"I"ve heard one or two strange rumours--that"s all."
I was torn by conflicting desires: the desire not to meet his lordship beneath that roof, and the all-impelling desire to be afforded an opportunity of more intimate friendship with that sweet, sad-hearted woman whom I adored.
Fred Fenwicke was just as interested in the strange circ.u.mstances as we were, and promised at once to do all in his power to a.s.sist us. I knew him to be a man of sterling worth, whose word was his bond, and whose friendship was true and continuous. Equally with Walter Wyman, he was my best friend, and, with the exception of keeping back the fact that I loved Lady Judith, I was perfectly frank with him, telling him the suggestion that had crossed my mind--namely, that it would perhaps be as well if I left Crailloch before his lordship"s arrival.
"Why?" asked the Major at once. "Does he know that you are making this search?"
"I suppose he does," Wyman replied. "He evidently knows that The Closed Book has been in Allan"s hands, and that he has deciphered it."
Fred remained thoughtful for a moment, then said:
"But it may be that he"s coming here with the same object as yourself-- to see Threave and make investigations. If that"s so, I"d go over to Castle-Douglas, and stay at the `Douglas Arms"--a very comfortable hotel. You"d then be right on the spot."
"Yes," I said; "that"s what we will do. And, meanwhile, you will watch his lordship"s movements for us, won"t you?"
"Of course," laughed Fred, now entering thoroughly into the spirit of the thing, for the excitement of a treasure hunt appealed to his vigorous nature.
Our plans were, however, quickly doomed to failure; for next morning, at breakfast, Fred announced to us that Lord Glenelg had written from Edinburgh to say that urgent family affairs called him to Paris, and that, consequently, neither he nor his daughter could come to Crailloch just at present.
The very wording of the letter, which he read to those at his end of the table, was to us suspicious, that his lordship had learned that we were Fred Fenwicke"s guests, and on that account feared to come. This idea I put later to Fred himself, and he entirely coincided with my opinion.
"They"re mysterious, very mysterious, old fellow," he said. "I don"t half like the idea of those people you told me about--the hunchback and the other fellow--who are behind them. Yet, on the other hand, Lord Glenelg is a man well known, with a very high reputation when he was in Parliament, ten years ago. He was an Under-Secretary, if I recollect aright."
"But what is their game, do you think?"
"Their game at Crowland was to find the hidden treasure of the abbey,"
he answered, "and they may probably try the same thing at Threave."
"That"s exactly what we"ve feared," chimed in Walter. "I believe they are in possession of some further fact, of which we know nothing.
There"s a conspiracy against Allan, too, the nature of which we are at present in ignorance."
"But why?" I asked, recollecting all the curious events of the past, and remembering my conversation with that strange woman in black who had so ingeniously stolen the Arnoldus.
Wyman shrugged his shoulders, saying:
"It is never any good inquiring into the motives of either man or woman.
The cleverest man can never gauge them accurately."
"Well," remarked Fred Fenwicke, "the move in this case is undoubtedly the recovery of the treasure."
"But the treasure, if it exists, is mine!" I said. "I purchased the book and deciphered the secret. Therefore I may surely make investigations with profit to myself?"
"You may make investigations, but without profit, I fear, so far as Threave is concerned," was Fred"s calm reply.
"I don"t understand you," I said. "The book was offered to me at a fair price, and I purchased it. Whatever I found within I may surely use to my own advantage?"
"Observing, of course, the law of treasure-trove," was my host"s remark.
"Of course."
"Then whatever you find must either go to the Crown or to the lord of the manor."
"You mean Colonel Maitland?"
"No, I mean Lord Glenelg," my friend said.
"Why Lord Glenelg?" I demanded quickly.
"Because, according to the _Glasgow Herald_ this morning, he has purchased both the island and castle from Colonel Maitland, so, whatever is found on that property undoubtedly belongs to him."
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
WILL THE SUN SHINE?
Fred took from his study table the _Glasgow Herald_ of that morning, and there, sure enough, was a paragraph stating that the Earl of Glenelg had purchased the historic castle of Threave, together with the islands, from the laird, Colonel Maitland. The Gordons had been connected with the property since the seventeenth century, it was stated, hence the purchase by the Earl.
"Curiously enough," observed Fred Fenwicke, "Maitland"s solicitors are my own: Burton, Brooks, and Co, of Union Street, Glasgow. From them I could get to hear the actual situation."
"Wire them in the morning, and ask if the property is really sold. The papers often get hold of news of that sort prematurely," I said, clutching eagerly at the last straw, for our enemies had certainly forestalled us by this purchase, which, if actually effected, upset all our plans. If Lord Glenelg had paid for the property then the Borgia emeralds could never be ours.
Fred proposed to wire, and at noon that day Wyman and I were in the express travelling towards Euston.
For some days yet it was impossible to follow the old monk"s directions for the discovery of the spot at Threave; therefore, with the prospect of the Crowland treasure being revealed, we eagerly went on the following day to the British Museum and were closeted with the professor.
"I had no idea that this most interesting doc.u.ment existed," he said, as he sat at his table and unfolded to our gaze a dark old parchment, whereon was a large but rather roughly drawn plan, very similar in style to those in The Closed Book.
"You will see here," he said, pointing to an inscription in a small Gothic hand underneath, "that it was prepared by Richard Fosd.y.k.e, the celebrated architect, by the order of John Welles, the last abbot. From the difference in the drawing on the north side, it was apparently intended to make certain additions to the monastery buildings; but having compared it with the ground plan of the present ruins, it is proved that the abbey was dissolved before the work was carried out."
"It is the exact positions of the fish ponds that we are very desirous of ascertaining," I said. "What is your opinion?"
"There can be but one. They are here," and he pointed to two squares drawn at some distance at the north-east of the abbey church, and in an exactly opposite direction to the written record of old G.o.dfrey. "This square of buildings enclosed the cloister court," the expert went on, "and here you see is the chapter house, the refectory, and the mausoleum, all of which have now disappeared."
Then he took out a plan of the present ruins, and we compared the two carefully, being surprised at the wide ramifications of the original abbey and the extent of the outbuildings.
I inquired if it were possible to have a tracing of it, when our friend the professor took from a drawer a large sheet of tracing-paper upon which he had already had a copy made. This he gave to me, expressing pleasure that he had been of any service to us in our investigations.
"I am myself intensely interested in the work you have undertaken," he said. "If you really hold G.o.dfrey Lovel"s Arnoldus then you may, after all, be successful in discovering both the abbey treasures and the Borgia emeralds."
"That is exactly what we are trying to do, but unfortunately we are not alone in it."
"You mean that the Italian hunchback has discovered something?"
"Why, has he been here since my last visit?"
"He was here all day yesterday. He has in his possession some curious plan or other."
My companion suggested that we should go that very evening to Crowland, place the plan before our good friend Mr Mason, and commence investigations in an open and straightforward manner. This course we adopted, and arranged to leave for Peterborough by the Leeds express.