I was near the door of the morning room, and for a second slipped inside and switched on the electric light.
Then I took from my vest pocket the tiny little object I had found and carefully examined it.
My heart stood still. My eyes riveted themselves upon it. The mystery was solved.
I alone knew the truth!
CHAPTER VII.
THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY.
A light footstep sounded behind me, and scarcely had I time to thrust the little object hastily back into my pocket when my well-beloved entered in search of me.
"What do the police think, Ralph?" she asked eagerly. "Have they any clue? Do tell me."
"They have no clue," I answered, in a voice which I fear sounded hard and somewhat abrupt.
Then I turned from her, as though fully occupied with the investigations at which I was a.s.sisting, and went past her, leaving her standing alone.
The police were busy examining the doors and windows of the back premises, kitchens, scullery, and pantry, but could find no evidence of any lock or fastening having been tampered with. The house, I must explain, was a large detached red brick one, standing in a lawn that was quite s.p.a.cious for a suburban house, and around it ran an asphalte path which diverged from the right hand corner of the building and ran in two parts to the road, one a semi-circular drive which came up to the portico from the road, and the other, a tradesmen"s path, that ran to the opposite extremity of the property.
From the back kitchen a door led out upon this asphalted tradesmen"s path, and as I rejoined the searchers some discussion was in progress as to whether the door in question had been secured. The detective-sergeant had found it unbolted and unlocked, but the cook most positively a.s.serted that she had both locked and bolted it at half-past ten, when the under housemaid had come in from her "evening out." None of the servants, however, recollected having undone the door either before the alarm or after. Perhaps Short had done so, but he was absent, in search of the dead man"s widow.
The police certainly spared no pains in their search. They turned the whole place upside down. One man on his hands and knees, and carrying a candle, carefully examined the blue stair-carpet to see if he could find the marks of unusual feet. It was wet outside, and if an intruder had been there, there would probably remain marks of muddy feet. He found many, but they were those of the constable and detectives. Hence the point was beyond solution.
The drawing-room, the dining-room, the morning-room, and the big conservatory were all closely inspected, but without any satisfactory result. My love followed us everywhere, white-faced and nervous, with the cream chenille shawl still over her shoulders. She had hastily put up her wealth of dark hair, and now wore the shawl wrapped lightly about her.
That shawl attracted me. I managed to speak with her alone for a moment, asking her quite an unimportant question, but nevertheless with a distinct object. As we stood there I placed my hand upon her shoulder--and upon the shawl. It was for that very reason--in order to feel the texture of the silk--that I returned to her.
The contact of my hand with the silk was convincing. I turned from her once again, and rejoined the shrewd men whose object it was to fasten the guilt upon the a.s.sa.s.sin.
Presently we heard the welcome sound of cab wheels outside, and a few minutes later young Mrs. Courtenay, wild eyed and breathless, rushed into the hall and dashed headlong up the stairs. I, however, barred her pa.s.sage.
"Let me pa.s.s!" she cried wildly. "Short has told me he is worse and has asked for me. Let me pa.s.s!"
"No, Mary, not so quickly. Let me tell you something," I answered gravely, placing my hand firmly upon her arm. The police were again re-examining the back premises below, and only Ethelwynn was present at the top of the stairs, where I arrested her progress to the dead man"s room.
"But is there danger?" she demanded anxiously. "Tell me."
"The crisis is over," I responded ambiguously. "But is not your absence to-night rather unusual?"
"It was entirely my own fault," she admitted. "I shall never forgive myself for this neglect. After the theatre we had supper at the Savoy, and I lost my last train. Dolly Henniker, of course, asked me to stay, and I could not refuse." Then glancing from my face to that of her sister she asked: "Why do you both look so strange? Tell me," she shrieked. "Tell me the worst. Is he--is he _dead_?"
I nodded in the affirmative.
For a second she stood dumb, then gave vent to a long wail, and would have fallen senseless if I had not caught her in my arms and laid her back upon the long settee placed in an alcove on the landing. She, like all the others, had dressed hurriedly. Her hair was dishevelled beneath her hat, but her disordered dress was concealed by her long ulster heavily lined with silver fox, a magnificent garment which her doting husband had purchased through a friend at Moscow, and presented to her as a birthday gift.
From her manner it was only too plain that she was filled with remorse. I really pitied her, for she was a light-hearted, flighty, little woman who loved gaiety, and, without an evil thought, had no doubt allowed her friends to draw her into that round of amus.e.m.e.nt.
They sympathised with her--as every woman who marries an old man is sympathised with--and they gave her what pleasures they could. Alas!
that such a clanship between women so often proves fatal to domestic happiness. Judged from a logical point of view it was merely natural that young Mrs. Courtenay should, after a year or two with an invalid husband, aged and eccentric, beat her wings against the bars. She was a pretty woman, almost as pretty as her sister, but two years older, with fair hair, blue eyes, and a pink and white, almost doll-like complexion. Indeed, I knew quite well that she had long had a host of admirers, and that just prior to her marriage with Courtenay it had been rumoured that she was to marry the heir to an earldom, a rather rakish young cavalry officer up at York.
To restore her to consciousness was not a difficult matter, but after she had requested me to tell her the whole of the ghastly truth she sat speechless, as though turned to stone.
Her manner was unaccountable. She spoke at last, and to me it seemed as though the fainting fit had caused her an utter loss of memory. She uttered words at random, allowing her tongue to ramble on in strange disjointed sentences, of which I could make nothing.
"My head! Oh! my head!" she kept on exclaiming, pa.s.sing her hand across her brow as though to clear her brain.
"Does it pain you?" I inquired.
"It seems as though a band of iron were round it. I can"t think. I--I can"t remember!" And she glanced about her helplessly, her eyes with a wild strange look in them, her face so haggard and drawn that it gave her a look of premature age.
"Oh! Mary, dear!" cried Ethelwynn, taking both her cold hands. "Why, what"s the matter? Calm yourself, dear." Then turning to me she asked, "Can nothing be done, Ralph? See--she"s not herself. The shock has unbalanced her brain."
"Ralph! Ethelwynn!" gasped the unfortunate woman, looking at us with an expression of sudden wonder. "What has happened? Did I understand you aright? Poor Henry is dead?"
"Unfortunately that is the truth." I was compelled to reply. "It is a sad affair, Mary, and you have all our sympathy. But recollect he was an invalid, and for a long time his life has been despaired of."
I dared not yet tell her the terrible truth that he had been the victim of foul play.
"It is my fault!" she cried. "My place was here--at home. But--but why was I not here?" she added with a blank look. "Where did I go?"
"Don"t you remember that you went to London with the Hennikers?" I said.
"Ah! of course!" she exclaimed. "How very stupid of me to forget. But do you know, I"ve never experienced such a strange sensation before.
My memory is a perfect blank. How did I return here?"
"Short fetched you in a cab."
"Short? I--I don"t recollect seeing him. Somebody knocked at my door and said I was wanted, because my husband had been taken worse, so I dressed and went down. But after that I don"t recollect anything."
"Her mind is a trifle affected by the shock," I whispered to my love.
"Best take her downstairs into one of the rooms and lock the door.
Don"t let her see the police. She didn"t notice the constable at the door. She"ll be better presently."
I uttered these words mechanically, but, truth to tell, these extraordinary symptoms alarmed and puzzled me. She had fainted at hearing of the death of her husband, just as many other wives might have fainted; but to me there seemed no reason whatsoever why the swoon should be followed by that curious lapse of memory. The question she had put to me showed her mind to be a blank. I could discern nothing to account for the symptoms, and the only remedy I could suggest was perfect quiet. I intended that, as soon as daylight came, both women should be removed to the house of some friend in the vicinity.
The scene of the tragedy was no place for two delicate women.
Notwithstanding Mrs. Courtenay"s determination to enter her husband"s room I managed at last to get them both into the morning-room and called the nurse and cook to go in and a.s.sist in calming her, for her lapse of memory had suddenly been followed by a fit of violence.
"I must see him!" she shrieked. "I will see him! You can"t prevent me.
I am his wife. My place is at his side!"
My love exchanged looks with me. Her sister"s extraordinary manner utterly confounded us.