THE END OF THE STORY
So in this way the truth was discovered, and Ellis returned to show
the confession of Captain Garret to Mrs. Moxton. Laura was so overcome
that her innocence was proved, her dread was removed, that she fainted
during the recital. While Ellis and Janet were looking after her, Cass
arrived. Mrs. Moxton recovered her senses, and retired to lie down;
while Harry, having read the confession, discussed what was to be done
with it.
"If you show it to the police, I am afraid Schwartz will get into
trouble, as he has permitted a criminal to escape."
"That is true enough," replied Ellis. "For my part, now that we have
absolute proof of Mrs. Moxton's innocence, I don't think it is
necessary to make the matter public."
"Mr. Busham may do so, out of revenge," said Janet.
"Don't you believe it, Miss Gordon. Busham, by the showing of this
confession, knew all about the crime. He saw it committed, he tampered
with Garret, and held his tongue in order to secure Moxton's money. On
the face of it, he is an accessory after the fact, and, terrified by
the fear of punishment, will keep silence. Besides, even if he does
speak, we can first warn Schwartz to leave England, and then inform
the police. Busham does not know, and never will know, that Schwartz
has been implicated in Garret's escape."
"What Harry says is very true," chimed in Ellis. "I think all danger
is over."
"Thank God for that!" cried Janet, clasping her hands. "Oh, how
terrible these past months have been!"
"You will have no more trouble if I can help it," said the doctor,
taking her hand. "What I said when I believed you to be Mrs. Moxton, I
say now; and I ask you to be my honoured wife."
Janet sobbed. "You forget! I have a shady past!"
"A noble past. You have been tested in the furnace of affliction, and
have come out pure gold."
"I sold programmes at a low music-hall."
"My dearest, I know all you have done, and how good you have been. As
my wife, I hope you will find that happiness which has been denied to
you for so long. You love me, Janet, do you not?"
"Yes, I love you, because you believed in me when no one else did."
Harry laughed in a somewhat shamefaced manner. "Is that meant for me,
Miss Gordon? If so, I recant my former errors. I think you are the
noblest of women, and I congratulate Bob on getting such a wife."
"Hullo! Harry. I thought you did not want me to marry Janet."
"Now I do, because I know the truth. Bless you, my children, and let
me be your best man."
"There is one thing to be said," observed Ellis, uneasily. "Janet
cannot marry me here, where she is known as Mrs. Moxton. Mrs. Basket
may make trouble, and I cannot afford to give up my practice--such as
it is."
"Leave that to me," said Janet, nodding. "My sister Laura owes you
everything, and when she gets her fortune she will give you enough
money to buy a practice far away from Mrs. Basket and this horrid
little place. I am sure I do not wish to live in this district after
what I have undergone. When I leave Myrtle Villa, I leave Dukesfield
for ever."
"But, Janet, I don't like taking money from Mrs. Moxton."
"Why not? Because it is red money?"
"Red money!" repeated Cass, struck by the phrase, "and what is red
money?"
"Ah!" said Janet, smiling, "then there is something you don't know of
which I am aware. Red money is a term given by gipsies to that which
comes by a violent death. My sister inherits her fortune through the
murder of her husband; therefore, according to Romany lore, it is red
money. But if Robert will not take the money from Laura, she shall
give it to me. She owes me something, I think."
"She owes you everything, my dearest," said Ellis, kissing her, "and
you will do what you please."
"Oh, by the way," cried Cass, suddenly, "I thought I had something to
tell you. Schwartz has given up his secret gambling _salon_."
"Did it ever exist?" said Ellis, sceptically.
"Yes," replied Janet, blushing. "I never saw it, but in one way and
another I heard of it. Often and often I implored Papa Schwartz to
give it up, telling him he would get into trouble."
"Well, he has given it up at last. It appears that the police got to
know of it, and contemplated a raid, so Schwartz shut it up a few
nights ago; and I rather think he is going to give up the hall
itself."
"A very wise thing for him to do," said Ellis, approvingly. "He has
made a sufficient fortune--he told me so; therefore he can retire and
live happily with his beloved Hilda."
"And what about Hilda's eyes, Robert?"
"I think I can cure them by an operation."
"Oh, I am sure you can do anything," said Janet, fervently.
But in this Janet was wrong. Ellis did perform an operation, but it
failed principally because Hilda, fretting after her father, could not
be kept in a serene frame of mind during the recovery. But the cure
mattered little, for shortly there came news from Madrid that Garret
had been stabbed in a gambling-house row. By the irony of fate he met
with the same death as he had meted out to Moxton, and Hilda wept so
much that her chance of recovering sight was irrevocably gone. On
hearing of Garret's death, and being set free from a dread that Hilda
would be taken from him, Schwartz went to reside in Munich. He sold
the music-hall and the cottage, invested his money well, and with
Hilda he now lives a calm and happy life in the German Athens; and in
spite of his late business of a gambling-house keeper and the many
flaws in his character, Schwartz deserved to be happy. He rescued the
blind girl from a life of misery; he bore the burdens of her rascally
father, and he made her happy. Under the tender care of Schwartz,
Hilda forgot her sorrow. She never knew that her father was a
murderer, and always thought of him with tender affection as the best
and most unfortunate of men. Schwartz did not disturb this impression,
knowing that Garret was not the first sinner who had been wrongly
canonised as a saint. All the good German desired was the happiness of
his beloved Hilda, and in securing it he thoroughly succeeded. That
was his reward, and so he passes out of the story.
Janet never did have much belief in Laura's gratitude, and said as
much to Ellis. Her belief came true, for when Laura, relieved from her
terrors, blossomed into a wealthy young widow on her father-in-law's
money, she forgot all that her sister had done and sacrificed for her.
It was no easy task to settle the estate, for, when Busham was
informed by letter that Garret had confessed, he was seized with panic
and went to the States.
But he did not go away empty-handed; that was not Mr. Busham's way of
doing things. Already he had ample money, but he managed also to
secure a good deal of loose cash which belonged to the Moxton estate,
and left behind him an insulting letter to Ellis. In America, Busham
changed his name, but as wickedness was born in him he could not
change his nature. What became of him Ellis never heard. He vanished
into the vast unknown of the States; but, having regard to the money
he took with him and his known capabilities of screwing it out of
others, it is quite possible that he is flourishing at present like a
green bay tree. The wicked are not always punished in this world, and
Busham's escape is an illustration of this fact. Still, his inherent
rascality may some day bring him before Mr. Justice Lynch, and he may
end as he deserves.
Dr. Ellis worked loyally to put Mrs. Moxton's affairs in order, and
received from her the same gratitude as she gave to Janet. For very
shame's sake she was obliged to give her sister a sum of money in
compensation for all she had done. Ellis did not wish to take a sum so
grudgingly given, but Janet looked upon it as her right, and took it
without false shame. She was as disgusted with Laura as with Rudolph,
and was glad to see the last of them. All her years of self-sacrifice
and work were as nothing in their eyes, and now that Janet had found a
good husband she thought it was only right to look after her own
happiness. A few months after the discovery of Garret's guilt she was
married quietly to Ellis in a Hampstead church, and afterwards
departed with him to a country town, where Ellis, with Mrs. Moxton's
money, bought a practice. Neither Laura nor Rudolph came to the
wedding, as they had already gone to the Continent. After he had
confessed his traitorous behaviour, Rudolph called on Janet and tried
to cajole her into forgiving him. But she was so disgusted with him
that she refused to have anything more to do with the rascal. He was
more successful with Laura, and as she was now rich, he paid great
attention to her. Notwithstanding her knowledge of his contemptible
character, Laura went abroad with him and kept him in idleness with
her wealth. The pair travelled to Vienna and there lived as happily as
a memory of the terrible past would let them. This means that they had
not a care in the world, for both their natures were too frivolous to
be impressed by the perils they had escaped. So, like Busham, they
flourished also, and deserved their immunity from punishment as
little.
Mrs. Basket lamented bitterly when she lost her lodger, and tried to
find out why and where he was going. But Ellis, having had experience
of his fat landlady's malignity, refused to gratify her curiosity.
Also he wished to cut himself and Janet off from the old life of
trouble at Dukesfield, and so vanished from Mrs. Basket's gaze. Cass
remained with her for a time, but as his circumstances improved, he
decided to move into town, and took chambers in St. Clement's Inn. In
this way and in a few years all the actors in the Moxton tragedy
disappeared from Dukesfield, and no reminder was left of it but the
tombstone erected over the wretched man's grave by Laura. The
inscription, "Erected by his sorrowful wife," was rather ironical,
when it was considered how Laura hated the man she thus honoured. But
Laura was fond of posing as a disconsolate widow. She thought it
attracted the men.
A year after the tragedy Harry Cass paid a visit to the country town
where Ellis lived, and in which his practice was rapidly increasing.
He possessed a charming house on the outskirts of the old town; he had
set up a carriage, and possessed a good hack. Aided by Janet's good
sense and strict notions of an economy instilled by poverty, the sum
of money grudgingly given by Laura had done wonders, and Dr. Ellis
started his new life on an excellent basis. He was not a great
physician, but he was clever and also popular. The ladies in the
neighbourhood called on Mrs. Ellis and found her charming, for Janet's
life, and travels, and experience led her to adapt herself skilfully
to the provincial narrowness of these good people. She was quite as
popular as her husband, and in time there is no doubt that Ellis will
become the most sought-after physician in the county.
"But Harley Street, Bob," urged Harry, as he sat with husband and wife
in the garden after dinner. "What about Harley Street?"
"That must wait," laughed Ellis; "and if it does not come I really
don't care. Do you remember my expressed wishes, Harry, on the night
Moxton was killed? 'A good practice, a moderate income, a home, and a
wife to love me.' Well, I have got the whole four, and that is better
luck than falls to the lot of most men. I am quite content to stay
here and be happy."
"And you, Mrs. Ellis, after your stormy, early life?"
"I am content to remain in this haven," smiled Janet. "I have a good
home and a loving husband. What more can a woman want?"
"Egad! some women want a sight more. Your story is not known here?"
"No," replied Ellis, promptly. "Janet and I have cut ourselves off
completely from the past. We never think of it."
"Except when we are obliged," said Mrs. Ellis. "I received a letter
from Laura the other day. She is going to be married to an Austrian
officer, a young Count who is deeply in love with her."
"H'm! or with her money?" said Cass. "However, if she buys a title in
that way I suppose she will be satisfied. And her husband has only
been dead a year! She is soon consoled. I hope she will have better
luck with her second husband than she had with her first. And
Zirknitz?"
"He is in Italy, in attendance on an American heiress."
"Oh, poor heiress! He will marry her and spend her money."
"Laura says nothing about marriage."
"But it will take place all the same," said Cass, promptly. "Zirknitz
is the most fascinating scoundrel I ever met. Even though a woman knew
he was a scamp she would love him. Oh, he'll marry money and be rich,
and, having no heart, be as happy as the day is long."
"Well, Edgar never liked him."
"I know that, else he would not have accused him of being his
murderer."
"As to that," said Ellis, musingly, "I can never quite understand
Moxton's reason. If he did not wish to harm Zirknitz, why did he write
the initials of his name at all? If he did, why put them in a secret
writing known only to his wife and Janet?"
Janet shook her head. "I think at the last he had some compunction for
the way in which he had treated Laura. He believed that Zirknitz had
killed him, and wished to give Laura power over him lest he should
take her money."
"That is not a very satisfactory explanation," said Cass, with a
shrug. "But I suppose no other can be given. At all events, Zirknitz
did get some of Laura's money."
"Red money," said Mrs. Ellis, with a shudder; "the money of violence!"
"Well, red money has done a lot for me," said the doctor, putting his
arm round his wife's waist; "it has given me this ease and you."
"Not me, Robert. I came to you of my own accord."
"Dearest and best of women," said Ellis, and kissed her fondly.