BETTER LEAVE WELL ALONE.
"When things to outward view are smooth,
'Tis wisest to disturb them not.
Restrain the prying eye of youth
When things to outward view are smooth;
For should ye seek to learn the truth
Much evil may by chance be wrought.
When things to outward view are smooth,
'Tis wisest to disturb them not."
When he entered the room Archie looked very pleased, and a trifle
excited, which happy demeanour was noticed at once by Mrs. Belswin.
"Good news?" she asked, as he greeted her, and walked over to Kaituna
with the eager step of an expectant lover.
"Very good news," he replied gaily, "the best of news. Toby is going
out to Australia to look after your fortune, Kaituna."
"My fortune," echoed Kaituna, faintly, raising her eyes to his bright
face. "I'm afraid my fortune is a myth."
"Not at all! Not at all!" replied Maxwell, kissing her pale cheek.
"Your fortune at present is not in the clouds, but in the earth; and
when The Pole Star Company find that rich lode they are now looking
for, you will be a female Cr[oe]sus."
"I hope so, for your sake."
"I hope so, for both your sakes," said Mrs. Belswin, bluntly; "and
then there will be no more talk of breaking off the engagement."
"What, our engagement?" cried Maxwell, in an astonished tone, looking
from the one to the other. "Why, what do you mean?"
"Ask Donna Quixota there, my dear Mr. Maxwell. She has been talking
the high-flown nonsense which the virtuous heroine uses on the stage
when she appeals to the gallery. She knows you love her for herself
alone, and that I cannot live without her; yet she talks about leaving
us both on some absurd scruple of honour."
"My dear Kaituna, you are surely not in earnest," said Archie,
smoothing the girl's dark hair. "Mrs. Belswin is jesting, I suppose?"
"No! she is repeating my words in a slightly different way."
"But, Kaituna?"
"Now you are going to begin a discussion," said Mrs. Belswin,
good-humouredly, "so I will leave you for a time. But first, Mr.
Maxwell, tell me about your friend. You say he is going out to
Melbourne?"
"Yes! I got a letter from him to-day. Miss Valpy and his father are
both agreeable, and he starts by one of the Orient line in a
fortnight."
"But the money?" said Mrs. Belswin, in some dismay, thinking of her
straightened means. "What about the money?"
"Oh, that is all right," answered Maxwell in a satisfied tone.
"Providence has tempered the financial wind to the Clendon lamb. He is
going to write a series of articles on Australian cities for _The
Weekly Scorpion_, so the benevolent editor of that paper pays his
expenses."
"Oh!" said Mrs. Belswin, with a sigh of relief, turning towards the
door, "I'm so glad. It's a good omen for the silver mine. I hope he'll
come back as prosperous as he leaves. Now I'm going away for a few
minutes, so I'll leave you, Mr. Maxwell, to convince Kaituna that
things will turn out better than she expects."
When Mrs. Belswin vanished, Archie took Kaituna by the chin, and
turned her face towards his own.
"You wicked young woman," he said, laughing; "how can you speak, even
in jest, about leaving me?"
Kaituna rose to her feet, and walked backwards and forwards several
times in deep thought. Then she paused before Archie, and looked
steadily at him with her clear, honest eyes.
"Archie," she said, at length, "believe me, I did not speak without
reason. While my father was alive there was a chance of our marrying,
for I would have persuaded him to consent some time, and Mrs. Belswin
would have helped me. But he is dead, and I have not a penny in the
world. How then can I marry you, who have nothing but your profession
to depend upon, and that profession one which means constant
travelling? If you married me you would have to leave me, for we
should not be rich enough to travel together. You would find me a drag
upon you. Enough for one is not enough for two. I love you! You know I
love you! And it is for that very reason that I want to break off our
engagement, and not be a burden to you in the future."
Maxwell laughed, as she ended this long speech, and seizing her hands
drew her towards him.
"What a capital lawyer you would make," he said, with an indulgent
smile; "but let us look on the other side of the question. Say that
these shares turn out to be worth a lot of money, will you expect me
to give you up?"
"No, no! Oh, no!"
"Ah! you see then that the case is the same with me. You love me for
myself. I love you for yourself. It is no question of money between
us. With you as my wife, I would work hard. I shall only be too proud
to work for you. We shall not be rich; but we should be happy. No, my
dearest, I should indeed be unworthy of your love did I look at the
future from your point of view. I love you! You are mine; and rich or
poor, we will always be together."
"But----"
"But me no buts," said Maxwell, in a peremptory tone, putting his arm
round her neck. "You know what I say is right. You love me, do you
not?"
"Yes."
"And you will never leave me?"
Kaituna kissed him, with tears in her eyes.
"No; I will never leave you."
Archie pressed her to his heart with a cry of joy, and at this moment
Mrs. Belswin entered.
"Well, young people?"
"I have explained away all objections," said Maxwell, as Kaituna
withdrew her arms from his neck, "and we are going to marry on nothing
a year."
"Meanwhile," said Mrs. Belswin, satirically.
"Meanwhile," echoed Maxwell, rising, "I am going to speak to you for a
few minutes, and then take Kaituna for a walk in the Park. You'll take
compassion on a lonely bachelor, will you not, dearest?"
"Yes. I'll go and put on my things at once," said Kaituna, whose face
now looked much brighter than before.
"Archie."
"Yes."
"I am afraid you'll be a dreadful tyrant when I marry you."
She laughed, and ran out of the room, whereat Maxwell also laughed out
of sympathy; but when the door closed the laugh died away on his lips,
and he turned gravely to Mrs. Belswin, who had resumed her seat.
"Well," said that lady, with a half smile, glancing at him; "you look
as gloomy as a November day. What are you thinking about?"
"Sir Rupert's death."
Mrs. Belswin half expected this reply; but, notwithstanding, gave a
sudden start at the abruptness of his speech.
"You are still determined to find out the cause of his death?" she
said, slowly.
"I don't think there is any question on that point," he replied, with
emphasis. "He was shot, and I want to find out who shot him."
"What good will that do?"
"It will set Kaituna's mind at rest."
His listener played with the plain gold ring on her finger--the ring
which had been the symbol of her marriage with the murdered man--and
frowned.
"If I were you, I'd let sleeping dogs lie," she said, at length,
without raising her eyes.
"No! I will not! See here, Mrs. Belswin, I know quite well that
Kaituna is anxious to find out the murderer of her father. If she does
not it will embitter her whole life. She cannot bear to think of him
lying unavenged in his grave. Herself, she can do nothing, but I, her
promised husband, can."
"I'm afraid you over-calculate your powers as a detective."
"Perhaps I do," he answered, calmly; "but I'm going to try, at all
events, and see if I can unravel this mystery. Did I intend to let
sleeping dogs lie, as you phrase it, I would have gone out to
Australia myself to look after the silver mines, but as Clendon has
taken that trouble off my hands I am going to devote myself to finding
out the man who murdered Sir Rupert."
He spoke with such determination that she felt convinced he would
carry out his intention, and fidgeted about in her seat for a few
moments, then, walking to the window, stood looking out into the dull
street, while she made her next remark.
"I don't think it will do any good. Where the police have failed you
cannot hope to succeed."
"I hope to do so, with your help."
"My help?" she echoed, facing round suddenly so that her back was to
the light and her face comparatively in the shadow. "What can I tell
you?"
"Mrs. Belswin," said Maxwell, gravely, "you were one of the last
people who saw Sir Rupert alive."
"Yes, that is so," she answered without moving a muscle, "but I told
all I knew at the inquest."
"I suppose you did; but can you think of nothing else?"
She looked at him with a piercing glance, as if trying to read his
soul, but saw nothing that could make her think that he suspected her
in any way of being connected with the murdered man.
"I told all I knew at the inquest," she repeated. "I had an interview
with Sir Rupert about your marriage with Kaituna. He refused his
consent, and I left the study. Kaituna had gone to bed with a bad
headache, so I did not wish to make it worse by my ill news. Therefore
I retired to rest at once, and knew nothing more until the next
morning."
"You heard no pistol shot?"
"None."
"Strange!" said Maxwell, thoughtfully: "no one seems to have heard a
pistol shot, and yet such an unusual thing must have attracted
attention."
"You forget that Sir Rupert's study was some distance away from the
sleeping apartments, and I think at the time he was killed every one
was in bed."
"But he was not shot in the room, but from the terrace."
Mrs. Belswin started again,
"How do you know that?"
"I don't know it, I only presume so. The body was found lying half in
and half out of the window; so my theory is that Sir Rupert came to
the open window for a breath of air, and the assassin, concealed in
the shadow of the terrace, shot him through the head."
"It's a very excellent theory--still, it is only theory."
"Yes, I know that," said Maxwell, ruefully. "You don't know if Sir
Rupert had any enemies, Mrs. Belswin?"
"I! Why I did not even know Sir Rupert himself until I spoke to him
that night in his study."
There was no doubt that Mrs. Belswin was a magnificent actress, for
she uttered this lie without the least hesitation.
"No, of course not," answered Maxwell, after a pause. "I know he was a
stranger to you. Still he must have had enemies. I wonder if Kaituna
could tell me."
"Ask her!"
"No, I won't. It will only upset her. She is so agitated over the
whole affair. I'll go and see the detective who had the case in hand,
and I won't tell Kaituna anything until I can say, 'This is the
murderer of your father.'"
"It's a wild-goose chase."
"Perhaps. Still something may be discovered."
At this moment Kaituna returned, dressed for walking, and after
bidding fare well to Mrs. Belswin, Archie went out with his
sweetheart, leaving the chaperon still standing by the window.
Mrs. Belswin twisted her hands together, and looked at the carpet with
an angry frown.
"Something maybe discovered," she repeated in a thoughtful tone. "I
don't think so. The assassin came out of the night, fulfilled his
mission, and disappeared again into the night. Not all the machinery
of the law could find out the truth, and where the law failed I don't
think you'll succeed, Archibald Maxwell."