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Dr. Rumsey's patient

by L. T. Meade · English · Gutenberg #34545 · 405,986 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: Dr. Rumsey's patient
        a very strange story

Author: L. T. Meade
        Clifford Halifax


        
Release date: December 2, 2010 [eBook #34545]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34545

Credits: Produced by David Edwards, 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)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. RUMSEY'S PATIENT ***




Produced by David Edwards, 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)









                          DR. RUMSEY'S PATIENT

                         _A VERY STRANGE STORY_

                      BY L. T. MEAD AND DR. HALIFAX

          JOINT AUTHORS OF "STORIES FROM THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR"


    NEW YORK
    HURST & COMPANY
    PUBLISHERS

    COPYRIGHTED, 1896, BY
    THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS COMPANY
    _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_



[Illustration: MRS L. T. MEADE.]




DR. RUMSEY'S PATIENT.




CHAPTER I.


Two young men in flannels were standing outside the door of the Red Doe
in the picturesque village of Grandcourt. The village contained one long
and straggling street. The village inn was covered with ivy, wistaria,
flowering jessamine, monthly roses, and many other creepers. The flowers
twined round old-fashioned windows, and nodded to the guests when they
awoke in the morning and breathed perfume upon them as they retired to
bed at night. In short, the Inn was an ideal one, and had from time
immemorial found favor with reading parties, fishermen, and others who
wanted to combine country air and the pursuit of health with a certain
form of easy amusement. The two men who now stood in the porch were
undergraduates from Balliol. There was nothing in the least remarkable
about their appearance--they looked like what they were, good-hearted,
keen-witted young Englishmen of the day. The time was evening, and as
the Inn faced due west the whole place was bathed in warm sunshine.

"This heat is tremendous and there is no air," said Everett, the younger
of the students. "How can you stand that sun beating on your head,
Frere? I'm for indoors."

"Right," replied Frere. "It is cool enough in the parlor."

As he spoke he took a step forward and gazed down the winding village
street. There was a look of pleased expectation in his eyes. He seemed
to be watching for some one. A girl appeared, walking slowly up the
street. Frere's eye began to dance. Everett, who was about to go into
the shady parlor, gave him a keen glance--and for some reason his eyes
also grew bright with expectation.

"There's something worth looking at," he exclaimed in a laughing voice.

"What did you say?" asked Frere gruffly.

"Nothing, old man--at least nothing special. I say, doesn't Hetty look
superb?"

"You've no right to call her Hetty."

Everett gave a low whistle.

"I rather fancy I have," he answered--"she gave me leave this morning."

"Impossible," said Frere. He turned pale under all his sunburn, and bit
his lower lip. "Don't you find the sun very hot?" he asked.

"No, it is sinking into the west--the great heat is over. Let us go and
enliven this little charmer."

"I will," said Frere suddenly. "You had better stay here where you are.
It is my right," he added. "I was about to tell you so, when she came in
view."

"Your right?" cried Everett; he looked disturbed.

Frere did not reply, but strode quickly down the village street. A dozen
strides brought him up to Hetty's side. She was a beautiful girl, with a
face and figure much above her station. Her hat was covered with wild
flowers which she had picked in her walk, and coquettishly placed there.
She wore a pink dress covered with rosebuds--some wild flowers were
stuck into her belt. As Frere advanced to meet her, her laughing eyes
were raised to his face--there was a curious mixture of timidity and
audacity in their glance.

"I have a word to say to you," he accosted her in a gruff tone. "What
right had you to give Everett leave to call you Hetty?"

The timidity immediately left the bright eyes, and a slight expression
of anger took its place.

"Because I like to distribute my favors, Mr. Horace."

She quickened her pace as she spoke. Everett, who had been standing
quite still in the porch watching the little scene, came out to meet the
pair. Hetty flushed crimson when she saw him; she raised her dancing,
charming dark eyes to his face, then looked again at Frere, who turned
sullenly away.

"I hope, gentlemen, you have had good sport," said the rustic beauty, in
her demure voice.

"Excellent," replied Everett.

They had now reached the porch, which was entwined all over with
honeysuckle in full flower. A great spray of the fragrant flower nearly
touched the girl's charming face. She glanced again at Frere. He would
not meet her eyes. Her whole face sparkled with the feminine love of
teasing.

"Why is he so jealous?" she whispered to herself. "It would be fun to
punish him. I like him better than Mr. Everett, but I'll punish him."

"Shall I give you a buttonhole?" she said, looking at Everett.

"If you'll be so kind," he replied.

She raised her eyes to the honeysuckle over her head, selected a spray
with extreme care, and handed it to him demurely. He asked her to place
it in his buttonhole; she looked again at Frere,--he would not go away,
but neither would he bring himself to glance at her. She bent her head
to search in the bodice of her dress for a pin, found one, and then with
a laughing glance of her eyes into Everett's handsome face, complied
with his request.

The young fellow blushed with pleasure, then he glanced at Frere, and a
feeling of compunction smote him--he strode abruptly into the house.

"Hetty, what do you mean by this sort of thing?" said Frere the moment
they were alone.

"I mean this, Mr. Horace: I am still my own mistress."

"Great Scot! of course you are; but what do you mean by this sort of
trifling? It was only this morning that you told me you loved me. Look
here, Hetty, I'm in no humor to be trifled with; I can't and won't stand
it. I'll make you the best husband a girl ever had, but listen to me, I
have the devil's own temper when it is roused. For God's sake don't
provoke it. If you don't love me, say so, and let there be an end of
it."

"I wish you wouldn't speak so loudly," said Hetty, pouting her lips
and half crying. "Of course I like you; I--well, yes, I suppose I
love you. I was thinking of you all the afternoon. See what I
gathered for you--this bunch of heart's-ease. There's meaning in
heart's-ease--there's none in honeysuckle."

Frere's brow cleared as if by magic.

"My little darling," he said, fixing his deep-set eyes greedily on the
girl's beautiful face. "Forgive me for being such a brute to you, Hetty.
Here--give me the flowers."

"No, not until you pay for them. You don't deserve them for being so
nasty and suspicious."

"Give me the flowers, Hetty; I promise never to doubt you again."

"Yes, you will; it is your nature to doubt."

"I have no words to say what I feel for you."

Frere's eyes emphasized this statement so emphatically, that the
empty-headed girl by his side felt her heart touched for the moment.

"What do you want me to do, Mr. Horace?" she asked, lowering her eyes.

"To give me the flowers, and to be nice to me."

"Come down to the brook after supper, perhaps I'll give them to you
then. There's aunt calling me--don't keep me, please." She rushed off.

"Hetty," said Mrs. Armitage, the innkeeper's wife, "did I hear you
talking to Mr. Horace Frere in the porch?"

"Yes, Aunt Fanny, you did," replied Hetty.

"Well, look here, your uncle and I won't have it. Just because you're
pretty--"

Hetty tossed back her wealth of black curls.

"It's all right," she said in a whisper, her eyes shining as she spoke.
"He wants me to be his wife--he asked me this morning."

"He doesn't mean that, surely," said Mrs. Armitage, incredulous and
pleased.

"Yes, he does; he'll speak to uncle to-morrow--that is, if I'll say
'Yes.' He says he has no one to consult--he'll make me a lady--he has
plenty of money."

"Do you care for him, Hetty?"

"Oh, don't ask me whether I do or not, Aunt Fanny--I'm sure I can't tell
you."

Hetty moved noisily about. She put plates and dishes on a tray
preparatory to taking them into the parlor for the young men's supper.

"Look here," said her aunt, "I'll see after the parlor lodgers
to-night." She lifted the tray as she spoke.

Hetty ran up to her bedroom. She took a little square of glass from its
place on the wall and gazed earnestly at the reflection of her own
charming face. Presently she put the glass down, locked her hands
together, went over to the open window and looked out.

"Shall I marry him?" she thought. "He has plenty of money--he loves me
right enough. If I were his wife, I'd be a lady--I needn't worry about
household work any more. I hate household work--I hate drudgery. I want
to have a fine time, with nothing to do but just to think of my dress
and how I look. He has plenty of money, and he loves me--he says he'll
make me his wife as soon as ever I say the word. Uncle and aunt would be
pleased, too, and the people in the village would say I'd made a good
match. Shall I marry him? I don't love him a bit, but what does that
matter?"

She sighed--the color slightly faded on her blooming cheeks--she poked
her head out of the little window.

"I don't love him," she said to herself. "When I see Mr. Awdrey my heart
beats. Ever since I was a little child I have thought more of Mr. Awdrey
than of any one else in all the world. I never told--no, I never told,
but I'd rather slave for Mr. Robert Awdrey than be the wife of any one
else on earth. What a fool I am! Mr. Awdrey thinks nothing of me, but he
is never out of my head, nor out of my heart. My heart aches for
him--I'm nearly mad sometimes about it all. Perhaps I'll see him
to-night if I go down to the brook. He's sure to pass the brook on his
way to the Court. Mr. Everett likes me too, I know, and he's a gentleman
as well as Mr. Frere. Oh, dear, they both worry me more than please me.
I'd give twenty men like them for one sight of the young Squire. Oh,
what folly all this is!"

She went again and stood opposite to her little looking-glass.

"The young ladies up at the Court haven't got a face like mine," she
murmured. "There isn't any one all over the place has a face like mine.
I wonder if Mr. Awdrey really thinks it pretty? Why should I worry
myself about Mr. Frere? I wonder if Mr. Awdrey would mind if I married
him--would it make him jealous? If I thought that, I'd do it fast
enough--yes, I declare I would. But of course he wouldn't mind--not one
bit; he has scarcely ever said two words to me--not since we were little
'uns together, and pelted each other with apples in uncle's orchard. Oh,
Mr. Awdrey, I'd give all the world for one smile from you, but you think
nothing at all of poor Hetty. Dear, beautiful Mr. Awdrey--won't you love
me even a little--even as you love your dog? Yes, I'll go and walk by
the brook after supper. Mr. Frere will meet me there, of course, and
perhaps Mr. Awdrey will go by--perhaps he'll be jealous. I'll take my
poetry book and sit by the brook just where the forget-me-nots grow.
Yes, yes--oh, I wonder if the Squire will go by."

These thoughts no sooner came into Hetty's brain than she resolved to
act upon them. She snatched up a volume of L. E. L.'s poems--their weak
and lovelorn phrases exactly suited her style and order of mind--and ran
quickly down to a dancing rivulet which ran its merry course about a
hundred yards back of the Inn. She sat by the bank, pulled a great bunch
of forget-me-nots, laid them on the open pages of her book, and looked
musingly down at the flowers. Footsteps were heard crunching the
underwood at the opposite side. A voice presently sounded in her ears.
Hetty's heart beat loudly.

"How do you do?" said the voice.

"Good-evening, Mr. Robert," she replied.

Her tone was demure and extremely respectful. She started to her feet,
letting her flowers drop as she did so. A blush suffused her lovely
face, her dancing eyes were raised for a quick moment, then as suddenly
lowered. She made a beautiful picture. The young man who stood a few
feet away from her, with the running water dividing them, evidently
thought so. He had a boyish figure--a handsome, manly face. His eyes
were very dark, deeply set, and capable of much thought. He looked every
inch the gentleman.

"Is Armitage in?" he asked after a pause.

"I don't know, Mr. Robert, I'll go and inquire if you like."

"No, it doesn't matter. The Squire asked me to call and beg of your
uncle to come to the Court to-morrow morning. Will you give him the
message?"

"Yes, Mr. Robert."

There was a perceptible pause. Hetty looked down at the water. Awdrey
looked at her.

"Good-evening," he said then.

"Good-evening, sir," she replied.

He turned and walked slowly up the narrow path which led toward the
Court.

"His eyes told me to-night that he thought me pretty," muttered Hetty to
herself, "why doesn't he say it with his lips? I--I wish I could make
him. Oh, is that you, Mr. Frere?"

"Yes, Hetty. I promised to come, and I am here. The evening is a perfect
one, let us follow the stream a little way."

Hetty was about to say "No," when suddenly lifting her eyes, she
observed that the young Squire had paused under the shade of a great
elm-tree a little further up the bank. A quick idea darted into her vain
little soul. She would walk past the Squire without pretending to see
him, in Frere's company. Frere should make love to her in the Squire's
presence. She gave her lover a coy and affectionate glance.

"Yes, come," she said: "it is pretty by the stream; perhaps I'll give
you some forget-me-nots presently."

"I want the heart's-ease which you have already picked for me," said
Frere.

"Oh, there's time enough."

Frere advanced a step, and laid his hand on the girl's arm.

"Listen," he said: "I was never more in earnest in my life. I love you
with all my heart and soul. I love you madly. I want you for my wife. I
mean to marry you, come what may. I have plenty of money and you are the
wife of all others for me. You told me this morning that you loved me,
Hetty. Tell me again; say that you love me better than any one else in
the world."

Hetty paused, she raised her dark eyes; the Squire was almost within
earshot.

"I suppose I love you--a little," she said, in a whisper.

"Then give me a kiss--just one."

She walked on. Frere followed.

"Give me a kiss--just one," he repeated.

"Not to-night," she replied, in a demure voice.

"Yes, you must--I insist."

"Don't, Mr. Frere," she called out sharply, uttering a cry as she spoke.

He didn't mind her. Overcome by his passion he caught her suddenly in
his arms, and pressed his lips many times to hers.

"Hold, sir! What are you doing?" shouted Awdrey's voice from the
opposite side of the bank.

"By heaven, what is that to you?" called Frere back.

He let Hetty go with some violence, and retreated one or two steps in
his astonishment. His face was crimson up to the roots of his honest
brow.

Awdrey leaped across the brook. "You will please understand that you
take liberties with Miss Armitage at your peril," he said. "What right
have you to take such advantage of an undefended girl? Hetty, I will see
you home."

Hetty's eyes danced with delight. For a moment Frere felt too stunned to
speak.

"Come with me, Hetty," said Awdrey, putting a great restraint upon
himself, but speaking with irritation. "Come--you should be at home at
this hour."

"You shall answer to me for this, whoever you are," said Frere, whose
face was white with passion.

"My name is Awdrey," said the Squire; "I will answer you in a way you
don't like if you don't instantly leave this young girl alone."

"Confound your interference," said Frere. "I am not ashamed of my
actions. I can justify them. I am going to marry Miss Armitage."

"Is that true, Hetty?" said Awdrey, looking at the girl in some
astonishment.

"No, there isn't a word of it true," answered Hetty, stung by a look on
the Squire's face. "I don't want to have anything to do with him--he
shan't kiss me. I--I'll have nothing to do with him." She burst into
tears.

"I'll see you home," said Awdrey.




CHAPTER II.


The Awdreys of "The Court" could trace their descent back to the Norman
Conquest. They were a proud family with all the special characteristics
which mark races of long descent. Among the usual accompaniments of
race, was given to them the curse of heredity. A strange and peculiar
doom hung over the house. It had descended now from father to son during
many generations. How it had first raised its gorgon head no one could
tell. People said that it had been sent as a punishment for the greed of
gold. An old ancestor, more than a hundred and fifty years ago, had
married a West Indian heiress. She had colored blood in her veins, a
purse of enormous magnitude, a deformed figure, and, what was more to
the point, a particularly crooked and obtuse order of mind. She did her
duty by her descendants, leaving to each of them a gift. To one,
deformity of person--to another, a stammering tongue--to a third, a
squint--to a fourth, imbecility. In each succeeding generation, at least
one man and woman of the house of Awdrey had cause to regret the gold
which had certainly brought a curse with it. But beyond and above all
these things, it was immediately after the West Indian's entrance into
the family that that strange doom began to assail the male members of
the house which was now more dreaded than madness. The doom was unique
and curious. It consisted of one remarkable phase. There came upon those
on whom it descended an extraordinary and complete lapse of memory for
the grave events of life, accompanied by perfect retention of memory for
all minor matters. This curious phase once developed, other
idiosyncrasies immediately followed. The victim's moral sense became
weakened--all physical energy departed--a curious lassitude of mind and
body became general. The victim did not in the least know that there was
anything special the matter with him, but as a rule the doomed man
either became idiotic, or died before the age of thirty.

All the great physicians of their time had been consulted with regard to
this curious family trait, but in the first place no one could
understand it, in the second no possible cure could be suggested as a
remedy. The curse was supposed to be due to a brain affection, but brain
affections in the old days were considered to be special visitations
from God, and men of science let them alone.

In their early life, the Awdreys were particularly bright, clever sharp
fellows, endowed with excellent animal spirits, and many amiable traits
of character. They were chivalrous to women, kind to children, full of
warm affections, and each and all of them possessed much of the golden
gift of hope. As a rule the doom of the house came upon each victim with
startling suddenness. One of the disappointments of life ensued--an
unfortunate love affair--the death of some beloved member--a money loss.
The victim lost all memory of the event. No words, no explanations could
revive the dead memory--the thing was completely blotted out from the
phonograph of the brain. Immediately afterward followed the mental and
physical decay. The girls of the family quite escaped the curse. It was
on the sons that it invariably descended.

Up to the present time, however, Robert Awdrey's father had lived to
confute the West Indian's dire curse. His father had married a Scotch
lassie, with no bluer blood in her veins than that which had been given
to her by some rugged Scotch ancestors. Her health of mind and body had
done her descendants much good. Even the word "nerves" had been unknown
to this healthy-minded daughter of the North--her children had all up to
the present escaped the family curse, and it was now firmly believed at
the Court that the spell was broken, and that the West Indian's awful
doom would leave the family. The matter was too solemn and painful to be
alluded to except under the gravest conditions, and young Robert Awdrey,
the heir to the old place and all its belongings, was certainly the last
person to speak of it.

Robert's father was matter-of-fact to the back bone, but Robert himself
was possessed of an essentially reflective temperament. Had he been less
healthily brought up by his stout old grandmother and by his mother, he
might have given way to morbid musings. Circumstances, however, were all
in his favor, and at the time when this strange story really opens, he
was looking out at life with a heart full of hope and a mind filled with
noble ambitions. Robert was the only son--he had two sisters, bright,
good-natured, every-day sort of girls. As a matter of course his sisters
adored him. They looked forward to his career with immense pride. He was
to stand for Parliament at the next general election. His brains
belonged to the highest order of intellect. He had taken a double first
at the University--there was no position which he might not hope to
assume.

Robert had all the chivalrous instincts of his race toward women. As he
walked quickly home now with Hetty by his side, his blood boiled at the
thought of the insult which had been offered to her. Poor, silly little
Hetty was nothing whatever to him except a remarkably pretty village
girl. Her people, however, were his father's tenants; he felt it his
duty to protect her. When he parted with her just outside the village
inn, he said a few words.

"You ought not to allow those young men to take liberties with you,
Hetty," he said. "Now, go home. Don't be out so late again in the
future, and don't forget to give your uncle my father's message."

She bent her head, and left him without replying. She did not even thank
him. He watched her until she disappeared into the house, then turned
sharply and walked up the village street home with a vigorous step.

He had come to the spot where he had parted with Frere, and was just
about to leap the brook, when that young man started suddenly from under
a tree, and stood directly in his path.

"I must ask you to apologize to me," he said.

Awdrey flushed.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"What I say. My intentions toward Miss Armitage are perfectly honest.
She promised to marry me this morning. When you chose to interfere, I
was kissing my future wife."

"If that is really the case, I beg your pardon," said Awdrey; "but
then," he continued, looking full at Frere, "Hetty Armitage denies any
thought of marrying you."

"She does, does she?" muttered Frere. His face turned white.

"One word before you go," said Awdrey. "Miss Armitage is a pretty
girl----"

"What is that to you?" replied Frere, "I don't mean to discuss her with
you."

"You may please yourself about that, but allow me to say one thing. Her
uncle is one of my father's oldest and most respected tenants; Hetty is
therefore under our protection, and I for one will see that she gets
fair play. Any one who takes liberties with her has got to answer to me.
That's all. Good-evening."

Awdrey slightly raised his hat, leaped the brook, and disappeared
through the underwood in the direction of the Court.

Horace Frere stood and watched him.

His rage was now almost at white heat. He was madly in love, and was
therefore not quite responsible for his own actions. He was determined
at any cost to make Hetty his wife. The Squire's interference awoke the
demon of jealousy in his heart. He had patiently borne Everett's marked
attentions to the girl of his choice--he wondered now at the sudden
passion which filled him. He walked back to the inn feeling exactly as
if the devil were driving him.

"I'll have this thing out with Hetty before I am an hour older," he
cried aloud. "She promised to marry me this very morning. How dare that
jackanapes interfere! What do I care for his position in the place? If
he's twenty times the Squire it's nothing to me. Hetty had the cool
cheek to eat her own words to him in my presence. It's plain to be seen
what the thing means. She's a heartless flirt--she's flying for higher
game than honest Horace Frere, but I'll put a spoke in her wheel, and in
his wheel too, curse him. He's in love with the girl himself--that's why
he interferes. Well, she shall choose between him and me to-night, and
if she does choose him it will be all the worse for him."

As he rushed home, Frere lashed himself into greater and greater fury.
Everett was standing inside the porch when the other man passed him
roughly by.

"I say, Frere, what's up?" called Everett, taking the pipe out of his
mouth.

"Curse you, don't keep me, I want to speak to Miss Armitage."

Everett burst into a somewhat discordant laugh.

"Your manners are not quite to be desired at the present moment, old
man," he said. "Miss Armitage seems to have a strangely disquieting
effect upon her swains."

"I do not intend to discuss her with you, Everett. I must speak to her
at once."

Everett laughed again.

"She seems to be a person of distinction," he said. "She has just been
seen home with much ceremony by no less a person than Awdrey, of The
Court."

"Curse Awdrey and all his belongings. Do you know where she is?"

A sweet, high-pitched voice within the house now made itself heard.

"I can see you in Aunt's parlor if you like, Mr. Horace."

"Yes."

Frere strode into the house--a moment later he was standing opposite to
Hetty in the little hot gaslit parlor.

Hetty had evidently been crying. Her tears had brought shadows under her
eyes--they added pathos to her lovely face, giving it a look of depth
which it usually lacked. Frere gave her one glance, then he felt his
anger dropping from him like a mantle.

"For God's sake, Hetty, speak the truth," said the poor fellow.

"What do you want me to say, Mr. Horace?" she asked.

Her voice was tremulous, her tears nearly broke forth anew. Frere made a
step forward. He would have clasped her to his breast, but she would not
allow him.

"No," she said with a sob, "I can't have anything to do with you."

"Hetty, you don't know what you are saying. Hetty, remember this
morning."

"I remember it, but I can't go on with it. Forget everything I said--go
away--please go away."

"No, I won't go away. By heaven, you shall tell me the truth. Look here,
Hetty, I won't be humbugged--you've got to choose at once."

"What do you mean, Mr. Horace?"

"You've got to choose between that fellow and me."

"Between you and the Squire!" exclaimed Hetty.

She laughed excitedly; the bare idea caused her heart to beat wildly.
Her laughter nearly drove Frere mad. He strode up to her, took her hands
with force, and looked into her frightened eyes.

"Do you love him? The truth, girl, I will have it."

"Let me go, Mr. Horace."

"I won't until you tell me the truth. It is either the Squire or me; I
must hear the truth now or never--which is it, Squire Awdrey or me?"

"Oh, I can't help it," said Hetty, bursting into tears--"it's the
Squire--oh, sir, let me go."




CHAPTER III.


Frere stood perfectly still for a moment after Hetty had spoken, then
without a word he turned and left her. Everett was still standing in the
porch. Everett had owned to himself that he had a decided penchant for
the little rustic beauty, but Frere's fierce passion cooled his. He did
not feel particularly inclined, however, to sympathize with his friend.

"How rough you are, Frere!" he said angrily; "you've almost knocked the
pipe out of my mouth a second time this evening."

Frere went out into the night without uttering a syllable.

"Where are you off to?" called Everett after him.

"What is that to you?" was shouted back.

Everett said something further. A strong and very emphatic oath left
Frere's lips in reply. The innkeeper, Armitage, was passing the young
man at the moment. He stared at him, wondering at the whiteness of his
face, and the extraordinary energy of his language. Armitage went
indoors to supper, and thought no more of the circumstance. He was
destined, however, to remember it later. Everett continued to smoke his
pipe with philosophical calm. He hoped against hope that pretty little
Hetty might come and stand in the porch with him. Finding she did not
appear, he resolved to go out and look for his friend. He was leaving
the Inn when Armitage called after him:

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Everett, but will you be out late?"

"I can't say," replied Everett, stopping short; "why?"

"Because if so, sir, you had better take the latchkey. We're going to
shut up the whole place early to-night; the wife is dead beat, and Hetty
is not quite well."

"I'm sorry for that," said Everett, after a pause; "well, give me the
key. I dare say I'll return quite soon; I am only going out to meet Mr.
Frere."

Armitage gave the young man the key and returned to the house.

Meanwhile Frere had wandered some distance from the pretty little
village and the charming rustic inn. His mind was out of tune with all
harmony and beauty. He was in the sort of condition when men will do mad
deeds not knowing in the least why they do them. Hetty's words had, as
he himself expressed it, "awakened the very devil in him."

"She has owned it," he kept saying to himself. "Yes, I was right in my
conjecture--he wants her himself. Much he regards honor and behaving
straight to a woman. I'll show him a thing or two. Jove, if I meet him
to-night, he'll rue it."

The great solemn plain of Salisbury lay not two miles off. Frere made
for its broad downs without knowing in the least that he was doing so.
By and by, he found himself on a vast open space, spreading sheer away
to the edge of the horizon. The moon, which had been bright when he had
started on his walk, was now about to set--it was casting long shadows
on the ground; his own shadow in gigantic dimensions walked by his side
as he neared the vicinity of the plain. He walked on and on; the further
he went the more fiercely did his blood boil within him. All his life
hitherto he had been calm, collected, reasonable. He had taken the
events of life with a certain rude philosophy. He had intended to do
well for himself--to carve out a prosperous career for himself, but
although he had subdued his passions both at college and at school, he
had never blinded his eyes to the fact that there lived within his
breast, ready to be awakened when the time came, a devil. Once, as a
child, he had given way to this mad fury. He had flung a knife at his
brother, wounding him in the temple, and almost killing him. The sight
of the blood and the fainting form of his only brother had awakened his
better self. He had lived through agony while his brother's life hung in
the balance. The lad eventually recovered, to die in a year or two of
something else, but Frere never forgot that time of mental torture. From
that hour until the present, he had kept his "devil," as he used to call
it, well in check.

It was rampant to-night, however--he knew it, he took no pains to
conceal the fact from his own heart--he rather gloried in the knowledge.

He walked on and on, across the plain.

Presently in the dim distance he heard Everett calling him.

"Frere, I say Frere, stop a moment, I'll come up to you."

A man who had been collecting underwood, and was returning home with a
bagful, suddenly appeared in Frere's path. Hearing the voice of the man
shouting behind he stopped.

"There be some-un calling yer," he said in his rude dialect.

Frere stared at the man blindly. He looked behind him, saw Everett's
figure silhouetted against the sky, and then took wildly to his heels;
he ran as if something evil were pursuing him.

At this moment the moon went completely down, and the whole of the vast
plain lay in dim gray shadow. Frere had not the least idea where he was
running. He and Everett had spent whole days on the plain revelling in
the solitude and the splendid air, but they had neither of them ever
visited it at night before. The whole place was strange, uncanny,
unfamiliar. Frere soon lost his bearings. He tumbled into a hole,
uttered an exclamation of pain, and raised himself with some difficulty.

"Hullo!" said a voice, "you might have broken your leg. What are you
doing here?"

Frere stood upright; a man slighter and taller than himself faced him
about three feet away. Frere could not recognize the face, but he knew
the tone.

"What the devil have you come to meet me for?" he said. "You've come to
meet a madman. Turn back and go home, or it will be the worse for you."

"I don't understand you," said Awdrey.

Frere put a tremendous restraint upon himself.

"Look here," he said, "I don't want to injure you, upon my soul I don't,
but there's a devil in me to-night, and you had better go home without
any more words."

"I shall certainly do nothing of the kind," answered Awdrey. "The plain
is as open to me as to you. If you dislike me take your own path."

"My path is right across where you are standing," said Frere.

"Well, step aside and leave me alone!"

It was so dark the men only appeared as shadows one to the other. Their
voices, each of them growing hot and passionate, seemed scarcely to
belong to themselves. Frere came a step nearer to Awdrey.

"You shall have it," he cried. "By the heaven above, I don't want to
spare you. Let me tell you what I think of you."

"Sir," said Awdrey, "I don't wish to have anything to do with you--leave
me, go about your business."

"I will after I've told you a bit of my mind. You're a confounded
sneak--you're a liar--you're no gentleman. Shall I tell you why you
interfered between me and my girl to-night--because you want her for
yourself!"

This sudden accusation so astounded Awdrey that he did not even reply.
He came to the conclusion that Frere was really mad.

"You forget yourself," he said, after a long pause. "I excuse you, of
course, I don't even know what you are talking about!"

"Yes, you do, you black-hearted scoundrel. You interfered between Hetty
Armitage and me because you want her yourself--she told me so much
to-night!"

"She told you!--it's you who lie."

"She told me--so much for your pretended virtue. Get out of the way, or
I'll strike you to the earth, you dog!"

Frere's wild passion prevented Awdrey's rising.

The accusation made against him was so preposterous that it did not even
rouse his anger.

"I'm sorry for you," he said after a pause, "you labor under a complete
misapprehension. I wish to protect Hetty Armitage as I would any other
honest girl. Keep out of my path now, sir, I wish to continue my walk."

"By Heaven, that you never shall."

Frere uttered a wild, maniacal scream. The next instant he had closed
with Awdrey, and raising a heavy cane which he carried, aimed it full at
the young Squire's head.

"I could kill you, you brute, you scoundrel, you low, base seducer," he
shouted.

For a moment Awdrey was taken off his guard. But the next instant the
fierce blood of his race awoke within him. Frere was no mean
antagonist--he was a stouter, heavier, older man than Awdrey. He had
also the strength which madness confers. After a momentary struggle he
flung Awdrey to the ground. The two young men rolled over together. Then
with a quick and sudden movement Awdrey sprang to his feet. He had no
weapon to defend himself with but a slight stick which he carried. Frere
let him go for a moment to spring upon him again like a tiger. A sudden
memory came to Awdrey's aid--a memory which was to be the undoing of his
entire life. He had been told in his boyhood by an old prize-fighter who
taught him boxing, that the most effective way to use a stick in
defending himself from an enemy was to use it as a bayonet.

"Prod your foe in the mouth," old Jim had said--"be he dog or man, prod
him in the mouth. Grasp your stick in both hands, and when he comes to
you, prod him in the mouth or neck."

The words flashed distinctly now through Awdrey's brain. When Frere
raised his heavy stick to strike him he grasped his own slender weapon
and rushed forward. He aimed full at Frere's open mouth. The stick went
a few inches higher and entered the unfortunate man's right eye. He fell
with a sudden groan to the ground.

In a moment Awdrey's passion was over. He bent over the prostrate man
and examined the wound which he had made. Frere lay perfectly quiet;
there was an awful silence about him. The dark shadows of the night
brooded heavily over the place. Awdrey did not for several moments
realize that something very like a murder had been committed. He bent
over the prostrate man--he took his limp hand in his, felt for a
pulse--there was none. With trembling fingers he tore open the coat and
pressed his hand to the heart--it was strangely still. He bent his ear
to listen--there was no sound. Awdrey was scarcely frightened yet. He
did not even now in the least realize what had happened. He felt in his
pocket for a flask of brandy which he sometimes carried about with him.
An oath escaped his lips when he found he had forgotten it. Then taking
up his stick he felt softly across the point. The point of the stick was
wet--wet with blood. He felt carefully along its edge. The blood
extended up a couple of inches. He knew then what had happened. The
stick had undoubtedly entered Frere's brain through the eye, causing
instant death.

When the knowledge came to Awdrey he laughed. His laugh sounded queer,
but he did not notice its strangeness. He felt again in his
pocket--discovered a box of matches which he pulled out eagerly. He
struck a match, and by the weird, uncertain light which it cast looked
for an instant at the dead face of the man whose life he had taken.

"I don't even know his name," thought Awdrey. "What in the world have I
killed him for? Yes, undoubtedly I've killed him. He is dead, poor
fellow, as a door-nail. What did I do it for?"

He struck another match, and looked at the end of his stick. The stick
had a narrow steel ferrule at the point. Blood bespattered the end of
the stick.

"I must bury this witness," said Awdrey to himself.

He blew out the match, and began to move gropingly across the plain. His
step was uncertain. He stooped as he walked. Presently he came to a
great copse of underwood. Into the very thick of the underwood he thrust
his stick.

Having done this, he resolved to go home. Queer noises were ringing in
his head. He felt as if devils were pursuing him. He was certain that if
he raised his eyes and looked in front of him, he must see the ghost of
the dead man. It was early in the night, not yet twelve o'clock. As he
entered the grounds of the Court, the stable clock struck twelve.

"I suppose I shall get into a beastly mess about this," thought Awdrey.
"I never meant to kill that poor fellow. I ran at him in self-defence.
He'd have had my blood if I hadn't his. Shall I see my father about it
now? My father is a magistrate; he'll know what's best to be done."

Awdrey walked up to the house. His gait was uncertain and shambling, so
little characteristic of him that if any one had met him in the dark he
would not have been recognized. He opened one of the side doors of the
great mansion with a latch key. The Awdreys were early people--an
orderly household who went to roost in good time--the lamps were out in
the house--only here and there was a dim illumination suited to the
hours of darkness. Awdrey did not meet a soul as he went up some stairs,
and down one or two corridors to his own cheerful bedroom. He paused as
he turned the handle of his door.

"My father is in bed. There's no use in troubling him about this horrid
matter before the morning," he said to himself.

Then he opened the door of his room, and went in.

To his surprise he saw on the threshold, just inside the door, a little
note. He picked it up and opened it.

It was from his sister Ann. It ran as follows:

     "DEAREST BOB.--I have seen the Cuthberts, and they can join us
     on the plain to-morrow for a picnic. As you have gone early to
     bed, I thought I'd let you know in case you choose to get up at
     cockcrow, and perhaps leave us for the day. Don't forget that
     we start at two o'clock, and that Margaret will be there. Your
     loving sister, ANN."

Awdrey found himself reading the note with interest. The excited beating
of his heart cooled down. He sank into a chair, took off his cap, wiped
the perspiration from his brow.

"I wouldn't miss Margaret for the world," he said to himself.

A look of pleasure filled his dark gray eyes. A moment or two later he
was in bed, and sound asleep. He awoke at his usual hour in the morning.
He rose and dressed calmly. He had forgotten all about the murder--the
doom of his house had fallen upon him.




CHAPTER IV.


"I wish you would tell me about him, Mr. Awdrey," said Margaret Douglas.

She was a handsome girl, tall and slightly made--her eyes were black as
night, her hair had a raven hue, her complexion was a pure olive. She
was standing a little apart from a laughing, chattering group of boys
and girls, young men and young ladies, with a respectable sprinkling of
fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts. Awdrey stood a foot or two away
from her--his face was pale, he looked subdued and gentle.

"What can I tell you?" he asked.

"You said you met him last night, poor fellow. The whole thing seems so
horrible, and to think of it happening on this very plain, just where we
are having our picnic. If I had known it, I would not have come."

"The murder took place several miles from here," said Awdrey. "Quite
close to the Court, in fact. I've been over the ground this morning with
my father and one of the keepers. The body was removed before we came."

"Didn't it shock you very much?"

"Yes; I am sorry for that unfortunate Everett."

"Who is he? I have not heard of him."

"He is the man whom they think must have done it. There is certainly
very grave circumstantial evidence against him. He and Frere were heard
quarrelling last night, and Armitage can prove that Everett did not
return home until about two in the morning. When he went out he said he
was going to follow Frere, who had gone away in a very excited state of
mind.

"What about, I wonder?"

"The usual thing," said Awdrey, giving Margaret a quick look, under
which she lowered her eyes and faintly blushed.

"Tell me," she said, almost in a whisper. "I am interested--it is such a
tragedy."

"It is; it is awful. Sit down here, won't you, or shall we walk on a
little way? We shall soon get into shelter if we go down this valley and
get under those trees yonder."

"Come then," said Margaret.

She went first, her companion followed her. He looked at her many times
as she walked on in front of him. Her figure was full of supple and easy
grace, her young steps seemed to speak the very essence of youth and
springtime. She appeared scarcely to touch the ground as she walked over
it; once she turned, and the full light of her dark eyes made Awdrey's
heart leap. Presently she reached the shadow caused by a copse of young
trees, and stood still until the Squire came up to her.

"Here's a throne for you, Miss Douglas. Do you see where this tree
extends two friendly arms? Do you observe a seat inlaid with moss? Take
your throne."

She did so immediately and looked up at him with a smile.

"The throne suits you," he said.

She looked down--her lips faintly trembled--then she raised her eyes.

"Why are you so pale?" he asked anxiously.

"I can't quite tell you," she replied, "except that notwithstanding the
beauty of the day, and the summer feeling which pervades the air, I
can't get rid of a sort of fear. It may be superstitious of me, but I
think it is unlucky to have a picnic on the very plain where a murder
was committed."

"You forget over what a wide extent the plain extends," said Awdrey;
"but if I had known"--he stopped and bit his lips.

"Never mind," she answered, endeavoring to smile and look cheerful, "any
sort of tragedy always affects me to a remarkable degree. I can't help
it--I'm afraid there is something in me akin to trouble, but of course
it would be folly for us to stay indoors just because that poor young
fellow came to a violent end some miles away."

"Yes, it is quite some miles from here--I am truly sorry for him."

"Sit down here, Mr. Awdrey, here at my feet if you like, and tell me
about it."

"I will sit at your feet with all the pleasure in the world, but why
should we talk any more on this gruesome subject?"

"That's just it," said Margaret, "if I am to get rid of it, I must know
all about it. You said you met him last night?"

"I did," said Awdrey, speaking with unwillingness.

"And you guess why he came by his end?"

"Partly, but not wholly."

"Well, do tell me."

"I will--I'll put it in as few words as possible. You know that little
witch Hetty, the pretty niece of the innkeeper Armitage?"

"Hetty Armitage--of course I know her. I tried to get her into my Sunday
class, but she wouldn't come."

"She's a silly little creature," said Awdrey.

"She is a very beautiful little creature," corrected Miss Douglas.

"Yes, I am afraid her beauty was too much for this unfortunate Frere's
sanity. I came across him last night, or rather they passed me by in the
underwood, enacting a love scene. The fact is, he was kissing her. I
thought he was taking a liberty and interfered. He told me he intended
to marry her--but Hetty denied it. I saw her back to the Inn--she was
very silent and depressed. Another man, a handsome fellow, was standing
in the porch. It just occurred to me at the time, that perhaps he also
was a suitor for her hand, and might be the favored one. She went
indoors. On my way home I met Frere again. He tried to pick a quarrel
with me, which of course I nipped in the bud. He referred to his firm
intention of marrying Hetty Armitage, and when I told him that she had
denied the engagement, he said he would go back at once and speak to
her. I then returned to the Court.

"The first thing I heard this morning was the news of the murder. My
father as magistrate was of course made acquainted with the fact at a
very early hour. Poor Everett has been arrested on suspicion, and
there's to be a coroner's inquest to-morrow. That is the entire story as
far as I know anything about it. Your face is whiter than ever, Miss
Douglas. Now keep your word--forget it, since you have heard all the
facts of the case."

She looked down again. Presently she raised her eyes, brimful of tears,
to his face.

"I cannot forget it," she said. "That poor young fellow--such a
fearfully sudden end, and that other poor fellow; surely if he did take
away a life it must have been in a moment of terrible madness?"

"That is true," said Awdrey.

"They cannot possibly convict him of murder, can they?"

"My father thinks that the verdict will be manslaughter, or, at the
worst, murder under strong provocation; but it is impossible to tell."

Awdrey looked again anxiously at his companion. Her pallor and distress
aroused emotion in his breast which he found almost impossible to quiet.

"I'm sorry to my heart that you know about this," he said. "You are not
fit to stand any of the roughness of life."

"What folly!" she answered, with passion. "What am I that I should
accept the smooth and reject the rough? I tell you what I would like to
do. I'd like to go this very moment to see that poor Mr. Everett, in
order to tell him how deeply sorry I am for him. To ask him to tell me
the story from first to last, from his point of view. To clear him from
this awful stain. And I'd like to lay flowers over the breast of that
dead boy. Oh, I can't bear it. Why is the world so full of trouble and
pain?"

She burst into sudden tears.

"Don't, don't! Oh! Margaret, you're an angel. You're too good for this
earth," said Awdrey.

"Nonsense," she answered; "let me have my cry out; I'll be all right in
a minute."

Her brief tears were quickly over. She dashed them aside and rose to her
feet.

"I hear the children shouting to me," she said. "I'm in no humor to meet
them. Where shall we go?"

"This way," said Awdrey quickly; "no one knows the way through this
copse but me."

He gave her his hand, pushed aside the trees, and they soon found
themselves in a dim little world of soft green twilight. There was a
narrow path on which they could not walk abreast. Awdrey now took the
lead, Margaret following him. After walking for half a mile the wood
grew thinner, and they found themselves far away from their companions,
and on a part of the plain which was quite new ground to Margaret.

"How lovely and enchanting it is here," she said, giving a low laugh of
pleasure.

"I am glad you like it," said Awdrey. "I discovered that path to these
heights only a week ago. I never told a soul about it. For all you can
tell your feet may now be treading on virgin ground."

As Awdrey spoke he panted slightly, and put his hand to his brow.

"Is anything the matter with you?" asked Margaret.

"Nothing; I was never better in my life."

"You don't look well; you're changed."

"Don't say that," he answered, a faint ring of anxiety in his voice.

She gazed at him earnestly.

"You are," she repeated. "I don't quite recognize the expression in your
eyes."

"Oh, I'm all right," he replied, "only----"

"Only what? Do tell me."

"I don't want to revert to that terrible tragedy again," he said, after
a pause. "There is something, however, in connection with it which
surprises myself."

"What is that?"

"I don't seem to feel the horror of it. I feel everything else; your
sorrow, for instance--the beauty of the day--the gladness and fulness of
life, but I don't feel any special pang about that poor dead fellow.
It's queer, is it not?"

"No," said Margaret tenderly. "I know--I quite understand your
sensation. You don't feel it simply because you feel it too much--you
are slightly stunned."

"Yes, you're right--we'll not talk about it any more. Let us stay here
for a little while."

"Tell me over again the preparations for your coming of age."

Margaret seated herself on the grass as she spoke. Her white dress--her
slim young figure--a sort of spiritual light in her dark eyes, gave her
at that moment an unearthly radiance in the eyes of the man who loved
her. All of a sudden, with an impulse he could not withstand, he
resolved to put his fortunes to the test.

"Forgive me," he said, emotion trembling in his voice--"I can only speak
of one thing at this moment."

He dropped lightly on one knee beside her. She did not ask him what it
was. She looked down.

"You know perfectly well what I am going to say," he continued; "you
know what I want most when I come of age--I want my wife--I want you.
Margaret, you must have guessed my secret long ago?"

She did not answer him for nearly a minute--then she softly and timidly
stretched out one of her hands--he grasped it in his.

"You have guessed--you do know--you're not astonished nor shocked at my
words?"

"Your secret was mine, too," she answered in a whisper.

"You will marry me, Margaret--you'll make me the happiest of men?"

"I will be your wife if you wish it, Robert," she replied.

She stood up as she spoke. She was tall, but he was a little taller--he
put his arms round her, drew her close to him, and kissed her
passionately.

Half-an-hour afterward they left the woods side by side.

"Don't tell anybody to-day," said Margaret.

"Why not? I don't feel as if I could keep it to myself even for an hour
longer."

"Still, humor me, Robert; remember I am superstitious."

"What about?"

"I am ashamed to confess it--I would rather that our engagement was not
known until the day of the murder has gone by."




CHAPTER V.


Margaret Douglas lived with her cousins, the Cuthberts. Sir John
Cuthbert was the Squire of a parish at a little distance from
Grandcourt. He was a wealthy man and was much thought of in his
neighborhood. Margaret was the daughter of a sister who had died many
years ago--she was poor, but this fact did not prevent the county
assigning her a long time ago to Robert Awdrey as his future wife. The
attachment between the pair had been the growth of years. They had spent
their holidays together, and had grown up to a great extent in each
other's company--it had never entered into the thoughts of either to
love any one else. Awdrey, true to his promise to Margaret, said nothing
about his engagement, but the secret was after all an open one. When the
young couple appeared again among the rest of Sir John Cuthbert's
guests, they encountered more than one significant glance, and Lady
Cuthbert even went to the length of kissing Margaret with much fervor in
Awdrey's presence.

"You must come back with us to Cuthbertstown to supper," she said to the
young Squire.

"Yes, come, Robert," said Margaret, with a smile.

He found it impossible to resist the invitation in her eyes. It was
late, therefore, night, in fact, when he started to walk back to
Grandcourt. He felt intensely happy as he walked. He had much reason for
this happiness--had he not just won the greatest desire of his life?
There was nothing to prevent the wedding taking place almost
immediately. As he strode quickly over the beautiful summer landscape he
was already planning the golden future which lay before him. He would
live in London, he would cultivate the considerable abilities which he
undoubtedly possessed. He would lead an active, energetic, and worthy
life. Margaret already shared all his ambitions. She would encourage him
to be a man in every sense of the word. How lucky he was--how kind fate
was to him! Why were the things of life so unevenly divided? Why was one
man lifted to a giddy pinnacle of joy and another hurled into an abyss
of despair? How happy he was that evening--whereas Everett--he paused in
his quick walk as the thought of Everett flashed before his mind's eye.
He didn't know the unfortunate man who was now awaiting the coroner's
inquest, charged with the terrible crime of murder, but he had seen him
twenty-four hours ago. Everett had looked jolly and good-tempered,
handsome and strong, as he stood in the porch of the pretty little inn,
and smoked his pipe and looked at Hetty when Awdrey brought her home.
Now a terrible and black doom was overshadowing him. Awdrey could not
help feeling deeply interested in the unfortunate man. He was young like
himself. Perhaps he, too, had dreamed dreams, and been full of ambition,
and perhaps he loved a girl, and thought of making her his wife. Perhaps
Hetty was the girl--if so--Awdrey stamped his foot with impatience.

"What mischief some women do," he muttered; "what a difference there is
between one woman and another. Who would suppose that Margaret Douglas
and Hetty Armitage belonged to the same race? Poor Frere, how madly in
love he was with that handsome little creature! How little she cared for
the passion which she had evoked. I hope she won't come in my path; I
should like to give her a piece of my mind."

This thought had scarcely rushed through Awdrey's brain before he was
attracted by a sound in the hedge close by, and Hetty herself stood
before him.

"I thought you would come back this way, Mr. Robert," she said. "I've
waited here by the hedge for a long time on purpose to see you."

The Squire choked down a sound of indignation--the hot color rushed to
his cheeks--it was with difficulty he could keep back his angry words.
One glance, however, at Hetty's face caused his anger to fade. The
lovely little face was so completely changed that he found some
difficulty in recognizing it. Hetty's pretty figure had always been the
perfection of trim neatness. No London belle could wear her expensive
dresses more neatly nor more becomingly. Her simple print frocks fitted
her rounded figure like a glove. The roses on her cheeks spoke the
perfection of perfect health; her clear dark eyes were wont to be as
open and untroubled as a child's. Her wealth of coal-black hair was
always neatly coiled round her shapely head. Now, all was changed, the
pretty eyes were scarcely visible between their swollen lids--the face
was ghastly pale in parts--blotched with ugly red marks in others; there
were great black shadows under the eyes, the lips were parched and dry,
they drooped wearily as if in utter despair. The hair was untidy, and
one great coil had altogether escaped its bondage, and hung recklessly
over the girl's neck and bosom. Her cotton dress was rumpled and
stained, and the belt with which she had hastily fastened it together,
was kept in its place by a large pin.

Being a man, Awdrey did not notice all these details, but the _tout
ensemble_, the abject depression of intense grief, struck him with a
sudden pang.

"After all, the little thing loved that poor fellow," he said to
himself; "she was a little fool to trifle with him, but the fact that
she loved him alters the complexion of affairs."

"What can I do for you?" he said, speaking in a gentle and compassionate
voice.

"I have waited to tell you something for nearly two hours, Mr. Robert."

"Why did you do it? If you wanted to say anything to me, you could have
come to the Court, or I'd have called at the Inn. What is it you want to
say?"

"I could not come to the Court, sir, and I could not send you a message,
because no one must know that we have met. I came out here unknown to
any one; I saw you go home from Cuthbertstown with Miss Douglas." Here
Hetty choked down a sob. "I waited by the hedge, for I knew you must
pass back this way. I wished to say, Mr. Robert, to tell you, sir, that
whatever happens, however matters turn out, I'll be true to you. No one
shall get a word out of me. They say it's awful to be cross-examined,
but I'll be true. I thought I'd let you know, Mr. Awdrey. To my dying
day I'll never let out a word--you need have no fear."

"I need have no fear," said Awdrey, in absolute astonishment. "What in
the world do you mean? What are you talking about?"

Hetty looked full up into the Squire's face. The unconscious and
unembarrassed gaze with which he returned her look evidently took her
breath away.

"I made a mistake," she said in a whisper. "I see that I made a mistake.
I'd rather not say what I came to say."

"But you must say it, Hetty; you have something more to tell me, or you
wouldn't have taken all this trouble to wait by the roadside on the
chance of my passing. What is it? Out with it now, like a good girl."

"May I walk along a little bit with you, Mr. Robert?"

"You may as far as the next corner. There our roads part, and you must
go home."

Hetty shivered. She gave the Squire another furtive and undecided
glance.

"Shall I tell him?" she whispered to herself.

Awdrey glanced at her, and spoke impatiently.

"Come, Hetty; remember I'm waiting to hear your story. Out with it now,
be quick about it."

"I was out last night, sir."

"You were out--when? Not after I saw you home?"

"Yes, sir." Hetty choked again. "It was after ten o'clock."

"You did very wrong. Were you out alone?"

"Yes, sir. I--I followed Mr. Frere on to the Plain."

"You did?" said Awdrey. "Is that fact known? Did you see anything?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then why in the name of Heaven didn't you come up to the Court this
morning and tell my father. Your testimony may be most important. Think
of the position of that poor unfortunate young Everett."

"No, sir, I don't think of it."

"What do you mean, girl?"

"Let me tell you my story, Mr. Awdrey. If it is nothing to you--it is
nothing. You will soon know if it is nothing or not. I had a quarrel
with Mr. Frere last night. Nobody was by; Mr. Frere came into Aunt's
parlor and he spoke to me very angrily, and I--I told him something
which made him wild."

"What was that?"

Hetty gave a shy glance up at the young Squire; his face looked hard,
his lips were firmly set. He and she were walking on the same road, but
he kept as far from her side as possible.

"I will not tell him--at least I will not tell him yet," she said to
herself.

"I think I won't say, sir," she replied. "What we talked about was Mr.
Frere's business and mine. He asked me if I loved another man better
than him, and I--I said that I did, sir."

"I thought as much," reflected Awdrey; "Everett is the favored one. If
this fact is known it will go against the poor fellow."

"Well, Hetty," he interrupted, "it's my duty to tell you that you
behaved very badly, and are in a great measure responsible for the awful
tragedy that has occurred. There, poor child, don't cry. Heaven knows, I
don't wish to add to your trouble; but see, we have reached the
cross-roads where we are to part, and you have not yet told me what you
saw when you went out."

"I crept out of my bedroom window," said Hetty. "Aunt and uncle had gone
to bed. I can easily get out of the window, it opens right on the
cow-house, and from there I can swing myself into the laburnum-tree, and
so reach the ground. I got out, and followed Mr. Frere. Presently I saw
that Mr. Everett was also out, and was following him. I knew every yard
of the Plain well, far better than Mr. Everett did. I went to it by a
short cut round by Sweetbriar Lane--you know the part there--not far
from the Court. I had no sooner got on the Plain than I saw Mr.
Frere--he was running--I thought he was running to meet me--he came
forward by leaps and bounds very fast--suddenly he stumbled and fell. I
wanted to call him, but my voice, sir, it wouldn't rise, it seemed to
catch in my throat. I couldn't manage to say his name. All of a sudden
the moon went down, and the plain was all gray with black shadows. I
felt frightened--awfully. I was determined to get to Mr. Frere. I
stumbled on--presently I fell over the trunk of a tree. My fall stunned
me a bit--when I rose again there were two men on the Plain. They were
standing facing each other. Oh, Mr. Awdrey, I don't think I'll say any
more."

"Not say any more? You certainly must, girl," cried Awdrey, his face
blazing with excitement. "You saw two men facing each other--Frere and
Everett, no doubt."

Hetty was silent. After a moment, during which her heart beat loudly,
she continued to speak in a very low voice.

"It was so dark that the men looked like shadows. Presently I heard them
talking--they were quarrelling. All of a sudden they sprang together
like--like tigers, and they--fought. I heard the sound of blows--one of
them fell, the taller one--he got on to his feet in a minute: they
fought a second time, then one gave a cry, a very sharp, sudden cry, and
there was the sound of a body falling with a thud on the
ground--afterward, silence--not a sound. I crept behind the furze bush.
I was quite stunned. After a long time--at least it seemed a long time
to me--one of the men went away, and the other man lay on his back with
his face turned up to the sky. The man who had killed him turned in the
direction of----"

"In what direction?" asked Awdrey.

"In the direction of----" Hetty looked full up at the Squire; the
Squire's eyes met hers. "The town, sir."

"Oh, the town," said Awdrey, giving vent to a short laugh. "From the way
you looked at me, I thought you were going to say The Court."

"Sir, Mr. Robert, do you think it was Mr. Everett?"

"Who else could it have been?" replied Awdrey.

"Very well, sir, I'll hold to that. Who else could it have been? I
thought I'd tell you, Mr. Awdrey. I thought you'd like to know that I'd
hold to that. When the steps of the murderer died away, I stole back to
Mr. Frere, and I tried to bring him back to life, but he was as dead as
a stone. I left him and I went home. I got back to my room about four in
the morning. Not a soul knew I was out; no one knows it now but you,
sir. I thought I'd come and tell you, Mr. Robert, that I'd hold to the
story that it was Mr. Everett who committed the murder. Good-night,
sir."

"Good-night, Hetty. You'll have to tell my father what you have told me,
in the morning."

"Very well, sir, if you wish it."

Hetty turned and walked slowly back toward the village, and Awdrey stood
where the four roads met and watched her. For a moment or two he was
lost in anxious thought--then he turned quickly and walked home. He
entered the house by the same side entrance by which he had come in on
the previous night. He walked down a long passage, crossed the wide
front hall, and entered the drawing-room where his sister Ann was
seated.

"Is that you, Bob?" she said, jumping up when she saw him. "I'm so glad
to have you all to myself. Of course, you were too busy with Margaret to
take any notice of us all day, but I've been dying to hear your account
of that awful tragedy. Sit here like a dear old fellow and tell me the
story."

"Talk of women and their tender hearts," said Awdrey, with irritation.

Then the memory of Margaret came over him and his face softened.
Margaret, whose heart was quite the tenderest thing in all the world,
had also wished to hear of the tragedy.

"To tell the truth, Ann," he said, sinking into a chair by his sister's
side, "you can scarcely ask me to discuss a more uncongenial theme. Of
course, the whole thing will be thoroughly investigated, and the local
papers will be filled with nothing else for weeks to come. Won't that
content you? Must I, too, go into this painful subject?"

Ann was a very good-natured girl.

"Certainly not, dear Bob, if it worries you," she replied; "but just
answer me one question. Is it true that you met the unfortunate man last
night?"

"Quite true. I did. We had a sort of quarrel."

"Good gracious! Why, Robert, if you had been out late last night they
might have suspected you of the murder."

Awdrey's face reddened.

"As it happens, I went to bed remarkably early," he said; "at least,
such is my recollection." As he spoke he looked at his sister with
knitted brows.

"Why, of course, don't you remember, you said you were dead beat.
Dorothy and I wanted you to sing with us, but you declared you were as
hoarse as a raven, and went off to your bedroom immediately after
supper. For my part, I was so afraid of disturbing you that I wouldn't
even knock when I pushed that little note about Margaret under the
door."

Ann gave her brother a roguish glance when she mentioned Margaret's
name. He did not notice it. He was thinking deeply.

"I am tired to-night, too," he said. "I have an extraordinary feeling in
the back of my head, as if it were numbed. I believe I want more sleep.
This horrid affair has upset me. Well, goodnight, Ann, I'm off to bed at
once."

"But supper is ready."

"I had something at Cuthbertstown; I don't want anything more.
Good-night."




CHAPTER VI.


Hetty dragged herself wearily home--she had waited to see the young
Squire in a state of intense and rapt excitement. He had received her
news with marvellous indifference. The excitement he had shown was the
ordinary excitement which an outsider might feel when he received
startling and unlooked for tidings. There was not a scrap of personal
emotion in his manner. Was it possible that he had forgotten all about
the murder which he himself had committed? Hetty was not a native of
Grandcourt without knowing something of the tragedy which hung over the
Court. Was it possible that the doom of the house had really overtaken
Robert Awdrey? Hetty with her own eyes had seen him kill Horace Frere.
Her own eyes could surely not deceive her. She rubbed them now in her
bewilderment. Yes, she had seen the murder committed. Without any doubt
Awdrey was the man who had struggled with Frere. Frere had thrown him to
the ground; he had risen quickly again. Once more the two men had rushed
at each other like tigers eager for blood--there had been a scuffle--a
fierce, awful wrestle. A wrestle which had been followed by a sudden
leap forward on the part of the young Squire--he had used his stick as
men use bayonets in battle--there had come a groan from Frere's lips--he
had staggered--his body had fallen to the ground with a heavy thud--then
had followed an awful silence. Yes, Hetty had seen the whole thing. She
had watched the terrible transaction from beginning to end. After he had
thrown his man to the ground the Squire had struck a match, and had
looked hard into the face of the dead. Hetty had seen the lurid light
flash up for an instant on the Squire's face--it had looked haggard and
gray--like the face of an old man. She had watched him as he examined
the slender stick with which he had killed his foe. She observed him
then creep across the Plain to a copse of young alders. She had seen him
push the stick out of sight into the middle of the alders--she had then
watched him as he went quickly home. Yes, Robert Awdrey was the guilty
man--Frank Everett was innocent, as innocent as a babe. All day long
Hetty's head had been in a mad whirl. She had kept her terrible
knowledge to herself. Knowing that a word from her could save him, she
had allowed Everett to be arrested. She had watched him from behind her
window when the police came to the house for the purpose, she had seen
Everett go away in the company of two policemen. He was a square-built
young fellow with broad shoulders--he had held himself sturdily as an
Englishman should, when he walked off, an innocent man, to meet an awful
doom. Hetty, as she watched, crushed down the cry in her heart--it had
clamored to save this man. There was a louder cry there--a fiercer
instinct. The Squire belonged to her own people--she was like a subject,
and he was her king--to the people of Grandcourt the king could do
nothing wrong. They were old-fashioned in the little village, and had
somewhat the feeling of serfs to their feudal lord. Hetty shared the
tradition of her race. But over and above these minor matters, the
unhappy girl loved Robert Awdrey with a fierce passion. She would rather
die herself than see him die. When she saw Everett arrested, she watched
the whole proceeding in dull amazement. She wondered why the Squire had
not acted a man's part. Why did he not deliver himself up to the course
of justice? He had killed Frere in a moment of mad passion. Hetty's
heart throbbed. Could that passion have been evoked on her account? Of
course, he would own to his sin. He had not done so; on the contrary, he
had gone to a picnic. He had been seen walking about with the young lady
whom he loved. Did Robert Awdrey really love Margaret Douglas?

"If that is the case, why should not I give him up?" thought Hetty. "He
cares nothing for me. I am less than the thistle under his feet. Why
should I save him? Why should Mr. Everett die because of him? The Squire
cares nothing for me. Why should I sin on his account?"

These thoughts, when they came to her, were quickly hurled aside by
others.

"I'd die twenty times over rather than he should suffer," thought the
girl. "He shan't die, he's my king, and I'm his subject. It does not
matter whether he loves me or not, he shan't die. Yes, he loves that
beautiful Miss Douglas--she belongs to his set, and she'll be his wife.
Perhaps she thinks that she loves him. Oh, oh!"

Hetty laughed wildly to herself.

"After all, she doesn't know what real love is. She little guesses what
I feel; she little guesses that I hold his life in my hands. O God, keep
me from going mad!"

It was dark when Hetty re-entered the Inn. The taproom was the scene of
noisy excitement. It was crowded with eager and interested villagers.
The murder was the one and only topic of conversation. Armitage was busy
attending to his numerous guests, and Mrs. Armitage kept going backward
and forward between the taproom and the little kitchen at the back.

When she saw Hetty she called out to her in a sharp tone.

"Where have you been, girl?" she cried. "Now just look here, your uncle
won't have you stealing out in this fashion any more. You are to stay at
home when it is dark. Why, it's all over the place, it's in every one's
mouth, that you have been the cause of the murder. You encouraged that
poor Mr. Frere with your idle, flighty, silly ways and looks, and then
you played fast and loose with him. Don't you know that this is just the
thing that will ruin us? Yes, you'll be the ruin of us Hetty, and times
so bad, too. When are we likely to have parlor lodgers again?"

"Oh, Aunt, I wish you wouldn't scold me," answered Hetty. She sank down
on the nearest chair, pushed her hat from her brow, and pressed her hand
to it.

"Sakes, child!" exclaimed her aunt, "you do look white and bad to be
sure."

Mrs. Armitage stood in front of her niece, and eyed her with a critical
gaze.

"It's my belief, after all, that you really cared for the poor young
man," she said. "For all your silly, flighty ways you gave him what
little heart you possess. If he meant honest by you, you couldn't have
done better--they say he had lots of money, and not a soul to think of
but himself. I don't know how your uncle is to provide for you. But
there, you've learned your lesson, and I hope you'll never forget it."

"Aunt Fanny, may I go upstairs to my room?"

"Hoity toity! nothing of the kind. You've got to work for your living
like the rest of us. Put on your apron and help me to wash up the
dishes."

Hetty rose wearily from her chair. The body of the murdered man lay out
straight and still in the little front parlor. Many people had been in
and out during the afternoon; many people had gazed solemnly at the
white face. The doctor had examined the wound in the eye. The coroner
had come to view the dead. All was in readiness for the inquest, which
was to take place at an early hour on the following day. No one as yet
had wept a single tear over the dead man. Mrs. Armitage came to Hetty
now and asked her to go and fetch something out of the parlor. A paper
which had been left on the mantelpiece was wanted by Armitage in a
hurry.

"Go, child, be quick!" said the aunt. "You'll find the paper by that
vase of flowers on the mantelpiece."

Hetty obeyed, never thinking of what she was to see. There was no
artificial light in the room. On the centre-table, in a rude coffin
which had been hastily prepared, lay the body. It was covered by a white
sheet. The moon poured in a ghastly light through the window. The form
of the dead man was outlined distinctly under the sheet. Hetty almost
ran up against it when she entered the room. Her nerves were overstrung;
she was not prepared for the sight which met her startled eyes; uttering
a piercing shriek, she rushed from the room into her Aunt Fanny's arms.

"Now, whatever is the matter?" said the elder woman.

"You shouldn't have sent me in there," panted Hetty. "You should have
told me that it was there."

"Well, well, I thought you knew. What a silly little good-for-nothing
you are! Stay quiet and I'll run and fetch the paper. Dear, dear, I'm
glad you are not my niece; it's Armitage you belong to."

Mrs. Armitage entered the parlor, fetched the required paper, and shut
the door behind her. As she walked down the passage Hetty started
quickly forward and caught her arm.

"If I don't tell somebody at once I'll go mad," she said. "Aunt Fanny, I
must speak to you at once. I can't keep it to myself another minute."

"Good gracious me! whatever is to be done, Hetty? How am I to find time
to listen to your silly nonsense just now? There's your uncle nearly
wild with all the work being left on his hands."

"It isn't silly nonsense, Aunt Fanny. I've got to say something. I know
something. I must tell it to you. I must tell it to you at once."

"Why, girl," said Mrs. Armitage, staring hard at her niece, "you are not
making a fool of me, are you?"

"No. I'll go up to my room. Come to me as soon as ever you can. Tell
Uncle that you are tired and must go to bed at once. Tell any lie, make
any excuse, only come to me quickly. I'm in such a state that if you
don't come I'll have to go right into the taproom and tell every one
what I know. Oh, Aunt Fanny! have mercy on me and come quickly."

"You do seem in a way, Hetty," replied the aunt. "For goodness sake do
keep yourself calm. There, run upstairs and I'll be with you in a minute
or two."

Mrs. Armitage went into the taproom to her husband.

"Look here, John," she sad, "I've got a splitting headache, and Hetty is
fairly knocked up. Can't you manage to do without us for the rest of the
evening?"

"Of course, wife, if you're really bad," replied Armitage. "There's work
here for three pairs of hands," he added, "but that can't be helped, if
you are really bad."

"Yes, I am, and as to that child, she is fairly done."

"I'm not surprised. I wonder she's alive when she knows the whole thing
is owing to her. Little hussy, I'd like to box her ears, that I would."

"So would I for that matter," replied the wife, "but she's in an awful
state, poor child, and if I don't get her to bed, she'll be ill, and
there will be more money out of pocket."

"Don't waste your strength sitting up with her, wife, she ain't worth
it," Armitage called out, as his wife left the room.

A moment later, Mrs. Armitage crept softly upstairs. She entered Hetty's
little chamber, which was also flooded with moonlight. It was a tiny
room, with a sloping roof. Its little lattice window was wide open.
Hetty was kneeling by the window looking out into the night. The moment
she saw her aunt she rose to her feet, and ran to meet her.

"Lock the door, Aunt Fanny," she said, in a hoarse whisper.

"Oh, child, whatever has come to you?"

"Lock the door, Aunt Fanny, or let me do it."

"There, I'll humor you. Here's the key. I'll put it into my pocket. Why
don't you have a light, Hetty?"

"I don't want it--the moon makes light enough for me. I have something
to say to you. If I don't tell it, I shall go mad. You must share it
with me, Aunt Fanny. You and I must both know it, and we must keep it to
ourselves forever and ever and ever."

"Lor, child! what are you talking about?"

"I'll soon tell you. Let me kneel close to you. Hold my hand. I never
felt so frightened in all my life before."

"Out with it, Hetty, whatever it is."

"Aunt, before I say a word, you've got to make me a promise."

"What's that?"

"You won't tell a soul what I am going to say to you."

"I hate making promises of that sort, Hetty."

"Never mind whether you hate it or not. Promise or I shall go mad."

"Oh, dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Armitage, "why should a poor woman be
bothered in this way, and you neither kith nor kin to me. Don't you
forget that it's Armitage you belong to. You've no blood of mine, thank
goodness, in your veins."

"What does that matter. You're a woman, and I'm another. I'm just in the
most awful position a girl could be in. But whatever happens, I'll be
true to him. Yes, Aunt Fanny, I'll be true to him. I'm nothing to him,
no more than if I were a weed, but I love him madly, deeply,
desperately. He is all the world to me. He is my master, and I am his
slave. Of course I'm nothing to him, but he's everything to me, and he
shan't die. Aunt Fanny, you and I have got to be true to him. We must
share the thing together, for I can't keep the secret by myself. You
must share it with me, Aunt Fanny."

Up to this point, Mrs. Armitage had regarded Hetty's words as merely
those of a hysterical and over-wrought girl. Now, however, she began to
perceive method in her madness.

"Look here, child," she said, "if you've got anything to say, say it,
and have done with it. I'm not blessed with over much patience, and I
can't stand beating round the bush. If you have a secret, out with it,
you silly thing. Oh, yes, of course I won't betray you. I expect it's
just this, you've gone and done something you oughtn't to. Oh, what have
I done to be blessed with a niece-in-law like you?

"It's nothing of that sort, Aunt Fanny. It is this--I don't mind telling
you now, now that you have promised not to betray me. Aunt Fanny, I was
out last night--I saw the murder committed."

Mrs. Armitage suppressed a sharp scream.

"Heaven preserve us!" she said, in a choking voice. "Were you not in
bed, you wicked girl?"

"No, I was out. I had quarrelled with Mr. Frere in the parlor, and I
thought I'd follow him and make it up. I went straight on to the
Plain--I saw him running. I hid behind a furze bush and I saw the
quarrel, and I heard the words--I saw the awful struggle, and I heard
the blows. I heard the fall, too--and I saw the man who had killed Mr.
Frere run away."

"I wonder you never told all this to-day, Hetty Armitage. Well, I'm
sorry for that poor Mr. Everett. Oh, dear, what will not our passions
lead us to; to think that two young gentlemen should come to this
respectable house, and that it should be the case of Cain and Abel over
again--one rising up and slaying the other."

Hetty, who had been kneeling all this time, now rose. Her face was
ghastly--her words came out in strange pauses.

"It wasn't Mr. Everett," she said.

"Good Heavens! Hetty," exclaimed her aunt, springing also to her feet,
and catching the girl's two hands within her own--"It wasn't Mr.
Everett!--what in the world do you mean?"

"What I say, Aunt Fanny--the man who killed Mr. Frere was Mr. Awdrey.
Our Mr. Awdrey, Aunt Fanny, and I could die for him--and no one must
ever know--and I saw him this evening, and--and he has forgotten all
about it. He doesn't know a bit about it--not a bit. Oh, Aunt Fanny, I
shall go quite mad, if you don't promise to help me to keep my secret."




CHAPTER VII.


"Sit down, Hetty, and keep yourself quiet," said Mrs. Armitage.

Her manner had completely changed. A stealthy, fearful look crept into
her face. She went on tiptoe to the door to assure herself over again
that it was locked. She then approached the window, shut it, fastened
it, and drew a heavy moreen curtain across it.

"When one has secrets," she said, "it is best to be certain there are no
eavesdroppers anywhere."

She then lit a candle and placed it on the centre of the little table.

Having done this, she seated herself--she didn't care to look at Hetty.
She felt as if in a sort of way she had committed the murder herself.
The knowledge of the truth impressed her so deeply that she did not care
to encounter any eyes for a few minutes.

"Aunt Fanny, why don't you speak to me?" asked the girl at last.

"You are quite sure, child, that you have told me the truth?" said Mrs.
Armitage then.

"Yes--it is the truth--is it likely that I could invent anything so
fearful?"

"No, it ain't likely," replied the elder woman, "but I don't intend to
trust just to the mere word of a slip of a giddy girl like you. You must
swear it--is there a Bible in the room?"

"Oh, don't, Aunt, I wish you wouldn't."

"Stop that silly whining of yours, Hetty; what do your wishes matter one
way or the other? If you've told me the truth an awful thing has
happened, but I won't stir in the matter until I know it's gospel truth.
Yes, there's your Testament--the Testament will do. Now, Hetty Armitage,
hold this book in your hand, and say before God in heaven that you saw
Mr. Robert Awdrey kill Mr. Horace Frere. Kiss the book, and tell the
truth if you don't want to lose your soul."

Hetty trembled from head to foot. Her nature was impressionable--the
hour--the terrible excitement she had just lived through--the solemn,
frightened expression of her aunt's face, irritated her nerves to the
last extent. She had the utmost difficulty in keeping herself from
screaming aloud.

"What do you want me to do?" she said, holding the Testament between her
limp fingers.

"Say these words: 'I, Hetty Armitage, saw Mr. Robert Awdrey kill Mr.
Horace Frere on Salisbury Plain last night. This is the truth, so help
me God.'"

"I, Hetty Armitage, saw Mr. Robert Awdrey kill Mr. Horace Frere on
Salisbury Plain last night. This is the truth, so help me God," repeated
Hetty, in a mechanical voice.

"Kiss the Book now, child," said the aunt

Hetty raised it to her lips.

"Give me the Testament."

Mrs. Armitage took it in her hands.

"Aunt Fanny, what in the world do you mean to do now?" said the girl.

"You are witness, Hetty; you are witness to what I mean to do. It is all
for the sake of the Family. What are poor folks like us and our
consciences, and our secrets, compared to the Family? This book has not
done its work yet. Now I am going to take an oath on the Testament. I,
Frances Armitage, swear by the God above, and the Bible He has given us,
that I will never tell to mortal man the truth about this murder."

Mrs. Armitage finished her words by pressing the Testament to her lips.

"Now you swear," she said, giving the book back again to her niece.

Hetty did so. Her voice came out in broken sobs. Mrs. Armitage replaced
the Testament on the top shelf of Hetty's little bookcase.

"There," she said, wiping her brow, "that's done. You saw the murder
committed; you and I have sworn that we'll never tell what we know. We
needn't talk of it any more. Another man will swing for it. Let him
swing. He is a nice fellow, too. He showed me the photograph of his
mother one day. She had white hair and eyes like his; she looked like a
lady every inch of her. Mr. Everett said, 'I am her only child, Mrs.
Armitage; I'm all she has got.' He had a pleasant smile--wonderful, and
a good face. Poor lad, if it wasn't the Family I had to be true to I
wouldn't let him swing. They say downstairs that the circumstantial
evidence is black against him."

"Perhaps, after all, they cannot convict him, Aunt."

"What do you know about it? I say they can and will, but don't let us
talk of it any more. The one thing you and I have to do is to be true to
the Family. There's not a second thought to be given to the matter. Sit
down, Hetty; don't keep hovering about like that. I think I had better
send you away from home; only I forgot, you are sure to be called upon
as a witness. You must see that your face doesn't betray you when you're
cross-examined."

"No, it won't," said the girl. "I've got you to help me now. I can talk
about it sometimes, and it won't lie so heavily on my heart. Aunt Fanny,
do you really think Mr. Awdrey forgets?"

"Do I think it? I know it. I don't trouble to think about what I know.
It's in their blood, I tell you. The things they ought to remember are
wiped out of their brains as clean as if you washed a slate after using
it. My mother was cook in the Family, and her mother and her mother
before her again. We are Perrys, and the Perrys had always a turn for
cooking. We've cooked the dinner up at the Court for close on a hundred
years. Don't you suppose I know their ways by this time? Oh, I could
tell you of fearful things. There have been dark deeds done before now,
and the men who did them had no more memory of their own sin than if
they were babies of a month old. There was a Squire--two generations
back he was--my grandmother knew him--and he had a son. The mother
was--! but there! where's the use of going into that. The mother died
raving mad, and the Squire knew no more what he had done than the babe
unborn. Folks call it the curse of God. It's an awful doom, and it
always comes on just as it has fallen on the young Squire. There comes a
fit of passion--a desperate deed is done or a desperate sorrow is met,
and all is blank. They wither up afterward just as if the drought was in
them. He'll die young, the young Squire will, just like his forefathers.
What's the good of crying, Hetty? Crying won't save him--he'll die
young. Blood for blood. God will require that young man's blood at his
hands. He can't escape--it's in his race; but at least he shan't hang
for it--if you and I can keep him from the gallows. Hetty, put your hand
in mine and tell me all over again what you saw."

"I can't bear to go over it again, Aunt Fanny--it seems burnt into me
like fire. I can think of nothing else--I can think of no face but Mr.
Awdrey's--I can only remember the look on his face when he bent over the
man he had killed. I saw his face just for a minute by the light of the
match, and I never could have believed that human face could have looked
like that before. It was old--like the face of an old man. But I met him
this evening, Aunt Fanny, and he had forgotten all about it, and he was
jolly and happy, and they say he was seen with Miss Douglas to-day. The
family had a picnic on the Plain, and Miss Douglas was there, with her
uncle, Sir John Cuthbert, and there were a lot of other young ladies.
Mr. Awdrey went back to Cuthbertstown with Miss Douglas. It was when he
was returning to the Court I met him. All the world knows he worships
the ground she walks on. I suppose he'll marry her by and by, Aunt--he
seemed so happy and contented to-night."

"I suppose he will marry her, child--that is the best thing that could
happen to him, and she's a nice young lady and his equal in other ways.
He's happy, did you say? Maybe he is for a bit, but he's a gone man for
all that--nothing, nor no one can keep the doom of his house from him.
What are you squeezing my hand for, Hetty?"

"I can't bear to think of the Squire marrying Miss Douglas."

"Stuff and nonsense! What is the Squire to you, except as one of the
Family. You'd better mind your station, Hetty, and leave your betters to
themselves. If you don't you'll get into awful trouble some day. But now
the night is going on, and we've got something to do. Tell me again how
that murder was done."

"The Squire ran at Mr. Frere, and the point of his stick ran into Mr.
Frere's eye."

"What did he do with the stick?"

"He went to a copse of young alders and thrust it into the middle. Oh,
it's safe enough."

"Nothing of the kind--it isn't safe at all. How do you know they won't
cut those alders down and find the stick? Mr. Robert's walking-stick is
well known--it has a silver plate upon it with his name. Years hence
people may come across that stick, and all the county will know at once
who it belonged to. Come along, Hetty--you and I have our work to do."

"What is that, Aunt Fanny?"

"Before the morning dawns we must bury that stick where no one will find
it."

"Oh, Aunt, don't ask me--I can't go back to the Plain again."

"You can and must--I wouldn't ask you, but I couldn't find the exact
spot myself. I'll go down first and have a word with Armitage, and then
return to you."

Mrs. Armitage softly unlocked the door of her niece's room, and going
first to her own bedroom, washed her ashen face with cold water; she
then rubbed it hard with a rough towel to take some of the tell-tale
expression out of it. Afterward she stole softly downstairs. Her husband
was busy in the taproom. She opened the door, and called his name.

"Armitage, I want you a minute."

"Mercy on us, I thought you were in bed an hour ago, wife," he said.
"Why, you do look bad, what's the matter?"

"It isn't me, it's the child--she's hysterical. I've been having no end
of a time with her; I came down to say that I'd sleep with Hetty
to-night. Good-night, Armitage."

"Good-night," said the man. "I say, wife, though," he called after her,
"see that you are up in good time to-morrow."

"Never fear," exclaimed Mrs. Armitage, as she ascended the creaking
stairs, "I'll be down and about at six."

She re-entered her niece's bedroom and locked the door.

"How did you get out last night?" she asked.

"Through the window."

"Well, you're a nice one. This is not the time to scold you, however,
and you and I have got to go out the same way now. They'll think we are
in our bed--let them think it. Come, be quick--show me the way out. It's
a goodish step from here to the Plain; we've not a minute to lose, and
not a soul must see us going or returning."

Mrs. Armitage was nearly as slender and active as her niece. She
accomplished the descent from the window without the least difficulty,
and soon she and Hetty were walking quickly in the direction of the
Plain--they kept well in the shadow of the road and did not meet a soul
the entire way. During that walk neither woman spoke a word to the
other. Presently they reached the Plain. Hetty trembled as she stood by
the alder copse.

"Keep your courage up," whispered Mrs. Armitage, "we must bury that
stick where no one can find it."

"Don't bury it, Aunt Fanny," whispered Hetty. "I have thought of
something--there's the pond half a mile away. Let us weight the stick
with stones and throw it into the pond."

"That's a good thought, child, we'll do it."




CHAPTER VIII.


The village never forgot the week when the young Squire came of age.
During that week many important things happened. The usual festivities
were arranged to take place on Monday, for on that day the Squire
completed his twenty-first year. On the following Thursday Robert Awdrey
was to marry Margaret Douglas, and between these two days, namely, on
Tuesday and Wednesday, Frank Everett was to be tried for the murder of
Horace Frere at Salisbury. It will be easily believed, therefore, that
the excitement of the good folks all over the country reached high-water
mark. Quite apart from his position, the young Squire was much loved for
himself. His was an interesting personality. Even if this had not been
so, the fact of his coming of age, and the almost more interesting fact
of his marriage, would fill all who knew him with a lively sense of
pleasure. The public gaze would be naturally turned full upon this young
man. But great as was the interest which all who knew him took in
Awdrey, it was nothing to that which was felt with regard to a man who
was a stranger in the county, but whose awful fate now filled all hearts
and minds. The strongest circumstantial evidence was against Frank
Everett, but beyond circumstantial evidence there was nothing but good
to be known of this young man. He had lived in the past, as far as all
could tell, an immaculate life. He was the only son of a widowed mother.
Mrs. Everett had taken lodgings in Salisbury, and was awaiting the issue
of the trial with feelings which none could fathom.

As the week of her wedding approached, Margaret Douglas showed none of
the happy expectancy of a bride. Her face began to assume a worn and
anxious expression. She could hardly think of anything except the coming
trial. A few days before the wedding she earnestly begged her lover to
postpone the ceremony for a short time.

"I cannot account for my sensations, Robert," she said. "The shadow of
this awful tragedy seems to shut away the sunshine from me. You cannot,
of course, help coming of age on Monday, but surely there is nothing
unreasonable in my asking to have the wedding postponed for a week. I
will own that I am superstitious--I come of a superstitious race--my
grandmother had the gift of second sight--perhaps I inherit it also, I
cannot say. Do yield to me in the matter, Robert. Do postpone the
wedding."

Awdrey stood close to Margaret. She looked anxiously into his eyes; they
met hers with a curious expression of irritation in them. The young
squire was pale; there were fretful lines round his mouth.

"I told you before," he said, "that I am affected with a strange and
unaccountable apathy with regard to this terrible murder. I try with all
my might to get up sympathy for that poor unfortunate Everett. Try as I
may, however, I utterly fail to feel even pity for him. Margaret, I
would confess this to no one in the world but yourself. Everett is
nothing to me--you are everything. Why should I postpone my happiness on
Everett's account?"

"You are not well, dearest," said Margaret, looking at him anxiously.

"Yes, I am, Maggie," he replied. "You must not make me fanciful. I never
felt better in my life, except----" Here he pressed his hand to his
brow.

"Except?" she repeated.

"Nothing really--I have a curious sensation of numbness in the back of
my head. I should think nothing at all about it but for the fact----"

Here he paused, and looked ahead of him steadily.

"But for what fact, Robert?"

"You must have heard--it must have been whispered to you--every one all
over the county knows that sometimes--sometimes, Maggie, queer things
happen to men of our house."

"Of course, I have heard of what you allude to," she answered brightly.
"Do you think I mind? Do you think I believe in the thing? Not I. I am
not superstitious in that way. So you, dear old fellow, are imagining
that you are to be one of the victims of that dreadful old curse. Rest
assured that you will be nothing of the kind. I have a cousin--he is in
the medical profession--you shall know him when we go to London. I spoke
to Dr. Rumsey once about this curious phase in your family history. He
said it was caused by an extraordinary state of nerves, and that the
resolute power of will was needed to overcome it. Dr. Rumsey is a very
interesting man, Robert. He believed in heredity; who does not? but he
also firmly believes that the power of will, rightly exercised, can be
more powerful than heredity. Now, I don't mean you to be a victim to
that old family failing, so please banish the thought from your mind
once and for ever."

Awdrey smiled at her.

"You cheer me," he said. "I am a lucky man to have found such a woman as
you to be my wife. You will help to bring forward all that is best in
me. Margaret, I feel that through you I shall conquer the curse which
lies in my blood."

"There is no curse, Robert. When your grandfather married a
strong-minded Scotch wife the curse was completely arrested--the spell
removed."

"Yes," said Awdrey, "of course you are perfectly right. My father has
never suffered from a trace of the family malady, and as for me, I
didn't know what nervousness meant until within the last month. I
certainly have suffered from a stupid lapse of memory during the last
month."

"We all forget things at times," said Margaret. "What is it that worries
you?"

"Something so trifling that you will laugh when I tell you. You know my
favorite stick?"

"Of course. By the way, you have not used it lately."

"I have not. It is lost. I have looked for it high and low, and racked
my memory in vain to know where I could have put it. When last I
remember using it, I was talking to that unfortunate young Frere in the
underwood. I wish I could find it--not for the sake of the stick, but
because, under my circumstances, I don't want to forget things."

"Well, every one forgets things at times--you will remember where you
have put the stick when you are not thinking of it."

"Quite true; I wish it didn't worry me, however. You know that poor
Frere met his death in the most extraordinary manner. The man who killed
him ran his walking-stick into his eye. The doctors say that the ferrule
of the stick entered the brain, causing instantaneous death. Everett
carried a stick, but the ferrule was a little large for the size of the
wound made. Now my stick----"

"Really, Robert, I won't listen to you for another moment," exclaimed
Margaret. "The next thing you will do is to assure me that your stick
was the weapon which caused the murder."

"No," he replied, with a spasm of queer pain. "Of course, Maggie, there
is nothing wrong, only with our peculiar idiosyncrasies, small lapses of
memory make one anxious. I should be happy if I could find the stick,
and happier still if this numbness would leave the back of my head. But
your sweet society will soon put me right."

"I mean it to," she replied, in her firm way.

"You will marry me, dearest, on the twenty-fourth?"

"Yes," she answered, "you are first, first of all. I will put aside my
superstition--the wedding shall not be postponed."

"Thank you a thousand times--how happy you make me!"

Awdrey went home in the highest spirits.

The auspicious week dawned. The young Squire's coming of age went off
without a flaw. The day was a perfect one in August. All the tenants
assembled at the Court to welcome Awdrey to his majority. His modest and
graceful speech was applauded on all sides. He never looked better than
when he stood on a raised platform and addressed the tenants who had
known him from his babyhood. Some day he was to be their landlord. In
Wiltshire the tie between landlord and tenant is very strong. The spirit
of the feudal times still in a measure pervades this part of the
country. The cheers which followed Awdrey's speech rose high on the
evening air. Immediately afterward there was supper on the lawn,
followed by a dance. Among those assembled, however, might have been
seen two anxious faces--one of them belonged to Mrs. Armitage. She had
been a young-looking woman for her years, until after the night of the
murder--now she looked old, her hair was sprinkled with gray, her face
had deep lines in it, there was a touch of irritation also in her
manner. She and Hetty kept close together. Sometimes her hand clutched
hold of the hand of her niece and gave it a hard pressure. Hetty's
little hand trembled, and her whole frame quivered with almost
uncontrollable agony when Mrs. Armitage did this. All the gay scene was
ghastly mockery to poor Hetty. Her distress, her wasted appearance,
could not but draw general attention to her. The little girl, however,
had never looked more beautiful nor lovely. She was observed by many
people; strangers pointed her out to one another.

"Do you see that little girl with the beautiful face?" they said. "It
was on her account that the tragedy took place."

Presently the young Squire came down and asked Mrs. Armitage to open the
ball with him.

"You do me great honor, sir," she said. She hesitated, then placed her
hand on his arm.

As he led her away, his eyes met those of Hetty.

"I'll give you a dance later on," he said, nodding carelessly to the
young girl.

She blushed and pressed her hand to her heart.

There wasn't a village lad in the entire assembly who would not have
given a year of his life to dance even once with beautiful little Hetty,
but she declined all the village boys' attentions that evening.

"She wasn't in the humor to dance," she said. "Oh, yes, of course, she
would dance with the Squire if he asked her, but she would not bestow
her favors upon any one else." She sat down presently in a secluded
corner. Her eyes followed Awdrey wherever he went. By and by Margaret
Douglas noticed her. There was something about the childish sad face
which drew out the compassion of Margaret's large heart. She went
quickly across the lawn to speak to her.

"Good-evening, Hetty," she said, "I hope you are well?"

Hetty stood up; she began to tremble.

"Yes, Miss Douglas, I am quite well," she answered.

"You don't look well," said Margaret. "Why are you not dancing?"

"I haven't the heart to dance," said Hetty, turning suddenly away. Her
eyes brimmed with sudden tears.

"Poor little girl! how could I be so thoughtless as to suppose she would
care to dance," thought Margaret. "All her thoughts must be occupied
with this terrible trial--Robert told me that she would be the principal
witness. Poor little thing."

Margaret stretched out her hand impulsively and grasped Hetty's.

"I feel for you--I quite understand you," she said. Her voice trembled
with deep and full sympathy. "I see that you are suffering a great deal,
but you will be better afterward--you ought to go away afterward--you
will want change."

"I would rather stay at home, please, Miss Douglas."

"Well, I won't worry you. Here is Mr. Awdrey. You have not danced once,
Hetty. Would you not like to have a dance with the Squire, just for
luck? Yes, I see you would. Robert, come here."

"What is it?" asked Awdrey. "Oh, is that you, Hetty? I have not
forgotten our dance."

"Dance with her now, Robert," said Margaret. "There is a waltz just
striking up--I will meet you presently on the terrace."

Margaret crossed the lawn, and Awdrey gave his arm to Hetty. She turned
her large gaze upon him for a moment, her lips trembled, she placed her
hand on his arm. "Yes, I will dance with him once," she said to herself.
"It will please me--I am doing a great deal for him, and it will
strengthen me--to have this pleasure. Oh, I hope, I do hope I'll be
brave and silent, and not let the awful pain at my heart get the better
of me. Please, God, help me to be true to Mr. Robert."

"Come, Hetty, why won't you talk?" said the Squire; he gave her a kindly
yet careless glance.

They began to waltz, but Hetty had soon to pause for want of breath.

"You are not well," said Awdrey; "let me lead you out of the crowd.
Here, let us sit the dance out under this tree; now you are better, are
you not?"

"Yes, sir; oh, yes, Mr. Robert, I am much better now." She panted as she
spoke.

"How pale you are," said Awdrey, "and you used to be such a blooming,
rosy little thing. Well, never mind," he added hastily, "I ought not to
forget that you have a good deal to worry you just now. You must try to
keep up your courage. All you have to do to-morrow when you go into
court is to tell the entire and exact truth."

"You don't mean me to do that, you can't," said Hetty. She opened her
eyes and gave a wild startled glance. The next moment her whole face was
covered with confusion. "Oh, what have I said?" she cried, in
consternation. "Of course, I will tell the exact and perfect truth."

"Of course," said Awdrey, surprised at her manner. "You will be under
oath, remember." He stood up as he spoke. "Now let me take you to your
aunt."

"One moment first, Mr. Robert; I'd like to ask you a question."

"Well, Hetty, what is it?" said the young man, kindly.

Hetty raised her eyes for a moment, then she lowered them.

"It's a very awful thing, the kind of thing that God doesn't forgive,"
she said in a whisper, "for--for a girl to tell a lie when she's under
oath?"

"It is perjury," said Awdrey, in a sharp, short voice. "Why should you
worry your head about such a matter?"

"Of course not, sir, only I'd like to know. I hope you'll be very happy
with your good lady, Mr. Awdrey, when you're married. I think I'll go
home now, sir. I'm not quite well, and it makes me giddy to dance. I
wish you a happy life, sir, and--and Miss Douglas the same. If you see
Aunt Fanny, Mr. Robert, will you tell her that I've gone home?"

"Yes, to be sure I will. Good-by, Hetty. Here, shake hands, won't you?
God bless you, little girl. I hope you will soon be all right."

Hetty crept slowly away; she looked like a little gray shadow as she
returned to the village, passing silently through the lovely gardens and
all the sweet summer world. Beautiful as she was, she was out of keeping
with the summer and the time of gayety.

Against Awdrey's wish Margaret insisted on being present during the
first day of the trial. Everett's trial would in all probability occupy
the whole of two days. Awdrey was to appear in court as witness. His
evidence and that of Hetty Armitage and the laborer who had seen Frere
running across the plain would probably sum up the case against the
prisoner. Hetty's evidence, however, was the most important of all. Some
of the neighbors said that Hetty would never have strength to go through
the trial. But when the little creature stepped into the witness-box,
there was no perceptible want of energy about her--her cheeks were pink
with the color of excitement, her lovely eyes shone brightly. She gave
her testimony in a clear, penetrating, slightly defiant voice. That
voice of hers never once faltered. Her eyes full of desperate courage
were fixed firmly on the face of the solicitor who examined her. Even
the terrible ordeal of cross-examination was borne without flinching;
nor did Hetty once commit herself, or contradict her own evidence. At
the end of the cross-examination, however, she fainted off. It was
noticed afterward by eye-witnesses that Hetty's whole evidence had been
given with her face slightly turned away from that of the accused man.
It was after she had inadvertently met his eyes that she turned white to
the very lips, and fell down fainting in the witness-box. She was
carried away immediately, and murmurs of sympathy followed her as she
was taken out of the court. Hetty was undoubtedly the heroine of the
occasion. Her remarkable beauty, her modesty, the ring of truth which
seemed to pervade all her unwilling words, told fatally against poor
Everett.

She was obliged to return to court on the second day, but Margaret did
not go to Salisbury on that occasion. After the first day of the trial
Margaret spent a sleepless night. She was on the eve of her own wedding,
but she could think of nothing but Everett and Everett's mother. Mrs.
Everett was present at the trial. She wore a widow's dress and her veil
was down, but once or twice she raised it and looked at her son; the son
also glanced at his mother. Margaret had seen these glances, and they
wrung her heart to its depths. She felt that she could not be in court
when the verdict was given. She was so excited with regard to the issue
of the trial that she gave no attention to those minor matters which
usually occupy the minds of young brides.

"It doesn't matter," she said to her maid; "pack anything you fancy into
my travelling trunk. Oh, yes, that dress will do; any dress will do.
What hats did you say? Any hats, I don't care. I'm going to Grandcourt
now, there may be news from Salisbury."

"They say, Miss Douglas, that the Court won't rise until late to-night.
The jury are sure to take a long time to consider the case."

"Well, I'm going to Grandcourt now. Mr. Awdrey may have returned. I
shall hear the latest news."

Margaret arrived at the Court just before dinner. Her future
sisters-in-law, Anne and Dorothy, ran out on the lawn to meet her.

"Oh, how white and tired you look!"

"I am not a bit tired; you know I am always pale. Dorothy, has any news
come yet from Salisbury?"

"Nothing special," replied Dorothy. "The groom has come back to tell us
that we are not to wait dinner for either father or Robert. You will
come into the house now, won't you, Margaret?"

"No, I'd rather stay out here. I don't want any dinner."

"Nor do I. I will stay with you," said Dorothy. "Isn't there a lovely
view from here? I love this part of the grounds better than any other
spot. You can just get a peep of the Cathedral to the right and the
Plain to the left."

"I hate the Plain," said Margaret, with a shiver. "I wish Grandcourt
didn't lie so near it."

Dorothy Awdrey raised her delicate brows in surprise.

"Why, the Plain is the charm of Grandcourt," she exclaimed. "Surely,
Margaret, you are not going to get nervous and fanciful, just because a
murder was committed on the Plain."

"Oh, no!" Margaret started to her feet. "Excuse me, Dorothy, I see
Robert coming up the avenue."

"So he is. Stay where you are, and I'll run and get the news."

"No, please let me go."

"Margaret, you are ill."

"I am all right," replied Margaret.

She ran swiftly down the avenue.

Awdrey saw her, and stopped until she came up to him.

"Well?" she asked breathlessly.

He put both his hands on her shoulders, and looked steadily into her
eyes.

"The verdict," she said. "Quick, the verdict."

"Guilty, Maggie; but they have strongly recommended him to mercy.
Maggie, Maggie, my darling, what is it?"

She flung her arms round his neck, and hid her trembling face against
his breast.

"I can't help it," she said. "It is the eve of our wedding-day. Oh, I
feel sick with terror--sick with sorrow."




CHAPTER IX.


Arthur Rumsey, M.D., F.R.C.S., was one of the most remarkable men of his
time. He was unmarried, and lived in a large house in Harley Street,
where he saw many patients daily. He was on the staff of more than one
of the big London hospitals, and one or two mornings in each week had to
be devoted to this public service, which occupies so much of the life of
a busy and popular doctor. Rumsey was not only a clever, all-round man,
but he was also a specialist. The word nerve--that queer complex word,
with its many hidden meanings, its daily and hourly fresh
renderings--that word, which belongs especially to the end of our
century, he seized with a grip of psychological intensity, and made it
his principal study. By slow degrees and years of patient toil he began
to understand the nerve power in man. From the study of the nerves to
the study of the source of all nerves, aches and pains, joys and
delights, the human brain, was an easy step. Rumsey was a brain
specialist. It began to be reported of him, not only in the profession,
but among that class of patients who must flock to such a man, when he
had performed wonderful and extraordinary cures, that to him was given
insight almost superhuman. It was said of Rumsey that he could read
motives and could also unravel the most complex problems of the
psychological world.

Five years had passed since Margaret Douglas found herself the bride of
Robert Awdrey. These five years had been mostly spent by the pair in
London. Being well off, Awdrey had taken a good house in a fashionable
quarter. He and Margaret began to entertain, and were popular from the
very first, in their own somewhat large circle. They were now the
parents of one beautiful child, a boy, and the outside world invariably
spoke of them as a prosperous and a very happy couple.

Everett did not expiate his supposed crime by death. The plea of the
jury for mercy resulted in fourteen years' penal servitude. Such a
sentence meant, of course, a living death; he had quite sunk out of
ken--almost out of memory. Except in the heart of his mother and in the
tender heart of Margaret Awdrey, this young man, whose career had
promised to be so bright, so satisfactory, such a blessing to all who
knew him, was completely forgotten.

In his mother's heart, of course, he was safely enshrined, and Margaret
also, although she had never spoken to him, and never saw his face until
the day of the trial, still vividly remembered him.

When her honeymoon was over and she found herself settled in London, one
of her first acts was to seek out Mrs. Everett, and to make a special
friend of the forlorn and unhappy widow.

Both Margaret and Mrs. Everett soon found that they had a strong bond of
sympathy between them. They both absolutely believed in Frank Everett's
innocence. The subject, however, was too painful to the elder woman to
be often alluded to, but knowing what was in Margaret's heart she took a
great fancy to her, always spoke to her with affection, took a real
interest in her concerns, and was often a visitor at her home.

Four years after the wedding the elder Squire died. He was found one
morning dead in his bed, having passed peacefully and painlessly away.
Awdrey was now the owner of Grandcourt, but for some reason which he
could not explain, even to himself, he did not care to spend much time
at the old place--Margaret was often there for months at a time, but
Awdrey preferred London to the Court, and a week at a time was the
longest period he would ever spend under the old roof. Both his sisters
were now married and had homes of their own--the place in consequence
began to grow a little into disuse, although Margaret did what she could
for the tenantry, and whenever she was at the Court was extremely
popular with her neighbors. But she did not think it right to leave her
husband long alone--he clung to her a good deal, seeking her opinion
more and more as the months and years went by, and leaning upon her to
an extraordinary extent for a young and clever man.

Awdrey had grown exceptionally old for his age in the five years since
his marriage. He was only twenty-six, but some white streaks were
already to be found in his thick hair, and several wrinkles were
perceptible round his dark gray eyes. He had not gone into
Parliament--he had not distinguished himself by any literary work. His
own ambitious dreams and his wife's longings for him faded one by one
out of sight. He was a gentle, kindly mannered man--generous with his
money, sympathetic up to a certain point over every tale of woe, but
there was a curious want of energy about him, and as the days and months
flew by, Margaret's sense of trouble, which always lay near her heart,
unaccountably deepened.

The great specialist, Arthur Rumsey, was about to give a dinner. It was
his custom to give one once a fortnight during the London season. To
these dinners he not only invited his own friends and the more favored
among his patients, but many celebrated men of science and literature; a
few also of the better sort of the smart people of society were to be
met on these occasions. Although there was no hostess, Rumsey's dinners
were popular, his invitations were always eagerly accepted, and the
people who met each other at his house often spoke afterward of these
occasions as specially delightful.

In short, the dinners partook of that intellectual quality which makes,
to quote an old-world phrase, "the feast of reason and the flow of
soul." On Rumsey's evenings, the forgotten art of conversation seemed
once again to struggle to re-assert itself.

Robert Awdrey and his wife were often among the favored guests, and were
to be present at this special dinner. Margaret was a distant cousin of
the great physician, and shortly after her arrival in London had
consulted him about her husband. She had told him all about the family
history, and the curious hereditary taint which had shown itself from
generation to generation in certain members of the men of the house. He
had listened gravely, and with much interest, saying very little at the
time, and endeavoring by every means in his power to soothe the
anxieties of the young wife.

"The doom you dread may never fall upon your husband," he said finally.
"The slight inertia of mind which he complains of is probably more due
to nervous fear than to anything else. It is a pity he is so well off.
If he had to work for his living, he would soon use his brain to good
and healthy purpose. That fiat which fell upon Adam is in reality a
blessing in disguise. There is no surer cure for most of the fads and
fancies of the present day than the command which ordains to man that
'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.'"

Margaret's anxious eyes were fixed upon the great doctor while he was
speaking.

"Your husband must make the best of his circumstances," he continued, in
a cheerful tone. "Crowd occupation upon him; get him to take up any good
intellectual work with strength and vigor. If you see he is really tired
out, do not over-worry him. Get him to travel with you; get him to read
books with real stuff in them; occupy his mind at any risk. When he
begins to forget serious matters it will be time enough to come to the
conclusion that the hereditary curse has descended upon him. Up to the
present he has never forgotten anything of consequence, has he?"

"Nothing that I know of," answered Margaret. Then she added, with a
half-smile, "The small lapse of memory which I am about to mention, you
will probably consider beneath your notice, nevertheless it has
irritated my husband to a strange degree. You have doubtless heard of
the tragic murder of Horace Frere, which took place on Salisbury Plain a
few weeks before our wedding?"

Rumsey nodded.

"On the night of the murder my husband lost his favorite walking-stick.
He has worried ceaselessly over that small fact, referring to it
constantly and always complaining of a certain numbness in the back of
his head when he does so. The fact is he met the unfortunate man who was
murdered early in the afternoon. At that time he had his stick with him.
He can never recall anything about it from that moment, nor has he seen
it from then to now."

The doctor laughed good-humoredly.

"There is little doubt," he said, "that the fear that the doom of his
house may fasten upon him has affected your husband's nerves. The lapse
of memory to which you refer means nothing at all. Keep him occupied,
Mrs. Awdrey, keep him occupied. That is my best advice to you."

Margaret went away feeling reassured and almost happy, but since the
date of that conversation Rumsey never forgot Awdrey's queer case. He
possessed that extraordinary and perfect memory himself, which does not
allow the smallest detail, however apparently unimportant, to escape
observation, and often as he talked to his guest across his dinner
table, he observed him with a keenness of interest which he could
himself scarcely account for.

On this particular evening more guests than usual were assembled at the
doctor's house. Sixteen people had sat down to dinner and several fresh
arrivals were expected in the evening. Among the dining guests was Mrs.
Everett. She was a tall, handsome woman of about forty-five years of
age. Her hair was snow-white and was piled high up over her head--her
face was of a pale olive hue, with regular features, and very large,
piercing, dark eyes. The eyebrows were well arched and somewhat thickly
marked--they were still raven black, and afforded a striking contrast to
the lovely thick hair which shone like a mass of silver above her brow.

Everett's mother always wore black, but, curious to relate, she had
discarded widow's weeds soon after her son's incarceration. Before that
date she had been in character, and had also lived the life of an
ordinary, affectionate, and thoroughly amiable woman. Keen as her sorrow
in parting with the husband of her youth was, she contrived to weave a
happy nest in which her heart could take shelter, in the passionate love
which she gave to her only son. But from the date of his trial and
verdict, the woman's whole character, the very expression on her face,
had altered. Her eyes had now a watchful and intent look. She seemed
like some one who had set a mission before herself. She had the look of
one who lived for a hidden purpose. She no longer eschewed society, but
went into it even more frequently than her somewhat slender means
afforded. She made many new acquaintances and was always eager to win
the confidence of those who cared to confide in her. Her own story she
never touched upon, but she gave a curious kind of watchful sympathy to
others which was not without its charm.

On this particular night, the widow's eyes were brighter and more
restless than usual. Dr. Rumsey knew all about her story, and had often
counselled her with regard to her present attitude toward society at
large.

"My boy is innocent," she had said many times to the doctor. "The object
of my life is to prove this. I will quietly wait, I will do nothing
rash, but it is my firm conviction that I shall yet be permitted to find
and expose the man who killed Horace Frere."

Rumsey had warned her as to the peril which she ran in fostering too
keenly a fixed idea--he had taken pains to give her psychological
reasons for the danger which she incurred--but nothing he could say or
do could alter the bias of her mind. Her fixed and unwavering assurance
that her boy was absolutely innocent could not be imperilled by any
words which man could speak.

"If I had even seen my boy do the murder I should still believe it to be
a vision of my own brain," she had said once, and after that Rumsey had
ceased to try to guide her thoughts into a healthier channel.

On this particular night when the doctor came upstairs after wine,
accompanied by the rest of the men of the party, Mrs. Everett seemed to
draw him to her side by her watchful and excited glances.

There was something about the man which could never withstand an appeal
of human need--he went straight now to the widow's side as a needle is
attracted to a magnet.

"Well," he said, drawing a chair forward, and seating himself so as
almost to face her.

"You guessed that I wanted to see you?" she said eagerly.

"I looked at you and that was sufficient," he said.

"When can you give me an interview?" she replied.

"Do you want to visit me as a patient?"

"I do not--that is, not in the ordinary sense. I want to tell you
something. I have a story to relate, and when it is told I should like
to get your verdict on a certain peculiar case--in short, I believe I
have got a clue, if only a slight one, to the unravelling of the mystery
of my life--you quite understand?"

"Yes, I understand," replied Dr. Rumsey in a gentle voice, "but, my dear
lady, I am not a detective."

"Not in the ordinary sense, but surely as far as the complex heart is
concerned."

Dr. Rumsey held up his hand.

"We need not go into that," he said.

"No, we will not. May I see you to-morrow for a few minutes?"

The doctor consulted his note-book.

"I cannot see you as a patient," he said, "but as a friend it is
possible. Can you be here at eight o'clock to-morrow morning? I
breakfast at eight--my breakfast generally occupies ten minutes--that
time is at your disposal."

"I will be with you. Thank you a thousand times," she replied.

Her eyes grew bright with exultation. The doctor favored her with a keen
glance and moved aside. A few minutes later he found himself in Margaret
Awdrey's vicinity. Margaret was now a very beautiful woman. As a girl
she had been lovely, but her early matronhood had developed her charms,
had added to her stateliness, and had brought out many new and fresh
expressions in her mobile and lovely face.

As Rumsey approached her side, she was in the act of taking leave of an
old friend of her husband's, who was going away early. The Doctor was
therefore able to watch her for a minute without her observing him--then
she turned slightly, saw him, flushed vividly, and went eagerly and
swiftly to his side.

"Dr. Rumsey," said Margaret, "I know this is not the place to make
appointments, but I am anxious to see you on the subject of my husband's
health. How soon can you manage----"

"I can make an appointment for to-morrow," he interrupted. "Be with me
at half-past one. I can give you half an hour quite undisturbed then."

She did not smile, but her eyes were raised fully to his face. Those
dark, deep eyes so full of the noblest emotions which can stir the human
soul, looked at him now with a pathos that touched his heart. He moved
away to talk to other friends, but the thought of Margaret Awdrey
returned to him many times during the ensuing night.




CHAPTER X.


At the appointed hour on the following morning Mrs. Everett was shown
into Dr. Rumsey's presence. She found him in his cosy breakfast-room, in
the act of helping himself to coffee.

"Ah!" he said, as he placed a chair for her, "what an excellent thing
this punctuality is in a woman. Sit down, pray. You shall have your full
ten minutes--the clock is only on the stroke of eight."

Mrs. Everett looked too disturbed and anxious even to smile. She untied
her bonnet-strings, threw back her mantle, and stared straight at Dr.
Rumsey.

"No coffee, thank you," she said. "I breakfasted long ago. Dr. Rumsey, I
am nearly wild with excitement and anxiety. I told you long ago, did I
not, that a day would come when I should get a clue which might lead to
establishing my boy's"--she wet her lips--"my only boy's innocence?
Nothing that can happen now will ever, of course, repair what he has
lost--his lost youth, his lost healthy outlook on life--but to set him
free, even now! To give him his liberty once again! To feel the clasp of
his hand on mine! Ah, I nearly go mad at times with longing, but thank
God, thank the Providence which is above us all, I do believe I have
found a clue at last."

"Tell me what it is," said the doctor, in a kind voice. "I know," he
added, "you will make your story as brief as possible."

"I will, my good friend," she replied. She stood up now, her somewhat
long arms hung at her sides, she turned her face in all its intense
purpose full upon the doctor.

"You know my restless nature," she continued. "I can seldom or never sit
still--even my sleep is broken by terrible dreams. All the energy which
I possess is fixed upon one thought, and one only--I want to find the
real murderer of Horace Frere."

"Yes," said Dr. Rumsey.

"A fortnight ago I made up my mind to do a queer thing. I determined to
visit Grandcourt--I mean the village of that name."

The doctor started.

"You are surprised?" said Mrs. Everett; "nevertheless I can account for
my longings."

"You need not explain. I quite understand."

"I believe you do. I felt drawn to the place--to the Inn where my son
stayed, to the neighborhood. I travelled down to Grandcourt without
announcing my intention to any one, and arrived at the Inn just as the
dusk was setting in. The landlord, Armitage by name, came out to
interview me. I told him who I was. He looked much disturbed, and by no
means pleased. I asked him if he would take me in. He went away to
consult his wife. She followed him after a moment into the porch with a
scared face.

"'I wonder, ma'am, that you like to come here,' she said.

"'I come for one purpose,' I replied. 'I want to see the spot where
Horace Frere met his death. I am drawn to this place by the greatest
agony which has ever torn a mother's heart. Will you take me in, and
will you give me the room in which my son slept?'

"The landlady looked at me in anything but a friendly manner. Her
husband whispered something to her--after a time her brow cleared--she
nodded to him, and the next moment I was given to understand that my
son's old room would be at my disposal. I took possession of it that
evening, and my meals were served to me in the little parlor where my
boy and the unfortunate Horace Frere had lived together.

"The next day I went out alone at an early hour to visit the Plain. I
had never ventured on Salisbury Plain before. The day was a gloomy and
stormy one. There were constant showers of rain, and I was almost wet
through by the time I reached my destination. I had just got upon the
borders of the Plain when I saw a young woman walking a little ahead of
me. There was something in the gait which I seemed to recognize,
although at first I had only a dim idea that I had ever seen her before.
Hurrying my footsteps I came up to her, passed her, and as I did so
looked her full in the face. I started then and stopped short. She was
the girl who had seen the murder committed, and who had given evidence
of the most damnatory kind against my son on the day of the trial. In
that one swift glance I saw that she was much altered. She had been a
remarkably pretty girl. She had now nearly lost all her comeliness of
appearance. Her face was thin, her dress negligent and untidy, on her
brow there was a sullen frown. When she saw me she also stood still, her
eyes dilated with a curious expression of fear.

"'Who are you?' she said, with a pant.

"'I am Mrs. Everett,' I replied, slowly. 'I am the mother of the man who
once lodged in your uncle's house, and who is now expiating the crime of
another at Portland prison.'

"She had turned red at first, now she became white.

"'And your name,' I continued, 'is Hetty Armitage.'

"'Why do you say that your son is expatiating the crime of another?' she
asked.

"'Because I am his mother. I have looked into his heart, and there is no
murder there. But tell me, is not your name Hetty Armitage?'

"'It is not Armitage now,' she answered. 'I am married. I live about
three miles from Grandcourt, over in that direction. I am going home
now. My husband's name is Vincent. He is a farmer.'

"'You don't look too well off,' I said, for I noticed her shabby dress
and run-to-seed appearance.

"'These are hard times for farmers,' she answered.

"'Have you children?' I asked.

"'No,' she replied fiercely, 'I am glad to say I have not.'

"'Why are you glad?' I asked. 'Surely a child is the crown of a married
woman's bliss.'

"'It would not be to me,' she cried. 'My heart is full to the brim. I
have no room for a child in it.'

"'A full heart generally means happiness,' I said. 'Are you happy?'

"She gave me a queer glance.

"'No, ma'am,' she answered, 'my heart is full of bitterness, of sorrow.'
Her eyes looked quite wild. She pressed one of her hands to her
forehead,--then stepping out, she half turned round to me.

"'I wish you good-morning, Mrs. Everett,' she said. 'My way lies across
here.'

"'Stay a moment before you leave me,' I said. 'I am coming to this plain
on a mission which you perhaps can guess. If you are poor you will not
despise half a sovereign. I'll give you half a sovereign if you'll show
me the exact spot where the murder was committed.'

"She turned from white to red, and from red to white again.

"'I don't like that spot,' she said. 'That night was a terrible night to
me; my nerves ain't what they were--I sleep bad, and sometimes I dream.
Many and many a time I've seen that murder committed over again. I have
seen the look on the face of the murdered man, and the look on the face
of the man who did it--Oh, my God, I have seen----'

"She pressed her two hands hard against her eyes.

"I waited quietly until she had recovered her emotion; then I held out
the little gold coin.

"'You will take me to the spot?' I asked.

"She clutched the coin suddenly in her hand.

"'This will buy what I live for,' she cried, with passion. 'I can drown
thought with this. Come along, ma'am, we are not very far from the place
here. I'll take you, and then go on home.'

"She started off, walking in front of me, and keeping well ahead. She
went quickly, and yet with a sort of tremulous movement, as though she
were not quite certain of herself. We crossed the Plain not far from the
Court. I saw the house in the distance, and the curling smoke which rose
up out of the trees.

"'Don't walk so fast,' I said. 'I am an old woman, and you take my
breath away.' She slackened her steps, but very unwillingly.

"'The family are not often at the Court?' I queried.

"'No,' she answered with a start--'since the old Squire died the place
has been most shut up.'

"'I happen to know the present Squire and his wife,' I said.

"She flushed when I said this, gave me a furtive glance, and then
pressing one hand to her left side, said abruptly:

"'If you know you can tell me summ'at--he is well, is he?'

"'They are both well,' I answered, surprised at the tone of her voice.
'I should judge them to be a happy couple.'

"'I thank the good God that Mr. Robert is happy,' she said, in a hoarse
whisper.

"Once again she hurried her footsteps; at last she stood still on a
rising knoll of ground.

"'Do you see this clump of alders?' she said. 'It was here I stood, just
on this spot--I was sheltered by the alders, and even if the night had
not been so dark they would never have noticed me. Over there to your
right it was done. You don't want me to stay any longer now, ma'am, do
you?'

"'You can go when I have asked you one or two questions. You stood here,
you say--just here?'

"'Just here, ma'am,' she answered.

"'And the murder was committed there?'

"'Yes, where the grass seems to grow a bit greener--you notice it, don't
you, just there, to your right.'

"'I see,' I replied with a shudder, which I could not repress. 'Do you
mind telling me how it was that you happened to be out of your bed at
such a late hour at night?'

"She looked very sullen, and set her lips tightly. I gazed full at her,
waiting for her to speak.

"'The man whose blood was shed was my lover--we had just had a quarrel,'
she said, at last.

"'What about?'

"'That's my secret,' she replied.

"'How is it you did not mention the fact of the quarrel at the trial?' I
asked.

"She looked full up at me.

"'I was not asked,' she answered; 'that's my secret, and I don't tell it
to anybody. It was here I stood, just where your feet are planted, and I
saw it done--the moon came out for a minute, and I saw everything--even
to the look on the dead man's face and the look on the face of the man
who took his life. I saw it all. I ain't been the same woman since.'

"'I am not surprised,' I replied. 'You may leave me when I have said one
thing.'

"'What is that, ma'am?'

"She raised her dark eyes. I saw fear in their depths.

"'You saw two men that night, Hetty Vincent,' I said--'one, the man who
was murdered, was Horace Frere, but the other man, as there is a God
above, was not Frank Everett. I am speaking the truth--you can go now.'

"My words seemed forced from me, Dr. Rumsey, but the effect was
terrifying. The wretched creature fell on her knees--she clung to my
dress, covering her face with a portion of the mantle which I was
wearing.

"'Good God, why do you say that?' she gasped. 'How do you know? Who has
told you? Why do you say awful words of that sort?'

"Her excitement made me calm. I stood perfectly silent, but with my
heart beating with the queerest sense of exultation and victory.

"'Get up,' I said. She rose trembling to her feet. I laid my hand on her
shoulder.

"'You have something to confess,' I said.

"She looked at me again and burst out laughing.

"'What a fool I made of myself just now!' she said. 'I have nothing to
confess; what could I have? You spoke so solemn and the place is
queer--it always upsets me. I'll go now.' She backed a few steps away.

"'I saw two men on the Plain,' she said then, raising her voice, 'one
was Horace Frere--the other was your son, Frank Everett.' Before I could
add another word she took to her heels and was quickly out of sight.

"I returned to the Inn and questioned Armitage and his wife. I did not
dare to tell them what Hetty had said in her excitement, but I asked for
her address and drove out early the following morning to Vincent's farm
to visit her. I was told on my arrival that she had left home that
morning; that she often did so to visit a relation at a distance. I
asked for the address, which was given me somewhat unwillingly. That
night I went there, but Hetty had not arrived and nothing was known
about her. Since then I have tried in vain to get any clue to her
present whereabouts. That is my story, Dr. Rumsey. What do you think of
it? Are the wild stories of an excited and over-wrought woman worthy of
careful consideration? Is her sudden flight suspicious, or the reverse?
I anxiously await your verdict."

Dr. Rumsey remained silent for a moment.

"I am inclined to believe," he said, then very slowly, "that the words
uttered by this young woman were merely the result of overstrung nerves;
remember, she was in all probability in love with the man who met his
death in so tragic a manner. From the remarkable change which you speak
of in her appearance, I should say that her nerves had been considerably
shattered by the sight she witnessed, and also by the prominent place
she was obliged to take in the trial. She has probably dreamt of this
thing, and dwelt upon it year in and year out, since it happened. Then,
remember, you spoke in a very startling manner and practically accused
her of having committed perjury at the time of the trial. Under such
circumstances and in the surroundings she was in at the time, she would
be very likely to lose her head. As to her sudden disappearance, I
confess I cannot quite understand it, unless her nervous system is even
more shattered than you incline me to believe; but, stay,--from words
she inadvertently let drop, she has evidently become addicted to drink,
to opium eating, or some such form of self-indulgence. If that is the
case she would be scarcely responsible for her actions. I do not think,
Mrs. Everett, unless you can obtain further evidence, that there is
anything to go upon in this."

"That is your carefully considered opinion?"

"It is--I am sorry if it disappoints you."

"It does not do that, for I cannot agree with you." Mrs. Everett rose as
she spoke, fastened her cloak, and tied her bonnet-strings.

"Your opinion is the cool one of an acute reasoner, but also of a person
who is outside the circumstances," she continued.

Rumsey smiled.

"Surely in such a case mine ought to be the one to be relied upon?" he
queried.

"No, for there is such a thing as mother's instinct. I will not detain
you longer, Dr. Rumsey. You have said what I expected you would say."




CHAPTER XI.


Rumsey began the severe routine of his daily work. He was particularly
busy that day, and had many anxious cases to consider; it was also one
of his hospital mornings, and his hospital cases were, he considered,
some of the most important in his practice. Nevertheless Mrs. Everett's
face and her words of excitement kept flashing again and again before
his memory.

"There is a possibility of that woman losing her senses if her mind is
not diverted into another channel, and soon too," he thought to himself.
"If she allows her thoughts to dwell much longer on this fixed idea, she
will see her son's murderer in the face of each man and woman with whom
she comes in contact. Still there is something queer in her story--the
young woman whom she addressed on Salisbury Plain was evidently the
victim of nervous terror to a remarkable extent--can it be possible that
she is concealing something?"

Rumsey thought for a moment over his last idea. Then he dismissed it
from his mind.

"No," he said to himself, "a village girl could not stand
cross-examination without betraying herself. I shall get as fanciful as
Mrs. Everett if I dwell any longer upon this problem. After all there is
no problem to consider. Why not accept the obvious fact? Poor Everett
killed his friend in a moment of strong irritation--it was a very plain
case of manslaughter."

At the appointed hour Margaret Awdrey appeared on the scene. She was
immediately admitted into Dr. Rumsey's presence. He asked her to seat
herself, and took a chair facing her. It was Margaret's way to be always
very direct. She was direct now, knowing that her auditor's time was of
extreme value.

"I have not troubled you about my husband for some years," she began.

"You have not," he replied.

"Do you remember what I last told you about him?"

"Perfectly. But excuse me one moment; to satisfy you I will look up his
case in my casebook. Do you remember the year when you last spoke to me
about him?"

Margaret instantly named the date, not only of year, but of month. Dr.
Rumsey quickly looked up the case. He laid his finger on the open page
in which he had entered all particulars, ran his eyes rapidly over the
notes he had made at the time, and then turned to Mrs. Awdrey.

"I find, as I expected, that I have forgotten nothing," he said. "I was
right in my conjectures, was I not? Your husband's symptoms were due to
nervous distress?"

"I wish I could say so," replied Margaret.

Dr. Rumsey slightly raised his brows.

"Are there fresh symptoms?" he asked.

"He is not well. I must tell you exactly how he is affected."

The doctor bent forward to listen. Margaret began her story.

"Since the date of our marriage there has been a very gradual, but also
a marked deterioration in my husband's character," she said. "But until
lately he has been in possession of excellent physical health, his
appetite has been good, he has been inclined for exercise, and has slept
well. In short, his bodily health has been without a flaw. Accompanying
this state of physical well-being there has been a very remarkable
mental torpor."

"Are you not fanciful on that point?" asked Dr. Rumsey.

"I am not. Please remember that I have known him since he was a boy. As
a boy he was particularly ambitious, full of all sorts of schemes for
the future--many of these schemes were really daring and original. He
did well at school, and better than well at Balliol. When we became
engaged his strong sense of ambition was quite one of the most
remarkable traits of his character. He always spoke of doing much with
his life. The idea was that as soon as possible he was to enter the
House, and he earnestly hoped that when that happy event took place he
would make his mark there. One by one all these thoughts, all these
hopes and aims, have dropped away from his mind; each year has robbed
him of something, until at last he has come to that pass when even books
fail to arouse any interest in him. He sits for many hours absolutely
doing nothing, not even sleeping, but gazing straight before him into
vacancy. Our little son is almost the only person who has any power to
rouse him. He is devoted to the child, but his love even for little
Arthur is tempered by that remarkable torpor--he never plays with the
boy, who is a particularly strong-willed, spirited child, but likes to
sit with him on his knee, the child's arms clasped round his neck. He
has trained the little fellow to sit perfectly still. The child is
devoted to his father, and would do anything for him. As the years have
gone on, my husband has become more and more a man of few words--I now
believe him to be a man of few thoughts--of late he has been subject to
moods of deep depression, and although he is my husband, I often feel,
truly as I love him, that he is more like a log than a man."

Tears dimmed Margaret's eyes; she hastily wiped them away.

"I would not trouble you about all this," she continued, "but for a
change which has taken place within the last few months. That change
directly affects my husband's physical health, and as such is the case I
feel it right to consult you about it."

"Yes, speak--take your own time--I am much interested," said the doctor.

"The change in my husband's health of body has also begun gradually,"
continued Mrs. Awdrey. "You know, of course, that he is now the owner of
Grandcourt. He has taken a great dislike to the place--in my opinion, an
unaccountable dislike. He absolutely refuses to live there. Now I am
fond of Grandcourt, and our little boy always seems in better health and
spirits there than anywhere else. I take my child down to the old family
place whenever I can spare a week from my husband. Last autumn I
persuaded Mr. Awdrey with great difficulty to accompany me to Grandcourt
for a week. I have never ceased to regret that visit."

"Indeed, what occurred?" asked the doctor.

"Apparently nothing, and yet evidently a great deal. When we got into
the country Robert's apathy seemed to change; he roused himself and
became talkative and even excitable. He took long walks, and was
particularly fond of visiting Salisbury Plain, that part which lies to
the left of the Court. He invariably took these rambles alone, and often
went out quite late in the evening, not returning until midnight.

"On the last of these occasions I asked him why he was so fond of
walking by himself. He said with a forced laugh, and a very queer look
in his eyes, that he was engaged trying to find a favorite walking-stick
which he had lost years ago. He laid such stress upon what appeared such
a trivial subject that I could scarcely refrain from smiling. When I did
so he swore a terrific oath, and said, with blazing eyes, that life or
death depended upon the matter which I thought so trivial. Immediately
after his brief blaze of passion he became moody, dull, and more inert
than ever. The next day we left the Court. It was immediately after that
visit that his physical health began to give way. He lost his appetite,
and for the last few months he has been the victim of a very peculiar
form of sleeplessness."

"Ah, insomnia would be bad in a case like his," said Dr. Rumsey.

"It has had a very irritating effect upon him. His sleeplessness, like
all other symptoms, came on gradually. At the same time he became
intensely sensitive to the slightest noise. Against my will he tried
taking small doses of chloral, but they had the reverse of a beneficial
effect upon him. During the last month he has, toward morning, dropped
off into uneasy slumber, from which he awakens bathed in perspiration
and in a most curious state of terror. Night after night the same sort
of thing occurs. He seizes my hand and asks me in a voice choking with
emotion if I see anything in the room. 'Nothing,' I answer.

"'Am I awake or asleep?' he asks next.

"'Wide awake,' I say to him.

"'Then it is as I fear,' he replies. 'I see it, I see it distinctly.
Can't you? Look, you must see it too. It is just over there, in the
direction of the window. Don't you see that sphere of perfect light?
Don't you see the picture in the middle?' He shivers; the drops of
perspiration fall from his forehead.

"'Margaret,' he says, 'for God's sake look. Tell me that you see it
too.'

"'I see nothing,' I answer him.

"'Then the vision is for me alone. It haunts me. What have I done to
deserve it? Margaret, there is a circle of light over there--in the
centre a picture--it is the picture of a murder. Two men are in it--yes,
I know now--I am looking at the Plain near the Court--the moon is hidden
behind the clouds--there are two men--they fight. God in heaven, one man
falls--the other bends over him. I see the face of the fallen man, but I
cannot see the face of the other. I should rest content if I could only
see his face. Who is he, Margaret, who is he?'

"He falls back on his pillow half-fainting.

"This sort of thing goes on night after night, Dr. Rumsey. Toward
morning the vision which tortures my unhappy husband begins to fade, he
sinks into heavy slumber, and awakens late in the morning with no memory
whatever of the horrible thing which has haunted him during the hours of
darkness.

"The days which follow are more full than ever of that terrible inertia,
and now he begins to look what he really is, a man stricken with an
awful doom.

"The symptoms you speak of are certainly alarming," said Dr. Rumsey,
after a pause. "They point to a highly unsatisfactory state of the nerve
centres. These symptoms, joined to what you have already told me of the
peculiar malady which Awdrey inherits, make his case a grave one. Of
course, I by no means give up hope, but the recurrence of this vision
nightly is a singular symptom. Does Awdrey invariably speak of not being
able to see the face of the man who committed the murder?"

"Yes, he always makes a remark to that effect. He seems every night to
see the murdered man lying on the ground with his face upward, but the
man who commits the murder has his back to him. Last night he shrieked
out in absolute terror on the subject:

"'Who is the man? That man on the ground is Horace Frere--he has been
hewn down in the first strength of his youth--he is a dead man. There
stands the murderer, with his back to me, but who is he? Oh, my God!' he
cried out with great passion, 'who is the one who has done this deed?
Who has murdered Horace Frere? I would give all I possess, all that this
wide world contains, only to catch one glimpse of his face.'

"He sprang out of bed as he spoke, and went a step or two in the
direction where he saw the peculiar vision, clasping his hands, and
staring straight before him like a person distraught, and almost out of
his mind. I followed him and tried to take his hand.

"'Robert!' I said, 'you know, don't you, quite well, who murdered Horace
Frere? Poor fellow, it was not murder in the ordinary sense. Frank
Everett is the name of the man whose face you cannot see. But it is an
old story now, and you have nothing to do with it, nothing
whatever--don't let it dwell any longer on your mind.'

"'Ha, but he carries my stick,' he shrieked out, and then he fell back
in a state of unconsciousness against the bed."

"And do you mean to tell me that he remembered nothing of this agony in
the morning?" queried Dr. Rumsey.

"Nothing whatever. At breakfast he complained of a slight headache and
was particularly dull and moody. When I came off to you he had just
started for a walk in the Park with our little boy."

"I should like to see your husband, and to talk to him," said Dr.
Rumsey, rising abruptly. "Can you manage to bring him here?"

"I fear I cannot, for he does not consider himself ill."

"Shall you be at home this evening?"

"Yes, we are not going out to-night."

"Then I'll drop in between eight and nine on a friendly visit. You must
not be alarmed if I try to lead up to the subject of these nightly
visions, for I would infinitely rather your husband remembered them than
that they should quite slip from his memory."

"Thank you," answered Margaret. "I will leave you alone with him when
you call to-night."

"It may be best for me to see him without anyone else being present."

Margaret Awdrey soon afterward took her leave.

That night, true to his appointment, Dr. Rumsey made his appearance at
the Awdreys' house in Seymour Street. He was shown at once into the
drawing-room, where Awdrey was lying back in a deep chair on one side of
the hearth, and Margaret was softly playing a sonata of Beethoven's in
the distance. She played with great feeling and power, and did not use
any notes. The part of the room where she sat was almost in shadow, but
the part round the fire where Awdrey had placed himself was full of
bright light.

Margaret's dark eyes looked full of painful thought when the great
doctor was ushered into the room. She did not see him at first, then she
noticed him and faltered in her playing. She took her fingers from the
piano, and rose to meet him.

"Pray go on, Margaret. What are you stopping for?" cried her husband.
"Nothing soothes me like your music. Go on, go on. I see the moonlight
on the trees, I feel the infinite peace, the waves are beating on the
shore, there is rest." He broke off abruptly, starting to his feet. "I
beg your pardon, Dr. Rumsey, I assure you I did not see you until this
moment."

"I happened to have half-an-hour at my disposal, and thought I would
drop in for a chat," said Dr. Rumsey in his pleasant voice.

Awdrey's somewhat fretful brow relaxed.

"You are heartily welcome," he said. "Have you dined? Will you take
anything?"

"I have dined, and I only want one thing," said Dr. Rumsey.

"Pray name it; I'll ring for it immediately."

"You need not do that, for the person to give it to me is already in the
room."

The doctor bowed to Margaret as he spoke.

"I love the 'Moonlight Sonata' beyond all other music," he said. "Will
you continue playing it, Mrs. Awdrey? Will you rest a tired physician as
well as your husband with your music?"

"With all the pleasure in the world," she replied. She returned at once
to her shady corner, and the soothing effects of the sonata once more
filled the room. For a short time Awdrey sat upright, forced into
attention of others by the fact of Dr. Rumsey's presence, but he soon
relaxed the slight effort after self-control, and lay back in his chair
once again with his eyes half shut.

Rumsey listened to the music and watched his strange patient at the same
time.

Margaret suddenly stopped, almost as abruptly as if she had had a
signal. She walked up the room, and stood in the bright circle of light.
She looked very lovely, and almost spiritual--her face was pale--her
eyes luminous as if lit from within--her pathetic and perfect lips were
slightly apart. Rumsey thought her something like an angel who was about
to utter a benediction.

"I am going up now to see little Arthur," she said. She glanced at her
husband, and left the room.

Rumsey had not failed to observe that Awdrey did not even glance at his
wife when she stood on the hearth. There was a full moment's pause after
she left the room. Awdrey's eyes were half closed, they were turned in
the direction of the bright blaze. Rumsey looked full at him.

"Strange case, strange man," he muttered under his breath. "There is
something for me to unravel here. The man who is insensate enough not to
see the beauty in that woman's face, not to revel in the love she
bestows on him--he is a log, not a man--and yet----"

"Are you well?" cried the doctor abruptly. He spoke on purpose with
great distinctness, and his words had something the effect of a
pistol-shot.

Awdrey sat bolt upright and stared full at him.

"Why do you ask me that question?" he replied, irritation in his tone.

"Because I wish to question you with regard to your health," said Dr.
Rumsey. "Whether you feel it or not, you are by no means well."

"Indeed! What do I look like?"

"Like a man who sees more than he ought," replied the doctor with
deliberation. "But before we come to that may I ask you a question?"

Awdrey looked disturbed--he got up and stood with his back to the fire.

"Ask what you please," he said, rubbing up his hair as he spoke. "As
there is a heaven above, Dr. Rumsey, you see a wretched man before you
to-night."

"My dear fellow, what strong words! Surely, you of all people----"

Awdrey interrupted with a hollow laugh.

"Ah," he said, "it looks like it, does it not? In any circle, among any
concourse of people, I should be pointed out as the fortunate man. I
have money--I have a very good and beautiful wife--I am the father of as
fine a boy as the heart of man could desire. I belong to one of the old
and established families of our country, and I also, I suppose, may
claim the inestimable privilege to youth, for I am only twenty-six years
of age--nevertheless----" He shuddered, looked down the long room, and
then closed his eyes.

"I am glad I came here," said Dr. Rumsey. "Believe me, my dear sir, the
symptoms you have just described are by no means uncommon in the cases
of singularly fortunate individuals like yourself. The fact is, you have
got too much. You want to empty yourself of some of your abundance in
order that contentment and health of mind may flow in."

Awdrey stared at the doctor with lack-lustre eyes. Then he shook his
head.

"I am past all that," he said. "I might at the first have managed to
make a superhuman effort; but now I have no energy for anything. I have
not even energy sufficient to take away my own life, which is the only
thing on all God's earth that I crave to do."

"Come, come, Awdrey, you must not allow yourself to speak like that. Now
sit down. Tell me, if you possibly can, exactly what you feel."

"Why should I tell you? I am not your patient."

"But I want you to be."

"Is that why you came here this evening?"

Dr. Rumsey paused before he replied; he had not expected this question.

"I will answer you frankly," he said, with a pause. "Your wife came to
see me about you. She did not wish me to mention the fact of her visit,
but I believe I am wise in keeping nothing back from you. You love your
wife, don't you?"

"I suppose I do; that is, if I love anybody."

"Of course, you love her. Don't sentimentalize over a fact. She came to
see me because her love for you is over-abundant. It makes her anxious;
you have given her, Awdrey, a great deal of anxiety lately.

"I cannot imagine how. I have done nothing."

"That is just it. You have done too little. She is naturally terribly
anxious. She told me one or two things about your state which I do not
consider quite satisfactory. I said it would be necessary for me to have
an interview with you, and asked her to beg of you to call at my house.
She said you did not consider yourself ill, and might not be willing to
come to me. I then resolved to come to you, and here I am."

"It is good of you, Rumsey, but you can do nothing; I am not really ill.
It is simply that something--I have not the faintest idea what--has
killed my soul. I believe, before heaven, that I have stated the case in
a nutshell. You may be, and doubtless are, a great doctor, but you have
not come across living men with dead souls before."

"I have not Awdrey; nor is your soul dead. You state an impossibility."

Awdrey started excitedly. His face, which had been deadly pale, now
blazed with animation and color.

"Learned as you are," he cried, "you will gain some fresh and valuable
experience from me to-night. I am the strangest patient you ever
attempted to cure. You have roused me, and it is good to be roused.
Perhaps my soul is not dead after all--perhaps it is struggling with a
demon which crushes it down."




CHAPTER XII.


Dr. Rumsey did not reply to this for a moment, then he spoke quietly.

"Tell me everything," he said. "Nothing you can say will startle me, but
if there is any possibility of my helping you I must know the case as
far as you can give it me."

"I have but little to say," replied Awdrey. "I am paralyzed day after
day simply by want of feeling. Even a sense of pain, of irritation, is a
relief--the deadness of my life is so overpowering. Do you know the
history of my house?"

"Your wife has told me. It is a queer story."

"It is a damnable story," said Awdrey. "With such a fate hanging over
me, why was I born? Why did my father marry? Why did my mother bring a
man-child into the world? Men with dooms like mine ought never to have
descendants. I curse the thought that I have a child myself. It is all
cruel, monstrous."

"But the thing you fear has not fallen upon you," said Dr. Rumsey.

"Has it not? I believe it has."

"How can you possibly imagine what is not the case?"

"Dr. Rumsey," said Awdrey, advancing a step or two to meet him, "I don't
imagine what I know. Look at me. I am six-and-twenty. Do I look that
age?"

"I must confess that you look older than your years."

"Aye, I should think so. See my hair already mingled with gray. Feel
this nerveless hand. Is this the hand of the English youth of
six-and-twenty? Look at my eyes--how dull they are; are they the eyes of
a man in his prime? No, no, I am going down to the grave as the other
men of my house have gone, simply because I cannot help it. Like those
who have gone before me I slip, and slip, and slip, and cannot get a
grip of life anywhere, and so I go out, or go over the precipice into
God knows what--anyhow I go."

"Poor fellow, he is far worse than I had any idea of," thought the
doctor. He took his patient's hand, and led him to a seat.

"You are quite ill enough to see a doctor," he said, "and ought to have
had advice long ago. I mean to take you up, Awdrey. From this moment you
must consider yourself my patient."

"If you can do anything for me I shall be glad--that is, no, I shall not
be glad, for I am incapable of the sensation, but I am aware it is the
right thing to put myself into your hands. What do you advise?"

"I cannot tell you until I know more. My present impression is that you
are simply the victim of nerve terrors. You have dwelt upon the doom of
your house for so long a time that you are now fully convinced that you
are one of the victims. But you must please remember that the special
feature of the tragedy, for tragedy it is, has not occurred in your
case, for you have never forgotten anything of consequence."

"Only one thing--it sounds stupid even to speak of it, but it worries me
inconceivably. There was a murder committed on Salisbury Plain the night
before I got engaged to Margaret. On that night I lost a walking-stick
which I was particularly fond of."

"Your wife mentioned to me that you were troubled on that point," broke
in Dr. Rumsey. "Pray dismiss it at once and forever from your mind. The
fact of your having forgotten such a trifle is not of the slightest
consequence."

"Do you think so? The fret about it has fastened itself very deeply into
my mind."

"Well, don't think of it again--the next time it occurs to torment you,
just remember that I, who have made brain troubles like yours my special
study, think nothing at all about it."

"Thank you, I'll try to remember."

"Do so. Now, I wish to talk to you about another matter. You sleep
badly."

"Do I?" Awdrey raised his brows. "I cannot recall that fact."

"Nevertheless you do. Your wife speaks of it. Now in your state of
health it is most essential that you should have good nights."

"I always feel an added sense of depression when I am going to bed,"
said Awdrey, "but I am unconscious that I have bad nights--what can
Margaret mean?"

"I trust that your wife's natural nervousness with regard to you makes
her inclined to exaggerate your symptoms, but I may as well say frankly
that some of the things she has mentioned, as occurring night after
night, have given me uneasiness. Now I should like to be with you during
one of your bad nights."

"What do you mean?"

"Come home with me to-night, my good fellow," said the doctor, laying
his hand on Awdrey's shoulder--"we will pass this night together. What
do you say?"

"Your request surprises me very much, but it would be a relief--I will
go," said Awdrey.

He turned and rang the bell as he spoke--a servant appeared, who was
sent with a message to Mrs. Awdrey. She came to the drawing-room in a
few minutes. Her face of animation, wakefulness of soul and feeling,
made a strong contrast to Awdrey's haggard, lifeless expression.

He went up to his wife and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You have been telling tales of me, Maggie," he said. "You complain of
something I know nothing about--my bad nights."

"They are very bad, Robert, very terrible," she replied.

"I cannot recall a single thing about them."

"I wish you could remember," she said.

"I have made a suggestion to your husband," interrupted Dr. Rumsey,
"which I am happy to say he approves of. He returns with me to my house
to-night. I will promise to look after him. If he does happen to have a
bad night I shall be witness to it. Now pray go to bed yourself and
enjoy the rest you sorely need."

Margaret tried to smile in reply, but her eyes filled with tears. Rumsey
saw them, but Awdrey took no notice--he was staring straight into
vacancy, after his habitual fashion.

A moment later he and Rumsey left the house together. Ten minutes
afterward Rumsey opened his own door with a latchkey.

"It is late," he said to his guest. He glanced at the clock as he spoke.
"At this hour I always indulge in supper--it is waiting for me now. Will
you come and have a glass of port with me?"

Awdrey murmured something in reply--the two men went into the
dining-room, where Rumsey, without apparently making any fuss, saw that
his guest ate and drank heartily. During the meal the doctor talked, and
Awdrey replied in monosyllables--sometimes, indeed, not replying at all.
Dr. Rumsey took no notice of this. When the meal, which really only took
a few minutes, was over, he rose.

"I am going to take you to your bedroom now," he said.

"Thanks," answered Awdrey. "The whole thing seems extraordinary," he
added. "I cannot make out why I am to sleep in your house."

"You sleep here as my patient. I am going to sit up with you."

"You! I cannot allow it, doctor!"

"Not a word, my dear sir. Pray don't overwhelm me with thanks. Your case
is one of great interest to me. I shall certainly not regret the few
hours I steal from sleep to watch it."

Awdrey made a dull reply. The two men went upstairs. Rumsey had already
given orders, and a bedroom had been prepared. A bright fire burned in
the grate, and electric light made the room cheerful as day. The bed was
placed in an alcove by itself. In front of the fire was drawn up a deep,
easy chair, a small table, a reading-lamp ready to be lighted, and
several books.

"For me?" said Awdrey, glancing at these. "Excuse me, Dr. Rumsey, but I
do not appreciate books. Of late months I have had a difficulty in
centring my thoughts on what I read. Even the most exciting story fails
to arouse my attention."

"These books are for me," said the doctor. "You are to go straight to
bed. You will find everything you require for the night in that part of
the room. Pray undress as quickly as possible--I shall return at the end
of a quarter of an hour."

"Will you give me a sleeping draught? I generally take chloral."

"My dear sir, I will give you nothing. It is my impression you will have
a good night without having recourse to sedatives. Get into bed now--you
look sleepy already."

The doctor left the room. When he came back at the end of the allotted
time, Awdrey was in bed--he was lying on his back, with his eyes already
closed. His face looked very cadaverous and ghastly pale; but for the
gentle breathing which came from his partly opened lips he might almost
have been a dead man.

"Six-and-twenty," muttered the doctor, as he glanced at him,
"six-and-forty, six-and-fifty, rather. This is a very queer case. There
is something at the root of it. I can no longer make light of Mrs.
Awdrey's fears--something is killing that man inch by inch. He has
described his own condition very accurately. He is slipping out of life
because he has not got grip enough to hold it. Nevertheless, at the
present moment, no child could sleep more tranquilly."

The doctor turned off the electric light, and returned to his own bright
part of the room. The bed in which Awdrey lay was now in complete
shadow. Dr. Rumsey opened a medical treatise, but he did not read. On
the contrary, the book lay unnoticed on his knee, while he himself
stared into the blaze of the fire--his brows were contracted in anxious
thought. He was thinking of the sleeper and his story--of the tragedy
which all this meant to Margaret. Then, by a queer chain of connection,
his memory reverted to Mrs. Everett--her passionate life quest--her
determination to consider her son innocent. The queer scene she had
described as taking place between Hetty and herself returned vividly
once more to the doctor's retentive memory.

"Is it possible that Awdrey can in any way be connected with that
tragedy?" he thought. "It looks almost like it. According to his own
showing, and according to his wife's showing, the strange symptoms which
have brought him to his present pass began about the date of that
somewhat mysterious murder. I have thought it best to make light of that
lapse of memory which worries the poor fellow so much in connection with
his walking-stick, but is there not something in it after all? Can he
possibly have witnessed the murder? Would it be possible for him to
throw any light upon it and save Everett? If I really thought so? But
no, the hypothesis is too wild."

Dr. Rumsey turned again to his book. He was preparing a lecture of some
importance. As he read he made many notes. The sleeper in the distant
part of the room slept on calmly--the night gradually wore itself
away--the fire smouldered in the grate.

"If this night passes without any peculiar manifestation on Awdrey's
part, I shall begin to feel assured that the wife has overstated the
case," thought the doctor. He bent forward as this thought came to him
to replenish the fire. In the act of doing so he made a slight noise.
Whether this noise disturbed the sleeper or not no one can say--Awdrey
abruptly turned in bed, opened his eyes, uttered a heavy groan, and then
sat up.

"There it is again," he cried. "Margaret, are you there?--Margaret, come
here."

Dr. Rumsey immediately approached the bed.

"Your wife is not in the room, Awdrey," he said--"you remember, don't
you, that you are passing the night with me."

Awdrey rubbed his eyes--he took no notice of Dr. Rumsey's words. He
stared straight before him in the direction of one of the windows.

"There it is," he said, "the usual thing--the globe of light and the
picture in the middle. There lies the murdered man on his back. Yes,
that is the bit of the Plain that I know so well--the moon drifts behind
the clouds--now it shines out, and I see the face of the murdered
man--but the murderer, who is he? Why will he keep his back to me? Good
God! why can't I see his face? Look, can't you see for yourself?
Margaret, can't you see?--do you notice the stick in his hand?--it is my
stick--and--the scoundrel, he wears my clothes. Yes, those clothes are
mine. My God, what does this mean?"




CHAPTER XIII.


"Come, Awdrey, wake up, you don't know what you are talking about," said
the doctor. He grasped his patient firmly by one arm, and shook him
slightly. The dazed and stricken man gazed at the doctor in
astonishment.

"Where am I, and what is the matter?" he asked.

"You are spending the night in my house, and have just had a bad dream,"
said Dr. Rumsey. "Don't go back to bed just yet. Come and sit by the
fire for a few minutes."

As the doctor spoke, he put a warm padded dressing-gown of his own over
his shivering and cowed-looking patient.

Awdrey wrapped himself in it, and approached the fire. Dr. Rumsey drew a
chair forward. He noticed the shaking hands, thin almost to emaciation,
the sunken cheeks, the glazed expression of the eyes, the look of age
and mental irritation which characterized the face.

"Poor fellow? no wonder that he should be simply slipping out of life if
this kind of thing continues night after night," thought the doctor.
"What is to be done with him? His is one of the cases which baffle
Science. Well, at least, he wants heaps of nourishment to enable him to
bear up. I'll go downstairs and prepare a meal for him."

He spoke aloud.

"You shiver, Awdrey, are you cold?"

"Not very," replied Awdrey, trying to smile, although his lips
chattered. He looked into the fire, and held out one hand to the
grateful blaze.

"You'll feel much better after you have taken a prescription which I
mean to make up for you. I'll go and prepare it now. Do you mind being
left alone?"

"Certainly not. Why should I?"

"He has already forgotten his terrors," thought Dr. Rumsey. "Queer case,
incomprehensible. I never met one like it before. In these days, it is
true, one comes across all forms of psychological distress. Nothing now
ought to be new or startling to medical science, but this certainly is
marvellous."

The doctor speedily returned with a plate of cold meat, some bread and
butter, and a bottle of champagne.

"As we are both spending the night other than it should be spent," he
said, "we must have nourishment. I am going to eat, will you join me?"

"I feel hungry," answered Awdrey. "I should be glad of something."

The doctor fed him as though he were an infant. He drank off two glasses
of champagne, and then the color returned to his cheeks, and some
animation to his sunken eyes.

"You look better," said the doctor. "Now, you will get back to bed,
won't you? After that champagne a good sleep will put some mettle into
you. It is not yet four o'clock. You have several hours to devote to
slumber."

The moment Rumsey began to speak, Awdrey's eyes dilated.

"I remember something," he said.

"I dare say you do--many things--what are you specially alluding to?"

"I saw something a short time ago in this room. The memory of it comes
dimly back to me. I struggle to grasp it fully. Is your house said to be
haunted, Dr. Rumsey?"

Dr. Rumsey laughed.

"Not that I am aware of," he replied.

"Well, haunted or not, I saw something." Awdrey rose slowly as he
spoke--he pointed in the direction of the farthest window.

"I was sleeping soundly but suddenly found myself broad awake," he
began--"I saw over there"--he pointed with his hand to the farthest
window, "what looked like a perfect sphere or globe of light--in the
centre of this light was a picture. I see the whole thing now in
imagination, but the picture is dim--it worries me, I want to see it
better. No, I will not get back to bed."

"You had a bad dream and are beginning to remember it," said Rumsey.

"It was not a dream at all. I was wide awake. Stay--don't question
me--my memory becomes more vivid instant by instant. I was wide awake as
I said--I got up--I approached the thing. It never swerved from the one
position--it was there by the window--a sphere of light and the picture
in the middle. There were two men in the picture."

"A nightmare, a nightmare," said the doctor. "What did you eat for
dinner last night?"

"It was not an ordinary nightmare--my memory is now quite vivid. I
recall the whole vision. I saw a picture of something that happened.
Years ago, Dr. Rumsey--over five years ago now--there was a murder
committed on the Plain near my place. Two men, undergraduates of Oxford,
were staying at our village inn--they fought about a girl with whom they
were both in love. One man killed the other. The murder was committed in
a moment of strong provocation and the murderer only got penal
servitude. He is serving his time now. It seems strange, does it not,
that I should have seen a complete picture of the murder! The whole
thing was very vivid and distinct--it has, in short, burnt itself into
my brain."

Awdrey raised his hand as he spoke and pressed it to his forehead. "My
pulse is bounding just here," he said--he touched his temple. "I have
only to shut my eyes to see in imagination what I saw in reality half an
hour ago. Why should I be worried with a picture of a murder committed
five years ago?"

"It probably made a deep impression on you at the time," said Dr.
Rumsey. "You are now weak and your nerves much out of order--your brain
has simply reverted back to it. If I were you I would only think of it
as an ordinary nightmare. Pray let me persuade you to go back to bed."

"I could not--I am stricken by the most indescribable terror."

"Nonsense! You a man!"

"You may heap what opprobrium you like on me, but I cannot deny the
fact. I am full of cowardly terror. I cannot account for my sensations.
The essence of my torture lies in the fact that I am unable to see the
face of the man who committed the murder."

"Oh, come, why should you see his face--you know who he was?"

"That's just it, doctor. I wish to God I did know." Awdrey approached
close to Dr. Rumsey, and stared into his eyes. His own eyes were queer
and glittering. He seemed instinctively to feel that he had said too
much, for he drew back a step, putting his hand again to his forehead
and staring fixedly out into vacancy.

"You believe that I am talking nonsense," he said, after a pause.

"I believe that you are a sad victim to your own nervous fears. You need
not go to bed unless you like. Dress yourself and sit here by the fire.
You will very likely fall asleep in this arm-chair. I shall remain close
to you."

"You are really good to me, and I would thank you if I were capable of
gratitude. Yes, I'll get into my clothes."

Rumsey turned on the electric light, and Awdrey with trembling fingers
dressed himself. When he came back to his easy-chair by the warm fire he
said suddenly:

"Give me a sheet of paper and a pencil, will you?"

The doctor handed him a blank sheet from his own note-paper, and
furnished him with a pencil.

"Now I will sketch what I saw for you," he said.

He drew with bold touches a broad sphere of light. In the centre was a
picture, minute but faithful.

At one time Awdrey had been fond of dabbling in art. He sketched a night
scene now, with broad effects--a single bar of moonlight lit up
everything with vivid distinctness. A man lay on the ground stretched
out flat and motionless--another man bent over him in a queer
attitude--he held a stick in his hand--he was tall and slender--there
was a certain look about his figure! Awdrey dropped his pencil and
stared furtively with eyes dilated with horror at his own production.
Then he put his sketch face downward on the table, and turned a white
and indescribably perplexed countenance to Dr. Rumsey.

"What I have drawn is not worth looking at," he said, simulating a yawn
as he spoke. "After all I cannot quite reproduce what I saw. I believe I
shall doze off in this chair."

"Do so," said the doctor.

A few minutes later, when the patient was sound asleep, Dr. Rumsey
lifted the paper on which Awdrey had made his sketch. He looked fixedly
at the vividly worked-up picture.

"The man whose back is alone visible has an unmistakable likeness to
Awdrey," he muttered. "Poor fellow, what does this mean!--diseased
nerves of course. The next thing he will say is that he committed the
murder himself. He certainly needs immediate treatment. But what to do
is the puzzle."




CHAPTER XIV.


When he awoke Awdrey felt much better. He expressed surprise at finding
himself sitting up instead of in bed, and Rumsey saw that he had once
more completely forgotten the occurrence of the night. The doctor
resolved that he should not see the sketch he had made--he put it
carefully away therefore in one of his own private drawers, for he knew
that it might possibly be useful later on. At the present moment the
patient was better without it.

The two men breakfasted together, and then Rumsey spoke.

"Now," he said, "I won't conceal the truth from you. I watched you last
night with great anxiety--I am glad I sat up with you, for I am now able
to make a fairly correct diagnosis of your case. You are certainly very
far from well--you are in a sort of condition when a very little more
might overbalance your mind. I tell you this because I think it best for
you to know the exact truth--at the same time pray do not be seriously
alarmed, there is nothing as yet in your case to prevent you from
completely recovering your mental equilibrium, but, in my opinion, to do
so you must have complete change of air and absolutely fresh
surroundings. I recommend therefore that you go away from home
immediately. Do not take your child nor yet your wife with you. If you
commission me to do so, I can get you a companion in the shape of a
clever young doctor who will never intrude his medical knowledge on you,
but yet will be at hand to advise you in case the state of your nerves
requires such interference. I shall put him in possession of one or two
facts with regard to your nervous condition, but will not tell him too
much. Make up your mind to go away at once, Awdrey, within the week if
possible. Start with a sea voyage--I should recommend to the Cape. The
soothing influence of the sea on nerves like yours could not but be
highly beneficial. Take a sea voyage--to the Cape by preference, but
anywhere. It does not greatly matter where you go. The winter is on us,
don't spend it in England. Keep moving about from one place to another.
Don't over-fatigue yourself in any way, but at the same time allow heaps
of fresh impressions to filter slowly through your brain. They will have
a healthy and salutary effect. It is my opinion that by slow but sure
degrees, if you fully take my advice in this matter, you will forget
what now assumes the aspect of monomania. In short, you will forget
yourself, and other lives and other interests mingling with yours will
give you the necessary health and cure. I must ask you to leave me now,
for it is the hour when my patients arrive for consultation, but I will
call round at your house late this evening. Do you consent to my scheme?

"I must take a day to think it over--this kind of thing cannot be
planned in a hurry."

"In your case it can and ought to be. You have heaps of money, which is,
as a rule, the main difficulty. Go home to your wife, tell her at once
what I recommend. This is Wednesday, you ought to be out of London on
Saturday. Well, my dear fellow, if you have not sufficient energy to
carry out what I consider essential to your recovery, some one else must
have energy in your behalf and simply take you away. Good-by--good-by."

Awdrey shook hands with the doctor and slowly left the house. When he
had gone a dozen yards down the street he had almost forgotten the
prescription which had been given to him. He had a dull sort of wish,
which scarcely amounted to a wish in his mind, to reach home in time to
take little Arthur for his morning walk. Beyond that faint desire he had
no longing of any sort.

He had nearly reached his own house when he was conscious of footsteps
hurrying after him. Presently they reached his side, and he heard the
hurried panting of quickened breath. He turned round with a vague sort
of wonder to see who had dared to come up and accost him in this way. To
his surprise he saw that the intruder was a woman. She was dressed in
the plain ungarnished style of the country. She wore an old-fashioned
and somewhat seedy jacket which reached down to her knees, her dress
below was of a faded summer tint, and thin in quality. Her hat was
trimmed with rusty velvet, she wore a veil which only reached half way
down her face. Her whole appearance was odd, and out of keeping with her
surroundings.

"Mr. Awdrey, you don't know me?" she cried, in a panting voice.

"Yes, I do," said Awdrey. He stopped in his walk and stared at her.

"Is it possible," he continued, "that you are little Hetty Armitage?"

"I was, sir, I ain't now; I'm Hetty Vincent now. I ventured up to town
unbeknown to any one to see you, Mr. Awdrey. It is of the greatest
importance that I should have a word with you, sir. Can you give me a
few minutes all alone?"

"Certainly I can, Hetty," replied Awdrey, in a kind voice. A good deal
of his old gentleness and graciousness of manner returned at sight of
Hetty. He overlooked her ugly attire--in short, he did not see it. She
recalled old times to him--gay old times before he had known sorrow or
trouble. She belonged to his own village, to his own people. He was
conscious of a grateful sense of refreshment at meeting her again.

"You shall come home with me," he said. "My wife will be glad to welcome
you. How are all the old folks at Grandcourt?"

"I believe they are well, sir, but I have not been to Grandcourt lately.
My husband's farm is three miles from the village. Mr. Robert," dropping
her voice, "I cannot go home with you. It would be dangerous if I were
to be seen at your house."

"Dangerous!" said Awdrey in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"What I say, sir; I must not be seen talking to you. On no account must
we two be seen together. I have come up to London unbeknown to anybody,
because it is necessary for me to tell you something, and to ask you--to
ask you--Oh, my God!" continued Hetty, raising her eyes skyward as she
spoke, "how am I to tell him?"

She turned white to her lips now; she trembled from head to foot.

"Sir," she continued, "there's some one who suspects."

"Suspects?" said Awdrey, knitting his brows, "Suspects what? What have
suspicious people to do with me? You puzzle me very much by this
extraordinary talk. Are you quite well yourself? I recall now that you
always were a mysterious little thing; but you are greatly changed,
Hetty." He turned and gave her a long look.

"I know I am, sir, but that don't matter now. I did not run this risk to
talk about myself. Mr. Robert, there's one living who suspects."

"Come home with me and tell me there," said Awdrey--he was conscious of
a feeling of irritation, otherwise Hetty's queer words aroused no
emotion of any sort within him.

"I cannot go home with you, sir--I came up to London at risk to myself
in order to warn you."

"Of what--of whom?"

"Of Mrs. Everett, sir."

"Mrs. Everett! my wife's friend!--you must have taken leave of your
sense. See, we are close to the Green Park; if you won't come to my
house, let us go there. Then you can tell me quickly what you want to
say."

Awdrey motioned to Hetty to follow him. They crossed the road near Hyde
Park Corner, and soon afterward were in the shelter of the Green Park.

"Now, speak out," said the Squire. "I cannot stay long with you, as I
want to take my little son for his customary walk. What extraordinary
thing have you to tell me about Mrs. Everett?"

"Mr. Robert, you may choose to make light of, but in your heart ...
there, I'll tell you everything. Mrs. Everett was down at Grandcourt
lately--she was stopping at uncle's inn in the village. She walked out
one day to the Plain--by ill-luck she met me on her road. She got me to
show her the place where the murder was committed. I stood just by the
clump of elders where--but of course you have forgotten, sir. Mrs.
Everett stood with me, and I showed her the very spot. I described the
scene to her, and showed her just where the two men fought together."

The memory of his dream came back to Awdrey. He was very quiet now--his
brain was quite alert.

"Go on, Hetty," he said. "Do you know this interests me vastly. I have
been troubled lately with visions of that queer murder. Only last night
I had one. Now why should such visions come to one who knows nothing
whatever about it?"

"Well, sir, they do say----"

"What?"

"It is the old proverb," muttered Hetty. "'Murder will out.'"

"I know the proverb, but I don't understand your application," replied
Awdrey, but he looked thoughtful. "If you were troubled with these bad
visions or dreams I should not be surprised," he continued, "for you
really witnessed the thing. By the way, as you are here, perhaps you can
help me. I lost my stick at the time of the murder, and never found it
since. I would give a good deal to find it. What is that you say?"

"You'll never find it, sir. Thank the good God above, you'll never find
it."

"I am glad that you recognize the loss not to be a trifle. Most people
laugh when I speak of anything so trivial as a stick. You say I shall
never find it again--perhaps so. The forgetting it so completely
troubles me, however. Hetty, I had a bad dream last night--no, it was
not really a dream, it was a vision. I saw that murder--I witnessed the
whole thing. I saw the dead man, and I saw the back of the man who
committed the murder. I tried hard, but I could not get a glimpse of his
face. I wanted to see his face badly. What is the matter, girl? How
white you look."

"Don't say another word, sir. I have borne much for you and for your
people, but there are limits, and if you say another word, I shall lose
my self-control."

"I am sorry my talk has such an effect upon you, Hetty. You don't look
too happy, my little girl. Your face is old--I hope your husband is good
to you."

"He is as good as I deserve, Mr. Awdrey. I never had any love to give
him--he knew that from the first. He married me five years ago because I
was pretty, and Aunt Fanny thought I'd best be married--she thought it
would make things safer--but it is a mistake to marry when your heart is
given to another."

"Ah yes, poor Frere--you were in love with him, were you not?"

"No, sir, that I was not."

"I forgot--it was with Everett--poor girl, no wonder you look old."

Awdrey gave Hetty a weary glance--his attention was already beginning to
flag.

"It was not with Mr. Everett," whispered Hetty in a low tone which
thrilled with passion.

Awdrey took no notice. His apathy calmed her, and saved her from making
a terrible avowal.

"I'll just tell you what I came to say and then leave you, sir," she
said in a broken voice. "It is all about Mrs. Everett. She stood with me
close to the alders, and I described the scene of the murder and how it
took place, and all of a sudden she looked me in the eyes and said
something. She said that Mr. Horace Frere was the man who was
murdered--but the man who committed the murder was not her son, Mr.
Everett. She spoke in an awful sort of voice, and said she knew the
truth--she knew that her son was innocent. Oh, sir, I got so awfully
frightened--I nearly let the truth out."

"You nearly let the truth out--the truth? What do you mean?"

"Mr. Robert, is it possible that you do not know?"

"I only know what all the rest of the world knows--that Everett is
guilty."

"I see, sir, that you still hold to that, and I am glad of it, but Mrs.
Everett is the sort of woman to frighten a body. Her eyes seem to pierce
right down to your very heart--they seem to read your secret. Mr.
Awdrey, will you do what I ask you? Will you leave England for a bit? It
would be dreadful for me to have done all that I have done and to find
it useless in the end."

Whatever reply Awdrey might have made to this appeal was never uttered.
His attention was at this moment effectually turned into another
channel. He saw Mrs. Everett, his wife, and boy coming to meet him. The
boy, a splendid little fellow with rosy cheeks and vigorous limbs, ran
down the path with a glad cry to fling himself into his father's arms.
He was a princely looking boy, a worthy scion of the old race. Awdrey,
absorbed with his son, took no notice of Hetty. Unperceived by him she
slipped down a side path and was lost to view.

"Dad," cried the child, in a voice of rapture.

Margaret and Mrs. Everett came up to the pair.

"I hope you are better, Robert," said his wife.

"I suppose I am," he answered. "I had a fairly good night. How well
Arthur looks this morning."

"Poor little boy, he was fretting to come to meet you," said Mrs.
Awdrey.

Awdrey turned to speak to Mrs. Everett. There was a good deal of color
in her cheeks, and her dark eyes looked brighter and more piercing than
ever.

"Forgive me," she said, "for interrupting this conversation. I want to
ask you a question. Mr. Awdrey, I saw you walking just now with a woman.
Who was she?"

Awdrey laughed.

"Why, she has gone," he said, glancing round. "Who do you think my
companion was?" he continued, glancing at Margaret. "None other than an
old acquaintance--pretty little Hetty Armitage. She has some other name
now, but I forget what it is. She said she came up to town on purpose to
see me, but I could not induce her to come to the house. What is the
matter, Mrs. Everett?"

"I should like to see Hetty Armitage. Did she give you her address?"

"No, I did not ask her. I wonder why she hurried off so quickly; but she
seemed in a queer, excitable state. I don't believe she is well."

"I want to see her again," continued Mrs. Everett. "I may as well say
frankly that I am fully convinced there is something queer about that
woman--a very little more and I should put a detective on her track. I
suspect her. If ever a woman carried a guilty secret she does."

"Oh, come," said Margaret, "you must not allow your prejudices to run
away with you. Please remember that Hetty grew up at Grandcourt. My
husband and I have known her almost from her birth."

"A giddy little thing, but wonderfully pretty," said Awdrey.

"Well, never mind about her now," interrupted Margaret, a slight touch
of impatience in her manner. "Please, Robert, tell me exactly what Dr.
Rumsey ordered for you."

"Nothing very alarming," he replied; "the doctor thinks my nerves want
tone. No doubt they do, although I feel wonderfully better this morning.
He said something about my leaving England for a time and taking a sea
voyage. I believe he intends to call round this evening to talk over the
scheme. Now, little man, are you ready for your walk?"

"Yes," said the child. He stamped his sturdy feet with impatience.
Awdrey took his hand and the two went off in the direction of the
Serpentine. Mrs. Everett and Margaret followed slowly in the background.

Awdrey remained out for some time with the boy. The day, which had begun
by being mild and spring-like, suddenly changed its character. The wind
blew strongly from the north--soon it rose to a gale. Piles of black
clouds came up over the horizon and covered the sky, then heavy sleet
showers poured down with biting intensity. Awdrey and the child were
quite in the open when they were caught by one of these, and before they
could reach any shelter they were wet through. They hurried into the
first hansom they met, but not before the mischief was done. Awdrey took
a chill, and before the evening was over he was shivering violently,
huddled up close to the fire. The boy, whose lungs were his weak point,
seemed, however, to have escaped without any serious result--he went to
bed in his usual high spirits, but his mother thought his pretty baby
voice sounded a little hoarse. Early the next morning the nurse called
her up; the child had been disturbed in the night by the hoarseness and
a croupy sensation in his throat; his eyes were now very bright and he
was feverish. The nurse said she did not like the look of the little
fellow; he seemed to find it difficult to breathe, and he was altogether
very unlike himself.

"I'll send a messenger immediately for Dr. Rumsey," said Margaret.

She returned to her bedroom and awoke her husband, who was in a heavy
sleep. At Margaret's first words he started up keen and interested.

"What are you saying, Maggie? The boy--little Arthur--ill?"

"Yes, he seems very ill; I do not like his look at all," she replied.
"It is I know, very early, but I think I'll send a messenger round at
once to ask Dr. Rumsey to call."

"We ought not to lose a minute," said Awdrey. "I'll go for him myself."

"You!" she exclaimed in surprise. "But do you feel well enough?"

"Of course I do, there's nothing the matter with me."

He sprang out of bed, and rushed off to his dressing-room, hastily put
on his clothes, and then went out. As he ran quickly downstairs Margaret
detected an almost forgotten quality in his steps.

"Why, he is awake again," she cried. "How strange that this trouble
about the child should have power to give him back his old vigorous
health!"

Rumsey quickly obeyed Awdrey's summons, and before eight o'clock that
morning he was bending over the sick child's cot.

It needed but a keen glance and an application of the stethoscope to
tell the doctor that there was grave mischief at work.

"It is a pity I was not sent for last night," he said. Then he moved
away from the cot, where the bright eyes of the sick baby were fixing
him with a too penetrating stare.

He walked across the large nursery. Awdrey followed him.

"The child is very ill," said the doctor.

"What do you mean?" replied Awdrey. "Very ill--do you infer that the
child is in danger?"

"Yes, Awdrey, he is undoubtedly in danger. Double pneumonia has set in.
Such a complaint at his tender age cannot but mean very grave danger. I
only hope we may pull him through."

"We must pull him through, doctor. Margaret," continued her husband, his
face was white as death, "Dr. Rumsey says that the child is in danger."

"Yes," answered Margaret. She was as quiet in her manner as he was
excited and troubled. She laid her hand now with great tenderness on his
arm. The touch was meant to soothe him, and to assure him of her
sympathy. Then she turned her eyes to fix them on the doctor.

"I know you will do what you can," she said. There was suppressed
passion in her words.

"Rest assured I will," he answered.

"Of course," cried Awdrey. "Listen to me, Dr. Rumsey, not a stone must
be left unturned to pull the child through. You know what his life means
to us--to his mother and me. We cannot possibly spare him--he must be
saved. Had we not better get other advice immediately?"

"It is not necessary, but you must please yourselves," answered Rumsey.
"I am not a specialist as regards lung affections, although this case is
perfectly straightforward. If you wish to have a specialist I shall be
very glad to consult with Edward Cowley."

"What is his address? I'll go for him at once," said Awdrey.

Dr. Rumsey sat down, wrote a short note and gave it to Awdrey, who
hurried off with it.

Dr. Rumsey looked at Mrs. Awdrey after her husband had left the room.

"It is marvellous," he said, "what a change for the better this illness
has made in your husband's condition."

Her eyes filled slowly with tears.

"Is his health to be won back at such a price?" she asked--she turned
once again to the sick child's bed.

"God grant not," said the doctor--"rest satisfied that what man can do
to save him I will do."

"I know that," she replied.

In an hour's time the specialist arrived and the two doctors had their
consultation. Certain remedies were prescribed, and Dr. Rumsey hurried
away promising to send in two trained nurses immediately. He came back
again himself at noon to find the boy, as he expected, much worse. The
child was now delirious. All during that long dreadful day the fever
rose and rose. The whole aspect of the house in Seymour Street was
altered. There were hushed steps, anxious faces, whispered
consultations. As the hours flew by the prognostications of the medical
men became graver and graver. Margaret gave up hope as the evening
approached. She knew that the little life could not long stand the
strain of that all-consuming fever. Awdrey alone was full of bustle,
excitement, and confidence.

"The child will and must recover," he said to his wife several times.
When the night began Dr. Rumsey resolved not to leave the child.

"A man like Rumsey must save him," cried the f

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