"Servant yourself! Such sauce!" muttered Jane, with an angry toss of her cap at the daring young policeman. "I know nothing. I left my mistress in the parlor writing letters, and never heard anyone come in. The bell didn"t sound anyhow. The first thing I knew that anything was wrong was on hearing the screams. When I looked into the parlor the candles and the lamp were out, and there was a struggle going on in the dark. Then I cried out, very naturally, I"m sure, and ran straight into the arms of these gentlemen, as soon as I could get the front door open."
After delivering this address, Jane was called away to a.s.sist the doctor in the bedroom, and along with Archie and Random the constable repaired to the pink parlor to hear what they had to say. Of course they could tell him even less than Jane had told, and Archie protested that he was quite unable to describe the man who had dashed out of the window.
"Ah," said Painter sapiently, "he got out there; but how did he enter?"
"No doubt by the door," said Random sharply.
"We don"t know that, sir. Jane says she did not hear the bell."
"Mrs. Jasher might have let the man in, whomsoever he was, secretly."
"Why should she, sir?"
"Ah! now you are asking more than I can tell you. Only Mrs. Jasher can explain, and it seems to me that she will die."
Meanwhile, in some mysterious way the news of the crime had spread through the village, and although it was growing late--for it was past ten o"clock--a dozen or so of villagers came along. Also there arrived a number of soldiers under a smart sergeant, and to him Sir Frank explained what had happened. In the fainthearted way--for the mist was now like cotton-wool--the military and the civilians hunted through the marshes round the cottage, hoping to come across the a.s.sa.s.sin hiding in a ditch. Needless to say, they found no one and nothing, for it was worse than looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. The man had come out of the mist, and, after executing the deed, had vanished into the mist, and there was not the very slightest chance of finding him. Gradually, as it drew towards midnight, the soldiers went back to the Fort, and the villagers to their homes. But, along with the doctor and the constable, Hope and his military friend stopped on. They were determined to get at the root of the mystery, and when Mrs. Jasher became sensible she would be able to reveal the truth.
"It"s all of a piece with the sending of the emerald," said Random to the artist, "and that is connected, as we know, with the death of Bolton."
"Do you think that this man who has struck down Mrs. Jasher is the same one who strangled Sidney Bolton?"
"I should think so. Perhaps Mrs. Jasher sent the emerald after all, and this man killed her out of revenge."
"But how would he know that she had the emerald?"
"G.o.d knows! She may have been his accomplice."
Archie knit his brows.
"Who the devil can this mysterious person be?"
"I can only reply as you have done, my friend. G.o.d knows."
"Well, I am certain that G.o.d will not let him escape this time. This will bring Gartley once more into notoriety," went on Hope. "By the way, I saw one of the servants from the Pyramids here. I hope the fool won"t go home and frighten Lucy"s life out of her."
"Go to the Pyramids and see her," suggested Sir Frank. "Mrs. Jasher is still unconscious, and will be for hours, the doctor tells me."
"It is too late to go to the Pyramids, Random."
"If they know of this new tragedy there, I"ll bet they are not in bed."
Hope nodded.
"All the same, I"ll remain here until Mrs. Jasher can speak," he said, and sat smoking with Random in the dining-room, as the most comfortable room in the house.
Constable Painter camped, so to speak, in the drawing-room, keeping guard over the scene of the crime, and had placed the Chinese screen against the broken window to keep out the cold. In the bedroom Jane and Dr. Robinson looked after the dying woman. And dying she was, according to the young physician, for he did not think she would live much longer.
Round the lonely cottage the sea-mist drifted white and thick, and the darkness deepened, until--as the saying goes--it could have been cut with a knife. Never was there so eerie and weary and sinister a vigil.
Towards four o"clock Hope fell into a doze, while resting in an arm-chair; but he was suddenly aroused from this by an exclamation from Sir Frank, who had remained wide awake, smoking cigar after cigar. In a moment the artist was on his feet, alert and quick-brained.
"What is it?"
Random made for the dining-room door rapidly.
"I thought I heard Painter call out," he declared, and hastily sought the parlor, followed by Hope.
The room was empty, but the screen before the broken window had been thrown down, and they could see Painter"s bulky form immediately outside.
"What the deuce is the matter?" demanded Random, entering. "Did you call out, Painter. I fancied I heard something."
The constable came in again.
"I did call out, sir," he confessed. "I was half asleep in that chair, when I suddenly became wide awake, and believed I saw a face looking at me round the corner of the screen. I jumped up, calling for you, sir, and upset the screen."
"Well? well?" demanded Sir Frank impatiently, and seeing that the man hesitated.
"I saw no one, sir. All the same, I had an idea, and I have still, that a man came through the window and peered at me from behind the screen."
"The man who attacked Mrs. Jasher?"
"I can"t say, sir. But there was someone. At any rate he"s gone again, if he really did come, and there is no chance of finding him. It"s like pea-soup outside."
Hope and Random simultaneously stepped through the window, but could not see an inch before them, so thick was the sea-fog and so dense was the darkness. Returning, they replaced the screen, and, telling Painter to be more on the alert, went back shivering to the fire in the dining-room. When they were seated again, Archie put a question.
"Do you think that policeman was dreaming?" he asked meditatively.
"No," replied Random sharply. "I believe that the man who a.s.saulted Mrs.
Jasher is hanging about, and ventured back into the room, relying on the fog as a means of escape, should he be spotted."
"But the man wouldn"t be such a fool as to return into danger."
"Not unless he wanted something very badly," said Random significantly.
Hope let the cigarette he was lighting fall.
"What do you mean?"
"I may be wrong, of course. But it is my impression that there is something in the parlor which this man wants, and for which he tried to murder Mrs. Jasher. We interrupted him, and he was forced to flee.
Hidden in the fog, he is lurking about to see if he can"t obtain what he has risked his neck to secure."
"What can it be?" murmured Archie, struck by the feasibility of this theory.
"Perhaps the second emerald," remarked Sir Frank grimly.
"What! You don"t think that--"
"I don"t think anything. I am too tired to think at all. However, Painter will keep his eyes open, and in the morning we can search the room. The man has been in the house twice to get what he wanted. He won"t risk another attempt, now that he is aware we are on the alert.
I"m going to try and get forty winks. You keep watch, as you have had your sleep."