"At the inquest it was not mentioned, I think, that he had been seen in the village?"
"It was not," I admitted. "Most of the people were at Colonel Ray"s lecture. He spoke to one girl, a Miss Moyat."
"She did not give evidence."
"I thought," I said in a low tone, "that she had better not."
"Did you hear anything after Ray left?" he asked suddenly.
I could have cried out, but my tongue seemed dry in my throat.
"There was a sound," I muttered, "I fancied that it was a cry. But I could not tell. The wind was blowing, and the sea and rain! No, I could not tell."
He rose up.
"You appear," he said drily, "to have discretion. Cultivate it! It is a great gift. I shall look for you at eleven o"clock in the morning. I am having a large house party this week, and amongst them will be our friends."
He left me without any further farewell, and turned slowly homewards.
When he reached the bend in the road he paused, and remained there for several moments motionless. His eyes were fixed upon the small creek.
He seemed to be measuring the distance between it and the road. He was still lingering there when I closed the door.
CHAPTER IX
TREACHERY
The sunlight was streaming through the window when at last my pen ceased to move. I rubbed my eyes and looked out in momentary amazement.
Morning had already broken across the sea. My green-shaded lamp was burning with a sickly light. The moon had turned pale and colourless whilst I sat at my desk.
I stretched myself and, lighting a cigarette, commenced to collect my papers. Immediately a dark figure rose from a couch in the farther corner of the room and approached me.
"Can I get you anything, sir?"
I turned in my chair. The man-servant whom the Duke had put in charge of the "Brand," my present habitation, and who remained with me always in the room while I worked, stood at my elbow.
"I would like some coffee, Grooton," I said. "I am going to walk up to the house with these papers, and I shall want a bath and some breakfast directly I get back."
"Very good, sir. It shall be ready."
I folded up the sheets and maps, and placing them in an oilskin case, tied them round my body under my waistcoat. Then I withdrew all the cartridges save one from the revolver which had lain all night within easy reach of my right hand, and slipped it into my pocket.
"Coffee ready, Grooton?"
"In one moment, sir."
I watched him bending over the stove, pale, dark-visaged, with the subdued manners and voice which mark the aristocracy of servitude. My employer"s confidence in him must be immense, for while he watched over me I was practically in his power.
"Have you been long with the Duke, Grooton?" I asked him.
"Twenty-one years, sir. I left his Grace to go to Lord Chelsford, who found me some work in London."
"Secret service work, wasn"t it, Grooton?"
"Yes, sir."
"Interesting?"
"Some parts of it very interesting, sir."
I nodded and drank my coffee. Grooton was watching me with an air of respectful interest.
"You will pardon my remarking it, sir, but I hope you will try and get some sleep during the day. You are very pale this morning, sir."
I looked at the gla.s.s, and was startled at my own reflection. This was only my third day, and the responsibilities of my work were heavy upon me. My cheeks were sunken and there were black rings around my eyes.
"I will lie down when I come back, Grooton," I answered.
Outside, the fresh morning wind came like a sudden sweet tonic to my jaded nerves. I paused for a moment to face bareheaded the rush of it from the sea. As I stood there, drinking it in, I became suddenly aware of light approaching footsteps. Some one was coming towards the cottage from the Park.
I did not immediately turn my head, but every nerve in my body seemed to stiffen into quivering curiosity.
The pathway was a private one leading from the house only to the "Brand," and down the cliff to Braster. It was barely seven o"clock, and the footsteps were no labouring man"s. I think that I knew very well who it was that came so softly down the cone-strewn path.
We faced one another with little of the mask of surprise. She came like a shadow, flitting between the slender tree trunks out into the sunshine, where for a moment she seemed wan and white. Her dark eyes flashed a greeting at me. I stood cap in hand before her. It was the first time we had met since I had taken up my abode at the "Brand."
"Good-morning, Mr. Ducaine," she said. "You need not look at me as though I were a ghost. I always walk before breakfast in the country."
"There is no better time," I answered.
"You look as though you had been up all night," she remarked.
"I had work to finish," I told her.
She nodded.
"So you would have none of my advice, Mr. Secretary," she said softly, coming a little nearer to me. "You are already installed."
"Already at work," I a.s.serted.
She glanced towards the "Brand."
"I hope that you are comfortable," she said. "A couple of hours is short notice in which to make a place habitable."
"Grooton is a magician," I told her. "He has arranged everything."
"He is a wonderful servant," she said thoughtfully.