"That was a fad of Courtenay"s, you know. Wherever he went, he"d never be photographed. He was annoyed that day that your father should have taken him unawares. He hated being "done," he said. He"s so handsome and so nice, but he"s not a bit conceited. And he was such a splendid bicyclist! He rode over and back on his bicycle that day, and then ran in all the races as if it were nothing."
A light burst over me at once. This was circ.u.mstantial evidence. The murderer who disappeared as if by magic the moment his crime was committed must have come and gone all unseen, no doubt, on his bicycle. He must have left it under the window till his vile deed was done, and then leapt out upon it in a second and dashed off whence he came like a flash of lightning.
It was a premeditated crime, in that case, not the mere casual result of a sudden quarrel.
I must find out this man now, were it only to relieve my own sense of mystery.
"Minnie," I said once more, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up my courage to ask, "where"s Dr. Ivor now? I mean--that is to say--in what part of Canada?"
Minnie looked at me and laughed.
"There, I told you so!" she said, merrily. "It"s not the least bit of use your pretending you"re not in love with him, Una. Why, just look how you tremble! You"re as white as a ghost! And then you say you don"t care for poor Courtenay! I forget the exact name of the place where he lives, but I"ve got it in my desk, and I can tell you to-morrow.--Oh, yes; it"s Palmyra, on the Canada Pacific. I suppose you want to write to him. Or perhaps you mean to go out and offer yourself bodily."
It was awful having to bottle up the truth in one"s own heart, and to laugh and jest like this; but I endured it somehow.
"No, it"s not that," I said gravely. "I"ve other reasons of my own for asking his address, Minnie. I want to go out there, it"s true; but not because I cherish the faintest pleasing recollection of Dr.
Ivor in any way."
Minnie scanned me over in surprise.
"Well, how you ARE altered, Una!" she cried. "I love you, dear, and like you every bit as much as ever. But you"ve changed so much. I don"t think you"re at all what you used to be. You"re so grave and sombre."
"No wonder, Minnie," I exclaimed, bursting gladly into tears--the excuse was such a relief--"no wonder, when you think how much I"ve pa.s.sed through!"
Minnie flung her arms around my neck, and kissed me over and over again.
"Oh, dear!" she cried, melting. "What have I done? What have I said?
I ought never to have spoken so. It was cruel of me--cruel, Una dear. I shall stop here to-night, and sleep with you."
"Oh, thank you, darling!" I cried. "Minnie, that IS good of you. I"m so awfully glad. For to-morrow I must be thinking of getting ready for Canada."
"Canada!" Minnie exclaimed, alarmed. "You"re not really going to Canada! Oh, Una, you"re joking! You don"t mean to say you"re going out there to find him!"
I took her hand in mine, and held it up in the air above her head solemnly.
"Dear cousin," I said, "I love you. But you must promise me this one thing. Whatever may happen, give me your sacred word of honour you"ll never tell anybody what we"ve said here to-night. You"ll kill me if you do. I don"t want any living soul on earth to know of it."
I spoke so seriously, Minnie felt it was important.
"I promise you," she answered, growing suddenly far graver than her wont. "Oh, Una, I haven"t the faintest idea what you mean, but no torture on earth shall ever wring a word of it from me!"
So I went to bed in her arms, and cried myself to sleep, thinking with my latest breath, in a tremor of horror, that I"d found it at last. Courtenay Ivor was the name of my father"s murderer!
CHAPTER XIV.
MY WELCOME TO CANADA
The voyage across the Atlantic was long and uneventful. No whales, no icebergs, no excitement of any sort. My fellow-pa.s.sengers said it was as dull as it was calm. But as for me, I had plenty to occupy my mind meanwhile. Strange things had happened in the interval, and were happening to me on the way. Strange things, in part, of my own internal history.
For before I left England, as I sat with Aunt Emma in her little drawing-room at Barton-on-the-Sea, discussing my plans and devising routes westward, she made me, quite suddenly, an unexpected confession.
"Una," she said, after a long pause, "you haven"t told me, my dear, why you"re going to Canada. And I don"t want to ask you. I know pretty well. We needn"t touch upon that. You"re going to hunt up some supposed clue to the murderer."
"Perhaps so, Auntie," I said oracularly: "and perhaps not."
For I didn"t want it to get talked about and be put into all the newspapers. And I knew now if I wanted to keep it out, I must first be silent.
Aunt Emma drew nearer and took my hand in hers. At the same time, she held up the other scarred and lacerated palm.
"Do you know when I got that, Una?" she asked with a sudden burst.
"Well, I"ll tell you, my child.... It was the night of your father"s death. And I got it climbing over the wall at The Grange, to escape detection."
My blood ran cold once more. What on earth could this mean? Had Auntie--? But no. I had the evidence of my own senses that it was Courtenay Ivor. I"d tracked him down now. There was no room for doubt. The man on the wagon was the man who fired the shot. I could have sworn to that bent back, of my own knowledge, among a thousand.
I hadn"t long to wait, however. Auntie went on after a short pause.
"I was there," she said, "by accident, trying for once to see you."
I looked at her fixedly still, and still I said nothing.
"I was stopping with friends at the time, ten miles off from Woodbury," Aunt Emma went on, smoothing my hand with hers, "and I longed so to see you. I came over by train that day, and stopped late about the town in hopes I might meet you in the street. But I was disappointed. Towards evening I ventured even to go into the grounds of The Grange, and look about everywhere on the chance that I might see you. Perhaps your father might be out. I went round towards the window, which I now know to be the library. As I went, I saw a bicycle leaning up against the wall by the window. I thought that must be some visitor, but still I went on. But just as I reached the window, I saw a flash of electric light; and by the light, I could make out your father"s head and beard. He looked as if he were talking angrily and loudly to somebody. The window was open. I was afraid to stop longer. In a sudden access of fear, I ran across the shrubbery towards the garden-wall. To tell you the truth, I was horribly frightened. Why, I don"t know; for nothing had happened as yet. I suppose it was just the dusk and the mean sense of intrusion."
She paused and wiped her brow. I sat still, and listened eagerly.
"Presently," she went on, very low, "as I ran and ran, I heard behind me a loud crash--a sound as of a pistol-shot. That terrified me still more. I thought I was being pursued. Perhaps they took me for a burglar. In the agony of my terror, I rushed at the wall in mad haste, and climbed over it anyhow. In climbing, I tore my hand, as you see, and made myself bleed, oh, terribly! However, I persevered, and got down on the other side, with my clothes very little the worse for the scramble. And, fortunately, I was carrying a small light dust-cloak: I put it on at once, and it covered up everything. Then I began to walk along the road as fast as I could in the direction of the station. As I did so, a bicycle shot out from the gate in the opposite direction, going as hard as it could spin, simply flying towards Whittingham. Three minutes later, a man came up to me, breathless. It was the gardener at The Grange, I believe.
""Have you seen anybody go this way?" he asked. "A young man, running hard? A young man in knickerbockers?"
""N--no," I answered, trembling; for I was afraid to confess. "Not a soul has gone past!"
"Of course, I didn"t know of the murder as yet; and I only wanted to get off unperceived to the station.
"I"d bound up my hand in my handkerchief by that time, and held it tight under my cloak. I went back by train unnoticed, and returned to my friends" house. I hadn"t even told them I was going to Woodbury at all. I pretended I"d been spending the day at Whittingham. Next morning, I read in the paper of your father"s murder."
I stared hard at Aunt Emma.
"Why didn"t you tell me this long ago?" I cried, in an agony of suspense. "Why didn"t you give evidence and say so at the inquest?"
"How could I?" Aunt Emma answered, looking back at me appealingly.
"The circ.u.mstances were too suspicious. As it was, everybody was running after the young man in knickerbockers. n.o.body took any notice of a little old lady in a long grey dust-cloak. But if once I"d confessed and shown my wounded hand, who would ever have believed I"d nothing to do with the murder?--except you, perhaps, Una. Oh no: I came back here to my own home as fast as ever I could; for I was really ill. I took to my bed at once. And as n.o.body called me to give evidence at the inquest, I said nothing to anybody."
"But the bicycle!" I cried. "The bicycle! You ought to have mentioned that. You were the only one who saw it. It was a clue to the murderer."
"If I"d told," Aunt Emma answered, "I should never have been allowed to take charge of you at all. I thought my one clear duty was to my sister"s child: it was to take care of your health in your shattered condition. And even now, Una, I tell you only for this: if you find out anything new, in Canada or here, try not to drag me into it. I couldn"t stand the strain. Cross-examination would kill me."