ANOTHER FLY IN THE WEB
It was a full hour by the clock when Captain Macdonald, in the hands of
his burly captor, and looking as furious as it is possible for a man to
look in such circumstances, entered the library at Aygon Castle, where
already Mr. Narkom, Cleek, and all the other members of that
ill-assorted and tragic party were already assembled, and, looking
neither to right nor left of him, pushed past Maud Duggan's detaining
fingers and went straight up to his man on sight.
"Look here!" he said angrily, as, hat in hand, he stood before Cleek,
his countenance showing a little of what he felt inside his hot young
heart. "What the deuce--what the dickens do you mean by sendin' a
beastly policeman for me? That's what I want to know! I was on my way up
here--the awful thing that has just happened I only heard this morning
through my groom, who met one of the Castle grooms in the village, and
he told him--and I was comin' up to see if I could be any help, when up
comes my lord constable, seizes me by the sleeve, tips his cap, and
says, 'You've got to come along with me'--just as if I'd picked a
blessed pocket or something! I'm dashed well furious I can tell you! And
I want an apology at once. Thought there was somethin' decidedly fishy
in your appearance here in the Castle grounds last night, and now I know
what you were about for."
"But, unfortunately, I don't know what _you_ were about for, Captain,"
retorted Cleek with a one-sided smile. "And that's exactly what I sent
for you to find out. After you have explained yourself so fully and
so--so emphatically--in the presence of these ladies, I will now claim a
little of your time and attention for myself.
"You were perfectly right. I happened to be coming here, upon this very
unpleasant and tragic errand, at the summons of Miss Maud Duggan----"
"_Maud_ sent for you?"
"She did. We had a prearranged signal--she'll probably tell you all
about it"--he smiled at her sad young face, a hint of tenderness in his
own. "You see, we happen to be friends _through_ friends, if you can
follow what I mean. Miss Duggan's school-mate and chum chances to be the
lady who has done me the honour to promise to become my wife, and of
course it was naturally a firm link between us."
"Maud's school-friend?" The Captain's voice was incredulous. "And you?
A--a policeman! Damned funny!"
"As you say--_very_ funny," returned Cleek, with an ironical bow. "But
I must beg of you, my good Captain, to curb your language a little
before the ladies. It's not done, you know, in the best society--even a
mere policeman knows that. And as all this is entirely beyond the point
I'm aiming at, let's get down to brass tacks at once. What I want to
know is--what were you doing here last night, when the crime had only
just been committed? And why did I encounter you, running from the
direction of the house as fast as your feet could carry you? That's what
I want to know."
A sudden gasp of amazement from Maud Duggan, hastily suppressed, brought
Cleek's eyes round to her instantly. Meanwhile, the Captain, going red
and white by turns, started to speak, hesitated, and then commenced
again, looking the very picture of abject discomfort and unhappiness.
At last:
"Well, if you want so much to know--find out for yourself," he broke out
in a sulky tone. "For I'm not going to tell you--that's flat! I've had
nothing whatsoever to do with the beastly affair, and you know it. And
if you don't know it, it won't take you long to find out. But what I was
doing here last night is my private affair, and nothing to do with
anybody."
"Oho!" said Cleek in two different tones, arching an eyebrow in Mr.
Narkom's direction. "Still more emphatic, I must say! And 'absolutely
refuse,' too! The Law takes no refusals, Captain Macdonald, and if you
don't know that fact, you'd better learn it now. And if you and Mr. Ross
Duggan happen to be friends----"
"We are friends--the best of 'em, eh, old chap?" from Ross himself.
"Very well, then. All I can say is that you are harming Mr. Duggan's
case with your ridiculous silence, and if you're not pretty careful,
might end in driving him into the prisoner's dock."
It was a "tall order"--and it almost carried, but not quite. For
Macdonald gave out a smothered exclamation of amazement, swung around
and looked at Ross, and then, meeting Maud Duggan's agonized eyes,
tightened his mouth and faced Cleek again with the set expression upon
his face.
"Ross Duggan's no murderer--and you know it, dash you!" he gave out in a
harsh, curt voice. "And it's no business of yours what I was doing here
last night. I'm a friend of the family----"
"But forbidden the house, I take it?"
Macdonald flushed an ugly crimson.
"You're exceedin'ly well informed upon family affairs, I must say!" he
retorted tartly. "Yes--forbidden the house by the master of it (poor old
chap!) and therefore--well, I'm not goin' to say any more. It may
implicate someone else who's entirely innocent, and you won't get my
mouth open with a sledge-hammer and a nail!"
"And no necessity for it, either--you dunderheaded young donkey!"
thought Cleek amusedly. "For if you haven't given the whole show away,
and made it perfectly plain to everybody that you were meeting your
sweetheart--or about to do so--then my name's not Cleek--which, of
course, it isn't! And there's no telling but that you're a better actor
than you make out! And this may be a 'blind'--but at present there's no
'cover' to draw, so we'll be off cantering in the other direction until
the scent's a bit stronger in _yours_." Aloud, he turned to the irate
young man with a slight bow, and spoke in his easy, calm manner.
"Well, if you won't, you won't. These are not the days of the thumbscrew
and the rack, Captain Macdonald, and a man's tongue cannot be made to
speak by any other means than a little confinement in a prison cell. And
I don't think that's really necessary, in your case, do you, Mr. Narkom?
So we'll let that pass for the present. But I'd like you to understand
that--on account of your refusing to acquaint us with the facts of your
presence here in the grounds of this place last night--we are obliged,
in the maintenance of Law and Order, to put you upon your parole."
"Thanks very much."
Captain Macdonald bowed, with much mockery of lip and gesture, and then,
turning to the others in that silent little knot of spectators, made his
way over to the side of Maud Duggan, whose face was as pale as a dead
face, and in whose eyes lurked the suspicion of a great fear, and laid
his hand upon her arm.
They conversed for a moment or two in low voices utterly oblivious of
those others who were searching their faces with curious eyes, while in
the background Ross Duggan fidgeted with his watch-chain and sent his
handsome eyes searching each figure in that still room, as though in an
endeavour to find a clue therein which would lift the pall of hateful
suspicion from his own shoulders.
Cleek surveyed them critically. It was an abominably personal sort of
case, to say the least of it. And not much to his liking. But the
element of mystery in the whole affair gripped his interest in spite of
these other drawbacks.
Of course there was no truth in the cock-and-bull story of the Peasant
Girl--that went without saying. But that it had been used as a "blind"
to cover the real perpetrators of the crime was evident to his mind. And
why _two_ of them? For in each case death would have been caused
instantaneously. He looked down at the spinning wheel standing there in
the recess of the window, and tried to link the thing up with it. But
there seemed no peg to hang a clue upon there. Obviously the thing had
been "worked" with just such an idea to disguise its real purport.
Then he thought of the letters that he had found in the desk, hidden
away and yellowed with Time's fingers, and tied about with faded ribbon.
And of a sudden something flashed across his face which, Mr. Narkom
watching him as a cat does a mouse and knowing to a nicety what those
expressions so often meant, made that worthy gentleman positively jump
with excitement.
Cleek smiled at him and shook a head over his eagerness. Then he turned
to the rest of them.
"No need now to prolong this unpleasant and unhappy interview," he said
quietly. "Mr. Duggan has given his parole, and also the worthy Captain
over there. The Yard's men will do the rest. But I must renew my request
that none of you leaves this house to-day, or goes beyond the walls of
the garden, unless under special permission from Mr. Narkom or myself.
Just for to-day, my friends. By to-morrow perhaps the riddle may be
solved, or its end in sight. But for the next twenty-four hours I must
beg your assistance, every one of you, to bring it to a successful and
definite close."
His request had an immediate and almost eager response. For there was
not one of that little band of anxious people who was not glad to be
released from the unpleasant and searching questionings of the Law, as
represented by this bland gentleman of the fine manner and the polished
ways, who seemed, indeed, as good as they were (if not better), and who
met them upon the grounds of an equality which was hardly to be expected
from one of his calling.
Maud and the Captain walked away together conversing in low voices,
their faces grave. Ross, Cynthia Debenham, and Catherine Dowd--lagging a
little behind, and favouring Cleek with a look of venomous hatred cast
back at him over her shoulder as she passed through the open
door--turned toward the terrace, where they all sat down and discussed
the thing from every point of view within their reach, and came to no
definite ending at all; while Lady Paula, summoning Miss McCall with a
regal gesture, rose from her chair, bowed charmingly to each of the two
men left in the room, and withdrew to the safety and peace of her own
boudoir.
When the door had shut upon the last of them, Cleek began pacing the
room excitedly, pulling at his chin and gnawing at his lower lip, which
gestures brought Mr. Narkom to the conclusion that he was indulging in a
"jolly good think!"
"There's more in those letters than meets the eye," Cleek said aloud,
apostrophizing the wall-paper and the fireplace in turn. "H'm. Not a
doubt of it. 'Jeannette.' Something Scotch in the flavour of that, eh,
Mr. Narkom?... Yes, that's my opinion, too. It wouldn't take a hammer
and a nail to drive _that_ fact home, anyhow. And the date of 'em some
seventeen years back.... But it's the 'humming sound' which gets me, I
swear. Can't account for that, anyhow. Might be a dynamo, but there
isn't a dynamo in the place, and no need for it, either. Plain stabbing
and shooting upon the face of it. We'll go for a prowl this afternoon,
old friend, and see what new lands we can discover."
"All right. I'm your man, Cleek--the same as always," returned Mr.
Narkom affectionately, as he slapped Cleek on the shoulder with his
broad hand, and then slipped it about his ally's neck and kept pace with
him up and down the narrow room.
"Anything that's going--with _you_ in it--will find me on the spot, too.
I'm a bit of a slow-mover, I know--but you're such a lightning-bug of a
creature that there's not a soul on earth can keep pace with you. Have
you looked into that laundry-bill question you were dickering about a
while ago?"
Cleek threw back his head and laughed.
"I have. But there's nothing doing there, as yet. The particular maid I
questioned has got a bilious attack this afternoon and can't go over the
lists for me. But I'm to hear to-morrow morning for certain.... It _is_
rather a teaser for you, isn't it, old chap? But you must bear with me
until I've unravelled the ends myself, and when that's done, I'll put
'em into your hands, and you can wind 'em up for me into a tidy little
ball. Let's get a move on now, there's a good fellow. By the way, who's
the guilty party _now_, eh?"
Mr. Narkom scratched his head perplexedly and let a full minute elapse
before replying.
"It's a dickens of a tangle, looking at it any way," he returned
dejectedly. "I could have sworn that chap Ross Duggan had murdered his
father for the simple motive of keeping his name in the will and of
course the name _wasn't_ erased, after all, was it? That's a black point
against him. But this flustery-blustery-Captain-chap with his
lord-high-almighty ways rather took the wind out of my sails. And when
you said you had encountered him last night, Cleek, you could have
knocked me down with a feather. How did it happen?"
"Oh--caught him running as hard as he could from the direction of the
lawns beyond this window, and fell plump into him as the best way to
attract his attention," returned Cleek serenely. "I thought it strange
that he should be there at such a time. And he looked half-scared out of
his wits, too. Expected me to tell the household, I suppose. Rather
officious young chap, I must say--but I've a sneaking liking for him,
all the same. D'you think he did the shooting, then?"
"Not a doubt of it!" Mr. Narkom was emphatic.
"Oh! And why, do you suppose?"
"Um--ah! Well, that's got to be discovered yet. Never know, Cleek; there
might be some hidden business in this affair in which this Captain is
involved. Anyhow, I doubt him--tremendously. Didn't ring true, I
thought. Rather too noisy and all that."
"And you believe in the adage that 'empty vessels make the most sound,'
I take it?" rejoined Cleek with a smile. "Well, perhaps you're right.
Only I wouldn't call that young gentleman an empty vessel.... Anyhow,
this evening will elucidate matters a little. For I'm going to remove
that muffling for the nonce, and substitute another one. And it ought to
prove quite an enlightening job, too!"
So saying, he swung out of the courtyard of the house, vaulting the
window lightly, and reaching a helping hand up to Mr. Narkom, who came
through less easily, perspiring at every pore. And suddenly Cleek's
finger went up to his lips, and with a hasty "Hush!" for his wheezy
comrade, he drew back into the screen of the bushes, standing as still
as a statue, all eyes, while the amazing thing came to pass!