ANOTHER DISCOVERY
Kelson was in their sitting-room reading the _Field_. He started up as
Gifford entered, and flung away the paper. "My dear Hugh, I've been
waiting for you," he exclaimed.
"What's the matter? Anything wrong?" Gifford asked with a certain
apprehensive curiosity, as he noticed signs of suppressed excitement in
his friend's face.
"I don't know whether it's all wrong or whether it is all right," Kelson
replied. "Anyhow it has relieved my mind a good deal."
Controlling his own tendency to excitement, Gifford put aside his hat and
stick and sat down. "Let's hear it," he said quietly.
"Well, another unaccountable thing has, it appears, happened at Wynford
Place. A pendant, or whatever you call it, to that which has been
troubling Muriel. What do you think? As I was riding along the Loxford
road this afternoon I met Dick Morriston, and he told me that another
discovery of blood-stains has been made at Wynford. On a girl's
ball-dress too. And on whose do you suppose it is?"
"Not Miss Morriston's?" Gifford suggested breathlessly.
Kelson nodded, with a slight look of surprise at the correctness of the
guess. "Yes. Isn't it queer? Poor old Dick is in rather a way about it,
and I must say the whole business is decidedly mysterious."
Gifford was thinking keenly. "How did it come out? Who found the
marks?" he asked.
"Well," Kelson answered, "it appears that Edith Morriston's maid found
them some days ago, in fact the day after a similar discovery had been
made on Muriel's gown. She had brought the dress which her mistress had
worn at the Hunt Ball out of the wardrobe where it hung, in order to fold
it away. She appears to have spread it on the bed where the sun shone on
it and in the strong light she noticed on the dark material some
brownish discolorations. With what had happened about the other dress in
her mind, she examined the marks closely, and with such intentness as to
raise the curiosity of a housemaid who happened to come into the room. At
first Miss Morriston's maid tried to put her off, but the other girl, who
was sharp-eyed, had seen the marks, was not to be hood-winked, and the
mischief was done. The housemaid seems to be a foolish, babbling
creature, and the discovery soon became the talk of the servants' hall,
whence it spread till it reached the police."
"And what are they doing about it?" Gifford asked.
"Morriston says they've had a detective up at the house examining the
gown; being so utterly at sea over the affair the police are doubtless
glad to catch at anything. There seems little question that the stains
are blood, and that makes the whole business still more puzzling. Dick
Morriston is naturally very exercised about it, but I am very glad for
Muriel's sake that the second discovery has been made. In fact I have
been just waiting till I saw you before riding over to tell her of it,
and relieve her mind."
"Yes," Gifford responded mechanically, "of course it removes any serious
suspicion from Miss Tredworth."
"And," said Kelson eagerly, "it divides the odium, if there is any. In
fact, to my mind, it reduces the whole suspicion to an absurdity. For
that both girls could have been concerned in Henshaw's death is
absolutely incredible."
"Yes," Gifford agreed thoughtfully; "they could not both have had a
hand in it."
"Or either, for that matter," Kelson returned with a laugh. "Don't you
admit that the idea is in the highest degree ridiculous?" he added more
sharply as Gifford remained silent.
"It is--inconceivable," he admitted abstractedly.
Kelson, who had taken up his hat and crop and was turning to the door,
wheeled round quickly. "My dear Hugh," he exclaimed impatiently, "what is
the matter with you? What monstrous idea have you got in your head? You
owe it to me, and I really must ask you, to speak out plainly. It seems
almost an insult to Muriel to ask the question, but do you still persist
in the notion that she had, even in the most innocent way, anything to do
with Henshaw's death? Because I have her positive assurance that she
knows nothing of it, beyond what is common knowledge."
"I too am quite certain of that now," Gifford answered.
"Why do you say now?" Kelson demanded sourly. "Surely you never seriously
entertained such an abominable idea."
"You must admit, my dear Harry," Gifford replied calmly, "that with a man
stabbed to death in practically the next room, the blood-stains on Miss
Tredworth's dress were bound to give rise to conjecture. One would
suspect an archbishop in a similar position. But that is all over now. I
am as convinced as you can be that Miss Tredworth knew nothing of the
business."
"On your honour that is your opinion?"
"On my honour."
"This new discovery has changed your opinion?"
"It has at least shown me how dangerous it may be to jump to
conclusions."
Kelson drew in a breath. "Yes, indeed. Poor Muriel has suffered from the
suspicion as well as from the horrible shock of the discovery. Still,
this new development, though it acquits her, does nothing towards solving
the mystery. I wonder whether Edith Morriston has any idea as to how her
dress got marked."
"I wonder," Gifford responded abstractedly.
"Well," said Kelson, "I'm off to carry the good news to Muriel. Don't
wait dinner for me if I'm not back by seven-thirty."
It was rather a relief to Gifford to be left alone that he might review
the situation without interruption. His first thought had been, could
this last discovery be accountable for what he had seen that afternoon?
Doubtless, after the information reached the police it would not be long
in being conveyed to Henshaw. And he was now making use of it to put the
screw on, using the hold he had gained over Edith Morriston to bend her
to his will. What was that? Marriage? To Gifford the thought was
monstrous; yet if it should be that Henshaw had information which put
the girl in his power, what could she do? That she had consented to meet
him secretly and listen to him went to show that she felt her position to
be weak. If so she might need help, an adviser, a man to stand between
her and her persecutor.
Thinking out the situation strenuously Gifford determined to seek a
private interview with Edith Morriston and offer himself as her
protector. At the worst she could but snub him, and the chances were, he
thought, greatly in favour of her accepting his offer of help. For from
her character he judged she was not a girl to make a stronger appeal to
him than the casual invoking of his assistance which had already taken
place. He had a very cogent reason for believing that he could be of
assistance, although there were certain elements in the mystery which
might, in his ignorance of them, upset his calculations.
Anyhow in consideration of the trust Edith Morriston had shown in him he
would seek an interview with her and chance what it might bring forth.