The Mystery
In the panic-stricken moments that followed the realization of the double
tragedy, the natural characteristics of all those present showed
themselves. Eve Carnforth, strong and calm, suddenly became
self-appointed dictator.
"Lay Mr. Bruce flat on his back," she called out, as she darted upstairs
for her room, and returned with smelling salts, ammonia and such things.
Tracy, also capable and self-possessed, took a vial from her and held it
before the face of the stricken child, while others strove to bring back
to consciousness the motionless figure of Gifford Bruce, now stretched on
the floor.
"It's no use," declared Landon, flinging the beads of sweat from his
forehead, "they are dead,--both of them. Oh, what _does_ it mean?"
Norma sat in a big chair, her hands clutching its carved arms, and her
face stony white. She was using all her will power to keep from utter
collapse, and she couldn't understand how Eve could be so natural and
self-possessed.
"Brace up, Norma," Eve admonished her; "here, take this salts-bottle. Now
is no time to make more trouble!"
The brusque words had the effect of rousing Norma, and she forced herself
to rise.
"What can I do?" she whispered.
"Do!" cried Eve, "there's everything to do! Some one telephone for a
doctor!"
"I--can't," Norma moaned. "You do that, Professor,--won't you?"
"Oh, I can't!" and Hardwick fell limply into a chair. "I--I'm all
upset----"
"Of course you are, Professor," said Tracy, kindly. "I'll telephone, Miss
Carnforth. Do you know the village doctor's name? Of course,--it's too
late----" he glanced at the two still forms, "but a physician must be
summoned."
"No, I don't know any name,--call Thorpe, or Hester."
Tracy rang a bell and Thorpe came shuffling in.
At sight of the tragedy, he turned and ran, screaming. Hester came, and
proved the more useful of the two. Her stolidity was helpful, and she
told the doctor's name and number.
"Dead, ain't they?" she said, with a grieved intonation that robbed her
words of curtness. "What happened to 'em?"
The simple question roused them all. What had happened? What had killed
two strong, well, able-bodied people at the same moment, and that the
very moment said to be fatal in that dread house?
"I believe," said the Professor, dropping his face in his hands, "I
believe now in the supernatural. Nothing else can explain this thing."
"Of course not," and Eve solemnly acquiesced. "There is no possibility of
anything else. What could kill them, like this, at once, and at four
o'clock exactly, except a supernormal agent?"
"But that seems so impossible!" and Tracy's practical, matter-of-fact
voice did indeed make it seem so.
"What else _is_ possible?" broke in Landon. "It isn't suicide, it isn't
murder. It isn't death from natural causes,--at least, it can't be in
Vernie's case,--I suppose Mr. Bruce might have died from heart disease."
"That's why we want a doctor," said Eve. "We can judge nothing until we
know the immediate cause of death."
"I wish we were in the city," Tracy said; "the doctor will be nearly an
hour getting here, I suppose."
"Did you tell him all?" asked Eve.
"No, I didn't. It didn't seem wise to spread the news in that way. I told
him to get here as soon as he possibly could,--that it was a matter of
life and death."
"Which it certainly is," murmured Norma. "Oh, Eve, what do you really
think?"
Eve Carnforth looked at the other girl. Eve, so poised and collected,
strength and will power written in every line of her face,--Norma so
fragile, and shaken by the awful scenes about her.
"I don't know what to think," Eve replied, slowly. "There's only one
thing certain, Vernie received a warning of death,--and Vernie is dead.
Mr. Bruce received no definite warning, that I know of, but he may have
had one. You know, he said he was visited by the phantom, but we wouldn't
believe him."
"That's so!" and Tracy looked up in surprise. "We never quite believed
Mr. Bruce's statements, because he scorned all talk of spirit
manifestations. If he really did see the ghost that night that he said he
did----"
"Of course he did," declared Eve. "_I_ believed him all the time. I can
always tell when any one is speaking the truth. It's part of my sensitive
nature."
Wynne Landon stalked about the hall like a man in torment. "What shall I
do with Milly?" he groaned. "She and Braye will be back soon,--any minute
now. She mustn't see these----"
"They ought to be placed in some other room," said Eve, gently.
"One mustn't touch a dead body before----" began Professor Hardwick, but
Tracy interrupted him. "That's in case of murder, Professor," he said;
"this is a different matter. Whatever caused these deaths, it wasn't by
the hand of another human being. If it was fright or nervous
apprehension, Those are to be classed among natural causes. I think we
are wholly justified in moving the bodies."
After some discussion, Landon and the Professor agreed with Tracy, and
with the help of Thorpe and Hester, the stricken forms were carried out
of the hall, where the group so often forgathered.
"It is better," said Eve, "for we need this hall continually, and if we
don't move them at once, the doctor may forbid it, when he comes."
By common consent, the body of Gifford Bruce was laid in the drawing
room, on a large sofa, and Vernie's slender figure was reverently placed
on the bed in the Room with the Tassels.
"No spirit shape can frighten her now," said Norma, weeping bitterly, as
Thorpe and Hester carried the dead girl in. Then both doors were closed,
shutting off the silent figures, and those who were left felt a vague
sense of relief.
"Now we can break it to Milly more gently," said Eve. "Clear away that
broken cup, Hester, and make some fresh tea, I'm sure we all need it."
On the great rug the damp spot remained where the spilled tea had fallen,
and Eve ordered a smaller rug placed over it.
Braye and Milly came in laughing.
"We've bought out the whole of East Dryden!" Milly exclaimed, "and what
do you think? We found some fresh lobsters, still alive and kicking,--and
we commandeered them at once. What's the matter with you people? You look
solemn as owls!"
"Come up to your room, Milly, to take off your wraps," and Landon took
her arm to lead her away.
"Nonsense, Wynne, I'll throw them off down here. I'm thirsty for tea."
"No; come on, dear. Come with me."
Awed at his tone, Milly went with him, and they disappeared up the
staircase.
Then Professor Hardwick told Braye what had happened. The others had
begged the Professor to do this, and in a very few words the tale was
told.
"It can't be!" and Braye rose and walked up and down the hall. "I wish I
had been here! Oh, forgive me, all of you, I know you did all you
could,--but--restoratives----"
"We did," said Eve, "I ran for sal volatile and such things, but you
don't understand,--it was instantaneous,--wasn't it, Mr. Tracy?"
"It was," replied Tracy, gravely. "Mr. Bruce was speaking, naturally and
normally. He paused when the clock struck,--we 'most always do, you know,
it's a sort of habit."
"We have to, really," said Norma. "That clock strikes so loudly, one
can't go on talking."
"And then," began the Professor, "he was talking to me, you know, and I
was looking straight at him, his face changed in an instant, his fingers
spread, as if galvanized, his teacup fell from his hand, and in a moment,
he was gone! Yes, dead in a second, I should say."
"And--Vernie?" Braye spoke with difficulty.
"I chanced to be looking at Vernie," said Mr. Tracy. "The outcry
concerning Mr. Bruce made us all look toward him, and then, a sudden
sound from Vernie drew my attention to her. She gasped, and her face
looked queer,--sort of drawn and gray,--so I sprang to her side, and held
her up, lest she fall. She was standing, looking at Mr. Bruce, of course.
I felt her sway, her head fell back, and then Miss Carnforth came to my
assistance, and we laid her quickly down on the sofa. In an instant, the
child was dead. It is incredible that it should have been a case of
sudden fright that proved fatal, and yet, what other theory is there? It
couldn't be heart disease in a child of sixteen!"
"No," mused Braye, "and yet, what could it have been? I won't subscribe
to any supernatural theory now! It's too absurd!"
"It's the only thing that isn't absurd!" contradicted Eve. "Remember,
Rudolph, Vernie had the warning----"
"Warning be hanged!" cried Braye, explosively.
"But think," went on Eve, gently, "the phantom told Vernie she would die
at four o'clock----"
"Four o'clock in the morning, Vernie said! If I had thought of four in
the afternoon, I wouldn't have gone out!"
"Nobody knows that the message said four in the morning. Vernie told me
about it many times, and she only said _four_. You know, the phantom
spoke no word, it merely designated by its fingers,--one, two, three,
four! Also, Vernie said it carried two glasses of poison."
"But _they_ weren't poisoned!"
"No; that was merely the symbol of death. Also, Rudolph, remember the
Ouija board said two would die at four. You can't get away from these
things!"
"That confounded Ouija performance was on one of the nights I was in New
York! I wish I hadn't gone! But Vernie promised me she wouldn't sleep in
that room. I was a fool to believe her. You see, Eve, I feel a sort of
responsibility for the child. Uncle Gif was so easy-going and
indulgent,--he was no sort of a guardian for her, now she was growing up.
I planned to have her put under the care of some right kind of a woman
this fall, and brought up properly."
"I know it, Rudolph; you were very fond of her."
"Not only that, but I appreciated what she needed, and I meant to see
that she got it. Oh, Eve, I can't realize this thing."
Doctor Wayburn came in. It was plain to be seen the man was scared. In
his years of country practice he had never run up against anything tragic
or thrilling before, and he was overwhelmed. With trembling step he
entered the room of death, and first made examination of the body of
Gifford Bruce. It did not take long. There was no apparent cause for
death. No symptoms were present of any fatal disease, nor, so far as he
could see, of any poison or wound of any sort.
"I cannot say what an autopsy may divulge," declared the frightened
practitioner, "but from this superficial examination, I find no cause of
dissolution."
Then he crossed the hall, to the Room with the Tassels.
Braye followed him in, Eve also. The Professor and Tracy stood in the
doorway, but Norma remained in the hall, her face buried in some sofa
cushions.
"No apparent cause," the Doctor repeated. "This child was in perfect
health; I should say fright _might_ have killed her, but it doesn't seem
credible. I know of no cause of any sort, that could bring about death in
an instant of time, as you report."
"Maybe not an instant," corrected the Professor, carefully. "As I look
back, I should judge there was at least a half a minute between Mr.
Bruce's first symptom of unease, and his falling to the floor."
"So with Vernie," said Eve, thoughtfully. "I saw Mr. Tracy go quickly
toward her; I followed immediately, and I'm sure there was nearly a half
minute, but not more, before she gasped and died."
"It's hard to judge time on such occasions," said the Doctor, looking
sharply at Eve.
"I know it, but I was very conscious of it all, almost clairvoyantly so,
and I can assure you it was not longer than a half minute in either case,
between the state of usual health and death itself. Is there any cause or
agent that will work as quickly as that?"
"I know of none," replied Doctor Wayburn, positively.
"There is none," Eve assured him. "These deaths were caused by
supernatural means, they were the vengeance of certain Powers of
Darkness."
"Oh, come now, Eve," expostulated Braye, "don't get off that stuff to the
Doctor. Keep that for our own circle. You know these fatalities
_couldn't_ have been caused by a ghost!"
"What, then?"
"I don't know. Fright, perhaps, or over-apprehension because of the
warnings. Auto-suggestion, if you like, and so indirectly the result of
the spooks, but not the direct work of a disembodied spirit."
"It _was_, all the same!" and Eve left the room and went to sit by Norma.
But the girls were not in sympathy. Their conversation resulted in
disagreement, and, at last, in Norma's bursting into tears and running
upstairs.
She sought Milly, and found her prostrated by Landon's news. But she was
trying to be brave, and earnestly endeavouring to preserve her
self-control.
"I know every one thinks I'll go to pieces," she said, pathetically, "and
make more trouble for you all,--but I won't. I've promised Wynne I'll be
brave and if I can't keep quiet and composed, I'll stay in my room, and
not upset the crowd."
"You're all right, Milly," Norma reassured her, "you let yourself go all
you want to. Don't overdo your restraint. I'll look after you."
"Yes, do, Norma. Don't let Eve come near me. I can't stand her!"
"Why? You mustn't be unjust to Eve. She behaved splendidly at that awful
time."
"Yes, I know. But if it hadn't been for Eve we never would have come up
here at all."
"Oh, Milly, that isn't fair! We all agreed to come here. It wasn't Eve's
doing any more than mine!"
"Yes, it was. But, look here, Norma, tell me truly. What do _you_ think
killed Mr. Bruce and Vernie?"
"I don't know, Milly, dear. You know I do believe in psychics and in
spiritism and in the return to earth of the souls of people who have
died, but--I _can't_ believe that any such spirit would kill an innocent
child, or a fine old man. I can't _believe_ it!"
"But why not, Norma? If you believe in the return to earth of good
spirits, why not bad spirits, as well? And if so, why couldn't they kill
people, if they want to?"
"You sound logical, Milly, but it's absurd."
"No, it isn't. You and Eve believe in good spirits and in their power to
do good. Why not, then, in bad spirits and their power to do evil?"
"Let up, Milly," begged Landon, who stood near by. "She's been going on
like that, Norma, ever since I told her. Can't you explain to her----"
"Explain what?"
"Lord! _I_ don't know! But make her see how impossible it is that the
ghost of that woman who killed her husband here so long ago, should have
any reason to do away with two modern present-day people!"
"But I _want_ to think so, Wynne," and Milly's eyes stared with a
peculiar light. "I'd rather think they were killed by that ghost than by
a person,--wouldn't you?"
"What do you mean, Milly? Murdered?"
"Yes, Eve. That's what it must have been, if not spirits. They had no
mortal disease, either of them."
"Don't mention that before any one else," admonished Eve, very seriously.
"There are other explanations, Milly. Many deaths have been brought about
by sudden fright or by continuous apprehension of imaginary danger.
Vernie had been warned twice. True, I didn't think of four in the
afternoon, but doubtless she did, and maybe, seeing the sudden attack of
Mr. Bruce, so startled her that she thought of the four o'clock doom and
gave way herself."
"She might give way to the extent of fainting, or a fit of hysterics,"
admitted Milly, "but not to the extent of dropping dead! It's
unthinkable,--it's unbelievable----"
"It's almost unbelievable that they should _be_ dead," Eve said, softly,
"but as to how they died, let's not speculate, dear. I suppose we must
have a doctor up from New York,--what do you think, Mr. Landon?"
"Eh?--oh, I don't know,--I'm sure I don't know."
"But you'll have to take charge, won't you?" asked Eve. "You two are
really the heads of this house----"
"All I want is to get away," moaned Milly. "When can we go, Wynne?"
"I don't know, dear. Say, Eve, won't you take Milly down to-night? I
can't leave, of course, but I daren't keep her here, lest she go to
pieces. You take her home,--there's a train in about an hour."
"Oh, I can't. I want to stay here. Send Norma,--no, she's no
good,--perhaps Mr. Tracy will take Milly down. He's awfully kind, and
ready to do anything."
As Milly declared herself now willing, the three went downstairs. They
found the others in the hall, the Doctor still there, and the tea things
still about. Eve gave Milly some tea, and took some herself.
"I'll have to call in the coroner," Doctor Wayburn was saying; "it isn't
apparently a murder, and yet it's a mysterious death,--they both are.
Yes, the county physician must be summoned."
The Doctor had gotten over the first panic of surprise, and began to feel
a sense of importance. Such a case had never come near him before, and
the whole affair gave him a pleasant feeling of responsibility and
foreshadowed his prominence in the public eye.
The suggestion of a coroner was resented by all who listened, but the
Doctor's word was law in the case, so they unwillingly consented.
"I think I'd better go down to New York to-night," said Braye. "There are
so many things to see to, so many people to notify, the reporters to look
after, and--undertaking arrangements to be made. Unless you want to go,
Wynne?"
"No," said Landon, "it's better for you, Rudolph. But I wish you'd take
Milly. Take her to her mother's and let her get out of this atmosphere.
Will you go, Milly?"
"I did want to, Wynne, when I was upstairs. But, now, with people all
about,--if Norma will stay here, too, I'd rather stay with you. When are
_you_ going down, Wynne?"
"I don't know, dear. We'll have to see how things turn out. Well, you go
ahead, Rudolph, you'll have to hustle to get over to the train. And there
are a few matters I wish you'd look after for me."
The two men went off to discuss these matters, and then Doctor Wayburn,
who had been telephoning, announced that the coroner could not come until
the next day, as he was in another township attending to some duties.
"And I'm glad of it," said Eve, "for we've had enough excitement for one
day."
And so, by ten or eleven o'clock, the house was locked up and the members
of the household gone to bed, all except old Thorpe, who sat in the great
hall, with the two doors open into the rooms where the still, tragic
figures lay. Before him, on a table, Hester had placed coffee and
sandwiches, and the old man sat, brooding on the awful events of the
afternoon.