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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
+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 Solitary Farm
+
+Author: Fergus Hume
+
+Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOLITARY FARM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          The Solitary Farm
+
+                           BY FERGUS HUME
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB," "THE SACRED HERB," "THE SEALED
+MESSAGE," "THE GREEN MUMMY," "THE OPAL SERPENT," "THE RED WINDOW," "THE
+YELLOW HOLLY," ETC., ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
+    PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK
+
+    Copyright 1909 by
+    G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
+
+    _The Solitary Farm_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AS BELLA RAN INTO HIS ARMS HE DRAGGED HER INTO THE
+STANDING CORN.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. THE DOMAIN OF CERES
+
+II. THE WOOIN' O'T
+
+III. THE TARDY LOVER
+
+IV. SUDDEN DEATH
+
+V. A MYSTERIOUS CRIME
+
+VI. THE INQUEST
+
+VII. CYRIL AND BELLA
+
+VIII. THE WITCH-WIFE
+
+IX. THE COMING OF DURGO
+
+X. A LOVER'S MEETING
+
+XI. A RECOGNITION
+
+XII. CYRIL'S STORY
+
+XIII. MRS. TUNKS' DISCOVERY
+
+XIV. WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEW
+
+XV. DURGO, THE DETECTIVE
+
+XVI. THE PAPERS
+
+XVII. A CONFESSION
+
+XVIII. THE GHOST
+
+XIX. AN AWKWARD POSITION
+
+XX. THE MASTER MAGICIAN
+
+XXI. A DESPERATE ATTEMPT
+
+XXII. MRS. VAND'S REPENTANCE
+
+XXIII. WHAT LUKE TUNKS SAW
+
+XXIV. A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
+
+XXV. RUN TO EARTH
+
+
+
+
+THE SOLITARY FARM
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DOMAIN OF CERES
+
+
+"S' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella!" remarked Captain Huxham, rubbing
+his stout knees slowly, and repeating the exact words of the clerical
+suitor. "S' thet she may be yer handmaiden, an' yer spouse, and yer
+sealed fountain, es y' put it in yer flowery pulpit lingo. Jus' so! Jus'
+so!" and shifting the quid which bulged his weather-beaten cheek, he
+stared with hard blue eyes. "Jus' so, Mr. Pence!"
+
+The young minister and the elderly skipper discussed the subject of
+marriage in a shabby antique room of small size, which had the
+appearance of having been used to more aristocratic company. The
+dark-oak panelled walls, the grotesquely-carved ceiling-beams, the
+Dutch-tiled fire-place, with its ungainly brass dogs, and the deep
+slanting embrasure of the lozenge-paned casement, suggested Georgian
+beaux and belles dancing buckram minutes, or at least hard-riding
+country squires plotting Jacobite restoration. But these happenings were
+in the long-ago, but this stately Essex manor-house had declined
+woefully from its high estate, and now sheltered a rough and ready
+mariner, who camped, rather than dwelt, under its roof.
+
+Captain Huxham, seated on the broad, low window-sill, thrust his hands
+into the pockets of his brass-buttoned pea-jacket, and swung his short,
+sturdy legs, which were enveloped in wide blue-cloth trousers. He was a
+squat man, with lengthy arms and aggressively square shoulders, and his
+large, flat face was as the winter sun for redness. Clean-shaven, save
+for a fringe of white hair which curved under his stubborn chin from one
+large ear to the other, his tough skin was seamed with innumerable
+wrinkles, accumulating particularly thickly about his eyes. He had gold
+rings in his ears, and plenteous grey hair hung like seaweed from under
+a peaked cap, pushed back from his lined forehead. He looked what he
+truly was--a rough, uneducated, imperious old sea-dog, whose knowledge
+of strong drink and stronger language was only exceeded by his strenuous
+grip of the purse which held the savings of many rapacious years. In
+this romantic room he looked entirely out of place. Nevertheless it was
+his own property, and while considering his answer to Mr. Pence, he
+examined it mechanically.
+
+To the left he beheld a large open fire-place, which gaped under an
+ornate oak mantel-piece, carved with the crest and motto of the
+dispossessed family. A door appeared on the right, leading to the
+entrance hall, and this also was elaborately carved with wreaths of
+fruit and flowers, and with fat, foolish Cupids, entangled in knots of
+ribbon. The fourth wall was unbroken, and faced the window, but against
+it stood a common deal table covered incongruously with an embroidered
+Indian cloth. Above this, and leaning forward, was a round convex
+mirror, surmounted by a Napoleonic eagle. This was flanked on one side
+by an oilskin coat and a sou'-wester, and on the other by a sextant and
+a long brass telescope. A Louis Quinze sofa, with a gilt frame, and
+covered with faded brocade, fitted into the space between the fire-place
+and the casement. In the opposite corner, with its back to the outer
+wall, stood a large modern office-desk of mahogany, with a flexible
+curved lid, which was drawn down and fastened, because a visitor was in
+the room. Captain Huxham never received anyone in his sanctum unless he
+first assured himself that the desk was closed, and a small,
+green-painted safe near it fast-locked.
+
+There were three or four rush-bottomed chairs, which looked plebeian
+even on the dusty, uncarpeted floor. On the mantel-shelf stood a
+lyre-shaped clock, bearing the sun symbol of Louis XIV.; several cheap
+and gaudy vases, and many fantastic shells picked up on South Sea
+beaches. Here and there were Japanese curios, Polynesian mats and war
+weapons; uncouth Chinese idols, stuffed birds, Indian ivory carvings,
+photographs and paintings of various ships, and all the flotsam and
+jetsam which collects in a sailor's sea-chest during endless voyages.
+The deal table was littered with old magazines, yellow-backed novels,
+and navigation books with ragged covers; while the fire-place was a
+species of dust-bin for matches, cigar-ends, torn papers, orange peel,
+and such like. Everywhere the dust lay thick. It was an odd room--at
+once sumptuous and dingy, markedly chaotic, yet orderly in an untidy
+way. It reflected more or less the mind of its present owner, who, as
+has been before remarked, camped, rather than lived, amidst his
+surroundings. In the same way do Eastern nomads house in the ruined
+palaces of kings.
+
+Silas Pence, who was the minister of the Little Bethel Chapel in
+Marshely village, curled his long thin legs under his chair and looked
+anxiously at his meditative host. That portion of the light from the
+casement not intercepted by Huxham's bulky figure, revealed a lean,
+eager face, framed in sparse, fair hair, parted in the centre and
+falling untidily on the coat collar. The young preacher's features were
+sharply defined and somewhat mean, while a short and scanty beard
+scarcely concealed his sensitive mouth. His forehead was lofty, his chin
+weak, and his grey eyes glittered in a strange, fanatical fashion. There
+were exceptional possibilities both for good and evil in that pale
+countenance, and it could be guessed that environment would have much to
+do with the development of such possibilities. Mr. Pence was arrayed in
+a tightly-fitting frock coat and loose trousers, both of worn
+broadcloth. He wore also a low collar with a white tie, bow-fashion,
+white socks, and low-heeled shoes, and every part of his attire,
+although neat and well-brushed and well-mended, revealed dire poverty.
+On the whole, he had the rapt ascetic gaze of a mediæval saint, and a
+monkish robe would have suited him better than his semi-ecclesiastical
+garb as a Non-conformist preacher.
+
+But if Pence resembled a saint, Huxham might have passed for a grey old
+badger, sullen and infinitely wary. Having taken stock of his worldly
+possessions, recalling meanwhile a not altogether spotless past, he
+brought his shrewd eyes back again to his visitor's attentive face.
+Still anxious to gain time for further consideration, he remarked once
+more, "So' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella, Mr. Pence? Jus' so! Jus' so!"
+
+The other replied, in a musical but high-pitched voice almost feminine
+in its timbre, "I am not comely; I am not wealthy; nor do I sit in the
+seat of the rulers. But the Lord has gifted me with a pleading tongue,
+an admiring eye, and an admonishing nature. With Isabella by my side,
+Brother Huxham, I can lead more hopefully our little flock towards the
+pleasant land of Beulah. What says Isaiah?"
+
+"Dunno!" confessed the mariner. "Ain't bin readin' Isaiaher's log
+lately."
+
+"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah," quoted Mr. Pence shrilly, "and thy
+land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land will be
+married."
+
+"Didn't know es Isaiaher knew of m' twenty acres," growled Huxham, with
+another turn of his quid; "'course ef it be, es y' merry Bella, th' land
+goes with her when I fits int' m' little wooden overcoat. Y' kin take
+yer davy on thet, Mr. Pence, fur I've a conscience, I hev,--let 'em say
+contrary es likes."
+
+It must have been an uneasy conscience, for Captain Huxham glared
+defiantly at his visitor, and then cast a doubtful look over his left
+shoulder, as though he expected to be tapped thereon. Pence was puzzled
+as much by this behaviour as by the literal way in which the sailor had
+taken the saying of the prophet. "Isaiah spoke in parables," he
+explained, lamely.
+
+"Maybe," grunted Huxham, "but y' speak sraight 'nough, Mr. Pence.
+Touching this merrage. Y' love Bella, es I take it?"
+
+"I call her Hephzibah," burst out the young minister enthusiastically,
+"which, being interpreted, means--my delight is in her."
+
+"Jus' so! Jus' so! But does th' gel love you, Mr. Pence?"
+
+The face of the suitor clouded. "I have my doubts," he sighed, "seeing
+that she has looked upon vanity in the person of a man from Babylon."
+
+"Damn your parables!" snapped the captain; "put a blamed name t' him."
+
+"Mr. Cyril Lister," began Pence, and was about to reprove his host for
+the use of strong language, when he was startled by much worse. And
+Huxham grew purple in the face when using it.
+
+It is unnecessary to set down the exact words, but the fluency and
+originality and picturesqueness of the retired mariner's speech made
+Silas close his scandalised ears. With many adjectives of the most lurid
+description, the preacher understood Huxham to say that he would see his
+daughter grilling in the nethermost pit of Tophet before he would permit
+his daughter to marry this--adjective, double adjective--swab from
+London.
+
+"I ain't seen th' blighter," bellowed the captain, furiously, "but I've
+heard of his blessed name. Bella met him et thet blamed Miss Ankers',
+the school-mistress', house, she did. Sh' wanted him t' kim an' see this
+old shanty, 'cause he writes fur the noospapers, cuss him. But I up an'
+tole her, es I'd twist her damned neck ef she spoke agin with the
+lop-sided--"
+
+"Stop! stop!" remonstrated Pence feebly. "We are all brothers in----"
+
+"The lubber ain't no relative o' mine, hang him; an' y' too, fur sayin'
+so. Oh, Lister, Lister!" Huxham swung two huge fists impotently. "I hate
+him."
+
+"Why? why? why?" babbled the visitor incoherently.
+
+The surprise in his tones brought Huxham to his calmer senses, like the
+cunning old badger he was.
+
+"'Cause I jolly well do," he snorted, wiping his perspiring face with a
+flaunting red and yellow bandana. "But it don't matter nohow, and I arsk
+yer pardon fur gittin' up steam. My gel don't merry no Lister, y' kin
+lay yer soul t' thet, Mr. Pence. Lister! Lister!" He slipped off the
+sill in his excitement. "I hates the whole damned breed of 'em;
+sea-cooks all, es oughter t' hev their silly faces in the slush tub."
+
+"Do you know the Lister family then?" asked Pence, open-mouthed at this
+vehemence.
+
+This remark cooled the captain still further. "Shut yer silly mouth," he
+growled, rolling porpoise-fashion across the room, "and wait till I git
+m' breath back int' m' bellers."
+
+Being a discreet young man, Pence took the hint and silently watched the
+squat, ungainly figure of his host lunging and plunging in the narrow
+confines of the apartment. Whatever may have been the reason, it was
+evident that the name of Lister acted like a red rag to this nautical
+bull. Pence ran over in his mind what he knew of the young stranger, to
+see if he could account for this outbreak. He could recall nothing
+pertinent. Cyril Lister had come to remain in Marshely some six months
+previously, and declared himself to be a journalist in search of quiet,
+for the purpose of writing a novel. He occupied a tiny cottage in the
+village, and was looked after by Mrs. Block, a stout, gossiping widow,
+who spoke well of her master. So far as Pence knew, Captain Huxham had
+never set eyes on the stranger, and could not possibly know anything of
+him or of his family. Yet, from his late outburst of rage, it was
+apparent that he hated the young man.
+
+Lister sometimes went to London, but for the most part remained in the
+village, writing his novel and making friends with the inhabitants. At
+the house of the board-school mistress he had met Bella Huxham, and the
+two had been frequently in one another's company, in spite of the
+captain's prohibition. But it was evident that Huxham knew nothing of
+their meetings. Pence did, however, and resented that the girl should
+prefer Lister's company to his own. He was very deeply in love, and it
+rejoiced his heart when he heard how annoyed the captain was at the mere
+idea of a marriage between Lister and his daughter. The preacher was by
+no means a selfish man, or a bad man, but being in love he naturally
+wished to triumph over his rival. He now knew that his suit would be
+supported by Huxham, if only out of his inexplicable hatred for the
+journalist.
+
+Meanwhile Huxham stamped and muttered, and wiped his broad face as he
+walked off his anger. Finally he stopped opposite his visitor and waved
+him to the door. "Y' shell merry m' gel, Bella," he announced hoarsely;
+"m' conscience won't let me merry her t' thet--thet--oh, cuss him! why
+carn't he an' the likes o' he keep away!" He paused, and again cast an
+uncomfortable look over his left shoulder. "Kim up on th' roof," he said
+abruptly, driving Pence into the entrance hall. "I'll show y' wot I'll
+give y' with m' gel--on conditions."
+
+"Conditions!" The preacher was bewildered.
+
+Huxham vouchsafed no reply, but mounted the shallow steps of the grand
+staircase. The manor-house was large and rambling, and of great age,
+having been built in the reign of Henry VII. The rooms were spacious,
+the corridors wide, and the ceilings lofty. The present possessor led
+his guest up the stairs into a long, broad passage, with many doors
+leading into various bedrooms. At the end he opened a smaller door to
+reveal a narrow flight of steep steps. Followed by the minister, Huxham
+ascended these, and the two emerged through a wooden trap-door on the
+roof. Silas then beheld a moderately broad space running parallel with
+the passage below, and extending from one parapet to the other. On
+either side of this walk--as it might be termed--the red-tiled roofs
+sloped abruptly upward to cover the two portions of the mansion, here
+joined by the flat leads forming the walk aforesaid. On the slope of the
+left roof, looking from the trap-door, was a wooden ladder which led up
+to a small platform, also of wood, built round the emerging chimney
+stack. This was Captain Huxham's quarter deck, whither he went on
+occasions to survey his property. He clambered up the ladder with the
+agility of a sailor, in spite of his age, and was followed by the
+preacher with some misgivings. These proved to be correct, for when he
+reached the quarter-deck, the view which met his startled eyes so shook
+his nerve, that he would have fallen but that the captain propped him up
+against the broad brick-work of the chimney.
+
+"Oh, me," moaned the unfortunate Silas, holding on tightly to the iron
+clamps of the brick-work. "I am throned on a dangerous eminence," and
+closed his eyes.
+
+"Open 'em, open 'em," commanded the captain gruffly, "an' jes' look et
+them twenty acres of corn, es y'll git with m' gel when I'm a deader."
+
+Pence slipped into a sitting position and looked as directed. He beheld
+from his dizzy elevation the rolling marshland, extending from the
+far-distant stream of the Thames to the foot of low-lying inland hills.
+As it was July, and the sun shone strongly, the marshes were
+comparatively dry, but here and there Pence beheld pools and ditches
+flashing like jewels in the yellow radiance. Immediately before him he
+could see the village of Marshely, not so very far away, with red-roofed
+houses gathered closely round the grey, square tower of the church; he
+could even see the tin roof of his own humble Bethel gleaming like
+silver in the sunlight. And here and there, dotted indiscriminately,
+were lonely houses, single huts, clumps of trees, and on the higher
+ground rising inland, more villages similar to Marshely. The flat and
+perilously green lands were divided by hedges and ditches and fences
+into squares and triangles and oblongs and rectangles, all as
+emerald-hued as faery rings. The human habitations were so scattered,
+that it looked as though some careless genii had dropped them by chance
+when flying overhead. Far away glittered the broad stream of the Thames,
+with ships and steamers and boats and barges moving, outward and inward
+bound, on its placid surface. The rigid line of the railway shot
+straightly through villages and trees and occasional cuttings, across
+the verdant expanse, with here and there a knot representing a station.
+Smoke curled from the tall chimneys of the dynamite factories near the
+river, and silvery puffs of steam showed that a train was on its way to
+Tilbury. All was fresh, restful, beautiful, and so intensely green as to
+be suggestive of early Spring buddings.
+
+"When I took command of this here farm, ten years back," observed
+Captain Huxham, drawing in a deep breath of moist air, "it were
+water-logged like a derelict, es y' might say. Cast yer weather-eye over
+it now, Mr. Pence, an' wot's yer look-out: a gardin of Edin, smilin'
+with grain."
+
+"Yet it's a derelict still," remarked the preacher, struggling to his
+feet and holding on by the chimney; "let me examine your farm of
+Bleacres."
+
+Bleacres--a corruption of bleakacres--consisted of only twenty acres not
+at all bleak, but a mere slice out of the wide domains formerly owned by
+the aristocratic family dispossessed by Huxham. It extended all round
+the ancient manor-house, which stood exactly in the centre, and every
+foot of it was sown with corn. On every side waved the greenish-bluish
+crop, now almost breast high. It rolled right up to the walls of the
+house, so that this was drowned, so to speak, in the ocean of grain. The
+various fields were divided and sub-divided by water-ways wide and
+narrow, which drained the land, and these gave the place quite a Dutch
+look, as fancy might picture them as canals. But the corn grew
+everywhere so thick and high, in contrast to the barren marshes, that
+the farm looked almost aggressively cultivated. Bleacres was widely
+known as "The Solitary Farm," for there was not another like it for many
+miles, though why it should have been left to a retired sailor to
+cultivate the soil it is hard to say. But Huxham for many years had sown
+corn on his twenty acres, so that the mansion for the most part of the
+year was quite shut off from the world. Only a narrow path was left,
+which meandered from the front door and across various water-ways to
+Marshely village, one mile distant. In no other way save by this path
+could the mansion be approached. And as guardian of the place a
+red-coated scarecrow stood sentinel a stone-throw from the house. The
+bit of brilliant colour looked gay amidst the rolling acres of green.
+
+"The domain of Ceres," said Pence dreamily, and recalling his meagre
+classical studies; "here the goddess might preside. Yet," he added
+again, with a side glance at his rugged host, "a derelict still."
+
+"Mr. Pence don't know the English langwidge, apparently," said Huxham,
+addressing the landscape with a pitying smile. "A derelict's a ship
+abandoned."
+
+"And a derelict," insisted Pence, "can also be described as a tract of
+land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use. You will find
+that explanation in Nuttall's Standard Dictionary, captain."
+
+"Live an' larn; live an' larn," commented Huxham, accepting the
+explanation without question; "but I ain't got no use for dix'onaries
+m'self. Made m' dollars to buy this here farm without sich truck."
+
+"In what way, captain?" asked Silas absently, and looked at the view.
+
+Had he looked instead at Huxham's weather-beaten face he might have been
+surprised. The captain grew a little trifle paler under his bronze, an
+uneasy look crept into his hard blue eyes, and he threw another anxious
+glance over his shoulder. But a stealthy examination of the minister's
+indifferent countenance assured him that the question, although a
+leading one, had been asked in all innocence. And in all innocence the
+captain replied, for the momentary pause had given him time to frame his
+reply.
+
+"I arned m' dollars, Mr. Pence, es an honest man should, by sweatin' on
+th' high an' narrer seas these forty year'. Ran away fro' m' father, es
+wos a cobbler," added Huxham, addressing the landscape once more, "when
+I wos ten year old, an' a hop-me-thumb et thet, es y' could hev squeezed
+int' a pint pot. Cabin boy, A.B., mate, fust an' second, and a skipper
+by m' own determination t' git top-hole. Likewise hard tack, cold
+quarters, kickin's an' brimstone langwidge es would hev made thet hair
+of yours curl tremenjous, Mr. Pence. I made 'nough when fifty an' more,
+t' buy this here farm, an' this here house, th' roof of which I've
+walked quarter-deck fashion, es y' see, these ten years--me bein' sixty
+odd, so t' speak. Waitin' now fur a hail t' jine th' angels, an' Mrs.
+Arabeller Huxham, who is a flier with a halo, an' expectin' me aloft, es
+she remarked frequent when chokin' in her engine pipes. Asthma et wos,"
+finished the widower, spitting out some tobacco juice, "es settled her
+hash."
+
+This astonishing speech, delivered with slow gruffness, did not startle
+Silas, as he had known Captain Huxham for at least five years, and had
+before remarked upon his eccentric way of talking. "Very interesting;
+very commendable," he murmured, and returned to the object of his visit.
+"And your daughter, sir?"
+
+"Y' shell hev her, an' hev this here," the captain waved his hand to the
+four points of the compass, "when I jine the late Mrs. Arabeller Huxham,
+ef y'--ef y'--thet is----" he halted dubiously.
+
+"If what?" demanded Pence, unsuspiciously.
+
+"Ef y' chuck thet Lister int' one of them water-ways," said Huxham.
+
+"What?" cried the preacher, considerably startled.
+
+"I want him dead," growled Huxham gruffly, "drown dead an' buried."
+
+Perhaps his sojourn in distant lands on the fringes of the empire had
+familiarised the captain with sudden death and murder, for he made this
+amazing proposition in a calm and cheerful voice. But the minister was
+not so steeled to horrors.
+
+"What?" he repeated in a shaking voice and with dilated eyes.
+
+"All fur you," murmured the tempter persuasively, "every blamed acre of
+et, t' say nothing of Bella es is a fine gel, an'----"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Silas vehemently, spreading his hands across his
+lean, agitated face, "how dare you ask such a thing?"
+
+"Jus' a push," went on Huxham softly, "he bein' on the edge of one of
+them ditches, es y' might say. Wot th' water gits th' water holds. He'd
+go down int' the black slime an' never come up. It 'ud choke him. Cuss
+me," murmured Huxham softly, "I'd like t' see the black slime choke a
+Lister."
+
+Pence gasped again and recalled how the Evil One had taken the Saviour
+of men up to an exceedingly high mountain, to show Him the kingdoms of
+the world and the glory of them. "All these things will I give thee,"
+said Satan, "if----"
+
+"No!" shouted Silas, his eyes lighting up with wrath. "Get thee behind
+me----" Before finishing his sentence, and before Huxham could reply, he
+scrambled down the ladder to rush for the open trap. The captain leaned
+from his quarter-deck scornfully. "Y' needn't say es I gave y' the
+chance, fur no one 'ull believe y'," he cried out, coolly, "an' a
+milksop y' are. Twenty acres, a house, an' a fine gel--y'd be set up for
+life, ef y'd only push----"
+
+Pence heard no more. In a frenzy of horror he dropped through the
+trap-door, inwardly praying that he might be kept from temptation.
+Huxham saw him vanish and scowled. "Blamed milky swab," he grumbled,
+then turned to survey the bribe he had offered for wilful murder. He
+looked at the corn and across the corn uneasily, as though he saw danger
+in the distance. "No cause to be afeared," muttered the ex-mariner; "he
+can't get through the corn. It keeps me safe anyhow."
+
+But who the "he" referred to might be, Huxham did not say.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE WOOIN' O'T
+
+
+Imagine a man wrapped from infancy in the cotton wool of civilisation
+suddenly jerked out of the same into barbaric nakedness. Deprived of the
+strong protection of the law, brought suddenly face to face with the
+"might-is-right" theory, he would have to fight for his own land, even
+to the extent of slaying anyone who thwarted his needs. Such a man,
+amazed and horrified at first, would gradually become accustomed to his
+Ishmael existence, since habit is second nature. Silas Pence felt sick
+when he reflected on the offer made by Captain Huxham, and to him of all
+people--a minister of the Gospel, a follower of the Prince of Peace. For
+the first time in his guarded life, he became aware of the evil which
+underlies the smiling surface of things, and it was as though an abyss
+had opened suddenly at his feet. But although he did not know it at the
+time, the seed had been sown in his heart at the right moment, and would
+germinate almost without his knowledge. In a few days Silas could look
+back at the horrifying suggestion with calmness, and could even consider
+the advantages it offered.
+
+But just now he felt sick, physically sick, and descending with
+trembling limbs to the ground floor of the house, staggered towards the
+hall and door. All he desired was to get away, and put the corn-fields
+between himself and the evil atmosphere of Bleacres. But his legs failed
+him as he laid hands on the latch, and he sank white-faced and shaking
+into a chair. In this state he was discovered by Mrs. Coppersley, the
+captain's sister and housekeeper. She was a buxom, amiable woman, with a
+fixed smile meaning nothing. The expression of her rosy face changed to
+one of alarm when she saw the heap in the chair. "Save us, Mr. Pence,
+what's wrong?"
+
+Pence was about to break forth into a denunciation of Huxham's
+wickedness, but a timely recollection of the captain's last words--that
+his story would not be believed--made him pause. After all, Huxham was
+well known as a decent man and an open-handed friend to one and all, so
+there was nothing to be gained by telling a truth which would certainly
+be scoffed at. The preacher changed his mind in one swift instant, and
+replied nervously to Mrs. Coppersley's inquiry. "I have been on the
+quarter-deck, and it made me dizzy. I am not accustomed to----"
+
+"Drat that brother of mine," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley angrily, "he
+got me up there once, and I thought I'd never come down. Here, Mr.
+Pence, you hold up while I get you a sup of rum."
+
+"No, no! Strong drink leads us into desperate ways," protested the
+preacher. But Mrs. Coppersley was gone, and had returned before he could
+make up his mind to fly temptation. Silas was not used to alcohol, but
+the shock he had sustained in learning so much of Huxham's true nature
+prevented his exercising his usual self-control. With his highly strung
+nerves he was half-hysterical, and so, when forced by kindly Mrs.
+Coppersley, readily drank half a tumbler of rum slightly diluted with
+water.
+
+"Drink it all, there's a good soul," entreated the housekeeper, forcing
+the glass to his lips.
+
+"No!" He pushed it away. "I feel better already!" and he did, for the
+strong spirit brought colour to his cheek and new strength to his limbs.
+He stood up in a few minutes, quite himself, and indeed more than
+himself, since the rum put into him more courage than came by nature.
+"Wine maketh glad the heart of man," said Silas, in excuse for his
+unusual indulgence.
+
+"Rum isn't wine," said Mrs. Coppersley, with a jolly laugh, "it's
+something much better, Mr. Pence. Now you go home and lie down."
+
+"Oh, no! I feel as though I could charge an army," said Pence valiantly.
+
+"Then wait in the study." She indicated the panelled room with a jerk of
+her head. "Jabez will be down from his quarter-deck soon."
+
+"No." Pence shivered, in spite of the rum, at the thought of again
+having to face his tempter. "I must go now. My presence is required in
+the village."
+
+"Then you can take a message for me to Mr. Vand," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+with a slight accession of colour to her already florid face. "Say that
+I am coming to Marshely about seven o'clock, and will call at the shop."
+
+This request changed Pence into the preacher and the leader of the godly
+people who called his chapel their fold. Vand was the son of the woman
+who kept the village grocery shop, and a cripple who played the violin
+at various local concerts. He was at least ten years younger than Mrs.
+Coppersley, who confessed to being thirty-five--though probably she was
+older--and the way in which the widow ran after him was something of a
+scandal. As both Mrs. Coppersley and Henry Vand were members of Little
+Bethel, Silas felt that he was entitled to inquire into the matter. "You
+ask me to take such a message, sister?" he demanded austerely.
+
+The widow's face flamed, and her eyes sparkled. "There is no shame in it
+that I am aware of, Mr. Pence," she declared violently; "if I choose to
+marry again, that's no one's business but mine, I take it."
+
+"Oh, so you desire to marry Henry Vand?" said Pence, amazed.
+
+"It's not a question of desiring," said the buxom woman impatiently.
+"Henry and I have arranged to be married this summer."
+
+"He is a cripple."
+
+"I know that," she snapped, "and therefore needs the care of a wife."
+
+"His mother looks after him," protested Pence weakly.
+
+"Does she?" inquired Mrs. Coppersley. "I thought she looked after no one
+but herself. She's that selfish as never was, so don't you go to defend
+her, Mr. Pence. Henry, poor boy, who is an angel, if ever there was one,
+is quite neglected; so I am going to marry him and look after him. So
+there!" and Mrs. Coppersley, placing her hands akimbo, defied her
+pastor.
+
+"Henry has no money," said Pence, finding another objection.
+
+"As to that," remarked Mrs. Coppersley indifferently, "when my brother
+dies I'll have money for us both, and this house into the bargain."
+
+"You will have nothing of the sort," said Silas, surprised into saying
+more than was wise. "Your brother's daughter will inherit this----"
+
+"Oh, will she?" cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and much you know
+about it, Mr. Pence. When my late husband, who was a ship's steward, and
+saving, died ten year ago, I lent my brother some money to add to his
+own, so that he might buy Bleacres. He agreed that if I did so, I should
+inherit the house and the land. I promised to look after Bella until she
+got married, and----"
+
+"Mrs. Coppersley," said Pence, with an effort at firmness, "your brother
+told me only lately that if I married Bella, he would give her the farm
+and the house when he died, so----"
+
+"Ho, indeed," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley wrathfully, "pretty goings on,
+I'm sure. You call yourself a pastor, Mr. Pence, and come plotting to
+rob me of what is mine. I take everything, and Bella nothing, so you can
+put that in your pipe and smoke it, though you ain't man enough to smoke
+even a penny cigar. You marry Bella? Why, she's as good as engaged to
+that young Lister, who has got more gumption about him than you have."
+
+"I advise you," said Pence, and his voice sounded strangely in his own
+ears, "not to tell your brother that his daughter is engaged to Mr.
+Lister."
+
+"I never said that she was. But----"
+
+"There is no but. The mere mention of such an engagement would send
+Captain Huxham crazy."
+
+"In heaven's name, why?" gasped Mrs. Coppersley, looking the picture of
+stout amazement and sitting down heavily.
+
+"Because for some reason he hates Mr. Lister, and would kill him rather
+than accept him as his son-in-law."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley's florid face turned quite pale. Evidently she knew what
+her brother was like when roused. "Why should Jabez hate Mr. Lister?"
+she asked.
+
+"You had better ask him," said Pence, opening the hall door; then to
+soften his abruptness he added, "I'll tell Henry Vand that you will see
+him." After which he departed, leaving Mrs. Coppersley still pale and
+still gasping.
+
+After all there was no reason why the ship steward's widow would not
+marry the young man. Vand was handsome in a refined way, and very clever
+as a musician. He was only slightly crippled, too, and could get about
+with the aid of a stick. All the same, he needed someone to look after
+him, and as his own mother did not do so--as was notorious--why should
+he not become Mrs. Coppersley's husband? The disparity in age did not
+matter, as Vand, in spite of his good looks, was club-footed and poor.
+But Pence doubted if Mrs. Coppersley would inherit Bleacres after
+Captain Huxham's death, in spite of the arrangement between them.
+Unless--and here was the chance for the housekeeper--unless Bella
+married Lister, notwithstanding her father's opposition. In that event,
+Huxham would assuredly disinherit her. "I'll point this out to her,"
+said the preacher, as he left the manor-house, "and urge my suit.
+Common-sense will make her yield to my prayers. Moreover, I can plead,
+and----" here he smiled complacently as he thought of his pulpit
+eloquence. Besides, the unaccustomed spirit of the rum was still keeping
+him brave.
+
+Pence sauntered in the glowing sunshine down the narrow path which ran
+between the standing corn. The path was not straight. It wound
+deviously, as though Huxham wished to make the approach to his abode as
+difficult as possible. Indeed, it was strange that he should sow corn at
+all, since corn at the time was not remunerative. But every year since
+he had entered into possession of Bleacres the owner had sown corn, and
+every year there had only been the one meandering path through the same,
+the very path which Pence was now taking. There was evidently some
+purpose in this sowing, and in the fact that only one pathway was left
+whereby to approach the mansion. But what that purpose might be, neither
+Pence, nor indeed anyone else, could guess. Not that they gave it a
+thought. Huxham was presumed to be very wealthy, and his farming was
+looked upon more as a hobby than a necessity.
+
+The preacher brushed between the breast-high corn, and walked over two
+or three narrow planks laid across two or three narrow ditches. But
+where the corn ended was a wide channel, at least ten feet broad, which
+stretched the whole length of the estate and passed beyond it on its way
+under the railway line to the distant river. The water-way ran
+straightly for some distance, and then curved down into the marshes at
+its own will, to spread into swamps. On one side sprang the thick green
+corn, but on the other stretched waste-lands up to the outskirts of the
+village, one mile distant. There was no fence round Bleacres at this
+point. Apparently, Huxham deemed the wide channel a sufficient
+protection to his corn, which it assuredly was, as no tramps ever
+trespassed on the land. But then, Marshely was not a tramp village. The
+inhabitants were poor, and had nothing to give in the way of charity.
+The loafer of the roads avoided the locality for very obvious reasons.
+
+Before crossing the planks, which were laid on mid-channel supporting
+tressels over the water-way, Pence looked from right to left. The
+evening was so very beautiful that he thought he would prolong his walk
+until sundown, and it wanted some time to that hour. He was still
+indignant with Captain Huxham for his base offer, and came to the
+conclusion that the ex-mariner was mad when he made it. Pence, in his
+simplicity, could not think that any man could ask another to kill a
+third in cold blood. All the same, the offer had been made, and Silas
+found himself asking why Huxham should desire the death of a stranger
+with whom--so far as the preacher knew--he was not even acquainted.
+Huxham had always refused to permit Bella to bring Lister to Bleacres,
+and indeed had forbidden her even to speak to the young man. He
+therefore could not be cognisant of the fact, stated by Mrs. Coppersley,
+that Lister and the girl were on the eve of an engagement.
+
+Thus thinking, Pence mechanically wandered along the left bank of the
+boundary water-way, and found himself near a small hut, inhabited by the
+sole labourer whom Huxham habitually employed. He engaged others, of
+course, when his fields were ploughed, and sown, and reaped, but
+Tunks--such was the euphonious name of the handy-man--was in demand all
+the year round. He resided in this somewhat lonely hut, along with his
+grandmother, a weird old gipsy reputed to be a witch, and it was this
+reputation which set Mr. Pence thinking.
+
+Remembering that Mrs. Tunks was of the Romany, he thought, and blushed
+as he thought, that it would be worth while to expend a shilling in
+order to learn if his suit with Bella would really prosper. The temple
+of fate was before him, and the Sibyl was probably within, since the
+smoke of cooking the evening meal curled from the chimney. It was only
+necessary to lift the latch, lay down a shilling, and inquire. But even
+as the temptation drew him, he was seized with a feeling of shame, that
+he--a preacher of the Gospel, and the approved foe thereby of
+witches--should think for one moment of encouraging such traffic with
+the Evil One. Pence, blushing as red as the now setting sun, turned away
+hastily, and found himself face to face with the very girl who was
+causing him such torment.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Pence?" said Bella Huxham, lightly. "A lovely evening,
+isn't it?" and she tried to pass him on the narrow path. Probably she
+was going to see the Witch of Endor.
+
+The preacher placed himself directly before her.
+
+"Wait for one moment."
+
+The girl did not reply immediately, but looked at him earnestly, trying
+to guess what the usually nervous preacher had to say. Bella looked more
+lovely than ever in Pence's eyes, as she stood before him in her white
+dress and bathed in the rosy glory of the sunset. She did not in the
+least resemble her father or her aunt, both of whom were stout, uncomely
+folk of true plebeian type. Bella was aristocratic in her looks, as tall
+and slim and willowy as a young sapling. Her hair and eyes were dark,
+her face was a perfect oval of ivory-white delicately flushed with red,
+like a sweet-pea, and if her chin was a trifle resolute and hard, her
+mouth was perfect. She carried herself in a haughty way, and had a habit
+of bending her dark brows so imperiously, that she reminded Pence of
+Judith, who killed Holofernes. Judith and Jael and Deborah must have
+been just such women.
+
+"Well?" asked Bella, bending her brows like an empress, "what is it?"
+
+"I--I--love you, Miss Huxham."
+
+She could not be angry at so naive a declaration, and one coming from a
+man whom she knew to be as timid as a hare. "I am somewhat surprised,
+Mr. Pence," she replied demurely, "are you not making a mistake?"
+
+"No," he stuttered, flushing with eagerness, for amorous passion makes
+the most timid bold. "I have loved you for months, for years. I want you
+to be my wife--to share with me the glorious privilege of leading my
+flock to the land of Beulah, and----"
+
+"Stop, stop!" She flung up her hand. "I assure you, Mr. Pence, that it
+is impossible. Forget that you ever said anything."
+
+"I cannot forget. Why should I forget?"
+
+"You must not ask a woman for her reasons, Mr. Pence," she answered
+drily, "for a woman never gives the true ones."
+
+"Bella!"
+
+"Miss Huxham to you, Mr. Pence." She spoke in a chilly manner.
+
+"No," he cried wildly; "to me you are Bella. I think of you by that
+sweet name day and night. You come between me and my work. When I
+console the afflicted I feel that I am talking to you. When I read my
+Bible, your face comes between me and the sacred page. To me you are
+Hephzibah--yes, and the Shulamite. The Angel of the Covenant; the joy of
+my heart. Oh, Bella, I love the very ground that you tread on. Can you
+refuse me? See!" He threw himself on the path, heedless of the fact that
+Mrs. Tunks might be at her not far distant window. "I am at your feet,
+Bella! Bella!"
+
+The girl was distressed by this earnestness. "Rise, Mr. Pence, someone
+will see you. You must not behave like this. I cannot be your wife."
+
+"Why not? Oh, why not?"
+
+"Because I am not fit to be a minister's wife."
+
+The young man sprang to his feet, glowing with passion. "Let me teach
+you."
+
+Bella avoided his extended arms. "No, no, no!" she insisted, "you must
+take my answer once and for all, Mr. Pence. I cannot marry you."
+
+"But why?" he urged despairingly.
+
+"I have a reason," she replied formally; "don't ask me for it."
+
+"I have no need to. I know your reason."
+
+Bella flushed, but overlooked the bitterness of his tone because she
+guessed what he suffered. "In that case, I need not explain," she said
+coldly, and again tried to pass. Again he prevented her.
+
+"You love that man Lister," he said between his teeth.
+
+"That is my business, Mr. Pence."
+
+"Mine also," he cried, undaunted by her haughtiness. "Your father's
+business, too. Mrs. Coppersley said that you were almost engaged to this
+man Lister. But you shall not marry him; you will not even be engaged to
+him."
+
+"Who will prevent me?" asked Bella angrily.
+
+"Your father. He hates this man Lister."
+
+"How can my father hate a man he has never even seen?" she demanded;
+"you are talking rubbish."
+
+"Miss Huxham"--Pence detained her by laying his thin fingers on her
+arm--"if you marry this man Lister"--he kept to this sentence as though
+it were a charm--"you will be a pauper."
+
+She flashed up into a royal rage and stamped. "How dare you say that?"
+
+"I dare tell the truth."
+
+"It is not the truth. How can you tell if----"
+
+"Your father told me," insisted the preacher, hotly.
+
+Bella withdrew a step or so, her eyes growing round with surprise.
+"My--father--said--that?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Silas feverishly. "I went to him this very
+afternoon to ask permission to present myself to you as a suitor. He
+consented, but only when he heard that you loved this man who----"
+
+"You told him that?" demanded Bella, her breath coming quick and short.
+
+"Yes," said Pence, trying to be courageous, "and it is true."
+
+"Who says that it is?"
+
+"Everyone in the village."
+
+"The village has nothing to do with my business," she declared
+imperiously, "and even if I do love--but let that pass. You told me that
+my father said I should be a pauper."
+
+"If you married the man Lister," he reminded her. "Yes, he did say so,
+and declared also that he would give me the manor-house and the farm
+when he died, if I made you my wife."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "My father does not mean what he says,"
+she remarked disbelievingly; "as I am his only child, the Solitary Farm,
+as they call it, comes to me in any case. And I see no reason why I
+should discuss my father's business with you. Stand aside and let me
+pass."
+
+"No." Silas was wonderfully brave for one of his timid soul. "You shall
+not pass until you learn the truth. You think that I am a fool and weak.
+I am not. I feel wise and strong; and I am strong--strong enough to
+withstand temptation, even when you are offered as a bribe."
+
+Bella grew somewhat alarmed. She did not like the glittering of his
+shallow, grey eyes. "You are mad."
+
+"I am sane; you know that I am sane, but you think to put me off by
+saying that I am crazy. I have had enough to make me so. Your
+father"--here his voice took on the sing-song pulpit style--"your father
+took me up to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed me the kingdoms
+of the world. All of them he offered me, together with you, if I
+murdered Lister."
+
+"What!" Bella's voice leaped an octave; "you--you--murder Cyril?"
+
+"Yes, Cyril, the man you love. And if I dared----"
+
+"Mr. Pence"--Bella saw the necessity of keeping herself well in hand
+with this hysterical youth, for he was nothing else, and spoke in a
+calm, kind voice--"my father has not seen Mr. Lister, and cannot hate
+him."
+
+"Go and ask him what he thinks," said Pence fiercely. "I tell you that
+to-day I was offered everything if I would kill this man Lister."
+
+"You are talking at random," she said soothingly; "go home, and lie
+down."
+
+"I am talking of what may come to pass. Your father wishes it, so why
+not, when I love you so deeply? I offer you the heart of an honest man,
+and yet you would throw that aside for this profligate."
+
+"Cyril is not a profligate," interrupted Bella, and could have bitten
+out her tongue for the hasty speech.
+
+"He is. He comes from London, the City of Evil, that shall yet fall like
+Babylon the Great. But your soul shall not be lost; you shall not marry
+him."
+
+"I shall!" cried Bella, indignantly, and becoming rash again in her
+anger; "and what is more, I am engaged to him now. So there! Let me
+pass."
+
+She slipped deftly past him, and walked swiftly homeward. Silas Pence
+stood where he was, staring after her, unable to speak or move or to
+follow. Then the sun sank, leaving him in the twilight of sorrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A TARDY LOVER
+
+
+Miss Huxham did not credit for one moment the story which Pence had told
+her. It was ridiculous to think that her father would even hint at the
+murder of an unoffending man whom he had never seen, and to hesitating,
+timid Silas, of all people. Bella remembered that, months previously,
+when she had mentioned a chance meeting with Lister--then a stranger--at
+the cottage of the Marshely school-mistress, Captain Huxham had not only
+forbidden her to bring him to Bleacres, which the young man desired to
+see, but had ordered her to discontinue the acquaintance. Evidently the
+retired mariner deemed this prohibition sufficient, for he made no
+further mention of the matter. That he gave no reason for his tyrannical
+edict, did not trouble him; but because of this very omission, his
+daughter took her own way. By stealth, it is true, lest Huxham should
+exhibit annoyance--for annoyance with him meant wild-beast rage.
+
+Now the girl felt puzzled. According to Silas, her father knew that she
+had disobeyed him, and she returned to the Manor in a somewhat nervous
+state of mind, quite prepared to do battle for her lover. But, to her
+surprise, Captain Huxham made no remark, and behaved much the same as
+usual, save that at odd times he was more observant of her comings and
+goings. In the face of his newly-acquired knowledge this very unusual
+demeanour should have made Bella more circumspect, but, being
+high-spirited, she did not change her life in any way. Also she believed
+that Silas had greatly exaggerated the captain's anger, and argued from
+his quietness that he cared very little what she did. She had reason to
+take this view, for Huxham was not an affectionate parent, and, save
+when things interfered with his own comfort, usually ignored his
+daughter. And on her side, Bella could not subscribe to the fifth
+commandment. It was impossible to honour King Log, who had an unpleasant
+way of becoming King Henry VIII. when contradicted.
+
+Several times, Bella, needing sympathy, was on the point of reporting
+Pence's conversation to Mrs. Coppersley, so as to learn her opinion as
+to the truth of the preacher's preposterous statement. But the buxom
+widow was too much taken up with her own love-affairs to trouble about
+those of her niece, for whom she displayed no great affection. She
+attended to the house-keeping, cajoled her brother into a good humour
+when necessary, and nearly every evening slipped out to meet Henry Vand,
+who usually awaited her arrival on the hither side of the boundary
+channel. He did not dare to venture nearer to the lion's den, as Captain
+Huxham, aware of his sister's desire to contract a second marriage,
+discouraged the idea. The captain being aggressively selfish, did not
+intend to lose Mrs. Coppersley, whose services were necessary to his
+comfort. Besides, as she managed everything connected with the domestic
+arrangement of Bleacres, assisted by Bella, Huxham was spared the
+necessity of paying a servant. It was better, from the captain's point
+of view, to have two slaves who asked for no wages, and who could be
+bullied when he felt like playing the tyrant.
+
+To a young girl in the first strong flush of womanhood, life at the
+solitary farm was extremely dreary, Captain Huxham rose early and
+strolled round his wealthy acres until breakfast, which for him was a
+Gargantuan meal. He then shut himself for the whole morning in his den,
+where he laboured at his accounts, with a locked door. In the afternoon
+he ordinarily walked to Marshely and conversed over strong drink with
+cronies at the village public-house. He returned to walk around the farm
+again, and after supper again sought his room to smoke and drink rum
+until bedtime, at ten o'clock. The routine of the captain's life never
+varied in any particular, even to seeking the quarter-deck once a day
+for the purpose, apparently, of viewing the results of his life's work.
+Also from his eyrie, the captain, armed with a long telescope, could
+gaze at outward and homeward-bound ships, and so enjoy vicariously the
+sea-life he had abandoned these ten years. Of Bella he took scarcely any
+notice.
+
+It was indeed a dull life, especially as Bella was intellectual, and
+felt that she required food for her active brain. For some odd reason,
+which did not suit with his rough nature, Huxham had given his neglected
+daughter a first-class education, and only within the last two years had
+she returned from a fashionable Hampstead school to live this
+uneventful, unintellectual life on an Essex farm. She possessed a few
+books, and these she read over and over again. Huxham was not actively
+unkind, and gave her plenty of frocks, ribbons, hats, gloves, and
+such-like things, which he presumed were what the ordinary girl wanted.
+But he overlooked the fact that Bella was not an ordinary girl, and that
+she hungered for a more moving life, or, at least, for one which would
+afford her an opportunity of displaying her social abilities. Bella sang
+excellently, and played the piano unusually well; but her uncouth father
+did not care for music, and Mrs. Coppersley scorned it also. The girl
+therefore allowed her talents to lie dormant, and became a silent,
+handsome image of a woman, moving ghost-like through the dreary mansion.
+But her chance meeting with the clever young man aroused all her disused
+capabilities; aroused also her womanly coquetry, and stimulated her into
+exhibiting a really fascinating nature. Warned that her father would
+have no strangers coming to the manor, by his own lips, she kept secret
+the delightful meetings with Lister, and only when the two met at the
+cottage of Miss Ankers could they speak freely. Bella thought that her
+secret attachment was unknown, whereas everyone in the village watched
+the progress of Lister's wooing. It came as has been seen, to Pence's
+jealous ears, and he reported the same to Captain Huxham. Knowing this,
+Bella was more perplexed than ever, that, as time went on, Huxham did
+nothing and said nothing. At one time he had been peremptory, but now he
+appeared inclined to let her act as she chose. And the mere fact that he
+did so, made Bella feel more than ever what an indifferent father she
+possessed.
+
+For quite a week after his interview with the captain, and his futile
+wooing of Bella, the lovesick preacher kept away from the farm and
+attended sedulously to his clerical duties in connection with Little
+Bethel. The truth was, that he felt afraid of Huxham, now knowing what
+use the captain desired to make of him. For this reason also, Silas did
+not report that Bella was engaged to Lister. He feared lest Huxham, in a
+rage at such disregard of his wishes, should slay the young journalist,
+and perhaps might, in his infernal cunning, lay the blame on Silas
+himself. At all events, Pence was wise enough to avoid the danger zone
+of the farm, and although, after reflection, aided by jealousy, he was
+not quite so shocked at the idea of thrusting Lister to a muddy death,
+he yet thought it more judicious to keep out of Huxham's way. The old
+mariner, as Pence knew, possessed a strong will, and might force him to
+be his tool in getting rid of the journalist. Silas was wiser than he
+knew in acting so discreetly, for the sailor-turned farmer was a more
+dangerous man than even he imagined, despite the glimpse he had gained
+of Huxham's possible iniquity.
+
+Things were in this position when Bella, rendered reckless by her
+father's indifference, actually met Cyril Lister in a secluded nook of
+the corn-field, and on the sacred ground of Bleacres itself. Usually the
+lovers met in Miss Ankers' cottage, or in Mrs. Tunks' hut, but on this
+special occasion the weather was so hot that Lister proposed an
+adjournment to the open field. "You will be Ruth, and I Boaz," suggested
+the young man, with a smile.
+
+Bella shivered even in the warm air into which she had stepped out of
+the malodorous gloom of Mrs. Tunks' hut. "What an unlucky comparison,"
+she said, leading the way along the bank of the boundary channel.
+
+"Ruth left her people and her home, to go amongst strangers, and earn
+her living as a gleaner."
+
+"But she found a devoted husband in the end," Cyril reminded her.
+
+"Peace and happiness also, I hope," sighed Bella. "I have plenty of
+peace, but very little happiness, save of the vegetable sort."
+
+"When we are married," began Lister, then stopped short, biting his
+moustache--"we shall be very happy," he ended lamely, seeing that Bella
+looked inquiringly at him.
+
+"That is obvious, since we love one another," she said somewhat tartly,
+for his hesitation annoyed her. "Why did you change the conclusion of
+your sentence?"
+
+Lister threw himself down on the hard-baked ground and under the shadow
+of the tall blue-green corn stalks. "It just struck me that our marriage
+was very far distant," he said gloomily.
+
+Bella sat beside him shoulder to shoulder, and hugged her knees. "Why
+should it be far distant?" she inquired. "If I love you, and you love
+me, no power on earth can keep us apart."
+
+"Your father----"
+
+"I shall disobey my father if it be necessary," she informed him
+serenely.
+
+Lister looked at her through half-shut eyes, and noticed the firmness of
+her mouth and the clear, steady gaze of her eyes. "You have a strong
+will, I think, dear," he murmured admiringly.
+
+"I have, Cyril--as strong as that of my father. When our two wills
+clash"--she shrugged--"there may be murder committed."
+
+"Bella!"--the young man looked startled--"what dreadful things you say."
+
+"It is the truth," she insisted quietly; "why shirk obvious facts? For
+some reason, which I cannot discover, my father detests you."
+
+"By Jove!" Cyril sat up alertly. "And why? He has never seen me, as I
+have kept well out of his way after your warning. But I have had a sly
+glimpse of him, and he seems to be a jolly sort of animal--I beg your
+pardon for calling him so."
+
+"Man is an animal, and my father is a man," said the girl coolly, "a
+neolithic man, if you like. You are a man also, Cyril--the kind of firm,
+bold, daring man I like. Yet if you met with my father, I wonder----"
+She paused, and it flashed across her brain that her father and her
+lover would scarcely suit one another. Both were strong-willed and both
+masterful. She wondered if they met, who would come out top-dog; so she
+phrased it in her quick brain. Then abruptly she added, before Cyril
+could speak. "Be quiet for a few minutes. I wish to think."
+
+Lister nodded, and, leaning on one elbow, chewed a corn-stalk and
+watched her in silence. He was a slim, tall, small-boned young man of
+the fairskinned type, with smooth brown hair, and a small, drooping
+brown moustache. His present attitude indicated indolence, and he
+certainly loved to be lazy when a pretty girl was at his elbow. But on
+occasions he could display wonderful activity, and twice had been chosen
+as war correspondent to a London daily, when one or two of the little
+wars on the fringe of the Empire had been in progress. He was not
+particularly good-looking, but the freshness of his five-and-twenty
+years, and the virility of his manner, made women bestow a great deal of
+attention on him. Much more than he deserved, in fact, as, until he met
+with Bella, he had given very little attention to the sex. He had
+flirted in many countries, and with many women; but this was the first
+time he had made genuine love, or had felt the genuine passion. And with
+a country maiden, too, unsophisticated and pathetically innocent. So he
+meditated as he watched her, until, struck by the firm curve of the chin
+and the look of resolve on the tightly-closed lips, he confessed
+privately that if this country maiden were placed in the forefront of
+society, the chances were that she would do more than hold her own.
+There were Joan-of-Arc-like possibilities in that strongly-featured
+face.
+
+"But, upon my word, I am quite afraid," he said aloud, following up his
+train of thought and speaking almost unconsciously.
+
+"Of what?" asked Bella, turning quickly towards him.
+
+"Of you. Such a determined young woman, as you are. If I make you my
+wife, I know who will be master."
+
+"My dear," she said quietly, "in marriage there should be neither a
+master nor a mistress. It's a sublime co-partnership, and the partners
+are equal. One supplies what the other lacks, and two incomplete persons
+are required to make one perfect being."
+
+Lister opened his brown eyes. "Who told you all this?"
+
+"No one. I have ample time to think, and--I think."
+
+"You asked me to be quiet, so that you could think," he remarked lazily;
+"may I ask what you have been considering?"
+
+She surveyed him quietly. "You may ask; but I am not sure if I will
+reply."
+
+"See here, my dearest"--Cyril struggled to his knees, and took her hand
+firmly within his own--"you are altogether too independent a young
+woman. You always want your own way, I perceive."
+
+"It will never clash with yours," said Bella, smiling.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because you will always wish to do what I desire, and I will always be
+anxious to act as you indicate. You have your line of life, and I have
+mine, but the two are one."
+
+"Humph! At school I learned that two parallel straight lines never met."
+
+"Ah, Euclid was a bachelor, and ignorant. They meet in marriage, for
+then the two lines blend into one. What's the matter?"
+
+She asked this question because Cyril suddenly let go her hands and
+swerved, blinking his eyes rapidly. "A sudden flash almost blinded me.
+Some one is heliographing hereabouts." He stood up, considerably taller
+than the already tall corn, and stared in the direction of the manor,
+shading his eyes with one slim hand. "There's someone on the roof there
+and----"
+
+Bella pulled the sleeve of his coat, with a stifled cry. "Oh, sit down,
+do sit down," she implored. "It must be my father on his quarter-deck.
+The flash, perhaps, came from his telescope, and if he sees you--do sit
+down."
+
+Cyril laughed and relapsed into a sitting position. "Dearest, your
+father cannot harm me in any way. I have heard of his quarter-deck. I
+suppose he has it to remind him of the bridge of a steamer when he was
+skipper."
+
+"I hope he hasn't seen you," said Bella anxiously, "for then he would
+come straight here, and----"
+
+"Let him come, and then I shall ask him to let me marry you."
+
+"He will refuse. He wants me to marry Mr. Pence."
+
+"What!" Lister frowned. "That half-baked psalm-singer? What nonsense,
+and what cheek. The idea of that Pence creature aspiring to your hand. I
+wish we could marry at once. But----" He paused, and shook his head.
+Lines appeared on his forehead, and a vexed look in his eyes. "It's
+impossible," he said with a deep breath.
+
+"Why is it impossible?" asked Bella imperiously and very directly.
+
+"My dear, I am very poor, and just make enough to keep my head above
+water. Besides, there is another reason."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I can't tell you," he said in low voice, and becoming suddenly pale;
+"no one but the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, you know."
+
+"Cyril." Bella wreathed her arms around his neck. "You have a secret. I
+have noticed several times that you have been worried. Sometimes you
+forget everything when we are together, and your face becomes like that
+of an old man. I must know your secret, so that I can help you."
+
+"God forbid." Lister removed her arms, and grew even paler than he was.
+"The kindest way I can act towards you, Bella, is to go out of your
+life, and never see you again."
+
+"Cyril, how can you when I love you so?"
+
+"Would you love me if you knew of my troubles?"
+
+"Try me. Try me," she implored, clasping his hand warmly.
+
+"There are some things which can't be told to a woman," he said sternly.
+
+"Tell them to a comrade, then. I wish to be your comrade as well as your
+wife. And I love you so that anything you say will only make me love you
+the more. Tell me, Cyril, so that I can prove my love."
+
+"Upon my soul, I believe you'd go to hell with me," said Lister
+strongly.
+
+"Yes, I would. I demand, by the love which exists between us, to be told
+this secret that troubles you so greatly."
+
+Lister frowned, and meditated. "I cannot tell you everything--yet," he
+remarked, after a painful pause, "but I can tell you this much, that
+unless I have one thousand pounds within a week, I can never marry you."
+
+"One thousand pounds. But for what purpose?"
+
+"You must not ask me that, Bella," and his mouth closed firmly.
+
+"'Trust me all in all, or not at all,'" she quoted.
+
+"Then I trust you not at all."
+
+"Oh!" She drew back with a cry of pain like a wounded animal.
+
+In a moment he was on his knees, holding her hands to his beating heart.
+"My dearest, if I could I would. But I can't, and I am unable just now
+to give you the reason. Save that I am a journalist, and your devoted
+lover, you know nothing about me. Later I shall tell you my whole story,
+and how I am situated. Then you can marry me or not, as you choose."
+
+"I shall marry you, in any case," she said quickly.
+
+"Do you think that I am a poor, weak fool, who demands perfection in a
+man. Whatever your sins may be, to me you are the man I have chosen to
+be my husband. We are here, in the corn-fields, and you just now called
+me Ruth. Then, like Ruth, I can say that 'your people will be my people,
+and your God will be my God.'"
+
+"Dearest and best," he kissed her ardently, "what have I done to deserve
+such perfect love? But do not think me so very wicked. It is not myself,
+so much as another. Then you----"
+
+"Is it a woman?" she asked, drawing back.
+
+Lister caught her to his breast again. "No, you jealous angel, it is not
+a woman. The thousand pounds I must have, to save--but that is neither
+here nor there. You must think me but a tardy lover not to carry you
+off, forwith, and----" he rose, with Bella in his arms--"oh, it's
+impossible!"
+
+"Do carry me off," she whispered, clinging to him. "Let us have a Sabine
+wedding. As your wife, you can tell me all your secrets."
+
+"Bella, Bella, I cannot. I am desperately poor."
+
+"So am I, and if I marry you my father will leave all his money to my
+aunt, for he told Mr. Pence so. But what does poverty matter, so long as
+we love one another with all our hearts and souls."
+
+"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hands desperately. "Do not tempt me. Only one
+thousand pounds stands between us. If I had that I could make you my
+wife within a week. I would steal, or murder, or do anything in the
+world to get the money and remove the barrier. But"--he pushed her away
+almost brutally, and frowned--"you are making me talk rubbish. We must
+wait."
+
+"Until when, Cyril?" she asked sadly.
+
+"Until Destiny is kinder."
+
+"You will tell me----"
+
+"I tell you nothing. Give me one kiss, and then good-bye for----"
+
+He bent to touch her lips, but was caught and hurled back. Bella uttered
+a cry of astonishment and dread, for between Cyril and herself stood
+Captain Huxham, purple with anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SUDDEN DEATH
+
+
+"Y' shell not kiss m' gel, or merry her, or hev anything t' do with m'
+gel," said Captain Huxham, in a thick voice. "Oh, I saw y' fro' th'
+quarter-deck with m' gel. Jus' y' git, or----"
+
+He made a threatening step forward, while Cyril waited him without
+flinching. What would have happened it is hard to say, for Captain
+Huxham was in a frenzy of rage. But Bella, recovering from her first
+surprise, threw herself between the two men.
+
+"Father," she cried passionately, "I love him."
+
+"Oh, y' do, do y'?" growled the fireside tyrant, turning fiercely on
+her, "an' arter I told y' es y'd hev t' leave the swab alone. Did I, or
+did I not?"
+
+"Yes, but you assigned no reason for asking me to avoid Cyril, so----"
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" The captain clenched his huge hand, and his little eyes
+flashed with desperate anger. "Y' call him Cyril, y'--y'--slut." He
+raised a mighty fist to strike her, and the blow would have fallen, but
+that Lister suddenly gripped Huxham's shoulder and twitched him
+unexpectedly aside.
+
+"If you blame anyone, sir, you must blame me."
+
+"I'll break yer neck, cuss y'," raged the older man.
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders, indifferently. "You can try, if you like,
+but I don't propose to let you do it. Come, Captain Huxham, let us both
+be reasonable and talk matters over."
+
+"Y're on m' land; git off m' land," shouted Huxham, swinging his fists
+like windmills.
+
+"Go, Cyril, go," implored Bella who was terrified lest there should be a
+hand-to-hand struggle between the two men. That was not to be thought
+of, as if Lister killed the captain, or the captain killed Lister, there
+would be no chance of her becoming the wife of the man she loved.
+
+"I am quite ready to go," said Cyril, keeping a watchful eye on Huxham;
+"but first I should like to hear why you, sir, object to my marrying
+Bella." He spoke quietly and firmly, so that the level tones of his
+voice, and the admirable way in which he kept his temper, had a cooling
+effect on the enraged sailor.
+
+Huxham, born bully as he was, found that it was difficult for him to
+storm at a man so cool, and calm, and self-controlled. "Y' ain't m'
+chice," said he in lower but very sulky tones; "m' gel's goin' t' merry
+th' sky-pilot, Silas Pence."
+
+"Oh, no, she's not," said Lister smoothly; "she will marry me."
+
+"If she does, she don't get no money o' mine."
+
+"That will be no hindrance," said Bella, who was rapidly regaining her
+colour. "I am willing to marry Cyril without a penny."
+
+"Y' shent, then," grumbled her father savagely.
+
+"I have yet to hear your objections, sir."
+
+"Yer name's Lister, and----"
+
+The objection was so petty, that Bella quite expected to see Cyril
+laugh. But in place of doing so, he turned white and retreated a step.
+"What--what do you know of my name?" he asked, with apparent
+nervousness.
+
+"Thet's my business," snapped Huxham, seeing his advantage, "an' I
+shen't tell y' m' business. Y' git off m' land, or----" he suddenly
+lunged forward in the attempt to throw Lister when off his guard.
+
+But the young man was watchful, and, unexpectedly swerving, dexterously
+tripped up his bulky antagonist. Huxham, with a shout, or rather a
+bellow of rage like a wounded bull, sprawled full length amongst the
+corn. Bella pushed her lover away before the captain could regain his
+feet. "Go, go, I can see you to-morrow," she said hastily.
+
+"Y' shell never see the swab again," roared Huxham, rising slowly, for
+the fall had shaken him, and he was no longer young. "I'll shut y' in
+yer room, an' feed y' on bread an' water."
+
+"If you dare to say that again, I'll break your head," cried Lister,
+suddenly losing his temper at the insult to the girl he loved.
+
+"Oh, will y'?" Huxham passed his tongue over his coarse lips and rubbed
+his big hands slowly. Apparently nothing would have given him greater
+pleasure than to pitch this man who dared him into the boundary channel;
+but he had learned a lesson from his late fall. Lister was active and
+young; the captain was elderly and slow. Therefore, in spite of his
+superior strength--and Huxham judged that he had that--it was risky to
+try conclusions of sheer brute force. The captain therefore, being a
+coward at heart, as all bullies are, weakened and retreated. "Y' git off
+m' land," was all that he could find to say, "an' y' git home, Bella. Es
+m' daughter I'll deal with y'."
+
+"I am quite ready to go home," said Bella boldly; "but you are not going
+to behave as though I were one of your sailors, father."
+
+"I'll do wot I please," growled Huxham, looking white and wicked.
+
+Bella laughed somewhat artificially, for her father did not look
+amiable. "I don't think you will," she said, with feigned carelessness.
+"Cyril, go now, and I'll see you again to-morrow."
+
+"Ef y' come here again," shouted Huxham, boiling over once more, "I'll
+kill y'--thet I will."
+
+"Take care you aren't killed yourself first," retorted Lister, and was
+surprised at the effect the threat--an idle one--had on the ex-sailor.
+
+Huxham turned pale under his bronze, and hastily cast a look over his
+left shoulder.
+
+"Why do you hate me so?" asked the young man sharply. "I never met you
+before; you have never set eyes on me. Why do you hate me?"
+
+"Ef I'd a dog called Lister, I'd shoot it; if I'd a cat called Lister,
+I'd drown it; and if I'd a parrot named Lister, I'd twist its blamed
+neck, same es I would yours, ef I could. Bella, come home;" and casting
+a venomous look on the astonished Cyril, the captain moved away.
+
+It was useless to prolong the unpleasant scene, since Huxham declined to
+explain his objection to the young man's name. And again, as she took a
+few steps to accompany her father, Bella noticed that Cyril winced and
+paled at the coarse taunts of his antagonist. "What is the matter with
+your name?" she asked sharply.
+
+Lister strode forward and caught her in his arms. "I shall explain when
+next we meet," he whispered, and kissed her good-bye, while Huxham
+grated his strong white teeth at the sight. Indeed, so angry was the
+captain, that he might again have assaulted his daughter's lover, but
+Cyril walked rapidly away, and without even a backward glance. Bella
+watched him with a heavy heart: there seemed to be something sinister
+about this mystery of the name. Huxham's inexplicable hatred appeared to
+be foolish; but Lister undoubtedly took it seriously.
+
+"Kim home," breathed the captain furiously in her ear; "you an' me hes
+t' hev a talk."
+
+"It will be a last talk if you do not behave properly," retorted Bella,
+walking proudly by his side, "even though I have the misfortune to be
+your daughter, that does not give you the right to treat me so rudely."
+
+"I'll treat y' es I blamed well like, y' hussy. Y'll go t' yer room, an'
+eat bread an' drink water t' cool yer hot blood."
+
+Bella laughed derisively. "There is law in this country, father," she
+said quietly. "I shall go to my room certainly, as I have no wish to
+remain with you. But there need be no talk of bread and water."
+
+"Tea an' dry toast, then," grunted Huxham, looking at her savagely with
+his hard blue eyes. "Y' shell be punished, y' slut."
+
+"Because I have fallen in love? Nonsense."
+
+"Because y've disobeyed me in seein' this blamed Lister."
+
+"Father"--Bella stopped directly before the front door of the
+manor-house--"why do you hate Cyril? What have you against his name?"
+
+The captain quivered, blinked his eyes, cast his usual look over the
+left shoulder, and then scowled. "Shut yer mouth," he growled, "an' go
+t' yer room, cuss y'. This house is mine. I am master here." He rolled
+into the doorway and suddenly turned on the threshold. "I'd ruther see
+y' dead an' buried than merried t' a man of t' name of Lister," he
+snarled; and before Bella could recover from her astonishment, he
+plunged into his den and shut the door with a noisy bang.
+
+The girl passed her hand across her forehead in a bewildered way. The
+mystery was becoming deeper, and she saw no way of solving it. Huxham
+would not explain, and Cyril evaded the subject. Then Bella remembered
+that her lover had promised an explanation when next they met. A
+remembrance of this aided her to possess herself in patience, and she
+tried to put the matter out of her head. But it was impossible for her
+to meet her father at supper and forbear asking questions, so she
+decided to obey him ostensibly, and retire to her bedroom. The next day
+she could have an interview with her lover, and then would learn why the
+captain stormed and Cyril winced when the name was mentioned.
+
+Bella's room was on the first floor, and in the front of the mansion, so
+that she had an extended view of the corn-fields, of Mrs. Tunks' hut
+near the boundary channel, and of the pathway through the wheat leading
+deviously from the front door of Bleacres, across the channel, and to
+the distant village of Marshely. Standing at the window, she could see
+the red-roofed houses gathered round the square tower of the church, and
+the uncultivated fields, green and moist, spreading on all sides. The
+sun was setting, and the landscape was bathed in rosy hues. Everything
+was peaceful and restful outside, but under the manor roof was discord
+and dread. Huxham in his den paced up and down like a caged bear,
+angered exceedingly by his daughter's obstinacy, as he termed it. And
+Bella, in the seclusion of her own room, was trying to quieten her
+fears. Hitherto, she had lived what she termed a vegetable life; but in
+these ominous hints it seemed as though she would very shortly have more
+than enough to occupy her mind.
+
+As the twilight darkened, Bella still continued to sit at the window
+vainly endeavouring to forecast a doubtful future. It was certain that
+Huxham would never agree to her marriage with Lister, and would probably
+insist that she should become the wife of Pence. As Bella had no money,
+and no expectations of any, save by obeying her father, she did not know
+what to do unless the captain ceased to persecute her. He would possibly
+turn her out of doors if she persisted in thwarting his will. In that
+event she would either have to earn her bread as a governess, or would
+be forced to ask Lister to marry her--a direct question which her
+maidenly pride shrank from putting. Moreover--as she recollected--Cyril
+had plainly told her, only a few hours previously, that he could not
+marry her unless he obtained one thousand pounds within the week. It was
+now Tuesday, and it was not easy to raise such a large sum within the
+next few days. Of course, Bella did not know what resources Cyril had to
+draw upon, and it might be that he would gain what he wanted. Then he
+could take her away and marry her: but until the unexpected happened,
+she did not know what to say or how to act. It seemed to her that she
+had come to the cross-roads of life, and that all her future depended
+upon the path she now chose. Yet there was nothing to show her how to
+select the direction.
+
+Her idle eyes caught at the vivid spot of scarlet which came from the
+red coat of the martial scarecrow. There it stood, bound stiffly to a
+tall pole in the midst of the corn--the sentinel of those prosperous
+acres. Bella wondered that her father, having been a sailor, had not
+arrayed the figure in nautical dress. As it was, the red hue annoyed
+her, for red was the colour of blood, and there lingered in her mind the
+ominous speeches which had been made by her father and Lister, when
+quarrelling. "I'll kill y'!" said the captain; and "Take care," Cyril
+had replied, "that you aren't killed yourself first!" Also there was the
+wild tale of Pence regarding the offer made by Huxham to compass the
+death of Lister. These things flashed into Bella's uncomfortable mind,
+as she looked at the red and ominous figure of the scarecrow. Then, with
+a shudder, she rose and dismissed these evil fancies.
+
+"I am growing morbid," she thought, looking at her anxious face in the
+glass. "To-morrow, when I see Cyril--oh, come in!" said she aloud.
+
+She broke off to give the invitation, as a sharp knock came to the door,
+and it opened almost immediately to admit the plump figure of Mrs.
+Coppersley, carrying a tray. "Here's some dry toast and a cup of tea,"
+said the widow severely; "your father says you are not to come to
+supper."
+
+"I shouldn't come if he wanted me to," retorted Bella, as Mrs.
+Coppersley set down her burden; "and if he thinks to punish me in this
+way, he is very much mistaken. Does he think that I am a child, to
+submit to his tyranny?"
+
+"He thinks that you are a disobedient daughter," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+drily.
+
+"And what do you think, aunt?"
+
+The older woman coughed. She thought that her niece was much too pretty,
+and much too independent, but had no ill-feeling toward her, save a
+natural petty feminine jealousy. "I don't know what to think," she said,
+sitting down to gossip. "Of course, your father is impossible, and
+always wants his own way. I don't see why folks should not be allowed to
+choose husbands for themselves. Jabez"--this was Huxham's Christian
+name--"objects to my marrying Henry, and to your becoming the wife of
+this Lister person."
+
+"Don't speak of Cyril in that way," said Bella, with some impatience;
+"he is a gentleman, and the man I love. By the way, aunt, you might have
+brought up the teapot. I dislike anyone else to pour out my tea."
+
+"Your father poured it out himself while I went to the kitchen for the
+toast," snapped Mrs. Coppersley; "he said you were to have only this one
+cup."
+
+"What a petty tyrant he is," sighed Bella, pushing the cup away. "Aunt,
+what do you think of Cyril?"
+
+"He is very handsome," rejoined Mrs. Coppersley cautiously, "but I don't
+know anything about his position or disposition."
+
+"I know he is the dearest fellow in the world, aunt; but, like yourself,
+his position is unknown to me."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley rose aghast. "Do you mean to say that you would marry a
+man about whom you know nothing?" she demanded.
+
+"I know sufficient to choose him for my husband," retorted Bella,
+spiritedly; "and I intend to marry him, in spite of my father's
+bullying."
+
+"Then your father will not give you a single penny," cried Mrs.
+Coppersley. "I approve of his doing so. You can't marry this man."
+
+"Oh!" said Bella, bitterly. "I thought you agreed that a woman should
+choose her own husband."
+
+"A woman like myself, who knows life, Bella--not a chit of a girl like
+you."
+
+"I am twenty years of age," flashed out her niece.
+
+"And have the sense of a babe of three," scoffed Mrs. Coppersley, moving
+towards the door. "Perhaps a night of loneliness will bring you to your
+senses, my dear." She passed through the door and closed it. "I am
+locking you in, by your father's wish," said Mrs. Coppersley from the
+other side.
+
+Bella, white with rage at this indignity, sprang to wrench open the
+door, but almost before she reached it, the key clicked in the lock, and
+she knew that she was a prisoner. And the door was so stout and strong
+that there was no chance of a frail girl, such as she was, breaking it
+down. But Bella was in a royal rage, and it was in her mind to scramble
+out of the window and escape.
+
+"But what's the use!" she thought, her eyes filling with impotent tears.
+"I have no money, and no friends, and no other home. What a shame it is
+for me to be at the mercy of my father in this way! I shall have to
+submit to this insult. There is nothing else I can do. But oh, oh!"--she
+clenched her hands as she again returned to the window and looked out
+into the rapidly darkening night. "I shall insist upon Cyril marrying me
+at once. If he loves me he surely will not stand by idly, when I am
+treated in this way."
+
+Trying to calm herself, she walked up and down the room. The one slice
+of toast and the one cup of tea were on the table, but anger had taken
+her appetite. Inexperienced in the troubles of life, she was like a
+newly-captured bird dashing itself against the wires of its hateful
+cage. To and fro the girl walked, revolving plans of escape from her
+father's tyranny, but in every direction the want of money proved an
+obstacle impossible to surmount. Nothing remained but for her to wait
+patiently until she could see Cyril the next day. Then an exhaustive
+talk might lead to the formation of some plan whereby her future could
+be arranged for.
+
+Faint and far, she heard the clock in Marshely church-tower strike the
+hour of eight, and began to think of retiring to bed. The night was hot,
+so she flung up the window, and permitted the fresh air to circulate in
+the close room. The atmosphere was luminous with starlight, although
+there was no moon visible. A gentle wind bent the rustling stalks of the
+vast corn-fields, and their shimmering green was agitated like the waves
+of the sea. White mists rose ghost-like on the verge of the farm, and
+into them the ocean of grain melted faintly. What with the mists and the
+luminous night and the spreading wheat-fields phantom-like in the
+obscurity, Bella felt as though she were in a world of vague dreams.
+
+Looking down the narrow path, which showed a mere thread in the
+semi-gloom, she beheld a tall, dark figure advancing towards the house.
+It was that of a man, and by the way in which he walked, Bella felt sure
+that he was her lover. Her heart beat wildly. Perhaps Cyril had come,
+or, rather, was coming, to see the captain, and to plead his suit once
+more. Greatly agitated by this unforeseen visit, she leaned out of the
+window as the man came almost directly under it. He was Cyril, she felt
+certain, both from his carriage and from the fact that she vaguely saw
+the grey suit he wore. During the afternoon, Lister had been thus
+dressed.
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" she called out cautiously.
+
+The man looked up, and in the faint light she saw that he was indeed
+Cyril, for the eyes of love were keen enough to pierce the obscurity,
+and also her window was no great height from the ground. But the man
+looked up, making no sign of recognition, and stepped into the house
+without knocking at the door. Bella started back in surprise. She knew
+that the front door was always unlocked until ten, when her father
+usually retired to bed. But it seemed strange that Cyril, who had
+quarrelled with the captain that very day, should choose to risk his
+further wrath by entering the house uninvited. Also, it was stranger
+still that Cyril should have looked up without making some sign. He must
+have known who she was, for, failing sight, he had his hearing to
+recognise her voice. It was all very strange.
+
+Bella twisted up her hair, which she had let down, and walked to the
+table to take up the now cold cup of tea. Her throat was parched with
+thirst by reason of her nerves, and she wished to refresh herself so
+that she might think of what was best to be done. Cyril and her father
+had quarrelled, and again she remembered the ominous threats they had
+used to one another. It was inconceivable madness for Lister to to beard
+the captain in his den, knowing what a vile temper the old man
+possessed. It was not at all impossible, or even improbable, but what
+the afternoon quarrel might be renewed, and then heaven only knew what
+might happen.
+
+Drinking the cup of tea hastily, Bella thought over these things and
+resolved, if she could not escape by the door, to scramble out of the
+window. Then she could enter the house, and appear in the captain's den,
+to be present at what would probably be a stormy interview. Already she
+was straining her ears to catch the faintest sound of quarrelling, but
+as yet she could hear nothing. Certainly Cyril had closed the front
+door, for immediately he had entered she had heard him do so. And again,
+the walls of the old mansion were so thick, that it was impossible she
+could hear, when shut up in her bedroom, what was taking place below.
+
+Anxiously she tried the door, but in spite of all her efforts, she
+failed to open it. Wild with alarm as to what might be happening, she
+crossed to her bed, intending to twist the sheets into a rope for
+descent from the window. But as she caught at the linen, she felt a
+drumming in her ears, and sparks seemed to dance before her eyes.
+Apparently the strain on her nerves was making her ill. Also she felt
+unaccountably drowsy, and in spite of every effort to keep awake, she
+sank beside the bed, with the sheets still grasped in her hands. In two
+or three minutes she was fast asleep.
+
+The window was still open, and a bat swept into the room. He flitted
+round the motionless figure, uttering a thin cry, and again passed out
+into the starry night. The silvery voices of the nightingales in the
+copses round Marshely village came faintly across the meadows mingled
+with the cry of a mouse-hunting screech-owl. Still Bella slept on.
+
+Hour after hour passed, and the night grew darker. The wind died away,
+the corn-fields ceased to rustle, the nightingales to sing. It became
+colder, too, as though the breath of winter was freezing the now moist
+air. The stars yet glittered faintly, and the high-pitched whistle of a
+steamer could be heard from the distant river, but on the whole, the
+earth was silent and weirdly gloomy for summer-time. During the small
+hours there came an ominous hush of expectant dread, which lasted until
+the twittering birds brought in the dawn.
+
+Bella opened her eyes, to find her room radiant with royal red light.
+She felt sick and dizzy, for over her stood Mrs. Coppersley, shaking her
+vigorously by the shoulder. "Bella, Bella! Your father is dead. Murder,
+murder! Oh, come to the study and see the murder!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A MYSTERIOUS CRIME
+
+
+"Murder!" The ominous word struck at Bella's heart, in spite of the fact
+that her dazed brain could scarcely grasp its significance. With
+unseeing eyes she stared at her terrified aunt. Mrs. Coppersley, in her
+usual morning dress, simply made, for domestic purposes, fell back from
+the motionless girl, and gripped the table in the centre of the room.
+Her face was white, her figure limp; and almost crazy with alarm, she
+looked twice her age. Nor did the sight of her niece's bewildered gaze
+reassure her. With a quick indrawn breath of fear, she lurched forward
+and again shook the girl.
+
+"Bella! Bella! what's come to you? Don't you hear me? Don't you
+understand, Bella? Jabez is dead! your father has been murdered. He's
+lying a corpse in his study. And oh--oh--oh!"--Mrs. Coppersley reeled
+against the table again, and showed signs of violent hysteria.
+
+This spectacle brought back Bella with a rush to the necessities of the
+moment. She sprang to her feet, with every sense alert and ready to be
+used. Seizing the ewer from the wash-stand, she dashed the water over
+the sobbing, terrified woman, then braced herself to consider the
+situation.
+
+Bella's thoughts reverted to the events of the previous night.
+She remembered that Cyril had come to the house and, without a
+sign of recognition had entered. She had not seen him depart,
+because--because--oh, yes, she had fallen unaccountably asleep. Slumber
+had overtaken her at the very moment when she was preparing to descend
+from the window, in order to--to--to----. Bella uttered a wild cry, and
+the ebbing blood left her face pearly white. The interview between her
+father and Cyril had taken place; she had not been there, and now--and
+now----. "What do you say?" she asked her aunt, in a hard, unemotional
+voice.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley, quite unnerved, and drying her scared face with the
+towel, gasped and stared. "Didn't you hear? What's come to you, Bella?
+Your father has been murdered. I got up this morning as usual, and went
+into the study. He's lying there, covered with blood. Oh, who can have
+killed him?"
+
+"How should I know?" cried Bella, harshly. "I was locked up in this room
+by you, Aunt Rosamund. I fell asleep after--after----" she stopped,
+aware that she might say something dangerous.
+
+"After what?" asked Mrs. Coppersley, curiously.
+
+"After you left--after I drank the tea. Oh, how could I fall asleep,
+when--when--ah!" Bella made a bound for the table, and took up the empty
+cup. Some dregs of tea remained, which she tasted. They had a bitter
+flavour, and a thought flashed into her mind. "You drugged this tea!"
+she cried.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley flapped her plump hands feebly, and gasped again. Never
+a very strong-minded woman, she was now reduced to a markedly idiotic
+condition under the strain of the tragic circumstances. "I drug your
+tea? Save us, Bella, what do you mean?"
+
+"I drank this tea and fell asleep," said the girl sharply; "although
+before drinking it, I did not feel at all sleepy. Now I have a
+disagreeable taste in my mouth, and my head aches. There is a queer
+flavour about what is left in the cup. I am sure this tea was drugged.
+By you?"
+
+"Good Lord!" cried Mrs. Coppersley indignantly. "Why should I drug your
+tea, Bella? Your father poured it out himself in the study, when I was
+getting you toast in the kitchen. I told you so last night."
+
+"Yes, yes. I remember." Bella passed her hand across her forehead. "My
+father evidently drugged the tea to keep me quiet. And so he has met
+with his death by violence."
+
+"Bella," Mrs. Coppersley screamed, and made for the door, "what do you
+mean?"
+
+Again the girl felt that she was talking too freely. If Cyril was
+implicated in the crime reported by Mrs. Coppersley, she must save
+Cyril. Or at least, she must hold her peace until she heard from her
+lover what had taken place during that fatal interview. It was just
+possible that Cyril had slain the captain in self-defence, and knowing
+her father's violent character, the girl could scarcely blame the young
+man. She expected that this would happen, and so had been anxious to
+intervene as a peacemaker. But the drugged tea--she felt certain that it
+had been drugged by her father--had prevented her doing what she wished.
+Now Huxham was dead, and Lister, whether in self-defence or not, was his
+murderer. The thought was agony. Yet in the midst of the terror
+engendered by her surmise, Bella found herself blaming her father. If he
+had not drugged the tea in order to keep her in her room, this tragedy
+would not have happened. Captain Huxham had paved the way to his own
+death.
+
+But, after all, there might be extenuating circumstances, and perhaps
+Cyril would be able to explain. Meantime she would hold her tongue as to
+having seen him enter the house. But if anyone else had seen him? She
+turned to Mrs. Coppersley. "Where were you last night?" she demanded,
+suspiciously.
+
+"I was with Henry Vand from seven until after ten," said the woman
+meekly, and evidently unaware why the leading question had been put. "I
+left your father in his study, and when I returned I let myself in by
+the back door and went to bed quietly. You know, Jabez always objected
+to my seeing Henry, so I wished to avoid trouble. This morning, when I
+went into the--ugh! ugh! come and see for yourself!" and Mrs. Coppersley
+gripped Bella's wrist to draw her towards the door--"It's murder and
+robbery!"
+
+Bella released her wrist with a sudden jerk, but followed the elder
+woman down the stairs. "Robbery! What do you mean?"
+
+"Come and see!" said Mrs. Coppersley hysterically. "We must send for the
+police, I suppose. Oh, my poor nerves! Never, never shall I get over
+this shock, disagreeable as Jabez always was to me. And he wasn't ready
+for heaven, either; though perhaps he did send for Mr. Pence to talk
+religion to him."
+
+"Did my father send for Mr. Pence?"
+
+"Yes. He asked me to go to the village with a note for Mr. Pence. I
+could not find Mr. Pence at home, so left the note for him. Then I met
+Henry, and returned, as I told you, after ten o'clock."
+
+"Did Mr. Pence come to see my father?" asked Bella anxiously. She was
+wondering if the preacher had by any chance seen Cyril enter the house.
+
+"I don't know--I can't say--oh, dear me, how dreadful it all is!"
+maundered Mrs. Coppersley, opening the door of the study. "Just look for
+yourself, Bella. Your father lies dead in his blood. Oh, how I hope that
+the villain who killed and robbed him will be hanged and drawn and
+quartered! That I do, the wretch, the viper, the beast! I must get some
+rum. I can't stay in this room without some rum. I shall faint, I know I
+shall. What's the time? Seven o'clock. Oh, dear me, so late! I must send
+Tunks for the police. He has to be here to see your father, and oh, dear
+me, he can't see your father unless he goes to heaven, where I'm sure I
+hope Jabez has gone. But one never knows, and he certainly was most
+disagreeable to me. Oh, how ill I am! oh, how very, very bad I feel!"
+and thus lamenting Mrs. Coppersley drifted out of the room, towards the
+back part of the premises, leaving Bella alone with the dead man.
+
+And Captain Huxham was dead, stone dead. His body lay on the floor
+between the desk and the chair he had been sitting on. From the position
+of the corpse, Bella judged that her father had suddenly risen to meet
+the descending weapon, which had pierced his heart. But not being able
+to defend himself, he had fallen dead at his murderer's feet. With a
+cautious remembrance that she must not remove anything until the police
+came, Bella knelt and examined the body carefully, but without laying a
+finger on the same. The clothes over the heart had been pierced by some
+extremely sharp instrument, which had penetrated even through the thick
+pea-jacket worn by the dead man. There was blood on the cloth and on the
+floor, and although ignorant of medical knowledge, Bella judged that
+death must have been almost instantaneous. Otherwise there would have
+been signs of a struggle, as Captain Huxham would not have submitted
+tamely to death. But the casement was fast closed, the furniture was
+quite orderly. At least, Bella judged so when she first looked round,
+for no chairs were upset; but on a second glance she became aware that
+the drawers of the desk were open, that the flexible lid of the desk was
+up, and that the pigeon-holes had been emptied of their papers.
+Also--and it was this which startled her most--the green-painted safe
+was unlocked, and through the door, which stood ajar, she could see that
+the papers therein were likewise in disorder. In fact, some of them were
+lying on the floor.
+
+Strongly agitated, Bella constructed a theory of the murder, and saw, as
+in a vision--perhaps wrongfully--what had taken place. The captain had
+come to his desk for some purpose, but hearing a noise, or perhaps
+suspecting that there was danger, had unexpectedly turned, only to be
+stabbed. When he fell dead, the criminal took the keys of the safe from
+the dead man's pocket, and committed the robbery. Then he examined the
+pigeon-holes of the desk, and afterwards departed--probably by the front
+door, since the casement was closed. Robbery, undoubtedly, was the
+motive for the commission of the crime.
+
+The girl rose to her feet, drawing a long breath of relief. Cyril
+certainly could not have slain her father, since Cyril would not have
+robbed. The young man assuredly had come to the house--she could swear
+to that herself--and if he had quarrelled with Huxham, he might have
+struck him in a moment of anger. But there was no reason to believe that
+Cyril would rob the safe. Hence there must be another person, who had
+committed both the murder and the robbery. Who was that person?
+
+Mrs. Coppersley had stated plainly that Huxham had sent a message to
+Pence, asking him to call. Perhaps he had obeyed the summons, after
+Cyril left, and then had murdered the captain. But there was no motive
+for so timid and good-living a man as the preacher to slay and rob. So
+far as Bella knew, Pence did not want money, and--since he wished to
+make her his wife--it was imperative that Huxham should live in order to
+forward his aims. And it was at this point that the girl recalled, with
+a shudder, the fact that Cyril had confessed his need for one thousand
+pounds. Could Lister be the culprit, after all?
+
+"No," cried Bella aloud, and in an agony of shame; "the man I love could
+not be guilty of so vile an act." So she tried to comfort herself, but
+the fact of Cyril's visit to the house still lingered in her mind.
+
+Shortly Mrs. Coppersley returned with Tunks at her heels. The handy-man
+of Bleacres was a medium-sized individual, with a swarthy skin and beady
+black eyes peering from under tangled black hair. Lean and lithe, and
+quick in his movements, he betrayed his gypsy blood immediately, to the
+most unobservant, for there was something Oriental in his appearance.
+Just now he looked considerably scared, and came no further than the
+door of the room.
+
+"There's your master," said Mrs. Coppersley, pointing to the dead, "so
+just you go to the village and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,
+you have not touched anything, have you?"
+
+Bella shook her head. "I have not even touched the body," she confessed
+with a shudder. "Tunks, were you about the house last night?"
+
+"No, miss," said the man, looking more scared than ever. "I went home
+nigh on seven o'clock, and was with my granny all the evening. I know
+nothing about this, miss."
+
+"I don't suppose you do," rejoined the girl tartly, "but I thought you
+might have seen my father later than Mrs. Coppersley here."
+
+"I left the house last night at the same time as you, ma'am," said
+Tunks, addressing himself to the housekeeper. "You locked the back door
+after me."
+
+"Yes," acknowledged Mrs. Coppersley promptly, "so you did. That would be
+at seven, as I came up and saw you, Bella, a few minutes before, with
+the tea and toast. You didn't come back, Tunks?"
+
+"No, I didn't," retorted the gypsy sullenly. "You went on to Marshely,
+and I got back home. I never came near this house again until this
+morning. You can ask my granny if I wasn't in bed early last night."
+
+"When did you see your master last?" questioned Bella.
+
+Tunks removed his dingy cap to scratch his untidy locks. "It would be
+about six, just before I had my tea. He wanted to reduce my wages, too,
+and I said I'd give him notice if he did. But I suppose," growled Tunks,
+with his eyes on the remains, "it's notice in any case now."
+
+"Never you mind bothering about yourself," cried Mrs. Coppersley
+sharply. "Go to Marshely, and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,"
+she moved to the door, "let us leave the room and lock the door. Nothing
+must be touched until the truth is known."
+
+"Will the truth ever be known?" asked the girl drearily, as she went
+into the hall, and watched her aunt lock the door of the death-room.
+
+"Of course," retorted the elder woman, "one person cannot murder another
+person without being seen."
+
+"I don't know so much about that, Aunt Rosamund. You and Tunks were
+away, and I was locked in my room, so anyone could enter, and----" she
+glanced towards the study door and shuddered.
+
+"Did _you_ see anyone?" asked Mrs. Coppersley quickly.
+
+Bella started. "No," she replied, with unnecessary loudness; "how could
+I see anyone when I was drugged?"
+
+"Drugged, miss?" cried Tunks, pricking up his ears.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley turned on the handy-man, and stamped. "How dare you
+linger here?" she cried. "You should be half way to the village by this
+time. Miss Bella was having wakeful nights, and her father gave her a
+sleeping draught. Off with you," and she drove Tunks out of the front
+door.
+
+"Why did you tell such a lie?" asked Bella when the man was hurrying
+down the path, eager, like all his tribe, to carry bad news.
+
+"A lie! a lie!" Mrs. Coppersley placed her arms akimbo and looked
+defiant. "Why do you call it a lie? You _did_ complain of sleepless
+nights, and you did say that the tea, poured out by Jabez, was drugged."
+
+"That is true enough," admitted the girl quietly, "but I merely slept
+badly because of the hot weather, and never asked my father for a
+sleeping----"
+
+"Oh!" interrupted Mrs. Coppersley, tossing her head. "What does it
+matter. I can't even say if the tea was drugged."
+
+"I'll learn that soon," replied Bella drily, "for I have locked up the
+cup containing the dregs of tea. My father no doubt feared lest I should
+run away with Cyril, and so drugged it."
+
+"The least said the soonest mended, Bella. Say nothing of the drugging
+at the inquest, as there is no need to blacken your father's character."
+
+"I don't see that anything I could say would blacken my father's
+character, Aunt Rosamund. Of course, he had no business to drug me, but
+if I am asked at the inquest I shall tell the truth."
+
+"And so your connection with that Lister person will come out."
+
+Bella turned on her aunt in a fury. "What do I care?" she cried,
+stamping. "I have a right to marry him if I choose, and I don't care if
+all the world knows how I love him. In fact, the whole world soon will
+know."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of washing her hands of the
+entire affair, "say what you like; but don't blame me if you find
+yourself in an unpleasant position."
+
+Bella, who was ascending the stairs, turned to answer this last remark
+promptly. "Why should I find myself in an unpleasant position?" she
+demanded. "Do you accuse me of murdering father?"
+
+"God forbid! God forbid!" cried Mrs. Coppersley piously and with a
+shudder, "but you cannot deny that you were alone in the house."
+
+"And locked in my bedroom, as you can testify."
+
+"Oh, I'll say that willingly. But you'd better wash out that cup of
+dregs, and say nothing more."
+
+"I have already mentioned the matter in Tunks' hearing, so I must
+explain further if necessary. But I'll say why I believe my father acted
+so. Your story of sleepless nights will not do for me."
+
+"You'll blacken the memory of the dead," groaned Mrs. Coppersley
+dismally. "Ah, you never loved your poor father."
+
+"Did you?" asked Bella suddenly.
+
+"In a way I did, and in a way I didn't," said her aunt evasively. "Jabez
+never was the brother he should have been to me. But a daughter's nearer
+than a sister, and you should have loved him to distraction."
+
+"In spite of the way he behaved to me."
+
+"He had to keep a firm hand over your high spirit."
+
+"Aunt Rosamund," burst out Bella at white heat. "Why do you talk in this
+silly way? You know that both to you and to me my father acted like a
+cruel tyrant, and that while he was alive we could do nothing to please
+him. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but you know what I say is
+true."
+
+"We are none of us perfect," snuffled Mrs. Coppersley, wiping her eyes,
+"and I daresay Jabez was worse than many others. But I was a good sister
+to him, in spite of his horrid ways. I'm sure my life's been spent in
+looking after other people: first my mother, then my husband, and
+afterwards Jabez. Now I'll marry Henry Vand, and be happy."
+
+"Don't talk of happiness with that"--Bella pointed downward to the
+study--"in the house. Go and make yourself tidy, aunt, and I'll do the
+same. We have a very trying day before us."
+
+"So like Jabez, so very like Jabez," wailed Mrs. Coppersley, while Bella
+fled up the stairs. "He always brought trouble on everyone. Even as a
+little boy, he behaved like the pirate he was. Oh, dear me, how ill I
+feel. Bella! Bella! come down and see me faint. Bella! Bella!"
+
+But the girl did not answer, as she knew that Mrs. Coppersley only
+wished to gossip. Going to her own room, she again examined the cup with
+the dregs, which she had not locked up, in spite of her saying so to
+Mrs. Coppersley. Undoubtedly, the tea tasted bitter, and she resolved to
+have it analysed so as to prove to herself the fact of the drugging. She
+knew perfectly well that her father had attended to the tea himself,
+evidently to render her helpless in case she meditated flight with
+Cyril. And in dong so, he had indirectly brought about his own death,
+for had she been awake she could have descended from the window to be
+present at the interview which had ended so fatally. And at this
+point--while she was locking up the cup in a convenient cupboard--Bella
+became aware that she was thinking as though her lover were actually
+guilty of the deed.
+
+Of course he could not be, she decided desperately, even though things
+looked black against him. Lister, honest and frank, would not murder an
+old man in so treacherous a manner, however he might be goaded into
+doing so. And yet she had assuredly seen him enter the house. If she
+could only have seen him depart; but the drug had prevented that welcome
+sight. Pence might have struck the blow, but Pence had no reason to do
+so, and in fact had every inducement to keep Huxham alive. Bella could
+not read the riddle of the murder. All she knew was that it would be
+necessary for her to hold her tongue about Lister's unexpected visit to
+the Solitary Farm.
+
+"But I shall never be able to marry him after this," she wailed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE INQUEST
+
+
+Tunks lost no time in delivering his gruesome message and in spreading
+the news of the death. While the village policeman telegraphed to his
+superior officer at Pierside, the handy-man of the late Captain Huxham
+adopted the public-house as a kind of St. Paul's Cross, whence to
+promulgate the grim intelligence. Here he passed a happy and exciting
+hour detailing all that had happened, to an awe-stricken crowd, members
+of which supplied him with free drinks. The marsh-folk were a dull,
+peaceful, law-abiding people, and it was rarely that crimes were
+committed in the district. Hence the news of the murder caused a
+tremendous sensation.
+
+Captain Jabez Huxham was well known, and his eccentricity in the matter
+of planting Bleacres with yearly corn had been much commented upon. In
+Napoleonic times the fertile marsh farms had been golden with grain, but
+of late years, owing to Russian and American competition, little had
+been sown. Huxham, as the rustics argued, could not have got even
+moderate prices for its crops, so it puzzled one and all why he
+persisted in his unprofitable venture. But there would be no more sowing
+at Bleacres now, for the captain himself was about to be put under the
+earth. "And a grand funeral he'll have," said the rustics, morbidly
+alive to the importance of the grim event. For thirty years no crime of
+this magnitude had been committed in the neighbourhood, and the violent
+death of Huxham provided these bovine creatures with a new thrill.
+
+Meanwhile the policeman, Dutton by name, had proceeded to Bleacres,
+followed--when the news became more widely known--by a large and curious
+throng. For that day and for the following days, until Huxham's body was
+buried, Bleacres could no longer be called the solitary farm, in one
+sense of the word. But the inherent respect of the agriculturist for
+growing crops kept the individual members of the crowd, male and female,
+to the narrow path which led from the boundary channel to the front door
+of the Manor-house. When Inspector Inglis arrived with three or four
+policemen from Pierside, he excluded the public from the grounds, but
+the curious still hovered in the distance--beyond Jordan as it
+were--with inquisitive eyes fastened on the quaint old mansion. To them,
+one and all, it now assumed portentous proportions as the abode of
+terror.
+
+Inspector Inglis was a very quiet man, who said little, but who kept his
+eyes on the alert. He inspected the body of the dead man, and then sent
+for a doctor, who delivered his report in due course. The study was
+examined thoroughly, and the entire house was searched from cellar to
+garret. Then Bella and her aunt were questioned, and Tunks was also put
+in the witness box. But in spite of all official curiosity, backed by
+official power on the part of Inglis, he convened the jury of the
+inquest, as ignorant of the truth as when he had begun his search. He
+certainly found a blood-stained dagger behind the massive mahogany desk,
+with which undoubtedly the crime had been committed; but he could
+discover no trace of the assassin, and three or four days later, when
+the inquest took place in the Manor-house, the mystery of the murder was
+still unsolved. Nor, on the evidence procurable, did there seem to be
+any chance of solution.
+
+During the early part of the inquiry, Mrs. Coppersley had told Inglis
+how her late brother had sent her with a note to Marshely asking Silas
+Pence to call. When questioned, the preacher, not without agitation and
+dismay, stated that he had been absent from his lodgings until eleven
+o'clock on the fatal evening, and had not obeyed the summons of the
+deceased. Certainly on his return he had found and read the note asking
+him to call, but as the hour was late, he had deferred the visit until
+the next morning. Then, of course, the news of the murder had been made
+public, and Pence had said nothing until questioned by the Inspector.
+But he was quite frank and open in his replies, and Inglis was satisfied
+that the young preacher knew nothing about the matter.
+
+From the moment when informed by Mrs. Coppersley of the crime until the
+inquest, Bella suffered greatly. At her request, Dr. Ward--the medical
+man who had reported on the time and manner of Huxham's death--had
+examined the dregs of the tea-cup. Beyond doubt, as he discovered,
+laudanum had been poured into the tea, and so largely, that it was
+little wonder she had slept so soundly. Even had there been a struggle,
+as Ward assured her, she would not have heard the commotion. And, as the
+state of the study showed that the murderer had taken his victim
+unawares, it was little to be wondered at that Bella woke in ignorance
+of what had taken place during the night. She was thankful to have the
+testimony of the young physician as to the drugging, since thereby she
+was entirely exonerated from complicity in the crime. For, dreadful as
+it may seem, there were those evil-seekers who hinted that Huxham's
+daughter, having been alone in the house, must be aware of the truth, if
+not actually guilty herself. But Bella knew that the evidence of Dr.
+Ward and Mrs. Coppersley as to the drugging and the locking of the
+bedroom door would clear her character.
+
+It was therefore not on this account that she suffered, but because of
+the inexplicable absence of Cyril Lister. Since she had seen him enter
+the house shortly after eight o'clock on the fatal night she had not set
+eyes on him, nor had she received any communication. At a time when she
+needed him so greatly, it seemed strange that her lover should be
+absent, since the fact of the murder, now being known all over England,
+it appeared incredible that he alone should be ignorant. In spite of her
+desire to believe him guiltless, this conduct looked decidedly
+suspicious. If nothing serious had taken place between Cyril and her
+father on the night in question, why had Lister gone away? At least she
+surmised that he had gone away, as he did not appear to be in the
+village, and she heard no mention of his name from the many people who
+haunted the house. Try as she might, Bella, dearly as she loved the
+young man, could not rid herself of the frightful belief that he had
+struck the blow. Considering the circumstances, which she alone knew
+fully, he had every reason to commit the crime. Yet in the face of the
+strongest circumstantial evidence, Bella could not bring herself to
+credit Cyril's guilt. Day after day, like sister Anne, she climbed to
+the quarter-deck to see if he was coming. But the day of the inquest
+came in due course, and even then he had not put in an appearance.
+
+The Coroner was a grim, snappy old doctor, who set forth the object of
+the inquest gruffly and tersely. The jury under his direction inspected
+the body and then gathered in the large and stately dining-room of the
+Manor-house to consider the evidence. Inspector Inglis confessed that he
+had few witnesses, and that there was nothing in the evidence likely to
+lead to the arrest of the murderer. Robbery, said the officer, was
+undoubtedly the cause of the crime, since the desk had been rifled, and
+the safe had been forced open. Mrs. Coppersley, the sister of the
+deceased, he went on to say, could state that she knew her brother kept
+at least one hundred pounds in gold in the safe. This was missing, so
+probably----
+
+"We'll take things in order, if you please," snapped the gruff Coroner
+at this point of the Inspector's speech. "Call your witnesses."
+
+Inglis was only too willing, and Dr. Ward gave his evidence, which
+proved that in his opinion, after an examination of the body, the
+deceased had been stabbed to the heart between the hours of eight and
+eleven on the night in question. Witness could not be more precise, he
+said, a confession which brought a grunt from the Coroner. The old
+doctor lifted his eye-brows to intimate that the young doctor did not
+know his business over well, else he would have been more explicit. But
+Dr. Ward avoided an argument by hurriedly stating that, according to his
+opinion--another grunt from the snappy Coroner--the wound had been
+inflicted with the dagger found behind the mahogany desk.
+
+This remark led to the production of the dagger, a foot-long steel,
+broad towards the hilt and tapering to a sharp point. This was set in a
+handle of jet-black wood, carved into the semblance of an ugly negro.
+And the odd part about the blade was that the middle portion of the
+steel was perforated with queer letters of the cuneiform type, and
+filled in with copper. The Coroner frowned when he examined this strange
+weapon, and he looked inquiringly at Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"Does this belong to your late brother?" he asked jerkily.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley looked at the knife. "Jabez, being a sailor, had all
+manner of queer things," she said hesitatingly, "but I never set my eyes
+on that. He wasn't one to show what he had, sir."
+
+"Was your brother ever in Africa on the West Coast?"
+
+"He was all over the world, but I can't rightly say where, sir. Why?"
+
+"This," the gruff Coroner shook the weapon, "is an African sacrificial
+knife in use on the West Coast. From the way in which the copper is
+welded into the steel, I fancy some Nigerian tribe possessed it. The
+members of tribes thereabouts are clever metal-workers. The handle and
+the lettering also remind me of something," mused the doctor, "for I was
+a long time out in Senegal and Sierra Leone and saw--and saw--but that's
+no matter. How comes an African sacrificial knife here?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, sir," said Mrs. Coppersley promptly. "Jabez, as
+I say, had all manner of queer things which he didn't show me."
+
+"You can't say if this knife belonged to him?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't. The murderer may have brought it."
+
+"You are not here to give opinions," growled the doctor, throwing the
+ugly-looking weapon on the table. "Are you sure," he added to Ward,
+"that the wound was made with this knife?"
+
+"Yes, I'm sure," replied the young practitioner, tartly, for the
+Coroner's attitude annoyed him. "The weapon is sharp pointed and fits
+the wound. Also the deceased wore a thick pea-jacket and only such a
+knife could have penetrated the cloth."
+
+"If the blow were struck with sufficient force," snapped the Coroner.
+
+"It was," rejoined the witness. "Have you any more questions to ask me?"
+
+The Coroner nodded, and Ward gave surgical details to prove that death
+must have taken place almost instantaneously, since Huxham had been
+stabbed to the heart. "Apparently deceased heard a noise, and rose
+suddenly from his chair at the desk to face round in self-defence. But
+the assassin was too quick for him, and struck the knife to deceased's
+heart with great force as is apparent from----"
+
+"That's all supposition," contradicted the Coroner rudely. "Stick to
+facts."
+
+Boiling with rage, the young doctor confined himself forthwith to a bald
+statement of what he had discovered and then was curtly dismissed to
+give place to Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+That lady was voluble and sharp-tongued, so that the Coroner quite met
+with his match, much to the delight of Dr. Ward, smarting under much
+discourtesy. Mrs. Coppersley deposed that she had left the house at
+seven o'clock, by the back door, with a note for Mr. Silas Pence from
+her brother, asking him to call at the Manor-house. She left the note at
+Mr. Pence's lodgings and then went on to the grocery shop to make some
+purchases and to see Mrs. Vand and her son Henry. There she remained
+until a quarter to ten o'clock and afterwards returned to the
+Manor-house. Mr. Vand saw her as far as the boundary channel and then
+went home.
+
+"What time was that?" asked the Coroner, making notes.
+
+"Just at ten," replied witness, flushing at the smile on the faces of
+those who knew of the love romance. "The clock struck ten while I was
+speaking to Henry--I mean to Mr. Vand--and not knowing that it was so
+late I feared lest my brother should be angry. Jabez was always very
+particular as to the house being locked up, so I thought he might shut
+me out. I went in by the back door, having the key, and retired at once
+to bed."
+
+"Did you not see your brother?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"No, sir. Knowing Jabez's violent temper I had no wish to see him, lest
+there should be trouble. I went on tip-toe to bed, after locking the
+back door."
+
+"Did you hear Mr. Huxham moving about," questioned a juryman, timidly.
+
+"No, Mr. Tatters, I didn't. Everything was quiet as I passed the door of
+the study, and it was closed."
+
+"Did you see a light in the window of the study when at the boundary
+channel with Mr. Vand?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"No; I looked too," said the witness, "for if Jabez had been up, there
+would have been trouble owing to my being late. But there was no light
+in the window, so I fancied Jabez might have gone to bed and have locked
+me out. But he hadn't guessed I was absent, and so----"
+
+"Did you see a light under the study door when passing through the
+hall?"
+
+"No, and that made me believe that Jabez had gone to bed. But I didn't
+think of looking into the study; if I had," witness shuddered, "oh dear
+me, how very dreadful it all is. Well, then I went to bed, and next
+morning came down early to clean the study. When I entered I saw my
+brother dead in his gore, whereupon I ran up stairs and got Bella to
+come down. Then we sent for the police, and that's all I know."
+
+The Coroner looked towards Ward. "This evidence takes an hour off your
+time of death, doctor," he said sourly. "You say that the man was
+murdered after eight and before eleven. Well then, as this witness
+reached the house just after ten and saw no light in the study the
+deceased must have been dead when she passed through the hall on her way
+to bed."
+
+"Oh," groaned Mrs. Coppersley, with her handkerchief to her lips. "How
+dreadful if I'd looked in to see Jabez weltering in his gore."
+
+"It's a pity you didn't," rejoined the Coroner sharply, "for then you
+could have given the alarm and the assassin might have been arrested."
+
+"Yes," cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the assassin might have
+been in the house at the moment, with only two women, mind, and one of
+them drugged. I should have been killed myself had I given the alarm, so
+I'm glad I didn't."
+
+"Drugged! Drugged! What do you mean by drugged?"
+
+"Ask Bella," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "I've told all I'm going to
+tell."
+
+"Not all," said the Coroner, "was the front door locked?"
+
+"I didn't notice at the time, being anxious to escape Jabez and get to
+bed."
+
+"Did you notice if it was locked in the morning?"
+
+"Yes, when I opened it for Tunks to go for the police."
+
+"It _was_ locked," said Bella, rising at this juncture, "but Tunks
+opened it while I was talking with my aunt in the hall."
+
+"You can give your evidence when I ask you," snapped the Coroner rudely.
+"Humph! So the front door was locked and the back door also. How did the
+assassin escape? He couldn't have gone by the front door after
+committing the crime, since the key was in the inside, and you locked
+the back door coming and going, Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"The murdering beast," said the witness melodramatically, "might have
+got out of the study window."
+
+"Then he must be a very small man," retorted the Coroner, "for only a
+small man could scramble through the window. I examined it an hour ago."
+
+"Please yourself," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of indifference,
+"all I know is, that I'm glad I didn't discover Jabez in his gore on
+that night and at that hour. If I had, you'd be holding an inquest on
+me."
+
+"Possibly. If the assassin was in the study when you passed through the
+hall, Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"Ugh," shivered the witness, "and that's just where he was, depend upon
+it, sir, getting through the window, when he'd dropped the knife behind
+the desk. Oh, what an escape I've had," wept Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"There, there, don't bellow," said the Coroner, testily, "get down and
+let the witness, Luke Tunks, be called."
+
+The Bleacres handy-man had very little to say, but gave his evidence in
+a straightforward manner. He had left the house with Mrs. Coppersley at
+seven and had gone straight home to bed, as he was tired. His
+grandmother could depose to the fact that he was in bed until the
+morning. Then he came as usual to the Manor-house, and found that his
+master was dead. He admitted that he had quarrelled with his master over
+a possible curtailment of wages, and they had not parted in a very
+friendly spirit. "But you can't say as I did for him," ended the witness
+defiantly.
+
+"No one suggests such a thing," snapped the Coroner. "Had you any reason
+to believe that deceased expected to be murdered?"
+
+Tunks scratched his head, "I have and I haven't," he said at length;
+"master did seem afraid of someone, as he was always looking over his
+shoulder. He said that he planted the corn so that there should be only
+one path up to the house. Then he rigged up that out-look round the
+chimney there," witness jerked his head towards the ceiling, "and he's
+got a search-light there also, which he turned on at times."
+
+The Coroner nodded. The late Captain's search-light was well-known, but
+it was only put down as another freak on the part of a freakish man. But
+the remark of the witness about the corn was new. "Do you mean to say
+that the deceased planted the corn as a protection against some one
+coming on him unawares?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Tunks, sturdily, "corn don't pay, and there was always
+only one pathway left. Now my idea is----"
+
+"We don't want to hear your ideas," said the Coroner; "get down. Silas
+Pence."
+
+The young preacher's examination occupied only a few minutes. He said
+that he was absent from his lodgings until eleven, and then returned to
+find the note. As it was late he did not call, and went to bed, as his
+landlady could prove. He had no reason to believe that Captain Huxham
+expected to be murdered, and considered that the old sailor was more
+than capable of looking after himself. Witness was very friendly with
+the Captain and wished to marry Miss Huxham, an arrangement to which the
+Captain was quite agreeable. Witness presumed that Huxham wished to see
+him about the projected marriage when he wrote the note asking witness
+to call. Next morning when about to pay the visit, witness heard of the
+murder.
+
+Bella was the final witness, and stepped before the Coroner and the
+inquisitive jurymen, looking pale, but composed. She gave her evidence
+carefully, as she made up her mind to say nothing about Cyril's visit on
+the fatal night. Also she was grateful that in his statement Pence had
+said nothing of Lister's rivalry. She noted also that Pence had kept
+quiet about the offer of her hand as a reward for the death of Cyril
+made by her father to the preacher. More than ever she believed this
+wild declaration to be due to imagination on the young man's part.
+
+"What have you to say about this matter, Miss Huxham?" asked the coroner
+in his usual gruff way.
+
+"Nothing at all," she replied.
+
+"Nothing at all," he echoed, and the jurymen looked at one another.
+
+"No. I had quarrelled with my father on the afternoon of the night when
+he met with his terrible death. He refused to let me come to supper, so
+I retired to my room. Mrs. Coppersley brought me up tea and toast and
+then locked me in my room."
+
+"By her father's orders," cried Mrs. Coppersley, rising.
+
+"Silence," said the Coroner scowling; "but surely, Miss Huxham, you
+could have heard if----"
+
+"I heard nothing," interrupted Bella, straightening her slim figure,
+"for I was drugged."
+
+"H'm!" The Coroner looked at her shrewdly. "Mrs. Coppersley said
+something of that. Why were you drugged? Who drugged you?"
+
+"My father drugged the cup of tea, brought by my aunt, with laudanum,"
+said Bella bravely, determined to speak out, yet conscious of the
+curious faces.
+
+"Yes, he did," cried Mrs. Coppersley. "I brought the tea to the study
+and then went to get the toast. Jabez had poured out the tea when I came
+back, and giving me a cup told me to take it to Bella. I never knew
+myself that it was drugged."
+
+"But I can state that it was," said Dr. Ward, rising. "Miss Huxham gave
+me the dregs to examine. I can prove----"
+
+The Coroner intervened testily. "All this is very much out of order," he
+said. "Let us proceed with caution. Miss Huxham, tell your story, and
+then we can hear Dr. Ward and Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"I have scarcely any story to tell," said Bella, still apprehensive, yet
+still brave and discreet. "I am engaged to be married, but my father did
+not approve of my choice. He interrupted my meeting with my future
+husband----"
+
+"Who is he, if I may ask?"
+
+"Mr. Lister. He is a gentleman who has been stopping here----"
+
+"Yes, yes, I know;" and the Coroner did know, for his wife was a great
+gossip and collected all the scandal for miles around. In fact he had
+heard something of the philandering of Lister after Miss Huxham. "Go
+on."
+
+Bella proceeded. "My father would not allow me to come to supper, and
+sent up my aunt with tea and toast to lock me in my room. She did so. I
+did not eat the toast, but I drank the tea, and then fell asleep half on
+the floor and half on my bed. My aunt awoke me in the morning with the
+news of what had happened."
+
+"And you heard nothing?"
+
+"How could she," growled Ward, "when she was drugged."
+
+"Silence there," said the Coroner sharply. "What time did you fall under
+the influence of the opiate, Miss Huxham?"
+
+"Shortly after eight, so far as I can recollect."
+
+"Did you know that the tea was drugged?"
+
+"If I had I should not have drunk it," retorted the witness. "It was
+only next morning that I guessed the truth, and then I kept the dregs
+for Dr. Ward to examine. He says----"
+
+"He can give his evidence himself," interrupted the Coroner. "Why did
+your father drug you?"
+
+"I can't say, sir, unless he feared lest I should elope with Mr.
+Lister."
+
+"Had you any such intention?"
+
+"No, I had not."
+
+The Coroner looked at her earnestly and pinched his lip, apparently
+nonplussed. The whole affair struck him as strange, and he
+cross-examined the girl carefully. When he examined Mrs. Coppersley and
+Ward, both of them bore out the improbable story--in the Coroner's
+opinion--told by the girl. Finally the old doctor accepted the testimony
+and dismissed the witnesses.
+
+"I can't compliment you on the conduct of this case, Inspector Inglis,"
+he said, when informed that no more witnesses were forthcoming. "You
+have collected nothing likely to solve the mystery."
+
+"I cannot manufacture evidence, sir," said Inglis stiffly.
+
+The Coroner grunted and made an acid speech in which he pointed out that
+the evidence laid before him and the jury amounted to absolutely
+nothing. Only one verdict could be brought in--"Wilful murder against
+some person or persons unknown." This was accordingly done, and the
+assembly dispersed. Only the Coroner remained to state sourly to Inglis
+that he considered the police in general to be fools, and the Pierside
+inspector to be the king of them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CYRIL AND BELLA
+
+
+Captain Huxham's death having been legally relegated to the list of
+undiscovered crimes, his gnarled old body was committed to a damp grave
+in Marshely cemetery. There was a vast concourse of people from far and
+near to assist at the funeral of one who had been so mysteriously
+murdered. So greatly had the strangeness of the deed appealed to the
+imagination of metropolitan readers, that many London reporters came
+down to see the last of the case, and if possible to begin it again by
+making enquiries. But ask as they might, they could learn nothing. They
+were therefore compelled to content themselves with picturesque
+descriptions of the ancient Manor-house amidst its corn-fields, and with
+inaccurately lurid accounts of the late owner's career as a sailor.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley went to the funeral as chief mourner, as Bella
+resolutely declined to do so. She was sorry for her tyrannical father's
+violent death, but being very human, found it difficult to forgive him
+for the way in which he had behaved. He had bullied her and shut her in
+her room, and finally had drugged her by stealth. But as it turned out
+it was just as well that he had done so, as thereby she was able to
+prove that she knew nothing of the crime, even though she was alone in
+the house. Then again, there was the other side of the question to
+take--that if Huxham had not administered the laudanum he might have
+been alive and well at the moment. It seemed to Bella, overstrung with
+nerves, that some higher powers had dealt out a punishment to the
+Captain for crimes committed but undiscovered. Certainly she agreed with
+Tunks that her father had some dark secret in his mind, which led him to
+isolate himself in the midst of the corn.
+
+However, he was dead and buried, so all debts were paid, and Bella
+sitting in the vast drawing-room of the Manor-house with a
+church-service open on her lap, tried hard to forget Huxham's bad traits
+of character, and to remember his good ones. This was somewhat
+difficult, as the captain had few engaging qualities. But Bella recalled
+that he had been kind in a gruff sort of way and had never grudged her
+the best of food and the gaudiest of frocks. Huxham had been one of
+those so-called good people, who are amiable so long as everything is
+done according to their liking; but who display the tyrant when crossed.
+But on the whole he might have been worse, and after all, as she
+anxiously kept in mind, he was her father.
+
+The room wherein she sat, with the blinds down, was opposite the study
+and was a large apartment sparsely furnished. Huxham did not care for a
+drawing-room, as he preferred his den, but Mrs. Coppersley had bothered
+him incessantly until he provided her with furniture for the place. She
+selected the furniture herself, and what with her brother's stinginess
+and her own bad taste, the result was woefully bad. The room, spacious,
+lofty and stately, was decorated as beautifully as was the study, and
+required the most exquisite furniture to enhance its faded splendours.
+But Mrs. Coppersley had bought a magenta-hued sofa and many
+magenta-covered chairs, together with a cheap sideboard, so sticky as to
+look like a fly catcher, and two arm chairs of emerald green. The inlaid
+floor she had covered with lineoleum, diapered white and black, and her
+artistic taste had led her to paint the mellow oak panelling with pink
+Aspinall's enamel. As the curtains of the many windows were yellow, and
+the blinds blue, the effect was disastrous, and suggestive of a
+paint-box. An artist would have died of the confusion of tints, and the
+barbarism of destroying the oak panels, but Mrs. Coppersley was more
+than satisfied with the result, and when seated in the drawing-room on
+Sunday felt herself to be quite the lady.
+
+At the present moment Bella's nerves were less troubled than usual; the
+blinds were down in sympathy with the funeral, and a dim twilight
+pervaded the room, hiding more or less the atrocious grandeur. She sat
+in one of the green arm-chairs near the fire-place, reading the burial
+service and listening to the solemn tolling of the bell. But after a
+time she dropped the book on her lap and leaned back to close her eyes
+and reflect on her grave position. If only she had not seen Cyril on
+that night she could have married in ignorance that he had anything to
+do with the death of her father; but, enlightened as she was, it
+appeared impossible that she should become his wife. She had said
+nothing of his visit at the inquest, but the hideous doubt remained in
+her mind, although she strove to banish it by assuring herself over and
+over again that Lister could have had no hand in the matter. But how
+could she prove his innocence?
+
+She was alone in that sinister house, and although it was bright
+sunshine out of doors she felt scared. The cool dim room, the dreary
+booming of the distant bell, the impressive words of the burial service
+which she had just been reading--all these things united in a weird
+appeal to her psychic instincts, to those mysterious senses which deal
+with the unseen. In the arm-chair she sat with closed eyes strung up to
+breaking-point, and felt that if the psychic influence which seemed to
+control her became more insistent, she would scream. A thought flashed
+across her mind that her father was walking that dim, chill apartment,
+trying to communicate the truth; and in her nervous excitement she could
+almost have sworn that she heard the heavy tread of his feet.
+
+Thus, when she really did hear a light footstep in the entrance hall
+without, she uttered a piercing scream, and staggered to her feet. The
+hall door, she knew, had been left open since the coffin had been
+carried down the path between the standing corn, so that anyone could
+enter. Perhaps the assassin had come back to review the scene of his
+crime, or to commit another.
+
+White-faced and panic-stricken by the power of her own emotions
+engendered by the circumstances, she clung to the back of the arm-chair,
+straining her eyes towards the door. At the sound of her thin
+high-pitched scream the footsteps had ceased for a moment, as though the
+intruder was listening. Now they recommenced and drew near the outside
+of the door. Unable to utter a sound Bella stared through the dim lights
+and saw the door open cautiously. A face looked in and the eyes set in
+the face blinked in the semi-gloom. Then the door opened widely and
+Cyril Lister stepped in.
+
+"Oh, my darling!" With a sudden rush of relief Bella ran rapidly towards
+the door to throw herself into her lover's arms. Then a gruesome memory
+of that sinister visit made her falter and pause half way. Cyril closed
+the door and stood where he was, holding out his hungry arms.
+
+"Dearest," he said softly. "Oh, my poor girl."
+
+But Bella did not move; she stood looking at him as though fascinated.
+He wore a white drill suit made, tropic-fashion, high at the neck, with
+white shoes, and a panama hat. His white-clothed figure accentuated the
+twilight of the room, which now looked brown and grim. Considering that
+her father was dead and even now was being laid in an untimely grave,
+Cyril might have come to her dressed in mourning, unless--ah, unless.
+"Oh!"--she stretched out an arm as he advanced slowly--"don't come near
+me--don't come near me."
+
+"Bella!" He stopped in sheer surprise. "Bella, darling, don't you know
+me?"
+
+"Ah, yes, I know you," she gasped, retreating towards the chair.
+"Perhaps I know you too well."
+
+"Because I have not been to see you before?" he asked, surprised.
+"Bella, dearest, I would have come but that I have been abroad during
+the week. I had to go to Paris to see a--a friend of mine."
+
+She noted the hesitation and shivered. "When did you go?"
+
+Cyril came near, and again she shrank away. "On the afternoon when your
+father found us in the corn-field."
+
+"It's not true; it's not true. How can you lie to me?"
+
+"Bella!" Cyril stopped short again, and in the faint light she could see
+that he looked thoroughly puzzled and amazed. "What do you mean?"
+
+The girl's legs refused to support her any longer, and she sank into the
+chair. "My father is being buried," she gasped.
+
+"I know, I know," he replied sympathetically. "I went to the funeral,
+but finding you were not present, I came here to comfort you."
+
+"You--you--you went to the funeral?" her eyes dilated.
+
+"Why should I not go. After all, even though we quarrelled, he was your
+father, and a last tribute of respect----"
+
+"Oh, stop, stop. You can say this to me--to me, of all people?"
+
+Lister frowned and pinched his lip. "This lonely house and this cold,
+dull room have unnerved you," he said after a pause. "I make every
+allowance for what you have gone through, but----"
+
+"But you know, you understand."
+
+"Know what? understand what?" he inquired sharply.
+
+"I said nothing at the inquest. I held my tongue. I never----"
+
+"Bella!" Cyril, now thoroughly roused, advanced and seized her wrists in
+no gentle grasp, "are you crazy, talking in this way?"
+
+"I have had enough to make me crazy," she said bitterly, "let me go."
+
+"Not till you explain your mysterious behaviour. No"--he grasped her
+wrists tighter as she strove to release herself--"not till you explain."
+
+"Ah!" she cried out shrilly, "will you murder me also?"
+
+Lister suddenly released her wrists and fell back a pace. "Murder you
+also?" he repeated. "Am I then in the habit of murdering people?"
+
+"My father. You--you----"
+
+"Well, go on," said he, as the word stuck in her throat.
+
+"Oh"--she wrung her hands helplessly--"I saw you; I saw you."
+
+"Saw me what?" His voice became impatient and almost fierce.
+
+"I saw you enter the house--this house."
+
+"Saw me--enter this house? When?"
+
+"On the night my father was murdered--at eight o'clock."
+
+"What the devil are you talking about?" cried Cyril roughly. "I was in
+London at eight o'clock on that night, and went to Paris the next
+morning. I never heard of the murder, as I saw no newspapers. When I
+returned last night I read the account of the inquest in the evening
+papers, and I came down this morning to comfort you. I really think
+trouble has turned your head, Bella."
+
+The girl stared at him in astonishment. Even though she had spoken so
+very plainly, Cyril did not seem to comprehend that she was accusing him
+of having committed a dastardly crime. Her heart suddenly grew light.
+Perhaps, after all, she was mistaken, and--and--"You can prove your
+innocence?"
+
+"My innocence of what, in heaven's name?" he cried angrily.
+
+"Of--of--the--the--murder," she faltered.
+
+Lister stared, and scarcely could believe his ears. "You are not
+serious?"
+
+"Oh, my dear:" she sobbed, "I wish I were not."
+
+"And you accuse me of murdering your father?"
+
+"No, no! Really, I don't accuse you of actually--that is, of really--but
+I saw you enter this house at eight o'clock, or a little after, on that
+night. I intended to come down, thinking you and my father might
+quarrel, but I drank the tea--you must have seen about the tea at the
+inquest--that is, in the report given in the papers. Then I fell asleep,
+and woke to hear that my father was dead. But I never betrayed you,
+Cyril. God is my witness that I have held my tongue."
+
+Lister passed his hand across his forehead, and fell helplessly into a
+near chair. "You accuse me of murdering your father?" he said again.
+
+"No, no;" she repeated feverishly, "but I saw you--you looked up--you
+wore the grey clothes, as you had done in the afternoon when father
+interrupted us."
+
+"Bella! Bella! You must have been dreaming, or the drug----"
+
+"I was not dreaming," she interrupted vehemently, "and I saw you before
+I drank the drugged tea. I called to you, and you looked up; but you
+entered the house without making any sign of recognition. Then I fell
+asleep, and--and--oh,--my dear"--she flung herself down at his feet and
+seized his hand. "What took place between my father and you? I'm sure
+you did not kill him. I am quite sure of that, and, remember, I held my
+tongue. Yes, I held----"
+
+"Oh," groaned the young man, looking down into her agitated face. "I am
+losing my reason. You will shortly persuade me that I killed----"
+
+"But you did not--you did not. Ah, never say that you did."
+
+"No," said Lister shortly, and rose so suddenly as to let her fall, "and
+if you believe me to be a murderer, we had better part."
+
+"I don't! I don't!" she wailed, stretching out her hands, as he strode
+towards the door. "Oh, Cyril, don't leave me. You are all I have."
+
+Lister was in a white heat with rage, and stood fumbling at the door.
+But a backward glance at her pale face cooled him somewhat. He
+recognised that he was in the presence of some mystery, and that it was
+necessary for his own peace of mind, as for Bella's, to probe the
+mystery to the bottom. On the impulse of the moment he walked back, and
+lifting her, placed her again in the arm-chair. Then he knelt beside
+her, and took her hands. "Darling," he said, softly and firmly, "I swear
+to you, what I would not swear to any living creature, that I am
+innocent. If anyone but you had accused me, I should have----"
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" She wreathed her arms round his neck, "I only fancied,
+but I really did not think that----"
+
+He removed her arms. "You should believe in my innocence in the face of
+all evidence," he said sternly.
+
+"But my own eyes," she faltered.
+
+He frowned. "That certainly is puzzling; still, the drug----"
+
+"I saw you enter the house before I drunk the tea," she protested. "I
+told you that before."
+
+"Your senses were quite clear?"
+
+"Perfectly clear. And I thought that you had come to try and induce my
+father to consent to our marriage."
+
+"Strange," muttered the young man. "I was not near the house."
+
+"Are you sure? are you sure?"
+
+"Oh!" Lister's tone was highly exasperated. "You will drive me mad,
+talking in this way. Hearken," he added, speaking calmer, "when I left
+you and Captain Huxham in the corn-field, I went straight back to my
+lodgings. There I found a letter referring to the thousand pounds I
+wished to borrow. I had to see the friend who was willing to lend it to
+me on that night. I therefore went to London by the six o'clock train.
+My landlady can prove that I left the house; the flyman can prove that I
+drove to the local station; the ticket office there that I bought a
+ticket, and the guard of the train shut me himself in a first-class
+compartment. That is evidence enough, I fancy."
+
+"Yes. Yes, for me, but----"
+
+"But I might have sneaked back, I suppose you mean?" he said bitterly,
+and rising to walk the floor. "I can prove an _alibi_ easily. At eight
+o'clock I was at my friend's rooms in Duke Street, St. James's, as his
+man can swear. He had gone to Paris, and I arranged to follow. I went to
+the theatre, and to dinner with two friends of mine, and did not leave
+them until one in the morning, when I returned to my hotel. The murder
+took place at eleven, or between eight and eleven, so I can easily prove
+that I was not here. Next morning I went to Paris, and got the money
+from my friend. I lingered there with him, and only returned yesterday,
+to learn that your father was dead. Then I came down here this morning
+to--meet with this reception."
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! Don't be hard on me."
+
+"Are you not hard yourself?" he retorted. "How can I love a woman who
+doubts me? Besides, robbery was the motive for the commission of the
+crime. Am I likely to stab an old man, and then rob him?"
+
+"No, I never believed, and yet----"
+
+"And yet what?" he asked curtly.
+
+"You--you--wanted a thousand pounds."
+
+"Oh"--his lip curled--"and you believed that I robbed your father's safe
+to get it. Unfortunately, I understood, from your aunt's evidence at the
+inquest, that only one hundred pounds in gold were in the safe, so I
+must have committed a brutal murder needlessly."
+
+"I never said that you murdered my father," cried Bella despairingly.
+
+"You inferred as much," he retorted cuttingly; "also that I robbed----"
+
+"No, no, no!" she cried vehemently, now thoroughly believing him to be
+completely innocent, and trying woman-like to recover her position.
+"But, Cyril, listen to me, and you will see that as things look I was
+justified----"
+
+"Nothing can justify your believing me to be guilty of a double crime."
+
+Bella bowed her proud head. "I can see that now," she said humbly.
+
+"You should have seen it before," he replied harshly.
+
+She raised her head, and looked at him indignantly, bringing into play
+the powerful weapon of sex. "You give me no opportunity of defending
+myself," she said, in the offended tone of a woman wronged.
+
+"I ask your pardon, and give you the opportunity now," he replied
+coldly.
+
+"I saw you enter the house," she repeated somewhat weakly.
+
+"That is impossible," he rejoined briefly.
+
+"Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "What is the use of saying that?
+It was not you, since I firmly believe what you tell me; all the
+same----"
+
+Cyril sprang forward, seized her hands, and looked deep into her eyes
+"You believe me, then?"
+
+"Yes, I do. But if the man was not you, he must have been your double."
+
+"Was he so like me, then?"
+
+"Exactly like you. Don't I tell you, Cyril, that I leaned out of the
+window and spoke to the man. I called him by your name."
+
+"What did he do?"
+
+"He looked up, but making no sign of recognition stepped into the house,
+as the door was not locked. I never believed for one moment that it was
+not you, and resolved to clamber out of the window to be present at the
+interview. Then I drank the drugged tea, and----" she made a gesture of
+despair--"you know the rest."
+
+"How was the man dressed?"
+
+"In a grey suit, just as you wore in the afternoon."
+
+"You saw the face?"
+
+"I saw it very plainly, although the twilight was growing darker at the
+time. But I could have sworn it was your face. Would I have spoken to
+the man had I not believed him to be you?"
+
+"No, and yet"--Cyril stopped, and tugged at his moustache. His face had
+grown pale, and he looked decidedly worried. "The man was of my height?"
+
+"He was like you in every respect. Perhaps if I had seen him in broad
+daylight I might have recognised my mistake unless--oh, Cyril, could it
+have been your ghost?"
+
+"No," said Lister, in a strangled voice, "don't be absurd. I have an
+idea that----" he made for the door. "There's nothing more to say."
+
+"Cyril, will you leave me? Won't you kiss----"
+
+"There's nothing more to say," said Lister, now deadly pale, and walked
+abruptly out of the dim room. Bella fell back in the chair and wept. All
+was over.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE WITCH-WIFE
+
+
+The interview between the engaged lovers had been a strange one, and not
+the least strange part was the termination. Apparently, after hearing
+the description of the mysterious double given by Bella, her lover could
+have explained much--at least, she gathered this from the hints his
+broken conversation gave. After his departure, she sat weeping, until it
+struck her sensible nature how very foolish she was to waste time in
+idle regrets. Whether Cyril felt so mortally offended by her doubts as
+to regard the engagement at an end, she could not say. But after some
+thought she believed that her remarks had given him a clue which he had
+left thus abruptly to follow up. Sooner or later he would return to
+explain, and then all would be well between them.
+
+And in spite of his odd behaviour, she had one great consolation in
+knowing that he was innocent. His denial of guilt had been so strong;
+the _alibi_ he set forth was so easy of proof, and so impossible of
+invention, that she blamed herself sincerely for ever having doubted the
+young man. Nevertheless, considering the weird circumstances, and the
+fact of the likeness of the double--whomsoever he might be--to her
+lover, she could scarcely regard herself as having been foolish. Nine
+people out of ten would have made the same mistake, and would have
+harboured similar doubts. Certainly, seeing that she loved Cyril
+devotedly, she should have been the tenth; but in the hour of trial her
+faith had proved very weak. She tried to remind herself that she had
+never really believed him to be guilty. All the same, recalling the late
+conversation, she had to recognise that her words could have left very
+little doubt in Lister's mind as to the fact that she believed him to be
+a robber and an assassin. Well, if she had, surely she had been severely
+punished, as was only fair.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley returned from the funeral in a very chastened frame of
+mind, and in the company of Henry Vand, whom she had bidden to tea. The
+table was furnished forth with funeral baked meats, after the fashion of
+Hamlet's mother's wedding, and Mr. Vand did full justice to
+them--wonderful justice, considering his apparently delicate
+constitution. He was not very tall, and remarkably handsome, with his
+young, clean-shaven face, his large, blue eyes, and his curly, golden
+hair. His body was well-shaped all save the right foot, which was
+twisted and the leg of which was shorter than the other. Like Talleyrand
+and Lord Byron, the young man was club-footed, but otherwise had a very
+attractive personality. From his delicate fingers, it could be seen that
+he was a musician, and he had an air of refinement astonishing in one of
+his breeding and birth. Bella did not like him much. Not that she had
+any fault to find with him; but his eyes were shallow, like those of a
+bird, and his conversation was dull, to say the least of it. The sole
+way in which he could converse was through his violin, and as he had not
+that with him on this occasion, Bella preferred to remain absent from
+the lavish tea-table. Mrs. Coppersley did not object, as she wanted her
+darling all to herself.
+
+However, Mrs. Coppersley was very severe on her niece for not attending
+the funeral, and had many sweet things to say regarding virtues of the
+deceased which she had just discovered after his death. "He meant well,
+did poor, dear Jabez," sighed Mrs. Coppersley, over a cup of tea; "and
+if he did swear it was his calling that made him profane. Bella!"--her
+niece was standing at the door as she spoke--"to-morrow I'm going up to
+see the lawyer about the property."
+
+"Oh, don't trouble about that," said Bella wearily; "no, thank you, Mr.
+Vand, I don't care to eat. I feel too miserable."
+
+"Not trouble about the property!" cried Mrs. Coppersley, paying no
+attention to the latter part of this speech; "but I do care. Things must
+be settled somehow. I must arrange my future life," and she cast a
+tender glance on the handsome musician. "Your future must be settled
+also."
+
+"I shall look after that," said Bella, not liking her aunt's tone.
+
+"You had better be sharp, then," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a dictatorial
+manner, "for the sooner things are settled the better. I'm not young,
+and"--she cast a second tender glance on her swain, who was eating
+largely--"ah, well, its useless to talk of weddings when funerals are in
+the air. To-morrow evening, Bella, after I have seen the lawyer--and he
+lives in Cade Lane, London--I'll tell you what I have arranged."
+
+Bella looked in astonishment at her aunt, who suddenly seemed to have
+acquired the late captain's tyrannical manner. Apparently Mrs.
+Coppersley forgot--as Bella thought--that she would not inherit the
+solitary farm, and needed to be reminded of the fact that her niece was
+the mistress of Bleacres. In fact, Bella was on the point of saying as
+much, when she remembered that Vand was present. Not being anxious to
+discuss family matters in his presence--even though he was about to
+enter the family as Mrs. Coppersley's husband--she abruptly left the
+room. Mrs. Coppersley poured herself out a second cup of tea, and
+remarked in a high tone of satisfaction, that some people's noses were
+about to be brought to the grindstone.
+
+Bella heard the remark as she put on her hat and walked out of the front
+door. It accentuated her lonely feeling, for she saw plainly now what
+she had long guessed,--that Aunt Rosamund had very little affection for
+her. The late captain also had never cared much for his daughter, and
+now that Cyril had vanished in an enigmatic manner, the poor girl felt
+more wretched than ever. Listlessly she walked down the narrow path as
+far as the boundary channel, and wondered how it would all end. Had she
+been a religious girl she might have sought comfort in prayer, but she
+knew very little about true religion, and did not care for the sort
+preached by Mr. Silas Pence in the Little Bethel at Marshely. As his
+name flashed into her mind, she looked up and saw him standing on the
+opposite side of the channel, so it was apparent--although she knew
+nothing about such things--that some telepathic communication had made
+her think of him. The preacher was in his usual dismal garb, and had
+accentuated the same by wearing black gloves and a black tie in place of
+his usual white one. Patience on a monument might have been taken as a
+type of Mr. Pence on this occasion, but he was not smiling on grief in
+the person of Miss Huxham. In fact he did not smile at all, being
+shocked to see her out of doors.
+
+"Why are you not weeping in your chamber?" reproved Silas, in his most
+clerical manner; "the loss of so good a father----"
+
+"You have doubtless said all you had to say on that subject at the
+funeral, Mr. Pence," retorted Bella, whose nerves were worn thin with
+worry; "spare me a repetition of such stale remarks."
+
+It was a horribly rude speech, as she well knew. But Pence had a way of
+irritating her beyond all endurance, and the mere sight of him was
+sufficient to set her teeth on edge for the day. It was intolerable that
+he should intrude on her privacy now, when she particularly wished to be
+alone. She intimated as much by turning away with a displeased air, and
+walked for a short distance along the bank path leading to Mrs. Tunks'
+hut. But Silas, absolutely ignorant of the feminine nature, and entirely
+devoid of diplomacy, persisted in thrusting his company upon her. Bella
+turned sharply, when she heard Silas breathing hard behind her, and
+spoke with marked indignation.
+
+"I wish to be alone, if you please," she declared, flushing.
+
+"Ah, no; ah, no," remonstrated Pence, stupidly. "Allow me to comfort
+you."
+
+"You cannot," she retorted, marvelling at his density.
+
+"Allow me to try. I was on the point of calling at the house to----"
+
+Bella interrupted him cruelly. "You can call there still, Mr. Pence, and
+my aunt will be glad to see you. She has Mr. Vand to tea, so you will
+find yourself in congenial company."
+
+"Your company is congenial enough for me."
+
+"That is very flattering, but I prefer to be alone."
+
+Silas, however, declined to be shaken off, and his reproachful looks so
+exasperated Bella that she felt inclined to thrust him into the water.
+And his speech was even more irritating than his manner. "Let me soothe
+you, my dear, broken-hearted sister," he pleaded in a sheep-like bleat.
+
+"I don't want soothing. I am not broken-hearted, and I am not your
+sister."
+
+Pence sighed. "This is very, very painful."
+
+"It is," Bella admitted readily, "to me. Surely you are man enough, Mr.
+Pence, to take a plain telling if you won't accept a hint. I want you to
+leave me at once, as I am not disposed to talk."
+
+"If I had my way I would never, never leave you again."
+
+"Perhaps; but, so far as I am concerned, you will not get your way."
+
+"Why do you dislike me, Miss Huxham?"
+
+"I neither like nor dislike you," she retorted, suppressing a violent
+inclination to scream, so annoying was this persecution. "You are
+nothing to me."
+
+"I want to be something. I wish you to be my sealed fountain. Your late
+lamented father desired you to be my spouse."
+
+"I am aware of that, Mr. Pence. But perhaps you will remember that I
+refused to marry you, the other day."
+
+"You broke my heart then."
+
+"Go and mend it then," cried Bella, furiously angry, and only too
+anxious to drive him away by behaving with aggressive rudeness.
+
+"You alone can mend it." Pence dropped on his knees. "Oh, I implore you
+to mend it, my Hephzibah! You are to me a Rose of Sharon, a Lily of the
+Vale."
+
+"Get up, sir, and don't make a fool of yourself."
+
+"Oh, angel of my life, listen to me. Lately I was poor in this world's
+goods, but now I have gold. Marry me, and let us fly to far lands,
+and----"
+
+"I thought you were desperately poor," said Bella, suspiciously; "where
+did you get the money?"
+
+"An aged and God-fearing Christian aunt left it to me," said Pence,
+dropping his eyes. "It is a small sum, but----"
+
+"One hundred pounds in gold, perhaps?"
+
+Pence rose, as though moved by springs, and his thin white cheeks
+flushed a deep scarlet. "What do you mean?"
+
+Bella could not have told herself what she meant at the moment. But it
+had suddenly occurred to her to try and rid herself of this burr by
+hinting that he had something to do with the robbery, if not with the
+murder. Under ordinary circumstances she would never have ventured to do
+this, being a kind-hearted girl; but Pence exasperated her so greatly
+that she was, on the impulse of the moment, prepared to go to any length
+to see the last of him. "I mean," she said, in reply to his last
+question, "that my father had one hundred pounds in gold in his safe."
+
+"You accuse me of----"
+
+"I accuse you of nothing," cried Bella, cutting him short and flaming up
+into a royal rage. "I am tired of your company and of your silly talk. I
+only wish that Mr. Lister would come along and throw you into the
+channel."
+
+The red faded from Pence's face, and he looked wickedly white. His eyes
+flashed with sinister lights. "I dare say you do," he said venomously,
+"but Mr. Lister had better keep out of my way, and out of the way of the
+police."
+
+The girl felt her heart almost stop beating. "Now it is my turn to ask
+you what you mean?" she said slowly and preserving her coolness.
+
+But the preacher saw that she was shaken, and followed up his advantage.
+"I think you had better make terms with me. Accept me as your husband,
+or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"I shall tell the police what I saw," he finished spitefully.
+
+"What did you see?" she asked in a shaking voice.
+
+"On the evening of the murder I came here at a quarter to eight," said
+Silas slowly, his glittering eyes on her pale face. "I wished to adore
+the shrine wherein was my jewel; that is, I desired to gaze on the
+house, beneath whose roof you slept."
+
+"Oh, stop talking like this, and speak plainly," she interrupted
+wearily.
+
+"I shall speak plainly enough now," said the young man calmly. "While
+watching by the entrance through the bushes, on the other side of the
+channel, I was suddenly brushed aside by that Lister person. It was
+growing dark, but I recognised his figure, his insolent face, his lordly
+air of prosperity. He walked up to the house and I turned away, sick at
+heart, knowing that he had gone to see you. When I looked again, on my
+way back to Marshely, he had disappeared. So you see----" He paused.
+
+"I see what?" she questioned nervously.
+
+"That the Lister person must know somewhat of this crime, if, indeed, he
+did not strike the blow himself."
+
+"How can you say that, when you lately intimated that Mr. Lister--if it
+_was_ Mr. Lister, which I doubt--had come to see me?"
+
+"I remember the evidence given by yourself and your aunt at the
+inquest," retorted Pence sharply. "You were locked in your room, and were
+in a drugged sleep. Mrs. Coppersley had gone to my lodgings to deliver
+the note from your late father, which I found on my return. That Lister
+person must have seen your father, and, as they were not on good
+terms--"
+
+"How do you know that they were not?"
+
+"Because your late father hated the very name of Lister, and said that
+he would rather see you dead than married to him. Also in the note left
+at my lodgings, your father said that he had quarrelled seriously with
+this Lister person, and had locked you in your room. Now, if I showed
+that note to the police, and related how the Lister person had brushed
+me aside so that he could cross the channel, he would be arrested."
+
+"No, he would not," said Bella doggedly, but her heart sank.
+
+"Yes, he would. He hated your late father; he was alone in the house
+with him, and I believe that he killed him so that he might marry you."
+
+"As if I would marry any man who murdered my father," said Bella
+angrily. "You are talking a lot of nonsense, Mr. Pence. Mr. Lister was
+in London on that evening, and afterwards went to Paris."
+
+"I don't believe it. Who told you?"
+
+"He told me so himself."
+
+"Naturally he has to make the best of things. But I know the Lister
+person well by sight, and I am prepared to take my oath that he entered
+the Manor-house about eight o'clock on the night of the murder."
+
+"Mr. Lister has a good _alibi_," said Bella, with a carelessness which
+she was far from feeling, and gathering up her skirts to go. "You can
+tell the police what you like, Mr. Pence. I am not afraid for Mr.
+Lister's good name."
+
+"You will make no terms?" demanded Pence, annoyed by her feigned
+coolness.
+
+"No," she said abruptly; "do what you like."
+
+"I'll give you three days to think over the matter," cried Pence as she
+turned away; "if by that time you do not agree to become my wife, I
+shall denounce that Lister person to the police."
+
+Bella took no notice of the threat, but walked swiftly away in the
+direction of Mrs. Tunks' hut. Hearing no footsteps she concluded that
+Mr. Pence had not followed, and a cautious look round revealed him
+crossing the planks on his way home. Bella felt sick with apprehension,
+and when she reached the hut had to lean against the door for support.
+But she had no time to consider matters, for unexpectedly the door
+opened and she fell into the bony arms of Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"I knew you were coming, dearie," croaked the old creature; "the crystal
+told me."
+
+"A glance along the path told you," retorted Bella, recovering her
+balance and entering the hut. "Why do you talk to me of the crystal,
+Mrs. Tunks? You know I don't believe in such things."
+
+"Well I know your blind eyes and stubborn heart, lovey. Only trouble
+will make you see truths, and you ain't had enough yet. There's more
+coming."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Bella, sitting down on a broken-backed chair
+with a sudden sinking of the heart.
+
+"I know, I know," mumbled Mrs. Tunks, squatting on a stool near the
+fire. "Who should know but I, who am of the gentle Romany? Hold your
+peace, dearie and let me think," and she lighted a dingy black clay
+pipe. "Luke ain't here," added Mrs. Tunks, blowing a cloud of smoke, "so
+we've the whole place to ourselves, lovey, and the crystal's ready."
+
+She nodded towards a bright spark of light, and Bella saw a round
+crystal the size of an apple, standing in a cheap china egg-cup. There
+was no light in the bare room, but the ruddy flare of the smouldering
+fire, and what with the semi-darkness, the fumes of Mrs. Tunks' pipe,
+and that bright unwinking spot, Bella felt as though she were being
+hypnotised.
+
+The hut, built of turf, was square, and was divided by a wooden
+partition into two equal parts. One of these parts was again sub-divided
+into two sleeping dens--they could not be called bedrooms--for Mrs.
+Tunks and her grandson. The day apartment, which did for sitting-room,
+dining-room, drawing-room, and general living-room, was small, and
+dirty, and dingy. The ceiling of rough thatch, black with smoke, could
+almost be touched by Bella without rising. The floor was of beaten
+earth, the chimney a wide gaping hollow of turf, and there was one small
+window, usually tightly closed, beside the crazy door. The furniture
+consisted of a deal table, of home manufacture, with its legs sunken in
+the earthen floor, and a few stools together with the broken-backed
+chair on which the visitor sat. There also was a rough wooden dresser,
+on which were ranged a few platters of wood and some china. The whole
+abode was miserable in the extreme, and in wet weather must have been
+extremely uncomfortable. Granny Tunks, as she was usually called, housed
+like an Early Briton or a Saxon serf; but she seemed to be happy enough
+in her den, perhaps because it was better than the rough life of the
+road, which had been her lot in life before she had married a Gorgio.
+
+She was a lean, grim old creature with very bright black eyes and
+plentiful white hair escaping from under a red handkerchief. Her dress
+was of a brown colour, but tagged with bright patches of yellow and blue
+and crimson, and she wore also various coins and beads and charms, which
+kept up a continuous jingle. On the whole Granny Tunks was a picturesque
+figure of the Oriental type, and this, added to her sinister reputation
+as one acquainted with the unseen world, gained her considerable
+respect. The marsh folk, still superstitious in spite of steam and
+electricity, called her "The Wise Woman," but Granny dubbed herself "A
+Witch-Wife," quite like a Norse warrior would have done.
+
+Bella stared at the crystal until she felt quite dreamy, while Granny
+watched her with a bright and cunning eye. Suddenly she rose and took
+the gleaming globe in her skinny hand. "You've put your life-power into
+it," mumbled the witch-wife; "now I'll read what's coming."
+
+"No, no!" cried Bella, suddenly startled into wakefulness. "I don't want
+to know anything, Mrs. Tunks."
+
+Granny took no notice, but peered into the crystal by the red light of
+the fire. "You've trouble yet, before you, dearie," she said in a
+sing-song voice, "but peace in the end. You'll marry the gentleman you
+love, when a black man comes to aid your fortunes."
+
+"A black man! What do you mean?"
+
+"There's no more," said Mrs. Tunks; "the vision has faded. A black man,
+remember."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE COMING OF DURGO
+
+
+The fortnight which followed the funeral of Captain Huxham passed
+quietly enough at the Solitary Farm. Mrs. Coppersley went several times
+to London for the purpose of interviewing her late brother's lawyer, who
+had his office in Cade Lane. She said very little to Bella when she
+returned, and on her part Bella did not ask questions. Had she been more
+versed in worldly wisdom she would have accompanied her aunt to see the
+solicitor for herself, so that she might learn what disposition had been
+made of the property. But Bella was an unsophisticated girl, and
+moreover was so anxiously lamenting the continued absence of Cyril that
+she neglected needful things.
+
+Lister had disappeared from the neighbourhood, and Bella had neither
+seen him again nor had she heard from him. Considering what had taken
+place at their last interview, she was inclined to think that Cyril had
+passed out of her life for ever. But something told her that in spite of
+her unjust accusations he still loved her, and would return. Meantime,
+there was nothing for it but to wait in patience, and to busy herself
+with her ordinary pursuits. These, however, had lost their savour for
+the girl, since the whole of her mind was filled with the image of the
+man she loved.
+
+Pence did not fulfil his threat of informing the police at the end of
+three days. Bella waited in dread for the arrival of Inspector Inglis to
+ask her questions concerning Lister, but the officer never appeared, and
+as the days glided by she began to think that Silas would say nothing.
+With her aunt she went on Sunday to the Little Bethel, and heard him
+preach, but he did not seek a private interview with her. Even when he
+delivered his sermons he sedulously avoided her eye, so she deemed that
+he was ashamed of the wild way in which he had talked. What struck her
+most about the young man was his wan looks. He seemed to be thinner than
+ever, and his cheeks had a more hectic flush, while his eyes glittered
+feverishly, as though he were consumed with an inward fire. But his
+discourses became more and more powerful and were greatly admired by his
+congregation, who liked melodramatic religion. Mrs. Coppersley was
+especially loud in her expression of approval.
+
+"What a gift," she said to Bella, when they returned home on the second
+Sunday through the rapidly-yellowing corn-fields. "He spares no one."
+
+"And that is just what I like least about his sermons," retorted the
+girl. "As a Christian he should be more merciful."
+
+"You don't know anything about it," said Mrs. Coppersley tartly.
+
+"I know what Christ preached," replied Bella quietly; "and Mr. Pence has
+not the spirit of His preaching."
+
+"In what way, pray?"
+
+"Mr. Pence does not do as he would be done by. I wonder how he would
+like to suffer the condemnation which he measures out so freely to other
+people."
+
+"Silas Pence is a good man, and no condemnation is possible where he is
+concerned," cried Mrs. Coppersley fervently, and bounced into the house.
+
+"In that case he should make allowance for those who are not good."
+
+"Not at all," said the elder woman, stating her views uncompromisingly.
+"The good shall go to heaven, and the wicked to hell: that's Scripture."
+
+"As translated by man," finished Bella neatly; "but the Sermon on the
+Mount, Aunt Rosamund----"
+
+"Bella, you are irreligious," interrupted the lady, removing her hat and
+placing it on the kitchen-table. "I won't have freethinkers in my
+house."
+
+Bella raised her finely-marked eye-brows. "Your house?"
+
+"Yes," almost shouted Mrs. Coppersley violently, for she felt somewhat
+nervous as to what she was about to say, "my house. I didn't tell you
+before, as I have a kind heart, but it is time we understood one
+another. To-night I shall explain myself, so that you may understand
+your position."
+
+"You shall explain yourself now," said Bella, pale but determined.
+
+"I have no time," said her aunt brusquely; "Henry is coming to dinner."
+
+"I don't care if Mr. Vand is coming to dinner twenty times over," said
+Bella, her eyes growing hard with anger. "You have said so much that you
+must say all, Aunt Rosamund."
+
+"Don't bully and bounce me, miss."
+
+"I shall act exactly as I please, and it is my pleasure that you would
+explain what you mean."
+
+"I have to lay the cloth and see to the dinner. You know that Jane never
+can cook to Henry's liking. I daresay the meat is burnt and the----"
+Mrs. Coppersley was about to pass into the scullery where the one small
+servant, over whom she tyrannised, slaved at the mid-day meal, when
+Bella caught her by the wrist. "How dare you, Bella?" cried the stout
+woman.
+
+"Come into the drawing-room, out of Jane's hearing," whispered Bella
+fiercely. "I shall not wait another minute for an explanation. This
+house is either mine or yours."
+
+"Very well," cried Mrs. Coppersley, bouncing towards the kitchen door,
+"If you will have it, you shall have it. I have tried to spare you,
+but----"
+
+"Go on to the drawing-room, please," interrupted Bella imperiously, as
+she saw the small servant peeping round the corner; "there is no need
+for us to discuss private matters in public."
+
+"The whole parish shall soon know what I am about to say," snapped Mrs.
+Coppersley, and rolled towards the drawing-room.
+
+"Rolled" is precisely the word to use in connection with Mrs.
+Coppersley's way of walking, for she was an extremely stout, well-fed
+woman, large-limbed and clumsy. Her round, chubby face was rosy and her
+eyes were as black as her hair. She did not look uncomely, but there was
+something coarse and plebeian in her appearance. Although she was in
+mourning for her late brother she could not altogether restrain her
+flamboyant taste, and therefore wore a red feather in the hat she had
+left in the kitchen, and yellow gloves, which she was now impatiently
+removing.
+
+Outside it was extremely warm and brilliant with sunshine, but in the
+vast drawing-room the air was pleasantly cool and agreeable. The blinds
+being blue, only a faint light came through them since they were down,
+and the cerulean atmosphere was almost religious in its feeling. Bella,
+ever sensitive to the unseen, in spite of her ignorance of psychic
+phenomenon felt the grave influence, but her aunt, being of a coarser
+fibre, bounced red-faced and hot into the room, openly cross at having
+been summoned to what was likely to prove a disagreeable interview.
+
+"Henry will be here shortly," she said pettishly, "and he doesn't like
+to be kept waiting for his meals."
+
+"On this occasion he must wait," said Bella dryly, "it will do him
+good."
+
+"Don't speak of Henry in that tone, miss; you know he is the most
+amiable man in the world."
+
+"Your speech about his impatience for dinner sounds like it. However, we
+need converse only for a few minutes. I understood you to say that this
+house is yours, Aunt Rosamund."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley flopped down into one of the emerald arm-chairs and
+placed her pudgy hands on her stout knees. "It is," she said, glancing
+round the vari-coloured room with great pride. "The house is mine and
+the farm is mine, and Jabez's income of five hundred a year, well
+invested, is mine."
+
+Bella grew pale. Mrs. Coppersley spoke with such conviction that she
+believed her to be telling the truth. "And what is left to me?" she
+demanded in a low tone, for the shock took away her breath.
+
+"Your aunt's love," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a matter-of-fact way.
+"Jabez asked me to look after you; and so long as you behave yourself I
+shall do so."
+
+Bella passed over this petty speech. "Do you mean to say that my father
+has left everything to you?" she asked pointedly.
+
+"Everything," assented Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of triumph. "Jabez
+wasn't so rich as folk thought him, and although he had enough invested
+to give him five hundred a year, he had little ready cash. When my late
+husband died he left me a good sum. Jabez borrowed this and added it to
+his own, so that he might buy Bleacres. I agreed, but only on condition
+that Jabez should leave me the whole property when he died. I saw that
+the will was made, and Mr. Timson, the Cade Lane lawyer, is now proving
+it. When probate is obtained, my dear," ended Mrs. Coppersley amiably,
+"I shall marry Henry and will be happy for evermore."
+
+"What about me?" gasped Bella, utterly overwhelmed.
+
+"You can stay here until you marry," said Mrs. Coppersley coldly, "as I
+am a Christian woman, and wish to obey Jabez's request. He left you to
+me as a legacy, so I will look after you; only behave yourself."
+
+"Do I ever do anything else?" asked Bella bitterly.
+
+"Oh, dear me, yes," returned her aunt complacently. "You run after men."
+
+Bella rose with a flushed cheek. "That is a lie."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley rose, also in a violent rage and quite glad to vent her
+petty spite on one who could not retaliate. "Oh, I'm a liar, am I?" she
+said shrilly. "You call me a liar when I am only keeping you out of
+charity----"
+
+"Stop!" Bella flung up her hand and spoke firmly. "You are not doing
+that, Aunt Rosamund. In one way or another you have persuaded my father
+into leaving you what is rightfully mine. But I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and read the will; you shall not have it your own way altogether."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley snapped her large finger and thumb. "Go and see the
+will, by all means," she scoffed in a coarse voice; "you won't find any
+flaw in it, as I was careful that it should be properly drawn up. I have
+a perfect right to the farm, as my money helped to buy it."
+
+"So be it. Keep the farm, but give me the income. That, at least, you
+have no right to retain."
+
+"I have the right of possession, which is nine points of the law, miss,"
+said Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the will is plain enough. Jabez did
+right to leave the money to me, and not to a chit of a girl like you,
+who would waste your father's hard-earned money on that wastrel from
+London."
+
+"Of whom are you talking?"
+
+"Don't pretend ignorance, miss, for I won't have it. I mean Mr. Lister,
+as he calls himself, though I daresay he is no better than he should
+be."
+
+"You have no right to say that."
+
+"I'll say what I like and do what I like. Remember I am mistress; and as
+you depend entirely on me, miss, I order you to give up all idea of this
+Lister scamp and marry Silas Pence, who is----"
+
+"I shall certainly not marry Silas Pence, or anyone but Cyril," said
+Bella in icy tones. "You have no right to interfere in----"
+
+Mrs. Coppersley stamped and interrupted in her turn. "No right! no
+right!" she bellowed furiously. "I have every right. This house is mine,
+and the food you eat is mine. If I turned you out you would have to
+starve, for I am certain that your fine lover would have nothing to do
+with you. He's a bad man; your father said so."
+
+"My father knew nothing of Mr. Lister."
+
+"He knew that he was bad; he said as much. Why"--Mrs. Coppersley
+pointed a fat finger towards the round table in the centre of the
+room--"there's a photograph of him, and in a silver frame, too. What
+extravagance. How dare you spend my money on silver frames?"
+
+She dashed forward to seize the photograph of Cyril, which Bella had
+brought down from her bedroom and had left unthinkingly on the table.
+Doubtless Mrs. Coppersley would have destroyed the portrait, but that
+Bella secured it before the good lady could reach the table. "Mr. Lister
+gave me this," said Bella, putting it behind her back; "frame and all;
+it is mine."
+
+"And you dare to bring into the house the picture of a wicked profligate
+whom your father hated," roared Mrs. Coppersley, her red face shining
+with perspiration and her little eyes flashing with wrath.
+
+"My father being so good himself," said Bella ironically, and feeling
+quite cool. "Mr. Lister is not a profligate, Aunt Rosamund, and you are
+a bad woman!"
+
+Mrs. Coppersley gasped like a dying dolphin. "Me a bad woman!" she
+cried, puffing out her cheeks ludicrously; "me, when Henry says that I
+am the best woman in the world. And I'd have you know, Bella, that I'm a
+lady and no woman, miss--so there."
+
+The girl, in spite of her grief and dismay, laughed right out. "Even a
+lady must be a woman," she observed sarcastically.
+
+"Leave my house! leave my house," panted Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"No. I shall remain here until I know if the will is correct. I shall
+stay here, as I say, and shall receive polite treatment. If I do not, I
+shall dispute the will, and make things unpleasant."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley snapped her fingers. "That for all the harm you can do,"
+she said coarsely. "The will stands good in law. I have made sure of
+that by consulting Mr. Timson, who drew it up. You can stay here for a
+week; at the end of that time you pack up and go."
+
+"Where to, Aunt Rosamund?"
+
+"That's your look out, miss. But you don't stay here to spoil my
+honeymoon with my darling Henry."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. It really was not worth while losing her
+temper with a person whose methods were so crude. The more enraged Mrs.
+Coppersley became, the cooler Bella felt. "Do you know what you are,
+Aunt Rosamund?" she remarked coolly. "You are a bully, and a petty
+tyrant. While my father was alive you cringed to him because you were
+afraid. Now that you think you have the whip hand of me, you vent your
+spite on one whom you think cannot retaliate. If I had the money, you
+would cringe to me; as you have it, you take every advantage of your
+position. But it won't do, Aunt Rosamund, for I am not the girl to
+submit to your insults. I shall stop here so long as it pleases me to
+stop, and if you make yourself disagreeable I shall know what to do."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley's face grew slowly white, and her mouth opened and shut
+like a cod-fish. Had Bella wept, she would have gone on bullying
+triumphantly, but this cool, calm, scornful demeanour frightened her. At
+heart, like all bullies, she was a coward, and knew well that if it were
+known how she had ousted Bella from her rightful inheritance, that she
+would be unpopular. As Mrs. Coppersley liked to be popular, and hoped,
+by means of her marriage with Vand, her wrongfully obtained income, and
+her possession of Bleacres, to be the great lady of the neighbourhood,
+she did not wish to drive Bella to extremes. She therefore wiped her
+face, and hedged.
+
+"You mustn't be angry with me Bella," she said in quieter tones, "I wish
+you well, my girl."
+
+"You wish me just as much as suits yourself," retorted Bella coolly; "so
+far you have had everything your own way. Now I mean to look into things
+for myself. You can go now, and entertain your darling Henry. I shall
+not come to dinner. Send up Jane with some food to my bedroom."
+
+"I shall do nothing of the sort," protested Mrs. Coppersley feebly, for
+her late rage had exhausted her, and she did not feel equal to fighting
+this pale, steady-eyed girl.
+
+"I have told you what to do; so go and do it!" said Bella, without
+raising her voice, and looked Mrs. Coppersley squarely in the eyes.
+
+The mistress of Bleacres tried to face down the gaze, but failed, and
+thoroughly cowed and beaten, in spite of her better position, she slowly
+retreated, muttering to herself a vengeance which she was unable to
+fulfil.
+
+Left alone, Bella gave way. Pride had kept her up during the quarrel
+with her aunt, but now, secure from observation, she broke down and
+wept. Never before had she felt so lonely or so helpless. Cyril was
+away, and she could not confide in him, for even if he had been present
+the terms on which they had parted forbade confidences. There was Dora
+Ankers, the school-mistress certainly--a good friend, but a bad adviser,
+as she knew very little of the world. And there was no one else who
+could help her in the dilemma in which she was placed. She had no home,
+no friends, and--on the face of it--no lover. It was a terrible position
+for a girl who hitherto had never met with serious trouble.
+
+In spite of the drawn-down blinds and the cool atmosphere of the room,
+Bella could scarcely breathe, so she moved to a side window, drew up the
+blind, and lifted the lower sash. Outside, the brilliance of the
+sunshine was almost blinding, and through the quivering heads, across
+the still, stiff stalks of the corn, for there was no wind, she could
+see the gaudy red of the scarecrow coat. The mere glint of the violent
+hue made her head ache, and she returned to the middle of the room to
+walk up and down wearily thinking of what was best to be done in the
+circumstances in which she found herself. The photograph of Cyril in its
+silver frame she replaced on the table. The much-loved face smiled
+encouragingly on her. At least, in her over-wrought state she thought
+so, and the thought aided her to beat down the many fears which assailed
+her.
+
+While musingly walking the room, she became aware of a slight noise, and
+turned abruptly towards the window to see a black face grinning at her,
+with very white teeth. At once her thoughts reverted to the prophecy of
+Granny Tunks, and she felt a sudden thrill of dread as she saw that a
+black man actually had come to the Manor-house. For one moment, the
+negro and the fair, young girl looked steadfastly at one another, she
+filled with nervous fear, and he, curiously observant. After an almost
+imperceptible pause--which seemed hours to Bella--the man leaped through
+the window, before she could regain her voice to forbid his entrance.
+
+"Where is my master?" he asked, in guttural tones, but in fairly good
+English.
+
+Bella did not immediately reply, as her nerves fairly thrilled with the
+weird realisation of what the witch-wife had seen in the crystal, and
+even now she had not her voice under command. The negro was tall, bulky,
+and powerfully framed, coal-black from head to foot, with tightly curled
+hair and sharp, white teeth like those of a dog. Bella had never seen so
+huge and strong a man, but in spite of his formidable appearance, his
+dark eyes had a kindly look in their depths, and his movements were
+extremely gentle. Apparently his bark was worse than his bite, though
+his uncivilised looks were enough to awe the boldest. Plainly but
+roughly dressed in an old tweed suit, with brown shoes and a bowler hat,
+he was not noticeable, save for his stature and enormous virility. The
+sensation he produced on the girl was overpowering, yet it was not
+entirely one of fear. In spite of his cannibal looks and unexpected
+entrance, and imperious demand, she felt perfectly safe.
+
+"I am Durgo!" explained the negro, annoyed by her silence, as was
+apparent from the frown which wrinkled his eye-brows. "Where is my
+master?"
+
+"I don't know where your master is," she replied, finding her tongue
+with some difficulty. "I do not know who your master is."
+
+"My master," said the negro, "is my master. He came here two weeks and
+some days ago, more or less. I have come to find him. Where is he?"
+
+"How can I tell you when I do not even know his name?" asked Bella
+sharply.
+
+"His name is----" Durgo was about to satisfy her curiosity, when he
+caught sight of the photograph in the silver frame, which still stood on
+the table. With a guttural cry of delight, he caught this up in his huge
+hands. "Oh, my master! my master!" he gurgled, in an ecstasy of delight.
+
+Bella stepped back a pace with a scared look. "Mr. Lister your master?"
+
+Durgo nodded, and coolly slipped the photograph, frame and all, into the
+breast pocket of his tweed coat. "He is here! I shall find him," he
+remarked. "Did my master see Captain Huxham?"
+
+"Yes," she replied mechanically.
+
+"Did my master and Captain Huxham quarrel?"
+
+"Yes," she replied again, and still mechanically.
+
+"And did my master get what he wanted?" demanded the negro, rolling his
+eyes.
+
+"I don't know what Mr. Lister wanted," said Bella faintly; "you must
+explain yourself, and----"
+
+"I explain nothing until I see my master," was Durgo's reply. "Perhaps
+Captain Huxham knows where my master is?"
+
+"Captain Huxham is dead," she gasped.
+
+Durgo shut his strong white teeth with a click. "Dead!" he repeated.
+"Ah--aha--aha; Captain Huxham is dead. Then my master----"
+
+"No," cried Bella, covering her eyes. "I don't believe that Cyril killed
+my father--I don't believe it."
+
+"Cyril! father!" repeated Durgo, looking at her curiously. "I must learn
+if----" He broke off suddenly and moved noiselessly to the window. Bella
+stretched a helpless hand to stay him, but, lightly vaulting out of
+doors, he disappeared in a moment. She rushed to the window and saw him
+running down the path towards the boundary channel. There was no chance
+of catching him up, as she saw well, and therefore drew back.
+
+"The crystal! the crystal!" she muttered to herself, shivering. "Granny
+must know what it all means. I must see Granny, and ask about the
+crystal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A LOVERS' MEETING
+
+
+Having made up her mind to seek an explanation from Mrs. Tunks regarding
+the vision of the negro in the crystal--that is, if the old woman really
+had beheld the same--Bella lost no time in executing her purpose. In two
+or three minutes she hastily reassumed her hat, cloak, and gloves, which
+she had removed while conversing with Mrs. Coppersley. Then taking her
+sunshade, she left the Manor-house by the front door. In the dining-room
+she could hear the refined tones of Vand and the coarse voice of Mrs.
+Coppersley, as they laughed and chattered in the most amiable manner.
+Evidently the pair had quite forgotten the recent tragedy, which had
+invested Bleacres with so sinister a reputation. With a nervous
+shiver--for the merriment seemed to be singularly ill-timed--Bella
+closed the door softly, and walked down the corn-path. Glancing right
+and left, and straight ahead, she could see nothing of the black man,
+who had appeared and disappeared so mysteriously. Like the witches in
+"Macbeth," he had made himself into thin air, and had vanished.
+
+Bella felt remarkably uneasy, and on the face of it had great cause to
+be so. Apparently, and she had not the least doubt of this, Durgo was
+Cyril's servant, who came in search of him. She rather wondered that her
+lover should have so uncivilised an attendant, and resolved that if they
+married she would endeavour to get him to dispense with the services of
+the man. But what struck her most, were the questions of Durgo. He
+evidently expected Cyril to meet Huxham and to have a quarrel. Also the
+stated time--of two weeks and some days--corresponded with the midnight
+visit of Cyril to the Manor-house. She recollected then that the visit
+was paid, not at midnight, but about eight o'clock, and saw in the
+mistake she had made the perplexity of her bewildered brain. With a
+groan she tried to clear her understanding by swift movement, for she
+felt unable to follow any regular train of thought.
+
+Nevertheless, Durgo's innocent speech re-awakened her old suspicions,
+though she dreaded to recall them. What if, after all, Cyril had been
+the visitor of a fortnight since? In that case, since Huxham had been
+found dead, Cyril must have struck the blow. The horror of the mere
+idea, which placed a barrier between them, made her turn cold, and she
+resolutely put it from her. Cyril was the man she loved; the man in whom
+she had every reason to believe. He had solemnly sworn that he was
+innocent of her father's blood, and if she entertained a grain of
+affection for him she was bound to believe his word, even in the face of
+strong evidence to the contrary. He must be guiltless; he _was_
+guiltless, as she assured herself; his looks and words and bearing
+convinced her of his guiltlessness. In one way or another, the promised
+explanation would solve the difficult problem. But when would that
+explanation be made?
+
+Then, again, Mrs. Tunks must know somewhat of the truth, since she had
+so truly foretold the coming of the negro. Bella, entirely lacking the
+mystical sense, had no belief in visions, and assumed that the old
+woman, for her own ends, had played a comedy, based upon actual fact.
+Taking this view, the girl walked towards the hut of the witch-wife,
+resolute to learn how much Mrs. Tunks knew concerning Cyril's past life.
+Something she must know, else she could not have hinted at the
+appearance of the negro. Bella herself was ignorant that her lover had
+so sinister a servant, but it seemed that Mrs. Tunks was better
+informed. And since the old hag knew so much, she must know more. A few
+questions would doubtless bring forth the information, and then Bella
+felt that she would know how to act. But the position was extremely
+difficult, and the skein of life very tangled.
+
+Thinking in this desultory way, she reached the end of the corn-field,
+and was about to turn along the pathway leading to the hut, when she
+heard her name called anxiously. Looking up, she saw Dora Ankers on the
+hither side of the boundary channel.
+
+"Oh, Bella! I am so glad to see you," sang out the Marshely
+school-mistress volubly. "I really didn't want to go to the Manor and
+meet that horrid aunt of yours. Come with me, dear; he is waiting at my
+cottage."
+
+"Who is waiting?" demanded Bella, greatly surprised by this address.
+
+"Oh, my dear, as if to a girl in love there is any he but the one he in
+the world," said Dora, who was sentimental and impatient.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Mr. Lister----"
+
+"Mr. Lister? Oh, you cruel-hearted girl: do you call him that?"
+
+"I mean Cyril," said Bella hurriedly; "is he----"
+
+"Yes, he is. He won't come to the Manor, and can't very well see you in
+his own rooms, as that nasty-minded Mrs. Block might say things. She is
+such a gossip you know. In despair he came to me, poor dear, so I asked
+him to wait in my sitting-room while I came for you."
+
+Bella drew herself up stiffly. She did not desire to appear too willing
+to obey the summons of her lover. Womanlike, she wished him to say that
+he was in the wrong, so that her pride might be saved. "I am going to
+Mrs. Tunks'."
+
+"What for?" asked Dora, bluntly.
+
+"Never mind," replied Miss Huxham, unwilling to confess that she was
+dealing with uncanny things beyond the veil. "I must go."
+
+Dora tripped lightly across the narrow planks, and slipped her arm
+within that of her friend. "You shall do nothing of the sort, you cold
+thing," she declared. "Poor Mr. Lister is quite broken-hearted by the
+way in which you have treated him."
+
+"Oh!" Bella became stiffer than ever. "Has he said----"
+
+"He has said nothing! he is too much a man to say anything. But I saw
+his poor, pale, peaked face, and----"
+
+"Does he look ill?" Bella was seized with a sudden qualm.
+
+"Ill?" Miss Ankers' gestures and looks became eloquent. "Dear, he is
+dying."
+
+"Oh, Dora!" Miss Huxham kilted up her skirts and fairly ran across the
+planks. "Why didn't you come for me before?"
+
+"You don't seem to be in a hurry to come now," laughed Dora, crossing in
+her turn; "yet the poor, dear fellow is dying--to see you."
+
+"Where has he been all this time?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, dear. He came straight from London last night,
+and went to my cottage this morning to see me. I was in church, so he
+came again in the afternoon, and asked me to help him. Oh, my dear, he
+is handsome, and I felt that I could do anything for him. I wish he had
+made love to me," sighed the romantic school-mistress; "but all he did,
+was to ask me to bring you to my cottage for an interview. So come,
+dear, come, and save the poor darling from an early grave."
+
+Bella needed no urging, for she was genuinely concerned over the news,
+and sped towards Marshely like a fawn, with Miss Ankers at her heels.
+Dora had no difficulty in keeping up, as she was a slim, small, dainty
+woman, more like a fairy than mere flesh and blood. In spite of her age,
+and she confessed to thirty-five, she had a pink-and-white skin, golden
+hair, and clear blue eyes. Dressed as she was, in pale blue, with many
+ribbons and ornaments, she looked like a well-arrayed doll, just out of
+a satin-lined box. But for all her innocent looks, Miss Ankers was a
+stern school-mistress, and during business hours behaved with great
+severity. Out of them, however, she presented herself to the village
+world in her true colours, as a sentimental, airy, sweet-tempered little
+creature, who was everybody's friend and nobody's enemy. Bella was
+always fond of her, but at this moment felt more attached to her than
+ever--as she had every reason to be, seeing that Miss Ankers had given
+up her snug sitting-room for a lovers' meeting, and had actually brought
+that meeting about.
+
+"You're my good angel, Dora," said Bella, kissing her friend, as they
+drew near the cottage, on the outskirts of Marshely.
+
+"Oh, what waste!" remonstrated Dora, opening her china-blue eyes to
+their widest. "What will Mr. Lister say to your throwing away kisses on
+me?"
+
+Bella laughed, for her heart had grown unexpectedly light. She had a
+firm belief that all misunderstandings were about to be cleared up
+between her lover and herself. Also she acknowledged to herself, with
+great and thankful joy, that Cyril, in spite of her misgivings, had
+returned to her. Seeing how she had doubted and accused him, he might
+have departed for ever, and with every reason for such a course. But
+apparently he loved her so devotedly that he was willing to remain and
+explain himself. It was no wonder that Bella's heart leaped for joy,
+since the cloud, which had for so long overshadowed the sunshine of
+love, was about to be dissipated. She almost danced into Ankers' small
+garden.
+
+"Mr. Lister is in the sitting-room dear," said that arch-plotter,
+pushing her companion into the cottage. "You'll find him there. I have
+to go to the church to run over the evening hymns."
+
+Miss Huxham knew that this was a mere excuse, but loved Dora all the
+more for making it. Miss Ankers was much too romantic to mar the meeting
+by presenting herself as an inconvenient third. Therefore she turned
+away laughing, and Bella, anxious to lose no moment of joy, entered the
+small sitting-room with a bright, expectant smile. It died away at the
+sight of Lister's sombre face.
+
+The young man was seated in an arm-chair, with a newspaper lying on his
+knees. But he was not reading, as his eyes were fixed darkly on the door
+through which Bella had just entered. For the instant, he did not appear
+to be aware of her presence; then he rose gravely and bowed. Even in the
+midst of her dismay at this reception, Bella was woman enough to note
+how spruce, and trim, and singularly handsome he looked. Certainly his
+face was grave and pale, but beyond this she could not see the dying
+looks which Dora had so eloquently described. When they came face to
+face an embarrassing silence ensued. Bella was the first to speak.
+
+"Are you not pleased to see me, Cyril?" she faltered.
+
+"I am very pleased," he returned gravely, and pushed forward a chair.
+"Will you not be seated?"
+
+"Not until you explain why you receive me in this way," she declared
+indignantly. "You send for me, and I come at once only to find
+displeased looks."
+
+"Our last interview explains my looks, Bella."
+
+"No, it doesn't," she cried, up in arms at once; "I admitted my fault in
+suspecting you then, and asked your pardon. You left me without a kiss,
+and--and----" She stopped with an angry gesture. "It seems to me that I
+am the one who has the right to be displeased."
+
+"No," said Lister, decidedly. "I love you very dearly, as you know;
+but----"
+
+"How can I tell that you love me dearly?"
+
+"My desire to meet you again shows that I do. Many a man would have left
+you for ever on learning, as I did, your cruel suspicions. You have no
+right to be displeased, as you said a moment since. I am the wronged
+person, for if you really loved me you would believe nothing against
+me."
+
+"I do not; I do not."
+
+"But you did."
+
+"Only for a single moment. Oh!"--Bella uttered a cry of despair--"I am
+only a human being, and I saw you--as I thought--entering the house. I
+knew that on my account you had quarrelled with my father, so what could
+I think but that you had killed him? I don't pretend to be an angel."
+She broke off and sat down, pressing her hands hard together, then
+looked up with feigned self-control. "We discussed all this before," she
+said coldly, "did you invite me here to ask me to defend myself again?"
+
+"No. I asked you here to learn from your own lips that you believe me to
+be guiltless."
+
+"I do. I swear I do." Bella rose in her excitement. "And I ask your
+pardon for my wicked suspicions."
+
+"Bella!" He sprang forward and caught her hands within his own. "Then
+you really and truly love me?"
+
+"If you had gone away," she breathed faintly in his ear, "I should have
+died."
+
+Cyril drew her closely to his breast. "My darling," he whispered,
+smoothing her hair, "I love you too dearly to leave you. I ask your
+pardon for my harsh words. On the face of it, I don't see what you could
+do but suspect me. It was unreasonable for me to ask you to do
+otherwise. That you believe my mere word, in spite of the strong
+evidence against me, shows that you love me as dearly and strongly as I
+love you. So far, all that is right. We trust one another."
+
+"Wholly. Entirely. To the death we trust one another."
+
+"That is well." Cyril sat down in the arm-chair, and drew Bella on to
+his knees. "Unity is strength. With you by my side I am not afraid."
+
+"Then you have been afraid?" she asked softly.
+
+"Of losing your love--yes. But now I am satisfied on that point, there
+is another thing that makes me afraid."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I may be accused of this murder. Other people may have seen me, as you
+saw me, dear."
+
+"Then it _was_ you?" she gasped.
+
+"No, no! I have explained myself. If necessary, I can put forward an
+_alibi_."
+
+"Who was the man then?"
+
+"I can't tell you that." Cyril pushed her away, and rose much agitated.
+
+"Then you know?" Bella stood back from him doubtfully.
+
+"I can't be sure. I think--that is, I fancy--Bella, don't ask me
+anything just now. Later I may be able to explain."
+
+"And you will explain?"
+
+"If it be possible. Remember, I said that I _might_ be able to explain,
+but of this I cannot be certain."
+
+"I do not understand," sighed the girl, seating herself again. "Cyril,
+has this matter anything to do with you?"
+
+"The matter of the murder?"
+
+"Yes. I don't mean to ask if you are guilty, as I know you are not. But
+are you connected in any way with the matter?"
+
+"No," he rejoined promptly, "if I were, I should be an accomplice after
+the fact. All the same----" He paused, looking paler than ever, and his
+face became peaked and haggard. "Don't ask me anything yet," he
+murmured.
+
+"I am willing to trust you, dear," said Bella quietly, "but, as you
+remarked yourself some time ago, other people----"
+
+He interrupted her. "Other people?"
+
+"Yes. Some one else did see you on that evening."
+
+"The person saw my double," corrected Cyril. "I was in London, as I told
+you, and as I can prove. Who is this person?"
+
+"Silas Pence."
+
+"Ah!" Lister's hands clenched. "He hates me because you are to be my
+wife. He will go to the police."
+
+"I don't think so," said Bella slowly. "He threatened to go, but as yet
+he has held his tongue."
+
+"Why, when he hates me so?"
+
+"I think--I think," said Bella slowly, "that Mr. Pence knows more about
+this matter than he chooses to admit."
+
+Cyril uttered an exclamation. "Do you suspect him?"
+
+"Not of the murder," she replied promptly; "he is too weak and timid a
+creature to commit a crime. But I know that he was poor; now he is
+unexpectedly rich, and we are aware," she added with emphasis, "that one
+hundred pounds was stolen from my father's safe on the night of the
+murder."
+
+"But surely you do not connect a harmless man, like Pence, with the
+crime?"
+
+"I say nothing, because I know nothing, Cyril. But if Mr. Pence is
+entirely innocent, why does he not accuse you, whom he hates."
+
+"He has no grounds to go upon, dear."
+
+Bella shook her head. "He thinks that he has," she answered, "as he
+believed it was you he saw when he met your double at the boundary
+channel. Since he would like to see you in trouble, the very fact that
+he delays telling the police shows that his own conscience is not easy."
+
+"It is strange," assented Lister. "However, if he does accuse me, I can
+prove an _alibi_."
+
+"But what about your double?"
+
+The young man turned away abruptly to the window. "I can say nothing on
+that point at present."
+
+"When will you explain?"
+
+"I can't say; sooner or later." Lister, with his hands in his pockets,
+looked out of the window as though to avoid further questioning. This
+behaviour puzzled Bella, as she felt sure that Cyril could tell her much
+if inclined to do so. But it was odd that he should so decline. She
+abruptly reverted to an earlier thought in her mind. "You did not tell
+me that you had a negro servant called Durgo."
+
+Lister wheeled sharply. "I have no servant, negro or otherwise," he said
+in a decisive tone. "Why do you say that?"
+
+Bella, wondering still more, gave him details, which Cyril heard with a
+perplexed frown. He made no comment until she had finished. "You say
+that this man recognised my portrait. In that case I can guess"--he did
+not finish his sentence, but became paler than ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A RECOGNITION
+
+
+Bella found the interviews with Cyril eminently unsatisfactory. It was
+perfectly plain that he entertained strong suspicions regarding the
+unknown person whom she termed his double. But even when questioned
+point-blank he declined to explain himself. Yet if Lister knew of
+someone who resembled him more or less closely he surely could place his
+hand on that someone. When he did so the assassin of Captain Huxham
+would speedily be found. This being the case it was strange that Cyril
+should hesitate, and again and again Bella questioned him bluntly, only
+to find him more determined than ever to keep his own counsel. Under
+these circumstances it was useless to prolong the conversation, and the
+girl left the cottage feeling extremely despondent. It seemed to her
+that the problem would never be solved, in spite of the certainty she
+entertained that Cyril could solve it if he so wished.
+
+Nor did Bella feel any brighter when she returned to the Manor, for Mrs.
+Coppersley chose to take umbrage at her niece's absence. Bella declined
+to say where she had been, and dismissed the matter in a few cold words.
+Not feeling sure of her ground, Mrs. Coppersley retreated for the time
+being, but next day returned to the attack with the evident object of
+making the Manor-house too hot for the girl. Bella was strong enough to
+quell open mutiny on the part of her aunt, but she could not defend
+herself against incessant nagging. Since the death of her brother, Mrs.
+Coppersley had become as bold as hitherto she had been meek, and in many
+skilful ways contrived to make her niece feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
+As Bella had quite enough to bear without being taxed further with these
+petty worries she became restive, and on the third day of hostilities
+demanded what her aunt meant by behaving so aggressively. Mrs.
+Coppersley, better at ambushes than in open warfare, would have shirked
+the battle, but Bella forced the quarrel since it was absolutely
+necessary to bring matters to a head.
+
+"You never leave me alone, Aunt Rosamund," she complained wearily.
+
+"Because you are a drone," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "You eat, yet you
+do not work. And as St. Paul says----"
+
+"I don't wish to hear what St. Paul says, thank you."
+
+"It would be better if you did. I have your good at heart."
+
+"Nothing of the sort; you merely wish to get rid of me."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley grew vividly red, but did not make any denial. "Why
+should I not?" she cried loudly. "You treat me as though I were dirt
+under your feet, miss. Who are you to behave like this, I should like to
+know?"
+
+"I am my father's daughter," said Bella, very distinctly, "who have been
+cheated out of my inheritance."
+
+"I'll make you prove those words," said Mrs. Coppersley, turning from
+scarlet to white. "Go and see Mr. Timson in Cade Lane, and you will find
+everything has been done to make the will legal."
+
+"I am quite sure of that, Aunt Rosamund, as you are too clever a woman
+to risk losing your spoil. But you have cheated me by inducing my father
+to disinherit me in your favour."
+
+"I did not! I did not!" Mrs. Coppersley stamped wrathfully. "Your father
+borrowed money from me to pay for the farm ten years ago. I lent it on
+condition that I inherited Bleacres. I told you this before, and----"
+
+"That will do," interrupted Bella imperiously. "I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and learn for certain if what you have told me is correct. Meantime, as
+it is quite impossible for me to remain in the house with you, I shall
+go and stay with Dora Ankers."
+
+"She won't have you," taunted Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"I have already arranged to live with her until I am married."
+
+"Then you are going to marry that wastrel?"
+
+"I don't know who you mean."
+
+"Mr. Lister, the man who was so hated by your father."
+
+"Whether I marry Mr. Lister or not is my business," said Bella, drily;
+"and so far as I can learn, my father had no reason to hate him. Do you
+know why he did so, Aunt Rosamund?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Coppersley reluctantly, for she would have dearly liked
+to put a spoke in Bella's wheel, as the saying is. "Jabez's life before
+he came here was not known to me. But I am quite sure that it was shady,
+and----"
+
+Bella interrupted again. "Leave the dead alone. You are benefiting by my
+father's work, whatever it might have been, and have no call to abuse
+him."
+
+"I only got my own money back," said Mrs. Coppersley defiantly; "but if
+you leave my house you leave it for ever. I wash my hands of you."
+
+"I am quite content that it should be so," said Bella icily; "but I
+can't leave my home penniless. Give me fifty pounds until such time as I
+can see Mr. Timson and learn how I stand."
+
+"What?" Mrs. Coppersley became shrill in her anger. "Give you money to
+bring lawsuits against me?"
+
+Bella looked at her very directly. "If everything is fair and square, as
+you say," she observed severely, "there is no danger of lawsuits. Come,
+Aunt Rosamund, I wish to leave Bleacres this afternoon. Give me the
+money."
+
+"No!" shouted the older woman, and sat down with folded arms and a
+dogged expression. "You get no money from me."
+
+Bella was perplexed. She could not use violence, and her aunt seemed
+very determined. For the moment she was nonplussed, and scarcely knew
+what to say. But at this moment Henry Vand entered. The conversation had
+taken place in the study, and Vand came into the room from the hall.
+Apparently he had just entered the house. In fact, he explained as much,
+and also confessed calmly that he had listened.
+
+"I heard your voices raised," he said quietly, "and knowing Rosamund's
+violent temper I waited, so that I might interfere on your behalf, Miss
+Huxham."
+
+"I want no interference," said Mrs. Coppersley jealousy. "I can manage
+my own business."
+
+"That may be," said the young man drily, "but you seem to forget that I
+am your husband."
+
+"Husband!" echoed Bella amazed.
+
+"Yes," said Vand; while Mrs. Coppersley--or rather Mrs. Vand--looked
+sullenly at the floor. "We have been married for three months,
+secretly."
+
+"Why secretly?" asked Bella, still wondering at the news.
+
+"That's our business," said her aunt insolently.
+
+"Pardon me, Rosamund," said Vand, who was as polite as his wife was
+rude. "It is only fair that Miss Huxham should understand the position."
+
+"Have it your own way, then," muttered Mrs. Vand, tossing her head,
+"only make her understand that I have had enough of her airs and graces.
+She can clear out of our house as soon as she likes, and leave us to
+ourselves."
+
+"She is willing to do that for fifty pounds," said Vand politely.
+
+"I shan't give her that amount."
+
+"You are quite right, Rosamund; you will give Miss Huxham a cheque for
+one hundred pounds."
+
+"Are you out of your senses?" raged his wife, starting to her feet.
+
+"I don't want so much as that, Mr. Vand," said Bella, pleased to think
+that her new uncle by marriage was taking her part.
+
+"It is a mere question of justice, Miss Huxham. My wife has inherited
+the Solitary Farm, so it is only right that she should recompense you."
+
+"Mind," said Bella, suddenly, and thinking that this might be a bribe,
+"if I find anything wrong when I see Mr. Timson I shall bring an
+action."
+
+"I told you so, Henry," remarked Mrs. Vand triumphantly.
+
+"I have seen the will and the lawyer," said the man quietly, "and
+everything is correct. There is no flaw. With regard to my marriage,
+Miss Huxham, I agreed to a secret ceremony since your late father was
+opposed to my courtship of your aunt. But the time has now come to
+proclaim the marriage, so I have brought my luggage here to-day."
+
+"And that is why my aunt wishes me to leave the house," said Bella, with
+a curling lip.
+
+Vand, who was much the most self-controlled of the trio, looked at her
+very straightly. "You can come or stay as you please," he said gently.
+"I am quite willing that you should remain."
+
+"Oh," cried Mrs. Vand furiously, "so you want her to remain. Perhaps you
+are in love with her; perhaps you would like to----"
+
+"Aunt," interrupted Bella, blushing with annoyance, "how can you talk so
+foolishly. Mr. Vand loves you, or he would not have married you. As for
+me, I am going away to Dora's as soon as you give me the money."
+
+"Not one penny."
+
+Vand gazed steadily at the furious woman. In spite of his club foot he
+was certainly handsome, and looked as refined as his wife looked coarse.
+He must have had good blood in his veins in spite of his lowly birth,
+and, without appearing to do so, managed, on this occasion at least, to
+dominate the more animal nature. Bella neither liked nor disliked the
+cripple, but she could not help admiring the skilful way in which he
+mastered her aunt. Perhaps he magnetised her with his large blue eyes or
+the calmness of his manner may have had a soothing effect. But, whatever
+was the cause, Mrs. Vand winced under his silent gaze and lowered her
+voice, as she consented unexpectedly to do what he suggested. "I shall
+give Bella a cheque for one hundred pounds on condition that she does
+not trouble me again," she grumbled, going to the desk with an
+affectation of generosity.
+
+"You seem to hate me so much that there is no need for me to see you any
+more," said Bella bitterly.
+
+"But I warn you that if the will is not right I shall take steps to
+recover the farm, which I look upon as my property."
+
+"It is not your property, it is mine; and Jabez's income also," said
+Mrs. Vand, looking up from the cheque she was writing, "and if you don't
+promise to leave things alone you shan't have the money."
+
+"I refuse to sell my heritage for a mess of potage," cried Bella,
+impetuously.
+
+"There is no need that you should," interposed Vand gently. "Rosamund,
+sign the cheque."
+
+Mrs. Vand scowled, hesitated, but finally did as she was ordered,
+throwing it on the floor afterwards in silent fury. Her husband picked
+it up and handed it, with a bow, to Bella.
+
+"There you are, Miss Huxham," he said with marked courtesy. "I hope you
+will be happy at Miss Ankers'. So far as I am aware, everything has been
+left to my wife, but later I shall endeavour to make some arrangement
+with Rosamund by which you will be benefited. And I beg of you not to
+leave this house in anger."
+
+"I shall make no arrangement, now or hereafter," cried Mrs. Vand. "Bella
+has received all that she will receive. For my part, I'm glad to see the
+back of her," and with a red face and a scornful look she flounced out
+of the room, much to the girl's relief.
+
+"I wonder why my aunt hates me so?" she asked Vand with a piteous look.
+"I have never done her any harm."
+
+"She only gives way to her temper, Miss Huxham," said the cripple
+soothingly, "and doesn't mean half she says. Don't trouble any more
+about Rosamund. I am your friend. You will shake hands, will you not?"
+
+Bella did not hesitate to take the hand extended to her, as she admitted
+silently that if Vand had not interposed she would not have received the
+money. Besides, her new relative throughout had proved himself to be so
+courteous and thoughtful that she had no reason to mistrust him.
+Howsoever Mrs. Vand had become possessed of the farm and income of the
+late Captain Huxham, her husband was at least innocent. "But I do not
+bind myself to take no steps if necessary to recover Bleacres," Bella
+warned the young man, as she shook his hand. "You understand that?"
+
+"Perfectly; and indeed, if Rosamund has come wrongfully by the estate
+she must surrender it. Still, Miss Huxham, you cannot expect me to doubt
+my own wife, especially as Rosamund has been good enough to marry a
+cripple such as I am."
+
+"I think, without flattery to you," said Bella, walking towards the
+door, "that my aunt has got the best of the bargain," and the last thing
+she saw when throwing a glance over her shoulder was Vand blushing
+crimson at the unusual compliment. But Bella meant what she said, as
+even ease and wealth were hardly purchased by marriage with a furious,
+coarse-natured woman such as Rosamund Vand. The girl wondered how she
+had ever come to have such an aunt; she might have wondered also how she
+ever came to have a parent so common and ruffianly as her late father
+had been.
+
+That same afternoon Bella packed all her belongings and had them carried
+by Tunks to the hither side of the boundary channel. There they were
+placed on a hand-cart and wheeled to Miss Ankers' cottage. Mrs. Vand
+discreetly kept out of the way when Bella departed, or perhaps her
+husband insisted that she should not drive forth the girl with insults,
+as she certainly would have done. At all events she remained invisible,
+and it was Vand alone who said good-bye to the homeless girl. Bella felt
+a pang when she looked back along the narrow path of the corn-fields to
+see a stranger standing in the doorway. She was certain of one
+thing--that Mrs. Vand had found a master, and that for all his quietness
+and polite ways her husband would not allow her to have her own way as
+she had hitherto done. Doubtless her aunt had deemed Vand would be as
+harmless and innocuous as the scarlet-coated scarecrow, of which Bella
+caught a last glimpse; but there was no doubt in the girl's mind as to
+which of the happy pair would rule the house. Mrs. Vand's coarse
+bullying could do very little against the quiet persistence of a polite
+man, who was determined to govern. So far as Bella knew from Huxham, her
+aunt had ruled her first husband with a rod of iron; now she was about
+to be governed in her turn. "And much good may it do her," thought
+Bella, who was much too human to be forgiving.
+
+Dora was delighted that her best friend should board with her, and
+received Miss Huxham with open arms. After tea, the two arranged Bella's
+bedroom to their satisfaction and unpacked her boxes. Then they had a
+talk as to the advisability of going to Cade Lane for the purpose of
+questioning Mr. Timson regarding the will. "You should attend to the
+matter at once, my dear," said Dora, who was extremely practical for all
+her doll-like looks. "Lose no time, for I am certain that your aunt has
+employed some trickery in getting possession of the property."
+
+"I shall consult Cyril first," said Bella wearily, and little more was
+said on that night, as the girl was quite worn out with the events of
+the day.
+
+Next morning Miss Ankers had to teach in school as usual, and Bella was
+left to her own devices. She assisted Dora's small servant to tidy the
+rooms and make the beds, after which she put on her hat and walked into
+the village to make some small purchases. Also--and this was by Dora's
+advice--she saw the manager of the small local bank, and opened an
+account with him by paying in her aunt's cheque for one hundred pounds.
+The manager courteously promised to send the cheque to London, and to
+notify Bella when it was honoured. Miss Huxham was somewhat relieved at
+this promise, as she did not trust her aunt, and knew that she was quite
+capable of stopping the cheque, especially when she had not given it
+with a good grace. But Bella need not have troubled her head; the cheque
+was duly honoured, as Mr. Henry Vand saw to that.
+
+Having dispatched her business, Bella strolled out of the village, and
+found herself on the common. This was a vast expanse overgrown with
+gorse and broom, and with a miniature forest of saplings springing from
+an undergrowth of fern and bracken. Through this fairy wood, as some
+people called it, narrow paths were cut, so that one could wander for
+hours in and out of a kind of natural labyrinth. The saplings were
+scarcely six feet in height, so that an extra tall man could look over
+the green sea of vegetation. Bella loved this place, as she had often
+sauntered therein with Dora, and indeed with Cyril also. The wonderful
+tangle of fern and bracken and many-hued grasses, the brilliant
+colouring of flowers, and the fecund blossoming of the golden broom,
+made the common a home of delight. Bella walked meditatively through the
+cool green paths, and emerged at intervals on to wide, waste spaces
+where the purple heather grew thickly. Butterflies floated through the
+still air, bumble-bees visited the flowers, and the birds sang as in an
+enchanted garden. Bella stopped to hear the silvery carol of an
+invisible lark, for the bird, raining its music lavishly from the sky,
+was quite hidden by the dazzle of sunshine. As she paused, she felt a
+light hand touch her shoulder, and turned with a glad cry.
+
+"Oh, Cyril, how you startled me!" she said, pleased with the unexpected
+encounter. "I am so glad to see you, dear. Have you heard----"
+
+Lister threw himself contentedly on the fragrant heather, and drew Bella
+down by his side. "I have heard, and I am very angry," he said hotly.
+"Dear, what does your aunt mean by treating you in this way?"
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I expect she wants the Manor to herself
+now that she is married. Who told you?"
+
+"Miss Ankers. I met her coming out of school. She told me that you were
+returning to dinner, so I came to fetch you. I guessed that I should
+find you here, and so----" he waved his hand lazily.
+
+"I am glad to see you," said Bella again, "but you look ill, dear."
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "I am worried about this mysterious double
+of mine," he muttered, and lying full length on the burnt grass he
+tilted his hat over his eyes. He did indeed look ill, for his face was
+very pale and lines appeared on his forehead which should not have been
+there at his age. In some extraordinary way he seemed to have aged, as
+it were, in a moment. "I am very much worried," he sighed; "everything
+is going wrong. Now this abominable treatment to which your aunt has
+subjected you to makes things doubly difficult for me."
+
+"In what way?" asked Bella, sitting up and hugging her knees.
+
+"I don't know how to move," explained the young man. "While you were
+safe at Bleacres with your aunt I could wait. But now that you have no
+home, I should like to marry you at once." He sighed again. "But that is
+impossible, dear, owing to circumstances."
+
+"You need not trouble about me," said Bella promptly. "I have got one
+hundred pounds, and I am quite glad to be away from Aunt Rosamund's
+incessant nagging. I can live with Dora and pay my way until such time
+as you can marry me."
+
+"Heaven only knows when I can marry you!" groaned Cyril dismally.
+
+"I can tell you," said Bella, removing the hat from his anxious face in
+order to look into his eyes; "as soon as you are frank with me."
+
+"I have come to be frank with you," said Lister reluctantly.
+
+"It sounds like it."
+
+"My dear"--he sat up to speak more forcibly--"when I am frank you will
+be as unhappy as I am."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean? I scarcely know what I mean--that is, I scarcely dare put my
+thoughts into words. Of course, I may be wrong. I sincerely trust that I
+am wrong. All the same, there is no denying that I have grave grounds
+for my belief."
+
+"What belief?" Bella asked the question in scared tones, as Cyril looked
+so wretched.
+
+He did not reply at once, but moved restlessly about, evidently bracing
+himself to speak plainly. Even when he did open his mouth he was
+evasive. "I have an idea that my double--that is, the man who was
+mistaken by you and Pence for me on that night--might be--oh!"--he
+rested his head between his hands with a groan--"I dare not tell you who
+he might be."
+
+"You have some idea?"
+
+"Yes; I wish I hadn't."
+
+"Is it anyone I know?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Is it----"
+
+"Oh, my dear! don't ask questions which I dare not answer."
+
+"You must answer," said Bella firmly. "I must share your griefs as well
+as sorrows. Tell me everything. Go on, Cyril, tell me quickly!"
+
+"Hush!" Lister started to his feet with an alarmed look. "What's that? I
+swear that I heard a rustling in the underwood. Someone is listening."
+He glanced around anxiously, looking pale and nervous. Bella rose at the
+same time and caught his hand to give him courage, although she could
+not understand what he meant by his words and looks.
+
+But the two had not to wait long. A distant crackling was heard, and in
+a moment or so a tall bulky man stepped from out the underwood.
+
+"Durgo!" breathed Bella, recognising the negro.
+
+He ran towards Cyril and dropped on his knees. "My master!" he cried;
+then leaped up. "You are not Edwin Lister," he growled with widely open
+eyes.
+
+"My father! my father!" groaned Cyril in despair. "I knew it; I was
+certain of it. Now I know the worst," and he sat down to hide his face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CYRIL'S STORY
+
+
+Bella looked from the astonished Durgo to the despairing Lister, and
+wondered what the scene meant. That the matter at issue was serious
+Cyril's demeanour gave her fully to understand. But what the matter
+might be she could not guess, save that it had something to do with this
+mysterious double who had caused all the commotion. The negro appeared
+to be as puzzled as herself, and stared at the seated figure with an
+open mouth, scratching his woolly head meanwhile.
+
+"Not my master, but like my master," he muttered, staring hard, and
+speaking in his usual guttural manner but not in the usual negro
+dialect, so rude and clipped. "If you're not my master, Edwin Lister,"
+he added, addressing himself to the young man, "who are you, sir?"
+
+"Answer him, Cyril," said Bella, seeing that her lover did not speak.
+"Did you ever see this man before?"
+
+Lister looked up, pale and hollow-eyed. "Never," he said briefly.
+
+"Did you ever meet Mr. Lister before?" Bella asked the negro.
+
+"Lister! Lister!" gasped Durgo, retreating a step. "Is this young
+gentleman called Lister?"
+
+"Cyril Lister," said that young man.
+
+"But my master had no son."
+
+"I am his son. Edwin Lister is my father."
+
+"Oh!" A sudden light broke over Bella's face, and she clapped her hands.
+"And your double?"
+
+"Yes," said Cyril in low tones; "now you can guess how afraid I was to
+lay my suspicions before you."
+
+"No," she said boldly. "Why you should be afraid I cannot guess."
+
+Cyril rose slowly, laid two heavy hands on her shoulders and looked
+directly into her eyes. "My dear," he said in a hard voice, "can you not
+understand that this double was my father, who resembled me so closely
+that this man"--he jerked back his head towards the still staring
+negro--"mistook me for him."
+
+"Well," said Bella, inquiringly.
+
+"Well," repeated Lister, impatiently, "You thought that I had committed
+the murder, but now that you know the truth----"
+
+Bella shook herself free and grew pale. "It was your father who struck
+the blow!" she said in a low, horrified tone.
+
+"Yes. And if my father killed your father, how can we marry?"
+
+There was a dead silence, and the unfortunate lovers looked at one
+another with white faces. If Cyril's surmise was true, a barrier had
+indeed been placed between them, and for the moment they saw no chance
+of over-leaping it. Quite oblivious of Durgo, they stared until the
+black man grew impatient of the silence.
+
+"What does this mean?" he growled, looking from one to the other. "I
+come to find my master, Edwin Lister, and he is not here. But I find one
+who calls himself the son of my master, Edwin Lister." He peered into
+Cyril's face. "My master never told me that he had a son, and yet"--he
+looked again--"I believe that you are my master's son."
+
+"Am I so like my father, then?" asked Cyril smiling faintly.
+
+Durgo struck his huge hands together. "The same in every way," he said
+firmly; "figure and face and colour and walk. Even the clothes"--he ran
+his eyes over Cyril's grey suit--"yes, even the clothes."
+
+"Oh!" It was Bella who spoke. "Cyril, do you remember that the grey
+clothes worn by your father on that night aided me to make a mistake?"
+
+Lister nodded. "That was a suit of mine," he said, "made for me. When my
+father came home from Nigeria he had no ready-made clothes, so he
+borrowed that suit until he could get fitted out in civilised garments.
+Well?"
+
+Cyril addressed this last question to Durgo, who had started violently
+when Nigeria was mentioned.
+
+"I am a Nigerian," he said in reply to the inquiry. "I was with your
+father at Ogrude, on the Cross River, for years. I came with him to
+London three months ago; but my master never said that he had a son."
+
+"He had his reasons for keeping silence, no doubt," said Cyril quietly;
+"but I never saw you, Durgo, nor did I hear my father mention you."
+
+"Yet you know my name," said the man suspiciously.
+
+"Only because Miss Huxham mentioned it when you appeared just now."
+
+"And I mentioned it to you before," Bella reminded him. "I told you how
+Durgo entered the Bleacres drawing-room and took your photograph, frame
+and all, from his pocket, and handed it to the girl."
+
+"I thought that it was one of my master, Edwin Lister, taken when he was
+younger," he said simply, "but I see----"
+
+"Yes! yes!" broke in Cyril impatiently. "I know what you see. I am a
+younger edition of my father."
+
+"Yes! yes! yes!" cried Durgo, staring again. "Never did I see two so
+alike."
+
+Bella glanced at the photograph and slipped it into her pocket. Her face
+was pearly white, and she dreaded the full explanation of what was to
+come. "We are still perplexed," she said quietly, and controlling
+herself with great difficulty. "You know nothing of Durgo, and he knows
+nothing of you. I think it will be best for us to sit down and discuss
+the matter quietly."
+
+"I agree with you," said Cyril, dropping down promptly. "Durgo, tell
+your story and then I shall tell mine. When we each know what the other
+knows, we may be able to arrive at some conclusion."
+
+"Regarding the murder," said Bella. "Perhaps," she added hopefully,
+"perhaps your father did not kill mine after all."
+
+"I fear he did," said Cyril heavily. "Remember what was said at the
+inquest about the West African knife with which the crime was committed.
+Nigeria is in West Africa."
+
+"My master had no knife of that sort," said Durgo bluntly.
+
+"Have you a description of the knife," asked Bella.
+
+"I read it in the newspapers," said the negro. "When you told me of your
+father's death, I read the papers."
+
+"You can read."
+
+"I can read and write and do many things," said Durgo quietly. "I have a
+black skin, but my education has not been neglected."
+
+"So I should think from the way in which you speak English."
+
+"The missionaries taught me much, and Edwin Lister taught me the rest."
+
+Cyril frowned. "I notice that you do not say 'Mister' when you speak of
+my father," he said pointedly.
+
+"I am a chief and the son of a chief," said Durgo proudly. "And for love
+of your father, who saved my life, I left my tribe and came with him. I
+called him master as a title of honour because I loved him, so why
+should I not say Edwin Lister?"
+
+Cyril, with the white man's inborn superiority, objected to this
+familiarity, and, but that Durgo's services were necessary to the
+unravelling of the mystery, would have pointed this out. As it was, he
+simply nodded and asked the black man to be more explicit. Durgo sat
+down and complied without any argument. His manners for a negro were
+singularly good.
+
+"There is not much to tell," he said in his guttural tones. "Edwin
+Lister was my friend and a trader in Nigeria, my country. He saved my
+life from a lion and won my gratitude. I helped him with his trading and
+left my tribe to do so. We heard of a treasure in the wilds of my
+country, and wished to fit out an expedition to find that treasure.
+Edwin Lister did, that is, and I was glad to do as he desired. But we
+required money, and it could not be had. Edwin Lister then thought of an
+old friend of his, Captain Huxham, who had also been in Nigeria----"
+
+"My father!" cried Bella, startled.
+
+"Yes, missy," said Durgo, bending his head towards her with grave
+respect. "He was well known in Nigeria many years ago, as he had a river
+steamer there. Edwin Lister then came to London with me, and afterwards
+came to see Captain Huxham here. That was some weeks ago, and he
+promised me to return. As he did not, I came down and then heard of the
+murder of Captain Huxham. But where is my master, Edwin Lister?" and
+Durgo looked from one to the other.
+
+"Have you not seen him since?" asked Cyril anxiously.
+
+"No." Durgo shook his head profoundly.
+
+"What do you think has become of him?" asked Cyril, still white.
+
+Durgo reflected. "I think," he said gravely, "that Edwin Lister killed
+Captain Huxham and ran away. Soon he will write to me and I can join
+him. Then we can return to Nigeria and hunt for the treasure."
+
+"But why should Mr. Lister kill my father?" asked Bella.
+
+"He wanted money," said Durgo simply. "If Captain Huxham would not give
+the money, Edwin Lister would kill him. It is quite simple. But I wish,"
+added the negro wisely, "that my master had let me kill Captain Huxham."
+
+"Would you have done so?" cried Bella, horrified.
+
+Durgo looked up in surprise. "Oh, yes, if Edwin Lister had wished it."
+
+Cyril and the girl looked at one another. Durgo was still a savage, in
+spite of the veneer of education and civilisation, which the
+missionaries had given him. He would have killed Huxham as easily as he
+would have killed a fly. Perhaps also Edwin Lister had become
+de-civilised, and had acted in the same way.
+
+"But what has become of my father?" asked Cyril.
+
+"You do not know?" inquired Durgo politely.
+
+Cyril shook his head. "I do not know," he said gloomily, "unless, as you
+say, he murdered Huxham to get money, and then ran away into hiding. He
+may be on the Continent--in Paris."
+
+"In that case, I shall hear from him soon," said Durgo, rising. "When I
+do, I shall let you know."
+
+"Come back," said Cyril, in an even tone, as Durgo was about to stalk
+away, "it is necessary for me to have your assistance."
+
+"In what?" asked Durgo, looking over his huge shoulder.
+
+"In finding my father."
+
+"But if he is in Paris, I can go there."
+
+"Have you the money?"
+
+"I have plenty of money," said the negro with gravity. "I have my own
+money, so it is easy for me to search for my master."
+
+"He may not be in Paris," said Cyril hastily; "that is only a guess on
+my part. Before searching for him over there, it will be best for you to
+assist me in looking for him in this district. He may be in hiding."
+
+Durgo pondered, then returned to lie full-length on the grass. "I think
+that my master would have run further away after killing Captain
+Huxham," he said reflectively; "he is very cunning, is Edwin Lister.
+And, of course, he would have the money."
+
+"What money?" asked Bella impatiently.
+
+"The money for which he killed Captain Huxham."
+
+"The sum stolen was only worth a trifle: one hundred pounds is the
+amount."
+
+"Oh!" Durgo opened his eyes. "And my master wanted five thousand. It is
+a very difficult expedition right into the centre of Nigeria, and one
+hundred pounds is of no use. I could have lent that amount to Edwin
+Lister myself. Hai!"--he nursed his chin in his hand--"what you say,
+missy, makes me think that my master is waiting here to get the money
+for which he killed Captain Huxham."
+
+"My aunt, Mrs. Rosamund Vand, has both the money and the estate."
+
+"Then Edwin Lister will wait and see her," said Durgo gravely. "I must
+learn where he is hiding," and he half rose again.
+
+Cyril put out one slim hand to prevent him. "Wait for one moment," he
+said quietly, "you must hear what I have to say, and then we can arrange
+what to do. Durgo, you loved my father?"
+
+The negro nodded. "I would rather lose my life than see him dead."
+
+Cyril looked at him curiously. "Strange! I did not think that my father
+was a man to inspire such devotion."
+
+"He saved my life," said Durgo impressively.
+
+"Humph!" murmured Cyril under his breath. "I'll be bound if he did so,
+that he took back the full value of his heroic act."
+
+Bella looked pained. "Cyril, why do you speak in that tone of your
+father?"
+
+"Because I know him better than Durgo," he retorted. "My father is
+a--but that is neither here nor there"--he waved his hand impatiently.
+"Durgo, I am about to speak plainly. I see that you love my father, so I
+don't wish to hurt your feelings. All the same, I must tell you
+something about my father which you will not like."
+
+"Let me hear," said Durgo frowning, "and I can judge. But you are his
+son----"
+
+"And therefore should speak well of him," ended Cyril bitterly. "I wish
+I could, but I have suffered too much at my father's hands to have any
+love for him. However, I shall be as brief as possible."
+
+"And as kind," said Durgo meaningly.
+
+"And as kind as I can be," retorted the young man cynically; "although my
+father will be the first to laugh at the idea of my talking kindly of
+him."
+
+"He loves you," said the negro rebukingly.
+
+"Did he ever tell you that?"
+
+"No. He never mentioned your existence."
+
+"Judge then how he loves me," said Cyril coolly.
+
+"However, in spite of all, Edwin Lister is my father, so I shall speak
+as respectfully of him as I possibly can." He threw away a blade of
+grass he was chewing, and laughed ironically. Bella looked pained.
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! your own father!"
+
+"Quite so, dear. He is my father. I can say no more, and no less. As to
+what I know relative to this mystery, you shall hear."
+
+The sky had clouded over, and the sun no longer shone. The lark was
+silent, and a chill wind seemed to breathe over the golden broom and the
+yellow blossoms of the gorze. Bella shivered, as the change of
+temperature seemed to suit with cruel exactitude the cynical tones of
+her lover. She had never heard him talk in this way before, but then she
+knew very little about him, and absolutely nothing of his past life. Now
+she was about to hear it, and, from the hard expression of his face, she
+judged that the story he had to tell was not a pleasant one. As for
+Durgo, he waited silently, and nothing could be read of his feelings
+from the dark mask of his face. Edwin Lister had saved his life, and no
+matter what was said, Durgo did not intend to change his opinion of his
+master, as the finest man in the wide world.
+
+"My mother died when I was young," said Cyril, after a pause, "and I was
+brought up by a maiden aunt. My father I rarely saw, as he was always
+travelling round the world in search of a fortune which he never seemed
+to find. Sometimes he returned to England, and treated me with careless
+affection, but I saw very little of him. But for my aunt I should have
+been utterly neglected. Bless her! she is dead," and he raised his hat.
+
+"Poor Cyril!" murmured Bella affected by this picture of a dull
+childhood.
+
+"Thank you, dear!" he said, taking her hand. "My aunt did everything for
+me out of her small income, and I don't think my father gave one penny
+towards my education."
+
+"But surely----"
+
+"No, dear!" said Cyril, interrupting her; "my aunt told me, on her
+death-bed, that she had done everything, so you can see that my father
+was only one to me in name."
+
+"He was working to make your fortune in Nigeria," said Durgo quickly.
+
+"So he said when he came home, but I have not seen that fortune yet.
+Well, to continue; my aunt sent me to a public school, and afterwards to
+Oxford. I then became a journalist, and my aunt died, leaving me a
+trifle of money on which to live. My father came to London and borrowed
+that money--the principal of my small income--for one of his wild
+schemes, and I was left without one penny."
+
+"It was your duty to assist your father," said Durgo uneasily.
+
+"'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,'" quoted Cyril, with a side
+glance--"the missionaries have taught you well, Durgo."
+
+"I am a Christian," said the negro proudly.
+
+"So am I, in a way. However, I must get on with my confession. I saw my
+father at various intervals, and meanwhile earned my bread by reporting
+and writing articles, and all the rest of it. My father appeared at
+intervals, like the rolling stone which gathers no moss, and always
+borrowed. I did not grudge him the money, and he always said that he was
+about to make his fortune, which he never did."
+
+"He will make it this time," said Durgo vigorously; "the treasure is
+certainly hidden in the Hinterland of Nigeria, and when we reach it----"
+
+"Yes, when!" scoffed Cyril. "I don't believe in my father's schemes, I
+tell you. The last time he came home was five months ago."
+
+"With me," said Durgo gravely; "but I remained near the docks, and my
+master, Edwin Lister, went to the grand part of the town, coming down to
+see me when he required my services."
+
+Cyril nodded. "That sounds like my father," he said, with a shrug;
+"however, on this occasion he told me that he intended to hunt for
+buried treasure in Nigeria, and wanted money. He did not mention Captain
+Huxham, so I expect that he intended to keep that part of his business
+secret. But"--Cyril hesitated--"well, my father--that is, he--he--never
+mind," he broke off abruptly, "I can't tell you just now. But he wanted
+the sum of one thousand pounds, which I tried to get for him."
+
+"Oh, Cyril! was that the money you mentioned?" asked Bella in dismay.
+
+"Yes. The sum for which you thought I had killed your father," said
+Cyril, nodding; then seeing that she looked pained, he hastily added,
+"Never mind, dear, that is all over, and we understand one another
+thoroughly. I went to Paris, as you know, to get the money. When I
+returned I heard of the murder, and when I called at my father's
+lodgings in the West End could learn nothing of his whereabouts. When
+you mentioned the double, Bella, it was forced on my mind that my father
+must have been that person. But, as I could see no connection between my
+father and Captain Huxham, I refused to believe this. However, from what
+Durgo says, there seems to be no doubt but that my father did come by
+stealth to the Manor on that night, with the idea of getting the loan of
+money. Perhaps he and Captain Huxham quarreled, but it seems clear that
+my father did commit the murder with that sacrificial knife, since it
+came, as he did, from Nigeria."
+
+"I never saw that knife," said Durgo abruptly.
+
+"You did not see many things," said Cyril, rising, for he felt somewhat
+cramped. "My father was probably as secretive with you as he was with
+me. You are well educated, Durgo, and have your wits about you. Ask
+yourself if it is possible for two men to have come, on this particular
+occasion, from Nigeria, and----"
+
+"Two did come," interrupted the negro--"myself and my master."
+
+"Quite so; but if you are innocent, my father must be guilty."
+
+Durgo shrugged his great shoulders. "For myself I think very little of
+killing anyone," said he gruffly, "but you white men think differently,
+so you should not believe your father guilty, unless----"
+
+"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hand and grew pale. "Do you not think that I
+would give the world to believe him innocent? I love Miss Huxham, and
+this murder by my father places a barrier between us. If you knew
+all"--here Cyril broke off hastily, as he remembered that he was
+speaking to a black man. Already he regretted that he had said so much,
+but he had been carried away by the tide of his emotion. "The matter
+stands like this," he said, abruptly changing the subject. "My father
+has killed Captain Huxham, and has disappeared with one hundred pounds."
+
+"But I thought that Mr. Pence----" began Bella, only to be interrupted.
+
+"He is innocent," said Cyril hastily. "On the face of it, he is
+innocent. I go by the evidence of the knife from Nigeria, where Pence
+has never been, and by the fact that you saw my father, whom you mistook
+for me, enter the Manor about the time the crime was committed."
+
+"I dare say you are right," said Bella vaguely, and regretted that she
+had so hastily condemned the preacher. After all, the truth of the
+legacy left by his aunt was not a fiction. "But what will you do now?"
+
+"I ask the same question," remarked Durgo, sharply. "We are no nearer
+the truth than we have been."
+
+Cyril looked in astonishment at the negro who spoke such excellent
+English, and so much to the point. Durgo, undoubtedly, in intellect was
+equal to, if not superior to, many Englishmen, and Lister saw in him a
+helpful coadjutor in solving the mystery. "We must work together to
+learn the whereabouts of my father," he said wearily, passing his hand
+across his forehead. "It will be necessary to get him out of the
+country, if what we believe is correct. But it may be, that my father
+has crossed the Channel."
+
+"If that is so, he will write to me," commented the negro; he paused,
+and then asked abruptly, "If you learn that your father is guilty?"
+
+"I shall do my best to get him away from England. Why do you ask?"
+
+Durgo turned away, after a piercing glance. "I thought, from what you
+hinted, that you would not be sorry to see your father hanged."
+
+"Don't talk rubbish, man," said Lister sharply. "My father is my father,
+when all is said and done. I only trust that we are mistaken, and that
+he is not guilty of this brutal crime."
+
+Durgo shrugged his massive shoulders. "As to that, I care very little.
+From what I have heard of Captain Huxham in my own country, he was not a
+good man. He is better out of the world than in it."
+
+Bella grew crimson. "You speak of my father," she said angrily.
+
+The man bowed politely. "I ask your pardon, missy!" Then he turned to
+Cyril ceremoniously. "I am stopping at 'The Chequers Inn,' at Marshely,"
+he informed him; "so if you will call there we can speak about this
+matter. Women should have nothing to do with such affairs. They are for
+men."
+
+Lister frowned, as he did not approve of the superior way in which the
+negro talked. However, Durgo gave him no chance of making a remark, but
+swung off with a noiseless jungle step. Cyril watched him pass out of
+sight, and confessed that the man puzzled him. In spite of his barbaric
+origin and black skin and rough dress, Durgo spoke and acted like a
+gentleman, though he certainly had been somewhat rude regarding the
+feminine sex. "Yet I like him," commented Cyril half to himself; "he
+seems to be a square chap, and to have brains. He is not the usual
+Christy minstrel of Africa. Humph! After all, I dare say that if you
+scratched him you would find the savage. His devotion to my father does
+him credit. I wonder"--here he was interrupted by a low sob at his
+elbow, and turned to find Bella in tears. "My dearest, what is the
+matter?" he asked in dismay.
+
+"Can you ask?" she moaned despairingly. "If what you think is true, we
+must part for ever."
+
+"Don't look at the worst, but hope for the best," he entreated; "we
+can't be sure that my father is guilty!"
+
+"You contradict yourself," she said, wiping her eyes.
+
+"I wish I could; I am trying to think that my father is innocent. But I
+do not know. My father has been my evil genius all my life."
+
+A thought occurred to Bella. "Why did your father require one thousand
+pounds?"
+
+Cyril looked at her sideways. "I did not like to speak out before
+Durgo," he said hesitatingly, "but the fact is, my father forged a
+cheque for that sum."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MRS. TUNKS' DISCOVERY
+
+
+So far it appeared extremely probable that Edwin Lister was the assassin
+of Captain Huxham. From the evidence of her own eyes, Bella knew that
+Cyril's father had called to see the old sailor, and that she had not
+seen him depart was owing to the fact of the drugging. By putting
+laudanum in the girl's tea Huxham had precipitated his own death, since
+Bella, with her wits about her, might have made a third at the
+interview, and so the blow would not have been struck. Neither Bella nor
+Cyril thought that Edwin Lister had come to the Manor intending to
+murder Huxham, although it certainly seemed strange that the former
+should have carried with him the Nigerian knife with which the crime had
+been committed. But howsoever this particular point might be explained,
+it was probable that the tragedy was the outcome of a sudden quarrel.
+
+Edwin Lister had profited but little by his crime, since the sum of one
+hundred pounds was all that he had been able to find in the safe.
+Certainly many papers had been carried away, but there was nothing to
+show that these were of value, save the fact that they had been thieved.
+If Edwin Lister could only be found, an explanation might be
+forthcoming; but he seemed to have vanished completely. It was not
+improbable that he had walked to Tarhaven, some miles away, to escape on
+a steamer to the Continent; but if this was the case it was strange that
+he had not communicated with his savage friend. Durgo was a man upon
+whom Edwin Lister could rely entirely, setting aside the fact that Durgo
+was needed to guide the expedition into the Hinterland of Nigeria, where
+the treasure was concealed. It was now some weeks since the death and
+burial of the skipper, but as yet Edwin Lister had given no sign of his
+existence. And until he did so, there was no chance of solving the
+mystery.
+
+True to his promise, Cyril called at "The Chequers Inn" to see Durgo,
+and found that the negro was looked upon as a royal guest. The lean
+landlady believed him to be an African prince, on a secret mission to
+England concerning the missionary question. She was right in one way,
+for Durgo undoubtedly was a chief, and the son of a chief; but it was
+questionable if he was the friend of the missionaries. However--as Cyril
+found--he made this excuse for his presence in Marshely, and Mrs. Giles,
+the landlady, a red-hot fanatic, was delighted that her house should be
+so honoured. Also Durgo paid largely for the sitting-room and bedroom
+which he occupied.
+
+Cyril was amazed when he called one evening, to see this same
+sitting-room, as he saw evidence of great luxury in the articles brought
+by the negro to decorate the somewhat bare apartment. The furniture of
+the parlour--as Mrs. Giles called it--was plain and cheap, but there
+were evidences that it was occupied by a wealthy guest. Indian
+coverlets, gorgeously embroidered, adorned the chairs; there were
+splendid wild-beast skins on the floor, and on the side-tables appeared
+several silver vases rudely but skilfully wrought. Cyril noted a bronze
+incense-burner in which pastilles smouldered, several small golden
+images of ugly tribal gods, some beautifully-made spears and war-clubs,
+brightly-hued feathers, curious shells, and photographs of native towns
+and their inhabitants. Why Durgo should travel with such a collection of
+rubbish was not clear; but probably he did so, that he might be
+surrounded by memorials of his sunny country in the land of fogs and
+greyness.
+
+Durgo himself was a surprise, as he received Cyril in a well-made
+smoking suit, and, quite in the conventional manner, offered him
+cigarettes of a good brand and the orthodox whiskey and soda. "Or
+champagne if you prefer it," said Durgo, laying his black hand on the
+old-fashioned bell-rope.
+
+"Coffee for me," said Lister, throwing himself into a comfortable
+arm-chair, and accepting a cigarette. "Do you know, Durgo, that you are
+something of a puzzle to me?"
+
+The negro rang the bell, gave an order for coffee to Mrs. Giles, who
+entered, and when she had retired turned to his guest. "How so?" he
+asked.
+
+"Your very good English, the adornments of this room, your present
+dress--I did not look for such things in a--a----" Cyril hesitated.
+
+"In an African negro," finished Durgo, sitting down, with a grave smile.
+
+"Well, yes. People of your colour," added Cyril, with the covert
+insolence of the white towards the black, "don't usually----"
+
+Durgo raised one large hand. "I know: don't proceed," he said with
+suppressed anger; "you think we are barbarians."
+
+"Well, you are, as a rule."
+
+"I am the exception to this rule." Durgo paused, and his eyes wandered
+to some photographs over the mantel-piece. "I told you that the
+missionaries educated me," he continued, "but if you look at those
+photographs, you might learn who was my real Alma Mater."
+
+"Alma Mater," repeated Cyril, rising to approach the mantel-piece; "why,
+these are University photographs."
+
+"Oxford. I was at Oxford some years ago."
+
+"You?" Cyril looked at the groups of boating-men, cricketers, football
+players, and wondered. He wondered still more at a portrait of Durgo in
+a Master of Arts gown. "You!" said Cyril, completely surprised.
+
+"Yes. Why not? My father was a great chief--a king, as you might say.
+But it was Edwin Lister who first fired my ambition to learn the lore of
+the white men, so that I might civilise my tribe. He induced my father
+to give me much money, and took me to England himself many years ago. I
+was at school, and at Oxford until I took my degree. Then I returned to
+my tribe in Nigeria--in Southern Nigeria--and as my father was dead I
+attempted to teach my countrymen and subjects what I had learned. Your
+father helped me, and it was then that he saved my life when a lion
+attacked me. I could do nothing, however," continued the negro bitterly,
+"as my countrymen were too much under the sway of the fetish priests.
+These raised an outcry against me, and nominating a cousin of mine as
+chief, drove me and your father away. We only escaped death by an
+accident, but I managed to bring some treasure with me, and came with
+your father to England."
+
+"And now I suppose you want to find this treasure you spoke of, and
+regain your chiefdom," said Cyril, interested in this strange story.
+
+Durgo fingered a cigarette carefully, and lighted the same. "There is no
+treasure," he remarked quietly.
+
+"But you said----"
+
+"I know I did, when Miss Huxham was present. Women, as I say, should
+know nothing or hear nothing of these things. To you I speak plainly, as
+you are the son of my master, and so are entitled to my regard and
+trust. I came here with your father," added Durgo slowly, "to get money
+from Huxham, so that we both might buy guns and swords and rifles, to
+re-conquer my tribe."
+
+"But the British Government?"
+
+"Quite so. The Government would not approve, so for that reason I
+remained in rough clothes, in rough lodgings, near the docks; while
+Edwin Lister went to live in the West End. He interested several
+adventurous spirits in our proposed expedition, but money was sadly
+needed, and I had not enough. Thus your father came down to see Captain
+Huxham, and get that which was required. Captain Huxham, whom your
+father had met in Nigeria, owed my father a lot of money, which he did
+not pay. I was only employing Edwin Lister to get back my own."
+
+"I see. But how did my father learn the whereabouts of Captain Huxham?"
+
+"_You_ told him," was the negro's unexpected reply.
+
+"I told him! I don't recollect----"
+
+"Perhaps not, as you spoke hurriedly. But don't you remember that when
+your father one day asked you for money, you said that you wished to
+save all you could, as you desired to marry Miss Huxham. Your father
+questioned you, and learned that she was the daughter of an old sailor.
+It was therefore easy for him to guess that he had found the man for
+whom he was seeking."
+
+"But I did not tell my father where Captain Huxham lived."
+
+Durgo waved his hand, as Mrs. Giles brought in the coffee. "That was
+easy," he remarked, when she left the room, "you were followed here by
+your father. But now that you understand the position, will you work
+with me?"
+
+"I will work with you to learn the truth about this murder."
+
+"I understand," said Durgo shrewdly, "so that you may prove Edwin
+Lister's innocence."
+
+"Yes," said Cyril, accepting the cup of black coffee which his host
+passed to him. "I am hoping to see my father and to learn that he did
+not kill Captain Huxham. If he did, there is no chance of happiness for
+me, as I cannot then marry Miss Huxham."
+
+Durgo stirred his coffee calmly. "No, that is true. I am sorry for you.
+But if such is the case, and your marriage is an impossibility, why not
+come with us on our expedition to the Hinterland of Nigeria? If I win
+back my chiefdom, I can do much for you."
+
+"I don't want to go with my father," said Cyril, turning pale,
+"especially if he has--as I suspect--spoiled my life's happiness. If he
+is innocent, I can then marry Miss Huxham, and will stay at home."
+
+"Quite so. I understand. But my offer is always open to you, if you
+choose to take it. Meanwhile, the first thing to do is to learn what
+Edwin Lister took away with him."
+
+"One hundred pounds."
+
+"Yes, and some papers. I wish to learn what those papers are, as Captain
+Huxham may have made a memorandum of the property he possessed. There
+may be other papers which may cast light on those which were stolen."
+
+"But I don't understand," said Cyril perplexed. "Whatever property
+Captain Huxham possessed went to his sister, now Mrs. Henry Vand."
+
+"The English property," said Durgo with emphasis; then seeing that his
+guest was still puzzled, he laughed in his guttural way. "Never mind. I
+have an idea which may or may not turn out to be correct. I shall know
+when Mrs. Tunks comes here this evening, and then I can explain myself
+fully."
+
+"Mrs. Tunks--Granny Tunks! What has she to do with the matter?"
+
+Durgo smiled in his slow way. "My friend, I have not been idle while in
+Marshley looking for my master Edwin Lister. I wished to search the
+Manor-house for possible papers to reveal that which I desire to know."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I shall tell you when I am sure," said the negro doggedly, "and not
+until then. But it was impossible for me to enter the Manor-house and
+search, as this man Vand is very clever and cunning, and more of a
+watch-dog than his stupid wife. I could have managed her had she been
+unmarried, by posing as a wealthy prince--in fact, I could have cajoled
+her as I have done Mrs. Giles--but her husband is suspicious and sharp.
+I could do nothing. Then I learned that this gipsy woman, Mrs. Tunks, is
+in the habit of charing at the Manor-house. I therefore offered to pay
+her a large sum if she would bring to me certain papers which are hidden
+in a sandal-wood chest, carved with the figures of the gods of my
+tribe."
+
+"How do you know that such a chest exists or is in the Manor-house?"
+
+"After I see Mrs. Tunks I can tell you," said Durgo softly.
+
+"How will Mrs. Tunks know the chest?"
+
+"I have described it to her. The figures of the gods are carved on soft
+white wood, and the lines are filled in with red and blue and yellow
+pigment. The design and the decoration are very noticeable. The work is,
+what you call in English, skrimshanking."
+
+"I thought the word was a military slang one, meaning to shirk work,"
+said Cyril, after a pause.
+
+"Quite so, but I think the word is a nautical one. Sailors carve and
+colour their carvings in the way I mention, and call such work
+skrimshanking. I expect that when a sailor was not at his post the
+excuse made was that he was skrimshanking; hence the slang meaning of
+the word."
+
+"Very interesting from a philological point of view," yawned Lister,
+taking another cigarette; "but had we not better get back to our talk of
+my father's whereabouts?"
+
+"We can do nothing until I know what Edwin Lister took away with him,"
+said Durgo again, "and that I can only learn if Mrs. Tunks brings the
+papers I mentioned this evening." He glanced at the travelling clock on
+the mantel-piece. "Nearly nine; she should be here soon."
+
+"But will she have the papers?"
+
+"Yes. Yesterday she told me that she saw the chest in an attic under a
+pile of rubbish, but had no chance of opening it. To-day she is charing
+at the Manor-house, and will be able to get what I want."
+
+"But if Mrs. Vand catches her?"
+
+"Mrs. Vand won't," was the confident reply. "Granny Tunks is too clever
+to be caught and moreover wants to earn the fifty pounds I promised
+her."
+
+"Great Scott! are you so wealthy as to----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" interrupted Durgo impatiently. "I have much money, but not
+enough for my expedition. Unless indeed Edwin Lister has carried these
+papers, which will show us how to get the money."
+
+"Then my father knew about this chest also?"
+
+"Yes. I expect he looked for it in Captain Huxham's study after the
+crime was committed. Unfortunately it happened, according to Granny
+Tunks, to be in the attic, so he missed it. But Huxham may have had the
+papers in his study."
+
+"And that was why the room was so upset?" asked Lister thoughtfully.
+
+"That was why. After the crime was committed----"
+
+"Great heavens! man," burst out the other irritably, "don't talk as if
+it was certain that my father killed the man."
+
+"If he did not, who did?" demanded Durgo coolly; then, as Cyril was
+markedly silent, he continued, "I think very little of the killing
+myself. If what I believe about the papers I require is correct, Captain
+Huxham deserved his death as a thief and a false friend."
+
+"You speak in riddles," said Lister bewildered.
+
+"Granny Tunks can solve them," replied the negro significantly. "Have
+some more coffee and try these cigars. They are superfine."
+
+Cyril silently accepted this further hospitality, and stared furtively
+at the calm black face of his host. The nose was aquiline and the lips
+extraordinarily thin, so it was apparent that Durgo had Arab blood in
+his veins. Perhaps he was a descendant of those conquering Mohammedans
+who came down like a storm on Central Africa, in the Middle Ages. What
+with Durgo's looks, his educated speech and his air of command, Cyril
+wondered that he had ever taken the negro for an ordinary black. All the
+same he believed that, given the necessary environment, the savagery
+would break out from under the thin veneer of civilisation which the man
+had acquired at Oxford. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch
+a modern man, semi-civilised or wholly civilised, and you find the
+prehistoric animal.
+
+While Cyril was thinking in this manner and watching the black man's
+face through the smoke, he saw Durgo suddenly listen intently, with the
+air of an animal scenting danger. Shortly footsteps were heard in the
+passage without, and the door opened to admit Granny Tunks, who was
+shown in by Mrs. Giles. The toss of the lean landlady's head, and her
+air of disdain, showed that she was by no means pleased with the ragged
+visitor. But a glance from the glossy Romany eye of Mrs. Tunks sent her
+shuddering out of the room. In spite of the religion taught by Silas
+Pence at the Little Bethel chapel, Mrs. Giles was primitive enough to
+believe in the power of the evil eye. And she had some reason to, for
+people who offended Mrs. Tunks invariably underwent a spell of bad luck.
+
+"Here I am, master," said Mrs. Tunks with a cringing air, and Cyril
+started to hear her so address the negro. He was further surprised when
+he saw how commanding were the looks of Durgo.
+
+"Have you got those papers?" asked the negro, extending his large hand.
+
+Granny Tunks had them and said so, but it took her some time to find
+them, so ragged were her garments and so hidden her pocket. She still
+wore the brown dress tagged with parti-coloured ribbons, and her
+plentiful white hair still hung like seaweed from under the dingy red
+handkerchief. Also as usual she jingled with the multiplicity of coins
+which dangled from her neck, her wrists, and from various parts of her
+picturesque dress. In sixty or seventy seconds she managed to find a
+bundle of dusty papers tied up with faded red tape, and passed them to
+Durgo with ingratiating smiles. "There you are, deary----"
+
+"Master!" snapped the negro, with sudden ferocity.
+
+"Yes, master," stammered the woman, turning slightly pale under her
+brown skin. "I found them in the chest you spoke of. The cat"--she meant
+Mrs. Vand--"didn't see me, master, so no one knows but this gentleman;
+but he won't say a word; no, no, I'll be bound he won't."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Cyril sharply.
+
+Mrs. Tunks replied without taking her beady black eyes from Durgo. "I
+saw the coming of the master in the crystal, lovey, and told your dear
+sweetheart of the same. The master brings good luck to you both, so if
+you tell, it will part you and your deary for ever."
+
+"We are parted as it is," said Cyril bitterly.
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the old woman.
+
+Lister rose from his chair and stared. "What do you mean?" he cried
+imperiously.
+
+Durgo, who had been examining the papers, looked up on hearing this
+question, and shot forth a long arm in the direction of the door. "Go!"
+he said to Mrs. Tunks. "Go at once."
+
+"And the money, master?"
+
+"You shall have it to-morrow, as soon as I have examined these. Go, I
+say; I am not used to speak twice."
+
+"But Durgo," cried Cyril, annoyed by the interruption, "I want to
+know----"
+
+"You shall know what Mrs. Tunks has to say to-morrow," said Durgo,
+settling down into the chair and still examining the papers.
+
+The witch-wife, who had moved slowly towards the door, had not looked at
+Lister once during her stay in the room. All the time her gaze was fixed
+almost reverentially upon the negro. In spite of Durgo's prohibition
+Cyril crossed the room to catch Mrs. Tunks by the arm. But the moment he
+touched her she seemed to wake up as from a magnetic spell, and opening
+the door slipped through like a snake. When the door was closed again
+Cyril, in some anger, faced Durgo.
+
+"Why didn't you let me question her?"
+
+"She would have said nothing," returned the man dryly, "because she
+knows nothing."
+
+"She hinted that Bella--Miss Huxham, I mean--and myself would not be
+parted."
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Hai! The woman is a witch and knows
+doings of the unseen. She may have been told----"
+
+"Oh, rubbish! I don't believe in such things."
+
+"Possibly you don't; I do. I have been taught things which would open
+your eyes if I explained them. In Africa we know much that you don't
+know."
+
+A sudden light flashed into Cyril's brain. "Is that why Mrs. Tunks
+addressed you as master?"
+
+Durgo nodded absently, still reading the papers. But he did not reply in
+words, as his eyes were travelling over some faded writing and his lips
+were moving. Before Cyril could ask another question, as he was desirous
+of doing, the negro started to his feet with a fierce shout, which
+sounded like a warcry.
+
+"As I believed; as I thought!" he shouted. "Hai! the good news."
+
+"What is it?" asked Lister, surprised by the savage exultation.
+
+Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket and began to tell a story
+without any preamble. "When my father was chief, there were two traders
+in his town whom he trusted. One traded inland, and the other commanded
+the river steamer. Maxwell Faith was the inland trader's name, and the
+steamer commander was Jabez Huxham. For services rendered, my father,
+the chief Kawal, gave Mr. Faith jewels to the value of forty thousand
+pounds. Huxham became jealous, and having murdered Faith ran away with
+the jewels. He brought them to England, to Bleacres, and feared night
+and day lest he should be assaulted and killed for the sake of the
+treasure. That is why Huxham planted the fields with corn, leaving only
+one path whereby to reach the Manor-house. He did not wish to be
+surprised. Huxham took Faith's papers also regarding the value and
+number of these jewels. The papers were in the chest I told you of, and
+I have these papers here"--he tapped his breast--"but the jewels no
+doubt have been taken by your father, who doubtless killed Huxham to get
+them." Durgo nodded. "Good, very good. When my master Edwin Lister
+writes to me to join him, we can sell the jewels for forty thousand
+pounds and then can fit out our expedition to recover my chiefdom.
+Good-night, Lister. I have work to do; good night!" and before Cyril
+could recover from his amazement he found himself gently led into the
+passage and heard the door locked.
+
+"What does it all mean?" he asked himself, but could not answer the
+question.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEW
+
+
+On that same evening, when Cyril was interviewing the strange negro,
+there was a concert in the Marshely school-house in aid of the prize
+fund. Dora had arranged the programme, and had asked Bella to be
+present. The girl would much rather have remained absent owing to the
+recent death of her father; besides, she did not feel able to enjoy
+music and frivolity and laughter. But to please her friend, who had been
+so kind to her, she came dressed in black and deeply veiled to the
+festival. For obvious reasons she took a seat at the lower end of the
+room, and near the door, so that she could easily slip out when the end
+came.
+
+But Mrs. Vand was less retiring. In spite of her brother's tragic death
+she appeared dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, posing more as a
+bride than as a mourner. In fact, she displayed very little grief for
+the death of Jabez, and those who knew the late Captain Huxham were not
+surprised, as he had never been a man to inspire affection. Moreover,
+the secret marriage of Mrs. Coppersley to Henry Vand had created quite a
+sensation, and bride and bridegroom were much talked about and pointed
+at. Vand himself was one of the performers, as he played two violin
+solos. Some folk thought that both he and his wife would have displayed
+better taste by remaining away, but Mrs. Vand laughed at this opinion
+and flaunted her newly-found happiness in the face of all her
+acquaintances.
+
+Luckily few people noticed Bella in her obscure corner, so she was not
+troubled with questions. Those who guessed who she was, felt that she
+had been very badly treated since the money had been left to Mrs. Vand,
+and indeed the sympathies of the entire neighbourhood were with the
+disinherited girl. Mrs. Vand, as everyone said, should have been ashamed
+of herself; but in spite of the indecent way in which she thrust her
+good fortune on everyone's notice, no one was bold enough to tell her
+what was the general opinion of her conduct. As for Bella, she sat in
+her corner feeling ill and miserable. She had every right to be so
+considering the position in which she and her lover were placed. It was
+to ween her thoughts from this dismal state of affairs that the
+kind-hearted school-mistress had induced her to come to the concert.
+Hitherto the cure had not worked.
+
+The programme was the usual village one. There were several sentimental
+ballads of the purely English drawing-room type; two or three
+recitations, the violin solos of Henry Vand, who really played with rare
+skill, and a reading by Silas Pence, who was the chairman. Pence looked
+leaner and more delicate than ever, and read the "Dream of Eugene Aram"
+as a cheerful contribution to the evening's entertainment. His
+sepulchral tones and dismal appearance cast quite a gloom over the close
+of the evening, which was only dispelled by the singing of a glee by the
+Marshely Choral Society. But some time before this point was reached
+Bella had slipped out of the room and had taken her way back to the
+cottage. She went early, as her aunt had noticed her, and it was just
+possible that Mrs. Vand, who dearly loved to make trouble, might start a
+quarrel if it came to a conversation between the two. Mrs. Vand had not
+forgiven her enforced payment of one hundred pounds.
+
+Bella did not enter the cottage, as it was very hot within, and the
+night was simply glorious. She took off her hat and veil and seated
+herself in the tiny garden to enjoy the soft breeze. There was not a
+cloud in the darkly-blue sky, and a serene moon moved majestically
+across the starry heavens. The cottage, with the lamp light shining
+behind the pink blinds, looked pretty and picturesque, so Bella resolved
+to wait for Dora's return in the open air. She had ample to think about,
+for the concert had failed to inspire her with cheerful thoughts. How
+could it when the clouds which environed her were so densely black? Poor
+Bella was not religious, and had small faith in the goodness of God.
+This was natural as God's name had rarely been mentioned by Captain
+Huxham and his sister, who were perfect heathens of the animal sort. So
+Bella, having no hope to cling to and seeing no ray of light piercing
+the darkness around her, began to conceive a cheerless future in which
+the figure of Cyril did not appear. The fact that his father had
+murdered hers ended the chance of marriage once and for all. He would
+doubtless go abroad and try to forget her, while she, bereft of love,
+home, money, and father, would seek some humble situation as a nursery
+governess: and it must be confessed that, as things were, Bella Huxham
+had good reason to despair. Any chance of happiness seemed to be as far
+removed from her as was the moon in the heaven above her.
+
+The seat upon which she was resting stood close to the white palings of
+the garden, and under a leafy chestnut, now in the full glory of its
+summer foliage. Occasionally a person would pass, or a child singing
+would run home, but for the most part the road was deserted. Nearly all
+the village people were at the concert, and it would not end for at
+least another half hour. Only then would the roadway be full, but in the
+meantime, save for occasional interruptions, Bella had solitude and
+peace. She was therefore extremely ill-pleased when a dark figure halted
+at the palings and, leaning over, removed its hat to reveal the delicate
+features of Silas Pence.
+
+"I give you good-evening, Miss Huxham," said the preacher, in his
+refined but somewhat shrill voice.
+
+"Good evening," said Bella coldly. "Had you not better return to the
+concert, Mr. Pence? As the chairman you cannot leave the platform."
+
+"I have presided most of the evening and have recited my piece," said
+Pence eagerly. "Now, on the plea of feeling faint I have left that hot
+room, and I am here to commune with you in the glory of the night. Is it
+not beautiful, Miss Huxham?" and he recited the well-known lines of
+Addison:--
+
+    _Soon as the shades of night prevail_,
+    _The moon takes up the wondrous tale_,
+    _And nightly to the listening earth_
+    _Repeats the story of her birth._
+
+"Did you come here to recite, Mr. Pence?" said Bella disagreeably. "If
+so I must go indoors. I have been entertained enough this evening."
+
+"You should not have been at the concert at all," said the preacher
+rebukingly, "seeing that your dear father is scarcely cold in his
+grave."
+
+"That is my business, Mr. Pence," said Bella in icy tones. "If you
+rebuke any one it should be my aunt, who is flaunting the property of
+which she robbed me in the face of everyone."
+
+"I shall rebuke Sister Vand at a proper time," said Silas
+authoritatively. "In the meantime----"
+
+"You rebuke me," said Bella, who had risen to her feet, weary of the
+conversation. "I decline to permit your interference."
+
+"I don't want to rebuke you," cried Pence eagerly. "I wish to make you
+smile on me. Become my spouse, or fair lily of the valley, and you will
+have me always at your feet."
+
+"I have told you before, Mr. Pence, that I cannot marry you."
+
+"Then you still intend to wed that son of Belial, overflowing with
+insolence and wine?" questioned the preacher bitterly; "your father's
+murderer."
+
+"Mr. Lister is perfectly innocent, as I happen to know."
+
+"Can you prove his innocence?"
+
+"Can you prove his guilt?" retorted the girl spiritedly.
+
+"I saw him enter the Manor on that night."
+
+"You saw a man who resembled him. Mr. Lister was in London and can prove
+that he was there. It is useless your using threats, Mr. Pence, for had
+you been able to carry them out you would long since have seen the
+police."
+
+Pence frowned. "Who is this other man?" he asked.
+
+"You can find out!" said Bella impatiently, "and I am going indoors."
+
+"There is no other man," cried Pence angrily. "Why, I saw Mr. Lister
+quite clearly. I could not mistake him."
+
+"You did, however."
+
+"The police shall decide that."
+
+"Go to the police. You threatened to do so before. Why don't you do what
+you say instead of trying to frighten me with stage thunder?"
+
+Silas stamped and raged. "You will find the thunder real enough before I
+have done with you. This Lister man is guilty, and shall hang. You shall
+become my wife, my----"
+
+"Never! never! never!" and Bella stamped in her turn.
+
+"You will. As you have no name of your own you should be glad to take
+that of an honest man."
+
+The girl started and stared. "My name is Huxham," she said angrily.
+
+"It is nothing of the sort. When I wished to marry you, Captain Huxham,
+your supposed father, told me that you were a nameless waif whom he had
+adopted out of charity."
+
+"It is wholly false."
+
+"It is true! it is true!" Pence leaped the fence before she knew what
+was his intention, and caught her in his arms, "and you must become my
+wife."
+
+"You beast! you villain!" cried the girl, struggling. "How dare----"
+
+She got no further. Even while the words were on her lips a pair of very
+strong hands caught Pence by the shoulders, and wrenching him from the
+girl flung him over the fence. The next moment Cyril held Bella in his
+arms.
+
+"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she sobbed, utterly broken down, "how glad I am
+that you arrived to punish him."
+
+"I shall punish him more!" cried Cyril, striding towards the gate.
+
+"No, no!" said Bella, stopping him. "Think of my good name. It is
+useless making a scandal. But ask him if what he says is true."
+
+"What does he say?" questioned Cyril, with a note of savagery in his
+voice.
+
+"Oh hush! hush!" implored Bella, clinging to him. "Speak lower. I don't
+wish everyone to hear what Mr. Pence declares."
+
+"But what is it? what is it?"
+
+"Ask him. After all, he may be wrong, and--"
+
+Still holding the girl, Lister, mindful of her wish, spoke in a loud
+whisper to the dusty figure on the other side of the fence. Pence had
+just risen, sorely bruised, but, unable to leave his rival with the girl
+he loved, yet lingered in the roadway.
+
+"Here, you," said Lister sharply, "what have you been saying to Miss
+Huxham? Speak out, you dog, or I'll thrash you thoroughly. Let me go,
+Bella; let me go, I say."
+
+"No, no! We must avoid all scandal. Think of what might be--be--" she
+gasped, and without ending her sentence fell half fainting into Cyril's
+arms.
+
+Then came Pence's chance to discharge the vials of his wrath, for he saw
+that Lister, hampered by the fainting girl, could not touch him.
+Stepping up to the palings with his face distorted with anger, he spoke
+in low tones of hate. "I say now to you what I shall soon say to all.
+Captain Huxham adopted the girl, whom you falsely say that you love. She
+has no position and no name and no money, so if you marry her----"
+
+"Stop," said Cyril imperiously. "Can you swear to the truth of this wild
+statement? Miss Huxham always passed as the captain's daughter."
+
+"She is not Miss Huxham," said Silas, insistently. "She is Miss--I don't
+know what. I can prove what I say, if necessary. And I shall,
+unless----"
+
+"Unless what?"
+
+"Unless you renounce her so that she can become my wife."
+
+Bella heard the words and stood unexpectedly erect with fresh energy,
+wrathful at Pence's persistency. "Nothing will ever induce me to become
+your wife. And if what you say is true my aunt would have told me."
+
+"Mrs. Vand is not your aunt and Captain Huxham was not your father,"
+said the preacher sullenly. "If needs be I can prove it."
+
+"Then do so," cried Cyril quickly, "for by doing so you will remove the
+sole barrier to our marriage."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Silas, recoiling in sheer surprise.
+
+"Let me speak," said Bella, guessing what her lover meant. "We mean that
+had you held your tongue Cyril and I might have been forced to part. Now
+that I know I am not Captain Huxham's daughter I can marry him."
+
+Pence looked from one face to the other in the chill moonlight and drew
+his own conclusions with swift intuition, sharpened by hate. "Then this
+Lister man is the murderer of Huxham?"
+
+"You have to prove that," said Cyril cheerfully. "I am not bound to
+incriminate myself, you know."
+
+Silas raised his hands to the heavens in mute appeal, for he saw that in
+some way, not entirely clear to him, he had brought about the very thing
+he had been trying to avert. Enraged at his blunder and despairing of
+gaining his ends, the man, timid as he usually was, would have sprung
+over the fence to renew the struggle with his rival, but that many dark
+figures were seen coming along the road. Apparently the concert was
+over.
+
+In spite of his anger, Pence retained sufficient sense to decide
+immediately on a sensible course. He mechanically brushed his clothes,
+and bent over the palings to speak with Cyril. "To-morrow," he said, in
+a tense whisper, "you will be arrested, on my evidence, and she"--he
+pointed a trembling finger at Bella--"will be known as a nameless
+outcast."
+
+The girl uttered a faint cry at the insult, and Cyril would have struck
+the man who spoke. But Pence was prepared, and swerved away from the
+fence with a taunting laugh, to retreat rapidly down the road towards
+the advancing throng.
+
+"Come inside; come inside," said Bella, plucking at Cyril's sleeve; "you
+must not be seen here with me at this hour. Mr. Pence will say nothing
+for his own sake. Come inside until Dora returns."
+
+This was wise counsel, so the pair hastily retreated and closed the
+door, before they could be seen by the sharp eyes of the village
+gossips. Bella ran into the dining-room, where supper was laid, and
+sinking into a chair, mutely pointed to the water jug. Lister, seeing
+how pale she was, poured out a glass, and held it to her lips. Shortly
+she was more her old self, as the colour returned to her cheeks and the
+brightness to her eyes. It was then that she asked a leading question:
+
+"Do you think that what Mr. Pence says is true?"
+
+"I hope so. I fervently hope so," replied Cyril, sitting down to discuss
+the matter, "for then we can marry, and----" he started and stopped. It
+occurred to him that Pence's statement might be the cause of Granny
+Tunks' queer remark, an explanation of which had been prevented by
+Durgo. Then again, from the negro's action, and from the facts that Mrs.
+Tunks had seen--so she said--his coming in the crystal, and obeyed him
+so implicitly, it might be that Durgo knew much that he would only
+disclose at the proper time. Of one thing Cyril was certain--namely,
+that Durgo was his friend, and would do his best to put things right, if
+Lister assisted him to recover traces of his father and the jewels,
+which Edwin Lister was supposed to possess.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if Pence's statement was true," said Cyril,
+musingly, as he reflected on the present position of affairs. "It did
+seem strange to me that such a rough sea-dog as Huxham undoubtedly was,
+should have so refined a daughter as you."
+
+"I thought it was my education, and----"
+
+"No," said Cyril, looking at her searchingly in the light of the small
+lamp. "Your feet and hands are too delicate, and your features too
+clearly cut, and your whole bearing too well bred, to be the child of
+such a man. Huxham and his sister are plebeians: you are an aristocrat.
+I am quite sure."
+
+Bella coloured at his praise of her beauty. "Perhaps what Mr. Pence says
+may explain why the money was not left to me."
+
+Cyril nodded. "If you are not Huxham's daughter, of course he would not
+leave you the money. But it was strange that he should tell Pence--why,
+what is the matter?"
+
+Bella had started to her feet, and was looking at him strangely. "I am
+unwilling to suspect Mr. Pence, seeing that it seems almost certain your
+father is guilty, but I don't believe that my father--I mean that
+Captain Huxham told him."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"It was not Captain Huxham's way to confide in anyone, and if he had
+kept silent for so long he certainly would not have told anyone later,
+especially Silas Pence. If anyone knew the truth it would be my aunt--I
+mean Mrs. Vand--and she hated me quite sufficiently to tell me that I
+was no kith or kin of hers. This she did not do."
+
+"Well, and what do you make of the business?"
+
+"This," said Bella, slowly. "I believe that Mr. Pence _does_ know
+something of the murder, although he may not have struck the blow. Your
+father may have been disturbed by Mr. Pence, and may have taken the
+hundred pounds. But I am certain that Mr. Pence found some papers
+telling that I was not Captain Huxham's daughter, and has them in his
+possession now."
+
+Cyril shook his head. "You have no proofs of this wild charge."
+
+"No, I have not. All the same, I believe----"
+
+"Belief is one thing, and certainty another," said Lister, decisively,
+"and, again, I must tell you that my father--if indeed he is guilty--got
+much more than one hundred pounds"; and he related all that had taken
+place in Durgo's rooms. Bella listened in silence, and was particularly
+struck with the use made by the negro of Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"I believe that Granny and this black man are in league," she declared;
+"you know she foretold his coming by the crystal. And that is all
+rubbish."
+
+"In this instance she foretold truly," said Cyril drily.
+
+"Because she knew beforehand, and simply made use of the crystal to
+impress me," retorted the girl. "Do you think Durgo himself is guilty?"
+
+"No, I do not," replied Cyril very decidedly. "He bewailed the fact that
+my father had not asked him to get Huxham out of the way. No, Bella, in
+some way, my father managed the matter himself. He might have killed the
+old sailor during a quarrel, and have secured the jewels and have gone
+into hiding either here or on the Continent. We can only wait until we
+hear from him. Then the mystery may be solved."
+
+"I am not so sure that your father got the jewels," said Bella, after a
+pause. "After all, they were in the chest in the attic by Durgo's
+showing."
+
+"The papers were, but Durgo was not certain if Huxham left the jewels
+there, my dear. You see, the old skipper might, and probably did, keep
+the jewels in his study for safety. But the jewels were in the house I
+am sure, for Huxham feared lest they should be stolen, and so planted
+the corn and used the search-light. By the way, I saw that used the
+other night."
+
+"Henry Vand knows how to use it," said Bella indifferently; "my father
+showed him how to work it on one occasion. But what is to be done?"
+
+"I must wait and see what Durgo intends to do. He knows much that we are
+ignorant of, and for my father's sake I think he will help us both."
+
+"And Mr. Pence's statement?"
+
+Cyril took her in his arms. "I believe it," he said, kissing her fondly,
+"so the barrier between us is removed."
+
+"Thank God for that," said Bella reverently, and being unstrung wept
+bitterly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+DURGO, THE DETECTIVE
+
+
+As has been seen, Durgo was no ordinary man, and even had he been white
+instead of black, would have passed for a clever member of the Aryan
+race. Undoubtedly the strain of Arab blood in him sharpened his
+intellectual faculties, and made him ambitious to play a leading part in
+the history of his tribe. That the members of it were savages mattered
+very little, since he had been educated in the lore of the ruling race,
+and could raise them sooner or later almost to his own level. Almost,
+that is, but not quite, for Durgo had no notion that any individual of
+his tribe should be as clever as himself. He wished to be a despot, and
+rule from an autocratic throne.
+
+The one weak point in his character--if gratitude can be called
+weakness--was his adoration of Edwin Lister. That gentleman had
+undoubtedly saved his life, and assuredly had aided him to attain to his
+present position of culture by inducing the old chief to send his clever
+son to England. But Cyril knew, what Durgo in his blind idolatry did
+not--that Edwin Lister was not a man to work for nothing, and wanted
+much more than he ever gave. There was every chance that he would abuse
+the gratitude of Durgo, when the negro's ambition was achieved, and if
+his protégé revolted from complying with the exorbitant demands which
+would surely be made on his generosity, he would speedily be reminded of
+what had been done for him. With an ordinary man this would have
+mattered little as such a one would decline unreasonable exactions. But
+Durgo's strongest trait was gratitude, and it was probable that in spite
+of his clever brain and European education, he would become the mere
+puppet of his benefactor. Thus the very nobility of Durgo's nature would
+reduce him to slavery, and he would be ruined because he possessed the
+rarest of all virtues.
+
+Little as Cyril had seen of his father, he knew his character
+thoroughly, being able to read by intuition, as well as by observation.
+Edwin had only one god to worship, and that was himself--a deity so
+congenial that the egotist was most devout in his religion. Of course,
+Durgo's enslavement and Edwin Lister's tyranny had nothing to do with
+Cyril, as father and son had long since gone on their several ways. But
+Cyril liked the negro, and swore to himself that if Durgo aided him to
+marry Bella, he would stand by him when Edwin Lister played the tyrant.
+As yet--so much Cyril gathered--the trader had not shown the cloven
+foot, but he would do so sooner or later, and then Cyril hoped to open
+Durgo's eyes to the fact that his gratitude was being abused.
+
+But there was much to be done before affairs arrived at this point, and
+the first necessary step to take was to discover the whereabouts of
+Edwin Lister. Durgo had learned much from Cyril, and something from
+Granny Tunks; now it was necessary that he should be informed by Bella
+of the accusation of Pence, and of her doubts about the preacher. She
+resolved to see Durgo for herself, and when Dora was at school, she
+watched at the window of the cottage for the coming of the negro. She
+did not even tell Cyril of her intention, as he disbelieved her
+statement that Pence had stolen certain papers and was connected in some
+way with the murder. That she had absolutely no grounds for such a
+belief troubled Bella very little, since she was very much the woman.
+All she knew was, that Pence could not have heard the truth about her
+not being Huxham's daughter from Huxham himself and it was necessary to
+find out how he came to know, let alone the necessity of making certain
+of its truth. Cyril would have scruples in assaulting Pence, and
+learning the truth at the sword's point, as it were. Durgo, being
+uncivilised, for all his education would have no such scruples, and
+therefore was the best person to apply to. He would undoubtedly twist
+Pence's slender neck as he would that of a rabbit, if he could force
+from him any information likely to forward his aims. And unless some
+such brutal course was taken Bella felt sure that Pence would hold his
+tongue. In her exasperation against the troublesome preacher, all the
+girl's worst traits came uppermost.
+
+Durgo did not pass along the road in the morning, and Bella almost
+despaired of seeing him. She nearly decided to go to "The Chequers Inn,"
+but a memory of Mrs. Giles' gossiping tongue prevented her risking so
+much. In the afternoon, however, Durgo lounged along the road, in his
+lazy, heavy, massive fashion, arrayed in his rough tweed clothes, and
+looking very much like a burly prize-fighter. Luckily there was no one
+in sight, as Miss Ankers' cottage was in a solitary corner on the
+outskirts of Marshely, so Bella ran hatless into the garden to beckon
+the negro into the cottage.
+
+"Come in! come in! I wish to speak to you," she said hurriedly, when he
+stepped up to the white palings; and she glanced right and left, to be
+sure that no curious eyes were on her.
+
+Durgo stared and frowned, as education in a world-famous University had
+not quite eradicated his contempt for women. However, when Bella ran
+inside again, and stood beckoning him in the passage, he resolved to
+enter, if only to learn why she acted in this bold way. So tall was
+Durgo, and so low the door, that he had to stoop considerably to enter,
+and when in the little drawing-room he bulked hugely as Gulliver in the
+Lilliputian temple.
+
+"What is it, missy?" asked Durgo roughly, for he was not inclined to
+waste his time in saying pretty nothings to this Englishwoman, when so
+much was at stake. "I cannot stay here; I am busy."
+
+"I wish to help you," said Bella, going straight to the point.
+
+"In what way?" Durgo stared at her peremptory tone.
+
+"I wish to help you on condition that you help me."
+
+"In what way?" he asked again, and sat down on a chair, which creaked
+under his mighty weight.
+
+"Listen," said Bella, speaking very slowly, and with her eyes on his
+strong, black face. "You are not of my colour or race, yet I am going to
+trust you, as Cyril told me all about you. Besides, we are both working
+for the same end--that is, we both wish to find Edwin Lister. Cyril told
+me what Mrs. Tunks discovered."
+
+"He had no right," frowned Durgo; "I want no women----"
+
+"Don't despise women," said Bella drily, "for you may need the help of
+one woman, and she is my own self. You know that I am supposed to be
+Captain Huxham's daughter?"
+
+"Supposed to be?" Durgo noted the way she placed her words at once,
+which said much for his powers of observation, and the quick working of
+his brain.
+
+"Yes, Silas Pence, the preacher----"
+
+"I know him, missy. Go on."
+
+"Loves me," continued Bella, with a blush; "and to marry me he would
+stop at nothing. Last night he declared that I was not the daughter of
+Captain Huxham, and that Captain Huxham had told him as much."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"Yes. That is, I believe I am not Captain Huxham's daughter, since the
+money was not left to me. But I do not believe that Captain Huxham told
+this to Silas Pence. I believe," Bella bent forward, "that Mr. Pence is
+concerned in this murder, and stole certain papers, which revealed the
+truth."
+
+Durgo's eyes flashed. He saw at once the value of such information. "Can
+you prove this?" he asked in his throaty tones.
+
+"That's just where it is," she answered quickly. "I wish _you_ to prove
+it."
+
+"How can I do that?"
+
+"Question Mr. Pence, and make him answer. Force him, in whatever way you
+like, to show how he actually obtained the information. If he stole the
+papers stating the fact--and this I believe--he must have been in the
+room where the murder was committed some hour during that night. If so,
+he must have seen Edwin Lister, and must know where he is."
+
+"Hai!" Durgo leaped to his feet. "That is true: that is probable.
+Perhaps he can say if my master got the jewels."
+
+"Perhaps he can, but I am certain that he will not."
+
+"Oh, I think he will! I think he will," said Durgo significantly.
+
+"Don't hurt him," cried Bella, alarmed, for much as she disliked the
+preacher she did not wish him to come to harm at the hands of this
+African semi-savage. As a matter of fact, she was sorry to enlist
+Durgo's services at all; but, under the circumstances, there seemed to
+be no help for it.
+
+"I shall not hurt him more than is necessary," said Durgo, catching up
+his bowler hat and placing it on his woolly head; "if he speaks plainly
+I won't hurt him at all. You have helped me, missy, and you will find
+that I am not ungrateful. When you marry the son of my master, you will
+be rich. I, Durgo, the king, will make you rich," he ended arrogantly.
+
+"One moment," said Bella, detaining him; "these jewels belong to Captain
+Huxham. Have you any right to take them?"
+
+"Every right, since they never belonged to Captain Huxham," said the
+negro decisively. "My father, the great chief Kawal, gave them to
+Maxwell Faith, and from Maxwell Faith they were stolen by Huxham. If
+Faith were alive I would return the jewels to him, and ask him to help
+me with my expedition. But he is dead; Huxham murdered him, and stole
+the jewels. Edwin Lister came to get back what belongs to me, and I
+think he has them."
+
+"Supposing you find Mr. Lister, and learn that he has not the jewels?"
+
+Durgo rolled his eyes ferociously. "I shall then enter the Manor-house
+by force, and learn where they are hidden."
+
+"You would only be handed over to the police by Mrs. Vand and her
+husband, Henry. It will be better for me to search."
+
+"How can you, since you are not friendly with Mrs. Vand?"
+
+Bella laughed. "I know much more about the Manor-house than Mrs. Vand
+does, I assure you," she said significantly. "There are all manner of
+secret passages and unknown chambers in that ancient mansion. If I
+desired to enter, I could do so in the night-time by a secret door
+hidden behind the ivy at the back of the house."
+
+"Then do so," said Durgo eagerly, "and search for the jewels."
+
+"Not yet. Wait until you see Edwin Lister, and learn if he procured the
+jewels. By the way, where did your father get them?"
+
+Durgo reflected for a few minutes. "I have heard much talk of my
+father's treasure, of which these jewels were part. You know how rich
+the Northern part of Africa was in the time of the Romans?"
+
+"Yes. Cyril made me read Gibbons' History."
+
+"Well, when the Arabs swept across Northern Africa, they looted the
+Roman cities, then possessed more or less by the Goths and Vandals. Many
+of the Arabs came South to Nigeria, and brought their plunder with them.
+I think that these jewels, which my father gave to Maxwell Faith, came
+into his possession from some remote ancestor, who so brought them. But
+I cannot say. Still, that is my opinion."
+
+"It is a feasible idea, certainly," said Bella musingly, and astonished
+at the knowledge of the negro, quite forgetting that he had been
+educated at Oxford; "but where the jewels came from, matters little.
+What we have to find out, is where they are, and Mr. Pence----"
+
+"I shall see this man," interrupted Durgo quietly; "he may lie to
+others: he will tell the truth to me."
+
+"No violence," warned Bella anxiously.
+
+Durgo nodded. "I fear your police too much," said he, with an ironical
+grin, and strode out of the house, looking more burly and defiant than
+ever. Bella had regretted her employment of his services, but what else
+could she do when so much was at stake? Bella wished to marry Cyril,
+and, to do so, desired to be certain that she was not Captain Huxham's
+daughter. The papers--if her wild surmise was correct--would prove if
+what Pence said was true. Then, since Cyril's father had not murdered
+her father--she put it in this confused way--she would be able to marry
+her lover with a clear conscience. That he might be the son of an
+assassin troubled her very little. To get her way after the manner of a
+woman deeply in love, she would have set the world on fire, or would
+have wrecked the solar system. And in placing the safety of Pence in the
+hands of a semi-civilised negro, she undoubtedly was risking his life.
+But she did not care, so long as she attained to the knowledge which she
+was confident he possessed.
+
+It will be seen that Bella Huxham was no Sunday-school angel, or even
+the amiable heroine of a _Family Herald_ novelette, who never by any
+chance does wrong. She was simply an average girl, with good instincts,
+brought up so far as school-training was concerned in a conventional
+way. At home no one had taught her to discern right from wrong, and,
+like the ordinary healthy young animal of the human race, she had not
+passed through sufficient sorrow to make her inquire into the truths of
+religion. Bella needed trouble to train her into a good, brave woman,
+and she was certainly getting the training now. But she made mistakes,
+as was natural, considering her inexperience.
+
+That same evening, Mr. Silas Pence was seated in his shabby
+sitting-room, making notes for his next Sunday sermon. He occupied
+lodgings in a lonely cottage on the verge of the common, and did so
+because his landlady was a member of the Little Bethel congregation, who
+boarded and lodged him cheaply in order to have the glory of
+entertaining the minister. The landlady was a heavy-footed, heavy-faced
+woman, with two great hulking sons, and occupied the back part of the
+premises. Silas inhabited the best sitting-room and the most comfortable
+bedroom. There was no fence round the front of the cottage, although
+there was a garden of vegetables at the back, so the sitting-room window
+looked straight out on to the purple heather and golden gorse of the
+waste land. An artist would have delighted in the view, but Silas had no
+eye for anything beautiful in nature, and paid very little attention to
+the changing glories of the year. The lodging was cheap, and the
+situation healthy, so he was perfectly satisfied.
+
+On this especial evening, the young preacher sat at the red-repp covered
+table, reading his Bible and making his notes. It was after ten o'clock,
+and his landlady was asleep, as were her two sons, both agricultural
+labourers worn out with the heavy toils of the day. The sitting-room
+window was wide open, and the blind was up, so that the cool night
+breeze was wafted faintly into the somewhat stuffy room, which was
+crowded with unnecessary furniture. Silas made a few notes, then threw
+down his pencil and sighed, resting his weary head on his hand.
+
+Pence was by no means a bad man, but he was weak and excitable. The
+pursuit of Bella aroused the worst part of his nature, and made him
+think, say, and do much which he condemned. The better part of him
+objected to a great deal which he did, but the tide of his passion
+hurried him away and could not be checked by the dykes of common-sense.
+At times--and this was one of them--he bitterly blamed himself for
+giving way to the desire for Hepzibah, as he called Bella Huxham, in his
+own weak mind. But, sane in all other ways, he was insane on this one
+point, and felt that he would jeopardise his chance of salvation to call
+her wife. Nevertheless he was sane enough to know his insanity, and
+would have given much to root out the fierce love which was destroying
+his life.
+
+But the insane passion which he cherished for a woman who would have
+nothing to do with him led him deeper and deeper into the mire of sin,
+and in spite of his prayers and cries for help, the Unseen would do
+nothing to extricate him from the morass of difficulties into which he
+had plunged himself. At times Silas even doubted if God existed, so
+futile were his attempts to gain comfort and guidance. Much as he loved
+Bella, he desired to win clear of the unwilling influence which she
+exercised on his nature, and vainly prayed for light whereby to know the
+necessary means to get rid of the tormenting demon. But no answer came,
+and he relapsed into despair, wondering what his congregation would say
+if any member knew the unmastered temptations of his inner life. The
+struggle made him weak and ill and thin and nervous, and but that deep
+in his heart he knew vaguely that God was watching over him, and would
+aid at the proper time, he would have taken his own miserable life.
+
+With his head buried in his hands, Silas thought thus, with many groans
+and with many bitter tears, the shedding of which made his eyes burn.
+Occupied with his misery, he did not see a dark, massive form glide
+towards the open window, nor did he hear a sound, for Durgo stepped as
+light-footed as a cat. The sill of the window was no great distance from
+the ground, and the big negro flung his leg over the sill and into the
+room. But in getting hastily through, he was so large and the window so
+small, that he made a sliding noise as the window slipped still further
+up. Silas started to his feet, but only to see Durgo completely in the
+room, facing him with a grim smile.
+
+"I have come to speak with you, sir," said the negro.
+
+Silas turned white, being haunted by a fear known only to himself. But
+he read in the eyes of this black burglar--or, rather, he guessed by
+some wonderful intuition, that his fear and the cause of his fear were
+known to this man. Durgo saw the look in the preacher's eyes, and read
+his thoughts in his turn. The negro was not boasting when he hinted that
+he possessed certain psychic power. "Yes," he said, keeping his burning
+gaze directly on the miserable white man; "you stole papers from Captain
+Huxham's room, and I----"
+
+"I did not," interrupted Pence wildly, and making a clutch at his breast
+coat-pocket. "How dare you--"
+
+"The papers are in your pocket," interrupted Durgo, advancing, as he
+noted the unconscious action and guessed its significance. "Give me
+those papers."
+
+"I have no papers. I will alarm the house----"
+
+"Do so, and you shall be arrested."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"You saw my master, Edwin Lister, enter the Manor-house, and thought
+that he was his son. Cyril Lister told me as much. From what you said to
+Miss Huxham about her not being the daughter of the sailor, I believe
+that you followed my master into the house. What took place?"
+
+"Nothing! nothing! I swear that I did not----"
+
+"Those papers," said Durgo, pointing to the white hand which still
+clutched feebly at the breast-pocket, "say that the girl is not Captain
+Huxham's daughter. I want to know whose daughter she is."
+
+"You are talking rubbish. I have no papers."
+
+"I am making a guess, and I believe my guess is a true one. Will you
+give up those papers, or must I wring your neck?"
+
+With widely-open eyes, the preacher flung himself against the
+mantel-piece and clutched at a handbell. Just as he managed to ring this
+feebly, for his hands were shaking, and he was utterly unnerved, Durgo,
+seeing that there was no time to be lost, sprang forward and laid a
+heavy grasp on the miserable man's throat, ripping open his jacket with
+the other hand. In less than a minute he had the papers in his hand.
+
+"No! no! no!" shouted Silas, and made a clutch at them.
+
+Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket, and raising Pence up shoulder
+high, dashed him down furiously. His head struck the edge of the fender,
+and he lay unconscious. But Durgo did not wait to see further. He glided
+out of the window like a snake--swift, silent, stealthy, and dangerous.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE PAPERS
+
+
+Next morning the news was all over the village, that Silas Pence had
+been seized with epilepsy, and in falling had cut his head open against
+the old-fashioned fender. He had just time--said the gossips--to ring
+the bell before the catastrophe, and the landlady being, fortunately,
+awake, had rushed into the room to his assistance. In an hour he had
+become conscious, and had been put to bed, after giving the explanation
+of how he came by the wound in his head. As Silas was fairly popular,
+everyone was more or less sorry, and many were the callers at the
+cottage on the common.
+
+Dora heard the news from one of her scholars, and retailed it to her
+friend when she came home to luncheon. Bella turned pale when she heard
+of the affair. She guessed that this was the work of Durgo, and
+reproached herself for having enlisted his services. But then, she
+argued, that if Durgo really was responsible for the preacher's
+sickness, he would have appeared in Miss Ankers' cottage in the morning,
+to explain what had taken place, and possibly--supposing he had been
+successful--to show the papers. Then again, if this was Durgo's work,
+Bella wondered why the preacher had not denounced him. It seemed to her,
+on this assumption, that Pence feared to say too much, lest he should be
+questioned too closely. Dora certainly had no more suspicions than had
+anyone else, but what the story of the young man was absolutely true.
+
+"He never _did_ look healthy," said Dora, when the meal was ended, "so I
+am not surprised to hear that he has these epileptic fits."
+
+"Perhaps he'll get over them," hinted Bella feebly, and not looking at
+her friend, lest she should betray herself.
+
+"My dear, people with epilepsy never recover," rebuked Dora seriously,
+"and I wonder that the man dared to ask you to marry him, seeing what he
+suffered from. What a terrible thing to have a husband with fits."
+
+"Are you sure that it was a fit?" asked Bella, trying to salve her
+conscience with the idea that Durgo had nothing to do with the matter--a
+vain attempt.
+
+"My dear, am I sure that the hair grows on my head? Of course, I am
+sure. The man himself explained how he fell, just as he clutched at the
+bell. He hit his poor head against the iron fender--you know, dear, one
+of those old-fashioned kitchen fenders, now out of date. It's a mercy
+there was no fire in the grate, or he would have been burnt to death.
+Why, a cousin of mine once"--and Dora went off into a long and wearisome
+tale of a member of her family who had suffered in the same way.
+
+When the little old school-mistress returned to her duties, Bella sat
+down to consider things. On the face of it, Durgo had done nothing, and
+Silas really might suffer from fits. But as he had never fallen before,
+and as Bella knew that Durgo would stop at nothing to get the papers,
+which she believed existed, she began to believe that the fall was by
+design and not by accident. This belief taking full possession of her,
+she longed feverishly to see the negro, and to ask questions. But,
+although she watched for quite two hours at the window, he never
+appeared. Then--as her nerves were strung up nearly to snapping
+pitch--she determined to call round at Cyril's lodgings and tell him of
+her interview with the black man. For the moment, she was unwilling to
+do this, as she guessed that Cyril would be angry. Still, as it was more
+or less certain that Durgo himself would tell her lover--always
+supposing the papers existed and had been obtained--Bella thought it
+would be wiser to be first in the field with her story. Besides, in any
+case, she would have to confess to Cyril, so why not now? The only
+chance of getting at the truth of the matter of the murder lay in
+herself and Durgo and Cyril working amicably together, and in keeping
+nothing back from one another.
+
+There was a certain amount of risk in going to Cyril's lodgings, as his
+landlady, Mrs. Block, was one of the most notorious gossips in the
+village. She would be certain to talk of the visit, and to make unkind
+comments on the fact of a young lady choosing to visit a bachelor
+without a chaperon. And a chaperon Bella could not have, since she
+wished no one else to be present during her conversation with Cyril. A
+third party would mean that she would be unable to speak plainly and all
+knowledge of the case--inner knowledge that is--must be confined to
+herself, her lover, and to the negro. It would never do to let the
+outside world know of the means they were taking to arrive at the truth,
+and a chaperon might easily play the part of a she-Judas.
+
+And after all--as Bella reflected, when hurrying along the road--she had
+no one to consider but herself, since it mattered very little what was
+said about her, so long as Cyril was true. She was at war with her
+aunt--if, indeed, Mrs. Vand was her aunt--she had no friend but Dora,
+and there was really no person whom she desired to conciliate. Under
+these circumstances, she took her courage in both hands and with a calm
+face, but with her heart in her mouth, she rapped at the door of
+Lister's lodgings. Luckily he had observed her from the window, and
+opened the door himself.
+
+"I am so glad to see you Bella," he said, shaking hands in a
+conventional manner, as the stout form of Mrs. Block appeared at the end
+of the passage, "for I was just coming round to propose a walk on the
+common."
+
+"It is a beautiful day," said Bella, likewise conventional.
+
+"Very. Wait until I get my hat and stick. Mrs. Block, if anyone calls, I
+am going to the common with Miss Huxham."
+
+"And a very lovely sweet walk it is," said Mrs. Block, coming nearer to
+see if Bella was dressed in sufficiently deep mourning for her presumed
+father, "as I said to Block, if he'd only make the money a man like him
+ought to make, I'd be strolling on that there common, dressed up as fine
+as nine-pence. But there, you never get what you want in this world, and
+ain't it dreadful, Miss Huxham, about poor Mr. Pence?"
+
+"Very dreadful!" assented Bella politely, then as Cyril was ready, she
+went with him out of the gate, leaving Mrs. Block looking after them.
+Luckily for the couple, Mrs. Block had nothing to say against the visit.
+Indeed it was in her heavy mind that Cyril, having failed to take Bella
+out as promised, had been called upon by a young lady weary of waiting.
+
+"So like a man," soliloquised Mrs. Block, standing on her door-step,
+broom in hand, "they never thinks, never, never! And if this Mr. Lister
+commences neglect afore marriage, what will it be when the honeymoon's
+over. Ah, poor Miss Huxham! what with her pa dying, and her aunt
+robbing, and him as should love her neglecting--it's a miserable life
+she'll have. Ah, well, there's always the grave to look forward to," and
+ending her soliloquy thus cheerfully, Mrs. Block entered the house and
+shut the door with a bang.
+
+Meanwhile the lovers, quite ignorant of Mrs. Block's opinion, walked
+along the village street, and soon emerged on to the common. They passed
+the cottage wherein Silas Pence lodged, and this recalled the episode of
+the so-called fit to Cyril, as he had heard all particulars from his
+garrulous landlady. "I'm sorry for Pence," said Cyril, glancing at the
+cottage.
+
+"Why?" asked Bella nervously.
+
+"It's such an awful thing for a person to have fits. If I'd known that I
+should not have pitched him over the fence last night. Of course, he's a
+rotter, and a blighter, and a nuisance; but he's weak, and I shouldn't
+have treated him so roughly. I only hope," said Cyril gloomily, "that it
+wasn't the fall I gave him which brought about this beastly fit."
+
+"You can be quite sure of that," said Bella sharply; "in fact," she
+hesitated, then spoke out boldly, "I don't believe he had a fit."
+
+"My dearest girl, he said so himself, according to Mrs. Block."
+
+"I know he did, as Dora told me. And that makes me the more certain of
+his connection with the murder of my father. I suppose I must call
+Captain Huxham my father until I am certain of the truth of what Mr.
+Pence said."
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about," said Cyril, stopping to stare
+at the down-cast, flushed face under the black hat. "Why should Pence
+tell a lie about his fall?"
+
+"Because he didn't want anyone to know that Durgo had thrown him down."
+
+Cyril stared harder. "Would you mind explaining?" he said politely, "I
+still cannot understand your meaning."
+
+"I don't know that I understand myself," she replied nervously. "The
+fact is, Cyril, I believe that Durgo threw Mr. Pence down when he
+refused to give up those papers."
+
+"What papers?" asked Lister, still bewildered.
+
+"The papers which tell the truth about me."
+
+"But, my dear girl, that is all supposition. We don't know if any papers
+exist, after all. Pence may have spoken at random."
+
+"You believed that he spoke the truth."
+
+"I did. I want to believe, as only by learning that you are not Captain
+Huxham's daughter can we marry," said Cyril dismally; "but the wish is
+father to the thought, in my case."
+
+"Well," said Bella, plunging into her confession, "you had better ask
+Durgo if he assaulted Mr. Pence last night."
+
+"Why should he?"
+
+"I asked him to."
+
+Cyril, who had walked on, stopped once more and stared. "You asked him
+to?"
+
+"Yes." Bella was less nervous now. "I told him all that Mr. Pence said,
+and suggested that he should get the papers."
+
+Cyril's face grew stern, as she knew it would. "Tell me everything that
+passed between you and that nigger."
+
+"I have not said that I saw him," said Bella evasively.
+
+"You could scarcely have asked him to assault Pence, unless you had seen
+him," retorted Cyril, who looked displeased, "come, be frank. Tell me
+all."
+
+Bella did so, omitting nothing, although she every now and then stole a
+glance at Cyril's compressed lips and corrugated brow. At the end of her
+explanation he looked up, and his eyes were hard. "You have acted very
+wrongly," he said sternly.
+
+"I know I have: I admit as much," said the girl penitently, "but, after
+all, I only asked him to get the papers. I did not tell him to hurt Mr.
+Pence."
+
+Cyril shook his head impatiently. "You should not have seen this
+infernal nigger. I don't like any white woman to talk to niggers."
+
+"I don't like them myself," said Bella quietly, "and you may be sure,
+had I not been anxious to learn the truth, I should not have spoken to
+Durgo."
+
+"You could have asked me to speak."
+
+"Would you have done so, seeing that you did not believe that the papers
+existed?"
+
+"Nor do I believe now," replied Cyril, walking on quickly. "It is all
+guess work on your part."
+
+"No, no, no!" insisted the girl, as they arrived at their favourite spot
+under a giant gorse bush; "the mere fact that Mr. Pence told a lie about
+his injury shows me that I am right."
+
+"We don't know for certain that he met with his injury at Durgo's
+hands."
+
+"Then I have done no wrong," said Bella promptly.
+
+"Indeed you have," said Cyril in vexed tones, as they sat down. "You
+spurred on that infernal nigger to do what was wrong."
+
+"I understood that you liked Durgo, and thought him a well-educated
+man."
+
+"So I do like him; so I do consider him wonderfully well educated. He is
+an Oxford M.A., you know. But I daresay if you scratched him you would
+find that he is a common nigger after all."
+
+"The son of a king?"
+
+"An African king. Pooh! what's that? You must promise me, Bella, not to
+have anything more to do with him."
+
+"But I have promised to seek for the jewels in the Manor-house," and
+Bella went on to state how she could enter Bleacres by the secret door.
+Cyril nodded and approved of the idea.
+
+"But you must come to me and tell me what you find out. I don't want you
+to speak to Durgo more than you can help."
+
+"That is racial instinct and injustice."
+
+"Racial instinct is never unjust. I don't care if Durgo was a black
+Homer and Bismark and Napoleon rolled into one. He is a man of colour,
+and I detest the breed. Promise not to have anything to do with him--at
+all events unless I am present."
+
+"I promise if you will not scold so much," said Bella wilfully.
+
+"I am not scolding. If I did you would cry."
+
+The girl slipped her arm within that of her lover's, pleased to have
+escaped so easily. "I begin to think that I am marrying a tyrant."
+
+"You are marrying a man who loves you, and who wants to protect you from
+all dangers. Oh, Bella, Bella! I wish we could go away to London and get
+married quietly. Then we could go to Australia and leave this bad past
+behind. Will you come? I have money enough for a year, and by that time
+I'll be able to get something to do in Melbourne or Sydney."
+
+Bella shook her head. "Dear, I love you dearly, but I can't marry you
+until I am quite sure that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter."
+
+"In any case," said Cyril bitterly. "You will marry the son of a man who
+has committed a murder."
+
+"I am not so sure of that. Now that Mr. Pence has told a lie I think
+that he may have something to do with the matter. He may be guilty."
+
+Cyril groaned. "I have no ill-will towards Pence, in spite of his
+insolence to you, but for the sake of my name I wish I could think so."
+
+There was silence for a few moments, and then Bella, who was looking
+along the path, spoke to her lover in a frightened whisper. "Here is
+Durgo!"
+
+And indeed it was. The negro swung along bluff, heavy and ponderous. He
+was in dark clothes, and these, with his black face, made him look like
+a blot on the sunshiny beauty of the summer world. At once, with his
+keen eyesight, he caught a glimpse of the lovers and strode towards
+them, smiling and bland. Cyril nodded coldly. He could not forgive the
+black man's impertinence in speaking to Bella, quite forgetting that
+Bella was to blame and had sought the interview. Bella herself,
+remembering Cyril's warning and her own promise, did not dare to welcome
+the man.
+
+"I went to see you," said Durgo, addressing Cyril, "and your landlady
+told me that you had gone to the common with Miss Huxham. I followed. I
+am glad to find you both together. I have much to say."
+
+Bella could not contain her curiosity. "Did you----"
+
+"Yes," said Durgo coolly, "I did. He would have made a noise, so I had
+to dash him to the ground. He hit his head against the fender. Mrs.
+Giles," he added with a grim laugh, "tells me that he accounts for the
+knock on his head by saying that he had a fit."
+
+"What do you make out of that?" asked Cyril, casting a glance at Bella
+warning her to hold her tongue.
+
+"Oh"--Durgo glanced from one to the other--"so Miss Huxham has told
+you?"
+
+"About her interview? Yes! I am sorry you took her advice and saw Pence,
+for I knew that ill would come of it."
+
+Durgo leisurely took a bundle of papers from his pocket. "Much good has
+come of it, as I am here to explain," said he quietly. "You were right,
+Miss Huxham. Pence had certain papers stolen from Captain Huxham's
+safe."
+
+"Then he is guilty of the----"
+
+"I can't be certain of that," interrupted the negro sharply. "I had no
+time to question Pence. As soon as I got the papers which he carried in
+his breast-coat pocket I slipped through the window. Lucky that I did
+so, for his landlady came in almost immediately in answer to the ring of
+the handbell. If he hadn't sounded it I should not have rendered him
+insensible, but I had to do so for my own safety."
+
+"Well, well, well!" said Cyril impatiently, and looking at the papers,
+"we can talk of this later. You say that Miss Huxham's guess is
+correct?"
+
+"It is. And I congratulate Miss Huxham on her clever brain. Pence was
+certainly a fool to say as much as he did, and especially to so talented
+a lady who guessed----"
+
+"There! there! No more compliments. Tell us both at once. Did he speak
+truly when he stated that Miss Huxham was not the captain's daughter?"
+
+"He spoke absolutely truly, as you will find when you read this," and
+Durgo placed a bulky roll of paper in Bella's hands.
+
+"Oh!" she said, flushing a bright pink, "how glad I am. But whose
+daughter am I?" and she made to open the paper.
+
+Cyril laid his hand on the bundle. "We haven't time to read all that
+now," he said gruffly. "Tell us shortly what you have discovered,
+Durgo?"
+
+The negro nodded, and addressed himself to the girl. "Your name is
+Isabella Faith," he stated, "and you are the daughter of Maxwell Faith,
+who was my father Kawal's firm friend."
+
+The lovers looked at one another. "But how did I come to pass as Captain
+Huxham's daughter?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "So far as I can read the story, which
+Captain Huxham has set down in that bundle you hold, he was smitten with
+compunction for having murdered your father and so adopted you."
+
+Bella shuddered. "How terrible to have lived with such a wicked old
+man," she said. "I never liked Captain Huxham, but thinking him my
+father I tried my best to do my duty. No wonder he would not leave the
+property to me!"
+
+"I think he intended to leave you the jewels, though," said Durgo,
+thoughtfully. "He mentions in those papers that he intended to make a
+will leaving them to you, since his sister, Mrs. Vand, claimed Bleacres
+and his income. It's my opinion that Mrs. Vand learned how her brother
+had murdered Maxwell Faith, and so forced him to make that will."
+
+"Then the jewels really belong to you, Bella?"
+
+"Yes," said Durgo, rising and making a courteous bow. "And when we find
+Edwin Lister, my master, he shall restore the jewels."
+
+"But your expedition?" asked Bella in surprise.
+
+The negro looked at the lovers humorously. "I fear that there will be no
+expedition," he said seriously. "I cannot rob you of your fortune, Miss
+Faith. Marry our friend here and be happy."
+
+"But what will you do?" asked Cyril, touched by this self-abnegation.
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders again. "I shall search out Edwin Lister and
+return to Africa. In one way or another I daresay we can manage to get
+back to my tribe. Then I shall measure my strength and education against
+my cousin, who is wrongfully chief. For the rest, there is no more to be
+said. The papers you have, Miss Faith, will prove your birth and reveal
+all the doings of Huxham. There is no more for me to do, so I shall bid
+you both good-day and wish you all good luck."
+
+The lovers stared to one another and then at the retreating form of
+Durgo, who had so delicately left them together. It was Cyril who spoke
+first.
+
+"He is a good fellow, after all," he said. "That black skin covers a
+white heart. Oh! Bella, how strange it all is."
+
+"Take me home," said the girl faintly, and with white cheeks. "I can
+bear no more at present. Isabella Faith is my name now----"
+
+"Until you change it to that of Isabella Lister," said Cyril, kissing
+her.
+
+But she only wept the more, broken down by the unexpected revelation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A CONFESSION
+
+
+On the way home from the common, Cyril and Bella agreed that it would be
+wise to say nothing about her true parentage. In the first place, it
+would benefit no one to be thus candid, and in the second, such a
+statement would lead to questions being asked which might get Durgo into
+trouble. After all, the lovers argued, since Pence, as the chief party,
+did not move in the matter, it was useless for them to fight his
+battles. The more particularly when Durgo had acted so generously in
+surrendering the jewels. The black man had behaved in a way for which
+Cyril would not have given him credit. Few members of the boasting white
+race would have done as much.
+
+According to the arrangement which the lovers came to, Bella was to
+remain Miss Huxham to the world until such time as Edwin Lister could be
+found, and the truth of Huxham's death became known. Of course, with
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds, the girl was quite an heiress,
+and she proceeded to build castles in the air for the advancement of
+Cyril, when he became her husband. The young man did not say much, as he
+did not wish to damp her ardour, but he privately thought that if his
+father were in possession of the jewels he would not surrender them
+easily. If Durgo was generous, Edwin Lister, as his son knew, was not,
+and since he had risked his neck to get the treasure he would certainly
+not hand it over to a girl whom he did not know, for a mere sentimental
+whim. That the girl was to be his son's wife, and that the son would
+benefit by the sale of the jewels, would make no difference.
+
+On the way back to the cottage, Bella recovered her self-control and her
+spirits. It was a wonderful relief to her to learn that she was not the
+daughter of the gruff old mariner, whom she had never liked. Looking
+back on her life at Bleacres, Bella no longer wondered that her supposed
+father had never shown her any affection, and she shuddered when she
+recalled the terrible fact that his hands were red with blood. On
+consideration, however, she gave Huxham full credit for the way in which
+he had acted towards her. He had come to England a thief and a murderer,
+it is true, but he could easily have left her in the care of the people
+who looked after her in a little Croydon house. Bella could scarcely
+remember that house or the woman who stood to her in the place of a
+mother, her own being dead.
+
+Almost her earliest recollection was being taken from Croydon by Captain
+Huxham and placed with some friends of his at Shepherd's Bush until she
+was nine years old. Then she lived with Huxham for a few years, and
+ultimately was sent to the Hampstead boarding-school, whence she
+returned to Bleacres at the age of twenty. Thus the captain had educated
+her and had looked after her, and in his own coarse way had proved
+himself to be generous to a certain extent. Badly as he had acted in
+robbing her of her heritage, he might have behaved infinitely worse. And
+by her heritage Bella meant the jewels. With the property and the income
+left to Mrs. Coppersley, now Mrs. Vand, she had nothing to do, and she
+no longer grudged the woman what she had schemed to get. But it was
+probable that had Mrs. Vand not so schemed, Huxham, for very shame,
+might have given his adopted daughter his nefarious earnings.
+
+"I must not be hard on Captain Huxham," said Bella, when Cyril brought
+her to the gate, "for, in his own strange way, he acted kindly. But I am
+glad that he did not leave me anything, as I am certain he earned his
+money in some shady manner."
+
+"A kind of Captain Kidd," assented Lister gravely. "I agree with you.
+But the old ruffian had a soft spot in his heart for you, my dear."
+
+"No," said Bella, shaking her head, "I would not say that exactly. He
+suffered from remorse and therefore looked me out when he came to
+England. I did not find him an affectionate father by any means. But he
+was just, in a grim way, and even generous. He grudged me nothing save
+ready money. I wonder if Mrs. Vand knows the truth."
+
+"You said yourself that she did not," replied Lister quietly, "and I am
+inclined to think so too. A tyrant like Mrs. Vand would have been only
+too glad to tell you the unpleasant truth."
+
+"Unpleasant? Why, it is a delightful truth!"
+
+"Unpleasant from Mrs. Vand's point of view, since, had she known that
+you were not her brother's daughter, in no way could you claim the
+money."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I am very, very glad that she has got the
+money, and much good may it do her. But I am thankful that Captain
+Huxham did not reveal the truth about me to her. Now she need never
+know."
+
+"It matters very little whether she knows or not," retorted Cyril. "She
+cannot gain possession of the jewels. Those are clearly yours."
+
+"How are we going to gain possession of them?" asked Bella lingering.
+
+Cyril looked hopelessly up to the blue sky. "Heaven only knows! The
+first thing to be done is to find my father and see if they are in his
+possession. And now that we are parting, Bella, and you feel better, I
+don't mind telling you that I don't think my father will give them
+up--if indeed he has them."
+
+"But to me, his son's future wife----"
+
+"My father is quite unbiassed by sentimental considerations," said Cyril
+very dryly. "What he holds, he keeps. However, there is plenty of time
+to talk of this matter when we meet my father. Meanwhile, what will you
+do?"
+
+Bella shook the bundle of papers which she carried. "I am going to my
+bedroom to read these," she said seriously. "I wish to learn everything
+that concerns my true parentage. I may have relatives, you know."
+
+"If you have," said Lister emphatically, "I only trust that you will
+leave them severely alone. I don't care for relatives; they ask
+everything and give nothing."
+
+"Well," said Bella smiling, for she had quite recovered her spirits, "so
+long as I have you, I need no sisters or cousins or aunts. Good-bye,
+dear. No, don't kiss me; someone may be looking on."
+
+"What of that? Everyone knows that we are engaged."
+
+"It doesn't do to emphasise the engagement in public," said the girl
+seriously, and ran into the cottage. At the door she turned. "I shall
+tell you all that I read in these papers," she called out, and vanished,
+while Cyril returned home to think over the strange turn which events
+had taken. And things were strange, for in striving to solve one mystery
+they had solved another. In seeking for Huxham's assassin they had found
+the true father of Bella.
+
+Dora had not yet returned, so Bella, in the seclusion of her bedroom,
+felt relieved. She did not wish, as yet, to share her secret even with
+the little school-mistress, good friend as that amiable woman had proved
+to be. Locking her door she sat down and unrolled the bundle. It
+consisted of many sheets of foolscap, and appeared to be a kind of rough
+diary kept by Jabez Huxham, when he was in Africa. The script was in his
+crooked painful writing, but was legible enough, and after some practice
+Bella managed to read it fairly easily. Seated on her bed, she perused
+what was set down, and found the reading extremely interesting.
+
+The sheets seemed to have been torn from a manuscript book, for the
+diary both commenced and ended abruptly and dealt entirely with Maxwell
+Faith and his doings. The old pirate had evidently ripped the pages from
+the diary which he kept and had placed them in the carved chest, which
+Mrs. Tunks had found in the attic. There also, according to Durgo's
+story, the jewels had been stored, so apparently Huxham had used the
+chest--which had belonged to Faith--as a repository for all that
+concerned the dead trader. But Edwin Lister could scarcely have gone to
+the garret to seek the chest and get the jewels, since he did not know
+his way about the old mansion. It was, therefore, evident that Huxham
+had kept the jewels in his study safe, and had removed the chest
+containing the torn-out leaves to the attic. Afterwards he had
+apparently placed the papers in the safe also, where Pence had probably
+found them. But Bella did not pause to think out these matters. She was
+to much interested in the story which was set down.
+
+Huxham stated abruptly that he met Maxwell Faith at Calabar, and had
+been engaged by him to transport certain goods up the Cross River,
+Nigeria, as far as Ogrude, when they were to be taken in canoes up to
+Yahe on the stream of that name. The goods were for Kawal, Durgo's
+father, with whom Faith appeared to have had many dealings. Faith and
+Huxham--so the writer said--got on very well, and the former told the
+latter much about himself and his past. The trader declared that he was
+the son of a wealthy Huntingdon Quaker, but had been disowned by his
+family and by the Society of Friends, because he had married a lady who
+was a Roman Catholic. There was one daughter, who had been born in
+London and had cost the mother her life. Faith said that he had placed
+his daughter Isabella with some friends of his at Croydon, and had come
+to Nigeria to make money for her. From what Bella could gather, her
+father appeared to have been desperately fond of her.
+
+Afterwards Huxham and Faith parted, but met again in the Hinterland at
+the chief town of Kawal and again became friendly. Then the trader told
+Huxham that because he had supplied the chief with guns and ammunition,
+and had proved his friendship in many ways, he had received ancient
+jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds. He was going home to his
+daughter with the money. At this part of the diary a portion of the
+manuscript was torn away, apparently that which dealt with the murder of
+Faith by Huxham.
+
+The story commenced abruptly again with the statement that the writer
+was going to England with his earnings and with the jewels; and
+intending to seek out Faith's little daughter and adopt her. Huxham gave
+no reason for doing so in his diary; but Bella, reading between the
+lines, guessed that the man was overcome with remorse--a strange thing
+for so hardened a sinner as Huxham undoubtedly was. Then came hasty
+notes of Huxham's fears lest he should be robbed for the sake of the
+jewels, and reference to an unknown man who was dogging his steps.
+Ogrude, Afikpa, Obubra and Calabar were towns mentioned as having been
+the scene of adventures with this man, whose name was not given.
+Afterwards the hasty notes detailed the finding of Faith's little
+daughter at Croydon, her adoption by the writer and her removal to
+Shepherd's Bush. A few remarks were made relative to the fears of
+Huxham, and of his determination to find some place in the country where
+he would be safe from pursuit. The final page was torn off in the
+middle, and Bella could read no more.
+
+Putting away the bundle in her box, she reflected on what she had read.
+It was easy for her to find her Quaker relatives, as the name and
+address of the family were given. Evidently these same relatives were
+rich, but very stiff-necked in Quaker traditions. Bella, however,
+thought very little of this at the moment. Her brain was employed in
+wondering if Huxham had met with his death at the hands of the unknown
+man who had dogged his footsteps in Nigeria. Without doubt this man knew
+of the existence of the jewels, and that Huxham had murdered Faith to
+get them. It might be that he determined to get the jewels, and, having
+traced Huxham to England after long years, had killed him and so gained
+his end. And this man--Bella asked herself the question earnestly--was
+this man Edwin Lister? She resolved to tell Cyril and to give him the
+papers to read. He could decide better than she, and probably Durgo
+could throw much light on the subject.
+
+But there was no doubt that Huxham had bought the Solitary Farm, and had
+planted the corn thickly, and had mounted the search-light on the roof
+of Bleacres, so that he might defend himself from robbery and possibly
+from death. But all his precautions had been in vain, and he had been
+struck down at last in his very fortress. And by Edwin Lister! Bella
+felt certain that, as Edwin Lister had been many years in Nigeria and
+had been a close friend of Kawal's, he must be the unknown man to whom
+Huxham had so often referred. Lister was the assassin; there could be no
+doubt on that point.
+
+Very thoughtfully the girl locked up the papers, and descended to the
+drawing-room to wait for the return of Dora. She greatly wished to speak
+to her friend about what she had discovered, but such a confidence was
+not to be thought of, as many things had to be done first. Until Edwin
+Lister was discovered, Bella felt that she would have to be silent. But
+her thoughts on this subject were brought to an abrupt conclusion when
+she opened the drawing-room door, for she unexpectedly beheld Silas
+Pence.
+
+"I came to see you, Miss Faith," he said, using her true name, "and I
+told the servant not to announce me. I waited here till you came."
+
+Speaking in this jerky, nervous manner, the young man did not attempt to
+rise, as he appeared to be ill and exhausted. His face was haggard and
+his head was bound up in a white cloth. Anything more weird than his
+looks Bella had never seen, and she recoiled on the threshold of the
+room, only anxious to escape from his unwelcome presence.
+
+"Have you come to persecute me again?" she asked.
+
+"No! no! no!" said Pence weakly, and yet with great relief in his tone.
+"I have come to ask your pardon for the way in which I have behaved. I
+was mad to trouble you as I did, but now I have recovered my reason."
+
+"What do you mean exactly?"
+
+Pence smiled in a ghastly manner. "Can you not guess," said he, touching
+the linen rag round his head. "The blow I received when I fell on the
+fender has changed my feelings towards you."
+
+"But how can a blow do that?" asked Bella, relieved but puzzled.
+
+"I cannot say," faltered Pence, resting his aching head on one thin
+hand. "I really cannot say; my brain won't think just now."
+
+"Then don't think and don't talk," said Bella, kindly placing a plump
+cushion at his back. "Rest quietly and I'll make you a cup of tea."
+
+"You give me good for evil," said the preacher, flushing painfully.
+
+"No, no!" replied the girl hastily, and remembering her share in his
+trouble. "You did me great honour in asking me to be your wife, though
+you were a trifle difficult in some ways. But now----"
+
+"It is all gone; it is all gone. I assure you it is all gone!"
+
+"What is all gone?"
+
+"All my love for you; all my desire; all my mad infatuation. I like you
+as a friend, Miss Faith--I shall always like you as a friend--but I can
+never, never worship you again in the way I did."
+
+"Thank heaven for that!" said Bella fervently. She knew no more than did
+Silas how the change had come about. But it was evident that the blow on
+his head had suddenly rearranged his ideas.
+
+"Up to ten o'clock last night I loved you madly, despairingly, and would
+have risked my soul to gain your hand. But since I fell"--he passed his
+hand across his forehead in a bewildered manner--"everything has
+changed."
+
+"And for the better," Bella assured him. "Come, don't think anything
+more about the matter. I have rung the bell for tea."
+
+"I rung the bell also last night. It brought in Mrs. Queen, very
+fortunately, or I might have bled to death, Miss Faith."
+
+"Why do you call me Miss Faith?" asked Bella abruptly.
+
+"Because you are Miss Faith," said the preacher, lifting his haggard
+face to her own in some surprise. "Did not the black man tell you?"
+
+"How do you know that I have anything to do with the black man?"
+
+"I have seen Mr. Lister with him. I saw you all three talking on the
+common. Oh, Miss Faith, you don't know how I have followed and spied on
+you!" and the man flushed with shame and dismay.
+
+"Did you listen?" asked Bella abruptly.
+
+"No; I did not fall so low as that, but I followed and watched."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I loved you. That is all over now; I shall never follow or
+watch you again. I am glad that the black man threw me down last night.
+When I found this morning that my prayers had been answered and that I
+no longer suffered from this mad passion, I resolved to say nothing
+about what had taken place."
+
+"And so invented the story of the epileptic fit?"
+
+"Yes; but the truth is----"
+
+"I know the truth: Durgo told everything to me and to Mr. Lister this
+morning, or rather this afternoon; also Durgo gave me the papers. I have
+read them, and know that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter. By the
+way"--Bella looked sharply at the preacher--"are we friends?"
+
+"Yes, if you will have me for a friend," said Pence meekly.
+
+"By all means, now that you love me no longer. Be my friend,"--she held
+out her hand, which Pence grasped feebly--"and tell me how you got those
+papers."
+
+"From your father's--I mean from Captain Huxham's safe."
+
+"Then you were in the room on that night?"
+
+"Yes. I saw the body."
+
+"And you said nothing."
+
+"No. Had I done so, I should have incriminated myself. When I entered
+the study Captain Huxham was lying dead under the desk."
+
+"Did you see anyone about?"
+
+"I saw no one, not even Mr. Lister, whom I had followed into the house."
+
+"Just explain precisely what you did see," said Bella, anxiously.
+
+Pence thought for a few moments. "I was watching the house as usual on
+that night because I loved you," he said, in a slow, feeble way, for he
+was still weak from loss of blood. "I beheld Mr. Lister coming towards
+me. He brushed past me, and entered the Manor by the front door. I
+watched for his return, intending to speak to him. But he never came
+out."
+
+Bella sat up alertly. "He never came out?"
+
+"No. I don't know how long I watched; but finally I grew tired, and
+stole up to the house. The front door was ajar. I saw that the study
+door was also open, so I went in. Then I saw Captain Huxham lying dead
+and bleeding, with the safe open and the papers in disorder. In the
+safe, or, rather, tumbled on the floor before the safe was a bundle of
+bank-notes. The Accuser of the Brethren tempted me," said Silas, with
+the perspiration beading his high forehead, "and I snatched up the
+notes, for I thought that if I had money I could marry you. I then saw
+that bundle which the black man took from me, and thinking there might
+be more notes in the bundle, I snatched that up also and fled."
+
+"Why did you fly?" asked Bella, following this story with great
+interest.
+
+"I thought I heard a noise, and feared lest I should be accused of
+killing Captain Huxham. I ran out of the study, and out of the house,
+and down the path between the standing corn, as though the devil was
+after me. But he was not after me," wailed Pence, standing up, "he was
+in my heart. Here is the money for which I sold my precious soul," and
+he threw a packet of bank-notes on the table with feverish eagerness.
+"It was all for your sake!"
+
+Bella took up the notes. "The man you mistook for Mr. Lister was his
+father," she said quietly; "did you not see him in the room?"
+
+"I saw no one. Did Lister's father kill Captain Huxham?"
+
+"Can't you tell?" asked the girl, looking at him straightly.
+
+"I have told everything," said Pence, with an air of fatigue; "now I
+die," and before she could help him he fell full length on the floor
+quite insensible. The interview had proved too much for him in his weak
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE GHOST
+
+
+The corn on Bleacres was rapidly ripening under the beams of the
+powerful sun. The Manor-house was islanded amidst a golden sea of grain,
+the waves of which rolled up even to its ancient walls. The winding path
+to the boundary channel was still the sole means of approach, but few
+people came up this to the house, as the Vands were not popular. Henry
+certainly was approved of, on account of his manners, his affliction,
+and his violin-playing; but the neighbours, ignorant of the truth, could
+not forgive his wife for robbing Bella of her inheritance. Now that she
+was rich and re-married, it was Mrs. Vand's intention to become the
+great lady of the district, but hitherto she had not met with much
+success in her bid for popularity.
+
+But, in spite of cold looks and significant speeches, Mrs. Vand went
+from house to house, talking of a Harvest Home fete, which she proposed
+to give as soon as the grain was reaped. Her husband would not accompany
+her on these social visits, as he was shrewd enough to see that only
+time would ameliorate the bad impression which Mrs. Vand's callous
+conduct had created. In vain he tried to show his wife that it would be
+wise to retire for a short period. Mrs. Vand scorned such Fabian
+tactics, and did her best to take by storm the position she felt that
+her wealth and personality deserved. The more she was snubbed, the more
+she persisted, and there was no doubt but what, in the end, she would
+gain what she wanted, by wearing down those who resented her conduct.
+
+Mrs. Vand paid a visit even to Dora Ankers, choosing a Saturday
+afternoon, when she knew that Bella was walking on the common with her
+lover. The little school-mistress received her coldly, as she had never
+liked the woman from the first day she had set eyes on her. But Mrs.
+Vand, in the most flamboyant of costumes, was all smiles and small talk,
+refusing to see for one moment the chilly reception she was receiving.
+
+"You really must come to our Harvest Home, Miss Ankers," she babbled;
+"what with Henry's taste and my money, it will be wonderfully gay and
+bright and artistic. Everyone will help to reap the corn, and in the
+evening we will have a ball, at which Henry will play old English tunes,
+to which we shall dance. You must come. I shall take no refusal."
+
+"How can I?" asked Dora tartly, "seeing that your niece whom you have
+treated so badly, is stopping with me."
+
+Mrs. Vand drew up her stout figure with great dignity. "That Bella
+Huxham left her home and my guardianship is purely her own fault," she
+replied. "I promised to look after her, at poor Jabez's request. But she
+chose to behave in a way of which I did not approve, and to engage
+herself to a man, who is not the husband I should have picked for her."
+
+"Bella has every right to choose a husband for herself," retorted Miss
+Ankers.
+
+"Girls are not clever enough to choose the right man. And Mr.
+Lister----"
+
+"You know nothing about him, Mrs. Vand."
+
+"That is exactly what I complain of," said the other woman triumphantly,
+"he may be a rogue and a scamp."
+
+"He may be, but he is not. Mr. Lister is a gentleman."
+
+"That doesn't prevent his being a bad character."
+
+"Well," said Dora, rising to terminate the visit, "I don't care about
+discussing my friends."
+
+Mrs. Vand rose also. "Let us shelve the subject," she said grandly, "and
+you can tell Bella that I am willing to forgive and forget. If she likes
+to come to our Harvest Home, she can do so. I am not the one to bear
+malice. It is the last Harvest Home we shall have," prattled Mrs. Vand,
+as her hostess skilfully edged her towards the door. "Henry does not
+intend to sow wheat again, and the grounds of Bleacres will be thrown
+open to the public."
+
+"People are not fond of wandering in marshes," said Dora dryly. "If you
+want to please us, throw open the Manor-house. That is interesting, if
+you like."
+
+"And haunted," said the visitor in a thrilling whisper; "do you know of
+any sad legend connected with the Manor-house, Miss Ankers?"
+
+"No!" snapped Dora, tartly; then her curiosity got the better of her
+dislike for Mrs. Vand. "Is it really haunted?"
+
+"There are footsteps, and whisperings, and rappings in the twilight. I
+told Henry that if this sort of thing continued, I should leave the
+place."
+
+Privately, Dora wished that she would, and thus rid the neighbourhood of
+a most undesirable presence, but aloud she merely remarked that the
+noises might be due to rats, a suggestion which Mrs. Vand scouted.
+
+"It's a ghost, a ghost!" she insisted--"all old families have a ghost.
+But do not let us talk of it," she continued, looking round with a
+shudder; "already the thing has got on my nerves. To go to a more
+pleasant subject: let me invite you for a row on the water."
+
+"A row on the water?" echoed Dora, who knew of no lake in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+"On the channel at the end of my grounds," explained Mrs. Vand. "Henry
+has bought a rowing-boat, and takes me far into the country. You can
+almost reach the railway line before you get to the swamps. Do come."
+
+"I'll think about it," said Miss Ankers, only anxious to get her visitor
+out of the house before Bella came back.
+
+"Do, dear, and come to our Harvest Home. It will be quite artistic: you
+have no idea of Henry's perfect taste, and if Bella comes I shall be
+glad to see her, in spite of her nasty behaviour, and--and----" Mrs.
+Vand could think of nothing more to say, so took herself off, with a
+gracious smile, quite sure that she had played the part of a great lady
+to perfection.
+
+"Ugh!" said Dora, looking after the stout, gaudily-clothed figure,
+"you're a spiteful cat, if ever there was one. I shouldn't be surprised
+to hear that you had killed your brother yourself, in order to get the
+money."
+
+Unaware of this amiable speech, Mrs. Vand sailed grandly through the
+village, dispensing smiles and patronage. Fortunately for herself, she
+was not a thought-reader, or her self-satisfaction might have received a
+severe reproof. She was considered to be considerably worse than
+Jezebel, and in her stoutness was compared to the late Mrs. Manning, a
+notable murderess. To her face many were agreeable, but usually she was
+not received with the best grace. Finally, towards the evening, she
+returned to the Manor-house to report on her triumphs.
+
+Crossing the boundary-channel, she saw the boat which her husband had
+lately bought. It was a narrow but comfortable craft of a light build,
+and the water-way was quite broad enough to permit of its being rowed
+very comfortably, even though the oars occasionally touched the banks.
+Mrs. Vand looked at this boat with a singular expression, and then,
+stepping across the planks, walked up to her lordly abode. She found
+that her husband was absent, and had left word with the servant that he
+would not be back to dinner. Mrs. Vand was annoyed, as she did not like
+eating alone; but in her heart of hearts she was afraid of her quiet
+husband, even though he was considerably her junior, and made no
+comment. However, the servant who brought in the seven o'clock tea had
+much to say, and Mrs. Vand permitted her to talk, for, as usual, the
+sinister influence of the Manor was getting on her healthy nerves.
+
+"Master's gone to the village, to see his ma," said the servant, who was
+small and elfish and somewhat brazen. "Then he's going to see Tunks."
+
+"What's the matter with Tunks?" asked Mrs. Vand, pouring out the tea.
+
+"He's ill. He's been drinking hard for weeks, ever since that horrid
+murder, mum, and now the doctor says he's got delirious trimmings."
+
+Mrs. Vand looked up sharply, and frowned. "He is raving?"
+
+"Raving hard, mum. But master will see that he is looked after."
+
+"Your master is very good," said Mrs. Vand, taking a piece of bread.
+"You can go, Sarah."
+
+The servant departed somewhat unwillingly, as she did not like the big,
+bare kitchen, and felt the influence of the unseen as did her mistress.
+But as yet, ghostly doings had not been sufficiently scaring to make her
+throw up a good situation. Nevertheless, she shivered in the kitchen,
+and wished that Tunks was present to keep her company, as he often did,
+at the evening meal. But Tunks was raving at the present moment in the
+hut on the marshes, and there was no chance of anyone else coming to
+Bleacres.
+
+Mrs. Vand sat and shivered in the dining-room also. She lighted three
+lamps, and although the evening was warm, she set fire to the coals and
+wood in the large, old-fashioned grate. It seemed to her that she could
+not have enough light or warmth to ward off the cold, malicious
+influence, which seemed to spread a sinister atmosphere throughout the
+vast room. Shivering at the head of the table, Mrs. Vand kept casting
+furtive looks here and there, as though she expected to see the
+blood-stained figure of her murdered brother appear like Banquo's
+spectre. Outside the twilight gradually deepened to luminous darkness,
+and although she had finished her tea, she did not feel inclined to move
+about the gloomy passages. Again and again, she wished that Henry would
+return.
+
+At nine o'clock her nerves were still shaky, and she felt that she could
+not stand the dining-room any longer. Ringing the bell, she took a lamp
+in each hand, and told Sarah--who entered speedily--to take the other.
+The two women proceeded to the drawing-room, and Mrs. Vand, having
+pulled down the blinds, ordered Sarah to bring her work and sit beside
+her. The servant was only too pleased to obey, and for the next
+half-hour the two sat in pleasant gossiping confabulation, Mrs. Vand
+knitting a silk tie for her husband, and Sarah trimming a wonderful hat
+with aggressively brilliant flowers. There was no noise, as the wind had
+dropped, and everything was intensely still. Mrs. Vand and Sarah
+chattered incessantly to keep up their courage in the ghostly
+atmosphere. Suddenly--
+
+"Listen!" said Mrs. Vand, raising her hand. "Do you hear?"
+
+Sarah turned white through her dingy skin, and held her breath. There
+came distinctly the sound of three knocks from somewhere near the
+fire-place; then a long, dreary sigh. The servant shrieked, and sprang
+for the door. But Mrs. Vand was after her in one moment, and seized her.
+"Hold your tongue, you fool! It's only rats."
+
+As if to give the lie to her statement, there came the swish, swish of
+silken skirts, and then the sigh again. This was too much for Mrs. Vand.
+She scuttled panic-stricken into the hall, followed by the shrieking
+Sarah. At the same moment, as though it had been prearranged, the front
+door opened and Vand appeared.
+
+"Oh, Henry! Henry!" gasped his wife, and clung to him.
+
+The young man shook her off. "What is the matter?" he asked in calm
+tones. But Mrs. Vand being too terrified to answer, Sarah did so for
+her. "The ghost! the ghost! the ghost!"
+
+"What rubbish!" said Vand, easily; "there is no ghost, you silly girl,
+and if there is, here is one who can lay it."
+
+He stepped aside, and Granny Tunks, lean and weird-looking, appeared at
+the door. She had a white cloak over her fantastic dress, and looked
+more witch-like than ever. Mrs. Vand stared at the woman in surprise.
+"Why have you left your grandson?" she asked, and glancing at Henry.
+
+"He's sound asleep, deary, the fit having passed. A gal o' mine, of the
+true Romany breed, looking after him. Your sweet husband here"--she
+waved a skinny hand towards Vand--"asked me to come and see what I could
+do to lay this unquiet spirit who walks."
+
+"Rubbish! rubbish!" said Mrs. Vand, now feeling more confident in
+company.
+
+"It's not rubbish, deary," said Mrs. Tunks, mysteriously; "the dead
+walk."
+
+"The dead?"
+
+"Your poor brother, as is uneasy at having been pitched out of life so
+cruel. He's walking," and she nodded weirdly.
+
+On hearing this statement, Sarah whimpered and clutched at Mrs. Vand's
+dress, whereupon that lady who was extremely pale herself--shook her
+off. "Go to bed, Sarah," she commanded.
+
+"Me!" screeched the girl, "and when there's ghosts walking! I'd scream
+myself into fits if I went up-stairs."
+
+Mrs. Vand appealed to her husband. "Henry, make her go."
+
+The young man took the girl by the shoulders, and propelled her towards
+the foot of the stairs, but Sarah resisted wildly, and finally made a
+bolt for the still open front door. "I'll go home to mother," she cried
+hysterically, and disappeared into the darkness.
+
+"There," said Mrs. Vand, angrily, to Granny Tunks. "See what you've
+done. The house will get a bad name. I'll give that minx warning in the
+morning."
+
+Vand, seeing that it was useless to run after the terrified Sarah, who
+by this time was half-way to Marshely, closed the door, and shrugged his
+shoulders. "Come into the drawing-room," he said to Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"No, no!" cried his wife, shaking; "the ghost is there. I heard the
+rapping and the sighing and the----"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" interrupted Vand, with less than his usual coolness;
+"that is why I have brought Granny. There is an evil influence in this
+house, and I want her to find out what it is."
+
+"Do you believe in such rubbish?"
+
+"You seemed to believe in it just now," said the cripple drily. "Yes, I
+do believe in the unseen, as I have had too much proof not to believe."
+
+"Then get a priest, get a priest!" cried Mrs. Vand wildly, and looking
+twice her age. "What is the use of this old fool?"
+
+Granny Tunks laughed in an elfish manner when she heard herself spoken
+of thus, and seemed very little put out. "A fool can do what a wise
+woman can't," she croaked; "your husband's wiser nor you, deary. He
+knows."
+
+"Knows what?" asked Mrs. Vand, turning on the ancient gipsy fiercely.
+
+"That there's danger coming to you and him."
+
+Mrs. Vand cast one scared and indignant look on the withered face, and
+ran into the drawing-room. Henry had preceded her here, and was standing
+by the table looking round the room in an inquiring manner, evidently on
+the alert for the mysterious sounds. Mrs. Vand caught his arm. "Do you
+hear what this woman says?" she asked, shaking him.
+
+"As the door was open I did hear," he replied coolly; "don't be a fool,
+Rosamund. I brought her here to see what she can tell us."
+
+"About?--" Mrs. Vand faltered and broke down.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" said Henry with an angry hiss like that of a
+serpent.
+
+Usually the young man wore a mild and gentle expression, but on this
+night his face was haggard and his eyes were wild. He had all his wits
+about him, however, and forced his wife into a chair, where she sat
+trembling violently. "I've had enough of these ghostly pranks," he said
+in a fierce undertone, "and as Granny undoubtedly possesses clairvoyant
+powers, I wish her to learn all she can. Come in, Mrs. Tunks!" he added,
+raising his voice, and the old witch-wife entered the room, looking
+singularly weird in her white cloak.
+
+"Is that the only reason that you have asked Granny here?" demanded Mrs.
+Vand, in a low voice. "Sarah told me that her grandson had been raving."
+
+"You fool!" snarled the cripple. "Will you hold your tongue? I have
+another purpose, which you will find out shortly. Granny," he pointed to
+a chair, "sit down and tell us what influences are about."
+
+Mrs. Tunks sat in the indicated chair, and lay back with closed eyes.
+Vand and his wife remained perfectly still, the latter gazing at the old
+witch in a terrified manner, as though dreading what she would say and
+do. The room was filled with shadows, even though three lamps were
+lighted, and the silence became quite oppressive. Mrs. Vand was a
+healthy animal, and not in the least imaginative, but after a time she
+felt that some evil influence was in the room, and tightly gripped her
+husband's hand. The perspiration broke out on her forehead. Henry gave
+her no comfort, not even by pressing her hand. His eyes were fixed on
+the perfectly expressionless and still face of Granny Tunks. The séance
+had all the elements of terror about it.
+
+The gipsy lay as still as though carved out of stone, and the watchers
+could scarcely see the rise and fall of her breath. Deeper and deeper
+grew the stillness, so that even the fall of a pin could have been
+heard, had one been dropped. Apparently the body of Granny lay supine in
+the chair, but her spirit was far away--roaming the house, maybe. After
+a long pause, the woman began to speak in a low, expressionless voice,
+and almost without moving her withered lips.
+
+"Gems," she said softly, "rare gems, blue and red and green; jewels of
+price and pearls of the ocean. They are in an ivory box. Long ago the
+woman who is standing near me"--Mrs. Vand started, looked, but could see
+nothing, yet the monotonous voice went on, as though the speaker really
+saw the form described--"wore those jewels. She has the face of a Roman
+empress. In Africa, many centuries ago--yes, in Africa, and she sinned
+to get those jewels. Now she laments that she has lost them."
+
+"How did she lose them?" asked Vand almost in a whisper, as though
+fearful of breaking the charm. Apparently--as Mrs. Vand guessed--this
+was not the first time he had assisted at so weird a ceremony.
+
+"Fierce warriors in green turbans took them--warriors of Arabia. The
+jewels travel south, still with the warriors. There are many fights. The
+jewels pass from one hand to another, still in the ivory box. Now a
+savage has them--a savage, in a wild forest. They are buried in the
+earth at the place where victims are sacrificed to the gods. Long years
+pass: centuries glide by. The box of jewels is found: it is in the hands
+of another savage, who wears European clothes. He gives the jewels to a
+white man for services rendered."
+
+Mrs. Vand interrupted with a strangled cry of terror. "Jabez--is he
+Jabez?"
+
+"He is not Jabez Huxham, but a man called Maxwell Faith. But see"--the
+dull voice of the gipsy suddenly became emotional and loud--"they pass
+into the hands of Jabez Huxham, and the hands that bear away the jewels
+are stained with blood. The jewels pass with him across the sea to this
+land. In London first; then in this house. They are placed in a carved
+chest; it is in the attic. Now they are in the safe in the study, and
+now----"
+
+Vand interrupted. "How did they pass out of Huxham's possession?"
+
+Granny Tunks did not reply for a few minutes, during which Mrs. Vand
+clutched her husband's hand still tighter, and passed her tongue over
+her dry lips. "They pass from Jabez Huxham, as they came to him--by
+murder," went on the clairvoyant. "I see the study. Huxham is at the
+desk, and the ivory box of jewels is before him. There is a knife on the
+floor by the door, and the knife is bloody."
+
+"But Huxham is not dead," said Vand, quickly and softly.
+
+"There is blood on the knife," said Mrs. Tunks, without taking any
+notice of the question. "Huxham is so engaged in looking at the jewels
+that he does not see the door softly open. A man enters. He sees the
+knife and picks it up. He glided behind Huxham, who suddenly turns.
+Now--now the blow has fallen, and the jewels, the jewels----" She
+paused.
+
+"What more?" gasped Mrs. Vand. "What more, in God's name?"
+
+"There is no God here, but only evil," came the reply. "I can see no
+more. I see, however, that the man who struck the blow is a cripple,
+and----"
+
+There came a cry, apparently from behind the wall. Vand and his wife
+turned astonished and terror-struck. On the left of the fire-place a
+sliding panel was pushed back, and they beheld Bella, pale but
+triumphant.
+
+"So you murdered Captain Huxham!" she cried, "you and your wife. O
+God----"
+
+"There is no God here," breathed Mrs. Tunks again, "only evil."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+AN AWKWARD POSITION
+
+
+The appearance and accusation of Bella were so unexpected that Mrs. Vand
+and her husband became perfectly white, and obvious fear robbed them of
+all powers of movement. Granny Tunks sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stared
+at Bella with the open panel behind her in great surprise.
+
+"Where have you come from, deary?" she asked, rising unsteadily.
+
+"Never mind," said Bella, with her eyes on the guilty faces of the
+married couple. "It is enough that I am here to accuse these two of
+murder."
+
+Mrs. Tunks uttered a screech. "What are you talking about, lovey? This
+good gentleman and kind lady have murdered no one."
+
+Bella glanced at her in a puzzled way. "You declared that Henry Vand
+murdered my father," she remarked quietly, and keeping up the fiction of
+her being Huxham's daughter; "you said that a cripple----"
+
+"Me!" screeched Granny again. "I never said such a thing."
+
+"Of course not," chimed in Vand, who was the first to recover his powers
+of speech. "It's all nonsense."
+
+"Your face showed that it was the truth just now," said Bella sharply,
+"when Mrs. Tunks talked in her sleep."
+
+"Sleep? No lovey, no sleep. I sent my spirit away to learn things. What
+did I say? Tell me, my good gentleman, what did I say?"
+
+"I don't remember. I forgot," said Vand striving to appear cool.
+
+"I don't forget," cried Bella indignantly, "she spoke of the jewels and
+of my father's murder. How did you find out?" she asked Granny Tunks,
+who dropped into her chair and seemed to shrink. "How did you learn
+about the jewels and Maxwell Faith?"
+
+"I never heard the name. I never knew there were any jewels," murmured
+the witch-wife. "I never said anything about murder. When I came back to
+my body I never remember anything. No, no, no! The spirit is stronger
+than the flesh and jealous of its secrets," and she went on murmuring
+and maundering like one in her dotage. Yet Bella knew well, that in
+spite of her age, Granny Tunks was very far from being intellectually
+weak.
+
+Meanwhile, Mrs. Vand, who had sunk into a chair, had gradually recovered
+her colour and wits. "You are the ghost!" she said suddenly to Bella.
+
+In spite of the strained situation, the girl laughed, though not very
+mirthfully. "Yes, I am the ghost!" she acknowledged. "It was I who
+sighed and rapped and rustled my skirts so as to drive you and Sarah out
+of the room."
+
+"How dare you! how dare you!" shouted Mrs. Vand, rising wrathfully.
+"What do you mean by entering my house, and how did you get in."
+
+"I got in by a way of which you know nothing," said Bella coolly, "and I
+am not going to reveal my secret. But I know this house better than you,
+Aunt Rosamund"--she gave her the old familiar name--"and I know of many
+secret passages. This,"--she touched the panel at her back--"is the
+entrance to one of them. In the old days many a conspirator concealed
+himself here. I have used the hiding-place to learn your secret."
+
+"How dare you! how dare you!" blustered Mrs. Vand, and would have gone
+on abusing Bella wrathfully but that her crafty husband interposed.
+
+"Miss Huxham, you have behaved wrongly in entering the house in this
+secret manner, seeing that I told you how welcome you were to come
+openly. Both Rosamund and myself would have been glad to see you."
+
+"Not me! not me!" vociferated Mrs. Vand, with a bright spot of angry red
+on each cheek. "I always hated her, and I hate her more than ever."
+
+"Hold your tongue," muttered her husband, and gave her plump arm such a
+pinch that she leaped aside with a cry of pain. Taking no notice of her
+distress he turned to Bella. "You should have come openly," he repeated.
+"May I ask why you made use of the secret passages?"
+
+"You may, and I am quite willing to answer. I came to find the
+whereabouts of the jewels which belonged to my father."
+
+"I know of no jewels," said Vand steadily; "do you, Rosamund?"
+
+"No, I don't," returned Mrs. Vand aggressively. "There was the property
+and the income, both of which Jabez left to me by arrangement. But
+jewels? I never saw any; if I had I should have got hold of them, since
+they are mine--if they exist, that is."
+
+"Granny here said when she spoke that they existed," insisted Bella
+quietly.
+
+Mrs. Vand shrugged her fat shoulders. "I don't believe in hocus-pocus
+and hanky-panky. Henry thought that the house was haunted, as I did
+myself, and he brought Granny here to lay the ghost. She has done so,
+since she brought you out to talk in a silly manner. You are the ghost,
+Bella, so I don't believe that there are any such things as spirits."
+
+"I don't believe in spirits either," said Bella promptly, "and so I wish
+to know, Mrs. Tunks, how you learned all you said."
+
+"All what?" mumbled the witch-wife vacantly.
+
+"All about the jewels and the murder and the----"
+
+"I don't remember saying a word," interrupted Granny, rising slowly and
+with a lack-lustre look in her beady eyes. "When I go into a trance I
+don't recall what I say. But let me go into a trance again and I'll tell
+you where the jewels are if you will give me a share," and her eyes
+began to glitter in an avaricious manner.
+
+"No," said Vand, in his most peremptory tones, "we have had enough of
+this rubbish."
+
+"Oh," sneered his wife, "you admit then that it is rubbish?"
+
+"Yes, now that I know Miss Huxham played the ghost. Granny"--he turned
+to the old woman--"all your teachings of the unseen have proved false,
+so you can take yourself out of this house, and never come near it
+again."
+
+Bella, quite believing that the old woman was a fraud, and knew the
+truth of what she had spoken when in her so-called trance, expected to
+see her defy the man she had accused. But in place of doing so Granny
+Tunks flung the tail of her white cloak over her head and moved towards
+the door. Seeing her retreat, Mrs. Vand, after the manner of bullies and
+cowards, became suddenly brave. Leaping towards the old creature, and
+before her husband could restrain her, she struck her hard once or twice
+between the shoulders. "Get out of this, you lying cat! Go to the devil,
+your master, you vile animal!"
+
+Vand caught back his infuriated wife with a fierce oath, but Granny
+still continued on her way out of the room. As she passed into the dark
+hall she turned and sent a glance at Mrs. Vand which made that
+triumphant tyrant shiver in her shoes. But she did not defend herself in
+any way, and shortly the three in the vast drawing-room heard the front
+door open and shut. Granny Tunks was gone, and with her seemed to
+disappear the malignant influence which had hung over the house for so
+long. Bella did not believe in witchcraft, but she could not help
+thinking that the old woman must have exercised some evil spell, and now
+had departed taking her familiar with her. At all events, the air seemed
+to be clearer for her absence.
+
+"Now then," said Vand, addressing Bella in his usual courteous way, "as
+you are satisfied, Miss Huxham, perhaps you will go also."
+
+"No," said Bella determinedly. "I believe that Granny spoke truly, and
+that you and my aunt have something to do with the murder."
+
+"It's a lie!" shouted Mrs. Vand furiously, and would have struck her
+niece, as she had struck Granny, but that Vand kept her back. "Why
+should I murder my own dear brother?"
+
+"To get the heritage you now enjoy," said Bella firmly. "I don't say you
+actually murdered him, but----"
+
+"I should think you didn't, indeed," raved Mrs. Vand, stamping in
+impotent wrath. "You heard what I said at the inquest. What I said then
+is true. I left this house at seven o'clock with Tunks, as he can prove.
+I was all the evening with Henry, as he can swear to, and he left me on
+the other side of the boundary channel. I came in quietly at ten and
+went to bed. I never knew that Jabez was dead until the next morning,
+and then I woke you. And as I was out of the house from seven until ten,
+how could I have murdered my brother--your poor dead father--when the
+doctor declared that he was struck down shortly after eight? How
+dare----"
+
+"You forget," interrupted Bella quickly, "that Dr. Ward said the murder
+was committed between eight and eleven, so that gave you an hour to----"
+
+"Grant me patience, heaven!" cried Mrs. Vand, casting up her eyes. "Why,
+the coroner himself said that the poor dear must have been murdered
+shortly after eight o'clock, since I came in at ten and saw no light in
+the study."
+
+"Ah," said Bella significantly, "he declared that on your evidence and
+because he hated Dr. Ward, and wished to put him in the wrong."
+
+"Then you accuse me of murder?"
+
+"No; I accuse you of nothing."
+
+"You say that I am guilty?" asked Vand, suddenly but quietly.
+
+"I do not say so, but Granny Tunks did."
+
+"If so, would she not have accused me to my face when I turned her out
+of the house?" said Vand earnestly. "I assure you, Miss Huxham, that I
+had no motive to kill your father. I was quite content to wait, even
+though Rosamund and I were secretly married. Besides, on that night I
+left Rosamund on the further side of the boundary channel, as she can
+prove. Also my mother can show that I returned to my home at fifteen
+minutes past ten, and that I was in bed by half-past. There is not a
+shred of evidence to support this unfounded charge you have made."
+
+"I did not make it Granny said----"
+
+"I know what she said," interrupted Vand imperiously. "Hold your tongue,
+Rosamund, and let me speak. Granny said what she did say in a trance. At
+one time I really believed in such things; now, and especially since our
+ghost has proved to be you, I have ceased to believe. You heard merely
+the raving of an old beldame. I dare say she wished to blackmail myself
+and Rosamund by bringing this unfounded charge, and chose this so-called
+trance to bring the charge. If she really has any grounds to go
+upon--and I swear that she has not--she will doubtless go to the police
+to-morrow."
+
+"And I hope she will go!" cried Mrs. Vand angrily, "for then Henry and I
+can have her up for libel. No wonder everyone is so disagreeable!
+Granny, no doubt, has been spreading all manner of reports against us. I
+daresay we are regarded as a couple of criminal, gory, murdering
+assassins," ended Mrs. Vand, with a fine choice of words.
+
+Bella was puzzled. Like the Vands themselves, she did not believe in the
+occult arts with which Granny Tunks was supposed to be familiar, and it
+was not unlikely that the clever old woman intended to risk blackmail.
+Certainly, if Mrs. Tunks could really prove the guilt of Vand, she would
+not have retreated so easily when he ordered her out of the house, much
+less would she have condoned the blow of Mrs. Vand. If Granny honestly
+could prove her case, she was mistress of the situation; but as she had
+slunk away so quietly, it seemed that she had merely spoken from
+conjecture. Bella began to think she had been too precipitate in
+revealing herself, as the Vands decidedly had right on their side.
+
+"Yet, after all," she said reluctantly, "how did Granny come to know
+about the jewels?"
+
+"Jewels! Had Jabez really jewels?" asked Mrs. Vand avariciously.
+
+"Yes," said Bella coldly. "I read some papers which proved that he had
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds."
+
+"Where did you get those papers?"
+
+"I refuse to tell you that," retorted the girl, anxious not to
+incriminate Mrs. Tunks until she had interviewed her.
+
+"You must tell!" yelled Mrs. Vand, her face on fire with rage and
+expectation. "You've come in sneaking by these secret passages to steal.
+Jabez never gave you any of his papers. They are mine, and if they tell
+where the jewels are, you minx----"
+
+"They don't tell where the jewels are," interrupted Bella, "but they
+state how Captain Huxham murdered Maxwell Faith in Nigeria to get them."
+
+"You talk of your dead father as Captain Huxham," said Mrs. Vand
+sniffing.
+
+Her husband made a gesture of silence. "Maxwell Faith was the name
+mentioned by Granny in her trance, and she also spoke of this murder.
+Did she see the papers?"
+
+"Ah!" Bella was suddenly enlightened. Perhaps Granny had learned about
+the jewels from the papers which had been taken from the carved chest in
+the attic. But then in that first set of papers, as she thought, the
+name of Maxwell Faith had not been mentioned. "Granny saw one set of
+papers, but not the set I mean."
+
+"Then there are other papers you have stolen," cried Mrs. Vand
+furiously. "Upon my word, Bella, you are a fine thief and no mistake.
+Give up those papers, so that we may learn where my jewels are."
+
+"They are not your jewels, but mine," said Bella, stepping back into the
+hollow left by the open panel, "and you shall not have them."
+
+"Where are they? where are they?" cried Vand, becoming excited in his
+turn.
+
+"I wish I knew, but I don't. Captain Huxham had them, before he
+died----"
+
+"Then the assassin must have them."
+
+"Yes. Perhaps you can tell me who is the assassin?"
+
+"I can't say; you know as much as we do," said Vand coldly. "If I had
+murdered the old man, as you were so ready to think, on Granny Tunk's
+ravings, I should have the jewels and long since would have cleared out
+with them. But the fact that I am still here with Rosamund proves that I
+am innocent."
+
+"We must go and see the police to-morrow, Henry," said Mrs. Vand, "and
+have this wicked girl arrested. She must be made to give up the papers
+she has stolen. Oh!"--Mrs. Vand plunged forward--"I could scratch her
+eyes out!"
+
+Undoubtedly the furious woman would have made the attempt, but that
+Bella was on her guard. Already in the secret passage, she had only to
+touch a spring and the panel sprang back into its place with a click. In
+the darkness Bella heard her so-called aunt hurl herself against the
+hard wood, using very bad language. Then came the beating of fists
+against the panel in the vain attempt to break it down. Bella knew that
+the panel was too strong to break, but thought it was best to leave the
+house as speedily as possible. Cyril was waiting for her near the
+boundary channel, and the sooner she joined him the better. As she
+turned to go she heard the high, screaming voice of Mrs. Vand raging
+wildly.
+
+"Go up on the roof and use the search-light, Henry!" shouted Mrs. Vand.
+"The minx will get out of the house by some way we don't know of, and
+must get down the corn-path. I'll catch her there, and you show the
+light so that I can seize her. I'll tear her hair out! I'll scratch her
+eyes out! I'll make her ill, and----" what else Mrs. Vand was about to
+do to her, Bella did not hear, as there was no time to be lost in
+getting away from the dangerous neighborhood of the infuriated woman.
+
+Bella sped along the narrow passage fearlessly, as long experience had
+made her acquainted with its intricacies. It was contrived in the thick
+dividing walls of the old house on the ground floor. At one part there
+was a shaft leading to another passage on the first floor, and up this
+it was possible to scramble by notches cut in the walls. Bella had half
+a mind to ascend to the upper story, and linger for a chance of escape.
+But as Cyril waited her at the boundary channel, it was possible that he
+might come into contact with Mrs. Vand, who would be furiously hunting.
+Therefore, she judged it best to leave the house and gain the corn-path
+before Mrs. Vand could intercept her. With this scheme in her mind Bella
+ran along the passage until she came to a door, which turned on a
+central pivot. This she twisted, and slipped like an eel through the
+opening to find herself in a kind of tiny chamber. Groping round this
+she soon discovered the hasp of a closed door, which she skilfully
+manipulated. The door--a narrow one and somewhat high--swung open, and
+the girl was outside in a quiet corner at the back of the house, and
+hidden fairly well by a projecting buttress. A screen of ivy clothed the
+Manor wall at this point, and the door was concealed behind the screen,
+so that its existence had never been suspected. Bella had discovered the
+exit from the inside, and had cut round the ivy that masked the door so
+that she could get it open. Of course, the cut ivy had more or less
+withered, but even so, no one guessed that there was a door behind the
+brownish oblong.
+
+The night was dark and warm and silent. Bella stole along the footpath,
+which ran between the house and the tall, rustling stalks of the corn.
+Several times she paused, thinking she heard a noise, but everything was
+still, and she speedily turned the corner of the mansion. Apparently
+Mrs. Vand was not on the hunt yet, or perhaps she was busy with the
+search-light which she had asked her husband to use. However this might
+be, Bella saw that the course was clear, and stealing round to the front
+door, which she found to be closed, she sped like an antelope down the
+winding corn-path which led to the boundary channel. Just as she reached
+the top of this and was prepared to start down it, the beam of the
+electric light struck into the dark sky.
+
+Huxham had rigged up the light on the flat roof, between the sloping
+tiles, but Vand had transferred it to the quarter deck, which was slung
+round the chimney. Thus he was enabled to sweep the whole horizon
+without being interrupted by the tall roofs of the Manor. The beam swung
+round here and there, pointing like a great finger, and finally settled
+on the corn-path and on Bella's dark figure running for dear life from
+the mansion. The girl heard Vand's shout as he espied her, heard also
+the front door opening, as Mrs. Vand rushed in pursuit.
+
+But Mrs. Vand, like Hamlet, was stout and scant of breath, and with all
+the will in the world urged by a venomous hatred, could not gain on her
+detested niece, who ran like Atlanta. The search-beam revealed the path
+plainly, and showing the flying figure of Bella, with Mrs. Vand panting
+in vindictive pursuit. Towards the end of the path near the boundary
+channel Bella called softly and breathlessly, "Cyril! Cyril! Mrs. Vand
+is following. Hide! hide!"
+
+At that moment the beam struck the boundary channel, and revealed the
+white-clothed figure of young Lister. It rested for a moment there, and
+then dropped back to aid the steps of Mrs. Vand. Cyril seized the chance
+of the friendly darkness, and as Bella ran into his arms he dragged her
+into the standing corn. In less than a moment they were lying some
+distance from the path amongst the crushed stalks, while Mrs. Vand
+blundered past, running unsteadily. If Vand had kept the beam on Bella,
+she and her lover would not have been able to hide, but having been
+forced to give light to his stout wife, the two were enabled to escape.
+They could hear Mrs. Vand puffing and panting like a grampus, as she
+searched round and round. In Cyril's arms, on Cyril's breast, Bella felt
+perfectly safe, and in spite of the position and of the near presence of
+her enemy, was bubbling over with laughter.
+
+Mrs. Vand crossed the boundary channel, and finding no one on the hither
+side, concluded that Bella had escaped. She returned slowly, and, as
+Vand had now shut off the beam--for he also had seen that the search was
+vain--she stumbled up the path in a very bad temper. As her sighs and
+groans died away and the darkness gathered around, Cyril and Bella rose,
+and gliding back to the verge of the boundary channel, crossed rapidly.
+In a few minutes they were on their way to Marshely.
+
+"What does it all mean, dear?" asked Cyril, when they were quite safe.
+
+Bella told him all about her adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MASTER MAGICIAN
+
+
+Next morning, Dora being at school as usual, Bella received Cyril and
+Durgo in Miss Ankers' tiny drawing-room to discuss the position of
+affairs with regard to the Huxham mystery. In the negro's opinion it was
+no longer a mystery, for after hearing Bella's account of Granny Tunks'
+utterances while in the trance he unhesitatingly pronounced Henry Vand
+guilty.
+
+"But on what evidence?" asked Cyril, who, like Bella, had small belief
+in the manifestation of the unseen.
+
+"The evidence that Granny said that she did say," returned Durgo
+quietly.
+
+"That evidence would not be accepted in a court of law," remarked Bella.
+
+"I am aware of that. I have not been to Oxford for nothing, missy. But
+it gives me a clue, which I shall follow up. This afternoon I shall see
+Mrs. Tunks and question her."
+
+"But if she really knows anything," said Cyril, after a pause, "it will
+prove that her trance statements were by design and from practical
+knowledge."
+
+"I am sure they were," said Bella emphatically. "I fancied that as
+Granny did not see the second set of papers, which Durgo got from Mr.
+Pence, that she did not know the name of Maxwell Faith, my father. But
+now I remember that in the first set, which she found and delivered to
+you, Durgo, my father's name was also mentioned; also the number and the
+value of the jewels. All her talk was of the jewels."
+
+"And of the murder of your real father by Huxham," said Durgo drily;
+"that was not in the first set of papers, and was only lightly referred
+to in the second set."
+
+"That is strange," said Cyril reflectively.
+
+"You no doubt think so," said the negro calmly, "as you disbelieve all
+that you can't see or prove. I know otherwise."
+
+"But, Durgo," argued Cyril, surprised at this assumption, "you have been
+to Oxford, and surely must have rid yourself of these barbarous African
+superstitions."
+
+"You call them superstitions because you don't know their esoteric
+meaning. But there is such a thing as magic, white and black."
+
+"Magic! Pshaw!"
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Of course I never argue with an
+unbeliever, Cyril Lister," he said indifferently, "but the Wise Men came
+from the East, remember, and Europe is indebted to the East for most of
+her civilisation."
+
+"But not to Africa."
+
+"Africa has had her ancient civilisations also. In the time of the
+Atlanteans--but it's useless talking of such matters. All I say is, that
+there are certain natural laws which, when known, can enable anyone to
+part what you call the spirit from the body. When the spiritual eyes are
+open, much can be seen that it is difficult to prove on the physical
+plane."
+
+"I don't understand what you mean by these planes," grumbled Lister.
+
+"Quite so, and it would be useless for me to explain. But facts beyond
+your imagining exist, and had I the time I could prove much to you. Mrs.
+Tunks is what we call clairvoyant, and when in a trance state can
+see--well, you heard her say what she saw, Miss Huxham."
+
+Bella was also sceptical. "She must have read the first set of papers?"
+
+"Probably she did, since woman is an animal filled with curiosity," said
+Durgo good-humouredly. "I don't mean to say that Granny Tunks is
+entirely genuine. There is a good deal of humbug about her, as there is
+about all the Romany tribes. She may have known about the jewels, and
+even your real father's name, but she did not know about his murder.
+Mrs. Tunks has a small portion of clairvoyant power, which does not act
+at all times. When that fails her she resorts to trickery."
+
+"Like spiritualists?" suggested Cyril.
+
+"Exactly," assented the negro with decision. "In all phenomena connected
+with the unseen there is a great measure of truth, but charlatans spoil
+the whole business by resorting to trickery when their powers fail. And
+I may say that the spiritual powers do not act always, since in a great
+measure we are ignorant of the laws which govern them. But enough of
+this discussion. I do not seek to convince you. I shall see Mrs. Tunks
+this afternoon and gain from her actual proof of Vand's guilt."
+
+"But I fancied that you believed my father to be guilty," said Cyril.
+
+"So I did, and if he were I would not mind, since Huxham was a rogue.
+But from what Miss Faith--"
+
+"Miss Huxham," interposed Bella hastily, "until this mystery is cleared
+up."
+
+"Very good. Well, from what Miss Huxham overheard I am inclined to think
+that Vand murdered the old sailor, aided by his wife."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"You supplied it yourself, Miss Huxham; so that they might get his
+money."
+
+"But what about Pence's confession?" said Cyril. "He might have
+committed the deed himself."
+
+"No; he had no reason to kill the old man, who was on his side in the
+matter of the marriage with Miss Huxham here. Besides, if Pence was
+guilty he certainly would not have composed what he did, and assuredly
+would not have produced the one hundred pounds he stole. Now that his
+madness for Miss Huxham is past, Pence has behaved like a rational
+being, and will do his best to assist us in solving this mystery." Durgo
+paused, then turned to the white man. "Cyril Lister, you put an
+advertisement into several London papers a week ago?"
+
+"Yes; I did so without telling you, as I hoped to surprise you with a
+letter from my father telling us of his whereabouts. How do you know?"
+
+"I saw the _Telegraph_ yesterday and also the _Daily Mail_," said Durgo,
+nodding approvingly; "you did well. Have you had any answer?"
+
+"If I had you should have seen it," said Cyril, wrinkling his brows as
+he always did when he was perplexed. "What can have become of him?"
+
+Durgo struck his large hands together in despair. "I fear my master
+Edwin Lister is dead," he said mournfully.
+
+"Why?" asked Bella and her lover simultaneously.
+
+"Miss Huxham, you repeated to me that Granny Tunks in her trance said
+that the knife lying on the floor when the cripple entered to kill
+Huxham, was already bloody. Can't you see?"
+
+"See what?"
+
+"That if the knife were already bloody, Huxham must have killed my master
+Edwin Lister, and then was killed in turn by Vand the cripple."
+
+Cyril looked impatient. "That is all the black magic rubbish you talk
+of."
+
+"Well, then, if my master, your father, is alive and has the jewels, why
+does he not write to me or to you? He knows he can trust us both. Even
+the advertisements have failed. No"--Durgo looked gloomy--"my heart
+misgives me sadly!" He arose abruptly. "Meet me at the 'Chequers,' Cyril
+Lister, and I shall tell you what I learn from Mrs. Tunks."
+
+"Can't I come also to see her?"
+
+"Yes, if you like. Perhaps I shall be able to dispel your disbelief
+regarding these occult powers which she and I possess."
+
+"Is that why Mrs. Tunks calls you master?"
+
+"Yes. She recognised that I had higher powers than she, when we first
+met, and so I was enabled to make her get those papers. Do you think she
+would have done so unless I had controlled her? No. Not even for the
+fifty pounds which I am taking to her to-day. She can make a better
+market out of Vand and his wife. She knows their guilt."
+
+"But cannot prove their guilt."
+
+"Perhaps," said the negro indifferently. "Good-day", and he departed in
+his usual abrupt style, after bidding Cyril meet him at three o'clock at
+the hut of the so-called witch. The lovers looked at one another.
+
+"What do you think of it all, Cyril?" asked Bella timidly.
+
+"I really don't know. We seem to be involved in a web through which we
+cannot break? Durgo certainly seems to be a very strange being, and in
+spite of my disbelief in the existence of occult powers I am inclined to
+think that he knows some strange things. He looks like a negro, and
+talks and acts like a white man. Indeed, no white man would be so
+unselfish as to surrender those jewels to you as Durgo has done."
+
+"He puzzles me," said Bella thoughtfully.
+
+"And me also. However, the best thing to be done will be to leave
+matters in his hands. In one way or another he will learn the truth, and
+then we can get back the jewels and marry."
+
+"Do you think your father has the jewels, Cyril?"
+
+"My dear," he said frowning, "I can't be sure now that my father is
+alive. I begin to believe that there may be something in Granny's
+trances, after all, since she hinted at my father's death at Huxham's
+hands. And terrible as it may seem," added Lister, turning slightly pale
+with emotion, "I would rather think that he was dead than live to be
+called the murderer of Jabez Huxham. I would like to come to you," he
+said, folding Bella in his strong young arms, "as the son of a man whose
+hands are free from blood. Better for my father to be dead than a
+criminal."
+
+The two talked on this matter for some time, until their confidences
+were ended by the entrance of Dora, hungry for her dinner. Then Cyril
+took his leave, promising to return and tell Bella all that took place
+in Mrs. Tunks' hut. Being anxious, the girl made a very poor meal, and
+was scolded by Dora, who little knew what was at stake. But Dora
+supplied one unconscious piece of information which surprised her
+friend.
+
+"I think Mr. and Mrs. Vand are going away for a trip," she said
+carelessly.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Bella, starting so violently that she upset
+the water-jug.
+
+Dora looked surprised. "My dear, you are not so fond of your aunt as to
+display such emotion. I merely say that the Vands are going away."
+
+"When? Where? How do you know?"
+
+"Very soon, I believe, as they are packing, but where they are going I
+don't know. Sarah Jope, the servant, whose sister is at the school, came
+flying home last night to her mother with a cock and bull story about a
+ghost at the Manor. This morning she went to get her belongings, as she
+insists upon leaving the house. She found Mrs. Vand and her husband
+packing for immediate departure and was bundled out by her indignant
+mistress, boxes and all, with a flea in her ear. Sarah Jope's sister told
+me this just before I came home to dinner."
+
+"The Vands going away!" said Bella in dismay. This seemed to prove that
+they were guilty, and wished to escape. "I thought they were going to
+wait for the harvest home."
+
+"I daresay they will be back in a month, and the Bleacres corn won't be
+reaped until then. I only wish they would remain away altogether. Your
+aunt is a horrid woman, Bella, though her husband is a dear."
+
+Bella did not echo the compliment, for, after what she had seen on the
+previous night, she was inclined to think that Henry Vand was the worse
+of the two, evil as his wife might be. At all events, he was the
+stronger, and Rosamund Vand was a mere tool in his hands. She was on the
+point of going to Cyril's lodgings to warn him and Durgo of this
+projected departure of the Manor-house inhabitants, but on reflection
+she concluded to wait until he returned from Mrs. Tunks' hut. After all,
+the Vands could not leave Marshely before night-fall, and would have to
+pass through the village on their way to the far-distant railway
+station. If necessary they could thus be intercepted at the eleventh
+hour.
+
+Mrs. Tunks was seated by the fire in her dingy hut, absorbed in her own
+thoughts, which she assisted by smoking a dirty black pipe. In the next
+room her grandson still turned and tossed, watched by a bright-eyed
+gipsy girl, whom the old woman had engaged from a passing family of her
+kinsfolk. But the man no longer raved, as the worst of the delirium had
+passed. He was sensible enough, but weak, and looked the mere shadow of
+his former stalwart self. Mrs. Tunks feared lest he should die, and was
+much disturbed in consequence, as he was her sole support. Without her
+grandson's earnings she could not hope to keep a roof above her head, as
+her fees for consultations as a wise woman were woefully small. She did
+not dare to make them larger in case her visitors should warn the police
+of her doings. And Mrs. Tunks, for obvious reasons, did not wish for an
+interview with Dutton, the village constable.
+
+Smoking her pipe, crouching over the smouldering fire, and wondering how
+she could obtain money, the old woman did not hear the door open and
+shut. Not until a black hand was laid on her shoulder did she turn, to
+see that Durgo was in the hut with Cyril behind him. Paying no attention
+to the white man, she rose and fawned like a dog on the black.
+
+"He's ill, master," she whimpered, clawing Durgo's rough tweed sleeve,
+"and if he goes there's no one to help me. Give him something to make
+him well; set him on his legs again."
+
+"Do you think I can do so?" asked Durgo, with a grave smile.
+
+Mrs. Tunks peered at him with her bleared eyes and struck her skinny
+hands together. "I can swear to it, master. You know much I don't know,
+and I know heaps as the Gorgios--my curse on them!--would give their
+ears to learn. Come, lovey--I mean master--help me in this and I'll help
+you in other ways."
+
+"Such as by telling us who murdered Huxham," put in Cyril injudiciously.
+
+"Me, deary! Lor', I don't know who killed the poor gentleman," and Mrs.
+Tunk's face became perfectly vacant of all expression.
+
+Durgo turned frowning on the white man. "I said that I would let you
+come if you did not speak," he remarked in a firm whisper; "you have
+broken your promise already."
+
+Cyril apologised in low tones. "I won't say another word," he said, and
+took a seat on a broken chair near the window.
+
+Mrs. Tunks cringed and bent before Durgo, evidently regarding him with
+awe, as might her sister-witches the Evil One, when he appeared at
+festivals. The negro glanced towards the closed door of the other room.
+"Who is watching your grandson?" he asked sharply.
+
+"A Romany gal, as I found----"
+
+"That will do. I want no listeners. Call her out and turn her out."
+
+The old woman entered the other room, and soon returned driving before
+her a black-eyed slip of a child about thirteen years of age. This brat
+protested that Tunks was restless and could not be left.
+
+"I shall quieten him," said the negro quickly; "get out, you!" and he
+fixed so fierce a glance on the small girl that she fled rapidly. And
+Cyril saw that the girl was not one easily frightened.
+
+"Now to put your grandson to sleep," said Durgo, passing into the next
+room, and Cyril saw his great hands hover over the restless man on the
+bed. He made strange passes and spoke strange words, while Mrs. Tunks
+looked on, shaking and trembling. In two minutes the sick man lay
+perfectly still, and to all appearances was sound asleep. Durgo returned
+to the outer room.
+
+"You'll cure him, master, won't you?" coaxed Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"Yes. I'll cure him if you tell me what you know of this murder."
+
+"I don't know anything, master."
+
+Mrs. Tunks looked obstinate yet terrified. Durgo stared at her in a
+mesmeric sort of way, and threw out his hand. The woman crouched and
+writhed in evident agony. "Oh, deary me, I'm all burnt up and aching,
+and shrivelled cruel. Don't--oh, don't! I'll be good. I'll be good;" and
+she wriggled.
+
+"Will you speak?" said the negro sternly.
+
+"Yes, yes! only take the spell off me, deary--master, I mean."
+
+"You feel no pain now," said Durgo quickly, and at once an air of relief
+passed over Mrs. Tunks' withered face. She sat down on a stool and
+folded her claw-like hands on her lap. Durgo leaned against the
+fire-place. "What do you know of this murder?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know much, save what he"--she nodded towards the room wherein
+lay her sleeping grandson--"what he said when he was mad with the drink.
+Get him to speak, master, and you'll learn everything."
+
+"In good time I'll make him speak," said Durgo with impressive
+quietness. "Now I ask your questions. Answer! Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, master; yes, I hear. I answer," said the trembling old creature.
+
+"Did you tell the truth in your trance last night?"
+
+Mrs. Tunks looked up with awe. "He knows everything, does the master,"
+she breathed softly, then replied with haste, "Yes. I spoke of what I
+saw."
+
+"Did you see all you spoke of, or did you make up some?"
+
+"I spoke of what I saw," said Mrs. Tunks decidedly, "and you know,
+master, how I saw it. I loosened the spirit, and it went to look. But I
+don't say but what I didn't know much from what Luke raved about."
+
+"So you knew before Vand took you to the Manor-house for this trance,
+that he had murdered Huxham?"
+
+"Yes, master, I did know, but I wasn't sure till I saw with the Sight."
+
+"Luke"--Durgo nodded towards the inner room in his turn--"Luke knows
+that Vand murdered Huxham?"
+
+"Yes, master. I believe," said Granny, sinking her voice, "that he saw
+the doings through the window of the study. He never said naught to me,
+though I wondered where he got so much money to get drunk every day. But
+when he was mad with the drink, he talked and talked all the night. Then
+I knew that he had got money from Mr. Vand for holding his tongue."
+
+"Tell me what he said?" commanded Durgo.
+
+"He raved disjointed like," said Mrs. Tunks with great humility; "but he
+talked of Mr. Vand coming in when Captain Huxham was looking at a box of
+jewels. There was a knife on the floor, and Mr. Vand stabbed Captain
+Huxham with that knife, and then dropped it behind the desk."
+
+"Was his wife with him?"
+
+"No. She was in the kitchen."
+
+"Was there another man with Huxham before Vand came?"
+
+"Luke said nothing of that. But he did say," added Mrs. Tunks quickly,
+"that he was going to America with Mr. and Mrs. Vand, and raved of the
+good time he would have with them."
+
+"When are they going?"
+
+"I don't know, master. Luke didn't say."
+
+Cyril would have interrupted to ask a question about his missing father,
+as he could not understand why Durgo had not threshed out that important
+point. But at the first sound of his voice the negro frowned him unto
+immediate silence. When all was quiet, Durgo looked directly at Granny,
+and made passes. "Sleep, sleep, sleep!" he said, and Cyril could see by
+the working of his face that he was putting out his will to induce a
+hypnotic condition. "Sleep, I say."
+
+The old woman must have been a marvellously sensitive subject, for she
+leaned against the wall--her stool had no back--and closed her eyes in
+apparent deep slumber almost immediately. Her face was perfectly
+expressionless, and her limbs were absolutely still. She looked--as
+Cyril thought, with a shudder--like a corpse. Durgo spoke softly in her
+ear: "Are you free?" he asked gently.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Tunks, in a far-away, faint voice.
+
+"Go to the Manor-house."
+
+"I am there."
+
+"Enter!"
+
+"The door is fast closed," said Mrs. Tunks, still faintly.
+
+"Doors are no bars to you now; you can pass through the door."
+
+There came a short pause. "I have passed. I am inside."
+
+"Seek out Vand and his wife," commanded the negro softly.
+
+"I have found them."
+
+"What are they doing?" demanded Durgo, sharply.
+
+"Packing boxes," came the response, without hesitation; "they talk of
+going away to-night."
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"I can't say: they don't mention the place. But they leave the
+Manor-house under cover of darkness to-night."
+
+"Look for the jewels."
+
+"I have looked."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"In a small portmanteau, marked with two initials."
+
+"What are the initials?"
+
+"M. F. Oh!" Mrs. Tunks' voice became very weary. "The mist has come on.
+I can see no more. It is not permitted to know more."
+
+Durgo looked disappointed, and seemed inclined to force his will. But
+after a frowning pause, he waved his hands rapidly, and spoke with great
+sharpness.
+
+"Come back," he said briefly, and after a moment or so, the old woman
+opened her eyes quietly. Her gaze met the angry one of Durgo, and she
+winced.
+
+"Have I not pleased you, master?" she asked, timidly.
+
+"Yes. You have pleased me. But I wish you could have learned more."
+
+"What did I say?" asked Granny, wonderingly.
+
+"Never mind. Here"--Durgo produced a small canvas bag from his
+pocket--"this is the money you have earned."
+
+Mrs. Tunks hastily untied the mouth of the bag, and poured a glittering
+stream of gold into her lap. "Fifty sovereigns, lovey," she mumbled, her
+eyes glowing with avaricious delight. "Thank you, master; oh, thank
+you."
+
+"In an hour," said Durgo, indifferent to her thanks, "I shall send you a
+small bottle containing a draught, which you can give to your grandson.
+It will put him right; but of course a few days will elapse before he
+can get quite strong again. This place"--he glanced disparagingly round
+the dingy hut--"is not healthy."
+
+"So I thought, master. And to-night Luke is going to my sister's
+caravan. It's on the road outside Marshely, and the gel can take him
+there. If Luke has a month or two of the open road, he'll soon be
+himself again. Anything more I can tell you, master?"
+
+"No. But to-night I am coming here, shortly after moonrise. Get rid of
+your grandson beforehand, if you can."
+
+"What is to be done, master?"
+
+"Never mind. Do as you're told. Good-day," and Durgo, beckoning to
+Cyril, went out of the hut. The white man followed, in a state of great
+amazement.
+
+"How did you manage all that?" he asked wonderingly.
+
+"Hypnotism," said Durgo shortly. "You heard that Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+intend to fly to-night?"
+
+"I have heard: yet I cannot believe in that hanky-panky."
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders and argued no more. But when Cyril came to
+his lodgings, and found a note from Bella stating that she had heard of
+the Vands' intention of leaving the Manor-house, he disbelieved no
+longer. Nay, more, for on the authority of Mrs. Tunks' hypnotic
+confessions, he believed that the Vands also possessed the
+long-sought-for jewels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A DESPERATE ATTEMPT
+
+
+"When the darkness came on, and just as the moon was rising, Lister and
+Bella proceeded to the plank bridge of the boundary channel. Before
+leaving Cyril on that afternoon, Durgo had intimated that he wished Miss
+Huxham to meet him at that hour and at that place, and of course Cyril
+came also. He had every trust in the negro, who had proved himself in
+every way to be a man of sterling worth. All the same, he did not intend
+to let Durgo meet Bella without being present. The black man was far too
+intimate with unseen forces, to please the white man, and it was
+necessary to protect Bella, if necessary.
+
+"He might put you into a hypnotic trance," explained Cyril, who had
+described all that had taken place.
+
+"I should not let him do that," said the girl decidedly.
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "Durgo might not care if you liked it or
+not. He would hypnotize you, if he wished."
+
+"No, Cyril, he could not do that unless I consented. My will is my own,
+and it is a strong one. I suppose," said Bella, after a pause, "that he
+made Granny feel those aches and pains by controlling her subjective
+mind."
+
+Lister glanced sideways at her in surprise. "You seem to know all about
+it," he declared. "Where did you learn those terms?"
+
+"At my school at Hampstead there was a girl who could hypnotise people.
+She read all manner of books about hypnotism, and talked about the
+subjective mind, although I don't know what it is. I can understand so
+much of Durgo's power over Granny. But that sending her spirit to the
+Manor is strange. I don't believe that he did."
+
+"He must have done so," insisted Cyril, "as Durgo did not know that the
+Vands were leaving, and Granny distinctly stated that they were, in my
+hearing. Also, if we find that the jewels are in the small portmanteau,
+marked with the initials M. F., we can be certain that her spirit really
+did travel."
+
+"'M. F.,'" repeated Bella, dreamily: "those are my father's initials."
+
+"Maxwell Faith. So they are. Humph! There is something in this business
+after all, Bella."
+
+"But do you really think anyone can separate the spirit from the body?"
+
+Lister reflected. "I don't see why not. After all, as St. Paul says, we
+are composed of spirit, soul and body, so in certain cases the one may
+become detached from the other. I remember"--he looked thoughtfully up
+to the cloudy sky--"I remember reading in some magazine of a boat-load
+of people being saved, owing to one of them transferring his spirit to a
+passing ship, and leaving written instructions in the cabin where the
+ship was to steer to."
+
+"Oh, Cyril, that's impossible."
+
+"My dear," he said drily, "you can see the log of that very ship,
+containing an account of the incident, at Somerset House. However, we
+have no time to discuss these matters further. Yonder is Durgo by the
+bridge. I want to know why he asked you to meet him here. Such a night,
+too"--Cyril shivered--"quite a change. I feel cold."
+
+"So do I. It will rain, Cyril. Look at that heavy bank of clouds behind
+which the moon is hiding. And oh, how dark it is!"
+
+It certainly was dark, and the two came very near Durgo before they saw
+him. The sky was heavy with gloomy clouds, and undoubtedly there
+promised to be rain before midnight. Durgo, wrapped in a heavy military
+cloak, stood sentinel by the plank bridge. When the lovers came up he
+led them across to the other side, and when they stood on Bleacres he
+used his great strength to rip up a couple of planks.
+
+"There!" said the negro, flinging these into the standing corn, "they
+will not be able to get their boxes across, even if they can cross
+themselves."
+
+"Are you talking of the Vands?" asked Bella quickly.
+
+"Yes; they are still at the Manor-house. Look!"
+
+He pointed through the gloom, and they saw two or three windows of the
+old house lighted up brilliantly. Across other windows occasionally
+flitted more lights. Apparently Mrs. Vand was anxiously trying to
+impress the neighbours at least, such as might be abroad on this
+night--that she and her husband were ostentatiously at home. Durgo
+laughed grimly.
+
+"They have quite an eye for dramatic effect," he said in his guttural
+voice, and very contemptuously. "Well, they shall have all the drama
+they want to-night, and more."
+
+"Durgo," Bella spoke in an alarmed tone, "you won't hurt them?"
+
+"Not if I can help it."
+
+Cyril interposed imperiously. "I shall not be a party to the breaking of
+the law," he said with sharpness, "nor will I allow Bella to----"
+
+"Cyril Lister," interrupted the negro, turning on him and addressing him
+by his full name, as was his odd way; "if I could bring the police on
+the scene I would do so. But you know, as I do, that we have no proofs
+save those of the unseen, which would not be accepted in a court of law,
+to prove that the two are guilty of murder--of a double murder for all I
+know."
+
+"A double murder!" echoed Bella, drawing closer to her lover.
+
+"Yes. Edwin Lister, my master, has disappeared, and Huxham is dead. The
+old sailor, certainly, may have killed my master, but on the other hand,
+as I believe, Vand murdered Huxham, and probably murdered Edwin Lister
+also. Howsoever this may be, we can prove neither murder, so it is not
+advisable to bring the police into the matter.
+
+"It would be safer," said Cyril uneasily. He feared lest Durgo's
+barbaric instincts should be aroused against the couple at the
+Manor-house.
+
+"It would not be safer," retorted the negro. "While the police were
+debating and searching, the Vands would be getting out of the kingdom,
+and we could not stop them. Besides, they have the jewels. I am certain
+of that from what Granny Tunks saw when I loosened her spirit. Once the
+Vands got news of the police being on their track they would hide those
+jewels, and we should never find them. I want those jewels for you, Miss
+Huxham, as, before I leave England, I wish to see you happily married to
+Cyril Lister here. It is the least that I can do for his father's son."
+
+"But if my father is alive and has the jewels?" asked Cyril doubtfully.
+
+"That will make a difference," assented Durgo, "although I daresay that
+Edwin Lister will not mind returning the jewels. We can arrange our
+funds for the expedition in another way. But I fear," he added in gloomy
+tones, "that my master is dead. If so, I can only avenge him."
+
+"But with your occult powers, can't you learn if my father is dead or
+alive?"
+
+"No," said Durgo very decidedly. "You forget that on the side of the
+unseen are mighty powers who have to be obeyed. I can do much, but not
+all, and for some reason I am not permitted to know the truth about my
+master. Sooner or later I shall understand about this. What we have to
+do at the present time is to prevent the Vands from escaping. Will you
+both help?"
+
+"Yes," said Bella, anticipating Cyril; "that is if you don't intend
+violence."
+
+"Be comforted," said Durgo ironically; "be comforted, missy. I have no
+wish to put a rope round my neck. I simply mean to force these devils to
+give up the jewels, and to solve so much of this mystery as they know.
+When I regain the jewels and know what has become of my master, I shall
+let them go, or if you like I shall hand them over to the police. But
+time presses," added Durgo impatiently, "and at any time the two may
+come along on their way to freedom. Will you help?"
+
+"Yes," said Cyril simply. "What do you want us to do?"
+
+"Missy"--Durgo turned to the girl--"can you work that search-light?"
+
+Bella nodded. "For an evening's amusement my father--I mean Captain
+Huxham--once showed me how to manipulate it."
+
+"Well it is in good order, as we know that Vand used it last night. You
+can get into the house by the secret passage and watch for the going out
+of our two friends. Then turn on the search-light and use it as a
+pointer."
+
+"I can use the search-light, and I daresay it is in order since Henry
+Vand used it last night," said Bella quickly; "also I can get to the
+upper part of the house and on to the roof, through a kind of well which
+runs from the lower to the higher secret passage. But what do you mean
+by my using the light as a pointer?"
+
+"Direct the ray on to Vand and his wife; they may come down this path,
+or they may try and escape in another way. But if you bend the ray of
+the search-light to where they are, I'll be able to catch them. Use the
+ray as a finger, as it were."
+
+Bella nodded. "I see, and where will you be?"
+
+"I shall hide in the corn somewhere or another," explained Durgo. "I
+don't know where, as I can't be sure how Vand and his wife intend to
+escape."
+
+"They may take the boat," suggested Cyril, "and that is tied up some
+distance yonder. I believe they will use the boat."
+
+"No;" said Durgo shaking his head; "there is no place where they can row
+to, as this channel ends in mere swamps. All I can do is to walk here
+and there, and watch for the finger of the search-light."
+
+"What am I to do?" asked Cyril anxiously; "go with Bella?"
+
+"No you wait in Mrs. Tunk's hut. I daresay she is alone, as I asked her
+to send her grandson away to his gipsy caravan before I came. I shall
+walk down with you, while Miss Huxham goes to the Manor-house."
+
+"I would rather go with Bella," objected the young man uneasily.
+
+"I am quite safe," said Bella determinedly, "and if you came, Cyril,
+there would be no room for us both in that narrow secret passage. I
+shall go by myself. Have no fear for me, dearest."
+
+"One moment," said Durgo, as she was moving away. "Since you think that
+I may use violence, I may tell you, to quieten your minds, that the
+police are coming, after all."
+
+"When did you tell the police to come? I thought you said----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" interrupted the negro impatiently. "I know what I said. But
+I saw Inspector Inglis the other day when I went to Pierside, and
+informed him of my suspicions. I wired him to-day asking him to be with
+three or four men on the bank of the boundary channel opposite to Granny
+Tunks' hut."
+
+"At what time?"
+
+"About eleven, as I don't suppose that the Vands will try and escape
+until everyone in Marshely is asleep."
+
+"Did you tell Inglis about the jewels?" asked Cyril.
+
+"No, there is no need to tell more than is necessary. Besides, the
+police might take possession of the jewels, and I want them for Miss
+Huxham. All Inglis knows is that I suspect the Vands of a double murder,
+and that they intend to fly. He will come with his constables to arrest
+them if there is sufficient evidence."
+
+"But I say, Durgo. I wanted you to do as you say, some time ago, and you
+talked of it not being advisable to bring the police into the matter. It
+seems that you have done so."
+
+"It is a fact," said Durgo drily. "I didn't wish to tell you all my
+plans at once, as you and Miss Huxham here seemed to be so certain that
+I intended blue murder. If you had not been ready to trust me, I should
+not have changed my mind or have told you about the presence of the
+police. You look on me as a barbarous black man."
+
+"We look on you as a very good friend," said Bella quickly, for the
+negro seemed hurt by their suspicions.
+
+"There! there!" said Durgo gruffly, but bowing to the compliment. "Go to
+the Manor-house, Miss Huxham, and do what you can."
+
+"Good-bye, Cyril," said Bella.
+
+The young man ran after her as she moved up the corn path. "Don't go
+without a kiss, Bella," he said, catching her in his arms. "God keep
+you, my darling, and bring us safely through this dark business!"
+
+"I'm not afraid, now that I know Inspector Inglis and his men will be on
+the spot," whispered Bella. "Good-bye! and good-bye! and good-bye!" and
+she kissed him between each word. In a few minutes she was swallowed up
+in the gloom, which was growing denser every minute.
+
+"There will be a storm," prophesied Durgo, as the two men proceeded side
+by side to Mrs. Tunks' hut. "Hark!"
+
+Just as he spoke there came a deep, hoarse roll of thunder, as though
+the artillery of heaven was being prepared to bombard the guilty pair in
+the old Manor-house. Durgo, with the instinct of a wild animal, raised
+his nose and sniffed. "I smell the rain. Glory! look at the lightning."
+
+A vivid flash of forked lightning zig-zagged across the violent-hued
+sky, and again came the crash of thunder. Already the wind was rising,
+and the vast fields of corn were rustling and sighing and bending under
+its chill breath. "It is going to be a fierce night," said Durgo,
+dilating his nostrils to breathe the freshness of the air. "Do you
+remember in Macbeth, Cyril Lister, of the night of Duncan's murder?" and
+he quoted in his deep voice--
+
+      "_--but this sore night,
+    Hath trifled former knowings._"
+
+Cyril looked at the strong black face, which showed clearly in the
+frequent flashes of lightning. "You are a strange man, Durgo. One would
+think that you were almost--" he hesitated.
+
+"A white man," finished Durgo coolly. "No, my friend. I am an educated
+black man, and an ingrained savage." He spoke mockingly, then flung back
+his military cloak. "Look! Would a man be like this in your sober
+England?"
+
+Cyril uttered an ejaculation, and had every reason to. In the bluish
+flare of the lightning he saw that Durgo had stripped himself to a
+loin-cloth, and that his powerful body was glistening with oil. The sole
+civilised things about him were canvas running-shoes which he wore, and
+the cloak. "Why have you stripped to the buff?" asked Cyril astonished.
+
+"I may have hard work to catch those two this night," said Durgo,
+replacing his cloak, which made him look quite respectable, "so I wish
+to run as easily as possible."
+
+"But there was no need to strip. The police won't be stripped."
+
+"It's my way, and was the way of my fathers before me."
+
+"In Africa, but not in England."
+
+"Pooh!" was all that Durgo answered, and the two trudged along, bowing
+their heads against the now furiously driving wind. Shortly they came to
+Mrs. Tunks' hut, and the door was opened by the old woman herself.
+
+"I felt that you were coming, master," she said, nodding. "Enter."
+
+"No," said Durgo, pausing on the threshold of the ill-smelling room. "I
+have to go back to my post and watch for the coming of the Vands. Mr.
+Lister will remain here. Has your grandson gone?"
+
+"No, lovey--I mean master," said Granny coaxingly. "He's ever so much
+better for the medicine you gave him, and is quite his own self. But
+I've sent the gel to get a boat to take him to the caravan. They've
+moved it down the channel to a meadow near the high road. The gel will
+bring the boat up here in an hour or so, and take Luke back with her;
+then he'll go on the merry road with her and my sister."
+
+"You should have sent Luke away before," said Durgo frowning, "for he
+knew all about the murder, and has blackmailed the Vands. Inglis and his
+constables will be on the opposite bank to this place soon, and they may
+arrest him. I shan't say more than I can help, but get him away as soon
+as you can."
+
+"Yes, master; yes, deary; yes, lovey!" croaked the old woman; and Durgo,
+with a significant glance at her and a nod to Cyril, turned away into
+the gloom.
+
+"Won't you come in, lovey?" asked Mrs. Tunks coaxingly.
+
+"No," said Cyril, who did not relish the malodorous hut; "I'll stay here
+and watch for the signal."
+
+"What signal?" demanded the witch wife.
+
+"Never mind. Go in!" commanded Lister, and settled himself under the
+eaves of the hut to keep guard.
+
+Granny scowled at him as she obeyed. She did not mind cringing to Durgo,
+who was her master in the black art, but she objected to Cyril ordering
+her about. Had Granny really possessed the powers she laid claim to she
+would have blighted his fresh youth on the spot. As it was, she simply
+muttered a curse on what she regarded as his impertinence, and went
+indoors.
+
+Cyril lighted his pipe and kept his eyes on the distant mass of the
+Manor-house, which was revealed blackly when the lightning flashed.
+Across the ocean of grain tore the furious wind, making it rock like an
+unquiet sea. Flash after flash darted across the livid sky, and every
+now and then came the sudden boom of the thunder. Hour upon hour passed
+until the watcher almost lost count of time. Within the cottage all was
+quiet, although at intervals he could hear the querulous voice of Mrs.
+Tunks shrilly scolding the Romany girl. Lister began to grow impatient,
+as he dreaded lest Bella should have fallen into the clutches of the
+Vands, who would certainly show her no mercy. It was in his mind to
+leave his post and see for himself what had occurred. Suddenly a long
+clear beam smote through the darkness of the night, and he sprang to his
+feet.
+
+"They have left the house," muttered Cyril, thrusting his pipe into his
+pocket; "what's to be done now?"
+
+The lightning was not quite so frequent, so the vivid beam of the
+search-light had full and fair play. But as the lightning ceased and the
+thunder became silent, a deluge of rain descended on the thirsty earth.
+On its strong wings the wind brought the rain, and a tropical down-pour
+almost blotted out the haggard moon, which now showed herself between
+driving clouds. But through the steady beam of the search-light could be
+seen the straight arrows of the rain, and the vast corn-fields hissed as
+the heavy drops descended. Here and there swung the ray of light,
+evidently looking for the fugitives, but as it did not come to rest,
+Cyril guessed that Bella had not yet descried the flying couple. But the
+rain was so incessant, and the wind so strong, that he was angered to
+think how Bella, on the high altitude of the quarter deck, was exposed
+to its fury.
+
+Suddenly, as sometimes happens in furious storms, there came a lull both
+in the wind and the rain. A perfect silence ensued, and Cyril straining
+his ears, heard the soft dip of oars. As he peered towards the black
+gulf of the water-way running past the hut, the ray from the Manor-house
+became steady, and the finger of light pointed straight to the boundary
+channel. Cyril heard a wild shriek and ran down to the bank. Coming
+along the stream he saw a light boat, and in it Mrs. Vand huddled up at
+the end in her shawl. Vand himself was rowing with great care: but when
+the beam revealed their doings he lost all caution and rowed with
+desperation. Again came a drench of rain, almost blotting out the
+landscape, but the ray of light still picked out the guilty couple,
+following the course of the boat steadily, like an avenging angel's
+sword.
+
+"Row, Henry, row hard!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, crouching in the stern of
+the boat and steering down the narrow channel as best she could, "We'll
+soon be safe. Row hard, dear! row hard!"
+
+"Stop!" cried Cyril from the bank. "Mrs. Vand, you must wait here until
+the police come. Stop!"
+
+"The police!" yelled the terrified woman, and her face was pearly white
+in the brilliant search-light. "Row, Henry; don't stop!"
+
+Lister whipped out a revolver, with which he had been careful to provide
+himself. "If you don't stop, Vand, I shall shoot," and he levelled it.
+
+But the cripple was too desperate to obey. He bent again to the oars and
+brought the shallop sweeping right under Cyril's feet. Then, before the
+young man could conjecture what he intended to do, he stood up in the
+rocking boat and swung up an oar with the evident intention of striking
+the man with the revolver into the water. Lister dodged skilfully as the
+oar came crashing viciously past his ear, and fired at random.
+
+Mrs. Vand shrieked, her husband cursed, as the shot rang out. There came
+an answering cry from the near distance, and into the glare of the
+search-light bounded Durgo, naked save for his loin-cloth, black as the
+pit and furious as the devil who lives therein. Showing his white teeth
+like those of a wild animal, he raced up to the boat, and without a
+moment's hesitation flung himself on the figure of Vand as he stood up.
+The next moment the light craft was overturned, and Durgo, with the
+Vands, was struggling in the water. At the same moment the beam of the
+search-light suddenly vanished, leaving everyone in complete darkness.
+And the rain, driven by the triumphant wind, deluged the fields.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+MRS. VAND'S REPENTANCE
+
+
+Afterwards, Cyril, when questioned, could never clearly recollect what
+took place. Vand's oar had missed his head, but had struck his right
+shoulder with considerable force, so that his revolver shot had gone
+wide of its intended mark. When Bella shut off the beam--and Cyril
+wondered at the time why she did so--everything was dark and confused.
+What with the gloom, the rain and curses from Vand and Durgo, who were
+struggling in the water, and the shrieks of Mrs. Tunks, added to those
+of the half-drowned woman, Cyril felt his head whirl; also the blow from
+the oar had confused him, and he became sick and faint for the moment.
+
+Granny Tunks with commendable forethought had brought out a bullseye
+lantern, which she must have stolen from some policeman. Flashing this
+on to the water-way, its light revealed Durgo and the cripple locked in
+a deadly embrace, and Mrs. Vand clinging to the bank with one hand while
+she clutched her shawl with the other. Cyril thereupon plunged down the
+incline and dragged the wretched woman out. Thinking she was about to be
+arrested she fought like a wild cat, and would have forced the
+half-dazed young man into the water again, but that Mrs. Tunks brought a
+chunk of wood with considerable force down on her head.
+
+"What the devil did you do that for?" gasped Cyril furiously; "you've
+killed her, you old fool!"
+
+"What do I care, deary?" cried Granny shrilly. "I'd kill them both if I
+could, for the master wants them killed, curse them both!" and she
+tottered down to the boundary channel, while Cyril carried the inanimate
+form of Mrs. Vand into the hut. Here he laid her on the floor, and
+hastily bidding the Romany girl attend her, hurried out again.
+
+"They're dead, both of them! Oh, the master's dead!" yelled Granny
+Tunks.
+
+With the lantern raised she stood on the bank peering into the water,
+but there was scarcely enough light to see what was taking place. All
+sounds had ceased, however, and only the drench of the rain could be
+heard. But even as Granny spoke, the Romany girl, anxious to see what
+was taking place, darted out of the cottage with a kind of torch,
+consisting of tow at the end of a stick steeped in kerosene. This flared
+redly and flung a crimson glare on the water-ways, and flung also its
+scarlet light on the bodies of Durgo and the Cripple. These lay half-in
+and half-out of the water, fast locked together in a death grip. There
+was no wound apparent on either body, so Cyril conjectured that in the
+struggle both had been drowned. Durgo's mighty arms were clasped tightly
+around the slender body of the cripple, but Vand's lean hands were
+clutching the negro's throat with fierce resolution. Both were quite
+dead, and even in death Cyril, although he tried, could not drag them
+apart. That so delicate a man as Vand could have contrived to drown the
+powerful negro seemed incredible to Cyril: but he soon saw that to kill
+Durgo the cripple had been willing to sacrifice himself. Probably he had
+dragged Durgo under water, and having a grip on the man's throat had
+squeezed the life out of him with a madman's despairing force. The weak
+had confounded the strong on this occasion in a most pronounced manner.
+
+Meanwhile, Granny Tunks was bewailing the loss of her master, and the
+sharp-featured Romany girl echoed her cries. The screams of both brought
+out Luke, who appeared at the fire-lighted door of the hut looking much
+better than Cyril expected him to be, seeing how severe had been his
+last illness. He had something in his hands, and in the flaring light of
+the torch Lister saw that it was a somewhat small black bag. In a moment
+the young man guessed that Luke Tunks had been robbing the unconscious
+Mrs. Vand, as he remembered that she had kept a close grip of something
+under her shawl even while she was struggling with him.
+
+"The jewels!" cried Cyril, too excited to be cautious, and leaped for
+the gipsy. "Give me the jewels."
+
+"They're mine, blast you!" growled Luke, trying to evade him. "Missus
+gave 'em to me. Leave me alone. Granny, help me!"
+
+Mrs. Tunks ran to the rescue, for the mention of jewels stirred her
+avaricious blood like the call of a trumpet. But already Cyril had
+plucked the black bag from the still weak gipsy, and Luke was not strong
+enough yet to make a fight for it. Aided vigorously by the Romany girl,
+the old woman would have closed in, but that a shout from the opposite
+bank made all turn. A dozen bullseyes were flashing over the stream.
+Cyril, gripping the bag, dashed the woman and the man aside and sprang
+to the verge of the channel.
+
+"Is that you, Inspector Inglis?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes; who are you?" came the sharp official tones.
+
+"Cyril Lister. Come over yourself, or send some men. Vand and Durgo, the
+negro, are dead."
+
+There was a confused muttering of surprise amongst the constables. Then
+came Inglis's clean-cut speech. "We heard a shot. Is----"
+
+"No. Durgo struggled with Vand in the water-way, and they were both
+drowned. These gipsies here are making trouble, and Mrs. Vand is
+unconscious in the hut. Come across and take charge."
+
+"How the devil can we get across here?" demanded Inglis. "It's twenty
+feet of water. Here you men, go round by the bridge."
+
+"It's broken down," yelled Cyril.
+
+"Who broke it?"
+
+"Durgo. Let go, you old devil!" and Cyril swung Granny Tunks aside. The
+woman was still trying to clutch the jewels. "Inglis, you'll have to
+swim across. There's no other way."
+
+No sooner had Lister suggested this expedient than Inglis obeyed it with
+the promptitude of an Englishman. Several heavy bodies were heard
+plunging into the water, and the bullseye lanterns were seen approaching
+like moving glow-worms as their swimming owners held them above their
+several heads. Had Granny Tunks been strong enough she would have
+attempted to prevent the landing of this hostile force; but Luke was
+useless and the Romany girl still more so. All she could do was to enter
+the fortress of her hut and bar the door, which she accordingly did,
+while Luke, mindful that he might be arrested for the murders as an
+accomplice after the fact, slunk hastily into the standing corn. Shortly
+Cyril was shaking hands with a dripping police inspector, and surrounded
+by six dripping constables. As the half dozen men and their officer were
+already wetted to the bone by incessant rain, the plunge into the
+channel did not trouble them in the least; indeed, they looked as though
+they rather enjoyed the adventure.
+
+"But we may as well get under shelter to hear your story," suggested
+Inglis, and knocked loudly at the door of the hut. As Granny would not
+open, he simply turned to his men and gave a sharp order. "Break it
+down," said Inglis, and in less than a minute the constables were
+marching into the small apartment over the fallen door.
+
+"I'll have the law on you for this!" screeched Mrs. Tunks, shaking her
+fist.
+
+"You'll get a stomach-full of law, I have no doubt, before I have done
+with you," retorted Inglis. "Who is this?" and he stared at the
+inanimate form on the earthen floor amidst pools of water.
+
+"Vand's wife, who was trying to escape with him," said Cyril. "She is
+insensible from a blow this old demon gave her."
+
+"She'd have had you in the water else," hissed Mrs. Tunks scornfully.
+
+"It wasn't unlikely, seeing how she fought. Have you any brandy?"
+
+"A trifle for my spasms," admitted Granny sullenly.
+
+"Then bring it out and revive Mrs. Vand," said Inglis impatiently. "It
+will be necessary for me to question her. Mr. Lister"--he brought his
+mouth very close to the young man's ear and spoke in a whisper--"is what
+that nigger told me quite true?"
+
+"About Vand murdering Huxham? I believe it is, but I can't be sure. I
+got these, however, from Mrs. Vand. Don't let the old hag come near or
+she'll try and loot them."
+
+"Loot what?" demanded Inglis, on seeing Cyril open the black bag, after
+he had motioned the constables to surround the table. "Oh, by Jupiter!"
+
+His surprised ejaculations were echoed by his men, for Lister emptied on
+the table many glittering stones, cut and uncut. Chiefly they were
+diamonds, but also could be seen sapphires, rubies, pearls, and
+emeralds, all glowing with rainbow splendour in the fierce radiance of
+the bullseye lanterns. Mrs. Tunks whimpered like a beaten dog when she
+saw what she had missed, and tried to dart under a policeman's arm. "No
+you don't!" said the man gruffly, and gripped her lean wrist as her hand
+stretched greedily over the flaming heap of gems.
+
+"Whose are these?" asked the inspector, quite awed by this wealth.
+
+"Miss Huxham's," said Cyril, making a ready excuse until such time as
+the matter could be looked into, for he did not wish Inglis to take
+possession of Bella's fortune. "Her father left her these and the house
+to Mrs. Vand; but the woman withheld the jewels from her niece, and
+tried to-night to bolt with them. Then Luke Tunks attempted to steal
+them from her, while she lay unconscious here. Luckily I was enabled to
+rescue them, and now I can restore them to Miss Huxham."
+
+"Where is Luke Tunks?" asked the inspector, while Cyril packed the gems
+in a chamois leather bag which he found in what Granny had called in her
+trance the portmanteau.
+
+"Gone where you won't get him," grunted Mrs. Tunks, who was holding a
+glass of brandy to Mrs. Vand's white lips.
+
+"You must get him, Inglis," said Cyril insistently. "He knows all about
+the murder of Huxham, and has been blackmailing the Vands."
+
+"So that nigger said. By the way, we must see to the bodies." Inglis
+turned to the door, then looked back at Lister. "I wish I knew what this
+all meant, sir," he remarked, much puzzled.
+
+"You shall know everything in due time, and a very queer story it is."
+
+The inspector might have gone on asking questions, but at that moment
+Bella Huxham, breathless and wet, appeared in the doorway. In the
+semi-darkness she could scarcely see her lover, and called him. "Cyril!
+Cyril! what has happened?" she panted. "I have run all the way, and--who
+are these?"
+
+"Inspector Inglis and constables," said that officer. "Where have you
+come from, miss?"
+
+"From the Manor-house. I went to see my aunt, and saw her run away with
+her husband. Where is she? Where is he?"
+
+"There is Mrs. Vand," said Cyril, pointing to the still insensible
+woman, "and her husband is dead in Durgo's arms."
+
+Bella shrieked. "Is Durgo dead?"
+
+"Yes, unfortunately. Vand clutched his throat and dragged him under."
+
+"But so weak a man----"
+
+"He sacrificed his own life to kill Durgo," said Cyril. "What's to be
+done now, inspector?"
+
+Inglis acted promptly. "One of my men can stay here to look after the
+old woman," he said officially, "and the rest can help me to take the
+bodies of Vand and the nigger back to the Manor-house. We must take
+possession of that place until everything is made clear at the inquest.
+What will you do, Miss Huxham? Better get home. This is no place for a
+lady."
+
+"I must stay and revive my aunt," said Bella, who already was bending
+over the woman and had the glass of brandy in her hand.
+
+"Good," said Inglis, motioning his men to file out. "I'll come back and
+question her when you get her right again. Mr. Lister!"
+
+"With your permission, Mr. Inspector, I'll wait here with Miss Huxham,"
+said Cyril significantly. "I don't trust these two women"--he looked at
+Granny and the Romany girl--"also Luke Tunks might be lurking about. If
+Miss Huxham were left here alone--" his shrug completed the sentence.
+
+"Dutton will keep guard at the door," said Inglis, selecting the village
+constable, a fresh-faced, powerful young man, "and if these women try
+any games he can take them in charge. Also, Dutton"--he turned to the
+man, who had already posted himself as directed--"you can hold Luke
+Tunks should he turn up. I want to question him also," after which
+orders Inglis with a nod went out. Cyril followed.
+
+The bodies were duly found, and the inspector uttered an exclamation of
+surprise when he saw that Durgo was nude. "What does this mean?"
+
+"Mean!" said Cyril, who looked over his shoulder, "simply that Durgo, in
+spite of his Oxford training, was a savage at heart. He arranged a trap
+to catch the Vands, and stripped so as to be prepared for any
+emergency."
+
+"Rum notion," said Inglis, who looked puzzled. "But what had he to do
+with all this murder business?"
+
+"He was my father's friend," explained Lister, "and--" he stopped on
+seeing the eager faces around him, adding in lower tones, "what I have
+to explain is for your own ear in the first instance, inspector."
+
+Inglis looked grave, and even suspicious. "There seems to be much to
+explain, Mr. Lister," he said seriously. "However you can stay here. I
+shall take the bodies to the Manor-house and thoroughly search the
+place. When I return I hope to hear your story and to examine Mrs. Vand.
+It seems to me," added the officer, as he turned away, "that the mystery
+of the Huxham murder is about to be solved at last."
+
+"I think so myself," assented Lister soberly; and after seeing the six
+men take up their burden of the dead, he returned to the hut in silence.
+
+Here he found Mrs. Vand, pale but composed, sitting up on the floor with
+her back propped up against the wall. Granny Tunks, looking very sulky,
+was on her hunkers before the fire smoking her cutty pipe, and the
+Romany girl could be seen lying on Luke's vacated bed in the inner room.
+Only Bella was attending to the woman she had called aunt for so long,
+and who had so persecuted her. She was urging Mrs. Vand to speak out.
+
+"You must tell the truth now," said Bella, "for the police will arrest
+you."
+
+Mrs. Vand could not grow paler, for she was already whiter than any
+corpse, but a terrified look came into her eyes. "You'll be glad of
+that, Bella?"
+
+"No," said the girl earnestly; "I am not glad to see you suffer. You
+have been cruel to me, and I thought that I should like to see you
+punished; but now that you have lost your husband and are so miserable,
+I am very sorry, and both Cyril and I will do our best to help you. Tell
+all you know, Aunt Rosamund, and perhaps you will not be arrested."
+
+"If I tell all I know I am sure to be arrested," said Mrs. Vand
+sullenly.
+
+"But surely you did not murder your own brother?"
+
+"No, I didn't. Badly as Jabez treated me I did not kill him, although I
+don't deny that I wished for his death. Well, he is dead and I got his
+money, and now--" she buried her shameful face in her hands
+wailingly--"oh! my poor dear Henry, I have lost him and lost all. As to
+you"--she suddenly lifted up her head to glare furiously at Cyril, who
+was leaning against the door-post a few yards from the watching
+policeman--"you have been the evil genius of us all. Where are my
+jewels?"
+
+"They are in this bag," said Lister, holding it up, "and they belong to
+Bella."
+
+"Jabez left everything to me," began Mrs. Vand, when Cyril interrupted.
+
+"These jewels were not his to leave. They were the property of Maxwell
+Faith, who was a trader and----"
+
+"I know all about that," said Mrs. Vand, cutting him short, "and Bella
+is his daughter, you were going to say."
+
+"Yes; therefore the jewels are her property. Who told you of----"
+
+"Luke Tunks told me."
+
+"That's a lie!" snarled Granny from her stool near the fire.
+
+"It's the truth," gasped Mrs. Vand, taking another sip of the brandy
+which Bella held to her lips. "Luke was dodging round the house on the
+night of the murder and peeped in at the study window. He overheard the
+interview between Jabez and Edwin Lister."
+
+"What!" Cyril took a step forward in sheer surprise. "You know my
+father's name also?"
+
+"I know much, but not all," said Mrs. Vand in a stronger voice, for the
+spirit was taking effect. "For instance, I don't know what became of
+Edwin Lister, but Luke does."
+
+"Then Luke shall be arrested and questioned."
+
+"He shan't!" muttered Granny venomously. "Luke's escaped--a clever boy."
+
+Bella put her arm round Mrs. Vand to render her more comfortable. "How
+much did Luke tell you?" she asked softly.
+
+"Only so much as cheated us--Henry and I--into paying him money."
+
+"Oh," said Cyril quietly, "so that is why Luke got so drunk."
+
+"He spent his money in drink," said Mrs. Vand indifferently. "We paid
+him a good deal. He never would have left us, and intended to go to
+America with us to-night, as he knew too much for our safety."
+
+"How did you intend to escape?" asked Cyril sharply.
+
+"We intended to row down the channel to the swamps; that is why Henry
+got the boat a few weeks ago. Then we intended to cut across the marshes
+to the high road, where a motor-car, hired by Henry, awaited us. It
+would have taken us to London, and there we could have concealed
+ourselves until a chance came to get to the States. Everything was cut
+and dried, but you----"
+
+"No," said Lister seriously; "it was not I who stopped you, but Durgo."
+
+"That negro? Then I am glad he is dead!" cried Mrs. Vand, who was
+getting more her old self every minute. "However, it's all done with
+now. You have the jewels, Henry is dead, and I don't care what becomes
+of me."
+
+"But who murdered my father?" asked Bella earnestly.
+
+"Jabez wasn't your father. Maxwell Faith was your father, for Luke
+overheard Edwin Lister say as much to Jabez."
+
+"And what became of Edwin Lister?"
+
+"I don't know; Luke never told me that. All he said was that he saw and
+heard the two talking. Then he left the window, and only returned to see
+Henry stab my brother."
+
+"Oh!" Cyril and Bella both uttered ejaculations of horror.
+
+"Yes, you may say 'oh' as much as you like, but it's true," said Mrs.
+Vand with great doggedness. "Henry came with me to the Manor-house on
+that night at ten o'clock. He did not stop at the boundary channel, as
+he declared. He only said that to save himself. But he came with me, and
+we saw my brother, who was in his study. We confessed that we were
+married, and then Jabez grew angry and said he would turn me as a pauper
+out of the house next morning. He drove Henry and myself out of the
+room. I fainted in the kitchen, and when I came to myself Henry was
+bending over me, very pale. He said he had killed Jabez with a knife
+which he found on the floor. I had seen the knife before when we were
+telling Jabez about our marriage. But in the excitement I didn't pick it
+up."
+
+"Was there blood on the knife?" asked Cyril, remembering Granny Tunks'
+trance, as reported by Bella.
+
+"I can't say; I don't know. I was too flurried to think about the
+matter. All I know is that Henry killed Jabez with that knife which
+Jabez brought from Nigeria, and then dropped it behind the desk."
+
+"What took place exactly?" asked Cyril hastily, while Bella closed her
+eyes.
+
+"Ask Luke; ask Luke," said Mrs. Vand testily. "He knows all," and she
+refused to say another word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+WHAT LUKE TUNKS SAW
+
+
+As Mrs. Vand obstinately refused to speak, there was little use for
+Bella to remain in the hut. The girl was sick and faint with all she had
+gone through, and wished to get home to rest. Cyril also was anxious to
+follow Inglis and his officers to the Manor-house to see what had been
+discovered likely to prove the truth of Mrs. Vand's statements. But
+before going, Bella made a last attempt to induce her presumed aunt to
+confess all in detail. "It's your sole chance of getting out of this
+trouble," said Bella, who was now sorry to see her enemy brought so low.
+
+"I don't care if I get out of the trouble, or if I do not," said Mrs.
+Vand wearily. "Henry is dead, just as we were on the eve of happiness,
+so I don't much care what becomes of me."
+
+"Could you have been happy in America knowing your husband to be a
+murderer?" asked Cyril, skeptically.
+
+"Certainly," returned the woman with great composure. "I knew all along
+that Henry had struck the blow; but I daresay Jabez goaded him into
+doing so, as poor Henry was so good and weak."
+
+"Weak!" echoed Cyril, remembering all. "He was not very weak to kill an
+active man like Captain Huxham, and a strong negro such as Durgo was."
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs. Vand exultingly, and contradicting herself in a truly
+feminine way, "Henry was a man--none of your weaklings. If we had only
+escaped with those"--she stared hard at the black bag which contained
+the jewels--"but it's no use fretting now. Everything is at an end, and
+Bella is glad."
+
+"No, I am not, Aunt Rosamund----"
+
+"I am not your aunt; I don't wish to be your aunt."
+
+"All the same, I am very sorry for you," said Bella, with the tears in
+her eyes, "and if I can do anything to help you let me know. Good-bye,
+aunt, and may God watch over you." She bent and kissed the lined
+forehead.
+
+"Don't you believe that I killed Jabez?" faltered Mrs. Vand, somewhat
+touched.
+
+"No," said Bella quietly. "I believe what you say. Henry killed Captain
+Huxham, and like a true wife you held your tongue to save him. I should
+have done exactly the same had Cyril been guilty."
+
+"You're a good girl, Bella. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I don't
+suppose there's much happiness left me in this life, now that Henry is
+dead. But I shall repay you for those kind words. There! there! Don't
+kiss me again. I have been mistaken in you. Good-bye," and Mrs. Vand,
+lying down on the floor in an utter state of despair, turned her face to
+the wall.
+
+Bella had to leave her in this unsatisfactory condition, as there was no
+chance of taking her home to Miss Ankers' cottage. Dutton still watched
+by the door, and probably had overheard all that she had confessed, even
+though she had not been so explicit as she should have been. But she had
+detailed quite sufficient to ensure her arrest as an accomplice after
+the fact, so it was not likely that Dutton would permit her to leave the
+hut until he received orders from his superior. Under the circumstances
+there was nothing to be done, but for the young people to go, which they
+accordingly did. Granny Tunks flung a curse after them as they passed
+out into the night, and flung also a burning sod to emphasise the curse.
+
+"Old devil!" said Cyril, comforting Bella, who was crying. "Dutton, lend
+me your lantern, as the path along the channel is dangerous."
+
+Dutton, having received five shillings, made no objection to this,
+provided he got back his bullseye later in the night. Cyril promised to
+return it when he came back to the hut with Inglis, and then, taking
+Bella's arm he led her carefully along the slippery path. The storm had
+passed and the wind had dropped, but the clouds were still thick enough
+to envelope the earth in murky darkness. They picked their footsteps
+carefully, until they came to the foot of the corn-path. Here they
+halted.
+
+"How are we to get across, Cyril?" asked the girl, shivering.
+
+Lister groped in the corn wherein Durgo had flung the planks, and soon
+recovered these. With the aid of Bella he fixed them again on the
+tressels sunk in the mud, and the two passed dry-shod over the channel.
+In walking to Marshely the young man gave Bella the bag. "Take this,
+dear," he said. "The jewels are in it. Be careful of them."
+
+"Oh, Cyril," said the girl, awestruck, "did Mrs. Vand steal them?"
+
+"Yes, and in spite of what she says I believe she and Henry murdered
+your father--I mean Captain Huxham--for the sake of the jewels. They
+were in this bag, marked with the initials 'M. F.'--your father's
+initials."
+
+"Just as Granny saw it in her trance."
+
+"Very nearly, only she called the bag--and it is a bag, as you see--a
+portmanteau. Either Granny or the unseen are at fault. But it matters
+little since the jewels are now in your possession. Keep them
+carefully."
+
+"But Cyril," said Bella, as they drew near the cottage, "does it seem
+right for us to keep jewels that already have caused two murders? My
+father was killed because of these gems by Captain Huxham, and he met
+with the same fate for probably the same reason."
+
+"I daresay in ages past, many and many a wicked deed has been committed
+for the sake of these jewels. Do you remember what you heard Granny say
+in her trance?--that a Roman empress had secured the jewels by crime. My
+dear girl, all jewels have a history more or less, and if one feared the
+sort of thing you mention, not a woman would wear jewels. No, dear: God
+has given you this fortune, and you have every right to make use of it.
+Here's the door, and by the light in the window I see that Miss Ankers
+is sitting up."
+
+"I promised to tell her why I went out," said Bella, kissing her lover,
+"so, as she is our good friend; she must know all."
+
+"Just as you please: tell her everything from the beginning. I have to
+tell Inspector Inglis what I know shortly."
+
+"Will you tell him about your father?" asked Bella faintly.
+
+Lister hesitated. "I must," he said at length with a mighty effort, "for
+if I do not Luke Tunks may be caught, and he will tell."
+
+"Tell what?"
+
+"I don't know: God only knows what happened when Luke peeped through
+that window. From the presence of the bloody knife on the floor, and the
+fact that Vand murdered Huxham, I am inclined to believe that Huxham
+stabbed my father with that knife."
+
+Bella caught his sleeve. "If so where did Captain, Huxham hide the
+body?"
+
+Cyril removed her arm gently, although he shivered. "We have had enough
+of these horrors for one night, dear," he said, kissing her. "Go inside
+and talk to Miss Ankers. To-morrow I'll come and see you."
+
+"What are you about to do, Cyril?"
+
+"I am returning to the Manor-house, and then shall go to Granny's hut
+with Inglis. There must be an end to all this mystery to-night.
+Bella"--he turned suddenly--"if it is proved that my father is alive,
+will you still marry me? Think of the disgrace he has brought on me."
+
+"Why? In any case your father didn't murder Captain Huxham."
+
+"No; his hands are free from blood in that respect. But this case will
+have to be thoroughly inquired into, and much about my father may come
+out. His doings were shady. As I told you, I had to borrow one thousand
+pounds to buy back a cheque for that amount which he had forged in the
+name of an old college friend. Then there's the gun-running in Nigeria,
+and all manner of doubtful means by which he made his money. Bella, if
+you marry me, you marry a man with a soiled name."
+
+Her arms were round him on the instant. "_You_ have not soiled it," she
+whispered, "and that is enough for me."
+
+Cyril's lips met hers in a passionate kiss, and, glowing with happiness,
+she ran into Dora's little garden as the door opened. Miss Ankers,
+hearing voices at this late hour--for it was nearly midnight--was
+looking out to see what was the matter. Cyril watched her admit Bella,
+and then turned away with a sigh. He intended to confess much about his
+father to Inglis, which he would much rather have kept concealed; but
+under the circumstances there was no other way of settling matters.
+Since the tragic death of Captain Huxham, these had been in a very bad
+way.
+
+Very shortly the young man arrived at the Manor-house, and found a
+constable on guard at the door. But he was admitted the moment the man
+recognised him. It appeared that Inglis had been expecting him for some
+time. Lister walked into the study, wherein the inspector had
+established himself, and explained that he had been escorting Miss
+Huxham home.
+
+"The poor girl is quite worn out," said Cyril, seating himself with an
+air of relief, for he also was extremely tired.
+
+"No wonder," replied the inspector. "Is Dutton on guard?"
+
+"Yes. Mrs. Vand and the old woman and the girl are all safe."
+
+"I have sent along another man," said Inglis nodding, "so that there may
+be no chance of the three escaping. The house was locked up when we came
+here, Mr. Lister, and only by breaking a window could we enter. Look at
+this, sir"--and the inspector pointed to a small lozenge-pane in the
+casement, which had been broken.
+
+"Well," said Cyril, after a pause.
+
+"Through that broken pane Luke Tunks saw everything which took place in
+this study on the night of the murder."
+
+Cyril felt his hair rise, and he thought of his father's probable
+danger, but he calmed down on reflecting that at least Edwin Lister was
+not guilty of the frightful crime. "How do you know?" he gasped with
+difficulty.
+
+"We have caught Luke, and he will be here in a moment or so to confess."
+
+Cyril looked surprised. "How did you catch him?"
+
+"He ran out of the hut when we crossed the channel, and concealed
+himself in the corn. Then, remembering that the Manor-house was deserted
+he fetched a circle round the fields and came here. When we got into the
+house we found him nearly crazy with fear; he took us for ghosts."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"In the kitchen guarded by a couple of men. He refused to confess, and I
+gave him an hour to make up his mind. Meanwhile, we have searched the
+house and have found that everything valuable more or less is gone. Some
+things left behind have been packed in boxes. I suppose the Vands hoped
+to escape and then get their goods later. But they carried off what they
+could."
+
+"They intended to go to America," said Cyril, "the woman explained. She
+also declared that her husband murdered Captain Huxham."
+
+"I expect she had a hand in it herself."
+
+"She denies that."
+
+"She naturally would," said Inglis very drily. "However, I'll send for
+Luke Tunks and see if he is willing to confess," and he gave a sharp
+order to one of the constables who was lounging in the hall.
+
+In a few minutes the tall, lean gipsy, who looked extremely ill and
+extremely defiant, made his appearance at the door, held by two
+policemen.
+
+"Bring him in," said the inspector calmly, and arranging some sheets of
+paper, which he took out of his pocket along with a stylograph pen. "Now
+then, my man, will you confess all that you saw?"
+
+"If I do what will happen, governor?" asked Tunks hoarsely.
+
+"You may get a lighter sentence."
+
+"Will I be arrested?"
+
+"You are arrested now, and shortly you will be lodged in gaol."
+
+"Then I shan't say anything!" growled Luke defiantly, and folding his
+arms he leaned against the panelled wall.
+
+"Very good," said Inglis serenely; "take him away. In the morning he can
+be removed to the Pierside goal."
+
+The two constables advanced, and Luke bit his lip. In any case he saw
+that things looked black against him.
+
+"You have no right to arrest me," he declared. "On what charge do you
+arrest me?"
+
+"On a charge of murdering Captain Jabez Huxham."
+
+"I didn't. I can prove I didn't."
+
+"You can do so in court and to a judge and jury. Take him away."
+
+"No, no! I'll tell you all I know now," said Luke, making the best of a
+bad job, and being imaginative enough to both see and feel a visionary
+rope encircling his neck. "Let me tell now, governor."
+
+This was exactly what Inglis wanted, as he desired to obtain all
+available evidence for the forthcoming inquest on the bodies of the dead
+men, black and white. But he pretended to grant the man's wish as a
+favour. "As you please," he said with a cool shrug. "You two men can go
+outside and remain on guard on the other side of the door."
+
+The constables did as they were ordered and closed the door. Inglis,
+Lister, and Luke Tunks were alone, and as the gipsy was still weak from
+his late illness the inspector signed that he could take a seat. "Now
+tell me all you know, and I shall take it down. You shall affix your
+name to your confession, and Mr. Lister and myself will be the
+witnesses. Do you agree?"
+
+"Yes," said Luke hoarsely, and drawing his sleeve across his mouth, "for
+nothing I can say can hang me. I didn't kill either of the blokes."
+
+"Either of the blokes? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that Captain Huxham killed the man who called himself Lister,
+and Henry Vand killed Captain Huxham. I saw both murders."
+
+Lister rejoiced, horrified as he was at the idea of his father's violent
+death, but thankful from the bottom of his heart that he had gone to his
+own place guiltless of blood. Inglis saw the expression on the young
+man's face, and asked a leading question.
+
+"Was not this Mr. Lister your father?"
+
+"Yes," answered Cyril promptly. "He came home from Nigeria some months
+ago with Durgo, who is the son of a friendly chief. My father, I
+understand, came down here to ask Captain Huxham for certain jewels--"
+
+"Those you showed me, sir?"
+
+"Yes, they were robbed from a trader called Maxwell Faith by Huxham, and
+my father wished to get them. Durgo came down to seek for my father, but
+we have never been able to find him."
+
+"He is dead," said Luke abruptly.
+
+"So you say; but where is the body?"
+
+"I don't know; I can't say." Luke paused, then turned to the inspector.
+"Let me tell you what I saw through yonder broken pane."
+
+"Very good." Inglis arranged his papers and prepared his pen. "Mind you
+speak the truth, as I shall take down every word you say. Afterwards Mr.
+Lister can tell me what he knows."
+
+So it was arranged, and Tunks, as ready to tell now as formerly he was
+unwilling, launched out into his story. It appears that after leaving
+Mrs. Coppersley--as she was then--he went home to have some food.
+Shortly before eight o'clock he strolled along the banks of the river
+and saw Pence watching the house. Knowing that the preacher was in love
+with the daughter of his master, he took little notice; then, while
+lying in the corn by the side of the path smoking, he saw, as he
+thought, Cyril Lister pass him, and stealthily followed.
+
+"Why did you do that?" asked Inglis, raising his eyes.
+
+"I knew that this gent"--he nodded towards Cyril--"was in love with Miss
+Bella also, and knew that Captain Huxham hated him."
+
+"Why did he hate him?"
+
+"I can tell you," said Cyril quickly; "because of my father. Huxham knew
+my father in Nigeria, and as my father wished to get these jewels he
+feared lest he should force him to give them up. For this reason Huxham
+came down here and planted corn all round his house as a means of
+defence, and installed a search-light. He wished to be on his guard."
+
+"Did your father intend murder?" asked the inspector, sharply.
+
+"I really can't say."
+
+"But he did," struck in Luke, who had been listening earnestly. "All
+that the young gent says is true, sir. I only followed, as I thought
+that there would be a row between Captain Huxham and--as I thought--Mr.
+Cyril. I waited outside the house, and then hearing loud voices in the
+study--in this place," said Tunks looking round, "I stole to the
+casement and peeped through that broken pane. They did not know that I
+was there."
+
+"What became of Mr. Pence meanwhile?" asked Inglis suddenly.
+
+"He was watching the house, but I think he went away and then came
+back."
+
+Inglis nodded. "That is unsatisfactory. I must examine Mr. Pence later.
+You go on, Tunks, and tell us exactly what you saw."
+
+Tunks settled down to his narrative. "I listened and heard all about the
+jewels and the death of Maxwell Faith and all about Miss Bella being his
+daughter. I saw by this time that Mr. Lister was not Mr. Cyril here, and
+I guessed from his likeness that he was Mr. Cyril's father. Mr. Lister
+wanted Captain Huxham to give up the jewels for some expedition, but the
+captain refused. They began to quarrel, and then the captain pulled out
+a big knife from a drawer of his desk and rushed on Mr. Lister. There
+was a struggle and Mr. Lister tried to pull out a revolver. At length
+Huxham got Mr. Lister down and cut his throat."
+
+"Which would account for the quantity of blood found on the floor here
+when Huxham's body was found. I thought there was too much blood for one
+man's corpse to supply. Go on."
+
+"Oh, it's terrible--horrible!" said Cyril, covering his face. "What did
+you do, Tunks? Why didn't you give the alarm?"
+
+"What, and be run in for being an accomplice!" said Tunks disdainfully,
+"not me. But I was frightened, and when I saw that Captain Huxham had
+killed Mr. Lister--I knew his name by that time, having heard them
+talking--why, I ran away as hard as my legs could carry me."
+
+"Where did you go?"
+
+"Home to Granny, so that I might be able to supply an alibi if
+necessary. I didn't tell her anything, but she found out a lot when I
+was raving with the drink in me. But I couldn't rest, and when Granny
+was a-bed I stole out. It was after ten by this time. I went up to the
+Manor and to yonder window. Then I saw Mrs. Coppersley--as she was--and
+Mr. Vand, talking to the captain and telling him they were married. The
+knife, all bloody, was on the floor near the door, but they were all
+three so busy talking that they did not notice it. But I wonder the
+captain didn't cover it up.'
+
+"Where was the body of my father?" asked Cyril impatiently.
+
+"I don't know; the body was gone. I've never been able to find out where
+the captain put up the body. But, as I say, he turned out Mr. Vand and
+his wife, as I knew she was then, and cursed up and down. But he didn't
+pick up the knife; in place of doing so, which would have been more
+sensible, seeing that he had murdered the Lister cove with it, he went
+to his desk and pulled out a black bag. He emptied this of jewels, and
+my mouth watered."
+
+"Ah, so you recognised the bag when you tried to steal it from Mrs. Vand
+in your mother's cottage?"
+
+"Yes, I did," said Luke sullenly, "and very sorry I am that I didn't get
+clear off with it."
+
+"You have quite enough to answer for as it is," said Inglis sharply. "Go
+on, as I have got everything down so far."
+
+"Well, then while the captain was sitting at the desk gloating over the
+jewels Mr. Vand comes in softly like a cat. He saw the jewels and his
+eyes lighted up. Captain Huxham, being busy, didn't hear him, so he
+picks up the knife lying near the door, and before I could cry out he
+rushed at the old man. Huxham turned to meet him, and got the knife in
+his heart. Then Mr. Vand, as cool as you please, dropped the knife
+behind the desk, and taking the bag with the jewels, he put 'em
+back--went away."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I went home and tried to sleep, but couldn't."
+
+"Why didn't you warn the police?" asked Inglis.
+
+"No, sir. I'm only a gipsy, and they'd have thought I'd something to do
+with the business. If I'd accused Mr. Vand him and his wife would have
+accused me, and it would be two to one. Besides," said Luke coolly, "I
+wasn't sorry to see old Huxham downed after killing the other gent.
+Serve him right, say I. So that's all."
+
+"Humph," said Inglis, finishing his writing. "You made capital out of
+this?"
+
+"Yes, I did," said Luke defiantly, and taking the pen which Inglis held
+out to him. "I told Mr. and Mrs. Vand what I'd seen. They were
+frightened--it was the next morning, you see--and paid me heaps of money
+to hold my tongue. Then, like a fool, I went on the bend, and talked so
+much that Granny got to know heaps, and so set the nigger brute on our
+tracks. There"--Luke signed his name--"you can't hang me for what I've
+told you."
+
+Inglis and Lister both signed as witnesses, and the inspector put the
+paper into his pocket. He was about to ask further questions--to
+cross-examine Tunks in fact--when the door opened and a young constable
+appeared in a mighty state of excitement.
+
+"Sir," he cried to his superior officer, "Mrs. Vand has escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" cried the inspector, in a voice of thunder.
+
+"Yes, sir. Dutton is lying drugged in the hut, and the old woman has
+been stunned. Mrs. Vand and the gipsy girl are gone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
+
+
+Next morning there was a great sensation in the village of Marshely, as
+in some way the events of the previous night leaked out. Certainly, the
+accounts of these were more or less garbled, and no one appeared to know
+who was responsible for them. But this much of the truth became public
+property, that Vand and the negro prince who had been stopping at "The
+Chequers" were dead, that Mrs. Vand had fled to escape arrest, and that
+the police were in possession of Bleacres. Later in the afternoon it
+became known that Vand had killed Captain Huxham for the sake of certain
+jewels.
+
+But the villagers were greatly astonished when they heard--from what
+source was not known--that another man had been killed. No one, save
+Silas Pence, had seen Edwin Lister enter the Manor, and Pence himself
+had presumed, until informed, that the man was Cyril, so no one knew
+that any person was missing. Now it appeared that the man who was
+murdered by Vand had committed a crime himself previous to his own
+death. But what he had done with the body no one knew, and the police
+could find no traces of the same in spite of all their efforts.
+
+Inspector Inglis called at Miss Anker's cottage in the morning and
+interviewed both Bella and her lover. From them he heard the whole tale,
+and was greatly astonished by the recital. Under the circumstances he
+was inclined to take the jewels into official custody, but Bella refused
+to give them up; and undoubtedly they were her property left to her by
+her father, Maxwell Faith. Inglis admitted this, so did not press the
+point.
+
+Afterwards the inspector examined Silas Pence, and heard from him much
+the same story as he had told Bella. The preacher was lying on a bed of
+sickness, as the blow on his head and the many worries he had been
+through of late nearly gave him brain fever. Of course--and Inglis told
+him as much--he should have reported at once the death of Huxham, as he
+had seen the body. But as Pence had not beheld the blow struck, the
+police could do nothing but admonish. Silas stated that in one point of
+his story when he confessed to Bella he had been wrong, which was after
+seeing Edwin Lister enter the Manor--or, as he thought then, Cyril--he
+had rushed away in the direction of the common in the vain attempt to
+rid himself of troublesome thoughts. When he returned Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+were in the kitchen, as Luke proved; and Pence was thus enabled to enter
+the house. Undoubtedly the guilty pair had left the front door open, so
+that blame might be cast upon some outsider--on a possible burglar, for
+instance. When they heard the noise of Pence's flight and found the
+money gone, they were quite determined to place the blame on a robber.
+Mrs. Vand confessed this later, although at the time of the robbery she
+had not dreamed the burglar was the talented young preacher whom she so
+greatly admired.
+
+But the guilty woman was missing for some days. On inquiry being made it
+appeared that the Romany girl, bribed by Mrs. Vand to assist her flight,
+had made a cup of tea for the constable. As Dutton was wet and cold, he
+drank the tea only too willingly, never suspecting that it was drugged.
+But it turned out to be dosed with laudanum, and he fell into a deep
+sleep. Granny Tunks, as she stated on reviving, had attempted to stay
+the flight of Mrs. Vand and the Romany girl, but the latter had promptly
+knocked her down with the very chunk of wood with which Mrs. Tunks had
+struck the half-drowned woman. In this way Granny's sins came home to
+her.
+
+Inglis found, on the detail of the motor-car being reported by Cyril,
+who had heard it from Mrs. Vand, that use had been made of the same. He
+advertised for such a car in such a neighbourhood, and speedily was
+called upon by a public chauffeur, who drove for hire. The man confessed
+very frankly that Vand had engaged his car to wait for himself and his
+wife on the high road to Pierside, and that thinking that nothing was
+wrong he had done so. Vand had paid him well, and the driver merely
+thought it was the eccentric whim of a rich man. Vand, it appeared, had
+engaged the car in London from the stand in Trafalgar Square. When Mrs.
+Vand left the hut the Romany girl had rowed her to the swamps in the
+boat she had brought for the removal of Luke to the caravan, and the
+woman had then crossed the marshy ground to the high road. Making some
+excuse for the non-appearance of her husband, she had been driven to
+London, and the driver, who had already received his money, dropped her
+in Piccadilly. That, as he confessed, was the last he saw of her.
+
+Inspector Inglis was very angry with the man, and pointed out that he
+should have suspected that the couple were flying from justice from the
+fact of the large sum of money paid, and on account of the strange place
+where it was arranged that the car should wait. But the man exonerated
+himself completely, and in the end he was permitted to go free, as the
+police could not do anything. And after all the chauffeur, who did not
+look particularly intelligent, might have acted in all good faith.
+
+However the point was that Mrs. Vand, dropped in Piccadilly, had
+vanished entirely. She had ample money, as it was proved that she had
+drawn fifty pounds in gold from her bank, and although she had fled from
+the hut with only the dripping dress she wore, there would be no
+difficulty in her obtaining a fresh disguise. The police advertised in
+the papers and with handbills, but nothing could be heard of the woman.
+She had vanished as completely as though the earth had opened and
+swallowed her.
+
+Strangely enough, it was from Mrs. Vand's solicitor that the first news
+came of her doings. Timson was the lawyer's name, and he came down to
+Pierside to see Inspector Inglis. On being shown into the inspector's
+office he broke out abruptly--
+
+"Sir," said Timson, who was a mild-faced, spectacled, yellow-haired man,
+"I have a communication to make to you about my respected client, Mrs.
+Rosamund Vand, if you will hear it."
+
+"Respectable, eh?" questioned the officer ironically. "Perhaps you don't
+know, Mr.--Mr."--he referred to the card--"Mr. Timson, that your
+respectable client is wanted for her complicity in the murder of her
+brother?"
+
+"Sir," said Mr. Timson again and firmly, "my client--my respected
+client," he added with emphasis "assured me that she had nothing to do
+with the commission of that crime. She was in a dead faint in the
+kitchen when her husband, in a moment of passion, struck down Captain
+Huxham."
+
+"So she says because it is to her benefit to say so, Mr. Timson. But the
+man who saw the murder committed swears that it was a most deliberate
+affair, and was only done for the sake of certain jewels, which----"
+
+"Deliberate or not, Mr. Inspector," interrupted the meek little man, "my
+respected client had nothing to do with it. Afterwards she held her
+tongue for the sake of her husband, for his sake also paid blackmail to
+the man who saw the crime committed."
+
+"We can argue that point," said Inglis drily, "when we see Mrs. Vand.
+You are doubtless aware of her whereabouts?"
+
+"No," said Timson coolly, "I am not."
+
+"But you said you had seen her--after the murder was committed, I fancy
+you hinted."
+
+"I saw her," said Timson, quite calmly, "on the day following her flight
+from the hut on the marshes. She alighted in Piccadilly and walked about
+the streets for the rest of the night. Afterwards she went to a quiet
+hotel and had a brush and a wash up. She then called on me--"
+
+"And you did not detain her when you knew----"
+
+"I knew nothing. Had I known that she was flying from justice I
+certainly should have urged her to surrender. But the news of these
+terrible doings in Marshely had not reached London; it was not in the
+papers until the following day. You grant that?"
+
+"Yes, yes! But----"
+
+"No 'buts' at all, Mr. Inspector," said Timson, who seemed firm enough
+in spite of his meek aspect. "My client confessed to me that her husband
+had been drowned, and that he had murdered her brother in a fit of
+passion because Captain Huxham intended to turn his sister out of doors
+and alter his will on account of her secret marriage."
+
+"That motive may have had some weight," said Inglis quietly, "but I
+fancy the sight of the jewels made Vand murder his brother-in-law. Did
+Mrs. Vand call to tell you this?"
+
+"No!" snapped Timson, whose meekness was giving way. "She called to make
+her will."
+
+"Make her will--in whose favour?"
+
+"I see no reason why I should not tell you," said the lawyer, "although
+I never reveal professional secrets. But I will tell, so that you may
+see how you have misjudged my client. She made a will in favour of Miss
+Isabella Faith----"
+
+"Faith? Ah! she knew, then, that the girl was not her niece."
+
+"Yes. But she did not tell me that, nor did I inquire. All she did was
+to make me, or, rather instruct me, to draw up a will leaving the
+Bleacres property and the five hundred a year she inherited from the
+late Captain Huxham, to Miss Faith, as some token of repentance for
+having misjudged her. And now," cried Timson, rising wrathfully, "my
+respected client is misjudged herself. I come to clear her character."
+
+"I don't see how that will clears her character," said Inglis coolly,
+"and from the mere fact that she made it I daresay she has committed
+suicide."
+
+"Impossible! Impossible!"
+
+"I think it is very probable, indeed, Mr. Timson, Mrs. Vand cannot get
+out of England, as all the ports and railway stations are watched, and
+there is a full description of her appearance posted everywhere. Unless
+she wants to get a long sentence for complicity in this most brutal
+murder, she will have to commit suicide."
+
+"I tell you she is innocent."
+
+"Can you tell me that she is not an accomplice after the fact?"
+
+"A wife is not bound to give evidence against her husband."
+
+Inspector Inglis rose with a fatigued air. "I am not here to argue on
+points of law with you, Mr. Timson. All I ask is, if you know where your
+respected client is?" he laid a sneering emphasis on his last words.
+
+"No, I do not," said Timson, taking up his hat, "and I bid you good
+day."
+
+What the lawyer said was evidently correct, for although his office and
+himself were watched by the police, it could not be proved that he was
+in communication with the missing woman. The whereabouts of Mrs. Vand
+became more of a mystery than ever. Inglis told Bella of her good
+fortune, but of course until Mrs. Vand was dead she could not benefit.
+And there seemed to be no chance of proving the woman's death, even
+though the inspector firmly held to the opinion that she had committed
+suicide.
+
+Meantime Timson went on to Marshely to look after his client's property,
+and seeing that the corn was ripe, he arranged with a number of
+labourers, under an overseer whom he could trust, that it should be
+reaped immediately. Thus it happened that four days after Mrs. Vand's
+disappearance, when Cyril came to tell Bella about the inquest, she was
+able to inform him that the Solitary Farm lands were about to be reaped.
+
+"And we might go there in the evening to look," said Bella.
+
+"My dear, I should think that the Manor was hateful to you."
+
+"Well, it is. Even if I do inherit it from Mrs. Vand, I can never live
+there, Cyril. But I want you to come with me this evening, as I have a
+kind of idea that the body of Mrs. Vand"--she grew pale and
+shuddered--"may be found amidst the corn."
+
+Cyril started back, astonished. "My dear girl, you must be mad!"
+
+"No, I am not, Cyril. Think of how she is being hunted, and how her
+person is described everywhere, while all the ports and stations are
+watched. I believe that she, poor woman! went to see her lawyer, so as
+to prove her sorrow for having misjudged me, by making me her heiress,
+and that she then returned to die amidst the corn."
+
+"Do you think she is dead there?"
+
+"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Granny Tunks is still in the hut, and she is
+very avaricious. Mrs. Vand had money. She may have bribed Granny to
+bring her food while she lay hid among the corn."
+
+"But such a hiding-place!" said Lister, who nevertheless was much struck
+with what Bella was saying.
+
+"A very good one and a place where no one would think of looking. Think
+how thick the corn is growing! No one ever enters it, and that scarlet
+coated scarecrow stands sentinel over it. Believe me, Cyril, Mrs. Vand
+has been hiding there. I wish you to come with me this evening. They
+have started to reap the corn by order of Mr. Timson. If Mrs. Vand is
+there, she will in the end be discovered. Let us find her, and save her,
+and get her out of the kingdom."
+
+"That will bring us within reach of the law."
+
+"I don't care," said Bella, quite recklessly; "after all, she had
+nothing to do with the crime, and only kept silent to shield her
+husband. I want to help the poor thing, and you must aid me to do so."
+
+"But Bella, she never liked you."
+
+"What has that got to do with it?" cried the girl passionately. "Our
+natures did not suit one another, and perhaps I behaved rather harshly
+towards her. She meant well. And remember, Cyril, she has made amends by
+leaving me all that would have been mine had I really been Captain
+Huxham's daughter."
+
+Cyril nodded. "I admit that she has done her best to repent," he said
+after a pause, "and we should not judge her too harshly. I'll come."
+
+"And help her to escape?"
+
+"Yes. It won't be easy; but I'll do my best."
+
+"That's my own dear boy," said the girl, kissing him, "and now what
+about the inquest?"
+
+"A verdict of death by drowning has been brought in," said Cyril
+quickly. "I think if we can get Mrs. Vand away, everything concerning
+the Huxham mystery will be at an end."
+
+"They won't put the whole story in the papers, Cyril?"
+
+"No. Inglis will edit all that is to be given to the reporters and
+journalists. He will say as little as possible about the matter. It is
+known that Huxham was murdered by Vand, and in the absence of my
+father's body no cognisance can be taken of that alleged murder."
+
+"Don't you believe that your father has been murdered?"
+
+"I don't know; I can't tell. Tunks says so, and I don't suppose he would
+tell such a story against himself unless it were true. But no body has
+been found, and until the body of the missing man is found, it is
+presumed in law that he is alive. But"--Cyril shrugged his
+shoulders--"who can tell the truth?"
+
+"It will be made manifest in time," said Bella firmly; "your father, or
+your father's body, will be found. Where are Durgo and Henry to be
+buried?"
+
+"In Marshely churchyard to-morrow. I shall go to the funeral. I am sorry
+for Durgo. In spite of his skin he was a real white man. And when he is
+under the earth, Bella, I think we had better sell the jewels and marry,
+and take a trip round the world in order to forget all this terrible
+business. I am quite glad it is over."
+
+"It is not over yet," insisted Bella, "your father has to be found, and
+Mrs. Vand must be discovered."
+
+"Or their bodies," said Cyril significantly, and turned away.
+
+It must not be thought that young Lister was callous. His father had
+never been one to him, and, moreover, his son had seen so little of him,
+that he was as strange to the young man as he had been to the boy. Cyril
+deeply regretted the gulf that was between them, as he was of a truly
+affectionate nature, but his father always had repelled the least sign
+of tenderness. He only looked on Cyril as one to be made use of, and
+borrowed from him on every occasion. Had he succeeded in getting the
+jewels and had aided Durgo to regain his chiefdom, he would have
+remained in Nigeria as a kind of savage prime minister, without casting
+a thought to his son. And whether his father was dead or alive, Cyril
+knew that he would have to repay the one thousand pounds which he had
+borrowed to cover his father's delinquency in respect of the forged
+cheque. How could such a son as Cyril Lister respect or love such a
+parent as Edwin of the same name?
+
+Nevertheless, Cyril, although he said little to Bella, was very anxious
+to ascertain the fate of his father. It seemed very certain that Tunks
+had seen him murdered by the evil-hearted old sailor, but what that
+scoundrel had done with the body could not be discovered. In vain the
+police dug in the cellars of the Manor-house, tapped the walls, ripped
+up the floors, and dragged the boundary channel. The body of Edwin
+Lister could not be found, and as no one had seen him save Tunks, and
+Pence, and Bella, who had all mistaken him for Cyril, the police began
+to believe that Edwin, the father, was a myth. And Cyril could not make
+Inglis see otherwise for all his urging and confession.
+
+"If the man is alive, why doesn't he turn up?" asked Inglis; "and if
+dead, why can't we find his body?"
+
+There was no answer to this, and Cyril gave up his father's fate as a
+riddle, when he walked in the cool of the evening towards the Solitary
+Farm. The immediate object of his visit was to find if Mrs. Vand, dead
+or alive, was concealed in the thickly standing corn. Bella strolled by
+his side. But the lovers had taken no one into this particular
+confidence, not even Dora, and walked towards the well-known house, and
+up the corn-path, anxiously looking right and left. Then Cyril uttered
+an exclamation of annoyance. "What a bother!" he said, much vexed: "see,
+Bella, there are labourers still reaping--yonder, near the scarecrow."
+
+"I suppose Mr. Timson wants the fields reaped quickly," said Bella, also
+much vexed. "I thought everyone would have been gone by this time. We
+must wait until the labourers depart, Cyril. It will never do to find
+Mrs. Vand while they are about. They would tell the police, and she
+would be arrested. That would be dangerous!"
+
+"So it will be--if she is alive," said the young man, who was very
+doubtful on this point himself.
+
+The setting sun cast a rosy glow over the fields of golden grain. The
+old house seemed to be buried in a treasure meadow. All round rolled the
+radiant waves, and the scarlet-coated scarecrow's task was nearly done.
+The corn was ripe for the harvest, and soon the acres of the Solitary
+Farm would consist of nothing but stubble.
+
+As the lovers drew near the house, they saw a labourer approach the
+scarecrow. The corn had been reaped for some distance all round it, and
+now a man had cut a path direct to it in order to pull it down. Its task
+was over, and it was no longer needed to keep off the birds. Suddenly
+the man laid his hand on the quaint figure, which had been so familiar
+to every one for months, and uttered a loud cry of astonishment. Cyril
+saw him beckoning to other labourers, and shortly there was a crowd
+round the scarlet coat.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Bella, and the lovers hurried to join the
+group.
+
+One of the labourers heard the question, and turned excitedly. "Master!
+Missus!" he said, in horrified tone, "it's a corpse."
+
+He pulled the tattered gray felt hat from the scarecrow, and Cyril
+recoiled with a loud cry of surprise. "Bella! Bella!"
+
+"What is it? what is it?" she said, startled by the discovery.
+
+"It is my father. It is Edwin Lister."
+
+All present knew of the tragedy, and of the hunt made for Edwin Lister.
+And now the missing man had been discovered. One of the labourers,
+mindful of public house gossip, touched the drooping neck of the figure,
+and shuddered. "Take missy away," he said softly to Cyril, and with a
+grey face, "this ain't no sight for her. His throat has been cut."
+
+But it was not the man who led the girl away. Bella saw the labourer's
+face, guessed, with a shudder, what he had said, and, catching Cyril's
+arm, dragged him away from that awful spot. The young fellow, with a
+blanched face and tottering limbs, stumbled blindly along as she pulled
+him forward. In all his expectations, he had never counted upon such a
+terrible dramatic discovery as this. His father, the missing man, the
+murdered man, who had been hunted for alive and dead for many weeks, had
+been used by Captain Huxham as a scarecrow to frighten the birds. No
+wonder they had kept away from those sinister fields.
+
+"Oh, great God!" moaned Cyril, sick and faint, "let this be the end."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+RUN TO EARTH
+
+
+The quiet village of Marshely, in Essex, was getting to be as well-known
+through the length and breadth of England as Westminster Abbey. The
+murder of Captain Huxham had caused a sensation, the death of Durgo and
+Vand had created another one, but the discovery of the ghastly scarecrow
+which had warned the birds from the corn-fields of Bleacres, startled
+everyone greatly. The news flew like wild fire through the village, and
+in less than an hour the inhabitants were surveying the terrible object.
+
+Shortly the constable of the village who had superseded Dutton--in
+disgrace for his share in the escape of Mrs. Vand--appeared, and, armed
+with the authority of the law and assisted by willing hands, removed the
+poor relic of humanity from the pole whereupon it had hung for so long.
+The explanation of its being there was easy. Undoubtedly Captain Huxham,
+after he had committed the crime, and while Tunks and Pence were away,
+the one through horror and the other through sheer worry, had carried
+out the dead body to fasten it to the pole. He undressed the
+straw-stuffed figure, with which everyone was familiar, and having
+destroyed it arrayed the corpse of Edwin Lister in its military clothes.
+Then he pulled the tattered grey felt cap well over the face so that it
+should not be suspected as being that of a human being, and bound the
+dead to the pole. Of course, no one, not even the Vands, suspected that
+the figure was other than what it had always been, and it said much for
+the cruel ingenuity of Captain Jabez Huxham that he had selected so
+clever a mode of disposing of the body. Had he thrown it into the
+boundary channel it might have been fished out; had he concealed it in
+the house, it would probably have been discovered; and had he buried it
+in the garden near the house, it might have been dug up. But no one ever
+dreamed that the scarlet-coated scarecrow was the man who was wanted.
+Huxham had been struck down almost immediately after he had put his
+scheme into execution, and it was doubtful if he had intended to leave
+the body there. Probably he did, as it was isolated by the corn, and
+when the field was reaped he doubtless intended to get rid of the corpse
+in some equally ingenious way. The removal of the scarecrow would have
+excited no comment when the fields were reaped, as its career of
+usefulness would then be at an end. The dead man's clothes still clothed
+his corpse under the scarecrow's ragged garments.
+
+One result of the discovery was that everyone decided not to buy the
+corn which had flourished under so terrible a guardian. Far and wide the
+newspapers spread the report of the discovery, and Timson became aware
+that a prejudice existed against making bread of the wheat grown on the
+Bleacres ground. Not wishing to spend more money, since he would have to
+account for everything he did to Mrs. Vand, he withdrew the labourers.
+The Solitary Farm now became solitary indeed, for no one would go near
+it, especially after night-fall. The golden fields of wheat spread round
+it like a sea, and the ancient house stood up greyly and lonely like a
+thing accursed. And indeed it was looked upon as damned by the
+villagers.
+
+An inquest was held, and, going by the evidence of Luke Tunks, it was
+decided that Edwin Lister came by his end at the hands of Jabez Huxham.
+Cyril was compelled to attend and give evidence, but said as little as
+he could, not wishing to make his father's shady career too public. He
+simply stated that his father was a trader in Nigeria, and being the
+friend of Durgo, the dispossessed chief of a friendly tribe in the far
+Hinterland, had come home to see Huxham and get from him certain jewels.
+Of course he could not suppress the fact that these jewels had been
+given by Kawal to Maxwell Faith, and had been stolen from the dead body
+of the man by his murderer, Captain Huxham: nor could he fail to state
+that Bella was the daughter of Maxwell Faith, since had he not done so
+the jewels might have been taken from her. But Cyril spoke as clearly
+and carefully as he could, quite aware of the delicate position he
+occupied. There was no doubt that Huxham, dreading lest the murder of
+Faith should be brought home to him, and anxious to retain the jewels
+which were the price of blood, had murdered Lister; afterwards he had
+disposed of the body in the ingenious manner explained. But Lister was
+dead; Huxham was dead; Vand and Durgo were dead, so the papers suggested
+that there should be an end to the succession of terrible events which
+made Marshely so notorious.
+
+"And I think this is the last," said Cyril, when he returned to Miss
+Ankers' cottage from his father's funeral. "Bella, we can't stay here."
+
+"I'm sure I don't want to," replied the harassed girl, who looked worn
+and thin. "The place is getting on my nerves. I'll marry you as soon as
+you like, dear, and then we can go away. But this morning"--she
+hesitated--"I received a letter from my father's relatives. They ask me
+to come to them."
+
+"What will you do?" asked Cyril gravely.
+
+"Write and say that I am marrying you and intend to go abroad."
+
+"But, Bella, if you reside with your relatives you may be able to make a
+much better match."
+
+"Yes," said Bella with a grimace. "I might marry a Quaker. No, dear, I
+intend to stay with you and marry you. I have done without my relatives
+for all this time, and I hope to continue doing without them."
+
+"Bella! Bella! I have nothing to offer you."
+
+"Yourself, dear. That is all I want."
+
+"A stupid gift on my part," said Cyril, looking ruefully in a near
+mirror at his face, which was now lean and haggard. "You have the money,
+and also the sympathy of the public. I can offer you nothing but a
+dishonoured name."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" she said vigorously. "I won't have you talk in that way.
+Why, one of the newspapers referred to your father as a pioneer of
+Empire."
+
+Sad as he was Cyril could not help smiling. "That is just like my
+father's good luck," he exclaimed; "alive or dead, everything comes to
+him. I expect his shady doings will be overlooked, and----"
+
+"No one knows of his shady doings, dear."
+
+"Well, then, he will be looked upon as a hero. It's just as well he is
+buried in Marshely churchyard, for some fanatic might propose to bury
+him in Westminster Abbey."
+
+"You will be congratulated on having such a father."
+
+"No!" cried Cyril violently. "I won't stand that, Bella. We shall go to
+London next week and get married in a registry office. Miss Ankers can
+come with you to play propriety."
+
+Bella laughed. "I rather think Dora is so busy nursing poor Mr. Pence
+back to health that she has no time."
+
+"Why, you don't mean to say that she loves Pence?"
+
+"Yes and no. I won't say what may happen. She pities him for his
+weakness, and pity, as you know, is akin to love. Besides, only
+ourselves and Inspector Inglis know of the temptation to which Mr. Pence
+was submitted."
+
+"Why, Bella, everyone knows he saw the corpse of Huxham and held his
+tongue."
+
+"Yes, but everyone doesn't know that he took the one hundred pounds
+which he restored to me. He is looked upon as somewhat weak for not
+having informed the police of the crime, but on the whole people are
+sorry for him."
+
+"I shall be sorry, too, if a nice little woman like Miss Ankers marries
+such a backboneless creature."
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! have not our late troubles shown you that we must judge
+no one? After what we have undergone I shall never, never give an
+opinion about anyone again. I am sorry now that I did not behave better
+to poor Mrs. Vand. When my supposed father was alive I did treat her
+haughtily. No wonder she disliked me."
+
+"My dear," said Lister, taking her hand, "don't be too hard on yourself.
+You and your so-called aunt would never have got on well together."
+
+"But I might have been kinder," said Bella, almost crying; "now that she
+is dead and gone I feel that I might have been kinder."
+
+"How do you know that she is dead and gone?" asked Cyril, in so strange
+a tone that Bella, dashing the tears from her eyes, looked at him
+inquiringly. "She is alive," he replied to that mute interrogation.
+
+"Oh, Cyril, I am so glad! Tell me all about it."
+
+"I don't know that I am glad, poor soul," said Lister sadly. "The police
+are on her track. I didn't want to tell you, Bella, but for the last two
+days the papers have been full of the hunt after Mrs. Vand."
+
+"Why didn't Dora tell me?"
+
+"I asked her not to. You have had quite enough to bear."
+
+"Well, now that you have told me some, tell me all."
+
+"There isn't much to tell. Some too clever landlady in Bloomsbury
+suspected a quiet lady lodger. It certainly was Mrs. Vand, but she
+became suspicious of her landlady and cleared out. Then she was seen at
+Putney, and afterwards someone noticed her in Hampstead. The papers
+having been taunting the police about the matter, they'll catch her in
+the end."
+
+"Poor Mrs. Vand! poor Mrs. Vand!" The girl's eyes again filled with
+tears.
+
+"We can't help her, Bella. I wish Timson could get hold of her and
+induce her to stand her trial. I don't think either judge or jury would
+be hard on her; more, I fancy that her brain must be turned with all
+this misery."
+
+"And she has lost her husband, too," sighed Bella; "she loved him so.
+Oh, dear Cyril, what should I do if I lost you?"
+
+Before Lister could reply with the usual lover-like attentions there was
+a noise in the road, and looking through the window they saw many people
+hurrying along. Dora came in at the moment from the other room, whither
+she always discreetly withdrew when not nursing Pence.
+
+"It is only some policeman they are running after. He declares that Mrs.
+Vand is in the neighbourhood. If she is I hope she will escape."
+
+"By Jove! I must go out and see," said Cyril, seizing his hat.
+
+"I shall come also," cried Bella, and in a few minutes the two were on
+the road. But by this time the people were not tearing along as they had
+been, and one villager told Lister that it had been a false alarm.
+
+"The old vixen won't come back to her first hole," said the villager
+with a coarse laugh, and Bella frowned at him for his inhumanity.
+
+As there really was nothing to hurry for the lovers strolled easily
+along the road talking of their future. "Bella, you haven't many boxes?"
+asked Cyril.
+
+"Only two. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Will you be ready to come with me to London to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes; I shall be glad to get out of Marshely, where I have been so
+miserable. Only I wish I knew where Mrs. Vand is, poor soul."
+
+Cyril passed over the reference to Mrs. Vand, as he was weary of
+discussing that unfortunate woman. "There's a chum of mine got a motor,"
+said the young man. "I wrote and asked him for the loan of it. He
+brought it down last night, and it is safely bestowed in the stables of
+'The Chequers.' To-morrow at nine o'clock let us start off with your
+boxes----"
+
+"And Dora?"
+
+"No," said Cyril, very decidedly. "Dora can remain with Pence, whom she
+probably will marry. We will go to London and get married at a registry
+office in the afternoon, and then cross to Paris for our honeymoon. I
+haven't much money, Miss Rothschild, but I have enough for that. In our
+own happiness let us forget all our troubles."
+
+"I'll come," said Bella with a sigh. "After all, we can do nothing. By
+the way, Cyril, what about Durgo's things?"
+
+"Well it's odd you should mention that. He evidently thought that
+something might happen to him on that night, for he left a note behind
+him saying that if he did not return they were to be given to me. So I
+have shifted them long since to my lodgings. There they lie packed up,
+and ready to be taken away in our motor to-morrow."
+
+"Cyril, you have been arranging this for some time?"
+
+"Well, I have. It's the only way of getting you to leave this place, and
+you will always be miserable while you remain here."
+
+"I only stayed in the hope that poor Mrs. Vand might return, and then I
+would be able to comfort her. Oh! how I wish Durgo with his occult
+powers was here to help us."
+
+"I don't; Durgo's occult powers brought him little happiness, and didn't
+solve the mystery of my father's death. One would have thought that
+Granny Tunks, in her trances, would have told Durgo that the scarecrow
+which he saw daily was his dearly-beloved master's dead body."
+
+"It is strange," said Bella thoughtfully; "but then, as Durgo said about
+something else, perhaps it was not permitted. What's become of Granny
+Tunks, Cyril? Is she still at the hut?"
+
+"Yes; but I heard to-day that she is going on the road again with her
+old tribe of the Lovels. I daresay Granny will be at all the fairs and
+race meetings, swindling people for many a long day."
+
+"And her son Luke?"
+
+"He'll get off with a light sentence. He certainly had no hand in the
+murders, and there is no one to prosecute him for blackmail. Granny and
+Luke will soon be together again. I hope never to hear more of them, for
+my part. Bella! Bella! don't let us talk of such things. We have had
+enough of these tragedies. Let us be selfish for once in our lives and
+consider ourselves. Hullo, what's this?"
+
+The question was provoked by the sight of Inglis with three constables,
+who whirled past in a fly which they had evidently obtained from the
+station. As they dashed onward in a cloud of dust the inspector,
+recognising the two, shouted out something indistinctly, with his hand
+to his mouth.
+
+"What does he say, Cyril?" asked Bella anxiously.
+
+"Something about fire. I wonder where they are going? Oh!"--Cyril
+suddenly stopped short--"I wonder if they are after poor Mrs. Vand.
+Come, Bella, let us see where they go to."
+
+"But where are you going?" asked Bella, as he rushed along the road
+dragging her after him swiftly. "Oh!" she cried out with horror, "look!"
+
+At the far end of the village and in the direction of the Solitary Farm,
+a vast cloud of smoke was mounting menacingly into the soft radiance of
+the twilight sky. "No wonder Inglis said fire!" cried Lister excitedly,
+"I believe, Bella, that the Manor-house is blazing."
+
+"No," cried Bella in reply, "it is impossible."
+
+But it was not. As they rounded the corner of the crooked village street
+in the midst of a crowd of people who had sprung as by magic from
+nowhere, they saw the great bulk of the Manor-house enveloped in thick
+black smoke, and even at the distance they were could catch sight of
+fiery tongues of flame. The sky was rapidly darkening to night, and the
+smoke-cloud, laced with red serpents, looked lurid and livid and
+sinister.
+
+"Come, Bella, come!" cried Cyril to the panting girl, and took her arm
+within his own, "we must see who set it on fire."
+
+Bella got her second wind and ran like Atalanta. They speedily
+outstripped the crowd, and were almost the first to cross the planks
+over the boundary channel. Inglis and his policemen were already running
+up the corn-path. Why they should run, or why the villagers should run,
+Cyril did not know, as there was no water and no fire brigade, hose, or
+engine, and no chance of saving the ancient mansion. He and Bella ran
+because they wished to see the last of the old home.
+
+"Who can have set it on fire?" Cyril kept asking.
+
+"Perhaps a tramp," suggested Bella breathlessly, but in her heart she
+felt that something more serious was in the wind. A strange dread
+gripped her heart, and the name of Mrs. Vand was on the tip of her
+tongue, although she never uttered it.
+
+As the weather was warm and the ground dry--for there had been no rain
+since the electric storm which raged when Vand and Durgo had gone down
+into the muddy waters of the boundary channel--the old house flamed
+furiously. The dry wood caught like tinder, and when Cyril and the girl
+arrived the whole place was hidden weirdly by dense black smoke, amidst
+which flashed sinister points of fire. Inglis and his men attempted to
+enter the house, but were driven back by the fierce flames which burst
+from the cracking windows; also the great door was closed and could not
+be forced open. They were forced to retreat, and the inspector nearly
+tumbled over Miss Faith, as Bella was now called.
+
+"Can't you get her out?" asked Inglis breathlessly.
+
+"Get her out!" cried the girl, terrified, and half grasping his meaning.
+
+"Mrs. Vand; she is in there," and he pointed to the furnace of flame.
+
+Bella screamed and Cyril turned pale. "You must be mistaken," he said.
+
+"No, no," replied the inspector, who was greatly agitated, for even his
+official phlegm was not proof against the terror of the position. "The
+London police wired to me at Pierside that Mrs. Vand had gone down to
+Marshely. We waited at the station to arrest her, but she got off at a
+previous station and was seen by your village policeman to run across
+the marshes. He wired to my Pierside office, and the wire was repeated
+to the station we waited at. We got a fly and hurried here only to see
+the smoke. I cried out 'Fire!' to you as we passed. Great heavens, what
+a blaze!"
+
+"Can't you get her out?" cried Bella, who was white with despair. Little
+as she had liked Mrs. Vand, the position was a dreadful one to
+contemplate.
+
+"What can we do?" said the officer, with a gesture of despair. "There is
+no water and no buckets: and if there were, what bucket of water would
+put out that conflagration. You might as well try and extinguish hell
+with a squirt."
+
+Bella paid no attention to the vehemence of his expression, but turned
+to Cyril. "What can we do?" she wailed. "Oh, what can we do?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing. Look at the police, look at the villagers. We can do
+nothing. If Mrs. Vand is in that blazing house God help her."
+
+There was now a great crowd of men, women and children all gathered some
+distance away from the burning mansion, trampling down the tall corn in
+their efforts to see. Bella, with the police and her lover, stood the
+nearest to the house. "Please God she is not there!" breathed the girl,
+clasping her hands in agony.
+
+At that moment, as if to give the lie to her kindly prayer, a window on
+the first storey was flung open and Mrs. Vand's head was poked out. Even
+at this distance Bella could see that her hair was in disorder, her face
+haggard, and her whole mien wild. Breaking away desperately from Cyril
+she rushed right up almost under the window, despite the fierce heat.
+
+"Aunt, oh aunt," she cried, stretching up her hands, "come down and save
+yourself!"
+
+"No! No. They shall not catch me! I shall not be hanged! I am innocent!
+I am innocent!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, and Bella could almost see the mad
+flash in her eyes.
+
+"Bella! Bella! come back," shouted Cyril, and dashing forward he caught
+the girl in his arms and carried her away as the front door fell
+outward. A long tongue of flame shot out and licked the grass where
+Bella had stood a moment since.
+
+By this time the house was blazing furiously, and every window save that
+out of which Mrs. Vand's head was thrust, vomited flame. The sky was now
+very dark, and the vivid redness of the flame in the gloom made a
+terrible and lovely spectacle. Bella, in her despair, would have rushed
+again to implore her aunt to escape, but that Cyril and Inglis held her
+firmly. "It is useless," they said, and the girl could not but admit
+that they were right.
+
+Mrs. Vand apparently was quite mad. She kept flinging up her arms, and
+shouting out taunts to the police for having failed to catch her. Then
+she was seized with a fit of frenzy and began to throw things out of the
+window. Chairs, and looking-glasses, and rugs, and table ornaments did
+she fling out. Suddenly a devilish thought occurred to her crazed brain.
+She noted that a tongue of uncut corn stretched from the main body of
+wheat almost under the window. Darting back she plucked a flaming brand
+from the crackling door, and, regardless how it burnt the flesh of her
+hand, she ran to the window. "Off! off! off with you!" cried Mrs. Vand,
+and carefully dropping the brand on to the tongue of corn.
+
+In one moment, as it seemed, the thread of fire ran along to the main
+body of the corn, and in an inconceivably short space of time, the acres
+of golden grain were a sheet of flame. The villagers, the police, both
+Cyril and Bella, ran for their lives, and it took them all their speed
+to escape the eager flames which licked their very heels. Pell-mell down
+to the boundary channel ran everyone. The plank bridge was broken, and
+many tumbled into the muddy water. Mrs. Vand stood at the window
+yelling, and clapping her hands like a fiend, and the whole vast fields
+of wheat flared like a gigantic bonfire.
+
+Half swimming, half holding on to the broken bridge planks, Cyril, with
+Bella on his other arm, managed to scramble through that muddy ditch.
+Beside him shrieked women and cursed men and screamed children. The
+police having safely reached the other side stretched out arms to those
+in the water. Cyril and Bella were soon on dry land, and shortly
+everyone else was saved. Not a single life was lost, either by fire or
+water. And when safe on the hither side of this Jordan, the excited,
+smoke-begrimed throng looked at the flaming fields and the roaring
+furnace of the Manor house. The smoke and flame of the burning ascended
+to heaven and reddened the evening sky. Mrs. Vand, in setting fire to
+her last refuge, had indeed provided herself with a noble pyre and a
+dramatic end. Before those who watched could draw breath after their
+last exertions, the roof of the mansion fell in with a crash. Mrs. Vand
+gave one wild cry and fell backward. Then fierce, red flames enwrapped
+the whole structure, while far and wide the raging fire swept over the
+fields of the Solitary Farm.
+
+"May God have mercy on her soul!" said Cyril removing his cap.
+
+"Ah!" said Inglis, "if I had caught her, I wonder if the judge would
+have said as much."
+
+"No," replied Bella, "she is dead, and she was innocent. God help her
+poor soul!" and everyone around echoed the wish.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bella and Cyril did not go to London the next morning as they had
+arranged, but three days later. In the meanwhile search had been made
+amongst the ruins of the Manor-house for the body of Mrs. Vand. But
+nothing could be found. In that fierce furnace of flame she had been
+burnt to a cinder, and not even calcined bones could be gathered
+together. In a whirlwind of flame the unhappy woman had vanished, and
+her end affected Bella deeply. Indeed, Cyril feared lest the much-tried
+girl should fall ill, and on the third day he brought round the
+motor-car to Miss Ankers' cottage, to insist that she should come with
+him to London.
+
+"But if we marry so soon it seems like a disrespect to Mrs. Vand,"
+argued Bella, "and she has left me her money, remember."
+
+"My dear, don't be morbid," advised Dora; "you will be ill if you stay.
+Get married, and go to Paris, and try to forget all these terrible
+things."
+
+"What do you say, Pence?" asked Cyril, who in the meantime had carried
+out Bella's boxes.
+
+Pence, looking lean and haggard after his recent illness, but with a
+much calmer light in his eyes, nodded. "I say, go, Miss Faith, and get
+married as soon as you can."
+
+"You wouldn't have given that advice once," said Bella, with a faint
+smile, as Dora assisted her to adjust her cloak.
+
+"No. But I have grown wiser."
+
+"What a compliment!"
+
+"You have forgiven me, have you not?"
+
+"Yes, I have." She held out her hand, "and the best thing I can wish you
+is the best wife in the world."
+
+As if by chance, her eyes rested on Dora, who blushed, and then on
+Pence, who grew red. Afterwards, with half a smile and half a sigh, she
+got into the car beside Cyril. Dora hopped like a bird on to the step to
+kiss her.
+
+Lister raised his cap, and the car went humming down the road on the way
+to peace and happiness.
+
+"That's the end of her solitary life," said Pence, thankfully.
+
+"On the Solitary Farm," rejoined Dora; "come and have some breakfast."
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEST NOVELS BY FERGUS HUME
+
+
+The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
+
+The Sealed Message
+
+The Sacred Herb
+
+Claude Duval of Ninety-five
+
+The Rainbow Feather
+
+The Pagan's Cup
+
+A Coin of Edward VII
+
+The Yellow Holly
+
+The Red Window
+
+The Mandarin's Fan
+
+The Secret Passage
+
+The Opal Serpent
+
+Lady Jim of Curzon Street
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOLITARY FARM ***
+
+***** This file should be named 35146-8.txt or 35146-8.zip *****
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+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Solitary Farm, by FERGUS HUME.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
+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 Solitary Farm
+
+Author: Fergus Hume
+
+Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOLITARY FARM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h1>The Solitary Farm</h1>
+
+<h2>BY FERGUS HUME</h2>
+
+
+<h3>AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB," "THE SACRED HERB," "THE SEALED
+MESSAGE," "THE GREEN MUMMY," "THE OPAL SERPENT," "THE RED WINDOW," "THE
+YELLOW HOLLY," ETC., ETC., ETC.</h3>
+
+
+<h3>G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK</h3>
+
+<h3>Copyright 1909 by<br />
+G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY</h3>
+
+<h3><i>The Solitary Farm</i><br /></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>AS BELLA RAN INTO HIS ARMS HE DRAGGED HER INTO THE
+STANDING CORN.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">The Domain of Ceres</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Wooin' o't</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Tardy Lover</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Sudden Death</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">A Mysterious Crime</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">The Inquest</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Cyril and Bella</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">The Witch-Wife</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">The Coming of Durgo</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">A Lover's Meeting</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">A Recognition</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Cyril's Story</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Tunks' Discovery</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">What Silas Pence Knew</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Durgo, the Detective</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">The Papers</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">A Confession</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Ghost</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">An Awkward Position</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">The Master Magician</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">A Desperate Attempt</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Vand's Repentance</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">What Luke Tunks Saw</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">A Remarkable Discovery</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">Run to Earth</span></a><br /><br />
+<a href="#THE_BEST_NOVELS_BY_FERGUS_HUME">THE BEST NOVELS BY FERGUS HUME</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE SOLITARY FARM</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DOMAIN OF CERES</h3>
+
+
+<p>"S' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella!" remarked Captain Huxham, rubbing
+his stout knees slowly, and repeating the exact words of the clerical
+suitor. "S' thet she may be yer handmaiden, an' yer spouse, and yer
+sealed fountain, es y' put it in yer flowery pulpit lingo. Jus' so! Jus'
+so!" and shifting the quid which bulged his weather-beaten cheek, he
+stared with hard blue eyes. "Jus' so, Mr. Pence!"</p>
+
+<p>The young minister and the elderly skipper discussed the subject of
+marriage in a shabby antique room of small size, which had the
+appearance of having been used to more aristocratic company. The
+dark-oak panelled walls, the grotesquely-carved ceiling-beams, the
+Dutch-tiled fire-place, with its ungainly brass dogs, and the deep
+slanting embrasure of the lozenge-paned casement, suggested Georgian
+beaux and belles dancing buckram minutes, or at least hard-riding
+country squires plotting Jacobite restoration. But these happenings were
+in the long-ago, but this stately Essex manor-house had declined
+woefully from its high estate, and now sheltered a rough and ready
+mariner, who camped, rather than dwelt, under its roof.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Huxham, seated on the broad, low window-sill, thrust his hands
+into the pockets of his brass-buttoned pea-jacket, and swung his short,
+sturdy legs, which were enveloped in wide blue-cloth trousers. He was a
+squat man, with lengthy arms and aggressively square shoulders, and his
+large, flat face was as the winter sun for redness. Clean-shaven, save
+for a fringe of white hair which curved under his stubborn chin from one
+large ear to the other, his tough skin was seamed with innumerable
+wrinkles, accumulating particularly thickly about his eyes. He had gold
+rings in his ears, and plenteous grey hair hung like seaweed from under
+a peaked cap, pushed back from his lined forehead. He looked what he
+truly was&mdash;a rough, uneducated, imperious old sea-dog, whose knowledge
+of strong drink and stronger language was only exceeded by his strenuous
+grip of the purse which held the savings of many rapacious years. In
+this romantic room he looked entirely out of place. Nevertheless it was
+his own property, and while considering his answer to Mr. Pence, he
+examined it mechanically.</p>
+
+<p>To the left he beheld a large open fire-place, which gaped under an
+ornate oak mantel-piece, carved with the crest and motto of the
+dispossessed family. A door appeared on the right, leading to the
+entrance hall, and this also was elaborately carved with wreaths of
+fruit and flowers, and with fat, foolish Cupids, entangled in knots of
+ribbon. The fourth wall was unbroken, and faced the window, but against
+it stood a common deal table covered incongruously with an embroidered
+Indian cloth. Above this, and leaning forward, was a round convex
+mirror, surmounted by a Napoleonic eagle. This was flanked on one side
+by an oilskin coat and a sou'-wester, and on the other by a sextant and
+a long brass telescope. A Louis Quinze sofa, with a gilt frame, and
+covered with faded brocade, fitted into the space between the fire-place
+and the casement. In the opposite corner, with its back to the outer
+wall, stood a large modern office-desk of mahogany, with a flexible
+curved lid, which was drawn down and fastened, because a visitor was in
+the room. Captain Huxham never received anyone in his sanctum unless he
+first assured himself that the desk was closed, and a small,
+green-painted safe near it fast-locked.</p>
+
+<p>There were three or four rush-bottomed chairs, which looked plebeian
+even on the dusty, uncarpeted floor. On the mantel-shelf stood a
+lyre-shaped clock, bearing the sun symbol of Louis XIV.; several cheap
+and gaudy vases, and many fantastic shells picked up on South Sea
+beaches. Here and there were Japanese curios, Polynesian mats and war
+weapons; uncouth Chinese idols, stuffed birds, Indian ivory carvings,
+photographs and paintings of various ships, and all the flotsam and
+jetsam which collects in a sailor's sea-chest during endless voyages.
+The deal table was littered with old magazines, yellow-backed novels,
+and navigation books with ragged covers; while the fire-place was a
+species of dust-bin for matches, cigar-ends, torn papers, orange peel,
+and such like. Everywhere the dust lay thick. It was an odd room&mdash;at
+once sumptuous and dingy, markedly chaotic, yet orderly in an untidy
+way. It reflected more or less the mind of its present owner, who, as
+has been before remarked, camped, rather than lived, amidst his
+surroundings. In the same way do Eastern nomads house in the ruined
+palaces of kings.</p>
+
+<p>Silas Pence, who was the minister of the Little Bethel Chapel in
+Marshely village, curled his long thin legs under his chair and looked
+anxiously at his meditative host. That portion of the light from the
+casement not intercepted by Huxham's bulky figure, revealed a lean,
+eager face, framed in sparse, fair hair, parted in the centre and
+falling untidily on the coat collar. The young preacher's features were
+sharply defined and somewhat mean, while a short and scanty beard
+scarcely concealed his sensitive mouth. His forehead was lofty, his chin
+weak, and his grey eyes glittered in a strange, fanatical fashion. There
+were exceptional possibilities both for good and evil in that pale
+countenance, and it could be guessed that environment would have much to
+do with the development of such possibilities. Mr. Pence was arrayed in
+a tightly-fitting frock coat and loose trousers, both of worn
+broadcloth. He wore also a low collar with a white tie, bow-fashion,
+white socks, and low-heeled shoes, and every part of his attire,
+although neat and well-brushed and well-mended, revealed dire poverty.
+On the whole, he had the rapt ascetic gaze of a mediæval saint, and a
+monkish robe would have suited him better than his semi-ecclesiastical
+garb as a Non-conformist preacher.</p>
+
+<p>But if Pence resembled a saint, Huxham might have passed for a grey old
+badger, sullen and infinitely wary. Having taken stock of his worldly
+possessions, recalling meanwhile a not altogether spotless past, he
+brought his shrewd eyes back again to his visitor's attentive face.
+Still anxious to gain time for further consideration, he remarked once
+more, "So' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella, Mr. Pence? Jus' so! Jus' so!"</p>
+
+<p>The other replied, in a musical but high-pitched voice almost feminine
+in its timbre, "I am not comely; I am not wealthy; nor do I sit in the
+seat of the rulers. But the Lord has gifted me with a pleading tongue,
+an admiring eye, and an admonishing nature. With Isabella by my side,
+Brother Huxham, I can lead more hopefully our little flock towards the
+pleasant land of Beulah. What says Isaiah?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dunno!" confessed the mariner. "Ain't bin readin' Isaiaher's log
+lately."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah," quoted Mr. Pence shrilly, "and thy
+land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land will be
+married."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't know es Isaiaher knew of m' twenty acres," growled Huxham, with
+another turn of his quid; "'course ef it be, es y' merry Bella, th' land
+goes with her when I fits int' m' little wooden overcoat. Y' kin take
+yer davy on thet, Mr. Pence, fur I've a conscience, I hev,&mdash;let 'em say
+contrary es likes."</p>
+
+<p>It must have been an uneasy conscience, for Captain Huxham glared
+defiantly at his visitor, and then cast a doubtful look over his left
+shoulder, as though he expected to be tapped thereon. Pence was puzzled
+as much by this behaviour as by the literal way in which the sailor had
+taken the saying of the prophet. "Isaiah spoke in parables," he
+explained, lamely.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," grunted Huxham, "but y' speak sraight 'nough, Mr. Pence.
+Touching this merrage. Y' love Bella, es I take it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I call her Hephzibah," burst out the young minister enthusiastically,
+"which, being interpreted, means&mdash;my delight is in her."</p>
+
+<p>"Jus' so! Jus' so! But does th' gel love you, Mr. Pence?"</p>
+
+<p>The face of the suitor clouded. "I have my doubts," he sighed, "seeing
+that she has looked upon vanity in the person of a man from Babylon."</p>
+
+<p>"Damn your parables!" snapped the captain; "put a blamed name t' him."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Cyril Lister," began Pence, and was about to reprove his host for
+the use of strong language, when he was startled by much worse. And
+Huxham grew purple in the face when using it.</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to set down the exact words, but the fluency and
+originality and picturesqueness of the retired mariner's speech made
+Silas close his scandalised ears. With many adjectives of the most lurid
+description, the preacher understood Huxham to say that he would see his
+daughter grilling in the nethermost pit of Tophet before he would permit
+his daughter to marry this&mdash;adjective, double adjective&mdash;swab from
+London.</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't seen th' blighter," bellowed the captain, furiously, "but I've
+heard of his blessed name. Bella met him et thet blamed Miss Ankers',
+the school-mistress', house, she did. Sh' wanted him t' kim an' see this
+old shanty, 'cause he writes fur the noospapers, cuss him. But I up an'
+tole her, es I'd twist her damned neck ef she spoke agin with the
+lop-sided&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! stop!" remonstrated Pence feebly. "We are all brothers in&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The lubber ain't no relative o' mine, hang him; an' y' too, fur sayin'
+so. Oh, Lister, Lister!" Huxham swung two huge fists impotently. "I hate
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? why? why?" babbled the visitor incoherently.</p>
+
+<p>The surprise in his tones brought Huxham to his calmer senses, like the
+cunning old badger he was.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause I jolly well do," he snorted, wiping his perspiring face with a
+flaunting red and yellow bandana. "But it don't matter nohow, and I arsk
+yer pardon fur gittin' up steam. My gel don't merry no Lister, y' kin
+lay yer soul t' thet, Mr. Pence. Lister! Lister!" He slipped off the
+sill in his excitement. "I hates the whole damned breed of 'em;
+sea-cooks all, es oughter t' hev their silly faces in the slush tub."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the Lister family then?" asked Pence, open-mouthed at this
+vehemence.</p>
+
+<p>This remark cooled the captain still further. "Shut yer silly mouth," he
+growled, rolling porpoise-fashion across the room, "and wait till I git
+m' breath back int' m' bellers."</p>
+
+<p>Being a discreet young man, Pence took the hint and silently watched the
+squat, ungainly figure of his host lunging and plunging in the narrow
+confines of the apartment. Whatever may have been the reason, it was
+evident that the name of Lister acted like a red rag to this nautical
+bull. Pence ran over in his mind what he knew of the young stranger, to
+see if he could account for this outbreak. He could recall nothing
+pertinent. Cyril Lister had come to remain in Marshely some six months
+previously, and declared himself to be a journalist in search of quiet,
+for the purpose of writing a novel. He occupied a tiny cottage in the
+village, and was looked after by Mrs. Block, a stout, gossiping widow,
+who spoke well of her master. So far as Pence knew, Captain Huxham had
+never set eyes on the stranger, and could not possibly know anything of
+him or of his family. Yet, from his late outburst of rage, it was
+apparent that he hated the young man.</p>
+
+<p>Lister sometimes went to London, but for the most part remained in the
+village, writing his novel and making friends with the inhabitants. At
+the house of the board-school mistress he had met Bella Huxham, and the
+two had been frequently in one another's company, in spite of the
+captain's prohibition. But it was evident that Huxham knew nothing of
+their meetings. Pence did, however, and resented that the girl should
+prefer Lister's company to his own. He was very deeply in love, and it
+rejoiced his heart when he heard how annoyed the captain was at the mere
+idea of a marriage between Lister and his daughter. The preacher was by
+no means a selfish man, or a bad man, but being in love he naturally
+wished to triumph over his rival. He now knew that his suit would be
+supported by Huxham, if only out of his inexplicable hatred for the
+journalist.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Huxham stamped and muttered, and wiped his broad face as he
+walked off his anger. Finally he stopped opposite his visitor and waved
+him to the door. "Y' shell merry m' gel, Bella," he announced hoarsely;
+"m' conscience won't let me merry her t' thet&mdash;thet&mdash;oh, cuss him! why
+carn't he an' the likes o' he keep away!" He paused, and again cast an
+uncomfortable look over his left shoulder. "Kim up on th' roof," he said
+abruptly, driving Pence into the entrance hall. "I'll show y' wot I'll
+give y' with m' gel&mdash;on conditions."</p>
+
+<p>"Conditions!" The preacher was bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>Huxham vouchsafed no reply, but mounted the shallow steps of the grand
+staircase. The manor-house was large and rambling, and of great age,
+having been built in the reign of Henry VII. The rooms were spacious,
+the corridors wide, and the ceilings lofty. The present possessor led
+his guest up the stairs into a long, broad passage, with many doors
+leading into various bedrooms. At the end he opened a smaller door to
+reveal a narrow flight of steep steps. Followed by the minister, Huxham
+ascended these, and the two emerged through a wooden trap-door on the
+roof. Silas then beheld a moderately broad space running parallel with
+the passage below, and extending from one parapet to the other. On
+either side of this walk&mdash;as it might be termed&mdash;the red-tiled roofs
+sloped abruptly upward to cover the two portions of the mansion, here
+joined by the flat leads forming the walk aforesaid. On the slope of the
+left roof, looking from the trap-door, was a wooden ladder which led up
+to a small platform, also of wood, built round the emerging chimney
+stack. This was Captain Huxham's quarter deck, whither he went on
+occasions to survey his property. He clambered up the ladder with the
+agility of a sailor, in spite of his age, and was followed by the
+preacher with some misgivings. These proved to be correct, for when he
+reached the quarter-deck, the view which met his startled eyes so shook
+his nerve, that he would have fallen but that the captain propped him up
+against the broad brick-work of the chimney.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, me," moaned the unfortunate Silas, holding on tightly to the iron
+clamps of the brick-work. "I am throned on a dangerous eminence," and
+closed his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Open 'em, open 'em," commanded the captain gruffly, "an' jes' look et
+them twenty acres of corn, es y'll git with m' gel when I'm a deader."</p>
+
+<p>Pence slipped into a sitting position and looked as directed. He beheld
+from his dizzy elevation the rolling marshland, extending from the
+far-distant stream of the Thames to the foot of low-lying inland hills.
+As it was July, and the sun shone strongly, the marshes were
+comparatively dry, but here and there Pence beheld pools and ditches
+flashing like jewels in the yellow radiance. Immediately before him he
+could see the village of Marshely, not so very far away, with red-roofed
+houses gathered closely round the grey, square tower of the church; he
+could even see the tin roof of his own humble Bethel gleaming like
+silver in the sunlight. And here and there, dotted indiscriminately,
+were lonely houses, single huts, clumps of trees, and on the higher
+ground rising inland, more villages similar to Marshely. The flat and
+perilously green lands were divided by hedges and ditches and fences
+into squares and triangles and oblongs and rectangles, all as
+emerald-hued as faery rings. The human habitations were so scattered,
+that it looked as though some careless genii had dropped them by chance
+when flying overhead. Far away glittered the broad stream of the Thames,
+with ships and steamers and boats and barges moving, outward and inward
+bound, on its placid surface. The rigid line of the railway shot
+straightly through villages and trees and occasional cuttings, across
+the verdant expanse, with here and there a knot representing a station.
+Smoke curled from the tall chimneys of the dynamite factories near the
+river, and silvery puffs of steam showed that a train was on its way to
+Tilbury. All was fresh, restful, beautiful, and so intensely green as to
+be suggestive of early Spring buddings.</p>
+
+<p>"When I took command of this here farm, ten years back," observed
+Captain Huxham, drawing in a deep breath of moist air, "it were
+water-logged like a derelict, es y' might say. Cast yer weather-eye over
+it now, Mr. Pence, an' wot's yer look-out: a gardin of Edin, smilin'
+with grain."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it's a derelict still," remarked the preacher, struggling to his
+feet and holding on by the chimney; "let me examine your farm of
+Bleacres."</p>
+
+<p>Bleacres&mdash;a corruption of bleakacres&mdash;consisted of only twenty acres not
+at all bleak, but a mere slice out of the wide domains formerly owned by
+the aristocratic family dispossessed by Huxham. It extended all round
+the ancient manor-house, which stood exactly in the centre, and every
+foot of it was sown with corn. On every side waved the greenish-bluish
+crop, now almost breast high. It rolled right up to the walls of the
+house, so that this was drowned, so to speak, in the ocean of grain. The
+various fields were divided and sub-divided by water-ways wide and
+narrow, which drained the land, and these gave the place quite a Dutch
+look, as fancy might picture them as canals. But the corn grew
+everywhere so thick and high, in contrast to the barren marshes, that
+the farm looked almost aggressively cultivated. Bleacres was widely
+known as "The Solitary Farm," for there was not another like it for many
+miles, though why it should have been left to a retired sailor to
+cultivate the soil it is hard to say. But Huxham for many years had sown
+corn on his twenty acres, so that the mansion for the most part of the
+year was quite shut off from the world. Only a narrow path was left,
+which meandered from the front door and across various water-ways to
+Marshely village, one mile distant. In no other way save by this path
+could the mansion be approached. And as guardian of the place a
+red-coated scarecrow stood sentinel a stone-throw from the house. The
+bit of brilliant colour looked gay amidst the rolling acres of green.</p>
+
+<p>"The domain of Ceres," said Pence dreamily, and recalling his meagre
+classical studies; "here the goddess might preside. Yet," he added
+again, with a side glance at his rugged host, "a derelict still."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Pence don't know the English langwidge, apparently," said Huxham,
+addressing the landscape with a pitying smile. "A derelict's a ship
+abandoned."</p>
+
+<p>"And a derelict," insisted Pence, "can also be described as a tract of
+land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use. You will find
+that explanation in Nuttall's Standard Dictionary, captain."</p>
+
+<p>"Live an' larn; live an' larn," commented Huxham, accepting the
+explanation without question; "but I ain't got no use for dix'onaries
+m'self. Made m' dollars to buy this here farm without sich truck."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way, captain?" asked Silas absently, and looked at the view.</p>
+
+<p>Had he looked instead at Huxham's weather-beaten face he might have been
+surprised. The captain grew a little trifle paler under his bronze, an
+uneasy look crept into his hard blue eyes, and he threw another anxious
+glance over his shoulder. But a stealthy examination of the minister's
+indifferent countenance assured him that the question, although a
+leading one, had been asked in all innocence. And in all innocence the
+captain replied, for the momentary pause had given him time to frame his
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I arned m' dollars, Mr. Pence, es an honest man should, by sweatin' on
+th' high an' narrer seas these forty year'. Ran away fro' m' father, es
+wos a cobbler," added Huxham, addressing the landscape once more, "when
+I wos ten year old, an' a hop-me-thumb et thet, es y' could hev squeezed
+int' a pint pot. Cabin boy, A.B., mate, fust an' second, and a skipper
+by m' own determination t' git top-hole. Likewise hard tack, cold
+quarters, kickin's an' brimstone langwidge es would hev made thet hair
+of yours curl tremenjous, Mr. Pence. I made 'nough when fifty an' more,
+t' buy this here farm, an' this here house, th' roof of which I've
+walked quarter-deck fashion, es y' see, these ten years&mdash;me bein' sixty
+odd, so t' speak. Waitin' now fur a hail t' jine th' angels, an' Mrs.
+Arabeller Huxham, who is a flier with a halo, an' expectin' me aloft, es
+she remarked frequent when chokin' in her engine pipes. Asthma et wos,"
+finished the widower, spitting out some tobacco juice, "es settled her
+hash."</p>
+
+<p>This astonishing speech, delivered with slow gruffness, did not startle
+Silas, as he had known Captain Huxham for at least five years, and had
+before remarked upon his eccentric way of talking. "Very interesting;
+very commendable," he murmured, and returned to the object of his visit.
+"And your daughter, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Y' shell hev her, an' hev this here," the captain waved his hand to the
+four points of the compass, "when I jine the late Mrs. Arabeller Huxham,
+ef y'&mdash;ef y'&mdash;thet is&mdash;&mdash;" he halted dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"If what?" demanded Pence, unsuspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef y' chuck thet Lister int' one of them water-ways," said Huxham.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" cried the preacher, considerably startled.</p>
+
+<p>"I want him dead," growled Huxham gruffly, "drown dead an' buried."</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps his sojourn in distant lands on the fringes of the empire had
+familiarised the captain with sudden death and murder, for he made this
+amazing proposition in a calm and cheerful voice. But the minister was
+not so steeled to horrors.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" he repeated in a shaking voice and with dilated eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"All fur you," murmured the tempter persuasively, "every blamed acre of
+et, t' say nothing of Bella es is a fine gel, an'&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no!" cried Silas vehemently, spreading his hands across his
+lean, agitated face, "how dare you ask such a thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jus' a push," went on Huxham softly, "he bein' on the edge of one of
+them ditches, es y' might say. Wot th' water gits th' water holds. He'd
+go down int' the black slime an' never come up. It 'ud choke him. Cuss
+me," murmured Huxham softly, "I'd like t' see the black slime choke a
+Lister."</p>
+
+<p>Pence gasped again and recalled how the Evil One had taken the Saviour
+of men up to an exceedingly high mountain, to show Him the kingdoms of
+the world and the glory of them. "All these things will I give thee,"
+said Satan, "if&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" shouted Silas, his eyes lighting up with wrath. "Get thee behind
+me&mdash;&mdash;" Before finishing his sentence, and before Huxham could reply, he
+scrambled down the ladder to rush for the open trap. The captain leaned
+from his quarter-deck scornfully. "Y' needn't say es I gave y' the
+chance, fur no one 'ull believe y'," he cried out, coolly, "an' a
+milksop y' are. Twenty acres, a house, an' a fine gel&mdash;y'd be set up for
+life, ef y'd only push&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Pence heard no more. In a frenzy of horror he dropped through the
+trap-door, inwardly praying that he might be kept from temptation.
+Huxham saw him vanish and scowled. "Blamed milky swab," he grumbled,
+then turned to survey the bribe he had offered for wilful murder. He
+looked at the corn and across the corn uneasily, as though he saw danger
+in the distance. "No cause to be afeared," muttered the ex-mariner; "he
+can't get through the corn. It keeps me safe anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>But who the "he" referred to might be, Huxham did not say.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOOIN' O'T</h3>
+
+
+<p>Imagine a man wrapped from infancy in the cotton wool of civilisation
+suddenly jerked out of the same into barbaric nakedness. Deprived of the
+strong protection of the law, brought suddenly face to face with the
+"might-is-right" theory, he would have to fight for his own land, even
+to the extent of slaying anyone who thwarted his needs. Such a man,
+amazed and horrified at first, would gradually become accustomed to his
+Ishmael existence, since habit is second nature. Silas Pence felt sick
+when he reflected on the offer made by Captain Huxham, and to him of all
+people&mdash;a minister of the Gospel, a follower of the Prince of Peace. For
+the first time in his guarded life, he became aware of the evil which
+underlies the smiling surface of things, and it was as though an abyss
+had opened suddenly at his feet. But although he did not know it at the
+time, the seed had been sown in his heart at the right moment, and would
+germinate almost without his knowledge. In a few days Silas could look
+back at the horrifying suggestion with calmness, and could even consider
+the advantages it offered.</p>
+
+<p>But just now he felt sick, physically sick, and descending with
+trembling limbs to the ground floor of the house, staggered towards the
+hall and door. All he desired was to get away, and put the corn-fields
+between himself and the evil atmosphere of Bleacres. But his legs failed
+him as he laid hands on the latch, and he sank white-faced and shaking
+into a chair. In this state he was discovered by Mrs. Coppersley, the
+captain's sister and housekeeper. She was a buxom, amiable woman, with a
+fixed smile meaning nothing. The expression of her rosy face changed to
+one of alarm when she saw the heap in the chair. "Save us, Mr. Pence,
+what's wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>Pence was about to break forth into a denunciation of Huxham's
+wickedness, but a timely recollection of the captain's last words&mdash;that
+his story would not be believed&mdash;made him pause. After all, Huxham was
+well known as a decent man and an open-handed friend to one and all, so
+there was nothing to be gained by telling a truth which would certainly
+be scoffed at. The preacher changed his mind in one swift instant, and
+replied nervously to Mrs. Coppersley's inquiry. "I have been on the
+quarter-deck, and it made me dizzy. I am not accustomed to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Drat that brother of mine," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley angrily, "he
+got me up there once, and I thought I'd never come down. Here, Mr.
+Pence, you hold up while I get you a sup of rum."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! Strong drink leads us into desperate ways," protested the
+preacher. But Mrs. Coppersley was gone, and had returned before he could
+make up his mind to fly temptation. Silas was not used to alcohol, but
+the shock he had sustained in learning so much of Huxham's true nature
+prevented his exercising his usual self-control. With his highly strung
+nerves he was half-hysterical, and so, when forced by kindly Mrs.
+Coppersley, readily drank half a tumbler of rum slightly diluted with
+water.</p>
+
+<p>"Drink it all, there's a good soul," entreated the housekeeper, forcing
+the glass to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"No!" He pushed it away. "I feel better already!" and he did, for the
+strong spirit brought colour to his cheek and new strength to his limbs.
+He stood up in a few minutes, quite himself, and indeed more than
+himself, since the rum put into him more courage than came by nature.
+"Wine maketh glad the heart of man," said Silas, in excuse for his
+unusual indulgence.</p>
+
+<p>"Rum isn't wine," said Mrs. Coppersley, with a jolly laugh, "it's
+something much better, Mr. Pence. Now you go home and lie down."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! I feel as though I could charge an army," said Pence valiantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then wait in the study." She indicated the panelled room with a jerk of
+her head. "Jabez will be down from his quarter-deck soon."</p>
+
+<p>"No." Pence shivered, in spite of the rum, at the thought of again
+having to face his tempter. "I must go now. My presence is required in
+the village."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you can take a message for me to Mr. Vand," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+with a slight accession of colour to her already florid face. "Say that
+I am coming to Marshely about seven o'clock, and will call at the shop."</p>
+
+<p>This request changed Pence into the preacher and the leader of the godly
+people who called his chapel their fold. Vand was the son of the woman
+who kept the village grocery shop, and a cripple who played the violin
+at various local concerts. He was at least ten years younger than Mrs.
+Coppersley, who confessed to being thirty-five&mdash;though probably she was
+older&mdash;and the way in which the widow ran after him was something of a
+scandal. As both Mrs. Coppersley and Henry Vand were members of Little
+Bethel, Silas felt that he was entitled to inquire into the matter. "You
+ask me to take such a message, sister?" he demanded austerely.</p>
+
+<p>The widow's face flamed, and her eyes sparkled. "There is no shame in it
+that I am aware of, Mr. Pence," she declared violently; "if I choose to
+marry again, that's no one's business but mine, I take it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, so you desire to marry Henry Vand?" said Pence, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a question of desiring," said the buxom woman impatiently.
+"Henry and I have arranged to be married this summer."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a cripple."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that," she snapped, "and therefore needs the care of a wife."</p>
+
+<p>"His mother looks after him," protested Pence weakly.</p>
+
+<p>"Does she?" inquired Mrs. Coppersley. "I thought she looked after no one
+but herself. She's that selfish as never was, so don't you go to defend
+her, Mr. Pence. Henry, poor boy, who is an angel, if ever there was one,
+is quite neglected; so I am going to marry him and look after him. So
+there!" and Mrs. Coppersley, placing her hands akimbo, defied her
+pastor.</p>
+
+<p>"Henry has no money," said Pence, finding another objection.</p>
+
+<p>"As to that," remarked Mrs. Coppersley indifferently, "when my brother
+dies I'll have money for us both, and this house into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"You will have nothing of the sort," said Silas, surprised into saying
+more than was wise. "Your brother's daughter will inherit this&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, will she?" cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and much you know
+about it, Mr. Pence. When my late husband, who was a ship's steward, and
+saving, died ten year ago, I lent my brother some money to add to his
+own, so that he might buy Bleacres. He agreed that if I did so, I should
+inherit the house and the land. I promised to look after Bella until she
+got married, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Coppersley," said Pence, with an effort at firmness, "your brother
+told me only lately that if I married Bella, he would give her the farm
+and the house when he died, so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, indeed," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley wrathfully, "pretty goings on,
+I'm sure. You call yourself a pastor, Mr. Pence, and come plotting to
+rob me of what is mine. I take everything, and Bella nothing, so you can
+put that in your pipe and smoke it, though you ain't man enough to smoke
+even a penny cigar. You marry Bella? Why, she's as good as engaged to
+that young Lister, who has got more gumption about him than you have."</p>
+
+<p>"I advise you," said Pence, and his voice sounded strangely in his own
+ears, "not to tell your brother that his daughter is engaged to Mr.
+Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"I never said that she was. But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no but. The mere mention of such an engagement would send
+Captain Huxham crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"In heaven's name, why?" gasped Mrs. Coppersley, looking the picture of
+stout amazement and sitting down heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"Because for some reason he hates Mr. Lister, and would kill him rather
+than accept him as his son-in-law."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley's florid face turned quite pale. Evidently she knew what
+her brother was like when roused. "Why should Jabez hate Mr. Lister?"
+she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better ask him," said Pence, opening the hall door; then to
+soften his abruptness he added, "I'll tell Henry Vand that you will see
+him." After which he departed, leaving Mrs. Coppersley still pale and
+still gasping.</p>
+
+<p>After all there was no reason why the ship steward's widow would not
+marry the young man. Vand was handsome in a refined way, and very clever
+as a musician. He was only slightly crippled, too, and could get about
+with the aid of a stick. All the same, he needed someone to look after
+him, and as his own mother did not do so&mdash;as was notorious&mdash;why should
+he not become Mrs. Coppersley's husband? The disparity in age did not
+matter, as Vand, in spite of his good looks, was club-footed and poor.
+But Pence doubted if Mrs. Coppersley would inherit Bleacres after
+Captain Huxham's death, in spite of the arrangement between them.
+Unless&mdash;and here was the chance for the housekeeper&mdash;unless Bella
+married Lister, notwithstanding her father's opposition. In that event,
+Huxham would assuredly disinherit her. "I'll point this out to her,"
+said the preacher, as he left the manor-house, "and urge my suit.
+Common-sense will make her yield to my prayers. Moreover, I can plead,
+and&mdash;&mdash;" here he smiled complacently as he thought of his pulpit
+eloquence. Besides, the unaccustomed spirit of the rum was still keeping
+him brave.</p>
+
+<p>Pence sauntered in the glowing sunshine down the narrow path which ran
+between the standing corn. The path was not straight. It wound
+deviously, as though Huxham wished to make the approach to his abode as
+difficult as possible. Indeed, it was strange that he should sow corn at
+all, since corn at the time was not remunerative. But every year since
+he had entered into possession of Bleacres the owner had sown corn, and
+every year there had only been the one meandering path through the same,
+the very path which Pence was now taking. There was evidently some
+purpose in this sowing, and in the fact that only one pathway was left
+whereby to approach the mansion. But what that purpose might be, neither
+Pence, nor indeed anyone else, could guess. Not that they gave it a
+thought. Huxham was presumed to be very wealthy, and his farming was
+looked upon more as a hobby than a necessity.</p>
+
+<p>The preacher brushed between the breast-high corn, and walked over two
+or three narrow planks laid across two or three narrow ditches. But
+where the corn ended was a wide channel, at least ten feet broad, which
+stretched the whole length of the estate and passed beyond it on its way
+under the railway line to the distant river. The water-way ran
+straightly for some distance, and then curved down into the marshes at
+its own will, to spread into swamps. On one side sprang the thick green
+corn, but on the other stretched waste-lands up to the outskirts of the
+village, one mile distant. There was no fence round Bleacres at this
+point. Apparently, Huxham deemed the wide channel a sufficient
+protection to his corn, which it assuredly was, as no tramps ever
+trespassed on the land. But then, Marshely was not a tramp village. The
+inhabitants were poor, and had nothing to give in the way of charity.
+The loafer of the roads avoided the locality for very obvious reasons.</p>
+
+<p>Before crossing the planks, which were laid on mid-channel supporting
+tressels over the water-way, Pence looked from right to left. The
+evening was so very beautiful that he thought he would prolong his walk
+until sundown, and it wanted some time to that hour. He was still
+indignant with Captain Huxham for his base offer, and came to the
+conclusion that the ex-mariner was mad when he made it. Pence, in his
+simplicity, could not think that any man could ask another to kill a
+third in cold blood. All the same, the offer had been made, and Silas
+found himself asking why Huxham should desire the death of a stranger
+with whom&mdash;so far as the preacher knew&mdash;he was not even acquainted.
+Huxham had always refused to permit Bella to bring Lister to Bleacres,
+and indeed had forbidden her even to speak to the young man. He
+therefore could not be cognisant of the fact, stated by Mrs. Coppersley,
+that Lister and the girl were on the eve of an engagement.</p>
+
+<p>Thus thinking, Pence mechanically wandered along the left bank of the
+boundary water-way, and found himself near a small hut, inhabited by the
+sole labourer whom Huxham habitually employed. He engaged others, of
+course, when his fields were ploughed, and sown, and reaped, but
+Tunks&mdash;such was the euphonious name of the handy-man&mdash;was in demand all
+the year round. He resided in this somewhat lonely hut, along with his
+grandmother, a weird old gipsy reputed to be a witch, and it was this
+reputation which set Mr. Pence thinking.</p>
+
+<p>Remembering that Mrs. Tunks was of the Romany, he thought, and blushed
+as he thought, that it would be worth while to expend a shilling in
+order to learn if his suit with Bella would really prosper. The temple
+of fate was before him, and the Sibyl was probably within, since the
+smoke of cooking the evening meal curled from the chimney. It was only
+necessary to lift the latch, lay down a shilling, and inquire. But even
+as the temptation drew him, he was seized with a feeling of shame, that
+he&mdash;a preacher of the Gospel, and the approved foe thereby of
+witches&mdash;should think for one moment of encouraging such traffic with
+the Evil One. Pence, blushing as red as the now setting sun, turned away
+hastily, and found himself face to face with the very girl who was
+causing him such torment.</p>
+
+<p>"How are you, Mr. Pence?" said Bella Huxham, lightly. "A lovely evening,
+isn't it?" and she tried to pass him on the narrow path. Probably she
+was going to see the Witch of Endor.</p>
+
+<p>The preacher placed himself directly before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait for one moment."</p>
+
+<p>The girl did not reply immediately, but looked at him earnestly, trying
+to guess what the usually nervous preacher had to say. Bella looked more
+lovely than ever in Pence's eyes, as she stood before him in her white
+dress and bathed in the rosy glory of the sunset. She did not in the
+least resemble her father or her aunt, both of whom were stout, uncomely
+folk of true plebeian type. Bella was aristocratic in her looks, as tall
+and slim and willowy as a young sapling. Her hair and eyes were dark,
+her face was a perfect oval of ivory-white delicately flushed with red,
+like a sweet-pea, and if her chin was a trifle resolute and hard, her
+mouth was perfect. She carried herself in a haughty way, and had a habit
+of bending her dark brows so imperiously, that she reminded Pence of
+Judith, who killed Holofernes. Judith and Jael and Deborah must have
+been just such women.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked Bella, bending her brows like an empress, "what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;love you, Miss Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>She could not be angry at so naive a declaration, and one coming from a
+man whom she knew to be as timid as a hare. "I am somewhat surprised,
+Mr. Pence," she replied demurely, "are you not making a mistake?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he stuttered, flushing with eagerness, for amorous passion makes
+the most timid bold. "I have loved you for months, for years. I want you
+to be my wife&mdash;to share with me the glorious privilege of leading my
+flock to the land of Beulah, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, stop!" She flung up her hand. "I assure you, Mr. Pence, that it
+is impossible. Forget that you ever said anything."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot forget. Why should I forget?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must not ask a woman for her reasons, Mr. Pence," she answered
+drily, "for a woman never gives the true ones."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham to you, Mr. Pence." She spoke in a chilly manner.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he cried wildly; "to me you are Bella. I think of you by that
+sweet name day and night. You come between me and my work. When I
+console the afflicted I feel that I am talking to you. When I read my
+Bible, your face comes between me and the sacred page. To me you are
+Hephzibah&mdash;yes, and the Shulamite. The Angel of the Covenant; the joy of
+my heart. Oh, Bella, I love the very ground that you tread on. Can you
+refuse me? See!" He threw himself on the path, heedless of the fact that
+Mrs. Tunks might be at her not far distant window. "I am at your feet,
+Bella! Bella!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl was distressed by this earnestness. "Rise, Mr. Pence, someone
+will see you. You must not behave like this. I cannot be your wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? Oh, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am not fit to be a minister's wife."</p>
+
+<p>The young man sprang to his feet, glowing with passion. "Let me teach
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Bella avoided his extended arms. "No, no, no!" she insisted, "you must
+take my answer once and for all, Mr. Pence. I cannot marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" he urged despairingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a reason," she replied formally; "don't ask me for it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no need to. I know your reason."</p>
+
+<p>Bella flushed, but overlooked the bitterness of his tone because she
+guessed what he suffered. "In that case, I need not explain," she said
+coldly, and again tried to pass. Again he prevented her.</p>
+
+<p>"You love that man Lister," he said between his teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my business, Mr. Pence."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine also," he cried, undaunted by her haughtiness. "Your father's
+business, too. Mrs. Coppersley said that you were almost engaged to this
+man Lister. But you shall not marry him; you will not even be engaged to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Who will prevent me?" asked Bella angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father. He hates this man Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"How can my father hate a man he has never even seen?" she demanded;
+"you are talking rubbish."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham"&mdash;Pence detained her by laying his thin fingers on her
+arm&mdash;"if you marry this man Lister"&mdash;he kept to this sentence as though
+it were a charm&mdash;"you will be a pauper."</p>
+
+<p>She flashed up into a royal rage and stamped. "How dare you say that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dare tell the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the truth. How can you tell if&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Your father told me," insisted the preacher, hotly.</p>
+
+<p>Bella withdrew a step or so, her eyes growing round with surprise.
+"My&mdash;father&mdash;said&mdash;that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Silas feverishly. "I went to him this very
+afternoon to ask permission to present myself to you as a suitor. He
+consented, but only when he heard that you loved this man who&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You told him that?" demanded Bella, her breath coming quick and short.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pence, trying to be courageous, "and it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"Who says that it is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everyone in the village."</p>
+
+<p>"The village has nothing to do with my business," she declared
+imperiously, "and even if I do love&mdash;but let that pass. You told me that
+my father said I should be a pauper."</p>
+
+<p>"If you married the man Lister," he reminded her. "Yes, he did say so,
+and declared also that he would give me the manor-house and the farm
+when he died, if I made you my wife."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shrugged her shoulders. "My father does not mean what he says,"
+she remarked disbelievingly; "as I am his only child, the Solitary Farm,
+as they call it, comes to me in any case. And I see no reason why I
+should discuss my father's business with you. Stand aside and let me
+pass."</p>
+
+<p>"No." Silas was wonderfully brave for one of his timid soul. "You shall
+not pass until you learn the truth. You think that I am a fool and weak.
+I am not. I feel wise and strong; and I am strong&mdash;strong enough to
+withstand temptation, even when you are offered as a bribe."</p>
+
+<p>Bella grew somewhat alarmed. She did not like the glittering of his
+shallow, grey eyes. "You are mad."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sane; you know that I am sane, but you think to put me off by
+saying that I am crazy. I have had enough to make me so. Your
+father"&mdash;here his voice took on the sing-song pulpit style&mdash;"your father
+took me up to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed me the kingdoms
+of the world. All of them he offered me, together with you, if I
+murdered Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" Bella's voice leaped an octave; "you&mdash;you&mdash;murder Cyril?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Cyril, the man you love. And if I dared&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Pence"&mdash;Bella saw the necessity of keeping herself well in hand
+with this hysterical youth, for he was nothing else, and spoke in a
+calm, kind voice&mdash;"my father has not seen Mr. Lister, and cannot hate
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and ask him what he thinks," said Pence fiercely. "I tell you that
+to-day I was offered everything if I would kill this man Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"You are talking at random," she said soothingly; "go home, and lie
+down."</p>
+
+<p>"I am talking of what may come to pass. Your father wishes it, so why
+not, when I love you so deeply? I offer you the heart of an honest man,
+and yet you would throw that aside for this profligate."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril is not a profligate," interrupted Bella, and could have bitten
+out her tongue for the hasty speech.</p>
+
+<p>"He is. He comes from London, the City of Evil, that shall yet fall like
+Babylon the Great. But your soul shall not be lost; you shall not marry
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall!" cried Bella, indignantly, and becoming rash again in her
+anger; "and what is more, I am engaged to him now. So there! Let me
+pass."</p>
+
+<p>She slipped deftly past him, and walked swiftly homeward. Silas Pence
+stood where he was, staring after her, unable to speak or move or to
+follow. Then the sun sank, leaving him in the twilight of sorrow.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>A TARDY LOVER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Miss Huxham did not credit for one moment the story which Pence had told
+her. It was ridiculous to think that her father would even hint at the
+murder of an unoffending man whom he had never seen, and to hesitating,
+timid Silas, of all people. Bella remembered that, months previously,
+when she had mentioned a chance meeting with Lister&mdash;then a stranger&mdash;at
+the cottage of the Marshely school-mistress, Captain Huxham had not only
+forbidden her to bring him to Bleacres, which the young man desired to
+see, but had ordered her to discontinue the acquaintance. Evidently the
+retired mariner deemed this prohibition sufficient, for he made no
+further mention of the matter. That he gave no reason for his tyrannical
+edict, did not trouble him; but because of this very omission, his
+daughter took her own way. By stealth, it is true, lest Huxham should
+exhibit annoyance&mdash;for annoyance with him meant wild-beast rage.</p>
+
+<p>Now the girl felt puzzled. According to Silas, her father knew that she
+had disobeyed him, and she returned to the Manor in a somewhat nervous
+state of mind, quite prepared to do battle for her lover. But, to her
+surprise, Captain Huxham made no remark, and behaved much the same as
+usual, save that at odd times he was more observant of her comings and
+goings. In the face of his newly-acquired knowledge this very unusual
+demeanour should have made Bella more circumspect, but, being
+high-spirited, she did not change her life in any way. Also she believed
+that Silas had greatly exaggerated the captain's anger, and argued from
+his quietness that he cared very little what she did. She had reason to
+take this view, for Huxham was not an affectionate parent, and, save
+when things interfered with his own comfort, usually ignored his
+daughter. And on her side, Bella could not subscribe to the fifth
+commandment. It was impossible to honour King Log, who had an unpleasant
+way of becoming King Henry VIII. when contradicted.</p>
+
+<p>Several times, Bella, needing sympathy, was on the point of reporting
+Pence's conversation to Mrs. Coppersley, so as to learn her opinion as
+to the truth of the preacher's preposterous statement. But the buxom
+widow was too much taken up with her own love-affairs to trouble about
+those of her niece, for whom she displayed no great affection. She
+attended to the house-keeping, cajoled her brother into a good humour
+when necessary, and nearly every evening slipped out to meet Henry Vand,
+who usually awaited her arrival on the hither side of the boundary
+channel. He did not dare to venture nearer to the lion's den, as Captain
+Huxham, aware of his sister's desire to contract a second marriage,
+discouraged the idea. The captain being aggressively selfish, did not
+intend to lose Mrs. Coppersley, whose services were necessary to his
+comfort. Besides, as she managed everything connected with the domestic
+arrangement of Bleacres, assisted by Bella, Huxham was spared the
+necessity of paying a servant. It was better, from the captain's point
+of view, to have two slaves who asked for no wages, and who could be
+bullied when he felt like playing the tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>To a young girl in the first strong flush of womanhood, life at the
+solitary farm was extremely dreary, Captain Huxham rose early and
+strolled round his wealthy acres until breakfast, which for him was a
+Gargantuan meal. He then shut himself for the whole morning in his den,
+where he laboured at his accounts, with a locked door. In the afternoon
+he ordinarily walked to Marshely and conversed over strong drink with
+cronies at the village public-house. He returned to walk around the farm
+again, and after supper again sought his room to smoke and drink rum
+until bedtime, at ten o'clock. The routine of the captain's life never
+varied in any particular, even to seeking the quarter-deck once a day
+for the purpose, apparently, of viewing the results of his life's work.
+Also from his eyrie, the captain, armed with a long telescope, could
+gaze at outward and homeward-bound ships, and so enjoy vicariously the
+sea-life he had abandoned these ten years. Of Bella he took scarcely any
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a dull life, especially as Bella was intellectual, and
+felt that she required food for her active brain. For some odd reason,
+which did not suit with his rough nature, Huxham had given his neglected
+daughter a first-class education, and only within the last two years had
+she returned from a fashionable Hampstead school to live this
+uneventful, unintellectual life on an Essex farm. She possessed a few
+books, and these she read over and over again. Huxham was not actively
+unkind, and gave her plenty of frocks, ribbons, hats, gloves, and
+such-like things, which he presumed were what the ordinary girl wanted.
+But he overlooked the fact that Bella was not an ordinary girl, and that
+she hungered for a more moving life, or, at least, for one which would
+afford her an opportunity of displaying her social abilities. Bella sang
+excellently, and played the piano unusually well; but her uncouth father
+did not care for music, and Mrs. Coppersley scorned it also. The girl
+therefore allowed her talents to lie dormant, and became a silent,
+handsome image of a woman, moving ghost-like through the dreary mansion.
+But her chance meeting with the clever young man aroused all her disused
+capabilities; aroused also her womanly coquetry, and stimulated her into
+exhibiting a really fascinating nature. Warned that her father would
+have no strangers coming to the manor, by his own lips, she kept secret
+the delightful meetings with Lister, and only when the two met at the
+cottage of Miss Ankers could they speak freely. Bella thought that her
+secret attachment was unknown, whereas everyone in the village watched
+the progress of Lister's wooing. It came as has been seen, to Pence's
+jealous ears, and he reported the same to Captain Huxham. Knowing this,
+Bella was more perplexed than ever, that, as time went on, Huxham did
+nothing and said nothing. At one time he had been peremptory, but now he
+appeared inclined to let her act as she chose. And the mere fact that he
+did so, made Bella feel more than ever what an indifferent father she
+possessed.</p>
+
+<p>For quite a week after his interview with the captain, and his futile
+wooing of Bella, the lovesick preacher kept away from the farm and
+attended sedulously to his clerical duties in connection with Little
+Bethel. The truth was, that he felt afraid of Huxham, now knowing what
+use the captain desired to make of him. For this reason also, Silas did
+not report that Bella was engaged to Lister. He feared lest Huxham, in a
+rage at such disregard of his wishes, should slay the young journalist,
+and perhaps might, in his infernal cunning, lay the blame on Silas
+himself. At all events, Pence was wise enough to avoid the danger zone
+of the farm, and although, after reflection, aided by jealousy, he was
+not quite so shocked at the idea of thrusting Lister to a muddy death,
+he yet thought it more judicious to keep out of Huxham's way. The old
+mariner, as Pence knew, possessed a strong will, and might force him to
+be his tool in getting rid of the journalist. Silas was wiser than he
+knew in acting so discreetly, for the sailor-turned farmer was a more
+dangerous man than even he imagined, despite the glimpse he had gained
+of Huxham's possible iniquity.</p>
+
+<p>Things were in this position when Bella, rendered reckless by her
+father's indifference, actually met Cyril Lister in a secluded nook of
+the corn-field, and on the sacred ground of Bleacres itself. Usually the
+lovers met in Miss Ankers' cottage, or in Mrs. Tunks' hut, but on this
+special occasion the weather was so hot that Lister proposed an
+adjournment to the open field. "You will be Ruth, and I Boaz," suggested
+the young man, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>Bella shivered even in the warm air into which she had stepped out of
+the malodorous gloom of Mrs. Tunks' hut. "What an unlucky comparison,"
+she said, leading the way along the bank of the boundary channel.</p>
+
+<p>"Ruth left her people and her home, to go amongst strangers, and earn
+her living as a gleaner."</p>
+
+<p>"But she found a devoted husband in the end," Cyril reminded her.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace and happiness also, I hope," sighed Bella. "I have plenty of
+peace, but very little happiness, save of the vegetable sort."</p>
+
+<p>"When we are married," began Lister, then stopped short, biting his
+moustache&mdash;"we shall be very happy," he ended lamely, seeing that Bella
+looked inquiringly at him.</p>
+
+<p>"That is obvious, since we love one another," she said somewhat tartly,
+for his hesitation annoyed her. "Why did you change the conclusion of
+your sentence?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister threw himself down on the hard-baked ground and under the shadow
+of the tall blue-green corn stalks. "It just struck me that our marriage
+was very far distant," he said gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>Bella sat beside him shoulder to shoulder, and hugged her knees. "Why
+should it be far distant?" she inquired. "If I love you, and you love
+me, no power on earth can keep us apart."</p>
+
+<p>"Your father&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall disobey my father if it be necessary," she informed him
+serenely.</p>
+
+<p>Lister looked at her through half-shut eyes, and noticed the firmness of
+her mouth and the clear, steady gaze of her eyes. "You have a strong
+will, I think, dear," he murmured admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have, Cyril&mdash;as strong as that of my father. When our two wills
+clash"&mdash;she shrugged&mdash;"there may be murder committed."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!"&mdash;the young man looked startled&mdash;"what dreadful things you say."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the truth," she insisted quietly; "why shirk obvious facts? For
+some reason, which I cannot discover, my father detests you."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" Cyril sat up alertly. "And why? He has never seen me, as I
+have kept well out of his way after your warning. But I have had a sly
+glimpse of him, and he seems to be a jolly sort of animal&mdash;I beg your
+pardon for calling him so."</p>
+
+<p>"Man is an animal, and my father is a man," said the girl coolly, "a
+neolithic man, if you like. You are a man also, Cyril&mdash;the kind of firm,
+bold, daring man I like. Yet if you met with my father, I wonder&mdash;&mdash;"
+She paused, and it flashed across her brain that her father and her
+lover would scarcely suit one another. Both were strong-willed and both
+masterful. She wondered if they met, who would come out top-dog; so she
+phrased it in her quick brain. Then abruptly she added, before Cyril
+could speak. "Be quiet for a few minutes. I wish to think."</p>
+
+<p>Lister nodded, and, leaning on one elbow, chewed a corn-stalk and
+watched her in silence. He was a slim, tall, small-boned young man of
+the fairskinned type, with smooth brown hair, and a small, drooping
+brown moustache. His present attitude indicated indolence, and he
+certainly loved to be lazy when a pretty girl was at his elbow. But on
+occasions he could display wonderful activity, and twice had been chosen
+as war correspondent to a London daily, when one or two of the little
+wars on the fringe of the Empire had been in progress. He was not
+particularly good-looking, but the freshness of his five-and-twenty
+years, and the virility of his manner, made women bestow a great deal of
+attention on him. Much more than he deserved, in fact, as, until he met
+with Bella, he had given very little attention to the sex. He had
+flirted in many countries, and with many women; but this was the first
+time he had made genuine love, or had felt the genuine passion. And with
+a country maiden, too, unsophisticated and pathetically innocent. So he
+meditated as he watched her, until, struck by the firm curve of the chin
+and the look of resolve on the tightly-closed lips, he confessed
+privately that if this country maiden were placed in the forefront of
+society, the chances were that she would do more than hold her own.
+There were Joan-of-Arc-like possibilities in that strongly-featured
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"But, upon my word, I am quite afraid," he said aloud, following up his
+train of thought and speaking almost unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what?" asked Bella, turning quickly towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"Of you. Such a determined young woman, as you are. If I make you my
+wife, I know who will be master."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," she said quietly, "in marriage there should be neither a
+master nor a mistress. It's a sublime co-partnership, and the partners
+are equal. One supplies what the other lacks, and two incomplete persons
+are required to make one perfect being."</p>
+
+<p>Lister opened his brown eyes. "Who told you all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one. I have ample time to think, and&mdash;I think."</p>
+
+<p>"You asked me to be quiet, so that you could think," he remarked lazily;
+"may I ask what you have been considering?"</p>
+
+<p>She surveyed him quietly. "You may ask; but I am not sure if I will
+reply."</p>
+
+<p>"See here, my dearest"&mdash;Cyril struggled to his knees, and took her hand
+firmly within his own&mdash;"you are altogether too independent a young
+woman. You always want your own way, I perceive."</p>
+
+<p>"It will never clash with yours," said Bella, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you will always wish to do what I desire, and I will always be
+anxious to act as you indicate. You have your line of life, and I have
+mine, but the two are one."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! At school I learned that two parallel straight lines never met."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Euclid was a bachelor, and ignorant. They meet in marriage, for
+then the two lines blend into one. What's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>She asked this question because Cyril suddenly let go her hands and
+swerved, blinking his eyes rapidly. "A sudden flash almost blinded me.
+Some one is heliographing hereabouts." He stood up, considerably taller
+than the already tall corn, and stared in the direction of the manor,
+shading his eyes with one slim hand. "There's someone on the roof there
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bella pulled the sleeve of his coat, with a stifled cry. "Oh, sit down,
+do sit down," she implored. "It must be my father on his quarter-deck.
+The flash, perhaps, came from his telescope, and if he sees you&mdash;do sit
+down."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril laughed and relapsed into a sitting position. "Dearest, your
+father cannot harm me in any way. I have heard of his quarter-deck. I
+suppose he has it to remind him of the bridge of a steamer when he was
+skipper."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he hasn't seen you," said Bella anxiously, "for then he would
+come straight here, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let him come, and then I shall ask him to let me marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"He will refuse. He wants me to marry Mr. Pence."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" Lister frowned. "That half-baked psalm-singer? What nonsense,
+and what cheek. The idea of that Pence creature aspiring to your hand. I
+wish we could marry at once. But&mdash;&mdash;" He paused, and shook his head.
+Lines appeared on his forehead, and a vexed look in his eyes. "It's
+impossible," he said with a deep breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Why is it impossible?" asked Bella imperiously and very directly.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I am very poor, and just make enough to keep my head above
+water. Besides, there is another reason."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you," he said in low voice, and becoming suddenly pale;
+"no one but the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril." Bella wreathed her arms around his neck. "You have a secret. I
+have noticed several times that you have been worried. Sometimes you
+forget everything when we are together, and your face becomes like that
+of an old man. I must know your secret, so that I can help you."</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid." Lister removed her arms, and grew even paler than he was.
+"The kindest way I can act towards you, Bella, is to go out of your
+life, and never see you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril, how can you when I love you so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you love me if you knew of my troubles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Try me. Try me," she implored, clasping his hand warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"There are some things which can't be told to a woman," he said sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them to a comrade, then. I wish to be your comrade as well as your
+wife. And I love you so that anything you say will only make me love you
+the more. Tell me, Cyril, so that I can prove my love."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my soul, I believe you'd go to hell with me," said Lister
+strongly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I would. I demand, by the love which exists between us, to be told
+this secret that troubles you so greatly."</p>
+
+<p>Lister frowned, and meditated. "I cannot tell you everything&mdash;yet," he
+remarked, after a painful pause, "but I can tell you this much, that
+unless I have one thousand pounds within a week, I can never marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"One thousand pounds. But for what purpose?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must not ask me that, Bella," and his mouth closed firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Trust me all in all, or not at all,'" she quoted.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I trust you not at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" She drew back with a cry of pain like a wounded animal.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he was on his knees, holding her hands to his beating heart.
+"My dearest, if I could I would. But I can't, and I am unable just now
+to give you the reason. Save that I am a journalist, and your devoted
+lover, you know nothing about me. Later I shall tell you my whole story,
+and how I am situated. Then you can marry me or not, as you choose."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall marry you, in any case," she said quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that I am a poor, weak fool, who demands perfection in a
+man. Whatever your sins may be, to me you are the man I have chosen to
+be my husband. We are here, in the corn-fields, and you just now called
+me Ruth. Then, like Ruth, I can say that 'your people will be my people,
+and your God will be my God.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest and best," he kissed her ardently, "what have I done to deserve
+such perfect love? But do not think me so very wicked. It is not myself,
+so much as another. Then you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it a woman?" she asked, drawing back.</p>
+
+<p>Lister caught her to his breast again. "No, you jealous angel, it is not
+a woman. The thousand pounds I must have, to save&mdash;but that is neither
+here nor there. You must think me but a tardy lover not to carry you
+off, forwith, and&mdash;&mdash;" he rose, with Bella in his arms&mdash;"oh, it's
+impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do carry me off," she whispered, clinging to him. "Let us have a Sabine
+wedding. As your wife, you can tell me all your secrets."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella, Bella, I cannot. I am desperately poor."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I, and if I marry you my father will leave all his money to my
+aunt, for he told Mr. Pence so. But what does poverty matter, so long as
+we love one another with all our hearts and souls."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hands desperately. "Do not tempt me. Only one
+thousand pounds stands between us. If I had that I could make you my
+wife within a week. I would steal, or murder, or do anything in the
+world to get the money and remove the barrier. But"&mdash;he pushed her away
+almost brutally, and frowned&mdash;"you are making me talk rubbish. We must
+wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Until when, Cyril?" she asked sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Until Destiny is kinder."</p>
+
+<p>"You will tell me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you nothing. Give me one kiss, and then good-bye for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He bent to touch her lips, but was caught and hurled back. Bella uttered
+a cry of astonishment and dread, for between Cyril and herself stood
+Captain Huxham, purple with anger.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>SUDDEN DEATH</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Y' shell not kiss m' gel, or merry her, or hev anything t' do with m'
+gel," said Captain Huxham, in a thick voice. "Oh, I saw y' fro' th'
+quarter-deck with m' gel. Jus' y' git, or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He made a threatening step forward, while Cyril waited him without
+flinching. What would have happened it is hard to say, for Captain
+Huxham was in a frenzy of rage. But Bella, recovering from her first
+surprise, threw herself between the two men.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," she cried passionately, "I love him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, y' do, do y'?" growled the fireside tyrant, turning fiercely on
+her, "an' arter I told y' es y'd hev t' leave the swab alone. Did I, or
+did I not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but you assigned no reason for asking me to avoid Cyril, so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril!" The captain clenched his huge hand, and his little eyes
+flashed with desperate anger. "Y' call him Cyril, y'&mdash;y'&mdash;slut." He
+raised a mighty fist to strike her, and the blow would have fallen, but
+that Lister suddenly gripped Huxham's shoulder and twitched him
+unexpectedly aside.</p>
+
+<p>"If you blame anyone, sir, you must blame me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll break yer neck, cuss y'," raged the older man.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shrugged his shoulders, indifferently. "You can try, if you like,
+but I don't propose to let you do it. Come, Captain Huxham, let us both
+be reasonable and talk matters over."</p>
+
+<p>"Y're on m' land; git off m' land," shouted Huxham, swinging his fists
+like windmills.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, Cyril, go," implored Bella who was terrified lest there should be a
+hand-to-hand struggle between the two men. That was not to be thought
+of, as if Lister killed the captain, or the captain killed Lister, there
+would be no chance of her becoming the wife of the man she loved.</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite ready to go," said Cyril, keeping a watchful eye on Huxham;
+"but first I should like to hear why you, sir, object to my marrying
+Bella." He spoke quietly and firmly, so that the level tones of his
+voice, and the admirable way in which he kept his temper, had a cooling
+effect on the enraged sailor.</p>
+
+<p>Huxham, born bully as he was, found that it was difficult for him to
+storm at a man so cool, and calm, and self-controlled. "Y' ain't m'
+chice," said he in lower but very sulky tones; "m' gel's goin' t' merry
+th' sky-pilot, Silas Pence."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, she's not," said Lister smoothly; "she will marry me."</p>
+
+<p>"If she does, she don't get no money o' mine."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be no hindrance," said Bella, who was rapidly regaining her
+colour. "I am willing to marry Cyril without a penny."</p>
+
+<p>"Y' shent, then," grumbled her father savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"I have yet to hear your objections, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Yer name's Lister, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The objection was so petty, that Bella quite expected to see Cyril
+laugh. But in place of doing so, he turned white and retreated a step.
+"What&mdash;what do you know of my name?" he asked, with apparent
+nervousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Thet's my business," snapped Huxham, seeing his advantage, "an' I
+shen't tell y' m' business. Y' git off m' land, or&mdash;&mdash;" he suddenly
+lunged forward in the attempt to throw Lister when off his guard.</p>
+
+<p>But the young man was watchful, and, unexpectedly swerving, dexterously
+tripped up his bulky antagonist. Huxham, with a shout, or rather a
+bellow of rage like a wounded bull, sprawled full length amongst the
+corn. Bella pushed her lover away before the captain could regain his
+feet. "Go, go, I can see you to-morrow," she said hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Y' shell never see the swab again," roared Huxham, rising slowly, for
+the fall had shaken him, and he was no longer young. "I'll shut y' in
+yer room, an' feed y' on bread an' water."</p>
+
+<p>"If you dare to say that again, I'll break your head," cried Lister,
+suddenly losing his temper at the insult to the girl he loved.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, will y'?" Huxham passed his tongue over his coarse lips and rubbed
+his big hands slowly. Apparently nothing would have given him greater
+pleasure than to pitch this man who dared him into the boundary channel;
+but he had learned a lesson from his late fall. Lister was active and
+young; the captain was elderly and slow. Therefore, in spite of his
+superior strength&mdash;and Huxham judged that he had that&mdash;it was risky to
+try conclusions of sheer brute force. The captain therefore, being a
+coward at heart, as all bullies are, weakened and retreated. "Y' git off
+m' land," was all that he could find to say, "an' y' git home, Bella. Es
+m' daughter I'll deal with y'."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite ready to go home," said Bella boldly; "but you are not going
+to behave as though I were one of your sailors, father."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do wot I please," growled Huxham, looking white and wicked.</p>
+
+<p>Bella laughed somewhat artificially, for her father did not look
+amiable. "I don't think you will," she said, with feigned carelessness.
+"Cyril, go now, and I'll see you again to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Ef y' come here again," shouted Huxham, boiling over once more, "I'll
+kill y'&mdash;thet I will."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care you aren't killed yourself first," retorted Lister, and was
+surprised at the effect the threat&mdash;an idle one&mdash;had on the ex-sailor.</p>
+
+<p>Huxham turned pale under his bronze, and hastily cast a look over his
+left shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you hate me so?" asked the young man sharply. "I never met you
+before; you have never set eyes on me. Why do you hate me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ef I'd a dog called Lister, I'd shoot it; if I'd a cat called Lister,
+I'd drown it; and if I'd a parrot named Lister, I'd twist its blamed
+neck, same es I would yours, ef I could. Bella, come home;" and casting
+a venomous look on the astonished Cyril, the captain moved away.</p>
+
+<p>It was useless to prolong the unpleasant scene, since Huxham declined to
+explain his objection to the young man's name. And again, as she took a
+few steps to accompany her father, Bella noticed that Cyril winced and
+paled at the coarse taunts of his antagonist. "What is the matter with
+your name?" she asked sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Lister strode forward and caught her in his arms. "I shall explain when
+next we meet," he whispered, and kissed her good-bye, while Huxham
+grated his strong white teeth at the sight. Indeed, so angry was the
+captain, that he might again have assaulted his daughter's lover, but
+Cyril walked rapidly away, and without even a backward glance. Bella
+watched him with a heavy heart: there seemed to be something sinister
+about this mystery of the name. Huxham's inexplicable hatred appeared to
+be foolish; but Lister undoubtedly took it seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Kim home," breathed the captain furiously in her ear; "you an' me hes
+t' hev a talk."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a last talk if you do not behave properly," retorted Bella,
+walking proudly by his side, "even though I have the misfortune to be
+your daughter, that does not give you the right to treat me so rudely."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll treat y' es I blamed well like, y' hussy. Y'll go t' yer room, an'
+eat bread an' drink water t' cool yer hot blood."</p>
+
+<p>Bella laughed derisively. "There is law in this country, father," she
+said quietly. "I shall go to my room certainly, as I have no wish to
+remain with you. But there need be no talk of bread and water."</p>
+
+<p>"Tea an' dry toast, then," grunted Huxham, looking at her savagely with
+his hard blue eyes. "Y' shell be punished, y' slut."</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have fallen in love? Nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"Because y've disobeyed me in seein' this blamed Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"Father"&mdash;Bella stopped directly before the front door of the
+manor-house&mdash;"why do you hate Cyril? What have you against his name?"</p>
+
+<p>The captain quivered, blinked his eyes, cast his usual look over the
+left shoulder, and then scowled. "Shut yer mouth," he growled, "an' go
+t' yer room, cuss y'. This house is mine. I am master here." He rolled
+into the doorway and suddenly turned on the threshold. "I'd ruther see
+y' dead an' buried than merried t' a man of t' name of Lister," he
+snarled; and before Bella could recover from her astonishment, he
+plunged into his den and shut the door with a noisy bang.</p>
+
+<p>The girl passed her hand across her forehead in a bewildered way. The
+mystery was becoming deeper, and she saw no way of solving it. Huxham
+would not explain, and Cyril evaded the subject. Then Bella remembered
+that her lover had promised an explanation when next they met. A
+remembrance of this aided her to possess herself in patience, and she
+tried to put the matter out of her head. But it was impossible for her
+to meet her father at supper and forbear asking questions, so she
+decided to obey him ostensibly, and retire to her bedroom. The next day
+she could have an interview with her lover, and then would learn why the
+captain stormed and Cyril winced when the name was mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>Bella's room was on the first floor, and in the front of the mansion, so
+that she had an extended view of the corn-fields, of Mrs. Tunks' hut
+near the boundary channel, and of the pathway through the wheat leading
+deviously from the front door of Bleacres, across the channel, and to
+the distant village of Marshely. Standing at the window, she could see
+the red-roofed houses gathered round the square tower of the church, and
+the uncultivated fields, green and moist, spreading on all sides. The
+sun was setting, and the landscape was bathed in rosy hues. Everything
+was peaceful and restful outside, but under the manor roof was discord
+and dread. Huxham in his den paced up and down like a caged bear,
+angered exceedingly by his daughter's obstinacy, as he termed it. And
+Bella, in the seclusion of her own room, was trying to quieten her
+fears. Hitherto, she had lived what she termed a vegetable life; but in
+these ominous hints it seemed as though she would very shortly have more
+than enough to occupy her mind.</p>
+
+<p>As the twilight darkened, Bella still continued to sit at the window
+vainly endeavouring to forecast a doubtful future. It was certain that
+Huxham would never agree to her marriage with Lister, and would probably
+insist that she should become the wife of Pence. As Bella had no money,
+and no expectations of any, save by obeying her father, she did not know
+what to do unless the captain ceased to persecute her. He would possibly
+turn her out of doors if she persisted in thwarting his will. In that
+event she would either have to earn her bread as a governess, or would
+be forced to ask Lister to marry her&mdash;a direct question which her
+maidenly pride shrank from putting. Moreover&mdash;as she recollected&mdash;Cyril
+had plainly told her, only a few hours previously, that he could not
+marry her unless he obtained one thousand pounds within the week. It was
+now Tuesday, and it was not easy to raise such a large sum within the
+next few days. Of course, Bella did not know what resources Cyril had to
+draw upon, and it might be that he would gain what he wanted. Then he
+could take her away and marry her: but until the unexpected happened,
+she did not know what to say or how to act. It seemed to her that she
+had come to the cross-roads of life, and that all her future depended
+upon the path she now chose. Yet there was nothing to show her how to
+select the direction.</p>
+
+<p>Her idle eyes caught at the vivid spot of scarlet which came from the
+red coat of the martial scarecrow. There it stood, bound stiffly to a
+tall pole in the midst of the corn&mdash;the sentinel of those prosperous
+acres. Bella wondered that her father, having been a sailor, had not
+arrayed the figure in nautical dress. As it was, the red hue annoyed
+her, for red was the colour of blood, and there lingered in her mind the
+ominous speeches which had been made by her father and Lister, when
+quarrelling. "I'll kill y'!" said the captain; and "Take care," Cyril
+had replied, "that you aren't killed yourself first!" Also there was the
+wild tale of Pence regarding the offer made by Huxham to compass the
+death of Lister. These things flashed into Bella's uncomfortable mind,
+as she looked at the red and ominous figure of the scarecrow. Then, with
+a shudder, she rose and dismissed these evil fancies.</p>
+
+<p>"I am growing morbid," she thought, looking at her anxious face in the
+glass. "To-morrow, when I see Cyril&mdash;oh, come in!" said she aloud.</p>
+
+<p>She broke off to give the invitation, as a sharp knock came to the door,
+and it opened almost immediately to admit the plump figure of Mrs.
+Coppersley, carrying a tray. "Here's some dry toast and a cup of tea,"
+said the widow severely; "your father says you are not to come to
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't come if he wanted me to," retorted Bella, as Mrs.
+Coppersley set down her burden; "and if he thinks to punish me in this
+way, he is very much mistaken. Does he think that I am a child, to
+submit to his tyranny?"</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks that you are a disobedient daughter," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+drily.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you think, aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>The older woman coughed. She thought that her niece was much too pretty,
+and much too independent, but had no ill-feeling toward her, save a
+natural petty feminine jealousy. "I don't know what to think," she said,
+sitting down to gossip. "Of course, your father is impossible, and
+always wants his own way. I don't see why folks should not be allowed to
+choose husbands for themselves. Jabez"&mdash;this was Huxham's Christian
+name&mdash;"objects to my marrying Henry, and to your becoming the wife of
+this Lister person."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak of Cyril in that way," said Bella, with some impatience;
+"he is a gentleman, and the man I love. By the way, aunt, you might have
+brought up the teapot. I dislike anyone else to pour out my tea."</p>
+
+<p>"Your father poured it out himself while I went to the kitchen for the
+toast," snapped Mrs. Coppersley; "he said you were to have only this one
+cup."</p>
+
+<p>"What a petty tyrant he is," sighed Bella, pushing the cup away. "Aunt,
+what do you think of Cyril?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is very handsome," rejoined Mrs. Coppersley cautiously, "but I don't
+know anything about his position or disposition."</p>
+
+<p>"I know he is the dearest fellow in the world, aunt; but, like yourself,
+his position is unknown to me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley rose aghast. "Do you mean to say that you would marry a
+man about whom you know nothing?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"I know sufficient to choose him for my husband," retorted Bella,
+spiritedly; "and I intend to marry him, in spite of my father's
+bullying."</p>
+
+<p>"Then your father will not give you a single penny," cried Mrs.
+Coppersley. "I approve of his doing so. You can't marry this man."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Bella, bitterly. "I thought you agreed that a woman should
+choose her own husband."</p>
+
+<p>"A woman like myself, who knows life, Bella&mdash;not a chit of a girl like
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am twenty years of age," flashed out her niece.</p>
+
+<p>"And have the sense of a babe of three," scoffed Mrs. Coppersley, moving
+towards the door. "Perhaps a night of loneliness will bring you to your
+senses, my dear." She passed through the door and closed it. "I am
+locking you in, by your father's wish," said Mrs. Coppersley from the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>Bella, white with rage at this indignity, sprang to wrench open the
+door, but almost before she reached it, the key clicked in the lock, and
+she knew that she was a prisoner. And the door was so stout and strong
+that there was no chance of a frail girl, such as she was, breaking it
+down. But Bella was in a royal rage, and it was in her mind to scramble
+out of the window and escape.</p>
+
+<p>"But what's the use!" she thought, her eyes filling with impotent tears.
+"I have no money, and no friends, and no other home. What a shame it is
+for me to be at the mercy of my father in this way! I shall have to
+submit to this insult. There is nothing else I can do. But oh, oh!"&mdash;she
+clenched her hands as she again returned to the window and looked out
+into the rapidly darkening night. "I shall insist upon Cyril marrying me
+at once. If he loves me he surely will not stand by idly, when I am
+treated in this way."</p>
+
+<p>Trying to calm herself, she walked up and down the room. The one slice
+of toast and the one cup of tea were on the table, but anger had taken
+her appetite. Inexperienced in the troubles of life, she was like a
+newly-captured bird dashing itself against the wires of its hateful
+cage. To and fro the girl walked, revolving plans of escape from her
+father's tyranny, but in every direction the want of money proved an
+obstacle impossible to surmount. Nothing remained but for her to wait
+patiently until she could see Cyril the next day. Then an exhaustive
+talk might lead to the formation of some plan whereby her future could
+be arranged for.</p>
+
+<p>Faint and far, she heard the clock in Marshely church-tower strike the
+hour of eight, and began to think of retiring to bed. The night was hot,
+so she flung up the window, and permitted the fresh air to circulate in
+the close room. The atmosphere was luminous with starlight, although
+there was no moon visible. A gentle wind bent the rustling stalks of the
+vast corn-fields, and their shimmering green was agitated like the waves
+of the sea. White mists rose ghost-like on the verge of the farm, and
+into them the ocean of grain melted faintly. What with the mists and the
+luminous night and the spreading wheat-fields phantom-like in the
+obscurity, Bella felt as though she were in a world of vague dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Looking down the narrow path, which showed a mere thread in the
+semi-gloom, she beheld a tall, dark figure advancing towards the house.
+It was that of a man, and by the way in which he walked, Bella felt sure
+that he was her lover. Her heart beat wildly. Perhaps Cyril had come,
+or, rather, was coming, to see the captain, and to plead his suit once
+more. Greatly agitated by this unforeseen visit, she leaned out of the
+window as the man came almost directly under it. He was Cyril, she felt
+certain, both from his carriage and from the fact that she vaguely saw
+the grey suit he wore. During the afternoon, Lister had been thus
+dressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril!" she called out cautiously.</p>
+
+<p>The man looked up, and in the faint light she saw that he was indeed
+Cyril, for the eyes of love were keen enough to pierce the obscurity,
+and also her window was no great height from the ground. But the man
+looked up, making no sign of recognition, and stepped into the house
+without knocking at the door. Bella started back in surprise. She knew
+that the front door was always unlocked until ten, when her father
+usually retired to bed. But it seemed strange that Cyril, who had
+quarrelled with the captain that very day, should choose to risk his
+further wrath by entering the house uninvited. Also, it was stranger
+still that Cyril should have looked up without making some sign. He must
+have known who she was, for, failing sight, he had his hearing to
+recognise her voice. It was all very strange.</p>
+
+<p>Bella twisted up her hair, which she had let down, and walked to the
+table to take up the now cold cup of tea. Her throat was parched with
+thirst by reason of her nerves, and she wished to refresh herself so
+that she might think of what was best to be done. Cyril and her father
+had quarrelled, and again she remembered the ominous threats they had
+used to one another. It was inconceivable madness for Lister to to beard
+the captain in his den, knowing what a vile temper the old man
+possessed. It was not at all impossible, or even improbable, but what
+the afternoon quarrel might be renewed, and then heaven only knew what
+might happen.</p>
+
+<p>Drinking the cup of tea hastily, Bella thought over these things and
+resolved, if she could not escape by the door, to scramble out of the
+window. Then she could enter the house, and appear in the captain's den,
+to be present at what would probably be a stormy interview. Already she
+was straining her ears to catch the faintest sound of quarrelling, but
+as yet she could hear nothing. Certainly Cyril had closed the front
+door, for immediately he had entered she had heard him do so. And again,
+the walls of the old mansion were so thick, that it was impossible she
+could hear, when shut up in her bedroom, what was taking place below.</p>
+
+<p>Anxiously she tried the door, but in spite of all her efforts, she
+failed to open it. Wild with alarm as to what might be happening, she
+crossed to her bed, intending to twist the sheets into a rope for
+descent from the window. But as she caught at the linen, she felt a
+drumming in her ears, and sparks seemed to dance before her eyes.
+Apparently the strain on her nerves was making her ill. Also she felt
+unaccountably drowsy, and in spite of every effort to keep awake, she
+sank beside the bed, with the sheets still grasped in her hands. In two
+or three minutes she was fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The window was still open, and a bat swept into the room. He flitted
+round the motionless figure, uttering a thin cry, and again passed out
+into the starry night. The silvery voices of the nightingales in the
+copses round Marshely village came faintly across the meadows mingled
+with the cry of a mouse-hunting screech-owl. Still Bella slept on.</p>
+
+<p>Hour after hour passed, and the night grew darker. The wind died away,
+the corn-fields ceased to rustle, the nightingales to sing. It became
+colder, too, as though the breath of winter was freezing the now moist
+air. The stars yet glittered faintly, and the high-pitched whistle of a
+steamer could be heard from the distant river, but on the whole, the
+earth was silent and weirdly gloomy for summer-time. During the small
+hours there came an ominous hush of expectant dread, which lasted until
+the twittering birds brought in the dawn.</p>
+
+<p>Bella opened her eyes, to find her room radiant with royal red light.
+She felt sick and dizzy, for over her stood Mrs. Coppersley, shaking her
+vigorously by the shoulder. "Bella, Bella! Your father is dead. Murder,
+murder! Oh, come to the study and see the murder!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>A MYSTERIOUS CRIME</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Murder!" The ominous word struck at Bella's heart, in spite of the fact
+that her dazed brain could scarcely grasp its significance. With
+unseeing eyes she stared at her terrified aunt. Mrs. Coppersley, in her
+usual morning dress, simply made, for domestic purposes, fell back from
+the motionless girl, and gripped the table in the centre of the room.
+Her face was white, her figure limp; and almost crazy with alarm, she
+looked twice her age. Nor did the sight of her niece's bewildered gaze
+reassure her. With a quick indrawn breath of fear, she lurched forward
+and again shook the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Bella! Bella! what's come to you? Don't you hear me? Don't you
+understand, Bella? Jabez is dead! your father has been murdered. He's
+lying a corpse in his study. And oh&mdash;oh&mdash;oh!"&mdash;Mrs. Coppersley reeled
+against the table again, and showed signs of violent hysteria.</p>
+
+<p>This spectacle brought back Bella with a rush to the necessities of the
+moment. She sprang to her feet, with every sense alert and ready to be
+used. Seizing the ewer from the wash-stand, she dashed the water over
+the sobbing, terrified woman, then braced herself to consider the
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>Bella's thoughts reverted to the events of the previous night.
+She remembered that Cyril had come to the house and, without a
+sign of recognition had entered. She had not seen him depart,
+because&mdash;because&mdash;oh, yes, she had fallen unaccountably asleep. Slumber
+had overtaken her at the very moment when she was preparing to descend
+from the window, in order to&mdash;to&mdash;to&mdash;&mdash;. Bella uttered a wild cry, and
+the ebbing blood left her face pearly white. The interview between her
+father and Cyril had taken place; she had not been there, and now&mdash;and
+now&mdash;&mdash;. "What do you say?" she asked her aunt, in a hard, unemotional
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley, quite unnerved, and drying her scared face with the
+towel, gasped and stared. "Didn't you hear? What's come to you, Bella?
+Your father has been murdered. I got up this morning as usual, and went
+into the study. He's lying there, covered with blood. Oh, who can have
+killed him?"</p>
+
+<p>"How should I know?" cried Bella, harshly. "I was locked up in this room
+by you, Aunt Rosamund. I fell asleep after&mdash;after&mdash;&mdash;" she stopped,
+aware that she might say something dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>"After what?" asked Mrs. Coppersley, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"After you left&mdash;after I drank the tea. Oh, how could I fall asleep,
+when&mdash;when&mdash;ah!" Bella made a bound for the table, and took up the empty
+cup. Some dregs of tea remained, which she tasted. They had a bitter
+flavour, and a thought flashed into her mind. "You drugged this tea!"
+she cried.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley flapped her plump hands feebly, and gasped again. Never
+a very strong-minded woman, she was now reduced to a markedly idiotic
+condition under the strain of the tragic circumstances. "I drug your
+tea? Save us, Bella, what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I drank this tea and fell asleep," said the girl sharply; "although
+before drinking it, I did not feel at all sleepy. Now I have a
+disagreeable taste in my mouth, and my head aches. There is a queer
+flavour about what is left in the cup. I am sure this tea was drugged.
+By you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord!" cried Mrs. Coppersley indignantly. "Why should I drug your
+tea, Bella? Your father poured it out himself in the study, when I was
+getting you toast in the kitchen. I told you so last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. I remember." Bella passed her hand across her forehead. "My
+father evidently drugged the tea to keep me quiet. And so he has met
+with his death by violence."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella," Mrs. Coppersley screamed, and made for the door, "what do you
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Again the girl felt that she was talking too freely. If Cyril was
+implicated in the crime reported by Mrs. Coppersley, she must save
+Cyril. Or at least, she must hold her peace until she heard from her
+lover what had taken place during that fatal interview. It was just
+possible that Cyril had slain the captain in self-defence, and knowing
+her father's violent character, the girl could scarcely blame the young
+man. She expected that this would happen, and so had been anxious to
+intervene as a peacemaker. But the drugged tea&mdash;she felt certain that it
+had been drugged by her father&mdash;had prevented her doing what she wished.
+Now Huxham was dead, and Lister, whether in self-defence or not, was his
+murderer. The thought was agony. Yet in the midst of the terror
+engendered by her surmise, Bella found herself blaming her father. If he
+had not drugged the tea in order to keep her in her room, this tragedy
+would not have happened. Captain Huxham had paved the way to his own
+death.</p>
+
+<p>But, after all, there might be extenuating circumstances, and perhaps
+Cyril would be able to explain. Meantime she would hold her tongue as to
+having seen him enter the house. But if anyone else had seen him? She
+turned to Mrs. Coppersley. "Where were you last night?" she demanded,
+suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I was with Henry Vand from seven until after ten," said the woman
+meekly, and evidently unaware why the leading question had been put. "I
+left your father in his study, and when I returned I let myself in by
+the back door and went to bed quietly. You know, Jabez always objected
+to my seeing Henry, so I wished to avoid trouble. This morning, when I
+went into the&mdash;ugh! ugh! come and see for yourself!" and Mrs. Coppersley
+gripped Bella's wrist to draw her towards the door&mdash;"It's murder and
+robbery!"</p>
+
+<p>Bella released her wrist with a sudden jerk, but followed the elder
+woman down the stairs. "Robbery! What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and see!" said Mrs. Coppersley hysterically. "We must send for the
+police, I suppose. Oh, my poor nerves! Never, never shall I get over
+this shock, disagreeable as Jabez always was to me. And he wasn't ready
+for heaven, either; though perhaps he did send for Mr. Pence to talk
+religion to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Did my father send for Mr. Pence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He asked me to go to the village with a note for Mr. Pence. I
+could not find Mr. Pence at home, so left the note for him. Then I met
+Henry, and returned, as I told you, after ten o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Did Mr. Pence come to see my father?" asked Bella anxiously. She was
+wondering if the preacher had by any chance seen Cyril enter the house.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know&mdash;I can't say&mdash;oh, dear me, how dreadful it all is!"
+maundered Mrs. Coppersley, opening the door of the study. "Just look for
+yourself, Bella. Your father lies dead in his blood. Oh, how I hope that
+the villain who killed and robbed him will be hanged and drawn and
+quartered! That I do, the wretch, the viper, the beast! I must get some
+rum. I can't stay in this room without some rum. I shall faint, I know I
+shall. What's the time? Seven o'clock. Oh, dear me, so late! I must send
+Tunks for the police. He has to be here to see your father, and oh, dear
+me, he can't see your father unless he goes to heaven, where I'm sure I
+hope Jabez has gone. But one never knows, and he certainly was most
+disagreeable to me. Oh, how ill I am! oh, how very, very bad I feel!"
+and thus lamenting Mrs. Coppersley drifted out of the room, towards the
+back part of the premises, leaving Bella alone with the dead man.</p>
+
+<p>And Captain Huxham was dead, stone dead. His body lay on the floor
+between the desk and the chair he had been sitting on. From the position
+of the corpse, Bella judged that her father had suddenly risen to meet
+the descending weapon, which had pierced his heart. But not being able
+to defend himself, he had fallen dead at his murderer's feet. With a
+cautious remembrance that she must not remove anything until the police
+came, Bella knelt and examined the body carefully, but without laying a
+finger on the same. The clothes over the heart had been pierced by some
+extremely sharp instrument, which had penetrated even through the thick
+pea-jacket worn by the dead man. There was blood on the cloth and on the
+floor, and although ignorant of medical knowledge, Bella judged that
+death must have been almost instantaneous. Otherwise there would have
+been signs of a struggle, as Captain Huxham would not have submitted
+tamely to death. But the casement was fast closed, the furniture was
+quite orderly. At least, Bella judged so when she first looked round,
+for no chairs were upset; but on a second glance she became aware that
+the drawers of the desk were open, that the flexible lid of the desk was
+up, and that the pigeon-holes had been emptied of their papers.
+Also&mdash;and it was this which startled her most&mdash;the green-painted safe
+was unlocked, and through the door, which stood ajar, she could see that
+the papers therein were likewise in disorder. In fact, some of them were
+lying on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Strongly agitated, Bella constructed a theory of the murder, and saw, as
+in a vision&mdash;perhaps wrongfully&mdash;what had taken place. The captain had
+come to his desk for some purpose, but hearing a noise, or perhaps
+suspecting that there was danger, had unexpectedly turned, only to be
+stabbed. When he fell dead, the criminal took the keys of the safe from
+the dead man's pocket, and committed the robbery. Then he examined the
+pigeon-holes of the desk, and afterwards departed&mdash;probably by the front
+door, since the casement was closed. Robbery, undoubtedly, was the
+motive for the commission of the crime.</p>
+
+<p>The girl rose to her feet, drawing a long breath of relief. Cyril
+certainly could not have slain her father, since Cyril would not have
+robbed. The young man assuredly had come to the house&mdash;she could swear
+to that herself&mdash;and if he had quarrelled with Huxham, he might have
+struck him in a moment of anger. But there was no reason to believe that
+Cyril would rob the safe. Hence there must be another person, who had
+committed both the murder and the robbery. Who was that person?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley had stated plainly that Huxham had sent a message to
+Pence, asking him to call. Perhaps he had obeyed the summons, after
+Cyril left, and then had murdered the captain. But there was no motive
+for so timid and good-living a man as the preacher to slay and rob. So
+far as Bella knew, Pence did not want money, and&mdash;since he wished to
+make her his wife&mdash;it was imperative that Huxham should live in order to
+forward his aims. And it was at this point that the girl recalled, with
+a shudder, the fact that Cyril had confessed his need for one thousand
+pounds. Could Lister be the culprit, after all?</p>
+
+<p>"No," cried Bella aloud, and in an agony of shame; "the man I love could
+not be guilty of so vile an act." So she tried to comfort herself, but
+the fact of Cyril's visit to the house still lingered in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly Mrs. Coppersley returned with Tunks at her heels. The handy-man
+of Bleacres was a medium-sized individual, with a swarthy skin and beady
+black eyes peering from under tangled black hair. Lean and lithe, and
+quick in his movements, he betrayed his gypsy blood immediately, to the
+most unobservant, for there was something Oriental in his appearance.
+Just now he looked considerably scared, and came no further than the
+door of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"There's your master," said Mrs. Coppersley, pointing to the dead, "so
+just you go to the village and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,
+you have not touched anything, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella shook her head. "I have not even touched the body," she confessed
+with a shudder. "Tunks, were you about the house last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss," said the man, looking more scared than ever. "I went home
+nigh on seven o'clock, and was with my granny all the evening. I know
+nothing about this, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose you do," rejoined the girl tartly, "but I thought you
+might have seen my father later than Mrs. Coppersley here."</p>
+
+<p>"I left the house last night at the same time as you, ma'am," said
+Tunks, addressing himself to the housekeeper. "You locked the back door
+after me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," acknowledged Mrs. Coppersley promptly, "so you did. That would be
+at seven, as I came up and saw you, Bella, a few minutes before, with
+the tea and toast. You didn't come back, Tunks?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't," retorted the gypsy sullenly. "You went on to Marshely,
+and I got back home. I never came near this house again until this
+morning. You can ask my granny if I wasn't in bed early last night."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you see your master last?" questioned Bella.</p>
+
+<p>Tunks removed his dingy cap to scratch his untidy locks. "It would be
+about six, just before I had my tea. He wanted to reduce my wages, too,
+and I said I'd give him notice if he did. But I suppose," growled Tunks,
+with his eyes on the remains, "it's notice in any case now."</p>
+
+<p>"Never you mind bothering about yourself," cried Mrs. Coppersley
+sharply. "Go to Marshely, and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,"
+she moved to the door, "let us leave the room and lock the door. Nothing
+must be touched until the truth is known."</p>
+
+<p>"Will the truth ever be known?" asked the girl drearily, as she went
+into the hall, and watched her aunt lock the door of the death-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," retorted the elder woman, "one person cannot murder another
+person without being seen."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know so much about that, Aunt Rosamund. You and Tunks were
+away, and I was locked in my room, so anyone could enter, and&mdash;&mdash;" she
+glanced towards the study door and shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"Did <i>you</i> see anyone?" asked Mrs. Coppersley quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Bella started. "No," she replied, with unnecessary loudness; "how could
+I see anyone when I was drugged?"</p>
+
+<p>"Drugged, miss?" cried Tunks, pricking up his ears.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley turned on the handy-man, and stamped. "How dare you
+linger here?" she cried. "You should be half way to the village by this
+time. Miss Bella was having wakeful nights, and her father gave her a
+sleeping draught. Off with you," and she drove Tunks out of the front
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you tell such a lie?" asked Bella when the man was hurrying
+down the path, eager, like all his tribe, to carry bad news.</p>
+
+<p>"A lie! a lie!" Mrs. Coppersley placed her arms akimbo and looked
+defiant. "Why do you call it a lie? You <i>did</i> complain of sleepless
+nights, and you did say that the tea, poured out by Jabez, was drugged."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true enough," admitted the girl quietly, "but I merely slept
+badly because of the hot weather, and never asked my father for a
+sleeping&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" interrupted Mrs. Coppersley, tossing her head. "What does it
+matter. I can't even say if the tea was drugged."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll learn that soon," replied Bella drily, "for I have locked up the
+cup containing the dregs of tea. My father no doubt feared lest I should
+run away with Cyril, and so drugged it."</p>
+
+<p>"The least said the soonest mended, Bella. Say nothing of the drugging
+at the inquest, as there is no need to blacken your father's character."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see that anything I could say would blacken my father's
+character, Aunt Rosamund. Of course, he had no business to drug me, but
+if I am asked at the inquest I shall tell the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"And so your connection with that Lister person will come out."</p>
+
+<p>Bella turned on her aunt in a fury. "What do I care?" she cried,
+stamping. "I have a right to marry him if I choose, and I don't care if
+all the world knows how I love him. In fact, the whole world soon will
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of washing her hands of the
+entire affair, "say what you like; but don't blame me if you find
+yourself in an unpleasant position."</p>
+
+<p>Bella, who was ascending the stairs, turned to answer this last remark
+promptly. "Why should I find myself in an unpleasant position?" she
+demanded. "Do you accuse me of murdering father?"</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid! God forbid!" cried Mrs. Coppersley piously and with a
+shudder, "but you cannot deny that you were alone in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"And locked in my bedroom, as you can testify."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll say that willingly. But you'd better wash out that cup of
+dregs, and say nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>"I have already mentioned the matter in Tunks' hearing, so I must
+explain further if necessary. But I'll say why I believe my father acted
+so. Your story of sleepless nights will not do for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll blacken the memory of the dead," groaned Mrs. Coppersley
+dismally. "Ah, you never loved your poor father."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" asked Bella suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"In a way I did, and in a way I didn't," said her aunt evasively. "Jabez
+never was the brother he should have been to me. But a daughter's nearer
+than a sister, and you should have loved him to distraction."</p>
+
+<p>"In spite of the way he behaved to me."</p>
+
+<p>"He had to keep a firm hand over your high spirit."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Rosamund," burst out Bella at white heat. "Why do you talk in this
+silly way? You know that both to you and to me my father acted like a
+cruel tyrant, and that while he was alive we could do nothing to please
+him. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but you know what I say is
+true."</p>
+
+<p>"We are none of us perfect," snuffled Mrs. Coppersley, wiping her eyes,
+"and I daresay Jabez was worse than many others. But I was a good sister
+to him, in spite of his horrid ways. I'm sure my life's been spent in
+looking after other people: first my mother, then my husband, and
+afterwards Jabez. Now I'll marry Henry Vand, and be happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk of happiness with that"&mdash;Bella pointed downward to the
+study&mdash;"in the house. Go and make yourself tidy, aunt, and I'll do the
+same. We have a very trying day before us."</p>
+
+<p>"So like Jabez, so very like Jabez," wailed Mrs. Coppersley, while Bella
+fled up the stairs. "He always brought trouble on everyone. Even as a
+little boy, he behaved like the pirate he was. Oh, dear me, how ill I
+feel. Bella! Bella! come down and see me faint. Bella! Bella!"</p>
+
+<p>But the girl did not answer, as she knew that Mrs. Coppersley only
+wished to gossip. Going to her own room, she again examined the cup with
+the dregs, which she had not locked up, in spite of her saying so to
+Mrs. Coppersley. Undoubtedly, the tea tasted bitter, and she resolved to
+have it analysed so as to prove to herself the fact of the drugging. She
+knew perfectly well that her father had attended to the tea himself,
+evidently to render her helpless in case she meditated flight with
+Cyril. And in dong so, he had indirectly brought about his own death,
+for had she been awake she could have descended from the window to be
+present at the interview which had ended so fatally. And at this
+point&mdash;while she was locking up the cup in a convenient cupboard&mdash;Bella
+became aware that she was thinking as though her lover were actually
+guilty of the deed.</p>
+
+<p>Of course he could not be, she decided desperately, even though things
+looked black against him. Lister, honest and frank, would not murder an
+old man in so treacherous a manner, however he might be goaded into
+doing so. And yet she had assuredly seen him enter the house. If she
+could only have seen him depart; but the drug had prevented that welcome
+sight. Pence might have struck the blow, but Pence had no reason to do
+so, and in fact had every inducement to keep Huxham alive. Bella could
+not read the riddle of the murder. All she knew was that it would be
+necessary for her to hold her tongue about Lister's unexpected visit to
+the Solitary Farm.</p>
+
+<p>"But I shall never be able to marry him after this," she wailed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE INQUEST</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tunks lost no time in delivering his gruesome message and in spreading
+the news of the death. While the village policeman telegraphed to his
+superior officer at Pierside, the handy-man of the late Captain Huxham
+adopted the public-house as a kind of St. Paul's Cross, whence to
+promulgate the grim intelligence. Here he passed a happy and exciting
+hour detailing all that had happened, to an awe-stricken crowd, members
+of which supplied him with free drinks. The marsh-folk were a dull,
+peaceful, law-abiding people, and it was rarely that crimes were
+committed in the district. Hence the news of the murder caused a
+tremendous sensation.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Jabez Huxham was well known, and his eccentricity in the matter
+of planting Bleacres with yearly corn had been much commented upon. In
+Napoleonic times the fertile marsh farms had been golden with grain, but
+of late years, owing to Russian and American competition, little had
+been sown. Huxham, as the rustics argued, could not have got even
+moderate prices for its crops, so it puzzled one and all why he
+persisted in his unprofitable venture. But there would be no more sowing
+at Bleacres now, for the captain himself was about to be put under the
+earth. "And a grand funeral he'll have," said the rustics, morbidly
+alive to the importance of the grim event. For thirty years no crime of
+this magnitude had been committed in the neighbourhood, and the violent
+death of Huxham provided these bovine creatures with a new thrill.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the policeman, Dutton by name, had proceeded to Bleacres,
+followed&mdash;when the news became more widely known&mdash;by a large and curious
+throng. For that day and for the following days, until Huxham's body was
+buried, Bleacres could no longer be called the solitary farm, in one
+sense of the word. But the inherent respect of the agriculturist for
+growing crops kept the individual members of the crowd, male and female,
+to the narrow path which led from the boundary channel to the front door
+of the Manor-house. When Inspector Inglis arrived with three or four
+policemen from Pierside, he excluded the public from the grounds, but
+the curious still hovered in the distance&mdash;beyond Jordan as it
+were&mdash;with inquisitive eyes fastened on the quaint old mansion. To them,
+one and all, it now assumed portentous proportions as the abode of
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>Inspector Inglis was a very quiet man, who said little, but who kept his
+eyes on the alert. He inspected the body of the dead man, and then sent
+for a doctor, who delivered his report in due course. The study was
+examined thoroughly, and the entire house was searched from cellar to
+garret. Then Bella and her aunt were questioned, and Tunks was also put
+in the witness box. But in spite of all official curiosity, backed by
+official power on the part of Inglis, he convened the jury of the
+inquest, as ignorant of the truth as when he had begun his search. He
+certainly found a blood-stained dagger behind the massive mahogany desk,
+with which undoubtedly the crime had been committed; but he could
+discover no trace of the assassin, and three or four days later, when
+the inquest took place in the Manor-house, the mystery of the murder was
+still unsolved. Nor, on the evidence procurable, did there seem to be
+any chance of solution.</p>
+
+<p>During the early part of the inquiry, Mrs. Coppersley had told Inglis
+how her late brother had sent her with a note to Marshely asking Silas
+Pence to call. When questioned, the preacher, not without agitation and
+dismay, stated that he had been absent from his lodgings until eleven
+o'clock on the fatal evening, and had not obeyed the summons of the
+deceased. Certainly on his return he had found and read the note asking
+him to call, but as the hour was late, he had deferred the visit until
+the next morning. Then, of course, the news of the murder had been made
+public, and Pence had said nothing until questioned by the Inspector.
+But he was quite frank and open in his replies, and Inglis was satisfied
+that the young preacher knew nothing about the matter.</p>
+
+<p>From the moment when informed by Mrs. Coppersley of the crime until the
+inquest, Bella suffered greatly. At her request, Dr. Ward&mdash;the medical
+man who had reported on the time and manner of Huxham's death&mdash;had
+examined the dregs of the tea-cup. Beyond doubt, as he discovered,
+laudanum had been poured into the tea, and so largely, that it was
+little wonder she had slept so soundly. Even had there been a struggle,
+as Ward assured her, she would not have heard the commotion. And, as the
+state of the study showed that the murderer had taken his victim
+unawares, it was little to be wondered at that Bella woke in ignorance
+of what had taken place during the night. She was thankful to have the
+testimony of the young physician as to the drugging, since thereby she
+was entirely exonerated from complicity in the crime. For, dreadful as
+it may seem, there were those evil-seekers who hinted that Huxham's
+daughter, having been alone in the house, must be aware of the truth, if
+not actually guilty herself. But Bella knew that the evidence of Dr.
+Ward and Mrs. Coppersley as to the drugging and the locking of the
+bedroom door would clear her character.</p>
+
+<p>It was therefore not on this account that she suffered, but because of
+the inexplicable absence of Cyril Lister. Since she had seen him enter
+the house shortly after eight o'clock on the fatal night she had not set
+eyes on him, nor had she received any communication. At a time when she
+needed him so greatly, it seemed strange that her lover should be
+absent, since the fact of the murder, now being known all over England,
+it appeared incredible that he alone should be ignorant. In spite of her
+desire to believe him guiltless, this conduct looked decidedly
+suspicious. If nothing serious had taken place between Cyril and her
+father on the night in question, why had Lister gone away? At least she
+surmised that he had gone away, as he did not appear to be in the
+village, and she heard no mention of his name from the many people who
+haunted the house. Try as she might, Bella, dearly as she loved the
+young man, could not rid herself of the frightful belief that he had
+struck the blow. Considering the circumstances, which she alone knew
+fully, he had every reason to commit the crime. Yet in the face of the
+strongest circumstantial evidence, Bella could not bring herself to
+credit Cyril's guilt. Day after day, like sister Anne, she climbed to
+the quarter-deck to see if he was coming. But the day of the inquest
+came in due course, and even then he had not put in an appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner was a grim, snappy old doctor, who set forth the object of
+the inquest gruffly and tersely. The jury under his direction inspected
+the body and then gathered in the large and stately dining-room of the
+Manor-house to consider the evidence. Inspector Inglis confessed that he
+had few witnesses, and that there was nothing in the evidence likely to
+lead to the arrest of the murderer. Robbery, said the officer, was
+undoubtedly the cause of the crime, since the desk had been rifled, and
+the safe had been forced open. Mrs. Coppersley, the sister of the
+deceased, he went on to say, could state that she knew her brother kept
+at least one hundred pounds in gold in the safe. This was missing, so
+probably&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We'll take things in order, if you please," snapped the gruff Coroner
+at this point of the Inspector's speech. "Call your witnesses."</p>
+
+<p>Inglis was only too willing, and Dr. Ward gave his evidence, which
+proved that in his opinion, after an examination of the body, the
+deceased had been stabbed to the heart between the hours of eight and
+eleven on the night in question. Witness could not be more precise, he
+said, a confession which brought a grunt from the Coroner. The old
+doctor lifted his eye-brows to intimate that the young doctor did not
+know his business over well, else he would have been more explicit. But
+Dr. Ward avoided an argument by hurriedly stating that, according to his
+opinion&mdash;another grunt from the snappy Coroner&mdash;the wound had been
+inflicted with the dagger found behind the mahogany desk.</p>
+
+<p>This remark led to the production of the dagger, a foot-long steel,
+broad towards the hilt and tapering to a sharp point. This was set in a
+handle of jet-black wood, carved into the semblance of an ugly negro.
+And the odd part about the blade was that the middle portion of the
+steel was perforated with queer letters of the cuneiform type, and
+filled in with copper. The Coroner frowned when he examined this strange
+weapon, and he looked inquiringly at Mrs. Coppersley.</p>
+
+<p>"Does this belong to your late brother?" he asked jerkily.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley looked at the knife. "Jabez, being a sailor, had all
+manner of queer things," she said hesitatingly, "but I never set my eyes
+on that. He wasn't one to show what he had, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Was your brother ever in Africa on the West Coast?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was all over the world, but I can't rightly say where, sir. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," the gruff Coroner shook the weapon, "is an African sacrificial
+knife in use on the West Coast. From the way in which the copper is
+welded into the steel, I fancy some Nigerian tribe possessed it. The
+members of tribes thereabouts are clever metal-workers. The handle and
+the lettering also remind me of something," mused the doctor, "for I was
+a long time out in Senegal and Sierra Leone and saw&mdash;and saw&mdash;but that's
+no matter. How comes an African sacrificial knife here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know, sir," said Mrs. Coppersley promptly. "Jabez, as
+I say, had all manner of queer things which he didn't show me."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't say if this knife belonged to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I can't. The murderer may have brought it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not here to give opinions," growled the doctor, throwing the
+ugly-looking weapon on the table. "Are you sure," he added to Ward,
+"that the wound was made with this knife?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'm sure," replied the young practitioner, tartly, for the
+Coroner's attitude annoyed him. "The weapon is sharp pointed and fits
+the wound. Also the deceased wore a thick pea-jacket and only such a
+knife could have penetrated the cloth."</p>
+
+<p>"If the blow were struck with sufficient force," snapped the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"It was," rejoined the witness. "Have you any more questions to ask me?"</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner nodded, and Ward gave surgical details to prove that death
+must have taken place almost instantaneously, since Huxham had been
+stabbed to the heart. "Apparently deceased heard a noise, and rose
+suddenly from his chair at the desk to face round in self-defence. But
+the assassin was too quick for him, and struck the knife to deceased's
+heart with great force as is apparent from&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's all supposition," contradicted the Coroner rudely. "Stick to
+facts."</p>
+
+<p>Boiling with rage, the young doctor confined himself forthwith to a bald
+statement of what he had discovered and then was curtly dismissed to
+give place to Mrs. Coppersley.</p>
+
+<p>That lady was voluble and sharp-tongued, so that the Coroner quite met
+with his match, much to the delight of Dr. Ward, smarting under much
+discourtesy. Mrs. Coppersley deposed that she had left the house at
+seven o'clock, by the back door, with a note for Mr. Silas Pence from
+her brother, asking him to call at the Manor-house. She left the note at
+Mr. Pence's lodgings and then went on to the grocery shop to make some
+purchases and to see Mrs. Vand and her son Henry. There she remained
+until a quarter to ten o'clock and afterwards returned to the
+Manor-house. Mr. Vand saw her as far as the boundary channel and then
+went home.</p>
+
+<p>"What time was that?" asked the Coroner, making notes.</p>
+
+<p>"Just at ten," replied witness, flushing at the smile on the faces of
+those who knew of the love romance. "The clock struck ten while I was
+speaking to Henry&mdash;I mean to Mr. Vand&mdash;and not knowing that it was so
+late I feared lest my brother should be angry. Jabez was always very
+particular as to the house being locked up, so I thought he might shut
+me out. I went in by the back door, having the key, and retired at once
+to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you not see your brother?" asked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. Knowing Jabez's violent temper I had no wish to see him, lest
+there should be trouble. I went on tip-toe to bed, after locking the
+back door."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear Mr. Huxham moving about," questioned a juryman, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Tatters, I didn't. Everything was quiet as I passed the door of
+the study, and it was closed."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see a light in the window of the study when at the boundary
+channel with Mr. Vand?" asked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I looked too," said the witness, "for if Jabez had been up, there
+would have been trouble owing to my being late. But there was no light
+in the window, so I fancied Jabez might have gone to bed and have locked
+me out. But he hadn't guessed I was absent, and so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see a light under the study door when passing through the
+hall?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, and that made me believe that Jabez had gone to bed. But I didn't
+think of looking into the study; if I had," witness shuddered, "oh dear
+me, how very dreadful it all is. Well, then I went to bed, and next
+morning came down early to clean the study. When I entered I saw my
+brother dead in his gore, whereupon I ran up stairs and got Bella to
+come down. Then we sent for the police, and that's all I know."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner looked towards Ward. "This evidence takes an hour off your
+time of death, doctor," he said sourly. "You say that the man was
+murdered after eight and before eleven. Well then, as this witness
+reached the house just after ten and saw no light in the study the
+deceased must have been dead when she passed through the hall on her way
+to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," groaned Mrs. Coppersley, with her handkerchief to her lips. "How
+dreadful if I'd looked in to see Jabez weltering in his gore."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pity you didn't," rejoined the Coroner sharply, "for then you
+could have given the alarm and the assassin might have been arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the assassin might have
+been in the house at the moment, with only two women, mind, and one of
+them drugged. I should have been killed myself had I given the alarm, so
+I'm glad I didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Drugged! Drugged! What do you mean by drugged?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Bella," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "I've told all I'm going to
+tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Not all," said the Coroner, "was the front door locked?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't notice at the time, being anxious to escape Jabez and get to
+bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you notice if it was locked in the morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, when I opened it for Tunks to go for the police."</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>was</i> locked," said Bella, rising at this juncture, "but Tunks
+opened it while I was talking with my aunt in the hall."</p>
+
+<p>"You can give your evidence when I ask you," snapped the Coroner rudely.
+"Humph! So the front door was locked and the back door also. How did the
+assassin escape? He couldn't have gone by the front door after
+committing the crime, since the key was in the inside, and you locked
+the back door coming and going, Mrs. Coppersley."</p>
+
+<p>"The murdering beast," said the witness melodramatically, "might have
+got out of the study window."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he must be a very small man," retorted the Coroner, "for only a
+small man could scramble through the window. I examined it an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Please yourself," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of indifference,
+"all I know is, that I'm glad I didn't discover Jabez in his gore on
+that night and at that hour. If I had, you'd be holding an inquest on
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly. If the assassin was in the study when you passed through the
+hall, Mrs. Coppersley."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh," shivered the witness, "and that's just where he was, depend upon
+it, sir, getting through the window, when he'd dropped the knife behind
+the desk. Oh, what an escape I've had," wept Mrs. Coppersley.</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, don't bellow," said the Coroner, testily, "get down and
+let the witness, Luke Tunks, be called."</p>
+
+<p>The Bleacres handy-man had very little to say, but gave his evidence in
+a straightforward manner. He had left the house with Mrs. Coppersley at
+seven and had gone straight home to bed, as he was tired. His
+grandmother could depose to the fact that he was in bed until the
+morning. Then he came as usual to the Manor-house, and found that his
+master was dead. He admitted that he had quarrelled with his master over
+a possible curtailment of wages, and they had not parted in a very
+friendly spirit. "But you can't say as I did for him," ended the witness
+defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>"No one suggests such a thing," snapped the Coroner. "Had you any reason
+to believe that deceased expected to be murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>Tunks scratched his head, "I have and I haven't," he said at length;
+"master did seem afraid of someone, as he was always looking over his
+shoulder. He said that he planted the corn so that there should be only
+one path up to the house. Then he rigged up that out-look round the
+chimney there," witness jerked his head towards the ceiling, "and he's
+got a search-light there also, which he turned on at times."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner nodded. The late Captain's search-light was well-known, but
+it was only put down as another freak on the part of a freakish man. But
+the remark of the witness about the corn was new. "Do you mean to say
+that the deceased planted the corn as a protection against some one
+coming on him unawares?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," said Tunks, sturdily, "corn don't pay, and there was always
+only one pathway left. Now my idea is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We don't want to hear your ideas," said the Coroner; "get down. Silas
+Pence."</p>
+
+<p>The young preacher's examination occupied only a few minutes. He said
+that he was absent from his lodgings until eleven, and then returned to
+find the note. As it was late he did not call, and went to bed, as his
+landlady could prove. He had no reason to believe that Captain Huxham
+expected to be murdered, and considered that the old sailor was more
+than capable of looking after himself. Witness was very friendly with
+the Captain and wished to marry Miss Huxham, an arrangement to which the
+Captain was quite agreeable. Witness presumed that Huxham wished to see
+him about the projected marriage when he wrote the note asking witness
+to call. Next morning when about to pay the visit, witness heard of the
+murder.</p>
+
+<p>Bella was the final witness, and stepped before the Coroner and the
+inquisitive jurymen, looking pale, but composed. She gave her evidence
+carefully, as she made up her mind to say nothing about Cyril's visit on
+the fatal night. Also she was grateful that in his statement Pence had
+said nothing of Lister's rivalry. She noted also that Pence had kept
+quiet about the offer of her hand as a reward for the death of Cyril
+made by her father to the preacher. More than ever she believed this
+wild declaration to be due to imagination on the young man's part.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you to say about this matter, Miss Huxham?" asked the coroner
+in his usual gruff way.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all," he echoed, and the jurymen looked at one another.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I had quarrelled with my father on the afternoon of the night when
+he met with his terrible death. He refused to let me come to supper, so
+I retired to my room. Mrs. Coppersley brought me up tea and toast and
+then locked me in my room."</p>
+
+<p>"By her father's orders," cried Mrs. Coppersley, rising.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence," said the Coroner scowling; "but surely, Miss Huxham, you
+could have heard if&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard nothing," interrupted Bella, straightening her slim figure,
+"for I was drugged."</p>
+
+<p>"H'm!" The Coroner looked at her shrewdly. "Mrs. Coppersley said
+something of that. Why were you drugged? Who drugged you?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father drugged the cup of tea, brought by my aunt, with laudanum,"
+said Bella bravely, determined to speak out, yet conscious of the
+curious faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he did," cried Mrs. Coppersley. "I brought the tea to the study
+and then went to get the toast. Jabez had poured out the tea when I came
+back, and giving me a cup told me to take it to Bella. I never knew
+myself that it was drugged."</p>
+
+<p>"But I can state that it was," said Dr. Ward, rising. "Miss Huxham gave
+me the dregs to examine. I can prove&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner intervened testily. "All this is very much out of order," he
+said. "Let us proceed with caution. Miss Huxham, tell your story, and
+then we can hear Dr. Ward and Mrs. Coppersley."</p>
+
+<p>"I have scarcely any story to tell," said Bella, still apprehensive, yet
+still brave and discreet. "I am engaged to be married, but my father did
+not approve of my choice. He interrupted my meeting with my future
+husband&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he, if I may ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister. He is a gentleman who has been stopping here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I know;" and the Coroner did know, for his wife was a great
+gossip and collected all the scandal for miles around. In fact he had
+heard something of the philandering of Lister after Miss Huxham. "Go
+on."</p>
+
+<p>Bella proceeded. "My father would not allow me to come to supper, and
+sent up my aunt with tea and toast to lock me in my room. She did so. I
+did not eat the toast, but I drank the tea, and then fell asleep half on
+the floor and half on my bed. My aunt awoke me in the morning with the
+news of what had happened."</p>
+
+<p>"And you heard nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>"How could she," growled Ward, "when she was drugged."</p>
+
+<p>"Silence there," said the Coroner sharply. "What time did you fall under
+the influence of the opiate, Miss Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shortly after eight, so far as I can recollect."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know that the tea was drugged?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I had I should not have drunk it," retorted the witness. "It was
+only next morning that I guessed the truth, and then I kept the dregs
+for Dr. Ward to examine. He says&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He can give his evidence himself," interrupted the Coroner. "Why did
+your father drug you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, sir, unless he feared lest I should elope with Mr.
+Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you any such intention?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I had not."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner looked at her earnestly and pinched his lip, apparently
+nonplussed. The whole affair struck him as strange, and he
+cross-examined the girl carefully. When he examined Mrs. Coppersley and
+Ward, both of them bore out the improbable story&mdash;in the Coroner's
+opinion&mdash;told by the girl. Finally the old doctor accepted the testimony
+and dismissed the witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't compliment you on the conduct of this case, Inspector Inglis,"
+he said, when informed that no more witnesses were forthcoming. "You
+have collected nothing likely to solve the mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot manufacture evidence, sir," said Inglis stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner grunted and made an acid speech in which he pointed out that
+the evidence laid before him and the jury amounted to absolutely
+nothing. Only one verdict could be brought in&mdash;"Wilful murder against
+some person or persons unknown." This was accordingly done, and the
+assembly dispersed. Only the Coroner remained to state sourly to Inglis
+that he considered the police in general to be fools, and the Pierside
+inspector to be the king of them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>CYRIL AND BELLA</h3>
+
+
+<p>Captain Huxham's death having been legally relegated to the list of
+undiscovered crimes, his gnarled old body was committed to a damp grave
+in Marshely cemetery. There was a vast concourse of people from far and
+near to assist at the funeral of one who had been so mysteriously
+murdered. So greatly had the strangeness of the deed appealed to the
+imagination of metropolitan readers, that many London reporters came
+down to see the last of the case, and if possible to begin it again by
+making enquiries. But ask as they might, they could learn nothing. They
+were therefore compelled to content themselves with picturesque
+descriptions of the ancient Manor-house amidst its corn-fields, and with
+inaccurately lurid accounts of the late owner's career as a sailor.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley went to the funeral as chief mourner, as Bella
+resolutely declined to do so. She was sorry for her tyrannical father's
+violent death, but being very human, found it difficult to forgive him
+for the way in which he had behaved. He had bullied her and shut her in
+her room, and finally had drugged her by stealth. But as it turned out
+it was just as well that he had done so, as thereby she was able to
+prove that she knew nothing of the crime, even though she was alone in
+the house. Then again, there was the other side of the question to
+take&mdash;that if Huxham had not administered the laudanum he might have
+been alive and well at the moment. It seemed to Bella, overstrung with
+nerves, that some higher powers had dealt out a punishment to the
+Captain for crimes committed but undiscovered. Certainly she agreed with
+Tunks that her father had some dark secret in his mind, which led him to
+isolate himself in the midst of the corn.</p>
+
+<p>However, he was dead and buried, so all debts were paid, and Bella
+sitting in the vast drawing-room of the Manor-house with a
+church-service open on her lap, tried hard to forget Huxham's bad traits
+of character, and to remember his good ones. This was somewhat
+difficult, as the captain had few engaging qualities. But Bella recalled
+that he had been kind in a gruff sort of way and had never grudged her
+the best of food and the gaudiest of frocks. Huxham had been one of
+those so-called good people, who are amiable so long as everything is
+done according to their liking; but who display the tyrant when crossed.
+But on the whole he might have been worse, and after all, as she
+anxiously kept in mind, he was her father.</p>
+
+<p>The room wherein she sat, with the blinds down, was opposite the study
+and was a large apartment sparsely furnished. Huxham did not care for a
+drawing-room, as he preferred his den, but Mrs. Coppersley had bothered
+him incessantly until he provided her with furniture for the place. She
+selected the furniture herself, and what with her brother's stinginess
+and her own bad taste, the result was woefully bad. The room, spacious,
+lofty and stately, was decorated as beautifully as was the study, and
+required the most exquisite furniture to enhance its faded splendours.
+But Mrs. Coppersley had bought a magenta-hued sofa and many
+magenta-covered chairs, together with a cheap sideboard, so sticky as to
+look like a fly catcher, and two arm chairs of emerald green. The inlaid
+floor she had covered with lineoleum, diapered white and black, and her
+artistic taste had led her to paint the mellow oak panelling with pink
+Aspinall's enamel. As the curtains of the many windows were yellow, and
+the blinds blue, the effect was disastrous, and suggestive of a
+paint-box. An artist would have died of the confusion of tints, and the
+barbarism of destroying the oak panels, but Mrs. Coppersley was more
+than satisfied with the result, and when seated in the drawing-room on
+Sunday felt herself to be quite the lady.</p>
+
+<p>At the present moment Bella's nerves were less troubled than usual; the
+blinds were down in sympathy with the funeral, and a dim twilight
+pervaded the room, hiding more or less the atrocious grandeur. She sat
+in one of the green arm-chairs near the fire-place, reading the burial
+service and listening to the solemn tolling of the bell. But after a
+time she dropped the book on her lap and leaned back to close her eyes
+and reflect on her grave position. If only she had not seen Cyril on
+that night she could have married in ignorance that he had anything to
+do with the death of her father; but, enlightened as she was, it
+appeared impossible that she should become his wife. She had said
+nothing of his visit at the inquest, but the hideous doubt remained in
+her mind, although she strove to banish it by assuring herself over and
+over again that Lister could have had no hand in the matter. But how
+could she prove his innocence?</p>
+
+<p>She was alone in that sinister house, and although it was bright
+sunshine out of doors she felt scared. The cool dim room, the dreary
+booming of the distant bell, the impressive words of the burial service
+which she had just been reading&mdash;all these things united in a weird
+appeal to her psychic instincts, to those mysterious senses which deal
+with the unseen. In the arm-chair she sat with closed eyes strung up to
+breaking-point, and felt that if the psychic influence which seemed to
+control her became more insistent, she would scream. A thought flashed
+across her mind that her father was walking that dim, chill apartment,
+trying to communicate the truth; and in her nervous excitement she could
+almost have sworn that she heard the heavy tread of his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, when she really did hear a light footstep in the entrance hall
+without, she uttered a piercing scream, and staggered to her feet. The
+hall door, she knew, had been left open since the coffin had been
+carried down the path between the standing corn, so that anyone could
+enter. Perhaps the assassin had come back to review the scene of his
+crime, or to commit another.</p>
+
+<p>White-faced and panic-stricken by the power of her own emotions
+engendered by the circumstances, she clung to the back of the arm-chair,
+straining her eyes towards the door. At the sound of her thin
+high-pitched scream the footsteps had ceased for a moment, as though the
+intruder was listening. Now they recommenced and drew near the outside
+of the door. Unable to utter a sound Bella stared through the dim lights
+and saw the door open cautiously. A face looked in and the eyes set in
+the face blinked in the semi-gloom. Then the door opened widely and
+Cyril Lister stepped in.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my darling!" With a sudden rush of relief Bella ran rapidly towards
+the door to throw herself into her lover's arms. Then a gruesome memory
+of that sinister visit made her falter and pause half way. Cyril closed
+the door and stood where he was, holding out his hungry arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest," he said softly. "Oh, my poor girl."</p>
+
+<p>But Bella did not move; she stood looking at him as though fascinated.
+He wore a white drill suit made, tropic-fashion, high at the neck, with
+white shoes, and a panama hat. His white-clothed figure accentuated the
+twilight of the room, which now looked brown and grim. Considering that
+her father was dead and even now was being laid in an untimely grave,
+Cyril might have come to her dressed in mourning, unless&mdash;ah, unless.
+"Oh!"&mdash;she stretched out an arm as he advanced slowly&mdash;"don't come near
+me&mdash;don't come near me."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!" He stopped in sheer surprise. "Bella, darling, don't you know
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, I know you," she gasped, retreating towards the chair.
+"Perhaps I know you too well."</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have not been to see you before?" he asked, surprised.
+"Bella, dearest, I would have come but that I have been abroad during
+the week. I had to go to Paris to see a&mdash;a friend of mine."</p>
+
+<p>She noted the hesitation and shivered. "When did you go?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril came near, and again she shrank away. "On the afternoon when your
+father found us in the corn-field."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not true; it's not true. How can you lie to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!" Cyril stopped short again, and in the faint light she could see
+that he looked thoroughly puzzled and amazed. "What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl's legs refused to support her any longer, and she sank into the
+chair. "My father is being buried," she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, I know," he replied sympathetically. "I went to the funeral,
+but finding you were not present, I came here to comfort you."</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you&mdash;you went to the funeral?" her eyes dilated.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I not go. After all, even though we quarrelled, he was your
+father, and a last tribute of respect&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, stop, stop. You can say this to me&mdash;to me, of all people?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister frowned and pinched his lip. "This lonely house and this cold,
+dull room have unnerved you," he said after a pause. "I make every
+allowance for what you have gone through, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you know, you understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Know what? understand what?" he inquired sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I said nothing at the inquest. I held my tongue. I never&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!" Cyril, now thoroughly roused, advanced and seized her wrists in
+no gentle grasp, "are you crazy, talking in this way?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have had enough to make me crazy," she said bitterly, "let me go."</p>
+
+<p>"Not till you explain your mysterious behaviour. No"&mdash;he grasped her
+wrists tighter as she strove to release herself&mdash;"not till you explain."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" she cried out shrilly, "will you murder me also?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister suddenly released her wrists and fell back a pace. "Murder you
+also?" he repeated. "Am I then in the habit of murdering people?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father. You&mdash;you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on," said he, as the word stuck in her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh"&mdash;she wrung her hands helplessly&mdash;"I saw you; I saw you."</p>
+
+<p>"Saw me what?" His voice became impatient and almost fierce.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you enter the house&mdash;this house."</p>
+
+<p>"Saw me&mdash;enter this house? When?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the night my father was murdered&mdash;at eight o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil are you talking about?" cried Cyril roughly. "I was in
+London at eight o'clock on that night, and went to Paris the next
+morning. I never heard of the murder, as I saw no newspapers. When I
+returned last night I read the account of the inquest in the evening
+papers, and I came down this morning to comfort you. I really think
+trouble has turned your head, Bella."</p>
+
+<p>The girl stared at him in astonishment. Even though she had spoken so
+very plainly, Cyril did not seem to comprehend that she was accusing him
+of having committed a dastardly crime. Her heart suddenly grew light.
+Perhaps, after all, she was mistaken, and&mdash;and&mdash;"You can prove your
+innocence?"</p>
+
+<p>"My innocence of what, in heaven's name?" he cried angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Of&mdash;of&mdash;the&mdash;the&mdash;murder," she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>Lister stared, and scarcely could believe his ears. "You are not
+serious?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear:" she sobbed, "I wish I were not."</p>
+
+<p>"And you accuse me of murdering your father?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! Really, I don't accuse you of actually&mdash;that is, of really&mdash;but
+I saw you enter this house at eight o'clock, or a little after, on that
+night. I intended to come down, thinking you and my father might
+quarrel, but I drank the tea&mdash;you must have seen about the tea at the
+inquest&mdash;that is, in the report given in the papers. Then I fell asleep,
+and woke to hear that my father was dead. But I never betrayed you,
+Cyril. God is my witness that I have held my tongue."</p>
+
+<p>Lister passed his hand across his forehead, and fell helplessly into a
+near chair. "You accuse me of murdering your father?" he said again.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no;" she repeated feverishly, "but I saw you&mdash;you looked up&mdash;you
+wore the grey clothes, as you had done in the afternoon when father
+interrupted us."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella! Bella! You must have been dreaming, or the drug&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not dreaming," she interrupted vehemently, "and I saw you before
+I drank the drugged tea. I called to you, and you looked up; but you
+entered the house without making any sign of recognition. Then I fell
+asleep, and&mdash;and&mdash;oh,&mdash;my dear"&mdash;she flung herself down at his feet and
+seized his hand. "What took place between my father and you? I'm sure
+you did not kill him. I am quite sure of that, and, remember, I held my
+tongue. Yes, I held&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," groaned the young man, looking down into her agitated face. "I am
+losing my reason. You will shortly persuade me that I killed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you did not&mdash;you did not. Ah, never say that you did."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Lister shortly, and rose so suddenly as to let her fall, "and
+if you believe me to be a murderer, we had better part."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't! I don't!" she wailed, stretching out her hands, as he strode
+towards the door. "Oh, Cyril, don't leave me. You are all I have."</p>
+
+<p>Lister was in a white heat with rage, and stood fumbling at the door.
+But a backward glance at her pale face cooled him somewhat. He
+recognised that he was in the presence of some mystery, and that it was
+necessary for his own peace of mind, as for Bella's, to probe the
+mystery to the bottom. On the impulse of the moment he walked back, and
+lifting her, placed her again in the arm-chair. Then he knelt beside
+her, and took her hands. "Darling," he said, softly and firmly, "I swear
+to you, what I would not swear to any living creature, that I am
+innocent. If anyone but you had accused me, I should have&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril!" She wreathed her arms round his neck, "I only fancied,
+but I really did not think that&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He removed her arms. "You should believe in my innocence in the face of
+all evidence," he said sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"But my own eyes," she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>He frowned. "That certainly is puzzling; still, the drug&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you enter the house before I drunk the tea," she protested. "I
+told you that before."</p>
+
+<p>"Your senses were quite clear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly clear. And I thought that you had come to try and induce my
+father to consent to our marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Strange," muttered the young man. "I was not near the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure? are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Lister's tone was highly exasperated. "You will drive me mad,
+talking in this way. Hearken," he added, speaking calmer, "when I left
+you and Captain Huxham in the corn-field, I went straight back to my
+lodgings. There I found a letter referring to the thousand pounds I
+wished to borrow. I had to see the friend who was willing to lend it to
+me on that night. I therefore went to London by the six o'clock train.
+My landlady can prove that I left the house; the flyman can prove that I
+drove to the local station; the ticket office there that I bought a
+ticket, and the guard of the train shut me himself in a first-class
+compartment. That is evidence enough, I fancy."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Yes, for me, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I might have sneaked back, I suppose you mean?" he said bitterly,
+and rising to walk the floor. "I can prove an <i>alibi</i> easily. At eight
+o'clock I was at my friend's rooms in Duke Street, St. James's, as his
+man can swear. He had gone to Paris, and I arranged to follow. I went to
+the theatre, and to dinner with two friends of mine, and did not leave
+them until one in the morning, when I returned to my hotel. The murder
+took place at eleven, or between eight and eleven, so I can easily prove
+that I was not here. Next morning I went to Paris, and got the money
+from my friend. I lingered there with him, and only returned yesterday,
+to learn that your father was dead. Then I came down here this morning
+to&mdash;meet with this reception."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril! Don't be hard on me."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not hard yourself?" he retorted. "How can I love a woman who
+doubts me? Besides, robbery was the motive for the commission of the
+crime. Am I likely to stab an old man, and then rob him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never believed, and yet&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet what?" he asked curtly.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you&mdash;wanted a thousand pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh"&mdash;his lip curled&mdash;"and you believed that I robbed your father's safe
+to get it. Unfortunately, I understood, from your aunt's evidence at the
+inquest, that only one hundred pounds in gold were in the safe, so I
+must have committed a brutal murder needlessly."</p>
+
+<p>"I never said that you murdered my father," cried Bella despairingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You inferred as much," he retorted cuttingly; "also that I robbed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no!" she cried vehemently, now thoroughly believing him to be
+completely innocent, and trying woman-like to recover her position.
+"But, Cyril, listen to me, and you will see that as things look I was
+justified&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing can justify your believing me to be guilty of a double crime."</p>
+
+<p>Bella bowed her proud head. "I can see that now," she said humbly.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have seen it before," he replied harshly.</p>
+
+<p>She raised her head, and looked at him indignantly, bringing into play
+the powerful weapon of sex. "You give me no opportunity of defending
+myself," she said, in the offended tone of a woman wronged.</p>
+
+<p>"I ask your pardon, and give you the opportunity now," he replied
+coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you enter the house," she repeated somewhat weakly.</p>
+
+<p>"That is impossible," he rejoined briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "What is the use of saying that?
+It was not you, since I firmly believe what you tell me; all the
+same&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril sprang forward, seized her hands, and looked deep into her eyes
+"You believe me, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do. But if the man was not you, he must have been your double."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he so like me, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly like you. Don't I tell you, Cyril, that I leaned out of the
+window and spoke to the man. I called him by your name."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"He looked up, but making no sign of recognition stepped into the house,
+as the door was not locked. I never believed for one moment that it was
+not you, and resolved to clamber out of the window to be present at the
+interview. Then I drank the drugged tea, and&mdash;&mdash;" she made a gesture of
+despair&mdash;"you know the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"How was the man dressed?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a grey suit, just as you wore in the afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"You saw the face?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw it very plainly, although the twilight was growing darker at the
+time. But I could have sworn it was your face. Would I have spoken to
+the man had I not believed him to be you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, and yet"&mdash;Cyril stopped, and tugged at his moustache. His face had
+grown pale, and he looked decidedly worried. "The man was of my height?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was like you in every respect. Perhaps if I had seen him in broad
+daylight I might have recognised my mistake unless&mdash;oh, Cyril, could it
+have been your ghost?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Lister, in a strangled voice, "don't be absurd. I have an
+idea that&mdash;&mdash;" he made for the door. "There's nothing more to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril, will you leave me? Won't you kiss&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing more to say," said Lister, now deadly pale, and walked
+abruptly out of the dim room. Bella fell back in the chair and wept. All
+was over.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WITCH-WIFE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The interview between the engaged lovers had been a strange one, and not
+the least strange part was the termination. Apparently, after hearing
+the description of the mysterious double given by Bella, her lover could
+have explained much&mdash;at least, she gathered this from the hints his
+broken conversation gave. After his departure, she sat weeping, until it
+struck her sensible nature how very foolish she was to waste time in
+idle regrets. Whether Cyril felt so mortally offended by her doubts as
+to regard the engagement at an end, she could not say. But after some
+thought she believed that her remarks had given him a clue which he had
+left thus abruptly to follow up. Sooner or later he would return to
+explain, and then all would be well between them.</p>
+
+<p>And in spite of his odd behaviour, she had one great consolation in
+knowing that he was innocent. His denial of guilt had been so strong;
+the <i>alibi</i> he set forth was so easy of proof, and so impossible of
+invention, that she blamed herself sincerely for ever having doubted the
+young man. Nevertheless, considering the weird circumstances, and the
+fact of the likeness of the double&mdash;whomsoever he might be&mdash;to her
+lover, she could scarcely regard herself as having been foolish. Nine
+people out of ten would have made the same mistake, and would have
+harboured similar doubts. Certainly, seeing that she loved Cyril
+devotedly, she should have been the tenth; but in the hour of trial her
+faith had proved very weak. She tried to remind herself that she had
+never really believed him to be guilty. All the same, recalling the late
+conversation, she had to recognise that her words could have left very
+little doubt in Lister's mind as to the fact that she believed him to be
+a robber and an assassin. Well, if she had, surely she had been severely
+punished, as was only fair.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley returned from the funeral in a very chastened frame of
+mind, and in the company of Henry Vand, whom she had bidden to tea. The
+table was furnished forth with funeral baked meats, after the fashion of
+Hamlet's mother's wedding, and Mr. Vand did full justice to
+them&mdash;wonderful justice, considering his apparently delicate
+constitution. He was not very tall, and remarkably handsome, with his
+young, clean-shaven face, his large, blue eyes, and his curly, golden
+hair. His body was well-shaped all save the right foot, which was
+twisted and the leg of which was shorter than the other. Like Talleyrand
+and Lord Byron, the young man was club-footed, but otherwise had a very
+attractive personality. From his delicate fingers, it could be seen that
+he was a musician, and he had an air of refinement astonishing in one of
+his breeding and birth. Bella did not like him much. Not that she had
+any fault to find with him; but his eyes were shallow, like those of a
+bird, and his conversation was dull, to say the least of it. The sole
+way in which he could converse was through his violin, and as he had not
+that with him on this occasion, Bella preferred to remain absent from
+the lavish tea-table. Mrs. Coppersley did not object, as she wanted her
+darling all to herself.</p>
+
+<p>However, Mrs. Coppersley was very severe on her niece for not attending
+the funeral, and had many sweet things to say regarding virtues of the
+deceased which she had just discovered after his death. "He meant well,
+did poor, dear Jabez," sighed Mrs. Coppersley, over a cup of tea; "and
+if he did swear it was his calling that made him profane. Bella!"&mdash;her
+niece was standing at the door as she spoke&mdash;"to-morrow I'm going up to
+see the lawyer about the property."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't trouble about that," said Bella wearily; "no, thank you, Mr.
+Vand, I don't care to eat. I feel too miserable."</p>
+
+<p>"Not trouble about the property!" cried Mrs. Coppersley, paying no
+attention to the latter part of this speech; "but I do care. Things must
+be settled somehow. I must arrange my future life," and she cast a
+tender glance on the handsome musician. "Your future must be settled
+also."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall look after that," said Bella, not liking her aunt's tone.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better be sharp, then," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a dictatorial
+manner, "for the sooner things are settled the better. I'm not young,
+and"&mdash;she cast a second tender glance on her swain, who was eating
+largely&mdash;"ah, well, its useless to talk of weddings when funerals are in
+the air. To-morrow evening, Bella, after I have seen the lawyer&mdash;and he
+lives in Cade Lane, London&mdash;I'll tell you what I have arranged."</p>
+
+<p>Bella looked in astonishment at her aunt, who suddenly seemed to have
+acquired the late captain's tyrannical manner. Apparently Mrs.
+Coppersley forgot&mdash;as Bella thought&mdash;that she would not inherit the
+solitary farm, and needed to be reminded of the fact that her niece was
+the mistress of Bleacres. In fact, Bella was on the point of saying as
+much, when she remembered that Vand was present. Not being anxious to
+discuss family matters in his presence&mdash;even though he was about to
+enter the family as Mrs. Coppersley's husband&mdash;she abruptly left the
+room. Mrs. Coppersley poured herself out a second cup of tea, and
+remarked in a high tone of satisfaction, that some people's noses were
+about to be brought to the grindstone.</p>
+
+<p>Bella heard the remark as she put on her hat and walked out of the front
+door. It accentuated her lonely feeling, for she saw plainly now what
+she had long guessed,&mdash;that Aunt Rosamund had very little affection for
+her. The late captain also had never cared much for his daughter, and
+now that Cyril had vanished in an enigmatic manner, the poor girl felt
+more wretched than ever. Listlessly she walked down the narrow path as
+far as the boundary channel, and wondered how it would all end. Had she
+been a religious girl she might have sought comfort in prayer, but she
+knew very little about true religion, and did not care for the sort
+preached by Mr. Silas Pence in the Little Bethel at Marshely. As his
+name flashed into her mind, she looked up and saw him standing on the
+opposite side of the channel, so it was apparent&mdash;although she knew
+nothing about such things&mdash;that some telepathic communication had made
+her think of him. The preacher was in his usual dismal garb, and had
+accentuated the same by wearing black gloves and a black tie in place of
+his usual white one. Patience on a monument might have been taken as a
+type of Mr. Pence on this occasion, but he was not smiling on grief in
+the person of Miss Huxham. In fact he did not smile at all, being
+shocked to see her out of doors.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you not weeping in your chamber?" reproved Silas, in his most
+clerical manner; "the loss of so good a father&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You have doubtless said all you had to say on that subject at the
+funeral, Mr. Pence," retorted Bella, whose nerves were worn thin with
+worry; "spare me a repetition of such stale remarks."</p>
+
+<p>It was a horribly rude speech, as she well knew. But Pence had a way of
+irritating her beyond all endurance, and the mere sight of him was
+sufficient to set her teeth on edge for the day. It was intolerable that
+he should intrude on her privacy now, when she particularly wished to be
+alone. She intimated as much by turning away with a displeased air, and
+walked for a short distance along the bank path leading to Mrs. Tunks'
+hut. But Silas, absolutely ignorant of the feminine nature, and entirely
+devoid of diplomacy, persisted in thrusting his company upon her. Bella
+turned sharply, when she heard Silas breathing hard behind her, and
+spoke with marked indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to be alone, if you please," she declared, flushing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no; ah, no," remonstrated Pence, stupidly. "Allow me to comfort
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot," she retorted, marvelling at his density.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to try. I was on the point of calling at the house to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bella interrupted him cruelly. "You can call there still, Mr. Pence, and
+my aunt will be glad to see you. She has Mr. Vand to tea, so you will
+find yourself in congenial company."</p>
+
+<p>"Your company is congenial enough for me."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very flattering, but I prefer to be alone."</p>
+
+<p>Silas, however, declined to be shaken off, and his reproachful looks so
+exasperated Bella that she felt inclined to thrust him into the water.
+And his speech was even more irritating than his manner. "Let me soothe
+you, my dear, broken-hearted sister," he pleaded in a sheep-like bleat.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want soothing. I am not broken-hearted, and I am not your
+sister."</p>
+
+<p>Pence sighed. "This is very, very painful."</p>
+
+<p>"It is," Bella admitted readily, "to me. Surely you are man enough, Mr.
+Pence, to take a plain telling if you won't accept a hint. I want you to
+leave me at once, as I am not disposed to talk."</p>
+
+<p>"If I had my way I would never, never leave you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but, so far as I am concerned, you will not get your way."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you dislike me, Miss Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"I neither like nor dislike you," she retorted, suppressing a violent
+inclination to scream, so annoying was this persecution. "You are
+nothing to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to be something. I wish you to be my sealed fountain. Your late
+lamented father desired you to be my spouse."</p>
+
+<p>"I am aware of that, Mr. Pence. But perhaps you will remember that I
+refused to marry you, the other day."</p>
+
+<p>"You broke my heart then."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and mend it then," cried Bella, furiously angry, and only too
+anxious to drive him away by behaving with aggressive rudeness.</p>
+
+<p>"You alone can mend it." Pence dropped on his knees. "Oh, I implore you
+to mend it, my Hephzibah! You are to me a Rose of Sharon, a Lily of the
+Vale."</p>
+
+<p>"Get up, sir, and don't make a fool of yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, angel of my life, listen to me. Lately I was poor in this world's
+goods, but now I have gold. Marry me, and let us fly to far lands,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were desperately poor," said Bella, suspiciously; "where
+did you get the money?"</p>
+
+<p>"An aged and God-fearing Christian aunt left it to me," said Pence,
+dropping his eyes. "It is a small sum, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred pounds in gold, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>Pence rose, as though moved by springs, and his thin white cheeks
+flushed a deep scarlet. "What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella could not have told herself what she meant at the moment. But it
+had suddenly occurred to her to try and rid herself of this burr by
+hinting that he had something to do with the robbery, if not with the
+murder. Under ordinary circumstances she would never have ventured to do
+this, being a kind-hearted girl; but Pence exasperated her so greatly
+that she was, on the impulse of the moment, prepared to go to any length
+to see the last of him. "I mean," she said, in reply to his last
+question, "that my father had one hundred pounds in gold in his safe."</p>
+
+<p>"You accuse me of&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I accuse you of nothing," cried Bella, cutting him short and flaming up
+into a royal rage. "I am tired of your company and of your silly talk. I
+only wish that Mr. Lister would come along and throw you into the
+channel."</p>
+
+<p>The red faded from Pence's face, and he looked wickedly white. His eyes
+flashed with sinister lights. "I dare say you do," he said venomously,
+"but Mr. Lister had better keep out of my way, and out of the way of the
+police."</p>
+
+<p>The girl felt her heart almost stop beating. "Now it is my turn to ask
+you what you mean?" she said slowly and preserving her coolness.</p>
+
+<p>But the preacher saw that she was shaken, and followed up his advantage.
+"I think you had better make terms with me. Accept me as your husband,
+or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall tell the police what I saw," he finished spitefully.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you see?" she asked in a shaking voice.</p>
+
+<p>"On the evening of the murder I came here at a quarter to eight," said
+Silas slowly, his glittering eyes on her pale face. "I wished to adore
+the shrine wherein was my jewel; that is, I desired to gaze on the
+house, beneath whose roof you slept."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, stop talking like this, and speak plainly," she interrupted
+wearily.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall speak plainly enough now," said the young man calmly. "While
+watching by the entrance through the bushes, on the other side of the
+channel, I was suddenly brushed aside by that Lister person. It was
+growing dark, but I recognised his figure, his insolent face, his lordly
+air of prosperity. He walked up to the house and I turned away, sick at
+heart, knowing that he had gone to see you. When I looked again, on my
+way back to Marshely, he had disappeared. So you see&mdash;&mdash;" He paused.</p>
+
+<p>"I see what?" she questioned nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"That the Lister person must know somewhat of this crime, if, indeed, he
+did not strike the blow himself."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you say that, when you lately intimated that Mr. Lister&mdash;if it
+<i>was</i> Mr. Lister, which I doubt&mdash;had come to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember the evidence given by yourself and your aunt at the
+inquest," retorted Pence sharply. "You were locked in your room, and were
+in a drugged sleep. Mrs. Coppersley had gone to my lodgings to deliver
+the note from your late father, which I found on my return. That Lister
+person must have seen your father, and, as they were not on good
+terms&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that they were not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because your late father hated the very name of Lister, and said that
+he would rather see you dead than married to him. Also in the note left
+at my lodgings, your father said that he had quarrelled seriously with
+this Lister person, and had locked you in your room. Now, if I showed
+that note to the police, and related how the Lister person had brushed
+me aside so that he could cross the channel, he would be arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he would not," said Bella doggedly, but her heart sank.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he would. He hated your late father; he was alone in the house
+with him, and I believe that he killed him so that he might marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"As if I would marry any man who murdered my father," said Bella
+angrily. "You are talking a lot of nonsense, Mr. Pence. Mr. Lister was
+in London on that evening, and afterwards went to Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it. Who told you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He told me so himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally he has to make the best of things. But I know the Lister
+person well by sight, and I am prepared to take my oath that he entered
+the Manor-house about eight o'clock on the night of the murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister has a good <i>alibi</i>," said Bella, with a carelessness which
+she was far from feeling, and gathering up her skirts to go. "You can
+tell the police what you like, Mr. Pence. I am not afraid for Mr.
+Lister's good name."</p>
+
+<p>"You will make no terms?" demanded Pence, annoyed by her feigned
+coolness.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said abruptly; "do what you like."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you three days to think over the matter," cried Pence as she
+turned away; "if by that time you do not agree to become my wife, I
+shall denounce that Lister person to the police."</p>
+
+<p>Bella took no notice of the threat, but walked swiftly away in the
+direction of Mrs. Tunks' hut. Hearing no footsteps she concluded that
+Mr. Pence had not followed, and a cautious look round revealed him
+crossing the planks on his way home. Bella felt sick with apprehension,
+and when she reached the hut had to lean against the door for support.
+But she had no time to consider matters, for unexpectedly the door
+opened and she fell into the bony arms of Mrs. Tunks.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you were coming, dearie," croaked the old creature; "the crystal
+told me."</p>
+
+<p>"A glance along the path told you," retorted Bella, recovering her
+balance and entering the hut. "Why do you talk to me of the crystal,
+Mrs. Tunks? You know I don't believe in such things."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I know your blind eyes and stubborn heart, lovey. Only trouble
+will make you see truths, and you ain't had enough yet. There's more
+coming."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?" asked Bella, sitting down on a broken-backed chair
+with a sudden sinking of the heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, I know," mumbled Mrs. Tunks, squatting on a stool near the
+fire. "Who should know but I, who am of the gentle Romany? Hold your
+peace, dearie and let me think," and she lighted a dingy black clay
+pipe. "Luke ain't here," added Mrs. Tunks, blowing a cloud of smoke, "so
+we've the whole place to ourselves, lovey, and the crystal's ready."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded towards a bright spark of light, and Bella saw a round
+crystal the size of an apple, standing in a cheap china egg-cup. There
+was no light in the bare room, but the ruddy flare of the smouldering
+fire, and what with the semi-darkness, the fumes of Mrs. Tunks' pipe,
+and that bright unwinking spot, Bella felt as though she were being
+hypnotised.</p>
+
+<p>The hut, built of turf, was square, and was divided by a wooden
+partition into two equal parts. One of these parts was again sub-divided
+into two sleeping dens&mdash;they could not be called bedrooms&mdash;for Mrs.
+Tunks and her grandson. The day apartment, which did for sitting-room,
+dining-room, drawing-room, and general living-room, was small, and
+dirty, and dingy. The ceiling of rough thatch, black with smoke, could
+almost be touched by Bella without rising. The floor was of beaten
+earth, the chimney a wide gaping hollow of turf, and there was one small
+window, usually tightly closed, beside the crazy door. The furniture
+consisted of a deal table, of home manufacture, with its legs sunken in
+the earthen floor, and a few stools together with the broken-backed
+chair on which the visitor sat. There also was a rough wooden dresser,
+on which were ranged a few platters of wood and some china. The whole
+abode was miserable in the extreme, and in wet weather must have been
+extremely uncomfortable. Granny Tunks, as she was usually called, housed
+like an Early Briton or a Saxon serf; but she seemed to be happy enough
+in her den, perhaps because it was better than the rough life of the
+road, which had been her lot in life before she had married a Gorgio.</p>
+
+<p>She was a lean, grim old creature with very bright black eyes and
+plentiful white hair escaping from under a red handkerchief. Her dress
+was of a brown colour, but tagged with bright patches of yellow and blue
+and crimson, and she wore also various coins and beads and charms, which
+kept up a continuous jingle. On the whole Granny Tunks was a picturesque
+figure of the Oriental type, and this, added to her sinister reputation
+as one acquainted with the unseen world, gained her considerable
+respect. The marsh folk, still superstitious in spite of steam and
+electricity, called her "The Wise Woman," but Granny dubbed herself "A
+Witch-Wife," quite like a Norse warrior would have done.</p>
+
+<p>Bella stared at the crystal until she felt quite dreamy, while Granny
+watched her with a bright and cunning eye. Suddenly she rose and took
+the gleaming globe in her skinny hand. "You've put your life-power into
+it," mumbled the witch-wife; "now I'll read what's coming."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" cried Bella, suddenly startled into wakefulness. "I don't want
+to know anything, Mrs. Tunks."</p>
+
+<p>Granny took no notice, but peered into the crystal by the red light of
+the fire. "You've trouble yet, before you, dearie," she said in a
+sing-song voice, "but peace in the end. You'll marry the gentleman you
+love, when a black man comes to aid your fortunes."</p>
+
+<p>"A black man! What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's no more," said Mrs. Tunks; "the vision has faded. A black man,
+remember."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COMING OF DURGO</h3>
+
+
+<p>The fortnight which followed the funeral of Captain Huxham passed
+quietly enough at the Solitary Farm. Mrs. Coppersley went several times
+to London for the purpose of interviewing her late brother's lawyer, who
+had his office in Cade Lane. She said very little to Bella when she
+returned, and on her part Bella did not ask questions. Had she been more
+versed in worldly wisdom she would have accompanied her aunt to see the
+solicitor for herself, so that she might learn what disposition had been
+made of the property. But Bella was an unsophisticated girl, and
+moreover was so anxiously lamenting the continued absence of Cyril that
+she neglected needful things.</p>
+
+<p>Lister had disappeared from the neighbourhood, and Bella had neither
+seen him again nor had she heard from him. Considering what had taken
+place at their last interview, she was inclined to think that Cyril had
+passed out of her life for ever. But something told her that in spite of
+her unjust accusations he still loved her, and would return. Meantime,
+there was nothing for it but to wait in patience, and to busy herself
+with her ordinary pursuits. These, however, had lost their savour for
+the girl, since the whole of her mind was filled with the image of the
+man she loved.</p>
+
+<p>Pence did not fulfil his threat of informing the police at the end of
+three days. Bella waited in dread for the arrival of Inspector Inglis to
+ask her questions concerning Lister, but the officer never appeared, and
+as the days glided by she began to think that Silas would say nothing.
+With her aunt she went on Sunday to the Little Bethel, and heard him
+preach, but he did not seek a private interview with her. Even when he
+delivered his sermons he sedulously avoided her eye, so she deemed that
+he was ashamed of the wild way in which he had talked. What struck her
+most about the young man was his wan looks. He seemed to be thinner than
+ever, and his cheeks had a more hectic flush, while his eyes glittered
+feverishly, as though he were consumed with an inward fire. But his
+discourses became more and more powerful and were greatly admired by his
+congregation, who liked melodramatic religion. Mrs. Coppersley was
+especially loud in her expression of approval.</p>
+
+<p>"What a gift," she said to Bella, when they returned home on the second
+Sunday through the rapidly-yellowing corn-fields. "He spares no one."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is just what I like least about his sermons," retorted the
+girl. "As a Christian he should be more merciful."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know anything about it," said Mrs. Coppersley tartly.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what Christ preached," replied Bella quietly; "and Mr. Pence has
+not the spirit of His preaching."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Pence does not do as he would be done by. I wonder how he would
+like to suffer the condemnation which he measures out so freely to other
+people."</p>
+
+<p>"Silas Pence is a good man, and no condemnation is possible where he is
+concerned," cried Mrs. Coppersley fervently, and bounced into the house.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case he should make allowance for those who are not good."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," said the elder woman, stating her views uncompromisingly.
+"The good shall go to heaven, and the wicked to hell: that's Scripture."</p>
+
+<p>"As translated by man," finished Bella neatly; "but the Sermon on the
+Mount, Aunt Rosamund&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Bella, you are irreligious," interrupted the lady, removing her hat and
+placing it on the kitchen-table. "I won't have freethinkers in my
+house."</p>
+
+<p>Bella raised her finely-marked eye-brows. "Your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," almost shouted Mrs. Coppersley violently, for she felt somewhat
+nervous as to what she was about to say, "my house. I didn't tell you
+before, as I have a kind heart, but it is time we understood one
+another. To-night I shall explain myself, so that you may understand
+your position."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall explain yourself now," said Bella, pale but determined.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no time," said her aunt brusquely; "Henry is coming to dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care if Mr. Vand is coming to dinner twenty times over," said
+Bella, her eyes growing hard with anger. "You have said so much that you
+must say all, Aunt Rosamund."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bully and bounce me, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall act exactly as I please, and it is my pleasure that you would
+explain what you mean."</p>
+
+<p>"I have to lay the cloth and see to the dinner. You know that Jane never
+can cook to Henry's liking. I daresay the meat is burnt and the&mdash;&mdash;"
+Mrs. Coppersley was about to pass into the scullery where the one small
+servant, over whom she tyrannised, slaved at the mid-day meal, when
+Bella caught her by the wrist. "How dare you, Bella?" cried the stout
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Come into the drawing-room, out of Jane's hearing," whispered Bella
+fiercely. "I shall not wait another minute for an explanation. This
+house is either mine or yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," cried Mrs. Coppersley, bouncing towards the kitchen door,
+"If you will have it, you shall have it. I have tried to spare you,
+but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Go on to the drawing-room, please," interrupted Bella imperiously, as
+she saw the small servant peeping round the corner; "there is no need
+for us to discuss private matters in public."</p>
+
+<p>"The whole parish shall soon know what I am about to say," snapped Mrs.
+Coppersley, and rolled towards the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Rolled" is precisely the word to use in connection with Mrs.
+Coppersley's way of walking, for she was an extremely stout, well-fed
+woman, large-limbed and clumsy. Her round, chubby face was rosy and her
+eyes were as black as her hair. She did not look uncomely, but there was
+something coarse and plebeian in her appearance. Although she was in
+mourning for her late brother she could not altogether restrain her
+flamboyant taste, and therefore wore a red feather in the hat she had
+left in the kitchen, and yellow gloves, which she was now impatiently
+removing.</p>
+
+<p>Outside it was extremely warm and brilliant with sunshine, but in the
+vast drawing-room the air was pleasantly cool and agreeable. The blinds
+being blue, only a faint light came through them since they were down,
+and the cerulean atmosphere was almost religious in its feeling. Bella,
+ever sensitive to the unseen, in spite of her ignorance of psychic
+phenomenon felt the grave influence, but her aunt, being of a coarser
+fibre, bounced red-faced and hot into the room, openly cross at having
+been summoned to what was likely to prove a disagreeable interview.</p>
+
+<p>"Henry will be here shortly," she said pettishly, "and he doesn't like
+to be kept waiting for his meals."</p>
+
+<p>"On this occasion he must wait," said Bella dryly, "it will do him
+good."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak of Henry in that tone, miss; you know he is the most
+amiable man in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Your speech about his impatience for dinner sounds like it. However, we
+need converse only for a few minutes. I understood you to say that this
+house is yours, Aunt Rosamund."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley flopped down into one of the emerald arm-chairs and
+placed her pudgy hands on her stout knees. "It is," she said, glancing
+round the vari-coloured room with great pride. "The house is mine and
+the farm is mine, and Jabez's income of five hundred a year, well
+invested, is mine."</p>
+
+<p>Bella grew pale. Mrs. Coppersley spoke with such conviction that she
+believed her to be telling the truth. "And what is left to me?" she
+demanded in a low tone, for the shock took away her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Your aunt's love," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a matter-of-fact way.
+"Jabez asked me to look after you; and so long as you behave yourself I
+shall do so."</p>
+
+<p>Bella passed over this petty speech. "Do you mean to say that my father
+has left everything to you?" she asked pointedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything," assented Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of triumph. "Jabez
+wasn't so rich as folk thought him, and although he had enough invested
+to give him five hundred a year, he had little ready cash. When my late
+husband died he left me a good sum. Jabez borrowed this and added it to
+his own, so that he might buy Bleacres. I agreed, but only on condition
+that Jabez should leave me the whole property when he died. I saw that
+the will was made, and Mr. Timson, the Cade Lane lawyer, is now proving
+it. When probate is obtained, my dear," ended Mrs. Coppersley amiably,
+"I shall marry Henry and will be happy for evermore."</p>
+
+<p>"What about me?" gasped Bella, utterly overwhelmed.</p>
+
+<p>"You can stay here until you marry," said Mrs. Coppersley coldly, "as I
+am a Christian woman, and wish to obey Jabez's request. He left you to
+me as a legacy, so I will look after you; only behave yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I ever do anything else?" asked Bella bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear me, yes," returned her aunt complacently. "You run after men."</p>
+
+<p>Bella rose with a flushed cheek. "That is a lie."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley rose, also in a violent rage and quite glad to vent her
+petty spite on one who could not retaliate. "Oh, I'm a liar, am I?" she
+said shrilly. "You call me a liar when I am only keeping you out of
+charity&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" Bella flung up her hand and spoke firmly. "You are not doing
+that, Aunt Rosamund. In one way or another you have persuaded my father
+into leaving you what is rightfully mine. But I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and read the will; you shall not have it your own way altogether."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley snapped her large finger and thumb. "Go and see the
+will, by all means," she scoffed in a coarse voice; "you won't find any
+flaw in it, as I was careful that it should be properly drawn up. I have
+a perfect right to the farm, as my money helped to buy it."</p>
+
+<p>"So be it. Keep the farm, but give me the income. That, at least, you
+have no right to retain."</p>
+
+<p>"I have the right of possession, which is nine points of the law, miss,"
+said Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the will is plain enough. Jabez did
+right to leave the money to me, and not to a chit of a girl like you,
+who would waste your father's hard-earned money on that wastrel from
+London."</p>
+
+<p>"Of whom are you talking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't pretend ignorance, miss, for I won't have it. I mean Mr. Lister,
+as he calls himself, though I daresay he is no better than he should
+be."</p>
+
+<p>"You have no right to say that."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll say what I like and do what I like. Remember I am mistress; and as
+you depend entirely on me, miss, I order you to give up all idea of this
+Lister scamp and marry Silas Pence, who is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall certainly not marry Silas Pence, or anyone but Cyril," said
+Bella in icy tones. "You have no right to interfere in&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley stamped and interrupted in her turn. "No right! no
+right!" she bellowed furiously. "I have every right. This house is mine,
+and the food you eat is mine. If I turned you out you would have to
+starve, for I am certain that your fine lover would have nothing to do
+with you. He's a bad man; your father said so."</p>
+
+<p>"My father knew nothing of Mr. Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"He knew that he was bad; he said as much. Why"&mdash;Mrs. Coppersley
+pointed a fat finger towards the round table in the centre of the
+room&mdash;"there's a photograph of him, and in a silver frame, too. What
+extravagance. How dare you spend my money on silver frames?"</p>
+
+<p>She dashed forward to seize the photograph of Cyril, which Bella had
+brought down from her bedroom and had left unthinkingly on the table.
+Doubtless Mrs. Coppersley would have destroyed the portrait, but that
+Bella secured it before the good lady could reach the table. "Mr. Lister
+gave me this," said Bella, putting it behind her back; "frame and all;
+it is mine."</p>
+
+<p>"And you dare to bring into the house the picture of a wicked profligate
+whom your father hated," roared Mrs. Coppersley, her red face shining
+with perspiration and her little eyes flashing with wrath.</p>
+
+<p>"My father being so good himself," said Bella ironically, and feeling
+quite cool. "Mr. Lister is not a profligate, Aunt Rosamund, and you are
+a bad woman!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley gasped like a dying dolphin. "Me a bad woman!" she
+cried, puffing out her cheeks ludicrously; "me, when Henry says that I
+am the best woman in the world. And I'd have you know, Bella, that I'm a
+lady and no woman, miss&mdash;so there."</p>
+
+<p>The girl, in spite of her grief and dismay, laughed right out. "Even a
+lady must be a woman," she observed sarcastically.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave my house! leave my house," panted Mrs. Coppersley.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I shall remain here until I know if the will is correct. I shall
+stay here, as I say, and shall receive polite treatment. If I do not, I
+shall dispute the will, and make things unpleasant."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley snapped her fingers. "That for all the harm you can do,"
+she said coarsely. "The will stands good in law. I have made sure of
+that by consulting Mr. Timson, who drew it up. You can stay here for a
+week; at the end of that time you pack up and go."</p>
+
+<p>"Where to, Aunt Rosamund?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's your look out, miss. But you don't stay here to spoil my
+honeymoon with my darling Henry."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shrugged her shoulders. It really was not worth while losing her
+temper with a person whose methods were so crude. The more enraged Mrs.
+Coppersley became, the cooler Bella felt. "Do you know what you are,
+Aunt Rosamund?" she remarked coolly. "You are a bully, and a petty
+tyrant. While my father was alive you cringed to him because you were
+afraid. Now that you think you have the whip hand of me, you vent your
+spite on one whom you think cannot retaliate. If I had the money, you
+would cringe to me; as you have it, you take every advantage of your
+position. But it won't do, Aunt Rosamund, for I am not the girl to
+submit to your insults. I shall stop here so long as it pleases me to
+stop, and if you make yourself disagreeable I shall know what to do."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley's face grew slowly white, and her mouth opened and shut
+like a cod-fish. Had Bella wept, she would have gone on bullying
+triumphantly, but this cool, calm, scornful demeanour frightened her. At
+heart, like all bullies, she was a coward, and knew well that if it were
+known how she had ousted Bella from her rightful inheritance, that she
+would be unpopular. As Mrs. Coppersley liked to be popular, and hoped,
+by means of her marriage with Vand, her wrongfully obtained income, and
+her possession of Bleacres, to be the great lady of the neighbourhood,
+she did not wish to drive Bella to extremes. She therefore wiped her
+face, and hedged.</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't be angry with me Bella," she said in quieter tones, "I wish
+you well, my girl."</p>
+
+<p>"You wish me just as much as suits yourself," retorted Bella coolly; "so
+far you have had everything your own way. Now I mean to look into things
+for myself. You can go now, and entertain your darling Henry. I shall
+not come to dinner. Send up Jane with some food to my bedroom."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do nothing of the sort," protested Mrs. Coppersley feebly, for
+her late rage had exhausted her, and she did not feel equal to fighting
+this pale, steady-eyed girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you what to do; so go and do it!" said Bella, without
+raising her voice, and looked Mrs. Coppersley squarely in the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The mistress of Bleacres tried to face down the gaze, but failed, and
+thoroughly cowed and beaten, in spite of her better position, she slowly
+retreated, muttering to herself a vengeance which she was unable to
+fulfil.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone, Bella gave way. Pride had kept her up during the quarrel
+with her aunt, but now, secure from observation, she broke down and
+wept. Never before had she felt so lonely or so helpless. Cyril was
+away, and she could not confide in him, for even if he had been present
+the terms on which they had parted forbade confidences. There was Dora
+Ankers, the school-mistress certainly&mdash;a good friend, but a bad adviser,
+as she knew very little of the world. And there was no one else who
+could help her in the dilemma in which she was placed. She had no home,
+no friends, and&mdash;on the face of it&mdash;no lover. It was a terrible position
+for a girl who hitherto had never met with serious trouble.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the drawn-down blinds and the cool atmosphere of the room,
+Bella could scarcely breathe, so she moved to a side window, drew up the
+blind, and lifted the lower sash. Outside, the brilliance of the
+sunshine was almost blinding, and through the quivering heads, across
+the still, stiff stalks of the corn, for there was no wind, she could
+see the gaudy red of the scarecrow coat. The mere glint of the violent
+hue made her head ache, and she returned to the middle of the room to
+walk up and down wearily thinking of what was best to be done in the
+circumstances in which she found herself. The photograph of Cyril in its
+silver frame she replaced on the table. The much-loved face smiled
+encouragingly on her. At least, in her over-wrought state she thought
+so, and the thought aided her to beat down the many fears which assailed
+her.</p>
+
+<p>While musingly walking the room, she became aware of a slight noise, and
+turned abruptly towards the window to see a black face grinning at her,
+with very white teeth. At once her thoughts reverted to the prophecy of
+Granny Tunks, and she felt a sudden thrill of dread as she saw that a
+black man actually had come to the Manor-house. For one moment, the
+negro and the fair, young girl looked steadfastly at one another, she
+filled with nervous fear, and he, curiously observant. After an almost
+imperceptible pause&mdash;which seemed hours to Bella&mdash;the man leaped through
+the window, before she could regain her voice to forbid his entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my master?" he asked, in guttural tones, but in fairly good
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Bella did not immediately reply, as her nerves fairly thrilled with the
+weird realisation of what the witch-wife had seen in the crystal, and
+even now she had not her voice under command. The negro was tall, bulky,
+and powerfully framed, coal-black from head to foot, with tightly curled
+hair and sharp, white teeth like those of a dog. Bella had never seen so
+huge and strong a man, but in spite of his formidable appearance, his
+dark eyes had a kindly look in their depths, and his movements were
+extremely gentle. Apparently his bark was worse than his bite, though
+his uncivilised looks were enough to awe the boldest. Plainly but
+roughly dressed in an old tweed suit, with brown shoes and a bowler hat,
+he was not noticeable, save for his stature and enormous virility. The
+sensation he produced on the girl was overpowering, yet it was not
+entirely one of fear. In spite of his cannibal looks and unexpected
+entrance, and imperious demand, she felt perfectly safe.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Durgo!" explained the negro, annoyed by her silence, as was
+apparent from the frown which wrinkled his eye-brows. "Where is my
+master?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where your master is," she replied, finding her tongue
+with some difficulty. "I do not know who your master is."</p>
+
+<p>"My master," said the negro, "is my master. He came here two weeks and
+some days ago, more or less. I have come to find him. Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I tell you when I do not even know his name?" asked Bella
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"His name is&mdash;&mdash;" Durgo was about to satisfy her curiosity, when he
+caught sight of the photograph in the silver frame, which still stood on
+the table. With a guttural cry of delight, he caught this up in his huge
+hands. "Oh, my master! my master!" he gurgled, in an ecstasy of delight.</p>
+
+<p>Bella stepped back a pace with a scared look. "Mr. Lister your master?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo nodded, and coolly slipped the photograph, frame and all, into the
+breast pocket of his tweed coat. "He is here! I shall find him," he
+remarked. "Did my master see Captain Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied mechanically.</p>
+
+<p>"Did my master and Captain Huxham quarrel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied again, and still mechanically.</p>
+
+<p>"And did my master get what he wanted?" demanded the negro, rolling his
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what Mr. Lister wanted," said Bella faintly; "you must
+explain yourself, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I explain nothing until I see my master," was Durgo's reply. "Perhaps
+Captain Huxham knows where my master is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Huxham is dead," she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shut his strong white teeth with a click. "Dead!" he repeated.
+"Ah&mdash;aha&mdash;aha; Captain Huxham is dead. Then my master&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No," cried Bella, covering her eyes. "I don't believe that Cyril killed
+my father&mdash;I don't believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! father!" repeated Durgo, looking at her curiously. "I must learn
+if&mdash;&mdash;" He broke off suddenly and moved noiselessly to the window. Bella
+stretched a helpless hand to stay him, but, lightly vaulting out of
+doors, he disappeared in a moment. She rushed to the window and saw him
+running down the path towards the boundary channel. There was no chance
+of catching him up, as she saw well, and therefore drew back.</p>
+
+<p>"The crystal! the crystal!" she muttered to herself, shivering. "Granny
+must know what it all means. I must see Granny, and ask about the
+crystal."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>A LOVERS' MEETING</h3>
+
+
+<p>Having made up her mind to seek an explanation from Mrs. Tunks regarding
+the vision of the negro in the crystal&mdash;that is, if the old woman really
+had beheld the same&mdash;Bella lost no time in executing her purpose. In two
+or three minutes she hastily reassumed her hat, cloak, and gloves, which
+she had removed while conversing with Mrs. Coppersley. Then taking her
+sunshade, she left the Manor-house by the front door. In the dining-room
+she could hear the refined tones of Vand and the coarse voice of Mrs.
+Coppersley, as they laughed and chattered in the most amiable manner.
+Evidently the pair had quite forgotten the recent tragedy, which had
+invested Bleacres with so sinister a reputation. With a nervous
+shiver&mdash;for the merriment seemed to be singularly ill-timed&mdash;Bella
+closed the door softly, and walked down the corn-path. Glancing right
+and left, and straight ahead, she could see nothing of the black man,
+who had appeared and disappeared so mysteriously. Like the witches in
+"Macbeth," he had made himself into thin air, and had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Bella felt remarkably uneasy, and on the face of it had great cause to
+be so. Apparently, and she had not the least doubt of this, Durgo was
+Cyril's servant, who came in search of him. She rather wondered that her
+lover should have so uncivilised an attendant, and resolved that if they
+married she would endeavour to get him to dispense with the services of
+the man. But what struck her most, were the questions of Durgo. He
+evidently expected Cyril to meet Huxham and to have a quarrel. Also the
+stated time&mdash;of two weeks and some days&mdash;corresponded with the midnight
+visit of Cyril to the Manor-house. She recollected then that the visit
+was paid, not at midnight, but about eight o'clock, and saw in the
+mistake she had made the perplexity of her bewildered brain. With a
+groan she tried to clear her understanding by swift movement, for she
+felt unable to follow any regular train of thought.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, Durgo's innocent speech re-awakened her old suspicions,
+though she dreaded to recall them. What if, after all, Cyril had been
+the visitor of a fortnight since? In that case, since Huxham had been
+found dead, Cyril must have struck the blow. The horror of the mere
+idea, which placed a barrier between them, made her turn cold, and she
+resolutely put it from her. Cyril was the man she loved; the man in whom
+she had every reason to believe. He had solemnly sworn that he was
+innocent of her father's blood, and if she entertained a grain of
+affection for him she was bound to believe his word, even in the face of
+strong evidence to the contrary. He must be guiltless; he <i>was</i>
+guiltless, as she assured herself; his looks and words and bearing
+convinced her of his guiltlessness. In one way or another, the promised
+explanation would solve the difficult problem. But when would that
+explanation be made?</p>
+
+<p>Then, again, Mrs. Tunks must know somewhat of the truth, since she had
+so truly foretold the coming of the negro. Bella, entirely lacking the
+mystical sense, had no belief in visions, and assumed that the old
+woman, for her own ends, had played a comedy, based upon actual fact.
+Taking this view, the girl walked towards the hut of the witch-wife,
+resolute to learn how much Mrs. Tunks knew concerning Cyril's past life.
+Something she must know, else she could not have hinted at the
+appearance of the negro. Bella herself was ignorant that her lover had
+so sinister a servant, but it seemed that Mrs. Tunks was better
+informed. And since the old hag knew so much, she must know more. A few
+questions would doubtless bring forth the information, and then Bella
+felt that she would know how to act. But the position was extremely
+difficult, and the skein of life very tangled.</p>
+
+<p>Thinking in this desultory way, she reached the end of the corn-field,
+and was about to turn along the pathway leading to the hut, when she
+heard her name called anxiously. Looking up, she saw Dora Ankers on the
+hither side of the boundary channel.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Bella! I am so glad to see you," sang out the Marshely
+school-mistress volubly. "I really didn't want to go to the Manor and
+meet that horrid aunt of yours. Come with me, dear; he is waiting at my
+cottage."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is waiting?" demanded Bella, greatly surprised by this address.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear, as if to a girl in love there is any he but the one he in
+the world," said Dora, who was sentimental and impatient.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Mr. Lister&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister? Oh, you cruel-hearted girl: do you call him that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean Cyril," said Bella hurriedly; "is he&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is. He won't come to the Manor, and can't very well see you in
+his own rooms, as that nasty-minded Mrs. Block might say things. She is
+such a gossip you know. In despair he came to me, poor dear, so I asked
+him to wait in my sitting-room while I came for you."</p>
+
+<p>Bella drew herself up stiffly. She did not desire to appear too willing
+to obey the summons of her lover. Womanlike, she wished him to say that
+he was in the wrong, so that her pride might be saved. "I am going to
+Mrs. Tunks'."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" asked Dora, bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," replied Miss Huxham, unwilling to confess that she was
+dealing with uncanny things beyond the veil. "I must go."</p>
+
+<p>Dora tripped lightly across the narrow planks, and slipped her arm
+within that of her friend. "You shall do nothing of the sort, you cold
+thing," she declared. "Poor Mr. Lister is quite broken-hearted by the
+way in which you have treated him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Bella became stiffer than ever. "Has he said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He has said nothing! he is too much a man to say anything. But I saw
+his poor, pale, peaked face, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Does he look ill?" Bella was seized with a sudden qualm.</p>
+
+<p>"Ill?" Miss Ankers' gestures and looks became eloquent. "Dear, he is
+dying."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Dora!" Miss Huxham kilted up her skirts and fairly ran across the
+planks. "Why didn't you come for me before?"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem to be in a hurry to come now," laughed Dora, crossing in
+her turn; "yet the poor, dear fellow is dying&mdash;to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Where has he been all this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know, dear. He came straight from London last night,
+and went to my cottage this morning to see me. I was in church, so he
+came again in the afternoon, and asked me to help him. Oh, my dear, he
+is handsome, and I felt that I could do anything for him. I wish he had
+made love to me," sighed the romantic school-mistress; "but all he did,
+was to ask me to bring you to my cottage for an interview. So come,
+dear, come, and save the poor darling from an early grave."</p>
+
+<p>Bella needed no urging, for she was genuinely concerned over the news,
+and sped towards Marshely like a fawn, with Miss Ankers at her heels.
+Dora had no difficulty in keeping up, as she was a slim, small, dainty
+woman, more like a fairy than mere flesh and blood. In spite of her age,
+and she confessed to thirty-five, she had a pink-and-white skin, golden
+hair, and clear blue eyes. Dressed as she was, in pale blue, with many
+ribbons and ornaments, she looked like a well-arrayed doll, just out of
+a satin-lined box. But for all her innocent looks, Miss Ankers was a
+stern school-mistress, and during business hours behaved with great
+severity. Out of them, however, she presented herself to the village
+world in her true colours, as a sentimental, airy, sweet-tempered little
+creature, who was everybody's friend and nobody's enemy. Bella was
+always fond of her, but at this moment felt more attached to her than
+ever&mdash;as she had every reason to be, seeing that Miss Ankers had given
+up her snug sitting-room for a lovers' meeting, and had actually brought
+that meeting about.</p>
+
+<p>"You're my good angel, Dora," said Bella, kissing her friend, as they
+drew near the cottage, on the outskirts of Marshely.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what waste!" remonstrated Dora, opening her china-blue eyes to
+their widest. "What will Mr. Lister say to your throwing away kisses on
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella laughed, for her heart had grown unexpectedly light. She had a
+firm belief that all misunderstandings were about to be cleared up
+between her lover and herself. Also she acknowledged to herself, with
+great and thankful joy, that Cyril, in spite of her misgivings, had
+returned to her. Seeing how she had doubted and accused him, he might
+have departed for ever, and with every reason for such a course. But
+apparently he loved her so devotedly that he was willing to remain and
+explain himself. It was no wonder that Bella's heart leaped for joy,
+since the cloud, which had for so long overshadowed the sunshine of
+love, was about to be dissipated. She almost danced into Ankers' small
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister is in the sitting-room dear," said that arch-plotter,
+pushing her companion into the cottage. "You'll find him there. I have
+to go to the church to run over the evening hymns."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Huxham knew that this was a mere excuse, but loved Dora all the
+more for making it. Miss Ankers was much too romantic to mar the meeting
+by presenting herself as an inconvenient third. Therefore she turned
+away laughing, and Bella, anxious to lose no moment of joy, entered the
+small sitting-room with a bright, expectant smile. It died away at the
+sight of Lister's sombre face.</p>
+
+<p>The young man was seated in an arm-chair, with a newspaper lying on his
+knees. But he was not reading, as his eyes were fixed darkly on the door
+through which Bella had just entered. For the instant, he did not appear
+to be aware of her presence; then he rose gravely and bowed. Even in the
+midst of her dismay at this reception, Bella was woman enough to note
+how spruce, and trim, and singularly handsome he looked. Certainly his
+face was grave and pale, but beyond this she could not see the dying
+looks which Dora had so eloquently described. When they came face to
+face an embarrassing silence ensued. Bella was the first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not pleased to see me, Cyril?" she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very pleased," he returned gravely, and pushed forward a chair.
+"Will you not be seated?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not until you explain why you receive me in this way," she declared
+indignantly. "You send for me, and I come at once only to find
+displeased looks."</p>
+
+<p>"Our last interview explains my looks, Bella."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it doesn't," she cried, up in arms at once; "I admitted my fault in
+suspecting you then, and asked your pardon. You left me without a kiss,
+and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;" She stopped with an angry gesture. "It seems to me that I
+am the one who has the right to be displeased."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Lister, decidedly. "I love you very dearly, as you know;
+but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I tell that you love me dearly?"</p>
+
+<p>"My desire to meet you again shows that I do. Many a man would have left
+you for ever on learning, as I did, your cruel suspicions. You have no
+right to be displeased, as you said a moment since. I am the wronged
+person, for if you really loved me you would believe nothing against
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not; I do not."</p>
+
+<p>"But you did."</p>
+
+<p>"Only for a single moment. Oh!"&mdash;Bella uttered a cry of despair&mdash;"I am
+only a human being, and I saw you&mdash;as I thought&mdash;entering the house. I
+knew that on my account you had quarrelled with my father, so what could
+I think but that you had killed him? I don't pretend to be an angel."
+She broke off and sat down, pressing her hands hard together, then
+looked up with feigned self-control. "We discussed all this before," she
+said coldly, "did you invite me here to ask me to defend myself again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I asked you here to learn from your own lips that you believe me to
+be guiltless."</p>
+
+<p>"I do. I swear I do." Bella rose in her excitement. "And I ask your
+pardon for my wicked suspicions."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella!" He sprang forward and caught her hands within his own. "Then
+you really and truly love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you had gone away," she breathed faintly in his ear, "I should have
+died."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril drew her closely to his breast. "My darling," he whispered,
+smoothing her hair, "I love you too dearly to leave you. I ask your
+pardon for my harsh words. On the face of it, I don't see what you could
+do but suspect me. It was unreasonable for me to ask you to do
+otherwise. That you believe my mere word, in spite of the strong
+evidence against me, shows that you love me as dearly and strongly as I
+love you. So far, all that is right. We trust one another."</p>
+
+<p>"Wholly. Entirely. To the death we trust one another."</p>
+
+<p>"That is well." Cyril sat down in the arm-chair, and drew Bella on to
+his knees. "Unity is strength. With you by my side I am not afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have been afraid?" she asked softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of losing your love&mdash;yes. But now I am satisfied on that point, there
+is another thing that makes me afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may be accused of this murder. Other people may have seen me, as you
+saw me, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it <i>was</i> you?" she gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! I have explained myself. If necessary, I can put forward an
+<i>alibi</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Who was the man then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you that." Cyril pushed her away, and rose much agitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you know?" Bella stood back from him doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't be sure. I think&mdash;that is, I fancy&mdash;Bella, don't ask me
+anything just now. Later I may be able to explain."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will explain?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it be possible. Remember, I said that I <i>might</i> be able to explain,
+but of this I cannot be certain."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand," sighed the girl, seating herself again. "Cyril,
+has this matter anything to do with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"The matter of the murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I don't mean to ask if you are guilty, as I know you are not. But
+are you connected in any way with the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he rejoined promptly, "if I were, I should be an accomplice after
+the fact. All the same&mdash;&mdash;" He paused, looking paler than ever, and his
+face became peaked and haggard. "Don't ask me anything yet," he
+murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing to trust you, dear," said Bella quietly, "but, as you
+remarked yourself some time ago, other people&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted her. "Other people?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Some one else did see you on that evening."</p>
+
+<p>"The person saw my double," corrected Cyril. "I was in London, as I told
+you, and as I can prove. Who is this person?"</p>
+
+<p>"Silas Pence."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" Lister's hands clenched. "He hates me because you are to be my
+wife. He will go to the police."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," said Bella slowly. "He threatened to go, but as yet
+he has held his tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, when he hates me so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think&mdash;I think," said Bella slowly, "that Mr. Pence knows more about
+this matter than he chooses to admit."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril uttered an exclamation. "Do you suspect him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not of the murder," she replied promptly; "he is too weak and timid a
+creature to commit a crime. But I know that he was poor; now he is
+unexpectedly rich, and we are aware," she added with emphasis, "that one
+hundred pounds was stolen from my father's safe on the night of the
+murder."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely you do not connect a harmless man, like Pence, with the
+crime?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say nothing, because I know nothing, Cyril. But if Mr. Pence is
+entirely innocent, why does he not accuse you, whom he hates."</p>
+
+<p>"He has no grounds to go upon, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shook her head. "He thinks that he has," she answered, "as he
+believed it was you he saw when he met your double at the boundary
+channel. Since he would like to see you in trouble, the very fact that
+he delays telling the police shows that his own conscience is not easy."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange," assented Lister. "However, if he does accuse me, I can
+prove an <i>alibi</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"But what about your double?"</p>
+
+<p>The young man turned away abruptly to the window. "I can say nothing on
+that point at present."</p>
+
+<p>"When will you explain?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say; sooner or later." Lister, with his hands in his pockets,
+looked out of the window as though to avoid further questioning. This
+behaviour puzzled Bella, as she felt sure that Cyril could tell her much
+if inclined to do so. But it was odd that he should so decline. She
+abruptly reverted to an earlier thought in her mind. "You did not tell
+me that you had a negro servant called Durgo."</p>
+
+<p>Lister wheeled sharply. "I have no servant, negro or otherwise," he said
+in a decisive tone. "Why do you say that?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella, wondering still more, gave him details, which Cyril heard with a
+perplexed frown. He made no comment until she had finished. "You say
+that this man recognised my portrait. In that case I can guess"&mdash;he did
+not finish his sentence, but became paler than ever.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>A RECOGNITION</h3>
+
+
+<p>Bella found the interviews with Cyril eminently unsatisfactory. It was
+perfectly plain that he entertained strong suspicions regarding the
+unknown person whom she termed his double. But even when questioned
+point-blank he declined to explain himself. Yet if Lister knew of
+someone who resembled him more or less closely he surely could place his
+hand on that someone. When he did so the assassin of Captain Huxham
+would speedily be found. This being the case it was strange that Cyril
+should hesitate, and again and again Bella questioned him bluntly, only
+to find him more determined than ever to keep his own counsel. Under
+these circumstances it was useless to prolong the conversation, and the
+girl left the cottage feeling extremely despondent. It seemed to her
+that the problem would never be solved, in spite of the certainty she
+entertained that Cyril could solve it if he so wished.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did Bella feel any brighter when she returned to the Manor, for Mrs.
+Coppersley chose to take umbrage at her niece's absence. Bella declined
+to say where she had been, and dismissed the matter in a few cold words.
+Not feeling sure of her ground, Mrs. Coppersley retreated for the time
+being, but next day returned to the attack with the evident object of
+making the Manor-house too hot for the girl. Bella was strong enough to
+quell open mutiny on the part of her aunt, but she could not defend
+herself against incessant nagging. Since the death of her brother, Mrs.
+Coppersley had become as bold as hitherto she had been meek, and in many
+skilful ways contrived to make her niece feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
+As Bella had quite enough to bear without being taxed further with these
+petty worries she became restive, and on the third day of hostilities
+demanded what her aunt meant by behaving so aggressively. Mrs.
+Coppersley, better at ambushes than in open warfare, would have shirked
+the battle, but Bella forced the quarrel since it was absolutely
+necessary to bring matters to a head.</p>
+
+<p>"You never leave me alone, Aunt Rosamund," she complained wearily.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you are a drone," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "You eat, yet you
+do not work. And as St. Paul says&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish to hear what St. Paul says, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be better if you did. I have your good at heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing of the sort; you merely wish to get rid of me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Coppersley grew vividly red, but did not make any denial. "Why
+should I not?" she cried loudly. "You treat me as though I were dirt
+under your feet, miss. Who are you to behave like this, I should like to
+know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am my father's daughter," said Bella, very distinctly, "who have been
+cheated out of my inheritance."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll make you prove those words," said Mrs. Coppersley, turning from
+scarlet to white. "Go and see Mr. Timson in Cade Lane, and you will find
+everything has been done to make the will legal."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite sure of that, Aunt Rosamund, as you are too clever a woman
+to risk losing your spoil. But you have cheated me by inducing my father
+to disinherit me in your favour."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not! I did not!" Mrs. Coppersley stamped wrathfully. "Your father
+borrowed money from me to pay for the farm ten years ago. I lent it on
+condition that I inherited Bleacres. I told you this before, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That will do," interrupted Bella imperiously. "I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and learn for certain if what you have told me is correct. Meantime, as
+it is quite impossible for me to remain in the house with you, I shall
+go and stay with Dora Ankers."</p>
+
+<p>"She won't have you," taunted Mrs. Coppersley.</p>
+
+<p>"I have already arranged to live with her until I am married."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are going to marry that wastrel?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who you mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister, the man who was so hated by your father."</p>
+
+<p>"Whether I marry Mr. Lister or not is my business," said Bella, drily;
+"and so far as I can learn, my father had no reason to hate him. Do you
+know why he did so, Aunt Rosamund?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs. Coppersley reluctantly, for she would have dearly liked
+to put a spoke in Bella's wheel, as the saying is. "Jabez's life before
+he came here was not known to me. But I am quite sure that it was shady,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bella interrupted again. "Leave the dead alone. You are benefiting by my
+father's work, whatever it might have been, and have no call to abuse
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"I only got my own money back," said Mrs. Coppersley defiantly; "but if
+you leave my house you leave it for ever. I wash my hands of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite content that it should be so," said Bella icily; "but I
+can't leave my home penniless. Give me fifty pounds until such time as I
+can see Mr. Timson and learn how I stand."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" Mrs. Coppersley became shrill in her anger. "Give you money to
+bring lawsuits against me?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella looked at her very directly. "If everything is fair and square, as
+you say," she observed severely, "there is no danger of lawsuits. Come,
+Aunt Rosamund, I wish to leave Bleacres this afternoon. Give me the
+money."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" shouted the older woman, and sat down with folded arms and a
+dogged expression. "You get no money from me."</p>
+
+<p>Bella was perplexed. She could not use violence, and her aunt seemed
+very determined. For the moment she was nonplussed, and scarcely knew
+what to say. But at this moment Henry Vand entered. The conversation had
+taken place in the study, and Vand came into the room from the hall.
+Apparently he had just entered the house. In fact, he explained as much,
+and also confessed calmly that he had listened.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard your voices raised," he said quietly, "and knowing Rosamund's
+violent temper I waited, so that I might interfere on your behalf, Miss
+Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"I want no interference," said Mrs. Coppersley jealousy. "I can manage
+my own business."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be," said the young man drily, "but you seem to forget that I
+am your husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Husband!" echoed Bella amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Vand; while Mrs. Coppersley&mdash;or rather Mrs. Vand&mdash;looked
+sullenly at the floor. "We have been married for three months,
+secretly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why secretly?" asked Bella, still wondering at the news.</p>
+
+<p>"That's our business," said her aunt insolently.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Rosamund," said Vand, who was as polite as his wife was
+rude. "It is only fair that Miss Huxham should understand the position."</p>
+
+<p>"Have it your own way, then," muttered Mrs. Vand, tossing her head,
+"only make her understand that I have had enough of her airs and graces.
+She can clear out of our house as soon as she likes, and leave us to
+ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"She is willing to do that for fifty pounds," said Vand politely.</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't give her that amount."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite right, Rosamund; you will give Miss Huxham a cheque for
+one hundred pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you out of your senses?" raged his wife, starting to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want so much as that, Mr. Vand," said Bella, pleased to think
+that her new uncle by marriage was taking her part.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a mere question of justice, Miss Huxham. My wife has inherited
+the Solitary Farm, so it is only right that she should recompense you."</p>
+
+<p>"Mind," said Bella, suddenly, and thinking that this might be a bribe,
+"if I find anything wrong when I see Mr. Timson I shall bring an
+action."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so, Henry," remarked Mrs. Vand triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen the will and the lawyer," said the man quietly, "and
+everything is correct. There is no flaw. With regard to my marriage,
+Miss Huxham, I agreed to a secret ceremony since your late father was
+opposed to my courtship of your aunt. But the time has now come to
+proclaim the marriage, so I have brought my luggage here to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is why my aunt wishes me to leave the house," said Bella, with
+a curling lip.</p>
+
+<p>Vand, who was much the most self-controlled of the trio, looked at her
+very straightly. "You can come or stay as you please," he said gently.
+"I am quite willing that you should remain."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried Mrs. Vand furiously, "so you want her to remain. Perhaps you
+are in love with her; perhaps you would like to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt," interrupted Bella, blushing with annoyance, "how can you talk so
+foolishly. Mr. Vand loves you, or he would not have married you. As for
+me, I am going away to Dora's as soon as you give me the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Not one penny."</p>
+
+<p>Vand gazed steadily at the furious woman. In spite of his club foot he
+was certainly handsome, and looked as refined as his wife looked coarse.
+He must have had good blood in his veins in spite of his lowly birth,
+and, without appearing to do so, managed, on this occasion at least, to
+dominate the more animal nature. Bella neither liked nor disliked the
+cripple, but she could not help admiring the skilful way in which he
+mastered her aunt. Perhaps he magnetised her with his large blue eyes or
+the calmness of his manner may have had a soothing effect. But, whatever
+was the cause, Mrs. Vand winced under his silent gaze and lowered her
+voice, as she consented unexpectedly to do what he suggested. "I shall
+give Bella a cheque for one hundred pounds on condition that she does
+not trouble me again," she grumbled, going to the desk with an
+affectation of generosity.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to hate me so much that there is no need for me to see you any
+more," said Bella bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I warn you that if the will is not right I shall take steps to
+recover the farm, which I look upon as my property."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not your property, it is mine; and Jabez's income also," said
+Mrs. Vand, looking up from the cheque she was writing, "and if you don't
+promise to leave things alone you shan't have the money."</p>
+
+<p>"I refuse to sell my heritage for a mess of potage," cried Bella,
+impetuously.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no need that you should," interposed Vand gently. "Rosamund,
+sign the cheque."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand scowled, hesitated, but finally did as she was ordered,
+throwing it on the floor afterwards in silent fury. Her husband picked
+it up and handed it, with a bow, to Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"There you are, Miss Huxham," he said with marked courtesy. "I hope you
+will be happy at Miss Ankers'. So far as I am aware, everything has been
+left to my wife, but later I shall endeavour to make some arrangement
+with Rosamund by which you will be benefited. And I beg of you not to
+leave this house in anger."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall make no arrangement, now or hereafter," cried Mrs. Vand. "Bella
+has received all that she will receive. For my part, I'm glad to see the
+back of her," and with a red face and a scornful look she flounced out
+of the room, much to the girl's relief.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder why my aunt hates me so?" she asked Vand with a piteous look.
+"I have never done her any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"She only gives way to her temper, Miss Huxham," said the cripple
+soothingly, "and doesn't mean half she says. Don't trouble any more
+about Rosamund. I am your friend. You will shake hands, will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella did not hesitate to take the hand extended to her, as she admitted
+silently that if Vand had not interposed she would not have received the
+money. Besides, her new relative throughout had proved himself to be so
+courteous and thoughtful that she had no reason to mistrust him.
+Howsoever Mrs. Vand had become possessed of the farm and income of the
+late Captain Huxham, her husband was at least innocent. "But I do not
+bind myself to take no steps if necessary to recover Bleacres," Bella
+warned the young man, as she shook his hand. "You understand that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly; and indeed, if Rosamund has come wrongfully by the estate
+she must surrender it. Still, Miss Huxham, you cannot expect me to doubt
+my own wife, especially as Rosamund has been good enough to marry a
+cripple such as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"I think, without flattery to you," said Bella, walking towards the
+door, "that my aunt has got the best of the bargain," and the last thing
+she saw when throwing a glance over her shoulder was Vand blushing
+crimson at the unusual compliment. But Bella meant what she said, as
+even ease and wealth were hardly purchased by marriage with a furious,
+coarse-natured woman such as Rosamund Vand. The girl wondered how she
+had ever come to have such an aunt; she might have wondered also how she
+ever came to have a parent so common and ruffianly as her late father
+had been.</p>
+
+<p>That same afternoon Bella packed all her belongings and had them carried
+by Tunks to the hither side of the boundary channel. There they were
+placed on a hand-cart and wheeled to Miss Ankers' cottage. Mrs. Vand
+discreetly kept out of the way when Bella departed, or perhaps her
+husband insisted that she should not drive forth the girl with insults,
+as she certainly would have done. At all events she remained invisible,
+and it was Vand alone who said good-bye to the homeless girl. Bella felt
+a pang when she looked back along the narrow path of the corn-fields to
+see a stranger standing in the doorway. She was certain of one
+thing&mdash;that Mrs. Vand had found a master, and that for all his quietness
+and polite ways her husband would not allow her to have her own way as
+she had hitherto done. Doubtless her aunt had deemed Vand would be as
+harmless and innocuous as the scarlet-coated scarecrow, of which Bella
+caught a last glimpse; but there was no doubt in the girl's mind as to
+which of the happy pair would rule the house. Mrs. Vand's coarse
+bullying could do very little against the quiet persistence of a polite
+man, who was determined to govern. So far as Bella knew from Huxham, her
+aunt had ruled her first husband with a rod of iron; now she was about
+to be governed in her turn. "And much good may it do her," thought
+Bella, who was much too human to be forgiving.</p>
+
+<p>Dora was delighted that her best friend should board with her, and
+received Miss Huxham with open arms. After tea, the two arranged Bella's
+bedroom to their satisfaction and unpacked her boxes. Then they had a
+talk as to the advisability of going to Cade Lane for the purpose of
+questioning Mr. Timson regarding the will. "You should attend to the
+matter at once, my dear," said Dora, who was extremely practical for all
+her doll-like looks. "Lose no time, for I am certain that your aunt has
+employed some trickery in getting possession of the property."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall consult Cyril first," said Bella wearily, and little more was
+said on that night, as the girl was quite worn out with the events of
+the day.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning Miss Ankers had to teach in school as usual, and Bella was
+left to her own devices. She assisted Dora's small servant to tidy the
+rooms and make the beds, after which she put on her hat and walked into
+the village to make some small purchases. Also&mdash;and this was by Dora's
+advice&mdash;she saw the manager of the small local bank, and opened an
+account with him by paying in her aunt's cheque for one hundred pounds.
+The manager courteously promised to send the cheque to London, and to
+notify Bella when it was honoured. Miss Huxham was somewhat relieved at
+this promise, as she did not trust her aunt, and knew that she was quite
+capable of stopping the cheque, especially when she had not given it
+with a good grace. But Bella need not have troubled her head; the cheque
+was duly honoured, as Mr. Henry Vand saw to that.</p>
+
+<p>Having dispatched her business, Bella strolled out of the village, and
+found herself on the common. This was a vast expanse overgrown with
+gorse and broom, and with a miniature forest of saplings springing from
+an undergrowth of fern and bracken. Through this fairy wood, as some
+people called it, narrow paths were cut, so that one could wander for
+hours in and out of a kind of natural labyrinth. The saplings were
+scarcely six feet in height, so that an extra tall man could look over
+the green sea of vegetation. Bella loved this place, as she had often
+sauntered therein with Dora, and indeed with Cyril also. The wonderful
+tangle of fern and bracken and many-hued grasses, the brilliant
+colouring of flowers, and the fecund blossoming of the golden broom,
+made the common a home of delight. Bella walked meditatively through the
+cool green paths, and emerged at intervals on to wide, waste spaces
+where the purple heather grew thickly. Butterflies floated through the
+still air, bumble-bees visited the flowers, and the birds sang as in an
+enchanted garden. Bella stopped to hear the silvery carol of an
+invisible lark, for the bird, raining its music lavishly from the sky,
+was quite hidden by the dazzle of sunshine. As she paused, she felt a
+light hand touch her shoulder, and turned with a glad cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cyril, how you startled me!" she said, pleased with the unexpected
+encounter. "I am so glad to see you, dear. Have you heard&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Lister threw himself contentedly on the fragrant heather, and drew Bella
+down by his side. "I have heard, and I am very angry," he said hotly.
+"Dear, what does your aunt mean by treating you in this way?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I expect she wants the Manor to herself
+now that she is married. Who told you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ankers. I met her coming out of school. She told me that you were
+returning to dinner, so I came to fetch you. I guessed that I should
+find you here, and so&mdash;&mdash;" he waved his hand lazily.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you," said Bella again, "but you look ill, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "I am worried about this mysterious double
+of mine," he muttered, and lying full length on the burnt grass he
+tilted his hat over his eyes. He did indeed look ill, for his face was
+very pale and lines appeared on his forehead which should not have been
+there at his age. In some extraordinary way he seemed to have aged, as
+it were, in a moment. "I am very much worried," he sighed; "everything
+is going wrong. Now this abominable treatment to which your aunt has
+subjected you to makes things doubly difficult for me."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" asked Bella, sitting up and hugging her knees.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how to move," explained the young man. "While you were
+safe at Bleacres with your aunt I could wait. But now that you have no
+home, I should like to marry you at once." He sighed again. "But that is
+impossible, dear, owing to circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not trouble about me," said Bella promptly. "I have got one
+hundred pounds, and I am quite glad to be away from Aunt Rosamund's
+incessant nagging. I can live with Dora and pay my way until such time
+as you can marry me."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven only knows when I can marry you!" groaned Cyril dismally.</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you," said Bella, removing the hat from his anxious face in
+order to look into his eyes; "as soon as you are frank with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to be frank with you," said Lister reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like it."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear"&mdash;he sat up to speak more forcibly&mdash;"when I am frank you will
+be as unhappy as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mean? I scarcely know what I mean&mdash;that is, I scarcely dare put my
+thoughts into words. Of course, I may be wrong. I sincerely trust that I
+am wrong. All the same, there is no denying that I have grave grounds
+for my belief."</p>
+
+<p>"What belief?" Bella asked the question in scared tones, as Cyril looked
+so wretched.</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply at once, but moved restlessly about, evidently bracing
+himself to speak plainly. Even when he did open his mouth he was
+evasive. "I have an idea that my double&mdash;that is, the man who was
+mistaken by you and Pence for me on that night&mdash;might be&mdash;oh!"&mdash;he
+rested his head between his hands with a groan&mdash;"I dare not tell you who
+he might be."</p>
+
+<p>"You have some idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I wish I hadn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it anyone I know?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear! don't ask questions which I dare not answer."</p>
+
+<p>"You must answer," said Bella firmly. "I must share your griefs as well
+as sorrows. Tell me everything. Go on, Cyril, tell me quickly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" Lister started to his feet with an alarmed look. "What's that? I
+swear that I heard a rustling in the underwood. Someone is listening."
+He glanced around anxiously, looking pale and nervous. Bella rose at the
+same time and caught his hand to give him courage, although she could
+not understand what he meant by his words and looks.</p>
+
+<p>But the two had not to wait long. A distant crackling was heard, and in
+a moment or so a tall bulky man stepped from out the underwood.</p>
+
+<p>"Durgo!" breathed Bella, recognising the negro.</p>
+
+<p>He ran towards Cyril and dropped on his knees. "My master!" he cried;
+then leaped up. "You are not Edwin Lister," he growled with widely open
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"My father! my father!" groaned Cyril in despair. "I knew it; I was
+certain of it. Now I know the worst," and he sat down to hide his face.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>CYRIL'S STORY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Bella looked from the astonished Durgo to the despairing Lister, and
+wondered what the scene meant. That the matter at issue was serious
+Cyril's demeanour gave her fully to understand. But what the matter
+might be she could not guess, save that it had something to do with this
+mysterious double who had caused all the commotion. The negro appeared
+to be as puzzled as herself, and stared at the seated figure with an
+open mouth, scratching his woolly head meanwhile.</p>
+
+<p>"Not my master, but like my master," he muttered, staring hard, and
+speaking in his usual guttural manner but not in the usual negro
+dialect, so rude and clipped. "If you're not my master, Edwin Lister,"
+he added, addressing himself to the young man, "who are you, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Answer him, Cyril," said Bella, seeing that her lover did not speak.
+"Did you ever see this man before?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister looked up, pale and hollow-eyed. "Never," he said briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever meet Mr. Lister before?" Bella asked the negro.</p>
+
+<p>"Lister! Lister!" gasped Durgo, retreating a step. "Is this young
+gentleman called Lister?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril Lister," said that young man.</p>
+
+<p>"But my master had no son."</p>
+
+<p>"I am his son. Edwin Lister is my father."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" A sudden light broke over Bella's face, and she clapped her hands.
+"And your double?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Cyril in low tones; "now you can guess how afraid I was to
+lay my suspicions before you."</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said boldly. "Why you should be afraid I cannot guess."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril rose slowly, laid two heavy hands on her shoulders and looked
+directly into her eyes. "My dear," he said in a hard voice, "can you not
+understand that this double was my father, who resembled me so closely
+that this man"&mdash;he jerked back his head towards the still staring
+negro&mdash;"mistook me for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Bella, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," repeated Lister, impatiently, "You thought that I had committed
+the murder, but now that you know the truth&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bella shook herself free and grew pale. "It was your father who struck
+the blow!" she said in a low, horrified tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And if my father killed your father, how can we marry?"</p>
+
+<p>There was a dead silence, and the unfortunate lovers looked at one
+another with white faces. If Cyril's surmise was true, a barrier had
+indeed been placed between them, and for the moment they saw no chance
+of over-leaping it. Quite oblivious of Durgo, they stared until the
+black man grew impatient of the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" he growled, looking from one to the other. "I
+come to find my master, Edwin Lister, and he is not here. But I find one
+who calls himself the son of my master, Edwin Lister." He peered into
+Cyril's face. "My master never told me that he had a son, and yet"&mdash;he
+looked again&mdash;"I believe that you are my master's son."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I so like my father, then?" asked Cyril smiling faintly.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo struck his huge hands together. "The same in every way," he said
+firmly; "figure and face and colour and walk. Even the clothes"&mdash;he ran
+his eyes over Cyril's grey suit&mdash;"yes, even the clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" It was Bella who spoke. "Cyril, do you remember that the grey
+clothes worn by your father on that night aided me to make a mistake?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister nodded. "That was a suit of mine," he said, "made for me. When my
+father came home from Nigeria he had no ready-made clothes, so he
+borrowed that suit until he could get fitted out in civilised garments.
+Well?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril addressed this last question to Durgo, who had started violently
+when Nigeria was mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Nigerian," he said in reply to the inquiry. "I was with your
+father at Ogrude, on the Cross River, for years. I came with him to
+London three months ago; but my master never said that he had a son."</p>
+
+<p>"He had his reasons for keeping silence, no doubt," said Cyril quietly;
+"but I never saw you, Durgo, nor did I hear my father mention you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you know my name," said the man suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Only because Miss Huxham mentioned it when you appeared just now."</p>
+
+<p>"And I mentioned it to you before," Bella reminded him. "I told you how
+Durgo entered the Bleacres drawing-room and took your photograph, frame
+and all, from his pocket, and handed it to the girl."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that it was one of my master, Edwin Lister, taken when he was
+younger," he said simply, "but I see&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes!" broke in Cyril impatiently. "I know what you see. I am a
+younger edition of my father."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes! yes!" cried Durgo, staring again. "Never did I see two so
+alike."</p>
+
+<p>Bella glanced at the photograph and slipped it into her pocket. Her face
+was pearly white, and she dreaded the full explanation of what was to
+come. "We are still perplexed," she said quietly, and controlling
+herself with great difficulty. "You know nothing of Durgo, and he knows
+nothing of you. I think it will be best for us to sit down and discuss
+the matter quietly."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you," said Cyril, dropping down promptly. "Durgo, tell
+your story and then I shall tell mine. When we each know what the other
+knows, we may be able to arrive at some conclusion."</p>
+
+<p>"Regarding the murder," said Bella. "Perhaps," she added hopefully,
+"perhaps your father did not kill mine after all."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear he did," said Cyril heavily. "Remember what was said at the
+inquest about the West African knife with which the crime was committed.
+Nigeria is in West Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"My master had no knife of that sort," said Durgo bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a description of the knife," asked Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"I read it in the newspapers," said the negro. "When you told me of your
+father's death, I read the papers."</p>
+
+<p>"You can read."</p>
+
+<p>"I can read and write and do many things," said Durgo quietly. "I have a
+black skin, but my education has not been neglected."</p>
+
+<p>"So I should think from the way in which you speak English."</p>
+
+<p>"The missionaries taught me much, and Edwin Lister taught me the rest."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril frowned. "I notice that you do not say 'Mister' when you speak of
+my father," he said pointedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a chief and the son of a chief," said Durgo proudly. "And for love
+of your father, who saved my life, I left my tribe and came with him. I
+called him master as a title of honour because I loved him, so why
+should I not say Edwin Lister?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril, with the white man's inborn superiority, objected to this
+familiarity, and, but that Durgo's services were necessary to the
+unravelling of the mystery, would have pointed this out. As it was, he
+simply nodded and asked the black man to be more explicit. Durgo sat
+down and complied without any argument. His manners for a negro were
+singularly good.</p>
+
+<p>"There is not much to tell," he said in his guttural tones. "Edwin
+Lister was my friend and a trader in Nigeria, my country. He saved my
+life from a lion and won my gratitude. I helped him with his trading and
+left my tribe to do so. We heard of a treasure in the wilds of my
+country, and wished to fit out an expedition to find that treasure.
+Edwin Lister did, that is, and I was glad to do as he desired. But we
+required money, and it could not be had. Edwin Lister then thought of an
+old friend of his, Captain Huxham, who had also been in Nigeria&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My father!" cried Bella, startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, missy," said Durgo, bending his head towards her with grave
+respect. "He was well known in Nigeria many years ago, as he had a river
+steamer there. Edwin Lister then came to London with me, and afterwards
+came to see Captain Huxham here. That was some weeks ago, and he
+promised me to return. As he did not, I came down and then heard of the
+murder of Captain Huxham. But where is my master, Edwin Lister?" and
+Durgo looked from one to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you not seen him since?" asked Cyril anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"No." Durgo shook his head profoundly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think has become of him?" asked Cyril, still white.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo reflected. "I think," he said gravely, "that Edwin Lister killed
+Captain Huxham and ran away. Soon he will write to me and I can join
+him. Then we can return to Nigeria and hunt for the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should Mr. Lister kill my father?" asked Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"He wanted money," said Durgo simply. "If Captain Huxham would not give
+the money, Edwin Lister would kill him. It is quite simple. But I wish,"
+added the negro wisely, "that my master had let me kill Captain Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you have done so?" cried Bella, horrified.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo looked up in surprise. "Oh, yes, if Edwin Lister had wished it."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril and the girl looked at one another. Durgo was still a savage, in
+spite of the veneer of education and civilisation, which the
+missionaries had given him. He would have killed Huxham as easily as he
+would have killed a fly. Perhaps also Edwin Lister had become
+de-civilised, and had acted in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>"But what has become of my father?" asked Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know?" inquired Durgo politely.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shook his head. "I do not know," he said gloomily, "unless, as you
+say, he murdered Huxham to get money, and then ran away into hiding. He
+may be on the Continent&mdash;in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, I shall hear from him soon," said Durgo, rising. "When I
+do, I shall let you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Come back," said Cyril, in an even tone, as Durgo was about to stalk
+away, "it is necessary for me to have your assistance."</p>
+
+<p>"In what?" asked Durgo, looking over his huge shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"In finding my father."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he is in Paris, I can go there."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the money?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have plenty of money," said the negro with gravity. "I have my own
+money, so it is easy for me to search for my master."</p>
+
+<p>"He may not be in Paris," said Cyril hastily; "that is only a guess on
+my part. Before searching for him over there, it will be best for you to
+assist me in looking for him in this district. He may be in hiding."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo pondered, then returned to lie full-length on the grass. "I think
+that my master would have run further away after killing Captain
+Huxham," he said reflectively; "he is very cunning, is Edwin Lister.
+And, of course, he would have the money."</p>
+
+<p>"What money?" asked Bella impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"The money for which he killed Captain Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"The sum stolen was only worth a trifle: one hundred pounds is the
+amount."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Durgo opened his eyes. "And my master wanted five thousand. It is
+a very difficult expedition right into the centre of Nigeria, and one
+hundred pounds is of no use. I could have lent that amount to Edwin
+Lister myself. Hai!"&mdash;he nursed his chin in his hand&mdash;"what you say,
+missy, makes me think that my master is waiting here to get the money
+for which he killed Captain Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"My aunt, Mrs. Rosamund Vand, has both the money and the estate."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Edwin Lister will wait and see her," said Durgo gravely. "I must
+learn where he is hiding," and he half rose again.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril put out one slim hand to prevent him. "Wait for one moment," he
+said quietly, "you must hear what I have to say, and then we can arrange
+what to do. Durgo, you loved my father?"</p>
+
+<p>The negro nodded. "I would rather lose my life than see him dead."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked at him curiously. "Strange! I did not think that my father
+was a man to inspire such devotion."</p>
+
+<p>"He saved my life," said Durgo impressively.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" murmured Cyril under his breath. "I'll be bound if he did so,
+that he took back the full value of his heroic act."</p>
+
+<p>Bella looked pained. "Cyril, why do you speak in that tone of your
+father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I know him better than Durgo," he retorted. "My father is
+a&mdash;but that is neither here nor there"&mdash;he waved his hand impatiently.
+"Durgo, I am about to speak plainly. I see that you love my father, so I
+don't wish to hurt your feelings. All the same, I must tell you
+something about my father which you will not like."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me hear," said Durgo frowning, "and I can judge. But you are his
+son&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore should speak well of him," ended Cyril bitterly. "I wish
+I could, but I have suffered too much at my father's hands to have any
+love for him. However, I shall be as brief as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"And as kind," said Durgo meaningly.</p>
+
+<p>"And as kind as I can be," retorted the young man cynically; "although my
+father will be the first to laugh at the idea of my talking kindly of
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"He loves you," said the negro rebukingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he ever tell you that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. He never mentioned your existence."</p>
+
+<p>"Judge then how he loves me," said Cyril coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"However, in spite of all, Edwin Lister is my father, so I shall speak
+as respectfully of him as I possibly can." He threw away a blade of
+grass he was chewing, and laughed ironically. Bella looked pained.</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril! your own father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, dear. He is my father. I can say no more, and no less. As to
+what I know relative to this mystery, you shall hear."</p>
+
+<p>The sky had clouded over, and the sun no longer shone. The lark was
+silent, and a chill wind seemed to breathe over the golden broom and the
+yellow blossoms of the gorze. Bella shivered, as the change of
+temperature seemed to suit with cruel exactitude the cynical tones of
+her lover. She had never heard him talk in this way before, but then she
+knew very little about him, and absolutely nothing of his past life. Now
+she was about to hear it, and, from the hard expression of his face, she
+judged that the story he had to tell was not a pleasant one. As for
+Durgo, he waited silently, and nothing could be read of his feelings
+from the dark mask of his face. Edwin Lister had saved his life, and no
+matter what was said, Durgo did not intend to change his opinion of his
+master, as the finest man in the wide world.</p>
+
+<p>"My mother died when I was young," said Cyril, after a pause, "and I was
+brought up by a maiden aunt. My father I rarely saw, as he was always
+travelling round the world in search of a fortune which he never seemed
+to find. Sometimes he returned to England, and treated me with careless
+affection, but I saw very little of him. But for my aunt I should have
+been utterly neglected. Bless her! she is dead," and he raised his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Cyril!" murmured Bella affected by this picture of a dull
+childhood.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear!" he said, taking her hand. "My aunt did everything for
+me out of her small income, and I don't think my father gave one penny
+towards my education."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear!" said Cyril, interrupting her; "my aunt told me, on her
+death-bed, that she had done everything, so you can see that my father
+was only one to me in name."</p>
+
+<p>"He was working to make your fortune in Nigeria," said Durgo quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"So he said when he came home, but I have not seen that fortune yet.
+Well, to continue; my aunt sent me to a public school, and afterwards to
+Oxford. I then became a journalist, and my aunt died, leaving me a
+trifle of money on which to live. My father came to London and borrowed
+that money&mdash;the principal of my small income&mdash;for one of his wild
+schemes, and I was left without one penny."</p>
+
+<p>"It was your duty to assist your father," said Durgo uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,'" quoted Cyril, with a side
+glance&mdash;"the missionaries have taught you well, Durgo."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Christian," said the negro proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"So am I, in a way. However, I must get on with my confession. I saw my
+father at various intervals, and meanwhile earned my bread by reporting
+and writing articles, and all the rest of it. My father appeared at
+intervals, like the rolling stone which gathers no moss, and always
+borrowed. I did not grudge him the money, and he always said that he was
+about to make his fortune, which he never did."</p>
+
+<p>"He will make it this time," said Durgo vigorously; "the treasure is
+certainly hidden in the Hinterland of Nigeria, and when we reach it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, when!" scoffed Cyril. "I don't believe in my father's schemes, I
+tell you. The last time he came home was five months ago."</p>
+
+<p>"With me," said Durgo gravely; "but I remained near the docks, and my
+master, Edwin Lister, went to the grand part of the town, coming down to
+see me when he required my services."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril nodded. "That sounds like my father," he said, with a shrug;
+"however, on this occasion he told me that he intended to hunt for
+buried treasure in Nigeria, and wanted money. He did not mention Captain
+Huxham, so I expect that he intended to keep that part of his business
+secret. But"&mdash;Cyril hesitated&mdash;"well, my father&mdash;that is, he&mdash;he&mdash;never
+mind," he broke off abruptly, "I can't tell you just now. But he wanted
+the sum of one thousand pounds, which I tried to get for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cyril! was that the money you mentioned?" asked Bella in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The sum for which you thought I had killed your father," said
+Cyril, nodding; then seeing that she looked pained, he hastily added,
+"Never mind, dear, that is all over, and we understand one another
+thoroughly. I went to Paris, as you know, to get the money. When I
+returned I heard of the murder, and when I called at my father's
+lodgings in the West End could learn nothing of his whereabouts. When
+you mentioned the double, Bella, it was forced on my mind that my father
+must have been that person. But, as I could see no connection between my
+father and Captain Huxham, I refused to believe this. However, from what
+Durgo says, there seems to be no doubt but that my father did come by
+stealth to the Manor on that night, with the idea of getting the loan of
+money. Perhaps he and Captain Huxham quarreled, but it seems clear that
+my father did commit the murder with that sacrificial knife, since it
+came, as he did, from Nigeria."</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw that knife," said Durgo abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not see many things," said Cyril, rising, for he felt somewhat
+cramped. "My father was probably as secretive with you as he was with
+me. You are well educated, Durgo, and have your wits about you. Ask
+yourself if it is possible for two men to have come, on this particular
+occasion, from Nigeria, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Two did come," interrupted the negro&mdash;"myself and my master."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so; but if you are innocent, my father must be guilty."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his great shoulders. "For myself I think very little of
+killing anyone," said he gruffly, "but you white men think differently,
+so you should not believe your father guilty, unless&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hand and grew pale. "Do you not think that I
+would give the world to believe him innocent? I love Miss Huxham, and
+this murder by my father places a barrier between us. If you knew
+all"&mdash;here Cyril broke off hastily, as he remembered that he was
+speaking to a black man. Already he regretted that he had said so much,
+but he had been carried away by the tide of his emotion. "The matter
+stands like this," he said, abruptly changing the subject. "My father
+has killed Captain Huxham, and has disappeared with one hundred pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought that Mr. Pence&mdash;&mdash;" began Bella, only to be interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"He is innocent," said Cyril hastily. "On the face of it, he is
+innocent. I go by the evidence of the knife from Nigeria, where Pence
+has never been, and by the fact that you saw my father, whom you mistook
+for me, enter the Manor about the time the crime was committed."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say you are right," said Bella vaguely, and regretted that she
+had so hastily condemned the preacher. After all, the truth of the
+legacy left by his aunt was not a fiction. "But what will you do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I ask the same question," remarked Durgo, sharply. "We are no nearer
+the truth than we have been."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked in astonishment at the negro who spoke such excellent
+English, and so much to the point. Durgo, undoubtedly, in intellect was
+equal to, if not superior to, many Englishmen, and Lister saw in him a
+helpful coadjutor in solving the mystery. "We must work together to
+learn the whereabouts of my father," he said wearily, passing his hand
+across his forehead. "It will be necessary to get him out of the
+country, if what we believe is correct. But it may be, that my father
+has crossed the Channel."</p>
+
+<p>"If that is so, he will write to me," commented the negro; he paused,
+and then asked abruptly, "If you learn that your father is guilty?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do my best to get him away from England. Why do you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo turned away, after a piercing glance. "I thought, from what you
+hinted, that you would not be sorry to see your father hanged."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk rubbish, man," said Lister sharply. "My father is my father,
+when all is said and done. I only trust that we are mistaken, and that
+he is not guilty of this brutal crime."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his massive shoulders. "As to that, I care very little.
+From what I have heard of Captain Huxham in my own country, he was not a
+good man. He is better out of the world than in it."</p>
+
+<p>Bella grew crimson. "You speak of my father," she said angrily.</p>
+
+<p>The man bowed politely. "I ask your pardon, missy!" Then he turned to
+Cyril ceremoniously. "I am stopping at 'The Chequers Inn,' at Marshely,"
+he informed him; "so if you will call there we can speak about this
+matter. Women should have nothing to do with such affairs. They are for
+men."</p>
+
+<p>Lister frowned, as he did not approve of the superior way in which the
+negro talked. However, Durgo gave him no chance of making a remark, but
+swung off with a noiseless jungle step. Cyril watched him pass out of
+sight, and confessed that the man puzzled him. In spite of his barbaric
+origin and black skin and rough dress, Durgo spoke and acted like a
+gentleman, though he certainly had been somewhat rude regarding the
+feminine sex. "Yet I like him," commented Cyril half to himself; "he
+seems to be a square chap, and to have brains. He is not the usual
+Christy minstrel of Africa. Humph! After all, I dare say that if you
+scratched him you would find the savage. His devotion to my father does
+him credit. I wonder"&mdash;here he was interrupted by a low sob at his
+elbow, and turned to find Bella in tears. "My dearest, what is the
+matter?" he asked in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you ask?" she moaned despairingly. "If what you think is true, we
+must part for ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't look at the worst, but hope for the best," he entreated; "we
+can't be sure that my father is guilty!"</p>
+
+<p>"You contradict yourself," she said, wiping her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could; I am trying to think that my father is innocent. But I
+do not know. My father has been my evil genius all my life."</p>
+
+<p>A thought occurred to Bella. "Why did your father require one thousand
+pounds?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked at her sideways. "I did not like to speak out before
+Durgo," he said hesitatingly, "but the fact is, my father forged a
+cheque for that sum."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>MRS. TUNKS' DISCOVERY</h3>
+
+
+<p>So far it appeared extremely probable that Edwin Lister was the assassin
+of Captain Huxham. From the evidence of her own eyes, Bella knew that
+Cyril's father had called to see the old sailor, and that she had not
+seen him depart was owing to the fact of the drugging. By putting
+laudanum in the girl's tea Huxham had precipitated his own death, since
+Bella, with her wits about her, might have made a third at the
+interview, and so the blow would not have been struck. Neither Bella nor
+Cyril thought that Edwin Lister had come to the Manor intending to
+murder Huxham, although it certainly seemed strange that the former
+should have carried with him the Nigerian knife with which the crime had
+been committed. But howsoever this particular point might be explained,
+it was probable that the tragedy was the outcome of a sudden quarrel.</p>
+
+<p>Edwin Lister had profited but little by his crime, since the sum of one
+hundred pounds was all that he had been able to find in the safe.
+Certainly many papers had been carried away, but there was nothing to
+show that these were of value, save the fact that they had been thieved.
+If Edwin Lister could only be found, an explanation might be
+forthcoming; but he seemed to have vanished completely. It was not
+improbable that he had walked to Tarhaven, some miles away, to escape on
+a steamer to the Continent; but if this was the case it was strange that
+he had not communicated with his savage friend. Durgo was a man upon
+whom Edwin Lister could rely entirely, setting aside the fact that Durgo
+was needed to guide the expedition into the Hinterland of Nigeria, where
+the treasure was concealed. It was now some weeks since the death and
+burial of the skipper, but as yet Edwin Lister had given no sign of his
+existence. And until he did so, there was no chance of solving the
+mystery.</p>
+
+<p>True to his promise, Cyril called at "The Chequers Inn" to see Durgo,
+and found that the negro was looked upon as a royal guest. The lean
+landlady believed him to be an African prince, on a secret mission to
+England concerning the missionary question. She was right in one way,
+for Durgo undoubtedly was a chief, and the son of a chief; but it was
+questionable if he was the friend of the missionaries. However&mdash;as Cyril
+found&mdash;he made this excuse for his presence in Marshely, and Mrs. Giles,
+the landlady, a red-hot fanatic, was delighted that her house should be
+so honoured. Also Durgo paid largely for the sitting-room and bedroom
+which he occupied.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril was amazed when he called one evening, to see this same
+sitting-room, as he saw evidence of great luxury in the articles brought
+by the negro to decorate the somewhat bare apartment. The furniture of
+the parlour&mdash;as Mrs. Giles called it&mdash;was plain and cheap, but there
+were evidences that it was occupied by a wealthy guest. Indian
+coverlets, gorgeously embroidered, adorned the chairs; there were
+splendid wild-beast skins on the floor, and on the side-tables appeared
+several silver vases rudely but skilfully wrought. Cyril noted a bronze
+incense-burner in which pastilles smouldered, several small golden
+images of ugly tribal gods, some beautifully-made spears and war-clubs,
+brightly-hued feathers, curious shells, and photographs of native towns
+and their inhabitants. Why Durgo should travel with such a collection of
+rubbish was not clear; but probably he did so, that he might be
+surrounded by memorials of his sunny country in the land of fogs and
+greyness.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo himself was a surprise, as he received Cyril in a well-made
+smoking suit, and, quite in the conventional manner, offered him
+cigarettes of a good brand and the orthodox whiskey and soda. "Or
+champagne if you prefer it," said Durgo, laying his black hand on the
+old-fashioned bell-rope.</p>
+
+<p>"Coffee for me," said Lister, throwing himself into a comfortable
+arm-chair, and accepting a cigarette. "Do you know, Durgo, that you are
+something of a puzzle to me?"</p>
+
+<p>The negro rang the bell, gave an order for coffee to Mrs. Giles, who
+entered, and when she had retired turned to his guest. "How so?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Your very good English, the adornments of this room, your present
+dress&mdash;I did not look for such things in a&mdash;a&mdash;&mdash;" Cyril hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"In an African negro," finished Durgo, sitting down, with a grave smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes. People of your colour," added Cyril, with the covert
+insolence of the white towards the black, "don't usually&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo raised one large hand. "I know: don't proceed," he said with
+suppressed anger; "you think we are barbarians."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are, as a rule."</p>
+
+<p>"I am the exception to this rule." Durgo paused, and his eyes wandered
+to some photographs over the mantel-piece. "I told you that the
+missionaries educated me," he continued, "but if you look at those
+photographs, you might learn who was my real Alma Mater."</p>
+
+<p>"Alma Mater," repeated Cyril, rising to approach the mantel-piece; "why,
+these are University photographs."</p>
+
+<p>"Oxford. I was at Oxford some years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"You?" Cyril looked at the groups of boating-men, cricketers, football
+players, and wondered. He wondered still more at a portrait of Durgo in
+a Master of Arts gown. "You!" said Cyril, completely surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why not? My father was a great chief&mdash;a king, as you might say.
+But it was Edwin Lister who first fired my ambition to learn the lore of
+the white men, so that I might civilise my tribe. He induced my father
+to give me much money, and took me to England himself many years ago. I
+was at school, and at Oxford until I took my degree. Then I returned to
+my tribe in Nigeria&mdash;in Southern Nigeria&mdash;and as my father was dead I
+attempted to teach my countrymen and subjects what I had learned. Your
+father helped me, and it was then that he saved my life when a lion
+attacked me. I could do nothing, however," continued the negro bitterly,
+"as my countrymen were too much under the sway of the fetish priests.
+These raised an outcry against me, and nominating a cousin of mine as
+chief, drove me and your father away. We only escaped death by an
+accident, but I managed to bring some treasure with me, and came with
+your father to England."</p>
+
+<p>"And now I suppose you want to find this treasure you spoke of, and
+regain your chiefdom," said Cyril, interested in this strange story.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo fingered a cigarette carefully, and lighted the same. "There is no
+treasure," he remarked quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"But you said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know I did, when Miss Huxham was present. Women, as I say, should
+know nothing or hear nothing of these things. To you I speak plainly, as
+you are the son of my master, and so are entitled to my regard and
+trust. I came here with your father," added Durgo slowly, "to get money
+from Huxham, so that we both might buy guns and swords and rifles, to
+re-conquer my tribe."</p>
+
+<p>"But the British Government?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so. The Government would not approve, so for that reason I
+remained in rough clothes, in rough lodgings, near the docks; while
+Edwin Lister went to live in the West End. He interested several
+adventurous spirits in our proposed expedition, but money was sadly
+needed, and I had not enough. Thus your father came down to see Captain
+Huxham, and get that which was required. Captain Huxham, whom your
+father had met in Nigeria, owed my father a lot of money, which he did
+not pay. I was only employing Edwin Lister to get back my own."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. But how did my father learn the whereabouts of Captain Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> told him," was the negro's unexpected reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I told him! I don't recollect&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not, as you spoke hurriedly. But don't you remember that when
+your father one day asked you for money, you said that you wished to
+save all you could, as you desired to marry Miss Huxham. Your father
+questioned you, and learned that she was the daughter of an old sailor.
+It was therefore easy for him to guess that he had found the man for
+whom he was seeking."</p>
+
+<p>"But I did not tell my father where Captain Huxham lived."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo waved his hand, as Mrs. Giles brought in the coffee. "That was
+easy," he remarked, when she left the room, "you were followed here by
+your father. But now that you understand the position, will you work
+with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will work with you to learn the truth about this murder."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," said Durgo shrewdly, "so that you may prove Edwin
+Lister's innocence."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Cyril, accepting the cup of black coffee which his host
+passed to him. "I am hoping to see my father and to learn that he did
+not kill Captain Huxham. If he did, there is no chance of happiness for
+me, as I cannot then marry Miss Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo stirred his coffee calmly. "No, that is true. I am sorry for you.
+But if such is the case, and your marriage is an impossibility, why not
+come with us on our expedition to the Hinterland of Nigeria? If I win
+back my chiefdom, I can do much for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to go with my father," said Cyril, turning pale,
+"especially if he has&mdash;as I suspect&mdash;spoiled my life's happiness. If he
+is innocent, I can then marry Miss Huxham, and will stay at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so. I understand. But my offer is always open to you, if you
+choose to take it. Meanwhile, the first thing to do is to learn what
+Edwin Lister took away with him."</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and some papers. I wish to learn what those papers are, as Captain
+Huxham may have made a memorandum of the property he possessed. There
+may be other papers which may cast light on those which were stolen."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't understand," said Cyril perplexed. "Whatever property
+Captain Huxham possessed went to his sister, now Mrs. Henry Vand."</p>
+
+<p>"The English property," said Durgo with emphasis; then seeing that his
+guest was still puzzled, he laughed in his guttural way. "Never mind. I
+have an idea which may or may not turn out to be correct. I shall know
+when Mrs. Tunks comes here this evening, and then I can explain myself
+fully."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Tunks&mdash;Granny Tunks! What has she to do with the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo smiled in his slow way. "My friend, I have not been idle while in
+Marshley looking for my master Edwin Lister. I wished to search the
+Manor-house for possible papers to reveal that which I desire to know."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall tell you when I am sure," said the negro doggedly, "and not
+until then. But it was impossible for me to enter the Manor-house and
+search, as this man Vand is very clever and cunning, and more of a
+watch-dog than his stupid wife. I could have managed her had she been
+unmarried, by posing as a wealthy prince&mdash;in fact, I could have cajoled
+her as I have done Mrs. Giles&mdash;but her husband is suspicious and sharp.
+I could do nothing. Then I learned that this gipsy woman, Mrs. Tunks, is
+in the habit of charing at the Manor-house. I therefore offered to pay
+her a large sum if she would bring to me certain papers which are hidden
+in a sandal-wood chest, carved with the figures of the gods of my
+tribe."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that such a chest exists or is in the Manor-house?"</p>
+
+<p>"After I see Mrs. Tunks I can tell you," said Durgo softly.</p>
+
+<p>"How will Mrs. Tunks know the chest?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have described it to her. The figures of the gods are carved on soft
+white wood, and the lines are filled in with red and blue and yellow
+pigment. The design and the decoration are very noticeable. The work is,
+what you call in English, skrimshanking."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought the word was a military slang one, meaning to shirk work,"
+said Cyril, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, but I think the word is a nautical one. Sailors carve and
+colour their carvings in the way I mention, and call such work
+skrimshanking. I expect that when a sailor was not at his post the
+excuse made was that he was skrimshanking; hence the slang meaning of
+the word."</p>
+
+<p>"Very interesting from a philological point of view," yawned Lister,
+taking another cigarette; "but had we not better get back to our talk of
+my father's whereabouts?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can do nothing until I know what Edwin Lister took away with him,"
+said Durgo again, "and that I can only learn if Mrs. Tunks brings the
+papers I mentioned this evening." He glanced at the travelling clock on
+the mantel-piece. "Nearly nine; she should be here soon."</p>
+
+<p>"But will she have the papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Yesterday she told me that she saw the chest in an attic under a
+pile of rubbish, but had no chance of opening it. To-day she is charing
+at the Manor-house, and will be able to get what I want."</p>
+
+<p>"But if Mrs. Vand catches her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Vand won't," was the confident reply. "Granny Tunks is too clever
+to be caught and moreover wants to earn the fifty pounds I promised
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott! are you so wealthy as to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" interrupted Durgo impatiently. "I have much money, but not
+enough for my expedition. Unless indeed Edwin Lister has carried these
+papers, which will show us how to get the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Then my father knew about this chest also?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I expect he looked for it in Captain Huxham's study after the
+crime was committed. Unfortunately it happened, according to Granny
+Tunks, to be in the attic, so he missed it. But Huxham may have had the
+papers in his study."</p>
+
+<p>"And that was why the room was so upset?" asked Lister thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"That was why. After the crime was committed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Great heavens! man," burst out the other irritably, "don't talk as if
+it was certain that my father killed the man."</p>
+
+<p>"If he did not, who did?" demanded Durgo coolly; then, as Cyril was
+markedly silent, he continued, "I think very little of the killing
+myself. If what I believe about the papers I require is correct, Captain
+Huxham deserved his death as a thief and a false friend."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak in riddles," said Lister bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Granny Tunks can solve them," replied the negro significantly. "Have
+some more coffee and try these cigars. They are superfine."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril silently accepted this further hospitality, and stared furtively
+at the calm black face of his host. The nose was aquiline and the lips
+extraordinarily thin, so it was apparent that Durgo had Arab blood in
+his veins. Perhaps he was a descendant of those conquering Mohammedans
+who came down like a storm on Central Africa, in the Middle Ages. What
+with Durgo's looks, his educated speech and his air of command, Cyril
+wondered that he had ever taken the negro for an ordinary black. All the
+same he believed that, given the necessary environment, the savagery
+would break out from under the thin veneer of civilisation which the man
+had acquired at Oxford. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch
+a modern man, semi-civilised or wholly civilised, and you find the
+prehistoric animal.</p>
+
+<p>While Cyril was thinking in this manner and watching the black man's
+face through the smoke, he saw Durgo suddenly listen intently, with the
+air of an animal scenting danger. Shortly footsteps were heard in the
+passage without, and the door opened to admit Granny Tunks, who was
+shown in by Mrs. Giles. The toss of the lean landlady's head, and her
+air of disdain, showed that she was by no means pleased with the ragged
+visitor. But a glance from the glossy Romany eye of Mrs. Tunks sent her
+shuddering out of the room. In spite of the religion taught by Silas
+Pence at the Little Bethel chapel, Mrs. Giles was primitive enough to
+believe in the power of the evil eye. And she had some reason to, for
+people who offended Mrs. Tunks invariably underwent a spell of bad luck.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am, master," said Mrs. Tunks with a cringing air, and Cyril
+started to hear her so address the negro. He was further surprised when
+he saw how commanding were the looks of Durgo.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got those papers?" asked the negro, extending his large hand.</p>
+
+<p>Granny Tunks had them and said so, but it took her some time to find
+them, so ragged were her garments and so hidden her pocket. She still
+wore the brown dress tagged with parti-coloured ribbons, and her
+plentiful white hair still hung like seaweed from under the dingy red
+handkerchief. Also as usual she jingled with the multiplicity of coins
+which dangled from her neck, her wrists, and from various parts of her
+picturesque dress. In sixty or seventy seconds she managed to find a
+bundle of dusty papers tied up with faded red tape, and passed them to
+Durgo with ingratiating smiles. "There you are, deary&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Master!" snapped the negro, with sudden ferocity.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master," stammered the woman, turning slightly pale under her
+brown skin. "I found them in the chest you spoke of. The cat"&mdash;she meant
+Mrs. Vand&mdash;"didn't see me, master, so no one knows but this gentleman;
+but he won't say a word; no, no, I'll be bound he won't."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?" asked Cyril sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks replied without taking her beady black eyes from Durgo. "I
+saw the coming of the master in the crystal, lovey, and told your dear
+sweetheart of the same. The master brings good luck to you both, so if
+you tell, it will part you and your deary for ever."</p>
+
+<p>"We are parted as it is," said Cyril bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," replied the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>Lister rose from his chair and stared. "What do you mean?" he cried
+imperiously.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo, who had been examining the papers, looked up on hearing this
+question, and shot forth a long arm in the direction of the door. "Go!"
+he said to Mrs. Tunks. "Go at once."</p>
+
+<p>"And the money, master?"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it to-morrow, as soon as I have examined these. Go, I
+say; I am not used to speak twice."</p>
+
+<p>"But Durgo," cried Cyril, annoyed by the interruption, "I want to
+know&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall know what Mrs. Tunks has to say to-morrow," said Durgo,
+settling down into the chair and still examining the papers.</p>
+
+<p>The witch-wife, who had moved slowly towards the door, had not looked at
+Lister once during her stay in the room. All the time her gaze was fixed
+almost reverentially upon the negro. In spite of Durgo's prohibition
+Cyril crossed the room to catch Mrs. Tunks by the arm. But the moment he
+touched her she seemed to wake up as from a magnetic spell, and opening
+the door slipped through like a snake. When the door was closed again
+Cyril, in some anger, faced Durgo.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you let me question her?"</p>
+
+<p>"She would have said nothing," returned the man dryly, "because she
+knows nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"She hinted that Bella&mdash;Miss Huxham, I mean&mdash;and myself would not be
+parted."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Hai! The woman is a witch and knows
+doings of the unseen. She may have been told&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, rubbish! I don't believe in such things."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly you don't; I do. I have been taught things which would open
+your eyes if I explained them. In Africa we know much that you don't
+know."</p>
+
+<p>A sudden light flashed into Cyril's brain. "Is that why Mrs. Tunks
+addressed you as master?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo nodded absently, still reading the papers. But he did not reply in
+words, as his eyes were travelling over some faded writing and his lips
+were moving. Before Cyril could ask another question, as he was desirous
+of doing, the negro started to his feet with a fierce shout, which
+sounded like a warcry.</p>
+
+<p>"As I believed; as I thought!" he shouted. "Hai! the good news."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Lister, surprised by the savage exultation.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket and began to tell a story
+without any preamble. "When my father was chief, there were two traders
+in his town whom he trusted. One traded inland, and the other commanded
+the river steamer. Maxwell Faith was the inland trader's name, and the
+steamer commander was Jabez Huxham. For services rendered, my father,
+the chief Kawal, gave Mr. Faith jewels to the value of forty thousand
+pounds. Huxham became jealous, and having murdered Faith ran away with
+the jewels. He brought them to England, to Bleacres, and feared night
+and day lest he should be assaulted and killed for the sake of the
+treasure. That is why Huxham planted the fields with corn, leaving only
+one path whereby to reach the Manor-house. He did not wish to be
+surprised. Huxham took Faith's papers also regarding the value and
+number of these jewels. The papers were in the chest I told you of, and
+I have these papers here"&mdash;he tapped his breast&mdash;"but the jewels no
+doubt have been taken by your father, who doubtless killed Huxham to get
+them." Durgo nodded. "Good, very good. When my master Edwin Lister
+writes to me to join him, we can sell the jewels for forty thousand
+pounds and then can fit out our expedition to recover my chiefdom.
+Good-night, Lister. I have work to do; good night!" and before Cyril
+could recover from his amazement he found himself gently led into the
+passage and heard the door locked.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it all mean?" he asked himself, but could not answer the
+question.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEW</h3>
+
+
+<p>On that same evening, when Cyril was interviewing the strange negro,
+there was a concert in the Marshely school-house in aid of the prize
+fund. Dora had arranged the programme, and had asked Bella to be
+present. The girl would much rather have remained absent owing to the
+recent death of her father; besides, she did not feel able to enjoy
+music and frivolity and laughter. But to please her friend, who had been
+so kind to her, she came dressed in black and deeply veiled to the
+festival. For obvious reasons she took a seat at the lower end of the
+room, and near the door, so that she could easily slip out when the end
+came.</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Vand was less retiring. In spite of her brother's tragic death
+she appeared dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, posing more as a
+bride than as a mourner. In fact, she displayed very little grief for
+the death of Jabez, and those who knew the late Captain Huxham were not
+surprised, as he had never been a man to inspire affection. Moreover,
+the secret marriage of Mrs. Coppersley to Henry Vand had created quite a
+sensation, and bride and bridegroom were much talked about and pointed
+at. Vand himself was one of the performers, as he played two violin
+solos. Some folk thought that both he and his wife would have displayed
+better taste by remaining away, but Mrs. Vand laughed at this opinion
+and flaunted her newly-found happiness in the face of all her
+acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily few people noticed Bella in her obscure corner, so she was not
+troubled with questions. Those who guessed who she was, felt that she
+had been very badly treated since the money had been left to Mrs. Vand,
+and indeed the sympathies of the entire neighbourhood were with the
+disinherited girl. Mrs. Vand, as everyone said, should have been ashamed
+of herself; but in spite of the indecent way in which she thrust her
+good fortune on everyone's notice, no one was bold enough to tell her
+what was the general opinion of her conduct. As for Bella, she sat in
+her corner feeling ill and miserable. She had every right to be so
+considering the position in which she and her lover were placed. It was
+to ween her thoughts from this dismal state of affairs that the
+kind-hearted school-mistress had induced her to come to the concert.
+Hitherto the cure had not worked.</p>
+
+<p>The programme was the usual village one. There were several sentimental
+ballads of the purely English drawing-room type; two or three
+recitations, the violin solos of Henry Vand, who really played with rare
+skill, and a reading by Silas Pence, who was the chairman. Pence looked
+leaner and more delicate than ever, and read the "Dream of Eugene Aram"
+as a cheerful contribution to the evening's entertainment. His
+sepulchral tones and dismal appearance cast quite a gloom over the close
+of the evening, which was only dispelled by the singing of a glee by the
+Marshely Choral Society. But some time before this point was reached
+Bella had slipped out of the room and had taken her way back to the
+cottage. She went early, as her aunt had noticed her, and it was just
+possible that Mrs. Vand, who dearly loved to make trouble, might start a
+quarrel if it came to a conversation between the two. Mrs. Vand had not
+forgiven her enforced payment of one hundred pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Bella did not enter the cottage, as it was very hot within, and the
+night was simply glorious. She took off her hat and veil and seated
+herself in the tiny garden to enjoy the soft breeze. There was not a
+cloud in the darkly-blue sky, and a serene moon moved majestically
+across the starry heavens. The cottage, with the lamp light shining
+behind the pink blinds, looked pretty and picturesque, so Bella resolved
+to wait for Dora's return in the open air. She had ample to think about,
+for the concert had failed to inspire her with cheerful thoughts. How
+could it when the clouds which environed her were so densely black? Poor
+Bella was not religious, and had small faith in the goodness of God.
+This was natural as God's name had rarely been mentioned by Captain
+Huxham and his sister, who were perfect heathens of the animal sort. So
+Bella, having no hope to cling to and seeing no ray of light piercing
+the darkness around her, began to conceive a cheerless future in which
+the figure of Cyril did not appear. The fact that his father had
+murdered hers ended the chance of marriage once and for all. He would
+doubtless go abroad and try to forget her, while she, bereft of love,
+home, money, and father, would seek some humble situation as a nursery
+governess: and it must be confessed that, as things were, Bella Huxham
+had good reason to despair. Any chance of happiness seemed to be as far
+removed from her as was the moon in the heaven above her.</p>
+
+<p>The seat upon which she was resting stood close to the white palings of
+the garden, and under a leafy chestnut, now in the full glory of its
+summer foliage. Occasionally a person would pass, or a child singing
+would run home, but for the most part the road was deserted. Nearly all
+the village people were at the concert, and it would not end for at
+least another half hour. Only then would the roadway be full, but in the
+meantime, save for occasional interruptions, Bella had solitude and
+peace. She was therefore extremely ill-pleased when a dark figure halted
+at the palings and, leaning over, removed its hat to reveal the delicate
+features of Silas Pence.</p>
+
+<p>"I give you good-evening, Miss Huxham," said the preacher, in his
+refined but somewhat shrill voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening," said Bella coldly. "Had you not better return to the
+concert, Mr. Pence? As the chairman you cannot leave the platform."</p>
+
+<p>"I have presided most of the evening and have recited my piece," said
+Pence eagerly. "Now, on the plea of feeling faint I have left that hot
+room, and I am here to commune with you in the glory of the night. Is it
+not beautiful, Miss Huxham?" and he recited the well-known lines of
+Addison:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Soon as the shades of night prevail,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>The moon takes up the wondrous tale,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And nightly to the listening earth</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Repeats the story of her birth.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Did you come here to recite, Mr. Pence?" said Bella disagreeably. "If
+so I must go indoors. I have been entertained enough this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"You should not have been at the concert at all," said the preacher
+rebukingly, "seeing that your dear father is scarcely cold in his
+grave."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my business, Mr. Pence," said Bella in icy tones. "If you
+rebuke any one it should be my aunt, who is flaunting the property of
+which she robbed me in the face of everyone."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall rebuke Sister Vand at a proper time," said Silas
+authoritatively. "In the meantime&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You rebuke me," said Bella, who had risen to her feet, weary of the
+conversation. "I decline to permit your interference."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to rebuke you," cried Pence eagerly. "I wish to make you
+smile on me. Become my spouse, or fair lily of the valley, and you will
+have me always at your feet."</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you before, Mr. Pence, that I cannot marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you still intend to wed that son of Belial, overflowing with
+insolence and wine?" questioned the preacher bitterly; "your father's
+murderer."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lister is perfectly innocent, as I happen to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you prove his innocence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you prove his guilt?" retorted the girl spiritedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him enter the Manor on that night."</p>
+
+<p>"You saw a man who resembled him. Mr. Lister was in London and can prove
+that he was there. It is useless your using threats, Mr. Pence, for had
+you been able to carry them out you would long since have seen the
+police."</p>
+
+<p>Pence frowned. "Who is this other man?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You can find out!" said Bella impatiently, "and I am going indoors."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no other man," cried Pence angrily. "Why, I saw Mr. Lister
+quite clearly. I could not mistake him."</p>
+
+<p>"You did, however."</p>
+
+<p>"The police shall decide that."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the police. You threatened to do so before. Why don't you do what
+you say instead of trying to frighten me with stage thunder?"</p>
+
+<p>Silas stamped and raged. "You will find the thunder real enough before I
+have done with you. This Lister man is guilty, and shall hang. You shall
+become my wife, my&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never! never! never!" and Bella stamped in her turn.</p>
+
+<p>"You will. As you have no name of your own you should be glad to take
+that of an honest man."</p>
+
+<p>The girl started and stared. "My name is Huxham," she said angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing of the sort. When I wished to marry you, Captain Huxham,
+your supposed father, told me that you were a nameless waif whom he had
+adopted out of charity."</p>
+
+<p>"It is wholly false."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true! it is true!" Pence leaped the fence before she knew what
+was his intention, and caught her in his arms, "and you must become my
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>"You beast! you villain!" cried the girl, struggling. "How dare&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She got no further. Even while the words were on her lips a pair of very
+strong hands caught Pence by the shoulders, and wrenching him from the
+girl flung him over the fence. The next moment Cyril held Bella in his
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she sobbed, utterly broken down, "how glad I am
+that you arrived to punish him."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall punish him more!" cried Cyril, striding towards the gate.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" said Bella, stopping him. "Think of my good name. It is
+useless making a scandal. But ask him if what he says is true."</p>
+
+<p>"What does he say?" questioned Cyril, with a note of savagery in his
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh hush! hush!" implored Bella, clinging to him. "Speak lower. I don't
+wish everyone to hear what Mr. Pence declares."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is it? what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask him. After all, he may be wrong, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Still holding the girl, Lister, mindful of her wish, spoke in a loud
+whisper to the dusty figure on the other side of the fence. Pence had
+just risen, sorely bruised, but, unable to leave his rival with the girl
+he loved, yet lingered in the roadway.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, you," said Lister sharply, "what have you been saying to Miss
+Huxham? Speak out, you dog, or I'll thrash you thoroughly. Let me go,
+Bella; let me go, I say."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! We must avoid all scandal. Think of what might be&mdash;be&mdash;" she
+gasped, and without ending her sentence fell half fainting into Cyril's
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>Then came Pence's chance to discharge the vials of his wrath, for he saw
+that Lister, hampered by the fainting girl, could not touch him.
+Stepping up to the palings with his face distorted with anger, he spoke
+in low tones of hate. "I say now to you what I shall soon say to all.
+Captain Huxham adopted the girl, whom you falsely say that you love. She
+has no position and no name and no money, so if you marry her&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop," said Cyril imperiously. "Can you swear to the truth of this wild
+statement? Miss Huxham always passed as the captain's daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"She is not Miss Huxham," said Silas, insistently. "She is Miss&mdash;I don't
+know what. I can prove what I say, if necessary. And I shall,
+unless&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless you renounce her so that she can become my wife."</p>
+
+<p>Bella heard the words and stood unexpectedly erect with fresh energy,
+wrathful at Pence's persistency. "Nothing will ever induce me to become
+your wife. And if what you say is true my aunt would have told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Vand is not your aunt and Captain Huxham was not your father,"
+said the preacher sullenly. "If needs be I can prove it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then do so," cried Cyril quickly, "for by doing so you will remove the
+sole barrier to our marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Silas, recoiling in sheer surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me speak," said Bella, guessing what her lover meant. "We mean that
+had you held your tongue Cyril and I might have been forced to part. Now
+that I know I am not Captain Huxham's daughter I can marry him."</p>
+
+<p>Pence looked from one face to the other in the chill moonlight and drew
+his own conclusions with swift intuition, sharpened by hate. "Then this
+Lister man is the murderer of Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have to prove that," said Cyril cheerfully. "I am not bound to
+incriminate myself, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Silas raised his hands to the heavens in mute appeal, for he saw that in
+some way, not entirely clear to him, he had brought about the very thing
+he had been trying to avert. Enraged at his blunder and despairing of
+gaining his ends, the man, timid as he usually was, would have sprung
+over the fence to renew the struggle with his rival, but that many dark
+figures were seen coming along the road. Apparently the concert was
+over.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of his anger, Pence retained sufficient sense to decide
+immediately on a sensible course. He mechanically brushed his clothes,
+and bent over the palings to speak with Cyril. "To-morrow," he said, in
+a tense whisper, "you will be arrested, on my evidence, and she"&mdash;he
+pointed a trembling finger at Bella&mdash;"will be known as a nameless
+outcast."</p>
+
+<p>The girl uttered a faint cry at the insult, and Cyril would have struck
+the man who spoke. But Pence was prepared, and swerved away from the
+fence with a taunting laugh, to retreat rapidly down the road towards
+the advancing throng.</p>
+
+<p>"Come inside; come inside," said Bella, plucking at Cyril's sleeve; "you
+must not be seen here with me at this hour. Mr. Pence will say nothing
+for his own sake. Come inside until Dora returns."</p>
+
+<p>This was wise counsel, so the pair hastily retreated and closed the
+door, before they could be seen by the sharp eyes of the village
+gossips. Bella ran into the dining-room, where supper was laid, and
+sinking into a chair, mutely pointed to the water jug. Lister, seeing
+how pale she was, poured out a glass, and held it to her lips. Shortly
+she was more her old self, as the colour returned to her cheeks and the
+brightness to her eyes. It was then that she asked a leading question:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that what Mr. Pence says is true?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so. I fervently hope so," replied Cyril, sitting down to discuss
+the matter, "for then we can marry, and&mdash;&mdash;" he started and stopped. It
+occurred to him that Pence's statement might be the cause of Granny
+Tunks' queer remark, an explanation of which had been prevented by
+Durgo. Then again, from the negro's action, and from the facts that Mrs.
+Tunks had seen&mdash;so she said&mdash;his coming in the crystal, and obeyed him
+so implicitly, it might be that Durgo knew much that he would only
+disclose at the proper time. Of one thing Cyril was certain&mdash;namely,
+that Durgo was his friend, and would do his best to put things right, if
+Lister assisted him to recover traces of his father and the jewels,
+which Edwin Lister was supposed to possess.</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't wonder if Pence's statement was true," said Cyril,
+musingly, as he reflected on the present position of affairs. "It did
+seem strange to me that such a rough sea-dog as Huxham undoubtedly was,
+should have so refined a daughter as you."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it was my education, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Cyril, looking at her searchingly in the light of the small
+lamp. "Your feet and hands are too delicate, and your features too
+clearly cut, and your whole bearing too well bred, to be the child of
+such a man. Huxham and his sister are plebeians: you are an aristocrat.
+I am quite sure."</p>
+
+<p>Bella coloured at his praise of her beauty. "Perhaps what Mr. Pence says
+may explain why the money was not left to me."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril nodded. "If you are not Huxham's daughter, of course he would not
+leave you the money. But it was strange that he should tell Pence&mdash;why,
+what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella had started to her feet, and was looking at him strangely. "I am
+unwilling to suspect Mr. Pence, seeing that it seems almost certain your
+father is guilty, but I don't believe that my father&mdash;I mean that
+Captain Huxham told him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was not Captain Huxham's way to confide in anyone, and if he had
+kept silent for so long he certainly would not have told anyone later,
+especially Silas Pence. If anyone knew the truth it would be my aunt&mdash;I
+mean Mrs. Vand&mdash;and she hated me quite sufficiently to tell me that I
+was no kith or kin of hers. This she did not do."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and what do you make of the business?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," said Bella, slowly. "I believe that Mr. Pence <i>does</i> know
+something of the murder, although he may not have struck the blow. Your
+father may have been disturbed by Mr. Pence, and may have taken the
+hundred pounds. But I am certain that Mr. Pence found some papers
+telling that I was not Captain Huxham's daughter, and has them in his
+possession now."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shook his head. "You have no proofs of this wild charge."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not. All the same, I believe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Belief is one thing, and certainty another," said Lister, decisively,
+"and, again, I must tell you that my father&mdash;if indeed he is guilty&mdash;got
+much more than one hundred pounds"; and he related all that had taken
+place in Durgo's rooms. Bella listened in silence, and was particularly
+struck with the use made by the negro of Mrs. Tunks.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that Granny and this black man are in league," she declared;
+"you know she foretold his coming by the crystal. And that is all
+rubbish."</p>
+
+<p>"In this instance she foretold truly," said Cyril drily.</p>
+
+<p>"Because she knew beforehand, and simply made use of the crystal to
+impress me," retorted the girl. "Do you think Durgo himself is guilty?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not," replied Cyril very decidedly. "He bewailed the fact that
+my father had not asked him to get Huxham out of the way. No, Bella, in
+some way, my father managed the matter himself. He might have killed the
+old sailor during a quarrel, and have secured the jewels and have gone
+into hiding either here or on the Continent. We can only wait until we
+hear from him. Then the mystery may be solved."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so sure that your father got the jewels," said Bella, after a
+pause. "After all, they were in the chest in the attic by Durgo's
+showing."</p>
+
+<p>"The papers were, but Durgo was not certain if Huxham left the jewels
+there, my dear. You see, the old skipper might, and probably did, keep
+the jewels in his study for safety. But the jewels were in the house I
+am sure, for Huxham feared lest they should be stolen, and so planted
+the corn and used the search-light. By the way, I saw that used the
+other night."</p>
+
+<p>"Henry Vand knows how to use it," said Bella indifferently; "my father
+showed him how to work it on one occasion. But what is to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must wait and see what Durgo intends to do. He knows much that we are
+ignorant of, and for my father's sake I think he will help us both."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mr. Pence's statement?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril took her in his arms. "I believe it," he said, kissing her fondly,
+"so the barrier between us is removed."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God for that," said Bella reverently, and being unstrung wept
+bitterly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>DURGO, THE DETECTIVE</h3>
+
+
+<p>As has been seen, Durgo was no ordinary man, and even had he been white
+instead of black, would have passed for a clever member of the Aryan
+race. Undoubtedly the strain of Arab blood in him sharpened his
+intellectual faculties, and made him ambitious to play a leading part in
+the history of his tribe. That the members of it were savages mattered
+very little, since he had been educated in the lore of the ruling race,
+and could raise them sooner or later almost to his own level. Almost,
+that is, but not quite, for Durgo had no notion that any individual of
+his tribe should be as clever as himself. He wished to be a despot, and
+rule from an autocratic throne.</p>
+
+<p>The one weak point in his character&mdash;if gratitude can be called
+weakness&mdash;was his adoration of Edwin Lister. That gentleman had
+undoubtedly saved his life, and assuredly had aided him to attain to his
+present position of culture by inducing the old chief to send his clever
+son to England. But Cyril knew, what Durgo in his blind idolatry did
+not&mdash;that Edwin Lister was not a man to work for nothing, and wanted
+much more than he ever gave. There was every chance that he would abuse
+the gratitude of Durgo, when the negro's ambition was achieved, and if
+his protégé revolted from complying with the exorbitant demands which
+would surely be made on his generosity, he would speedily be reminded of
+what had been done for him. With an ordinary man this would have
+mattered little as such a one would decline unreasonable exactions. But
+Durgo's strongest trait was gratitude, and it was probable that in spite
+of his clever brain and European education, he would become the mere
+puppet of his benefactor. Thus the very nobility of Durgo's nature would
+reduce him to slavery, and he would be ruined because he possessed the
+rarest of all virtues.</p>
+
+<p>Little as Cyril had seen of his father, he knew his character
+thoroughly, being able to read by intuition, as well as by observation.
+Edwin had only one god to worship, and that was himself&mdash;a deity so
+congenial that the egotist was most devout in his religion. Of course,
+Durgo's enslavement and Edwin Lister's tyranny had nothing to do with
+Cyril, as father and son had long since gone on their several ways. But
+Cyril liked the negro, and swore to himself that if Durgo aided him to
+marry Bella, he would stand by him when Edwin Lister played the tyrant.
+As yet&mdash;so much Cyril gathered&mdash;the trader had not shown the cloven
+foot, but he would do so sooner or later, and then Cyril hoped to open
+Durgo's eyes to the fact that his gratitude was being abused.</p>
+
+<p>But there was much to be done before affairs arrived at this point, and
+the first necessary step to take was to discover the whereabouts of
+Edwin Lister. Durgo had learned much from Cyril, and something from
+Granny Tunks; now it was necessary that he should be informed by Bella
+of the accusation of Pence, and of her doubts about the preacher. She
+resolved to see Durgo for herself, and when Dora was at school, she
+watched at the window of the cottage for the coming of the negro. She
+did not even tell Cyril of her intention, as he disbelieved her
+statement that Pence had stolen certain papers and was connected in some
+way with the murder. That she had absolutely no grounds for such a
+belief troubled Bella very little, since she was very much the woman.
+All she knew was, that Pence could not have heard the truth about her
+not being Huxham's daughter from Huxham himself and it was necessary to
+find out how he came to know, let alone the necessity of making certain
+of its truth. Cyril would have scruples in assaulting Pence, and
+learning the truth at the sword's point, as it were. Durgo, being
+uncivilised, for all his education would have no such scruples, and
+therefore was the best person to apply to. He would undoubtedly twist
+Pence's slender neck as he would that of a rabbit, if he could force
+from him any information likely to forward his aims. And unless some
+such brutal course was taken Bella felt sure that Pence would hold his
+tongue. In her exasperation against the troublesome preacher, all the
+girl's worst traits came uppermost.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo did not pass along the road in the morning, and Bella almost
+despaired of seeing him. She nearly decided to go to "The Chequers Inn,"
+but a memory of Mrs. Giles' gossiping tongue prevented her risking so
+much. In the afternoon, however, Durgo lounged along the road, in his
+lazy, heavy, massive fashion, arrayed in his rough tweed clothes, and
+looking very much like a burly prize-fighter. Luckily there was no one
+in sight, as Miss Ankers' cottage was in a solitary corner on the
+outskirts of Marshely, so Bella ran hatless into the garden to beckon
+the negro into the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in! come in! I wish to speak to you," she said hurriedly, when he
+stepped up to the white palings; and she glanced right and left, to be
+sure that no curious eyes were on her.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo stared and frowned, as education in a world-famous University had
+not quite eradicated his contempt for women. However, when Bella ran
+inside again, and stood beckoning him in the passage, he resolved to
+enter, if only to learn why she acted in this bold way. So tall was
+Durgo, and so low the door, that he had to stoop considerably to enter,
+and when in the little drawing-room he bulked hugely as Gulliver in the
+Lilliputian temple.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, missy?" asked Durgo roughly, for he was not inclined to
+waste his time in saying pretty nothings to this Englishwoman, when so
+much was at stake. "I cannot stay here; I am busy."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to help you," said Bella, going straight to the point.</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" Durgo stared at her peremptory tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to help you on condition that you help me."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" he asked again, and sat down on a chair, which creaked
+under his mighty weight.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said Bella, speaking very slowly, and with her eyes on his
+strong, black face. "You are not of my colour or race, yet I am going to
+trust you, as Cyril told me all about you. Besides, we are both working
+for the same end&mdash;that is, we both wish to find Edwin Lister. Cyril told
+me what Mrs. Tunks discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"He had no right," frowned Durgo; "I want no women&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't despise women," said Bella drily, "for you may need the help of
+one woman, and she is my own self. You know that I am supposed to be
+Captain Huxham's daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposed to be?" Durgo noted the way she placed her words at once,
+which said much for his powers of observation, and the quick working of
+his brain.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Silas Pence, the preacher&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know him, missy. Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"Loves me," continued Bella, with a blush; "and to marry me he would
+stop at nothing. Last night he declared that I was not the daughter of
+Captain Huxham, and that Captain Huxham had told him as much."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. That is, I believe I am not Captain Huxham's daughter, since the
+money was not left to me. But I do not believe that Captain Huxham told
+this to Silas Pence. I believe," Bella bent forward, "that Mr. Pence is
+concerned in this murder, and stole certain papers, which revealed the
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo's eyes flashed. He saw at once the value of such information. "Can
+you prove this?" he asked in his throaty tones.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just where it is," she answered quickly. "I wish <i>you</i> to prove
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Question Mr. Pence, and make him answer. Force him, in whatever way you
+like, to show how he actually obtained the information. If he stole the
+papers stating the fact&mdash;and this I believe&mdash;he must have been in the
+room where the murder was committed some hour during that night. If so,
+he must have seen Edwin Lister, and must know where he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Hai!" Durgo leaped to his feet. "That is true: that is probable.
+Perhaps he can say if my master got the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he can, but I am certain that he will not."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think he will! I think he will," said Durgo significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't hurt him," cried Bella, alarmed, for much as she disliked the
+preacher she did not wish him to come to harm at the hands of this
+African semi-savage. As a matter of fact, she was sorry to enlist
+Durgo's services at all; but, under the circumstances, there seemed to
+be no help for it.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not hurt him more than is necessary," said Durgo, catching up
+his bowler hat and placing it on his woolly head; "if he speaks plainly
+I won't hurt him at all. You have helped me, missy, and you will find
+that I am not ungrateful. When you marry the son of my master, you will
+be rich. I, Durgo, the king, will make you rich," he ended arrogantly.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said Bella, detaining him; "these jewels belong to Captain
+Huxham. Have you any right to take them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every right, since they never belonged to Captain Huxham," said the
+negro decisively. "My father, the great chief Kawal, gave them to
+Maxwell Faith, and from Maxwell Faith they were stolen by Huxham. If
+Faith were alive I would return the jewels to him, and ask him to help
+me with my expedition. But he is dead; Huxham murdered him, and stole
+the jewels. Edwin Lister came to get back what belongs to me, and I
+think he has them."</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing you find Mr. Lister, and learn that he has not the jewels?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo rolled his eyes ferociously. "I shall then enter the Manor-house
+by force, and learn where they are hidden."</p>
+
+<p>"You would only be handed over to the police by Mrs. Vand and her
+husband, Henry. It will be better for me to search."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you, since you are not friendly with Mrs. Vand?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella laughed. "I know much more about the Manor-house than Mrs. Vand
+does, I assure you," she said significantly. "There are all manner of
+secret passages and unknown chambers in that ancient mansion. If I
+desired to enter, I could do so in the night-time by a secret door
+hidden behind the ivy at the back of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Then do so," said Durgo eagerly, "and search for the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. Wait until you see Edwin Lister, and learn if he procured the
+jewels. By the way, where did your father get them?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo reflected for a few minutes. "I have heard much talk of my
+father's treasure, of which these jewels were part. You know how rich
+the Northern part of Africa was in the time of the Romans?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Cyril made me read Gibbons' History."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when the Arabs swept across Northern Africa, they looted the
+Roman cities, then possessed more or less by the Goths and Vandals. Many
+of the Arabs came South to Nigeria, and brought their plunder with them.
+I think that these jewels, which my father gave to Maxwell Faith, came
+into his possession from some remote ancestor, who so brought them. But
+I cannot say. Still, that is my opinion."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a feasible idea, certainly," said Bella musingly, and astonished
+at the knowledge of the negro, quite forgetting that he had been
+educated at Oxford; "but where the jewels came from, matters little.
+What we have to find out, is where they are, and Mr. Pence&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see this man," interrupted Durgo quietly; "he may lie to
+others: he will tell the truth to me."</p>
+
+<p>"No violence," warned Bella anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo nodded. "I fear your police too much," said he, with an ironical
+grin, and strode out of the house, looking more burly and defiant than
+ever. Bella had regretted her employment of his services, but what else
+could she do when so much was at stake? Bella wished to marry Cyril,
+and, to do so, desired to be certain that she was not Captain Huxham's
+daughter. The papers&mdash;if her wild surmise was correct&mdash;would prove if
+what Pence said was true. Then, since Cyril's father had not murdered
+her father&mdash;she put it in this confused way&mdash;she would be able to marry
+her lover with a clear conscience. That he might be the son of an
+assassin troubled her very little. To get her way after the manner of a
+woman deeply in love, she would have set the world on fire, or would
+have wrecked the solar system. And in placing the safety of Pence in the
+hands of a semi-civilised negro, she undoubtedly was risking his life.
+But she did not care, so long as she attained to the knowledge which she
+was confident he possessed.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that Bella Huxham was no Sunday-school angel, or even
+the amiable heroine of a <i>Family Herald</i> novelette, who never by any
+chance does wrong. She was simply an average girl, with good instincts,
+brought up so far as school-training was concerned in a conventional
+way. At home no one had taught her to discern right from wrong, and,
+like the ordinary healthy young animal of the human race, she had not
+passed through sufficient sorrow to make her inquire into the truths of
+religion. Bella needed trouble to train her into a good, brave woman,
+and she was certainly getting the training now. But she made mistakes,
+as was natural, considering her inexperience.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening, Mr. Silas Pence was seated in his shabby
+sitting-room, making notes for his next Sunday sermon. He occupied
+lodgings in a lonely cottage on the verge of the common, and did so
+because his landlady was a member of the Little Bethel congregation, who
+boarded and lodged him cheaply in order to have the glory of
+entertaining the minister. The landlady was a heavy-footed, heavy-faced
+woman, with two great hulking sons, and occupied the back part of the
+premises. Silas inhabited the best sitting-room and the most comfortable
+bedroom. There was no fence round the front of the cottage, although
+there was a garden of vegetables at the back, so the sitting-room window
+looked straight out on to the purple heather and golden gorse of the
+waste land. An artist would have delighted in the view, but Silas had no
+eye for anything beautiful in nature, and paid very little attention to
+the changing glories of the year. The lodging was cheap, and the
+situation healthy, so he was perfectly satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>On this especial evening, the young preacher sat at the red-repp covered
+table, reading his Bible and making his notes. It was after ten o'clock,
+and his landlady was asleep, as were her two sons, both agricultural
+labourers worn out with the heavy toils of the day. The sitting-room
+window was wide open, and the blind was up, so that the cool night
+breeze was wafted faintly into the somewhat stuffy room, which was
+crowded with unnecessary furniture. Silas made a few notes, then threw
+down his pencil and sighed, resting his weary head on his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Pence was by no means a bad man, but he was weak and excitable. The
+pursuit of Bella aroused the worst part of his nature, and made him
+think, say, and do much which he condemned. The better part of him
+objected to a great deal which he did, but the tide of his passion
+hurried him away and could not be checked by the dykes of common-sense.
+At times&mdash;and this was one of them&mdash;he bitterly blamed himself for
+giving way to the desire for Hepzibah, as he called Bella Huxham, in his
+own weak mind. But, sane in all other ways, he was insane on this one
+point, and felt that he would jeopardise his chance of salvation to call
+her wife. Nevertheless he was sane enough to know his insanity, and
+would have given much to root out the fierce love which was destroying
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>But the insane passion which he cherished for a woman who would have
+nothing to do with him led him deeper and deeper into the mire of sin,
+and in spite of his prayers and cries for help, the Unseen would do
+nothing to extricate him from the morass of difficulties into which he
+had plunged himself. At times Silas even doubted if God existed, so
+futile were his attempts to gain comfort and guidance. Much as he loved
+Bella, he desired to win clear of the unwilling influence which she
+exercised on his nature, and vainly prayed for light whereby to know the
+necessary means to get rid of the tormenting demon. But no answer came,
+and he relapsed into despair, wondering what his congregation would say
+if any member knew the unmastered temptations of his inner life. The
+struggle made him weak and ill and thin and nervous, and but that deep
+in his heart he knew vaguely that God was watching over him, and would
+aid at the proper time, he would have taken his own miserable life.</p>
+
+<p>With his head buried in his hands, Silas thought thus, with many groans
+and with many bitter tears, the shedding of which made his eyes burn.
+Occupied with his misery, he did not see a dark, massive form glide
+towards the open window, nor did he hear a sound, for Durgo stepped as
+light-footed as a cat. The sill of the window was no great distance from
+the ground, and the big negro flung his leg over the sill and into the
+room. But in getting hastily through, he was so large and the window so
+small, that he made a sliding noise as the window slipped still further
+up. Silas started to his feet, but only to see Durgo completely in the
+room, facing him with a grim smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to speak with you, sir," said the negro.</p>
+
+<p>Silas turned white, being haunted by a fear known only to himself. But
+he read in the eyes of this black burglar&mdash;or, rather, he guessed by
+some wonderful intuition, that his fear and the cause of his fear were
+known to this man. Durgo saw the look in the preacher's eyes, and read
+his thoughts in his turn. The negro was not boasting when he hinted that
+he possessed certain psychic power. "Yes," he said, keeping his burning
+gaze directly on the miserable white man; "you stole papers from Captain
+Huxham's room, and I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not," interrupted Pence wildly, and making a clutch at his breast
+coat-pocket. "How dare you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The papers are in your pocket," interrupted Durgo, advancing, as he
+noted the unconscious action and guessed its significance. "Give me
+those papers."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no papers. I will alarm the house&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do so, and you shall be arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"You saw my master, Edwin Lister, enter the Manor-house, and thought
+that he was his son. Cyril Lister told me as much. From what you said to
+Miss Huxham about her not being the daughter of the sailor, I believe
+that you followed my master into the house. What took place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing! nothing! I swear that I did not&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Those papers," said Durgo, pointing to the white hand which still
+clutched feebly at the breast-pocket, "say that the girl is not Captain
+Huxham's daughter. I want to know whose daughter she is."</p>
+
+<p>"You are talking rubbish. I have no papers."</p>
+
+<p>"I am making a guess, and I believe my guess is a true one. Will you
+give up those papers, or must I wring your neck?"</p>
+
+<p>With widely-open eyes, the preacher flung himself against the
+mantel-piece and clutched at a handbell. Just as he managed to ring this
+feebly, for his hands were shaking, and he was utterly unnerved, Durgo,
+seeing that there was no time to be lost, sprang forward and laid a
+heavy grasp on the miserable man's throat, ripping open his jacket with
+the other hand. In less than a minute he had the papers in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"No! no! no!" shouted Silas, and made a clutch at them.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket, and raising Pence up shoulder
+high, dashed him down furiously. His head struck the edge of the fender,
+and he lay unconscious. But Durgo did not wait to see further. He glided
+out of the window like a snake&mdash;swift, silent, stealthy, and dangerous.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PAPERS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Next morning the news was all over the village, that Silas Pence had
+been seized with epilepsy, and in falling had cut his head open against
+the old-fashioned fender. He had just time&mdash;said the gossips&mdash;to ring
+the bell before the catastrophe, and the landlady being, fortunately,
+awake, had rushed into the room to his assistance. In an hour he had
+become conscious, and had been put to bed, after giving the explanation
+of how he came by the wound in his head. As Silas was fairly popular,
+everyone was more or less sorry, and many were the callers at the
+cottage on the common.</p>
+
+<p>Dora heard the news from one of her scholars, and retailed it to her
+friend when she came home to luncheon. Bella turned pale when she heard
+of the affair. She guessed that this was the work of Durgo, and
+reproached herself for having enlisted his services. But then, she
+argued, that if Durgo really was responsible for the preacher's
+sickness, he would have appeared in Miss Ankers' cottage in the morning,
+to explain what had taken place, and possibly&mdash;supposing he had been
+successful&mdash;to show the papers. Then again, if this was Durgo's work,
+Bella wondered why the preacher had not denounced him. It seemed to her,
+on this assumption, that Pence feared to say too much, lest he should be
+questioned too closely. Dora certainly had no more suspicions than had
+anyone else, but what the story of the young man was absolutely true.</p>
+
+<p>"He never <i>did</i> look healthy," said Dora, when the meal was ended, "so I
+am not surprised to hear that he has these epileptic fits."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he'll get over them," hinted Bella feebly, and not looking at
+her friend, lest she should betray herself.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, people with epilepsy never recover," rebuked Dora seriously,
+"and I wonder that the man dared to ask you to marry him, seeing what he
+suffered from. What a terrible thing to have a husband with fits."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure that it was a fit?" asked Bella, trying to salve her
+conscience with the idea that Durgo had nothing to do with the matter&mdash;a
+vain attempt.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, am I sure that the hair grows on my head? Of course, I am
+sure. The man himself explained how he fell, just as he clutched at the
+bell. He hit his poor head against the iron fender&mdash;you know, dear, one
+of those old-fashioned kitchen fenders, now out of date. It's a mercy
+there was no fire in the grate, or he would have been burnt to death.
+Why, a cousin of mine once"&mdash;and Dora went off into a long and wearisome
+tale of a member of her family who had suffered in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>When the little old school-mistress returned to her duties, Bella sat
+down to consider things. On the face of it, Durgo had done nothing, and
+Silas really might suffer from fits. But as he had never fallen before,
+and as Bella knew that Durgo would stop at nothing to get the papers,
+which she believed existed, she began to believe that the fall was by
+design and not by accident. This belief taking full possession of her,
+she longed feverishly to see the negro, and to ask questions. But,
+although she watched for quite two hours at the window, he never
+appeared. Then&mdash;as her nerves were strung up nearly to snapping
+pitch&mdash;she determined to call round at Cyril's lodgings and tell him of
+her interview with the black man. For the moment, she was unwilling to
+do this, as she guessed that Cyril would be angry. Still, as it was more
+or less certain that Durgo himself would tell her lover&mdash;always
+supposing the papers existed and had been obtained&mdash;Bella thought it
+would be wiser to be first in the field with her story. Besides, in any
+case, she would have to confess to Cyril, so why not now? The only
+chance of getting at the truth of the matter of the murder lay in
+herself and Durgo and Cyril working amicably together, and in keeping
+nothing back from one another.</p>
+
+<p>There was a certain amount of risk in going to Cyril's lodgings, as his
+landlady, Mrs. Block, was one of the most notorious gossips in the
+village. She would be certain to talk of the visit, and to make unkind
+comments on the fact of a young lady choosing to visit a bachelor
+without a chaperon. And a chaperon Bella could not have, since she
+wished no one else to be present during her conversation with Cyril. A
+third party would mean that she would be unable to speak plainly and all
+knowledge of the case&mdash;inner knowledge that is&mdash;must be confined to
+herself, her lover, and to the negro. It would never do to let the
+outside world know of the means they were taking to arrive at the truth,
+and a chaperon might easily play the part of a she-Judas.</p>
+
+<p>And after all&mdash;as Bella reflected, when hurrying along the road&mdash;she had
+no one to consider but herself, since it mattered very little what was
+said about her, so long as Cyril was true. She was at war with her
+aunt&mdash;if, indeed, Mrs. Vand was her aunt&mdash;she had no friend but Dora,
+and there was really no person whom she desired to conciliate. Under
+these circumstances, she took her courage in both hands and with a calm
+face, but with her heart in her mouth, she rapped at the door of
+Lister's lodgings. Luckily he had observed her from the window, and
+opened the door himself.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad to see you Bella," he said, shaking hands in a
+conventional manner, as the stout form of Mrs. Block appeared at the end
+of the passage, "for I was just coming round to propose a walk on the
+common."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a beautiful day," said Bella, likewise conventional.</p>
+
+<p>"Very. Wait until I get my hat and stick. Mrs. Block, if anyone calls, I
+am going to the common with Miss Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"And a very lovely sweet walk it is," said Mrs. Block, coming nearer to
+see if Bella was dressed in sufficiently deep mourning for her presumed
+father, "as I said to Block, if he'd only make the money a man like him
+ought to make, I'd be strolling on that there common, dressed up as fine
+as nine-pence. But there, you never get what you want in this world, and
+ain't it dreadful, Miss Huxham, about poor Mr. Pence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very dreadful!" assented Bella politely, then as Cyril was ready, she
+went with him out of the gate, leaving Mrs. Block looking after them.
+Luckily for the couple, Mrs. Block had nothing to say against the visit.
+Indeed it was in her heavy mind that Cyril, having failed to take Bella
+out as promised, had been called upon by a young lady weary of waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"So like a man," soliloquised Mrs. Block, standing on her door-step,
+broom in hand, "they never thinks, never, never! And if this Mr. Lister
+commences neglect afore marriage, what will it be when the honeymoon's
+over. Ah, poor Miss Huxham! what with her pa dying, and her aunt
+robbing, and him as should love her neglecting&mdash;it's a miserable life
+she'll have. Ah, well, there's always the grave to look forward to," and
+ending her soliloquy thus cheerfully, Mrs. Block entered the house and
+shut the door with a bang.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the lovers, quite ignorant of Mrs. Block's opinion, walked
+along the village street, and soon emerged on to the common. They passed
+the cottage wherein Silas Pence lodged, and this recalled the episode of
+the so-called fit to Cyril, as he had heard all particulars from his
+garrulous landlady. "I'm sorry for Pence," said Cyril, glancing at the
+cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Bella nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"It's such an awful thing for a person to have fits. If I'd known that I
+should not have pitched him over the fence last night. Of course, he's a
+rotter, and a blighter, and a nuisance; but he's weak, and I shouldn't
+have treated him so roughly. I only hope," said Cyril gloomily, "that it
+wasn't the fall I gave him which brought about this beastly fit."</p>
+
+<p>"You can be quite sure of that," said Bella sharply; "in fact," she
+hesitated, then spoke out boldly, "I don't believe he had a fit."</p>
+
+<p>"My dearest girl, he said so himself, according to Mrs. Block."</p>
+
+<p>"I know he did, as Dora told me. And that makes me the more certain of
+his connection with the murder of my father. I suppose I must call
+Captain Huxham my father until I am certain of the truth of what Mr.
+Pence said."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you are talking about," said Cyril, stopping to stare
+at the down-cast, flushed face under the black hat. "Why should Pence
+tell a lie about his fall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he didn't want anyone to know that Durgo had thrown him down."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril stared harder. "Would you mind explaining?" he said politely, "I
+still cannot understand your meaning."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I understand myself," she replied nervously. "The
+fact is, Cyril, I believe that Durgo threw Mr. Pence down when he
+refused to give up those papers."</p>
+
+<p>"What papers?" asked Lister, still bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"The papers which tell the truth about me."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear girl, that is all supposition. We don't know if any papers
+exist, after all. Pence may have spoken at random."</p>
+
+<p>"You believed that he spoke the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"I did. I want to believe, as only by learning that you are not Captain
+Huxham's daughter can we marry," said Cyril dismally; "but the wish is
+father to the thought, in my case."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Bella, plunging into her confession, "you had better ask
+Durgo if he assaulted Mr. Pence last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him to."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril, who had walked on, stopped once more and stared. "You asked him
+to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Bella was less nervous now. "I told him all that Mr. Pence said,
+and suggested that he should get the papers."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril's face grew stern, as she knew it would. "Tell me everything that
+passed between you and that nigger."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not said that I saw him," said Bella evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"You could scarcely have asked him to assault Pence, unless you had seen
+him," retorted Cyril, who looked displeased, "come, be frank. Tell me
+all."</p>
+
+<p>Bella did so, omitting nothing, although she every now and then stole a
+glance at Cyril's compressed lips and corrugated brow. At the end of her
+explanation he looked up, and his eyes were hard. "You have acted very
+wrongly," he said sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I have: I admit as much," said the girl penitently, "but, after
+all, I only asked him to get the papers. I did not tell him to hurt Mr.
+Pence."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shook his head impatiently. "You should not have seen this
+infernal nigger. I don't like any white woman to talk to niggers."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like them myself," said Bella quietly, "and you may be sure,
+had I not been anxious to learn the truth, I should not have spoken to
+Durgo."</p>
+
+<p>"You could have asked me to speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you have done so, seeing that you did not believe that the papers
+existed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nor do I believe now," replied Cyril, walking on quickly. "It is all
+guess work on your part."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no!" insisted the girl, as they arrived at their favourite spot
+under a giant gorse bush; "the mere fact that Mr. Pence told a lie about
+his injury shows me that I am right."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know for certain that he met with his injury at Durgo's
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I have done no wrong," said Bella promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed you have," said Cyril in vexed tones, as they sat down. "You
+spurred on that infernal nigger to do what was wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"I understood that you liked Durgo, and thought him a well-educated
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"So I do like him; so I do consider him wonderfully well educated. He is
+an Oxford M.A., you know. But I daresay if you scratched him you would
+find that he is a common nigger after all."</p>
+
+<p>"The son of a king?"</p>
+
+<p>"An African king. Pooh! what's that? You must promise me, Bella, not to
+have anything more to do with him."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have promised to seek for the jewels in the Manor-house," and
+Bella went on to state how she could enter Bleacres by the secret door.
+Cyril nodded and approved of the idea.</p>
+
+<p>"But you must come to me and tell me what you find out. I don't want you
+to speak to Durgo more than you can help."</p>
+
+<p>"That is racial instinct and injustice."</p>
+
+<p>"Racial instinct is never unjust. I don't care if Durgo was a black
+Homer and Bismark and Napoleon rolled into one. He is a man of colour,
+and I detest the breed. Promise not to have anything to do with him&mdash;at
+all events unless I am present."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise if you will not scold so much," said Bella wilfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not scolding. If I did you would cry."</p>
+
+<p>The girl slipped her arm within that of her lover's, pleased to have
+escaped so easily. "I begin to think that I am marrying a tyrant."</p>
+
+<p>"You are marrying a man who loves you, and who wants to protect you from
+all dangers. Oh, Bella, Bella! I wish we could go away to London and get
+married quietly. Then we could go to Australia and leave this bad past
+behind. Will you come? I have money enough for a year, and by that time
+I'll be able to get something to do in Melbourne or Sydney."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shook her head. "Dear, I love you dearly, but I can't marry you
+until I am quite sure that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case," said Cyril bitterly. "You will marry the son of a man who
+has committed a murder."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so sure of that. Now that Mr. Pence has told a lie I think
+that he may have something to do with the matter. He may be guilty."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril groaned. "I have no ill-will towards Pence, in spite of his
+insolence to you, but for the sake of my name I wish I could think so."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for a few moments, and then Bella, who was looking
+along the path, spoke to her lover in a frightened whisper. "Here is
+Durgo!"</p>
+
+<p>And indeed it was. The negro swung along bluff, heavy and ponderous. He
+was in dark clothes, and these, with his black face, made him look like
+a blot on the sunshiny beauty of the summer world. At once, with his
+keen eyesight, he caught a glimpse of the lovers and strode towards
+them, smiling and bland. Cyril nodded coldly. He could not forgive the
+black man's impertinence in speaking to Bella, quite forgetting that
+Bella was to blame and had sought the interview. Bella herself,
+remembering Cyril's warning and her own promise, did not dare to welcome
+the man.</p>
+
+<p>"I went to see you," said Durgo, addressing Cyril, "and your landlady
+told me that you had gone to the common with Miss Huxham. I followed. I
+am glad to find you both together. I have much to say."</p>
+
+<p>Bella could not contain her curiosity. "Did you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Durgo coolly, "I did. He would have made a noise, so I had
+to dash him to the ground. He hit his head against the fender. Mrs.
+Giles," he added with a grim laugh, "tells me that he accounts for the
+knock on his head by saying that he had a fit."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you make out of that?" asked Cyril, casting a glance at Bella
+warning her to hold her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh"&mdash;Durgo glanced from one to the other&mdash;"so Miss Huxham has told
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"About her interview? Yes! I am sorry you took her advice and saw Pence,
+for I knew that ill would come of it."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo leisurely took a bundle of papers from his pocket. "Much good has
+come of it, as I am here to explain," said he quietly. "You were right,
+Miss Huxham. Pence had certain papers stolen from Captain Huxham's
+safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is guilty of the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't be certain of that," interrupted the negro sharply. "I had no
+time to question Pence. As soon as I got the papers which he carried in
+his breast-coat pocket I slipped through the window. Lucky that I did
+so, for his landlady came in almost immediately in answer to the ring of
+the handbell. If he hadn't sounded it I should not have rendered him
+insensible, but I had to do so for my own safety."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, well!" said Cyril impatiently, and looking at the papers,
+"we can talk of this later. You say that Miss Huxham's guess is
+correct?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is. And I congratulate Miss Huxham on her clever brain. Pence was
+certainly a fool to say as much as he did, and especially to so talented
+a lady who guessed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There! there! No more compliments. Tell us both at once. Did he speak
+truly when he stated that Miss Huxham was not the captain's daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"He spoke absolutely truly, as you will find when you read this," and
+Durgo placed a bulky roll of paper in Bella's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she said, flushing a bright pink, "how glad I am. But whose
+daughter am I?" and she made to open the paper.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril laid his hand on the bundle. "We haven't time to read all that
+now," he said gruffly. "Tell us shortly what you have discovered,
+Durgo?"</p>
+
+<p>The negro nodded, and addressed himself to the girl. "Your name is
+Isabella Faith," he stated, "and you are the daughter of Maxwell Faith,
+who was my father Kawal's firm friend."</p>
+
+<p>The lovers looked at one another. "But how did I come to pass as Captain
+Huxham's daughter?" she asked breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "So far as I can read the story, which
+Captain Huxham has set down in that bundle you hold, he was smitten with
+compunction for having murdered your father and so adopted you."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shuddered. "How terrible to have lived with such a wicked old
+man," she said. "I never liked Captain Huxham, but thinking him my
+father I tried my best to do my duty. No wonder he would not leave the
+property to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think he intended to leave you the jewels, though," said Durgo,
+thoughtfully. "He mentions in those papers that he intended to make a
+will leaving them to you, since his sister, Mrs. Vand, claimed Bleacres
+and his income. It's my opinion that Mrs. Vand learned how her brother
+had murdered Maxwell Faith, and so forced him to make that will."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the jewels really belong to you, Bella?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Durgo, rising and making a courteous bow. "And when we find
+Edwin Lister, my master, he shall restore the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"But your expedition?" asked Bella in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The negro looked at the lovers humorously. "I fear that there will be no
+expedition," he said seriously. "I cannot rob you of your fortune, Miss
+Faith. Marry our friend here and be happy."</p>
+
+<p>"But what will you do?" asked Cyril, touched by this self-abnegation.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his shoulders again. "I shall search out Edwin Lister and
+return to Africa. In one way or another I daresay we can manage to get
+back to my tribe. Then I shall measure my strength and education against
+my cousin, who is wrongfully chief. For the rest, there is no more to be
+said. The papers you have, Miss Faith, will prove your birth and reveal
+all the doings of Huxham. There is no more for me to do, so I shall bid
+you both good-day and wish you all good luck."</p>
+
+<p>The lovers stared to one another and then at the retreating form of
+Durgo, who had so delicately left them together. It was Cyril who spoke
+first.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a good fellow, after all," he said. "That black skin covers a
+white heart. Oh! Bella, how strange it all is."</p>
+
+<p>"Take me home," said the girl faintly, and with white cheeks. "I can
+bear no more at present. Isabella Faith is my name now&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Until you change it to that of Isabella Lister," said Cyril, kissing
+her.</p>
+
+<p>But she only wept the more, broken down by the unexpected revelation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>A CONFESSION</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the way home from the common, Cyril and Bella agreed that it would be
+wise to say nothing about her true parentage. In the first place, it
+would benefit no one to be thus candid, and in the second, such a
+statement would lead to questions being asked which might get Durgo into
+trouble. After all, the lovers argued, since Pence, as the chief party,
+did not move in the matter, it was useless for them to fight his
+battles. The more particularly when Durgo had acted so generously in
+surrendering the jewels. The black man had behaved in a way for which
+Cyril would not have given him credit. Few members of the boasting white
+race would have done as much.</p>
+
+<p>According to the arrangement which the lovers came to, Bella was to
+remain Miss Huxham to the world until such time as Edwin Lister could be
+found, and the truth of Huxham's death became known. Of course, with
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds, the girl was quite an heiress,
+and she proceeded to build castles in the air for the advancement of
+Cyril, when he became her husband. The young man did not say much, as he
+did not wish to damp her ardour, but he privately thought that if his
+father were in possession of the jewels he would not surrender them
+easily. If Durgo was generous, Edwin Lister, as his son knew, was not,
+and since he had risked his neck to get the treasure he would certainly
+not hand it over to a girl whom he did not know, for a mere sentimental
+whim. That the girl was to be his son's wife, and that the son would
+benefit by the sale of the jewels, would make no difference.</p>
+
+<p>On the way back to the cottage, Bella recovered her self-control and her
+spirits. It was a wonderful relief to her to learn that she was not the
+daughter of the gruff old mariner, whom she had never liked. Looking
+back on her life at Bleacres, Bella no longer wondered that her supposed
+father had never shown her any affection, and she shuddered when she
+recalled the terrible fact that his hands were red with blood. On
+consideration, however, she gave Huxham full credit for the way in which
+he had acted towards her. He had come to England a thief and a murderer,
+it is true, but he could easily have left her in the care of the people
+who looked after her in a little Croydon house. Bella could scarcely
+remember that house or the woman who stood to her in the place of a
+mother, her own being dead.</p>
+
+<p>Almost her earliest recollection was being taken from Croydon by Captain
+Huxham and placed with some friends of his at Shepherd's Bush until she
+was nine years old. Then she lived with Huxham for a few years, and
+ultimately was sent to the Hampstead boarding-school, whence she
+returned to Bleacres at the age of twenty. Thus the captain had educated
+her and had looked after her, and in his own coarse way had proved
+himself to be generous to a certain extent. Badly as he had acted in
+robbing her of her heritage, he might have behaved infinitely worse. And
+by her heritage Bella meant the jewels. With the property and the income
+left to Mrs. Coppersley, now Mrs. Vand, she had nothing to do, and she
+no longer grudged the woman what she had schemed to get. But it was
+probable that had Mrs. Vand not so schemed, Huxham, for very shame,
+might have given his adopted daughter his nefarious earnings.</p>
+
+<p>"I must not be hard on Captain Huxham," said Bella, when Cyril brought
+her to the gate, "for, in his own strange way, he acted kindly. But I am
+glad that he did not leave me anything, as I am certain he earned his
+money in some shady manner."</p>
+
+<p>"A kind of Captain Kidd," assented Lister gravely. "I agree with you.
+But the old ruffian had a soft spot in his heart for you, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Bella, shaking her head, "I would not say that exactly. He
+suffered from remorse and therefore looked me out when he came to
+England. I did not find him an affectionate father by any means. But he
+was just, in a grim way, and even generous. He grudged me nothing save
+ready money. I wonder if Mrs. Vand knows the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"You said yourself that she did not," replied Lister quietly, "and I am
+inclined to think so too. A tyrant like Mrs. Vand would have been only
+too glad to tell you the unpleasant truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Unpleasant? Why, it is a delightful truth!"</p>
+
+<p>"Unpleasant from Mrs. Vand's point of view, since, had she known that
+you were not her brother's daughter, in no way could you claim the
+money."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I am very, very glad that she has got the
+money, and much good may it do her. But I am thankful that Captain
+Huxham did not reveal the truth about me to her. Now she need never
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"It matters very little whether she knows or not," retorted Cyril. "She
+cannot gain possession of the jewels. Those are clearly yours."</p>
+
+<p>"How are we going to gain possession of them?" asked Bella lingering.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked hopelessly up to the blue sky. "Heaven only knows! The
+first thing to be done is to find my father and see if they are in his
+possession. And now that we are parting, Bella, and you feel better, I
+don't mind telling you that I don't think my father will give them
+up&mdash;if indeed he has them."</p>
+
+<p>"But to me, his son's future wife&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My father is quite unbiassed by sentimental considerations," said Cyril
+very dryly. "What he holds, he keeps. However, there is plenty of time
+to talk of this matter when we meet my father. Meanwhile, what will you
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella shook the bundle of papers which she carried. "I am going to my
+bedroom to read these," she said seriously. "I wish to learn everything
+that concerns my true parentage. I may have relatives, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"If you have," said Lister emphatically, "I only trust that you will
+leave them severely alone. I don't care for relatives; they ask
+everything and give nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Bella smiling, for she had quite recovered her spirits, "so
+long as I have you, I need no sisters or cousins or aunts. Good-bye,
+dear. No, don't kiss me; someone may be looking on."</p>
+
+<p>"What of that? Everyone knows that we are engaged."</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't do to emphasise the engagement in public," said the girl
+seriously, and ran into the cottage. At the door she turned. "I shall
+tell you all that I read in these papers," she called out, and vanished,
+while Cyril returned home to think over the strange turn which events
+had taken. And things were strange, for in striving to solve one mystery
+they had solved another. In seeking for Huxham's assassin they had found
+the true father of Bella.</p>
+
+<p>Dora had not yet returned, so Bella, in the seclusion of her bedroom,
+felt relieved. She did not wish, as yet, to share her secret even with
+the little school-mistress, good friend as that amiable woman had proved
+to be. Locking her door she sat down and unrolled the bundle. It
+consisted of many sheets of foolscap, and appeared to be a kind of rough
+diary kept by Jabez Huxham, when he was in Africa. The script was in his
+crooked painful writing, but was legible enough, and after some practice
+Bella managed to read it fairly easily. Seated on her bed, she perused
+what was set down, and found the reading extremely interesting.</p>
+
+<p>The sheets seemed to have been torn from a manuscript book, for the
+diary both commenced and ended abruptly and dealt entirely with Maxwell
+Faith and his doings. The old pirate had evidently ripped the pages from
+the diary which he kept and had placed them in the carved chest, which
+Mrs. Tunks had found in the attic. There also, according to Durgo's
+story, the jewels had been stored, so apparently Huxham had used the
+chest&mdash;which had belonged to Faith&mdash;as a repository for all that
+concerned the dead trader. But Edwin Lister could scarcely have gone to
+the garret to seek the chest and get the jewels, since he did not know
+his way about the old mansion. It was, therefore, evident that Huxham
+had kept the jewels in his study safe, and had removed the chest
+containing the torn-out leaves to the attic. Afterwards he had
+apparently placed the papers in the safe also, where Pence had probably
+found them. But Bella did not pause to think out these matters. She was
+to much interested in the story which was set down.</p>
+
+<p>Huxham stated abruptly that he met Maxwell Faith at Calabar, and had
+been engaged by him to transport certain goods up the Cross River,
+Nigeria, as far as Ogrude, when they were to be taken in canoes up to
+Yahe on the stream of that name. The goods were for Kawal, Durgo's
+father, with whom Faith appeared to have had many dealings. Faith and
+Huxham&mdash;so the writer said&mdash;got on very well, and the former told the
+latter much about himself and his past. The trader declared that he was
+the son of a wealthy Huntingdon Quaker, but had been disowned by his
+family and by the Society of Friends, because he had married a lady who
+was a Roman Catholic. There was one daughter, who had been born in
+London and had cost the mother her life. Faith said that he had placed
+his daughter Isabella with some friends of his at Croydon, and had come
+to Nigeria to make money for her. From what Bella could gather, her
+father appeared to have been desperately fond of her.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Huxham and Faith parted, but met again in the Hinterland at
+the chief town of Kawal and again became friendly. Then the trader told
+Huxham that because he had supplied the chief with guns and ammunition,
+and had proved his friendship in many ways, he had received ancient
+jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds. He was going home to his
+daughter with the money. At this part of the diary a portion of the
+manuscript was torn away, apparently that which dealt with the murder of
+Faith by Huxham.</p>
+
+<p>The story commenced abruptly again with the statement that the writer
+was going to England with his earnings and with the jewels; and
+intending to seek out Faith's little daughter and adopt her. Huxham gave
+no reason for doing so in his diary; but Bella, reading between the
+lines, guessed that the man was overcome with remorse&mdash;a strange thing
+for so hardened a sinner as Huxham undoubtedly was. Then came hasty
+notes of Huxham's fears lest he should be robbed for the sake of the
+jewels, and reference to an unknown man who was dogging his steps.
+Ogrude, Afikpa, Obubra and Calabar were towns mentioned as having been
+the scene of adventures with this man, whose name was not given.
+Afterwards the hasty notes detailed the finding of Faith's little
+daughter at Croydon, her adoption by the writer and her removal to
+Shepherd's Bush. A few remarks were made relative to the fears of
+Huxham, and of his determination to find some place in the country where
+he would be safe from pursuit. The final page was torn off in the
+middle, and Bella could read no more.</p>
+
+<p>Putting away the bundle in her box, she reflected on what she had read.
+It was easy for her to find her Quaker relatives, as the name and
+address of the family were given. Evidently these same relatives were
+rich, but very stiff-necked in Quaker traditions. Bella, however,
+thought very little of this at the moment. Her brain was employed in
+wondering if Huxham had met with his death at the hands of the unknown
+man who had dogged his footsteps in Nigeria. Without doubt this man knew
+of the existence of the jewels, and that Huxham had murdered Faith to
+get them. It might be that he determined to get the jewels, and, having
+traced Huxham to England after long years, had killed him and so gained
+his end. And this man&mdash;Bella asked herself the question earnestly&mdash;was
+this man Edwin Lister? She resolved to tell Cyril and to give him the
+papers to read. He could decide better than she, and probably Durgo
+could throw much light on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no doubt that Huxham had bought the Solitary Farm, and had
+planted the corn thickly, and had mounted the search-light on the roof
+of Bleacres, so that he might defend himself from robbery and possibly
+from death. But all his precautions had been in vain, and he had been
+struck down at last in his very fortress. And by Edwin Lister! Bella
+felt certain that, as Edwin Lister had been many years in Nigeria and
+had been a close friend of Kawal's, he must be the unknown man to whom
+Huxham had so often referred. Lister was the assassin; there could be no
+doubt on that point.</p>
+
+<p>Very thoughtfully the girl locked up the papers, and descended to the
+drawing-room to wait for the return of Dora. She greatly wished to speak
+to her friend about what she had discovered, but such a confidence was
+not to be thought of, as many things had to be done first. Until Edwin
+Lister was discovered, Bella felt that she would have to be silent. But
+her thoughts on this subject were brought to an abrupt conclusion when
+she opened the drawing-room door, for she unexpectedly beheld Silas
+Pence.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to see you, Miss Faith," he said, using her true name, "and I
+told the servant not to announce me. I waited here till you came."</p>
+
+<p>Speaking in this jerky, nervous manner, the young man did not attempt to
+rise, as he appeared to be ill and exhausted. His face was haggard and
+his head was bound up in a white cloth. Anything more weird than his
+looks Bella had never seen, and she recoiled on the threshold of the
+room, only anxious to escape from his unwelcome presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come to persecute me again?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No! no! no!" said Pence weakly, and yet with great relief in his tone.
+"I have come to ask your pardon for the way in which I have behaved. I
+was mad to trouble you as I did, but now I have recovered my reason."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean exactly?"</p>
+
+<p>Pence smiled in a ghastly manner. "Can you not guess," said he, touching
+the linen rag round his head. "The blow I received when I fell on the
+fender has changed my feelings towards you."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can a blow do that?" asked Bella, relieved but puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say," faltered Pence, resting his aching head on one thin
+hand. "I really cannot say; my brain won't think just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Then don't think and don't talk," said Bella, kindly placing a plump
+cushion at his back. "Rest quietly and I'll make you a cup of tea."</p>
+
+<p>"You give me good for evil," said the preacher, flushing painfully.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" replied the girl hastily, and remembering her share in his
+trouble. "You did me great honour in asking me to be your wife, though
+you were a trifle difficult in some ways. But now&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is all gone; it is all gone. I assure you it is all gone!"</p>
+
+<p>"What is all gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"All my love for you; all my desire; all my mad infatuation. I like you
+as a friend, Miss Faith&mdash;I shall always like you as a friend&mdash;but I can
+never, never worship you again in the way I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven for that!" said Bella fervently. She knew no more than did
+Silas how the change had come about. But it was evident that the blow on
+his head had suddenly rearranged his ideas.</p>
+
+<p>"Up to ten o'clock last night I loved you madly, despairingly, and would
+have risked my soul to gain your hand. But since I fell"&mdash;he passed his
+hand across his forehead in a bewildered manner&mdash;"everything has
+changed."</p>
+
+<p>"And for the better," Bella assured him. "Come, don't think anything
+more about the matter. I have rung the bell for tea."</p>
+
+<p>"I rung the bell also last night. It brought in Mrs. Queen, very
+fortunately, or I might have bled to death, Miss Faith."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you call me Miss Faith?" asked Bella abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you are Miss Faith," said the preacher, lifting his haggard
+face to her own in some surprise. "Did not the black man tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that I have anything to do with the black man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen Mr. Lister with him. I saw you all three talking on the
+common. Oh, Miss Faith, you don't know how I have followed and spied on
+you!" and the man flushed with shame and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you listen?" asked Bella abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I did not fall so low as that, but I followed and watched."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I loved you. That is all over now; I shall never follow or
+watch you again. I am glad that the black man threw me down last night.
+When I found this morning that my prayers had been answered and that I
+no longer suffered from this mad passion, I resolved to say nothing
+about what had taken place."</p>
+
+<p>"And so invented the story of the epileptic fit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but the truth is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know the truth: Durgo told everything to me and to Mr. Lister this
+morning, or rather this afternoon; also Durgo gave me the papers. I have
+read them, and know that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter. By the
+way"&mdash;Bella looked sharply at the preacher&mdash;"are we friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you will have me for a friend," said Pence meekly.</p>
+
+<p>"By all means, now that you love me no longer. Be my friend,"&mdash;she held
+out her hand, which Pence grasped feebly&mdash;"and tell me how you got those
+papers."</p>
+
+<p>"From your father's&mdash;I mean from Captain Huxham's safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you were in the room on that night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I saw the body."</p>
+
+<p>"And you said nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"No. Had I done so, I should have incriminated myself. When I entered
+the study Captain Huxham was lying dead under the desk."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see anyone about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw no one, not even Mr. Lister, whom I had followed into the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Just explain precisely what you did see," said Bella, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Pence thought for a few moments. "I was watching the house as usual on
+that night because I loved you," he said, in a slow, feeble way, for he
+was still weak from loss of blood. "I beheld Mr. Lister coming towards
+me. He brushed past me, and entered the Manor by the front door. I
+watched for his return, intending to speak to him. But he never came
+out."</p>
+
+<p>Bella sat up alertly. "He never came out?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I don't know how long I watched; but finally I grew tired, and
+stole up to the house. The front door was ajar. I saw that the study
+door was also open, so I went in. Then I saw Captain Huxham lying dead
+and bleeding, with the safe open and the papers in disorder. In the
+safe, or, rather, tumbled on the floor before the safe was a bundle of
+bank-notes. The Accuser of the Brethren tempted me," said Silas, with
+the perspiration beading his high forehead, "and I snatched up the
+notes, for I thought that if I had money I could marry you. I then saw
+that bundle which the black man took from me, and thinking there might
+be more notes in the bundle, I snatched that up also and fled."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you fly?" asked Bella, following this story with great
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I heard a noise, and feared lest I should be accused of
+killing Captain Huxham. I ran out of the study, and out of the house,
+and down the path between the standing corn, as though the devil was
+after me. But he was not after me," wailed Pence, standing up, "he was
+in my heart. Here is the money for which I sold my precious soul," and
+he threw a packet of bank-notes on the table with feverish eagerness.
+"It was all for your sake!"</p>
+
+<p>Bella took up the notes. "The man you mistook for Mr. Lister was his
+father," she said quietly; "did you not see him in the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw no one. Did Lister's father kill Captain Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you tell?" asked the girl, looking at him straightly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told everything," said Pence, with an air of fatigue; "now I
+die," and before she could help him he fell full length on the floor
+quite insensible. The interview had proved too much for him in his weak
+state.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GHOST</h3>
+
+
+<p>The corn on Bleacres was rapidly ripening under the beams of the
+powerful sun. The Manor-house was islanded amidst a golden sea of grain,
+the waves of which rolled up even to its ancient walls. The winding path
+to the boundary channel was still the sole means of approach, but few
+people came up this to the house, as the Vands were not popular. Henry
+certainly was approved of, on account of his manners, his affliction,
+and his violin-playing; but the neighbours, ignorant of the truth, could
+not forgive his wife for robbing Bella of her inheritance. Now that she
+was rich and re-married, it was Mrs. Vand's intention to become the
+great lady of the district, but hitherto she had not met with much
+success in her bid for popularity.</p>
+
+<p>But, in spite of cold looks and significant speeches, Mrs. Vand went
+from house to house, talking of a Harvest Home fete, which she proposed
+to give as soon as the grain was reaped. Her husband would not accompany
+her on these social visits, as he was shrewd enough to see that only
+time would ameliorate the bad impression which Mrs. Vand's callous
+conduct had created. In vain he tried to show his wife that it would be
+wise to retire for a short period. Mrs. Vand scorned such Fabian
+tactics, and did her best to take by storm the position she felt that
+her wealth and personality deserved. The more she was snubbed, the more
+she persisted, and there was no doubt but what, in the end, she would
+gain what she wanted, by wearing down those who resented her conduct.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand paid a visit even to Dora Ankers, choosing a Saturday
+afternoon, when she knew that Bella was walking on the common with her
+lover. The little school-mistress received her coldly, as she had never
+liked the woman from the first day she had set eyes on her. But Mrs.
+Vand, in the most flamboyant of costumes, was all smiles and small talk,
+refusing to see for one moment the chilly reception she was receiving.</p>
+
+<p>"You really must come to our Harvest Home, Miss Ankers," she babbled;
+"what with Henry's taste and my money, it will be wonderfully gay and
+bright and artistic. Everyone will help to reap the corn, and in the
+evening we will have a ball, at which Henry will play old English tunes,
+to which we shall dance. You must come. I shall take no refusal."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I?" asked Dora tartly, "seeing that your niece whom you have
+treated so badly, is stopping with me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand drew up her stout figure with great dignity. "That Bella
+Huxham left her home and my guardianship is purely her own fault," she
+replied. "I promised to look after her, at poor Jabez's request. But she
+chose to behave in a way of which I did not approve, and to engage
+herself to a man, who is not the husband I should have picked for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella has every right to choose a husband for herself," retorted Miss
+Ankers.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls are not clever enough to choose the right man. And Mr.
+Lister&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You know nothing about him, Mrs. Vand."</p>
+
+<p>"That is exactly what I complain of," said the other woman triumphantly,
+"he may be a rogue and a scamp."</p>
+
+<p>"He may be, but he is not. Mr. Lister is a gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"That doesn't prevent his being a bad character."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Dora, rising to terminate the visit, "I don't care about
+discussing my friends."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand rose also. "Let us shelve the subject," she said grandly, "and
+you can tell Bella that I am willing to forgive and forget. If she likes
+to come to our Harvest Home, she can do so. I am not the one to bear
+malice. It is the last Harvest Home we shall have," prattled Mrs. Vand,
+as her hostess skilfully edged her towards the door. "Henry does not
+intend to sow wheat again, and the grounds of Bleacres will be thrown
+open to the public."</p>
+
+<p>"People are not fond of wandering in marshes," said Dora dryly. "If you
+want to please us, throw open the Manor-house. That is interesting, if
+you like."</p>
+
+<p>"And haunted," said the visitor in a thrilling whisper; "do you know of
+any sad legend connected with the Manor-house, Miss Ankers?"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" snapped Dora, tartly; then her curiosity got the better of her
+dislike for Mrs. Vand. "Is it really haunted?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are footsteps, and whisperings, and rappings in the twilight. I
+told Henry that if this sort of thing continued, I should leave the
+place."</p>
+
+<p>Privately, Dora wished that she would, and thus rid the neighbourhood of
+a most undesirable presence, but aloud she merely remarked that the
+noises might be due to rats, a suggestion which Mrs. Vand scouted.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a ghost, a ghost!" she insisted&mdash;"all old families have a ghost.
+But do not let us talk of it," she continued, looking round with a
+shudder; "already the thing has got on my nerves. To go to a more
+pleasant subject: let me invite you for a row on the water."</p>
+
+<p>"A row on the water?" echoed Dora, who knew of no lake in the
+neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>"On the channel at the end of my grounds," explained Mrs. Vand. "Henry
+has bought a rowing-boat, and takes me far into the country. You can
+almost reach the railway line before you get to the swamps. Do come."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll think about it," said Miss Ankers, only anxious to get her visitor
+out of the house before Bella came back.</p>
+
+<p>"Do, dear, and come to our Harvest Home. It will be quite artistic: you
+have no idea of Henry's perfect taste, and if Bella comes I shall be
+glad to see her, in spite of her nasty behaviour, and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;" Mrs.
+Vand could think of nothing more to say, so took herself off, with a
+gracious smile, quite sure that she had played the part of a great lady
+to perfection.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" said Dora, looking after the stout, gaudily-clothed figure,
+"you're a spiteful cat, if ever there was one. I shouldn't be surprised
+to hear that you had killed your brother yourself, in order to get the
+money."</p>
+
+<p>Unaware of this amiable speech, Mrs. Vand sailed grandly through the
+village, dispensing smiles and patronage. Fortunately for herself, she
+was not a thought-reader, or her self-satisfaction might have received a
+severe reproof. She was considered to be considerably worse than
+Jezebel, and in her stoutness was compared to the late Mrs. Manning, a
+notable murderess. To her face many were agreeable, but usually she was
+not received with the best grace. Finally, towards the evening, she
+returned to the Manor-house to report on her triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>Crossing the boundary-channel, she saw the boat which her husband had
+lately bought. It was a narrow but comfortable craft of a light build,
+and the water-way was quite broad enough to permit of its being rowed
+very comfortably, even though the oars occasionally touched the banks.
+Mrs. Vand looked at this boat with a singular expression, and then,
+stepping across the planks, walked up to her lordly abode. She found
+that her husband was absent, and had left word with the servant that he
+would not be back to dinner. Mrs. Vand was annoyed, as she did not like
+eating alone; but in her heart of hearts she was afraid of her quiet
+husband, even though he was considerably her junior, and made no
+comment. However, the servant who brought in the seven o'clock tea had
+much to say, and Mrs. Vand permitted her to talk, for, as usual, the
+sinister influence of the Manor was getting on her healthy nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"Master's gone to the village, to see his ma," said the servant, who was
+small and elfish and somewhat brazen. "Then he's going to see Tunks."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with Tunks?" asked Mrs. Vand, pouring out the tea.</p>
+
+<p>"He's ill. He's been drinking hard for weeks, ever since that horrid
+murder, mum, and now the doctor says he's got delirious trimmings."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand looked up sharply, and frowned. "He is raving?"</p>
+
+<p>"Raving hard, mum. But master will see that he is looked after."</p>
+
+<p>"Your master is very good," said Mrs. Vand, taking a piece of bread.
+"You can go, Sarah."</p>
+
+<p>The servant departed somewhat unwillingly, as she did not like the big,
+bare kitchen, and felt the influence of the unseen as did her mistress.
+But as yet, ghostly doings had not been sufficiently scaring to make her
+throw up a good situation. Nevertheless, she shivered in the kitchen,
+and wished that Tunks was present to keep her company, as he often did,
+at the evening meal. But Tunks was raving at the present moment in the
+hut on the marshes, and there was no chance of anyone else coming to
+Bleacres.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand sat and shivered in the dining-room also. She lighted three
+lamps, and although the evening was warm, she set fire to the coals and
+wood in the large, old-fashioned grate. It seemed to her that she could
+not have enough light or warmth to ward off the cold, malicious
+influence, which seemed to spread a sinister atmosphere throughout the
+vast room. Shivering at the head of the table, Mrs. Vand kept casting
+furtive looks here and there, as though she expected to see the
+blood-stained figure of her murdered brother appear like Banquo's
+spectre. Outside the twilight gradually deepened to luminous darkness,
+and although she had finished her tea, she did not feel inclined to move
+about the gloomy passages. Again and again, she wished that Henry would
+return.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock her nerves were still shaky, and she felt that she could
+not stand the dining-room any longer. Ringing the bell, she took a lamp
+in each hand, and told Sarah&mdash;who entered speedily&mdash;to take the other.
+The two women proceeded to the drawing-room, and Mrs. Vand, having
+pulled down the blinds, ordered Sarah to bring her work and sit beside
+her. The servant was only too pleased to obey, and for the next
+half-hour the two sat in pleasant gossiping confabulation, Mrs. Vand
+knitting a silk tie for her husband, and Sarah trimming a wonderful hat
+with aggressively brilliant flowers. There was no noise, as the wind had
+dropped, and everything was intensely still. Mrs. Vand and Sarah
+chattered incessantly to keep up their courage in the ghostly
+atmosphere. Suddenly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!" said Mrs. Vand, raising her hand. "Do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>Sarah turned white through her dingy skin, and held her breath. There
+came distinctly the sound of three knocks from somewhere near the
+fire-place; then a long, dreary sigh. The servant shrieked, and sprang
+for the door. But Mrs. Vand was after her in one moment, and seized her.
+"Hold your tongue, you fool! It's only rats."</p>
+
+<p>As if to give the lie to her statement, there came the swish, swish of
+silken skirts, and then the sigh again. This was too much for Mrs. Vand.
+She scuttled panic-stricken into the hall, followed by the shrieking
+Sarah. At the same moment, as though it had been prearranged, the front
+door opened and Vand appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Henry! Henry!" gasped his wife, and clung to him.</p>
+
+<p>The young man shook her off. "What is the matter?" he asked in calm
+tones. But Mrs. Vand being too terrified to answer, Sarah did so for
+her. "The ghost! the ghost! the ghost!"</p>
+
+<p>"What rubbish!" said Vand, easily; "there is no ghost, you silly girl,
+and if there is, here is one who can lay it."</p>
+
+<p>He stepped aside, and Granny Tunks, lean and weird-looking, appeared at
+the door. She had a white cloak over her fantastic dress, and looked
+more witch-like than ever. Mrs. Vand stared at the woman in surprise.
+"Why have you left your grandson?" she asked, and glancing at Henry.</p>
+
+<p>"He's sound asleep, deary, the fit having passed. A gal o' mine, of the
+true Romany breed, looking after him. Your sweet husband here"&mdash;she
+waved a skinny hand towards Vand&mdash;"asked me to come and see what I could
+do to lay this unquiet spirit who walks."</p>
+
+<p>"Rubbish! rubbish!" said Mrs. Vand, now feeling more confident in
+company.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not rubbish, deary," said Mrs. Tunks, mysteriously; "the dead
+walk."</p>
+
+<p>"The dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your poor brother, as is uneasy at having been pitched out of life so
+cruel. He's walking," and she nodded weirdly.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this statement, Sarah whimpered and clutched at Mrs. Vand's
+dress, whereupon that lady who was extremely pale herself&mdash;shook her
+off. "Go to bed, Sarah," she commanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Me!" screeched the girl, "and when there's ghosts walking! I'd scream
+myself into fits if I went up-stairs."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand appealed to her husband. "Henry, make her go."</p>
+
+<p>The young man took the girl by the shoulders, and propelled her towards
+the foot of the stairs, but Sarah resisted wildly, and finally made a
+bolt for the still open front door. "I'll go home to mother," she cried
+hysterically, and disappeared into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said Mrs. Vand, angrily, to Granny Tunks. "See what you've
+done. The house will get a bad name. I'll give that minx warning in the
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>Vand, seeing that it was useless to run after the terrified Sarah, who
+by this time was half-way to Marshely, closed the door, and shrugged his
+shoulders. "Come into the drawing-room," he said to Mrs. Tunks.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" cried his wife, shaking; "the ghost is there. I heard the
+rapping and the sighing and the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, yes!" interrupted Vand, with less than his usual coolness;
+"that is why I have brought Granny. There is an evil influence in this
+house, and I want her to find out what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe in such rubbish?"</p>
+
+<p>"You seemed to believe in it just now," said the cripple drily. "Yes, I
+do believe in the unseen, as I have had too much proof not to believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then get a priest, get a priest!" cried Mrs. Vand wildly, and looking
+twice her age. "What is the use of this old fool?"</p>
+
+<p>Granny Tunks laughed in an elfish manner when she heard herself spoken
+of thus, and seemed very little put out. "A fool can do what a wise
+woman can't," she croaked; "your husband's wiser nor you, deary. He
+knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Knows what?" asked Mrs. Vand, turning on the ancient gipsy fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"That there's danger coming to you and him."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand cast one scared and indignant look on the withered face, and
+ran into the drawing-room. Henry had preceded her here, and was standing
+by the table looking round the room in an inquiring manner, evidently on
+the alert for the mysterious sounds. Mrs. Vand caught his arm. "Do you
+hear what this woman says?" she asked, shaking him.</p>
+
+<p>"As the door was open I did hear," he replied coolly; "don't be a fool,
+Rosamund. I brought her here to see what she can tell us."</p>
+
+<p>"About?&mdash;" Mrs. Vand faltered and broke down.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue!" said Henry with an angry hiss like that of a
+serpent.</p>
+
+<p>Usually the young man wore a mild and gentle expression, but on this
+night his face was haggard and his eyes were wild. He had all his wits
+about him, however, and forced his wife into a chair, where she sat
+trembling violently. "I've had enough of these ghostly pranks," he said
+in a fierce undertone, "and as Granny undoubtedly possesses clairvoyant
+powers, I wish her to learn all she can. Come in, Mrs. Tunks!" he added,
+raising his voice, and the old witch-wife entered the room, looking
+singularly weird in her white cloak.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the only reason that you have asked Granny here?" demanded Mrs.
+Vand, in a low voice. "Sarah told me that her grandson had been raving."</p>
+
+<p>"You fool!" snarled the cripple. "Will you hold your tongue? I have
+another purpose, which you will find out shortly. Granny," he pointed to
+a chair, "sit down and tell us what influences are about."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks sat in the indicated chair, and lay back with closed eyes.
+Vand and his wife remained perfectly still, the latter gazing at the old
+witch in a terrified manner, as though dreading what she would say and
+do. The room was filled with shadows, even though three lamps were
+lighted, and the silence became quite oppressive. Mrs. Vand was a
+healthy animal, and not in the least imaginative, but after a time she
+felt that some evil influence was in the room, and tightly gripped her
+husband's hand. The perspiration broke out on her forehead. Henry gave
+her no comfort, not even by pressing her hand. His eyes were fixed on
+the perfectly expressionless and still face of Granny Tunks. The séance
+had all the elements of terror about it.</p>
+
+<p>The gipsy lay as still as though carved out of stone, and the watchers
+could scarcely see the rise and fall of her breath. Deeper and deeper
+grew the stillness, so that even the fall of a pin could have been
+heard, had one been dropped. Apparently the body of Granny lay supine in
+the chair, but her spirit was far away&mdash;roaming the house, maybe. After
+a long pause, the woman began to speak in a low, expressionless voice,
+and almost without moving her withered lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Gems," she said softly, "rare gems, blue and red and green; jewels of
+price and pearls of the ocean. They are in an ivory box. Long ago the
+woman who is standing near me"&mdash;Mrs. Vand started, looked, but could see
+nothing, yet the monotonous voice went on, as though the speaker really
+saw the form described&mdash;"wore those jewels. She has the face of a Roman
+empress. In Africa, many centuries ago&mdash;yes, in Africa, and she sinned
+to get those jewels. Now she laments that she has lost them."</p>
+
+<p>"How did she lose them?" asked Vand almost in a whisper, as though
+fearful of breaking the charm. Apparently&mdash;as Mrs. Vand guessed&mdash;this
+was not the first time he had assisted at so weird a ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>"Fierce warriors in green turbans took them&mdash;warriors of Arabia. The
+jewels travel south, still with the warriors. There are many fights. The
+jewels pass from one hand to another, still in the ivory box. Now a
+savage has them&mdash;a savage, in a wild forest. They are buried in the
+earth at the place where victims are sacrificed to the gods. Long years
+pass: centuries glide by. The box of jewels is found: it is in the hands
+of another savage, who wears European clothes. He gives the jewels to a
+white man for services rendered."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand interrupted with a strangled cry of terror. "Jabez&mdash;is he
+Jabez?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is not Jabez Huxham, but a man called Maxwell Faith. But see"&mdash;the
+dull voice of the gipsy suddenly became emotional and loud&mdash;"they pass
+into the hands of Jabez Huxham, and the hands that bear away the jewels
+are stained with blood. The jewels pass with him across the sea to this
+land. In London first; then in this house. They are placed in a carved
+chest; it is in the attic. Now they are in the safe in the study, and
+now&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Vand interrupted. "How did they pass out of Huxham's possession?"</p>
+
+<p>Granny Tunks did not reply for a few minutes, during which Mrs. Vand
+clutched her husband's hand still tighter, and passed her tongue over
+her dry lips. "They pass from Jabez Huxham, as they came to him&mdash;by
+murder," went on the clairvoyant. "I see the study. Huxham is at the
+desk, and the ivory box of jewels is before him. There is a knife on the
+floor by the door, and the knife is bloody."</p>
+
+<p>"But Huxham is not dead," said Vand, quickly and softly.</p>
+
+<p>"There is blood on the knife," said Mrs. Tunks, without taking any
+notice of the question. "Huxham is so engaged in looking at the jewels
+that he does not see the door softly open. A man enters. He sees the
+knife and picks it up. He glided behind Huxham, who suddenly turns.
+Now&mdash;now the blow has fallen, and the jewels, the jewels&mdash;&mdash;" She
+paused.</p>
+
+<p>"What more?" gasped Mrs. Vand. "What more, in God's name?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no God here, but only evil," came the reply. "I can see no
+more. I see, however, that the man who struck the blow is a cripple,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There came a cry, apparently from behind the wall. Vand and his wife
+turned astonished and terror-struck. On the left of the fire-place a
+sliding panel was pushed back, and they beheld Bella, pale but
+triumphant.</p>
+
+<p>"So you murdered Captain Huxham!" she cried, "you and your wife. O
+God&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no God here," breathed Mrs. Tunks again, "only evil."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>AN AWKWARD POSITION</h3>
+
+
+<p>The appearance and accusation of Bella were so unexpected that Mrs. Vand
+and her husband became perfectly white, and obvious fear robbed them of
+all powers of movement. Granny Tunks sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stared
+at Bella with the open panel behind her in great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you come from, deary?" she asked, rising unsteadily.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said Bella, with her eyes on the guilty faces of the
+married couple. "It is enough that I am here to accuse these two of
+murder."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks uttered a screech. "What are you talking about, lovey? This
+good gentleman and kind lady have murdered no one."</p>
+
+<p>Bella glanced at her in a puzzled way. "You declared that Henry Vand
+murdered my father," she remarked quietly, and keeping up the fiction of
+her being Huxham's daughter; "you said that a cripple&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Me!" screeched Granny again. "I never said such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," chimed in Vand, who was the first to recover his powers
+of speech. "It's all nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"Your face showed that it was the truth just now," said Bella sharply,
+"when Mrs. Tunks talked in her sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Sleep? No lovey, no sleep. I sent my spirit away to learn things. What
+did I say? Tell me, my good gentleman, what did I say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember. I forgot," said Vand striving to appear cool.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't forget," cried Bella indignantly, "she spoke of the jewels and
+of my father's murder. How did you find out?" she asked Granny Tunks,
+who dropped into her chair and seemed to shrink. "How did you learn
+about the jewels and Maxwell Faith?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard the name. I never knew there were any jewels," murmured
+the witch-wife. "I never said anything about murder. When I came back to
+my body I never remember anything. No, no, no! The spirit is stronger
+than the flesh and jealous of its secrets," and she went on murmuring
+and maundering like one in her dotage. Yet Bella knew well, that in
+spite of her age, Granny Tunks was very far from being intellectually
+weak.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Mrs. Vand, who had sunk into a chair, had gradually recovered
+her colour and wits. "You are the ghost!" she said suddenly to Bella.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the strained situation, the girl laughed, though not very
+mirthfully. "Yes, I am the ghost!" she acknowledged. "It was I who
+sighed and rapped and rustled my skirts so as to drive you and Sarah out
+of the room."</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you! how dare you!" shouted Mrs. Vand, rising wrathfully.
+"What do you mean by entering my house, and how did you get in."</p>
+
+<p>"I got in by a way of which you know nothing," said Bella coolly, "and I
+am not going to reveal my secret. But I know this house better than you,
+Aunt Rosamund"&mdash;she gave her the old familiar name&mdash;"and I know of many
+secret passages. This,"&mdash;she touched the panel at her back&mdash;"is the
+entrance to one of them. In the old days many a conspirator concealed
+himself here. I have used the hiding-place to learn your secret."</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you! how dare you!" blustered Mrs. Vand, and would have gone
+on abusing Bella wrathfully but that her crafty husband interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham, you have behaved wrongly in entering the house in this
+secret manner, seeing that I told you how welcome you were to come
+openly. Both Rosamund and myself would have been glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not me! not me!" vociferated Mrs. Vand, with a bright spot of angry red
+on each cheek. "I always hated her, and I hate her more than ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue," muttered her husband, and gave her plump arm such a
+pinch that she leaped aside with a cry of pain. Taking no notice of her
+distress he turned to Bella. "You should have come openly," he repeated.
+"May I ask why you made use of the secret passages?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may, and I am quite willing to answer. I came to find the
+whereabouts of the jewels which belonged to my father."</p>
+
+<p>"I know of no jewels," said Vand steadily; "do you, Rosamund?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't," returned Mrs. Vand aggressively. "There was the property
+and the income, both of which Jabez left to me by arrangement. But
+jewels? I never saw any; if I had I should have got hold of them, since
+they are mine&mdash;if they exist, that is."</p>
+
+<p>"Granny here said when she spoke that they existed," insisted Bella
+quietly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand shrugged her fat shoulders. "I don't believe in hocus-pocus
+and hanky-panky. Henry thought that the house was haunted, as I did
+myself, and he brought Granny here to lay the ghost. She has done so,
+since she brought you out to talk in a silly manner. You are the ghost,
+Bella, so I don't believe that there are any such things as spirits."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe in spirits either," said Bella promptly, "and so I wish
+to know, Mrs. Tunks, how you learned all you said."</p>
+
+<p>"All what?" mumbled the witch-wife vacantly.</p>
+
+<p>"All about the jewels and the murder and the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember saying a word," interrupted Granny, rising slowly and
+with a lack-lustre look in her beady eyes. "When I go into a trance I
+don't recall what I say. But let me go into a trance again and I'll tell
+you where the jewels are if you will give me a share," and her eyes
+began to glitter in an avaricious manner.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Vand, in his most peremptory tones, "we have had enough of
+this rubbish."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," sneered his wife, "you admit then that it is rubbish?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, now that I know Miss Huxham played the ghost. Granny"&mdash;he turned
+to the old woman&mdash;"all your teachings of the unseen have proved false,
+so you can take yourself out of this house, and never come near it
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Bella, quite believing that the old woman was a fraud, and knew the
+truth of what she had spoken when in her so-called trance, expected to
+see her defy the man she had accused. But in place of doing so Granny
+Tunks flung the tail of her white cloak over her head and moved towards
+the door. Seeing her retreat, Mrs. Vand, after the manner of bullies and
+cowards, became suddenly brave. Leaping towards the old creature, and
+before her husband could restrain her, she struck her hard once or twice
+between the shoulders. "Get out of this, you lying cat! Go to the devil,
+your master, you vile animal!"</p>
+
+<p>Vand caught back his infuriated wife with a fierce oath, but Granny
+still continued on her way out of the room. As she passed into the dark
+hall she turned and sent a glance at Mrs. Vand which made that
+triumphant tyrant shiver in her shoes. But she did not defend herself in
+any way, and shortly the three in the vast drawing-room heard the front
+door open and shut. Granny Tunks was gone, and with her seemed to
+disappear the malignant influence which had hung over the house for so
+long. Bella did not believe in witchcraft, but she could not help
+thinking that the old woman must have exercised some evil spell, and now
+had departed taking her familiar with her. At all events, the air seemed
+to be clearer for her absence.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," said Vand, addressing Bella in his usual courteous way, "as
+you are satisfied, Miss Huxham, perhaps you will go also."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Bella determinedly. "I believe that Granny spoke truly, and
+that you and my aunt have something to do with the murder."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a lie!" shouted Mrs. Vand furiously, and would have struck her
+niece, as she had struck Granny, but that Vand kept her back. "Why
+should I murder my own dear brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"To get the heritage you now enjoy," said Bella firmly. "I don't say you
+actually murdered him, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think you didn't, indeed," raved Mrs. Vand, stamping in
+impotent wrath. "You heard what I said at the inquest. What I said then
+is true. I left this house at seven o'clock with Tunks, as he can prove.
+I was all the evening with Henry, as he can swear to, and he left me on
+the other side of the boundary channel. I came in quietly at ten and
+went to bed. I never knew that Jabez was dead until the next morning,
+and then I woke you. And as I was out of the house from seven until ten,
+how could I have murdered my brother&mdash;your poor dead father&mdash;when the
+doctor declared that he was struck down shortly after eight? How
+dare&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You forget," interrupted Bella quickly, "that Dr. Ward said the murder
+was committed between eight and eleven, so that gave you an hour to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Grant me patience, heaven!" cried Mrs. Vand, casting up her eyes. "Why,
+the coroner himself said that the poor dear must have been murdered
+shortly after eight o'clock, since I came in at ten and saw no light in
+the study."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Bella significantly, "he declared that on your evidence and
+because he hated Dr. Ward, and wished to put him in the wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you accuse me of murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I accuse you of nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"You say that I am guilty?" asked Vand, suddenly but quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say so, but Granny Tunks did."</p>
+
+<p>"If so, would she not have accused me to my face when I turned her out
+of the house?" said Vand earnestly. "I assure you, Miss Huxham, that I
+had no motive to kill your father. I was quite content to wait, even
+though Rosamund and I were secretly married. Besides, on that night I
+left Rosamund on the further side of the boundary channel, as she can
+prove. Also my mother can show that I returned to my home at fifteen
+minutes past ten, and that I was in bed by half-past. There is not a
+shred of evidence to support this unfounded charge you have made."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not make it Granny said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know what she said," interrupted Vand imperiously. "Hold your tongue,
+Rosamund, and let me speak. Granny said what she did say in a trance. At
+one time I really believed in such things; now, and especially since our
+ghost has proved to be you, I have ceased to believe. You heard merely
+the raving of an old beldame. I dare say she wished to blackmail myself
+and Rosamund by bringing this unfounded charge, and chose this so-called
+trance to bring the charge. If she really has any grounds to go
+upon&mdash;and I swear that she has not&mdash;she will doubtless go to the police
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"And I hope she will go!" cried Mrs. Vand angrily, "for then Henry and I
+can have her up for libel. No wonder everyone is so disagreeable!
+Granny, no doubt, has been spreading all manner of reports against us. I
+daresay we are regarded as a couple of criminal, gory, murdering
+assassins," ended Mrs. Vand, with a fine choice of words.</p>
+
+<p>Bella was puzzled. Like the Vands themselves, she did not believe in the
+occult arts with which Granny Tunks was supposed to be familiar, and it
+was not unlikely that the clever old woman intended to risk blackmail.
+Certainly, if Mrs. Tunks could really prove the guilt of Vand, she would
+not have retreated so easily when he ordered her out of the house, much
+less would she have condoned the blow of Mrs. Vand. If Granny honestly
+could prove her case, she was mistress of the situation; but as she had
+slunk away so quietly, it seemed that she had merely spoken from
+conjecture. Bella began to think she had been too precipitate in
+revealing herself, as the Vands decidedly had right on their side.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, after all," she said reluctantly, "how did Granny come to know
+about the jewels?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jewels! Had Jabez really jewels?" asked Mrs. Vand avariciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Bella coldly. "I read some papers which proved that he had
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get those papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"I refuse to tell you that," retorted the girl, anxious not to
+incriminate Mrs. Tunks until she had interviewed her.</p>
+
+<p>"You must tell!" yelled Mrs. Vand, her face on fire with rage and
+expectation. "You've come in sneaking by these secret passages to steal.
+Jabez never gave you any of his papers. They are mine, and if they tell
+where the jewels are, you minx&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They don't tell where the jewels are," interrupted Bella, "but they
+state how Captain Huxham murdered Maxwell Faith in Nigeria to get them."</p>
+
+<p>"You talk of your dead father as Captain Huxham," said Mrs. Vand
+sniffing.</p>
+
+<p>Her husband made a gesture of silence. "Maxwell Faith was the name
+mentioned by Granny in her trance, and she also spoke of this murder.
+Did she see the papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" Bella was suddenly enlightened. Perhaps Granny had learned about
+the jewels from the papers which had been taken from the carved chest in
+the attic. But then in that first set of papers, as she thought, the
+name of Maxwell Faith had not been mentioned. "Granny saw one set of
+papers, but not the set I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there are other papers you have stolen," cried Mrs. Vand
+furiously. "Upon my word, Bella, you are a fine thief and no mistake.
+Give up those papers, so that we may learn where my jewels are."</p>
+
+<p>"They are not your jewels, but mine," said Bella, stepping back into the
+hollow left by the open panel, "and you shall not have them."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they? where are they?" cried Vand, becoming excited in his
+turn.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew, but I don't. Captain Huxham had them, before he
+died&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then the assassin must have them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Perhaps you can tell me who is the assassin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say; you know as much as we do," said Vand coldly. "If I had
+murdered the old man, as you were so ready to think, on Granny Tunk's
+ravings, I should have the jewels and long since would have cleared out
+with them. But the fact that I am still here with Rosamund proves that I
+am innocent."</p>
+
+<p>"We must go and see the police to-morrow, Henry," said Mrs. Vand, "and
+have this wicked girl arrested. She must be made to give up the papers
+she has stolen. Oh!"&mdash;Mrs. Vand plunged forward&mdash;"I could scratch her
+eyes out!"</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly the furious woman would have made the attempt, but that
+Bella was on her guard. Already in the secret passage, she had only to
+touch a spring and the panel sprang back into its place with a click. In
+the darkness Bella heard her so-called aunt hurl herself against the
+hard wood, using very bad language. Then came the beating of fists
+against the panel in the vain attempt to break it down. Bella knew that
+the panel was too strong to break, but thought it was best to leave the
+house as speedily as possible. Cyril was waiting for her near the
+boundary channel, and the sooner she joined him the better. As she
+turned to go she heard the high, screaming voice of Mrs. Vand raging
+wildly.</p>
+
+<p>"Go up on the roof and use the search-light, Henry!" shouted Mrs. Vand.
+"The minx will get out of the house by some way we don't know of, and
+must get down the corn-path. I'll catch her there, and you show the
+light so that I can seize her. I'll tear her hair out! I'll scratch her
+eyes out! I'll make her ill, and&mdash;&mdash;" what else Mrs. Vand was about to
+do to her, Bella did not hear, as there was no time to be lost in
+getting away from the dangerous neighborhood of the infuriated woman.</p>
+
+<p>Bella sped along the narrow passage fearlessly, as long experience had
+made her acquainted with its intricacies. It was contrived in the thick
+dividing walls of the old house on the ground floor. At one part there
+was a shaft leading to another passage on the first floor, and up this
+it was possible to scramble by notches cut in the walls. Bella had half
+a mind to ascend to the upper story, and linger for a chance of escape.
+But as Cyril waited her at the boundary channel, it was possible that he
+might come into contact with Mrs. Vand, who would be furiously hunting.
+Therefore, she judged it best to leave the house and gain the corn-path
+before Mrs. Vand could intercept her. With this scheme in her mind Bella
+ran along the passage until she came to a door, which turned on a
+central pivot. This she twisted, and slipped like an eel through the
+opening to find herself in a kind of tiny chamber. Groping round this
+she soon discovered the hasp of a closed door, which she skilfully
+manipulated. The door&mdash;a narrow one and somewhat high&mdash;swung open, and
+the girl was outside in a quiet corner at the back of the house, and
+hidden fairly well by a projecting buttress. A screen of ivy clothed the
+Manor wall at this point, and the door was concealed behind the screen,
+so that its existence had never been suspected. Bella had discovered the
+exit from the inside, and had cut round the ivy that masked the door so
+that she could get it open. Of course, the cut ivy had more or less
+withered, but even so, no one guessed that there was a door behind the
+brownish oblong.</p>
+
+<p>The night was dark and warm and silent. Bella stole along the footpath,
+which ran between the house and the tall, rustling stalks of the corn.
+Several times she paused, thinking she heard a noise, but everything was
+still, and she speedily turned the corner of the mansion. Apparently
+Mrs. Vand was not on the hunt yet, or perhaps she was busy with the
+search-light which she had asked her husband to use. However this might
+be, Bella saw that the course was clear, and stealing round to the front
+door, which she found to be closed, she sped like an antelope down the
+winding corn-path which led to the boundary channel. Just as she reached
+the top of this and was prepared to start down it, the beam of the
+electric light struck into the dark sky.</p>
+
+<p>Huxham had rigged up the light on the flat roof, between the sloping
+tiles, but Vand had transferred it to the quarter deck, which was slung
+round the chimney. Thus he was enabled to sweep the whole horizon
+without being interrupted by the tall roofs of the Manor. The beam swung
+round here and there, pointing like a great finger, and finally settled
+on the corn-path and on Bella's dark figure running for dear life from
+the mansion. The girl heard Vand's shout as he espied her, heard also
+the front door opening, as Mrs. Vand rushed in pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Vand, like Hamlet, was stout and scant of breath, and with all
+the will in the world urged by a venomous hatred, could not gain on her
+detested niece, who ran like Atlanta. The search-beam revealed the path
+plainly, and showing the flying figure of Bella, with Mrs. Vand panting
+in vindictive pursuit. Towards the end of the path near the boundary
+channel Bella called softly and breathlessly, "Cyril! Cyril! Mrs. Vand
+is following. Hide! hide!"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the beam struck the boundary channel, and revealed the
+white-clothed figure of young Lister. It rested for a moment there, and
+then dropped back to aid the steps of Mrs. Vand. Cyril seized the chance
+of the friendly darkness, and as Bella ran into his arms he dragged her
+into the standing corn. In less than a moment they were lying some
+distance from the path amongst the crushed stalks, while Mrs. Vand
+blundered past, running unsteadily. If Vand had kept the beam on Bella,
+she and her lover would not have been able to hide, but having been
+forced to give light to his stout wife, the two were enabled to escape.
+They could hear Mrs. Vand puffing and panting like a grampus, as she
+searched round and round. In Cyril's arms, on Cyril's breast, Bella felt
+perfectly safe, and in spite of the position and of the near presence of
+her enemy, was bubbling over with laughter.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand crossed the boundary channel, and finding no one on the hither
+side, concluded that Bella had escaped. She returned slowly, and, as
+Vand had now shut off the beam&mdash;for he also had seen that the search was
+vain&mdash;she stumbled up the path in a very bad temper. As her sighs and
+groans died away and the darkness gathered around, Cyril and Bella rose,
+and gliding back to the verge of the boundary channel, crossed rapidly.
+In a few minutes they were on their way to Marshely.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it all mean, dear?" asked Cyril, when they were quite safe.</p>
+
+<p>Bella told him all about her adventure.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MASTER MAGICIAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Next morning, Dora being at school as usual, Bella received Cyril and
+Durgo in Miss Ankers' tiny drawing-room to discuss the position of
+affairs with regard to the Huxham mystery. In the negro's opinion it was
+no longer a mystery, for after hearing Bella's account of Granny Tunks'
+utterances while in the trance he unhesitatingly pronounced Henry Vand
+guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"But on what evidence?" asked Cyril, who, like Bella, had small belief
+in the manifestation of the unseen.</p>
+
+<p>"The evidence that Granny said that she did say," returned Durgo
+quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"That evidence would not be accepted in a court of law," remarked Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"I am aware of that. I have not been to Oxford for nothing, missy. But
+it gives me a clue, which I shall follow up. This afternoon I shall see
+Mrs. Tunks and question her."</p>
+
+<p>"But if she really knows anything," said Cyril, after a pause, "it will
+prove that her trance statements were by design and from practical
+knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure they were," said Bella emphatically. "I fancied that as
+Granny did not see the second set of papers, which Durgo got from Mr.
+Pence, that she did not know the name of Maxwell Faith, my father. But
+now I remember that in the first set, which she found and delivered to
+you, Durgo, my father's name was also mentioned; also the number and the
+value of the jewels. All her talk was of the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"And of the murder of your real father by Huxham," said Durgo drily;
+"that was not in the first set of papers, and was only lightly referred
+to in the second set."</p>
+
+<p>"That is strange," said Cyril reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"You no doubt think so," said the negro calmly, "as you disbelieve all
+that you can't see or prove. I know otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Durgo," argued Cyril, surprised at this assumption, "you have been
+to Oxford, and surely must have rid yourself of these barbarous African
+superstitions."</p>
+
+<p>"You call them superstitions because you don't know their esoteric
+meaning. But there is such a thing as magic, white and black."</p>
+
+<p>"Magic! Pshaw!"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Of course I never argue with an
+unbeliever, Cyril Lister," he said indifferently, "but the Wise Men came
+from the East, remember, and Europe is indebted to the East for most of
+her civilisation."</p>
+
+<p>"But not to Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"Africa has had her ancient civilisations also. In the time of the
+Atlanteans&mdash;but it's useless talking of such matters. All I say is, that
+there are certain natural laws which, when known, can enable anyone to
+part what you call the spirit from the body. When the spiritual eyes are
+open, much can be seen that it is difficult to prove on the physical
+plane."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand what you mean by these planes," grumbled Lister.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, and it would be useless for me to explain. But facts beyond
+your imagining exist, and had I the time I could prove much to you. Mrs.
+Tunks is what we call clairvoyant, and when in a trance state can
+see&mdash;well, you heard her say what she saw, Miss Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>Bella was also sceptical. "She must have read the first set of papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Probably she did, since woman is an animal filled with curiosity," said
+Durgo good-humouredly. "I don't mean to say that Granny Tunks is
+entirely genuine. There is a good deal of humbug about her, as there is
+about all the Romany tribes. She may have known about the jewels, and
+even your real father's name, but she did not know about his murder.
+Mrs. Tunks has a small portion of clairvoyant power, which does not act
+at all times. When that fails her she resorts to trickery."</p>
+
+<p>"Like spiritualists?" suggested Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," assented the negro with decision. "In all phenomena connected
+with the unseen there is a great measure of truth, but charlatans spoil
+the whole business by resorting to trickery when their powers fail. And
+I may say that the spiritual powers do not act always, since in a great
+measure we are ignorant of the laws which govern them. But enough of
+this discussion. I do not seek to convince you. I shall see Mrs. Tunks
+this afternoon and gain from her actual proof of Vand's guilt."</p>
+
+<p>"But I fancied that you believed my father to be guilty," said Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"So I did, and if he were I would not mind, since Huxham was a rogue.
+But from what Miss Faith&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham," interposed Bella hastily, "until this mystery is cleared
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good. Well, from what Miss Huxham overheard I am inclined to think
+that Vand murdered the old sailor, aided by his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"For what reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"You supplied it yourself, Miss Huxham; so that they might get his
+money."</p>
+
+<p>"But what about Pence's confession?" said Cyril. "He might have
+committed the deed himself."</p>
+
+<p>"No; he had no reason to kill the old man, who was on his side in the
+matter of the marriage with Miss Huxham here. Besides, if Pence was
+guilty he certainly would not have composed what he did, and assuredly
+would not have produced the one hundred pounds he stole. Now that his
+madness for Miss Huxham is past, Pence has behaved like a rational
+being, and will do his best to assist us in solving this mystery." Durgo
+paused, then turned to the white man. "Cyril Lister, you put an
+advertisement into several London papers a week ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I did so without telling you, as I hoped to surprise you with a
+letter from my father telling us of his whereabouts. How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw the <i>Telegraph</i> yesterday and also the <i>Daily Mail</i>," said Durgo,
+nodding approvingly; "you did well. Have you had any answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I had you should have seen it," said Cyril, wrinkling his brows as
+he always did when he was perplexed. "What can have become of him?"</p>
+
+<p>Durgo struck his large hands together in despair. "I fear my master
+Edwin Lister is dead," he said mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Bella and her lover simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham, you repeated to me that Granny Tunks in her trance said
+that the knife lying on the floor when the cripple entered to kill
+Huxham, was already bloody. Can't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"See what?"</p>
+
+<p>"That if the knife were already bloody, Huxham must have killed my master
+Edwin Lister, and then was killed in turn by Vand the cripple."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked impatient. "That is all the black magic rubbish you talk
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, if my master, your father, is alive and has the jewels, why
+does he not write to me or to you? He knows he can trust us both. Even
+the advertisements have failed. No"&mdash;Durgo looked gloomy&mdash;"my heart
+misgives me sadly!" He arose abruptly. "Meet me at the 'Chequers,' Cyril
+Lister, and I shall tell you what I learn from Mrs. Tunks."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I come also to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you like. Perhaps I shall be able to dispel your disbelief
+regarding these occult powers which she and I possess."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that why Mrs. Tunks calls you master?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. She recognised that I had higher powers than she, when we first
+met, and so I was enabled to make her get those papers. Do you think she
+would have done so unless I had controlled her? No. Not even for the
+fifty pounds which I am taking to her to-day. She can make a better
+market out of Vand and his wife. She knows their guilt."</p>
+
+<p>"But cannot prove their guilt."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," said the negro indifferently. "Good-day", and he departed in
+his usual abrupt style, after bidding Cyril meet him at three o'clock at
+the hut of the so-called witch. The lovers looked at one another.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of it all, Cyril?" asked Bella timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't know. We seem to be involved in a web through which we
+cannot break? Durgo certainly seems to be a very strange being, and in
+spite of my disbelief in the existence of occult powers I am inclined to
+think that he knows some strange things. He looks like a negro, and
+talks and acts like a white man. Indeed, no white man would be so
+unselfish as to surrender those jewels to you as Durgo has done."</p>
+
+<p>"He puzzles me," said Bella thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"And me also. However, the best thing to be done will be to leave
+matters in his hands. In one way or another he will learn the truth, and
+then we can get back the jewels and marry."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think your father has the jewels, Cyril?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," he said frowning, "I can't be sure now that my father is
+alive. I begin to believe that there may be something in Granny's
+trances, after all, since she hinted at my father's death at Huxham's
+hands. And terrible as it may seem," added Lister, turning slightly pale
+with emotion, "I would rather think that he was dead than live to be
+called the murderer of Jabez Huxham. I would like to come to you," he
+said, folding Bella in his strong young arms, "as the son of a man whose
+hands are free from blood. Better for my father to be dead than a
+criminal."</p>
+
+<p>The two talked on this matter for some time, until their confidences
+were ended by the entrance of Dora, hungry for her dinner. Then Cyril
+took his leave, promising to return and tell Bella all that took place
+in Mrs. Tunks' hut. Being anxious, the girl made a very poor meal, and
+was scolded by Dora, who little knew what was at stake. But Dora
+supplied one unconscious piece of information which surprised her
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I think Mr. and Mrs. Vand are going away for a trip," she said
+carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Bella, starting so violently that she upset
+the water-jug.</p>
+
+<p>Dora looked surprised. "My dear, you are not so fond of your aunt as to
+display such emotion. I merely say that the Vands are going away."</p>
+
+<p>"When? Where? How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very soon, I believe, as they are packing, but where they are going I
+don't know. Sarah Jope, the servant, whose sister is at the school, came
+flying home last night to her mother with a cock and bull story about a
+ghost at the Manor. This morning she went to get her belongings, as she
+insists upon leaving the house. She found Mrs. Vand and her husband
+packing for immediate departure and was bundled out by her indignant
+mistress, boxes and all, with a flea in her ear. Sarah Jope's sister told
+me this just before I came home to dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"The Vands going away!" said Bella in dismay. This seemed to prove that
+they were guilty, and wished to escape. "I thought they were going to
+wait for the harvest home."</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay they will be back in a month, and the Bleacres corn won't be
+reaped until then. I only wish they would remain away altogether. Your
+aunt is a horrid woman, Bella, though her husband is a dear."</p>
+
+<p>Bella did not echo the compliment, for, after what she had seen on the
+previous night, she was inclined to think that Henry Vand was the worse
+of the two, evil as his wife might be. At all events, he was the
+stronger, and Rosamund Vand was a mere tool in his hands. She was on the
+point of going to Cyril's lodgings to warn him and Durgo of this
+projected departure of the Manor-house inhabitants, but on reflection
+she concluded to wait until he returned from Mrs. Tunks' hut. After all,
+the Vands could not leave Marshely before night-fall, and would have to
+pass through the village on their way to the far-distant railway
+station. If necessary they could thus be intercepted at the eleventh
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks was seated by the fire in her dingy hut, absorbed in her own
+thoughts, which she assisted by smoking a dirty black pipe. In the next
+room her grandson still turned and tossed, watched by a bright-eyed
+gipsy girl, whom the old woman had engaged from a passing family of her
+kinsfolk. But the man no longer raved, as the worst of the delirium had
+passed. He was sensible enough, but weak, and looked the mere shadow of
+his former stalwart self. Mrs. Tunks feared lest he should die, and was
+much disturbed in consequence, as he was her sole support. Without her
+grandson's earnings she could not hope to keep a roof above her head, as
+her fees for consultations as a wise woman were woefully small. She did
+not dare to make them larger in case her visitors should warn the police
+of her doings. And Mrs. Tunks, for obvious reasons, did not wish for an
+interview with Dutton, the village constable.</p>
+
+<p>Smoking her pipe, crouching over the smouldering fire, and wondering how
+she could obtain money, the old woman did not hear the door open and
+shut. Not until a black hand was laid on her shoulder did she turn, to
+see that Durgo was in the hut with Cyril behind him. Paying no attention
+to the white man, she rose and fawned like a dog on the black.</p>
+
+<p>"He's ill, master," she whimpered, clawing Durgo's rough tweed sleeve,
+"and if he goes there's no one to help me. Give him something to make
+him well; set him on his legs again."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I can do so?" asked Durgo, with a grave smile.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks peered at him with her bleared eyes and struck her skinny
+hands together. "I can swear to it, master. You know much I don't know,
+and I know heaps as the Gorgios&mdash;my curse on them!&mdash;would give their
+ears to learn. Come, lovey&mdash;I mean master&mdash;help me in this and I'll help
+you in other ways."</p>
+
+<p>"Such as by telling us who murdered Huxham," put in Cyril injudiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Me, deary! Lor', I don't know who killed the poor gentleman," and Mrs.
+Tunk's face became perfectly vacant of all expression.</p>
+
+<p>Durgo turned frowning on the white man. "I said that I would let you
+come if you did not speak," he remarked in a firm whisper; "you have
+broken your promise already."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril apologised in low tones. "I won't say another word," he said, and
+took a seat on a broken chair near the window.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks cringed and bent before Durgo, evidently regarding him with
+awe, as might her sister-witches the Evil One, when he appeared at
+festivals. The negro glanced towards the closed door of the other room.
+"Who is watching your grandson?" he asked sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"A Romany gal, as I found&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That will do. I want no listeners. Call her out and turn her out."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman entered the other room, and soon returned driving before
+her a black-eyed slip of a child about thirteen years of age. This brat
+protested that Tunks was restless and could not be left.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall quieten him," said the negro quickly; "get out, you!" and he
+fixed so fierce a glance on the small girl that she fled rapidly. And
+Cyril saw that the girl was not one easily frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Now to put your grandson to sleep," said Durgo, passing into the next
+room, and Cyril saw his great hands hover over the restless man on the
+bed. He made strange passes and spoke strange words, while Mrs. Tunks
+looked on, shaking and trembling. In two minutes the sick man lay
+perfectly still, and to all appearances was sound asleep. Durgo returned
+to the outer room.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll cure him, master, won't you?" coaxed Mrs. Tunks.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I'll cure him if you tell me what you know of this murder."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything, master."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks looked obstinate yet terrified. Durgo stared at her in a
+mesmeric sort of way, and threw out his hand. The woman crouched and
+writhed in evident agony. "Oh, deary me, I'm all burnt up and aching,
+and shrivelled cruel. Don't&mdash;oh, don't! I'll be good. I'll be good;" and
+she wriggled.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you speak?" said the negro sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! only take the spell off me, deary&mdash;master, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"You feel no pain now," said Durgo quickly, and at once an air of relief
+passed over Mrs. Tunks' withered face. She sat down on a stool and
+folded her claw-like hands on her lap. Durgo leaned against the
+fire-place. "What do you know of this murder?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know much, save what he"&mdash;she nodded towards the room wherein
+lay her sleeping grandson&mdash;"what he said when he was mad with the drink.
+Get him to speak, master, and you'll learn everything."</p>
+
+<p>"In good time I'll make him speak," said Durgo with impressive
+quietness. "Now I ask your questions. Answer! Do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master; yes, I hear. I answer," said the trembling old creature.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell the truth in your trance last night?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks looked up with awe. "He knows everything, does the master,"
+she breathed softly, then replied with haste, "Yes. I spoke of what I
+saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see all you spoke of, or did you make up some?"</p>
+
+<p>"I spoke of what I saw," said Mrs. Tunks decidedly, "and you know,
+master, how I saw it. I loosened the spirit, and it went to look. But I
+don't say but what I didn't know much from what Luke raved about."</p>
+
+<p>"So you knew before Vand took you to the Manor-house for this trance,
+that he had murdered Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master, I did know, but I wasn't sure till I saw with the Sight."</p>
+
+<p>"Luke"&mdash;Durgo nodded towards the inner room in his turn&mdash;"Luke knows
+that Vand murdered Huxham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master. I believe," said Granny, sinking her voice, "that he saw
+the doings through the window of the study. He never said naught to me,
+though I wondered where he got so much money to get drunk every day. But
+when he was mad with the drink, he talked and talked all the night. Then
+I knew that he had got money from Mr. Vand for holding his tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what he said?" commanded Durgo.</p>
+
+<p>"He raved disjointed like," said Mrs. Tunks with great humility; "but he
+talked of Mr. Vand coming in when Captain Huxham was looking at a box of
+jewels. There was a knife on the floor, and Mr. Vand stabbed Captain
+Huxham with that knife, and then dropped it behind the desk."</p>
+
+<p>"Was his wife with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. She was in the kitchen."</p>
+
+<p>"Was there another man with Huxham before Vand came?"</p>
+
+<p>"Luke said nothing of that. But he did say," added Mrs. Tunks quickly,
+"that he was going to America with Mr. and Mrs. Vand, and raved of the
+good time he would have with them."</p>
+
+<p>"When are they going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, master. Luke didn't say."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril would have interrupted to ask a question about his missing father,
+as he could not understand why Durgo had not threshed out that important
+point. But at the first sound of his voice the negro frowned him unto
+immediate silence. When all was quiet, Durgo looked directly at Granny,
+and made passes. "Sleep, sleep, sleep!" he said, and Cyril could see by
+the working of his face that he was putting out his will to induce a
+hypnotic condition. "Sleep, I say."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman must have been a marvellously sensitive subject, for she
+leaned against the wall&mdash;her stool had no back&mdash;and closed her eyes in
+apparent deep slumber almost immediately. Her face was perfectly
+expressionless, and her limbs were absolutely still. She looked&mdash;as
+Cyril thought, with a shudder&mdash;like a corpse. Durgo spoke softly in her
+ear: "Are you free?" he asked gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Tunks, in a far-away, faint voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the Manor-house."</p>
+
+<p>"I am there."</p>
+
+<p>"Enter!"</p>
+
+<p>"The door is fast closed," said Mrs. Tunks, still faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Doors are no bars to you now; you can pass through the door."</p>
+
+<p>There came a short pause. "I have passed. I am inside."</p>
+
+<p>"Seek out Vand and his wife," commanded the negro softly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have found them."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they doing?" demanded Durgo, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Packing boxes," came the response, without hesitation; "they talk of
+going away to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Where to?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say: they don't mention the place. But they leave the
+Manor-house under cover of darkness to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Look for the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"I have looked."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a small portmanteau, marked with two initials."</p>
+
+<p>"What are the initials?"</p>
+
+<p>"M. F. Oh!" Mrs. Tunks' voice became very weary. "The mist has come on.
+I can see no more. It is not permitted to know more."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo looked disappointed, and seemed inclined to force his will. But
+after a frowning pause, he waved his hands rapidly, and spoke with great
+sharpness.</p>
+
+<p>"Come back," he said briefly, and after a moment or so, the old woman
+opened her eyes quietly. Her gaze met the angry one of Durgo, and she
+winced.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I not pleased you, master?" she asked, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. You have pleased me. But I wish you could have learned more."</p>
+
+<p>"What did I say?" asked Granny, wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. Here"&mdash;Durgo produced a small canvas bag from his
+pocket&mdash;"this is the money you have earned."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks hastily untied the mouth of the bag, and poured a glittering
+stream of gold into her lap. "Fifty sovereigns, lovey," she mumbled, her
+eyes glowing with avaricious delight. "Thank you, master; oh, thank
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"In an hour," said Durgo, indifferent to her thanks, "I shall send you a
+small bottle containing a draught, which you can give to your grandson.
+It will put him right; but of course a few days will elapse before he
+can get quite strong again. This place"&mdash;he glanced disparagingly round
+the dingy hut&mdash;"is not healthy."</p>
+
+<p>"So I thought, master. And to-night Luke is going to my sister's
+caravan. It's on the road outside Marshely, and the gel can take him
+there. If Luke has a month or two of the open road, he'll soon be
+himself again. Anything more I can tell you, master?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. But to-night I am coming here, shortly after moonrise. Get rid of
+your grandson beforehand, if you can."</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be done, master?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. Do as you're told. Good-day," and Durgo, beckoning to
+Cyril, went out of the hut. The white man followed, in a state of great
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you manage all that?" he asked wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hypnotism," said Durgo shortly. "You heard that Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+intend to fly to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard: yet I cannot believe in that hanky-panky."</p>
+
+<p>Durgo shrugged his shoulders and argued no more. But when Cyril came to
+his lodgings, and found a note from Bella stating that she had heard of
+the Vands' intention of leaving the Manor-house, he disbelieved no
+longer. Nay, more, for on the authority of Mrs. Tunks' hypnotic
+confessions, he believed that the Vands also possessed the
+long-sought-for jewels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>A DESPERATE ATTEMPT</h3>
+
+
+<p>When the darkness came on, and just as the moon was rising, Lister and
+Bella proceeded to the plank bridge of the boundary channel. Before
+leaving Cyril on that afternoon, Durgo had intimated that he wished Miss
+Huxham to meet him at that hour and at that place, and of course Cyril
+came also. He had every trust in the negro, who had proved himself in
+every way to be a man of sterling worth. All the same, he did not intend
+to let Durgo meet Bella without being present. The black man was far too
+intimate with unseen forces, to please the white man, and it was
+necessary to protect Bella, if necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"He might put you into a hypnotic trance," explained Cyril, who had
+described all that had taken place.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not let him do that," said the girl decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "Durgo might not care if you liked it or
+not. He would hypnotize you, if he wished."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Cyril, he could not do that unless I consented. My will is my own,
+and it is a strong one. I suppose," said Bella, after a pause, "that he
+made Granny feel those aches and pains by controlling her subjective
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>Lister glanced sideways at her in surprise. "You seem to know all about
+it," he declared. "Where did you learn those terms?"</p>
+
+<p>"At my school at Hampstead there was a girl who could hypnotise people.
+She read all manner of books about hypnotism, and talked about the
+subjective mind, although I don't know what it is. I can understand so
+much of Durgo's power over Granny. But that sending her spirit to the
+Manor is strange. I don't believe that he did."</p>
+
+<p>"He must have done so," insisted Cyril, "as Durgo did not know that the
+Vands were leaving, and Granny distinctly stated that they were, in my
+hearing. Also, if we find that the jewels are in the small portmanteau,
+marked with the initials M. F., we can be certain that her spirit really
+did travel."</p>
+
+<p>"'M. F.,'" repeated Bella, dreamily: "those are my father's initials."</p>
+
+<p>"Maxwell Faith. So they are. Humph! There is something in this business
+after all, Bella."</p>
+
+<p>"But do you really think anyone can separate the spirit from the body?"</p>
+
+<p>Lister reflected. "I don't see why not. After all, as St. Paul says, we
+are composed of spirit, soul and body, so in certain cases the one may
+become detached from the other. I remember"&mdash;he looked thoughtfully up
+to the cloudy sky&mdash;"I remember reading in some magazine of a boat-load
+of people being saved, owing to one of them transferring his spirit to a
+passing ship, and leaving written instructions in the cabin where the
+ship was to steer to."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cyril, that's impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," he said drily, "you can see the log of that very ship,
+containing an account of the incident, at Somerset House. However, we
+have no time to discuss these matters further. Yonder is Durgo by the
+bridge. I want to know why he asked you to meet him here. Such a night,
+too"&mdash;Cyril shivered&mdash;"quite a change. I feel cold."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I. It will rain, Cyril. Look at that heavy bank of clouds behind
+which the moon is hiding. And oh, how dark it is!"</p>
+
+<p>It certainly was dark, and the two came very near Durgo before they saw
+him. The sky was heavy with gloomy clouds, and undoubtedly there
+promised to be rain before midnight. Durgo, wrapped in a heavy military
+cloak, stood sentinel by the plank bridge. When the lovers came up he
+led them across to the other side, and when they stood on Bleacres he
+used his great strength to rip up a couple of planks.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said the negro, flinging these into the standing corn, "they
+will not be able to get their boxes across, even if they can cross
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you talking of the Vands?" asked Bella quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; they are still at the Manor-house. Look!"</p>
+
+<p>He pointed through the gloom, and they saw two or three windows of the
+old house lighted up brilliantly. Across other windows occasionally
+flitted more lights. Apparently Mrs. Vand was anxiously trying to
+impress the neighbours at least, such as might be abroad on this
+night&mdash;that she and her husband were ostentatiously at home. Durgo
+laughed grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"They have quite an eye for dramatic effect," he said in his guttural
+voice, and very contemptuously. "Well, they shall have all the drama
+they want to-night, and more."</p>
+
+<p>"Durgo," Bella spoke in an alarmed tone, "you won't hurt them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I can help it."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril interposed imperiously. "I shall not be a party to the breaking of
+the law," he said with sharpness, "nor will I allow Bella to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril Lister," interrupted the negro, turning on him and addressing him
+by his full name, as was his odd way; "if I could bring the police on
+the scene I would do so. But you know, as I do, that we have no proofs
+save those of the unseen, which would not be accepted in a court of law,
+to prove that the two are guilty of murder&mdash;of a double murder for all I
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"A double murder!" echoed Bella, drawing closer to her lover.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Edwin Lister, my master, has disappeared, and Huxham is dead. The
+old sailor, certainly, may have killed my master, but on the other hand,
+as I believe, Vand murdered Huxham, and probably murdered Edwin Lister
+also. Howsoever this may be, we can prove neither murder, so it is not
+advisable to bring the police into the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be safer," said Cyril uneasily. He feared lest Durgo's
+barbaric instincts should be aroused against the couple at the
+Manor-house.</p>
+
+<p>"It would not be safer," retorted the negro. "While the police were
+debating and searching, the Vands would be getting out of the kingdom,
+and we could not stop them. Besides, they have the jewels. I am certain
+of that from what Granny Tunks saw when I loosened her spirit. Once the
+Vands got news of the police being on their track they would hide those
+jewels, and we should never find them. I want those jewels for you, Miss
+Huxham, as, before I leave England, I wish to see you happily married to
+Cyril Lister here. It is the least that I can do for his father's son."</p>
+
+<p>"But if my father is alive and has the jewels?" asked Cyril doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"That will make a difference," assented Durgo, "although I daresay that
+Edwin Lister will not mind returning the jewels. We can arrange our
+funds for the expedition in another way. But I fear," he added in gloomy
+tones, "that my master is dead. If so, I can only avenge him."</p>
+
+<p>"But with your occult powers, can't you learn if my father is dead or
+alive?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Durgo very decidedly. "You forget that on the side of the
+unseen are mighty powers who have to be obeyed. I can do much, but not
+all, and for some reason I am not permitted to know the truth about my
+master. Sooner or later I shall understand about this. What we have to
+do at the present time is to prevent the Vands from escaping. Will you
+both help?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Bella, anticipating Cyril; "that is if you don't intend
+violence."</p>
+
+<p>"Be comforted," said Durgo ironically; "be comforted, missy. I have no
+wish to put a rope round my neck. I simply mean to force these devils to
+give up the jewels, and to solve so much of this mystery as they know.
+When I regain the jewels and know what has become of my master, I shall
+let them go, or if you like I shall hand them over to the police. But
+time presses," added Durgo impatiently, "and at any time the two may
+come along on their way to freedom. Will you help?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Cyril simply. "What do you want us to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Missy"&mdash;Durgo turned to the girl&mdash;"can you work that search-light?"</p>
+
+<p>Bella nodded. "For an evening's amusement my father&mdash;I mean Captain
+Huxham&mdash;once showed me how to manipulate it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well it is in good order, as we know that Vand used it last night. You
+can get into the house by the secret passage and watch for the going out
+of our two friends. Then turn on the search-light and use it as a
+pointer."</p>
+
+<p>"I can use the search-light, and I daresay it is in order since Henry
+Vand used it last night," said Bella quickly; "also I can get to the
+upper part of the house and on to the roof, through a kind of well which
+runs from the lower to the higher secret passage. But what do you mean
+by my using the light as a pointer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Direct the ray on to Vand and his wife; they may come down this path,
+or they may try and escape in another way. But if you bend the ray of
+the search-light to where they are, I'll be able to catch them. Use the
+ray as a finger, as it were."</p>
+
+<p>Bella nodded. "I see, and where will you be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall hide in the corn somewhere or another," explained Durgo. "I
+don't know where, as I can't be sure how Vand and his wife intend to
+escape."</p>
+
+<p>"They may take the boat," suggested Cyril, "and that is tied up some
+distance yonder. I believe they will use the boat."</p>
+
+<p>"No;" said Durgo shaking his head; "there is no place where they can row
+to, as this channel ends in mere swamps. All I can do is to walk here
+and there, and watch for the finger of the search-light."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I to do?" asked Cyril anxiously; "go with Bella?"</p>
+
+<p>"No you wait in Mrs. Tunk's hut. I daresay she is alone, as I asked her
+to send her grandson away to his gipsy caravan before I came. I shall
+walk down with you, while Miss Huxham goes to the Manor-house."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather go with Bella," objected the young man uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite safe," said Bella determinedly, "and if you came, Cyril,
+there would be no room for us both in that narrow secret passage. I
+shall go by myself. Have no fear for me, dearest."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said Durgo, as she was moving away. "Since you think that
+I may use violence, I may tell you, to quieten your minds, that the
+police are coming, after all."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you tell the police to come? I thought you said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" interrupted the negro impatiently. "I know what I said. But
+I saw Inspector Inglis the other day when I went to Pierside, and
+informed him of my suspicions. I wired him to-day asking him to be with
+three or four men on the bank of the boundary channel opposite to Granny
+Tunks' hut."</p>
+
+<p>"At what time?"</p>
+
+<p>"About eleven, as I don't suppose that the Vands will try and escape
+until everyone in Marshely is asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell Inglis about the jewels?" asked Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"No, there is no need to tell more than is necessary. Besides, the
+police might take possession of the jewels, and I want them for Miss
+Huxham. All Inglis knows is that I suspect the Vands of a double murder,
+and that they intend to fly. He will come with his constables to arrest
+them if there is sufficient evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"But I say, Durgo. I wanted you to do as you say, some time ago, and you
+talked of it not being advisable to bring the police into the matter. It
+seems that you have done so."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a fact," said Durgo drily. "I didn't wish to tell you all my
+plans at once, as you and Miss Huxham here seemed to be so certain that
+I intended blue murder. If you had not been ready to trust me, I should
+not have changed my mind or have told you about the presence of the
+police. You look on me as a barbarous black man."</p>
+
+<p>"We look on you as a very good friend," said Bella quickly, for the
+negro seemed hurt by their suspicions.</p>
+
+<p>"There! there!" said Durgo gruffly, but bowing to the compliment. "Go to
+the Manor-house, Miss Huxham, and do what you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Cyril," said Bella.</p>
+
+<p>The young man ran after her as she moved up the corn path. "Don't go
+without a kiss, Bella," he said, catching her in his arms. "God keep
+you, my darling, and bring us safely through this dark business!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid, now that I know Inspector Inglis and his men will be on
+the spot," whispered Bella. "Good-bye! and good-bye! and good-bye!" and
+she kissed him between each word. In a few minutes she was swallowed up
+in the gloom, which was growing denser every minute.</p>
+
+<p>"There will be a storm," prophesied Durgo, as the two men proceeded side
+by side to Mrs. Tunks' hut. "Hark!"</p>
+
+<p>Just as he spoke there came a deep, hoarse roll of thunder, as though
+the artillery of heaven was being prepared to bombard the guilty pair in
+the old Manor-house. Durgo, with the instinct of a wild animal, raised
+his nose and sniffed. "I smell the rain. Glory! look at the lightning."</p>
+
+<p>A vivid flash of forked lightning zig-zagged across the violent-hued
+sky, and again came the crash of thunder. Already the wind was rising,
+and the vast fields of corn were rustling and sighing and bending under
+its chill breath. "It is going to be a fierce night," said Durgo,
+dilating his nostrils to breathe the freshness of the air. "Do you
+remember in Macbeth, Cyril Lister, of the night of Duncan's murder?" and
+he quoted in his deep voice&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">"<i>&mdash;but this sore night,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Hath trifled former knowings.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Cyril looked at the strong black face, which showed clearly in the
+frequent flashes of lightning. "You are a strange man, Durgo. One would
+think that you were almost&mdash;" he hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"A white man," finished Durgo coolly. "No, my friend. I am an educated
+black man, and an ingrained savage." He spoke mockingly, then flung back
+his military cloak. "Look! Would a man be like this in your sober
+England?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril uttered an ejaculation, and had every reason to. In the bluish
+flare of the lightning he saw that Durgo had stripped himself to a
+loin-cloth, and that his powerful body was glistening with oil. The sole
+civilised things about him were canvas running-shoes which he wore, and
+the cloak. "Why have you stripped to the buff?" asked Cyril astonished.</p>
+
+<p>"I may have hard work to catch those two this night," said Durgo,
+replacing his cloak, which made him look quite respectable, "so I wish
+to run as easily as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"But there was no need to strip. The police won't be stripped."</p>
+
+<p>"It's my way, and was the way of my fathers before me."</p>
+
+<p>"In Africa, but not in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" was all that Durgo answered, and the two trudged along, bowing
+their heads against the now furiously driving wind. Shortly they came to
+Mrs. Tunks' hut, and the door was opened by the old woman herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I felt that you were coming, master," she said, nodding. "Enter."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Durgo, pausing on the threshold of the ill-smelling room. "I
+have to go back to my post and watch for the coming of the Vands. Mr.
+Lister will remain here. Has your grandson gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, lovey&mdash;I mean master," said Granny coaxingly. "He's ever so much
+better for the medicine you gave him, and is quite his own self. But
+I've sent the gel to get a boat to take him to the caravan. They've
+moved it down the channel to a meadow near the high road. The gel will
+bring the boat up here in an hour or so, and take Luke back with her;
+then he'll go on the merry road with her and my sister."</p>
+
+<p>"You should have sent Luke away before," said Durgo frowning, "for he
+knew all about the murder, and has blackmailed the Vands. Inglis and his
+constables will be on the opposite bank to this place soon, and they may
+arrest him. I shan't say more than I can help, but get him away as soon
+as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master; yes, deary; yes, lovey!" croaked the old woman; and Durgo,
+with a significant glance at her and a nod to Cyril, turned away into
+the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come in, lovey?" asked Mrs. Tunks coaxingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Cyril, who did not relish the malodorous hut; "I'll stay here
+and watch for the signal."</p>
+
+<p>"What signal?" demanded the witch wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. Go in!" commanded Lister, and settled himself under the
+eaves of the hut to keep guard.</p>
+
+<p>Granny scowled at him as she obeyed. She did not mind cringing to Durgo,
+who was her master in the black art, but she objected to Cyril ordering
+her about. Had Granny really possessed the powers she laid claim to she
+would have blighted his fresh youth on the spot. As it was, she simply
+muttered a curse on what she regarded as his impertinence, and went
+indoors.</p>
+
+<p>Cyril lighted his pipe and kept his eyes on the distant mass of the
+Manor-house, which was revealed blackly when the lightning flashed.
+Across the ocean of grain tore the furious wind, making it rock like an
+unquiet sea. Flash after flash darted across the livid sky, and every
+now and then came the sudden boom of the thunder. Hour upon hour passed
+until the watcher almost lost count of time. Within the cottage all was
+quiet, although at intervals he could hear the querulous voice of Mrs.
+Tunks shrilly scolding the Romany girl. Lister began to grow impatient,
+as he dreaded lest Bella should have fallen into the clutches of the
+Vands, who would certainly show her no mercy. It was in his mind to
+leave his post and see for himself what had occurred. Suddenly a long
+clear beam smote through the darkness of the night, and he sprang to his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>"They have left the house," muttered Cyril, thrusting his pipe into his
+pocket; "what's to be done now?"</p>
+
+<p>The lightning was not quite so frequent, so the vivid beam of the
+search-light had full and fair play. But as the lightning ceased and the
+thunder became silent, a deluge of rain descended on the thirsty earth.
+On its strong wings the wind brought the rain, and a tropical down-pour
+almost blotted out the haggard moon, which now showed herself between
+driving clouds. But through the steady beam of the search-light could be
+seen the straight arrows of the rain, and the vast corn-fields hissed as
+the heavy drops descended. Here and there swung the ray of light,
+evidently looking for the fugitives, but as it did not come to rest,
+Cyril guessed that Bella had not yet descried the flying couple. But the
+rain was so incessant, and the wind so strong, that he was angered to
+think how Bella, on the high altitude of the quarter deck, was exposed
+to its fury.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as sometimes happens in furious storms, there came a lull both
+in the wind and the rain. A perfect silence ensued, and Cyril straining
+his ears, heard the soft dip of oars. As he peered towards the black
+gulf of the water-way running past the hut, the ray from the Manor-house
+became steady, and the finger of light pointed straight to the boundary
+channel. Cyril heard a wild shriek and ran down to the bank. Coming
+along the stream he saw a light boat, and in it Mrs. Vand huddled up at
+the end in her shawl. Vand himself was rowing with great care: but when
+the beam revealed their doings he lost all caution and rowed with
+desperation. Again came a drench of rain, almost blotting out the
+landscape, but the ray of light still picked out the guilty couple,
+following the course of the boat steadily, like an avenging angel's
+sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Row, Henry, row hard!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, crouching in the stern of
+the boat and steering down the narrow channel as best she could, "We'll
+soon be safe. Row hard, dear! row hard!"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried Cyril from the bank. "Mrs. Vand, you must wait here until
+the police come. Stop!"</p>
+
+<p>"The police!" yelled the terrified woman, and her face was pearly white
+in the brilliant search-light. "Row, Henry; don't stop!"</p>
+
+<p>Lister whipped out a revolver, with which he had been careful to provide
+himself. "If you don't stop, Vand, I shall shoot," and he levelled it.</p>
+
+<p>But the cripple was too desperate to obey. He bent again to the oars and
+brought the shallop sweeping right under Cyril's feet. Then, before the
+young man could conjecture what he intended to do, he stood up in the
+rocking boat and swung up an oar with the evident intention of striking
+the man with the revolver into the water. Lister dodged skilfully as the
+oar came crashing viciously past his ear, and fired at random.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand shrieked, her husband cursed, as the shot rang out. There came
+an answering cry from the near distance, and into the glare of the
+search-light bounded Durgo, naked save for his loin-cloth, black as the
+pit and furious as the devil who lives therein. Showing his white teeth
+like those of a wild animal, he raced up to the boat, and without a
+moment's hesitation flung himself on the figure of Vand as he stood up.
+The next moment the light craft was overturned, and Durgo, with the
+Vands, was struggling in the water. At the same moment the beam of the
+search-light suddenly vanished, leaving everyone in complete darkness.
+And the rain, driven by the triumphant wind, deluged the fields.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>MRS. VAND'S REPENTANCE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Afterwards, Cyril, when questioned, could never clearly recollect what
+took place. Vand's oar had missed his head, but had struck his right
+shoulder with considerable force, so that his revolver shot had gone
+wide of its intended mark. When Bella shut off the beam&mdash;and Cyril
+wondered at the time why she did so&mdash;everything was dark and confused.
+What with the gloom, the rain and curses from Vand and Durgo, who were
+struggling in the water, and the shrieks of Mrs. Tunks, added to those
+of the half-drowned woman, Cyril felt his head whirl; also the blow from
+the oar had confused him, and he became sick and faint for the moment.</p>
+
+<p>Granny Tunks with commendable forethought had brought out a bullseye
+lantern, which she must have stolen from some policeman. Flashing this
+on to the water-way, its light revealed Durgo and the cripple locked in
+a deadly embrace, and Mrs. Vand clinging to the bank with one hand while
+she clutched her shawl with the other. Cyril thereupon plunged down the
+incline and dragged the wretched woman out. Thinking she was about to be
+arrested she fought like a wild cat, and would have forced the
+half-dazed young man into the water again, but that Mrs. Tunks brought a
+chunk of wood with considerable force down on her head.</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil did you do that for?" gasped Cyril furiously; "you've
+killed her, you old fool!"</p>
+
+<p>"What do I care, deary?" cried Granny shrilly. "I'd kill them both if I
+could, for the master wants them killed, curse them both!" and she
+tottered down to the boundary channel, while Cyril carried the inanimate
+form of Mrs. Vand into the hut. Here he laid her on the floor, and
+hastily bidding the Romany girl attend her, hurried out again.</p>
+
+<p>"They're dead, both of them! Oh, the master's dead!" yelled Granny
+Tunks.</p>
+
+<p>With the lantern raised she stood on the bank peering into the water,
+but there was scarcely enough light to see what was taking place. All
+sounds had ceased, however, and only the drench of the rain could be
+heard. But even as Granny spoke, the Romany girl, anxious to see what
+was taking place, darted out of the cottage with a kind of torch,
+consisting of tow at the end of a stick steeped in kerosene. This flared
+redly and flung a crimson glare on the water-ways, and flung also its
+scarlet light on the bodies of Durgo and the Cripple. These lay half-in
+and half-out of the water, fast locked together in a death grip. There
+was no wound apparent on either body, so Cyril conjectured that in the
+struggle both had been drowned. Durgo's mighty arms were clasped tightly
+around the slender body of the cripple, but Vand's lean hands were
+clutching the negro's throat with fierce resolution. Both were quite
+dead, and even in death Cyril, although he tried, could not drag them
+apart. That so delicate a man as Vand could have contrived to drown the
+powerful negro seemed incredible to Cyril: but he soon saw that to kill
+Durgo the cripple had been willing to sacrifice himself. Probably he had
+dragged Durgo under water, and having a grip on the man's throat had
+squeezed the life out of him with a madman's despairing force. The weak
+had confounded the strong on this occasion in a most pronounced manner.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Granny Tunks was bewailing the loss of her master, and the
+sharp-featured Romany girl echoed her cries. The screams of both brought
+out Luke, who appeared at the fire-lighted door of the hut looking much
+better than Cyril expected him to be, seeing how severe had been his
+last illness. He had something in his hands, and in the flaring light of
+the torch Lister saw that it was a somewhat small black bag. In a moment
+the young man guessed that Luke Tunks had been robbing the unconscious
+Mrs. Vand, as he remembered that she had kept a close grip of something
+under her shawl even while she was struggling with him.</p>
+
+<p>"The jewels!" cried Cyril, too excited to be cautious, and leaped for
+the gipsy. "Give me the jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"They're mine, blast you!" growled Luke, trying to evade him. "Missus
+gave 'em to me. Leave me alone. Granny, help me!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Tunks ran to the rescue, for the mention of jewels stirred her
+avaricious blood like the call of a trumpet. But already Cyril had
+plucked the black bag from the still weak gipsy, and Luke was not strong
+enough yet to make a fight for it. Aided vigorously by the Romany girl,
+the old woman would have closed in, but that a shout from the opposite
+bank made all turn. A dozen bullseyes were flashing over the stream.
+Cyril, gripping the bag, dashed the woman and the man aside and sprang
+to the verge of the channel.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, Inspector Inglis?" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; who are you?" came the sharp official tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril Lister. Come over yourself, or send some men. Vand and Durgo, the
+negro, are dead."</p>
+
+<p>There was a confused muttering of surprise amongst the constables. Then
+came Inglis's clean-cut speech. "We heard a shot. Is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Durgo struggled with Vand in the water-way, and they were both
+drowned. These gipsies here are making trouble, and Mrs. Vand is
+unconscious in the hut. Come across and take charge."</p>
+
+<p>"How the devil can we get across here?" demanded Inglis. "It's twenty
+feet of water. Here you men, go round by the bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"It's broken down," yelled Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"Who broke it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Durgo. Let go, you old devil!" and Cyril swung Granny Tunks aside. The
+woman was still trying to clutch the jewels. "Inglis, you'll have to
+swim across. There's no other way."</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had Lister suggested this expedient than Inglis obeyed it with
+the promptitude of an Englishman. Several heavy bodies were heard
+plunging into the water, and the bullseye lanterns were seen approaching
+like moving glow-worms as their swimming owners held them above their
+several heads. Had Granny Tunks been strong enough she would have
+attempted to prevent the landing of this hostile force; but Luke was
+useless and the Romany girl still more so. All she could do was to enter
+the fortress of her hut and bar the door, which she accordingly did,
+while Luke, mindful that he might be arrested for the murders as an
+accomplice after the fact, slunk hastily into the standing corn. Shortly
+Cyril was shaking hands with a dripping police inspector, and surrounded
+by six dripping constables. As the half dozen men and their officer were
+already wetted to the bone by incessant rain, the plunge into the
+channel did not trouble them in the least; indeed, they looked as though
+they rather enjoyed the adventure.</p>
+
+<p>"But we may as well get under shelter to hear your story," suggested
+Inglis, and knocked loudly at the door of the hut. As Granny would not
+open, he simply turned to his men and gave a sharp order. "Break it
+down," said Inglis, and in less than a minute the constables were
+marching into the small apartment over the fallen door.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have the law on you for this!" screeched Mrs. Tunks, shaking her
+fist.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get a stomach-full of law, I have no doubt, before I have done
+with you," retorted Inglis. "Who is this?" and he stared at the
+inanimate form on the earthen floor amidst pools of water.</p>
+
+<p>"Vand's wife, who was trying to escape with him," said Cyril. "She is
+insensible from a blow this old demon gave her."</p>
+
+<p>"She'd have had you in the water else," hissed Mrs. Tunks scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't unlikely, seeing how she fought. Have you any brandy?"</p>
+
+<p>"A trifle for my spasms," admitted Granny sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then bring it out and revive Mrs. Vand," said Inglis impatiently. "It
+will be necessary for me to question her. Mr. Lister"&mdash;he brought his
+mouth very close to the young man's ear and spoke in a whisper&mdash;"is what
+that nigger told me quite true?"</p>
+
+<p>"About Vand murdering Huxham? I believe it is, but I can't be sure. I
+got these, however, from Mrs. Vand. Don't let the old hag come near or
+she'll try and loot them."</p>
+
+<p>"Loot what?" demanded Inglis, on seeing Cyril open the black bag, after
+he had motioned the constables to surround the table. "Oh, by Jupiter!"</p>
+
+<p>His surprised ejaculations were echoed by his men, for Lister emptied on
+the table many glittering stones, cut and uncut. Chiefly they were
+diamonds, but also could be seen sapphires, rubies, pearls, and
+emeralds, all glowing with rainbow splendour in the fierce radiance of
+the bullseye lanterns. Mrs. Tunks whimpered like a beaten dog when she
+saw what she had missed, and tried to dart under a policeman's arm. "No
+you don't!" said the man gruffly, and gripped her lean wrist as her hand
+stretched greedily over the flaming heap of gems.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose are these?" asked the inspector, quite awed by this wealth.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Huxham's," said Cyril, making a ready excuse until such time as
+the matter could be looked into, for he did not wish Inglis to take
+possession of Bella's fortune. "Her father left her these and the house
+to Mrs. Vand; but the woman withheld the jewels from her niece, and
+tried to-night to bolt with them. Then Luke Tunks attempted to steal
+them from her, while she lay unconscious here. Luckily I was enabled to
+rescue them, and now I can restore them to Miss Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Luke Tunks?" asked the inspector, while Cyril packed the gems
+in a chamois leather bag which he found in what Granny had called in her
+trance the portmanteau.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone where you won't get him," grunted Mrs. Tunks, who was holding a
+glass of brandy to Mrs. Vand's white lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You must get him, Inglis," said Cyril insistently. "He knows all about
+the murder of Huxham, and has been blackmailing the Vands."</p>
+
+<p>"So that nigger said. By the way, we must see to the bodies." Inglis
+turned to the door, then looked back at Lister. "I wish I knew what this
+all meant, sir," he remarked, much puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall know everything in due time, and a very queer story it is."</p>
+
+<p>The inspector might have gone on asking questions, but at that moment
+Bella Huxham, breathless and wet, appeared in the doorway. In the
+semi-darkness she could scarcely see her lover, and called him. "Cyril!
+Cyril! what has happened?" she panted. "I have run all the way, and&mdash;who
+are these?"</p>
+
+<p>"Inspector Inglis and constables," said that officer. "Where have you
+come from, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the Manor-house. I went to see my aunt, and saw her run away with
+her husband. Where is she? Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is Mrs. Vand," said Cyril, pointing to the still insensible
+woman, "and her husband is dead in Durgo's arms."</p>
+
+<p>Bella shrieked. "Is Durgo dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, unfortunately. Vand clutched his throat and dragged him under."</p>
+
+<p>"But so weak a man&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He sacrificed his own life to kill Durgo," said Cyril. "What's to be
+done now, inspector?"</p>
+
+<p>Inglis acted promptly. "One of my men can stay here to look after the
+old woman," he said officially, "and the rest can help me to take the
+bodies of Vand and the nigger back to the Manor-house. We must take
+possession of that place until everything is made clear at the inquest.
+What will you do, Miss Huxham? Better get home. This is no place for a
+lady."</p>
+
+<p>"I must stay and revive my aunt," said Bella, who already was bending
+over the woman and had the glass of brandy in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said Inglis, motioning his men to file out. "I'll come back and
+question her when you get her right again. Mr. Lister!"</p>
+
+<p>"With your permission, Mr. Inspector, I'll wait here with Miss Huxham,"
+said Cyril significantly. "I don't trust these two women"&mdash;he looked at
+Granny and the Romany girl&mdash;"also Luke Tunks might be lurking about. If
+Miss Huxham were left here alone&mdash;" his shrug completed the sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Dutton will keep guard at the door," said Inglis, selecting the village
+constable, a fresh-faced, powerful young man, "and if these women try
+any games he can take them in charge. Also, Dutton"&mdash;he turned to the
+man, who had already posted himself as directed&mdash;"you can hold Luke
+Tunks should he turn up. I want to question him also," after which
+orders Inglis with a nod went out. Cyril followed.</p>
+
+<p>The bodies were duly found, and the inspector uttered an exclamation of
+surprise when he saw that Durgo was nude. "What does this mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mean!" said Cyril, who looked over his shoulder, "simply that Durgo, in
+spite of his Oxford training, was a savage at heart. He arranged a trap
+to catch the Vands, and stripped so as to be prepared for any
+emergency."</p>
+
+<p>"Rum notion," said Inglis, who looked puzzled. "But what had he to do
+with all this murder business?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was my father's friend," explained Lister, "and&mdash;" he stopped on
+seeing the eager faces around him, adding in lower tones, "what I have
+to explain is for your own ear in the first instance, inspector."</p>
+
+<p>Inglis looked grave, and even suspicious. "There seems to be much to
+explain, Mr. Lister," he said seriously. "However you can stay here. I
+shall take the bodies to the Manor-house and thoroughly search the
+place. When I return I hope to hear your story and to examine Mrs. Vand.
+It seems to me," added the officer, as he turned away, "that the mystery
+of the Huxham murder is about to be solved at last."</p>
+
+<p>"I think so myself," assented Lister soberly; and after seeing the six
+men take up their burden of the dead, he returned to the hut in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Here he found Mrs. Vand, pale but composed, sitting up on the floor with
+her back propped up against the wall. Granny Tunks, looking very sulky,
+was on her hunkers before the fire smoking her cutty pipe, and the
+Romany girl could be seen lying on Luke's vacated bed in the inner room.
+Only Bella was attending to the woman she had called aunt for so long,
+and who had so persecuted her. She was urging Mrs. Vand to speak out.</p>
+
+<p>"You must tell the truth now," said Bella, "for the police will arrest
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand could not grow paler, for she was already whiter than any
+corpse, but a terrified look came into her eyes. "You'll be glad of
+that, Bella?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the girl earnestly; "I am not glad to see you suffer. You
+have been cruel to me, and I thought that I should like to see you
+punished; but now that you have lost your husband and are so miserable,
+I am very sorry, and both Cyril and I will do our best to help you. Tell
+all you know, Aunt Rosamund, and perhaps you will not be arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"If I tell all I know I am sure to be arrested," said Mrs. Vand
+sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"But surely you did not murder your own brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't. Badly as Jabez treated me I did not kill him, although I
+don't deny that I wished for his death. Well, he is dead and I got his
+money, and now&mdash;" she buried her shameful face in her hands
+wailingly&mdash;"oh! my poor dear Henry, I have lost him and lost all. As to
+you"&mdash;she suddenly lifted up her head to glare furiously at Cyril, who
+was leaning against the door-post a few yards from the watching
+policeman&mdash;"you have been the evil genius of us all. Where are my
+jewels?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are in this bag," said Lister, holding it up, "and they belong to
+Bella."</p>
+
+<p>"Jabez left everything to me," began Mrs. Vand, when Cyril interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"These jewels were not his to leave. They were the property of Maxwell
+Faith, who was a trader and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know all about that," said Mrs. Vand, cutting him short, "and Bella
+is his daughter, you were going to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; therefore the jewels are her property. Who told you of&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Luke Tunks told me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a lie!" snarled Granny from her stool near the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the truth," gasped Mrs. Vand, taking another sip of the brandy
+which Bella held to her lips. "Luke was dodging round the house on the
+night of the murder and peeped in at the study window. He overheard the
+interview between Jabez and Edwin Lister."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" Cyril took a step forward in sheer surprise. "You know my
+father's name also?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know much, but not all," said Mrs. Vand in a stronger voice, for the
+spirit was taking effect. "For instance, I don't know what became of
+Edwin Lister, but Luke does."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Luke shall be arrested and questioned."</p>
+
+<p>"He shan't!" muttered Granny venomously. "Luke's escaped&mdash;a clever boy."</p>
+
+<p>Bella put her arm round Mrs. Vand to render her more comfortable. "How
+much did Luke tell you?" she asked softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Only so much as cheated us&mdash;Henry and I&mdash;into paying him money."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Cyril quietly, "so that is why Luke got so drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"He spent his money in drink," said Mrs. Vand indifferently. "We paid
+him a good deal. He never would have left us, and intended to go to
+America with us to-night, as he knew too much for our safety."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you intend to escape?" asked Cyril sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"We intended to row down the channel to the swamps; that is why Henry
+got the boat a few weeks ago. Then we intended to cut across the marshes
+to the high road, where a motor-car, hired by Henry, awaited us. It
+would have taken us to London, and there we could have concealed
+ourselves until a chance came to get to the States. Everything was cut
+and dried, but you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Lister seriously; "it was not I who stopped you, but Durgo."</p>
+
+<p>"That negro? Then I am glad he is dead!" cried Mrs. Vand, who was
+getting more her old self every minute. "However, it's all done with
+now. You have the jewels, Henry is dead, and I don't care what becomes
+of me."</p>
+
+<p>"But who murdered my father?" asked Bella earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Jabez wasn't your father. Maxwell Faith was your father, for Luke
+overheard Edwin Lister say as much to Jabez."</p>
+
+<p>"And what became of Edwin Lister?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; Luke never told me that. All he said was that he saw and
+heard the two talking. Then he left the window, and only returned to see
+Henry stab my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" Cyril and Bella both uttered ejaculations of horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may say 'oh' as much as you like, but it's true," said Mrs.
+Vand with great doggedness. "Henry came with me to the Manor-house on
+that night at ten o'clock. He did not stop at the boundary channel, as
+he declared. He only said that to save himself. But he came with me, and
+we saw my brother, who was in his study. We confessed that we were
+married, and then Jabez grew angry and said he would turn me as a pauper
+out of the house next morning. He drove Henry and myself out of the
+room. I fainted in the kitchen, and when I came to myself Henry was
+bending over me, very pale. He said he had killed Jabez with a knife
+which he found on the floor. I had seen the knife before when we were
+telling Jabez about our marriage. But in the excitement I didn't pick it
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"Was there blood on the knife?" asked Cyril, remembering Granny Tunks'
+trance, as reported by Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say; I don't know. I was too flurried to think about the
+matter. All I know is that Henry killed Jabez with that knife which
+Jabez brought from Nigeria, and then dropped it behind the desk."</p>
+
+<p>"What took place exactly?" asked Cyril hastily, while Bella closed her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Luke; ask Luke," said Mrs. Vand testily. "He knows all," and she
+refused to say another word.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT LUKE TUNKS SAW</h3>
+
+
+<p>As Mrs. Vand obstinately refused to speak, there was little use for
+Bella to remain in the hut. The girl was sick and faint with all she had
+gone through, and wished to get home to rest. Cyril also was anxious to
+follow Inglis and his officers to the Manor-house to see what had been
+discovered likely to prove the truth of Mrs. Vand's statements. But
+before going, Bella made a last attempt to induce her presumed aunt to
+confess all in detail. "It's your sole chance of getting out of this
+trouble," said Bella, who was now sorry to see her enemy brought so low.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care if I get out of the trouble, or if I do not," said Mrs.
+Vand wearily. "Henry is dead, just as we were on the eve of happiness,
+so I don't much care what becomes of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Could you have been happy in America knowing your husband to be a
+murderer?" asked Cyril, skeptically.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," returned the woman with great composure. "I knew all along
+that Henry had struck the blow; but I daresay Jabez goaded him into
+doing so, as poor Henry was so good and weak."</p>
+
+<p>"Weak!" echoed Cyril, remembering all. "He was not very weak to kill an
+active man like Captain Huxham, and a strong negro such as Durgo was."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Vand exultingly, and contradicting herself in a truly
+feminine way, "Henry was a man&mdash;none of your weaklings. If we had only
+escaped with those"&mdash;she stared hard at the black bag which contained
+the jewels&mdash;"but it's no use fretting now. Everything is at an end, and
+Bella is glad."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not, Aunt Rosamund&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not your aunt; I don't wish to be your aunt."</p>
+
+<p>"All the same, I am very sorry for you," said Bella, with the tears in
+her eyes, "and if I can do anything to help you let me know. Good-bye,
+aunt, and may God watch over you." She bent and kissed the lined
+forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you believe that I killed Jabez?" faltered Mrs. Vand, somewhat
+touched.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Bella quietly. "I believe what you say. Henry killed Captain
+Huxham, and like a true wife you held your tongue to save him. I should
+have done exactly the same had Cyril been guilty."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a good girl, Bella. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I don't
+suppose there's much happiness left me in this life, now that Henry is
+dead. But I shall repay you for those kind words. There! there! Don't
+kiss me again. I have been mistaken in you. Good-bye," and Mrs. Vand,
+lying down on the floor in an utter state of despair, turned her face to
+the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Bella had to leave her in this unsatisfactory condition, as there was no
+chance of taking her home to Miss Ankers' cottage. Dutton still watched
+by the door, and probably had overheard all that she had confessed, even
+though she had not been so explicit as she should have been. But she had
+detailed quite sufficient to ensure her arrest as an accomplice after
+the fact, so it was not likely that Dutton would permit her to leave the
+hut until he received orders from his superior. Under the circumstances
+there was nothing to be done, but for the young people to go, which they
+accordingly did. Granny Tunks flung a curse after them as they passed
+out into the night, and flung also a burning sod to emphasise the curse.</p>
+
+<p>"Old devil!" said Cyril, comforting Bella, who was crying. "Dutton, lend
+me your lantern, as the path along the channel is dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>Dutton, having received five shillings, made no objection to this,
+provided he got back his bullseye later in the night. Cyril promised to
+return it when he came back to the hut with Inglis, and then, taking
+Bella's arm he led her carefully along the slippery path. The storm had
+passed and the wind had dropped, but the clouds were still thick enough
+to envelope the earth in murky darkness. They picked their footsteps
+carefully, until they came to the foot of the corn-path. Here they
+halted.</p>
+
+<p>"How are we to get across, Cyril?" asked the girl, shivering.</p>
+
+<p>Lister groped in the corn wherein Durgo had flung the planks, and soon
+recovered these. With the aid of Bella he fixed them again on the
+tressels sunk in the mud, and the two passed dry-shod over the channel.
+In walking to Marshely the young man gave Bella the bag. "Take this,
+dear," he said. "The jewels are in it. Be careful of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cyril," said the girl, awestruck, "did Mrs. Vand steal them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and in spite of what she says I believe she and Henry murdered
+your father&mdash;I mean Captain Huxham&mdash;for the sake of the jewels. They
+were in this bag, marked with the initials 'M. F.'&mdash;your father's
+initials."</p>
+
+<p>"Just as Granny saw it in her trance."</p>
+
+<p>"Very nearly, only she called the bag&mdash;and it is a bag, as you see&mdash;a
+portmanteau. Either Granny or the unseen are at fault. But it matters
+little since the jewels are now in your possession. Keep them
+carefully."</p>
+
+<p>"But Cyril," said Bella, as they drew near the cottage, "does it seem
+right for us to keep jewels that already have caused two murders? My
+father was killed because of these gems by Captain Huxham, and he met
+with the same fate for probably the same reason."</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay in ages past, many and many a wicked deed has been committed
+for the sake of these jewels. Do you remember what you heard Granny say
+in her trance?&mdash;that a Roman empress had secured the jewels by crime. My
+dear girl, all jewels have a history more or less, and if one feared the
+sort of thing you mention, not a woman would wear jewels. No, dear: God
+has given you this fortune, and you have every right to make use of it.
+Here's the door, and by the light in the window I see that Miss Ankers
+is sitting up."</p>
+
+<p>"I promised to tell her why I went out," said Bella, kissing her lover,
+"so, as she is our good friend; she must know all."</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you please: tell her everything from the beginning. I have to
+tell Inspector Inglis what I know shortly."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you tell him about your father?" asked Bella faintly.</p>
+
+<p>Lister hesitated. "I must," he said at length with a mighty effort, "for
+if I do not Luke Tunks may be caught, and he will tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know: God only knows what happened when Luke peeped through
+that window. From the presence of the bloody knife on the floor, and the
+fact that Vand murdered Huxham, I am inclined to believe that Huxham
+stabbed my father with that knife."</p>
+
+<p>Bella caught his sleeve. "If so where did Captain, Huxham hide the
+body?"</p>
+
+<p>Cyril removed her arm gently, although he shivered. "We have had enough
+of these horrors for one night, dear," he said, kissing her. "Go inside
+and talk to Miss Ankers. To-morrow I'll come and see you."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about to do, Cyril?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am returning to the Manor-house, and then shall go to Granny's hut
+with Inglis. There must be an end to all this mystery to-night.
+Bella"&mdash;he turned suddenly&mdash;"if it is proved that my father is alive,
+will you still marry me? Think of the disgrace he has brought on me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? In any case your father didn't murder Captain Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"No; his hands are free from blood in that respect. But this case will
+have to be thoroughly inquired into, and much about my father may come
+out. His doings were shady. As I told you, I had to borrow one thousand
+pounds to buy back a cheque for that amount which he had forged in the
+name of an old college friend. Then there's the gun-running in Nigeria,
+and all manner of doubtful means by which he made his money. Bella, if
+you marry me, you marry a man with a soiled name."</p>
+
+<p>Her arms were round him on the instant. "<i>You</i> have not soiled it," she
+whispered, "and that is enough for me."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril's lips met hers in a passionate kiss, and, glowing with happiness,
+she ran into Dora's little garden as the door opened. Miss Ankers,
+hearing voices at this late hour&mdash;for it was nearly midnight&mdash;was
+looking out to see what was the matter. Cyril watched her admit Bella,
+and then turned away with a sigh. He intended to confess much about his
+father to Inglis, which he would much rather have kept concealed; but
+under the circumstances there was no other way of settling matters.
+Since the tragic death of Captain Huxham, these had been in a very bad
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Very shortly the young man arrived at the Manor-house, and found a
+constable on guard at the door. But he was admitted the moment the man
+recognised him. It appeared that Inglis had been expecting him for some
+time. Lister walked into the study, wherein the inspector had
+established himself, and explained that he had been escorting Miss
+Huxham home.</p>
+
+<p>"The poor girl is quite worn out," said Cyril, seating himself with an
+air of relief, for he also was extremely tired.</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder," replied the inspector. "Is Dutton on guard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Mrs. Vand and the old woman and the girl are all safe."</p>
+
+<p>"I have sent along another man," said Inglis nodding, "so that there may
+be no chance of the three escaping. The house was locked up when we came
+here, Mr. Lister, and only by breaking a window could we enter. Look at
+this, sir"&mdash;and the inspector pointed to a small lozenge-pane in the
+casement, which had been broken.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Cyril, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Through that broken pane Luke Tunks saw everything which took place in
+this study on the night of the murder."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril felt his hair rise, and he thought of his father's probable
+danger, but he calmed down on reflecting that at least Edwin Lister was
+not guilty of the frightful crime. "How do you know?" he gasped with
+difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>"We have caught Luke, and he will be here in a moment or so to confess."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril looked surprised. "How did you catch him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He ran out of the hut when we crossed the channel, and concealed
+himself in the corn. Then, remembering that the Manor-house was deserted
+he fetched a circle round the fields and came here. When we got into the
+house we found him nearly crazy with fear; he took us for ghosts."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the kitchen guarded by a couple of men. He refused to confess, and I
+gave him an hour to make up his mind. Meanwhile, we have searched the
+house and have found that everything valuable more or less is gone. Some
+things left behind have been packed in boxes. I suppose the Vands hoped
+to escape and then get their goods later. But they carried off what they
+could."</p>
+
+<p>"They intended to go to America," said Cyril, "the woman explained. She
+also declared that her husband murdered Captain Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect she had a hand in it herself."</p>
+
+<p>"She denies that."</p>
+
+<p>"She naturally would," said Inglis very drily. "However, I'll send for
+Luke Tunks and see if he is willing to confess," and he gave a sharp
+order to one of the constables who was lounging in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the tall, lean gipsy, who looked extremely ill and
+extremely defiant, made his appearance at the door, held by two
+policemen.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him in," said the inspector calmly, and arranging some sheets of
+paper, which he took out of his pocket along with a stylograph pen. "Now
+then, my man, will you confess all that you saw?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I do what will happen, governor?" asked Tunks hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"You may get a lighter sentence."</p>
+
+<p>"Will I be arrested?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are arrested now, and shortly you will be lodged in gaol."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shan't say anything!" growled Luke defiantly, and folding his
+arms he leaned against the panelled wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good," said Inglis serenely; "take him away. In the morning he can
+be removed to the Pierside goal."</p>
+
+<p>The two constables advanced, and Luke bit his lip. In any case he saw
+that things looked black against him.</p>
+
+<p>"You have no right to arrest me," he declared. "On what charge do you
+arrest me?"</p>
+
+<p>"On a charge of murdering Captain Jabez Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't. I can prove I didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"You can do so in court and to a judge and jury. Take him away."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! I'll tell you all I know now," said Luke, making the best of a
+bad job, and being imaginative enough to both see and feel a visionary
+rope encircling his neck. "Let me tell now, governor."</p>
+
+<p>This was exactly what Inglis wanted, as he desired to obtain all
+available evidence for the forthcoming inquest on the bodies of the dead
+men, black and white. But he pretended to grant the man's wish as a
+favour. "As you please," he said with a cool shrug. "You two men can go
+outside and remain on guard on the other side of the door."</p>
+
+<p>The constables did as they were ordered and closed the door. Inglis,
+Lister, and Luke Tunks were alone, and as the gipsy was still weak from
+his late illness the inspector signed that he could take a seat. "Now
+tell me all you know, and I shall take it down. You shall affix your
+name to your confession, and Mr. Lister and myself will be the
+witnesses. Do you agree?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Luke hoarsely, and drawing his sleeve across his mouth, "for
+nothing I can say can hang me. I didn't kill either of the blokes."</p>
+
+<p>"Either of the blokes? What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean that Captain Huxham killed the man who called himself Lister,
+and Henry Vand killed Captain Huxham. I saw both murders."</p>
+
+<p>Lister rejoiced, horrified as he was at the idea of his father's violent
+death, but thankful from the bottom of his heart that he had gone to his
+own place guiltless of blood. Inglis saw the expression on the young
+man's face, and asked a leading question.</p>
+
+<p>"Was not this Mr. Lister your father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Cyril promptly. "He came home from Nigeria some months
+ago with Durgo, who is the son of a friendly chief. My father, I
+understand, came down here to ask Captain Huxham for certain jewels&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Those you showed me, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they were robbed from a trader called Maxwell Faith by Huxham, and
+my father wished to get them. Durgo came down to seek for my father, but
+we have never been able to find him."</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead," said Luke abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"So you say; but where is the body?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I can't say." Luke paused, then turned to the inspector.
+"Let me tell you what I saw through yonder broken pane."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good." Inglis arranged his papers and prepared his pen. "Mind you
+speak the truth, as I shall take down every word you say. Afterwards Mr.
+Lister can tell me what he knows."</p>
+
+<p>So it was arranged, and Tunks, as ready to tell now as formerly he was
+unwilling, launched out into his story. It appears that after leaving
+Mrs. Coppersley&mdash;as she was then&mdash;he went home to have some food.
+Shortly before eight o'clock he strolled along the banks of the river
+and saw Pence watching the house. Knowing that the preacher was in love
+with the daughter of his master, he took little notice; then, while
+lying in the corn by the side of the path smoking, he saw, as he
+thought, Cyril Lister pass him, and stealthily followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you do that?" asked Inglis, raising his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that this gent"&mdash;he nodded towards Cyril&mdash;"was in love with Miss
+Bella also, and knew that Captain Huxham hated him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he hate him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you," said Cyril quickly; "because of my father. Huxham knew
+my father in Nigeria, and as my father wished to get these jewels he
+feared lest he should force him to give them up. For this reason Huxham
+came down here and planted corn all round his house as a means of
+defence, and installed a search-light. He wished to be on his guard."</p>
+
+<p>"Did your father intend murder?" asked the inspector, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I really can't say."</p>
+
+<p>"But he did," struck in Luke, who had been listening earnestly. "All
+that the young gent says is true, sir. I only followed, as I thought
+that there would be a row between Captain Huxham and&mdash;as I thought&mdash;Mr.
+Cyril. I waited outside the house, and then hearing loud voices in the
+study&mdash;in this place," said Tunks looking round, "I stole to the
+casement and peeped through that broken pane. They did not know that I
+was there."</p>
+
+<p>"What became of Mr. Pence meanwhile?" asked Inglis suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"He was watching the house, but I think he went away and then came
+back."</p>
+
+<p>Inglis nodded. "That is unsatisfactory. I must examine Mr. Pence later.
+You go on, Tunks, and tell us exactly what you saw."</p>
+
+<p>Tunks settled down to his narrative. "I listened and heard all about the
+jewels and the death of Maxwell Faith and all about Miss Bella being his
+daughter. I saw by this time that Mr. Lister was not Mr. Cyril here, and
+I guessed from his likeness that he was Mr. Cyril's father. Mr. Lister
+wanted Captain Huxham to give up the jewels for some expedition, but the
+captain refused. They began to quarrel, and then the captain pulled out
+a big knife from a drawer of his desk and rushed on Mr. Lister. There
+was a struggle and Mr. Lister tried to pull out a revolver. At length
+Huxham got Mr. Lister down and cut his throat."</p>
+
+<p>"Which would account for the quantity of blood found on the floor here
+when Huxham's body was found. I thought there was too much blood for one
+man's corpse to supply. Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's terrible&mdash;horrible!" said Cyril, covering his face. "What did
+you do, Tunks? Why didn't you give the alarm?"</p>
+
+<p>"What, and be run in for being an accomplice!" said Tunks disdainfully,
+"not me. But I was frightened, and when I saw that Captain Huxham had
+killed Mr. Lister&mdash;I knew his name by that time, having heard them
+talking&mdash;why, I ran away as hard as my legs could carry me."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Home to Granny, so that I might be able to supply an alibi if
+necessary. I didn't tell her anything, but she found out a lot when I
+was raving with the drink in me. But I couldn't rest, and when Granny
+was a-bed I stole out. It was after ten by this time. I went up to the
+Manor and to yonder window. Then I saw Mrs. Coppersley&mdash;as she was&mdash;and
+Mr. Vand, talking to the captain and telling him they were married. The
+knife, all bloody, was on the floor near the door, but they were all
+three so busy talking that they did not notice it. But I wonder the
+captain didn't cover it up.'</p>
+
+<p>"Where was the body of my father?" asked Cyril impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; the body was gone. I've never been able to find out where
+the captain put up the body. But, as I say, he turned out Mr. Vand and
+his wife, as I knew she was then, and cursed up and down. But he didn't
+pick up the knife; in place of doing so, which would have been more
+sensible, seeing that he had murdered the Lister cove with it, he went
+to his desk and pulled out a black bag. He emptied this of jewels, and
+my mouth watered."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, so you recognised the bag when you tried to steal it from Mrs. Vand
+in your mother's cottage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did," said Luke sullenly, "and very sorry I am that I didn't get
+clear off with it."</p>
+
+<p>"You have quite enough to answer for as it is," said Inglis sharply. "Go
+on, as I have got everything down so far."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then while the captain was sitting at the desk gloating over the
+jewels Mr. Vand comes in softly like a cat. He saw the jewels and his
+eyes lighted up. Captain Huxham, being busy, didn't hear him, so he
+picks up the knife lying near the door, and before I could cry out he
+rushed at the old man. Huxham turned to meet him, and got the knife in
+his heart. Then Mr. Vand, as cool as you please, dropped the knife
+behind the desk, and taking the bag with the jewels, he put 'em
+back&mdash;went away."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I went home and tried to sleep, but couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you warn the police?" asked Inglis.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. I'm only a gipsy, and they'd have thought I'd something to do
+with the business. If I'd accused Mr. Vand him and his wife would have
+accused me, and it would be two to one. Besides," said Luke coolly, "I
+wasn't sorry to see old Huxham downed after killing the other gent.
+Serve him right, say I. So that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph," said Inglis, finishing his writing. "You made capital out of
+this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did," said Luke defiantly, and taking the pen which Inglis held
+out to him. "I told Mr. and Mrs. Vand what I'd seen. They were
+frightened&mdash;it was the next morning, you see&mdash;and paid me heaps of money
+to hold my tongue. Then, like a fool, I went on the bend, and talked so
+much that Granny got to know heaps, and so set the nigger brute on our
+tracks. There"&mdash;Luke signed his name&mdash;"you can't hang me for what I've
+told you."</p>
+
+<p>Inglis and Lister both signed as witnesses, and the inspector put the
+paper into his pocket. He was about to ask further questions&mdash;to
+cross-examine Tunks in fact&mdash;when the door opened and a young constable
+appeared in a mighty state of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," he cried to his superior officer, "Mrs. Vand has escaped!"</p>
+
+<p>"Escaped!" cried the inspector, in a voice of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Dutton is lying drugged in the hut, and the old woman has
+been stunned. Mrs. Vand and the gipsy girl are gone."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Next morning there was a great sensation in the village of Marshely, as
+in some way the events of the previous night leaked out. Certainly, the
+accounts of these were more or less garbled, and no one appeared to know
+who was responsible for them. But this much of the truth became public
+property, that Vand and the negro prince who had been stopping at "The
+Chequers" were dead, that Mrs. Vand had fled to escape arrest, and that
+the police were in possession of Bleacres. Later in the afternoon it
+became known that Vand had killed Captain Huxham for the sake of certain
+jewels.</p>
+
+<p>But the villagers were greatly astonished when they heard&mdash;from what
+source was not known&mdash;that another man had been killed. No one, save
+Silas Pence, had seen Edwin Lister enter the Manor, and Pence himself
+had presumed, until informed, that the man was Cyril, so no one knew
+that any person was missing. Now it appeared that the man who was
+murdered by Vand had committed a crime himself previous to his own
+death. But what he had done with the body no one knew, and the police
+could find no traces of the same in spite of all their efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Inspector Inglis called at Miss Anker's cottage in the morning and
+interviewed both Bella and her lover. From them he heard the whole tale,
+and was greatly astonished by the recital. Under the circumstances he
+was inclined to take the jewels into official custody, but Bella refused
+to give them up; and undoubtedly they were her property left to her by
+her father, Maxwell Faith. Inglis admitted this, so did not press the
+point.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards the inspector examined Silas Pence, and heard from him much
+the same story as he had told Bella. The preacher was lying on a bed of
+sickness, as the blow on his head and the many worries he had been
+through of late nearly gave him brain fever. Of course&mdash;and Inglis told
+him as much&mdash;he should have reported at once the death of Huxham, as he
+had seen the body. But as Pence had not beheld the blow struck, the
+police could do nothing but admonish. Silas stated that in one point of
+his story when he confessed to Bella he had been wrong, which was after
+seeing Edwin Lister enter the Manor&mdash;or, as he thought then, Cyril&mdash;he
+had rushed away in the direction of the common in the vain attempt to
+rid himself of troublesome thoughts. When he returned Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+were in the kitchen, as Luke proved; and Pence was thus enabled to enter
+the house. Undoubtedly the guilty pair had left the front door open, so
+that blame might be cast upon some outsider&mdash;on a possible burglar, for
+instance. When they heard the noise of Pence's flight and found the
+money gone, they were quite determined to place the blame on a robber.
+Mrs. Vand confessed this later, although at the time of the robbery she
+had not dreamed the burglar was the talented young preacher whom she so
+greatly admired.</p>
+
+<p>But the guilty woman was missing for some days. On inquiry being made it
+appeared that the Romany girl, bribed by Mrs. Vand to assist her flight,
+had made a cup of tea for the constable. As Dutton was wet and cold, he
+drank the tea only too willingly, never suspecting that it was drugged.
+But it turned out to be dosed with laudanum, and he fell into a deep
+sleep. Granny Tunks, as she stated on reviving, had attempted to stay
+the flight of Mrs. Vand and the Romany girl, but the latter had promptly
+knocked her down with the very chunk of wood with which Mrs. Tunks had
+struck the half-drowned woman. In this way Granny's sins came home to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Inglis found, on the detail of the motor-car being reported by Cyril,
+who had heard it from Mrs. Vand, that use had been made of the same. He
+advertised for such a car in such a neighbourhood, and speedily was
+called upon by a public chauffeur, who drove for hire. The man confessed
+very frankly that Vand had engaged his car to wait for himself and his
+wife on the high road to Pierside, and that thinking that nothing was
+wrong he had done so. Vand had paid him well, and the driver merely
+thought it was the eccentric whim of a rich man. Vand, it appeared, had
+engaged the car in London from the stand in Trafalgar Square. When Mrs.
+Vand left the hut the Romany girl had rowed her to the swamps in the
+boat she had brought for the removal of Luke to the caravan, and the
+woman had then crossed the marshy ground to the high road. Making some
+excuse for the non-appearance of her husband, she had been driven to
+London, and the driver, who had already received his money, dropped her
+in Piccadilly. That, as he confessed, was the last he saw of her.</p>
+
+<p>Inspector Inglis was very angry with the man, and pointed out that he
+should have suspected that the couple were flying from justice from the
+fact of the large sum of money paid, and on account of the strange place
+where it was arranged that the car should wait. But the man exonerated
+himself completely, and in the end he was permitted to go free, as the
+police could not do anything. And after all the chauffeur, who did not
+look particularly intelligent, might have acted in all good faith.</p>
+
+<p>However the point was that Mrs. Vand, dropped in Piccadilly, had
+vanished entirely. She had ample money, as it was proved that she had
+drawn fifty pounds in gold from her bank, and although she had fled from
+the hut with only the dripping dress she wore, there would be no
+difficulty in her obtaining a fresh disguise. The police advertised in
+the papers and with handbills, but nothing could be heard of the woman.
+She had vanished as completely as though the earth had opened and
+swallowed her.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, it was from Mrs. Vand's solicitor that the first news
+came of her doings. Timson was the lawyer's name, and he came down to
+Pierside to see Inspector Inglis. On being shown into the inspector's
+office he broke out abruptly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Timson, who was a mild-faced, spectacled, yellow-haired man,
+"I have a communication to make to you about my respected client, Mrs.
+Rosamund Vand, if you will hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Respectable, eh?" questioned the officer ironically. "Perhaps you don't
+know, Mr.&mdash;Mr."&mdash;he referred to the card&mdash;"Mr. Timson, that your
+respectable client is wanted for her complicity in the murder of her
+brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Mr. Timson again and firmly, "my client&mdash;my respected
+client," he added with emphasis "assured me that she had nothing to do
+with the commission of that crime. She was in a dead faint in the
+kitchen when her husband, in a moment of passion, struck down Captain
+Huxham."</p>
+
+<p>"So she says because it is to her benefit to say so, Mr. Timson. But the
+man who saw the murder committed swears that it was a most deliberate
+affair, and was only done for the sake of certain jewels, which&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Deliberate or not, Mr. Inspector," interrupted the meek little man, "my
+respected client had nothing to do with it. Afterwards she held her
+tongue for the sake of her husband, for his sake also paid blackmail to
+the man who saw the crime committed."</p>
+
+<p>"We can argue that point," said Inglis drily, "when we see Mrs. Vand.
+You are doubtless aware of her whereabouts?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Timson coolly, "I am not."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said you had seen her&mdash;after the murder was committed, I fancy
+you hinted."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her," said Timson, quite calmly, "on the day following her flight
+from the hut on the marshes. She alighted in Piccadilly and walked about
+the streets for the rest of the night. Afterwards she went to a quiet
+hotel and had a brush and a wash up. She then called on me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And you did not detain her when you knew&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I knew nothing. Had I known that she was flying from justice I
+certainly should have urged her to surrender. But the news of these
+terrible doings in Marshely had not reached London; it was not in the
+papers until the following day. You grant that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No 'buts' at all, Mr. Inspector," said Timson, who seemed firm enough
+in spite of his meek aspect. "My client confessed to me that her husband
+had been drowned, and that he had murdered her brother in a fit of
+passion because Captain Huxham intended to turn his sister out of doors
+and alter his will on account of her secret marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"That motive may have had some weight," said Inglis quietly, "but I
+fancy the sight of the jewels made Vand murder his brother-in-law. Did
+Mrs. Vand call to tell you this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" snapped Timson, whose meekness was giving way. "She called to make
+her will."</p>
+
+<p>"Make her will&mdash;in whose favour?"</p>
+
+<p>"I see no reason why I should not tell you," said the lawyer, "although
+I never reveal professional secrets. But I will tell, so that you may
+see how you have misjudged my client. She made a will in favour of Miss
+Isabella Faith&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith? Ah! she knew, then, that the girl was not her niece."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But she did not tell me that, nor did I inquire. All she did was
+to make me, or, rather instruct me, to draw up a will leaving the
+Bleacres property and the five hundred a year she inherited from the
+late Captain Huxham, to Miss Faith, as some token of repentance for
+having misjudged her. And now," cried Timson, rising wrathfully, "my
+respected client is misjudged herself. I come to clear her character."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how that will clears her character," said Inglis coolly,
+"and from the mere fact that she made it I daresay she has committed
+suicide."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! Impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is very probable, indeed, Mr. Timson, Mrs. Vand cannot get
+out of England, as all the ports and railway stations are watched, and
+there is a full description of her appearance posted everywhere. Unless
+she wants to get a long sentence for complicity in this most brutal
+murder, she will have to commit suicide."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you she is innocent."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me that she is not an accomplice after the fact?"</p>
+
+<p>"A wife is not bound to give evidence against her husband."</p>
+
+<p>Inspector Inglis rose with a fatigued air. "I am not here to argue on
+points of law with you, Mr. Timson. All I ask is, if you know where your
+respected client is?" he laid a sneering emphasis on his last words.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not," said Timson, taking up his hat, "and I bid you good
+day."</p>
+
+<p>What the lawyer said was evidently correct, for although his office and
+himself were watched by the police, it could not be proved that he was
+in communication with the missing woman. The whereabouts of Mrs. Vand
+became more of a mystery than ever. Inglis told Bella of her good
+fortune, but of course until Mrs. Vand was dead she could not benefit.
+And there seemed to be no chance of proving the woman's death, even
+though the inspector firmly held to the opinion that she had committed
+suicide.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Timson went on to Marshely to look after his client's property,
+and seeing that the corn was ripe, he arranged with a number of
+labourers, under an overseer whom he could trust, that it should be
+reaped immediately. Thus it happened that four days after Mrs. Vand's
+disappearance, when Cyril came to tell Bella about the inquest, she was
+able to inform him that the Solitary Farm lands were about to be reaped.</p>
+
+<p>"And we might go there in the evening to look," said Bella.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I should think that the Manor was hateful to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is. Even if I do inherit it from Mrs. Vand, I can never live
+there, Cyril. But I want you to come with me this evening, as I have a
+kind of idea that the body of Mrs. Vand"&mdash;she grew pale and
+shuddered&mdash;"may be found amidst the corn."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril started back, astonished. "My dear girl, you must be mad!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not, Cyril. Think of how she is being hunted, and how her
+person is described everywhere, while all the ports and stations are
+watched. I believe that she, poor woman! went to see her lawyer, so as
+to prove her sorrow for having misjudged me, by making me her heiress,
+and that she then returned to die amidst the corn."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think she is dead there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Granny Tunks is still in the hut, and she is
+very avaricious. Mrs. Vand had money. She may have bribed Granny to
+bring her food while she lay hid among the corn."</p>
+
+<p>"But such a hiding-place!" said Lister, who nevertheless was much struck
+with what Bella was saying.</p>
+
+<p>"A very good one and a place where no one would think of looking. Think
+how thick the corn is growing! No one ever enters it, and that scarlet
+coated scarecrow stands sentinel over it. Believe me, Cyril, Mrs. Vand
+has been hiding there. I wish you to come with me this evening. They
+have started to reap the corn by order of Mr. Timson. If Mrs. Vand is
+there, she will in the end be discovered. Let us find her, and save her,
+and get her out of the kingdom."</p>
+
+<p>"That will bring us within reach of the law."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Bella, quite recklessly; "after all, she had
+nothing to do with the crime, and only kept silent to shield her
+husband. I want to help the poor thing, and you must aid me to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"But Bella, she never liked you."</p>
+
+<p>"What has that got to do with it?" cried the girl passionately. "Our
+natures did not suit one another, and perhaps I behaved rather harshly
+towards her. She meant well. And remember, Cyril, she has made amends by
+leaving me all that would have been mine had I really been Captain
+Huxham's daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril nodded. "I admit that she has done her best to repent," he said
+after a pause, "and we should not judge her too harshly. I'll come."</p>
+
+<p>"And help her to escape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It won't be easy; but I'll do my best."</p>
+
+<p>"That's my own dear boy," said the girl, kissing him, "and now what
+about the inquest?"</p>
+
+<p>"A verdict of death by drowning has been brought in," said Cyril
+quickly. "I think if we can get Mrs. Vand away, everything concerning
+the Huxham mystery will be at an end."</p>
+
+<p>"They won't put the whole story in the papers, Cyril?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Inglis will edit all that is to be given to the reporters and
+journalists. He will say as little as possible about the matter. It is
+known that Huxham was murdered by Vand, and in the absence of my
+father's body no cognisance can be taken of that alleged murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you believe that your father has been murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I can't tell. Tunks says so, and I don't suppose he would
+tell such a story against himself unless it were true. But no body has
+been found, and until the body of the missing man is found, it is
+presumed in law that he is alive. But"&mdash;Cyril shrugged his
+shoulders&mdash;"who can tell the truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be made manifest in time," said Bella firmly; "your father, or
+your father's body, will be found. Where are Durgo and Henry to be
+buried?"</p>
+
+<p>"In Marshely churchyard to-morrow. I shall go to the funeral. I am sorry
+for Durgo. In spite of his skin he was a real white man. And when he is
+under the earth, Bella, I think we had better sell the jewels and marry,
+and take a trip round the world in order to forget all this terrible
+business. I am quite glad it is over."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not over yet," insisted Bella, "your father has to be found, and
+Mrs. Vand must be discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"Or their bodies," said Cyril significantly, and turned away.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be thought that young Lister was callous. His father had
+never been one to him, and, moreover, his son had seen so little of him,
+that he was as strange to the young man as he had been to the boy. Cyril
+deeply regretted the gulf that was between them, as he was of a truly
+affectionate nature, but his father always had repelled the least sign
+of tenderness. He only looked on Cyril as one to be made use of, and
+borrowed from him on every occasion. Had he succeeded in getting the
+jewels and had aided Durgo to regain his chiefdom, he would have
+remained in Nigeria as a kind of savage prime minister, without casting
+a thought to his son. And whether his father was dead or alive, Cyril
+knew that he would have to repay the one thousand pounds which he had
+borrowed to cover his father's delinquency in respect of the forged
+cheque. How could such a son as Cyril Lister respect or love such a
+parent as Edwin of the same name?</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, Cyril, although he said little to Bella, was very anxious
+to ascertain the fate of his father. It seemed very certain that Tunks
+had seen him murdered by the evil-hearted old sailor, but what that
+scoundrel had done with the body could not be discovered. In vain the
+police dug in the cellars of the Manor-house, tapped the walls, ripped
+up the floors, and dragged the boundary channel. The body of Edwin
+Lister could not be found, and as no one had seen him save Tunks, and
+Pence, and Bella, who had all mistaken him for Cyril, the police began
+to believe that Edwin, the father, was a myth. And Cyril could not make
+Inglis see otherwise for all his urging and confession.</p>
+
+<p>"If the man is alive, why doesn't he turn up?" asked Inglis; "and if
+dead, why can't we find his body?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no answer to this, and Cyril gave up his father's fate as a
+riddle, when he walked in the cool of the evening towards the Solitary
+Farm. The immediate object of his visit was to find if Mrs. Vand, dead
+or alive, was concealed in the thickly standing corn. Bella strolled by
+his side. But the lovers had taken no one into this particular
+confidence, not even Dora, and walked towards the well-known house, and
+up the corn-path, anxiously looking right and left. Then Cyril uttered
+an exclamation of annoyance. "What a bother!" he said, much vexed: "see,
+Bella, there are labourers still reaping&mdash;yonder, near the scarecrow."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose Mr. Timson wants the fields reaped quickly," said Bella, also
+much vexed. "I thought everyone would have been gone by this time. We
+must wait until the labourers depart, Cyril. It will never do to find
+Mrs. Vand while they are about. They would tell the police, and she
+would be arrested. That would be dangerous!"</p>
+
+<p>"So it will be&mdash;if she is alive," said the young man, who was very
+doubtful on this point himself.</p>
+
+<p>The setting sun cast a rosy glow over the fields of golden grain. The
+old house seemed to be buried in a treasure meadow. All round rolled the
+radiant waves, and the scarlet-coated scarecrow's task was nearly done.
+The corn was ripe for the harvest, and soon the acres of the Solitary
+Farm would consist of nothing but stubble.</p>
+
+<p>As the lovers drew near the house, they saw a labourer approach the
+scarecrow. The corn had been reaped for some distance all round it, and
+now a man had cut a path direct to it in order to pull it down. Its task
+was over, and it was no longer needed to keep off the birds. Suddenly
+the man laid his hand on the quaint figure, which had been so familiar
+to every one for months, and uttered a loud cry of astonishment. Cyril
+saw him beckoning to other labourers, and shortly there was a crowd
+round the scarlet coat.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" asked Bella, and the lovers hurried to join the
+group.</p>
+
+<p>One of the labourers heard the question, and turned excitedly. "Master!
+Missus!" he said, in horrified tone, "it's a corpse."</p>
+
+<p>He pulled the tattered gray felt hat from the scarecrow, and Cyril
+recoiled with a loud cry of surprise. "Bella! Bella!"</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? what is it?" she said, startled by the discovery.</p>
+
+<p>"It is my father. It is Edwin Lister."</p>
+
+<p>All present knew of the tragedy, and of the hunt made for Edwin Lister.
+And now the missing man had been discovered. One of the labourers,
+mindful of public house gossip, touched the drooping neck of the figure,
+and shuddered. "Take missy away," he said softly to Cyril, and with a
+grey face, "this ain't no sight for her. His throat has been cut."</p>
+
+<p>But it was not the man who led the girl away. Bella saw the labourer's
+face, guessed, with a shudder, what he had said, and, catching Cyril's
+arm, dragged him away from that awful spot. The young fellow, with a
+blanched face and tottering limbs, stumbled blindly along as she pulled
+him forward. In all his expectations, he had never counted upon such a
+terrible dramatic discovery as this. His father, the missing man, the
+murdered man, who had been hunted for alive and dead for many weeks, had
+been used by Captain Huxham as a scarecrow to frighten the birds. No
+wonder they had kept away from those sinister fields.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, great God!" moaned Cyril, sick and faint, "let this be the end."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<h3>RUN TO EARTH</h3>
+
+
+<p>The quiet village of Marshely, in Essex, was getting to be as well-known
+through the length and breadth of England as Westminster Abbey. The
+murder of Captain Huxham had caused a sensation, the death of Durgo and
+Vand had created another one, but the discovery of the ghastly scarecrow
+which had warned the birds from the corn-fields of Bleacres, startled
+everyone greatly. The news flew like wild fire through the village, and
+in less than an hour the inhabitants were surveying the terrible object.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly the constable of the village who had superseded Dutton&mdash;in
+disgrace for his share in the escape of Mrs. Vand&mdash;appeared, and, armed
+with the authority of the law and assisted by willing hands, removed the
+poor relic of humanity from the pole whereupon it had hung for so long.
+The explanation of its being there was easy. Undoubtedly Captain Huxham,
+after he had committed the crime, and while Tunks and Pence were away,
+the one through horror and the other through sheer worry, had carried
+out the dead body to fasten it to the pole. He undressed the
+straw-stuffed figure, with which everyone was familiar, and having
+destroyed it arrayed the corpse of Edwin Lister in its military clothes.
+Then he pulled the tattered grey felt cap well over the face so that it
+should not be suspected as being that of a human being, and bound the
+dead to the pole. Of course, no one, not even the Vands, suspected that
+the figure was other than what it had always been, and it said much for
+the cruel ingenuity of Captain Jabez Huxham that he had selected so
+clever a mode of disposing of the body. Had he thrown it into the
+boundary channel it might have been fished out; had he concealed it in
+the house, it would probably have been discovered; and had he buried it
+in the garden near the house, it might have been dug up. But no one ever
+dreamed that the scarlet-coated scarecrow was the man who was wanted.
+Huxham had been struck down almost immediately after he had put his
+scheme into execution, and it was doubtful if he had intended to leave
+the body there. Probably he did, as it was isolated by the corn, and
+when the field was reaped he doubtless intended to get rid of the corpse
+in some equally ingenious way. The removal of the scarecrow would have
+excited no comment when the fields were reaped, as its career of
+usefulness would then be at an end. The dead man's clothes still clothed
+his corpse under the scarecrow's ragged garments.</p>
+
+<p>One result of the discovery was that everyone decided not to buy the
+corn which had flourished under so terrible a guardian. Far and wide the
+newspapers spread the report of the discovery, and Timson became aware
+that a prejudice existed against making bread of the wheat grown on the
+Bleacres ground. Not wishing to spend more money, since he would have to
+account for everything he did to Mrs. Vand, he withdrew the labourers.
+The Solitary Farm now became solitary indeed, for no one would go near
+it, especially after night-fall. The golden fields of wheat spread round
+it like a sea, and the ancient house stood up greyly and lonely like a
+thing accursed. And indeed it was looked upon as damned by the
+villagers.</p>
+
+<p>An inquest was held, and, going by the evidence of Luke Tunks, it was
+decided that Edwin Lister came by his end at the hands of Jabez Huxham.
+Cyril was compelled to attend and give evidence, but said as little as
+he could, not wishing to make his father's shady career too public. He
+simply stated that his father was a trader in Nigeria, and being the
+friend of Durgo, the dispossessed chief of a friendly tribe in the far
+Hinterland, had come home to see Huxham and get from him certain jewels.
+Of course he could not suppress the fact that these jewels had been
+given by Kawal to Maxwell Faith, and had been stolen from the dead body
+of the man by his murderer, Captain Huxham: nor could he fail to state
+that Bella was the daughter of Maxwell Faith, since had he not done so
+the jewels might have been taken from her. But Cyril spoke as clearly
+and carefully as he could, quite aware of the delicate position he
+occupied. There was no doubt that Huxham, dreading lest the murder of
+Faith should be brought home to him, and anxious to retain the jewels
+which were the price of blood, had murdered Lister; afterwards he had
+disposed of the body in the ingenious manner explained. But Lister was
+dead; Huxham was dead; Vand and Durgo were dead, so the papers suggested
+that there should be an end to the succession of terrible events which
+made Marshely so notorious.</p>
+
+<p>"And I think this is the last," said Cyril, when he returned to Miss
+Ankers' cottage from his father's funeral. "Bella, we can't stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't want to," replied the harassed girl, who looked worn
+and thin. "The place is getting on my nerves. I'll marry you as soon as
+you like, dear, and then we can go away. But this morning"&mdash;she
+hesitated&mdash;"I received a letter from my father's relatives. They ask me
+to come to them."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you do?" asked Cyril gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Write and say that I am marrying you and intend to go abroad."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Bella, if you reside with your relatives you may be able to make a
+much better match."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Bella with a grimace. "I might marry a Quaker. No, dear, I
+intend to stay with you and marry you. I have done without my relatives
+for all this time, and I hope to continue doing without them."</p>
+
+<p>"Bella! Bella! I have nothing to offer you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yourself, dear. That is all I want."</p>
+
+<p>"A stupid gift on my part," said Cyril, looking ruefully in a near
+mirror at his face, which was now lean and haggard. "You have the money,
+and also the sympathy of the public. I can offer you nothing but a
+dishonoured name."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense!" she said vigorously. "I won't have you talk in that way.
+Why, one of the newspapers referred to your father as a pioneer of
+Empire."</p>
+
+<p>Sad as he was Cyril could not help smiling. "That is just like my
+father's good luck," he exclaimed; "alive or dead, everything comes to
+him. I expect his shady doings will be overlooked, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No one knows of his shady doings, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, he will be looked upon as a hero. It's just as well he is
+buried in Marshely churchyard, for some fanatic might propose to bury
+him in Westminster Abbey."</p>
+
+<p>"You will be congratulated on having such a father."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" cried Cyril violently. "I won't stand that, Bella. We shall go to
+London next week and get married in a registry office. Miss Ankers can
+come with you to play propriety."</p>
+
+<p>Bella laughed. "I rather think Dora is so busy nursing poor Mr. Pence
+back to health that she has no time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you don't mean to say that she loves Pence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes and no. I won't say what may happen. She pities him for his
+weakness, and pity, as you know, is akin to love. Besides, only
+ourselves and Inspector Inglis know of the temptation to which Mr. Pence
+was submitted."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Bella, everyone knows he saw the corpse of Huxham and held his
+tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but everyone doesn't know that he took the one hundred pounds
+which he restored to me. He is looked upon as somewhat weak for not
+having informed the police of the crime, but on the whole people are
+sorry for him."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be sorry, too, if a nice little woman like Miss Ankers marries
+such a backboneless creature."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril! Cyril! have not our late troubles shown you that we must judge
+no one? After what we have undergone I shall never, never give an
+opinion about anyone again. I am sorry now that I did not behave better
+to poor Mrs. Vand. When my supposed father was alive I did treat her
+haughtily. No wonder she disliked me."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said Lister, taking her hand, "don't be too hard on yourself.
+You and your so-called aunt would never have got on well together."</p>
+
+<p>"But I might have been kinder," said Bella, almost crying; "now that she
+is dead and gone I feel that I might have been kinder."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that she is dead and gone?" asked Cyril, in so strange
+a tone that Bella, dashing the tears from her eyes, looked at him
+inquiringly. "She is alive," he replied to that mute interrogation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cyril, I am so glad! Tell me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that I am glad, poor soul," said Lister sadly. "The police
+are on her track. I didn't want to tell you, Bella, but for the last two
+days the papers have been full of the hunt after Mrs. Vand."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't Dora tell me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I asked her not to. You have had quite enough to bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now that you have told me some, tell me all."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't much to tell. Some too clever landlady in Bloomsbury
+suspected a quiet lady lodger. It certainly was Mrs. Vand, but she
+became suspicious of her landlady and cleared out. Then she was seen at
+Putney, and afterwards someone noticed her in Hampstead. The papers
+having been taunting the police about the matter, they'll catch her in
+the end."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mrs. Vand! poor Mrs. Vand!" The girl's eyes again filled with
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't help her, Bella. I wish Timson could get hold of her and
+induce her to stand her trial. I don't think either judge or jury would
+be hard on her; more, I fancy that her brain must be turned with all
+this misery."</p>
+
+<p>"And she has lost her husband, too," sighed Bella; "she loved him so.
+Oh, dear Cyril, what should I do if I lost you?"</p>
+
+<p>Before Lister could reply with the usual lover-like attentions there was
+a noise in the road, and looking through the window they saw many people
+hurrying along. Dora came in at the moment from the other room, whither
+she always discreetly withdrew when not nursing Pence.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only some policeman they are running after. He declares that Mrs.
+Vand is in the neighbourhood. If she is I hope she will escape."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I must go out and see," said Cyril, seizing his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall come also," cried Bella, and in a few minutes the two were on
+the road. But by this time the people were not tearing along as they had
+been, and one villager told Lister that it had been a false alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"The old vixen won't come back to her first hole," said the villager
+with a coarse laugh, and Bella frowned at him for his inhumanity.</p>
+
+<p>As there really was nothing to hurry for the lovers strolled easily
+along the road talking of their future. "Bella, you haven't many boxes?"
+asked Cyril.</p>
+
+<p>"Only two. Why do you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be ready to come with me to London to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I shall be glad to get out of Marshely, where I have been so
+miserable. Only I wish I knew where Mrs. Vand is, poor soul."</p>
+
+<p>Cyril passed over the reference to Mrs. Vand, as he was weary of
+discussing that unfortunate woman. "There's a chum of mine got a motor,"
+said the young man. "I wrote and asked him for the loan of it. He
+brought it down last night, and it is safely bestowed in the stables of
+'The Chequers.' To-morrow at nine o'clock let us start off with your
+boxes&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And Dora?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Cyril, very decidedly. "Dora can remain with Pence, whom she
+probably will marry. We will go to London and get married at a registry
+office in the afternoon, and then cross to Paris for our honeymoon. I
+haven't much money, Miss Rothschild, but I have enough for that. In our
+own happiness let us forget all our troubles."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come," said Bella with a sigh. "After all, we can do nothing. By
+the way, Cyril, what about Durgo's things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well it's odd you should mention that. He evidently thought that
+something might happen to him on that night, for he left a note behind
+him saying that if he did not return they were to be given to me. So I
+have shifted them long since to my lodgings. There they lie packed up,
+and ready to be taken away in our motor to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Cyril, you have been arranging this for some time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have. It's the only way of getting you to leave this place, and
+you will always be miserable while you remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"I only stayed in the hope that poor Mrs. Vand might return, and then I
+would be able to comfort her. Oh! how I wish Durgo with his occult
+powers was here to help us."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't; Durgo's occult powers brought him little happiness, and didn't
+solve the mystery of my father's death. One would have thought that
+Granny Tunks, in her trances, would have told Durgo that the scarecrow
+which he saw daily was his dearly-beloved master's dead body."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange," said Bella thoughtfully; "but then, as Durgo said about
+something else, perhaps it was not permitted. What's become of Granny
+Tunks, Cyril? Is she still at the hut?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but I heard to-day that she is going on the road again with her
+old tribe of the Lovels. I daresay Granny will be at all the fairs and
+race meetings, swindling people for many a long day."</p>
+
+<p>"And her son Luke?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll get off with a light sentence. He certainly had no hand in the
+murders, and there is no one to prosecute him for blackmail. Granny and
+Luke will soon be together again. I hope never to hear more of them, for
+my part. Bella! Bella! don't let us talk of such things. We have had
+enough of these tragedies. Let us be selfish for once in our lives and
+consider ourselves. Hullo, what's this?"</p>
+
+<p>The question was provoked by the sight of Inglis with three constables,
+who whirled past in a fly which they had evidently obtained from the
+station. As they dashed onward in a cloud of dust the inspector,
+recognising the two, shouted out something indistinctly, with his hand
+to his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"What does he say, Cyril?" asked Bella anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Something about fire. I wonder where they are going? Oh!"&mdash;Cyril
+suddenly stopped short&mdash;"I wonder if they are after poor Mrs. Vand.
+Come, Bella, let us see where they go to."</p>
+
+<p>"But where are you going?" asked Bella, as he rushed along the road
+dragging her after him swiftly. "Oh!" she cried out with horror, "look!"</p>
+
+<p>At the far end of the village and in the direction of the Solitary Farm,
+a vast cloud of smoke was mounting menacingly into the soft radiance of
+the twilight sky. "No wonder Inglis said fire!" cried Lister excitedly,
+"I believe, Bella, that the Manor-house is blazing."</p>
+
+<p>"No," cried Bella in reply, "it is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>But it was not. As they rounded the corner of the crooked village street
+in the midst of a crowd of people who had sprung as by magic from
+nowhere, they saw the great bulk of the Manor-house enveloped in thick
+black smoke, and even at the distance they were could catch sight of
+fiery tongues of flame. The sky was rapidly darkening to night, and the
+smoke-cloud, laced with red serpents, looked lurid and livid and
+sinister.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Bella, come!" cried Cyril to the panting girl, and took her arm
+within his own, "we must see who set it on fire."</p>
+
+<p>Bella got her second wind and ran like Atalanta. They speedily
+outstripped the crowd, and were almost the first to cross the planks
+over the boundary channel. Inglis and his policemen were already running
+up the corn-path. Why they should run, or why the villagers should run,
+Cyril did not know, as there was no water and no fire brigade, hose, or
+engine, and no chance of saving the ancient mansion. He and Bella ran
+because they wished to see the last of the old home.</p>
+
+<p>"Who can have set it on fire?" Cyril kept asking.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps a tramp," suggested Bella breathlessly, but in her heart she
+felt that something more serious was in the wind. A strange dread
+gripped her heart, and the name of Mrs. Vand was on the tip of her
+tongue, although she never uttered it.</p>
+
+<p>As the weather was warm and the ground dry&mdash;for there had been no rain
+since the electric storm which raged when Vand and Durgo had gone down
+into the muddy waters of the boundary channel&mdash;the old house flamed
+furiously. The dry wood caught like tinder, and when Cyril and the girl
+arrived the whole place was hidden weirdly by dense black smoke, amidst
+which flashed sinister points of fire. Inglis and his men attempted to
+enter the house, but were driven back by the fierce flames which burst
+from the cracking windows; also the great door was closed and could not
+be forced open. They were forced to retreat, and the inspector nearly
+tumbled over Miss Faith, as Bella was now called.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you get her out?" asked Inglis breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Get her out!" cried the girl, terrified, and half grasping his meaning.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Vand; she is in there," and he pointed to the furnace of flame.</p>
+
+<p>Bella screamed and Cyril turned pale. "You must be mistaken," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," replied the inspector, who was greatly agitated, for even his
+official phlegm was not proof against the terror of the position. "The
+London police wired to me at Pierside that Mrs. Vand had gone down to
+Marshely. We waited at the station to arrest her, but she got off at a
+previous station and was seen by your village policeman to run across
+the marshes. He wired to my Pierside office, and the wire was repeated
+to the station we waited at. We got a fly and hurried here only to see
+the smoke. I cried out 'Fire!' to you as we passed. Great heavens, what
+a blaze!"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you get her out?" cried Bella, who was white with despair. Little
+as she had liked Mrs. Vand, the position was a dreadful one to
+contemplate.</p>
+
+<p>"What can we do?" said the officer, with a gesture of despair. "There is
+no water and no buckets: and if there were, what bucket of water would
+put out that conflagration. You might as well try and extinguish hell
+with a squirt."</p>
+
+<p>Bella paid no attention to the vehemence of his expression, but turned
+to Cyril. "What can we do?" she wailed. "Oh, what can we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, nothing. Look at the police, look at the villagers. We can do
+nothing. If Mrs. Vand is in that blazing house God help her."</p>
+
+<p>There was now a great crowd of men, women and children all gathered some
+distance away from the burning mansion, trampling down the tall corn in
+their efforts to see. Bella, with the police and her lover, stood the
+nearest to the house. "Please God she is not there!" breathed the girl,
+clasping her hands in agony.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, as if to give the lie to her kindly prayer, a window on
+the first storey was flung open and Mrs. Vand's head was poked out. Even
+at this distance Bella could see that her hair was in disorder, her face
+haggard, and her whole mien wild. Breaking away desperately from Cyril
+she rushed right up almost under the window, despite the fierce heat.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt, oh aunt," she cried, stretching up her hands, "come down and save
+yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>"No! No. They shall not catch me! I shall not be hanged! I am innocent!
+I am innocent!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, and Bella could almost see the mad
+flash in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Bella! Bella! come back," shouted Cyril, and dashing forward he caught
+the girl in his arms and carried her away as the front door fell
+outward. A long tongue of flame shot out and licked the grass where
+Bella had stood a moment since.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the house was blazing furiously, and every window save that
+out of which Mrs. Vand's head was thrust, vomited flame. The sky was now
+very dark, and the vivid redness of the flame in the gloom made a
+terrible and lovely spectacle. Bella, in her despair, would have rushed
+again to implore her aunt to escape, but that Cyril and Inglis held her
+firmly. "It is useless," they said, and the girl could not but admit
+that they were right.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vand apparently was quite mad. She kept flinging up her arms, and
+shouting out taunts to the police for having failed to catch her. Then
+she was seized with a fit of frenzy and began to throw things out of the
+window. Chairs, and looking-glasses, and rugs, and table ornaments did
+she fling out. Suddenly a devilish thought occurred to her crazed brain.
+She noted that a tongue of uncut corn stretched from the main body of
+wheat almost under the window. Darting back she plucked a flaming brand
+from the crackling door, and, regardless how it burnt the flesh of her
+hand, she ran to the window. "Off! off! off with you!" cried Mrs. Vand,
+and carefully dropping the brand on to the tongue of corn.</p>
+
+<p>In one moment, as it seemed, the thread of fire ran along to the main
+body of the corn, and in an inconceivably short space of time, the acres
+of golden grain were a sheet of flame. The villagers, the police, both
+Cyril and Bella, ran for their lives, and it took them all their speed
+to escape the eager flames which licked their very heels. Pell-mell down
+to the boundary channel ran everyone. The plank bridge was broken, and
+many tumbled into the muddy water. Mrs. Vand stood at the window
+yelling, and clapping her hands like a fiend, and the whole vast fields
+of wheat flared like a gigantic bonfire.</p>
+
+<p>Half swimming, half holding on to the broken bridge planks, Cyril, with
+Bella on his other arm, managed to scramble through that muddy ditch.
+Beside him shrieked women and cursed men and screamed children. The
+police having safely reached the other side stretched out arms to those
+in the water. Cyril and Bella were soon on dry land, and shortly
+everyone else was saved. Not a single life was lost, either by fire or
+water. And when safe on the hither side of this Jordan, the excited,
+smoke-begrimed throng looked at the flaming fields and the roaring
+furnace of the Manor house. The smoke and flame of the burning ascended
+to heaven and reddened the evening sky. Mrs. Vand, in setting fire to
+her last refuge, had indeed provided herself with a noble pyre and a
+dramatic end. Before those who watched could draw breath after their
+last exertions, the roof of the mansion fell in with a crash. Mrs. Vand
+gave one wild cry and fell backward. Then fierce, red flames enwrapped
+the whole structure, while far and wide the raging fire swept over the
+fields of the Solitary Farm.</p>
+
+<p>"May God have mercy on her soul!" said Cyril removing his cap.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Inglis, "if I had caught her, I wonder if the judge would
+have said as much."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Bella, "she is dead, and she was innocent. God help her
+poor soul!" and everyone around echoed the wish.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Bella and Cyril did not go to London the next morning as they had
+arranged, but three days later. In the meanwhile search had been made
+amongst the ruins of the Manor-house for the body of Mrs. Vand. But
+nothing could be found. In that fierce furnace of flame she had been
+burnt to a cinder, and not even calcined bones could be gathered
+together. In a whirlwind of flame the unhappy woman had vanished, and
+her end affected Bella deeply. Indeed, Cyril feared lest the much-tried
+girl should fall ill, and on the third day he brought round the
+motor-car to Miss Ankers' cottage, to insist that she should come with
+him to London.</p>
+
+<p>"But if we marry so soon it seems like a disrespect to Mrs. Vand,"
+argued Bella, "and she has left me her money, remember."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, don't be morbid," advised Dora; "you will be ill if you stay.
+Get married, and go to Paris, and try to forget all these terrible
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say, Pence?" asked Cyril, who in the meantime had carried
+out Bella's boxes.</p>
+
+<p>Pence, looking lean and haggard after his recent illness, but with a
+much calmer light in his eyes, nodded. "I say, go, Miss Faith, and get
+married as soon as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't have given that advice once," said Bella, with a faint
+smile, as Dora assisted her to adjust her cloak.</p>
+
+<p>"No. But I have grown wiser."</p>
+
+<p>"What a compliment!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have forgiven me, have you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have." She held out her hand, "and the best thing I can wish you
+is the best wife in the world."</p>
+
+<p>As if by chance, her eyes rested on Dora, who blushed, and then on
+Pence, who grew red. Afterwards, with half a smile and half a sigh, she
+got into the car beside Cyril. Dora hopped like a bird on to the step to
+kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>Lister raised his cap, and the car went humming down the road on the way
+to peace and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the end of her solitary life," said Pence, thankfully.</p>
+
+<p>"On the Solitary Farm," rejoined Dora; "come and have some breakfast."</p>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The End.</span></h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BEST_NOVELS_BY_FERGUS_HUME" id="THE_BEST_NOVELS_BY_FERGUS_HUME"></a>THE BEST NOVELS BY FERGUS HUME</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Mystery of a Hansom Cab</p>
+
+<p>The Sealed Message</p>
+
+<p>The Sacred Herb</p>
+
+<p>Claude Duval of Ninety-five</p>
+
+<p>The Rainbow Feather</p>
+
+<p>The Pagan's Cup</p>
+
+<p>A Coin of Edward VII</p>
+
+<p>The Yellow Holly</p>
+
+<p>The Red Window</p>
+
+<p>The Mandarin's Fan</p>
+
+<p>The Secret Passage</p>
+
+<p>The Opal Serpent</p>
+
+<p>Lady Jim of Curzon Street</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOLITARY FARM ***
+
+***** This file should be named 35146-h.htm or 35146-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
+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 Solitary Farm
+
+Author: Fergus Hume
+
+Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOLITARY FARM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          The Solitary Farm
+
+                           BY FERGUS HUME
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB," "THE SACRED HERB," "THE SEALED
+MESSAGE," "THE GREEN MUMMY," "THE OPAL SERPENT," "THE RED WINDOW," "THE
+YELLOW HOLLY," ETC., ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
+    PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK
+
+    Copyright 1909 by
+    G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
+
+    _The Solitary Farm_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AS BELLA RAN INTO HIS ARMS HE DRAGGED HER INTO THE
+STANDING CORN.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. THE DOMAIN OF CERES
+
+II. THE WOOIN' O'T
+
+III. THE TARDY LOVER
+
+IV. SUDDEN DEATH
+
+V. A MYSTERIOUS CRIME
+
+VI. THE INQUEST
+
+VII. CYRIL AND BELLA
+
+VIII. THE WITCH-WIFE
+
+IX. THE COMING OF DURGO
+
+X. A LOVER'S MEETING
+
+XI. A RECOGNITION
+
+XII. CYRIL'S STORY
+
+XIII. MRS. TUNKS' DISCOVERY
+
+XIV. WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEW
+
+XV. DURGO, THE DETECTIVE
+
+XVI. THE PAPERS
+
+XVII. A CONFESSION
+
+XVIII. THE GHOST
+
+XIX. AN AWKWARD POSITION
+
+XX. THE MASTER MAGICIAN
+
+XXI. A DESPERATE ATTEMPT
+
+XXII. MRS. VAND'S REPENTANCE
+
+XXIII. WHAT LUKE TUNKS SAW
+
+XXIV. A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
+
+XXV. RUN TO EARTH
+
+
+
+
+THE SOLITARY FARM
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DOMAIN OF CERES
+
+
+"S' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella!" remarked Captain Huxham, rubbing
+his stout knees slowly, and repeating the exact words of the clerical
+suitor. "S' thet she may be yer handmaiden, an' yer spouse, and yer
+sealed fountain, es y' put it in yer flowery pulpit lingo. Jus' so! Jus'
+so!" and shifting the quid which bulged his weather-beaten cheek, he
+stared with hard blue eyes. "Jus' so, Mr. Pence!"
+
+The young minister and the elderly skipper discussed the subject of
+marriage in a shabby antique room of small size, which had the
+appearance of having been used to more aristocratic company. The
+dark-oak panelled walls, the grotesquely-carved ceiling-beams, the
+Dutch-tiled fire-place, with its ungainly brass dogs, and the deep
+slanting embrasure of the lozenge-paned casement, suggested Georgian
+beaux and belles dancing buckram minutes, or at least hard-riding
+country squires plotting Jacobite restoration. But these happenings were
+in the long-ago, but this stately Essex manor-house had declined
+woefully from its high estate, and now sheltered a rough and ready
+mariner, who camped, rather than dwelt, under its roof.
+
+Captain Huxham, seated on the broad, low window-sill, thrust his hands
+into the pockets of his brass-buttoned pea-jacket, and swung his short,
+sturdy legs, which were enveloped in wide blue-cloth trousers. He was a
+squat man, with lengthy arms and aggressively square shoulders, and his
+large, flat face was as the winter sun for redness. Clean-shaven, save
+for a fringe of white hair which curved under his stubborn chin from one
+large ear to the other, his tough skin was seamed with innumerable
+wrinkles, accumulating particularly thickly about his eyes. He had gold
+rings in his ears, and plenteous grey hair hung like seaweed from under
+a peaked cap, pushed back from his lined forehead. He looked what he
+truly was--a rough, uneducated, imperious old sea-dog, whose knowledge
+of strong drink and stronger language was only exceeded by his strenuous
+grip of the purse which held the savings of many rapacious years. In
+this romantic room he looked entirely out of place. Nevertheless it was
+his own property, and while considering his answer to Mr. Pence, he
+examined it mechanically.
+
+To the left he beheld a large open fire-place, which gaped under an
+ornate oak mantel-piece, carved with the crest and motto of the
+dispossessed family. A door appeared on the right, leading to the
+entrance hall, and this also was elaborately carved with wreaths of
+fruit and flowers, and with fat, foolish Cupids, entangled in knots of
+ribbon. The fourth wall was unbroken, and faced the window, but against
+it stood a common deal table covered incongruously with an embroidered
+Indian cloth. Above this, and leaning forward, was a round convex
+mirror, surmounted by a Napoleonic eagle. This was flanked on one side
+by an oilskin coat and a sou'-wester, and on the other by a sextant and
+a long brass telescope. A Louis Quinze sofa, with a gilt frame, and
+covered with faded brocade, fitted into the space between the fire-place
+and the casement. In the opposite corner, with its back to the outer
+wall, stood a large modern office-desk of mahogany, with a flexible
+curved lid, which was drawn down and fastened, because a visitor was in
+the room. Captain Huxham never received anyone in his sanctum unless he
+first assured himself that the desk was closed, and a small,
+green-painted safe near it fast-locked.
+
+There were three or four rush-bottomed chairs, which looked plebeian
+even on the dusty, uncarpeted floor. On the mantel-shelf stood a
+lyre-shaped clock, bearing the sun symbol of Louis XIV.; several cheap
+and gaudy vases, and many fantastic shells picked up on South Sea
+beaches. Here and there were Japanese curios, Polynesian mats and war
+weapons; uncouth Chinese idols, stuffed birds, Indian ivory carvings,
+photographs and paintings of various ships, and all the flotsam and
+jetsam which collects in a sailor's sea-chest during endless voyages.
+The deal table was littered with old magazines, yellow-backed novels,
+and navigation books with ragged covers; while the fire-place was a
+species of dust-bin for matches, cigar-ends, torn papers, orange peel,
+and such like. Everywhere the dust lay thick. It was an odd room--at
+once sumptuous and dingy, markedly chaotic, yet orderly in an untidy
+way. It reflected more or less the mind of its present owner, who, as
+has been before remarked, camped, rather than lived, amidst his
+surroundings. In the same way do Eastern nomads house in the ruined
+palaces of kings.
+
+Silas Pence, who was the minister of the Little Bethel Chapel in
+Marshely village, curled his long thin legs under his chair and looked
+anxiously at his meditative host. That portion of the light from the
+casement not intercepted by Huxham's bulky figure, revealed a lean,
+eager face, framed in sparse, fair hair, parted in the centre and
+falling untidily on the coat collar. The young preacher's features were
+sharply defined and somewhat mean, while a short and scanty beard
+scarcely concealed his sensitive mouth. His forehead was lofty, his chin
+weak, and his grey eyes glittered in a strange, fanatical fashion. There
+were exceptional possibilities both for good and evil in that pale
+countenance, and it could be guessed that environment would have much to
+do with the development of such possibilities. Mr. Pence was arrayed in
+a tightly-fitting frock coat and loose trousers, both of worn
+broadcloth. He wore also a low collar with a white tie, bow-fashion,
+white socks, and low-heeled shoes, and every part of his attire,
+although neat and well-brushed and well-mended, revealed dire poverty.
+On the whole, he had the rapt ascetic gaze of a mediaeval saint, and a
+monkish robe would have suited him better than his semi-ecclesiastical
+garb as a Non-conformist preacher.
+
+But if Pence resembled a saint, Huxham might have passed for a grey old
+badger, sullen and infinitely wary. Having taken stock of his worldly
+possessions, recalling meanwhile a not altogether spotless past, he
+brought his shrewd eyes back again to his visitor's attentive face.
+Still anxious to gain time for further consideration, he remarked once
+more, "So' y' want t' merry m' gel, Bella, Mr. Pence? Jus' so! Jus' so!"
+
+The other replied, in a musical but high-pitched voice almost feminine
+in its timbre, "I am not comely; I am not wealthy; nor do I sit in the
+seat of the rulers. But the Lord has gifted me with a pleading tongue,
+an admiring eye, and an admonishing nature. With Isabella by my side,
+Brother Huxham, I can lead more hopefully our little flock towards the
+pleasant land of Beulah. What says Isaiah?"
+
+"Dunno!" confessed the mariner. "Ain't bin readin' Isaiaher's log
+lately."
+
+"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah," quoted Mr. Pence shrilly, "and thy
+land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land will be
+married."
+
+"Didn't know es Isaiaher knew of m' twenty acres," growled Huxham, with
+another turn of his quid; "'course ef it be, es y' merry Bella, th' land
+goes with her when I fits int' m' little wooden overcoat. Y' kin take
+yer davy on thet, Mr. Pence, fur I've a conscience, I hev,--let 'em say
+contrary es likes."
+
+It must have been an uneasy conscience, for Captain Huxham glared
+defiantly at his visitor, and then cast a doubtful look over his left
+shoulder, as though he expected to be tapped thereon. Pence was puzzled
+as much by this behaviour as by the literal way in which the sailor had
+taken the saying of the prophet. "Isaiah spoke in parables," he
+explained, lamely.
+
+"Maybe," grunted Huxham, "but y' speak sraight 'nough, Mr. Pence.
+Touching this merrage. Y' love Bella, es I take it?"
+
+"I call her Hephzibah," burst out the young minister enthusiastically,
+"which, being interpreted, means--my delight is in her."
+
+"Jus' so! Jus' so! But does th' gel love you, Mr. Pence?"
+
+The face of the suitor clouded. "I have my doubts," he sighed, "seeing
+that she has looked upon vanity in the person of a man from Babylon."
+
+"Damn your parables!" snapped the captain; "put a blamed name t' him."
+
+"Mr. Cyril Lister," began Pence, and was about to reprove his host for
+the use of strong language, when he was startled by much worse. And
+Huxham grew purple in the face when using it.
+
+It is unnecessary to set down the exact words, but the fluency and
+originality and picturesqueness of the retired mariner's speech made
+Silas close his scandalised ears. With many adjectives of the most lurid
+description, the preacher understood Huxham to say that he would see his
+daughter grilling in the nethermost pit of Tophet before he would permit
+his daughter to marry this--adjective, double adjective--swab from
+London.
+
+"I ain't seen th' blighter," bellowed the captain, furiously, "but I've
+heard of his blessed name. Bella met him et thet blamed Miss Ankers',
+the school-mistress', house, she did. Sh' wanted him t' kim an' see this
+old shanty, 'cause he writes fur the noospapers, cuss him. But I up an'
+tole her, es I'd twist her damned neck ef she spoke agin with the
+lop-sided--"
+
+"Stop! stop!" remonstrated Pence feebly. "We are all brothers in----"
+
+"The lubber ain't no relative o' mine, hang him; an' y' too, fur sayin'
+so. Oh, Lister, Lister!" Huxham swung two huge fists impotently. "I hate
+him."
+
+"Why? why? why?" babbled the visitor incoherently.
+
+The surprise in his tones brought Huxham to his calmer senses, like the
+cunning old badger he was.
+
+"'Cause I jolly well do," he snorted, wiping his perspiring face with a
+flaunting red and yellow bandana. "But it don't matter nohow, and I arsk
+yer pardon fur gittin' up steam. My gel don't merry no Lister, y' kin
+lay yer soul t' thet, Mr. Pence. Lister! Lister!" He slipped off the
+sill in his excitement. "I hates the whole damned breed of 'em;
+sea-cooks all, es oughter t' hev their silly faces in the slush tub."
+
+"Do you know the Lister family then?" asked Pence, open-mouthed at this
+vehemence.
+
+This remark cooled the captain still further. "Shut yer silly mouth," he
+growled, rolling porpoise-fashion across the room, "and wait till I git
+m' breath back int' m' bellers."
+
+Being a discreet young man, Pence took the hint and silently watched the
+squat, ungainly figure of his host lunging and plunging in the narrow
+confines of the apartment. Whatever may have been the reason, it was
+evident that the name of Lister acted like a red rag to this nautical
+bull. Pence ran over in his mind what he knew of the young stranger, to
+see if he could account for this outbreak. He could recall nothing
+pertinent. Cyril Lister had come to remain in Marshely some six months
+previously, and declared himself to be a journalist in search of quiet,
+for the purpose of writing a novel. He occupied a tiny cottage in the
+village, and was looked after by Mrs. Block, a stout, gossiping widow,
+who spoke well of her master. So far as Pence knew, Captain Huxham had
+never set eyes on the stranger, and could not possibly know anything of
+him or of his family. Yet, from his late outburst of rage, it was
+apparent that he hated the young man.
+
+Lister sometimes went to London, but for the most part remained in the
+village, writing his novel and making friends with the inhabitants. At
+the house of the board-school mistress he had met Bella Huxham, and the
+two had been frequently in one another's company, in spite of the
+captain's prohibition. But it was evident that Huxham knew nothing of
+their meetings. Pence did, however, and resented that the girl should
+prefer Lister's company to his own. He was very deeply in love, and it
+rejoiced his heart when he heard how annoyed the captain was at the mere
+idea of a marriage between Lister and his daughter. The preacher was by
+no means a selfish man, or a bad man, but being in love he naturally
+wished to triumph over his rival. He now knew that his suit would be
+supported by Huxham, if only out of his inexplicable hatred for the
+journalist.
+
+Meanwhile Huxham stamped and muttered, and wiped his broad face as he
+walked off his anger. Finally he stopped opposite his visitor and waved
+him to the door. "Y' shell merry m' gel, Bella," he announced hoarsely;
+"m' conscience won't let me merry her t' thet--thet--oh, cuss him! why
+carn't he an' the likes o' he keep away!" He paused, and again cast an
+uncomfortable look over his left shoulder. "Kim up on th' roof," he said
+abruptly, driving Pence into the entrance hall. "I'll show y' wot I'll
+give y' with m' gel--on conditions."
+
+"Conditions!" The preacher was bewildered.
+
+Huxham vouchsafed no reply, but mounted the shallow steps of the grand
+staircase. The manor-house was large and rambling, and of great age,
+having been built in the reign of Henry VII. The rooms were spacious,
+the corridors wide, and the ceilings lofty. The present possessor led
+his guest up the stairs into a long, broad passage, with many doors
+leading into various bedrooms. At the end he opened a smaller door to
+reveal a narrow flight of steep steps. Followed by the minister, Huxham
+ascended these, and the two emerged through a wooden trap-door on the
+roof. Silas then beheld a moderately broad space running parallel with
+the passage below, and extending from one parapet to the other. On
+either side of this walk--as it might be termed--the red-tiled roofs
+sloped abruptly upward to cover the two portions of the mansion, here
+joined by the flat leads forming the walk aforesaid. On the slope of the
+left roof, looking from the trap-door, was a wooden ladder which led up
+to a small platform, also of wood, built round the emerging chimney
+stack. This was Captain Huxham's quarter deck, whither he went on
+occasions to survey his property. He clambered up the ladder with the
+agility of a sailor, in spite of his age, and was followed by the
+preacher with some misgivings. These proved to be correct, for when he
+reached the quarter-deck, the view which met his startled eyes so shook
+his nerve, that he would have fallen but that the captain propped him up
+against the broad brick-work of the chimney.
+
+"Oh, me," moaned the unfortunate Silas, holding on tightly to the iron
+clamps of the brick-work. "I am throned on a dangerous eminence," and
+closed his eyes.
+
+"Open 'em, open 'em," commanded the captain gruffly, "an' jes' look et
+them twenty acres of corn, es y'll git with m' gel when I'm a deader."
+
+Pence slipped into a sitting position and looked as directed. He beheld
+from his dizzy elevation the rolling marshland, extending from the
+far-distant stream of the Thames to the foot of low-lying inland hills.
+As it was July, and the sun shone strongly, the marshes were
+comparatively dry, but here and there Pence beheld pools and ditches
+flashing like jewels in the yellow radiance. Immediately before him he
+could see the village of Marshely, not so very far away, with red-roofed
+houses gathered closely round the grey, square tower of the church; he
+could even see the tin roof of his own humble Bethel gleaming like
+silver in the sunlight. And here and there, dotted indiscriminately,
+were lonely houses, single huts, clumps of trees, and on the higher
+ground rising inland, more villages similar to Marshely. The flat and
+perilously green lands were divided by hedges and ditches and fences
+into squares and triangles and oblongs and rectangles, all as
+emerald-hued as faery rings. The human habitations were so scattered,
+that it looked as though some careless genii had dropped them by chance
+when flying overhead. Far away glittered the broad stream of the Thames,
+with ships and steamers and boats and barges moving, outward and inward
+bound, on its placid surface. The rigid line of the railway shot
+straightly through villages and trees and occasional cuttings, across
+the verdant expanse, with here and there a knot representing a station.
+Smoke curled from the tall chimneys of the dynamite factories near the
+river, and silvery puffs of steam showed that a train was on its way to
+Tilbury. All was fresh, restful, beautiful, and so intensely green as to
+be suggestive of early Spring buddings.
+
+"When I took command of this here farm, ten years back," observed
+Captain Huxham, drawing in a deep breath of moist air, "it were
+water-logged like a derelict, es y' might say. Cast yer weather-eye over
+it now, Mr. Pence, an' wot's yer look-out: a gardin of Edin, smilin'
+with grain."
+
+"Yet it's a derelict still," remarked the preacher, struggling to his
+feet and holding on by the chimney; "let me examine your farm of
+Bleacres."
+
+Bleacres--a corruption of bleakacres--consisted of only twenty acres not
+at all bleak, but a mere slice out of the wide domains formerly owned by
+the aristocratic family dispossessed by Huxham. It extended all round
+the ancient manor-house, which stood exactly in the centre, and every
+foot of it was sown with corn. On every side waved the greenish-bluish
+crop, now almost breast high. It rolled right up to the walls of the
+house, so that this was drowned, so to speak, in the ocean of grain. The
+various fields were divided and sub-divided by water-ways wide and
+narrow, which drained the land, and these gave the place quite a Dutch
+look, as fancy might picture them as canals. But the corn grew
+everywhere so thick and high, in contrast to the barren marshes, that
+the farm looked almost aggressively cultivated. Bleacres was widely
+known as "The Solitary Farm," for there was not another like it for many
+miles, though why it should have been left to a retired sailor to
+cultivate the soil it is hard to say. But Huxham for many years had sown
+corn on his twenty acres, so that the mansion for the most part of the
+year was quite shut off from the world. Only a narrow path was left,
+which meandered from the front door and across various water-ways to
+Marshely village, one mile distant. In no other way save by this path
+could the mansion be approached. And as guardian of the place a
+red-coated scarecrow stood sentinel a stone-throw from the house. The
+bit of brilliant colour looked gay amidst the rolling acres of green.
+
+"The domain of Ceres," said Pence dreamily, and recalling his meagre
+classical studies; "here the goddess might preside. Yet," he added
+again, with a side glance at his rugged host, "a derelict still."
+
+"Mr. Pence don't know the English langwidge, apparently," said Huxham,
+addressing the landscape with a pitying smile. "A derelict's a ship
+abandoned."
+
+"And a derelict," insisted Pence, "can also be described as a tract of
+land left dry by the sea, and fit for cultivation or use. You will find
+that explanation in Nuttall's Standard Dictionary, captain."
+
+"Live an' larn; live an' larn," commented Huxham, accepting the
+explanation without question; "but I ain't got no use for dix'onaries
+m'self. Made m' dollars to buy this here farm without sich truck."
+
+"In what way, captain?" asked Silas absently, and looked at the view.
+
+Had he looked instead at Huxham's weather-beaten face he might have been
+surprised. The captain grew a little trifle paler under his bronze, an
+uneasy look crept into his hard blue eyes, and he threw another anxious
+glance over his shoulder. But a stealthy examination of the minister's
+indifferent countenance assured him that the question, although a
+leading one, had been asked in all innocence. And in all innocence the
+captain replied, for the momentary pause had given him time to frame his
+reply.
+
+"I arned m' dollars, Mr. Pence, es an honest man should, by sweatin' on
+th' high an' narrer seas these forty year'. Ran away fro' m' father, es
+wos a cobbler," added Huxham, addressing the landscape once more, "when
+I wos ten year old, an' a hop-me-thumb et thet, es y' could hev squeezed
+int' a pint pot. Cabin boy, A.B., mate, fust an' second, and a skipper
+by m' own determination t' git top-hole. Likewise hard tack, cold
+quarters, kickin's an' brimstone langwidge es would hev made thet hair
+of yours curl tremenjous, Mr. Pence. I made 'nough when fifty an' more,
+t' buy this here farm, an' this here house, th' roof of which I've
+walked quarter-deck fashion, es y' see, these ten years--me bein' sixty
+odd, so t' speak. Waitin' now fur a hail t' jine th' angels, an' Mrs.
+Arabeller Huxham, who is a flier with a halo, an' expectin' me aloft, es
+she remarked frequent when chokin' in her engine pipes. Asthma et wos,"
+finished the widower, spitting out some tobacco juice, "es settled her
+hash."
+
+This astonishing speech, delivered with slow gruffness, did not startle
+Silas, as he had known Captain Huxham for at least five years, and had
+before remarked upon his eccentric way of talking. "Very interesting;
+very commendable," he murmured, and returned to the object of his visit.
+"And your daughter, sir?"
+
+"Y' shell hev her, an' hev this here," the captain waved his hand to the
+four points of the compass, "when I jine the late Mrs. Arabeller Huxham,
+ef y'--ef y'--thet is----" he halted dubiously.
+
+"If what?" demanded Pence, unsuspiciously.
+
+"Ef y' chuck thet Lister int' one of them water-ways," said Huxham.
+
+"What?" cried the preacher, considerably startled.
+
+"I want him dead," growled Huxham gruffly, "drown dead an' buried."
+
+Perhaps his sojourn in distant lands on the fringes of the empire had
+familiarised the captain with sudden death and murder, for he made this
+amazing proposition in a calm and cheerful voice. But the minister was
+not so steeled to horrors.
+
+"What?" he repeated in a shaking voice and with dilated eyes.
+
+"All fur you," murmured the tempter persuasively, "every blamed acre of
+et, t' say nothing of Bella es is a fine gel, an'----"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Silas vehemently, spreading his hands across his
+lean, agitated face, "how dare you ask such a thing?"
+
+"Jus' a push," went on Huxham softly, "he bein' on the edge of one of
+them ditches, es y' might say. Wot th' water gits th' water holds. He'd
+go down int' the black slime an' never come up. It 'ud choke him. Cuss
+me," murmured Huxham softly, "I'd like t' see the black slime choke a
+Lister."
+
+Pence gasped again and recalled how the Evil One had taken the Saviour
+of men up to an exceedingly high mountain, to show Him the kingdoms of
+the world and the glory of them. "All these things will I give thee,"
+said Satan, "if----"
+
+"No!" shouted Silas, his eyes lighting up with wrath. "Get thee behind
+me----" Before finishing his sentence, and before Huxham could reply, he
+scrambled down the ladder to rush for the open trap. The captain leaned
+from his quarter-deck scornfully. "Y' needn't say es I gave y' the
+chance, fur no one 'ull believe y'," he cried out, coolly, "an' a
+milksop y' are. Twenty acres, a house, an' a fine gel--y'd be set up for
+life, ef y'd only push----"
+
+Pence heard no more. In a frenzy of horror he dropped through the
+trap-door, inwardly praying that he might be kept from temptation.
+Huxham saw him vanish and scowled. "Blamed milky swab," he grumbled,
+then turned to survey the bribe he had offered for wilful murder. He
+looked at the corn and across the corn uneasily, as though he saw danger
+in the distance. "No cause to be afeared," muttered the ex-mariner; "he
+can't get through the corn. It keeps me safe anyhow."
+
+But who the "he" referred to might be, Huxham did not say.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE WOOIN' O'T
+
+
+Imagine a man wrapped from infancy in the cotton wool of civilisation
+suddenly jerked out of the same into barbaric nakedness. Deprived of the
+strong protection of the law, brought suddenly face to face with the
+"might-is-right" theory, he would have to fight for his own land, even
+to the extent of slaying anyone who thwarted his needs. Such a man,
+amazed and horrified at first, would gradually become accustomed to his
+Ishmael existence, since habit is second nature. Silas Pence felt sick
+when he reflected on the offer made by Captain Huxham, and to him of all
+people--a minister of the Gospel, a follower of the Prince of Peace. For
+the first time in his guarded life, he became aware of the evil which
+underlies the smiling surface of things, and it was as though an abyss
+had opened suddenly at his feet. But although he did not know it at the
+time, the seed had been sown in his heart at the right moment, and would
+germinate almost without his knowledge. In a few days Silas could look
+back at the horrifying suggestion with calmness, and could even consider
+the advantages it offered.
+
+But just now he felt sick, physically sick, and descending with
+trembling limbs to the ground floor of the house, staggered towards the
+hall and door. All he desired was to get away, and put the corn-fields
+between himself and the evil atmosphere of Bleacres. But his legs failed
+him as he laid hands on the latch, and he sank white-faced and shaking
+into a chair. In this state he was discovered by Mrs. Coppersley, the
+captain's sister and housekeeper. She was a buxom, amiable woman, with a
+fixed smile meaning nothing. The expression of her rosy face changed to
+one of alarm when she saw the heap in the chair. "Save us, Mr. Pence,
+what's wrong?"
+
+Pence was about to break forth into a denunciation of Huxham's
+wickedness, but a timely recollection of the captain's last words--that
+his story would not be believed--made him pause. After all, Huxham was
+well known as a decent man and an open-handed friend to one and all, so
+there was nothing to be gained by telling a truth which would certainly
+be scoffed at. The preacher changed his mind in one swift instant, and
+replied nervously to Mrs. Coppersley's inquiry. "I have been on the
+quarter-deck, and it made me dizzy. I am not accustomed to----"
+
+"Drat that brother of mine," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley angrily, "he
+got me up there once, and I thought I'd never come down. Here, Mr.
+Pence, you hold up while I get you a sup of rum."
+
+"No, no! Strong drink leads us into desperate ways," protested the
+preacher. But Mrs. Coppersley was gone, and had returned before he could
+make up his mind to fly temptation. Silas was not used to alcohol, but
+the shock he had sustained in learning so much of Huxham's true nature
+prevented his exercising his usual self-control. With his highly strung
+nerves he was half-hysterical, and so, when forced by kindly Mrs.
+Coppersley, readily drank half a tumbler of rum slightly diluted with
+water.
+
+"Drink it all, there's a good soul," entreated the housekeeper, forcing
+the glass to his lips.
+
+"No!" He pushed it away. "I feel better already!" and he did, for the
+strong spirit brought colour to his cheek and new strength to his limbs.
+He stood up in a few minutes, quite himself, and indeed more than
+himself, since the rum put into him more courage than came by nature.
+"Wine maketh glad the heart of man," said Silas, in excuse for his
+unusual indulgence.
+
+"Rum isn't wine," said Mrs. Coppersley, with a jolly laugh, "it's
+something much better, Mr. Pence. Now you go home and lie down."
+
+"Oh, no! I feel as though I could charge an army," said Pence valiantly.
+
+"Then wait in the study." She indicated the panelled room with a jerk of
+her head. "Jabez will be down from his quarter-deck soon."
+
+"No." Pence shivered, in spite of the rum, at the thought of again
+having to face his tempter. "I must go now. My presence is required in
+the village."
+
+"Then you can take a message for me to Mr. Vand," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+with a slight accession of colour to her already florid face. "Say that
+I am coming to Marshely about seven o'clock, and will call at the shop."
+
+This request changed Pence into the preacher and the leader of the godly
+people who called his chapel their fold. Vand was the son of the woman
+who kept the village grocery shop, and a cripple who played the violin
+at various local concerts. He was at least ten years younger than Mrs.
+Coppersley, who confessed to being thirty-five--though probably she was
+older--and the way in which the widow ran after him was something of a
+scandal. As both Mrs. Coppersley and Henry Vand were members of Little
+Bethel, Silas felt that he was entitled to inquire into the matter. "You
+ask me to take such a message, sister?" he demanded austerely.
+
+The widow's face flamed, and her eyes sparkled. "There is no shame in it
+that I am aware of, Mr. Pence," she declared violently; "if I choose to
+marry again, that's no one's business but mine, I take it."
+
+"Oh, so you desire to marry Henry Vand?" said Pence, amazed.
+
+"It's not a question of desiring," said the buxom woman impatiently.
+"Henry and I have arranged to be married this summer."
+
+"He is a cripple."
+
+"I know that," she snapped, "and therefore needs the care of a wife."
+
+"His mother looks after him," protested Pence weakly.
+
+"Does she?" inquired Mrs. Coppersley. "I thought she looked after no one
+but herself. She's that selfish as never was, so don't you go to defend
+her, Mr. Pence. Henry, poor boy, who is an angel, if ever there was one,
+is quite neglected; so I am going to marry him and look after him. So
+there!" and Mrs. Coppersley, placing her hands akimbo, defied her
+pastor.
+
+"Henry has no money," said Pence, finding another objection.
+
+"As to that," remarked Mrs. Coppersley indifferently, "when my brother
+dies I'll have money for us both, and this house into the bargain."
+
+"You will have nothing of the sort," said Silas, surprised into saying
+more than was wise. "Your brother's daughter will inherit this----"
+
+"Oh, will she?" cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and much you know
+about it, Mr. Pence. "When my late husband, who was a ship's steward, and
+saving, died ten year ago, I lent my brother some money to add to his
+own, so that he might buy Bleacres. He agreed that if I did so, I should
+inherit the house and the land. I promised to look after Bella until she
+got married, and----"
+
+"Mrs. Coppersley," said Pence, with an effort at firmness, "your brother
+told me only lately that if I married Bella, he would give her the farm
+and the house when he died, so----"
+
+"Ho, indeed," interrupted Mrs. Coppersley wrathfully, "pretty goings on,
+I'm sure. You call yourself a pastor, Mr. Pence, and come plotting to
+rob me of what is mine. I take everything, and Bella nothing, so you can
+put that in your pipe and smoke it, though you ain't man enough to smoke
+even a penny cigar. You marry Bella? Why, she's as good as engaged to
+that young Lister, who has got more gumption about him than you have."
+
+"I advise you," said Pence, and his voice sounded strangely in his own
+ears, "not to tell your brother that his daughter is engaged to Mr.
+Lister."
+
+"I never said that she was. But----"
+
+"There is no but. The mere mention of such an engagement would send
+Captain Huxham crazy."
+
+"In heaven's name, why?" gasped Mrs. Coppersley, looking the picture of
+stout amazement and sitting down heavily.
+
+"Because for some reason he hates Mr. Lister, and would kill him rather
+than accept him as his son-in-law."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley's florid face turned quite pale. Evidently she knew what
+her brother was like when roused. "Why should Jabez hate Mr. Lister?"
+she asked.
+
+"You had better ask him," said Pence, opening the hall door; then to
+soften his abruptness he added, "I'll tell Henry Vand that you will see
+him." After which he departed, leaving Mrs. Coppersley still pale and
+still gasping.
+
+After all there was no reason why the ship steward's widow would not
+marry the young man. Vand was handsome in a refined way, and very clever
+as a musician. He was only slightly crippled, too, and could get about
+with the aid of a stick. All the same, he needed someone to look after
+him, and as his own mother did not do so--as was notorious--why should
+he not become Mrs. Coppersley's husband? The disparity in age did not
+matter, as Vand, in spite of his good looks, was club-footed and poor.
+But Pence doubted if Mrs. Coppersley would inherit Bleacres after
+Captain Huxham's death, in spite of the arrangement between them.
+Unless--and here was the chance for the housekeeper--unless Bella
+married Lister, notwithstanding her father's opposition. In that event,
+Huxham would assuredly disinherit her. "I'll point this out to her,"
+said the preacher, as he left the manor-house, "and urge my suit.
+Common-sense will make her yield to my prayers. Moreover, I can plead,
+and----" here he smiled complacently as he thought of his pulpit
+eloquence. Besides, the unaccustomed spirit of the rum was still keeping
+him brave.
+
+Pence sauntered in the glowing sunshine down the narrow path which ran
+between the standing corn. The path was not straight. It wound
+deviously, as though Huxham wished to make the approach to his abode as
+difficult as possible. Indeed, it was strange that he should sow corn at
+all, since corn at the time was not remunerative. But every year since
+he had entered into possession of Bleacres the owner had sown corn, and
+every year there had only been the one meandering path through the same,
+the very path which Pence was now taking. There was evidently some
+purpose in this sowing, and in the fact that only one pathway was left
+whereby to approach the mansion. But what that purpose might be, neither
+Pence, nor indeed anyone else, could guess. Not that they gave it a
+thought. Huxham was presumed to be very wealthy, and his farming was
+looked upon more as a hobby than a necessity.
+
+The preacher brushed between the breast-high corn, and walked over two
+or three narrow planks laid across two or three narrow ditches. But
+where the corn ended was a wide channel, at least ten feet broad, which
+stretched the whole length of the estate and passed beyond it on its way
+under the railway line to the distant river. The water-way ran
+straightly for some distance, and then curved down into the marshes at
+its own will, to spread into swamps. On one side sprang the thick green
+corn, but on the other stretched waste-lands up to the outskirts of the
+village, one mile distant. There was no fence round Bleacres at this
+point. Apparently, Huxham deemed the wide channel a sufficient
+protection to his corn, which it assuredly was, as no tramps ever
+trespassed on the land. But then, Marshely was not a tramp village. The
+inhabitants were poor, and had nothing to give in the way of charity.
+The loafer of the roads avoided the locality for very obvious reasons.
+
+Before crossing the planks, which were laid on mid-channel supporting
+tressels over the water-way, Pence looked from right to left. The
+evening was so very beautiful that he thought he would prolong his walk
+until sundown, and it wanted some time to that hour. He was still
+indignant with Captain Huxham for his base offer, and came to the
+conclusion that the ex-mariner was mad when he made it. Pence, in his
+simplicity, could not think that any man could ask another to kill a
+third in cold blood. All the same, the offer had been made, and Silas
+found himself asking why Huxham should desire the death of a stranger
+with whom--so far as the preacher knew--he was not even acquainted.
+Huxham had always refused to permit Bella to bring Lister to Bleacres,
+and indeed had forbidden her even to speak to the young man. He
+therefore could not be cognisant of the fact, stated by Mrs. Coppersley,
+that Lister and the girl were on the eve of an engagement.
+
+Thus thinking, Pence mechanically wandered along the left bank of the
+boundary water-way, and found himself near a small hut, inhabited by the
+sole labourer whom Huxham habitually employed. He engaged others, of
+course, when his fields were ploughed, and sown, and reaped, but
+Tunks--such was the euphonious name of the handy-man--was in demand all
+the year round. He resided in this somewhat lonely hut, along with his
+grandmother, a weird old gipsy reputed to be a witch, and it was this
+reputation which set Mr. Pence thinking.
+
+Remembering that Mrs. Tunks was of the Romany, he thought, and blushed
+as he thought, that it would be worth while to expend a shilling in
+order to learn if his suit with Bella would really prosper. The temple
+of fate was before him, and the Sibyl was probably within, since the
+smoke of cooking the evening meal curled from the chimney. It was only
+necessary to lift the latch, lay down a shilling, and inquire. But even
+as the temptation drew him, he was seized with a feeling of shame, that
+he--a preacher of the Gospel, and the approved foe thereby of
+witches--should think for one moment of encouraging such traffic with
+the Evil One. Pence, blushing as red as the now setting sun, turned away
+hastily, and found himself face to face with the very girl who was
+causing him such torment.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Pence?" said Bella Huxham, lightly. "A lovely evening,
+isn't it?" and she tried to pass him on the narrow path. Probably she
+was going to see the Witch of Endor.
+
+The preacher placed himself directly before her.
+
+"Wait for one moment."
+
+The girl did not reply immediately, but looked at him earnestly, trying
+to guess what the usually nervous preacher had to say. Bella looked more
+lovely than ever in Pence's eyes, as she stood before him in her white
+dress and bathed in the rosy glory of the sunset. She did not in the
+least resemble her father or her aunt, both of whom were stout, uncomely
+folk of true plebeian type. Bella was aristocratic in her looks, as tall
+and slim and willowy as a young sapling. Her hair and eyes were dark,
+her face was a perfect oval of ivory-white delicately flushed with red,
+like a sweet-pea, and if her chin was a trifle resolute and hard, her
+mouth was perfect. She carried herself in a haughty way, and had a habit
+of bending her dark brows so imperiously, that she reminded Pence of
+Judith, who killed Holofernes. Judith and Jael and Deborah must have
+been just such women.
+
+"Well?" asked Bella, bending her brows like an empress, "what is it?"
+
+"I--I--love you, Miss Huxham."
+
+She could not be angry at so naive a declaration, and one coming from a
+man whom she knew to be as timid as a hare. "I am somewhat surprised,
+Mr. Pence," she replied demurely, "are you not making a mistake?"
+
+"No," he stuttered, flushing with eagerness, for amorous passion makes
+the most timid bold. "I have loved you for months, for years. I want you
+to be my wife--to share with me the glorious privilege of leading my
+flock to the land of Beulah, and----"
+
+"Stop, stop!" She flung up her hand. "I assure you, Mr. Pence, that it
+is impossible. Forget that you ever said anything."
+
+"I cannot forget. Why should I forget?"
+
+"You must not ask a woman for her reasons, Mr. Pence," she answered
+drily, "for a woman never gives the true ones."
+
+"Bella!"
+
+"Miss Huxham to you, Mr. Pence." She spoke in a chilly manner.
+
+"No," he cried wildly; "to me you are Bella. I think of you by that
+sweet name day and night. You come between me and my work. When I
+console the afflicted I feel that I am talking to you. When I read my
+Bible, your face comes between me and the sacred page. To me you are
+Hephzibah--yes, and the Shulamite. The Angel of the Covenant; the joy of
+my heart. Oh, Bella, I love the very ground that you tread on. Can you
+refuse me? See!" He threw himself on the path, heedless of the fact that
+Mrs. Tunks might be at her not far distant window. "I am at your feet,
+Bella! Bella!"
+
+The girl was distressed by this earnestness. "Rise, Mr. Pence, someone
+will see you. You must not behave like this. I cannot be your wife."
+
+"Why not? Oh, why not?"
+
+"Because I am not fit to be a minister's wife."
+
+The young man sprang to his feet, glowing with passion. "Let me teach
+you."
+
+Bella avoided his extended arms. "No, no, no!" she insisted, "you must
+take my answer once and for all, Mr. Pence. I cannot marry you."
+
+"But why?" he urged despairingly.
+
+"I have a reason," she replied formally; "don't ask me for it."
+
+"I have no need to. I know your reason."
+
+Bella flushed, but overlooked the bitterness of his tone because she
+guessed what he suffered. "In that case, I need not explain," she said
+coldly, and again tried to pass. Again he prevented her.
+
+"You love that man Lister," he said between his teeth.
+
+"That is my business, Mr. Pence."
+
+"Mine also," he cried, undaunted by her haughtiness. "Your father's
+business, too. Mrs. Coppersley said that you were almost engaged to this
+man Lister. But you shall not marry him; you will not even be engaged to
+him."
+
+"Who will prevent me?" asked Bella angrily.
+
+"Your father. He hates this man Lister."
+
+"How can my father hate a man he has never even seen?" she demanded;
+"you are talking rubbish."
+
+"Miss Huxham"--Pence detained her by laying his thin fingers on her
+arm--"if you marry this man Lister"--he kept to this sentence as though
+it were a charm--"you will be a pauper."
+
+She flashed up into a royal rage and stamped. "How dare you say that?"
+
+"I dare tell the truth."
+
+"It is not the truth. How can you tell if----"
+
+"Your father told me," insisted the preacher, hotly.
+
+Bella withdrew a step or so, her eyes growing round with surprise.
+"My--father--said--that?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Silas feverishly. "I went to him this very
+afternoon to ask permission to present myself to you as a suitor. He
+consented, but only when he heard that you loved this man who----"
+
+"You told him that?" demanded Bella, her breath coming quick and short.
+
+"Yes," said Pence, trying to be courageous, "and it is true."
+
+"Who says that it is?"
+
+"Everyone in the village."
+
+"The village has nothing to do with my business," she declared
+imperiously, "and even if I do love--but let that pass. You told me that
+my father said I should be a pauper."
+
+"If you married the man Lister," he reminded her. "Yes, he did say so,
+and declared also that he would give me the manor-house and the farm
+when he died, if I made you my wife."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "My father does not mean what he says,"
+she remarked disbelievingly; "as I am his only child, the Solitary Farm,
+as they call it, comes to me in any case. And I see no reason why I
+should discuss my father's business with you. Stand aside and let me
+pass."
+
+"No." Silas was wonderfully brave for one of his timid soul. "You shall
+not pass until you learn the truth. You think that I am a fool and weak.
+I am not. I feel wise and strong; and I am strong--strong enough to
+withstand temptation, even when you are offered as a bribe."
+
+Bella grew somewhat alarmed. She did not like the glittering of his
+shallow, grey eyes. "You are mad."
+
+"I am sane; you know that I am sane, but you think to put me off by
+saying that I am crazy. I have had enough to make me so. Your
+father"--here his voice took on the sing-song pulpit style--"your father
+took me up to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed me the kingdoms
+of the world. All of them he offered me, together with you, if I
+murdered Lister."
+
+"What!" Bella's voice leaped an octave; "you--you--murder Cyril?"
+
+"Yes, Cyril, the man you love. And if I dared----"
+
+"Mr. Pence"--Bella saw the necessity of keeping herself well in hand
+with this hysterical youth, for he was nothing else, and spoke in a
+calm, kind voice--"my father has not seen Mr. Lister, and cannot hate
+him."
+
+"Go and ask him what he thinks," said Pence fiercely. "I tell you that
+to-day I was offered everything if I would kill this man Lister."
+
+"You are talking at random," she said soothingly; "go home, and lie
+down."
+
+"I am talking of what may come to pass. Your father wishes it, so why
+not, when I love you so deeply? I offer you the heart of an honest man,
+and yet you would throw that aside for this profligate."
+
+"Cyril is not a profligate," interrupted Bella, and could have bitten
+out her tongue for the hasty speech.
+
+"He is. He comes from London, the City of Evil, that shall yet fall like
+Babylon the Great. But your soul shall not be lost; you shall not marry
+him."
+
+"I shall!" cried Bella, indignantly, and becoming rash again in her
+anger; "and what is more, I am engaged to him now. So there! Let me
+pass."
+
+She slipped deftly past him, and walked swiftly homeward. Silas Pence
+stood where he was, staring after her, unable to speak or move or to
+follow. Then the sun sank, leaving him in the twilight of sorrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A TARDY LOVER
+
+
+Miss Huxham did not credit for one moment the story which Pence had told
+her. It was ridiculous to think that her father would even hint at the
+murder of an unoffending man whom he had never seen, and to hesitating,
+timid Silas, of all people. Bella remembered that, months previously,
+when she had mentioned a chance meeting with Lister--then a stranger--at
+the cottage of the Marshely school-mistress, Captain Huxham had not only
+forbidden her to bring him to Bleacres, which the young man desired to
+see, but had ordered her to discontinue the acquaintance. Evidently the
+retired mariner deemed this prohibition sufficient, for he made no
+further mention of the matter. That he gave no reason for his tyrannical
+edict, did not trouble him; but because of this very omission, his
+daughter took her own way. By stealth, it is true, lest Huxham should
+exhibit annoyance--for annoyance with him meant wild-beast rage.
+
+Now the girl felt puzzled. According to Silas, her father knew that she
+had disobeyed him, and she returned to the Manor in a somewhat nervous
+state of mind, quite prepared to do battle for her lover. But, to her
+surprise, Captain Huxham made no remark, and behaved much the same as
+usual, save that at odd times he was more observant of her comings and
+goings. In the face of his newly-acquired knowledge this very unusual
+demeanour should have made Bella more circumspect, but, being
+high-spirited, she did not change her life in any way. Also she believed
+that Silas had greatly exaggerated the captain's anger, and argued from
+his quietness that he cared very little what she did. She had reason to
+take this view, for Huxham was not an affectionate parent, and, save
+when things interfered with his own comfort, usually ignored his
+daughter. And on her side, Bella could not subscribe to the fifth
+commandment. It was impossible to honour King Log, who had an unpleasant
+way of becoming King Henry VIII. when contradicted.
+
+Several times, Bella, needing sympathy, was on the point of reporting
+Pence's conversation to Mrs. Coppersley, so as to learn her opinion as
+to the truth of the preacher's preposterous statement. But the buxom
+widow was too much taken up with her own love-affairs to trouble about
+those of her niece, for whom she displayed no great affection. She
+attended to the house-keeping, cajoled her brother into a good humour
+when necessary, and nearly every evening slipped out to meet Henry Vand,
+who usually awaited her arrival on the hither side of the boundary
+channel. He did not dare to venture nearer to the lion's den, as Captain
+Huxham, aware of his sister's desire to contract a second marriage,
+discouraged the idea. The captain being aggressively selfish, did not
+intend to lose Mrs. Coppersley, whose services were necessary to his
+comfort. Besides, as she managed everything connected with the domestic
+arrangement of Bleacres, assisted by Bella, Huxham was spared the
+necessity of paying a servant. It was better, from the captain's point
+of view, to have two slaves who asked for no wages, and who could be
+bullied when he felt like playing the tyrant.
+
+To a young girl in the first strong flush of womanhood, life at the
+solitary farm was extremely dreary, Captain Huxham rose early and
+strolled round his wealthy acres until breakfast, which for him was a
+Gargantuan meal. He then shut himself for the whole morning in his den,
+where he laboured at his accounts, with a locked door. In the afternoon
+he ordinarily walked to Marshely and conversed over strong drink with
+cronies at the village public-house. He returned to walk around the farm
+again, and after supper again sought his room to smoke and drink rum
+until bedtime, at ten o'clock. The routine of the captain's life never
+varied in any particular, even to seeking the quarter-deck once a day
+for the purpose, apparently, of viewing the results of his life's work.
+Also from his eyrie, the captain, armed with a long telescope, could
+gaze at outward and homeward-bound ships, and so enjoy vicariously the
+sea-life he had abandoned these ten years. Of Bella he took scarcely any
+notice.
+
+It was indeed a dull life, especially as Bella was intellectual, and
+felt that she required food for her active brain. For some odd reason,
+which did not suit with his rough nature, Huxham had given his neglected
+daughter a first-class education, and only within the last two years had
+she returned from a fashionable Hampstead school to live this
+uneventful, unintellectual life on an Essex farm. She possessed a few
+books, and these she read over and over again. Huxham was not actively
+unkind, and gave her plenty of frocks, ribbons, hats, gloves, and
+such-like things, which he presumed were what the ordinary girl wanted.
+But he overlooked the fact that Bella was not an ordinary girl, and that
+she hungered for a more moving life, or, at least, for one which would
+afford her an opportunity of displaying her social abilities. Bella sang
+excellently, and played the piano unusually well; but her uncouth father
+did not care for music, and Mrs. Coppersley scorned it also. The girl
+therefore allowed her talents to lie dormant, and became a silent,
+handsome image of a woman, moving ghost-like through the dreary mansion.
+But her chance meeting with the clever young man aroused all her disused
+capabilities; aroused also her womanly coquetry, and stimulated her into
+exhibiting a really fascinating nature. Warned that her father would
+have no strangers coming to the manor, by his own lips, she kept secret
+the delightful meetings with Lister, and only when the two met at the
+cottage of Miss Ankers could they speak freely. Bella thought that her
+secret attachment was unknown, whereas everyone in the village watched
+the progress of Lister's wooing. It came as has been seen, to Pence's
+jealous ears, and he reported the same to Captain Huxham. Knowing this,
+Bella was more perplexed than ever, that, as time went on, Huxham did
+nothing and said nothing. At one time he had been peremptory, but now he
+appeared inclined to let her act as she chose. And the mere fact that he
+did so, made Bella feel more than ever what an indifferent father she
+possessed.
+
+For quite a week after his interview with the captain, and his futile
+wooing of Bella, the lovesick preacher kept away from the farm and
+attended sedulously to his clerical duties in connection with Little
+Bethel. The truth was, that he felt afraid of Huxham, now knowing what
+use the captain desired to make of him. For this reason also, Silas did
+not report that Bella was engaged to Lister. He feared lest Huxham, in a
+rage at such disregard of his wishes, should slay the young journalist,
+and perhaps might, in his infernal cunning, lay the blame on Silas
+himself. At all events, Pence was wise enough to avoid the danger zone
+of the farm, and although, after reflection, aided by jealousy, he was
+not quite so shocked at the idea of thrusting Lister to a muddy death,
+he yet thought it more judicious to keep out of Huxham's way. The old
+mariner, as Pence knew, possessed a strong will, and might force him to
+be his tool in getting rid of the journalist. Silas was wiser than he
+knew in acting so discreetly, for the sailor-turned farmer was a more
+dangerous man than even he imagined, despite the glimpse he had gained
+of Huxham's possible iniquity.
+
+Things were in this position when Bella, rendered reckless by her
+father's indifference, actually met Cyril Lister in a secluded nook of
+the corn-field, and on the sacred ground of Bleacres itself. Usually the
+lovers met in Miss Ankers' cottage, or in Mrs. Tunks' hut, but on this
+special occasion the weather was so hot that Lister proposed an
+adjournment to the open field. "You will be Ruth, and I Boaz," suggested
+the young man, with a smile.
+
+Bella shivered even in the warm air into which she had stepped out of
+the malodorous gloom of Mrs. Tunks' hut. "What an unlucky comparison,"
+she said, leading the way along the bank of the boundary channel.
+
+"Ruth left her people and her home, to go amongst strangers, and earn
+her living as a gleaner."
+
+"But she found a devoted husband in the end," Cyril reminded her.
+
+"Peace and happiness also, I hope," sighed Bella. "I have plenty of
+peace, but very little happiness, save of the vegetable sort."
+
+"When we are married," began Lister, then stopped short, biting his
+moustache--"we shall be very happy," he ended lamely, seeing that Bella
+looked inquiringly at him.
+
+"That is obvious, since we love one another," she said somewhat tartly,
+for his hesitation annoyed her. "Why did you change the conclusion of
+your sentence?"
+
+Lister threw himself down on the hard-baked ground and under the shadow
+of the tall blue-green corn stalks. "It just struck me that our marriage
+was very far distant," he said gloomily.
+
+Bella sat beside him shoulder to shoulder, and hugged her knees. "Why
+should it be far distant?" she inquired. "If I love you, and you love
+me, no power on earth can keep us apart."
+
+"Your father----"
+
+"I shall disobey my father if it be necessary," she informed him
+serenely.
+
+Lister looked at her through half-shut eyes, and noticed the firmness of
+her mouth and the clear, steady gaze of her eyes. "You have a strong
+will, I think, dear," he murmured admiringly.
+
+"I have, Cyril--as strong as that of my father. When our two wills
+clash"--she shrugged--"there may be murder committed."
+
+"Bella!"--the young man looked startled--"what dreadful things you say."
+
+"It is the truth," she insisted quietly; "why shirk obvious facts? For
+some reason, which I cannot discover, my father detests you."
+
+"By Jove!" Cyril sat up alertly. "And why? He has never seen me, as I
+have kept well out of his way after your warning. But I have had a sly
+glimpse of him, and he seems to be a jolly sort of animal--I beg your
+pardon for calling him so."
+
+"Man is an animal, and my father is a man," said the girl coolly, "a
+neolithic man, if you like. You are a man also, Cyril--the kind of firm,
+bold, daring man I like. Yet if you met with my father, I wonder----"
+She paused, and it flashed across her brain that her father and her
+lover would scarcely suit one another. Both were strong-willed and both
+masterful. She wondered if they met, who would come out top-dog; so she
+phrased it in her quick brain. Then abruptly she added, before Cyril
+could speak. "Be quiet for a few minutes. I wish to think."
+
+Lister nodded, and, leaning on one elbow, chewed a corn-stalk and
+watched her in silence. He was a slim, tall, small-boned young man of
+the fairskinned type, with smooth brown hair, and a small, drooping
+brown moustache. His present attitude indicated indolence, and he
+certainly loved to be lazy when a pretty girl was at his elbow. But on
+occasions he could display wonderful activity, and twice had been chosen
+as war correspondent to a London daily, when one or two of the little
+wars on the fringe of the Empire had been in progress. He was not
+particularly good-looking, but the freshness of his five-and-twenty
+years, and the virility of his manner, made women bestow a great deal of
+attention on him. Much more than he deserved, in fact, as, until he met
+with Bella, he had given very little attention to the sex. He had
+flirted in many countries, and with many women; but this was the first
+time he had made genuine love, or had felt the genuine passion. And with
+a country maiden, too, unsophisticated and pathetically innocent. So he
+meditated as he watched her, until, struck by the firm curve of the chin
+and the look of resolve on the tightly-closed lips, he confessed
+privately that if this country maiden were placed in the forefront of
+society, the chances were that she would do more than hold her own.
+There were Joan-of-Arc-like possibilities in that strongly-featured
+face.
+
+"But, upon my word, I am quite afraid," he said aloud, following up his
+train of thought and speaking almost unconsciously.
+
+"Of what?" asked Bella, turning quickly towards him.
+
+"Of you. Such a determined young woman, as you are. If I make you my
+wife, I know who will be master."
+
+"My dear," she said quietly, "in marriage there should be neither a
+master nor a mistress. It's a sublime co-partnership, and the partners
+are equal. One supplies what the other lacks, and two incomplete persons
+are required to make one perfect being."
+
+Lister opened his brown eyes. "Who told you all this?"
+
+"No one. I have ample time to think, and--I think."
+
+"You asked me to be quiet, so that you could think," he remarked lazily;
+"may I ask what you have been considering?"
+
+She surveyed him quietly. "You may ask; but I am not sure if I will
+reply."
+
+"See here, my dearest"--Cyril struggled to his knees, and took her hand
+firmly within his own--"you are altogether too independent a young
+woman. You always want your own way, I perceive."
+
+"It will never clash with yours," said Bella, smiling.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because you will always wish to do what I desire, and I will always be
+anxious to act as you indicate. You have your line of life, and I have
+mine, but the two are one."
+
+"Humph! At school I learned that two parallel straight lines never met."
+
+"Ah, Euclid was a bachelor, and ignorant. They meet in marriage, for
+then the two lines blend into one. What's the matter?"
+
+She asked this question because Cyril suddenly let go her hands and
+swerved, blinking his eyes rapidly. "A sudden flash almost blinded me.
+Some one is heliographing hereabouts." He stood up, considerably taller
+than the already tall corn, and stared in the direction of the manor,
+shading his eyes with one slim hand. "There's someone on the roof there
+and----"
+
+Bella pulled the sleeve of his coat, with a stifled cry. "Oh, sit down,
+do sit down," she implored. "It must be my father on his quarter-deck.
+The flash, perhaps, came from his telescope, and if he sees you--do sit
+down."
+
+Cyril laughed and relapsed into a sitting position. "Dearest, your
+father cannot harm me in any way. I have heard of his quarter-deck. I
+suppose he has it to remind him of the bridge of a steamer when he was
+skipper."
+
+"I hope he hasn't seen you," said Bella anxiously, "for then he would
+come straight here, and----"
+
+"Let him come, and then I shall ask him to let me marry you."
+
+"He will refuse. He wants me to marry Mr. Pence."
+
+"What!" Lister frowned. "That half-baked psalm-singer? What nonsense,
+and what cheek. The idea of that Pence creature aspiring to your hand. I
+wish we could marry at once. But----" He paused, and shook his head.
+Lines appeared on his forehead, and a vexed look in his eyes. "It's
+impossible," he said with a deep breath.
+
+"Why is it impossible?" asked Bella imperiously and very directly.
+
+"My dear, I am very poor, and just make enough to keep my head above
+water. Besides, there is another reason."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I can't tell you," he said in low voice, and becoming suddenly pale;
+"no one but the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, you know."
+
+"Cyril." Bella wreathed her arms around his neck. "You have a secret. I
+have noticed several times that you have been worried. Sometimes you
+forget everything when we are together, and your face becomes like that
+of an old man. I must know your secret, so that I can help you."
+
+"God forbid." Lister removed her arms, and grew even paler than he was.
+"The kindest way I can act towards you, Bella, is to go out of your
+life, and never see you again."
+
+"Cyril, how can you when I love you so?"
+
+"Would you love me if you knew of my troubles?"
+
+"Try me. Try me," she implored, clasping his hand warmly.
+
+"There are some things which can't be told to a woman," he said sternly.
+
+"Tell them to a comrade, then. I wish to be your comrade as well as your
+wife. And I love you so that anything you say will only make me love you
+the more. Tell me, Cyril, so that I can prove my love."
+
+"Upon my soul, I believe you'd go to hell with me," said Lister
+strongly.
+
+"Yes, I would. I demand, by the love which exists between us, to be told
+this secret that troubles you so greatly."
+
+Lister frowned, and meditated. "I cannot tell you everything--yet," he
+remarked, after a painful pause, "but I can tell you this much, that
+unless I have one thousand pounds within a week, I can never marry you."
+
+"One thousand pounds. But for what purpose?"
+
+"You must not ask me that, Bella," and his mouth closed firmly.
+
+"'Trust me all in all, or not at all,'" she quoted.
+
+"Then I trust you not at all."
+
+"Oh!" She drew back with a cry of pain like a wounded animal.
+
+In a moment he was on his knees, holding her hands to his beating heart.
+"My dearest, if I could I would. But I can't, and I am unable just now
+to give you the reason. Save that I am a journalist, and your devoted
+lover, you know nothing about me. Later I shall tell you my whole story,
+and how I am situated. Then you can marry me or not, as you choose."
+
+"I shall marry you, in any case," she said quickly.
+
+"Do you think that I am a poor, weak fool, who demands perfection in a
+man. Whatever your sins may be, to me you are the man I have chosen to
+be my husband. We are here, in the corn-fields, and you just now called
+me Ruth. Then, like Ruth, I can say that 'your people will be my people,
+and your God will be my God.'"
+
+"Dearest and best," he kissed her ardently, "what have I done to deserve
+such perfect love? But do not think me so very wicked. It is not myself,
+so much as another. Then you----"
+
+"Is it a woman?" she asked, drawing back.
+
+Lister caught her to his breast again. "No, you jealous angel, it is not
+a woman. The thousand pounds I must have, to save--but that is neither
+here nor there. You must think me but a tardy lover not to carry you
+off, forwith, and----" he rose, with Bella in his arms--"oh, it's
+impossible!"
+
+"Do carry me off," she whispered, clinging to him. "Let us have a Sabine
+wedding. As your wife, you can tell me all your secrets."
+
+"Bella, Bella, I cannot. I am desperately poor."
+
+"So am I, and if I marry you my father will leave all his money to my
+aunt, for he told Mr. Pence so. But what does poverty matter, so long as
+we love one another with all our hearts and souls."
+
+"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hands desperately. "Do not tempt me. Only one
+thousand pounds stands between us. If I had that I could make you my
+wife within a week. I would steal, or murder, or do anything in the
+world to get the money and remove the barrier. But"--he pushed her away
+almost brutally, and frowned--"you are making me talk rubbish. We must
+wait."
+
+"Until when, Cyril?" she asked sadly.
+
+"Until Destiny is kinder."
+
+"You will tell me----"
+
+"I tell you nothing. Give me one kiss, and then good-bye for----"
+
+He bent to touch her lips, but was caught and hurled back. Bella uttered
+a cry of astonishment and dread, for between Cyril and herself stood
+Captain Huxham, purple with anger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SUDDEN DEATH
+
+
+"Y' shell not kiss m' gel, or merry her, or hev anything t' do with m'
+gel," said Captain Huxham, in a thick voice. "Oh, I saw y' fro' th'
+quarter-deck with m' gel. Jus' y' git, or----"
+
+He made a threatening step forward, while Cyril waited him without
+flinching. What would have happened it is hard to say, for Captain
+Huxham was in a frenzy of rage. But Bella, recovering from her first
+surprise, threw herself between the two men.
+
+"Father," she cried passionately, "I love him."
+
+"Oh, y' do, do y'?" growled the fireside tyrant, turning fiercely on
+her, "an' arter I told y' es y'd hev t' leave the swab alone. Did I, or
+did I not?"
+
+"Yes, but you assigned no reason for asking me to avoid Cyril, so----"
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" The captain clenched his huge hand, and his little eyes
+flashed with desperate anger. "Y' call him Cyril, y'--y'--slut." He
+raised a mighty fist to strike her, and the blow would have fallen, but
+that Lister suddenly gripped Huxham's shoulder and twitched him
+unexpectedly aside.
+
+"If you blame anyone, sir, you must blame me."
+
+"I'll break yer neck, cuss y'," raged the older man.
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders, indifferently. "You can try, if you like,
+but I don't propose to let you do it. Come, Captain Huxham, let us both
+be reasonable and talk matters over."
+
+"Y're on m' land; git off m' land," shouted Huxham, swinging his fists
+like windmills.
+
+"Go, Cyril, go," implored Bella who was terrified lest there should be a
+hand-to-hand struggle between the two men. That was not to be thought
+of, as if Lister killed the captain, or the captain killed Lister, there
+would be no chance of her becoming the wife of the man she loved.
+
+"I am quite ready to go," said Cyril, keeping a watchful eye on Huxham;
+"but first I should like to hear why you, sir, object to my marrying
+Bella." He spoke quietly and firmly, so that the level tones of his
+voice, and the admirable way in which he kept his temper, had a cooling
+effect on the enraged sailor.
+
+Huxham, born bully as he was, found that it was difficult for him to
+storm at a man so cool, and calm, and self-controlled. "Y' ain't m'
+chice," said he in lower but very sulky tones; "m' gel's goin' t' merry
+th' sky-pilot, Silas Pence."
+
+"Oh, no, she's not," said Lister smoothly; "she will marry me."
+
+"If she does, she don't get no money o' mine."
+
+"That will be no hindrance," said Bella, who was rapidly regaining her
+colour. "I am willing to marry Cyril without a penny."
+
+"Y' shent, then," grumbled her father savagely.
+
+"I have yet to hear your objections, sir."
+
+"Yer name's Lister, and----"
+
+The objection was so petty, that Bella quite expected to see Cyril
+laugh. But in place of doing so, he turned white and retreated a step.
+"What--what do you know of my name?" he asked, with apparent
+nervousness.
+
+"Thet's my business," snapped Huxham, seeing his advantage, "an' I
+shen't tell y' m' business. Y' git off m' land, or----" he suddenly
+lunged forward in the attempt to throw Lister when off his guard.
+
+But the young man was watchful, and, unexpectedly swerving, dexterously
+tripped up his bulky antagonist. Huxham, with a shout, or rather a
+bellow of rage like a wounded bull, sprawled full length amongst the
+corn. Bella pushed her lover away before the captain could regain his
+feet. "Go, go, I can see you to-morrow," she said hastily.
+
+"Y' shell never see the swab again," roared Huxham, rising slowly, for
+the fall had shaken him, and he was no longer young. "I'll shut y' in
+yer room, an' feed y' on bread an' water."
+
+"If you dare to say that again, I'll break your head," cried Lister,
+suddenly losing his temper at the insult to the girl he loved.
+
+"Oh, will y'?" Huxham passed his tongue over his coarse lips and rubbed
+his big hands slowly. Apparently nothing would have given him greater
+pleasure than to pitch this man who dared him into the boundary channel;
+but he had learned a lesson from his late fall. Lister was active and
+young; the captain was elderly and slow. Therefore, in spite of his
+superior strength--and Huxham judged that he had that--it was risky to
+try conclusions of sheer brute force. The captain therefore, being a
+coward at heart, as all bullies are, weakened and retreated. "Y' git off
+m' land," was all that he could find to say, "an' y' git home, Bella. Es
+m' daughter I'll deal with y'."
+
+"I am quite ready to go home," said Bella boldly; "but you are not going
+to behave as though I were one of your sailors, father."
+
+"I'll do wot I please," growled Huxham, looking white and wicked.
+
+Bella laughed somewhat artificially, for her father did not look
+amiable. "I don't think you will," she said, with feigned carelessness.
+"Cyril, go now, and I'll see you again to-morrow."
+
+"Ef y' come here again," shouted Huxham, boiling over once more, "I'll
+kill y'--thet I will."
+
+"Take care you aren't killed yourself first," retorted Lister, and was
+surprised at the effect the threat--an idle one--had on the ex-sailor.
+
+Huxham turned pale under his bronze, and hastily cast a look over his
+left shoulder.
+
+"Why do you hate me so?" asked the young man sharply. "I never met you
+before; you have never set eyes on me. Why do you hate me?"
+
+"Ef I'd a dog called Lister, I'd shoot it; if I'd a cat called Lister,
+I'd drown it; and if I'd a parrot named Lister, I'd twist its blamed
+neck, same es I would yours, ef I could. Bella, come home;" and casting
+a venomous look on the astonished Cyril, the captain moved away.
+
+It was useless to prolong the unpleasant scene, since Huxham declined to
+explain his objection to the young man's name. And again, as she took a
+few steps to accompany her father, Bella noticed that Cyril winced and
+paled at the coarse taunts of his antagonist. "What is the matter with
+your name?" she asked sharply.
+
+Lister strode forward and caught her in his arms. "I shall explain when
+next we meet," he whispered, and kissed her good-bye, while Huxham
+grated his strong white teeth at the sight. Indeed, so angry was the
+captain, that he might again have assaulted his daughter's lover, but
+Cyril walked rapidly away, and without even a backward glance. Bella
+watched him with a heavy heart: there seemed to be something sinister
+about this mystery of the name. Huxham's inexplicable hatred appeared to
+be foolish; but Lister undoubtedly took it seriously.
+
+"Kim home," breathed the captain furiously in her ear; "you an' me hes
+t' hev a talk."
+
+"It will be a last talk if you do not behave properly," retorted Bella,
+walking proudly by his side, "even though I have the misfortune to be
+your daughter, that does not give you the right to treat me so rudely."
+
+"I'll treat y' es I blamed well like, y' hussy. Y'll go t' yer room, an'
+eat bread an' drink water t' cool yer hot blood."
+
+Bella laughed derisively. "There is law in this country, father," she
+said quietly. "I shall go to my room certainly, as I have no wish to
+remain with you. But there need be no talk of bread and water."
+
+"Tea an' dry toast, then," grunted Huxham, looking at her savagely with
+his hard blue eyes. "Y' shell be punished, y' slut."
+
+"Because I have fallen in love? Nonsense."
+
+"Because y've disobeyed me in seein' this blamed Lister."
+
+"Father"--Bella stopped directly before the front door of the
+manor-house--"why do you hate Cyril? What have you against his name?"
+
+The captain quivered, blinked his eyes, cast his usual look over the
+left shoulder, and then scowled. "Shut yer mouth," he growled, "an' go
+t' yer room, cuss y'. This house is mine. I am master here." He rolled
+into the doorway and suddenly turned on the threshold. "I'd ruther see
+y' dead an' buried than merried t' a man of t' name of Lister," he
+snarled; and before Bella could recover from her astonishment, he
+plunged into his den and shut the door with a noisy bang.
+
+The girl passed her hand across her forehead in a bewildered way. The
+mystery was becoming deeper, and she saw no way of solving it. Huxham
+would not explain, and Cyril evaded the subject. Then Bella remembered
+that her lover had promised an explanation when next they met. A
+remembrance of this aided her to possess herself in patience, and she
+tried to put the matter out of her head. But it was impossible for her
+to meet her father at supper and forbear asking questions, so she
+decided to obey him ostensibly, and retire to her bedroom. The next day
+she could have an interview with her lover, and then would learn why the
+captain stormed and Cyril winced when the name was mentioned.
+
+Bella's room was on the first floor, and in the front of the mansion, so
+that she had an extended view of the corn-fields, of Mrs. Tunks' hut
+near the boundary channel, and of the pathway through the wheat leading
+deviously from the front door of Bleacres, across the channel, and to
+the distant village of Marshely. Standing at the window, she could see
+the red-roofed houses gathered round the square tower of the church, and
+the uncultivated fields, green and moist, spreading on all sides. The
+sun was setting, and the landscape was bathed in rosy hues. Everything
+was peaceful and restful outside, but under the manor roof was discord
+and dread. Huxham in his den paced up and down like a caged bear,
+angered exceedingly by his daughter's obstinacy, as he termed it. And
+Bella, in the seclusion of her own room, was trying to quieten her
+fears. Hitherto, she had lived what she termed a vegetable life; but in
+these ominous hints it seemed as though she would very shortly have more
+than enough to occupy her mind.
+
+As the twilight darkened, Bella still continued to sit at the window
+vainly endeavouring to forecast a doubtful future. It was certain that
+Huxham would never agree to her marriage with Lister, and would probably
+insist that she should become the wife of Pence. As Bella had no money,
+and no expectations of any, save by obeying her father, she did not know
+what to do unless the captain ceased to persecute her. He would possibly
+turn her out of doors if she persisted in thwarting his will. In that
+event she would either have to earn her bread as a governess, or would
+be forced to ask Lister to marry her--a direct question which her
+maidenly pride shrank from putting. Moreover--as she recollected--Cyril
+had plainly told her, only a few hours previously, that he could not
+marry her unless he obtained one thousand pounds within the week. It was
+now Tuesday, and it was not easy to raise such a large sum within the
+next few days. Of course, Bella did not know what resources Cyril had to
+draw upon, and it might be that he would gain what he wanted. Then he
+could take her away and marry her: but until the unexpected happened,
+she did not know what to say or how to act. It seemed to her that she
+had come to the cross-roads of life, and that all her future depended
+upon the path she now chose. Yet there was nothing to show her how to
+select the direction.
+
+Her idle eyes caught at the vivid spot of scarlet which came from the
+red coat of the martial scarecrow. There it stood, bound stiffly to a
+tall pole in the midst of the corn--the sentinel of those prosperous
+acres. Bella wondered that her father, having been a sailor, had not
+arrayed the figure in nautical dress. As it was, the red hue annoyed
+her, for red was the colour of blood, and there lingered in her mind the
+ominous speeches which had been made by her father and Lister, when
+quarrelling. "I'll kill y'!" said the captain; and "Take care," Cyril
+had replied, "that you aren't killed yourself first!" Also there was the
+wild tale of Pence regarding the offer made by Huxham to compass the
+death of Lister. These things flashed into Bella's uncomfortable mind,
+as she looked at the red and ominous figure of the scarecrow. Then, with
+a shudder, she rose and dismissed these evil fancies.
+
+"I am growing morbid," she thought, looking at her anxious face in the
+glass. "To-morrow, when I see Cyril--oh, come in!" said she aloud.
+
+She broke off to give the invitation, as a sharp knock came to the door,
+and it opened almost immediately to admit the plump figure of Mrs.
+Coppersley, carrying a tray. "Here's some dry toast and a cup of tea,"
+said the widow severely; "your father says you are not to come to
+supper."
+
+"I shouldn't come if he wanted me to," retorted Bella, as Mrs.
+Coppersley set down her burden; "and if he thinks to punish me in this
+way, he is very much mistaken. Does he think that I am a child, to
+submit to his tyranny?"
+
+"He thinks that you are a disobedient daughter," said Mrs. Coppersley,
+drily.
+
+"And what do you think, aunt?"
+
+The older woman coughed. She thought that her niece was much too pretty,
+and much too independent, but had no ill-feeling toward her, save a
+natural petty feminine jealousy. "I don't know what to think," she said,
+sitting down to gossip. "Of course, your father is impossible, and
+always wants his own way. I don't see why folks should not be allowed to
+choose husbands for themselves. Jabez"--this was Huxham's Christian
+name--"objects to my marrying Henry, and to your becoming the wife of
+this Lister person."
+
+"Don't speak of Cyril in that way," said Bella, with some impatience;
+"he is a gentleman, and the man I love. By the way, aunt, you might have
+brought up the teapot. I dislike anyone else to pour out my tea."
+
+"Your father poured it out himself while I went to the kitchen for the
+toast," snapped Mrs. Coppersley; "he said you were to have only this one
+cup."
+
+"What a petty tyrant he is," sighed Bella, pushing the cup away. "Aunt,
+what do you think of Cyril?"
+
+"He is very handsome," rejoined Mrs. Coppersley cautiously, "but I don't
+know anything about his position or disposition."
+
+"I know he is the dearest fellow in the world, aunt; but, like yourself,
+his position is unknown to me."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley rose aghast. "Do you mean to say that you would marry a
+man about whom you know nothing?" she demanded.
+
+"I know sufficient to choose him for my husband," retorted Bella,
+spiritedly; "and I intend to marry him, in spite of my father's
+bullying."
+
+"Then your father will not give you a single penny," cried Mrs.
+Coppersley. "I approve of his doing so. You can't marry this man."
+
+"Oh!" said Bella, bitterly. "I thought you agreed that a woman should
+choose her own husband."
+
+"A woman like myself, who knows life, Bella--not a chit of a girl like
+you."
+
+"I am twenty years of age," flashed out her niece.
+
+"And have the sense of a babe of three," scoffed Mrs. Coppersley, moving
+towards the door. "Perhaps a night of loneliness will bring you to your
+senses, my dear." She passed through the door and closed it. "I am
+locking you in, by your father's wish," said Mrs. Coppersley from the
+other side.
+
+Bella, white with rage at this indignity, sprang to wrench open the
+door, but almost before she reached it, the key clicked in the lock, and
+she knew that she was a prisoner. And the door was so stout and strong
+that there was no chance of a frail girl, such as she was, breaking it
+down. But Bella was in a royal rage, and it was in her mind to scramble
+out of the window and escape.
+
+"But what's the use!" she thought, her eyes filling with impotent tears.
+"I have no money, and no friends, and no other home. What a shame it is
+for me to be at the mercy of my father in this way! I shall have to
+submit to this insult. There is nothing else I can do. But oh, oh!"--she
+clenched her hands as she again returned to the window and looked out
+into the rapidly darkening night. "I shall insist upon Cyril marrying me
+at once. If he loves me he surely will not stand by idly, when I am
+treated in this way."
+
+Trying to calm herself, she walked up and down the room. The one slice
+of toast and the one cup of tea were on the table, but anger had taken
+her appetite. Inexperienced in the troubles of life, she was like a
+newly-captured bird dashing itself against the wires of its hateful
+cage. To and fro the girl walked, revolving plans of escape from her
+father's tyranny, but in every direction the want of money proved an
+obstacle impossible to surmount. Nothing remained but for her to wait
+patiently until she could see Cyril the next day. Then an exhaustive
+talk might lead to the formation of some plan whereby her future could
+be arranged for.
+
+Faint and far, she heard the clock in Marshely church-tower strike the
+hour of eight, and began to think of retiring to bed. The night was hot,
+so she flung up the window, and permitted the fresh air to circulate in
+the close room. The atmosphere was luminous with starlight, although
+there was no moon visible. A gentle wind bent the rustling stalks of the
+vast corn-fields, and their shimmering green was agitated like the waves
+of the sea. White mists rose ghost-like on the verge of the farm, and
+into them the ocean of grain melted faintly. What with the mists and the
+luminous night and the spreading wheat-fields phantom-like in the
+obscurity, Bella felt as though she were in a world of vague dreams.
+
+Looking down the narrow path, which showed a mere thread in the
+semi-gloom, she beheld a tall, dark figure advancing towards the house.
+It was that of a man, and by the way in which he walked, Bella felt sure
+that he was her lover. Her heart beat wildly. Perhaps Cyril had come,
+or, rather, was coming, to see the captain, and to plead his suit once
+more. Greatly agitated by this unforeseen visit, she leaned out of the
+window as the man came almost directly under it. He was Cyril, she felt
+certain, both from his carriage and from the fact that she vaguely saw
+the grey suit he wore. During the afternoon, Lister had been thus
+dressed.
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" she called out cautiously.
+
+The man looked up, and in the faint light she saw that he was indeed
+Cyril, for the eyes of love were keen enough to pierce the obscurity,
+and also her window was no great height from the ground. But the man
+looked up, making no sign of recognition, and stepped into the house
+without knocking at the door. Bella started back in surprise. She knew
+that the front door was always unlocked until ten, when her father
+usually retired to bed. But it seemed strange that Cyril, who had
+quarrelled with the captain that very day, should choose to risk his
+further wrath by entering the house uninvited. Also, it was stranger
+still that Cyril should have looked up without making some sign. He must
+have known who she was, for, failing sight, he had his hearing to
+recognise her voice. It was all very strange.
+
+Bella twisted up her hair, which she had let down, and walked to the
+table to take up the now cold cup of tea. Her throat was parched with
+thirst by reason of her nerves, and she wished to refresh herself so
+that she might think of what was best to be done. Cyril and her father
+had quarrelled, and again she remembered the ominous threats they had
+used to one another. It was inconceivable madness for Lister to to beard
+the captain in his den, knowing what a vile temper the old man
+possessed. It was not at all impossible, or even improbable, but what
+the afternoon quarrel might be renewed, and then heaven only knew what
+might happen.
+
+Drinking the cup of tea hastily, Bella thought over these things and
+resolved, if she could not escape by the door, to scramble out of the
+window. Then she could enter the house, and appear in the captain's den,
+to be present at what would probably be a stormy interview. Already she
+was straining her ears to catch the faintest sound of quarrelling, but
+as yet she could hear nothing. Certainly Cyril had closed the front
+door, for immediately he had entered she had heard him do so. And again,
+the walls of the old mansion were so thick, that it was impossible she
+could hear, when shut up in her bedroom, what was taking place below.
+
+Anxiously she tried the door, but in spite of all her efforts, she
+failed to open it. Wild with alarm as to what might be happening, she
+crossed to her bed, intending to twist the sheets into a rope for
+descent from the window. But as she caught at the linen, she felt a
+drumming in her ears, and sparks seemed to dance before her eyes.
+Apparently the strain on her nerves was making her ill. Also she felt
+unaccountably drowsy, and in spite of every effort to keep awake, she
+sank beside the bed, with the sheets still grasped in her hands. In two
+or three minutes she was fast asleep.
+
+The window was still open, and a bat swept into the room. He flitted
+round the motionless figure, uttering a thin cry, and again passed out
+into the starry night. The silvery voices of the nightingales in the
+copses round Marshely village came faintly across the meadows mingled
+with the cry of a mouse-hunting screech-owl. Still Bella slept on.
+
+Hour after hour passed, and the night grew darker. The wind died away,
+the corn-fields ceased to rustle, the nightingales to sing. It became
+colder, too, as though the breath of winter was freezing the now moist
+air. The stars yet glittered faintly, and the high-pitched whistle of a
+steamer could be heard from the distant river, but on the whole, the
+earth was silent and weirdly gloomy for summer-time. During the small
+hours there came an ominous hush of expectant dread, which lasted until
+the twittering birds brought in the dawn.
+
+Bella opened her eyes, to find her room radiant with royal red light.
+She felt sick and dizzy, for over her stood Mrs. Coppersley, shaking her
+vigorously by the shoulder. "Bella, Bella! Your father is dead. Murder,
+murder! Oh, come to the study and see the murder!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A MYSTERIOUS CRIME
+
+
+"Murder!" The ominous word struck at Bella's heart, in spite of the fact
+that her dazed brain could scarcely grasp its significance. With
+unseeing eyes she stared at her terrified aunt. Mrs. Coppersley, in her
+usual morning dress, simply made, for domestic purposes, fell back from
+the motionless girl, and gripped the table in the centre of the room.
+Her face was white, her figure limp; and almost crazy with alarm, she
+looked twice her age. Nor did the sight of her niece's bewildered gaze
+reassure her. With a quick indrawn breath of fear, she lurched forward
+and again shook the girl.
+
+"Bella! Bella! what's come to you? Don't you hear me? Don't you
+understand, Bella? Jabez is dead! your father has been murdered. He's
+lying a corpse in his study. And oh--oh--oh!"--Mrs. Coppersley reeled
+against the table again, and showed signs of violent hysteria.
+
+This spectacle brought back Bella with a rush to the necessities of the
+moment. She sprang to her feet, with every sense alert and ready to be
+used. Seizing the ewer from the wash-stand, she dashed the water over
+the sobbing, terrified woman, then braced herself to consider the
+situation.
+
+Bella's thoughts reverted to the events of the previous night.
+She remembered that Cyril had come to the house and, without a
+sign of recognition had entered. She had not seen him depart,
+because--because--oh, yes, she had fallen unaccountably asleep. Slumber
+had overtaken her at the very moment when she was preparing to descend
+from the window, in order to--to--to----. Bella uttered a wild cry, and
+the ebbing blood left her face pearly white. The interview between her
+father and Cyril had taken place; she had not been there, and now--and
+now----. "What do you say?" she asked her aunt, in a hard, unemotional
+voice.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley, quite unnerved, and drying her scared face with the
+towel, gasped and stared. "Didn't you hear? What's come to you, Bella?
+Your father has been murdered. I got up this morning as usual, and went
+into the study. He's lying there, covered with blood. Oh, who can have
+killed him?"
+
+"How should I know?" cried Bella, harshly. "I was locked up in this room
+by you, Aunt Rosamund. I fell asleep after--after----" she stopped,
+aware that she might say something dangerous.
+
+"After what?" asked Mrs. Coppersley, curiously.
+
+"After you left--after I drank the tea. Oh, how could I fall asleep,
+when--when--ah!" Bella made a bound for the table, and took up the empty
+cup. Some dregs of tea remained, which she tasted. They had a bitter
+flavour, and a thought flashed into her mind. "You drugged this tea!"
+she cried.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley flapped her plump hands feebly, and gasped again. Never
+a very strong-minded woman, she was now reduced to a markedly idiotic
+condition under the strain of the tragic circumstances. "I drug your
+tea? Save us, Bella, what do you mean?"
+
+"I drank this tea and fell asleep," said the girl sharply; "although
+before drinking it, I did not feel at all sleepy. Now I have a
+disagreeable taste in my mouth, and my head aches. There is a queer
+flavour about what is left in the cup. I am sure this tea was drugged.
+By you?"
+
+"Good Lord!" cried Mrs. Coppersley indignantly. "Why should I drug your
+tea, Bella? Your father poured it out himself in the study, when I was
+getting you toast in the kitchen. I told you so last night."
+
+"Yes, yes. I remember." Bella passed her hand across her forehead. "My
+father evidently drugged the tea to keep me quiet. And so he has met
+with his death by violence."
+
+"Bella," Mrs. Coppersley screamed, and made for the door, "what do you
+mean?"
+
+Again the girl felt that she was talking too freely. If Cyril was
+implicated in the crime reported by Mrs. Coppersley, she must save
+Cyril. Or at least, she must hold her peace until she heard from her
+lover what had taken place during that fatal interview. It was just
+possible that Cyril had slain the captain in self-defence, and knowing
+her father's violent character, the girl could scarcely blame the young
+man. She expected that this would happen, and so had been anxious to
+intervene as a peacemaker. But the drugged tea--she felt certain that it
+had been drugged by her father--had prevented her doing what she wished.
+Now Huxham was dead, and Lister, whether in self-defence or not, was his
+murderer. The thought was agony. Yet in the midst of the terror
+engendered by her surmise, Bella found herself blaming her father. If he
+had not drugged the tea in order to keep her in her room, this tragedy
+would not have happened. Captain Huxham had paved the way to his own
+death.
+
+But, after all, there might be extenuating circumstances, and perhaps
+Cyril would be able to explain. Meantime she would hold her tongue as to
+having seen him enter the house. But if anyone else had seen him? She
+turned to Mrs. Coppersley. "Where were you last night?" she demanded,
+suspiciously.
+
+"I was with Henry Vand from seven until after ten," said the woman
+meekly, and evidently unaware why the leading question had been put. "I
+left your father in his study, and when I returned I let myself in by
+the back door and went to bed quietly. You know, Jabez always objected
+to my seeing Henry, so I wished to avoid trouble. This morning, when I
+went into the--ugh! ugh! come and see for yourself!" and Mrs. Coppersley
+gripped Bella's wrist to draw her towards the door--"It's murder and
+robbery!"
+
+Bella released her wrist with a sudden jerk, but followed the elder
+woman down the stairs. "Robbery! What do you mean?"
+
+"Come and see!" said Mrs. Coppersley hysterically. "We must send for the
+police, I suppose. Oh, my poor nerves! Never, never shall I get over
+this shock, disagreeable as Jabez always was to me. And he wasn't ready
+for heaven, either; though perhaps he did send for Mr. Pence to talk
+religion to him."
+
+"Did my father send for Mr. Pence?"
+
+"Yes. He asked me to go to the village with a note for Mr. Pence. I
+could not find Mr. Pence at home, so left the note for him. Then I met
+Henry, and returned, as I told you, after ten o'clock."
+
+"Did Mr. Pence come to see my father?" asked Bella anxiously. She was
+wondering if the preacher had by any chance seen Cyril enter the house.
+
+"I don't know--I can't say--oh, dear me, how dreadful it all is!"
+maundered Mrs. Coppersley, opening the door of the study. "Just look for
+yourself, Bella. Your father lies dead in his blood. Oh, how I hope that
+the villain who killed and robbed him will be hanged and drawn and
+quartered! That I do, the wretch, the viper, the beast! I must get some
+rum. I can't stay in this room without some rum. I shall faint, I know I
+shall. What's the time? Seven o'clock. Oh, dear me, so late! I must send
+Tunks for the police. He has to be here to see your father, and oh, dear
+me, he can't see your father unless he goes to heaven, where I'm sure I
+hope Jabez has gone. But one never knows, and he certainly was most
+disagreeable to me. Oh, how ill I am! oh, how very, very bad I feel!"
+and thus lamenting Mrs. Coppersley drifted out of the room, towards the
+back part of the premises, leaving Bella alone with the dead man.
+
+And Captain Huxham was dead, stone dead. His body lay on the floor
+between the desk and the chair he had been sitting on. From the position
+of the corpse, Bella judged that her father had suddenly risen to meet
+the descending weapon, which had pierced his heart. But not being able
+to defend himself, he had fallen dead at his murderer's feet. With a
+cautious remembrance that she must not remove anything until the police
+came, Bella knelt and examined the body carefully, but without laying a
+finger on the same. The clothes over the heart had been pierced by some
+extremely sharp instrument, which had penetrated even through the thick
+pea-jacket worn by the dead man. There was blood on the cloth and on the
+floor, and although ignorant of medical knowledge, Bella judged that
+death must have been almost instantaneous. Otherwise there would have
+been signs of a struggle, as Captain Huxham would not have submitted
+tamely to death. But the casement was fast closed, the furniture was
+quite orderly. At least, Bella judged so when she first looked round,
+for no chairs were upset; but on a second glance she became aware that
+the drawers of the desk were open, that the flexible lid of the desk was
+up, and that the pigeon-holes had been emptied of their papers.
+Also--and it was this which startled her most--the green-painted safe
+was unlocked, and through the door, which stood ajar, she could see that
+the papers therein were likewise in disorder. In fact, some of them were
+lying on the floor.
+
+Strongly agitated, Bella constructed a theory of the murder, and saw, as
+in a vision--perhaps wrongfully--what had taken place. The captain had
+come to his desk for some purpose, but hearing a noise, or perhaps
+suspecting that there was danger, had unexpectedly turned, only to be
+stabbed. When he fell dead, the criminal took the keys of the safe from
+the dead man's pocket, and committed the robbery. Then he examined the
+pigeon-holes of the desk, and afterwards departed--probably by the front
+door, since the casement was closed. Robbery, undoubtedly, was the
+motive for the commission of the crime.
+
+The girl rose to her feet, drawing a long breath of relief. Cyril
+certainly could not have slain her father, since Cyril would not have
+robbed. The young man assuredly had come to the house--she could swear
+to that herself--and if he had quarrelled with Huxham, he might have
+struck him in a moment of anger. But there was no reason to believe that
+Cyril would rob the safe. Hence there must be another person, who had
+committed both the murder and the robbery. Who was that person?
+
+Mrs. Coppersley had stated plainly that Huxham had sent a message to
+Pence, asking him to call. Perhaps he had obeyed the summons, after
+Cyril left, and then had murdered the captain. But there was no motive
+for so timid and good-living a man as the preacher to slay and rob. So
+far as Bella knew, Pence did not want money, and--since he wished to
+make her his wife--it was imperative that Huxham should live in order to
+forward his aims. And it was at this point that the girl recalled, with
+a shudder, the fact that Cyril had confessed his need for one thousand
+pounds. Could Lister be the culprit, after all?
+
+"No," cried Bella aloud, and in an agony of shame; "the man I love could
+not be guilty of so vile an act." So she tried to comfort herself, but
+the fact of Cyril's visit to the house still lingered in her mind.
+
+Shortly Mrs. Coppersley returned with Tunks at her heels. The handy-man
+of Bleacres was a medium-sized individual, with a swarthy skin and beady
+black eyes peering from under tangled black hair. Lean and lithe, and
+quick in his movements, he betrayed his gypsy blood immediately, to the
+most unobservant, for there was something Oriental in his appearance.
+Just now he looked considerably scared, and came no further than the
+door of the room.
+
+"There's your master," said Mrs. Coppersley, pointing to the dead, "so
+just you go to the village and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,
+you have not touched anything, have you?"
+
+Bella shook her head. "I have not even touched the body," she confessed
+with a shudder. "Tunks, were you about the house last night?"
+
+"No, miss," said the man, looking more scared than ever. "I went home
+nigh on seven o'clock, and was with my granny all the evening. I know
+nothing about this, miss."
+
+"I don't suppose you do," rejoined the girl tartly, "but I thought you
+might have seen my father later than Mrs. Coppersley here."
+
+"I left the house last night at the same time as you, ma'am," said
+Tunks, addressing himself to the housekeeper. "You locked the back door
+after me."
+
+"Yes," acknowledged Mrs. Coppersley promptly, "so you did. That would be
+at seven, as I came up and saw you, Bella, a few minutes before, with
+the tea and toast. You didn't come back, Tunks?"
+
+"No, I didn't," retorted the gypsy sullenly. "You went on to Marshely,
+and I got back home. I never came near this house again until this
+morning. You can ask my granny if I wasn't in bed early last night."
+
+"When did you see your master last?" questioned Bella.
+
+Tunks removed his dingy cap to scratch his untidy locks. "It would be
+about six, just before I had my tea. He wanted to reduce my wages, too,
+and I said I'd give him notice if he did. But I suppose," growled Tunks,
+with his eyes on the remains, "it's notice in any case now."
+
+"Never you mind bothering about yourself," cried Mrs. Coppersley
+sharply. "Go to Marshely, and tell the policeman to come here. Bella,"
+she moved to the door, "let us leave the room and lock the door. Nothing
+must be touched until the truth is known."
+
+"Will the truth ever be known?" asked the girl drearily, as she went
+into the hall, and watched her aunt lock the door of the death-room.
+
+"Of course," retorted the elder woman, "one person cannot murder another
+person without being seen."
+
+"I don't know so much about that, Aunt Rosamund. You and Tunks were
+away, and I was locked in my room, so anyone could enter, and----" she
+glanced towards the study door and shuddered.
+
+"Did _you_ see anyone?" asked Mrs. Coppersley quickly.
+
+Bella started. "No," she replied, with unnecessary loudness; "how could
+I see anyone when I was drugged?"
+
+"Drugged, miss?" cried Tunks, pricking up his ears.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley turned on the handy-man, and stamped. "How dare you
+linger here?" she cried. "You should be half way to the village by this
+time. Miss Bella was having wakeful nights, and her father gave her a
+sleeping draught. Off with you," and she drove Tunks out of the front
+door.
+
+"Why did you tell such a lie?" asked Bella when the man was hurrying
+down the path, eager, like all his tribe, to carry bad news.
+
+"A lie! a lie!" Mrs. Coppersley placed her arms akimbo and looked
+defiant. "Why do you call it a lie? You _did_ complain of sleepless
+nights, and you did say that the tea, poured out by Jabez, was drugged."
+
+"That is true enough," admitted the girl quietly, "but I merely slept
+badly because of the hot weather, and never asked my father for a
+sleeping----"
+
+"Oh!" interrupted Mrs. Coppersley, tossing her head. "What does it
+matter. I can't even say if the tea was drugged."
+
+"I'll learn that soon," replied Bella drily, "for I have locked up the
+cup containing the dregs of tea. My father no doubt feared lest I should
+run away with Cyril, and so drugged it."
+
+"The least said the soonest mended, Bella. Say nothing of the drugging
+at the inquest, as there is no need to blacken your father's character."
+
+"I don't see that anything I could say would blacken my father's
+character, Aunt Rosamund. Of course, he had no business to drug me, but
+if I am asked at the inquest I shall tell the truth."
+
+"And so your connection with that Lister person will come out."
+
+Bella turned on her aunt in a fury. "What do I care?" she cried,
+stamping. "I have a right to marry him if I choose, and I don't care if
+all the world knows how I love him. In fact, the whole world soon will
+know."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of washing her hands of the
+entire affair, "say what you like; but don't blame me if you find
+yourself in an unpleasant position."
+
+Bella, who was ascending the stairs, turned to answer this last remark
+promptly. "Why should I find myself in an unpleasant position?" she
+demanded. "Do you accuse me of murdering father?"
+
+"God forbid! God forbid!" cried Mrs. Coppersley piously and with a
+shudder, "but you cannot deny that you were alone in the house."
+
+"And locked in my bedroom, as you can testify."
+
+"Oh, I'll say that willingly. But you'd better wash out that cup of
+dregs, and say nothing more."
+
+"I have already mentioned the matter in Tunks' hearing, so I must
+explain further if necessary. But I'll say why I believe my father acted
+so. Your story of sleepless nights will not do for me."
+
+"You'll blacken the memory of the dead," groaned Mrs. Coppersley
+dismally. "Ah, you never loved your poor father."
+
+"Did you?" asked Bella suddenly.
+
+"In a way I did, and in a way I didn't," said her aunt evasively. "Jabez
+never was the brother he should have been to me. But a daughter's nearer
+than a sister, and you should have loved him to distraction."
+
+"In spite of the way he behaved to me."
+
+"He had to keep a firm hand over your high spirit."
+
+"Aunt Rosamund," burst out Bella at white heat. "Why do you talk in this
+silly way? You know that both to you and to me my father acted like a
+cruel tyrant, and that while he was alive we could do nothing to please
+him. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but you know what I say is
+true."
+
+"We are none of us perfect," snuffled Mrs. Coppersley, wiping her eyes,
+"and I daresay Jabez was worse than many others. But I was a good sister
+to him, in spite of his horrid ways. I'm sure my life's been spent in
+looking after other people: first my mother, then my husband, and
+afterwards Jabez. Now I'll marry Henry Vand, and be happy."
+
+"Don't talk of happiness with that"--Bella pointed downward to the
+study--"in the house. Go and make yourself tidy, aunt, and I'll do the
+same. We have a very trying day before us."
+
+"So like Jabez, so very like Jabez," wailed Mrs. Coppersley, while Bella
+fled up the stairs. "He always brought trouble on everyone. Even as a
+little boy, he behaved like the pirate he was. Oh, dear me, how ill I
+feel. Bella! Bella! come down and see me faint. Bella! Bella!"
+
+But the girl did not answer, as she knew that Mrs. Coppersley only
+wished to gossip. Going to her own room, she again examined the cup with
+the dregs, which she had not locked up, in spite of her saying so to
+Mrs. Coppersley. Undoubtedly, the tea tasted bitter, and she resolved to
+have it analysed so as to prove to herself the fact of the drugging. She
+knew perfectly well that her father had attended to the tea himself,
+evidently to render her helpless in case she meditated flight with
+Cyril. And in dong so, he had indirectly brought about his own death,
+for had she been awake she could have descended from the window to be
+present at the interview which had ended so fatally. And at this
+point--while she was locking up the cup in a convenient cupboard--Bella
+became aware that she was thinking as though her lover were actually
+guilty of the deed.
+
+Of course he could not be, she decided desperately, even though things
+looked black against him. Lister, honest and frank, would not murder an
+old man in so treacherous a manner, however he might be goaded into
+doing so. And yet she had assuredly seen him enter the house. If she
+could only have seen him depart; but the drug had prevented that welcome
+sight. Pence might have struck the blow, but Pence had no reason to do
+so, and in fact had every inducement to keep Huxham alive. Bella could
+not read the riddle of the murder. All she knew was that it would be
+necessary for her to hold her tongue about Lister's unexpected visit to
+the Solitary Farm.
+
+"But I shall never be able to marry him after this," she wailed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE INQUEST
+
+
+Tunks lost no time in delivering his gruesome message and in spreading
+the news of the death. While the village policeman telegraphed to his
+superior officer at Pierside, the handy-man of the late Captain Huxham
+adopted the public-house as a kind of St. Paul's Cross, whence to
+promulgate the grim intelligence. Here he passed a happy and exciting
+hour detailing all that had happened, to an awe-stricken crowd, members
+of which supplied him with free drinks. The marsh-folk were a dull,
+peaceful, law-abiding people, and it was rarely that crimes were
+committed in the district. Hence the news of the murder caused a
+tremendous sensation.
+
+Captain Jabez Huxham was well known, and his eccentricity in the matter
+of planting Bleacres with yearly corn had been much commented upon. In
+Napoleonic times the fertile marsh farms had been golden with grain, but
+of late years, owing to Russian and American competition, little had
+been sown. Huxham, as the rustics argued, could not have got even
+moderate prices for its crops, so it puzzled one and all why he
+persisted in his unprofitable venture. But there would be no more sowing
+at Bleacres now, for the captain himself was about to be put under the
+earth. "And a grand funeral he'll have," said the rustics, morbidly
+alive to the importance of the grim event. For thirty years no crime of
+this magnitude had been committed in the neighbourhood, and the violent
+death of Huxham provided these bovine creatures with a new thrill.
+
+Meanwhile the policeman, Dutton by name, had proceeded to Bleacres,
+followed--when the news became more widely known--by a large and curious
+throng. For that day and for the following days, until Huxham's body was
+buried, Bleacres could no longer be called the solitary farm, in one
+sense of the word. But the inherent respect of the agriculturist for
+growing crops kept the individual members of the crowd, male and female,
+to the narrow path which led from the boundary channel to the front door
+of the Manor-house. When Inspector Inglis arrived with three or four
+policemen from Pierside, he excluded the public from the grounds, but
+the curious still hovered in the distance--beyond Jordan as it
+were--with inquisitive eyes fastened on the quaint old mansion. To them,
+one and all, it now assumed portentous proportions as the abode of
+terror.
+
+Inspector Inglis was a very quiet man, who said little, but who kept his
+eyes on the alert. He inspected the body of the dead man, and then sent
+for a doctor, who delivered his report in due course. The study was
+examined thoroughly, and the entire house was searched from cellar to
+garret. Then Bella and her aunt were questioned, and Tunks was also put
+in the witness box. But in spite of all official curiosity, backed by
+official power on the part of Inglis, he convened the jury of the
+inquest, as ignorant of the truth as when he had begun his search. He
+certainly found a blood-stained dagger behind the massive mahogany desk,
+with which undoubtedly the crime had been committed; but he could
+discover no trace of the assassin, and three or four days later, when
+the inquest took place in the Manor-house, the mystery of the murder was
+still unsolved. Nor, on the evidence procurable, did there seem to be
+any chance of solution.
+
+During the early part of the inquiry, Mrs. Coppersley had told Inglis
+how her late brother had sent her with a note to Marshely asking Silas
+Pence to call. When questioned, the preacher, not without agitation and
+dismay, stated that he had been absent from his lodgings until eleven
+o'clock on the fatal evening, and had not obeyed the summons of the
+deceased. Certainly on his return he had found and read the note asking
+him to call, but as the hour was late, he had deferred the visit until
+the next morning. Then, of course, the news of the murder had been made
+public, and Pence had said nothing until questioned by the Inspector.
+But he was quite frank and open in his replies, and Inglis was satisfied
+that the young preacher knew nothing about the matter.
+
+From the moment when informed by Mrs. Coppersley of the crime until the
+inquest, Bella suffered greatly. At her request, Dr. Ward--the medical
+man who had reported on the time and manner of Huxham's death--had
+examined the dregs of the tea-cup. Beyond doubt, as he discovered,
+laudanum had been poured into the tea, and so largely, that it was
+little wonder she had slept so soundly. Even had there been a struggle,
+as Ward assured her, she would not have heard the commotion. And, as the
+state of the study showed that the murderer had taken his victim
+unawares, it was little to be wondered at that Bella woke in ignorance
+of what had taken place during the night. She was thankful to have the
+testimony of the young physician as to the drugging, since thereby she
+was entirely exonerated from complicity in the crime. For, dreadful as
+it may seem, there were those evil-seekers who hinted that Huxham's
+daughter, having been alone in the house, must be aware of the truth, if
+not actually guilty herself. But Bella knew that the evidence of Dr.
+Ward and Mrs. Coppersley as to the drugging and the locking of the
+bedroom door would clear her character.
+
+It was therefore not on this account that she suffered, but because of
+the inexplicable absence of Cyril Lister. Since she had seen him enter
+the house shortly after eight o'clock on the fatal night she had not set
+eyes on him, nor had she received any communication. At a time when she
+needed him so greatly, it seemed strange that her lover should be
+absent, since the fact of the murder, now being known all over England,
+it appeared incredible that he alone should be ignorant. In spite of her
+desire to believe him guiltless, this conduct looked decidedly
+suspicious. If nothing serious had taken place between Cyril and her
+father on the night in question, why had Lister gone away? At least she
+surmised that he had gone away, as he did not appear to be in the
+village, and she heard no mention of his name from the many people who
+haunted the house. Try as she might, Bella, dearly as she loved the
+young man, could not rid herself of the frightful belief that he had
+struck the blow. Considering the circumstances, which she alone knew
+fully, he had every reason to commit the crime. Yet in the face of the
+strongest circumstantial evidence, Bella could not bring herself to
+credit Cyril's guilt. Day after day, like sister Anne, she climbed to
+the quarter-deck to see if he was coming. But the day of the inquest
+came in due course, and even then he had not put in an appearance.
+
+The Coroner was a grim, snappy old doctor, who set forth the object of
+the inquest gruffly and tersely. The jury under his direction inspected
+the body and then gathered in the large and stately dining-room of the
+Manor-house to consider the evidence. Inspector Inglis confessed that he
+had few witnesses, and that there was nothing in the evidence likely to
+lead to the arrest of the murderer. Robbery, said the officer, was
+undoubtedly the cause of the crime, since the desk had been rifled, and
+the safe had been forced open. Mrs. Coppersley, the sister of the
+deceased, he went on to say, could state that she knew her brother kept
+at least one hundred pounds in gold in the safe. This was missing, so
+probably----
+
+"We'll take things in order, if you please," snapped the gruff Coroner
+at this point of the Inspector's speech. "Call your witnesses."
+
+Inglis was only too willing, and Dr. Ward gave his evidence, which
+proved that in his opinion, after an examination of the body, the
+deceased had been stabbed to the heart between the hours of eight and
+eleven on the night in question. Witness could not be more precise, he
+said, a confession which brought a grunt from the Coroner. The old
+doctor lifted his eye-brows to intimate that the young doctor did not
+know his business over well, else he would have been more explicit. But
+Dr. Ward avoided an argument by hurriedly stating that, according to his
+opinion--another grunt from the snappy Coroner--the wound had been
+inflicted with the dagger found behind the mahogany desk.
+
+This remark led to the production of the dagger, a foot-long steel,
+broad towards the hilt and tapering to a sharp point. This was set in a
+handle of jet-black wood, carved into the semblance of an ugly negro.
+And the odd part about the blade was that the middle portion of the
+steel was perforated with queer letters of the cuneiform type, and
+filled in with copper. The Coroner frowned when he examined this strange
+weapon, and he looked inquiringly at Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"Does this belong to your late brother?" he asked jerkily.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley looked at the knife. "Jabez, being a sailor, had all
+manner of queer things," she said hesitatingly, "but I never set my eyes
+on that. He wasn't one to show what he had, sir."
+
+"Was your brother ever in Africa on the West Coast?"
+
+"He was all over the world, but I can't rightly say where, sir. Why?"
+
+"This," the gruff Coroner shook the weapon, "is an African sacrificial
+knife in use on the West Coast. From the way in which the copper is
+welded into the steel, I fancy some Nigerian tribe possessed it. The
+members of tribes thereabouts are clever metal-workers. The handle and
+the lettering also remind me of something," mused the doctor, "for I was
+a long time out in Senegal and Sierra Leone and saw--and saw--but that's
+no matter. How comes an African sacrificial knife here?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, sir," said Mrs. Coppersley promptly. "Jabez, as
+I say, had all manner of queer things which he didn't show me."
+
+"You can't say if this knife belonged to him?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't. The murderer may have brought it."
+
+"You are not here to give opinions," growled the doctor, throwing the
+ugly-looking weapon on the table. "Are you sure," he added to Ward,
+"that the wound was made with this knife?"
+
+"Yes, I'm sure," replied the young practitioner, tartly, for the
+Coroner's attitude annoyed him. "The weapon is sharp pointed and fits
+the wound. Also the deceased wore a thick pea-jacket and only such a
+knife could have penetrated the cloth."
+
+"If the blow were struck with sufficient force," snapped the Coroner.
+
+"It was," rejoined the witness. "Have you any more questions to ask me?"
+
+The Coroner nodded, and Ward gave surgical details to prove that death
+must have taken place almost instantaneously, since Huxham had been
+stabbed to the heart. "Apparently deceased heard a noise, and rose
+suddenly from his chair at the desk to face round in self-defence. But
+the assassin was too quick for him, and struck the knife to deceased's
+heart with great force as is apparent from----"
+
+"That's all supposition," contradicted the Coroner rudely. "Stick to
+facts."
+
+Boiling with rage, the young doctor confined himself forthwith to a bald
+statement of what he had discovered and then was curtly dismissed to
+give place to Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+That lady was voluble and sharp-tongued, so that the Coroner quite met
+with his match, much to the delight of Dr. Ward, smarting under much
+discourtesy. Mrs. Coppersley deposed that she had left the house at
+seven o'clock, by the back door, with a note for Mr. Silas Pence from
+her brother, asking him to call at the Manor-house. She left the note at
+Mr. Pence's lodgings and then went on to the grocery shop to make some
+purchases and to see Mrs. Vand and her son Henry. There she remained
+until a quarter to ten o'clock and afterwards returned to the
+Manor-house. Mr. Vand saw her as far as the boundary channel and then
+went home.
+
+"What time was that?" asked the Coroner, making notes.
+
+"Just at ten," replied witness, flushing at the smile on the faces of
+those who knew of the love romance. "The clock struck ten while I was
+speaking to Henry--I mean to Mr. Vand--and not knowing that it was so
+late I feared lest my brother should be angry. Jabez was always very
+particular as to the house being locked up, so I thought he might shut
+me out. I went in by the back door, having the key, and retired at once
+to bed."
+
+"Did you not see your brother?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"No, sir. Knowing Jabez's violent temper I had no wish to see him, lest
+there should be trouble. I went on tip-toe to bed, after locking the
+back door."
+
+"Did you hear Mr. Huxham moving about," questioned a juryman, timidly.
+
+"No, Mr. Tatters, I didn't. Everything was quiet as I passed the door of
+the study, and it was closed."
+
+"Did you see a light in the window of the study when at the boundary
+channel with Mr. Vand?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"No; I looked too," said the witness, "for if Jabez had been up, there
+would have been trouble owing to my being late. But there was no light
+in the window, so I fancied Jabez might have gone to bed and have locked
+me out. But he hadn't guessed I was absent, and so----"
+
+"Did you see a light under the study door when passing through the
+hall?"
+
+"No, and that made me believe that Jabez had gone to bed. But I didn't
+think of looking into the study; if I had," witness shuddered, "oh dear
+me, how very dreadful it all is. Well, then I went to bed, and next
+morning came down early to clean the study. When I entered I saw my
+brother dead in his gore, whereupon I ran up stairs and got Bella to
+come down. Then we sent for the police, and that's all I know."
+
+The Coroner looked towards Ward. "This evidence takes an hour off your
+time of death, doctor," he said sourly. "You say that the man was
+murdered after eight and before eleven. Well then, as this witness
+reached the house just after ten and saw no light in the study the
+deceased must have been dead when she passed through the hall on her way
+to bed."
+
+"Oh," groaned Mrs. Coppersley, with her handkerchief to her lips. "How
+dreadful if I'd looked in to see Jabez weltering in his gore."
+
+"It's a pity you didn't," rejoined the Coroner sharply, "for then you
+could have given the alarm and the assassin might have been arrested."
+
+"Yes," cried Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the assassin might have
+been in the house at the moment, with only two women, mind, and one of
+them drugged. I should have been killed myself had I given the alarm, so
+I'm glad I didn't."
+
+"Drugged! Drugged! What do you mean by drugged?"
+
+"Ask Bella," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "I've told all I'm going to
+tell."
+
+"Not all," said the Coroner, "was the front door locked?"
+
+"I didn't notice at the time, being anxious to escape Jabez and get to
+bed."
+
+"Did you notice if it was locked in the morning?"
+
+"Yes, when I opened it for Tunks to go for the police."
+
+"It _was_ locked," said Bella, rising at this juncture, "but Tunks
+opened it while I was talking with my aunt in the hall."
+
+"You can give your evidence when I ask you," snapped the Coroner rudely.
+"Humph! So the front door was locked and the back door also. How did the
+assassin escape? He couldn't have gone by the front door after
+committing the crime, since the key was in the inside, and you locked
+the back door coming and going, Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"The murdering beast," said the witness melodramatically, "might have
+got out of the study window."
+
+"Then he must be a very small man," retorted the Coroner, "for only a
+small man could scramble through the window. I examined it an hour ago."
+
+"Please yourself," said Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of indifference,
+"all I know is, that I'm glad I didn't discover Jabez in his gore on
+that night and at that hour. If I had, you'd be holding an inquest on
+me."
+
+"Possibly. If the assassin was in the study when you passed through the
+hall, Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"Ugh," shivered the witness, "and that's just where he was, depend upon
+it, sir, getting through the window, when he'd dropped the knife behind
+the desk. Oh, what an escape I've had," wept Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"There, there, don't bellow," said the Coroner, testily, "get down and
+let the witness, Luke Tunks, be called."
+
+The Bleacres handy-man had very little to say, but gave his evidence in
+a straightforward manner. He had left the house with Mrs. Coppersley at
+seven and had gone straight home to bed, as he was tired. His
+grandmother could depose to the fact that he was in bed until the
+morning. Then he came as usual to the Manor-house, and found that his
+master was dead. He admitted that he had quarrelled with his master over
+a possible curtailment of wages, and they had not parted in a very
+friendly spirit. "But you can't say as I did for him," ended the witness
+defiantly.
+
+"No one suggests such a thing," snapped the Coroner. "Had you any reason
+to believe that deceased expected to be murdered?"
+
+Tunks scratched his head, "I have and I haven't," he said at length;
+"master did seem afraid of someone, as he was always looking over his
+shoulder. He said that he planted the corn so that there should be only
+one path up to the house. Then he rigged up that out-look round the
+chimney there," witness jerked his head towards the ceiling, "and he's
+got a search-light there also, which he turned on at times."
+
+The Coroner nodded. The late Captain's search-light was well-known, but
+it was only put down as another freak on the part of a freakish man. But
+the remark of the witness about the corn was new. "Do you mean to say
+that the deceased planted the corn as a protection against some one
+coming on him unawares?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Tunks, sturdily, "corn don't pay, and there was always
+only one pathway left. Now my idea is----"
+
+"We don't want to hear your ideas," said the Coroner; "get down. Silas
+Pence."
+
+The young preacher's examination occupied only a few minutes. He said
+that he was absent from his lodgings until eleven, and then returned to
+find the note. As it was late he did not call, and went to bed, as his
+landlady could prove. He had no reason to believe that Captain Huxham
+expected to be murdered, and considered that the old sailor was more
+than capable of looking after himself. Witness was very friendly with
+the Captain and wished to marry Miss Huxham, an arrangement to which the
+Captain was quite agreeable. Witness presumed that Huxham wished to see
+him about the projected marriage when he wrote the note asking witness
+to call. Next morning when about to pay the visit, witness heard of the
+murder.
+
+Bella was the final witness, and stepped before the Coroner and the
+inquisitive jurymen, looking pale, but composed. She gave her evidence
+carefully, as she made up her mind to say nothing about Cyril's visit on
+the fatal night. Also she was grateful that in his statement Pence had
+said nothing of Lister's rivalry. She noted also that Pence had kept
+quiet about the offer of her hand as a reward for the death of Cyril
+made by her father to the preacher. More than ever she believed this
+wild declaration to be due to imagination on the young man's part.
+
+"What have you to say about this matter, Miss Huxham?" asked the coroner
+in his usual gruff way.
+
+"Nothing at all," she replied.
+
+"Nothing at all," he echoed, and the jurymen looked at one another.
+
+"No. I had quarrelled with my father on the afternoon of the night when
+he met with his terrible death. He refused to let me come to supper, so
+I retired to my room. Mrs. Coppersley brought me up tea and toast and
+then locked me in my room."
+
+"By her father's orders," cried Mrs. Coppersley, rising.
+
+"Silence," said the Coroner scowling; "but surely, Miss Huxham, you
+could have heard if----"
+
+"I heard nothing," interrupted Bella, straightening her slim figure,
+"for I was drugged."
+
+"H'm!" The Coroner looked at her shrewdly. "Mrs. Coppersley said
+something of that. Why were you drugged? Who drugged you?"
+
+"My father drugged the cup of tea, brought by my aunt, with laudanum,"
+said Bella bravely, determined to speak out, yet conscious of the
+curious faces.
+
+"Yes, he did," cried Mrs. Coppersley. "I brought the tea to the study
+and then went to get the toast. Jabez had poured out the tea when I came
+back, and giving me a cup told me to take it to Bella. I never knew
+myself that it was drugged."
+
+"But I can state that it was," said Dr. Ward, rising. "Miss Huxham gave
+me the dregs to examine. I can prove----"
+
+The Coroner intervened testily. "All this is very much out of order," he
+said. "Let us proceed with caution. Miss Huxham, tell your story, and
+then we can hear Dr. Ward and Mrs. Coppersley."
+
+"I have scarcely any story to tell," said Bella, still apprehensive, yet
+still brave and discreet. "I am engaged to be married, but my father did
+not approve of my choice. He interrupted my meeting with my future
+husband----"
+
+"Who is he, if I may ask?"
+
+"Mr. Lister. He is a gentleman who has been stopping here----"
+
+"Yes, yes, I know;" and the Coroner did know, for his wife was a great
+gossip and collected all the scandal for miles around. In fact he had
+heard something of the philandering of Lister after Miss Huxham. "Go
+on."
+
+Bella proceeded. "My father would not allow me to come to supper, and
+sent up my aunt with tea and toast to lock me in my room. She did so. I
+did not eat the toast, but I drank the tea, and then fell asleep half on
+the floor and half on my bed. My aunt awoke me in the morning with the
+news of what had happened."
+
+"And you heard nothing?"
+
+"How could she," growled Ward, "when she was drugged."
+
+"Silence there," said the Coroner sharply. "What time did you fall under
+the influence of the opiate, Miss Huxham?"
+
+"Shortly after eight, so far as I can recollect."
+
+"Did you know that the tea was drugged?"
+
+"If I had I should not have drunk it," retorted the witness. "It was
+only next morning that I guessed the truth, and then I kept the dregs
+for Dr. Ward to examine. He says----"
+
+"He can give his evidence himself," interrupted the Coroner. "Why did
+your father drug you?"
+
+"I can't say, sir, unless he feared lest I should elope with Mr.
+Lister."
+
+"Had you any such intention?"
+
+"No, I had not."
+
+The Coroner looked at her earnestly and pinched his lip, apparently
+nonplussed. The whole affair struck him as strange, and he
+cross-examined the girl carefully. When he examined Mrs. Coppersley and
+Ward, both of them bore out the improbable story--in the Coroner's
+opinion--told by the girl. Finally the old doctor accepted the testimony
+and dismissed the witnesses.
+
+"I can't compliment you on the conduct of this case, Inspector Inglis,"
+he said, when informed that no more witnesses were forthcoming. "You
+have collected nothing likely to solve the mystery."
+
+"I cannot manufacture evidence, sir," said Inglis stiffly.
+
+The Coroner grunted and made an acid speech in which he pointed out that
+the evidence laid before him and the jury amounted to absolutely
+nothing. Only one verdict could be brought in--"Wilful murder against
+some person or persons unknown." This was accordingly done, and the
+assembly dispersed. Only the Coroner remained to state sourly to Inglis
+that he considered the police in general to be fools, and the Pierside
+inspector to be the king of them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CYRIL AND BELLA
+
+
+Captain Huxham's death having been legally relegated to the list of
+undiscovered crimes, his gnarled old body was committed to a damp grave
+in Marshely cemetery. There was a vast concourse of people from far and
+near to assist at the funeral of one who had been so mysteriously
+murdered. So greatly had the strangeness of the deed appealed to the
+imagination of metropolitan readers, that many London reporters came
+down to see the last of the case, and if possible to begin it again by
+making enquiries. But ask as they might, they could learn nothing. They
+were therefore compelled to content themselves with picturesque
+descriptions of the ancient Manor-house amidst its corn-fields, and with
+inaccurately lurid accounts of the late owner's career as a sailor.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley went to the funeral as chief mourner, as Bella
+resolutely declined to do so. She was sorry for her tyrannical father's
+violent death, but being very human, found it difficult to forgive him
+for the way in which he had behaved. He had bullied her and shut her in
+her room, and finally had drugged her by stealth. But as it turned out
+it was just as well that he had done so, as thereby she was able to
+prove that she knew nothing of the crime, even though she was alone in
+the house. Then again, there was the other side of the question to
+take--that if Huxham had not administered the laudanum he might have
+been alive and well at the moment. It seemed to Bella, overstrung with
+nerves, that some higher powers had dealt out a punishment to the
+Captain for crimes committed but undiscovered. Certainly she agreed with
+Tunks that her father had some dark secret in his mind, which led him to
+isolate himself in the midst of the corn.
+
+However, he was dead and buried, so all debts were paid, and Bella
+sitting in the vast drawing-room of the Manor-house with a
+church-service open on her lap, tried hard to forget Huxham's bad traits
+of character, and to remember his good ones. This was somewhat
+difficult, as the captain had few engaging qualities. But Bella recalled
+that he had been kind in a gruff sort of way and had never grudged her
+the best of food and the gaudiest of frocks. Huxham had been one of
+those so-called good people, who are amiable so long as everything is
+done according to their liking; but who display the tyrant when crossed.
+But on the whole he might have been worse, and after all, as she
+anxiously kept in mind, he was her father.
+
+The room wherein she sat, with the blinds down, was opposite the study
+and was a large apartment sparsely furnished. Huxham did not care for a
+drawing-room, as he preferred his den, but Mrs. Coppersley had bothered
+him incessantly until he provided her with furniture for the place. She
+selected the furniture herself, and what with her brother's stinginess
+and her own bad taste, the result was woefully bad. The room, spacious,
+lofty and stately, was decorated as beautifully as was the study, and
+required the most exquisite furniture to enhance its faded splendours.
+But Mrs. Coppersley had bought a magenta-hued sofa and many
+magenta-covered chairs, together with a cheap sideboard, so sticky as to
+look like a fly catcher, and two arm chairs of emerald green. The inlaid
+floor she had covered with lineoleum, diapered white and black, and her
+artistic taste had led her to paint the mellow oak panelling with pink
+Aspinall's enamel. As the curtains of the many windows were yellow, and
+the blinds blue, the effect was disastrous, and suggestive of a
+paint-box. An artist would have died of the confusion of tints, and the
+barbarism of destroying the oak panels, but Mrs. Coppersley was more
+than satisfied with the result, and when seated in the drawing-room on
+Sunday felt herself to be quite the lady.
+
+At the present moment Bella's nerves were less troubled than usual; the
+blinds were down in sympathy with the funeral, and a dim twilight
+pervaded the room, hiding more or less the atrocious grandeur. She sat
+in one of the green arm-chairs near the fire-place, reading the burial
+service and listening to the solemn tolling of the bell. But after a
+time she dropped the book on her lap and leaned back to close her eyes
+and reflect on her grave position. If only she had not seen Cyril on
+that night she could have married in ignorance that he had anything to
+do with the death of her father; but, enlightened as she was, it
+appeared impossible that she should become his wife. She had said
+nothing of his visit at the inquest, but the hideous doubt remained in
+her mind, although she strove to banish it by assuring herself over and
+over again that Lister could have had no hand in the matter. But how
+could she prove his innocence?
+
+She was alone in that sinister house, and although it was bright
+sunshine out of doors she felt scared. The cool dim room, the dreary
+booming of the distant bell, the impressive words of the burial service
+which she had just been reading--all these things united in a weird
+appeal to her psychic instincts, to those mysterious senses which deal
+with the unseen. In the arm-chair she sat with closed eyes strung up to
+breaking-point, and felt that if the psychic influence which seemed to
+control her became more insistent, she would scream. A thought flashed
+across her mind that her father was walking that dim, chill apartment,
+trying to communicate the truth; and in her nervous excitement she could
+almost have sworn that she heard the heavy tread of his feet.
+
+Thus, when she really did hear a light footstep in the entrance hall
+without, she uttered a piercing scream, and staggered to her feet. The
+hall door, she knew, had been left open since the coffin had been
+carried down the path between the standing corn, so that anyone could
+enter. Perhaps the assassin had come back to review the scene of his
+crime, or to commit another.
+
+White-faced and panic-stricken by the power of her own emotions
+engendered by the circumstances, she clung to the back of the arm-chair,
+straining her eyes towards the door. At the sound of her thin
+high-pitched scream the footsteps had ceased for a moment, as though the
+intruder was listening. Now they recommenced and drew near the outside
+of the door. Unable to utter a sound Bella stared through the dim lights
+and saw the door open cautiously. A face looked in and the eyes set in
+the face blinked in the semi-gloom. Then the door opened widely and
+Cyril Lister stepped in.
+
+"Oh, my darling!" With a sudden rush of relief Bella ran rapidly towards
+the door to throw herself into her lover's arms. Then a gruesome memory
+of that sinister visit made her falter and pause half way. Cyril closed
+the door and stood where he was, holding out his hungry arms.
+
+"Dearest," he said softly. "Oh, my poor girl."
+
+But Bella did not move; she stood looking at him as though fascinated.
+He wore a white drill suit made, tropic-fashion, high at the neck, with
+white shoes, and a panama hat. His white-clothed figure accentuated the
+twilight of the room, which now looked brown and grim. Considering that
+her father was dead and even now was being laid in an untimely grave,
+Cyril might have come to her dressed in mourning, unless--ah, unless.
+"Oh!"--she stretched out an arm as he advanced slowly--"don't come near
+me--don't come near me."
+
+"Bella!" He stopped in sheer surprise. "Bella, darling, don't you know
+me?"
+
+"Ah, yes, I know you," she gasped, retreating towards the chair.
+"Perhaps I know you too well."
+
+"Because I have not been to see you before?" he asked, surprised.
+"Bella, dearest, I would have come but that I have been abroad during
+the week. I had to go to Paris to see a--a friend of mine."
+
+She noted the hesitation and shivered. "When did you go?"
+
+Cyril came near, and again she shrank away. "On the afternoon when your
+father found us in the corn-field."
+
+"It's not true; it's not true. How can you lie to me?"
+
+"Bella!" Cyril stopped short again, and in the faint light she could see
+that he looked thoroughly puzzled and amazed. "What do you mean?"
+
+The girl's legs refused to support her any longer, and she sank into the
+chair. "My father is being buried," she gasped.
+
+"I know, I know," he replied sympathetically. "I went to the funeral,
+but finding you were not present, I came here to comfort you."
+
+"You--you--you went to the funeral?" her eyes dilated.
+
+"Why should I not go. After all, even though we quarrelled, he was your
+father, and a last tribute of respect----"
+
+"Oh, stop, stop. You can say this to me--to me, of all people?"
+
+Lister frowned and pinched his lip. "This lonely house and this cold,
+dull room have unnerved you," he said after a pause. "I make every
+allowance for what you have gone through, but----"
+
+"But you know, you understand."
+
+"Know what? understand what?" he inquired sharply.
+
+"I said nothing at the inquest. I held my tongue. I never----"
+
+"Bella!" Cyril, now thoroughly roused, advanced and seized her wrists in
+no gentle grasp, "are you crazy, talking in this way?"
+
+"I have had enough to make me crazy," she said bitterly, "let me go."
+
+"Not till you explain your mysterious behaviour. No"--he grasped her
+wrists tighter as she strove to release herself--"not till you explain."
+
+"Ah!" she cried out shrilly, "will you murder me also?"
+
+Lister suddenly released her wrists and fell back a pace. "Murder you
+also?" he repeated. "Am I then in the habit of murdering people?"
+
+"My father. You--you----"
+
+"Well, go on," said he, as the word stuck in her throat.
+
+"Oh"--she wrung her hands helplessly--"I saw you; I saw you."
+
+"Saw me what?" His voice became impatient and almost fierce.
+
+"I saw you enter the house--this house."
+
+"Saw me--enter this house? When?"
+
+"On the night my father was murdered--at eight o'clock."
+
+"What the devil are you talking about?" cried Cyril roughly. "I was in
+London at eight o'clock on that night, and went to Paris the next
+morning. I never heard of the murder, as I saw no newspapers. When I
+returned last night I read the account of the inquest in the evening
+papers, and I came down this morning to comfort you. I really think
+trouble has turned your head, Bella."
+
+The girl stared at him in astonishment. Even though she had spoken so
+very plainly, Cyril did not seem to comprehend that she was accusing him
+of having committed a dastardly crime. Her heart suddenly grew light.
+Perhaps, after all, she was mistaken, and--and--"You can prove your
+innocence?"
+
+"My innocence of what, in heaven's name?" he cried angrily.
+
+"Of--of--the--the--murder," she faltered.
+
+Lister stared, and scarcely could believe his ears. "You are not
+serious?"
+
+"Oh, my dear:" she sobbed, "I wish I were not."
+
+"And you accuse me of murdering your father?"
+
+"No, no! Really, I don't accuse you of actually--that is, of really--but
+I saw you enter this house at eight o'clock, or a little after, on that
+night. I intended to come down, thinking you and my father might
+quarrel, but I drank the tea--you must have seen about the tea at the
+inquest--that is, in the report given in the papers. Then I fell asleep,
+and woke to hear that my father was dead. But I never betrayed you,
+Cyril. God is my witness that I have held my tongue."
+
+Lister passed his hand across his forehead, and fell helplessly into a
+near chair. "You accuse me of murdering your father?" he said again.
+
+"No, no;" she repeated feverishly, "but I saw you--you looked up--you
+wore the grey clothes, as you had done in the afternoon when father
+interrupted us."
+
+"Bella! Bella! You must have been dreaming, or the drug----"
+
+"I was not dreaming," she interrupted vehemently, "and I saw you before
+I drank the drugged tea. I called to you, and you looked up; but you
+entered the house without making any sign of recognition. Then I fell
+asleep, and--and--oh,--my dear"--she flung herself down at his feet and
+seized his hand. "What took place between my father and you? I'm sure
+you did not kill him. I am quite sure of that, and, remember, I held my
+tongue. Yes, I held----"
+
+"Oh," groaned the young man, looking down into her agitated face. "I am
+losing my reason. You will shortly persuade me that I killed----"
+
+"But you did not--you did not. Ah, never say that you did."
+
+"No," said Lister shortly, and rose so suddenly as to let her fall, "and
+if you believe me to be a murderer, we had better part."
+
+"I don't! I don't!" she wailed, stretching out her hands, as he strode
+towards the door. "Oh, Cyril, don't leave me. You are all I have."
+
+Lister was in a white heat with rage, and stood fumbling at the door.
+But a backward glance at her pale face cooled him somewhat. He
+recognised that he was in the presence of some mystery, and that it was
+necessary for his own peace of mind, as for Bella's, to probe the
+mystery to the bottom. On the impulse of the moment he walked back, and
+lifting her, placed her again in the arm-chair. Then he knelt beside
+her, and took her hands. "Darling," he said, softly and firmly, "I swear
+to you, what I would not swear to any living creature, that I am
+innocent. If anyone but you had accused me, I should have----"
+
+"Cyril! Cyril!" She wreathed her arms round his neck, "I only fancied,
+but I really did not think that----"
+
+He removed her arms. "You should believe in my innocence in the face of
+all evidence," he said sternly.
+
+"But my own eyes," she faltered.
+
+He frowned. "That certainly is puzzling; still, the drug----"
+
+"I saw you enter the house before I drunk the tea," she protested. "I
+told you that before."
+
+"Your senses were quite clear?"
+
+"Perfectly clear. And I thought that you had come to try and induce my
+father to consent to our marriage."
+
+"Strange," muttered the young man. "I was not near the house."
+
+"Are you sure? are you sure?"
+
+"Oh!" Lister's tone was highly exasperated. "You will drive me mad,
+talking in this way. Hearken," he added, speaking calmer, "when I left
+you and Captain Huxham in the corn-field, I went straight back to my
+lodgings. There I found a letter referring to the thousand pounds I
+wished to borrow. I had to see the friend who was willing to lend it to
+me on that night. I therefore went to London by the six o'clock train.
+My landlady can prove that I left the house; the flyman can prove that I
+drove to the local station; the ticket office there that I bought a
+ticket, and the guard of the train shut me himself in a first-class
+compartment. That is evidence enough, I fancy."
+
+"Yes. Yes, for me, but----"
+
+"But I might have sneaked back, I suppose you mean?" he said bitterly,
+and rising to walk the floor. "I can prove an _alibi_ easily. At eight
+o'clock I was at my friend's rooms in Duke Street, St. James's, as his
+man can swear. He had gone to Paris, and I arranged to follow. I went to
+the theatre, and to dinner with two friends of mine, and did not leave
+them until one in the morning, when I returned to my hotel. The murder
+took place at eleven, or between eight and eleven, so I can easily prove
+that I was not here. Next morning I went to Paris, and got the money
+from my friend. I lingered there with him, and only returned yesterday,
+to learn that your father was dead. Then I came down here this morning
+to--meet with this reception."
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! Don't be hard on me."
+
+"Are you not hard yourself?" he retorted. "How can I love a woman who
+doubts me? Besides, robbery was the motive for the commission of the
+crime. Am I likely to stab an old man, and then rob him?"
+
+"No, I never believed, and yet----"
+
+"And yet what?" he asked curtly.
+
+"You--you--wanted a thousand pounds."
+
+"Oh"--his lip curled--"and you believed that I robbed your father's safe
+to get it. Unfortunately, I understood, from your aunt's evidence at the
+inquest, that only one hundred pounds in gold were in the safe, so I
+must have committed a brutal murder needlessly."
+
+"I never said that you murdered my father," cried Bella despairingly.
+
+"You inferred as much," he retorted cuttingly; "also that I robbed----"
+
+"No, no, no!" she cried vehemently, now thoroughly believing him to be
+completely innocent, and trying woman-like to recover her position.
+"But, Cyril, listen to me, and you will see that as things look I was
+justified----"
+
+"Nothing can justify your believing me to be guilty of a double crime."
+
+Bella bowed her proud head. "I can see that now," she said humbly.
+
+"You should have seen it before," he replied harshly.
+
+She raised her head, and looked at him indignantly, bringing into play
+the powerful weapon of sex. "You give me no opportunity of defending
+myself," she said, in the offended tone of a woman wronged.
+
+"I ask your pardon, and give you the opportunity now," he replied
+coldly.
+
+"I saw you enter the house," she repeated somewhat weakly.
+
+"That is impossible," he rejoined briefly.
+
+"Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "What is the use of saying that?
+It was not you, since I firmly believe what you tell me; all the
+same----"
+
+Cyril sprang forward, seized her hands, and looked deep into her eyes
+"You believe me, then?"
+
+"Yes, I do. But if the man was not you, he must have been your double."
+
+"Was he so like me, then?"
+
+"Exactly like you. Don't I tell you, Cyril, that I leaned out of the
+window and spoke to the man. I called him by your name."
+
+"What did he do?"
+
+"He looked up, but making no sign of recognition stepped into the house,
+as the door was not locked. I never believed for one moment that it was
+not you, and resolved to clamber out of the window to be present at the
+interview. Then I drank the drugged tea, and----" she made a gesture of
+despair--"you know the rest."
+
+"How was the man dressed?"
+
+"In a grey suit, just as you wore in the afternoon."
+
+"You saw the face?"
+
+"I saw it very plainly, although the twilight was growing darker at the
+time. But I could have sworn it was your face. Would I have spoken to
+the man had I not believed him to be you?"
+
+"No, and yet"--Cyril stopped, and tugged at his moustache. His face had
+grown pale, and he looked decidedly worried. "The man was of my height?"
+
+"He was like you in every respect. Perhaps if I had seen him in broad
+daylight I might have recognised my mistake unless--oh, Cyril, could it
+have been your ghost?"
+
+"No," said Lister, in a strangled voice, "don't be absurd. I have an
+idea that----" he made for the door. "There's nothing more to say."
+
+"Cyril, will you leave me? Won't you kiss----"
+
+"There's nothing more to say," said Lister, now deadly pale, and walked
+abruptly out of the dim room. Bella fell back in the chair and wept. All
+was over.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE WITCH-WIFE
+
+
+The interview between the engaged lovers had been a strange one, and not
+the least strange part was the termination. Apparently, after hearing
+the description of the mysterious double given by Bella, her lover could
+have explained much--at least, she gathered this from the hints his
+broken conversation gave. After his departure, she sat weeping, until it
+struck her sensible nature how very foolish she was to waste time in
+idle regrets. Whether Cyril felt so mortally offended by her doubts as
+to regard the engagement at an end, she could not say. But after some
+thought she believed that her remarks had given him a clue which he had
+left thus abruptly to follow up. Sooner or later he would return to
+explain, and then all would be well between them.
+
+And in spite of his odd behaviour, she had one great consolation in
+knowing that he was innocent. His denial of guilt had been so strong;
+the _alibi_ he set forth was so easy of proof, and so impossible of
+invention, that she blamed herself sincerely for ever having doubted the
+young man. Nevertheless, considering the weird circumstances, and the
+fact of the likeness of the double--whomsoever he might be--to her
+lover, she could scarcely regard herself as having been foolish. Nine
+people out of ten would have made the same mistake, and would have
+harboured similar doubts. Certainly, seeing that she loved Cyril
+devotedly, she should have been the tenth; but in the hour of trial her
+faith had proved very weak. She tried to remind herself that she had
+never really believed him to be guilty. All the same, recalling the late
+conversation, she had to recognise that her words could have left very
+little doubt in Lister's mind as to the fact that she believed him to be
+a robber and an assassin. Well, if she had, surely she had been severely
+punished, as was only fair.
+
+Mrs. Coppersley returned from the funeral in a very chastened frame of
+mind, and in the company of Henry Vand, whom she had bidden to tea. The
+table was furnished forth with funeral baked meats, after the fashion of
+Hamlet's mother's wedding, and Mr. Vand did full justice to
+them--wonderful justice, considering his apparently delicate
+constitution. He was not very tall, and remarkably handsome, with his
+young, clean-shaven face, his large, blue eyes, and his curly, golden
+hair. His body was well-shaped all save the right foot, which was
+twisted and the leg of which was shorter than the other. Like Talleyrand
+and Lord Byron, the young man was club-footed, but otherwise had a very
+attractive personality. From his delicate fingers, it could be seen that
+he was a musician, and he had an air of refinement astonishing in one of
+his breeding and birth. Bella did not like him much. Not that she had
+any fault to find with him; but his eyes were shallow, like those of a
+bird, and his conversation was dull, to say the least of it. The sole
+way in which he could converse was through his violin, and as he had not
+that with him on this occasion, Bella preferred to remain absent from
+the lavish tea-table. Mrs. Coppersley did not object, as she wanted her
+darling all to herself.
+
+However, Mrs. Coppersley was very severe on her niece for not attending
+the funeral, and had many sweet things to say regarding virtues of the
+deceased which she had just discovered after his death. "He meant well,
+did poor, dear Jabez," sighed Mrs. Coppersley, over a cup of tea; "and
+if he did swear it was his calling that made him profane. Bella!"--her
+niece was standing at the door as she spoke--"to-morrow I'm going up to
+see the lawyer about the property."
+
+"Oh, don't trouble about that," said Bella wearily; "no, thank you, Mr.
+Vand, I don't care to eat. I feel too miserable."
+
+"Not trouble about the property!" cried Mrs. Coppersley, paying no
+attention to the latter part of this speech; "but I do care. Things must
+be settled somehow. I must arrange my future life," and she cast a
+tender glance on the handsome musician. "Your future must be settled
+also."
+
+"I shall look after that," said Bella, not liking her aunt's tone.
+
+"You had better be sharp, then," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a dictatorial
+manner, "for the sooner things are settled the better. I'm not young,
+and"--she cast a second tender glance on her swain, who was eating
+largely--"ah, well, its useless to talk of weddings when funerals are in
+the air. To-morrow evening, Bella, after I have seen the lawyer--and he
+lives in Cade Lane, London--I'll tell you what I have arranged."
+
+Bella looked in astonishment at her aunt, who suddenly seemed to have
+acquired the late captain's tyrannical manner. Apparently Mrs.
+Coppersley forgot--as Bella thought--that she would not inherit the
+solitary farm, and needed to be reminded of the fact that her niece was
+the mistress of Bleacres. In fact, Bella was on the point of saying as
+much, when she remembered that Vand was present. Not being anxious to
+discuss family matters in his presence--even though he was about to
+enter the family as Mrs. Coppersley's husband--she abruptly left the
+room. Mrs. Coppersley poured herself out a second cup of tea, and
+remarked in a high tone of satisfaction, that some people's noses were
+about to be brought to the grindstone.
+
+Bella heard the remark as she put on her hat and walked out of the front
+door. It accentuated her lonely feeling, for she saw plainly now what
+she had long guessed,--that Aunt Rosamund had very little affection for
+her. The late captain also had never cared much for his daughter, and
+now that Cyril had vanished in an enigmatic manner, the poor girl felt
+more wretched than ever. Listlessly she walked down the narrow path as
+far as the boundary channel, and wondered how it would all end. Had she
+been a religious girl she might have sought comfort in prayer, but she
+knew very little about true religion, and did not care for the sort
+preached by Mr. Silas Pence in the Little Bethel at Marshely. As his
+name flashed into her mind, she looked up and saw him standing on the
+opposite side of the channel, so it was apparent--although she knew
+nothing about such things--that some telepathic communication had made
+her think of him. The preacher was in his usual dismal garb, and had
+accentuated the same by wearing black gloves and a black tie in place of
+his usual white one. Patience on a monument might have been taken as a
+type of Mr. Pence on this occasion, but he was not smiling on grief in
+the person of Miss Huxham. In fact he did not smile at all, being
+shocked to see her out of doors.
+
+"Why are you not weeping in your chamber?" reproved Silas, in his most
+clerical manner; "the loss of so good a father----"
+
+"You have doubtless said all you had to say on that subject at the
+funeral, Mr. Pence," retorted Bella, whose nerves were worn thin with
+worry; "spare me a repetition of such stale remarks."
+
+It was a horribly rude speech, as she well knew. But Pence had a way of
+irritating her beyond all endurance, and the mere sight of him was
+sufficient to set her teeth on edge for the day. It was intolerable that
+he should intrude on her privacy now, when she particularly wished to be
+alone. She intimated as much by turning away with a displeased air, and
+walked for a short distance along the bank path leading to Mrs. Tunks'
+hut. But Silas, absolutely ignorant of the feminine nature, and entirely
+devoid of diplomacy, persisted in thrusting his company upon her. Bella
+turned sharply, when she heard Silas breathing hard behind her, and
+spoke with marked indignation.
+
+"I wish to be alone, if you please," she declared, flushing.
+
+"Ah, no; ah, no," remonstrated Pence, stupidly. "Allow me to comfort
+you."
+
+"You cannot," she retorted, marvelling at his density.
+
+"Allow me to try. I was on the point of calling at the house to----"
+
+Bella interrupted him cruelly. "You can call there still, Mr. Pence, and
+my aunt will be glad to see you. She has Mr. Vand to tea, so you will
+find yourself in congenial company."
+
+"Your company is congenial enough for me."
+
+"That is very flattering, but I prefer to be alone."
+
+Silas, however, declined to be shaken off, and his reproachful looks so
+exasperated Bella that she felt inclined to thrust him into the water.
+And his speech was even more irritating than his manner. "Let me soothe
+you, my dear, broken-hearted sister," he pleaded in a sheep-like bleat.
+
+"I don't want soothing. I am not broken-hearted, and I am not your
+sister."
+
+Pence sighed. "This is very, very painful."
+
+"It is," Bella admitted readily, "to me. Surely you are man enough, Mr.
+Pence, to take a plain telling if you won't accept a hint. I want you to
+leave me at once, as I am not disposed to talk."
+
+"If I had my way I would never, never leave you again."
+
+"Perhaps; but, so far as I am concerned, you will not get your way."
+
+"Why do you dislike me, Miss Huxham?"
+
+"I neither like nor dislike you," she retorted, suppressing a violent
+inclination to scream, so annoying was this persecution. "You are
+nothing to me."
+
+"I want to be something. I wish you to be my sealed fountain. Your late
+lamented father desired you to be my spouse."
+
+"I am aware of that, Mr. Pence. But perhaps you will remember that I
+refused to marry you, the other day."
+
+"You broke my heart then."
+
+"Go and mend it then," cried Bella, furiously angry, and only too
+anxious to drive him away by behaving with aggressive rudeness.
+
+"You alone can mend it." Pence dropped on his knees. "Oh, I implore you
+to mend it, my Hephzibah! You are to me a Rose of Sharon, a Lily of the
+Vale."
+
+"Get up, sir, and don't make a fool of yourself."
+
+"Oh, angel of my life, listen to me. Lately I was poor in this world's
+goods, but now I have gold. Marry me, and let us fly to far lands,
+and----"
+
+"I thought you were desperately poor," said Bella, suspiciously; "where
+did you get the money?"
+
+"An aged and God-fearing Christian aunt left it to me," said Pence,
+dropping his eyes. "It is a small sum, but----"
+
+"One hundred pounds in gold, perhaps?"
+
+Pence rose, as though moved by springs, and his thin white cheeks
+flushed a deep scarlet. "What do you mean?"
+
+Bella could not have told herself what she meant at the moment. But it
+had suddenly occurred to her to try and rid herself of this burr by
+hinting that he had something to do with the robbery, if not with the
+murder. Under ordinary circumstances she would never have ventured to do
+this, being a kind-hearted girl; but Pence exasperated her so greatly
+that she was, on the impulse of the moment, prepared to go to any length
+to see the last of him. "I mean," she said, in reply to his last
+question, "that my father had one hundred pounds in gold in his safe."
+
+"You accuse me of----"
+
+"I accuse you of nothing," cried Bella, cutting him short and flaming up
+into a royal rage. "I am tired of your company and of your silly talk. I
+only wish that Mr. Lister would come along and throw you into the
+channel."
+
+The red faded from Pence's face, and he looked wickedly white. His eyes
+flashed with sinister lights. "I dare say you do," he said venomously,
+"but Mr. Lister had better keep out of my way, and out of the way of the
+police."
+
+The girl felt her heart almost stop beating. "Now it is my turn to ask
+you what you mean?" she said slowly and preserving her coolness.
+
+But the preacher saw that she was shaken, and followed up his advantage.
+"I think you had better make terms with me. Accept me as your husband,
+or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"I shall tell the police what I saw," he finished spitefully.
+
+"What did you see?" she asked in a shaking voice.
+
+"On the evening of the murder I came here at a quarter to eight," said
+Silas slowly, his glittering eyes on her pale face. "I wished to adore
+the shrine wherein was my jewel; that is, I desired to gaze on the
+house, beneath whose roof you slept."
+
+"Oh, stop talking like this, and speak plainly," she interrupted
+wearily.
+
+"I shall speak plainly enough now," said the young man calmly. "While
+watching by the entrance through the bushes, on the other side of the
+channel, I was suddenly brushed aside by that Lister person. It was
+growing dark, but I recognised his figure, his insolent face, his lordly
+air of prosperity. He walked up to the house and I turned away, sick at
+heart, knowing that he had gone to see you. When I looked again, on my
+way back to Marshely, he had disappeared. So you see----" He paused.
+
+"I see what?" she questioned nervously.
+
+"That the Lister person must know somewhat of this crime, if, indeed, he
+did not strike the blow himself."
+
+"How can you say that, when you lately intimated that Mr. Lister--if it
+_was_ Mr. Lister, which I doubt--had come to see me?"
+
+"I remember the evidence given by yourself and your aunt at the
+inquest," retorted Pence sharply. "You were locked in your room, and were
+in a drugged sleep. Mrs. Coppersley had gone to my lodgings to deliver
+the note from your late father, which I found on my return. That Lister
+person must have seen your father, and, as they were not on good
+terms--"
+
+"How do you know that they were not?"
+
+"Because your late father hated the very name of Lister, and said that
+he would rather see you dead than married to him. Also in the note left
+at my lodgings, your father said that he had quarrelled seriously with
+this Lister person, and had locked you in your room. Now, if I showed
+that note to the police, and related how the Lister person had brushed
+me aside so that he could cross the channel, he would be arrested."
+
+"No, he would not," said Bella doggedly, but her heart sank.
+
+"Yes, he would. He hated your late father; he was alone in the house
+with him, and I believe that he killed him so that he might marry you."
+
+"As if I would marry any man who murdered my father," said Bella
+angrily. "You are talking a lot of nonsense, Mr. Pence. Mr. Lister was
+in London on that evening, and afterwards went to Paris."
+
+"I don't believe it. Who told you?"
+
+"He told me so himself."
+
+"Naturally he has to make the best of things. But I know the Lister
+person well by sight, and I am prepared to take my oath that he entered
+the Manor-house about eight o'clock on the night of the murder."
+
+"Mr. Lister has a good _alibi_," said Bella, with a carelessness which
+she was far from feeling, and gathering up her skirts to go. "You can
+tell the police what you like, Mr. Pence. I am not afraid for Mr.
+Lister's good name."
+
+"You will make no terms?" demanded Pence, annoyed by her feigned
+coolness.
+
+"No," she said abruptly; "do what you like."
+
+"I'll give you three days to think over the matter," cried Pence as she
+turned away; "if by that time you do not agree to become my wife, I
+shall denounce that Lister person to the police."
+
+Bella took no notice of the threat, but walked swiftly away in the
+direction of Mrs. Tunks' hut. Hearing no footsteps she concluded that
+Mr. Pence had not followed, and a cautious look round revealed him
+crossing the planks on his way home. Bella felt sick with apprehension,
+and when she reached the hut had to lean against the door for support.
+But she had no time to consider matters, for unexpectedly the door
+opened and she fell into the bony arms of Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"I knew you were coming, dearie," croaked the old creature; "the crystal
+told me."
+
+"A glance along the path told you," retorted Bella, recovering her
+balance and entering the hut. "Why do you talk to me of the crystal,
+Mrs. Tunks? You know I don't believe in such things."
+
+"Well I know your blind eyes and stubborn heart, lovey. Only trouble
+will make you see truths, and you ain't had enough yet. There's more
+coming."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Bella, sitting down on a broken-backed chair
+with a sudden sinking of the heart.
+
+"I know, I know," mumbled Mrs. Tunks, squatting on a stool near the
+fire. "Who should know but I, who am of the gentle Romany? Hold your
+peace, dearie and let me think," and she lighted a dingy black clay
+pipe. "Luke ain't here," added Mrs. Tunks, blowing a cloud of smoke, "so
+we've the whole place to ourselves, lovey, and the crystal's ready."
+
+She nodded towards a bright spark of light, and Bella saw a round
+crystal the size of an apple, standing in a cheap china egg-cup. There
+was no light in the bare room, but the ruddy flare of the smouldering
+fire, and what with the semi-darkness, the fumes of Mrs. Tunks' pipe,
+and that bright unwinking spot, Bella felt as though she were being
+hypnotised.
+
+The hut, built of turf, was square, and was divided by a wooden
+partition into two equal parts. One of these parts was again sub-divided
+into two sleeping dens--they could not be called bedrooms--for Mrs.
+Tunks and her grandson. The day apartment, which did for sitting-room,
+dining-room, drawing-room, and general living-room, was small, and
+dirty, and dingy. The ceiling of rough thatch, black with smoke, could
+almost be touched by Bella without rising. The floor was of beaten
+earth, the chimney a wide gaping hollow of turf, and there was one small
+window, usually tightly closed, beside the crazy door. The furniture
+consisted of a deal table, of home manufacture, with its legs sunken in
+the earthen floor, and a few stools together with the broken-backed
+chair on which the visitor sat. There also was a rough wooden dresser,
+on which were ranged a few platters of wood and some china. The whole
+abode was miserable in the extreme, and in wet weather must have been
+extremely uncomfortable. Granny Tunks, as she was usually called, housed
+like an Early Briton or a Saxon serf; but she seemed to be happy enough
+in her den, perhaps because it was better than the rough life of the
+road, which had been her lot in life before she had married a Gorgio.
+
+She was a lean, grim old creature with very bright black eyes and
+plentiful white hair escaping from under a red handkerchief. Her dress
+was of a brown colour, but tagged with bright patches of yellow and blue
+and crimson, and she wore also various coins and beads and charms, which
+kept up a continuous jingle. On the whole Granny Tunks was a picturesque
+figure of the Oriental type, and this, added to her sinister reputation
+as one acquainted with the unseen world, gained her considerable
+respect. The marsh folk, still superstitious in spite of steam and
+electricity, called her "The Wise Woman," but Granny dubbed herself "A
+Witch-Wife," quite like a Norse warrior would have done.
+
+Bella stared at the crystal until she felt quite dreamy, while Granny
+watched her with a bright and cunning eye. Suddenly she rose and took
+the gleaming globe in her skinny hand. "You've put your life-power into
+it," mumbled the witch-wife; "now I'll read what's coming."
+
+"No, no!" cried Bella, suddenly startled into wakefulness. "I don't want
+to know anything, Mrs. Tunks."
+
+Granny took no notice, but peered into the crystal by the red light of
+the fire. "You've trouble yet, before you, dearie," she said in a
+sing-song voice, "but peace in the end. You'll marry the gentleman you
+love, when a black man comes to aid your fortunes."
+
+"A black man! What do you mean?"
+
+"There's no more," said Mrs. Tunks; "the vision has faded. A black man,
+remember."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE COMING OF DURGO
+
+
+The fortnight which followed the funeral of Captain Huxham passed
+quietly enough at the Solitary Farm. Mrs. Coppersley went several times
+to London for the purpose of interviewing her late brother's lawyer, who
+had his office in Cade Lane. She said very little to Bella when she
+returned, and on her part Bella did not ask questions. Had she been more
+versed in worldly wisdom she would have accompanied her aunt to see the
+solicitor for herself, so that she might learn what disposition had been
+made of the property. But Bella was an unsophisticated girl, and
+moreover was so anxiously lamenting the continued absence of Cyril that
+she neglected needful things.
+
+Lister had disappeared from the neighbourhood, and Bella had neither
+seen him again nor had she heard from him. Considering what had taken
+place at their last interview, she was inclined to think that Cyril had
+passed out of her life for ever. But something told her that in spite of
+her unjust accusations he still loved her, and would return. Meantime,
+there was nothing for it but to wait in patience, and to busy herself
+with her ordinary pursuits. These, however, had lost their savour for
+the girl, since the whole of her mind was filled with the image of the
+man she loved.
+
+Pence did not fulfil his threat of informing the police at the end of
+three days. Bella waited in dread for the arrival of Inspector Inglis to
+ask her questions concerning Lister, but the officer never appeared, and
+as the days glided by she began to think that Silas would say nothing.
+With her aunt she went on Sunday to the Little Bethel, and heard him
+preach, but he did not seek a private interview with her. Even when he
+delivered his sermons he sedulously avoided her eye, so she deemed that
+he was ashamed of the wild way in which he had talked. What struck her
+most about the young man was his wan looks. He seemed to be thinner than
+ever, and his cheeks had a more hectic flush, while his eyes glittered
+feverishly, as though he were consumed with an inward fire. But his
+discourses became more and more powerful and were greatly admired by his
+congregation, who liked melodramatic religion. Mrs. Coppersley was
+especially loud in her expression of approval.
+
+"What a gift," she said to Bella, when they returned home on the second
+Sunday through the rapidly-yellowing corn-fields. "He spares no one."
+
+"And that is just what I like least about his sermons," retorted the
+girl. "As a Christian he should be more merciful."
+
+"You don't know anything about it," said Mrs. Coppersley tartly.
+
+"I know what Christ preached," replied Bella quietly; "and Mr. Pence has
+not the spirit of His preaching."
+
+"In what way, pray?"
+
+"Mr. Pence does not do as he would be done by. I wonder how he would
+like to suffer the condemnation which he measures out so freely to other
+people."
+
+"Silas Pence is a good man, and no condemnation is possible where he is
+concerned," cried Mrs. Coppersley fervently, and bounced into the house.
+
+"In that case he should make allowance for those who are not good."
+
+"Not at all," said the elder woman, stating her views uncompromisingly.
+"The good shall go to heaven, and the wicked to hell: that's Scripture."
+
+"As translated by man," finished Bella neatly; "but the Sermon on the
+Mount, Aunt Rosamund----"
+
+"Bella, you are irreligious," interrupted the lady, removing her hat and
+placing it on the kitchen-table. "I won't have freethinkers in my
+house."
+
+Bella raised her finely-marked eye-brows. "Your house?"
+
+"Yes," almost shouted Mrs. Coppersley violently, for she felt somewhat
+nervous as to what she was about to say, "my house. I didn't tell you
+before, as I have a kind heart, but it is time we understood one
+another. To-night I shall explain myself, so that you may understand
+your position."
+
+"You shall explain yourself now," said Bella, pale but determined.
+
+"I have no time," said her aunt brusquely; "Henry is coming to dinner."
+
+"I don't care if Mr. Vand is coming to dinner twenty times over," said
+Bella, her eyes growing hard with anger. "You have said so much that you
+must say all, Aunt Rosamund."
+
+"Don't bully and bounce me, miss."
+
+"I shall act exactly as I please, and it is my pleasure that you would
+explain what you mean."
+
+"I have to lay the cloth and see to the dinner. You know that Jane never
+can cook to Henry's liking. I daresay the meat is burnt and the----"
+Mrs. Coppersley was about to pass into the scullery where the one small
+servant, over whom she tyrannised, slaved at the mid-day meal, when
+Bella caught her by the wrist. "How dare you, Bella?" cried the stout
+woman.
+
+"Come into the drawing-room, out of Jane's hearing," whispered Bella
+fiercely. "I shall not wait another minute for an explanation. This
+house is either mine or yours."
+
+"Very well," cried Mrs. Coppersley, bouncing towards the kitchen door,
+"If you will have it, you shall have it. I have tried to spare you,
+but----"
+
+"Go on to the drawing-room, please," interrupted Bella imperiously, as
+she saw the small servant peeping round the corner; "there is no need
+for us to discuss private matters in public."
+
+"The whole parish shall soon know what I am about to say," snapped Mrs.
+Coppersley, and rolled towards the drawing-room.
+
+"Rolled" is precisely the word to use in connection with Mrs.
+Coppersley's way of walking, for she was an extremely stout, well-fed
+woman, large-limbed and clumsy. Her round, chubby face was rosy and her
+eyes were as black as her hair. She did not look uncomely, but there was
+something coarse and plebeian in her appearance. Although she was in
+mourning for her late brother she could not altogether restrain her
+flamboyant taste, and therefore wore a red feather in the hat she had
+left in the kitchen, and yellow gloves, which she was now impatiently
+removing.
+
+Outside it was extremely warm and brilliant with sunshine, but in the
+vast drawing-room the air was pleasantly cool and agreeable. The blinds
+being blue, only a faint light came through them since they were down,
+and the cerulean atmosphere was almost religious in its feeling. Bella,
+ever sensitive to the unseen, in spite of her ignorance of psychic
+phenomenon felt the grave influence, but her aunt, being of a coarser
+fibre, bounced red-faced and hot into the room, openly cross at having
+been summoned to what was likely to prove a disagreeable interview.
+
+"Henry will be here shortly," she said pettishly, "and he doesn't like
+to be kept waiting for his meals."
+
+"On this occasion he must wait," said Bella dryly, "it will do him
+good."
+
+"Don't speak of Henry in that tone, miss; you know he is the most
+amiable man in the world."
+
+"Your speech about his impatience for dinner sounds like it. However, we
+need converse only for a few minutes. I understood you to say that this
+house is yours, Aunt Rosamund."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley flopped down into one of the emerald arm-chairs and
+placed her pudgy hands on her stout knees. "It is," she said, glancing
+round the vari-coloured room with great pride. "The house is mine and
+the farm is mine, and Jabez's income of five hundred a year, well
+invested, is mine."
+
+Bella grew pale. Mrs. Coppersley spoke with such conviction that she
+believed her to be telling the truth. "And what is left to me?" she
+demanded in a low tone, for the shock took away her breath.
+
+"Your aunt's love," said Mrs. Coppersley, in a matter-of-fact way.
+"Jabez asked me to look after you; and so long as you behave yourself I
+shall do so."
+
+Bella passed over this petty speech. "Do you mean to say that my father
+has left everything to you?" she asked pointedly.
+
+"Everything," assented Mrs. Coppersley, with an air of triumph. "Jabez
+wasn't so rich as folk thought him, and although he had enough invested
+to give him five hundred a year, he had little ready cash. When my late
+husband died he left me a good sum. Jabez borrowed this and added it to
+his own, so that he might buy Bleacres. I agreed, but only on condition
+that Jabez should leave me the whole property when he died. I saw that
+the will was made, and Mr. Timson, the Cade Lane lawyer, is now proving
+it. When probate is obtained, my dear," ended Mrs. Coppersley amiably,
+"I shall marry Henry and will be happy for evermore."
+
+"What about me?" gasped Bella, utterly overwhelmed.
+
+"You can stay here until you marry," said Mrs. Coppersley coldly, "as I
+am a Christian woman, and wish to obey Jabez's request. He left you to
+me as a legacy, so I will look after you; only behave yourself."
+
+"Do I ever do anything else?" asked Bella bitterly.
+
+"Oh, dear me, yes," returned her aunt complacently. "You run after men."
+
+Bella rose with a flushed cheek. "That is a lie."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley rose, also in a violent rage and quite glad to vent her
+petty spite on one who could not retaliate. "Oh, I'm a liar, am I?" she
+said shrilly. "You call me a liar when I am only keeping you out of
+charity----"
+
+"Stop!" Bella flung up her hand and spoke firmly. "You are not doing
+that, Aunt Rosamund. In one way or another you have persuaded my father
+into leaving you what is rightfully mine. But I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and read the will; you shall not have it your own way altogether."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley snapped her large finger and thumb. "Go and see the
+will, by all means," she scoffed in a coarse voice; "you won't find any
+flaw in it, as I was careful that it should be properly drawn up. I have
+a perfect right to the farm, as my money helped to buy it."
+
+"So be it. Keep the farm, but give me the income. That, at least, you
+have no right to retain."
+
+"I have the right of possession, which is nine points of the law, miss,"
+said Mrs. Coppersley violently, "and the will is plain enough. Jabez did
+right to leave the money to me, and not to a chit of a girl like you,
+who would waste your father's hard-earned money on that wastrel from
+London."
+
+"Of whom are you talking?"
+
+"Don't pretend ignorance, miss, for I won't have it. I mean Mr. Lister,
+as he calls himself, though I daresay he is no better than he should
+be."
+
+"You have no right to say that."
+
+"I'll say what I like and do what I like. Remember I am mistress; and as
+you depend entirely on me, miss, I order you to give up all idea of this
+Lister scamp and marry Silas Pence, who is----"
+
+"I shall certainly not marry Silas Pence, or anyone but Cyril," said
+Bella in icy tones. "You have no right to interfere in----"
+
+Mrs. Coppersley stamped and interrupted in her turn. "No right! no
+right!" she bellowed furiously. "I have every right. This house is mine,
+and the food you eat is mine. If I turned you out you would have to
+starve, for I am certain that your fine lover would have nothing to do
+with you. He's a bad man; your father said so."
+
+"My father knew nothing of Mr. Lister."
+
+"He knew that he was bad; he said as much. Why"--Mrs. Coppersley
+pointed a fat finger towards the round table in the centre of the
+room--"there's a photograph of him, and in a silver frame, too. What
+extravagance. How dare you spend my money on silver frames?"
+
+She dashed forward to seize the photograph of Cyril, which Bella had
+brought down from her bedroom and had left unthinkingly on the table.
+Doubtless Mrs. Coppersley would have destroyed the portrait, but that
+Bella secured it before the good lady could reach the table. "Mr. Lister
+gave me this," said Bella, putting it behind her back; "frame and all;
+it is mine."
+
+"And you dare to bring into the house the picture of a wicked profligate
+whom your father hated," roared Mrs. Coppersley, her red face shining
+with perspiration and her little eyes flashing with wrath.
+
+"My father being so good himself," said Bella ironically, and feeling
+quite cool. "Mr. Lister is not a profligate, Aunt Rosamund, and you are
+a bad woman!"
+
+Mrs. Coppersley gasped like a dying dolphin. "Me a bad woman!" she
+cried, puffing out her cheeks ludicrously; "me, when Henry says that I
+am the best woman in the world. And I'd have you know, Bella, that I'm a
+lady and no woman, miss--so there."
+
+The girl, in spite of her grief and dismay, laughed right out. "Even a
+lady must be a woman," she observed sarcastically.
+
+"Leave my house! leave my house," panted Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"No. I shall remain here until I know if the will is correct. I shall
+stay here, as I say, and shall receive polite treatment. If I do not, I
+shall dispute the will, and make things unpleasant."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley snapped her fingers. "That for all the harm you can do,"
+she said coarsely. "The will stands good in law. I have made sure of
+that by consulting Mr. Timson, who drew it up. You can stay here for a
+week; at the end of that time you pack up and go."
+
+"Where to, Aunt Rosamund?"
+
+"That's your look out, miss. But you don't stay here to spoil my
+honeymoon with my darling Henry."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. It really was not worth while losing her
+temper with a person whose methods were so crude. The more enraged Mrs.
+Coppersley became, the cooler Bella felt. "Do you know what you are,
+Aunt Rosamund?" she remarked coolly. "You are a bully, and a petty
+tyrant. While my father was alive you cringed to him because you were
+afraid. Now that you think you have the whip hand of me, you vent your
+spite on one whom you think cannot retaliate. If I had the money, you
+would cringe to me; as you have it, you take every advantage of your
+position. But it won't do, Aunt Rosamund, for I am not the girl to
+submit to your insults. I shall stop here so long as it pleases me to
+stop, and if you make yourself disagreeable I shall know what to do."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley's face grew slowly white, and her mouth opened and shut
+like a cod-fish. Had Bella wept, she would have gone on bullying
+triumphantly, but this cool, calm, scornful demeanour frightened her. At
+heart, like all bullies, she was a coward, and knew well that if it were
+known how she had ousted Bella from her rightful inheritance, that she
+would be unpopular. As Mrs. Coppersley liked to be popular, and hoped,
+by means of her marriage with Vand, her wrongfully obtained income, and
+her possession of Bleacres, to be the great lady of the neighbourhood,
+she did not wish to drive Bella to extremes. She therefore wiped her
+face, and hedged.
+
+"You mustn't be angry with me Bella," she said in quieter tones, "I wish
+you well, my girl."
+
+"You wish me just as much as suits yourself," retorted Bella coolly; "so
+far you have had everything your own way. Now I mean to look into things
+for myself. You can go now, and entertain your darling Henry. I shall
+not come to dinner. Send up Jane with some food to my bedroom."
+
+"I shall do nothing of the sort," protested Mrs. Coppersley feebly, for
+her late rage had exhausted her, and she did not feel equal to fighting
+this pale, steady-eyed girl.
+
+"I have told you what to do; so go and do it!" said Bella, without
+raising her voice, and looked Mrs. Coppersley squarely in the eyes.
+
+The mistress of Bleacres tried to face down the gaze, but failed, and
+thoroughly cowed and beaten, in spite of her better position, she slowly
+retreated, muttering to herself a vengeance which she was unable to
+fulfil.
+
+Left alone, Bella gave way. Pride had kept her up during the quarrel
+with her aunt, but now, secure from observation, she broke down and
+wept. Never before had she felt so lonely or so helpless. Cyril was
+away, and she could not confide in him, for even if he had been present
+the terms on which they had parted forbade confidences. There was Dora
+Ankers, the school-mistress certainly--a good friend, but a bad adviser,
+as she knew very little of the world. And there was no one else who
+could help her in the dilemma in which she was placed. She had no home,
+no friends, and--on the face of it--no lover. It was a terrible position
+for a girl who hitherto had never met with serious trouble.
+
+In spite of the drawn-down blinds and the cool atmosphere of the room,
+Bella could scarcely breathe, so she moved to a side window, drew up the
+blind, and lifted the lower sash. Outside, the brilliance of the
+sunshine was almost blinding, and through the quivering heads, across
+the still, stiff stalks of the corn, for there was no wind, she could
+see the gaudy red of the scarecrow coat. The mere glint of the violent
+hue made her head ache, and she returned to the middle of the room to
+walk up and down wearily thinking of what was best to be done in the
+circumstances in which she found herself. The photograph of Cyril in its
+silver frame she replaced on the table. The much-loved face smiled
+encouragingly on her. At least, in her over-wrought state she thought
+so, and the thought aided her to beat down the many fears which assailed
+her.
+
+While musingly walking the room, she became aware of a slight noise, and
+turned abruptly towards the window to see a black face grinning at her,
+with very white teeth. At once her thoughts reverted to the prophecy of
+Granny Tunks, and she felt a sudden thrill of dread as she saw that a
+black man actually had come to the Manor-house. For one moment, the
+negro and the fair, young girl looked steadfastly at one another, she
+filled with nervous fear, and he, curiously observant. After an almost
+imperceptible pause--which seemed hours to Bella--the man leaped through
+the window, before she could regain her voice to forbid his entrance.
+
+"Where is my master?" he asked, in guttural tones, but in fairly good
+English.
+
+Bella did not immediately reply, as her nerves fairly thrilled with the
+weird realisation of what the witch-wife had seen in the crystal, and
+even now she had not her voice under command. The negro was tall, bulky,
+and powerfully framed, coal-black from head to foot, with tightly curled
+hair and sharp, white teeth like those of a dog. Bella had never seen so
+huge and strong a man, but in spite of his formidable appearance, his
+dark eyes had a kindly look in their depths, and his movements were
+extremely gentle. Apparently his bark was worse than his bite, though
+his uncivilised looks were enough to awe the boldest. Plainly but
+roughly dressed in an old tweed suit, with brown shoes and a bowler hat,
+he was not noticeable, save for his stature and enormous virility. The
+sensation he produced on the girl was overpowering, yet it was not
+entirely one of fear. In spite of his cannibal looks and unexpected
+entrance, and imperious demand, she felt perfectly safe.
+
+"I am Durgo!" explained the negro, annoyed by her silence, as was
+apparent from the frown which wrinkled his eye-brows. "Where is my
+master?"
+
+"I don't know where your master is," she replied, finding her tongue
+with some difficulty. "I do not know who your master is."
+
+"My master," said the negro, "is my master. He came here two weeks and
+some days ago, more or less. I have come to find him. Where is he?"
+
+"How can I tell you when I do not even know his name?" asked Bella
+sharply.
+
+"His name is----" Durgo was about to satisfy her curiosity, when he
+caught sight of the photograph in the silver frame, which still stood on
+the table. With a guttural cry of delight, he caught this up in his huge
+hands. "Oh, my master! my master!" he gurgled, in an ecstasy of delight.
+
+Bella stepped back a pace with a scared look. "Mr. Lister your master?"
+
+Durgo nodded, and coolly slipped the photograph, frame and all, into the
+breast pocket of his tweed coat. "He is here! I shall find him," he
+remarked. "Did my master see Captain Huxham?"
+
+"Yes," she replied mechanically.
+
+"Did my master and Captain Huxham quarrel?"
+
+"Yes," she replied again, and still mechanically.
+
+"And did my master get what he wanted?" demanded the negro, rolling his
+eyes.
+
+"I don't know what Mr. Lister wanted," said Bella faintly; "you must
+explain yourself, and----"
+
+"I explain nothing until I see my master," was Durgo's reply. "Perhaps
+Captain Huxham knows where my master is?"
+
+"Captain Huxham is dead," she gasped.
+
+Durgo shut his strong white teeth with a click. "Dead!" he repeated.
+"Ah--aha--aha; Captain Huxham is dead. Then my master----"
+
+"No," cried Bella, covering her eyes. "I don't believe that Cyril killed
+my father--I don't believe it."
+
+"Cyril! father!" repeated Durgo, looking at her curiously. "I must learn
+if----" He broke off suddenly and moved noiselessly to the window. Bella
+stretched a helpless hand to stay him, but, lightly vaulting out of
+doors, he disappeared in a moment. She rushed to the window and saw him
+running down the path towards the boundary channel. There was no chance
+of catching him up, as she saw well, and therefore drew back.
+
+"The crystal! the crystal!" she muttered to herself, shivering. "Granny
+must know what it all means. I must see Granny, and ask about the
+crystal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A LOVERS' MEETING
+
+
+Having made up her mind to seek an explanation from Mrs. Tunks regarding
+the vision of the negro in the crystal--that is, if the old woman really
+had beheld the same--Bella lost no time in executing her purpose. In two
+or three minutes she hastily reassumed her hat, cloak, and gloves, which
+she had removed while conversing with Mrs. Coppersley. Then taking her
+sunshade, she left the Manor-house by the front door. In the dining-room
+she could hear the refined tones of Vand and the coarse voice of Mrs.
+Coppersley, as they laughed and chattered in the most amiable manner.
+Evidently the pair had quite forgotten the recent tragedy, which had
+invested Bleacres with so sinister a reputation. With a nervous
+shiver--for the merriment seemed to be singularly ill-timed--Bella
+closed the door softly, and walked down the corn-path. Glancing right
+and left, and straight ahead, she could see nothing of the black man,
+who had appeared and disappeared so mysteriously. Like the witches in
+"Macbeth," he had made himself into thin air, and had vanished.
+
+Bella felt remarkably uneasy, and on the face of it had great cause to
+be so. Apparently, and she had not the least doubt of this, Durgo was
+Cyril's servant, who came in search of him. She rather wondered that her
+lover should have so uncivilised an attendant, and resolved that if they
+married she would endeavour to get him to dispense with the services of
+the man. But what struck her most, were the questions of Durgo. He
+evidently expected Cyril to meet Huxham and to have a quarrel. Also the
+stated time--of two weeks and some days--corresponded with the midnight
+visit of Cyril to the Manor-house. She recollected then that the visit
+was paid, not at midnight, but about eight o'clock, and saw in the
+mistake she had made the perplexity of her bewildered brain. With a
+groan she tried to clear her understanding by swift movement, for she
+felt unable to follow any regular train of thought.
+
+Nevertheless, Durgo's innocent speech re-awakened her old suspicions,
+though she dreaded to recall them. What if, after all, Cyril had been
+the visitor of a fortnight since? In that case, since Huxham had been
+found dead, Cyril must have struck the blow. The horror of the mere
+idea, which placed a barrier between them, made her turn cold, and she
+resolutely put it from her. Cyril was the man she loved; the man in whom
+she had every reason to believe. He had solemnly sworn that he was
+innocent of her father's blood, and if she entertained a grain of
+affection for him she was bound to believe his word, even in the face of
+strong evidence to the contrary. He must be guiltless; he _was_
+guiltless, as she assured herself; his looks and words and bearing
+convinced her of his guiltlessness. In one way or another, the promised
+explanation would solve the difficult problem. But when would that
+explanation be made?
+
+Then, again, Mrs. Tunks must know somewhat of the truth, since she had
+so truly foretold the coming of the negro. Bella, entirely lacking the
+mystical sense, had no belief in visions, and assumed that the old
+woman, for her own ends, had played a comedy, based upon actual fact.
+Taking this view, the girl walked towards the hut of the witch-wife,
+resolute to learn how much Mrs. Tunks knew concerning Cyril's past life.
+Something she must know, else she could not have hinted at the
+appearance of the negro. Bella herself was ignorant that her lover had
+so sinister a servant, but it seemed that Mrs. Tunks was better
+informed. And since the old hag knew so much, she must know more. A few
+questions would doubtless bring forth the information, and then Bella
+felt that she would know how to act. But the position was extremely
+difficult, and the skein of life very tangled.
+
+Thinking in this desultory way, she reached the end of the corn-field,
+and was about to turn along the pathway leading to the hut, when she
+heard her name called anxiously. Looking up, she saw Dora Ankers on the
+hither side of the boundary channel.
+
+"Oh, Bella! I am so glad to see you," sang out the Marshely
+school-mistress volubly. "I really didn't want to go to the Manor and
+meet that horrid aunt of yours. Come with me, dear; he is waiting at my
+cottage."
+
+"Who is waiting?" demanded Bella, greatly surprised by this address.
+
+"Oh, my dear, as if to a girl in love there is any he but the one he in
+the world," said Dora, who was sentimental and impatient.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Mr. Lister----"
+
+"Mr. Lister? Oh, you cruel-hearted girl: do you call him that?"
+
+"I mean Cyril," said Bella hurriedly; "is he----"
+
+"Yes, he is. He won't come to the Manor, and can't very well see you in
+his own rooms, as that nasty-minded Mrs. Block might say things. She is
+such a gossip you know. In despair he came to me, poor dear, so I asked
+him to wait in my sitting-room while I came for you."
+
+Bella drew herself up stiffly. She did not desire to appear too willing
+to obey the summons of her lover. Womanlike, she wished him to say that
+he was in the wrong, so that her pride might be saved. "I am going to
+Mrs. Tunks'."
+
+"What for?" asked Dora, bluntly.
+
+"Never mind," replied Miss Huxham, unwilling to confess that she was
+dealing with uncanny things beyond the veil. "I must go."
+
+Dora tripped lightly across the narrow planks, and slipped her arm
+within that of her friend. "You shall do nothing of the sort, you cold
+thing," she declared. "Poor Mr. Lister is quite broken-hearted by the
+way in which you have treated him."
+
+"Oh!" Bella became stiffer than ever. "Has he said----"
+
+"He has said nothing! he is too much a man to say anything. But I saw
+his poor, pale, peaked face, and----"
+
+"Does he look ill?" Bella was seized with a sudden qualm.
+
+"Ill?" Miss Ankers' gestures and looks became eloquent. "Dear, he is
+dying."
+
+"Oh, Dora!" Miss Huxham kilted up her skirts and fairly ran across the
+planks. "Why didn't you come for me before?"
+
+"You don't seem to be in a hurry to come now," laughed Dora, crossing in
+her turn; "yet the poor, dear fellow is dying--to see you."
+
+"Where has he been all this time?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, dear. He came straight from London last night,
+and went to my cottage this morning to see me. I was in church, so he
+came again in the afternoon, and asked me to help him. Oh, my dear, he
+is handsome, and I felt that I could do anything for him. I wish he had
+made love to me," sighed the romantic school-mistress; "but all he did,
+was to ask me to bring you to my cottage for an interview. So come,
+dear, come, and save the poor darling from an early grave."
+
+Bella needed no urging, for she was genuinely concerned over the news,
+and sped towards Marshely like a fawn, with Miss Ankers at her heels.
+Dora had no difficulty in keeping up, as she was a slim, small, dainty
+woman, more like a fairy than mere flesh and blood. In spite of her age,
+and she confessed to thirty-five, she had a pink-and-white skin, golden
+hair, and clear blue eyes. Dressed as she was, in pale blue, with many
+ribbons and ornaments, she looked like a well-arrayed doll, just out of
+a satin-lined box. But for all her innocent looks, Miss Ankers was a
+stern school-mistress, and during business hours behaved with great
+severity. Out of them, however, she presented herself to the village
+world in her true colours, as a sentimental, airy, sweet-tempered little
+creature, who was everybody's friend and nobody's enemy. Bella was
+always fond of her, but at this moment felt more attached to her than
+ever--as she had every reason to be, seeing that Miss Ankers had given
+up her snug sitting-room for a lovers' meeting, and had actually brought
+that meeting about.
+
+"You're my good angel, Dora," said Bella, kissing her friend, as they
+drew near the cottage, on the outskirts of Marshely.
+
+"Oh, what waste!" remonstrated Dora, opening her china-blue eyes to
+their widest. "What will Mr. Lister say to your throwing away kisses on
+me?"
+
+Bella laughed, for her heart had grown unexpectedly light. She had a
+firm belief that all misunderstandings were about to be cleared up
+between her lover and herself. Also she acknowledged to herself, with
+great and thankful joy, that Cyril, in spite of her misgivings, had
+returned to her. Seeing how she had doubted and accused him, he might
+have departed for ever, and with every reason for such a course. But
+apparently he loved her so devotedly that he was willing to remain and
+explain himself. It was no wonder that Bella's heart leaped for joy,
+since the cloud, which had for so long overshadowed the sunshine of
+love, was about to be dissipated. She almost danced into Ankers' small
+garden.
+
+"Mr. Lister is in the sitting-room dear," said that arch-plotter,
+pushing her companion into the cottage. "You'll find him there. I have
+to go to the church to run over the evening hymns."
+
+Miss Huxham knew that this was a mere excuse, but loved Dora all the
+more for making it. Miss Ankers was much too romantic to mar the meeting
+by presenting herself as an inconvenient third. Therefore she turned
+away laughing, and Bella, anxious to lose no moment of joy, entered the
+small sitting-room with a bright, expectant smile. It died away at the
+sight of Lister's sombre face.
+
+The young man was seated in an arm-chair, with a newspaper lying on his
+knees. But he was not reading, as his eyes were fixed darkly on the door
+through which Bella had just entered. For the instant, he did not appear
+to be aware of her presence; then he rose gravely and bowed. Even in the
+midst of her dismay at this reception, Bella was woman enough to note
+how spruce, and trim, and singularly handsome he looked. Certainly his
+face was grave and pale, but beyond this she could not see the dying
+looks which Dora had so eloquently described. When they came face to
+face an embarrassing silence ensued. Bella was the first to speak.
+
+"Are you not pleased to see me, Cyril?" she faltered.
+
+"I am very pleased," he returned gravely, and pushed forward a chair.
+"Will you not be seated?"
+
+"Not until you explain why you receive me in this way," she declared
+indignantly. "You send for me, and I come at once only to find
+displeased looks."
+
+"Our last interview explains my looks, Bella."
+
+"No, it doesn't," she cried, up in arms at once; "I admitted my fault in
+suspecting you then, and asked your pardon. You left me without a kiss,
+and--and----" She stopped with an angry gesture. "It seems to me that I
+am the one who has the right to be displeased."
+
+"No," said Lister, decidedly. "I love you very dearly, as you know;
+but----"
+
+"How can I tell that you love me dearly?"
+
+"My desire to meet you again shows that I do. Many a man would have left
+you for ever on learning, as I did, your cruel suspicions. You have no
+right to be displeased, as you said a moment since. I am the wronged
+person, for if you really loved me you would believe nothing against
+me."
+
+"I do not; I do not."
+
+"But you did."
+
+"Only for a single moment. Oh!"--Bella uttered a cry of despair--"I am
+only a human being, and I saw you--as I thought--entering the house. I
+knew that on my account you had quarrelled with my father, so what could
+I think but that you had killed him? I don't pretend to be an angel."
+She broke off and sat down, pressing her hands hard together, then
+looked up with feigned self-control. "We discussed all this before," she
+said coldly, "did you invite me here to ask me to defend myself again?"
+
+"No. I asked you here to learn from your own lips that you believe me to
+be guiltless."
+
+"I do. I swear I do." Bella rose in her excitement. "And I ask your
+pardon for my wicked suspicions."
+
+"Bella!" He sprang forward and caught her hands within his own. "Then
+you really and truly love me?"
+
+"If you had gone away," she breathed faintly in his ear, "I should have
+died."
+
+Cyril drew her closely to his breast. "My darling," he whispered,
+smoothing her hair, "I love you too dearly to leave you. I ask your
+pardon for my harsh words. On the face of it, I don't see what you could
+do but suspect me. It was unreasonable for me to ask you to do
+otherwise. That you believe my mere word, in spite of the strong
+evidence against me, shows that you love me as dearly and strongly as I
+love you. So far, all that is right. We trust one another."
+
+"Wholly. Entirely. To the death we trust one another."
+
+"That is well." Cyril sat down in the arm-chair, and drew Bella on to
+his knees. "Unity is strength. With you by my side I am not afraid."
+
+"Then you have been afraid?" she asked softly.
+
+"Of losing your love--yes. But now I am satisfied on that point, there
+is another thing that makes me afraid."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I may be accused of this murder. Other people may have seen me, as you
+saw me, dear."
+
+"Then it _was_ you?" she gasped.
+
+"No, no! I have explained myself. If necessary, I can put forward an
+_alibi_."
+
+"Who was the man then?"
+
+"I can't tell you that." Cyril pushed her away, and rose much agitated.
+
+"Then you know?" Bella stood back from him doubtfully.
+
+"I can't be sure. I think--that is, I fancy--Bella, don't ask me
+anything just now. Later I may be able to explain."
+
+"And you will explain?"
+
+"If it be possible. Remember, I said that I _might_ be able to explain,
+but of this I cannot be certain."
+
+"I do not understand," sighed the girl, seating herself again. "Cyril,
+has this matter anything to do with you?"
+
+"The matter of the murder?"
+
+"Yes. I don't mean to ask if you are guilty, as I know you are not. But
+are you connected in any way with the matter?"
+
+"No," he rejoined promptly, "if I were, I should be an accomplice after
+the fact. All the same----" He paused, looking paler than ever, and his
+face became peaked and haggard. "Don't ask me anything yet," he
+murmured.
+
+"I am willing to trust you, dear," said Bella quietly, "but, as you
+remarked yourself some time ago, other people----"
+
+He interrupted her. "Other people?"
+
+"Yes. Some one else did see you on that evening."
+
+"The person saw my double," corrected Cyril. "I was in London, as I told
+you, and as I can prove. Who is this person?"
+
+"Silas Pence."
+
+"Ah!" Lister's hands clenched. "He hates me because you are to be my
+wife. He will go to the police."
+
+"I don't think so," said Bella slowly. "He threatened to go, but as yet
+he has held his tongue."
+
+"Why, when he hates me so?"
+
+"I think--I think," said Bella slowly, "that Mr. Pence knows more about
+this matter than he chooses to admit."
+
+Cyril uttered an exclamation. "Do you suspect him?"
+
+"Not of the murder," she replied promptly; "he is too weak and timid a
+creature to commit a crime. But I know that he was poor; now he is
+unexpectedly rich, and we are aware," she added with emphasis, "that one
+hundred pounds was stolen from my father's safe on the night of the
+murder."
+
+"But surely you do not connect a harmless man, like Pence, with the
+crime?"
+
+"I say nothing, because I know nothing, Cyril. But if Mr. Pence is
+entirely innocent, why does he not accuse you, whom he hates."
+
+"He has no grounds to go upon, dear."
+
+Bella shook her head. "He thinks that he has," she answered, "as he
+believed it was you he saw when he met your double at the boundary
+channel. Since he would like to see you in trouble, the very fact that
+he delays telling the police shows that his own conscience is not easy."
+
+"It is strange," assented Lister. "However, if he does accuse me, I can
+prove an _alibi_."
+
+"But what about your double?"
+
+The young man turned away abruptly to the window. "I can say nothing on
+that point at present."
+
+"When will you explain?"
+
+"I can't say; sooner or later." Lister, with his hands in his pockets,
+looked out of the window as though to avoid further questioning. This
+behaviour puzzled Bella, as she felt sure that Cyril could tell her much
+if inclined to do so. But it was odd that he should so decline. She
+abruptly reverted to an earlier thought in her mind. "You did not tell
+me that you had a negro servant called Durgo."
+
+Lister wheeled sharply. "I have no servant, negro or otherwise," he said
+in a decisive tone. "Why do you say that?"
+
+Bella, wondering still more, gave him details, which Cyril heard with a
+perplexed frown. He made no comment until she had finished. "You say
+that this man recognised my portrait. In that case I can guess"--he did
+not finish his sentence, but became paler than ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A RECOGNITION
+
+
+Bella found the interviews with Cyril eminently unsatisfactory. It was
+perfectly plain that he entertained strong suspicions regarding the
+unknown person whom she termed his double. But even when questioned
+point-blank he declined to explain himself. Yet if Lister knew of
+someone who resembled him more or less closely he surely could place his
+hand on that someone. When he did so the assassin of Captain Huxham
+would speedily be found. This being the case it was strange that Cyril
+should hesitate, and again and again Bella questioned him bluntly, only
+to find him more determined than ever to keep his own counsel. Under
+these circumstances it was useless to prolong the conversation, and the
+girl left the cottage feeling extremely despondent. It seemed to her
+that the problem would never be solved, in spite of the certainty she
+entertained that Cyril could solve it if he so wished.
+
+Nor did Bella feel any brighter when she returned to the Manor, for Mrs.
+Coppersley chose to take umbrage at her niece's absence. Bella declined
+to say where she had been, and dismissed the matter in a few cold words.
+Not feeling sure of her ground, Mrs. Coppersley retreated for the time
+being, but next day returned to the attack with the evident object of
+making the Manor-house too hot for the girl. Bella was strong enough to
+quell open mutiny on the part of her aunt, but she could not defend
+herself against incessant nagging. Since the death of her brother, Mrs.
+Coppersley had become as bold as hitherto she had been meek, and in many
+skilful ways contrived to make her niece feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
+As Bella had quite enough to bear without being taxed further with these
+petty worries she became restive, and on the third day of hostilities
+demanded what her aunt meant by behaving so aggressively. Mrs.
+Coppersley, better at ambushes than in open warfare, would have shirked
+the battle, but Bella forced the quarrel since it was absolutely
+necessary to bring matters to a head.
+
+"You never leave me alone, Aunt Rosamund," she complained wearily.
+
+"Because you are a drone," retorted Mrs. Coppersley. "You eat, yet you
+do not work. And as St. Paul says----"
+
+"I don't wish to hear what St. Paul says, thank you."
+
+"It would be better if you did. I have your good at heart."
+
+"Nothing of the sort; you merely wish to get rid of me."
+
+Mrs. Coppersley grew vividly red, but did not make any denial. "Why
+should I not?" she cried loudly. "You treat me as though I were dirt
+under your feet, miss. Who are you to behave like this, I should like to
+know?"
+
+"I am my father's daughter," said Bella, very distinctly, "who have been
+cheated out of my inheritance."
+
+"I'll make you prove those words," said Mrs. Coppersley, turning from
+scarlet to white. "Go and see Mr. Timson in Cade Lane, and you will find
+everything has been done to make the will legal."
+
+"I am quite sure of that, Aunt Rosamund, as you are too clever a woman
+to risk losing your spoil. But you have cheated me by inducing my father
+to disinherit me in your favour."
+
+"I did not! I did not!" Mrs. Coppersley stamped wrathfully. "Your father
+borrowed money from me to pay for the farm ten years ago. I lent it on
+condition that I inherited Bleacres. I told you this before, and----"
+
+"That will do," interrupted Bella imperiously. "I shall see Mr. Timson,
+and learn for certain if what you have told me is correct. Meantime, as
+it is quite impossible for me to remain in the house with you, I shall
+go and stay with Dora Ankers."
+
+"She won't have you," taunted Mrs. Coppersley.
+
+"I have already arranged to live with her until I am married."
+
+"Then you are going to marry that wastrel?"
+
+"I don't know who you mean."
+
+"Mr. Lister, the man who was so hated by your father."
+
+"Whether I marry Mr. Lister or not is my business," said Bella, drily;
+"and so far as I can learn, my father had no reason to hate him. Do you
+know why he did so, Aunt Rosamund?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Coppersley reluctantly, for she would have dearly liked
+to put a spoke in Bella's wheel, as the saying is. "Jabez's life before
+he came here was not known to me. But I am quite sure that it was shady,
+and----"
+
+Bella interrupted again. "Leave the dead alone. You are benefiting by my
+father's work, whatever it might have been, and have no call to abuse
+him."
+
+"I only got my own money back," said Mrs. Coppersley defiantly; "but if
+you leave my house you leave it for ever. I wash my hands of you."
+
+"I am quite content that it should be so," said Bella icily; "but I
+can't leave my home penniless. Give me fifty pounds until such time as I
+can see Mr. Timson and learn how I stand."
+
+"What?" Mrs. Coppersley became shrill in her anger. "Give you money to
+bring lawsuits against me?"
+
+Bella looked at her very directly. "If everything is fair and square, as
+you say," she observed severely, "there is no danger of lawsuits. Come,
+Aunt Rosamund, I wish to leave Bleacres this afternoon. Give me the
+money."
+
+"No!" shouted the older woman, and sat down with folded arms and a
+dogged expression. "You get no money from me."
+
+Bella was perplexed. She could not use violence, and her aunt seemed
+very determined. For the moment she was nonplussed, and scarcely knew
+what to say. But at this moment Henry Vand entered. The conversation had
+taken place in the study, and Vand came into the room from the hall.
+Apparently he had just entered the house. In fact, he explained as much,
+and also confessed calmly that he had listened.
+
+"I heard your voices raised," he said quietly, "and knowing Rosamund's
+violent temper I waited, so that I might interfere on your behalf, Miss
+Huxham."
+
+"I want no interference," said Mrs. Coppersley jealousy. "I can manage
+my own business."
+
+"That may be," said the young man drily, "but you seem to forget that I
+am your husband."
+
+"Husband!" echoed Bella amazed.
+
+"Yes," said Vand; while Mrs. Coppersley--or rather Mrs. Vand--looked
+sullenly at the floor. "We have been married for three months,
+secretly."
+
+"Why secretly?" asked Bella, still wondering at the news.
+
+"That's our business," said her aunt insolently.
+
+"Pardon me, Rosamund," said Vand, who was as polite as his wife was
+rude. "It is only fair that Miss Huxham should understand the position."
+
+"Have it your own way, then," muttered Mrs. Vand, tossing her head,
+"only make her understand that I have had enough of her airs and graces.
+She can clear out of our house as soon as she likes, and leave us to
+ourselves."
+
+"She is willing to do that for fifty pounds," said Vand politely.
+
+"I shan't give her that amount."
+
+"You are quite right, Rosamund; you will give Miss Huxham a cheque for
+one hundred pounds."
+
+"Are you out of your senses?" raged his wife, starting to her feet.
+
+"I don't want so much as that, Mr. Vand," said Bella, pleased to think
+that her new uncle by marriage was taking her part.
+
+"It is a mere question of justice, Miss Huxham. My wife has inherited
+the Solitary Farm, so it is only right that she should recompense you."
+
+"Mind," said Bella, suddenly, and thinking that this might be a bribe,
+"if I find anything wrong when I see Mr. Timson I shall bring an
+action."
+
+"I told you so, Henry," remarked Mrs. Vand triumphantly.
+
+"I have seen the will and the lawyer," said the man quietly, "and
+everything is correct. There is no flaw. With regard to my marriage,
+Miss Huxham, I agreed to a secret ceremony since your late father was
+opposed to my courtship of your aunt. But the time has now come to
+proclaim the marriage, so I have brought my luggage here to-day."
+
+"And that is why my aunt wishes me to leave the house," said Bella, with
+a curling lip.
+
+Vand, who was much the most self-controlled of the trio, looked at her
+very straightly. "You can come or stay as you please," he said gently.
+"I am quite willing that you should remain."
+
+"Oh," cried Mrs. Vand furiously, "so you want her to remain. Perhaps you
+are in love with her; perhaps you would like to----"
+
+"Aunt," interrupted Bella, blushing with annoyance, "how can you talk so
+foolishly. Mr. Vand loves you, or he would not have married you. As for
+me, I am going away to Dora's as soon as you give me the money."
+
+"Not one penny."
+
+Vand gazed steadily at the furious woman. In spite of his club foot he
+was certainly handsome, and looked as refined as his wife looked coarse.
+He must have had good blood in his veins in spite of his lowly birth,
+and, without appearing to do so, managed, on this occasion at least, to
+dominate the more animal nature. Bella neither liked nor disliked the
+cripple, but she could not help admiring the skilful way in which he
+mastered her aunt. Perhaps he magnetised her with his large blue eyes or
+the calmness of his manner may have had a soothing effect. But, whatever
+was the cause, Mrs. Vand winced under his silent gaze and lowered her
+voice, as she consented unexpectedly to do what he suggested. "I shall
+give Bella a cheque for one hundred pounds on condition that she does
+not trouble me again," she grumbled, going to the desk with an
+affectation of generosity.
+
+"You seem to hate me so much that there is no need for me to see you any
+more," said Bella bitterly.
+
+"But I warn you that if the will is not right I shall take steps to
+recover the farm, which I look upon as my property."
+
+"It is not your property, it is mine; and Jabez's income also," said
+Mrs. Vand, looking up from the cheque she was writing, "and if you don't
+promise to leave things alone you shan't have the money."
+
+"I refuse to sell my heritage for a mess of potage," cried Bella,
+impetuously.
+
+"There is no need that you should," interposed Vand gently. "Rosamund,
+sign the cheque."
+
+Mrs. Vand scowled, hesitated, but finally did as she was ordered,
+throwing it on the floor afterwards in silent fury. Her husband picked
+it up and handed it, with a bow, to Bella.
+
+"There you are, Miss Huxham," he said with marked courtesy. "I hope you
+will be happy at Miss Ankers'. So far as I am aware, everything has been
+left to my wife, but later I shall endeavour to make some arrangement
+with Rosamund by which you will be benefited. And I beg of you not to
+leave this house in anger."
+
+"I shall make no arrangement, now or hereafter," cried Mrs. Vand. "Bella
+has received all that she will receive. For my part, I'm glad to see the
+back of her," and with a red face and a scornful look she flounced out
+of the room, much to the girl's relief.
+
+"I wonder why my aunt hates me so?" she asked Vand with a piteous look.
+"I have never done her any harm."
+
+"She only gives way to her temper, Miss Huxham," said the cripple
+soothingly, "and doesn't mean half she says. Don't trouble any more
+about Rosamund. I am your friend. You will shake hands, will you not?"
+
+Bella did not hesitate to take the hand extended to her, as she admitted
+silently that if Vand had not interposed she would not have received the
+money. Besides, her new relative throughout had proved himself to be so
+courteous and thoughtful that she had no reason to mistrust him.
+Howsoever Mrs. Vand had become possessed of the farm and income of the
+late Captain Huxham, her husband was at least innocent. "But I do not
+bind myself to take no steps if necessary to recover Bleacres," Bella
+warned the young man, as she shook his hand. "You understand that?"
+
+"Perfectly; and indeed, if Rosamund has come wrongfully by the estate
+she must surrender it. Still, Miss Huxham, you cannot expect me to doubt
+my own wife, especially as Rosamund has been good enough to marry a
+cripple such as I am."
+
+"I think, without flattery to you," said Bella, walking towards the
+door, "that my aunt has got the best of the bargain," and the last thing
+she saw when throwing a glance over her shoulder was Vand blushing
+crimson at the unusual compliment. But Bella meant what she said, as
+even ease and wealth were hardly purchased by marriage with a furious,
+coarse-natured woman such as Rosamund Vand. The girl wondered how she
+had ever come to have such an aunt; she might have wondered also how she
+ever came to have a parent so common and ruffianly as her late father
+had been.
+
+That same afternoon Bella packed all her belongings and had them carried
+by Tunks to the hither side of the boundary channel. There they were
+placed on a hand-cart and wheeled to Miss Ankers' cottage. Mrs. Vand
+discreetly kept out of the way when Bella departed, or perhaps her
+husband insisted that she should not drive forth the girl with insults,
+as she certainly would have done. At all events she remained invisible,
+and it was Vand alone who said good-bye to the homeless girl. Bella felt
+a pang when she looked back along the narrow path of the corn-fields to
+see a stranger standing in the doorway. She was certain of one
+thing--that Mrs. Vand had found a master, and that for all his quietness
+and polite ways her husband would not allow her to have her own way as
+she had hitherto done. Doubtless her aunt had deemed Vand would be as
+harmless and innocuous as the scarlet-coated scarecrow, of which Bella
+caught a last glimpse; but there was no doubt in the girl's mind as to
+which of the happy pair would rule the house. Mrs. Vand's coarse
+bullying could do very little against the quiet persistence of a polite
+man, who was determined to govern. So far as Bella knew from Huxham, her
+aunt had ruled her first husband with a rod of iron; now she was about
+to be governed in her turn. "And much good may it do her," thought
+Bella, who was much too human to be forgiving.
+
+Dora was delighted that her best friend should board with her, and
+received Miss Huxham with open arms. After tea, the two arranged Bella's
+bedroom to their satisfaction and unpacked her boxes. Then they had a
+talk as to the advisability of going to Cade Lane for the purpose of
+questioning Mr. Timson regarding the will. "You should attend to the
+matter at once, my dear," said Dora, who was extremely practical for all
+her doll-like looks. "Lose no time, for I am certain that your aunt has
+employed some trickery in getting possession of the property."
+
+"I shall consult Cyril first," said Bella wearily, and little more was
+said on that night, as the girl was quite worn out with the events of
+the day.
+
+Next morning Miss Ankers had to teach in school as usual, and Bella was
+left to her own devices. She assisted Dora's small servant to tidy the
+rooms and make the beds, after which she put on her hat and walked into
+the village to make some small purchases. Also--and this was by Dora's
+advice--she saw the manager of the small local bank, and opened an
+account with him by paying in her aunt's cheque for one hundred pounds.
+The manager courteously promised to send the cheque to London, and to
+notify Bella when it was honoured. Miss Huxham was somewhat relieved at
+this promise, as she did not trust her aunt, and knew that she was quite
+capable of stopping the cheque, especially when she had not given it
+with a good grace. But Bella need not have troubled her head; the cheque
+was duly honoured, as Mr. Henry Vand saw to that.
+
+Having dispatched her business, Bella strolled out of the village, and
+found herself on the common. This was a vast expanse overgrown with
+gorse and broom, and with a miniature forest of saplings springing from
+an undergrowth of fern and bracken. Through this fairy wood, as some
+people called it, narrow paths were cut, so that one could wander for
+hours in and out of a kind of natural labyrinth. The saplings were
+scarcely six feet in height, so that an extra tall man could look over
+the green sea of vegetation. Bella loved this place, as she had often
+sauntered therein with Dora, and indeed with Cyril also. The wonderful
+tangle of fern and bracken and many-hued grasses, the brilliant
+colouring of flowers, and the fecund blossoming of the golden broom,
+made the common a home of delight. Bella walked meditatively through the
+cool green paths, and emerged at intervals on to wide, waste spaces
+where the purple heather grew thickly. Butterflies floated through the
+still air, bumble-bees visited the flowers, and the birds sang as in an
+enchanted garden. Bella stopped to hear the silvery carol of an
+invisible lark, for the bird, raining its music lavishly from the sky,
+was quite hidden by the dazzle of sunshine. As she paused, she felt a
+light hand touch her shoulder, and turned with a glad cry.
+
+"Oh, Cyril, how you startled me!" she said, pleased with the unexpected
+encounter. "I am so glad to see you, dear. Have you heard----"
+
+Lister threw himself contentedly on the fragrant heather, and drew Bella
+down by his side. "I have heard, and I am very angry," he said hotly.
+"Dear, what does your aunt mean by treating you in this way?"
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I expect she wants the Manor to herself
+now that she is married. Who told you?"
+
+"Miss Ankers. I met her coming out of school. She told me that you were
+returning to dinner, so I came to fetch you. I guessed that I should
+find you here, and so----" he waved his hand lazily.
+
+"I am glad to see you," said Bella again, "but you look ill, dear."
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "I am worried about this mysterious double
+of mine," he muttered, and lying full length on the burnt grass he
+tilted his hat over his eyes. He did indeed look ill, for his face was
+very pale and lines appeared on his forehead which should not have been
+there at his age. In some extraordinary way he seemed to have aged, as
+it were, in a moment. "I am very much worried," he sighed; "everything
+is going wrong. Now this abominable treatment to which your aunt has
+subjected you to makes things doubly difficult for me."
+
+"In what way?" asked Bella, sitting up and hugging her knees.
+
+"I don't know how to move," explained the young man. "While you were
+safe at Bleacres with your aunt I could wait. But now that you have no
+home, I should like to marry you at once." He sighed again. "But that is
+impossible, dear, owing to circumstances."
+
+"You need not trouble about me," said Bella promptly. "I have got one
+hundred pounds, and I am quite glad to be away from Aunt Rosamund's
+incessant nagging. I can live with Dora and pay my way until such time
+as you can marry me."
+
+"Heaven only knows when I can marry you!" groaned Cyril dismally.
+
+"I can tell you," said Bella, removing the hat from his anxious face in
+order to look into his eyes; "as soon as you are frank with me."
+
+"I have come to be frank with you," said Lister reluctantly.
+
+"It sounds like it."
+
+"My dear"--he sat up to speak more forcibly--"when I am frank you will
+be as unhappy as I am."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean? I scarcely know what I mean--that is, I scarcely dare put my
+thoughts into words. Of course, I may be wrong. I sincerely trust that I
+am wrong. All the same, there is no denying that I have grave grounds
+for my belief."
+
+"What belief?" Bella asked the question in scared tones, as Cyril looked
+so wretched.
+
+He did not reply at once, but moved restlessly about, evidently bracing
+himself to speak plainly. Even when he did open his mouth he was
+evasive. "I have an idea that my double--that is, the man who was
+mistaken by you and Pence for me on that night--might be--oh!"--he
+rested his head between his hands with a groan--"I dare not tell you who
+he might be."
+
+"You have some idea?"
+
+"Yes; I wish I hadn't."
+
+"Is it anyone I know?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Is it----"
+
+"Oh, my dear! don't ask questions which I dare not answer."
+
+"You must answer," said Bella firmly. "I must share your griefs as well
+as sorrows. Tell me everything. Go on, Cyril, tell me quickly!"
+
+"Hush!" Lister started to his feet with an alarmed look. "What's that? I
+swear that I heard a rustling in the underwood. Someone is listening."
+He glanced around anxiously, looking pale and nervous. Bella rose at the
+same time and caught his hand to give him courage, although she could
+not understand what he meant by his words and looks.
+
+But the two had not to wait long. A distant crackling was heard, and in
+a moment or so a tall bulky man stepped from out the underwood.
+
+"Durgo!" breathed Bella, recognising the negro.
+
+He ran towards Cyril and dropped on his knees. "My master!" he cried;
+then leaped up. "You are not Edwin Lister," he growled with widely open
+eyes.
+
+"My father! my father!" groaned Cyril in despair. "I knew it; I was
+certain of it. Now I know the worst," and he sat down to hide his face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CYRIL'S STORY
+
+
+Bella looked from the astonished Durgo to the despairing Lister, and
+wondered what the scene meant. That the matter at issue was serious
+Cyril's demeanour gave her fully to understand. But what the matter
+might be she could not guess, save that it had something to do with this
+mysterious double who had caused all the commotion. The negro appeared
+to be as puzzled as herself, and stared at the seated figure with an
+open mouth, scratching his woolly head meanwhile.
+
+"Not my master, but like my master," he muttered, staring hard, and
+speaking in his usual guttural manner but not in the usual negro
+dialect, so rude and clipped. "If you're not my master, Edwin Lister,"
+he added, addressing himself to the young man, "who are you, sir?"
+
+"Answer him, Cyril," said Bella, seeing that her lover did not speak.
+"Did you ever see this man before?"
+
+Lister looked up, pale and hollow-eyed. "Never," he said briefly.
+
+"Did you ever meet Mr. Lister before?" Bella asked the negro.
+
+"Lister! Lister!" gasped Durgo, retreating a step. "Is this young
+gentleman called Lister?"
+
+"Cyril Lister," said that young man.
+
+"But my master had no son."
+
+"I am his son. Edwin Lister is my father."
+
+"Oh!" A sudden light broke over Bella's face, and she clapped her hands.
+"And your double?"
+
+"Yes," said Cyril in low tones; "now you can guess how afraid I was to
+lay my suspicions before you."
+
+"No," she said boldly. "Why you should be afraid I cannot guess."
+
+Cyril rose slowly, laid two heavy hands on her shoulders and looked
+directly into her eyes. "My dear," he said in a hard voice, "can you not
+understand that this double was my father, who resembled me so closely
+that this man"--he jerked back his head towards the still staring
+negro--"mistook me for him."
+
+"Well," said Bella, inquiringly.
+
+"Well," repeated Lister, impatiently, "You thought that I had committed
+the murder, but now that you know the truth----"
+
+Bella shook herself free and grew pale. "It was your father who struck
+the blow!" she said in a low, horrified tone.
+
+"Yes. And if my father killed your father, how can we marry?"
+
+There was a dead silence, and the unfortunate lovers looked at one
+another with white faces. If Cyril's surmise was true, a barrier had
+indeed been placed between them, and for the moment they saw no chance
+of over-leaping it. Quite oblivious of Durgo, they stared until the
+black man grew impatient of the silence.
+
+"What does this mean?" he growled, looking from one to the other. "I
+come to find my master, Edwin Lister, and he is not here. But I find one
+who calls himself the son of my master, Edwin Lister." He peered into
+Cyril's face. "My master never told me that he had a son, and yet"--he
+looked again--"I believe that you are my master's son."
+
+"Am I so like my father, then?" asked Cyril smiling faintly.
+
+Durgo struck his huge hands together. "The same in every way," he said
+firmly; "figure and face and colour and walk. Even the clothes"--he ran
+his eyes over Cyril's grey suit--"yes, even the clothes."
+
+"Oh!" It was Bella who spoke. "Cyril, do you remember that the grey
+clothes worn by your father on that night aided me to make a mistake?"
+
+Lister nodded. "That was a suit of mine," he said, "made for me. When my
+father came home from Nigeria he had no ready-made clothes, so he
+borrowed that suit until he could get fitted out in civilised garments.
+Well?"
+
+Cyril addressed this last question to Durgo, who had started violently
+when Nigeria was mentioned.
+
+"I am a Nigerian," he said in reply to the inquiry. "I was with your
+father at Ogrude, on the Cross River, for years. I came with him to
+London three months ago; but my master never said that he had a son."
+
+"He had his reasons for keeping silence, no doubt," said Cyril quietly;
+"but I never saw you, Durgo, nor did I hear my father mention you."
+
+"Yet you know my name," said the man suspiciously.
+
+"Only because Miss Huxham mentioned it when you appeared just now."
+
+"And I mentioned it to you before," Bella reminded him. "I told you how
+Durgo entered the Bleacres drawing-room and took your photograph, frame
+and all, from his pocket, and handed it to the girl."
+
+"I thought that it was one of my master, Edwin Lister, taken when he was
+younger," he said simply, "but I see----"
+
+"Yes! yes!" broke in Cyril impatiently. "I know what you see. I am a
+younger edition of my father."
+
+"Yes! yes! yes!" cried Durgo, staring again. "Never did I see two so
+alike."
+
+Bella glanced at the photograph and slipped it into her pocket. Her face
+was pearly white, and she dreaded the full explanation of what was to
+come. "We are still perplexed," she said quietly, and controlling
+herself with great difficulty. "You know nothing of Durgo, and he knows
+nothing of you. I think it will be best for us to sit down and discuss
+the matter quietly."
+
+"I agree with you," said Cyril, dropping down promptly. "Durgo, tell
+your story and then I shall tell mine. When we each know what the other
+knows, we may be able to arrive at some conclusion."
+
+"Regarding the murder," said Bella. "Perhaps," she added hopefully,
+"perhaps your father did not kill mine after all."
+
+"I fear he did," said Cyril heavily. "Remember what was said at the
+inquest about the West African knife with which the crime was committed.
+Nigeria is in West Africa."
+
+"My master had no knife of that sort," said Durgo bluntly.
+
+"Have you a description of the knife," asked Bella.
+
+"I read it in the newspapers," said the negro. "When you told me of your
+father's death, I read the papers."
+
+"You can read."
+
+"I can read and write and do many things," said Durgo quietly. "I have a
+black skin, but my education has not been neglected."
+
+"So I should think from the way in which you speak English."
+
+"The missionaries taught me much, and Edwin Lister taught me the rest."
+
+Cyril frowned. "I notice that you do not say 'Mister' when you speak of
+my father," he said pointedly.
+
+"I am a chief and the son of a chief," said Durgo proudly. "And for love
+of your father, who saved my life, I left my tribe and came with him. I
+called him master as a title of honour because I loved him, so why
+should I not say Edwin Lister?"
+
+Cyril, with the white man's inborn superiority, objected to this
+familiarity, and, but that Durgo's services were necessary to the
+unravelling of the mystery, would have pointed this out. As it was, he
+simply nodded and asked the black man to be more explicit. Durgo sat
+down and complied without any argument. His manners for a negro were
+singularly good.
+
+"There is not much to tell," he said in his guttural tones. "Edwin
+Lister was my friend and a trader in Nigeria, my country. He saved my
+life from a lion and won my gratitude. I helped him with his trading and
+left my tribe to do so. We heard of a treasure in the wilds of my
+country, and wished to fit out an expedition to find that treasure.
+Edwin Lister did, that is, and I was glad to do as he desired. But we
+required money, and it could not be had. Edwin Lister then thought of an
+old friend of his, Captain Huxham, who had also been in Nigeria----"
+
+"My father!" cried Bella, startled.
+
+"Yes, missy," said Durgo, bending his head towards her with grave
+respect. "He was well known in Nigeria many years ago, as he had a river
+steamer there. Edwin Lister then came to London with me, and afterwards
+came to see Captain Huxham here. That was some weeks ago, and he
+promised me to return. As he did not, I came down and then heard of the
+murder of Captain Huxham. But where is my master, Edwin Lister?" and
+Durgo looked from one to the other.
+
+"Have you not seen him since?" asked Cyril anxiously.
+
+"No." Durgo shook his head profoundly.
+
+"What do you think has become of him?" asked Cyril, still white.
+
+Durgo reflected. "I think," he said gravely, "that Edwin Lister killed
+Captain Huxham and ran away. Soon he will write to me and I can join
+him. Then we can return to Nigeria and hunt for the treasure."
+
+"But why should Mr. Lister kill my father?" asked Bella.
+
+"He wanted money," said Durgo simply. "If Captain Huxham would not give
+the money, Edwin Lister would kill him. It is quite simple. But I wish,"
+added the negro wisely, "that my master had let me kill Captain Huxham."
+
+"Would you have done so?" cried Bella, horrified.
+
+Durgo looked up in surprise. "Oh, yes, if Edwin Lister had wished it."
+
+Cyril and the girl looked at one another. Durgo was still a savage, in
+spite of the veneer of education and civilisation, which the
+missionaries had given him. He would have killed Huxham as easily as he
+would have killed a fly. Perhaps also Edwin Lister had become
+de-civilised, and had acted in the same way.
+
+"But what has become of my father?" asked Cyril.
+
+"You do not know?" inquired Durgo politely.
+
+Cyril shook his head. "I do not know," he said gloomily, "unless, as you
+say, he murdered Huxham to get money, and then ran away into hiding. He
+may be on the Continent--in Paris."
+
+"In that case, I shall hear from him soon," said Durgo, rising. "When I
+do, I shall let you know."
+
+"Come back," said Cyril, in an even tone, as Durgo was about to stalk
+away, "it is necessary for me to have your assistance."
+
+"In what?" asked Durgo, looking over his huge shoulder.
+
+"In finding my father."
+
+"But if he is in Paris, I can go there."
+
+"Have you the money?"
+
+"I have plenty of money," said the negro with gravity. "I have my own
+money, so it is easy for me to search for my master."
+
+"He may not be in Paris," said Cyril hastily; "that is only a guess on
+my part. Before searching for him over there, it will be best for you to
+assist me in looking for him in this district. He may be in hiding."
+
+Durgo pondered, then returned to lie full-length on the grass. "I think
+that my master would have run further away after killing Captain
+Huxham," he said reflectively; "he is very cunning, is Edwin Lister.
+And, of course, he would have the money."
+
+"What money?" asked Bella impatiently.
+
+"The money for which he killed Captain Huxham."
+
+"The sum stolen was only worth a trifle: one hundred pounds is the
+amount."
+
+"Oh!" Durgo opened his eyes. "And my master wanted five thousand. It is
+a very difficult expedition right into the centre of Nigeria, and one
+hundred pounds is of no use. I could have lent that amount to Edwin
+Lister myself. Hai!"--he nursed his chin in his hand--"what you say,
+missy, makes me think that my master is waiting here to get the money
+for which he killed Captain Huxham."
+
+"My aunt, Mrs. Rosamund Vand, has both the money and the estate."
+
+"Then Edwin Lister will wait and see her," said Durgo gravely. "I must
+learn where he is hiding," and he half rose again.
+
+Cyril put out one slim hand to prevent him. "Wait for one moment," he
+said quietly, "you must hear what I have to say, and then we can arrange
+what to do. Durgo, you loved my father?"
+
+The negro nodded. "I would rather lose my life than see him dead."
+
+Cyril looked at him curiously. "Strange! I did not think that my father
+was a man to inspire such devotion."
+
+"He saved my life," said Durgo impressively.
+
+"Humph!" murmured Cyril under his breath. "I'll be bound if he did so,
+that he took back the full value of his heroic act."
+
+Bella looked pained. "Cyril, why do you speak in that tone of your
+father?"
+
+"Because I know him better than Durgo," he retorted. "My father is
+a--but that is neither here nor there"--he waved his hand impatiently.
+"Durgo, I am about to speak plainly. I see that you love my father, so I
+don't wish to hurt your feelings. All the same, I must tell you
+something about my father which you will not like."
+
+"Let me hear," said Durgo frowning, "and I can judge. But you are his
+son----"
+
+"And therefore should speak well of him," ended Cyril bitterly. "I wish
+I could, but I have suffered too much at my father's hands to have any
+love for him. However, I shall be as brief as possible."
+
+"And as kind," said Durgo meaningly.
+
+"And as kind as I can be," retorted the young man cynically; "although my
+father will be the first to laugh at the idea of my talking kindly of
+him."
+
+"He loves you," said the negro rebukingly.
+
+"Did he ever tell you that?"
+
+"No. He never mentioned your existence."
+
+"Judge then how he loves me," said Cyril coolly.
+
+"However, in spite of all, Edwin Lister is my father, so I shall speak
+as respectfully of him as I possibly can." He threw away a blade of
+grass he was chewing, and laughed ironically. Bella looked pained.
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! your own father!"
+
+"Quite so, dear. He is my father. I can say no more, and no less. As to
+what I know relative to this mystery, you shall hear."
+
+The sky had clouded over, and the sun no longer shone. The lark was
+silent, and a chill wind seemed to breathe over the golden broom and the
+yellow blossoms of the gorze. Bella shivered, as the change of
+temperature seemed to suit with cruel exactitude the cynical tones of
+her lover. She had never heard him talk in this way before, but then she
+knew very little about him, and absolutely nothing of his past life. Now
+she was about to hear it, and, from the hard expression of his face, she
+judged that the story he had to tell was not a pleasant one. As for
+Durgo, he waited silently, and nothing could be read of his feelings
+from the dark mask of his face. Edwin Lister had saved his life, and no
+matter what was said, Durgo did not intend to change his opinion of his
+master, as the finest man in the wide world.
+
+"My mother died when I was young," said Cyril, after a pause, "and I was
+brought up by a maiden aunt. My father I rarely saw, as he was always
+travelling round the world in search of a fortune which he never seemed
+to find. Sometimes he returned to England, and treated me with careless
+affection, but I saw very little of him. But for my aunt I should have
+been utterly neglected. Bless her! she is dead," and he raised his hat.
+
+"Poor Cyril!" murmured Bella affected by this picture of a dull
+childhood.
+
+"Thank you, dear!" he said, taking her hand. "My aunt did everything for
+me out of her small income, and I don't think my father gave one penny
+towards my education."
+
+"But surely----"
+
+"No, dear!" said Cyril, interrupting her; "my aunt told me, on her
+death-bed, that she had done everything, so you can see that my father
+was only one to me in name."
+
+"He was working to make your fortune in Nigeria," said Durgo quickly.
+
+"So he said when he came home, but I have not seen that fortune yet.
+Well, to continue; my aunt sent me to a public school, and afterwards to
+Oxford. I then became a journalist, and my aunt died, leaving me a
+trifle of money on which to live. My father came to London and borrowed
+that money--the principal of my small income--for one of his wild
+schemes, and I was left without one penny."
+
+"It was your duty to assist your father," said Durgo uneasily.
+
+"'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,'" quoted Cyril, with a side
+glance--"the missionaries have taught you well, Durgo."
+
+"I am a Christian," said the negro proudly.
+
+"So am I, in a way. However, I must get on with my confession. I saw my
+father at various intervals, and meanwhile earned my bread by reporting
+and writing articles, and all the rest of it. My father appeared at
+intervals, like the rolling stone which gathers no moss, and always
+borrowed. I did not grudge him the money, and he always said that he was
+about to make his fortune, which he never did."
+
+"He will make it this time," said Durgo vigorously; "the treasure is
+certainly hidden in the Hinterland of Nigeria, and when we reach it----"
+
+"Yes, when!" scoffed Cyril. "I don't believe in my father's schemes, I
+tell you. The last time he came home was five months ago."
+
+"With me," said Durgo gravely; "but I remained near the docks, and my
+master, Edwin Lister, went to the grand part of the town, coming down to
+see me when he required my services."
+
+Cyril nodded. "That sounds like my father," he said, with a shrug;
+"however, on this occasion he told me that he intended to hunt for
+buried treasure in Nigeria, and wanted money. He did not mention Captain
+Huxham, so I expect that he intended to keep that part of his business
+secret. But"--Cyril hesitated--"well, my father--that is, he--he--never
+mind," he broke off abruptly, "I can't tell you just now. But he wanted
+the sum of one thousand pounds, which I tried to get for him."
+
+"Oh, Cyril! was that the money you mentioned?" asked Bella in dismay.
+
+"Yes. The sum for which you thought I had killed your father," said
+Cyril, nodding; then seeing that she looked pained, he hastily added,
+"Never mind, dear, that is all over, and we understand one another
+thoroughly. I went to Paris, as you know, to get the money. When I
+returned I heard of the murder, and when I called at my father's
+lodgings in the West End could learn nothing of his whereabouts. When
+you mentioned the double, Bella, it was forced on my mind that my father
+must have been that person. But, as I could see no connection between my
+father and Captain Huxham, I refused to believe this. However, from what
+Durgo says, there seems to be no doubt but that my father did come by
+stealth to the Manor on that night, with the idea of getting the loan of
+money. Perhaps he and Captain Huxham quarreled, but it seems clear that
+my father did commit the murder with that sacrificial knife, since it
+came, as he did, from Nigeria."
+
+"I never saw that knife," said Durgo abruptly.
+
+"You did not see many things," said Cyril, rising, for he felt somewhat
+cramped. "My father was probably as secretive with you as he was with
+me. You are well educated, Durgo, and have your wits about you. Ask
+yourself if it is possible for two men to have come, on this particular
+occasion, from Nigeria, and----"
+
+"Two did come," interrupted the negro--"myself and my master."
+
+"Quite so; but if you are innocent, my father must be guilty."
+
+Durgo shrugged his great shoulders. "For myself I think very little of
+killing anyone," said he gruffly, "but you white men think differently,
+so you should not believe your father guilty, unless----"
+
+"Oh!" Cyril clenched his hand and grew pale. "Do you not think that I
+would give the world to believe him innocent? I love Miss Huxham, and
+this murder by my father places a barrier between us. If you knew
+all"--here Cyril broke off hastily, as he remembered that he was
+speaking to a black man. Already he regretted that he had said so much,
+but he had been carried away by the tide of his emotion. "The matter
+stands like this," he said, abruptly changing the subject. "My father
+has killed Captain Huxham, and has disappeared with one hundred pounds."
+
+"But I thought that Mr. Pence----" began Bella, only to be interrupted.
+
+"He is innocent," said Cyril hastily. "On the face of it, he is
+innocent. I go by the evidence of the knife from Nigeria, where Pence
+has never been, and by the fact that you saw my father, whom you mistook
+for me, enter the Manor about the time the crime was committed."
+
+"I dare say you are right," said Bella vaguely, and regretted that she
+had so hastily condemned the preacher. After all, the truth of the
+legacy left by his aunt was not a fiction. "But what will you do now?"
+
+"I ask the same question," remarked Durgo, sharply. "We are no nearer
+the truth than we have been."
+
+Cyril looked in astonishment at the negro who spoke such excellent
+English, and so much to the point. Durgo, undoubtedly, in intellect was
+equal to, if not superior to, many Englishmen, and Lister saw in him a
+helpful coadjutor in solving the mystery. "We must work together to
+learn the whereabouts of my father," he said wearily, passing his hand
+across his forehead. "It will be necessary to get him out of the
+country, if what we believe is correct. But it may be, that my father
+has crossed the Channel."
+
+"If that is so, he will write to me," commented the negro; he paused,
+and then asked abruptly, "If you learn that your father is guilty?"
+
+"I shall do my best to get him away from England. Why do you ask?"
+
+Durgo turned away, after a piercing glance. "I thought, from what you
+hinted, that you would not be sorry to see your father hanged."
+
+"Don't talk rubbish, man," said Lister sharply. "My father is my father,
+when all is said and done. I only trust that we are mistaken, and that
+he is not guilty of this brutal crime."
+
+Durgo shrugged his massive shoulders. "As to that, I care very little.
+From what I have heard of Captain Huxham in my own country, he was not a
+good man. He is better out of the world than in it."
+
+Bella grew crimson. "You speak of my father," she said angrily.
+
+The man bowed politely. "I ask your pardon, missy!" Then he turned to
+Cyril ceremoniously. "I am stopping at 'The Chequers Inn,' at Marshely,"
+he informed him; "so if you will call there we can speak about this
+matter. Women should have nothing to do with such affairs. They are for
+men."
+
+Lister frowned, as he did not approve of the superior way in which the
+negro talked. However, Durgo gave him no chance of making a remark, but
+swung off with a noiseless jungle step. Cyril watched him pass out of
+sight, and confessed that the man puzzled him. In spite of his barbaric
+origin and black skin and rough dress, Durgo spoke and acted like a
+gentleman, though he certainly had been somewhat rude regarding the
+feminine sex. "Yet I like him," commented Cyril half to himself; "he
+seems to be a square chap, and to have brains. He is not the usual
+Christy minstrel of Africa. Humph! After all, I dare say that if you
+scratched him you would find the savage. His devotion to my father does
+him credit. I wonder"--here he was interrupted by a low sob at his
+elbow, and turned to find Bella in tears. "My dearest, what is the
+matter?" he asked in dismay.
+
+"Can you ask?" she moaned despairingly. "If what you think is true, we
+must part for ever."
+
+"Don't look at the worst, but hope for the best," he entreated; "we
+can't be sure that my father is guilty!"
+
+"You contradict yourself," she said, wiping her eyes.
+
+"I wish I could; I am trying to think that my father is innocent. But I
+do not know. My father has been my evil genius all my life."
+
+A thought occurred to Bella. "Why did your father require one thousand
+pounds?"
+
+Cyril looked at her sideways. "I did not like to speak out before
+Durgo," he said hesitatingly, "but the fact is, my father forged a
+cheque for that sum."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MRS. TUNKS' DISCOVERY
+
+
+So far it appeared extremely probable that Edwin Lister was the assassin
+of Captain Huxham. From the evidence of her own eyes, Bella knew that
+Cyril's father had called to see the old sailor, and that she had not
+seen him depart was owing to the fact of the drugging. By putting
+laudanum in the girl's tea Huxham had precipitated his own death, since
+Bella, with her wits about her, might have made a third at the
+interview, and so the blow would not have been struck. Neither Bella nor
+Cyril thought that Edwin Lister had come to the Manor intending to
+murder Huxham, although it certainly seemed strange that the former
+should have carried with him the Nigerian knife with which the crime had
+been committed. But howsoever this particular point might be explained,
+it was probable that the tragedy was the outcome of a sudden quarrel.
+
+Edwin Lister had profited but little by his crime, since the sum of one
+hundred pounds was all that he had been able to find in the safe.
+Certainly many papers had been carried away, but there was nothing to
+show that these were of value, save the fact that they had been thieved.
+If Edwin Lister could only be found, an explanation might be
+forthcoming; but he seemed to have vanished completely. It was not
+improbable that he had walked to Tarhaven, some miles away, to escape on
+a steamer to the Continent; but if this was the case it was strange that
+he had not communicated with his savage friend. Durgo was a man upon
+whom Edwin Lister could rely entirely, setting aside the fact that Durgo
+was needed to guide the expedition into the Hinterland of Nigeria, where
+the treasure was concealed. It was now some weeks since the death and
+burial of the skipper, but as yet Edwin Lister had given no sign of his
+existence. And until he did so, there was no chance of solving the
+mystery.
+
+True to his promise, Cyril called at "The Chequers Inn" to see Durgo,
+and found that the negro was looked upon as a royal guest. The lean
+landlady believed him to be an African prince, on a secret mission to
+England concerning the missionary question. She was right in one way,
+for Durgo undoubtedly was a chief, and the son of a chief; but it was
+questionable if he was the friend of the missionaries. However--as Cyril
+found--he made this excuse for his presence in Marshely, and Mrs. Giles,
+the landlady, a red-hot fanatic, was delighted that her house should be
+so honoured. Also Durgo paid largely for the sitting-room and bedroom
+which he occupied.
+
+Cyril was amazed when he called one evening, to see this same
+sitting-room, as he saw evidence of great luxury in the articles brought
+by the negro to decorate the somewhat bare apartment. The furniture of
+the parlour--as Mrs. Giles called it--was plain and cheap, but there
+were evidences that it was occupied by a wealthy guest. Indian
+coverlets, gorgeously embroidered, adorned the chairs; there were
+splendid wild-beast skins on the floor, and on the side-tables appeared
+several silver vases rudely but skilfully wrought. Cyril noted a bronze
+incense-burner in which pastilles smouldered, several small golden
+images of ugly tribal gods, some beautifully-made spears and war-clubs,
+brightly-hued feathers, curious shells, and photographs of native towns
+and their inhabitants. Why Durgo should travel with such a collection of
+rubbish was not clear; but probably he did so, that he might be
+surrounded by memorials of his sunny country in the land of fogs and
+greyness.
+
+Durgo himself was a surprise, as he received Cyril in a well-made
+smoking suit, and, quite in the conventional manner, offered him
+cigarettes of a good brand and the orthodox whiskey and soda. "Or
+champagne if you prefer it," said Durgo, laying his black hand on the
+old-fashioned bell-rope.
+
+"Coffee for me," said Lister, throwing himself into a comfortable
+arm-chair, and accepting a cigarette. "Do you know, Durgo, that you are
+something of a puzzle to me?"
+
+The negro rang the bell, gave an order for coffee to Mrs. Giles, who
+entered, and when she had retired turned to his guest. "How so?" he
+asked.
+
+"Your very good English, the adornments of this room, your present
+dress--I did not look for such things in a--a----" Cyril hesitated.
+
+"In an African negro," finished Durgo, sitting down, with a grave smile.
+
+"Well, yes. People of your colour," added Cyril, with the covert
+insolence of the white towards the black, "don't usually----"
+
+Durgo raised one large hand. "I know: don't proceed," he said with
+suppressed anger; "you think we are barbarians."
+
+"Well, you are, as a rule."
+
+"I am the exception to this rule." Durgo paused, and his eyes wandered
+to some photographs over the mantel-piece. "I told you that the
+missionaries educated me," he continued, "but if you look at those
+photographs, you might learn who was my real Alma Mater."
+
+"Alma Mater," repeated Cyril, rising to approach the mantel-piece; "why,
+these are University photographs."
+
+"Oxford. I was at Oxford some years ago."
+
+"You?" Cyril looked at the groups of boating-men, cricketers, football
+players, and wondered. He wondered still more at a portrait of Durgo in
+a Master of Arts gown. "You!" said Cyril, completely surprised.
+
+"Yes. Why not? My father was a great chief--a king, as you might say.
+But it was Edwin Lister who first fired my ambition to learn the lore of
+the white men, so that I might civilise my tribe. He induced my father
+to give me much money, and took me to England himself many years ago. I
+was at school, and at Oxford until I took my degree. Then I returned to
+my tribe in Nigeria--in Southern Nigeria--and as my father was dead I
+attempted to teach my countrymen and subjects what I had learned. Your
+father helped me, and it was then that he saved my life when a lion
+attacked me. I could do nothing, however," continued the negro bitterly,
+"as my countrymen were too much under the sway of the fetish priests.
+These raised an outcry against me, and nominating a cousin of mine as
+chief, drove me and your father away. We only escaped death by an
+accident, but I managed to bring some treasure with me, and came with
+your father to England."
+
+"And now I suppose you want to find this treasure you spoke of, and
+regain your chiefdom," said Cyril, interested in this strange story.
+
+Durgo fingered a cigarette carefully, and lighted the same. "There is no
+treasure," he remarked quietly.
+
+"But you said----"
+
+"I know I did, when Miss Huxham was present. Women, as I say, should
+know nothing or hear nothing of these things. To you I speak plainly, as
+you are the son of my master, and so are entitled to my regard and
+trust. I came here with your father," added Durgo slowly, "to get money
+from Huxham, so that we both might buy guns and swords and rifles, to
+re-conquer my tribe."
+
+"But the British Government?"
+
+"Quite so. The Government would not approve, so for that reason I
+remained in rough clothes, in rough lodgings, near the docks; while
+Edwin Lister went to live in the West End. He interested several
+adventurous spirits in our proposed expedition, but money was sadly
+needed, and I had not enough. Thus your father came down to see Captain
+Huxham, and get that which was required. Captain Huxham, whom your
+father had met in Nigeria, owed my father a lot of money, which he did
+not pay. I was only employing Edwin Lister to get back my own."
+
+"I see. But how did my father learn the whereabouts of Captain Huxham?"
+
+"_You_ told him," was the negro's unexpected reply.
+
+"I told him! I don't recollect----"
+
+"Perhaps not, as you spoke hurriedly. But don't you remember that when
+your father one day asked you for money, you said that you wished to
+save all you could, as you desired to marry Miss Huxham. Your father
+questioned you, and learned that she was the daughter of an old sailor.
+It was therefore easy for him to guess that he had found the man for
+whom he was seeking."
+
+"But I did not tell my father where Captain Huxham lived."
+
+Durgo waved his hand, as Mrs. Giles brought in the coffee. "That was
+easy," he remarked, when she left the room, "you were followed here by
+your father. But now that you understand the position, will you work
+with me?"
+
+"I will work with you to learn the truth about this murder."
+
+"I understand," said Durgo shrewdly, "so that you may prove Edwin
+Lister's innocence."
+
+"Yes," said Cyril, accepting the cup of black coffee which his host
+passed to him. "I am hoping to see my father and to learn that he did
+not kill Captain Huxham. If he did, there is no chance of happiness for
+me, as I cannot then marry Miss Huxham."
+
+Durgo stirred his coffee calmly. "No, that is true. I am sorry for you.
+But if such is the case, and your marriage is an impossibility, why not
+come with us on our expedition to the Hinterland of Nigeria? If I win
+back my chiefdom, I can do much for you."
+
+"I don't want to go with my father," said Cyril, turning pale,
+"especially if he has--as I suspect--spoiled my life's happiness. If he
+is innocent, I can then marry Miss Huxham, and will stay at home."
+
+"Quite so. I understand. But my offer is always open to you, if you
+choose to take it. Meanwhile, the first thing to do is to learn what
+Edwin Lister took away with him."
+
+"One hundred pounds."
+
+"Yes, and some papers. I wish to learn what those papers are, as Captain
+Huxham may have made a memorandum of the property he possessed. There
+may be other papers which may cast light on those which were stolen."
+
+"But I don't understand," said Cyril perplexed. "Whatever property
+Captain Huxham possessed went to his sister, now Mrs. Henry Vand."
+
+"The English property," said Durgo with emphasis; then seeing that his
+guest was still puzzled, he laughed in his guttural way. "Never mind. I
+have an idea which may or may not turn out to be correct. I shall know
+when Mrs. Tunks comes here this evening, and then I can explain myself
+fully."
+
+"Mrs. Tunks--Granny Tunks! What has she to do with the matter?"
+
+Durgo smiled in his slow way. "My friend, I have not been idle while in
+Marshley looking for my master Edwin Lister. I wished to search the
+Manor-house for possible papers to reveal that which I desire to know."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I shall tell you when I am sure," said the negro doggedly, "and not
+until then. But it was impossible for me to enter the Manor-house and
+search, as this man Vand is very clever and cunning, and more of a
+watch-dog than his stupid wife. I could have managed her had she been
+unmarried, by posing as a wealthy prince--in fact, I could have cajoled
+her as I have done Mrs. Giles--but her husband is suspicious and sharp.
+I could do nothing. Then I learned that this gipsy woman, Mrs. Tunks, is
+in the habit of charing at the Manor-house. I therefore offered to pay
+her a large sum if she would bring to me certain papers which are hidden
+in a sandal-wood chest, carved with the figures of the gods of my
+tribe."
+
+"How do you know that such a chest exists or is in the Manor-house?"
+
+"After I see Mrs. Tunks I can tell you," said Durgo softly.
+
+"How will Mrs. Tunks know the chest?"
+
+"I have described it to her. The figures of the gods are carved on soft
+white wood, and the lines are filled in with red and blue and yellow
+pigment. The design and the decoration are very noticeable. The work is,
+what you call in English, skrimshanking."
+
+"I thought the word was a military slang one, meaning to shirk work,"
+said Cyril, after a pause.
+
+"Quite so, but I think the word is a nautical one. Sailors carve and
+colour their carvings in the way I mention, and call such work
+skrimshanking. I expect that when a sailor was not at his post the
+excuse made was that he was skrimshanking; hence the slang meaning of
+the word."
+
+"Very interesting from a philological point of view," yawned Lister,
+taking another cigarette; "but had we not better get back to our talk of
+my father's whereabouts?"
+
+"We can do nothing until I know what Edwin Lister took away with him,"
+said Durgo again, "and that I can only learn if Mrs. Tunks brings the
+papers I mentioned this evening." He glanced at the travelling clock on
+the mantel-piece. "Nearly nine; she should be here soon."
+
+"But will she have the papers?"
+
+"Yes. Yesterday she told me that she saw the chest in an attic under a
+pile of rubbish, but had no chance of opening it. To-day she is charing
+at the Manor-house, and will be able to get what I want."
+
+"But if Mrs. Vand catches her?"
+
+"Mrs. Vand won't," was the confident reply. "Granny Tunks is too clever
+to be caught and moreover wants to earn the fifty pounds I promised
+her."
+
+"Great Scott! are you so wealthy as to----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" interrupted Durgo impatiently. "I have much money, but not
+enough for my expedition. Unless indeed Edwin Lister has carried these
+papers, which will show us how to get the money."
+
+"Then my father knew about this chest also?"
+
+"Yes. I expect he looked for it in Captain Huxham's study after the
+crime was committed. Unfortunately it happened, according to Granny
+Tunks, to be in the attic, so he missed it. But Huxham may have had the
+papers in his study."
+
+"And that was why the room was so upset?" asked Lister thoughtfully.
+
+"That was why. After the crime was committed----"
+
+"Great heavens! man," burst out the other irritably, "don't talk as if
+it was certain that my father killed the man."
+
+"If he did not, who did?" demanded Durgo coolly; then, as Cyril was
+markedly silent, he continued, "I think very little of the killing
+myself. If what I believe about the papers I require is correct, Captain
+Huxham deserved his death as a thief and a false friend."
+
+"You speak in riddles," said Lister bewildered.
+
+"Granny Tunks can solve them," replied the negro significantly. "Have
+some more coffee and try these cigars. They are superfine."
+
+Cyril silently accepted this further hospitality, and stared furtively
+at the calm black face of his host. The nose was aquiline and the lips
+extraordinarily thin, so it was apparent that Durgo had Arab blood in
+his veins. Perhaps he was a descendant of those conquering Mohammedans
+who came down like a storm on Central Africa, in the Middle Ages. What
+with Durgo's looks, his educated speech and his air of command, Cyril
+wondered that he had ever taken the negro for an ordinary black. All the
+same he believed that, given the necessary environment, the savagery
+would break out from under the thin veneer of civilisation which the man
+had acquired at Oxford. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch
+a modern man, semi-civilised or wholly civilised, and you find the
+prehistoric animal.
+
+While Cyril was thinking in this manner and watching the black man's
+face through the smoke, he saw Durgo suddenly listen intently, with the
+air of an animal scenting danger. Shortly footsteps were heard in the
+passage without, and the door opened to admit Granny Tunks, who was
+shown in by Mrs. Giles. The toss of the lean landlady's head, and her
+air of disdain, showed that she was by no means pleased with the ragged
+visitor. But a glance from the glossy Romany eye of Mrs. Tunks sent her
+shuddering out of the room. In spite of the religion taught by Silas
+Pence at the Little Bethel chapel, Mrs. Giles was primitive enough to
+believe in the power of the evil eye. And she had some reason to, for
+people who offended Mrs. Tunks invariably underwent a spell of bad luck.
+
+"Here I am, master," said Mrs. Tunks with a cringing air, and Cyril
+started to hear her so address the negro. He was further surprised when
+he saw how commanding were the looks of Durgo.
+
+"Have you got those papers?" asked the negro, extending his large hand.
+
+Granny Tunks had them and said so, but it took her some time to find
+them, so ragged were her garments and so hidden her pocket. She still
+wore the brown dress tagged with parti-coloured ribbons, and her
+plentiful white hair still hung like seaweed from under the dingy red
+handkerchief. Also as usual she jingled with the multiplicity of coins
+which dangled from her neck, her wrists, and from various parts of her
+picturesque dress. In sixty or seventy seconds she managed to find a
+bundle of dusty papers tied up with faded red tape, and passed them to
+Durgo with ingratiating smiles. "There you are, deary----"
+
+"Master!" snapped the negro, with sudden ferocity.
+
+"Yes, master," stammered the woman, turning slightly pale under her
+brown skin. "I found them in the chest you spoke of. The cat"--she meant
+Mrs. Vand--"didn't see me, master, so no one knows but this gentleman;
+but he won't say a word; no, no, I'll be bound he won't."
+
+"How do you know?" asked Cyril sharply.
+
+Mrs. Tunks replied without taking her beady black eyes from Durgo. "I
+saw the coming of the master in the crystal, lovey, and told your dear
+sweetheart of the same. The master brings good luck to you both, so if
+you tell, it will part you and your deary for ever."
+
+"We are parted as it is," said Cyril bitterly.
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the old woman.
+
+Lister rose from his chair and stared. "What do you mean?" he cried
+imperiously.
+
+Durgo, who had been examining the papers, looked up on hearing this
+question, and shot forth a long arm in the direction of the door. "Go!"
+he said to Mrs. Tunks. "Go at once."
+
+"And the money, master?"
+
+"You shall have it to-morrow, as soon as I have examined these. Go, I
+say; I am not used to speak twice."
+
+"But Durgo," cried Cyril, annoyed by the interruption, "I want to
+know----"
+
+"You shall know what Mrs. Tunks has to say to-morrow," said Durgo,
+settling down into the chair and still examining the papers.
+
+The witch-wife, who had moved slowly towards the door, had not looked at
+Lister once during her stay in the room. All the time her gaze was fixed
+almost reverentially upon the negro. In spite of Durgo's prohibition
+Cyril crossed the room to catch Mrs. Tunks by the arm. But the moment he
+touched her she seemed to wake up as from a magnetic spell, and opening
+the door slipped through like a snake. When the door was closed again
+Cyril, in some anger, faced Durgo.
+
+"Why didn't you let me question her?"
+
+"She would have said nothing," returned the man dryly, "because she
+knows nothing."
+
+"She hinted that Bella--Miss Huxham, I mean--and myself would not be
+parted."
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Hai! The woman is a witch and knows
+doings of the unseen. She may have been told----"
+
+"Oh, rubbish! I don't believe in such things."
+
+"Possibly you don't; I do. I have been taught things which would open
+your eyes if I explained them. In Africa we know much that you don't
+know."
+
+A sudden light flashed into Cyril's brain. "Is that why Mrs. Tunks
+addressed you as master?"
+
+Durgo nodded absently, still reading the papers. But he did not reply in
+words, as his eyes were travelling over some faded writing and his lips
+were moving. Before Cyril could ask another question, as he was desirous
+of doing, the negro started to his feet with a fierce shout, which
+sounded like a warcry.
+
+"As I believed; as I thought!" he shouted. "Hai! the good news."
+
+"What is it?" asked Lister, surprised by the savage exultation.
+
+Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket and began to tell a story
+without any preamble. "When my father was chief, there were two traders
+in his town whom he trusted. One traded inland, and the other commanded
+the river steamer. Maxwell Faith was the inland trader's name, and the
+steamer commander was Jabez Huxham. For services rendered, my father,
+the chief Kawal, gave Mr. Faith jewels to the value of forty thousand
+pounds. Huxham became jealous, and having murdered Faith ran away with
+the jewels. He brought them to England, to Bleacres, and feared night
+and day lest he should be assaulted and killed for the sake of the
+treasure. That is why Huxham planted the fields with corn, leaving only
+one path whereby to reach the Manor-house. He did not wish to be
+surprised. Huxham took Faith's papers also regarding the value and
+number of these jewels. The papers were in the chest I told you of, and
+I have these papers here"--he tapped his breast--"but the jewels no
+doubt have been taken by your father, who doubtless killed Huxham to get
+them." Durgo nodded. "Good, very good. When my master Edwin Lister
+writes to me to join him, we can sell the jewels for forty thousand
+pounds and then can fit out our expedition to recover my chiefdom.
+Good-night, Lister. I have work to do; good night!" and before Cyril
+could recover from his amazement he found himself gently led into the
+passage and heard the door locked.
+
+"What does it all mean?" he asked himself, but could not answer the
+question.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHAT SILAS PENCE KNEW
+
+
+On that same evening, when Cyril was interviewing the strange negro,
+there was a concert in the Marshely school-house in aid of the prize
+fund. Dora had arranged the programme, and had asked Bella to be
+present. The girl would much rather have remained absent owing to the
+recent death of her father; besides, she did not feel able to enjoy
+music and frivolity and laughter. But to please her friend, who had been
+so kind to her, she came dressed in black and deeply veiled to the
+festival. For obvious reasons she took a seat at the lower end of the
+room, and near the door, so that she could easily slip out when the end
+came.
+
+But Mrs. Vand was less retiring. In spite of her brother's tragic death
+she appeared dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, posing more as a
+bride than as a mourner. In fact, she displayed very little grief for
+the death of Jabez, and those who knew the late Captain Huxham were not
+surprised, as he had never been a man to inspire affection. Moreover,
+the secret marriage of Mrs. Coppersley to Henry Vand had created quite a
+sensation, and bride and bridegroom were much talked about and pointed
+at. Vand himself was one of the performers, as he played two violin
+solos. Some folk thought that both he and his wife would have displayed
+better taste by remaining away, but Mrs. Vand laughed at this opinion
+and flaunted her newly-found happiness in the face of all her
+acquaintances.
+
+Luckily few people noticed Bella in her obscure corner, so she was not
+troubled with questions. Those who guessed who she was, felt that she
+had been very badly treated since the money had been left to Mrs. Vand,
+and indeed the sympathies of the entire neighbourhood were with the
+disinherited girl. Mrs. Vand, as everyone said, should have been ashamed
+of herself; but in spite of the indecent way in which she thrust her
+good fortune on everyone's notice, no one was bold enough to tell her
+what was the general opinion of her conduct. As for Bella, she sat in
+her corner feeling ill and miserable. She had every right to be so
+considering the position in which she and her lover were placed. It was
+to ween her thoughts from this dismal state of affairs that the
+kind-hearted school-mistress had induced her to come to the concert.
+Hitherto the cure had not worked.
+
+The programme was the usual village one. There were several sentimental
+ballads of the purely English drawing-room type; two or three
+recitations, the violin solos of Henry Vand, who really played with rare
+skill, and a reading by Silas Pence, who was the chairman. Pence looked
+leaner and more delicate than ever, and read the "Dream of Eugene Aram"
+as a cheerful contribution to the evening's entertainment. His
+sepulchral tones and dismal appearance cast quite a gloom over the close
+of the evening, which was only dispelled by the singing of a glee by the
+Marshely Choral Society. But some time before this point was reached
+Bella had slipped out of the room and had taken her way back to the
+cottage. She went early, as her aunt had noticed her, and it was just
+possible that Mrs. Vand, who dearly loved to make trouble, might start a
+quarrel if it came to a conversation between the two. Mrs. Vand had not
+forgiven her enforced payment of one hundred pounds.
+
+Bella did not enter the cottage, as it was very hot within, and the
+night was simply glorious. She took off her hat and veil and seated
+herself in the tiny garden to enjoy the soft breeze. There was not a
+cloud in the darkly-blue sky, and a serene moon moved majestically
+across the starry heavens. The cottage, with the lamp light shining
+behind the pink blinds, looked pretty and picturesque, so Bella resolved
+to wait for Dora's return in the open air. She had ample to think about,
+for the concert had failed to inspire her with cheerful thoughts. How
+could it when the clouds which environed her were so densely black? Poor
+Bella was not religious, and had small faith in the goodness of God.
+This was natural as God's name had rarely been mentioned by Captain
+Huxham and his sister, who were perfect heathens of the animal sort. So
+Bella, having no hope to cling to and seeing no ray of light piercing
+the darkness around her, began to conceive a cheerless future in which
+the figure of Cyril did not appear. The fact that his father had
+murdered hers ended the chance of marriage once and for all. He would
+doubtless go abroad and try to forget her, while she, bereft of love,
+home, money, and father, would seek some humble situation as a nursery
+governess: and it must be confessed that, as things were, Bella Huxham
+had good reason to despair. Any chance of happiness seemed to be as far
+removed from her as was the moon in the heaven above her.
+
+The seat upon which she was resting stood close to the white palings of
+the garden, and under a leafy chestnut, now in the full glory of its
+summer foliage. Occasionally a person would pass, or a child singing
+would run home, but for the most part the road was deserted. Nearly all
+the village people were at the concert, and it would not end for at
+least another half hour. Only then would the roadway be full, but in the
+meantime, save for occasional interruptions, Bella had solitude and
+peace. She was therefore extremely ill-pleased when a dark figure halted
+at the palings and, leaning over, removed its hat to reveal the delicate
+features of Silas Pence.
+
+"I give you good-evening, Miss Huxham," said the preacher, in his
+refined but somewhat shrill voice.
+
+"Good evening," said Bella coldly. "Had you not better return to the
+concert, Mr. Pence? As the chairman you cannot leave the platform."
+
+"I have presided most of the evening and have recited my piece," said
+Pence eagerly. "Now, on the plea of feeling faint I have left that hot
+room, and I am here to commune with you in the glory of the night. Is it
+not beautiful, Miss Huxham?" and he recited the well-known lines of
+Addison:--
+
+    _Soon as the shades of night prevail_,
+    _The moon takes up the wondrous tale_,
+    _And nightly to the listening earth_
+    _Repeats the story of her birth._
+
+"Did you come here to recite, Mr. Pence?" said Bella disagreeably. "If
+so I must go indoors. I have been entertained enough this evening."
+
+"You should not have been at the concert at all," said the preacher
+rebukingly, "seeing that your dear father is scarcely cold in his
+grave."
+
+"That is my business, Mr. Pence," said Bella in icy tones. "If you
+rebuke any one it should be my aunt, who is flaunting the property of
+which she robbed me in the face of everyone."
+
+"I shall rebuke Sister Vand at a proper time," said Silas
+authoritatively. "In the meantime----"
+
+"You rebuke me," said Bella, who had risen to her feet, weary of the
+conversation. "I decline to permit your interference."
+
+"I don't want to rebuke you," cried Pence eagerly. "I wish to make you
+smile on me. Become my spouse, or fair lily of the valley, and you will
+have me always at your feet."
+
+"I have told you before, Mr. Pence, that I cannot marry you."
+
+"Then you still intend to wed that son of Belial, overflowing with
+insolence and wine?" questioned the preacher bitterly; "your father's
+murderer."
+
+"Mr. Lister is perfectly innocent, as I happen to know."
+
+"Can you prove his innocence?"
+
+"Can you prove his guilt?" retorted the girl spiritedly.
+
+"I saw him enter the Manor on that night."
+
+"You saw a man who resembled him. Mr. Lister was in London and can prove
+that he was there. It is useless your using threats, Mr. Pence, for had
+you been able to carry them out you would long since have seen the
+police."
+
+Pence frowned. "Who is this other man?" he asked.
+
+"You can find out!" said Bella impatiently, "and I am going indoors."
+
+"There is no other man," cried Pence angrily. "Why, I saw Mr. Lister
+quite clearly. I could not mistake him."
+
+"You did, however."
+
+"The police shall decide that."
+
+"Go to the police. You threatened to do so before. Why don't you do what
+you say instead of trying to frighten me with stage thunder?"
+
+Silas stamped and raged. "You will find the thunder real enough before I
+have done with you. This Lister man is guilty, and shall hang. You shall
+become my wife, my----"
+
+"Never! never! never!" and Bella stamped in her turn.
+
+"You will. As you have no name of your own you should be glad to take
+that of an honest man."
+
+The girl started and stared. "My name is Huxham," she said angrily.
+
+"It is nothing of the sort. When I wished to marry you, Captain Huxham,
+your supposed father, told me that you were a nameless waif whom he had
+adopted out of charity."
+
+"It is wholly false."
+
+"It is true! it is true!" Pence leaped the fence before she knew what
+was his intention, and caught her in his arms, "and you must become my
+wife."
+
+"You beast! you villain!" cried the girl, struggling. "How dare----"
+
+She got no further. Even while the words were on her lips a pair of very
+strong hands caught Pence by the shoulders, and wrenching him from the
+girl flung him over the fence. The next moment Cyril held Bella in his
+arms.
+
+"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she sobbed, utterly broken down, "how glad I am
+that you arrived to punish him."
+
+"I shall punish him more!" cried Cyril, striding towards the gate.
+
+"No, no!" said Bella, stopping him. "Think of my good name. It is
+useless making a scandal. But ask him if what he says is true."
+
+"What does he say?" questioned Cyril, with a note of savagery in his
+voice.
+
+"Oh hush! hush!" implored Bella, clinging to him. "Speak lower. I don't
+wish everyone to hear what Mr. Pence declares."
+
+"But what is it? what is it?"
+
+"Ask him. After all, he may be wrong, and--"
+
+Still holding the girl, Lister, mindful of her wish, spoke in a loud
+whisper to the dusty figure on the other side of the fence. Pence had
+just risen, sorely bruised, but, unable to leave his rival with the girl
+he loved, yet lingered in the roadway.
+
+"Here, you," said Lister sharply, "what have you been saying to Miss
+Huxham? Speak out, you dog, or I'll thrash you thoroughly. Let me go,
+Bella; let me go, I say."
+
+"No, no! We must avoid all scandal. Think of what might be--be--" she
+gasped, and without ending her sentence fell half fainting into Cyril's
+arms.
+
+Then came Pence's chance to discharge the vials of his wrath, for he saw
+that Lister, hampered by the fainting girl, could not touch him.
+Stepping up to the palings with his face distorted with anger, he spoke
+in low tones of hate. "I say now to you what I shall soon say to all.
+Captain Huxham adopted the girl, whom you falsely say that you love. She
+has no position and no name and no money, so if you marry her----"
+
+"Stop," said Cyril imperiously. "Can you swear to the truth of this wild
+statement? Miss Huxham always passed as the captain's daughter."
+
+"She is not Miss Huxham," said Silas, insistently. "She is Miss--I don't
+know what. I can prove what I say, if necessary. And I shall,
+unless----"
+
+"Unless what?"
+
+"Unless you renounce her so that she can become my wife."
+
+Bella heard the words and stood unexpectedly erect with fresh energy,
+wrathful at Pence's persistency. "Nothing will ever induce me to become
+your wife. And if what you say is true my aunt would have told me."
+
+"Mrs. Vand is not your aunt and Captain Huxham was not your father,"
+said the preacher sullenly. "If needs be I can prove it."
+
+"Then do so," cried Cyril quickly, "for by doing so you will remove the
+sole barrier to our marriage."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Silas, recoiling in sheer surprise.
+
+"Let me speak," said Bella, guessing what her lover meant. "We mean that
+had you held your tongue Cyril and I might have been forced to part. Now
+that I know I am not Captain Huxham's daughter I can marry him."
+
+Pence looked from one face to the other in the chill moonlight and drew
+his own conclusions with swift intuition, sharpened by hate. "Then this
+Lister man is the murderer of Huxham?"
+
+"You have to prove that," said Cyril cheerfully. "I am not bound to
+incriminate myself, you know."
+
+Silas raised his hands to the heavens in mute appeal, for he saw that in
+some way, not entirely clear to him, he had brought about the very thing
+he had been trying to avert. Enraged at his blunder and despairing of
+gaining his ends, the man, timid as he usually was, would have sprung
+over the fence to renew the struggle with his rival, but that many dark
+figures were seen coming along the road. Apparently the concert was
+over.
+
+In spite of his anger, Pence retained sufficient sense to decide
+immediately on a sensible course. He mechanically brushed his clothes,
+and bent over the palings to speak with Cyril. "To-morrow," he said, in
+a tense whisper, "you will be arrested, on my evidence, and she"--he
+pointed a trembling finger at Bella--"will be known as a nameless
+outcast."
+
+The girl uttered a faint cry at the insult, and Cyril would have struck
+the man who spoke. But Pence was prepared, and swerved away from the
+fence with a taunting laugh, to retreat rapidly down the road towards
+the advancing throng.
+
+"Come inside; come inside," said Bella, plucking at Cyril's sleeve; "you
+must not be seen here with me at this hour. Mr. Pence will say nothing
+for his own sake. Come inside until Dora returns."
+
+This was wise counsel, so the pair hastily retreated and closed the
+door, before they could be seen by the sharp eyes of the village
+gossips. Bella ran into the dining-room, where supper was laid, and
+sinking into a chair, mutely pointed to the water jug. Lister, seeing
+how pale she was, poured out a glass, and held it to her lips. Shortly
+she was more her old self, as the colour returned to her cheeks and the
+brightness to her eyes. It was then that she asked a leading question:
+
+"Do you think that what Mr. Pence says is true?"
+
+"I hope so. I fervently hope so," replied Cyril, sitting down to discuss
+the matter, "for then we can marry, and----" he started and stopped. It
+occurred to him that Pence's statement might be the cause of Granny
+Tunks' queer remark, an explanation of which had been prevented by
+Durgo. Then again, from the negro's action, and from the facts that Mrs.
+Tunks had seen--so she said--his coming in the crystal, and obeyed him
+so implicitly, it might be that Durgo knew much that he would only
+disclose at the proper time. Of one thing Cyril was certain--namely,
+that Durgo was his friend, and would do his best to put things right, if
+Lister assisted him to recover traces of his father and the jewels,
+which Edwin Lister was supposed to possess.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if Pence's statement was true," said Cyril,
+musingly, as he reflected on the present position of affairs. "It did
+seem strange to me that such a rough sea-dog as Huxham undoubtedly was,
+should have so refined a daughter as you."
+
+"I thought it was my education, and----"
+
+"No," said Cyril, looking at her searchingly in the light of the small
+lamp. "Your feet and hands are too delicate, and your features too
+clearly cut, and your whole bearing too well bred, to be the child of
+such a man. Huxham and his sister are plebeians: you are an aristocrat.
+I am quite sure."
+
+Bella coloured at his praise of her beauty. "Perhaps what Mr. Pence says
+may explain why the money was not left to me."
+
+Cyril nodded. "If you are not Huxham's daughter, of course he would not
+leave you the money. But it was strange that he should tell Pence--why,
+what is the matter?"
+
+Bella had started to her feet, and was looking at him strangely. "I am
+unwilling to suspect Mr. Pence, seeing that it seems almost certain your
+father is guilty, but I don't believe that my father--I mean that
+Captain Huxham told him."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"It was not Captain Huxham's way to confide in anyone, and if he had
+kept silent for so long he certainly would not have told anyone later,
+especially Silas Pence. If anyone knew the truth it would be my aunt--I
+mean Mrs. Vand--and she hated me quite sufficiently to tell me that I
+was no kith or kin of hers. This she did not do."
+
+"Well, and what do you make of the business?"
+
+"This," said Bella, slowly. "I believe that Mr. Pence _does_ know
+something of the murder, although he may not have struck the blow. Your
+father may have been disturbed by Mr. Pence, and may have taken the
+hundred pounds. But I am certain that Mr. Pence found some papers
+telling that I was not Captain Huxham's daughter, and has them in his
+possession now."
+
+Cyril shook his head. "You have no proofs of this wild charge."
+
+"No, I have not. All the same, I believe----"
+
+"Belief is one thing, and certainty another," said Lister, decisively,
+"and, again, I must tell you that my father--if indeed he is guilty--got
+much more than one hundred pounds"; and he related all that had taken
+place in Durgo's rooms. Bella listened in silence, and was particularly
+struck with the use made by the negro of Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"I believe that Granny and this black man are in league," she declared;
+"you know she foretold his coming by the crystal. And that is all
+rubbish."
+
+"In this instance she foretold truly," said Cyril drily.
+
+"Because she knew beforehand, and simply made use of the crystal to
+impress me," retorted the girl. "Do you think Durgo himself is guilty?"
+
+"No, I do not," replied Cyril very decidedly. "He bewailed the fact that
+my father had not asked him to get Huxham out of the way. No, Bella, in
+some way, my father managed the matter himself. He might have killed the
+old sailor during a quarrel, and have secured the jewels and have gone
+into hiding either here or on the Continent. We can only wait until we
+hear from him. Then the mystery may be solved."
+
+"I am not so sure that your father got the jewels," said Bella, after a
+pause. "After all, they were in the chest in the attic by Durgo's
+showing."
+
+"The papers were, but Durgo was not certain if Huxham left the jewels
+there, my dear. You see, the old skipper might, and probably did, keep
+the jewels in his study for safety. But the jewels were in the house I
+am sure, for Huxham feared lest they should be stolen, and so planted
+the corn and used the search-light. By the way, I saw that used the
+other night."
+
+"Henry Vand knows how to use it," said Bella indifferently; "my father
+showed him how to work it on one occasion. But what is to be done?"
+
+"I must wait and see what Durgo intends to do. He knows much that we are
+ignorant of, and for my father's sake I think he will help us both."
+
+"And Mr. Pence's statement?"
+
+Cyril took her in his arms. "I believe it," he said, kissing her fondly,
+"so the barrier between us is removed."
+
+"Thank God for that," said Bella reverently, and being unstrung wept
+bitterly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+DURGO, THE DETECTIVE
+
+
+As has been seen, Durgo was no ordinary man, and even had he been white
+instead of black, would have passed for a clever member of the Aryan
+race. Undoubtedly the strain of Arab blood in him sharpened his
+intellectual faculties, and made him ambitious to play a leading part in
+the history of his tribe. That the members of it were savages mattered
+very little, since he had been educated in the lore of the ruling race,
+and could raise them sooner or later almost to his own level. Almost,
+that is, but not quite, for Durgo had no notion that any individual of
+his tribe should be as clever as himself. He wished to be a despot, and
+rule from an autocratic throne.
+
+The one weak point in his character--if gratitude can be called
+weakness--was his adoration of Edwin Lister. That gentleman had
+undoubtedly saved his life, and assuredly had aided him to attain to his
+present position of culture by inducing the old chief to send his clever
+son to England. But Cyril knew, what Durgo in his blind idolatry did
+not--that Edwin Lister was not a man to work for nothing, and wanted
+much more than he ever gave. There was every chance that he would abuse
+the gratitude of Durgo, when the negro's ambition was achieved, and if
+his protege revolted from complying with the exorbitant demands which
+would surely be made on his generosity, he would speedily be reminded of
+what had been done for him. With an ordinary man this would have
+mattered little as such a one would decline unreasonable exactions. But
+Durgo's strongest trait was gratitude, and it was probable that in spite
+of his clever brain and European education, he would become the mere
+puppet of his benefactor. Thus the very nobility of Durgo's nature would
+reduce him to slavery, and he would be ruined because he possessed the
+rarest of all virtues.
+
+Little as Cyril had seen of his father, he knew his character
+thoroughly, being able to read by intuition, as well as by observation.
+Edwin had only one god to worship, and that was himself--a deity so
+congenial that the egotist was most devout in his religion. Of course,
+Durgo's enslavement and Edwin Lister's tyranny had nothing to do with
+Cyril, as father and son had long since gone on their several ways. But
+Cyril liked the negro, and swore to himself that if Durgo aided him to
+marry Bella, he would stand by him when Edwin Lister played the tyrant.
+As yet--so much Cyril gathered--the trader had not shown the cloven
+foot, but he would do so sooner or later, and then Cyril hoped to open
+Durgo's eyes to the fact that his gratitude was being abused.
+
+But there was much to be done before affairs arrived at this point, and
+the first necessary step to take was to discover the whereabouts of
+Edwin Lister. Durgo had learned much from Cyril, and something from
+Granny Tunks; now it was necessary that he should be informed by Bella
+of the accusation of Pence, and of her doubts about the preacher. She
+resolved to see Durgo for herself, and when Dora was at school, she
+watched at the window of the cottage for the coming of the negro. She
+did not even tell Cyril of her intention, as he disbelieved her
+statement that Pence had stolen certain papers and was connected in some
+way with the murder. That she had absolutely no grounds for such a
+belief troubled Bella very little, since she was very much the woman.
+All she knew was, that Pence could not have heard the truth about her
+not being Huxham's daughter from Huxham himself and it was necessary to
+find out how he came to know, let alone the necessity of making certain
+of its truth. Cyril would have scruples in assaulting Pence, and
+learning the truth at the sword's point, as it were. Durgo, being
+uncivilised, for all his education would have no such scruples, and
+therefore was the best person to apply to. He would undoubtedly twist
+Pence's slender neck as he would that of a rabbit, if he could force
+from him any information likely to forward his aims. And unless some
+such brutal course was taken Bella felt sure that Pence would hold his
+tongue. In her exasperation against the troublesome preacher, all the
+girl's worst traits came uppermost.
+
+Durgo did not pass along the road in the morning, and Bella almost
+despaired of seeing him. She nearly decided to go to "The Chequers Inn,"
+but a memory of Mrs. Giles' gossiping tongue prevented her risking so
+much. In the afternoon, however, Durgo lounged along the road, in his
+lazy, heavy, massive fashion, arrayed in his rough tweed clothes, and
+looking very much like a burly prize-fighter. Luckily there was no one
+in sight, as Miss Ankers' cottage was in a solitary corner on the
+outskirts of Marshely, so Bella ran hatless into the garden to beckon
+the negro into the cottage.
+
+"Come in! come in! I wish to speak to you," she said hurriedly, when he
+stepped up to the white palings; and she glanced right and left, to be
+sure that no curious eyes were on her.
+
+Durgo stared and frowned, as education in a world-famous University had
+not quite eradicated his contempt for women. However, when Bella ran
+inside again, and stood beckoning him in the passage, he resolved to
+enter, if only to learn why she acted in this bold way. So tall was
+Durgo, and so low the door, that he had to stoop considerably to enter,
+and when in the little drawing-room he bulked hugely as Gulliver in the
+Lilliputian temple.
+
+"What is it, missy?" asked Durgo roughly, for he was not inclined to
+waste his time in saying pretty nothings to this Englishwoman, when so
+much was at stake. "I cannot stay here; I am busy."
+
+"I wish to help you," said Bella, going straight to the point.
+
+"In what way?" Durgo stared at her peremptory tone.
+
+"I wish to help you on condition that you help me."
+
+"In what way?" he asked again, and sat down on a chair, which creaked
+under his mighty weight.
+
+"Listen," said Bella, speaking very slowly, and with her eyes on his
+strong, black face. "You are not of my colour or race, yet I am going to
+trust you, as Cyril told me all about you. Besides, we are both working
+for the same end--that is, we both wish to find Edwin Lister. Cyril told
+me what Mrs. Tunks discovered."
+
+"He had no right," frowned Durgo; "I want no women----"
+
+"Don't despise women," said Bella drily, "for you may need the help of
+one woman, and she is my own self. You know that I am supposed to be
+Captain Huxham's daughter?"
+
+"Supposed to be?" Durgo noted the way she placed her words at once,
+which said much for his powers of observation, and the quick working of
+his brain.
+
+"Yes, Silas Pence, the preacher----"
+
+"I know him, missy. Go on."
+
+"Loves me," continued Bella, with a blush; "and to marry me he would
+stop at nothing. Last night he declared that I was not the daughter of
+Captain Huxham, and that Captain Huxham had told him as much."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"Yes. That is, I believe I am not Captain Huxham's daughter, since the
+money was not left to me. But I do not believe that Captain Huxham told
+this to Silas Pence. I believe," Bella bent forward, "that Mr. Pence is
+concerned in this murder, and stole certain papers, which revealed the
+truth."
+
+Durgo's eyes flashed. He saw at once the value of such information. "Can
+you prove this?" he asked in his throaty tones.
+
+"That's just where it is," she answered quickly. "I wish _you_ to prove
+it."
+
+"How can I do that?"
+
+"Question Mr. Pence, and make him answer. Force him, in whatever way you
+like, to show how he actually obtained the information. If he stole the
+papers stating the fact--and this I believe--he must have been in the
+room where the murder was committed some hour during that night. If so,
+he must have seen Edwin Lister, and must know where he is."
+
+"Hai!" Durgo leaped to his feet. "That is true: that is probable.
+Perhaps he can say if my master got the jewels."
+
+"Perhaps he can, but I am certain that he will not."
+
+"Oh, I think he will! I think he will," said Durgo significantly.
+
+"Don't hurt him," cried Bella, alarmed, for much as she disliked the
+preacher she did not wish him to come to harm at the hands of this
+African semi-savage. As a matter of fact, she was sorry to enlist
+Durgo's services at all; but, under the circumstances, there seemed to
+be no help for it.
+
+"I shall not hurt him more than is necessary," said Durgo, catching up
+his bowler hat and placing it on his woolly head; "if he speaks plainly
+I won't hurt him at all. You have helped me, missy, and you will find
+that I am not ungrateful. When you marry the son of my master, you will
+be rich. I, Durgo, the king, will make you rich," he ended arrogantly.
+
+"One moment," said Bella, detaining him; "these jewels belong to Captain
+Huxham. Have you any right to take them?"
+
+"Every right, since they never belonged to Captain Huxham," said the
+negro decisively. "My father, the great chief Kawal, gave them to
+Maxwell Faith, and from Maxwell Faith they were stolen by Huxham. If
+Faith were alive I would return the jewels to him, and ask him to help
+me with my expedition. But he is dead; Huxham murdered him, and stole
+the jewels. Edwin Lister came to get back what belongs to me, and I
+think he has them."
+
+"Supposing you find Mr. Lister, and learn that he has not the jewels?"
+
+Durgo rolled his eyes ferociously. "I shall then enter the Manor-house
+by force, and learn where they are hidden."
+
+"You would only be handed over to the police by Mrs. Vand and her
+husband, Henry. It will be better for me to search."
+
+"How can you, since you are not friendly with Mrs. Vand?"
+
+Bella laughed. "I know much more about the Manor-house than Mrs. Vand
+does, I assure you," she said significantly. "There are all manner of
+secret passages and unknown chambers in that ancient mansion. If I
+desired to enter, I could do so in the night-time by a secret door
+hidden behind the ivy at the back of the house."
+
+"Then do so," said Durgo eagerly, "and search for the jewels."
+
+"Not yet. Wait until you see Edwin Lister, and learn if he procured the
+jewels. By the way, where did your father get them?"
+
+Durgo reflected for a few minutes. "I have heard much talk of my
+father's treasure, of which these jewels were part. You know how rich
+the Northern part of Africa was in the time of the Romans?"
+
+"Yes. Cyril made me read Gibbons' History."
+
+"Well, when the Arabs swept across Northern Africa, they looted the
+Roman cities, then possessed more or less by the Goths and Vandals. Many
+of the Arabs came South to Nigeria, and brought their plunder with them.
+I think that these jewels, which my father gave to Maxwell Faith, came
+into his possession from some remote ancestor, who so brought them. But
+I cannot say. Still, that is my opinion."
+
+"It is a feasible idea, certainly," said Bella musingly, and astonished
+at the knowledge of the negro, quite forgetting that he had been
+educated at Oxford; "but where the jewels came from, matters little.
+What we have to find out, is where they are, and Mr. Pence----"
+
+"I shall see this man," interrupted Durgo quietly; "he may lie to
+others: he will tell the truth to me."
+
+"No violence," warned Bella anxiously.
+
+Durgo nodded. "I fear your police too much," said he, with an ironical
+grin, and strode out of the house, looking more burly and defiant than
+ever. Bella had regretted her employment of his services, but what else
+could she do when so much was at stake? Bella wished to marry Cyril,
+and, to do so, desired to be certain that she was not Captain Huxham's
+daughter. The papers--if her wild surmise was correct--would prove if
+what Pence said was true. Then, since Cyril's father had not murdered
+her father--she put it in this confused way--she would be able to marry
+her lover with a clear conscience. That he might be the son of an
+assassin troubled her very little. To get her way after the manner of a
+woman deeply in love, she would have set the world on fire, or would
+have wrecked the solar system. And in placing the safety of Pence in the
+hands of a semi-civilised negro, she undoubtedly was risking his life.
+But she did not care, so long as she attained to the knowledge which she
+was confident he possessed.
+
+It will be seen that Bella Huxham was no Sunday-school angel, or even
+the amiable heroine of a _Family Herald_ novelette, who never by any
+chance does wrong. She was simply an average girl, with good instincts,
+brought up so far as school-training was concerned in a conventional
+way. At home no one had taught her to discern right from wrong, and,
+like the ordinary healthy young animal of the human race, she had not
+passed through sufficient sorrow to make her inquire into the truths of
+religion. Bella needed trouble to train her into a good, brave woman,
+and she was certainly getting the training now. But she made mistakes,
+as was natural, considering her inexperience.
+
+That same evening, Mr. Silas Pence was seated in his shabby
+sitting-room, making notes for his next Sunday sermon. He occupied
+lodgings in a lonely cottage on the verge of the common, and did so
+because his landlady was a member of the Little Bethel congregation, who
+boarded and lodged him cheaply in order to have the glory of
+entertaining the minister. The landlady was a heavy-footed, heavy-faced
+woman, with two great hulking sons, and occupied the back part of the
+premises. Silas inhabited the best sitting-room and the most comfortable
+bedroom. There was no fence round the front of the cottage, although
+there was a garden of vegetables at the back, so the sitting-room window
+looked straight out on to the purple heather and golden gorse of the
+waste land. An artist would have delighted in the view, but Silas had no
+eye for anything beautiful in nature, and paid very little attention to
+the changing glories of the year. The lodging was cheap, and the
+situation healthy, so he was perfectly satisfied.
+
+On this especial evening, the young preacher sat at the red-repp covered
+table, reading his Bible and making his notes. It was after ten o'clock,
+and his landlady was asleep, as were her two sons, both agricultural
+labourers worn out with the heavy toils of the day. The sitting-room
+window was wide open, and the blind was up, so that the cool night
+breeze was wafted faintly into the somewhat stuffy room, which was
+crowded with unnecessary furniture. Silas made a few notes, then threw
+down his pencil and sighed, resting his weary head on his hand.
+
+Pence was by no means a bad man, but he was weak and excitable. The
+pursuit of Bella aroused the worst part of his nature, and made him
+think, say, and do much which he condemned. The better part of him
+objected to a great deal which he did, but the tide of his passion
+hurried him away and could not be checked by the dykes of common-sense.
+At times--and this was one of them--he bitterly blamed himself for
+giving way to the desire for Hepzibah, as he called Bella Huxham, in his
+own weak mind. But, sane in all other ways, he was insane on this one
+point, and felt that he would jeopardise his chance of salvation to call
+her wife. Nevertheless he was sane enough to know his insanity, and
+would have given much to root out the fierce love which was destroying
+his life.
+
+But the insane passion which he cherished for a woman who would have
+nothing to do with him led him deeper and deeper into the mire of sin,
+and in spite of his prayers and cries for help, the Unseen would do
+nothing to extricate him from the morass of difficulties into which he
+had plunged himself. At times Silas even doubted if God existed, so
+futile were his attempts to gain comfort and guidance. Much as he loved
+Bella, he desired to win clear of the unwilling influence which she
+exercised on his nature, and vainly prayed for light whereby to know the
+necessary means to get rid of the tormenting demon. But no answer came,
+and he relapsed into despair, wondering what his congregation would say
+if any member knew the unmastered temptations of his inner life. The
+struggle made him weak and ill and thin and nervous, and but that deep
+in his heart he knew vaguely that God was watching over him, and would
+aid at the proper time, he would have taken his own miserable life.
+
+With his head buried in his hands, Silas thought thus, with many groans
+and with many bitter tears, the shedding of which made his eyes burn.
+Occupied with his misery, he did not see a dark, massive form glide
+towards the open window, nor did he hear a sound, for Durgo stepped as
+light-footed as a cat. The sill of the window was no great distance from
+the ground, and the big negro flung his leg over the sill and into the
+room. But in getting hastily through, he was so large and the window so
+small, that he made a sliding noise as the window slipped still further
+up. Silas started to his feet, but only to see Durgo completely in the
+room, facing him with a grim smile.
+
+"I have come to speak with you, sir," said the negro.
+
+Silas turned white, being haunted by a fear known only to himself. But
+he read in the eyes of this black burglar--or, rather, he guessed by
+some wonderful intuition, that his fear and the cause of his fear were
+known to this man. Durgo saw the look in the preacher's eyes, and read
+his thoughts in his turn. The negro was not boasting when he hinted that
+he possessed certain psychic power. "Yes," he said, keeping his burning
+gaze directly on the miserable white man; "you stole papers from Captain
+Huxham's room, and I----"
+
+"I did not," interrupted Pence wildly, and making a clutch at his breast
+coat-pocket. "How dare you--"
+
+"The papers are in your pocket," interrupted Durgo, advancing, as he
+noted the unconscious action and guessed its significance. "Give me
+those papers."
+
+"I have no papers. I will alarm the house----"
+
+"Do so, and you shall be arrested."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"You saw my master, Edwin Lister, enter the Manor-house, and thought
+that he was his son. Cyril Lister told me as much. From what you said to
+Miss Huxham about her not being the daughter of the sailor, I believe
+that you followed my master into the house. What took place?"
+
+"Nothing! nothing! I swear that I did not----"
+
+"Those papers," said Durgo, pointing to the white hand which still
+clutched feebly at the breast-pocket, "say that the girl is not Captain
+Huxham's daughter. I want to know whose daughter she is."
+
+"You are talking rubbish. I have no papers."
+
+"I am making a guess, and I believe my guess is a true one. Will you
+give up those papers, or must I wring your neck?"
+
+With widely-open eyes, the preacher flung himself against the
+mantel-piece and clutched at a handbell. Just as he managed to ring this
+feebly, for his hands were shaking, and he was utterly unnerved, Durgo,
+seeing that there was no time to be lost, sprang forward and laid a
+heavy grasp on the miserable man's throat, ripping open his jacket with
+the other hand. In less than a minute he had the papers in his hand.
+
+"No! no! no!" shouted Silas, and made a clutch at them.
+
+Durgo thrust the papers into his pocket, and raising Pence up shoulder
+high, dashed him down furiously. His head struck the edge of the fender,
+and he lay unconscious. But Durgo did not wait to see further. He glided
+out of the window like a snake--swift, silent, stealthy, and dangerous.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE PAPERS
+
+
+Next morning the news was all over the village, that Silas Pence had
+been seized with epilepsy, and in falling had cut his head open against
+the old-fashioned fender. He had just time--said the gossips--to ring
+the bell before the catastrophe, and the landlady being, fortunately,
+awake, had rushed into the room to his assistance. In an hour he had
+become conscious, and had been put to bed, after giving the explanation
+of how he came by the wound in his head. As Silas was fairly popular,
+everyone was more or less sorry, and many were the callers at the
+cottage on the common.
+
+Dora heard the news from one of her scholars, and retailed it to her
+friend when she came home to luncheon. Bella turned pale when she heard
+of the affair. She guessed that this was the work of Durgo, and
+reproached herself for having enlisted his services. But then, she
+argued, that if Durgo really was responsible for the preacher's
+sickness, he would have appeared in Miss Ankers' cottage in the morning,
+to explain what had taken place, and possibly--supposing he had been
+successful--to show the papers. Then again, if this was Durgo's work,
+Bella wondered why the preacher had not denounced him. It seemed to her,
+on this assumption, that Pence feared to say too much, lest he should be
+questioned too closely. Dora certainly had no more suspicions than had
+anyone else, but what the story of the young man was absolutely true.
+
+"He never _did_ look healthy," said Dora, when the meal was ended, "so I
+am not surprised to hear that he has these epileptic fits."
+
+"Perhaps he'll get over them," hinted Bella feebly, and not looking at
+her friend, lest she should betray herself.
+
+"My dear, people with epilepsy never recover," rebuked Dora seriously,
+"and I wonder that the man dared to ask you to marry him, seeing what he
+suffered from. What a terrible thing to have a husband with fits."
+
+"Are you sure that it was a fit?" asked Bella, trying to salve her
+conscience with the idea that Durgo had nothing to do with the matter--a
+vain attempt.
+
+"My dear, am I sure that the hair grows on my head? Of course, I am
+sure. The man himself explained how he fell, just as he clutched at the
+bell. He hit his poor head against the iron fender--you know, dear, one
+of those old-fashioned kitchen fenders, now out of date. It's a mercy
+there was no fire in the grate, or he would have been burnt to death.
+Why, a cousin of mine once"--and Dora went off into a long and wearisome
+tale of a member of her family who had suffered in the same way.
+
+When the little old school-mistress returned to her duties, Bella sat
+down to consider things. On the face of it, Durgo had done nothing, and
+Silas really might suffer from fits. But as he had never fallen before,
+and as Bella knew that Durgo would stop at nothing to get the papers,
+which she believed existed, she began to believe that the fall was by
+design and not by accident. This belief taking full possession of her,
+she longed feverishly to see the negro, and to ask questions. But,
+although she watched for quite two hours at the window, he never
+appeared. Then--as her nerves were strung up nearly to snapping
+pitch--she determined to call round at Cyril's lodgings and tell him of
+her interview with the black man. For the moment, she was unwilling to
+do this, as she guessed that Cyril would be angry. Still, as it was more
+or less certain that Durgo himself would tell her lover--always
+supposing the papers existed and had been obtained--Bella thought it
+would be wiser to be first in the field with her story. Besides, in any
+case, she would have to confess to Cyril, so why not now? The only
+chance of getting at the truth of the matter of the murder lay in
+herself and Durgo and Cyril working amicably together, and in keeping
+nothing back from one another.
+
+There was a certain amount of risk in going to Cyril's lodgings, as his
+landlady, Mrs. Block, was one of the most notorious gossips in the
+village. She would be certain to talk of the visit, and to make unkind
+comments on the fact of a young lady choosing to visit a bachelor
+without a chaperon. And a chaperon Bella could not have, since she
+wished no one else to be present during her conversation with Cyril. A
+third party would mean that she would be unable to speak plainly and all
+knowledge of the case--inner knowledge that is--must be confined to
+herself, her lover, and to the negro. It would never do to let the
+outside world know of the means they were taking to arrive at the truth,
+and a chaperon might easily play the part of a she-Judas.
+
+And after all--as Bella reflected, when hurrying along the road--she had
+no one to consider but herself, since it mattered very little what was
+said about her, so long as Cyril was true. She was at war with her
+aunt--if, indeed, Mrs. Vand was her aunt--she had no friend but Dora,
+and there was really no person whom she desired to conciliate. Under
+these circumstances, she took her courage in both hands and with a calm
+face, but with her heart in her mouth, she rapped at the door of
+Lister's lodgings. Luckily he had observed her from the window, and
+opened the door himself.
+
+"I am so glad to see you Bella," he said, shaking hands in a
+conventional manner, as the stout form of Mrs. Block appeared at the end
+of the passage, "for I was just coming round to propose a walk on the
+common."
+
+"It is a beautiful day," said Bella, likewise conventional.
+
+"Very. Wait until I get my hat and stick. Mrs. Block, if anyone calls, I
+am going to the common with Miss Huxham."
+
+"And a very lovely sweet walk it is," said Mrs. Block, coming nearer to
+see if Bella was dressed in sufficiently deep mourning for her presumed
+father, "as I said to Block, if he'd only make the money a man like him
+ought to make, I'd be strolling on that there common, dressed up as fine
+as nine-pence. But there, you never get what you want in this world, and
+ain't it dreadful, Miss Huxham, about poor Mr. Pence?"
+
+"Very dreadful!" assented Bella politely, then as Cyril was ready, she
+went with him out of the gate, leaving Mrs. Block looking after them.
+Luckily for the couple, Mrs. Block had nothing to say against the visit.
+Indeed it was in her heavy mind that Cyril, having failed to take Bella
+out as promised, had been called upon by a young lady weary of waiting.
+
+"So like a man," soliloquised Mrs. Block, standing on her door-step,
+broom in hand, "they never thinks, never, never! And if this Mr. Lister
+commences neglect afore marriage, what will it be when the honeymoon's
+over. Ah, poor Miss Huxham! what with her pa dying, and her aunt
+robbing, and him as should love her neglecting--it's a miserable life
+she'll have. Ah, well, there's always the grave to look forward to," and
+ending her soliloquy thus cheerfully, Mrs. Block entered the house and
+shut the door with a bang.
+
+Meanwhile the lovers, quite ignorant of Mrs. Block's opinion, walked
+along the village street, and soon emerged on to the common. They passed
+the cottage wherein Silas Pence lodged, and this recalled the episode of
+the so-called fit to Cyril, as he had heard all particulars from his
+garrulous landlady. "I'm sorry for Pence," said Cyril, glancing at the
+cottage.
+
+"Why?" asked Bella nervously.
+
+"It's such an awful thing for a person to have fits. If I'd known that I
+should not have pitched him over the fence last night. Of course, he's a
+rotter, and a blighter, and a nuisance; but he's weak, and I shouldn't
+have treated him so roughly. I only hope," said Cyril gloomily, "that it
+wasn't the fall I gave him which brought about this beastly fit."
+
+"You can be quite sure of that," said Bella sharply; "in fact," she
+hesitated, then spoke out boldly, "I don't believe he had a fit."
+
+"My dearest girl, he said so himself, according to Mrs. Block."
+
+"I know he did, as Dora told me. And that makes me the more certain of
+his connection with the murder of my father. I suppose I must call
+Captain Huxham my father until I am certain of the truth of what Mr.
+Pence said."
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about," said Cyril, stopping to stare
+at the down-cast, flushed face under the black hat. "Why should Pence
+tell a lie about his fall?"
+
+"Because he didn't want anyone to know that Durgo had thrown him down."
+
+Cyril stared harder. "Would you mind explaining?" he said politely, "I
+still cannot understand your meaning."
+
+"I don't know that I understand myself," she replied nervously. "The
+fact is, Cyril, I believe that Durgo threw Mr. Pence down when he
+refused to give up those papers."
+
+"What papers?" asked Lister, still bewildered.
+
+"The papers which tell the truth about me."
+
+"But, my dear girl, that is all supposition. We don't know if any papers
+exist, after all. Pence may have spoken at random."
+
+"You believed that he spoke the truth."
+
+"I did. I want to believe, as only by learning that you are not Captain
+Huxham's daughter can we marry," said Cyril dismally; "but the wish is
+father to the thought, in my case."
+
+"Well," said Bella, plunging into her confession, "you had better ask
+Durgo if he assaulted Mr. Pence last night."
+
+"Why should he?"
+
+"I asked him to."
+
+Cyril, who had walked on, stopped once more and stared. "You asked him
+to?"
+
+"Yes." Bella was less nervous now. "I told him all that Mr. Pence said,
+and suggested that he should get the papers."
+
+Cyril's face grew stern, as she knew it would. "Tell me everything that
+passed between you and that nigger."
+
+"I have not said that I saw him," said Bella evasively.
+
+"You could scarcely have asked him to assault Pence, unless you had seen
+him," retorted Cyril, who looked displeased, "come, be frank. Tell me
+all."
+
+Bella did so, omitting nothing, although she every now and then stole a
+glance at Cyril's compressed lips and corrugated brow. At the end of her
+explanation he looked up, and his eyes were hard. "You have acted very
+wrongly," he said sternly.
+
+"I know I have: I admit as much," said the girl penitently, "but, after
+all, I only asked him to get the papers. I did not tell him to hurt Mr.
+Pence."
+
+Cyril shook his head impatiently. "You should not have seen this
+infernal nigger. I don't like any white woman to talk to niggers."
+
+"I don't like them myself," said Bella quietly, "and you may be sure,
+had I not been anxious to learn the truth, I should not have spoken to
+Durgo."
+
+"You could have asked me to speak."
+
+"Would you have done so, seeing that you did not believe that the papers
+existed?"
+
+"Nor do I believe now," replied Cyril, walking on quickly. "It is all
+guess work on your part."
+
+"No, no, no!" insisted the girl, as they arrived at their favourite spot
+under a giant gorse bush; "the mere fact that Mr. Pence told a lie about
+his injury shows me that I am right."
+
+"We don't know for certain that he met with his injury at Durgo's
+hands."
+
+"Then I have done no wrong," said Bella promptly.
+
+"Indeed you have," said Cyril in vexed tones, as they sat down. "You
+spurred on that infernal nigger to do what was wrong."
+
+"I understood that you liked Durgo, and thought him a well-educated
+man."
+
+"So I do like him; so I do consider him wonderfully well educated. He is
+an Oxford M.A., you know. But I daresay if you scratched him you would
+find that he is a common nigger after all."
+
+"The son of a king?"
+
+"An African king. Pooh! what's that? You must promise me, Bella, not to
+have anything more to do with him."
+
+"But I have promised to seek for the jewels in the Manor-house," and
+Bella went on to state how she could enter Bleacres by the secret door.
+Cyril nodded and approved of the idea.
+
+"But you must come to me and tell me what you find out. I don't want you
+to speak to Durgo more than you can help."
+
+"That is racial instinct and injustice."
+
+"Racial instinct is never unjust. I don't care if Durgo was a black
+Homer and Bismark and Napoleon rolled into one. He is a man of colour,
+and I detest the breed. Promise not to have anything to do with him--at
+all events unless I am present."
+
+"I promise if you will not scold so much," said Bella wilfully.
+
+"I am not scolding. If I did you would cry."
+
+The girl slipped her arm within that of her lover's, pleased to have
+escaped so easily. "I begin to think that I am marrying a tyrant."
+
+"You are marrying a man who loves you, and who wants to protect you from
+all dangers. Oh, Bella, Bella! I wish we could go away to London and get
+married quietly. Then we could go to Australia and leave this bad past
+behind. Will you come? I have money enough for a year, and by that time
+I'll be able to get something to do in Melbourne or Sydney."
+
+Bella shook her head. "Dear, I love you dearly, but I can't marry you
+until I am quite sure that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter."
+
+"In any case," said Cyril bitterly. "You will marry the son of a man who
+has committed a murder."
+
+"I am not so sure of that. Now that Mr. Pence has told a lie I think
+that he may have something to do with the matter. He may be guilty."
+
+Cyril groaned. "I have no ill-will towards Pence, in spite of his
+insolence to you, but for the sake of my name I wish I could think so."
+
+There was silence for a few moments, and then Bella, who was looking
+along the path, spoke to her lover in a frightened whisper. "Here is
+Durgo!"
+
+And indeed it was. The negro swung along bluff, heavy and ponderous. He
+was in dark clothes, and these, with his black face, made him look like
+a blot on the sunshiny beauty of the summer world. At once, with his
+keen eyesight, he caught a glimpse of the lovers and strode towards
+them, smiling and bland. Cyril nodded coldly. He could not forgive the
+black man's impertinence in speaking to Bella, quite forgetting that
+Bella was to blame and had sought the interview. Bella herself,
+remembering Cyril's warning and her own promise, did not dare to welcome
+the man.
+
+"I went to see you," said Durgo, addressing Cyril, "and your landlady
+told me that you had gone to the common with Miss Huxham. I followed. I
+am glad to find you both together. I have much to say."
+
+Bella could not contain her curiosity. "Did you----"
+
+"Yes," said Durgo coolly, "I did. He would have made a noise, so I had
+to dash him to the ground. He hit his head against the fender. Mrs.
+Giles," he added with a grim laugh, "tells me that he accounts for the
+knock on his head by saying that he had a fit."
+
+"What do you make out of that?" asked Cyril, casting a glance at Bella
+warning her to hold her tongue.
+
+"Oh"--Durgo glanced from one to the other--"so Miss Huxham has told
+you?"
+
+"About her interview? Yes! I am sorry you took her advice and saw Pence,
+for I knew that ill would come of it."
+
+Durgo leisurely took a bundle of papers from his pocket. "Much good has
+come of it, as I am here to explain," said he quietly. "You were right,
+Miss Huxham. Pence had certain papers stolen from Captain Huxham's
+safe."
+
+"Then he is guilty of the----"
+
+"I can't be certain of that," interrupted the negro sharply. "I had no
+time to question Pence. As soon as I got the papers which he carried in
+his breast-coat pocket I slipped through the window. Lucky that I did
+so, for his landlady came in almost immediately in answer to the ring of
+the handbell. If he hadn't sounded it I should not have rendered him
+insensible, but I had to do so for my own safety."
+
+"Well, well, well!" said Cyril impatiently, and looking at the papers,
+"we can talk of this later. You say that Miss Huxham's guess is
+correct?"
+
+"It is. And I congratulate Miss Huxham on her clever brain. Pence was
+certainly a fool to say as much as he did, and especially to so talented
+a lady who guessed----"
+
+"There! there! No more compliments. Tell us both at once. Did he speak
+truly when he stated that Miss Huxham was not the captain's daughter?"
+
+"He spoke absolutely truly, as you will find when you read this," and
+Durgo placed a bulky roll of paper in Bella's hands.
+
+"Oh!" she said, flushing a bright pink, "how glad I am. But whose
+daughter am I?" and she made to open the paper.
+
+Cyril laid his hand on the bundle. "We haven't time to read all that
+now," he said gruffly. "Tell us shortly what you have discovered,
+Durgo?"
+
+The negro nodded, and addressed himself to the girl. "Your name is
+Isabella Faith," he stated, "and you are the daughter of Maxwell Faith,
+who was my father Kawal's firm friend."
+
+The lovers looked at one another. "But how did I come to pass as Captain
+Huxham's daughter?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "So far as I can read the story, which
+Captain Huxham has set down in that bundle you hold, he was smitten with
+compunction for having murdered your father and so adopted you."
+
+Bella shuddered. "How terrible to have lived with such a wicked old
+man," she said. "I never liked Captain Huxham, but thinking him my
+father I tried my best to do my duty. No wonder he would not leave the
+property to me!"
+
+"I think he intended to leave you the jewels, though," said Durgo,
+thoughtfully. "He mentions in those papers that he intended to make a
+will leaving them to you, since his sister, Mrs. Vand, claimed Bleacres
+and his income. It's my opinion that Mrs. Vand learned how her brother
+had murdered Maxwell Faith, and so forced him to make that will."
+
+"Then the jewels really belong to you, Bella?"
+
+"Yes," said Durgo, rising and making a courteous bow. "And when we find
+Edwin Lister, my master, he shall restore the jewels."
+
+"But your expedition?" asked Bella in surprise.
+
+The negro looked at the lovers humorously. "I fear that there will be no
+expedition," he said seriously. "I cannot rob you of your fortune, Miss
+Faith. Marry our friend here and be happy."
+
+"But what will you do?" asked Cyril, touched by this self-abnegation.
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders again. "I shall search out Edwin Lister and
+return to Africa. In one way or another I daresay we can manage to get
+back to my tribe. Then I shall measure my strength and education against
+my cousin, who is wrongfully chief. For the rest, there is no more to be
+said. The papers you have, Miss Faith, will prove your birth and reveal
+all the doings of Huxham. There is no more for me to do, so I shall bid
+you both good-day and wish you all good luck."
+
+The lovers stared to one another and then at the retreating form of
+Durgo, who had so delicately left them together. It was Cyril who spoke
+first.
+
+"He is a good fellow, after all," he said. "That black skin covers a
+white heart. Oh! Bella, how strange it all is."
+
+"Take me home," said the girl faintly, and with white cheeks. "I can
+bear no more at present. Isabella Faith is my name now----"
+
+"Until you change it to that of Isabella Lister," said Cyril, kissing
+her.
+
+But she only wept the more, broken down by the unexpected revelation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A CONFESSION
+
+
+On the way home from the common, Cyril and Bella agreed that it would be
+wise to say nothing about her true parentage. In the first place, it
+would benefit no one to be thus candid, and in the second, such a
+statement would lead to questions being asked which might get Durgo into
+trouble. After all, the lovers argued, since Pence, as the chief party,
+did not move in the matter, it was useless for them to fight his
+battles. The more particularly when Durgo had acted so generously in
+surrendering the jewels. The black man had behaved in a way for which
+Cyril would not have given him credit. Few members of the boasting white
+race would have done as much.
+
+According to the arrangement which the lovers came to, Bella was to
+remain Miss Huxham to the world until such time as Edwin Lister could be
+found, and the truth of Huxham's death became known. Of course, with
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds, the girl was quite an heiress,
+and she proceeded to build castles in the air for the advancement of
+Cyril, when he became her husband. The young man did not say much, as he
+did not wish to damp her ardour, but he privately thought that if his
+father were in possession of the jewels he would not surrender them
+easily. If Durgo was generous, Edwin Lister, as his son knew, was not,
+and since he had risked his neck to get the treasure he would certainly
+not hand it over to a girl whom he did not know, for a mere sentimental
+whim. That the girl was to be his son's wife, and that the son would
+benefit by the sale of the jewels, would make no difference.
+
+On the way back to the cottage, Bella recovered her self-control and her
+spirits. It was a wonderful relief to her to learn that she was not the
+daughter of the gruff old mariner, whom she had never liked. Looking
+back on her life at Bleacres, Bella no longer wondered that her supposed
+father had never shown her any affection, and she shuddered when she
+recalled the terrible fact that his hands were red with blood. On
+consideration, however, she gave Huxham full credit for the way in which
+he had acted towards her. He had come to England a thief and a murderer,
+it is true, but he could easily have left her in the care of the people
+who looked after her in a little Croydon house. Bella could scarcely
+remember that house or the woman who stood to her in the place of a
+mother, her own being dead.
+
+Almost her earliest recollection was being taken from Croydon by Captain
+Huxham and placed with some friends of his at Shepherd's Bush until she
+was nine years old. Then she lived with Huxham for a few years, and
+ultimately was sent to the Hampstead boarding-school, whence she
+returned to Bleacres at the age of twenty. Thus the captain had educated
+her and had looked after her, and in his own coarse way had proved
+himself to be generous to a certain extent. Badly as he had acted in
+robbing her of her heritage, he might have behaved infinitely worse. And
+by her heritage Bella meant the jewels. With the property and the income
+left to Mrs. Coppersley, now Mrs. Vand, she had nothing to do, and she
+no longer grudged the woman what she had schemed to get. But it was
+probable that had Mrs. Vand not so schemed, Huxham, for very shame,
+might have given his adopted daughter his nefarious earnings.
+
+"I must not be hard on Captain Huxham," said Bella, when Cyril brought
+her to the gate, "for, in his own strange way, he acted kindly. But I am
+glad that he did not leave me anything, as I am certain he earned his
+money in some shady manner."
+
+"A kind of Captain Kidd," assented Lister gravely. "I agree with you.
+But the old ruffian had a soft spot in his heart for you, my dear."
+
+"No," said Bella, shaking her head, "I would not say that exactly. He
+suffered from remorse and therefore looked me out when he came to
+England. I did not find him an affectionate father by any means. But he
+was just, in a grim way, and even generous. He grudged me nothing save
+ready money. I wonder if Mrs. Vand knows the truth."
+
+"You said yourself that she did not," replied Lister quietly, "and I am
+inclined to think so too. A tyrant like Mrs. Vand would have been only
+too glad to tell you the unpleasant truth."
+
+"Unpleasant? Why, it is a delightful truth!"
+
+"Unpleasant from Mrs. Vand's point of view, since, had she known that
+you were not her brother's daughter, in no way could you claim the
+money."
+
+Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I am very, very glad that she has got the
+money, and much good may it do her. But I am thankful that Captain
+Huxham did not reveal the truth about me to her. Now she need never
+know."
+
+"It matters very little whether she knows or not," retorted Cyril. "She
+cannot gain possession of the jewels. Those are clearly yours."
+
+"How are we going to gain possession of them?" asked Bella lingering.
+
+Cyril looked hopelessly up to the blue sky. "Heaven only knows! The
+first thing to be done is to find my father and see if they are in his
+possession. And now that we are parting, Bella, and you feel better, I
+don't mind telling you that I don't think my father will give them
+up--if indeed he has them."
+
+"But to me, his son's future wife----"
+
+"My father is quite unbiassed by sentimental considerations," said Cyril
+very dryly. "What he holds, he keeps. However, there is plenty of time
+to talk of this matter when we meet my father. Meanwhile, what will you
+do?"
+
+Bella shook the bundle of papers which she carried. "I am going to my
+bedroom to read these," she said seriously. "I wish to learn everything
+that concerns my true parentage. I may have relatives, you know."
+
+"If you have," said Lister emphatically, "I only trust that you will
+leave them severely alone. I don't care for relatives; they ask
+everything and give nothing."
+
+"Well," said Bella smiling, for she had quite recovered her spirits, "so
+long as I have you, I need no sisters or cousins or aunts. Good-bye,
+dear. No, don't kiss me; someone may be looking on."
+
+"What of that? Everyone knows that we are engaged."
+
+"It doesn't do to emphasise the engagement in public," said the girl
+seriously, and ran into the cottage. At the door she turned. "I shall
+tell you all that I read in these papers," she called out, and vanished,
+while Cyril returned home to think over the strange turn which events
+had taken. And things were strange, for in striving to solve one mystery
+they had solved another. In seeking for Huxham's assassin they had found
+the true father of Bella.
+
+Dora had not yet returned, so Bella, in the seclusion of her bedroom,
+felt relieved. She did not wish, as yet, to share her secret even with
+the little school-mistress, good friend as that amiable woman had proved
+to be. Locking her door she sat down and unrolled the bundle. It
+consisted of many sheets of foolscap, and appeared to be a kind of rough
+diary kept by Jabez Huxham, when he was in Africa. The script was in his
+crooked painful writing, but was legible enough, and after some practice
+Bella managed to read it fairly easily. Seated on her bed, she perused
+what was set down, and found the reading extremely interesting.
+
+The sheets seemed to have been torn from a manuscript book, for the
+diary both commenced and ended abruptly and dealt entirely with Maxwell
+Faith and his doings. The old pirate had evidently ripped the pages from
+the diary which he kept and had placed them in the carved chest, which
+Mrs. Tunks had found in the attic. There also, according to Durgo's
+story, the jewels had been stored, so apparently Huxham had used the
+chest--which had belonged to Faith--as a repository for all that
+concerned the dead trader. But Edwin Lister could scarcely have gone to
+the garret to seek the chest and get the jewels, since he did not know
+his way about the old mansion. It was, therefore, evident that Huxham
+had kept the jewels in his study safe, and had removed the chest
+containing the torn-out leaves to the attic. Afterwards he had
+apparently placed the papers in the safe also, where Pence had probably
+found them. But Bella did not pause to think out these matters. She was
+to much interested in the story which was set down.
+
+Huxham stated abruptly that he met Maxwell Faith at Calabar, and had
+been engaged by him to transport certain goods up the Cross River,
+Nigeria, as far as Ogrude, when they were to be taken in canoes up to
+Yahe on the stream of that name. The goods were for Kawal, Durgo's
+father, with whom Faith appeared to have had many dealings. Faith and
+Huxham--so the writer said--got on very well, and the former told the
+latter much about himself and his past. The trader declared that he was
+the son of a wealthy Huntingdon Quaker, but had been disowned by his
+family and by the Society of Friends, because he had married a lady who
+was a Roman Catholic. There was one daughter, who had been born in
+London and had cost the mother her life. Faith said that he had placed
+his daughter Isabella with some friends of his at Croydon, and had come
+to Nigeria to make money for her. From what Bella could gather, her
+father appeared to have been desperately fond of her.
+
+Afterwards Huxham and Faith parted, but met again in the Hinterland at
+the chief town of Kawal and again became friendly. Then the trader told
+Huxham that because he had supplied the chief with guns and ammunition,
+and had proved his friendship in many ways, he had received ancient
+jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds. He was going home to his
+daughter with the money. At this part of the diary a portion of the
+manuscript was torn away, apparently that which dealt with the murder of
+Faith by Huxham.
+
+The story commenced abruptly again with the statement that the writer
+was going to England with his earnings and with the jewels; and
+intending to seek out Faith's little daughter and adopt her. Huxham gave
+no reason for doing so in his diary; but Bella, reading between the
+lines, guessed that the man was overcome with remorse--a strange thing
+for so hardened a sinner as Huxham undoubtedly was. Then came hasty
+notes of Huxham's fears lest he should be robbed for the sake of the
+jewels, and reference to an unknown man who was dogging his steps.
+Ogrude, Afikpa, Obubra and Calabar were towns mentioned as having been
+the scene of adventures with this man, whose name was not given.
+Afterwards the hasty notes detailed the finding of Faith's little
+daughter at Croydon, her adoption by the writer and her removal to
+Shepherd's Bush. A few remarks were made relative to the fears of
+Huxham, and of his determination to find some place in the country where
+he would be safe from pursuit. The final page was torn off in the
+middle, and Bella could read no more.
+
+Putting away the bundle in her box, she reflected on what she had read.
+It was easy for her to find her Quaker relatives, as the name and
+address of the family were given. Evidently these same relatives were
+rich, but very stiff-necked in Quaker traditions. Bella, however,
+thought very little of this at the moment. Her brain was employed in
+wondering if Huxham had met with his death at the hands of the unknown
+man who had dogged his footsteps in Nigeria. Without doubt this man knew
+of the existence of the jewels, and that Huxham had murdered Faith to
+get them. It might be that he determined to get the jewels, and, having
+traced Huxham to England after long years, had killed him and so gained
+his end. And this man--Bella asked herself the question earnestly--was
+this man Edwin Lister? She resolved to tell Cyril and to give him the
+papers to read. He could decide better than she, and probably Durgo
+could throw much light on the subject.
+
+But there was no doubt that Huxham had bought the Solitary Farm, and had
+planted the corn thickly, and had mounted the search-light on the roof
+of Bleacres, so that he might defend himself from robbery and possibly
+from death. But all his precautions had been in vain, and he had been
+struck down at last in his very fortress. And by Edwin Lister! Bella
+felt certain that, as Edwin Lister had been many years in Nigeria and
+had been a close friend of Kawal's, he must be the unknown man to whom
+Huxham had so often referred. Lister was the assassin; there could be no
+doubt on that point.
+
+Very thoughtfully the girl locked up the papers, and descended to the
+drawing-room to wait for the return of Dora. She greatly wished to speak
+to her friend about what she had discovered, but such a confidence was
+not to be thought of, as many things had to be done first. Until Edwin
+Lister was discovered, Bella felt that she would have to be silent. But
+her thoughts on this subject were brought to an abrupt conclusion when
+she opened the drawing-room door, for she unexpectedly beheld Silas
+Pence.
+
+"I came to see you, Miss Faith," he said, using her true name, "and I
+told the servant not to announce me. I waited here till you came."
+
+Speaking in this jerky, nervous manner, the young man did not attempt to
+rise, as he appeared to be ill and exhausted. His face was haggard and
+his head was bound up in a white cloth. Anything more weird than his
+looks Bella had never seen, and she recoiled on the threshold of the
+room, only anxious to escape from his unwelcome presence.
+
+"Have you come to persecute me again?" she asked.
+
+"No! no! no!" said Pence weakly, and yet with great relief in his tone.
+"I have come to ask your pardon for the way in which I have behaved. I
+was mad to trouble you as I did, but now I have recovered my reason."
+
+"What do you mean exactly?"
+
+Pence smiled in a ghastly manner. "Can you not guess," said he, touching
+the linen rag round his head. "The blow I received when I fell on the
+fender has changed my feelings towards you."
+
+"But how can a blow do that?" asked Bella, relieved but puzzled.
+
+"I cannot say," faltered Pence, resting his aching head on one thin
+hand. "I really cannot say; my brain won't think just now."
+
+"Then don't think and don't talk," said Bella, kindly placing a plump
+cushion at his back. "Rest quietly and I'll make you a cup of tea."
+
+"You give me good for evil," said the preacher, flushing painfully.
+
+"No, no!" replied the girl hastily, and remembering her share in his
+trouble. "You did me great honour in asking me to be your wife, though
+you were a trifle difficult in some ways. But now----"
+
+"It is all gone; it is all gone. I assure you it is all gone!"
+
+"What is all gone?"
+
+"All my love for you; all my desire; all my mad infatuation. I like you
+as a friend, Miss Faith--I shall always like you as a friend--but I can
+never, never worship you again in the way I did."
+
+"Thank heaven for that!" said Bella fervently. She knew no more than did
+Silas how the change had come about. But it was evident that the blow on
+his head had suddenly rearranged his ideas.
+
+"Up to ten o'clock last night I loved you madly, despairingly, and would
+have risked my soul to gain your hand. But since I fell"--he passed his
+hand across his forehead in a bewildered manner--"everything has
+changed."
+
+"And for the better," Bella assured him. "Come, don't think anything
+more about the matter. I have rung the bell for tea."
+
+"I rung the bell also last night. It brought in Mrs. Queen, very
+fortunately, or I might have bled to death, Miss Faith."
+
+"Why do you call me Miss Faith?" asked Bella abruptly.
+
+"Because you are Miss Faith," said the preacher, lifting his haggard
+face to her own in some surprise. "Did not the black man tell you?"
+
+"How do you know that I have anything to do with the black man?"
+
+"I have seen Mr. Lister with him. I saw you all three talking on the
+common. Oh, Miss Faith, you don't know how I have followed and spied on
+you!" and the man flushed with shame and dismay.
+
+"Did you listen?" asked Bella abruptly.
+
+"No; I did not fall so low as that, but I followed and watched."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I loved you. That is all over now; I shall never follow or
+watch you again. I am glad that the black man threw me down last night.
+When I found this morning that my prayers had been answered and that I
+no longer suffered from this mad passion, I resolved to say nothing
+about what had taken place."
+
+"And so invented the story of the epileptic fit?"
+
+"Yes; but the truth is----"
+
+"I know the truth: Durgo told everything to me and to Mr. Lister this
+morning, or rather this afternoon; also Durgo gave me the papers. I have
+read them, and know that I am not Captain Huxham's daughter. By the
+way"--Bella looked sharply at the preacher--"are we friends?"
+
+"Yes, if you will have me for a friend," said Pence meekly.
+
+"By all means, now that you love me no longer. Be my friend,"--she held
+out her hand, which Pence grasped feebly--"and tell me how you got those
+papers."
+
+"From your father's--I mean from Captain Huxham's safe."
+
+"Then you were in the room on that night?"
+
+"Yes. I saw the body."
+
+"And you said nothing."
+
+"No. Had I done so, I should have incriminated myself. When I entered
+the study Captain Huxham was lying dead under the desk."
+
+"Did you see anyone about?"
+
+"I saw no one, not even Mr. Lister, whom I had followed into the house."
+
+"Just explain precisely what you did see," said Bella, anxiously.
+
+Pence thought for a few moments. "I was watching the house as usual on
+that night because I loved you," he said, in a slow, feeble way, for he
+was still weak from loss of blood. "I beheld Mr. Lister coming towards
+me. He brushed past me, and entered the Manor by the front door. I
+watched for his return, intending to speak to him. But he never came
+out."
+
+Bella sat up alertly. "He never came out?"
+
+"No. I don't know how long I watched; but finally I grew tired, and
+stole up to the house. The front door was ajar. I saw that the study
+door was also open, so I went in. Then I saw Captain Huxham lying dead
+and bleeding, with the safe open and the papers in disorder. In the
+safe, or, rather, tumbled on the floor before the safe was a bundle of
+bank-notes. The Accuser of the Brethren tempted me," said Silas, with
+the perspiration beading his high forehead, "and I snatched up the
+notes, for I thought that if I had money I could marry you. I then saw
+that bundle which the black man took from me, and thinking there might
+be more notes in the bundle, I snatched that up also and fled."
+
+"Why did you fly?" asked Bella, following this story with great
+interest.
+
+"I thought I heard a noise, and feared lest I should be accused of
+killing Captain Huxham. I ran out of the study, and out of the house,
+and down the path between the standing corn, as though the devil was
+after me. But he was not after me," wailed Pence, standing up, "he was
+in my heart. Here is the money for which I sold my precious soul," and
+he threw a packet of bank-notes on the table with feverish eagerness.
+"It was all for your sake!"
+
+Bella took up the notes. "The man you mistook for Mr. Lister was his
+father," she said quietly; "did you not see him in the room?"
+
+"I saw no one. Did Lister's father kill Captain Huxham?"
+
+"Can't you tell?" asked the girl, looking at him straightly.
+
+"I have told everything," said Pence, with an air of fatigue; "now I
+die," and before she could help him he fell full length on the floor
+quite insensible. The interview had proved too much for him in his weak
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE GHOST
+
+
+The corn on Bleacres was rapidly ripening under the beams of the
+powerful sun. The Manor-house was islanded amidst a golden sea of grain,
+the waves of which rolled up even to its ancient walls. The winding path
+to the boundary channel was still the sole means of approach, but few
+people came up this to the house, as the Vands were not popular. Henry
+certainly was approved of, on account of his manners, his affliction,
+and his violin-playing; but the neighbours, ignorant of the truth, could
+not forgive his wife for robbing Bella of her inheritance. Now that she
+was rich and re-married, it was Mrs. Vand's intention to become the
+great lady of the district, but hitherto she had not met with much
+success in her bid for popularity.
+
+But, in spite of cold looks and significant speeches, Mrs. Vand went
+from house to house, talking of a Harvest Home fete, which she proposed
+to give as soon as the grain was reaped. Her husband would not accompany
+her on these social visits, as he was shrewd enough to see that only
+time would ameliorate the bad impression which Mrs. Vand's callous
+conduct had created. In vain he tried to show his wife that it would be
+wise to retire for a short period. Mrs. Vand scorned such Fabian
+tactics, and did her best to take by storm the position she felt that
+her wealth and personality deserved. The more she was snubbed, the more
+she persisted, and there was no doubt but what, in the end, she would
+gain what she wanted, by wearing down those who resented her conduct.
+
+Mrs. Vand paid a visit even to Dora Ankers, choosing a Saturday
+afternoon, when she knew that Bella was walking on the common with her
+lover. The little school-mistress received her coldly, as she had never
+liked the woman from the first day she had set eyes on her. But Mrs.
+Vand, in the most flamboyant of costumes, was all smiles and small talk,
+refusing to see for one moment the chilly reception she was receiving.
+
+"You really must come to our Harvest Home, Miss Ankers," she babbled;
+"what with Henry's taste and my money, it will be wonderfully gay and
+bright and artistic. Everyone will help to reap the corn, and in the
+evening we will have a ball, at which Henry will play old English tunes,
+to which we shall dance. You must come. I shall take no refusal."
+
+"How can I?" asked Dora tartly, "seeing that your niece whom you have
+treated so badly, is stopping with me."
+
+Mrs. Vand drew up her stout figure with great dignity. "That Bella
+Huxham left her home and my guardianship is purely her own fault," she
+replied. "I promised to look after her, at poor Jabez's request. But she
+chose to behave in a way of which I did not approve, and to engage
+herself to a man, who is not the husband I should have picked for her."
+
+"Bella has every right to choose a husband for herself," retorted Miss
+Ankers.
+
+"Girls are not clever enough to choose the right man. And Mr.
+Lister----"
+
+"You know nothing about him, Mrs. Vand."
+
+"That is exactly what I complain of," said the other woman triumphantly,
+"he may be a rogue and a scamp."
+
+"He may be, but he is not. Mr. Lister is a gentleman."
+
+"That doesn't prevent his being a bad character."
+
+"Well," said Dora, rising to terminate the visit, "I don't care about
+discussing my friends."
+
+Mrs. Vand rose also. "Let us shelve the subject," she said grandly, "and
+you can tell Bella that I am willing to forgive and forget. If she likes
+to come to our Harvest Home, she can do so. I am not the one to bear
+malice. It is the last Harvest Home we shall have," prattled Mrs. Vand,
+as her hostess skilfully edged her towards the door. "Henry does not
+intend to sow wheat again, and the grounds of Bleacres will be thrown
+open to the public."
+
+"People are not fond of wandering in marshes," said Dora dryly. "If you
+want to please us, throw open the Manor-house. That is interesting, if
+you like."
+
+"And haunted," said the visitor in a thrilling whisper; "do you know of
+any sad legend connected with the Manor-house, Miss Ankers?"
+
+"No!" snapped Dora, tartly; then her curiosity got the better of her
+dislike for Mrs. Vand. "Is it really haunted?"
+
+"There are footsteps, and whisperings, and rappings in the twilight. I
+told Henry that if this sort of thing continued, I should leave the
+place."
+
+Privately, Dora wished that she would, and thus rid the neighbourhood of
+a most undesirable presence, but aloud she merely remarked that the
+noises might be due to rats, a suggestion which Mrs. Vand scouted.
+
+"It's a ghost, a ghost!" she insisted--"all old families have a ghost.
+But do not let us talk of it," she continued, looking round with a
+shudder; "already the thing has got on my nerves. To go to a more
+pleasant subject: let me invite you for a row on the water."
+
+"A row on the water?" echoed Dora, who knew of no lake in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+"On the channel at the end of my grounds," explained Mrs. Vand. "Henry
+has bought a rowing-boat, and takes me far into the country. You can
+almost reach the railway line before you get to the swamps. Do come."
+
+"I'll think about it," said Miss Ankers, only anxious to get her visitor
+out of the house before Bella came back.
+
+"Do, dear, and come to our Harvest Home. It will be quite artistic: you
+have no idea of Henry's perfect taste, and if Bella comes I shall be
+glad to see her, in spite of her nasty behaviour, and--and----" Mrs.
+Vand could think of nothing more to say, so took herself off, with a
+gracious smile, quite sure that she had played the part of a great lady
+to perfection.
+
+"Ugh!" said Dora, looking after the stout, gaudily-clothed figure,
+"you're a spiteful cat, if ever there was one. I shouldn't be surprised
+to hear that you had killed your brother yourself, in order to get the
+money."
+
+Unaware of this amiable speech, Mrs. Vand sailed grandly through the
+village, dispensing smiles and patronage. Fortunately for herself, she
+was not a thought-reader, or her self-satisfaction might have received a
+severe reproof. She was considered to be considerably worse than
+Jezebel, and in her stoutness was compared to the late Mrs. Manning, a
+notable murderess. To her face many were agreeable, but usually she was
+not received with the best grace. Finally, towards the evening, she
+returned to the Manor-house to report on her triumphs.
+
+Crossing the boundary-channel, she saw the boat which her husband had
+lately bought. It was a narrow but comfortable craft of a light build,
+and the water-way was quite broad enough to permit of its being rowed
+very comfortably, even though the oars occasionally touched the banks.
+Mrs. Vand looked at this boat with a singular expression, and then,
+stepping across the planks, walked up to her lordly abode. She found
+that her husband was absent, and had left word with the servant that he
+would not be back to dinner. Mrs. Vand was annoyed, as she did not like
+eating alone; but in her heart of hearts she was afraid of her quiet
+husband, even though he was considerably her junior, and made no
+comment. However, the servant who brought in the seven o'clock tea had
+much to say, and Mrs. Vand permitted her to talk, for, as usual, the
+sinister influence of the Manor was getting on her healthy nerves.
+
+"Master's gone to the village, to see his ma," said the servant, who was
+small and elfish and somewhat brazen. "Then he's going to see Tunks."
+
+"What's the matter with Tunks?" asked Mrs. Vand, pouring out the tea.
+
+"He's ill. He's been drinking hard for weeks, ever since that horrid
+murder, mum, and now the doctor says he's got delirious trimmings."
+
+Mrs. Vand looked up sharply, and frowned. "He is raving?"
+
+"Raving hard, mum. But master will see that he is looked after."
+
+"Your master is very good," said Mrs. Vand, taking a piece of bread.
+"You can go, Sarah."
+
+The servant departed somewhat unwillingly, as she did not like the big,
+bare kitchen, and felt the influence of the unseen as did her mistress.
+But as yet, ghostly doings had not been sufficiently scaring to make her
+throw up a good situation. Nevertheless, she shivered in the kitchen,
+and wished that Tunks was present to keep her company, as he often did,
+at the evening meal. But Tunks was raving at the present moment in the
+hut on the marshes, and there was no chance of anyone else coming to
+Bleacres.
+
+Mrs. Vand sat and shivered in the dining-room also. She lighted three
+lamps, and although the evening was warm, she set fire to the coals and
+wood in the large, old-fashioned grate. It seemed to her that she could
+not have enough light or warmth to ward off the cold, malicious
+influence, which seemed to spread a sinister atmosphere throughout the
+vast room. Shivering at the head of the table, Mrs. Vand kept casting
+furtive looks here and there, as though she expected to see the
+blood-stained figure of her murdered brother appear like Banquo's
+spectre. Outside the twilight gradually deepened to luminous darkness,
+and although she had finished her tea, she did not feel inclined to move
+about the gloomy passages. Again and again, she wished that Henry would
+return.
+
+At nine o'clock her nerves were still shaky, and she felt that she could
+not stand the dining-room any longer. Ringing the bell, she took a lamp
+in each hand, and told Sarah--who entered speedily--to take the other.
+The two women proceeded to the drawing-room, and Mrs. Vand, having
+pulled down the blinds, ordered Sarah to bring her work and sit beside
+her. The servant was only too pleased to obey, and for the next
+half-hour the two sat in pleasant gossiping confabulation, Mrs. Vand
+knitting a silk tie for her husband, and Sarah trimming a wonderful hat
+with aggressively brilliant flowers. There was no noise, as the wind had
+dropped, and everything was intensely still. Mrs. Vand and Sarah
+chattered incessantly to keep up their courage in the ghostly
+atmosphere. Suddenly--
+
+"Listen!" said Mrs. Vand, raising her hand. "Do you hear?"
+
+Sarah turned white through her dingy skin, and held her breath. There
+came distinctly the sound of three knocks from somewhere near the
+fire-place; then a long, dreary sigh. The servant shrieked, and sprang
+for the door. But Mrs. Vand was after her in one moment, and seized her.
+"Hold your tongue, you fool! It's only rats."
+
+As if to give the lie to her statement, there came the swish, swish of
+silken skirts, and then the sigh again. This was too much for Mrs. Vand.
+She scuttled panic-stricken into the hall, followed by the shrieking
+Sarah. At the same moment, as though it had been prearranged, the front
+door opened and Vand appeared.
+
+"Oh, Henry! Henry!" gasped his wife, and clung to him.
+
+The young man shook her off. "What is the matter?" he asked in calm
+tones. But Mrs. Vand being too terrified to answer, Sarah did so for
+her. "The ghost! the ghost! the ghost!"
+
+"What rubbish!" said Vand, easily; "there is no ghost, you silly girl,
+and if there is, here is one who can lay it."
+
+He stepped aside, and Granny Tunks, lean and weird-looking, appeared at
+the door. She had a white cloak over her fantastic dress, and looked
+more witch-like than ever. Mrs. Vand stared at the woman in surprise.
+"Why have you left your grandson?" she asked, and glancing at Henry.
+
+"He's sound asleep, deary, the fit having passed. A gal o' mine, of the
+true Romany breed, looking after him. Your sweet husband here"--she
+waved a skinny hand towards Vand--"asked me to come and see what I could
+do to lay this unquiet spirit who walks."
+
+"Rubbish! rubbish!" said Mrs. Vand, now feeling more confident in
+company.
+
+"It's not rubbish, deary," said Mrs. Tunks, mysteriously; "the dead
+walk."
+
+"The dead?"
+
+"Your poor brother, as is uneasy at having been pitched out of life so
+cruel. He's walking," and she nodded weirdly.
+
+On hearing this statement, Sarah whimpered and clutched at Mrs. Vand's
+dress, whereupon that lady who was extremely pale herself--shook her
+off. "Go to bed, Sarah," she commanded.
+
+"Me!" screeched the girl, "and when there's ghosts walking! I'd scream
+myself into fits if I went up-stairs."
+
+Mrs. Vand appealed to her husband. "Henry, make her go."
+
+The young man took the girl by the shoulders, and propelled her towards
+the foot of the stairs, but Sarah resisted wildly, and finally made a
+bolt for the still open front door. "I'll go home to mother," she cried
+hysterically, and disappeared into the darkness.
+
+"There," said Mrs. Vand, angrily, to Granny Tunks. "See what you've
+done. The house will get a bad name. I'll give that minx warning in the
+morning."
+
+Vand, seeing that it was useless to run after the terrified Sarah, who
+by this time was half-way to Marshely, closed the door, and shrugged his
+shoulders. "Come into the drawing-room," he said to Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"No, no!" cried his wife, shaking; "the ghost is there. I heard the
+rapping and the sighing and the----"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" interrupted Vand, with less than his usual coolness;
+"that is why I have brought Granny. There is an evil influence in this
+house, and I want her to find out what it is."
+
+"Do you believe in such rubbish?"
+
+"You seemed to believe in it just now," said the cripple drily. "Yes, I
+do believe in the unseen, as I have had too much proof not to believe."
+
+"Then get a priest, get a priest!" cried Mrs. Vand wildly, and looking
+twice her age. "What is the use of this old fool?"
+
+Granny Tunks laughed in an elfish manner when she heard herself spoken
+of thus, and seemed very little put out. "A fool can do what a wise
+woman can't," she croaked; "your husband's wiser nor you, deary. He
+knows."
+
+"Knows what?" asked Mrs. Vand, turning on the ancient gipsy fiercely.
+
+"That there's danger coming to you and him."
+
+Mrs. Vand cast one scared and indignant look on the withered face, and
+ran into the drawing-room. Henry had preceded her here, and was standing
+by the table looking round the room in an inquiring manner, evidently on
+the alert for the mysterious sounds. Mrs. Vand caught his arm. "Do you
+hear what this woman says?" she asked, shaking him.
+
+"As the door was open I did hear," he replied coolly; "don't be a fool,
+Rosamund. I brought her here to see what she can tell us."
+
+"About?--" Mrs. Vand faltered and broke down.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" said Henry with an angry hiss like that of a
+serpent.
+
+Usually the young man wore a mild and gentle expression, but on this
+night his face was haggard and his eyes were wild. He had all his wits
+about him, however, and forced his wife into a chair, where she sat
+trembling violently. "I've had enough of these ghostly pranks," he said
+in a fierce undertone, "and as Granny undoubtedly possesses clairvoyant
+powers, I wish her to learn all she can. Come in, Mrs. Tunks!" he added,
+raising his voice, and the old witch-wife entered the room, looking
+singularly weird in her white cloak.
+
+"Is that the only reason that you have asked Granny here?" demanded Mrs.
+Vand, in a low voice. "Sarah told me that her grandson had been raving."
+
+"You fool!" snarled the cripple. "Will you hold your tongue? I have
+another purpose, which you will find out shortly. Granny," he pointed to
+a chair, "sit down and tell us what influences are about."
+
+Mrs. Tunks sat in the indicated chair, and lay back with closed eyes.
+Vand and his wife remained perfectly still, the latter gazing at the old
+witch in a terrified manner, as though dreading what she would say and
+do. The room was filled with shadows, even though three lamps were
+lighted, and the silence became quite oppressive. Mrs. Vand was a
+healthy animal, and not in the least imaginative, but after a time she
+felt that some evil influence was in the room, and tightly gripped her
+husband's hand. The perspiration broke out on her forehead. Henry gave
+her no comfort, not even by pressing her hand. His eyes were fixed on
+the perfectly expressionless and still face of Granny Tunks. The seance
+had all the elements of terror about it.
+
+The gipsy lay as still as though carved out of stone, and the watchers
+could scarcely see the rise and fall of her breath. Deeper and deeper
+grew the stillness, so that even the fall of a pin could have been
+heard, had one been dropped. Apparently the body of Granny lay supine in
+the chair, but her spirit was far away--roaming the house, maybe. After
+a long pause, the woman began to speak in a low, expressionless voice,
+and almost without moving her withered lips.
+
+"Gems," she said softly, "rare gems, blue and red and green; jewels of
+price and pearls of the ocean. They are in an ivory box. Long ago the
+woman who is standing near me"--Mrs. Vand started, looked, but could see
+nothing, yet the monotonous voice went on, as though the speaker really
+saw the form described--"wore those jewels. She has the face of a Roman
+empress. In Africa, many centuries ago--yes, in Africa, and she sinned
+to get those jewels. Now she laments that she has lost them."
+
+"How did she lose them?" asked Vand almost in a whisper, as though
+fearful of breaking the charm. Apparently--as Mrs. Vand guessed--this
+was not the first time he had assisted at so weird a ceremony.
+
+"Fierce warriors in green turbans took them--warriors of Arabia. The
+jewels travel south, still with the warriors. There are many fights. The
+jewels pass from one hand to another, still in the ivory box. Now a
+savage has them--a savage, in a wild forest. They are buried in the
+earth at the place where victims are sacrificed to the gods. Long years
+pass: centuries glide by. The box of jewels is found: it is in the hands
+of another savage, who wears European clothes. He gives the jewels to a
+white man for services rendered."
+
+Mrs. Vand interrupted with a strangled cry of terror. "Jabez--is he
+Jabez?"
+
+"He is not Jabez Huxham, but a man called Maxwell Faith. But see"--the
+dull voice of the gipsy suddenly became emotional and loud--"they pass
+into the hands of Jabez Huxham, and the hands that bear away the jewels
+are stained with blood. The jewels pass with him across the sea to this
+land. In London first; then in this house. They are placed in a carved
+chest; it is in the attic. Now they are in the safe in the study, and
+now----"
+
+Vand interrupted. "How did they pass out of Huxham's possession?"
+
+Granny Tunks did not reply for a few minutes, during which Mrs. Vand
+clutched her husband's hand still tighter, and passed her tongue over
+her dry lips. "They pass from Jabez Huxham, as they came to him--by
+murder," went on the clairvoyant. "I see the study. Huxham is at the
+desk, and the ivory box of jewels is before him. There is a knife on the
+floor by the door, and the knife is bloody."
+
+"But Huxham is not dead," said Vand, quickly and softly.
+
+"There is blood on the knife," said Mrs. Tunks, without taking any
+notice of the question. "Huxham is so engaged in looking at the jewels
+that he does not see the door softly open. A man enters. He sees the
+knife and picks it up. He glided behind Huxham, who suddenly turns.
+Now--now the blow has fallen, and the jewels, the jewels----" She
+paused.
+
+"What more?" gasped Mrs. Vand. "What more, in God's name?"
+
+"There is no God here, but only evil," came the reply. "I can see no
+more. I see, however, that the man who struck the blow is a cripple,
+and----"
+
+There came a cry, apparently from behind the wall. Vand and his wife
+turned astonished and terror-struck. On the left of the fire-place a
+sliding panel was pushed back, and they beheld Bella, pale but
+triumphant.
+
+"So you murdered Captain Huxham!" she cried, "you and your wife. O
+God----"
+
+"There is no God here," breathed Mrs. Tunks again, "only evil."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+AN AWKWARD POSITION
+
+
+The appearance and accusation of Bella were so unexpected that Mrs. Vand
+and her husband became perfectly white, and obvious fear robbed them of
+all powers of movement. Granny Tunks sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stared
+at Bella with the open panel behind her in great surprise.
+
+"Where have you come from, deary?" she asked, rising unsteadily.
+
+"Never mind," said Bella, with her eyes on the guilty faces of the
+married couple. "It is enough that I am here to accuse these two of
+murder."
+
+Mrs. Tunks uttered a screech. "What are you talking about, lovey? This
+good gentleman and kind lady have murdered no one."
+
+Bella glanced at her in a puzzled way. "You declared that Henry Vand
+murdered my father," she remarked quietly, and keeping up the fiction of
+her being Huxham's daughter; "you said that a cripple----"
+
+"Me!" screeched Granny again. "I never said such a thing."
+
+"Of course not," chimed in Vand, who was the first to recover his powers
+of speech. "It's all nonsense."
+
+"Your face showed that it was the truth just now," said Bella sharply,
+"when Mrs. Tunks talked in her sleep."
+
+"Sleep? No lovey, no sleep. I sent my spirit away to learn things. What
+did I say? Tell me, my good gentleman, what did I say?"
+
+"I don't remember. I forgot," said Vand striving to appear cool.
+
+"I don't forget," cried Bella indignantly, "she spoke of the jewels and
+of my father's murder. How did you find out?" she asked Granny Tunks,
+who dropped into her chair and seemed to shrink. "How did you learn
+about the jewels and Maxwell Faith?"
+
+"I never heard the name. I never knew there were any jewels," murmured
+the witch-wife. "I never said anything about murder. When I came back to
+my body I never remember anything. No, no, no! The spirit is stronger
+than the flesh and jealous of its secrets," and she went on murmuring
+and maundering like one in her dotage. Yet Bella knew well, that in
+spite of her age, Granny Tunks was very far from being intellectually
+weak.
+
+Meanwhile, Mrs. Vand, who had sunk into a chair, had gradually recovered
+her colour and wits. "You are the ghost!" she said suddenly to Bella.
+
+In spite of the strained situation, the girl laughed, though not very
+mirthfully. "Yes, I am the ghost!" she acknowledged. "It was I who
+sighed and rapped and rustled my skirts so as to drive you and Sarah out
+of the room."
+
+"How dare you! how dare you!" shouted Mrs. Vand, rising wrathfully.
+"What do you mean by entering my house, and how did you get in."
+
+"I got in by a way of which you know nothing," said Bella coolly, "and I
+am not going to reveal my secret. But I know this house better than you,
+Aunt Rosamund"--she gave her the old familiar name--"and I know of many
+secret passages. This,"--she touched the panel at her back--"is the
+entrance to one of them. In the old days many a conspirator concealed
+himself here. I have used the hiding-place to learn your secret."
+
+"How dare you! how dare you!" blustered Mrs. Vand, and would have gone
+on abusing Bella wrathfully but that her crafty husband interposed.
+
+"Miss Huxham, you have behaved wrongly in entering the house in this
+secret manner, seeing that I told you how welcome you were to come
+openly. Both Rosamund and myself would have been glad to see you."
+
+"Not me! not me!" vociferated Mrs. Vand, with a bright spot of angry red
+on each cheek. "I always hated her, and I hate her more than ever."
+
+"Hold your tongue," muttered her husband, and gave her plump arm such a
+pinch that she leaped aside with a cry of pain. Taking no notice of her
+distress he turned to Bella. "You should have come openly," he repeated.
+"May I ask why you made use of the secret passages?"
+
+"You may, and I am quite willing to answer. I came to find the
+whereabouts of the jewels which belonged to my father."
+
+"I know of no jewels," said Vand steadily; "do you, Rosamund?"
+
+"No, I don't," returned Mrs. Vand aggressively. "There was the property
+and the income, both of which Jabez left to me by arrangement. But
+jewels? I never saw any; if I had I should have got hold of them, since
+they are mine--if they exist, that is."
+
+"Granny here said when she spoke that they existed," insisted Bella
+quietly.
+
+Mrs. Vand shrugged her fat shoulders. "I don't believe in hocus-pocus
+and hanky-panky. Henry thought that the house was haunted, as I did
+myself, and he brought Granny here to lay the ghost. She has done so,
+since she brought you out to talk in a silly manner. You are the ghost,
+Bella, so I don't believe that there are any such things as spirits."
+
+"I don't believe in spirits either," said Bella promptly, "and so I wish
+to know, Mrs. Tunks, how you learned all you said."
+
+"All what?" mumbled the witch-wife vacantly.
+
+"All about the jewels and the murder and the----"
+
+"I don't remember saying a word," interrupted Granny, rising slowly and
+with a lack-lustre look in her beady eyes. When I go into a trance I
+don't recall what I say. But let me go into a trance again and I'll tell
+you where the jewels are if you will give me a share," and her eyes
+began to glitter in an avaricious manner.
+
+"No," said Vand, in his most peremptory tones, "we have had enough of
+this rubbish."
+
+"Oh," sneered his wife, "you admit then that it is rubbish?"
+
+"Yes, now that I know Miss Huxham played the ghost. Granny"--he turned
+to the old woman--"all your teachings of the unseen have proved false,
+so you can take yourself out of this house, and never come near it
+again."
+
+Bella, quite believing that the old woman was a fraud, and knew the
+truth of what she had spoken when in her so-called trance, expected to
+see her defy the man she had accused. But in place of doing so Granny
+Tunks flung the tail of her white cloak over her head and moved towards
+the door. Seeing her retreat, Mrs. Vand, after the manner of bullies and
+cowards, became suddenly brave. Leaping towards the old creature, and
+before her husband could restrain her, she struck her hard once or twice
+between the shoulders. "Get out of this, you lying cat! Go to the devil,
+your master, you vile animal!"
+
+Vand caught back his infuriated wife with a fierce oath, but Granny
+still continued on her way out of the room. As she passed into the dark
+hall she turned and sent a glance at Mrs. Vand which made that
+triumphant tyrant shiver in her shoes. But she did not defend herself in
+any way, and shortly the three in the vast drawing-room heard the front
+door open and shut. Granny Tunks was gone, and with her seemed to
+disappear the malignant influence which had hung over the house for so
+long. Bella did not believe in witchcraft, but she could not help
+thinking that the old woman must have exercised some evil spell, and now
+had departed taking her familiar with her. At all events, the air seemed
+to be clearer for her absence.
+
+"Now then," said Vand, addressing Bella in his usual courteous way, "as
+you are satisfied, Miss Huxham, perhaps you will go also."
+
+"No," said Bella determinedly. "I believe that Granny spoke truly, and
+that you and my aunt have something to do with the murder."
+
+"It's a lie!" shouted Mrs. Vand furiously, and would have struck her
+niece, as she had struck Granny, but that Vand kept her back. "Why
+should I murder my own dear brother?"
+
+"To get the heritage you now enjoy," said Bella firmly. "I don't say you
+actually murdered him, but----"
+
+"I should think you didn't, indeed," raved Mrs. Vand, stamping in
+impotent wrath. "You heard what I said at the inquest. What I said then
+is true. I left this house at seven o'clock with Tunks, as he can prove.
+I was all the evening with Henry, as he can swear to, and he left me on
+the other side of the boundary channel. I came in quietly at ten and
+went to bed. I never knew that Jabez was dead until the next morning,
+and then I woke you. And as I was out of the house from seven until ten,
+how could I have murdered my brother--your poor dead father--when the
+doctor declared that he was struck down shortly after eight? How
+dare----"
+
+"You forget," interrupted Bella quickly, "that Dr. Ward said the murder
+was committed between eight and eleven, so that gave you an hour to----"
+
+"Grant me patience, heaven!" cried Mrs. Vand, casting up her eyes. "Why,
+the coroner himself said that the poor dear must have been murdered
+shortly after eight o'clock, since I came in at ten and saw no light in
+the study."
+
+"Ah," said Bella significantly, "he declared that on your evidence and
+because he hated Dr. Ward, and wished to put him in the wrong."
+
+"Then you accuse me of murder?"
+
+"No; I accuse you of nothing."
+
+"You say that I am guilty?" asked Vand, suddenly but quietly.
+
+"I do not say so, but Granny Tunks did."
+
+"If so, would she not have accused me to my face when I turned her out
+of the house?" said Vand earnestly. "I assure you, Miss Huxham, that I
+had no motive to kill your father. I was quite content to wait, even
+though Rosamund and I were secretly married. Besides, on that night I
+left Rosamund on the further side of the boundary channel, as she can
+prove. Also my mother can show that I returned to my home at fifteen
+minutes past ten, and that I was in bed by half-past. There is not a
+shred of evidence to support this unfounded charge you have made."
+
+"I did not make it Granny said----"
+
+"I know what she said," interrupted Vand imperiously. "Hold your tongue,
+Rosamund, and let me speak. Granny said what she did say in a trance. At
+one time I really believed in such things; now, and especially since our
+ghost has proved to be you, I have ceased to believe. You heard merely
+the raving of an old beldame. I dare say she wished to blackmail myself
+and Rosamund by bringing this unfounded charge, and chose this so-called
+trance to bring the charge. If she really has any grounds to go
+upon--and I swear that she has not--she will doubtless go to the police
+to-morrow."
+
+"And I hope she will go!" cried Mrs. Vand angrily, "for then Henry and I
+can have her up for libel. No wonder everyone is so disagreeable!
+Granny, no doubt, has been spreading all manner of reports against us. I
+daresay we are regarded as a couple of criminal, gory, murdering
+assassins," ended Mrs. Vand, with a fine choice of words.
+
+Bella was puzzled. Like the Vands themselves, she did not believe in the
+occult arts with which Granny Tunks was supposed to be familiar, and it
+was not unlikely that the clever old woman intended to risk blackmail.
+Certainly, if Mrs. Tunks could really prove the guilt of Vand, she would
+not have retreated so easily when he ordered her out of the house, much
+less would she have condoned the blow of Mrs. Vand. If Granny honestly
+could prove her case, she was mistress of the situation; but as she had
+slunk away so quietly, it seemed that she had merely spoken from
+conjecture. Bella began to think she had been too precipitate in
+revealing herself, as the Vands decidedly had right on their side.
+
+"Yet, after all," she said reluctantly, "how did Granny come to know
+about the jewels?"
+
+"Jewels! Had Jabez really jewels?" asked Mrs. Vand avariciously.
+
+"Yes," said Bella coldly. "I read some papers which proved that he had
+jewels valued at forty thousand pounds."
+
+"Where did you get those papers?"
+
+"I refuse to tell you that," retorted the girl, anxious not to
+incriminate Mrs. Tunks until she had interviewed her.
+
+"You must tell!" yelled Mrs. Vand, her face on fire with rage and
+expectation. "You've come in sneaking by these secret passages to steal.
+Jabez never gave you any of his papers. They are mine, and if they tell
+where the jewels are, you minx----"
+
+"They don't tell where the jewels are," interrupted Bella, "but they
+state how Captain Huxham murdered Maxwell Faith in Nigeria to get them."
+
+"You talk of your dead father as Captain Huxham," said Mrs. Vand
+sniffing.
+
+Her husband made a gesture of silence. "Maxwell Faith was the name
+mentioned by Granny in her trance, and she also spoke of this murder.
+Did she see the papers?"
+
+"Ah!" Bella was suddenly enlightened. Perhaps Granny had learned about
+the jewels from the papers which had been taken from the carved chest in
+the attic. But then in that first set of papers, as she thought, the
+name of Maxwell Faith had not been mentioned. "Granny saw one set of
+papers, but not the set I mean."
+
+"Then there are other papers you have stolen," cried Mrs. Vand
+furiously. "Upon my word, Bella, you are a fine thief and no mistake.
+Give up those papers, so that we may learn where my jewels are."
+
+"They are not your jewels, but mine," said Bella, stepping back into the
+hollow left by the open panel, "and you shall not have them."
+
+"Where are they? where are they?" cried Vand, becoming excited in his
+turn.
+
+"I wish I knew, but I don't. Captain Huxham had them, before he
+died----"
+
+"Then the assassin must have them."
+
+"Yes. Perhaps you can tell me who is the assassin?"
+
+"I can't say; you know as much as we do," said Vand coldly. "If I had
+murdered the old man, as you were so ready to think, on Granny Tunk's
+ravings, I should have the jewels and long since would have cleared out
+with them. But the fact that I am still here with Rosamund proves that I
+am innocent."
+
+"We must go and see the police to-morrow, Henry," said Mrs. Vand, "and
+have this wicked girl arrested. She must be made to give up the papers
+she has stolen. Oh!"--Mrs. Vand plunged forward--"I could scratch her
+eyes out!"
+
+Undoubtedly the furious woman would have made the attempt, but that
+Bella was on her guard. Already in the secret passage, she had only to
+touch a spring and the panel sprang back into its place with a click. In
+the darkness Bella heard her so-called aunt hurl herself against the
+hard wood, using very bad language. Then came the beating of fists
+against the panel in the vain attempt to break it down. Bella knew that
+the panel was too strong to break, but thought it was best to leave the
+house as speedily as possible. Cyril was waiting for her near the
+boundary channel, and the sooner she joined him the better. As she
+turned to go she heard the high, screaming voice of Mrs. Vand raging
+wildly.
+
+"Go up on the roof and use the search-light, Henry!" shouted Mrs. Vand.
+"The minx will get out of the house by some way we don't know of, and
+must get down the corn-path. I'll catch her there, and you show the
+light so that I can seize her. I'll tear her hair out! I'll scratch her
+eyes out! I'll make her ill, and----" what else Mrs. Vand was about to
+do to her, Bella did not hear, as there was no time to be lost in
+getting away from the dangerous neighborhood of the infuriated woman.
+
+Bella sped along the narrow passage fearlessly, as long experience had
+made her acquainted with its intricacies. It was contrived in the thick
+dividing walls of the old house on the ground floor. At one part there
+was a shaft leading to another passage on the first floor, and up this
+it was possible to scramble by notches cut in the walls. Bella had half
+a mind to ascend to the upper story, and linger for a chance of escape.
+But as Cyril waited her at the boundary channel, it was possible that he
+might come into contact with Mrs. Vand, who would be furiously hunting.
+Therefore, she judged it best to leave the house and gain the corn-path
+before Mrs. Vand could intercept her. With this scheme in her mind Bella
+ran along the passage until she came to a door, which turned on a
+central pivot. This she twisted, and slipped like an eel through the
+opening to find herself in a kind of tiny chamber. Groping round this
+she soon discovered the hasp of a closed door, which she skilfully
+manipulated. The door--a narrow one and somewhat high--swung open, and
+the girl was outside in a quiet corner at the back of the house, and
+hidden fairly well by a projecting buttress. A screen of ivy clothed the
+Manor wall at this point, and the door was concealed behind the screen,
+so that its existence had never been suspected. Bella had discovered the
+exit from the inside, and had cut round the ivy that masked the door so
+that she could get it open. Of course, the cut ivy had more or less
+withered, but even so, no one guessed that there was a door behind the
+brownish oblong.
+
+The night was dark and warm and silent. Bella stole along the footpath,
+which ran between the house and the tall, rustling stalks of the corn.
+Several times she paused, thinking she heard a noise, but everything was
+still, and she speedily turned the corner of the mansion. Apparently
+Mrs. Vand was not on the hunt yet, or perhaps she was busy with the
+search-light which she had asked her husband to use. However this might
+be, Bella saw that the course was clear, and stealing round to the front
+door, which she found to be closed, she sped like an antelope down the
+winding corn-path which led to the boundary channel. Just as she reached
+the top of this and was prepared to start down it, the beam of the
+electric light struck into the dark sky.
+
+Huxham had rigged up the light on the flat roof, between the sloping
+tiles, but Vand had transferred it to the quarter deck, which was slung
+round the chimney. Thus he was enabled to sweep the whole horizon
+without being interrupted by the tall roofs of the Manor. The beam swung
+round here and there, pointing like a great finger, and finally settled
+on the corn-path and on Bella's dark figure running for dear life from
+the mansion. The girl heard Vand's shout as he espied her, heard also
+the front door opening, as Mrs. Vand rushed in pursuit.
+
+But Mrs. Vand, like Hamlet, was stout and scant of breath, and with all
+the will in the world urged by a venomous hatred, could not gain on her
+detested niece, who ran like Atlanta. The search-beam revealed the path
+plainly, and showing the flying figure of Bella, with Mrs. Vand panting
+in vindictive pursuit. Towards the end of the path near the boundary
+channel Bella called softly and breathlessly, "Cyril! Cyril! Mrs. Vand
+is following. Hide! hide!"
+
+At that moment the beam struck the boundary channel, and revealed the
+white-clothed figure of young Lister. It rested for a moment there, and
+then dropped back to aid the steps of Mrs. Vand. Cyril seized the chance
+of the friendly darkness, and as Bella ran into his arms he dragged her
+into the standing corn. In less than a moment they were lying some
+distance from the path amongst the crushed stalks, while Mrs. Vand
+blundered past, running unsteadily. If Vand had kept the beam on Bella,
+she and her lover would not have been able to hide, but having been
+forced to give light to his stout wife, the two were enabled to escape.
+They could hear Mrs. Vand puffing and panting like a grampus, as she
+searched round and round. In Cyril's arms, on Cyril's breast, Bella felt
+perfectly safe, and in spite of the position and of the near presence of
+her enemy, was bubbling over with laughter.
+
+Mrs. Vand crossed the boundary channel, and finding no one on the hither
+side, concluded that Bella had escaped. She returned slowly, and, as
+Vand had now shut off the beam--for he also had seen that the search was
+vain--she stumbled up the path in a very bad temper. As her sighs and
+groans died away and the darkness gathered around, Cyril and Bella rose,
+and gliding back to the verge of the boundary channel, crossed rapidly.
+In a few minutes they were on their way to Marshely.
+
+"What does it all mean, dear?" asked Cyril, when they were quite safe.
+
+Bella told him all about her adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MASTER MAGICIAN
+
+
+Next morning, Dora being at school as usual, Bella received Cyril and
+Durgo in Miss Ankers' tiny drawing-room to discuss the position of
+affairs with regard to the Huxham mystery. In the negro's opinion it was
+no longer a mystery, for after hearing Bella's account of Granny Tunks'
+utterances while in the trance he unhesitatingly pronounced Henry Vand
+guilty.
+
+"But on what evidence?" asked Cyril, who, like Bella, had small belief
+in the manifestation of the unseen.
+
+"The evidence that Granny said that she did say," returned Durgo
+quietly.
+
+"That evidence would not be accepted in a court of law," remarked Bella.
+
+"I am aware of that. I have not been to Oxford for nothing, missy. But
+it gives me a clue, which I shall follow up. This afternoon I shall see
+Mrs. Tunks and question her."
+
+"But if she really knows anything," said Cyril, after a pause, "it will
+prove that her trance statements were by design and from practical
+knowledge."
+
+"I am sure they were," said Bella emphatically. "I fancied that as
+Granny did not see the second set of papers, which Durgo got from Mr.
+Pence, that she did not know the name of Maxwell Faith, my father. But
+now I remember that in the first set, which she found and delivered to
+you, Durgo, my father's name was also mentioned; also the number and the
+value of the jewels. All her talk was of the jewels."
+
+"And of the murder of your real father by Huxham," said Durgo drily;
+"that was not in the first set of papers, and was only lightly referred
+to in the second set."
+
+"That is strange," said Cyril reflectively.
+
+"You no doubt think so," said the negro calmly, "as you disbelieve all
+that you can't see or prove. I know otherwise."
+
+"But, Durgo," argued Cyril, surprised at this assumption, "you have been
+to Oxford, and surely must have rid yourself of these barbarous African
+superstitions."
+
+"You call them superstitions because you don't know their esoteric
+meaning. But there is such a thing as magic, white and black."
+
+"Magic! Pshaw!"
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders. "Of course I never argue with an
+unbeliever, Cyril Lister," he said indifferently, "but the Wise Men came
+from the East, remember, and Europe is indebted to the East for most of
+her civilisation."
+
+"But not to Africa."
+
+"Africa has had her ancient civilisations also. In the time of the
+Atlanteans--but it's useless talking of such matters. All I say is, that
+there are certain natural laws which, when known, can enable anyone to
+part what you call the spirit from the body. When the spiritual eyes are
+open, much can be seen that it is difficult to prove on the physical
+plane."
+
+"I don't understand what you mean by these planes," grumbled Lister.
+
+"Quite so, and it would be useless for me to explain. But facts beyond
+your imagining exist, and had I the time I could prove much to you. Mrs.
+Tunks is what we call clairvoyant, and when in a trance state can
+see--well, you heard her say what she saw, Miss Huxham."
+
+Bella was also sceptical. "She must have read the first set of papers?"
+
+"Probably she did, since woman is an animal filled with curiosity," said
+Durgo good-humouredly. "I don't mean to say that Granny Tunks is
+entirely genuine. There is a good deal of humbug about her, as there is
+about all the Romany tribes. She may have known about the jewels, and
+even your real father's name, but she did not know about his murder.
+Mrs. Tunks has a small portion of clairvoyant power, which does not act
+at all times. When that fails her she resorts to trickery."
+
+"Like spiritualists?" suggested Cyril.
+
+"Exactly," assented the negro with decision. "In all phenomena connected
+with the unseen there is a great measure of truth, but charlatans spoil
+the whole business by resorting to trickery when their powers fail. And
+I may say that the spiritual powers do not act always, since in a great
+measure we are ignorant of the laws which govern them. But enough of
+this discussion. I do not seek to convince you. I shall see Mrs. Tunks
+this afternoon and gain from her actual proof of Vand's guilt."
+
+"But I fancied that you believed my father to be guilty," said Cyril.
+
+"So I did, and if he were I would not mind, since Huxham was a rogue.
+But from what Miss Faith--"
+
+"Miss Huxham," interposed Bella hastily, "until this mystery is cleared
+up."
+
+"Very good. Well, from what Miss Huxham overheard I am inclined to think
+that Vand murdered the old sailor, aided by his wife."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"You supplied it yourself, Miss Huxham; so that they might get his
+money."
+
+"But what about Pence's confession?" said Cyril. "He might have
+committed the deed himself."
+
+"No; he had no reason to kill the old man, who was on his side in the
+matter of the marriage with Miss Huxham here. Besides, if Pence was
+guilty he certainly would not have composed what he did, and assuredly
+would not have produced the one hundred pounds he stole. Now that his
+madness for Miss Huxham is past, Pence has behaved like a rational
+being, and will do his best to assist us in solving this mystery." Durgo
+paused, then turned to the white man. "Cyril Lister, you put an
+advertisement into several London papers a week ago?"
+
+"Yes; I did so without telling you, as I hoped to surprise you with a
+letter from my father telling us of his whereabouts. How do you know?"
+
+"I saw the _Telegraph_ yesterday and also the _Daily Mail_," said Durgo,
+nodding approvingly; "you did well. Have you had any answer?"
+
+"If I had you should have seen it," said Cyril, wrinkling his brows as
+he always did when he was perplexed. "What can have become of him?"
+
+Durgo struck his large hands together in despair. "I fear my master
+Edwin Lister is dead," he said mournfully.
+
+"Why?" asked Bella and her lover simultaneously.
+
+"Miss Huxham, you repeated to me that Granny Tunks in her trance said
+that the knife lying on the floor when the cripple entered to kill
+Huxham, was already bloody. Can't you see?"
+
+"See what?"
+
+"That if the knife were already bloody, Huxham must have killed my master
+Edwin Lister, and then was killed in turn by Vand the cripple."
+
+Cyril looked impatient. "That is all the black magic rubbish you talk
+of."
+
+"Well, then, if my master, your father, is alive and has the jewels, why
+does he not write to me or to you? He knows he can trust us both. Even
+the advertisements have failed. No"--Durgo looked gloomy--"my heart
+misgives me sadly!" He arose abruptly. "Meet me at the 'Chequers,' Cyril
+Lister, and I shall tell you what I learn from Mrs. Tunks."
+
+"Can't I come also to see her?"
+
+"Yes, if you like. Perhaps I shall be able to dispel your disbelief
+regarding these occult powers which she and I possess."
+
+"Is that why Mrs. Tunks calls you master?"
+
+"Yes. She recognised that I had higher powers than she, when we first
+met, and so I was enabled to make her get those papers. Do you think she
+would have done so unless I had controlled her? No. Not even for the
+fifty pounds which I am taking to her to-day. She can make a better
+market out of Vand and his wife. She knows their guilt."
+
+"But cannot prove their guilt."
+
+"Perhaps," said the negro indifferently. "Good-day", and he departed in
+his usual abrupt style, after bidding Cyril meet him at three o'clock at
+the hut of the so-called witch. The lovers looked at one another.
+
+"What do you think of it all, Cyril?" asked Bella timidly.
+
+"I really don't know. We seem to be involved in a web through which we
+cannot break? Durgo certainly seems to be a very strange being, and in
+spite of my disbelief in the existence of occult powers I am inclined to
+think that he knows some strange things. He looks like a negro, and
+talks and acts like a white man. Indeed, no white man would be so
+unselfish as to surrender those jewels to you as Durgo has done."
+
+"He puzzles me," said Bella thoughtfully.
+
+"And me also. However, the best thing to be done will be to leave
+matters in his hands. In one way or another he will learn the truth, and
+then we can get back the jewels and marry."
+
+"Do you think your father has the jewels, Cyril?"
+
+"My dear," he said frowning, "I can't be sure now that my father is
+alive. I begin to believe that there may be something in Granny's
+trances, after all, since she hinted at my father's death at Huxham's
+hands. And terrible as it may seem," added Lister, turning slightly pale
+with emotion, "I would rather think that he was dead than live to be
+called the murderer of Jabez Huxham. I would like to come to you," he
+said, folding Bella in his strong young arms, "as the son of a man whose
+hands are free from blood. Better for my father to be dead than a
+criminal."
+
+The two talked on this matter for some time, until their confidences
+were ended by the entrance of Dora, hungry for her dinner. Then Cyril
+took his leave, promising to return and tell Bella all that took place
+in Mrs. Tunks' hut. Being anxious, the girl made a very poor meal, and
+was scolded by Dora, who little knew what was at stake. But Dora
+supplied one unconscious piece of information which surprised her
+friend.
+
+"I think Mr. and Mrs. Vand are going away for a trip," she said
+carelessly.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Bella, starting so violently that she upset
+the water-jug.
+
+Dora looked surprised. "My dear, you are not so fond of your aunt as to
+display such emotion. I merely say that the Vands are going away."
+
+"When? Where? How do you know?"
+
+"Very soon, I believe, as they are packing, but where they are going I
+don't know. Sarah Jope, the servant, whose sister is at the school, came
+flying home last night to her mother with a cock and bull story about a
+ghost at the Manor. This morning she went to get her belongings, as she
+insists upon leaving the house. She found Mrs. Vand and her husband
+packing for immediate departure and was bundled out by her indignant
+mistress, boxes and all, with a flea in her ear. Sarah Jope's sister told
+me this just before I came home to dinner."
+
+"The Vands going away!" said Bella in dismay. This seemed to prove that
+they were guilty, and wished to escape. "I thought they were going to
+wait for the harvest home."
+
+"I daresay they will be back in a month, and the Bleacres corn won't be
+reaped until then. I only wish they would remain away altogether. Your
+aunt is a horrid woman, Bella, though her husband is a dear."
+
+Bella did not echo the compliment, for, after what she had seen on the
+previous night, she was inclined to think that Henry Vand was the worse
+of the two, evil as his wife might be. At all events, he was the
+stronger, and Rosamund Vand was a mere tool in his hands. She was on the
+point of going to Cyril's lodgings to warn him and Durgo of this
+projected departure of the Manor-house inhabitants, but on reflection
+she concluded to wait until he returned from Mrs. Tunks' hut. After all,
+the Vands could not leave Marshely before night-fall, and would have to
+pass through the village on their way to the far-distant railway
+station. If necessary they could thus be intercepted at the eleventh
+hour.
+
+Mrs. Tunks was seated by the fire in her dingy hut, absorbed in her own
+thoughts, which she assisted by smoking a dirty black pipe. In the next
+room her grandson still turned and tossed, watched by a bright-eyed
+gipsy girl, whom the old woman had engaged from a passing family of her
+kinsfolk. But the man no longer raved, as the worst of the delirium had
+passed. He was sensible enough, but weak, and looked the mere shadow of
+his former stalwart self. Mrs. Tunks feared lest he should die, and was
+much disturbed in consequence, as he was her sole support. Without her
+grandson's earnings she could not hope to keep a roof above her head, as
+her fees for consultations as a wise woman were woefully small. She did
+not dare to make them larger in case her visitors should warn the police
+of her doings. And Mrs. Tunks, for obvious reasons, did not wish for an
+interview with Dutton, the village constable.
+
+Smoking her pipe, crouching over the smouldering fire, and wondering how
+she could obtain money, the old woman did not hear the door open and
+shut. Not until a black hand was laid on her shoulder did she turn, to
+see that Durgo was in the hut with Cyril behind him. Paying no attention
+to the white man, she rose and fawned like a dog on the black.
+
+"He's ill, master," she whimpered, clawing Durgo's rough tweed sleeve,
+"and if he goes there's no one to help me. Give him something to make
+him well; set him on his legs again."
+
+"Do you think I can do so?" asked Durgo, with a grave smile.
+
+Mrs. Tunks peered at him with her bleared eyes and struck her skinny
+hands together. "I can swear to it, master. You know much I don't know,
+and I know heaps as the Gorgios--my curse on them!--would give their
+ears to learn. Come, lovey--I mean master--help me in this and I'll help
+you in other ways."
+
+"Such as by telling us who murdered Huxham," put in Cyril injudiciously.
+
+"Me, deary! Lor', I don't know who killed the poor gentleman," and Mrs.
+Tunk's face became perfectly vacant of all expression.
+
+Durgo turned frowning on the white man. "I said that I would let you
+come if you did not speak," he remarked in a firm whisper; "you have
+broken your promise already."
+
+Cyril apologised in low tones. "I won't say another word," he said, and
+took a seat on a broken chair near the window.
+
+Mrs. Tunks cringed and bent before Durgo, evidently regarding him with
+awe, as might her sister-witches the Evil One, when he appeared at
+festivals. The negro glanced towards the closed door of the other room.
+"Who is watching your grandson?" he asked sharply.
+
+"A Romany gal, as I found----"
+
+"That will do. I want no listeners. Call her out and turn her out."
+
+The old woman entered the other room, and soon returned driving before
+her a black-eyed slip of a child about thirteen years of age. This brat
+protested that Tunks was restless and could not be left.
+
+"I shall quieten him," said the negro quickly; "get out, you!" and he
+fixed so fierce a glance on the small girl that she fled rapidly. And
+Cyril saw that the girl was not one easily frightened.
+
+"Now to put your grandson to sleep," said Durgo, passing into the next
+room, and Cyril saw his great hands hover over the restless man on the
+bed. He made strange passes and spoke strange words, while Mrs. Tunks
+looked on, shaking and trembling. In two minutes the sick man lay
+perfectly still, and to all appearances was sound asleep. Durgo returned
+to the outer room.
+
+"You'll cure him, master, won't you?" coaxed Mrs. Tunks.
+
+"Yes. I'll cure him if you tell me what you know of this murder."
+
+"I don't know anything, master."
+
+Mrs. Tunks looked obstinate yet terrified. Durgo stared at her in a
+mesmeric sort of way, and threw out his hand. The woman crouched and
+writhed in evident agony. "Oh, deary me, I'm all burnt up and aching,
+and shrivelled cruel. Don't--oh, don't! I'll be good. I'll be good;" and
+she wriggled.
+
+"Will you speak?" said the negro sternly.
+
+"Yes, yes! only take the spell off me, deary--master, I mean."
+
+"You feel no pain now," said Durgo quickly, and at once an air of relief
+passed over Mrs. Tunks' withered face. She sat down on a stool and
+folded her claw-like hands on her lap. Durgo leaned against the
+fire-place. "What do you know of this murder?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know much, save what he"--she nodded towards the room wherein
+lay her sleeping grandson--"what he said when he was mad with the drink.
+Get him to speak, master, and you'll learn everything."
+
+"In good time I'll make him speak," said Durgo with impressive
+quietness. "Now I ask your questions. Answer! Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, master; yes, I hear. I answer," said the trembling old creature.
+
+"Did you tell the truth in your trance last night?"
+
+Mrs. Tunks looked up with awe. "He knows everything, does the master,"
+she breathed softly, then replied with haste, "Yes. I spoke of what I
+saw."
+
+"Did you see all you spoke of, or did you make up some?"
+
+"I spoke of what I saw," said Mrs. Tunks decidedly, "and you know,
+master, how I saw it. I loosened the spirit, and it went to look. But I
+don't say but what I didn't know much from what Luke raved about."
+
+"So you knew before Vand took you to the Manor-house for this trance,
+that he had murdered Huxham?"
+
+"Yes, master, I did know, but I wasn't sure till I saw with the Sight."
+
+"Luke"--Durgo nodded towards the inner room in his turn--"Luke knows
+that Vand murdered Huxham?"
+
+"Yes, master. I believe," said Granny, sinking her voice, "that he saw
+the doings through the window of the study. He never said naught to me,
+though I wondered where he got so much money to get drunk every day. But
+when he was mad with the drink, he talked and talked all the night. Then
+I knew that he had got money from Mr. Vand for holding his tongue."
+
+"Tell me what he said?" commanded Durgo.
+
+"He raved disjointed like," said Mrs. Tunks with great humility; "but he
+talked of Mr. Vand coming in when Captain Huxham was looking at a box of
+jewels. There was a knife on the floor, and Mr. Vand stabbed Captain
+Huxham with that knife, and then dropped it behind the desk."
+
+"Was his wife with him?"
+
+"No. She was in the kitchen."
+
+"Was there another man with Huxham before Vand came?"
+
+"Luke said nothing of that. But he did say," added Mrs. Tunks quickly,
+"that he was going to America with Mr. and Mrs. Vand, and raved of the
+good time he would have with them."
+
+"When are they going?"
+
+"I don't know, master. Luke didn't say."
+
+Cyril would have interrupted to ask a question about his missing father,
+as he could not understand why Durgo had not threshed out that important
+point. But at the first sound of his voice the negro frowned him unto
+immediate silence. When all was quiet, Durgo looked directly at Granny,
+and made passes. "Sleep, sleep, sleep!" he said, and Cyril could see by
+the working of his face that he was putting out his will to induce a
+hypnotic condition. "Sleep, I say."
+
+The old woman must have been a marvellously sensitive subject, for she
+leaned against the wall--her stool had no back--and closed her eyes in
+apparent deep slumber almost immediately. Her face was perfectly
+expressionless, and her limbs were absolutely still. She looked--as
+Cyril thought, with a shudder--like a corpse. Durgo spoke softly in her
+ear: "Are you free?" he asked gently.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Tunks, in a far-away, faint voice.
+
+"Go to the Manor-house."
+
+"I am there."
+
+"Enter!"
+
+"The door is fast closed," said Mrs. Tunks, still faintly.
+
+"Doors are no bars to you now; you can pass through the door."
+
+There came a short pause. "I have passed. I am inside."
+
+"Seek out Vand and his wife," commanded the negro softly.
+
+"I have found them."
+
+"What are they doing?" demanded Durgo, sharply.
+
+"Packing boxes," came the response, without hesitation; "they talk of
+going away to-night."
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"I can't say: they don't mention the place. But they leave the
+Manor-house under cover of darkness to-night."
+
+"Look for the jewels."
+
+"I have looked."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"In a small portmanteau, marked with two initials."
+
+"What are the initials?"
+
+"M. F. Oh!" Mrs. Tunks' voice became very weary. "The mist has come on.
+I can see no more. It is not permitted to know more."
+
+Durgo looked disappointed, and seemed inclined to force his will. But
+after a frowning pause, he waved his hands rapidly, and spoke with great
+sharpness.
+
+"Come back," he said briefly, and after a moment or so, the old woman
+opened her eyes quietly. Her gaze met the angry one of Durgo, and she
+winced.
+
+"Have I not pleased you, master?" she asked, timidly.
+
+"Yes. You have pleased me. But I wish you could have learned more."
+
+"What did I say?" asked Granny, wonderingly.
+
+"Never mind. Here"--Durgo produced a small canvas bag from his
+pocket--"this is the money you have earned."
+
+Mrs. Tunks hastily untied the mouth of the bag, and poured a glittering
+stream of gold into her lap. "Fifty sovereigns, lovey," she mumbled, her
+eyes glowing with avaricious delight. "Thank you, master; oh, thank
+you."
+
+"In an hour," said Durgo, indifferent to her thanks, "I shall send you a
+small bottle containing a draught, which you can give to your grandson.
+It will put him right; but of course a few days will elapse before he
+can get quite strong again. This place"--he glanced disparagingly round
+the dingy hut--"is not healthy."
+
+"So I thought, master. And to-night Luke is going to my sister's
+caravan. It's on the road outside Marshely, and the gel can take him
+there. If Luke has a month or two of the open road, he'll soon be
+himself again. Anything more I can tell you, master?"
+
+"No. But to-night I am coming here, shortly after moonrise. Get rid of
+your grandson beforehand, if you can."
+
+"What is to be done, master?"
+
+"Never mind. Do as you're told. Good-day," and Durgo, beckoning to
+Cyril, went out of the hut. The white man followed, in a state of great
+amazement.
+
+"How did you manage all that?" he asked wonderingly.
+
+"Hypnotism," said Durgo shortly. "You heard that Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+intend to fly to-night?"
+
+"I have heard: yet I cannot believe in that hanky-panky."
+
+Durgo shrugged his shoulders and argued no more. But when Cyril came to
+his lodgings, and found a note from Bella stating that she had heard of
+the Vands' intention of leaving the Manor-house, he disbelieved no
+longer. Nay, more, for on the authority of Mrs. Tunks' hypnotic
+confessions, he believed that the Vands also possessed the
+long-sought-for jewels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A DESPERATE ATTEMPT
+
+
+When the darkness came on, and just as the moon was rising, Lister and
+Bella proceeded to the plank bridge of the boundary channel. Before
+leaving Cyril on that afternoon, Durgo had intimated that he wished Miss
+Huxham to meet him at that hour and at that place, and of course Cyril
+came also. He had every trust in the negro, who had proved himself in
+every way to be a man of sterling worth. All the same, he did not intend
+to let Durgo meet Bella without being present. The black man was far too
+intimate with unseen forces, to please the white man, and it was
+necessary to protect Bella, if necessary.
+
+"He might put you into a hypnotic trance," explained Cyril, who had
+described all that had taken place.
+
+"I should not let him do that," said the girl decidedly.
+
+Cyril shrugged his shoulders. "Durgo might not care if you liked it or
+not. He would hypnotize you, if he wished."
+
+"No, Cyril, he could not do that unless I consented. My will is my own,
+and it is a strong one. I suppose," said Bella, after a pause, "that he
+made Granny feel those aches and pains by controlling her subjective
+mind."
+
+Lister glanced sideways at her in surprise. "You seem to know all about
+it," he declared. "Where did you learn those terms?"
+
+"At my school at Hampstead there was a girl who could hypnotise people.
+She read all manner of books about hypnotism, and talked about the
+subjective mind, although I don't know what it is. I can understand so
+much of Durgo's power over Granny. But that sending her spirit to the
+Manor is strange. I don't believe that he did."
+
+"He must have done so," insisted Cyril, "as Durgo did not know that the
+Vands were leaving, and Granny distinctly stated that they were, in my
+hearing. Also, if we find that the jewels are in the small portmanteau,
+marked with the initials M. F., we can be certain that her spirit really
+did travel."
+
+"'M. F.,'" repeated Bella, dreamily: "those are my father's initials."
+
+"Maxwell Faith. So they are. Humph! There is something in this business
+after all, Bella."
+
+"But do you really think anyone can separate the spirit from the body?"
+
+Lister reflected. "I don't see why not. After all, as St. Paul says, we
+are composed of spirit, soul and body, so in certain cases the one may
+become detached from the other. I remember"--he looked thoughtfully up
+to the cloudy sky--"I remember reading in some magazine of a boat-load
+of people being saved, owing to one of them transferring his spirit to a
+passing ship, and leaving written instructions in the cabin where the
+ship was to steer to."
+
+"Oh, Cyril, that's impossible."
+
+"My dear," he said drily, "you can see the log of that very ship,
+containing an account of the incident, at Somerset House. However, we
+have no time to discuss these matters further. Yonder is Durgo by the
+bridge. I want to know why he asked you to meet him here. Such a night,
+too"--Cyril shivered--"quite a change. I feel cold."
+
+"So do I. It will rain, Cyril. Look at that heavy bank of clouds behind
+which the moon is hiding. And oh, how dark it is!"
+
+It certainly was dark, and the two came very near Durgo before they saw
+him. The sky was heavy with gloomy clouds, and undoubtedly there
+promised to be rain before midnight. Durgo, wrapped in a heavy military
+cloak, stood sentinel by the plank bridge. When the lovers came up he
+led them across to the other side, and when they stood on Bleacres he
+used his great strength to rip up a couple of planks.
+
+"There!" said the negro, flinging these into the standing corn, "they
+will not be able to get their boxes across, even if they can cross
+themselves."
+
+"Are you talking of the Vands?" asked Bella quickly.
+
+"Yes; they are still at the Manor-house. Look!"
+
+He pointed through the gloom, and they saw two or three windows of the
+old house lighted up brilliantly. Across other windows occasionally
+flitted more lights. Apparently Mrs. Vand was anxiously trying to
+impress the neighbours at least, such as might be abroad on this
+night--that she and her husband were ostentatiously at home. Durgo
+laughed grimly.
+
+"They have quite an eye for dramatic effect," he said in his guttural
+voice, and very contemptuously. "Well, they shall have all the drama
+they want to-night, and more."
+
+"Durgo," Bella spoke in an alarmed tone, "you won't hurt them?"
+
+"Not if I can help it."
+
+Cyril interposed imperiously. "I shall not be a party to the breaking of
+the law," he said with sharpness, "nor will I allow Bella to----"
+
+"Cyril Lister," interrupted the negro, turning on him and addressing him
+by his full name, as was his odd way; "if I could bring the police on
+the scene I would do so. But you know, as I do, that we have no proofs
+save those of the unseen, which would not be accepted in a court of law,
+to prove that the two are guilty of murder--of a double murder for all I
+know."
+
+"A double murder!" echoed Bella, drawing closer to her lover.
+
+"Yes. Edwin Lister, my master, has disappeared, and Huxham is dead. The
+old sailor, certainly, may have killed my master, but on the other hand,
+as I believe, Vand murdered Huxham, and probably murdered Edwin Lister
+also. Howsoever this may be, we can prove neither murder, so it is not
+advisable to bring the police into the matter.
+
+"It would be safer," said Cyril uneasily. He feared lest Durgo's
+barbaric instincts should be aroused against the couple at the
+Manor-house.
+
+"It would not be safer," retorted the negro. "While the police were
+debating and searching, the Vands would be getting out of the kingdom,
+and we could not stop them. Besides, they have the jewels. I am certain
+of that from what Granny Tunks saw when I loosened her spirit. Once the
+Vands got news of the police being on their track they would hide those
+jewels, and we should never find them. I want those jewels for you, Miss
+Huxham, as, before I leave England, I wish to see you happily married to
+Cyril Lister here. It is the least that I can do for his father's son."
+
+"But if my father is alive and has the jewels?" asked Cyril doubtfully.
+
+"That will make a difference," assented Durgo, "although I daresay that
+Edwin Lister will not mind returning the jewels. We can arrange our
+funds for the expedition in another way. But I fear," he added in gloomy
+tones, "that my master is dead. If so, I can only avenge him."
+
+"But with your occult powers, can't you learn if my father is dead or
+alive?"
+
+"No," said Durgo very decidedly. "You forget that on the side of the
+unseen are mighty powers who have to be obeyed. I can do much, but not
+all, and for some reason I am not permitted to know the truth about my
+master. Sooner or later I shall understand about this. What we have to
+do at the present time is to prevent the Vands from escaping. Will you
+both help?"
+
+"Yes," said Bella, anticipating Cyril; "that is if you don't intend
+violence."
+
+"Be comforted," said Durgo ironically; "be comforted, missy. I have no
+wish to put a rope round my neck. I simply mean to force these devils to
+give up the jewels, and to solve so much of this mystery as they know.
+When I regain the jewels and know what has become of my master, I shall
+let them go, or if you like I shall hand them over to the police. But
+time presses," added Durgo impatiently, "and at any time the two may
+come along on their way to freedom. Will you help?"
+
+"Yes," said Cyril simply. "What do you want us to do?"
+
+"Missy"--Durgo turned to the girl--"can you work that search-light?"
+
+Bella nodded. "For an evening's amusement my father--I mean Captain
+Huxham--once showed me how to manipulate it."
+
+"Well it is in good order, as we know that Vand used it last night. You
+can get into the house by the secret passage and watch for the going out
+of our two friends. Then turn on the search-light and use it as a
+pointer."
+
+"I can use the search-light, and I daresay it is in order since Henry
+Vand used it last night," said Bella quickly; "also I can get to the
+upper part of the house and on to the roof, through a kind of well which
+runs from the lower to the higher secret passage. But what do you mean
+by my using the light as a pointer?"
+
+"Direct the ray on to Vand and his wife; they may come down this path,
+or they may try and escape in another way. But if you bend the ray of
+the search-light to where they are, I'll be able to catch them. Use the
+ray as a finger, as it were."
+
+Bella nodded. "I see, and where will you be?"
+
+"I shall hide in the corn somewhere or another," explained Durgo. "I
+don't know where, as I can't be sure how Vand and his wife intend to
+escape."
+
+"They may take the boat," suggested Cyril, "and that is tied up some
+distance yonder. I believe they will use the boat."
+
+"No;" said Durgo shaking his head; "there is no place where they can row
+to, as this channel ends in mere swamps. All I can do is to walk here
+and there, and watch for the finger of the search-light."
+
+"What am I to do?" asked Cyril anxiously; "go with Bella?"
+
+"No you wait in Mrs. Tunk's hut. I daresay she is alone, as I asked her
+to send her grandson away to his gipsy caravan before I came. I shall
+walk down with you, while Miss Huxham goes to the Manor-house."
+
+"I would rather go with Bella," objected the young man uneasily.
+
+"I am quite safe," said Bella determinedly, "and if you came, Cyril,
+there would be no room for us both in that narrow secret passage. I
+shall go by myself. Have no fear for me, dearest."
+
+"One moment," said Durgo, as she was moving away. "Since you think that
+I may use violence, I may tell you, to quieten your minds, that the
+police are coming, after all."
+
+"When did you tell the police to come? I thought you said----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" interrupted the negro impatiently. "I know what I said. But
+I saw Inspector Inglis the other day when I went to Pierside, and
+informed him of my suspicions. I wired him to-day asking him to be with
+three or four men on the bank of the boundary channel opposite to Granny
+Tunks' hut."
+
+"At what time?"
+
+"About eleven, as I don't suppose that the Vands will try and escape
+until everyone in Marshely is asleep."
+
+"Did you tell Inglis about the jewels?" asked Cyril.
+
+"No, there is no need to tell more than is necessary. Besides, the
+police might take possession of the jewels, and I want them for Miss
+Huxham. All Inglis knows is that I suspect the Vands of a double murder,
+and that they intend to fly. He will come with his constables to arrest
+them if there is sufficient evidence."
+
+"But I say, Durgo. I wanted you to do as you say, some time ago, and you
+talked of it not being advisable to bring the police into the matter. It
+seems that you have done so."
+
+"It is a fact," said Durgo drily. "I didn't wish to tell you all my
+plans at once, as you and Miss Huxham here seemed to be so certain that
+I intended blue murder. If you had not been ready to trust me, I should
+not have changed my mind or have told you about the presence of the
+police. You look on me as a barbarous black man."
+
+"We look on you as a very good friend," said Bella quickly, for the
+negro seemed hurt by their suspicions.
+
+"There! there!" said Durgo gruffly, but bowing to the compliment. "Go to
+the Manor-house, Miss Huxham, and do what you can."
+
+"Good-bye, Cyril," said Bella.
+
+The young man ran after her as she moved up the corn path. "Don't go
+without a kiss, Bella," he said, catching her in his arms. "God keep
+you, my darling, and bring us safely through this dark business!"
+
+"I'm not afraid, now that I know Inspector Inglis and his men will be on
+the spot," whispered Bella. "Good-bye! and good-bye! and good-bye!" and
+she kissed him between each word. In a few minutes she was swallowed up
+in the gloom, which was growing denser every minute.
+
+"There will be a storm," prophesied Durgo, as the two men proceeded side
+by side to Mrs. Tunks' hut. "Hark!"
+
+Just as he spoke there came a deep, hoarse roll of thunder, as though
+the artillery of heaven was being prepared to bombard the guilty pair in
+the old Manor-house. Durgo, with the instinct of a wild animal, raised
+his nose and sniffed. "I smell the rain. Glory! look at the lightning."
+
+A vivid flash of forked lightning zig-zagged across the violent-hued
+sky, and again came the crash of thunder. Already the wind was rising,
+and the vast fields of corn were rustling and sighing and bending under
+its chill breath. "It is going to be a fierce night," said Durgo,
+dilating his nostrils to breathe the freshness of the air. "Do you
+remember in Macbeth, Cyril Lister, of the night of Duncan's murder?" and
+he quoted in his deep voice--
+
+      "_--but this sore night,
+    Hath trifled former knowings._"
+
+Cyril looked at the strong black face, which showed clearly in the
+frequent flashes of lightning. "You are a strange man, Durgo. One would
+think that you were almost--" he hesitated.
+
+"A white man," finished Durgo coolly. "No, my friend. I am an educated
+black man, and an ingrained savage." He spoke mockingly, then flung back
+his military cloak. "Look! Would a man be like this in your sober
+England?"
+
+Cyril uttered an ejaculation, and had every reason to. In the bluish
+flare of the lightning he saw that Durgo had stripped himself to a
+loin-cloth, and that his powerful body was glistening with oil. The sole
+civilised things about him were canvas running-shoes which he wore, and
+the cloak. "Why have you stripped to the buff?" asked Cyril astonished.
+
+"I may have hard work to catch those two this night," said Durgo,
+replacing his cloak, which made him look quite respectable, "so I wish
+to run as easily as possible."
+
+"But there was no need to strip. The police won't be stripped."
+
+"It's my way, and was the way of my fathers before me."
+
+"In Africa, but not in England."
+
+"Pooh!" was all that Durgo answered, and the two trudged along, bowing
+their heads against the now furiously driving wind. Shortly they came to
+Mrs. Tunks' hut, and the door was opened by the old woman herself.
+
+"I felt that you were coming, master," she said, nodding. "Enter."
+
+"No," said Durgo, pausing on the threshold of the ill-smelling room. "I
+have to go back to my post and watch for the coming of the Vands. Mr.
+Lister will remain here. Has your grandson gone?"
+
+"No, lovey--I mean master," said Granny coaxingly. "He's ever so much
+better for the medicine you gave him, and is quite his own self. But
+I've sent the gel to get a boat to take him to the caravan. They've
+moved it down the channel to a meadow near the high road. The gel will
+bring the boat up here in an hour or so, and take Luke back with her;
+then he'll go on the merry road with her and my sister."
+
+"You should have sent Luke away before," said Durgo frowning, "for he
+knew all about the murder, and has blackmailed the Vands. Inglis and his
+constables will be on the opposite bank to this place soon, and they may
+arrest him. I shan't say more than I can help, but get him away as soon
+as you can."
+
+"Yes, master; yes, deary; yes, lovey!" croaked the old woman; and Durgo,
+with a significant glance at her and a nod to Cyril, turned away into
+the gloom.
+
+"Won't you come in, lovey?" asked Mrs. Tunks coaxingly.
+
+"No," said Cyril, who did not relish the malodorous hut; "I'll stay here
+and watch for the signal."
+
+"What signal?" demanded the witch wife.
+
+"Never mind. Go in!" commanded Lister, and settled himself under the
+eaves of the hut to keep guard.
+
+Granny scowled at him as she obeyed. She did not mind cringing to Durgo,
+who was her master in the black art, but she objected to Cyril ordering
+her about. Had Granny really possessed the powers she laid claim to she
+would have blighted his fresh youth on the spot. As it was, she simply
+muttered a curse on what she regarded as his impertinence, and went
+indoors.
+
+Cyril lighted his pipe and kept his eyes on the distant mass of the
+Manor-house, which was revealed blackly when the lightning flashed.
+Across the ocean of grain tore the furious wind, making it rock like an
+unquiet sea. Flash after flash darted across the livid sky, and every
+now and then came the sudden boom of the thunder. Hour upon hour passed
+until the watcher almost lost count of time. Within the cottage all was
+quiet, although at intervals he could hear the querulous voice of Mrs.
+Tunks shrilly scolding the Romany girl. Lister began to grow impatient,
+as he dreaded lest Bella should have fallen into the clutches of the
+Vands, who would certainly show her no mercy. It was in his mind to
+leave his post and see for himself what had occurred. Suddenly a long
+clear beam smote through the darkness of the night, and he sprang to his
+feet.
+
+"They have left the house," muttered Cyril, thrusting his pipe into his
+pocket; "what's to be done now?"
+
+The lightning was not quite so frequent, so the vivid beam of the
+search-light had full and fair play. But as the lightning ceased and the
+thunder became silent, a deluge of rain descended on the thirsty earth.
+On its strong wings the wind brought the rain, and a tropical down-pour
+almost blotted out the haggard moon, which now showed herself between
+driving clouds. But through the steady beam of the search-light could be
+seen the straight arrows of the rain, and the vast corn-fields hissed as
+the heavy drops descended. Here and there swung the ray of light,
+evidently looking for the fugitives, but as it did not come to rest,
+Cyril guessed that Bella had not yet descried the flying couple. But the
+rain was so incessant, and the wind so strong, that he was angered to
+think how Bella, on the high altitude of the quarter deck, was exposed
+to its fury.
+
+Suddenly, as sometimes happens in furious storms, there came a lull both
+in the wind and the rain. A perfect silence ensued, and Cyril straining
+his ears, heard the soft dip of oars. As he peered towards the black
+gulf of the water-way running past the hut, the ray from the Manor-house
+became steady, and the finger of light pointed straight to the boundary
+channel. Cyril heard a wild shriek and ran down to the bank. Coming
+along the stream he saw a light boat, and in it Mrs. Vand huddled up at
+the end in her shawl. Vand himself was rowing with great care: but when
+the beam revealed their doings he lost all caution and rowed with
+desperation. Again came a drench of rain, almost blotting out the
+landscape, but the ray of light still picked out the guilty couple,
+following the course of the boat steadily, like an avenging angel's
+sword.
+
+"Row, Henry, row hard!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, crouching in the stern of
+the boat and steering down the narrow channel as best she could, "We'll
+soon be safe. Row hard, dear! row hard!"
+
+"Stop!" cried Cyril from the bank. "Mrs. Vand, you must wait here until
+the police come. Stop!"
+
+"The police!" yelled the terrified woman, and her face was pearly white
+in the brilliant search-light. "Row, Henry; don't stop!"
+
+Lister whipped out a revolver, with which he had been careful to provide
+himself. "If you don't stop, Vand, I shall shoot," and he levelled it.
+
+But the cripple was too desperate to obey. He bent again to the oars and
+brought the shallop sweeping right under Cyril's feet. Then, before the
+young man could conjecture what he intended to do, he stood up in the
+rocking boat and swung up an oar with the evident intention of striking
+the man with the revolver into the water. Lister dodged skilfully as the
+oar came crashing viciously past his ear, and fired at random.
+
+Mrs. Vand shrieked, her husband cursed, as the shot rang out. There came
+an answering cry from the near distance, and into the glare of the
+search-light bounded Durgo, naked save for his loin-cloth, black as the
+pit and furious as the devil who lives therein. Showing his white teeth
+like those of a wild animal, he raced up to the boat, and without a
+moment's hesitation flung himself on the figure of Vand as he stood up.
+The next moment the light craft was overturned, and Durgo, with the
+Vands, was struggling in the water. At the same moment the beam of the
+search-light suddenly vanished, leaving everyone in complete darkness.
+And the rain, driven by the triumphant wind, deluged the fields.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+MRS. VAND'S REPENTANCE
+
+
+Afterwards, Cyril, when questioned, could never clearly recollect what
+took place. Vand's oar had missed his head, but had struck his right
+shoulder with considerable force, so that his revolver shot had gone
+wide of its intended mark. When Bella shut off the beam--and Cyril
+wondered at the time why she did so--everything was dark and confused.
+What with the gloom, the rain and curses from Vand and Durgo, who were
+struggling in the water, and the shrieks of Mrs. Tunks, added to those
+of the half-drowned woman, Cyril felt his head whirl; also the blow from
+the oar had confused him, and he became sick and faint for the moment.
+
+Granny Tunks with commendable forethought had brought out a bullseye
+lantern, which she must have stolen from some policeman. Flashing this
+on to the water-way, its light revealed Durgo and the cripple locked in
+a deadly embrace, and Mrs. Vand clinging to the bank with one hand while
+she clutched her shawl with the other. Cyril thereupon plunged down the
+incline and dragged the wretched woman out. Thinking she was about to be
+arrested she fought like a wild cat, and would have forced the
+half-dazed young man into the water again, but that Mrs. Tunks brought a
+chunk of wood with considerable force down on her head.
+
+"What the devil did you do that for?" gasped Cyril furiously; "you've
+killed her, you old fool!"
+
+"What do I care, deary?" cried Granny shrilly. "I'd kill them both if I
+could, for the master wants them killed, curse them both!" and she
+tottered down to the boundary channel, while Cyril carried the inanimate
+form of Mrs. Vand into the hut. Here he laid her on the floor, and
+hastily bidding the Romany girl attend her, hurried out again.
+
+"They're dead, both of them! Oh, the master's dead!" yelled Granny
+Tunks.
+
+With the lantern raised she stood on the bank peering into the water,
+but there was scarcely enough light to see what was taking place. All
+sounds had ceased, however, and only the drench of the rain could be
+heard. But even as Granny spoke, the Romany girl, anxious to see what
+was taking place, darted out of the cottage with a kind of torch,
+consisting of tow at the end of a stick steeped in kerosene. This flared
+redly and flung a crimson glare on the water-ways, and flung also its
+scarlet light on the bodies of Durgo and the Cripple. These lay half-in
+and half-out of the water, fast locked together in a death grip. There
+was no wound apparent on either body, so Cyril conjectured that in the
+struggle both had been drowned. Durgo's mighty arms were clasped tightly
+around the slender body of the cripple, but Vand's lean hands were
+clutching the negro's throat with fierce resolution. Both were quite
+dead, and even in death Cyril, although he tried, could not drag them
+apart. That so delicate a man as Vand could have contrived to drown the
+powerful negro seemed incredible to Cyril: but he soon saw that to kill
+Durgo the cripple had been willing to sacrifice himself. Probably he had
+dragged Durgo under water, and having a grip on the man's throat had
+squeezed the life out of him with a madman's despairing force. The weak
+had confounded the strong on this occasion in a most pronounced manner.
+
+Meanwhile, Granny Tunks was bewailing the loss of her master, and the
+sharp-featured Romany girl echoed her cries. The screams of both brought
+out Luke, who appeared at the fire-lighted door of the hut looking much
+better than Cyril expected him to be, seeing how severe had been his
+last illness. He had something in his hands, and in the flaring light of
+the torch Lister saw that it was a somewhat small black bag. In a moment
+the young man guessed that Luke Tunks had been robbing the unconscious
+Mrs. Vand, as he remembered that she had kept a close grip of something
+under her shawl even while she was struggling with him.
+
+"The jewels!" cried Cyril, too excited to be cautious, and leaped for
+the gipsy. "Give me the jewels."
+
+"They're mine, blast you!" growled Luke, trying to evade him. "Missus
+gave 'em to me. Leave me alone. Granny, help me!"
+
+Mrs. Tunks ran to the rescue, for the mention of jewels stirred her
+avaricious blood like the call of a trumpet. But already Cyril had
+plucked the black bag from the still weak gipsy, and Luke was not strong
+enough yet to make a fight for it. Aided vigorously by the Romany girl,
+the old woman would have closed in, but that a shout from the opposite
+bank made all turn. A dozen bullseyes were flashing over the stream.
+Cyril, gripping the bag, dashed the woman and the man aside and sprang
+to the verge of the channel.
+
+"Is that you, Inspector Inglis?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes; who are you?" came the sharp official tones.
+
+"Cyril Lister. Come over yourself, or send some men. Vand and Durgo, the
+negro, are dead."
+
+There was a confused muttering of surprise amongst the constables. Then
+came Inglis's clean-cut speech. "We heard a shot. Is----"
+
+"No. Durgo struggled with Vand in the water-way, and they were both
+drowned. These gipsies here are making trouble, and Mrs. Vand is
+unconscious in the hut. Come across and take charge."
+
+"How the devil can we get across here?" demanded Inglis. "It's twenty
+feet of water. Here you men, go round by the bridge."
+
+"It's broken down," yelled Cyril.
+
+"Who broke it?"
+
+"Durgo. Let go, you old devil!" and Cyril swung Granny Tunks aside. The
+woman was still trying to clutch the jewels. "Inglis, you'll have to
+swim across. There's no other way."
+
+No sooner had Lister suggested this expedient than Inglis obeyed it with
+the promptitude of an Englishman. Several heavy bodies were heard
+plunging into the water, and the bullseye lanterns were seen approaching
+like moving glow-worms as their swimming owners held them above their
+several heads. Had Granny Tunks been strong enough she would have
+attempted to prevent the landing of this hostile force; but Luke was
+useless and the Romany girl still more so. All she could do was to enter
+the fortress of her hut and bar the door, which she accordingly did,
+while Luke, mindful that he might be arrested for the murders as an
+accomplice after the fact, slunk hastily into the standing corn. Shortly
+Cyril was shaking hands with a dripping police inspector, and surrounded
+by six dripping constables. As the half dozen men and their officer were
+already wetted to the bone by incessant rain, the plunge into the
+channel did not trouble them in the least; indeed, they looked as though
+they rather enjoyed the adventure.
+
+"But we may as well get under shelter to hear your story," suggested
+Inglis, and knocked loudly at the door of the hut. As Granny would not
+open, he simply turned to his men and gave a sharp order. "Break it
+down," said Inglis, and in less than a minute the constables were
+marching into the small apartment over the fallen door.
+
+"I'll have the law on you for this!" screeched Mrs. Tunks, shaking her
+fist.
+
+"You'll get a stomach-full of law, I have no doubt, before I have done
+with you," retorted Inglis. "Who is this?" and he stared at the
+inanimate form on the earthen floor amidst pools of water.
+
+"Vand's wife, who was trying to escape with him," said Cyril. "She is
+insensible from a blow this old demon gave her."
+
+"She'd have had you in the water else," hissed Mrs. Tunks scornfully.
+
+"It wasn't unlikely, seeing how she fought. Have you any brandy?"
+
+"A trifle for my spasms," admitted Granny sullenly.
+
+"Then bring it out and revive Mrs. Vand," said Inglis impatiently. "It
+will be necessary for me to question her. Mr. Lister"--he brought his
+mouth very close to the young man's ear and spoke in a whisper--"is what
+that nigger told me quite true?"
+
+"About Vand murdering Huxham? I believe it is, but I can't be sure. I
+got these, however, from Mrs. Vand. Don't let the old hag come near or
+she'll try and loot them."
+
+"Loot what?" demanded Inglis, on seeing Cyril open the black bag, after
+he had motioned the constables to surround the table. "Oh, by Jupiter!"
+
+His surprised ejaculations were echoed by his men, for Lister emptied on
+the table many glittering stones, cut and uncut. Chiefly they were
+diamonds, but also could be seen sapphires, rubies, pearls, and
+emeralds, all glowing with rainbow splendour in the fierce radiance of
+the bullseye lanterns. Mrs. Tunks whimpered like a beaten dog when she
+saw what she had missed, and tried to dart under a policeman's arm. "No
+you don't!" said the man gruffly, and gripped her lean wrist as her hand
+stretched greedily over the flaming heap of gems.
+
+"Whose are these?" asked the inspector, quite awed by this wealth.
+
+"Miss Huxham's," said Cyril, making a ready excuse until such time as
+the matter could be looked into, for he did not wish Inglis to take
+possession of Bella's fortune. "Her father left her these and the house
+to Mrs. Vand; but the woman withheld the jewels from her niece, and
+tried to-night to bolt with them. Then Luke Tunks attempted to steal
+them from her, while she lay unconscious here. Luckily I was enabled to
+rescue them, and now I can restore them to Miss Huxham."
+
+"Where is Luke Tunks?" asked the inspector, while Cyril packed the gems
+in a chamois leather bag which he found in what Granny had called in her
+trance the portmanteau.
+
+"Gone where you won't get him," grunted Mrs. Tunks, who was holding a
+glass of brandy to Mrs. Vand's white lips.
+
+"You must get him, Inglis," said Cyril insistently. "He knows all about
+the murder of Huxham, and has been blackmailing the Vands."
+
+"So that nigger said. By the way, we must see to the bodies." Inglis
+turned to the door, then looked back at Lister. "I wish I knew what this
+all meant, sir," he remarked, much puzzled.
+
+"You shall know everything in due time, and a very queer story it is."
+
+The inspector might have gone on asking questions, but at that moment
+Bella Huxham, breathless and wet, appeared in the doorway. In the
+semi-darkness she could scarcely see her lover, and called him. "Cyril!
+Cyril! what has happened?" she panted. "I have run all the way, and--who
+are these?"
+
+"Inspector Inglis and constables," said that officer. "Where have you
+come from, miss?"
+
+"From the Manor-house. I went to see my aunt, and saw her run away with
+her husband. Where is she? Where is he?"
+
+"There is Mrs. Vand," said Cyril, pointing to the still insensible
+woman, "and her husband is dead in Durgo's arms."
+
+Bella shrieked. "Is Durgo dead?"
+
+"Yes, unfortunately. Vand clutched his throat and dragged him under."
+
+"But so weak a man----"
+
+"He sacrificed his own life to kill Durgo," said Cyril. "What's to be
+done now, inspector?"
+
+Inglis acted promptly. "One of my men can stay here to look after the
+old woman," he said officially, "and the rest can help me to take the
+bodies of Vand and the nigger back to the Manor-house. We must take
+possession of that place until everything is made clear at the inquest.
+What will you do, Miss Huxham? Better get home. This is no place for a
+lady."
+
+"I must stay and revive my aunt," said Bella, who already was bending
+over the woman and had the glass of brandy in her hand.
+
+"Good," said Inglis, motioning his men to file out. "I'll come back and
+question her when you get her right again. Mr. Lister!"
+
+"With your permission, Mr. Inspector, I'll wait here with Miss Huxham,"
+said Cyril significantly. "I don't trust these two women"--he looked at
+Granny and the Romany girl--"also Luke Tunks might be lurking about. If
+Miss Huxham were left here alone--" his shrug completed the sentence.
+
+"Dutton will keep guard at the door," said Inglis, selecting the village
+constable, a fresh-faced, powerful young man, "and if these women try
+any games he can take them in charge. Also, Dutton"--he turned to the
+man, who had already posted himself as directed--"you can hold Luke
+Tunks should he turn up. I want to question him also," after which
+orders Inglis with a nod went out. Cyril followed.
+
+The bodies were duly found, and the inspector uttered an exclamation of
+surprise when he saw that Durgo was nude. "What does this mean?"
+
+"Mean!" said Cyril, who looked over his shoulder, "simply that Durgo, in
+spite of his Oxford training, was a savage at heart. He arranged a trap
+to catch the Vands, and stripped so as to be prepared for any
+emergency."
+
+"Rum notion," said Inglis, who looked puzzled. "But what had he to do
+with all this murder business?"
+
+"He was my father's friend," explained Lister, "and--" he stopped on
+seeing the eager faces around him, adding in lower tones, "what I have
+to explain is for your own ear in the first instance, inspector."
+
+Inglis looked grave, and even suspicious. "There seems to be much to
+explain, Mr. Lister," he said seriously. "However you can stay here. I
+shall take the bodies to the Manor-house and thoroughly search the
+place. When I return I hope to hear your story and to examine Mrs. Vand.
+It seems to me," added the officer, as he turned away, "that the mystery
+of the Huxham murder is about to be solved at last."
+
+"I think so myself," assented Lister soberly; and after seeing the six
+men take up their burden of the dead, he returned to the hut in silence.
+
+Here he found Mrs. Vand, pale but composed, sitting up on the floor with
+her back propped up against the wall. Granny Tunks, looking very sulky,
+was on her hunkers before the fire smoking her cutty pipe, and the
+Romany girl could be seen lying on Luke's vacated bed in the inner room.
+Only Bella was attending to the woman she had called aunt for so long,
+and who had so persecuted her. She was urging Mrs. Vand to speak out.
+
+"You must tell the truth now," said Bella, "for the police will arrest
+you."
+
+Mrs. Vand could not grow paler, for she was already whiter than any
+corpse, but a terrified look came into her eyes. "You'll be glad of
+that, Bella?"
+
+"No," said the girl earnestly; "I am not glad to see you suffer. You
+have been cruel to me, and I thought that I should like to see you
+punished; but now that you have lost your husband and are so miserable,
+I am very sorry, and both Cyril and I will do our best to help you. Tell
+all you know, Aunt Rosamund, and perhaps you will not be arrested."
+
+"If I tell all I know I am sure to be arrested," said Mrs. Vand
+sullenly.
+
+"But surely you did not murder your own brother?"
+
+"No, I didn't. Badly as Jabez treated me I did not kill him, although I
+don't deny that I wished for his death. Well, he is dead and I got his
+money, and now--" she buried her shameful face in her hands
+wailingly--"oh! my poor dear Henry, I have lost him and lost all. As to
+you"--she suddenly lifted up her head to glare furiously at Cyril, who
+was leaning against the door-post a few yards from the watching
+policeman--"you have been the evil genius of us all. Where are my
+jewels?"
+
+"They are in this bag," said Lister, holding it up, "and they belong to
+Bella."
+
+"Jabez left everything to me," began Mrs. Vand, when Cyril interrupted.
+
+"These jewels were not his to leave. They were the property of Maxwell
+Faith, who was a trader and----"
+
+"I know all about that," said Mrs. Vand, cutting him short, "and Bella
+is his daughter, you were going to say."
+
+"Yes; therefore the jewels are her property. Who told you of----"
+
+"Luke Tunks told me."
+
+"That's a lie!" snarled Granny from her stool near the fire.
+
+"It's the truth," gasped Mrs. Vand, taking another sip of the brandy
+which Bella held to her lips. "Luke was dodging round the house on the
+night of the murder and peeped in at the study window. He overheard the
+interview between Jabez and Edwin Lister."
+
+"What!" Cyril took a step forward in sheer surprise. "You know my
+father's name also?"
+
+"I know much, but not all," said Mrs. Vand in a stronger voice, for the
+spirit was taking effect. "For instance, I don't know what became of
+Edwin Lister, but Luke does."
+
+"Then Luke shall be arrested and questioned."
+
+"He shan't!" muttered Granny venomously. "Luke's escaped--a clever boy."
+
+Bella put her arm round Mrs. Vand to render her more comfortable. "How
+much did Luke tell you?" she asked softly.
+
+"Only so much as cheated us--Henry and I--into paying him money."
+
+"Oh," said Cyril quietly, "so that is why Luke got so drunk."
+
+"He spent his money in drink," said Mrs. Vand indifferently. "We paid
+him a good deal. He never would have left us, and intended to go to
+America with us to-night, as he knew too much for our safety."
+
+"How did you intend to escape?" asked Cyril sharply.
+
+"We intended to row down the channel to the swamps; that is why Henry
+got the boat a few weeks ago. Then we intended to cut across the marshes
+to the high road, where a motor-car, hired by Henry, awaited us. It
+would have taken us to London, and there we could have concealed
+ourselves until a chance came to get to the States. Everything was cut
+and dried, but you----"
+
+"No," said Lister seriously; "it was not I who stopped you, but Durgo."
+
+"That negro? Then I am glad he is dead!" cried Mrs. Vand, who was
+getting more her old self every minute. "However, it's all done with
+now. You have the jewels, Henry is dead, and I don't care what becomes
+of me."
+
+"But who murdered my father?" asked Bella earnestly.
+
+"Jabez wasn't your father. Maxwell Faith was your father, for Luke
+overheard Edwin Lister say as much to Jabez."
+
+"And what became of Edwin Lister?"
+
+"I don't know; Luke never told me that. All he said was that he saw and
+heard the two talking. Then he left the window, and only returned to see
+Henry stab my brother."
+
+"Oh!" Cyril and Bella both uttered ejaculations of horror.
+
+"Yes, you may say 'oh' as much as you like, but it's true," said Mrs.
+Vand with great doggedness. "Henry came with me to the Manor-house on
+that night at ten o'clock. He did not stop at the boundary channel, as
+he declared. He only said that to save himself. But he came with me, and
+we saw my brother, who was in his study. We confessed that we were
+married, and then Jabez grew angry and said he would turn me as a pauper
+out of the house next morning. He drove Henry and myself out of the
+room. I fainted in the kitchen, and when I came to myself Henry was
+bending over me, very pale. He said he had killed Jabez with a knife
+which he found on the floor. I had seen the knife before when we were
+telling Jabez about our marriage. But in the excitement I didn't pick it
+up."
+
+"Was there blood on the knife?" asked Cyril, remembering Granny Tunks'
+trance, as reported by Bella.
+
+"I can't say; I don't know. I was too flurried to think about the
+matter. All I know is that Henry killed Jabez with that knife which
+Jabez brought from Nigeria, and then dropped it behind the desk."
+
+"What took place exactly?" asked Cyril hastily, while Bella closed her
+eyes.
+
+"Ask Luke; ask Luke," said Mrs. Vand testily. "He knows all," and she
+refused to say another word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+WHAT LUKE TUNKS SAW
+
+
+As Mrs. Vand obstinately refused to speak, there was little use for
+Bella to remain in the hut. The girl was sick and faint with all she had
+gone through, and wished to get home to rest. Cyril also was anxious to
+follow Inglis and his officers to the Manor-house to see what had been
+discovered likely to prove the truth of Mrs. Vand's statements. But
+before going, Bella made a last attempt to induce her presumed aunt to
+confess all in detail. "It's your sole chance of getting out of this
+trouble," said Bella, who was now sorry to see her enemy brought so low.
+
+"I don't care if I get out of the trouble, or if I do not," said Mrs.
+Vand wearily. "Henry is dead, just as we were on the eve of happiness,
+so I don't much care what becomes of me."
+
+"Could you have been happy in America knowing your husband to be a
+murderer?" asked Cyril, skeptically.
+
+"Certainly," returned the woman with great composure. "I knew all along
+that Henry had struck the blow; but I daresay Jabez goaded him into
+doing so, as poor Henry was so good and weak."
+
+"Weak!" echoed Cyril, remembering all. "He was not very weak to kill an
+active man like Captain Huxham, and a strong negro such as Durgo was."
+
+"Ah!" said Mrs. Vand exultingly, and contradicting herself in a truly
+feminine way, "Henry was a man--none of your weaklings. If we had only
+escaped with those"--she stared hard at the black bag which contained
+the jewels--"but it's no use fretting now. Everything is at an end, and
+Bella is glad."
+
+"No, I am not, Aunt Rosamund----"
+
+"I am not your aunt; I don't wish to be your aunt."
+
+"All the same, I am very sorry for you," said Bella, with the tears in
+her eyes, "and if I can do anything to help you let me know. Good-bye,
+aunt, and may God watch over you." She bent and kissed the lined
+forehead.
+
+"Don't you believe that I killed Jabez?" faltered Mrs. Vand, somewhat
+touched.
+
+"No," said Bella quietly. "I believe what you say. Henry killed Captain
+Huxham, and like a true wife you held your tongue to save him. I should
+have done exactly the same had Cyril been guilty."
+
+"You're a good girl, Bella. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I don't
+suppose there's much happiness left me in this life, now that Henry is
+dead. But I shall repay you for those kind words. There! there! Don't
+kiss me again. I have been mistaken in you. Good-bye," and Mrs. Vand,
+lying down on the floor in an utter state of despair, turned her face to
+the wall.
+
+Bella had to leave her in this unsatisfactory condition, as there was no
+chance of taking her home to Miss Ankers' cottage. Dutton still watched
+by the door, and probably had overheard all that she had confessed, even
+though she had not been so explicit as she should have been. But she had
+detailed quite sufficient to ensure her arrest as an accomplice after
+the fact, so it was not likely that Dutton would permit her to leave the
+hut until he received orders from his superior. Under the circumstances
+there was nothing to be done, but for the young people to go, which they
+accordingly did. Granny Tunks flung a curse after them as they passed
+out into the night, and flung also a burning sod to emphasise the curse.
+
+"Old devil!" said Cyril, comforting Bella, who was crying. "Dutton, lend
+me your lantern, as the path along the channel is dangerous."
+
+Dutton, having received five shillings, made no objection to this,
+provided he got back his bullseye later in the night. Cyril promised to
+return it when he came back to the hut with Inglis, and then, taking
+Bella's arm he led her carefully along the slippery path. The storm had
+passed and the wind had dropped, but the clouds were still thick enough
+to envelope the earth in murky darkness. They picked their footsteps
+carefully, until they came to the foot of the corn-path. Here they
+halted.
+
+"How are we to get across, Cyril?" asked the girl, shivering.
+
+Lister groped in the corn wherein Durgo had flung the planks, and soon
+recovered these. With the aid of Bella he fixed them again on the
+tressels sunk in the mud, and the two passed dry-shod over the channel.
+In walking to Marshely the young man gave Bella the bag. "Take this,
+dear," he said. "The jewels are in it. Be careful of them."
+
+"Oh, Cyril," said the girl, awestruck, "did Mrs. Vand steal them?"
+
+"Yes, and in spite of what she says I believe she and Henry murdered
+your father--I mean Captain Huxham--for the sake of the jewels. They
+were in this bag, marked with the initials 'M. F.'--your father's
+initials."
+
+"Just as Granny saw it in her trance."
+
+"Very nearly, only she called the bag--and it is a bag, as you see--a
+portmanteau. Either Granny or the unseen are at fault. But it matters
+little since the jewels are now in your possession. Keep them
+carefully."
+
+"But Cyril," said Bella, as they drew near the cottage, "does it seem
+right for us to keep jewels that already have caused two murders? My
+father was killed because of these gems by Captain Huxham, and he met
+with the same fate for probably the same reason."
+
+"I daresay in ages past, many and many a wicked deed has been committed
+for the sake of these jewels. Do you remember what you heard Granny say
+in her trance?--that a Roman empress had secured the jewels by crime. My
+dear girl, all jewels have a history more or less, and if one feared the
+sort of thing you mention, not a woman would wear jewels. No, dear: God
+has given you this fortune, and you have every right to make use of it.
+Here's the door, and by the light in the window I see that Miss Ankers
+is sitting up."
+
+"I promised to tell her why I went out," said Bella, kissing her lover,
+"so, as she is our good friend; she must know all."
+
+"Just as you please: tell her everything from the beginning. I have to
+tell Inspector Inglis what I know shortly."
+
+"Will you tell him about your father?" asked Bella faintly.
+
+Lister hesitated. "I must," he said at length with a mighty effort, "for
+if I do not Luke Tunks may be caught, and he will tell."
+
+"Tell what?"
+
+"I don't know: God only knows what happened when Luke peeped through
+that window. From the presence of the bloody knife on the floor, and the
+fact that Vand murdered Huxham, I am inclined to believe that Huxham
+stabbed my father with that knife."
+
+Bella caught his sleeve. "If so where did Captain, Huxham hide the
+body?"
+
+Cyril removed her arm gently, although he shivered. "We have had enough
+of these horrors for one night, dear," he said, kissing her. "Go inside
+and talk to Miss Ankers. To-morrow I'll come and see you."
+
+"What are you about to do, Cyril?"
+
+"I am returning to the Manor-house, and then shall go to Granny's hut
+with Inglis. There must be an end to all this mystery to-night.
+Bella"--he turned suddenly--"if it is proved that my father is alive,
+will you still marry me? Think of the disgrace he has brought on me."
+
+"Why? In any case your father didn't murder Captain Huxham."
+
+"No; his hands are free from blood in that respect. But this case will
+have to be thoroughly inquired into, and much about my father may come
+out. His doings were shady. As I told you, I had to borrow one thousand
+pounds to buy back a cheque for that amount which he had forged in the
+name of an old college friend. Then there's the gun-running in Nigeria,
+and all manner of doubtful means by which he made his money. Bella, if
+you marry me, you marry a man with a soiled name."
+
+Her arms were round him on the instant. "_You_ have not soiled it," she
+whispered, "and that is enough for me."
+
+Cyril's lips met hers in a passionate kiss, and, glowing with happiness,
+she ran into Dora's little garden as the door opened. Miss Ankers,
+hearing voices at this late hour--for it was nearly midnight--was
+looking out to see what was the matter. Cyril watched her admit Bella,
+and then turned away with a sigh. He intended to confess much about his
+father to Inglis, which he would much rather have kept concealed; but
+under the circumstances there was no other way of settling matters.
+Since the tragic death of Captain Huxham, these had been in a very bad
+way.
+
+Very shortly the young man arrived at the Manor-house, and found a
+constable on guard at the door. But he was admitted the moment the man
+recognised him. It appeared that Inglis had been expecting him for some
+time. Lister walked into the study, wherein the inspector had
+established himself, and explained that he had been escorting Miss
+Huxham home.
+
+"The poor girl is quite worn out," said Cyril, seating himself with an
+air of relief, for he also was extremely tired.
+
+"No wonder," replied the inspector. "Is Dutton on guard?"
+
+"Yes. Mrs. Vand and the old woman and the girl are all safe."
+
+"I have sent along another man," said Inglis nodding, "so that there may
+be no chance of the three escaping. The house was locked up when we came
+here, Mr. Lister, and only by breaking a window could we enter. Look at
+this, sir"--and the inspector pointed to a small lozenge-pane in the
+casement, which had been broken.
+
+"Well," said Cyril, after a pause.
+
+"Through that broken pane Luke Tunks saw everything which took place in
+this study on the night of the murder."
+
+Cyril felt his hair rise, and he thought of his father's probable
+danger, but he calmed down on reflecting that at least Edwin Lister was
+not guilty of the frightful crime. "How do you know?" he gasped with
+difficulty.
+
+"We have caught Luke, and he will be here in a moment or so to confess."
+
+Cyril looked surprised. "How did you catch him?"
+
+"He ran out of the hut when we crossed the channel, and concealed
+himself in the corn. Then, remembering that the Manor-house was deserted
+he fetched a circle round the fields and came here. When we got into the
+house we found him nearly crazy with fear; he took us for ghosts."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"In the kitchen guarded by a couple of men. He refused to confess, and I
+gave him an hour to make up his mind. Meanwhile, we have searched the
+house and have found that everything valuable more or less is gone. Some
+things left behind have been packed in boxes. I suppose the Vands hoped
+to escape and then get their goods later. But they carried off what they
+could."
+
+"They intended to go to America," said Cyril, "the woman explained. She
+also declared that her husband murdered Captain Huxham."
+
+"I expect she had a hand in it herself."
+
+"She denies that."
+
+"She naturally would," said Inglis very drily. "However, I'll send for
+Luke Tunks and see if he is willing to confess," and he gave a sharp
+order to one of the constables who was lounging in the hall.
+
+In a few minutes the tall, lean gipsy, who looked extremely ill and
+extremely defiant, made his appearance at the door, held by two
+policemen.
+
+"Bring him in," said the inspector calmly, and arranging some sheets of
+paper, which he took out of his pocket along with a stylograph pen. "Now
+then, my man, will you confess all that you saw?"
+
+"If I do what will happen, governor?" asked Tunks hoarsely.
+
+"You may get a lighter sentence."
+
+"Will I be arrested?"
+
+"You are arrested now, and shortly you will be lodged in gaol."
+
+"Then I shan't say anything!" growled Luke defiantly, and folding his
+arms he leaned against the panelled wall.
+
+"Very good," said Inglis serenely; "take him away. In the morning he can
+be removed to the Pierside goal."
+
+The two constables advanced, and Luke bit his lip. In any case he saw
+that things looked black against him.
+
+"You have no right to arrest me," he declared. "On what charge do you
+arrest me?"
+
+"On a charge of murdering Captain Jabez Huxham."
+
+"I didn't. I can prove I didn't."
+
+"You can do so in court and to a judge and jury. Take him away."
+
+"No, no! I'll tell you all I know now," said Luke, making the best of a
+bad job, and being imaginative enough to both see and feel a visionary
+rope encircling his neck. "Let me tell now, governor."
+
+This was exactly what Inglis wanted, as he desired to obtain all
+available evidence for the forthcoming inquest on the bodies of the dead
+men, black and white. But he pretended to grant the man's wish as a
+favour. "As you please," he said with a cool shrug. "You two men can go
+outside and remain on guard on the other side of the door."
+
+The constables did as they were ordered and closed the door. Inglis,
+Lister, and Luke Tunks were alone, and as the gipsy was still weak from
+his late illness the inspector signed that he could take a seat. "Now
+tell me all you know, and I shall take it down. You shall affix your
+name to your confession, and Mr. Lister and myself will be the
+witnesses. Do you agree?"
+
+"Yes," said Luke hoarsely, and drawing his sleeve across his mouth, "for
+nothing I can say can hang me. I didn't kill either of the blokes."
+
+"Either of the blokes? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that Captain Huxham killed the man who called himself Lister,
+and Henry Vand killed Captain Huxham. I saw both murders."
+
+Lister rejoiced, horrified as he was at the idea of his father's violent
+death, but thankful from the bottom of his heart that he had gone to his
+own place guiltless of blood. Inglis saw the expression on the young
+man's face, and asked a leading question.
+
+"Was not this Mr. Lister your father?"
+
+"Yes," answered Cyril promptly. "He came home from Nigeria some months
+ago with Durgo, who is the son of a friendly chief. My father, I
+understand, came down here to ask Captain Huxham for certain jewels--"
+
+"Those you showed me, sir?"
+
+"Yes, they were robbed from a trader called Maxwell Faith by Huxham, and
+my father wished to get them. Durgo came down to seek for my father, but
+we have never been able to find him."
+
+"He is dead," said Luke abruptly.
+
+"So you say; but where is the body?"
+
+"I don't know; I can't say." Luke paused, then turned to the inspector.
+"Let me tell you what I saw through yonder broken pane."
+
+"Very good." Inglis arranged his papers and prepared his pen. "Mind you
+speak the truth, as I shall take down every word you say. Afterwards Mr.
+Lister can tell me what he knows."
+
+So it was arranged, and Tunks, as ready to tell now as formerly he was
+unwilling, launched out into his story. It appears that after leaving
+Mrs. Coppersley--as she was then--he went home to have some food.
+Shortly before eight o'clock he strolled along the banks of the river
+and saw Pence watching the house. Knowing that the preacher was in love
+with the daughter of his master, he took little notice; then, while
+lying in the corn by the side of the path smoking, he saw, as he
+thought, Cyril Lister pass him, and stealthily followed.
+
+"Why did you do that?" asked Inglis, raising his eyes.
+
+"I knew that this gent"--he nodded towards Cyril--"was in love with Miss
+Bella also, and knew that Captain Huxham hated him."
+
+"Why did he hate him?"
+
+"I can tell you," said Cyril quickly; "because of my father. Huxham knew
+my father in Nigeria, and as my father wished to get these jewels he
+feared lest he should force him to give them up. For this reason Huxham
+came down here and planted corn all round his house as a means of
+defence, and installed a search-light. He wished to be on his guard."
+
+"Did your father intend murder?" asked the inspector, sharply.
+
+"I really can't say."
+
+"But he did," struck in Luke, who had been listening earnestly. "All
+that the young gent says is true, sir. I only followed, as I thought
+that there would be a row between Captain Huxham and--as I thought--Mr.
+Cyril. I waited outside the house, and then hearing loud voices in the
+study--in this place," said Tunks looking round, "I stole to the
+casement and peeped through that broken pane. They did not know that I
+was there."
+
+"What became of Mr. Pence meanwhile?" asked Inglis suddenly.
+
+"He was watching the house, but I think he went away and then came
+back."
+
+Inglis nodded. "That is unsatisfactory. I must examine Mr. Pence later.
+You go on, Tunks, and tell us exactly what you saw."
+
+Tunks settled down to his narrative. "I listened and heard all about the
+jewels and the death of Maxwell Faith and all about Miss Bella being his
+daughter. I saw by this time that Mr. Lister was not Mr. Cyril here, and
+I guessed from his likeness that he was Mr. Cyril's father. Mr. Lister
+wanted Captain Huxham to give up the jewels for some expedition, but the
+captain refused. They began to quarrel, and then the captain pulled out
+a big knife from a drawer of his desk and rushed on Mr. Lister. There
+was a struggle and Mr. Lister tried to pull out a revolver. At length
+Huxham got Mr. Lister down and cut his throat."
+
+"Which would account for the quantity of blood found on the floor here
+when Huxham's body was found. I thought there was too much blood for one
+man's corpse to supply. Go on."
+
+"Oh, it's terrible--horrible!" said Cyril, covering his face. "What did
+you do, Tunks? Why didn't you give the alarm?"
+
+"What, and be run in for being an accomplice!" said Tunks disdainfully,
+"not me. But I was frightened, and when I saw that Captain Huxham had
+killed Mr. Lister--I knew his name by that time, having heard them
+talking--why, I ran away as hard as my legs could carry me."
+
+"Where did you go?"
+
+"Home to Granny, so that I might be able to supply an alibi if
+necessary. I didn't tell her anything, but she found out a lot when I
+was raving with the drink in me. But I couldn't rest, and when Granny
+was a-bed I stole out. It was after ten by this time. I went up to the
+Manor and to yonder window. Then I saw Mrs. Coppersley--as she was--and
+Mr. Vand, talking to the captain and telling him they were married. The
+knife, all bloody, was on the floor near the door, but they were all
+three so busy talking that they did not notice it. But I wonder the
+captain didn't cover it up.'
+
+"Where was the body of my father?" asked Cyril impatiently.
+
+"I don't know; the body was gone. I've never been able to find out where
+the captain put up the body. But, as I say, he turned out Mr. Vand and
+his wife, as I knew she was then, and cursed up and down. But he didn't
+pick up the knife; in place of doing so, which would have been more
+sensible, seeing that he had murdered the Lister cove with it, he went
+to his desk and pulled out a black bag. He emptied this of jewels, and
+my mouth watered."
+
+"Ah, so you recognised the bag when you tried to steal it from Mrs. Vand
+in your mother's cottage?"
+
+"Yes, I did," said Luke sullenly, "and very sorry I am that I didn't get
+clear off with it."
+
+"You have quite enough to answer for as it is," said Inglis sharply. "Go
+on, as I have got everything down so far."
+
+"Well, then while the captain was sitting at the desk gloating over the
+jewels Mr. Vand comes in softly like a cat. He saw the jewels and his
+eyes lighted up. Captain Huxham, being busy, didn't hear him, so he
+picks up the knife lying near the door, and before I could cry out he
+rushed at the old man. Huxham turned to meet him, and got the knife in
+his heart. Then Mr. Vand, as cool as you please, dropped the knife
+behind the desk, and taking the bag with the jewels, he put 'em
+back--went away."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"I went home and tried to sleep, but couldn't."
+
+"Why didn't you warn the police?" asked Inglis.
+
+"No, sir. I'm only a gipsy, and they'd have thought I'd something to do
+with the business. If I'd accused Mr. Vand him and his wife would have
+accused me, and it would be two to one. Besides," said Luke coolly, "I
+wasn't sorry to see old Huxham downed after killing the other gent.
+Serve him right, say I. So that's all."
+
+"Humph," said Inglis, finishing his writing. "You made capital out of
+this?"
+
+"Yes, I did," said Luke defiantly, and taking the pen which Inglis held
+out to him. "I told Mr. and Mrs. Vand what I'd seen. They were
+frightened--it was the next morning, you see--and paid me heaps of money
+to hold my tongue. Then, like a fool, I went on the bend, and talked so
+much that Granny got to know heaps, and so set the nigger brute on our
+tracks. There"--Luke signed his name--"you can't hang me for what I've
+told you."
+
+Inglis and Lister both signed as witnesses, and the inspector put the
+paper into his pocket. He was about to ask further questions--to
+cross-examine Tunks in fact--when the door opened and a young constable
+appeared in a mighty state of excitement.
+
+"Sir," he cried to his superior officer, "Mrs. Vand has escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" cried the inspector, in a voice of thunder.
+
+"Yes, sir. Dutton is lying drugged in the hut, and the old woman has
+been stunned. Mrs. Vand and the gipsy girl are gone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY
+
+
+Next morning there was a great sensation in the village of Marshely, as
+in some way the events of the previous night leaked out. Certainly, the
+accounts of these were more or less garbled, and no one appeared to know
+who was responsible for them. But this much of the truth became public
+property, that Vand and the negro prince who had been stopping at "The
+Chequers" were dead, that Mrs. Vand had fled to escape arrest, and that
+the police were in possession of Bleacres. Later in the afternoon it
+became known that Vand had killed Captain Huxham for the sake of certain
+jewels.
+
+But the villagers were greatly astonished when they heard--from what
+source was not known--that another man had been killed. No one, save
+Silas Pence, had seen Edwin Lister enter the Manor, and Pence himself
+had presumed, until informed, that the man was Cyril, so no one knew
+that any person was missing. Now it appeared that the man who was
+murdered by Vand had committed a crime himself previous to his own
+death. But what he had done with the body no one knew, and the police
+could find no traces of the same in spite of all their efforts.
+
+Inspector Inglis called at Miss Anker's cottage in the morning and
+interviewed both Bella and her lover. From them he heard the whole tale,
+and was greatly astonished by the recital. Under the circumstances he
+was inclined to take the jewels into official custody, but Bella refused
+to give them up; and undoubtedly they were her property left to her by
+her father, Maxwell Faith. Inglis admitted this, so did not press the
+point.
+
+Afterwards the inspector examined Silas Pence, and heard from him much
+the same story as he had told Bella. The preacher was lying on a bed of
+sickness, as the blow on his head and the many worries he had been
+through of late nearly gave him brain fever. Of course--and Inglis told
+him as much--he should have reported at once the death of Huxham, as he
+had seen the body. But as Pence had not beheld the blow struck, the
+police could do nothing but admonish. Silas stated that in one point of
+his story when he confessed to Bella he had been wrong, which was after
+seeing Edwin Lister enter the Manor--or, as he thought then, Cyril--he
+had rushed away in the direction of the common in the vain attempt to
+rid himself of troublesome thoughts. When he returned Mr. and Mrs. Vand
+were in the kitchen, as Luke proved; and Pence was thus enabled to enter
+the house. Undoubtedly the guilty pair had left the front door open, so
+that blame might be cast upon some outsider--on a possible burglar, for
+instance. When they heard the noise of Pence's flight and found the
+money gone, they were quite determined to place the blame on a robber.
+Mrs. Vand confessed this later, although at the time of the robbery she
+had not dreamed the burglar was the talented young preacher whom she so
+greatly admired.
+
+But the guilty woman was missing for some days. On inquiry being made it
+appeared that the Romany girl, bribed by Mrs. Vand to assist her flight,
+had made a cup of tea for the constable. As Dutton was wet and cold, he
+drank the tea only too willingly, never suspecting that it was drugged.
+But it turned out to be dosed with laudanum, and he fell into a deep
+sleep. Granny Tunks, as she stated on reviving, had attempted to stay
+the flight of Mrs. Vand and the Romany girl, but the latter had promptly
+knocked her down with the very chunk of wood with which Mrs. Tunks had
+struck the half-drowned woman. In this way Granny's sins came home to
+her.
+
+Inglis found, on the detail of the motor-car being reported by Cyril,
+who had heard it from Mrs. Vand, that use had been made of the same. He
+advertised for such a car in such a neighbourhood, and speedily was
+called upon by a public chauffeur, who drove for hire. The man confessed
+very frankly that Vand had engaged his car to wait for himself and his
+wife on the high road to Pierside, and that thinking that nothing was
+wrong he had done so. Vand had paid him well, and the driver merely
+thought it was the eccentric whim of a rich man. Vand, it appeared, had
+engaged the car in London from the stand in Trafalgar Square. When Mrs.
+Vand left the hut the Romany girl had rowed her to the swamps in the
+boat she had brought for the removal of Luke to the caravan, and the
+woman had then crossed the marshy ground to the high road. Making some
+excuse for the non-appearance of her husband, she had been driven to
+London, and the driver, who had already received his money, dropped her
+in Piccadilly. That, as he confessed, was the last he saw of her.
+
+Inspector Inglis was very angry with the man, and pointed out that he
+should have suspected that the couple were flying from justice from the
+fact of the large sum of money paid, and on account of the strange place
+where it was arranged that the car should wait. But the man exonerated
+himself completely, and in the end he was permitted to go free, as the
+police could not do anything. And after all the chauffeur, who did not
+look particularly intelligent, might have acted in all good faith.
+
+However the point was that Mrs. Vand, dropped in Piccadilly, had
+vanished entirely. She had ample money, as it was proved that she had
+drawn fifty pounds in gold from her bank, and although she had fled from
+the hut with only the dripping dress she wore, there would be no
+difficulty in her obtaining a fresh disguise. The police advertised in
+the papers and with handbills, but nothing could be heard of the woman.
+She had vanished as completely as though the earth had opened and
+swallowed her.
+
+Strangely enough, it was from Mrs. Vand's solicitor that the first news
+came of her doings. Timson was the lawyer's name, and he came down to
+Pierside to see Inspector Inglis. On being shown into the inspector's
+office he broke out abruptly--
+
+"Sir," said Timson, who was a mild-faced, spectacled, yellow-haired man,
+"I have a communication to make to you about my respected client, Mrs.
+Rosamund Vand, if you will hear it."
+
+"Respectable, eh?" questioned the officer ironically. "Perhaps you don't
+know, Mr.--Mr."--he referred to the card--"Mr. Timson, that your
+respectable client is wanted for her complicity in the murder of her
+brother?"
+
+"Sir," said Mr. Timson again and firmly, "my client--my respected
+client," he added with emphasis "assured me that she had nothing to do
+with the commission of that crime. She was in a dead faint in the
+kitchen when her husband, in a moment of passion, struck down Captain
+Huxham."
+
+"So she says because it is to her benefit to say so, Mr. Timson. But the
+man who saw the murder committed swears that it was a most deliberate
+affair, and was only done for the sake of certain jewels, which----"
+
+"Deliberate or not, Mr. Inspector," interrupted the meek little man, "my
+respected client had nothing to do with it. Afterwards she held her
+tongue for the sake of her husband, for his sake also paid blackmail to
+the man who saw the crime committed."
+
+"We can argue that point," said Inglis drily, "when we see Mrs. Vand.
+You are doubtless aware of her whereabouts?"
+
+"No," said Timson coolly, "I am not."
+
+"But you said you had seen her--after the murder was committed, I fancy
+you hinted."
+
+"I saw her," said Timson, quite calmly, "on the day following her flight
+from the hut on the marshes. She alighted in Piccadilly and walked about
+the streets for the rest of the night. Afterwards she went to a quiet
+hotel and had a brush and a wash up. She then called on me--"
+
+"And you did not detain her when you knew----"
+
+"I knew nothing. Had I known that she was flying from justice I
+certainly should have urged her to surrender. But the news of these
+terrible doings in Marshely had not reached London; it was not in the
+papers until the following day. You grant that?"
+
+"Yes, yes! But----"
+
+"No 'buts' at all, Mr. Inspector," said Timson, who seemed firm enough
+in spite of his meek aspect. "My client confessed to me that her husband
+had been drowned, and that he had murdered her brother in a fit of
+passion because Captain Huxham intended to turn his sister out of doors
+and alter his will on account of her secret marriage."
+
+"That motive may have had some weight," said Inglis quietly, "but I
+fancy the sight of the jewels made Vand murder his brother-in-law. Did
+Mrs. Vand call to tell you this?"
+
+"No!" snapped Timson, whose meekness was giving way. "She called to make
+her will."
+
+"Make her will--in whose favour?"
+
+"I see no reason why I should not tell you," said the lawyer, "although
+I never reveal professional secrets. But I will tell, so that you may
+see how you have misjudged my client. She made a will in favour of Miss
+Isabella Faith----"
+
+"Faith? Ah! she knew, then, that the girl was not her niece."
+
+"Yes. But she did not tell me that, nor did I inquire. All she did was
+to make me, or, rather instruct me, to draw up a will leaving the
+Bleacres property and the five hundred a year she inherited from the
+late Captain Huxham, to Miss Faith, as some token of repentance for
+having misjudged her. And now," cried Timson, rising wrathfully, "my
+respected client is misjudged herself. I come to clear her character."
+
+"I don't see how that will clears her character," said Inglis coolly,
+"and from the mere fact that she made it I daresay she has committed
+suicide."
+
+"Impossible! Impossible!"
+
+"I think it is very probable, indeed, Mr. Timson, Mrs. Vand cannot get
+out of England, as all the ports and railway stations are watched, and
+there is a full description of her appearance posted everywhere. Unless
+she wants to get a long sentence for complicity in this most brutal
+murder, she will have to commit suicide."
+
+"I tell you she is innocent."
+
+"Can you tell me that she is not an accomplice after the fact?"
+
+"A wife is not bound to give evidence against her husband."
+
+Inspector Inglis rose with a fatigued air. "I am not here to argue on
+points of law with you, Mr. Timson. All I ask is, if you know where your
+respected client is?" he laid a sneering emphasis on his last words.
+
+"No, I do not," said Timson, taking up his hat, "and I bid you good
+day."
+
+What the lawyer said was evidently correct, for although his office and
+himself were watched by the police, it could not be proved that he was
+in communication with the missing woman. The whereabouts of Mrs. Vand
+became more of a mystery than ever. Inglis told Bella of her good
+fortune, but of course until Mrs. Vand was dead she could not benefit.
+And there seemed to be no chance of proving the woman's death, even
+though the inspector firmly held to the opinion that she had committed
+suicide.
+
+Meantime Timson went on to Marshely to look after his client's property,
+and seeing that the corn was ripe, he arranged with a number of
+labourers, under an overseer whom he could trust, that it should be
+reaped immediately. Thus it happened that four days after Mrs. Vand's
+disappearance, when Cyril came to tell Bella about the inquest, she was
+able to inform him that the Solitary Farm lands were about to be reaped.
+
+"And we might go there in the evening to look," said Bella.
+
+"My dear, I should think that the Manor was hateful to you."
+
+"Well, it is. Even if I do inherit it from Mrs. Vand, I can never live
+there, Cyril. But I want you to come with me this evening, as I have a
+kind of idea that the body of Mrs. Vand"--she grew pale and
+shuddered--"may be found amidst the corn."
+
+Cyril started back, astonished. "My dear girl, you must be mad!"
+
+"No, I am not, Cyril. Think of how she is being hunted, and how her
+person is described everywhere, while all the ports and stations are
+watched. I believe that she, poor woman! went to see her lawyer, so as
+to prove her sorrow for having misjudged me, by making me her heiress,
+and that she then returned to die amidst the corn."
+
+"Do you think she is dead there?"
+
+"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Granny Tunks is still in the hut, and she is
+very avaricious. Mrs. Vand had money. She may have bribed Granny to
+bring her food while she lay hid among the corn."
+
+"But such a hiding-place!" said Lister, who nevertheless was much struck
+with what Bella was saying.
+
+"A very good one and a place where no one would think of looking. Think
+how thick the corn is growing! No one ever enters it, and that scarlet
+coated scarecrow stands sentinel over it. Believe me, Cyril, Mrs. Vand
+has been hiding there. I wish you to come with me this evening. They
+have started to reap the corn by order of Mr. Timson. If Mrs. Vand is
+there, she will in the end be discovered. Let us find her, and save her,
+and get her out of the kingdom."
+
+"That will bring us within reach of the law."
+
+"I don't care," said Bella, quite recklessly; "after all, she had
+nothing to do with the crime, and only kept silent to shield her
+husband. I want to help the poor thing, and you must aid me to do so."
+
+"But Bella, she never liked you."
+
+"What has that got to do with it?" cried the girl passionately. "Our
+natures did not suit one another, and perhaps I behaved rather harshly
+towards her. She meant well. And remember, Cyril, she has made amends by
+leaving me all that would have been mine had I really been Captain
+Huxham's daughter."
+
+Cyril nodded. "I admit that she has done her best to repent," he said
+after a pause, "and we should not judge her too harshly. I'll come."
+
+"And help her to escape?"
+
+"Yes. It won't be easy; but I'll do my best."
+
+"That's my own dear boy," said the girl, kissing him, "and now what
+about the inquest?"
+
+"A verdict of death by drowning has been brought in," said Cyril
+quickly. "I think if we can get Mrs. Vand away, everything concerning
+the Huxham mystery will be at an end."
+
+"They won't put the whole story in the papers, Cyril?"
+
+"No. Inglis will edit all that is to be given to the reporters and
+journalists. He will say as little as possible about the matter. It is
+known that Huxham was murdered by Vand, and in the absence of my
+father's body no cognisance can be taken of that alleged murder."
+
+"Don't you believe that your father has been murdered?"
+
+"I don't know; I can't tell. Tunks says so, and I don't suppose he would
+tell such a story against himself unless it were true. But no body has
+been found, and until the body of the missing man is found, it is
+presumed in law that he is alive. But"--Cyril shrugged his
+shoulders--"who can tell the truth?"
+
+"It will be made manifest in time," said Bella firmly; "your father, or
+your father's body, will be found. Where are Durgo and Henry to be
+buried?"
+
+"In Marshely churchyard to-morrow. I shall go to the funeral. I am sorry
+for Durgo. In spite of his skin he was a real white man. And when he is
+under the earth, Bella, I think we had better sell the jewels and marry,
+and take a trip round the world in order to forget all this terrible
+business. I am quite glad it is over."
+
+"It is not over yet," insisted Bella, "your father has to be found, and
+Mrs. Vand must be discovered."
+
+"Or their bodies," said Cyril significantly, and turned away.
+
+It must not be thought that young Lister was callous. His father had
+never been one to him, and, moreover, his son had seen so little of him,
+that he was as strange to the young man as he had been to the boy. Cyril
+deeply regretted the gulf that was between them, as he was of a truly
+affectionate nature, but his father always had repelled the least sign
+of tenderness. He only looked on Cyril as one to be made use of, and
+borrowed from him on every occasion. Had he succeeded in getting the
+jewels and had aided Durgo to regain his chiefdom, he would have
+remained in Nigeria as a kind of savage prime minister, without casting
+a thought to his son. And whether his father was dead or alive, Cyril
+knew that he would have to repay the one thousand pounds which he had
+borrowed to cover his father's delinquency in respect of the forged
+cheque. How could such a son as Cyril Lister respect or love such a
+parent as Edwin of the same name?
+
+Nevertheless, Cyril, although he said little to Bella, was very anxious
+to ascertain the fate of his father. It seemed very certain that Tunks
+had seen him murdered by the evil-hearted old sailor, but what that
+scoundrel had done with the body could not be discovered. In vain the
+police dug in the cellars of the Manor-house, tapped the walls, ripped
+up the floors, and dragged the boundary channel. The body of Edwin
+Lister could not be found, and as no one had seen him save Tunks, and
+Pence, and Bella, who had all mistaken him for Cyril, the police began
+to believe that Edwin, the father, was a myth. And Cyril could not make
+Inglis see otherwise for all his urging and confession.
+
+"If the man is alive, why doesn't he turn up?" asked Inglis; "and if
+dead, why can't we find his body?"
+
+There was no answer to this, and Cyril gave up his father's fate as a
+riddle, when he walked in the cool of the evening towards the Solitary
+Farm. The immediate object of his visit was to find if Mrs. Vand, dead
+or alive, was concealed in the thickly standing corn. Bella strolled by
+his side. But the lovers had taken no one into this particular
+confidence, not even Dora, and walked towards the well-known house, and
+up the corn-path, anxiously looking right and left. Then Cyril uttered
+an exclamation of annoyance. "What a bother!" he said, much vexed: "see,
+Bella, there are labourers still reaping--yonder, near the scarecrow."
+
+"I suppose Mr. Timson wants the fields reaped quickly," said Bella, also
+much vexed. "I thought everyone would have been gone by this time. We
+must wait until the labourers depart, Cyril. It will never do to find
+Mrs. Vand while they are about. They would tell the police, and she
+would be arrested. That would be dangerous!"
+
+"So it will be--if she is alive," said the young man, who was very
+doubtful on this point himself.
+
+The setting sun cast a rosy glow over the fields of golden grain. The
+old house seemed to be buried in a treasure meadow. All round rolled the
+radiant waves, and the scarlet-coated scarecrow's task was nearly done.
+The corn was ripe for the harvest, and soon the acres of the Solitary
+Farm would consist of nothing but stubble.
+
+As the lovers drew near the house, they saw a labourer approach the
+scarecrow. The corn had been reaped for some distance all round it, and
+now a man had cut a path direct to it in order to pull it down. Its task
+was over, and it was no longer needed to keep off the birds. Suddenly
+the man laid his hand on the quaint figure, which had been so familiar
+to every one for months, and uttered a loud cry of astonishment. Cyril
+saw him beckoning to other labourers, and shortly there was a crowd
+round the scarlet coat.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Bella, and the lovers hurried to join the
+group.
+
+One of the labourers heard the question, and turned excitedly. "Master!
+Missus!" he said, in horrified tone, "it's a corpse."
+
+He pulled the tattered gray felt hat from the scarecrow, and Cyril
+recoiled with a loud cry of surprise. "Bella! Bella!"
+
+"What is it? what is it?" she said, startled by the discovery.
+
+"It is my father. It is Edwin Lister."
+
+All present knew of the tragedy, and of the hunt made for Edwin Lister.
+And now the missing man had been discovered. One of the labourers,
+mindful of public house gossip, touched the drooping neck of the figure,
+and shuddered. "Take missy away," he said softly to Cyril, and with a
+grey face, "this ain't no sight for her. His throat has been cut."
+
+But it was not the man who led the girl away. Bella saw the labourer's
+face, guessed, with a shudder, what he had said, and, catching Cyril's
+arm, dragged him away from that awful spot. The young fellow, with a
+blanched face and tottering limbs, stumbled blindly along as she pulled
+him forward. In all his expectations, he had never counted upon such a
+terrible dramatic discovery as this. His father, the missing man, the
+murdered man, who had been hunted for alive and dead for many weeks, had
+been used by Captain Huxham as a scarecrow to frighten the birds. No
+wonder they had kept away from those sinister fields.
+
+"Oh, great God!" moaned Cyril, sick and faint, "let this be the end."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+RUN TO EARTH
+
+
+The quiet village of Marshely, in Essex, was getting to be as well-known
+through the length and breadth of England as Westminster Abbey. The
+murder of Captain Huxham had caused a sensation, the death of Durgo and
+Vand had created another one, but the discovery of the ghastly scarecrow
+which had warned the birds from the corn-fields of Bleacres, startled
+everyone greatly. The news flew like wild fire through the village, and
+in less than an hour the inhabitants were surveying the terrible object.
+
+Shortly the constable of the village who had superseded Dutton--in
+disgrace for his share in the escape of Mrs. Vand--appeared, and, armed
+with the authority of the law and assisted by willing hands, removed the
+poor relic of humanity from the pole whereupon it had hung for so long.
+The explanation of its being there was easy. Undoubtedly Captain Huxham,
+after he had committed the crime, and while Tunks and Pence were away,
+the one through horror and the other through sheer worry, had carried
+out the dead body to fasten it to the pole. He undressed the
+straw-stuffed figure, with which everyone was familiar, and having
+destroyed it arrayed the corpse of Edwin Lister in its military clothes.
+Then he pulled the tattered grey felt cap well over the face so that it
+should not be suspected as being that of a human being, and bound the
+dead to the pole. Of course, no one, not even the Vands, suspected that
+the figure was other than what it had always been, and it said much for
+the cruel ingenuity of Captain Jabez Huxham that he had selected so
+clever a mode of disposing of the body. Had he thrown it into the
+boundary channel it might have been fished out; had he concealed it in
+the house, it would probably have been discovered; and had he buried it
+in the garden near the house, it might have been dug up. But no one ever
+dreamed that the scarlet-coated scarecrow was the man who was wanted.
+Huxham had been struck down almost immediately after he had put his
+scheme into execution, and it was doubtful if he had intended to leave
+the body there. Probably he did, as it was isolated by the corn, and
+when the field was reaped he doubtless intended to get rid of the corpse
+in some equally ingenious way. The removal of the scarecrow would have
+excited no comment when the fields were reaped, as its career of
+usefulness would then be at an end. The dead man's clothes still clothed
+his corpse under the scarecrow's ragged garments.
+
+One result of the discovery was that everyone decided not to buy the
+corn which had flourished under so terrible a guardian. Far and wide the
+newspapers spread the report of the discovery, and Timson became aware
+that a prejudice existed against making bread of the wheat grown on the
+Bleacres ground. Not wishing to spend more money, since he would have to
+account for everything he did to Mrs. Vand, he withdrew the labourers.
+The Solitary Farm now became solitary indeed, for no one would go near
+it, especially after night-fall. The golden fields of wheat spread round
+it like a sea, and the ancient house stood up greyly and lonely like a
+thing accursed. And indeed it was looked upon as damned by the
+villagers.
+
+An inquest was held, and, going by the evidence of Luke Tunks, it was
+decided that Edwin Lister came by his end at the hands of Jabez Huxham.
+Cyril was compelled to attend and give evidence, but said as little as
+he could, not wishing to make his father's shady career too public. He
+simply stated that his father was a trader in Nigeria, and being the
+friend of Durgo, the dispossessed chief of a friendly tribe in the far
+Hinterland, had come home to see Huxham and get from him certain jewels.
+Of course he could not suppress the fact that these jewels had been
+given by Kawal to Maxwell Faith, and had been stolen from the dead body
+of the man by his murderer, Captain Huxham: nor could he fail to state
+that Bella was the daughter of Maxwell Faith, since had he not done so
+the jewels might have been taken from her. But Cyril spoke as clearly
+and carefully as he could, quite aware of the delicate position he
+occupied. There was no doubt that Huxham, dreading lest the murder of
+Faith should be brought home to him, and anxious to retain the jewels
+which were the price of blood, had murdered Lister; afterwards he had
+disposed of the body in the ingenious manner explained. But Lister was
+dead; Huxham was dead; Vand and Durgo were dead, so the papers suggested
+that there should be an end to the succession of terrible events which
+made Marshely so notorious.
+
+"And I think this is the last," said Cyril, when he returned to Miss
+Ankers' cottage from his father's funeral. "Bella, we can't stay here."
+
+"I'm sure I don't want to," replied the harassed girl, who looked worn
+and thin. "The place is getting on my nerves. I'll marry you as soon as
+you like, dear, and then we can go away. But this morning"--she
+hesitated--"I received a letter from my father's relatives. They ask me
+to come to them."
+
+"What will you do?" asked Cyril gravely.
+
+"Write and say that I am marrying you and intend to go abroad."
+
+"But, Bella, if you reside with your relatives you may be able to make a
+much better match."
+
+"Yes," said Bella with a grimace. "I might marry a Quaker. No, dear, I
+intend to stay with you and marry you. I have done without my relatives
+for all this time, and I hope to continue doing without them."
+
+"Bella! Bella! I have nothing to offer you."
+
+"Yourself, dear. That is all I want."
+
+"A stupid gift on my part," said Cyril, looking ruefully in a near
+mirror at his face, which was now lean and haggard. "You have the money,
+and also the sympathy of the public. I can offer you nothing but a
+dishonoured name."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" she said vigorously. "I won't have you talk in that way.
+Why, one of the newspapers referred to your father as a pioneer of
+Empire."
+
+Sad as he was Cyril could not help smiling. "That is just like my
+father's good luck," he exclaimed; "alive or dead, everything comes to
+him. I expect his shady doings will be overlooked, and----"
+
+"No one knows of his shady doings, dear."
+
+"Well, then, he will be looked upon as a hero. It's just as well he is
+buried in Marshely churchyard, for some fanatic might propose to bury
+him in Westminster Abbey."
+
+"You will be congratulated on having such a father."
+
+"No!" cried Cyril violently. "I won't stand that, Bella. We shall go to
+London next week and get married in a registry office. Miss Ankers can
+come with you to play propriety."
+
+Bella laughed. "I rather think Dora is so busy nursing poor Mr. Pence
+back to health that she has no time."
+
+"Why, you don't mean to say that she loves Pence?"
+
+"Yes and no. I won't say what may happen. She pities him for his
+weakness, and pity, as you know, is akin to love. Besides, only
+ourselves and Inspector Inglis know of the temptation to which Mr. Pence
+was submitted."
+
+"Why, Bella, everyone knows he saw the corpse of Huxham and held his
+tongue."
+
+"Yes, but everyone doesn't know that he took the one hundred pounds
+which he restored to me. He is looked upon as somewhat weak for not
+having informed the police of the crime, but on the whole people are
+sorry for him."
+
+"I shall be sorry, too, if a nice little woman like Miss Ankers marries
+such a backboneless creature."
+
+"Cyril! Cyril! have not our late troubles shown you that we must judge
+no one? After what we have undergone I shall never, never give an
+opinion about anyone again. I am sorry now that I did not behave better
+to poor Mrs. Vand. When my supposed father was alive I did treat her
+haughtily. No wonder she disliked me."
+
+"My dear," said Lister, taking her hand, "don't be too hard on yourself.
+You and your so-called aunt would never have got on well together."
+
+"But I might have been kinder," said Bella, almost crying; "now that she
+is dead and gone I feel that I might have been kinder."
+
+"How do you know that she is dead and gone?" asked Cyril, in so strange
+a tone that Bella, dashing the tears from her eyes, looked at him
+inquiringly. "She is alive," he replied to that mute interrogation.
+
+"Oh, Cyril, I am so glad! Tell me all about it."
+
+"I don't know that I am glad, poor soul," said Lister sadly. "The police
+are on her track. I didn't want to tell you, Bella, but for the last two
+days the papers have been full of the hunt after Mrs. Vand."
+
+"Why didn't Dora tell me?"
+
+"I asked her not to. You have had quite enough to bear."
+
+"Well, now that you have told me some, tell me all."
+
+"There isn't much to tell. Some too clever landlady in Bloomsbury
+suspected a quiet lady lodger. It certainly was Mrs. Vand, but she
+became suspicious of her landlady and cleared out. Then she was seen at
+Putney, and afterwards someone noticed her in Hampstead. The papers
+having been taunting the police about the matter, they'll catch her in
+the end."
+
+"Poor Mrs. Vand! poor Mrs. Vand!" The girl's eyes again filled with
+tears.
+
+"We can't help her, Bella. I wish Timson could get hold of her and
+induce her to stand her trial. I don't think either judge or jury would
+be hard on her; more, I fancy that her brain must be turned with all
+this misery."
+
+"And she has lost her husband, too," sighed Bella; "she loved him so.
+Oh, dear Cyril, what should I do if I lost you?"
+
+Before Lister could reply with the usual lover-like attentions there was
+a noise in the road, and looking through the window they saw many people
+hurrying along. Dora came in at the moment from the other room, whither
+she always discreetly withdrew when not nursing Pence.
+
+"It is only some policeman they are running after. He declares that Mrs.
+Vand is in the neighbourhood. If she is I hope she will escape."
+
+"By Jove! I must go out and see," said Cyril, seizing his hat.
+
+"I shall come also," cried Bella, and in a few minutes the two were on
+the road. But by this time the people were not tearing along as they had
+been, and one villager told Lister that it had been a false alarm.
+
+"The old vixen won't come back to her first hole," said the villager
+with a coarse laugh, and Bella frowned at him for his inhumanity.
+
+As there really was nothing to hurry for the lovers strolled easily
+along the road talking of their future. "Bella, you haven't many boxes?"
+asked Cyril.
+
+"Only two. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Will you be ready to come with me to London to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes; I shall be glad to get out of Marshely, where I have been so
+miserable. Only I wish I knew where Mrs. Vand is, poor soul."
+
+Cyril passed over the reference to Mrs. Vand, as he was weary of
+discussing that unfortunate woman. "There's a chum of mine got a motor,"
+said the young man. "I wrote and asked him for the loan of it. He
+brought it down last night, and it is safely bestowed in the stables of
+'The Chequers.' To-morrow at nine o'clock let us start off with your
+boxes----"
+
+"And Dora?"
+
+"No," said Cyril, very decidedly. "Dora can remain with Pence, whom she
+probably will marry. We will go to London and get married at a registry
+office in the afternoon, and then cross to Paris for our honeymoon. I
+haven't much money, Miss Rothschild, but I have enough for that. In our
+own happiness let us forget all our troubles."
+
+"I'll come," said Bella with a sigh. "After all, we can do nothing. By
+the way, Cyril, what about Durgo's things?"
+
+"Well it's odd you should mention that. He evidently thought that
+something might happen to him on that night, for he left a note behind
+him saying that if he did not return they were to be given to me. So I
+have shifted them long since to my lodgings. There they lie packed up,
+and ready to be taken away in our motor to-morrow."
+
+"Cyril, you have been arranging this for some time?"
+
+"Well, I have. It's the only way of getting you to leave this place, and
+you will always be miserable while you remain here."
+
+"I only stayed in the hope that poor Mrs. Vand might return, and then I
+would be able to comfort her. Oh! how I wish Durgo with his occult
+powers was here to help us."
+
+"I don't; Durgo's occult powers brought him little happiness, and didn't
+solve the mystery of my father's death. One would have thought that
+Granny Tunks, in her trances, would have told Durgo that the scarecrow
+which he saw daily was his dearly-beloved master's dead body."
+
+"It is strange," said Bella thoughtfully; "but then, as Durgo said about
+something else, perhaps it was not permitted. What's become of Granny
+Tunks, Cyril? Is she still at the hut?"
+
+"Yes; but I heard to-day that she is going on the road again with her
+old tribe of the Lovels. I daresay Granny will be at all the fairs and
+race meetings, swindling people for many a long day."
+
+"And her son Luke?"
+
+"He'll get off with a light sentence. He certainly had no hand in the
+murders, and there is no one to prosecute him for blackmail. Granny and
+Luke will soon be together again. I hope never to hear more of them, for
+my part. Bella! Bella! don't let us talk of such things. We have had
+enough of these tragedies. Let us be selfish for once in our lives and
+consider ourselves. Hullo, what's this?"
+
+The question was provoked by the sight of Inglis with three constables,
+who whirled past in a fly which they had evidently obtained from the
+station. As they dashed onward in a cloud of dust the inspector,
+recognising the two, shouted out something indistinctly, with his hand
+to his mouth.
+
+"What does he say, Cyril?" asked Bella anxiously.
+
+"Something about fire. I wonder where they are going? Oh!"--Cyril
+suddenly stopped short--"I wonder if they are after poor Mrs. Vand.
+Come, Bella, let us see where they go to."
+
+"But where are you going?" asked Bella, as he rushed along the road
+dragging her after him swiftly. "Oh!" she cried out with horror, "look!"
+
+At the far end of the village and in the direction of the Solitary Farm,
+a vast cloud of smoke was mounting menacingly into the soft radiance of
+the twilight sky. "No wonder Inglis said fire!" cried Lister excitedly,
+"I believe, Bella, that the Manor-house is blazing."
+
+"No," cried Bella in reply, "it is impossible."
+
+But it was not. As they rounded the corner of the crooked village street
+in the midst of a crowd of people who had sprung as by magic from
+nowhere, they saw the great bulk of the Manor-house enveloped in thick
+black smoke, and even at the distance they were could catch sight of
+fiery tongues of flame. The sky was rapidly darkening to night, and the
+smoke-cloud, laced with red serpents, looked lurid and livid and
+sinister.
+
+"Come, Bella, come!" cried Cyril to the panting girl, and took her arm
+within his own, "we must see who set it on fire."
+
+Bella got her second wind and ran like Atalanta. They speedily
+outstripped the crowd, and were almost the first to cross the planks
+over the boundary channel. Inglis and his policemen were already running
+up the corn-path. Why they should run, or why the villagers should run,
+Cyril did not know, as there was no water and no fire brigade, hose, or
+engine, and no chance of saving the ancient mansion. He and Bella ran
+because they wished to see the last of the old home.
+
+"Who can have set it on fire?" Cyril kept asking.
+
+"Perhaps a tramp," suggested Bella breathlessly, but in her heart she
+felt that something more serious was in the wind. A strange dread
+gripped her heart, and the name of Mrs. Vand was on the tip of her
+tongue, although she never uttered it.
+
+As the weather was warm and the ground dry--for there had been no rain
+since the electric storm which raged when Vand and Durgo had gone down
+into the muddy waters of the boundary channel--the old house flamed
+furiously. The dry wood caught like tinder, and when Cyril and the girl
+arrived the whole place was hidden weirdly by dense black smoke, amidst
+which flashed sinister points of fire. Inglis and his men attempted to
+enter the house, but were driven back by the fierce flames which burst
+from the cracking windows; also the great door was closed and could not
+be forced open. They were forced to retreat, and the inspector nearly
+tumbled over Miss Faith, as Bella was now called.
+
+"Can't you get her out?" asked Inglis breathlessly.
+
+"Get her out!" cried the girl, terrified, and half grasping his meaning.
+
+"Mrs. Vand; she is in there," and he pointed to the furnace of flame.
+
+Bella screamed and Cyril turned pale. "You must be mistaken," he said.
+
+"No, no," replied the inspector, who was greatly agitated, for even his
+official phlegm was not proof against the terror of the position. "The
+London police wired to me at Pierside that Mrs. Vand had gone down to
+Marshely. We waited at the station to arrest her, but she got off at a
+previous station and was seen by your village policeman to run across
+the marshes. He wired to my Pierside office, and the wire was repeated
+to the station we waited at. We got a fly and hurried here only to see
+the smoke. I cried out 'Fire!' to you as we passed. Great heavens, what
+a blaze!"
+
+"Can't you get her out?" cried Bella, who was white with despair. Little
+as she had liked Mrs. Vand, the position was a dreadful one to
+contemplate.
+
+"What can we do?" said the officer, with a gesture of despair. "There is
+no water and no buckets: and if there were, what bucket of water would
+put out that conflagration. You might as well try and extinguish hell
+with a squirt."
+
+Bella paid no attention to the vehemence of his expression, but turned
+to Cyril. "What can we do?" she wailed. "Oh, what can we do?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing. Look at the police, look at the villagers. We can do
+nothing. If Mrs. Vand is in that blazing house God help her."
+
+There was now a great crowd of men, women and children all gathered some
+distance away from the burning mansion, trampling down the tall corn in
+their efforts to see. Bella, with the police and her lover, stood the
+nearest to the house. "Please God she is not there!" breathed the girl,
+clasping her hands in agony.
+
+At that moment, as if to give the lie to her kindly prayer, a window on
+the first storey was flung open and Mrs. Vand's head was poked out. Even
+at this distance Bella could see that her hair was in disorder, her face
+haggard, and her whole mien wild. Breaking away desperately from Cyril
+she rushed right up almost under the window, despite the fierce heat.
+
+"Aunt, oh aunt," she cried, stretching up her hands, "come down and save
+yourself!"
+
+"No! No. They shall not catch me! I shall not be hanged! I am innocent!
+I am innocent!" shrieked Mrs. Vand, and Bella could almost see the mad
+flash in her eyes.
+
+"Bella! Bella! come back," shouted Cyril, and dashing forward he caught
+the girl in his arms and carried her away as the front door fell
+outward. A long tongue of flame shot out and licked the grass where
+Bella had stood a moment since.
+
+By this time the house was blazing furiously, and every window save that
+out of which Mrs. Vand's head was thrust, vomited flame. The sky was now
+very dark, and the vivid redness of the flame in the gloom made a
+terrible and lovely spectacle. Bella, in her despair, would have rushed
+again to implore her aunt to escape, but that Cyril and Inglis held her
+firmly. "It is useless," they said, and the girl could not but admit
+that they were right.
+
+Mrs. Vand apparently was quite mad. She kept flinging up her arms, and
+shouting out taunts to the police for having failed to catch her. Then
+she was seized with a fit of frenzy and began to throw things out of the
+window. Chairs, and looking-glasses, and rugs, and table ornaments did
+she fling out. Suddenly a devilish thought occurred to her crazed brain.
+She noted that a tongue of uncut corn stretched from the main body of
+wheat almost under the window. Darting back she plucked a flaming brand
+from the crackling door, and, regardless how it burnt the flesh of her
+hand, she ran to the window. "Off! off! off with you!" cried Mrs. Vand,
+and carefully dropping the brand on to the tongue of corn.
+
+In one moment, as it seemed, the thread of fire ran along to the main
+body of the corn, and in an inconceivably short space of time, the acres
+of golden grain were a sheet of flame. The villagers, the police, both
+Cyril and Bella, ran for their lives, and it took them all their speed
+to escape the eager flames which licked their very heels. Pell-mell down
+to the boundary channel ran everyone. The plank bridge was broken, and
+many tumbled into the muddy water. Mrs. Vand stood at the window
+yelling, and clapping her hands like a fiend, and the whole vast fields
+of wheat flared like a gigantic bonfire.
+
+Half swimming, half holding on to the broken bridge planks, Cyril, with
+Bella on his other arm, managed to scramble through that muddy ditch.
+Beside him shrieked women and cursed men and screamed children. The
+police having safely reached the other side stretched out arms to those
+in the water. Cyril and Bella were soon on dry land, and shortly
+everyone else was saved. Not a single life was lost, either by fire or
+water. And when safe on the hither side of this Jordan, the excited,
+smoke-begrimed throng looked at the flaming fields and the roaring
+furnace of the Manor house. The smoke and flame of the burning ascended
+to heaven and reddened the evening sky. Mrs. Vand, in setting fire to
+her last refuge, had indeed provided herself with a noble pyre and a
+dramatic end. Before those who watched could draw breath after their
+last exertions, the roof of the mansion fell in with a crash. Mrs. Vand
+gave one wild cry and fell backward. Then fierce, red flames enwrapped
+the whole structure, while far and wide the raging fire swept over the
+fields of the Solitary Farm.
+
+"May God have mercy on her soul!" said Cyril removing his cap.
+
+"Ah!" said Inglis, "if I had caught her, I wonder if the judge would
+have said as much."
+
+"No," replied Bella, "she is dead, and she was innocent. God help her
+poor soul!" and everyone around echoed the wish.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bella and Cyril did not go to London the next morning as they had
+arranged, but three days later. In the meanwhile search had been made
+amongst the ruins of the Manor-house for the body of Mrs. Vand. But
+nothing could be found. In that fierce furnace of flame she had been
+burnt to a cinder, and not even calcined bones could be gathered
+together. In a whirlwind of flame the unhappy woman had vanished, and
+her end affected Bella deeply. Indeed, Cyril feared lest the much-tried
+girl should fall ill, and on the third day he brought round the
+motor-car to Miss Ankers' cottage, to insist that she should come with
+him to London.
+
+"But if we marry so soon it seems like a disrespect to Mrs. Vand,"
+argued Bella, "and she has left me her money, remember."
+
+"My dear, don't be morbid," advised Dora; "you will be ill if you stay.
+Get married, and go to Paris, and try to forget all these terrible
+things."
+
+"What do you say, Pence?" asked Cyril, who in the meantime had carried
+out Bella's boxes.
+
+Pence, looking lean and haggard after his recent illness, but with a
+much calmer light in his eyes, nodded. "I say, go, Miss Faith, and get
+married as soon as you can."
+
+"You wouldn't have given that advice once," said Bella, with a faint
+smile, as Dora assisted her to adjust her cloak.
+
+"No. But I have grown wiser."
+
+"What a compliment!"
+
+"You have forgiven me, have you not?"
+
+"Yes, I have." She held out her hand, "and the best thing I can wish you
+is the best wife in the world."
+
+As if by chance, her eyes rested on Dora, who blushed, and then on
+Pence, who grew red. Afterwards, with half a smile and half a sigh, she
+got into the car beside Cyril. Dora hopped like a bird on to the step to
+kiss her.
+
+Lister raised his cap, and the car went humming down the road on the way
+to peace and happiness.
+
+"That's the end of her solitary life," said Pence, thankfully.
+
+"On the Solitary Farm," rejoined Dora; "come and have some breakfast."
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEST NOVELS BY FERGUS HUME
+
+
+The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
+
+The Sealed Message
+
+The Sacred Herb
+
+Claude Duval of Ninety-five
+
+The Rainbow Feather
+
+The Pagan's Cup
+
+A Coin of Edward VII
+
+The Yellow Holly
+
+The Red Window
+
+The Mandarin's Fan
+
+The Secret Passage
+
+The Opal Serpent
+
+Lady Jim of Curzon Street
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Solitary Farm, by Fergus Hume
+
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