The Ashiel Mystery - Mrs. Charles Bryce (novels to improve english TXT) 📗
- Author: Mrs. Charles Bryce
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clearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which had
arisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in the
interstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after them
shone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun.
Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ in
his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and began
fidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second of
the two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and the
inspector reappeared.
"I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait any
longer for Lord Ashiel."
General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression,
nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk to
the green way.
As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between the
flying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade.
Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower;
and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill to
hill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to
march under on their return from the conquest of the earth.
"That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him,
"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure of
Pandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak and
unsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised large
enough to support three others of the same size."
The General grunted.
"I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he was
about," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a great
deal of money."
Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashiel
had not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him.
Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded as
a work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of the
erection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. The
whole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have
sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful of
the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyond
the ordinary.
Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination to
communicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to any
of his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it something
dimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue.
In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his hand
upon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemen
had taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stood
behind them, alert and interested.
After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the
horn round in its socket.
The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of muttered
exclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet
sprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected,
cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his fury
of fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin,
crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that was
hardly sane.
Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatch
box standing open and empty.
The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made one
simultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open with
several seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedience
to the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legs
on the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining hand
still resting on either arm.
For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full
of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spoke
it was with a forced lightness of manner.
"I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there was
getting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, but
no one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he went
on, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was any
truth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, since
there isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was as
positive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as a
matter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure when
that cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort except
an empty tin box."
"There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time,
"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, so
I removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I have
sent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you would
give yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret of
the bull's horn."
Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as if
he would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands of
Inspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and
restrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to be
conscious of their presence.
"Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by putting
your dirty hands on me?"
"My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here to
arrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you that
anything you say may be used against you."
"Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's your
warrant, man?"
"I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocket
for the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector had
imparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information he
had received from Mr. Gimblet.
As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk which
found them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside.
As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth a
little phial.
"You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it to his lips.
"Stop him!" shouted Gimblet.
Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial away
from Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance,
and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, and
held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over his
wrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he
could, and shook them furiously at Gimblet.
"It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, you
eavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend.
You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find it
more difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!"
The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were uttered
cast a chill upon them all.
"What do you mean?" cried Gimblet.
But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and the
inspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him.
With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mind
full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returning
party, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries.
But Juliet had not returned.
How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into the
secret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass in
the case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library?
But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we will
return to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of her
adventure.
CHAPTER XIX
When Juliet, incensed and indignant at the Russian's behaviour,
discovered the door in the clock and was on the point of opening it
and making her presence known, a noise of steps in the passage made
her pause. As she listened, there was the sound of a key turning in
the lock, the library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped
into the room.
Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang round to face the newcomer.
She saw it change, swift as lightning, from a look of horrified dismay to
one of sudden transforming tenderness, as the girl recognized the
intruder, that the hand already in the act of pushing open the door of
the clock fell inert and limp to her side, and if she had been able to
move she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew instinctively
that she was seeing a secret laid bare which she had no right to spy
upon. And yet, though her impulse was to fly from the place in
embarrassment and confusion, something stronger than her natural
discretion and delicacy held her where she stood. For Julia had not come
here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come with a purpose less
personal: something, Juliet felt convinced, that was in some way vaguely
discreditable, and at the same time menacing. It could be for no harmless
reason that she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle.
And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her role of spy, and averting
her eyes as Julia dropped the book she was holding and ran forward to
meet Mark, with that tell-tale look upon her face.
But Mark did not show the same pleasure. He stood, holding the handle of
the door, which he had closed gently behind him, and looking with a
certain sternness at the girl.
"Julia," he said, "you here! What are you doing?"
"Oh, Mark," she cried, not answering his question, "aren't you glad to
see me? It is so long, oh, it is so long since I saw you!"
She threw her arms round his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face
down to hers.
"Darling! darling!" she murmured. "How can we live without each other for
one single day!"
She spoke in a low, soft voice. To Juliet, to whom every purling syllable
was painfully audible, it sounded cooingly, like the voice of doves.
To the surprise of the girl to whom Mark had proposed marriage two days
before, when she ventured to peep through her spy window, Mark's arms
were round Julia and he was kissing her ardently.
But after a moment he released himself gently.
"You haven't told me, dear," he said, "what you are doing here."
His voice held a note of authority before which Julia's assurance
vanished.
"I--I wasn't doing anything," she muttered.
"Julia!" he remonstrated.
"Well," she said, with some show of defiance, "I suppose anyone may take
a book from the library."
"Of course," he said, "you may take anything of mine you want. Still, as
you are not staying in the house--In short, it seems to me that the
more obvious course would have been to have said something to me about
it; and besides," he added, struck by a sudden thought, "how in the world
did you get in? The door was locked, and the key is on the outside."
"Oh, if you're going to make such a fuss about nothing," she exclaimed
petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, "it's not worth
explaining anything to you." She turned away and walked towards the
fireplace.
"I'm not making a fuss," Mark said quietly, "but you must tell me, Julia,
what you are doing here, and how
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