Presently, when we had satisfied ourselves that in the room was nothing suspicious, I pointed out to my friend that if we remained quietly in the darkness, without speaking, no one would suspect us of being there.
"Now," I added, "I"m going to lie on that bed while you sit in yonder armchair in the corner; you take the torch, and at sign of the slightest movement flash on a light at anything you may see. Don"t hesitate, for--well, perhaps my life may be in danger, like Guy"s. Who knows?"
I had taken from the corner Asta"s small ash walking-stick which she sometimes used when tramping about the country, and with this in my hand I lay down upon the pillow, fully dressed as I was.
Then Cardew, breathless with excitement, switched off the electric light, plunging the room in darkness.
Gradually, when our eyes became used to it, we could distinguish a faint grey light from the window, but it was not sufficient for me to distinguish my friend, seated as he was in the corner with light and weapon ready.
An hour pa.s.sed, but nothing happened. We were waiting there, every nerve strained to the utmost tension, but in vain.
At last a sudden suggestion crossed my mind, and leaving Cardew in the room, with his torch ready, I went next door into Shaw"s room, which was still dark, and, having closed the door, imitated that peculiar whistle of his. Three or four times I whistled, surprised that I could imitate him so exactly. Then I waited, listening intently.
I could hear nothing.
So I crept back again to the bed in Asta"s room, for I think Cardew was now becoming impatient. Then, while lying upon the bed, I cautioned him to be very careful.
"Open your light at the slightest sound, remember."
I held my breath, and could hear my own heart beating in the dead silence. Then after the lapse of a few moments--for we were both listening to the hum of a receding motor-car, and wondering whose it was--I suddenly gave vent to that low, curious whistle.
Once, twice, thrice I repeated it, low and cautious, so that any one pa.s.sing the door might not be attracted by it.
Then I listened again with bated breath.
A few seconds went by--seconds of intense anxiety.
Then, of a sudden, my quick ears caught a curious ticking sound, and next moment a flood of white light fell upon the bedclothes close to my head.
I sprang up with a shriek, for there--close to me--I saw _Something_-- the terrible claw-like Hand!
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
DISCLOSES SHAW"S SECRET.
The Thing was ugly, hairy, and horrible--a huge dark brown tarantula, the size of a man"s palm, which, the instant it was discovered, turned and sped across the bedclothes and disappeared in the darkness.
Cardew had jumped to his feet with a wild, startled e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of horror, having switched on the light, but though we rapidly searched the room high and low, yet nowhere could we find the horrible arachnid. But the secret was out! The revolting hairy thing, which had on that night in Arnay-le-Duc appeared to me like a weird hand, was that huge venomous spider whose bite was as fatal as that of a cobra!
Armed with sticks, Cardew and I groped into every hole and corner of that room, but it had vanished so suddenly that we could not decide in which direction it had gone.
"Well!" gasped my friend, amazed. "By Gad! I never expected that!"
"Neither did I," was my breathless reply. "But the reason of poor Guy"s death is now vividly apparent. He was bitten by that arachnid, which Shaw, in all probability, purposely left in his young friend"s library, prior to returning home on that fatal night. I think I realise the truth!" I cried. "This particular species of lycosa tarantula is, I have read, found in the primeval forests of Peru, and will only attack human beings when they are motionless or asleep. Its bite is most deadly. It causes stupor, followed by coma or paralysis, and the victim rapidly dies. Yet if the mark of its bite be concealed and unsuspected, as it may easily be in the hair, then the symptoms are identical with those of inflammation of the brain--the disease which from poor Guy is supposed to have died!"
"Then you suspect Shaw of having kept the horrible thing as a pet--eh!"
he gasped, staring at me amazed.
"Both as a pet and as an instrument of murder," I replied. "The thing being nocturnal in its habits would, if introduced into a room, remain carefully hidden all day, and only attack the victim at night while he is sleeping. I had a narrow escape while motoring in France with Shaw,"--and then, in a few words, I described my own experience, and also Asta"s previous sight of what had appeared to both of us as a weird, uncanny hand.
"Then this scoundrel Shaw evidently intended that you should die!" he exclaimed. "By Jove! old chap, you have had a narrow escape!"
"Yes. He must have carried his dangerous pet in secret in a box, I suppose. And must have taken it away with him when he fled from Aix."
Then, suddenly recollecting that curious whistle of his, I realised how Shaw had used it in order to recall the great spider.
"Put out the light, Cardew," I said. "Have your torch ready. I have an idea."
"But--" he hesitated, in apprehension.
"Have no fear. We want to see the hideous thing again--and to kill it,"
I said.
The next second the room was once more in darkness, and after a few moments I began to imitate softly that peculiar whistle that I had learnt from Shaw.
Then we waited in breathless silence, not moving a muscle.
Again and again I whistled, but we could hear no movement. The huge spider was, we felt a.s.sured, somewhere in the room, but where we could not discover.
"Switch on the light," I cried at last, and in a second the place became illuminated again, when, to our surprise, halfway down the pink-and-white cretonne curtains at the head of the bed the ugly arachnid, with its long claws, stood revealed and startled at the sudden turning on of the light.
He had crept slowly down from the small canopy above the bed, seeking the place where I had lain.
In an instant he turned to ascend the curtain again, but we were too quick for him, for with two or three sharp cuts with our sticks we brought him down, and he was quickly stretched dead upon the floor.
I went forth boldly to search for Shaw, but could not find him. His room was in disorder, for he had apparently seized some things, packed hurriedly and left.
The car we heard leaving the house while we were in Asta"s bedroom had evidently been his!
He had escaped at the very moment when we had discovered the ingenious means by which he had committed his crimes.
We called the three doctors and showed them the huge dead spider. Then, in a moment, all three agreed that Guy Nicholson had succ.u.mbed to its bite, and examination of poor unconscious Asta"s hair showed plainly where she, too, had been bitten just above the right ear. The trio of medical men stood utterly astounded. No time, however, was lost by Sir George in applying various antidotes and restoratives, and by dawn he came to me with the joyful news that she had taken a turn for the better.
Our knowledge of the real cause of the ailment had only been gained in the very nick of time.
Further examination of the walls of Asta"s room resulted in the amazing discovery that the door of a cupboard in the wall beside the fireplace was warped and when closed left a s.p.a.ce of an inch open at the bottom.
The cupboard was lined inside with wood panelling, and in one panel at the back a tiny trapdoor about four inches square had been cut, so that it could be removed from within the corresponding cupboard which was in Shaw"s room adjoining.
Investigation showed that the cupboard in question was the one secured by those two patent locks, and on breaking it open we found that in it Shaw had kept the venomous spider, for both water and food were there, as well as a thick india-rubber glove which he no doubt used when he wished to handle his hideous pet, and a small wire cage in which it could be carried.
In order to release it into Asta"s room he had only to move the small piece of cut panel in the back of its place of imprisonment, and, glad to escape, the thing would pa.s.s through, as no doubt it had done on the night when my well-beloved had been attacked.
To recall it, Shaw had only to whistle. The spider knew the call.
After the attack upon Asta the scoundrel had evidently lost the reptile in the confusion, and disliking the light it had found refuge on the small cretonne canopy fixed against the ceiling, over the head of the bed.
Knowledge that its bite had not proved fatal, as in Nicholson"s case, and that Asta might recover and describe what she had seen, together with the fact that he had been unable to induce his pet to return to him, had terrified him, and he had escaped.
Quickly I telephoned to the police in Northampton, and very soon two officers came out on bicycles, and to them we made a statement. Then, an hour later, a hue-and-cry was flashed across the wires for the a.s.sa.s.sin"s arrest.