you like them?"
"I like them well enough," said I; "at least, I like five of them, but
the other two are glass!"
At this he cried, "Oh, my God!" and clutched the stones from me with the
trembling fingers of a madman. When he had seen them for himself--being
judge enough to follow me in my conclusions--he began to roar out oaths
and complaints most pitifully, cursing his nephew as I have never heard
a man cursed before or since. In my endeavor to calm him, I asked how it
could possibly be that this fellow he feared had got access to his safe;
but he poured out only an incoherent tale, begging me to send for the
police, then not to leave him, then falling to prophecy, and declaring
that he would be murdered before the month was out. It was altogether
the most moving sight I have ever seen--pointing strongly to the
conclusion that the man was mad; and, in fact, where his jewels were
concerned, sanity was not his strong point.
By and by he got sufficient reason to tell me that he had the
administration of some of his nephew's property, and that in his work he
had first fallen foul of a man, headstrong, vindictive, by no means
honest, and, in some moods, dangerous. Yet, even knowing his relative's
character and the threats he had urged against him, he could not tell
how the safe was broken, or by what means the emeralds had gone. He was
not even aware that his nephew was in England; and I had been the first
to bring intelligence of his coming. I asked him, naturally, if these
two stones represented the whole of his loss, and at that he fell off
again to his raving, but took two keys of the larger safes from a secret
drawer in the smaller as I could see; and began to pour upon the faded
bed-cover a wealth of treasure which might have bought a city. Here were
rubies of infinite perfection, diamonds set in a hundred shapes, ropes
of pearls, boxes of opals, bracelets of every known pattern, rings
scarce to be numbered, aigrettes, necklaces--in short, such a stupendous
show that the dark and dingy bedroom was lighted with wondrous light, a
myriad rays flashing up from the bed, until the whole place seemed
touched with a wand, and changed to a chamber of a thousand colors.
Before the bed of jewels the old man stood chattering and moaning; now
bathing, as it were, in the gems, now letting them ripple over his
hands, or addressing tender endearments to them; or clutching them with
nervous avidity as though he feared even my companionship.
In the midst of this strange scene, and while we were both held
spellbound by the wondrous vision of wealth, a sudden exclamation drew
the miser from his employment. It came from the girl who had been sent
to the village, she now standing in the doorway of the bedroom, and
crying, "Oh, good Lord!" as she saw the glitter of the gems. But Ladd
turned upon her at the words, and grasped her by the wrists, crying out
as he had cried when first he knew that he was robbed.
"You hussy," he hissed, bending her by the arms backward almost to the
floor; "what do you watch me for? What do you mean by coming here? Where
are the emeralds you have stolen? Tell me, wench; do you hear? Tell me,
or I shall hurt you!"
He held her in so firm a grasp that I feared she would suffocate, and
went to pull him off; at which action he turned to cry out against me;
but the anger had played upon him so that he fainted suddenly all across
the bed, and amongst the jewels. The girl, whom he had forced upon the
floor, now rose impudently, and said,--
"Did ye ever see the like of him?--but I'll make him pay for it! Oh, you
needn't look, he's that way often. He'll come to in a minute; but he
won't find me in the house to-morrow--wages or no wages."
"Do what you like," I cried to her angrily, "but don't chatter. Have you
got any brandy in the house?"
"Brandy! and for him!" said she, arranging her dress which he had torn.
"Is it me that should be running for it? Not if I know it; brandy, I
like that!"
"Then leave the room," I exclaimed imperatively; and with that she went
off, banging the door behind her, and I was alone with the man and his
jewels. I think it was the strangest situation I have ever known. Some
thousands of pounds' worth of gems lay scattered upon the coverlet, upon
the sheets, and even upon the carpet. Ladd himself lay like the figure
upon a tomb, white and motionless; there was only the light of a common
paraffin lamp; and three parts of the room lay in darkness. My first
thought was for the man's life, and remembering that I had a flask in my
pocket, I forced brandy between his clenched teeth, and laid him flat
upon his back. In a few moments there was a perceptible, though very
quick beat of his pulse, and after that, when he had taken more of the
spirit, he opened his eyes, and endeavored to raise himself; but I
forbade him roughly, and gathering up his gems I bundled them in the
greater safe, and turned the key upon them. He however, watched me with
glazing eyes, scarce being able, for lack of strength, to utter a word;
but he motioned for me to give him the key, and this he placed under the
pillow of his bed, and fell presently into a gentle sleep, which was of
good omen.
I should mention that it was now full dark outside, and, as I judged,
about the hour of ten. I had got the man's jewels into his safe for him,
and he was sleeping; but where the bewitching little hussy was I did
not know; or what was the value of the old man's fears about his nephew.
It was clear to me, however, that he had been robbed, probably by the
immediate agency of the girl who acted as his servant; and it was
equally obvious that I had no alternative but to stay by him, even if
prospect of probable business in the future had not moved me to do so.
An inspection of his room by the flickering light of the lamp disclosed
to me a small dressing-room leading from it, this containing a sofa; and
when I had quite assured myself that my patient, as I chose to regard
him, slept easily, and that his pulse was no longer intermittent nor
faint, I took my boots off and lay down upon the hard horsehair
antiquity which was to serve me for bed. Strange to say, in half an hour
I fell into a dreamless sleep, for I was heavy with fatigue, and had
walked many hours upon the Kennett's bank; but when I awoke, the room
was utterly dark, and the screams of a dying man rang in my ears.
In moments of emergency one's individuality asserts itself in curious
actions. I am somewhat stolid, and a poor subject for panics, and I
remember on this particular occasion that my first act was to draw on my
boots with deliberation, and even to turn in the tags carefully before I
struck a match, and got a sight of the scene which I remember so well
though many months have passed since its happening. When I had light, I
found Ladd standing by the door of his large safe, which was open, but
there was a deep crimson stain upon his shirt, and he no longer had
the voice to scream. In fact, he was dying then; and presently he fell
prone with a deep gasp, and I knew that he was dead. In the same instant
a black shadow, as of a man, passed between me and the flicker of the
light; and as the match went out the door of the chamber swung upon its
hinges, and the assassin passed from the room.
Now, Ladd had scarce fallen before I was in the dark passage, listening
with great tension of the ear for a sound of the hiding man's footstep.
But the place was as still as the grave; and then there came upon me the
horrid thought that the fellow lurked with me about the room's door, and
presently would serve me as he had served the other. Cold with fear at
the possibility, I struck a match, and advanced along the passage, using
half a box of lucifers in the attempt. At the corner I came suddenly
upon a cranny; and as the light died away, two gleaming eyes shot up
glances to mine, and a man sprang out flashing a blade in the air, but
rushing past me, and fleeing like the wind towards the southern
wing--the unfinished one. So swift did he go that I saw nothing of his
face, and it seemed scarce a moment before I heard a door open, and
another great cry, followed by a splashing of water and utter silence.
[Illustration: "Two gleaming eyes shot up glances to mine."
--_Page 179_]
This second cry took, I think, what little nerve I had left; and while
the echo of it was still in the passages my last match went out. The
place was now black with unbroken darkness; every step that I took
appeared to reach mysterious stairs and to send me staggering; but at
last a sudden patch of moonlight from a corner encouraged me to go on,
and I reached the spot where the man had disappeared. At that point a
door creaked and banged upon its hinges, but the white light coming
through it saved me from the fate of him who had gone before. It showed
me at a glance that the door was built in a side of the unfinished wall
of the wing, and that the man, who evidently had mistaken it for the
entrance to the back staircase, which I saw a few feet farther on, had
crashed down fifty feet into the moat below, carrying, as I supposed,
his plunder in his hands. Then I knew the meaning of the gurgling cry
and the horrid thud; and terror seemed to strike me to my very marrow.
How I got out of the house I do not know to this day. Thrice I made a
circuit of winding corridors only to find myself again before the room
where Ladd's body lay in the circle of moonlight which the window
focused upon the safe; thrice I reached doors which seemed to give
access to the yard; but led only into gloomy shuttered chambers where
curious shapes of the yellow rays came through the dusty crevices. At
last, however, I reached the frowsy kitchen, and the yard, and stood a
minute to breathe the chill night air, and to think what was to be done;
whither first to go; to whom to appeal. The whine of a voice from the
stable seemed to answer me. I entered the roofless shanty, and there
found the dark-eyed girl sitting upon a rotting garden roller, and
quivering in every limb. She too was dressed ready to accompany the man
who then lay in the moat, I did not doubt; but at the first sight of me
she started up with blanched face, and clinging to me she cried,--"Take
me away; oh, my God, take me away from it!" and rather incoherently she
muttered that she was innocent, and protested it in a score of phrases.
I saw a flush of dawn-light upon her babyish face as she spoke, and it
occurred to me when I was putting the horse to the dog-cart that she was
unmistakably pretty, and that her customary occupation was not that of a
housemaid. But I only said to her,--
"Keep anything you have to say for the police. I am going to fetch
them." And with that I drove off, and the last I saw of my lady showed
her as she sat moaning on the straw, her hair tumbling upon her
shoulders, and her face buried in her hands.
* * * * *
The trial of this woman, and her acquittal by the jury, are well
remembered in Caversham; nor is the mystery of Jabez Ladd's jewels and
their disappearance by any means an infrequent topic for alehouses. What
became of the precious stones which Arthur Vernon Ladd, the old man's
nephew, took from the safe on the night he murdered his uncle, one man
alone knows--and that is myself. The people of the town will tell you
that the moat was dragged and drained with no result. I myself saw the
body of the murderer--the velvet-coated man of Pangbourne; but although
at least a couple of thousand pounds worth of jewels were missing from
the safe, there was not one of them about him, or to be found upon the
_concrete_ bottom of the moat into which he had dropped with the blood
of Ladd fresh upon his hands. In vain the police searched the girl--her
name was Rachel Peters, she said--and her boxes; equally in vain the old
house was ransacked from top to bottom. The thing was a black mystery;
it was gossip not only for inns and beerhouses, but for the county. The
report of it spread even to America, and to this moment it has remained
unsolved.
The jewels being undiscoverable, and Ladd having been murdered to my
knowledge by his nephew, the girl, Rachel Peters, was, as I have said,
discharged. She returned to the old house for her boxes, and immediately
disappeared from the knowledge of the county. Ten months later I saw her
dancing on the stage of an opera house in Florida, and she was wearing
_five of the seven emeralds_ which Ladd had lost! The spectacle seemed
so amazing to me that I sought her out between the acts, and found her
as full of _chic_ and _verve_ as a Parisian _soubrette_. Nor did she
disguise anything from me, telling me everything over a cigarette with a
relish and a sparkle which was astounding to see.
"Yes," said she--but I give her story in plain words, for her way of
telling it is not to be written down--"I had known Vernon Ladd for
years. I doubt if there was a worse man in Europe; but I was frightened
of him, and I entered old Ladd's service at his wish to help him to
steal the jewels. We got at the emeralds first, because they were in the
small safe; but we didn't know where the keys of the other safe were,
and we put two sham emeralds in the case to keep the old boy quiet while
we worked. That night you came to the house Vernon Ladd was already
inside, concealed behind the old man's bed; and he watched you open the
great safe and spread the jewels. The mischief of it was that Ladd woke
up five minutes too soon, and caught the boy by the throat--you know
what he got for that, for you saw it and you know how Vernon mistook the
door, and went down in a hurry. Well, when you'd gone for the police, I
ran round to the back of the house, and what should I see but the bag of
jewels stuck on a ledge just under the landing window. He'd dropped them
as he fell, and there they were lying so plain that one could have seen
them a mile off. I just ran up and reached them with my arm, but when I
was in the stable again, and thinking of hiding them, I heard you
driving up the road, and I slipped the bag in the first thing handy--it
was your own fishing creel.
"No, you never found them, did you? just because they were hanging up
there plain for every one to see. When the judge discharged me at the
Court, I went again to the house to get my box, never thinking to see
the stones; but you'd gone away without the creel, and it was the first
thing I touched lying in the straw of the stable. You may be sure it
didn't lie there long. I'd saved up enough money for a passage to the
States, and when I got here I started as an actress, as I was before,
and I sold the things one by one. These emeralds are all that's
left--and if you're a brick, you'll buy them!"
This was her story. She was a clever woman, and having been discharged
on the accusation of robbing the dead miser Ladd, could not be sent to
her trial again. Her invitation for me to buy the emeralds was tempting.
I had already purchased two from the unhappy lady of Pangbourne, who was
married to the velvet-coated Vernon Ladd, and is now living in seclusion
in Devonshire. The other five would have made the set of great value.
Ladd had no heirs; it was altogether a nice point. I debated it.
THE PURSUIT OF THE TOPAZ.
THE PURSUIT OF THE TOPAZ.
I was struggling heroically to force my arms through the sleeves of a
well-starched shirt, when the man knocked upon the door of my bedroom
for the second time. I had heard him faintly five minutes before, when
my head was as far in a basin as the limitations of Parisian toilet-ware
would allow it to go; but now he knocked imperiously, and when I opened
to him he stood hesitatingly with a foolish leer upon his face, and that
which he meant for discretion upon his lips.
"Well," said I, "what the devil do you want? Can't you see I'm
dressing?"
At this he looked with obvious pity for me towards the basin, but
quickly recovered himself.
"Dame," said he, with a fine Gascon accent, "there is a lady waiting for
monsieur in the _salon_."
"A lady!" cried I with surprise; "who is she?"
"I am but three days in Paris," replied he, "and she is a stranger to
me. If monsieur prefers it, I will ask her some questions."
"You will please do nothing of the sort; did she give her name?"
"I seem to remember that she did, but it has escaped me. I shall say
that you are engaged, and will see her to-morrow; monsieur leaves Paris
at nine o'clock _hein_?"
He said this with another vulgar leer, but I turned round upon him
fiercely, for I had begun to brush what is left of my hair.
"You impudent poltroon!" exclaimed I; "leave the room instantly, and
tell the lady that I will be with her in five minutes."
"Ah," said he, "it is like that then? Very good; I shall safeguard your
interests; trust in me. May I be permitted to light the candles?"
He said this with a fine eye to the bill; but I sent him away after some
display of temper, and finished my dressing quickly, wondering all the
time who the woman was, and what she wanted of me. Although I have lived
in Paris nigh as much as in London, I have cultivated few acquaintances
there other than those arising in the path of business. The domestic
side of Parisian life has never appealed to me; I am equally callous to
the vaunted attractions of the dismal halls of light and twaddle with
which the foreigner usually boasts acquaintance. It was, therefore, not
only with profound surprise, but also with a piquant curiosity, that I
fell to speculating upon the identity of my visitor, and the mission
which brought her to me.
At the time of this occurrence I had been in the French capital for one
week, being carried there by the announcement of the sale of the
Countess Boccalini's jewels. After my usual custom, I had engaged rooms
in the little Hotel de Bard, which is almost the neighbor of the Grand
Hotel, and had passed the week in the haggling and disputation which
are the salt of life to a jeweler. The result was the purchase of a
superb necklace of brilliants, which subsequently I sold here for nine
thousand pounds, and of a quantity of smaller stones, and of
chrysoprase, the gem which is now becoming exceedingly fashionable in
London. But on the night of which I am writing, my trading was done, and
a ridiculous promise to go to the Opera Ball alone kept me in Paris. How
the promise came to be given to my friend Tussal I cannot remember; but
he had assured me that the ball was the event of April, and that my
education would remain imperfect until I had gazed upon the spectacle of
_calicots_ and _flaneurs_ rioting in the great house which Garnier
designed and Delaunay painted. And so pressing was he, and so largely
did I trade with him, that I yielded at last to his solicitations, and
agreed to accept a seat in his box.
By the terms of his invitation I was to meet him at the Grand Cafe at
midnight, and thence was to proceed to the Opera House at half-past
twelve. I had determined to dine quietly at my own hotel, and afterwards
to spend the intervening hours at the Theatre de la Porte St. Martin;
for which purpose I dressed at a comparatively early hour; and dressing,
received the stiff-necked Gascon's message that a lady wished to see me.
Yet for what purpose she came, or who she might be, I had not an idea;
and I turned over a hundred theories in my mind as I descended to the
little reception room of the hotel, and there found her sitting by the
uncovered table with a railway guide before her, but obviously
agitated, and as obviously pretty.
When looking back upon the extraordinary mystery of which this childish
girl was for me the center, I have often remembered that she was one of
the few Frenchwomen I have met who had a thoroughly English face. Her
skin was white and pink, untouched by that olive tint which is so
prevalent in Paris; her eyes were wondrously blue; she had rich brown
hair shot with golden tresses, which gave to the whole a magnificent
luster; she was entirely free of that restless gesture which is the
despair of a man of nerves. As I first saw her, she wore a captivating
apology for a bonnet, which seemed to consist of a spray of jet and a
hairpin; but her hands were gloved as only a Frenchwoman's hands are,
and a long cloak of steel-gray cloth edged with fur, fell about her
shoulders, yet permitted one to see an exquisite outline of figure
beneath. Indeed, she made a perfect little picture, and her exceeding
prettiness lost nothing for the rush of color to her cheeks when I spoke
to her.
"I am Bernard Sutton," said I; "if it is possible that I can be of any
service to you, the privilege is mine----"
"Thank you, a thousand times," said she, speaking with an accent which
added to the charm of her English. "I have heard of you often from
Madame Carmalovitch, whose husband owned the famous opal; you were very
kind to her----"
"I was exceedingly sorry for her," I replied; "are you a relation of
hers?"
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed; "I am Mademoiselle Edile Bernier, and I live
with my mother at 32, Rue Boissiere. You will laugh to hear why I come
to you. It is about something you alone can advise me upon, and, of
course, you will guess it at once."
"I won't waste your time by being ambiguous," said I; "you have come to
consult me about some jewels; pray let me see them."
There was no one else in the _salon_ at that time, the few people in the
hotel being at dinner. The girl had, therefore, no hesitation in opening
a bracelet case, which she had carried under her cloak, and showing me a
plain band of gold which served as a mount for a small circle of
turquoise and an exceedingly large rose-pink topaz, which possessed all
the lustre of a diamond. I saw at once that the gem was from Brazil, and
was large enough and rich enough to be worth a considerable sum, but I
have never known hunger for the topaz myself, and when I had taken one
look at the bracelet I handed it back to her.
"It's exceedingly pretty," said I, "and your stones are very good. There
is a little green at the base of the larger turquoises, but you will
hardly match the topaz in Paris. Are you seeking to know the value of
it?"
"I would never ask that," she answered quickly; "it was a gift from my
_fiance_, Monsieur Georges Barre, whom you may know by name."
I vow it was very bewitching to watch the rosy blush which suffused her
cheek when she made this confession. Yet she spoke with the ring of
pride in her voice, and I replied to her encouragingly while she put
her treasure beneath her cloak, as though she feared that other eyes
than hers should rest even upon the case of it.
"Monsieur Barre is well known to me by name," said I; "his bust of
Victor Hugo from last year's salon is at this moment the chief ornament
of my library. I must now congratulate him for the second time."
At this she laughed, but the ripples died away quickly upon her face,
and the look of haunting fear again troubled her eyes. I observed that
she was reticent in speaking plainly to me, and did my best to help her
out with it.
"You have not yet put to me," said I, "the precise question which
brought you here. It concerns the bracelet, of course?"
"Ye--yes," said she; "but I am very much afraid you will laugh at me. I
wanted to ask you if, in your judgment--that is, with your
experience--there is any reason why I should not wear my present at the
Opera Ball to-night?"
Her confusion, when thus she had unburdened herself, was overwhelming.
She scarce dared to lift her eyes to mine as she spoke, and one of her
hands played restlessly with the railway guide, while the other was
closed firmly about her bracelet. Nor did I, who know the potency of
woman's superstition in the matter of their jewels, feel the touch of a
desire to draw amusement from her dilemma.
"Come," said I, with all the gentleness of voice I could command; "you
have been reading something silly. The topaz is the emblem of fidelity,
it is also a traditional cure for indigestion. In other words, the
ancients were wise enough to know that love and good cooking are not so
far apart after all. Wear your jewel at the opera by all means, and
regard it as an antidote to the _confetti_ you will consume."
She heard me thus far with a restrained smile upon her face, and indeed,
she half rose as though to end the interview; but the evidence of fear
was still about her eyes, and there was the note of unsatisfied
questioning in her voice when she said,--
"I was sure you would tell me that--but I am keeping you from your
dinner, and have already troubled you too much I fear."
My answer to this appeal was to close the door of the _salon_, which had
been open during our interview, and to draw a chair close to hers.