumstances, there being no marks of violence, and no
+evidence to show how the unfortunate lady got into the river.
+
+Ambler Jevons, who had seen a brief account of the affair in the
+papers, arrived hurriedly in time to attend the inquest; therefore it
+was not until the inquiry was over that we were enabled to chat. His
+appearance had changed during the weeks of his absence: his face
+seemed thinner and wore a worried, anxious expression.
+
+"Well, Ralph, old fellow, this turns out to be a curious business,
+doesn't it?" he exclaimed, when, after leaving the public room of the
+Golden Ball, wherein the inquiry had been held, we had strolled on
+through the long straggling village of homely cottages with thatched
+roofs, and out upon the white, level highroad.
+
+"Yes," I admitted. "It's more than curious. Frankly, I have a distinct
+suspicion that Mary was murdered."
+
+"That's exactly my own opinion," he exclaimed quickly. "There's been
+foul play somewhere. Of that I'm certain."
+
+"And do you agree with me, further, that it is the outcome of the
+tragedy at Kew?"
+
+"Most certainly," he said. "That both husband and wife should be
+murdered only a few months after one another points to motives of
+revenge. You'll remember how nervous old Courtenay was. He went in
+constant fear of his life, it was said. That fact proves conclusively
+that he was aware of some secret enemy."
+
+"Yes. Now that you speak of it, I recollect it quite well," I
+remarked, adding, "But where, in the name of Fortune, have you been
+keeping yourself during all these weeks of silence?"
+
+"I've been travelling," he responded rather vaguely. "I've been going
+about a lot."
+
+"And keeping watch on Ethelwynn during part of the time," I laughed.
+
+"She told you, eh?" he exclaimed, rather apprehensively. "I didn't
+know that she ever recognised me. But women are always sharper than
+men. Still, I'm sorry that she saw me."
+
+"There's no harm done--providing you've made some discovery regarding
+the seven secrets that compose the mystery," I said.
+
+"Seven secrets!" he repeated thoughtfully, and then was silent a few
+moments, as though counting to himself the various points that
+required elucidation. "Yes," he said at last, "you're right, Ralph,
+there are seven of them--seven of the most extraordinary secrets that
+have ever been presented to mortal being as part of one and the same
+mystery."
+
+He did not, of course, enumerate them in his mind, as I had done, for
+he was not aware of all the facts. The Seven Secrets, as they
+presented themselves to me, were: First, the identity of the secret
+assassin of Henry Courtenay; second, the manner in which that
+extraordinary wound had been caused; thirdly, the secret of Ethelwynn,
+held by Sir Bernard; fourthly, the secret motive of Ethelwynn in
+remaining under the roof of the man who had discarded her in favour of
+her sister; fifthly, the secret of Courtenay's reappearance after
+burial; sixthly, the secret of the dastardly attempt on my life by
+those ruffians of Lisson Grove; and, seventhly, the secret of Mary
+Courtenay's death. Each and every one of the problems was inscrutable.
+Others, of which I was unaware, had probably occurred to my friend. To
+him, just as to me, the secrets were seven.
+
+"Now, be frank with me, Ambler," I said, after a long pause. "You've
+gained knowledge of some of them, haven't you?"
+
+By his manner I saw that he was in possession of information of no
+ordinary character.
+
+He paused, and slowly twisted his small dark moustache, at last
+admitting----
+
+"Yes, Ralph, I have."
+
+"What have you discovered?" I cried, in fierce eagerness. "Tell me the
+result of your inquiries regarding Ethelwynn. It is her connection
+with the affair which occupies my chief thoughts."
+
+"For the present, my dear fellow, we must leave her entirely out of
+it," my friend said quietly. "To tell you the truth, after announcing
+my intention to give up the affair as a mystery impenetrable, I set to
+work and slowly formed a theory. Then I drew up a deliberate plan of
+campaign, which I carried out in its entirety."
+
+"And the result?"
+
+"Its result--" he laughed. "Well, when I'd spent several anxious weeks
+in making the most careful inquiries, I found, to my chagrin, that I
+was upon an entirely wrong scent, and that the person I suspected of
+being the assassin at Kew was innocent. There was no help for it but
+to begin all over again, and I did so. My inquiries then led me in an
+entirely opposite direction. I followed my new and somewhat startling
+theory, and found to my satisfaction that I had at length struck the
+right trail. Through a whole fortnight I worked on night and day,
+often snatching a few hours of sleep in railway carriages, and
+sometimes watching through the whole night--for when one pursues
+inquiries alone it is frequently imperative to keep watchful vigil. To
+Bath, to Hereford, to Edinburgh, to Birmingham, to Newcastle, and also
+to several places far distant in the South of England I travelled in
+rapid succession, until at last I found a clue, but one so
+extraordinary that at first I could not give it credence. Ten days
+have passed, and even now I refuse to believe that such a thing could
+be. I'm absolutely bewildered by it."
+
+"Then you believe that you've at last gained the key to the mystery?"
+I said, eagerly drinking in his words.
+
+"It seems as though I have. Yet my information is so very vague and
+shadowy that I can really form no decisive opinion. It is this
+mysterious death of Mrs. Courtenay that has utterly upset all my
+theories. Tell me plainly, Ralph, what causes you to suspect foul
+play? This is not a time for prevarication. We must be open and
+straightforward to each other. Tell me the absolute truth."
+
+Should I tell him frankly of the amazing discovery I had made? I
+feared to do so, lest he should laugh me to scorn. The actual
+existence of Courtenay seemed too incredible. And yet as he was
+working to solve the problem, just as I was, there seemed every reason
+why we should be aware of each other's discoveries. We had both
+pursued independent inquiries into the Seven Secrets until that
+moment, and it was now high time we compared results.
+
+"Well, Jevons," I exclaimed, hesitatingly, at last, "I have during the
+week elucidated one fact, a fact so strange that, when I tell you, I
+know you will declare that I was dreaming. I myself cannot account for
+it in the least. But that I was witness of it I will vouch. The
+mystery is a remarkable one, but what I've discovered adds to its
+inscrutability."
+
+"Tell me," he urged quickly, halting and turning to me in eagerness.
+"What have you found out?"
+
+"Listen!" I said. "Hear me through, until you discredit my story."
+Then, just as I have already written down the strange incidents in the
+foregoing chapters, I related to him everything that had occurred
+since the last evening he sat smoking with me in Harley Place.
+
+He heard me in silence, the movements of his face at one moment
+betraying satisfaction, and at the next bewilderment. Once or twice he
+grunted, as though dissatisfied, until I came to the midnight incident
+beside the river, and explained how I had watched and what I had
+witnessed.
+
+"What?" he cried, starting in sudden astonishment. "You actually saw
+him? You recognised Henry Courtenay!"
+
+"Yes. He was walking with his wife, sometimes arm-in-arm."
+
+He did not reply, but stood in silence in the centre of the road,
+drawing a geometrical design in the dust with the ferrule of his
+stick. It was his habit when thinking deeply.
+
+I watched his dark countenance--that of a man whose whole thought and
+energy were centred upon one object.
+
+"Ralph," he said at last, "what time is the next train to London?"
+
+"Two-thirty, I think."
+
+"I must go at once to town. There's work for me there--delicate work.
+What you've told me presents a new phase of the affair," he said in a
+strange, anxious tone.
+
+"Does it strengthen your clue?" I asked.
+
+"In a certain degree--yes. It makes clear one point which was hitherto
+a mystery."
+
+"And also makes plain that poor Mrs. Courtenay met with foul play?" I
+suggested.
+
+"Ah! For the moment, this latest development of the affair is quite
+beyond the question. We must hark back to that night at Richmond Road.
+I must go at once to London," he added, glancing at his watch. "Will
+you come with me?"
+
+"Most willingly. Perhaps I can help you."
+
+"Perhaps; we will see."
+
+So we turned and retraced our steps to the house of mourning, where,
+having pleaded urgent consultations with patients, I took leave of
+Ethelwynn. We were alone, and I bent and kissed her lips in order to
+show her that my love and confidence had not one whit abated. Her
+countenance brightened, and with sudden joy she flung her arms around
+my neck and returned my caress, pleading--"Ralph! You will
+forgive--you will forgive me, won't you?"
+
+"I love you, dearest!" was all that I could reply; and it was the
+honest truth, direct from a heart overburdened by mystery and
+suspicion.
+
+Then with a last kiss I turned and left her, driving with Ambler
+Jevons to catch the London train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY.
+
+
+The sleepy-eyed tea-blender of Mark Lane remained plunged in a deep
+reverie during the greater part of the journey to town, and on arrival
+at King's Cross declined to allow me to accompany him. This
+disappointed me. I was eager to pursue the clue, but no amount of
+persuasion on my part would induce him to alter his decision.
+
+"At present I must continue alone, old fellow," he answered kindly.
+"It is best, after all. Later on I may want your help."
+
+"The facts I've told you are of importance, I suppose?"
+
+"Of the greatest importance," he responded. "I begin to see light
+through the veil. But if what I suspect is correct, then the affair
+will be found to be absolutely astounding."
+
+"Of that I'm certain," I said. "When will you come in and spend an
+hour?"
+
+"As soon as ever I can spare time," he answered. "To-morrow, or next
+day, perhaps. At present I have a very difficult task before me.
+Good-bye for the present." And hailing a hansom he jumped in and drove
+away, being careful not to give the address to the driver while within
+my hearing. Ambler Jevons had been born with the instincts of a
+detective. The keenness of his intellect was perfectly marvellous.
+
+On leaving him I drove to Harley Street, where I found Sir Bernard
+busy with patients, and in rather an ill-temper, having been worried
+unusually by some smart woman who had been to consult him and had been
+pouring into his ear all her domestic woes.
+
+"I do wish such women would go and consult somebody else," he growled,
+after he had been explaining her case to me. "Same symptoms as all of
+them. Nerves--owing to indigestion, late hours, and an artificial
+life. Wants me to order her to Carlsbad or somewhere abroad--so that
+she can be rid of her husband for a month or so. I can see the reason
+plain enough. She's got some little game to play. Faugh!" cried the
+old man, "such women only fill one with disgust."
+
+I went on to tell him of the verdict upon the death of Mrs. Courtenay,
+and his manner instantly changed to one of sympathy.
+
+"Poor Henry!" he exclaimed. "Poor little woman! I wonder that nothing
+has transpired to give the police a clue. To my mind, Boyd, there was
+some mysterious element in Courtenay's life that he entirely hid from
+his friends. In later years he lived in constant dread of
+assassination."
+
+"Yes, that has always struck me as strange," I remarked.
+
+"Has nothing yet been discovered?" asked my chief. "Didn't the police
+follow that manservant Short?"
+
+"Yes, but to no purpose. They proved to their own satisfaction that he
+was innocent."
+
+"And your friend Jevons--the tea-dealer who makes it a kind of hobby
+to assist the police. What of him? Has he continued his activity?"
+
+"I believe so. He has, I understand, discovered a clue."
+
+"What has he found?" demanded the old man, bending forward in
+eagerness across the table. He had been devoted to his friend
+Courtenay, and was constantly inquiring of me whether the police had
+met with any success.
+
+"At present he will tell me nothing," I replied.
+
+Sir Bernard gave vent to an exclamation of dissatisfaction, observing
+that he hoped Jevons' efforts would meet with success, as it was
+scandalous that a double tragedy of that character could occur in a
+civilized community without the truth being revealed and the assassin
+arrested.
+
+"There's no doubt that the tragedy was a double one," I observed.
+"Although the jury have returned a verdict of 'Found Drowned' in the
+widow's case, the facts, even as far as at present known, point
+undoubtedly to murder."
+
+"To murder!" he cried. "Then is it believed that she's been wilfully
+drowned?"
+
+"That is the local surmise."
+
+"Why?" he asked, with an eager look upon his countenance, for he took
+the most intense interest in every feature of the affair.
+
+"Well, because it is rumoured that she had been seen late one night
+walking along the river-bank, near the spot where she was found,
+accompanied by a strange man."
+
+"A strange man?" he echoed, his interest increased. "Did anyone see
+him sufficiently close to recognise him?"
+
+"I believe not," I answered, hesitating at that moment to tell him all
+I knew. "The local police are making active inquiries, I believe."
+
+"I wonder who it could have been?" Sir Bernard exclaimed reflectively.
+"Mrs. Courtenay was always so devoted to poor Henry, that the story of
+the stranger appears to me very like some invention of the villagers.
+Whenever a tragedy occurs in a rural district all kinds of absurd
+canards are started. Probably that's one of them. It is only natural
+for the rustic mind to connect a lover with a pretty young widow."
+
+"Exactly. But I have certain reasons for believing the clandestine
+meeting to have taken place," I said.
+
+"What causes you to give credence to the story?"
+
+"Statements made to me," I replied vaguely. "And further, all the
+evidence points to murder."
+
+"Then why did the jury return an open verdict?"
+
+"It was the best thing they could do in the circumstances, as it
+leaves the police with a free hand."
+
+"But who could possibly have any motive for the poor little woman's
+death?" he asked, with a puzzled, rather anxious expression upon his
+grey brow.
+
+"The lover may have wished to get rid of her," I suggested.
+
+"You speak rather ungenerously, Boyd," he protested. "Remember, we
+don't know for certain that there was a lover in the case, and we
+should surely accept the rumours of country yokels with considerable
+hesitation."
+
+"I make no direct accusation," I said. "I merely give as my opinion
+that she was murdered by the man she was evidently in the habit of
+meeting. That's all."
+
+"Well, if that is so, then I hope the police will be successful in
+making an arrest," declared the old physician. "Poor little woman!
+When is the funeral?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow."
+
+"I must send a wreath. How sad it is! How very sad!" And he sighed
+sympathetically, and sat staring with fixed eyes at the dark green
+wall opposite.
+
+"It's time you caught your train," I remarked, glancing at the clock.
+
+"No," he answered. "I'm dining at the House of Commons to-night with
+my friend Houston. I shall remain in town all night. I so very seldom
+allow myself any dissipation," and he smiled rather sadly.
+
+Truly he led an anchorite's life, going to and fro with clockwork
+regularity, and denying himself all those diversions in Society which
+are ever at the command of a notable man. Very rarely did he accept an
+invitation to dine, and the fact that he lived down at Hove was in
+order to have a good excuse to evade people. He was a great man, with
+all a great man's little eccentricities.
+
+The two following days passed uneventfully. Each evening, about ten,
+Ambler Jevons came in to smoke and drink. He stayed an hour,
+apparently nervous, tired, and fidgety in a manner quite unusual; but
+to my inquiries regarding the success of his investigations he
+remained dumb.
+
+"Have you discovered anything?" I asked, eagerly, on the occasion of
+his second visit.
+
+He hesitated, at length answering----
+
+"Yes--and no. I must see Ethelwynn without delay. Telegraph and ask
+her to meet you here. I want to ask her a question."
+
+"Do you still suspect her?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders with an air of distinct vagueness.
+
+"Wire to her to-night," he urged. "Your man can take the message down
+to the Charing Cross office, and she'll get it at eight o'clock in the
+morning. The funeral is over, so there is nothing to prevent her
+coming to town."
+
+I was compelled to agree to his suggestion, although loth to again
+bring pain and annoyance to my love. I knew how she had suffered when,
+a few days ago, I had questioned her, and I felt convinced by her
+manner that, although she had refused to speak, she herself was
+innocent. Her lips were sealed by word of honour.
+
+According to appointment Jevons met me when I had finished my next
+morning's work at Guy's, and we took a glass of sherry together in a
+neighbouring bar. Then at his invitation I accompanied him along the
+Borough High Street and Newington Causeway to the London Road, until
+we came to a row of costermongers' barrows drawn up beside the
+pavement. Before one of these, piled with vegetables ready for the
+Saturday-night market, he stopped, and was immediately recognised by
+the owner--a tall, consumptive-looking man, whose face struck me
+somehow as being familiar.
+
+"Well, Lane?" my companion said. "Busy, eh?"
+
+"Not very, sir," was the answer, with the true cockney twang. "Trade
+ain't very brisk. There's too bloomin' many of us 'ere nowadays."
+
+Leaving my side my companion advanced towards the man and whispered
+some confidential words that I could not catch, at the same time
+pulling something from his breast-pocket and showing it to him.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir. No doubt abawt it!" I heard the man exclaim.
+
+Then, in reply to a further question from Jevons, he said:
+
+"'Arry 'Arding used to work at Curtis's. So I fancy that 'ud be the
+place to find out somethink. I'm keepin' my ears open, you bet," and
+he winked knowingly.
+
+Where I had seen the man before I could not remember. But his face was
+certainly familiar.
+
+When we left him and continued along the busy thoroughfare of cheap
+shops and itinerant vendors I asked my friend who he was, to which he
+merely replied:
+
+"Well, he's a man who knows something of the affair. I'll explain
+later. In the meantime come with me to Gray's Inn Road. I have to
+make a call there," and he hailed a hansom, into which we mounted.
+
+Twenty minutes later we alighted before a dingy-looking barber's shop
+and inquired for Mr. Harding--an assistant who was at that moment
+shaving a customer of the working class. It was a house where one
+could be shaved for a penny, but where the toilet accessories were
+somewhat primitive.
+
+While I stood on the threshold Ambler Jevons asked the barber's
+assistant if he had ever worked at Curtis's, and if, while there, he
+knew a man whose photograph he showed him.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the barber, without a moment's hesitation.
+"That's Mr. Slade. He was a very good customer, and Mr. Curtis used
+always to attend on him himself."
+
+"Slade, you say, is his name?" repeated my friend.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Then, thanking him, we re-entered the cab and drove to an address in a
+street off Shaftesbury Avenue.
+
+"Slade! Slade!" repeated Ambler Jevons to himself as we drove along.
+"That's the name I've been in search of for weeks. If I am successful
+I believe the Seven Secrets will resolve themselves into one of the
+most remarkable conspiracies of modern times. I must, however,
+make this call alone, Ralph. The presence of a second person may
+possibly prevent the man I'm going to see from making a full and
+straightforward statement. We must not risk failure in this inquiry,
+for I anticipate that it may give us the key to the whole situation.
+There's a bar opposite the Palace Theatre. I'll set you down there,
+and you can wait for me. You don't mind, do you?"
+
+"Not at all, if you'll promise to explain the result of your
+investigations afterwards."
+
+"You shall know everything later," he assured me, and a few minutes
+afterwards I alighted at the saloon bar he had indicated, a long
+lounge patronised a good deal by theatrical people.
+
+He was absent nearly half-an-hour, and when he returned I saw from his
+face that he had obtained some information that was eminently
+satisfactory.
+
+"I hope to learn something further this afternoon," he said before we
+parted. "If I do I shall be with you at four." Then he jumped into a
+hansom and disappeared. Jevons was a strange fellow. He rushed hither
+and thither, telling no one his business or his motives.
+
+About the hour he had named he was ushered into my room. He had made a
+complete change in his appearance, wearing a tall hat and frock coat,
+with a black fancy waistcoat whereon white flowers were embroidered.
+By a few artistic touches he had altered the expression of his
+features too--adding nearly twenty years to his age. His countenance
+was one of those round, flexible ones that are so easily altered by a
+few dark lines.
+
+"Well, Ambler?" I said anxiously, when we were alone. "What have you
+discovered?"
+
+"Several rather remarkable facts," was his philosophic response. "If
+you care to accompany me I can show you to-night something very
+interesting."
+
+"Care to accompany you?" I echoed. "I'm only too anxious."
+
+He glanced at his watch, then flinging himself into the chair opposite
+me, said, "We've an hour yet. Have you got a drop of brandy handy?"
+
+Then for the first time I noticed that the fresh colour of his cheeks
+was artificial, and that in reality he was exhausted and white as
+death. The difficulty in speaking that I had attributed to excitement
+was really due to exhaustion.
+
+Quickly I produced the brandy, and gave him a stiff peg, which he
+swallowed at a single gulp. His eyes were no longer sleepy-looking,
+but there was a quick fire in them which showed me that, although
+suppressed, there burned within his heart a fierce desire to get at
+the truth. Evidently he had learned something since I left him, but
+what it was I could not gather.
+
+I looked at the clock, and saw it was twenty minutes past six. He
+noticed my action, and said:
+
+"If we start in an hour we shall have sufficient time."
+
+Ambler Jevons was never communicative. But as he sat before me his
+brows were knit in deep thought, his hands chafed with suppressed
+agitation, and he took a second brandy-and-soda, an unusual
+indulgence, which betrayed an absent mind.
+
+At length he rose, carefully brushed his silk hat, settled the hang of
+his frock-coat before the glass, tugged at his cravat, and then,
+putting on his light overcoat, announced his readiness to set out.
+
+About half-an-hour later our cab set us down in Upper Street,
+Islington, close to the Agricultural Hall, and, proceeding on foot a
+short distance, we turned up a kind of court, over the entrance of
+which a lamp was burning, revealing the words "Lecture Hall."
+
+Jevons produced two tickets, whereupon we were admitted into a long,
+low room filled by a mixed audience consisting of men. Upon the
+platform at the further end was a man of middle age, with short fair
+beard, grey eyes, and an alert, resolute manner--a foreigner by his
+dress--and beside him an Englishman of spruce professional
+appearance--much older, slightly bent, with grey countenance and white
+hair.
+
+We arrived just at the moment of the opening of the proceedings. The
+Englishman, whom I set down to be a medical man, rose, and in
+introducing the lecturer beside him, said:
+
+"I have the honour, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce to you Doctor
+Paul Deboutin--who, as most of you know, is one of the most celebrated
+medical men in Paris, professor at the Salpetriere, and author of many
+works upon nervous disorders. The study of the latter is not,
+unfortunately, sufficiently taken up in this country, and it is in
+order to demonstrate the necessity of such study that my friends and
+myself have invited Doctor Deboutin to give this lecture before an
+audience of both medical men and the laity. The doctor asks me to
+apologise to you for his inability to express himself well in English,
+but personally I have no fear that you will misunderstand him."
+
+Then he turned, introduced the lecturer, and re-seated himself.
+
+I was quite unprepared for such a treat. Deboutin, as every medical
+man is aware, is the first authority on nervous disorders, and his
+lectures have won for him a world-wide reputation. I had read all his
+books, and being especially struck with "Nevroses et Idees Fixes," a
+most convincing work, had longed to be present at one of his
+demonstrations. Therefore, forgetful that I was there for some unknown
+reason, I settled myself to listen.
+
+Rapidly and clearly he spoke in fairly good English, with a decision
+that showed him to be perfect master at once of his subject and of the
+phrases with which he intended to clothe his thoughts. He briefly
+outlined the progress of his experiments at the Salpetriere, and at
+the hospitals of Lyons and Marseilles, then without long preliminary,
+proceeded to demonstrate a most interesting case.
+
+A girl of about twenty-five, with a countenance only relieved from
+ugliness by a fine pair of bright dark eyes, was led in by an
+assistant and seated in a chair. She was of the usual type seen in the
+streets of Islington, poorly dressed with some attempt at faded
+finery--probably a workgirl in some city factory. She cast an uneasy
+glance upon the audience, and then turned towards the doctor, who drew
+his chair towards the patient so that her knees nearly touched his.
+
+It was a case of nervous "Hemianopsie," or one-eyed vision, he
+explained.
+
+Now the existence of this has always been denied, therefore the
+experiment was of the most intense interest to every medical man
+present.
+
+First the doctor, after ordering the patient to look him straight in
+the face, held a pencil on the left side of her head, and found that,
+in common with most of us, she was conscious of its presence without
+moving her eyes, even when it was almost at the level of her ear. Then
+he tried the same experiment on the right side of the face, when it
+was at once plain that the power of lateral vision had broken
+down--for she answered, "No, sir. No, no," as he moved the pencil to
+and fro with the inquiry whether she could see it. Nevertheless he
+demonstrated that the power of seeing straight was quite unimpaired,
+and presently he gave to his assistant a kind of glass hemisphere,
+which he placed over the girl's head, and by which he measured the
+exact point on its scale where the power of lateral vision ceased.
+
+This being found and noted, Professor Deboutin placed his hand upon
+the patient's eyes, and with a brief "You may sleep now, my girl," in
+broken English, she was asleep in a few seconds.
+
+Then came the lecture. He verbally dissected her, giving a full and
+lucid explanation of the nervous system, from the spinal marrow and
+its termination in the coccyx, up to the cortex of the brain, in which
+he was of opinion that there was in that case a lesion--probably
+curable--amply accounting for the phenomenon present. So clear,
+indeed, were his remarks that even a layman could follow them.
+
+At last the doctor awoke the patient, and was about to proceed with
+another experiment when his quick eye noticed a hardly-perceptible
+flutter of the eyelids. "Ah, you are tired," he said. "It is enough."
+And he conducted her to the little side door that gave exit from the
+platform.
+
+The next case was one of the kind which is always the despair
+of doctors--hysteria. A girl, accompanied by her mother, a
+neatly-dressed, respectable-looking body, was led forward, but her
+hands were trembling, and her face working so nervously that the
+doctor had to reassure her. With a true cockney accent she said that
+she lived in Mile End, and worked at a pickle factory. Her symptoms
+were constant headache, sudden falls, and complete absence of
+sensation in her left hand, which greatly interfered with her work.
+Some of the questions were inconvenient--until, in answer to one
+regarding her father, she gave a cry that "Poor father died last
+year," and broke into an agony of weeping. In a moment the doctor took
+up an anthropometric instrument from the table, and made a movement as
+though to touch her presumably insensible hand.
+
+"Ah, you'll hurt me!" she said. Presently, while her attention was
+attracted in another direction, he touched the hand with the
+instrument, when she drew it back with a yell of pain, showing that
+the belief that her hand was insensible was entirely due to hysteria.
+He analysed her case just as he had done the first, and declared that
+by a certain method of treatment, too technical to be here explained,
+a complete cure could be effected.
+
+Another case of hysteria followed, and then a terrible exhibition of a
+wild-haired woman suffering from what the lecturer described as a
+"crise des nerfs," which caused her at will to execute all manner of
+horrible contortions as though she were possessed. She threw herself
+on the floor on her back, with her body arched so that it rested only
+on her head and heels, while she delivered kicks at those in front of
+her, not with her toes, but with her heels. Meanwhile her face was so
+congested as to appear almost black.
+
+The audience were, I think, relieved when the poor unfortunate woman,
+calmed by Deboutin's method of suggestion, was led quietly away, and
+her place taken by a slim, red-haired girl of more refined appearance
+than the others, but with a strange stony stare as though unconscious
+of her surroundings. She was accompanied by a short, wizened-faced old
+lady, her grandmother.
+
+At this juncture the chairman rose and said:
+
+"This case is of great interest, inasmuch as it is a discovery made by
+my respected colleague, whom we all know by repute, Sir Bernard
+Eyton."
+
+The mention of my chief's name was startling. I had no idea he had
+taken any interest in the French methods. Indeed, he had always
+declared to me that Charcot and his followers were a set of
+charlatans.
+
+"We have the pleasure of welcoming Sir Bernard here this evening,"
+continued the chairman; "and I shall ask him to kindly explain the
+case."
+
+With apparent reluctance the well-known physician rose, after being
+cordially welcomed to the platform by the French savant, adjusted his
+old-fashioned glasses, and commenced to introduce the subject. His
+appearance there was certainly quite unexpected, but as I glanced at
+Ambler I saw a look of triumph in his face. We were sitting at the
+back of the hall, and I knew that Sir Bernard, being short-sighted,
+could not recognise us at the distance.
+
+"I am here at Doctor Fulton's invitation to meet our great master,
+Professor Deboutin, of whom for many years I have been a follower."
+Then he went on to express the pleasure it gave him to demonstrate
+before them a case which he declared was not at all uncommon, although
+hitherto unsuspected by medical men.
+
+Behind the chair of the new-comer stood the strange-looking old
+lady--who answered for her grand-daughter, the latter being mute. Her
+case was one, Sir Bernard explained, of absence of will. With a few
+quick questions he placed the history of the case before his hearers.
+There was a bad family history--a father who drank, and a mother who
+suffered from epilepsy. At thirteen the girl had received a sudden
+fright owing to a practical joke, and from that moment she gradually
+came under the influence of some hidden unknown terror so that she
+even refused to eat altogether. The strangest fact, however, was that
+she could still eat and speak in secret, although in public she was
+entirely dumb, and no amount of pleasure or pain would induce her to
+utter a sound.
+
+"This," explained Sir Bernard, "is one of the many cases of absence of
+will, partial or entire, which has recently come beneath my notice. My
+medical friends, and also Professor Deboutin, will agree that at the
+age the patient received her fright many girls are apt to tend towards
+what the Charcot School term 'aboulie,' or, in plain English, absence
+of will. Now one of the most extraordinary symptoms of this is terror.
+Terror," he said, "of performing the simplest functions of nature;
+terror of movement, terror of eating--though sane in every other
+respect. Some there are, too, in whom this terror is developed upon
+one point only, and in such the inequality of mental balance can, as a
+rule, only be detected by one who has made deep research in this
+particular branch of nervous disorders."
+
+The French professor followed with a lengthy discourse, in which he
+bestowed the highest praise upon Sir Bernard for his long and patient
+experiments, which, he said, had up to the present been conducted in
+secret, because he feared that if it were known he had taken up that
+branch of medical science he might lose his reputation as a lady's
+doctor.
+
+Then, just as the meeting was being brought to a conclusion, Jevons
+touched me on the shoulder, and we both slipped out.
+
+"Well," he asked. "What do you think of it all?"
+
+"I've been highly interested," I replied. "But how does this further
+our inquiries, or throw any light on the tragedy?"
+
+"Be patient," was his response, as we walked together in the direction
+of the Angel. "Be patient, and I will show you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+MR. LANE'S ROMANCE.
+
+
+The Seven Secrets, each distinct from each other and yet connected;
+each one in itself a complete enigma, formed a problem of which even
+Ambler Jevons himself could not discover the solution.
+
+Contrary to his usual methods, he allowed me to accompany him in
+various directions, making curious inquiries that had apparently
+nothing to connect them with the mystery of the death of Mr. and Mrs.
+Courtenay.
+
+In reply to a wire I had sent to Ethelwynn came a message saying that
+her mother was entirely prostrated, therefore she could not at present
+leave her. This, when shown to Ambler, caused him to purse his lips
+and raise his shoulders with that gesture of suspicion which was a
+peculiarity of his. Was it possible that he actually suspected her?
+
+The name of Slade seemed ever in Jevons' mind. Indeed, most of his
+inquiries were regarding some person of that name.
+
+One evening, after dining together, he took me in a cab across the
+City to the Three Nuns Hotel, at Aldgate--where, in the saloon bar, we
+sat drinking. Before setting out he had urged me to put on a shabby
+suit of clothes and a soft hat, so that in the East End we should not
+attract attention as "swells." As for his own personal appearance, it
+was certainly not that of the spruce city man. He was an adept at
+disguises, and on this occasion wore a reefer jacket, a peaked cap,
+and a dark violet scarf in lieu of collar, thus presenting the aspect
+of a seafarer ashore. He smoked a pipe of the most approved nautical
+type, and as we sat together in the saloon he told me sea stories, in
+order that a group of men sitting near might overhear.
+
+That he had some object in all this was quite certain, but what it was
+I could not gather.
+
+Suddenly, after an hour, a little under-sized old man of dirty and
+neglected appearance, who had been drinking at the bar, shuffled up to
+us, and whispered something to Ambler that I did not catch. The words,
+nevertheless, caused my companion to start, and, disregarding the
+fresh whiskey and soda he had just ordered, he rose and walked out--an
+example which I followed.
+
+"Lanky sent me, sir," the old man said, addressing Ambler, when we
+were out in the street. "He couldn't come hisself. 'E said you'd like
+to know the news."
+
+"Of course, I was waiting for it," replied my companion, alert and
+eager.
+
+"Well," he said, "I suppose I'd better tell yer the truth at once,
+sir."
+
+"Certainly. What is it?"
+
+"Well, Lanky's dead."
+
+"Dead?" cried Ambler. "Impossible. I was waiting for him."
+
+"I know. This morning in the Borough Market he told me to come 'ere
+and find you, because he wasn't able to come. 'E had a previous
+engagement. Lanky's engagements were always interestin'," he added,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"Well, go on," said Ambler, eagerly. "What followed?"
+
+"'E told me to go down to Tait Street and see 'im at eight o'clock, as
+'e had a message for you. I went, and when I got there I found 'im
+lying on the floor of his room stone dead."
+
+"You went to the police, of course?"
+
+"No, I didn't; I came here to see you instead. I believe the poor
+bloke's been murdered. 'E was a good un, too--poor Lanky Lane!"
+
+"What!" I exclaimed. "Is that man Lane dead?"
+
+"It seems so," Jevons responded. "If he is, then there we have further
+mystery."
+
+"If you doubt it, sir, come with me down to Shadwell," the old man
+said in his cockney drawl. "Nobody knows about it yet. I ought to have
+told the p'lice, but I know you're better at mysterious affairs than
+the silly coppers in Leman Street."
+
+Jevons' fame as an investigator of crime had spread even to that class
+known as the submerged tenth. How fashions change! A year or two ago
+it was the mode in Society to go "slumming." To-day only social
+reformers and missionaries make excursions to the homes of the lower
+class in East London. A society woman would not to-day dare admit that
+she had been further east than Leadenhall Street.
+
+"Let's go and see what has really happened," Ambler said to me. "If
+Lane is dead, then it proves that his enemy is yours."
+
+"I can't see that. How?" I asked.
+
+"You will see later. For the moment we must occupy ourselves with his
+death, and ascertain whether it is owing to natural causes or to foul
+play. He was a heavy drinker, and it may have been that."
+
+"No," declared the little old man, "Lanky wasn't drunk to-day--that
+I'll swear. I saw 'im in Commercial Road at seven, talkin' to a feller
+wot's in love wiv 'is sister."
+
+"Then how do you account for this discovery of yours?" asked my
+companion.
+
+"I can't account for it, guv'nor. I simply found 'im lying on the
+floor, and it give me a shock, I can tell yer. 'E was as cold as ice."
+
+"Let's go and see ourselves," Ambler said: so together we hurried
+through the Whitechapel High Street, at that hour busy with its
+costermonger market, and along Commercial Road East, arriving at last
+in the dirty, insalubrious thoroughfare, a veritable hive of the
+lowest class of humanity, Tait Street, Shadwell.
+
+Up the dark stairs of one of the dirtiest of the dwellings our
+conductor guided us, lighting our steps with wax vestas, struck upon
+the wall, and on gaining the third floor of the evil-smelling place he
+pushed open a door, and we found ourselves in an unlit room.
+
+"Don't move, gentlemen," the old man urged. "You may fall over 'im.
+'E's right there, just where you're standin'. I'll light the lamp."
+
+Then he struck another match, and by its fickle light we saw the body
+of Lane, the street-hawker, lying full length only a yard from us,
+just as our conductor had described.
+
+The cheap and smelling paraffin lamp being lit, I took a hasty glance
+around the poor man's home. There was but little furniture save the
+bed, a chair or two, and a rickety table. Upon the latter was one of
+those flat bottles known as a "quartern." Our first attention,
+however, was to the prostrate man. A single glance was sufficient to
+show that he was dead. His eyes were closed, his hands clenched, and
+his body was bent as though he had expired in a final paroxysm of
+agony. The teeth, too, were hard set, and there were certain features
+about his appearance that caused me to entertain grave suspicion from
+the first. His thin, consumptive face, now blanched, was strangely
+drawn, as though the muscles had suddenly contracted, and there was an
+absence of that composure one generally expects to find in the faces
+of those who die naturally.
+
+As a medical man I very soon noted sufficient appearances to tell me
+that death had been due either to suicide or foul play. The former
+seemed to me the most likely.
+
+"Well?" asked Ambler, rising from his knees when I had concluded the
+examination of the dead man's skinny, ill-nourished body. "What's your
+opinion, Ralph?"
+
+"He's taken poison," I declared.
+
+"Poison? You believe he's been poisoned."
+
+"It may have been wilful murder, or he may have taken it voluntarily,"
+I answered. "But it is most evident that the symptoms are those of
+poisoning."
+
+Ambler gave vent to a low grunt, half of satisfaction, half of
+suspicion. I knew that grunt well. When on the verge of any discovery
+he always emitted that guttural sound.
+
+"We'd better inform the police," I remarked. "That's all we can do.
+The poor fellow is dead."
+
+"Dead! Yes, we know that. But we must find out who killed him."
+
+"Well," I said, "I think at present, Ambler, we've quite sufficient on
+our hands without attempting to solve any further problems. The poor
+man may have been in despair and have taken poison wilfully."
+
+"In despair!" echoed the old man. "No fear. Lanky was happy enough. 'E
+wasn't the sort of fellow to hurry hisself out o' the world. He liked
+life too jolly well. Besides, he 'ad a tidy bit o' money in the
+Savin's Bank. 'E was well orf once, wer' Lanky. Excuse me for
+interruptin'."
+
+"Well, if he didn't commit suicide," I remarked, "then, according to
+all appearances, poison was administered to him wilfully."
+
+"That appears to be the most feasible theory," Ambler said. "Here we
+have still a further mystery."
+
+Of course, the post-mortem appearances of poisoning, except in a few
+instances, are not very characteristic. As every medical man is aware,
+poison, if administered with a criminal intent, is generally in such a
+dose as to take immediate effect--although this is by no means
+necessary, as there are numerous substances which accumulate in the
+system, and when given in small and repeated quantities ultimately
+prove fatal--notably, antimony. The diagnosis of the effects of
+irritant poisons is not so difficult as it is in the case of narcotics
+or other neurotics, where the symptoms are very similar to those
+produced by apoplexy, epilepsy, tetanus, convulsions, or other forms
+of disease of the brain. Besides, one of the most difficult facts we
+have to contend with in such cases is that poison may be found in the
+body, and yet a question may arise as to its having been the cause of
+death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+"POOR MRS. COURTENAY."
+
+
+Ambler appeared to be much concerned regarding the poor man's death.
+When we had first met beside his vegetable barrow in the London Road
+he certainly seemed a hard-working, respectable fellow, with a voice
+rendered hoarse and rough by constantly shouting his wares. But by the
+whispered words that had passed I knew that Ambler was in his
+confidence. The nature of this I had several times tried to fathom.
+
+His unexpected death appeared to have upset all Ambler's plans. He
+grunted and took a tour round the poorly-furnished chamber.
+
+"Look here!" he said, halting in front of me. "There's been foul play
+here. We must lose no time in calling the police--not that they are
+likely to discover the truth."
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"Because the poor fellow has been the victim of a secret assassin."
+
+"Then you suspect a motive?"
+
+"I believe that there is a motive why his lips should be closed--a
+strange and remote one." Then, turning to the old fellow who had been
+the dead man's friend, he asked: "Do you know anyone by the name of
+Slade?"
+
+"Slade?" repeated the croaking old fellow. "Slade? No, sir. I don't
+recollect anyone of that name. Is it a man or a woman?"
+
+"Either."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Do you know if Lanky Lane ever had visitors here--I mean visitors not
+of his own class?"
+
+"I never 'eard of none. Lanky wasn't the sort o' chap to trouble about
+callers. He used to spend 'is nights in the Three Nuns wiv us; but
+he'd sit 'ours over two o' gin. 'E saved 'is money, 'e did."
+
+"But look here," exclaimed Ambler, seriously. "Are you quite certain
+that you've never seen him with any stranger at nights?"
+
+"Never to my knowledge."
+
+"Well," my companion said, "you'd better go and call the police."
+
+When the old fellow had shuffled away down the rickety stairs, Ambler,
+turning to me, said abruptly:
+
+"That fellow is lying; he knows something about this affair."
+
+I had taken up the empty dram bottle and smelt it. The spirit it had
+contained was rum--which had evidently been drunk from the bottle, as
+there was no glass near. A slight quantity remained, and this I placed
+aside for analysis if necessary.
+
+"I can't see what this poor fellow has to do with the inquiry upon
+which we are engaged, Ambler," I remarked. "I do wish you'd be more
+explicit. Mystery seems to heap upon mystery."
+
+"Yes. You're right," he said reflectively. "Slowly--very slowly, I am
+working out the problem, Ralph. It has been a long and difficult
+matter; but by degrees I seem to be drawing towards a conclusion.
+This," and he pointed to the man lying dead, "is another of London's
+many mysteries, but it carries us one step further."
+
+"I can't, for the life of me, see what connection the death of this
+poor street hawker has with the strange events of the immediate past."
+
+"Remain patient. Let us watch the blustering inquiries of the police,"
+he laughed. "They'll make a great fuss, but will find out nothing. The
+author of this crime is far too wary."
+
+"But this man Slade?" I said. "Of late your inquiries have always been
+of him. What is his connection with the affair?"
+
+"Ah, that we have yet to discover. He may have no connection, for
+aught I know. It is mere supposition, based upon a logical
+conclusion."
+
+"What motive had you in meeting this man here to-night?" I inquired,
+hoping to gather some tangible clue to the reason of his erratic
+movements.
+
+"Ah! that's just the point," he responded. "If this poor fellow had
+lived he would have revealed to me a secret--we should have known the
+truth!"
+
+"The truth!" I gasped. "Then at the very moment when he intended to
+confess to you he has been struck down."
+
+"Yes. His lips have been sealed by his enemy--and yours. Both are
+identical," he replied, and his lips snapped together in that peculiar
+manner that was his habit. I knew it was useless to question him
+further.
+
+Indeed, at that moment heavy footsteps sounded upon the stairs, and
+two constables, conducted by the shuffling old man, appeared upon the
+scene.
+
+"We have sent for you," Ambler explained. "This man is dead--died
+suddenly, we believe."
+
+"Who is he, sir?" inquired the elder of the pair, bending over the
+prostrate man, and taking up the smoky lamp in order to examine his
+features more carefully.
+
+"His name is Lane--a costermonger, known as Lanky Lane. The man with
+you is one of his friends, and can tell you more about him than I
+can."
+
+"Is he dead?" queried the second constable, touching the thin, pallid
+face.
+
+"Certainly," I answered. "I'm a doctor, and have already made an
+examination. He's been dead some time."
+
+My name and address was taken, together with that of my companion.
+When, however, Ambler told the officers his name, both were visibly
+impressed. The name of Jevons was well known to the police, who held
+him in something like awe as a smart criminal investigator.
+
+"I know Inspector Barton at Leman Street--your station, I suppose?" he
+added.
+
+"Yes, sir," responded the first constable. "And begging your pardon,
+sir, I'm honoured to meet you. We all heard how you beat the C. I.
+Department in the Bowyer Square Mystery, and how you gave the whole
+information to Sergeant Payling without taking any of the credit to
+yourself. He got all the honour, sir, and your name didn't appear at
+the Old Bailey."
+
+Jevons laughed. He was never fond of seeing his name in print. He made
+a study of the ways and methods of the criminal, but only for his own
+gratification. The police knew him well, but he hid his light under
+the proverbial bushel always.
+
+"What is your own opinion of the affair, sir?" the officer continued,
+ready to take his opinion before that of the sergeant of the Criminal
+Investigation Department attached to his station.
+
+"Well," said Ambler, "it looks like sudden death, doesn't it? Perhaps
+it's poison."
+
+"Suicide?"
+
+"Murder, very possibly," was Jevons' quiet response.
+
+"Then you really think there's a mystery, sir?" exclaimed the
+constable quickly.
+
+"It seems suspiciously like one. Let us search the room. Come along
+Ralph," he added, addressing me. "Just lend a hand."
+
+There was not much furniture in the place to search, and before long,
+with the aid of the constable's lantern, we had investigated every
+nook and cranny.
+
+Only one discovery of note was made, and it was certainly a strange
+one.
+
+Beneath a loose board, near the fireplace, Jevons discovered the dead
+man's hoard. It consisted of several papers carefully folded together.
+We examined them, and found them to consist of a hawker's licence, a
+receipt for the payment for a barrow and donkey, a post-office savings
+bank book, showing a balance of twenty-six pounds four shillings, and
+several letters from a correspondent unsigned. They were type-written,
+in order that the handwriting should not be betrayed, and upon that
+flimsy paper used in commercial offices. All of them were of the
+highest interest. The first, read aloud by Ambler, ran as follows:--
+
+     _"Dear Lane,--I have known you a good many years, and never
+     thought you were such a fool as to neglect a good thing.
+     Surely you will reconsider the proposal I made to you the
+     night before last in the bar of the Elephant and Castle? You
+     once did me a very good turn long ago, and now I am in a
+     position to put a good remunerative bit of business in your
+     way. Yet you are timid that all may not turn out well!
+     Apparently you do not fully recognise the stake I hold in
+     the matter, and the fact that any exposure would mean ruin
+     to me. Surely I have far more to lose than you have.
+     Therefore that, in itself, should be sufficient guarantee to
+     you. Reconsider your reply, and give me your decision
+     to-morrow night. You will find me in the saloon bar of the
+     King Lud, in Ludgate Hill, at eight o'clock. Do not speak to
+     me there, but show yourself, and then wait outside until I
+     join you. Have a care that you are not followed. That hawk
+     Ambler Jevons has scent of us. Therefore, remain dumb and
+     watchful--Z."_
+
+"That's curious," I remarked. "Whoever wrote that letter was inciting
+Lane to conspiracy, and at the same time held you in fear, Ambler."
+
+My companion laughed again--a quiet self-satisfied laugh. Then he
+commenced the second letter, type-written like the first, but
+evidently upon another machine.
+
+     _"Dear Lane,--Your terms seem exorbitant. I quite understand
+     that at least four or five of you must be in the affair, but
+     the price asked is ridiculous. Besides, I didn't like
+     Bennett's tone when he spoke to me yesterday. He was almost
+     threatening. What have you told him? Recollect that each of
+     us knows something to the detriment of the other, and even
+     in these days of so-called equality the man with money is
+     always the best. You must contrive to shut Bennett's mouth.
+     Give him money, if he wants it--up to ten pounds. But, of
+     course, do not say that it comes from me. You can, of
+     course, pose as my friend, as you have done before. I shall
+     be at the usual place to-night.--Z."_
+
+"Looks as though there's been some blackmailing," one of the
+constables remarked. "Who's Bennett?"
+
+"I expect that's Bobby Bennett who works in the Meat Market," replied
+the atom of a man who had accosted us at Aldgate. "He was a friend of
+Lanky's, and a bad 'un. I've 'eard say that 'e 'ad a record at the Old
+Bailey."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"'Ousebreakin'."
+
+"Is he working now?" Ambler inquired.
+
+"Yes. I saw 'im in Farrin'don Street yesterday."
+
+"Ah!" remarked the constable. "We shall probably want to have a chat
+with him. But the chief mystery is the identity of the writer of these
+letters. At all events it is evident that this poor man Lane knew
+something to his detriment, and was probably trying to make money out
+of that knowledge."
+
+"Not at all an unusual case," I said.
+
+Jevons grunted, and appeared to view the letters with considerable
+satisfaction. Any documentary evidence surrounding a case of
+mysterious death is always of interest. In this case, being of such a
+suspicious nature, it was doubly so.
+
+     "_Are you quite decided not to assist me?"_ another letter
+     ran. It was likewise type-written, and from the same source.
+     _"Recollect you did so once, and were well paid for it. You
+     had enough to keep you in luxury for years had you not so
+     foolishly frittered it away on your so-called friends. Any
+     of the latter would give you away to the police to-morrow
+     for a five-pound note. This, however, is my last appeal to
+     you. If you help me I shall give you one hundred pounds,
+     which is not bad payment for an hour's work. If you do not,
+     then you will not hear from me again.--Z."_
+
+"Seems a bit brief, and to the point," was the elder constable's
+remark. "I wonder what is the affair mentioned by this mysterious
+correspondent? Evidently the fellow intended to bring off a robbery,
+or something, and Lane refused to give his aid."
+
+"Apparently so," replied Ambler, fingering the last letter remaining
+in his hand. "But this communication is even of greater interest," he
+added, turning to me and showing me writing in a well-known hand.
+
+"I know that writing!" I cried. "Why--that letter is from poor Mrs.
+Courtenay!"
+
+"It is," he said, quietly. "Did I not tell you that we were on the eve
+of a discovery, and that the dead man lying there could have told us
+the truth?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT.
+
+
+Ambler Jevons read the letter, then handed it to me without comment.
+
+It was written upon the note-paper I knew so well, stamped with the
+neat address "Neneford," in black, but bearing no date. What I read
+was as follows:--
+
+     _"Sir,--I fail to comprehend the meaning of your words when
+     you followed me into the train at Huntingdon last night. I
+     am in no fear of any catastrophe; therefore I can only take
+     your offer of assistance as an attempt to obtain money from
+     me. If you presume to address me again I shall have no other
+     course than to acquaint the police._
+
+                    "_Yours truly_
+
+                         "MARY COURTENAY."
+
+"Ah!" I exclaimed. "Then he warned her, and she misunderstood his
+intention."
+
+"Without a doubt," said Ambler, taking the letter from my hand. "This
+was written probably only a few days before her death. That man," and
+he glanced at the prostrate body, "was the only one who could give us
+the clue by which to unravel the mystery."
+
+But the dead man's lips had closed, and his secret was held for ever.
+Only those letters remained to connect him with the river tragedy; or
+rather to show that he had communicated with the unfortunate Mrs.
+Courtenay.
+
+In company we walked to Leman Street Police Station, one of the chief
+centres of the Metropolitan Police in the East End, and there, in an
+upper office, Ambler had a long consultation with the sergeant of the
+Criminal Investigation Department.
+
+I described the appearance of the body, and stated my suspicions of
+poisoning, all of which the detective carefully noted before going
+forth to make his own examination. My address was taken, so that I
+might assist at the post-mortem, and then, shortly after midnight I
+drove back westward through the City with Ambler at my side.
+
+He spoke little, and when in Oxford Street, just at the corner of
+Newman Street, he descended, wished me a hurried good-night, and
+disappeared into the darkness. He was often given to strange vagaries
+of erratic movement. It was as though some thought had suddenly
+occurred to him, and he acted at once upon it.
+
+That night I scarcely closed my eyes. My brain was awhirl with
+thoughts of all the curious events of the past few months--the
+inexplicable presence of old Mr. Courtenay, and the subsequent death
+of Mary and of the only man who, according to Ambler, knew the
+remarkable secret.
+
+Ethelwynn's strange words worried me. What could she mean? What did
+she know? Surely hers could not be a guilty conscience. Yet, in her
+words and actions I had detected that cowardice which a heavy
+conscience always engenders. One by one I dissected and analysed the
+Seven Secrets, but not in one single instance could I obtain a gleam
+of the truth.
+
+While at the hospital next day I was served with a notice to assist at
+the post-mortem of the unfortunate Lane, whose body was lying in the
+Shadwell mortuary; and that same afternoon I met by appointment Doctor
+Tatham, of the London Hospital, who, as is well known, is an expert
+toxicologist.
+
+To describe in technical detail the examination we made would not
+interest the general reader of this strange narrative. The average man
+or woman knows nothing or cares less for the duodenum or the pylorus;
+therefore it is not my intention to go into long and wearying detail.
+Suffice it to say that we preserved certain portions of the body for
+subsequent examination, and together were engaged the whole evening in
+the laboratory of the hospital. Tatham was well skilled in the minutiae
+of the tests. The exact determination of the cause of death in cases
+of poisoning always depends partly on the symptoms noted before death,
+and partly on the appearances found after death. Regarding the former,
+neither of us knew anything; hence our difficulties were greatly
+increased. The object of the analyst is to obtain the substances which
+he has to examine chemically in as pure a condition as possible, so
+that there may be no doubt about the results of his tests; also, of
+course, to separate active substances from those that are inert, all
+being mixed together in the stomach and alimentary canal. Again, in
+dealing with such fluids as the blood, or the tissues of the body,
+their natural constituents must be got rid of before the foreign and
+poisonous body can be reached. There is this difficulty further to
+contend with: that some of the most poisonous of substances are of
+unstable composition and are readily altered by chemical reagents; to
+this group belong many vegetable and most animal poisons. These,
+therefore, must be treated differently from the more stable inorganic
+compounds. With an inorganic poison we may destroy all organic
+materials mixed with it, trusting to find the poison still
+recognisable after this process. Not so with an organic substance;
+that must be separated by other than destructive means.
+
+Through the whole evening we tested for the various groups of
+poisons--corrosives, simple irritants, specific irritants and
+neurotics. It was a long and scientific search.
+
+Some of the tests with which I was not acquainted I watched with the
+keenest interest, for, of all the medical men in London, Tatham was
+the most up to date in such analyses.
+
+At length, after much work with acids, filtration, and distillation,
+we determined that a neurotic had been employed, and that its action
+on the vasomotor system of the nerves was very similar, if not
+identical, with nitrate of amyl.
+
+Further than that, even Tatham, expert in such matters, could not
+proceed. Hours of hard work resulted in that conclusion, and with it
+we were compelled to be satisfied.
+
+In due course the inquest was held at Shadwell, and with Ambler I
+attended as a witness. The reporters, of course, expected a sensation;
+but, on the contrary, our evidence went to show that, as the poisonous
+substance was found in the "quartern" bottle on deceased's table,
+death was in all probability due to suicide.
+
+Some members of the jury took an opposite view. Then the letters we
+had found concealed were produced by the police, and, of course,
+created a certain amount of interest. But to the readers of newspapers
+the poisoning of a costermonger at Shadwell is of little interest as
+compared with a similar catastrophe in that quarter of London vaguely
+known as "the West End." The letters were suspicious, and both coroner
+and jury accepted them as evidence that Lane was engaged upon an
+elaborate scheme of blackmail.
+
+"Who is this Mary Courtenay, who writes to him from Neneford?"
+inquired the coroner of the inspector.
+
+"Well, sir," the latter responded, "the writer herself is dead. She
+was found drowned a few days ago near her home under suspicious
+circumstances."
+
+Then the reporters commenced to realize that something extraordinary
+was underlying the inquiry.
+
+"Ah!" remarked the coroner, one of the most acute officials of his
+class. "Then, in face of this, her letter seems to be more than
+curious. For aught we know the tragedy at Neneford may have been
+wilful murder; and we have now the suicide of the assassin?"
+
+"That, sir, is the police theory," replied the inspector.
+
+"Police theory be hanged!" ejaculated Ambler, almost loud enough to be
+heard. "The police know nothing of the case, and will never learn
+anything. If the jury are content to accept such an explanation, and
+brand poor Lane as a murderer, they must be allowed to do so."
+
+I knew Jevons held coroners' juries in the most supreme contempt;
+sometimes rather unreasonably so, I thought.
+
+"Well," the coroner said, "this is certainly remarkable evidence," and
+he turned the dead woman's letter over in his hand. "It is quite plain
+that the deceased approached the lady ostensibly to give her warning
+of some danger, but really to blackmail her; for what reason does not
+at present appear. He may have feared her threat to give information
+to the police; hence his crime, and subsequent suicide."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Jevons in my ear. "They are actually trying the
+dead man for a crime he could not possibly have committed! They've got
+hold of the wrong end of the stick, as usual. Why don't they give a
+verdict of suicide and have done with it. We can't afford to waste a
+whole day explaining theories to a set of uneducated gentlemen of the
+Whitechapel Road. The English law is utterly ridiculous where
+coroners' juries are concerned."
+
+The coroner heard his whispering, and looked towards us severely.
+
+"We have not had sufficient time to investigate the whole of the facts
+connected with Mrs. Courtenay's mysterious death," the inspector went
+on. "You will probably recollect, sir, a mystery down at Kew some
+little time ago. It was fully reported in the papers, and created
+considerable sensation--an old gentleman was murdered under remarkable
+circumstances. Well, sir, the gentleman in question was Mrs.
+Courtenay's husband."
+
+The coroner sat back in his chair and stared at the officer who had
+spoken, while in the court a great sensation was caused. Mention of
+the Kew Mystery brought its details vividly back to the minds of
+everyone. Yes. After all, the death of that poor costermonger, Lanky
+Lane, was of greater public interest than the representatives of the
+Press anticipated.
+
+"Are you quite certain of this?" the coroner queried.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am here by the direction of the Chief Inspector of
+Scotland Yard to give evidence. I was engaged upon the case at Kew,
+and have also made inquiries into the mystery at Neneford."
+
+"Then you have suspicion that the deceased was--well, a person of bad
+character?"
+
+"We have."
+
+"Fools!" growled Ambler. "Lane was a policeman's 'nose,' and often
+obtained payment from Scotland Yard for information regarding the
+doings of a certain gang of thieves. And yet they actually declare him
+to be a bad character. Preposterous!"
+
+"Do you apply for an adjournment?"
+
+"No, sir. We anticipate that the verdict will be suicide--the only one
+possible in face of the evidence."
+
+And then, as though the jury were compelled to act upon the
+inspector's suggestion, they returned a simple verdict. "That the
+deceased committed suicide by poisoning while of unsound mind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+SIR BERNARD'S DECISION.
+
+
+For fully a week I saw nothing of Ambler.
+
+Sir Bernard was unwell, and remained down at Hove; therefore I was
+compelled to attend to his practice. There were several serious cases,
+the patients being persons of note; thus I was kept very busy.
+
+My friend's silence was puzzling. I wrote to him, but received no
+response. A wire to his office in the City elicited the fact that Mr.
+Jevons was out of town. Probably he was still pursuing the inquiry he
+had so actively taken up. Nevertheless, I was dissatisfied that he
+should leave me so entirely in the dark as to his intentions and
+discoveries.
+
+Ethelwynn came to town for the day, and I spent several hours shopping
+with her. She was strangely nervous, and all the old spontaneous
+gaiety seemed to have left her. She had read in the papers of the
+curious connection between the death of the man Lane and that of her
+unfortunate sister; therefore our conversation was mainly upon the
+river mystery. Sometimes she seemed ill at ease with me, as though
+fearing some discovery. Perhaps, however, it was merely my fancy.
+
+I loved her. She was all the world to me; and yet in her eyes I seemed
+to read some hidden secret which she was endeavouring, with all the
+power at her command, to conceal. In such circumstances there was
+bound to arise between us a certain reserve that we had not before
+known. Her conversation was carried on in a mechanical manner, as
+though distracted by her inner thoughts; and when, after having tea
+together in Bond Street, we drove to the station, and I saw her off on
+her return to Neneford, my mind was full of darkest apprehensions.
+
+Yes. That interview convinced me more than ever that she was, in some
+manner, cognisant of the truth. The secret existence of old Mr.
+Courtenay, the man whom I myself had pronounced dead, was the crowning
+point of the strange affair; and yet I felt by some inward intuition
+that this fact was not unknown to her.
+
+All the remarkable events of that moonlit night when I had followed
+husband and wife along the river-bank came back to me, and I saw
+vividly the old man's face, haggard and drawn, just as it had been in
+life. Surely there could be no stranger current of events than those
+which formed the Seven Secrets. They were beyond explanation--all of
+them. I knew nothing. I had certainly seen results; but I knew not
+their cause.
+
+Nitrate of amyl was not a drug which a costermonger would select with
+a view to committing suicide. Indeed, I daresay few of my readers,
+unless they are doctors or chemists, have ever before heard of it.
+Therefore my own conclusion, fully endorsed by the erratic Ambler,
+was that the poor fellow had been secretly poisoned.
+
+Nearly a fortnight passed, and I heard nothing of Ambler. He was still
+"out of town." Day by day passed, but nothing of note transpired. Sir
+Bernard was still suffering from a slight touch of sciatica at home,
+and on visiting him one Sunday I found him confined to his bed,
+grumbling and peevish. He was eccentric in his miserly habits and his
+hatred of society, beyond doubt; and the absurdities which his enemies
+attributed to him were not altogether unfounded. But he had, at all
+events, the rare quality of entertaining for his profession a respect
+nearly akin to enthusiasm. Indeed, according to his views, the faculty
+possessed almost infallible qualities. In confidence he had more than
+once admitted to me that certain of his colleagues practising in
+Harley Street were amazing donkeys; but he would never have allowed
+anyone else to say so. From the moment a man acquired that diploma
+which gave him the right over life and death, that man became, in his
+eyes, an august personage for the world at large. It was a crime, he
+thought, for a patient not to submit to his decision, and certainly it
+must be admitted that his success in the treatment of nervous
+disorders had been most remarkable.
+
+"You were at that lecture by Deboutin, of Paris, the other day!" he
+exclaimed to me suddenly, while I was seated at his bedside describing
+the work I had been doing for him in London. "Why didn't you tell me
+you were going there?"
+
+"I went quite unexpectedly--with a friend."
+
+"With whom?"
+
+"Ambler Jevons."
+
+"Oh, that detective fellow!" laughed the old physician. "Well," he
+added, "it was all very interesting, wasn't it?"
+
+"Very--especially your own demonstrations. I had no idea that you were
+in correspondence with Deboutin."
+
+He laughed; then, with a knowing look, said:
+
+"Ah, my dear fellow, nowadays it doesn't do to tell anyone of your own
+researches. The only way is to spring it upon the profession as a
+great triumph: just as Koch did his cure for tuberculosis. One must
+create an impression, if only with a quack remedy. The day of the
+steady plodder is past; it's all hustle, even in medicine."
+
+"Well, you certainly did make an impression," I said, smiling. "Your
+experiments were a revelation to the profession. They were talking of
+them at the hospital only yesterday."
+
+"H'm. They thought me an old fogey, eh? But, you see, I've been
+keeping pace with the times, Boyd. A man to succeed nowadays must make
+a boom with something, it matters not what. For years I've been
+experimenting in secret, and some day I will show them further results
+of my researches--and they will come upon the profession like a
+thunderclap, staggering belief."
+
+The old man chuckled to himself as he thought of his scientific
+triumph, and how one day he would give forth to the world a truth
+hitherto unsuspected.
+
+We chatted for a long time, mostly upon technicalities which cannot
+interest the reader, until suddenly he said:
+
+"I'm getting old, Boyd. These constant attacks I have render me unfit
+to go to town and sit in judgment on that pack of silly women who rush
+to consult me whenever they have a headache or an erring husband. I
+think that very soon I ought to retire. I've done sufficient hard work
+all the years since I was a 'locum' down in Oxfordshire. I'm worn
+out."
+
+"Oh, no," I said. "You mustn't retire yet. If you did, the profession
+would lose one of its most brilliant men."
+
+"Enough of compliments," he snapped, turning wearily on his pillow.
+"I'm sick to death of it all. Better to retire while I have fame, than
+to outlive it. When I give up you will step into my shoes, Boyd, and
+it will be a good thing for you."
+
+Such a suggestion was quite unexpected. I had never dreamed that he
+contemplated handing over his practice to me. Certainly it would be a
+good thing for me if he did. It would give me a chance such as few men
+ever had. True, I was well known to his patients and had worked hard
+in his interests, but that he intended to hand his practice over to me
+I had never contemplated. Hence I thanked him most heartily. Yes, Sir
+Bernard had been my benefactor always.
+
+"All the women know you," he went on in his snappish way. "You are the
+only man to take my place. They would come to you; but not to a new
+man. All I can hope is that they won't bore you with their domestic
+troubles--as they have done me," and he smiled.
+
+"Oh," I said. "More than once I, too, have been compelled to listen to
+the domestic secrets of certain households. It really is astonishing
+what a woman will tell her doctor, even though he may be young."
+
+The old man laughed again.
+
+"Ah!" he sighed. "You don't know women as I know them, Boyd. You've
+got your experience to gain. Then you'll hold them in abhorrence--just
+as I do. They call me a woman-hater," he grunted. "Perhaps I am--for
+I've had cause to hold the feminine mind and the feminine passion
+equally in contempt."
+
+"Well," I laughed, "there's not a man in London who is more qualified
+to speak from personal experience than yourself. So I anticipate a
+pretty rough time when I've had years of it, as you have."
+
+"And yet you want to marry!" he snapped, looking me straight in the
+face. "Of course, you love Ethelwynn Mivart. Every man at your age
+loves. It is a malady that occurs in the 'teens and declines in the
+thirties. I should have thought that your affection of the heart had
+been about cured. It is surely time it was."
+
+"It is true that I love Ethelwynn," I declared, rather annoyed, "and I
+intend to marry her."
+
+"If you do, then you'll spoil all your chances of success. The class
+of women who are my patients would much rather consult a confirmed
+bachelor than a man who has a jealous wife hanging to his coat-tails.
+The doctor's wife must always be a long-suffering person."
+
+I smiled; and then our conversation turned upon his proposed
+retirement, which was to take place in six months' time.
+
+I returned to London by the last train, and on entering my room found
+a telegram from Ambler making an appointment to call on the following
+evening. The message was dated from Eastbourne, and was the first I
+had received from him for some days.
+
+Next morning I sat in Sir Bernard's consulting-room as usual,
+receiving patients, and the afternoon I spent on the usual hospital
+round. About six o'clock Ambler arrived, drank a brandy and soda with
+a reflective air, and then suggested that we might dine together at
+the Cavour--a favourite haunt of his.
+
+At table I endeavoured to induce him to explain his movements and what
+he had discovered; but he was still disinclined to tell me anything.
+He worked always in secret, and until facts were clear said nothing.
+It was a peculiarity of his to remain dumb, even to his most intimate
+friends concerning any inquiries he was making. He was a man of moods,
+with an active mind and a still tongue--two qualities essential to the
+successful unravelling of mysteries.
+
+Having finished dinner we lit cigars, and took a cab back to my rooms.
+On passing along Harley Street it suddenly occurred to me that in the
+morning I had left a case of instruments in Sir Bernard's
+consulting-room, and that I might require them for one of my patients
+if called that night.
+
+Therefore I stopped the cab, dismissed it, and knocked at Sir
+Bernard's door. Ford, on opening it, surprised me by announcing that
+his master, whom I had left in bed on the previous night, had returned
+to town suddenly, but was engaged.
+
+Ambler waited in the hall, while I passed along to the door of the
+consulting-room with the intention of asking permission to enter, as I
+always did when Sir Bernard was engaged with a patient.
+
+On approaching the door, however, I was startled by hearing a woman's
+voice raised in angry, reproachful words, followed immediately by the
+sound of a scuffle, and then a stifled cry. Without further hesitation
+I turned the handle.
+
+The door was locked.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH.
+
+
+A sudden idea occurred to me, and I acted instantly upon its impulse.
+There was a second entrance through the morning room; and I dashed
+round to the other door, which fortunately yielded.
+
+The sight that met my gaze was absolutely staggering. I stood upon the
+threshold aghast. Sir Bernard, his dark eyes starting from his ashen
+face, stood, holding a woman within his grasp, pinning her to the
+wall, and struggling to cover her mouth with his hands and prevent her
+cries from being overheard.
+
+The woman was none other than Ethelwynn.
+
+At my unexpected entry he released his hold, shrinking back with a
+wild, fierce look in his face, such as I had never before seen.
+
+"Ralph!" cried my love, rushing forward and clinging to my neck.
+"Ralph! For God's sake save me from that fiend! Save me!"
+
+I put my arm around her to protect her, at the same instant shouting
+to Jevons, who entered, as much astounded as myself. My love had
+evidently come to town and kept an appointment with the old man. The
+situation was startling, and required explanation.
+
+"Tell me, Ethelwynn," I said, in a hard, stern voice. "What does all
+this mean?"
+
+She drew herself up and tried to face me firmly, but was unable. I had
+burst in upon her unexpectedly, and she seemed to fear how much of the
+conversation I had overheard.
+
+Noticing her silence, my friend Jevons addressed her, saying:
+
+"Miss Mivart, you are aware of all the circumstances of the tragedy at
+Kew. Please explain them. Only by frank admission can you clear
+yourself, remember. To prevaricate further is quite useless."
+
+She glanced at the cringing old fellow standing on the further side of
+the room--the man who had raised his hand against her. Then, with a
+sudden resolution, she spoke, saying:
+
+"It is true that I am aware of many facts which have been until to-day
+kept secret. But now that I know the horrible truth they shall remain
+mysteries no longer. I have been the victim of a long and dastardly
+persecution, but I now hope to clear my honour before you, Ralph, and
+before my Creator." Then she paused, and, taking breath and drawing
+herself up straight with an air of determined resolution, went on:
+
+"First, let us go back to the days soon after Mary's marriage. I think
+it was about a year after the wedding when I suddenly noticed a change
+in her. Her intellect seemed somehow weakened. Hitherto she had
+possessed a strong, well-defined character; this suddenly developed
+into a weak, almost childish balance of the brain. Instead of
+possessing a will of her own, she was no longer the mistress of her
+actions, but as easily led as an infant. Only to myself and to my
+mother was this change apparent. To all her friends and acquaintances
+she was just the same. About that time she consulted this man
+here--Sir Bernard Eyton, her husband's friend--regarding some other
+ailment, and he no doubt at once detected that her intellect had given
+way. Although devoted to her husband, nevertheless the influence of
+any friend of the moment was irresistible, and for that reason she
+drifted into the pleasure-seeking set in town."
+
+"But the tragedy?" Jevons exclaimed. "Tell us of that. My own
+inquiries show that you are aware of it all. Mrs. Courtenay murdered
+her husband, I know."
+
+"Mary----the assassin!" I gasped.
+
+"Alas! it is too true. Now that my poor sister is dead, concealment is
+no longer necessary," my love responded, with a deep sigh. "Mary
+killed her husband. She returned home, entered the house secretly,
+and, ascending to his room, struck him to the heart."
+
+"But the wound--how was it inflicted?" I demanded eagerly.
+
+"With that pair of long, sharp-pointed scissors which used to be on
+poor Henry's writing-table. You remember them. They were about eight
+inches long, with ivory handles and a red morocco case. The wound
+puzzled you, but to me it seems plain that, after striking the blow,
+in an endeavour to extricate the weapon she opened it and closed it
+again, thereby inflicting those internal injuries that were so
+minutely described at the inquest. Well, on that night I heard a
+sound, and, fearing that the invalid wanted something, crept from my
+room. As I gained the door I met Mary upon the threshold. She stood
+facing me with a weird, fixed look, and in her hand was the weapon
+with which she had killed her husband. That awful moment is fixed
+indelibly upon my memory. I shall carry its recollection to the grave.
+I dashed quickly into the room, and to my horror saw what had
+occurred. Then my thoughts were for Mary--to conceal her guilt.
+Whispering to her to obey me I led her downstairs, through the back
+premises, and so out into the street. A cab was passing, and I put her
+into it, telling the man to drive to the Hennikers', with whom she had
+been spending the evening. Then, cleaning the scissors of blood by
+thrusting them several times into the mould of a garden I was passing,
+I crossed the road and tossed them over the high wall into the thick
+undergrowth which flanks Kew Gardens. At that spot I felt certain that
+they would never be discovered. As quickly as possible I re-entered
+the house, secured the door by which I had made my exit, and returned
+again to my room with the awful knowledge of my sister's crime upon my
+conscience."
+
+"What hour was that?"
+
+"When I retired again to bed my watch showed that it was barely
+half-past one. At two o'clock Short, awakened by his alarum clock,
+made the discovery and aroused the house. What followed you know well
+enough. I need not describe it. You can imagine what I felt, and how
+guilty was my conscience with the awful knowledge of it all."
+
+"The circumstances were certainly most puzzling," I remarked. "It
+almost appears as though matters were cleverly arranged in order to
+baffle detection."
+
+"To a certain extent they undoubtedly were. I knew that the
+Hennikers would say nothing of poor Mary's erratic return to them.
+I did all in my power to withdraw suspicion from my sister, at the
+risk of it falling upon myself. You suspected me, Ralph. And only
+naturally--after that letter you discovered."
+
+"But Mary's homicidal tendency seems to have been carefully
+concealed," I said. "I recollect having detected in her a strange
+vagueness of manner, but it never occurred to me that she was mentally
+weak. In the days immediately preceding the tragedy I certainly saw
+but little of her. She was out nearly every evening."
+
+"She was not responsible for her actions for several weeks together
+sometimes," Sir Bernard interrupted. "I discovered it over a year
+ago."
+
+"And you profited by your discovery!" my love cried, turning upon him
+fiercely. "The crime was committed at your instigation!" she declared.
+
+"At my instigation!" he echoed, with a dry laugh. "I suppose you will
+say next that I hypnotised her--or some bunkum of that sort!"
+
+"I'm no believer in hypnotic theories. They were exploded long ago,"
+she answered. "But what I do believe--nay, what is positively proved
+from my poor sister's own lips by a statement made before
+witnesses--is that you were the instigator of the crime. You met her
+by appointment that night at Kew Bridge. You opened the door of the
+house for her, and you compelled her to go in and commit the deed.
+Although demented, she recollected it all in her saner moments. You
+told her terrible stories of old Mr. Courtenay, for whom you had
+feigned such friendship, and for weeks you urged her to kill him
+secretly until, in the frenzy of insanity to which you had brought
+her, she carried out your design with all that careful ingenuity that
+is so often characteristic of madness."
+
+"You lie, woman!" the old man snapped. "I had nothing whatever to do
+with the affair! I was at home at Hove on that night."
+
+"No! no! you were not," interrupted Jevons. "Your memory requires
+refreshing. Reflect a moment, and you'll find that you arrived at
+Brighton Station at seven o'clock next morning from Victoria. You
+spent the night in London; and further, you were recognised by a
+police inspector walking along the Chiswick Road as early as half-past
+three. I have not been idle, Sir Bernard, and have spent a good deal
+of time at Hove of late."
+
+"What do you allege, then?" he cried in fierce anger, a dark, evil
+expression on his pale, drawn face. "I suppose you'll declare that
+I'm a murderer next!"
+
+"I allege that, at your instigation, a serious and desperate attempt
+was made, a short time ago, upon the life of my friend Boyd by
+ruffians who were well paid by you."
+
+"Another lie!" he blurted forth defiantly.
+
+"What?" I cried. "Is that the truth, Ambler? Was I entrapped at the
+instigation of this man?"
+
+"Yes. He had reasons for getting rid of you--as you will discern
+later."
+
+"I tell you it's an untruth!" shouted the old man, in a frenzy of
+rage.
+
+"Deny it if you will," answered my friend, with a nonchalant air. "It,
+however, may be interesting to you to know that the man 'Lanky Lane,'
+one of the desperate gang whom you bribed to call up Boyd on the night
+in question, is what is known at Scotland Yard as a policeman's
+'nose,' or informer; and that he made a plain statement of the whole
+affair before he fell a victim to your carefully-laid plan by which
+his lips were sealed."
+
+In an instant I recollected that the costermonger of the London Road
+was one of the ruffians.
+
+The old man's lips compressed. He saw that he was cornered.
+
+The revelation that to his clever cunning was due the many remarkable
+features of the mystery held me utterly bewildered. At first it seemed
+impossible; but as the discussion grew more heated, and the facts
+poured forth from the mouth of the woman I loved, and from the man
+who was my best friend, I became convinced that at last the whole of
+the mysterious affair would be elucidated.
+
+One point, however, still puzzled me, namely, the inexplicable scene I
+had witnessed on the bank of the Nene.
+
+I referred to it; whereupon Ambler Jevons drew from his breast-pocket
+two photographs, and, holding them before the eyes of the trembling
+old man, said:
+
+"You recognise these? For a long time past I've been making inquiries
+into your keen interest in amateur theatricals. My information led me
+to Curtis's, the wigmakers; and they furnished me with this picture,
+showing you made up as as Henry Courtenay. It seems that, under the
+name of Slade, you furnished them with a portrait of the dead man and
+ordered the disguise to be copied exactly--a fact to which a dozen
+witnesses are prepared to swear. This caused me to wonder what game
+you were playing, and, after watching, I found that on certain nights
+you wore the disguise--a most complete and excellent one--and with it
+imposed upon the unfortunate widow of weak intellect. You posed as her
+husband, and she believed you to be him. So completely was the woman
+in your thrall that you actually led her to believe that Courtenay was
+not dead after all! You had a deeper game to play. It was a clever and
+daring piece of imposture. Representing yourself as her husband who,
+for financial reasons, had been compelled to disappear and was
+believed to be dead, you had formed a plan whereby to obtain the
+widow's fortune as soon as the executors had given her complete
+mastery of it. You had arranged it all with her. She was to pose as a
+widow, mourn your loss, and then sell the Devonshire estate and hand
+you the money, believing you to be her husband and rightly entitled to
+it. The terrible crime which the unfortunate woman had committed at
+your instigation had turned her brain, as you anticipated, and she,
+docile and half-witted, was entirely beneath your influence until----"
+and he paused.
+
+"Until what?" I asked, utterly astounded at this remarkable
+explanation of what I had considered to be an absolutely inexplicable
+phenomenon.
+
+He spoke again, quite calmly:
+
+"Until this man, to his dismay, found that poor Mrs. Courtenay's
+intellect was regaining its strength. They met beside the river, and,
+her brain suddenly regaining its balance, she discovered the ingenious
+fraud he was imposing upon her." Turning to Sir Bernard, he said, "She
+tore off your disguise and declared that she would go to the police
+and tell the truth of the whole circumstances--how that you had
+induced her to go to the house in Kew and kill her husband. You saw
+that your game was up if she were not silenced; therefore, without
+further ado, you sent the poor woman to her last account."
+
+"You lie!" the old man cried, his drawn face blanched to the lips.
+"She fell in--accidentally."
+
+"She did not. You threw her in," declared Ambler Jevons, firmly. "I
+followed you there. I was witness of the scene between you; and,
+although too far off to save poor Mrs. Courtenay, I was witness of
+your crime!"
+
+"You!" he gasped, glaring at my companion in fear, as though he
+foresaw the horror of his punishment.
+
+"Yes!" responded Jevons, in his dry, matter-of-fact voice, his sleepy
+eyes brightening for a moment. "Since the day of the tragedy at Kew
+until this afternoon I have never relinquished the inquiry. The Seven
+Secrets I took one by one, and gradually penetrated them, at the same
+time keeping always near you and watching your movements when you
+least expected it. But enough--I never reveal my methods. Suffice it
+to say that in this I have succeeded by sheer patience and
+application. Every word of my allegation I am prepared to substantiate
+in due course at the Old Bailey." Then, after a second's pause, he
+looked straight at the culprit standing there, crushed and dumb before
+him, and declared: "Sir Bernard Eyton, you are a murderer!"
+
+With my love's hand held in mine I stood speechless at those
+staggering revelations. I saw how Ethelwynn watched the contortions of
+the old doctor's face with secret satisfaction, for he had ever been
+her enemy, just as he had been mine. He had uttered those libellous
+hints regarding her with a view to parting us, so as to give him
+greater freedom to work his will with poor Mary. Then, when he had
+feared that through my love I had obtained knowledge of his dastardly
+offence, he had made an attempt upon my life by means of hired
+ruffians. The woman who had been in his drawing-room at Hove on the
+occasion of my visit was Mary, as I afterwards found out, and the
+attractive young person in the Brighton train had also been a caller
+at his house in connection with the attempt planned to be made upon
+me.
+
+"You--you intend to arrest me?" Sir Bernard gasped at last, with some
+difficulty, his brow like ivory beneath the tight-drawn skin. A change
+had come over him, and he was standing with his back to a bookcase,
+swaying unsteadily as though he must fall.
+
+"I certainly do," was Ambler Jevons' prompt response. "You have been
+the means of committing a double murder for the purposes of
+gain--because you knew that your friend Courtenay had left a will in
+your favour in the event of his wife's decease. That will has already
+been proved; but perhaps it may interest you to know that the latest
+and therefore the valid will is in my own possession, I having found
+it during a search of the dead man's effects in company with my friend
+Boyd. It is dated only a month before his death, and leaves the
+fortune to the widow, and in the event of her death to her sister
+Ethelwynn."
+
+"To me!" cried my love, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, Miss Ethelwynn. Everything is left to you unreservedly," he
+explained. Then, turning again to the clever impostor before him, he
+added: "You will therefore recognise that all your plotting, so well
+matured and so carefully planned that your demoniacal ingenuity
+almost surpasses the comprehension of man, has been in vain. By the
+neglect of one small detail, namely to sufficiently disguise your
+identity when dealing with Curtis, I have been enabled, after a long
+and tedious search, to fix you as the man who on several occasions was
+made up to present in the night the appearance of the dead Courtenay.
+The work has taken me many tedious weeks. I visited every wig-maker
+and half the hairdressers in London unsuccessfully until, by mere
+chance, the ruffian whom you employed to entrap my friend Boyd gave me
+a clue to the fact that Curtis made wigs as well as theatrical
+costumes. The inquiry has been a long and hazardous one," he went on.
+"But from the very first I was determined to get at the bottom of the
+mystery, cost me what it might--and I have fortunately succeeded."
+Then, turning again to the cringing wretch, upon whom the terrible
+denunciation had fallen as a thunderbolt, he added: "The forgiveness
+of man, Sir Bernard Eyton, you will never obtain. It has been ever law
+that the murderer shall die--and you will be no exception."
+
+The effect of those words upon the guilty man was almost electrical.
+He drew himself up stiffly, his keen, wild eyes starting from his
+blanched face as he glared at his accuser. His lips moved. No sound,
+however, came from them. The muscles of his jaws seemed to suddenly
+become paralysed, for he was unable to close his mouth. He stood for a
+moment, an awful spectacle, the brand of Cain upon him. A strange
+gurgling sound escaped him, as though he were trying to articulate,
+but was unable; then he made wild signs with both his hands, clutched
+suddenly at the air, and fell forward in a fit.
+
+I went to him, loosened his collar, and applied restoratives, but in
+ten minutes I saw that he was beyond human aid. What I had at first
+believed to be a fit was a sudden cessation of the functions of the
+heart--caused by wild excitement and the knowledge that punishment was
+upon him.
+
+Within fifteen minutes of that final accusation the old man lay back
+upon the carpet lifeless, struck dead by natural causes at the moment
+that his crimes had become revealed.
+
+Thus were the Seven Secrets explained; and thus were the Central
+Criminal Court and the public spared what would have been one of the
+most sensational trials of modern times.
+
+The papers on Monday reported "with deepest regret" the sudden death
+from heart disease of Sir Bernard Eyton, whom they termed "one of the
+greatest and most skilful physicians of modern times."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Just two years have passed since that memorable evening.
+
+You, my reader, are probably curious to know whether I have succeeded
+in obtaining the quiet country practice that was my ideal. Well, yes,
+I have. And what is more, I have obtained in Ethelwynn a wife who is
+devoted to me and beloved by all the countryside--a wife who is the
+very perfection of all that is noble and good in woman. The Courtenay
+estate is ours; but I am not an idle man. Somehow I cannot be.
+
+My practice? Where is it? Well, it is in Leicestershire. I dare not be
+more explicit, for Ethelwynn has urged me to conceal our identity, in
+order that we may not be remarked as a couple whose wooing was so
+strangely tragic and romantic.
+
+Ambler Jevons still carries on his tea-blending business in the City,
+the most confirmed of bachelors, and the shrewdest of all criminal
+investigators. Even though we have been so intimate for years, and he
+often visits me at ---- I was nearly, by a slip, writing the name of
+the Leicestershire village--he has never explained to me his methods,
+and seldom, if ever, speaks of those wonderful successes by which
+Scotland Yard is so frequently glad to profit.
+
+Only a few days ago, while we were sitting on the lawn behind my
+quaint old-fashioned house awaiting dinner, I chanced to remark upon
+the happiness which his ingenuity and perseverance had brought me;
+whereupon, turning to me with a slight, reflective smile, he replied:
+
+"Ah, yes! Ralph, old fellow. I gave up that problem in despair fully a
+dozen times, and it was only because I knew that the future happiness
+of you both depended upon its satisfactory solution that I began
+afresh and strove on, determined not to be beaten. I watched
+carefully, not only Eyton, but Ethelwynn and yourself. I was often
+near you when you least suspected my presence. But that crafty old
+scoundrel was possessed of the ingenuity of Satan himself, combined
+with all the shrewd qualities that go to make a good detective; hence
+in every movement, every wile, and every action he was careful to
+cover himself, so that he could establish an _alibi_ on every point.
+For that reason the work was extremely difficult. He was a veritable
+artist in crime. Yes," he added, "of the many inquiries I've taken up,
+the most curious and most complicated of them all was that of The
+Seven Secrets."
+
+THE END.
+
+PRINTED BY A. C. FOWLER, MOORFIELDS, E.C., AND SHOREDITCH, E.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors;
+otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's
+words and intent.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Secrets, by William Le Queux
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