AN INVOLUNTARY EAVESDROPPER
As she heard the words Edith Morriston stood for a moment as though
transfixed, and then staggered back grasping at a tombstone for support.
Gifford took a quick step forward, but before he could be of help she had
recovered from the shock, and motioning him back, was looking at him with
incredulous eyes.
"You were there?" she repeated, with more suspicion now than unbelief.
"In that room at the top of the tower; yes; by accident," he answered in
a tone calculated to reassure her.
"Then you know--you saw what happened?"
He bowed his head in assent. "Enough to be sure that Mr. Clement Henshaw
was a great scoundrel, and that his fate was not altogether unmerited.
Now," he added in a tone of decision, "you will have nothing more to do
with this Gervase Henshaw, or he with you."
It was good to see the eager relief in Edith Morriston's eyes.
"And you never told me this before," she said.
"I could not very well," he replied. "And I should not have told you now
had I not been forced to protect you from this man. It is a dangerous
position for me to stand in, and I should in ordinary circumstances have
let the affair remain a mystery."
"I understand your position," she responded, with a look of gratitude.
"But you can trust me."
"Indeed I can," he assured her with infinite content.
"I don't realize it now," the girl said, with signs that she was fighting
against the effect of the reaction. "Can you trust me enough to tell me
how it all happened?"
"I would trust you with my life," he responded fervently. "Though it
hardly comes to that. Of course I will tell you the whole story of my
adventure. But we had better not stay here. Mr. Henshaw must be getting
impatient by this time and may come to look for you. Before he has the
chance of meeting you it will be well for you to hear the real facts of
the case. Shall we come into the park, or would your brother--"
"Dick is at church," she said, a little shamefacedly, it seemed. "I gave
him the slip."
"What a terrible risk you have just run," Gifford observed as they went
through the churchyard to the private gate into the park. "If I had not
happened to come along just then and see Henshaw waiting--"
"Oh, don't talk of that now," she entreated. "I knew it meant horrible
misery for the rest of my life, but anything seemed better than the
terrible scandal which threatened us."
"With which Henshaw threatened you, the scoundrel," Gifford corrected.
"Now you shall see how little he really had to go upon."
"And yet," she murmured, "it seemed overwhelming. I can scarcely believe
even now that the danger is past."
"Wait till you hear my story," he said with a reassuring smile.
They had entered the enclosed path, called Church Walk, and passing the
branch which led to the drive, kept on between the tall laurel hedges.
"We shall be quite undisturbed here," the girl said. "Dick is sure to
turn off and go in by the drive. Now, Mr. Gifford, do trust me and tell
me everything."
"I hope it is not necessary to talk of trust between us," he replied,
with as much tenderness as his chivalry permitted.
"No; forgive me; I hope not," she responded quietly. "Now please tell me,
Mr. Gifford, what I am longing to hear."
"You will remember," Gifford began, as they slowly paced the moon-lit
path, "that on the evening I came down here my suitcase containing my
evening clothes had gone astray on the railway. There was no chance of
its turning up at the hotel before ten o'clock, and I was therefore
prevented from appearing at the dance till quite late. Naturally I would
not hear of Kelson waiting for me, which like the good-natured fellow he
is, he proposed to do; he therefore went off in good time."
"Yes; I remember he arrived quite early," Edith Morriston murmured.
"Clement Henshaw," Gifford proceeded, "left the hotel about the
same time. They must have reached your house within a few minutes
of one another."
As he paused, his companion looked round at him inquiringly. "Yes," she
said, with a certain suggestion of reticence; "I remember that too."
Gifford continued. "Having seen Kelson off, I went up to our sitting-room
to wait till my kit should arrive. I was very keen on seeing again the
old place where in my young days I used to spend such happy months, and
my enforced waiting soon became almost intolerable boredom. The result
was that I got a fit of the fidgets; I could not settle down to read, and
at last, having still an hour to spare, I resolved in my restlessness to
stroll out and take a preliminary look from outside at what was
practically my old home."
"Yes." There was a catch of growing excitement in Edith Morriston's
voice, which was scarcely above a whisper.
"The wind was sharp that night, as we all know," Gifford went on, "and
forbade loitering. A smart walk of fifteen or twenty minutes brought me
here, knowing as I did every path and short cut across the park. The old
familiar house looked picturesque enough with its many lighted windows
and every sign of gaiety. Keeping away from the front entrance where
carriages were constantly driving up and a good many people were about, I
went round to the other side, avoiding the stables and passing along by
the west wing. This, of course, brought me to the old tower, the scene of
many a game and frolic in my young days. At its foot I stood for a while
recalling memories of the past. In the mere idleness of affectionate
remembrance I went up to the garden door of the tower and mechanically
turned the handle. It was unlocked.
"I hardly know what made me go in; an impulse to stand again in those
once familiar surroundings. It was fascinating to be in the old tower
which the dim light showed me was just as I had last seen it more than a
dozen years ago. The past came vividly back to me, and I stood there for
a while indulging in a reverie of old days. The associations of the place
seemed every moment to grip me more compellingly. The tower seemed quiet
and altogether deserted; all I could hear was the dance-music away in the
hall. There could be no risk, I thought, of being seen if I went up to
the floor above: and I quietly ascended the stairs to the first landing.
The narrow passage leading to the hall was lighted up with sconces; at
its farther end I could see the movement of the dancers. The band was
playing a favourite waltz of mine, and I stayed there rather enjoying the
music and the sight from my safe retreat.
"It did not seem likely that any one would be coming to the tower, and
I resolved, foolishly enough, for, of course, I was in my travelling
suit, to wander up to the next floor and take a look at the room which
held a rather sentimental association for me. It was a stupid thing to
do as I was there in, for the moment, a rather questionable situation,
still I felt pretty secure from being noticed, and went up warily to
the next floor.
"There I found the room considerably altered from my recollection of it,
especially as it was arranged as a sitting-out room, but no one was
there, nor were there any signs of its having been used, which from its
rather secluded position, was natural enough.
"Having given a reminiscent look round I concluded that it would be best
to make a retreat, especially as there would be ample opportunity later
in the evening for me to visit it again. I turned and went to the door.
On reaching the stairs I heard to my great annoyance the sounds of
persons coming up and the subdued tones of a man's voice, I realized that
I was caught, and my one chance of escape was to retreat up the topmost
flight of stairs and wait in the darkness till the couple had gone into
the room I had just quitted.
"Accordingly I turned and went up the remaining flight on tip-toe, two
stairs at a time, waiting beyond the turn in hiding till the coast
should be clear.
"The couple had now reached the landing below and, so far as I could
tell, went into the room. I was just about to make a quick descent,
hoping to get past that and other awkward points unnoticed, when to my
dismay I became aware that the people whom I had thought safely settled
in the room below had come out and were beginning to mount the topmost
flight of stairs. This was indeed a most awkward predicament for me, and
I debated for a moment whether my best course would not be to go boldly
down the stairs and pass them, rather than retreat to the top room. If I
had chosen the former course how differently things might have turned
out; at any rate, for better or worse, the situation as it exists to-day
might have presented itself in quite another form."
Edith Morriston glanced quickly at Gifford as he uttered the reflection.
She seemed about to speak, but checked the impulse, and he continued:
"Treading noiselessly, I bolted up the remaining stairs and went into the
dark room at the top. At the door, which stood open, I stopped and
listened. To my intense vexation, for the situation was becoming
decidedly unpleasant, the pair were still coming up. In silence now, but
I could hear their approaching footsteps and the rustle of the lady's
dress. Unfortunately, there was no corner on the top landing where I
could stand hidden, so I was forced to draw back into the room.
"Happily it had been so familiar to me from childhood that I could find
my way about it in the dark. I well remembered the little inner room
formed by the bartizan of the tower, and into this I tip-toed, feeling
horribly guilty. If only I had not been in that suspicious brown suit! In
evening clothes there would, of course, have been no necessity for this
surreptitious retreat. I devoutly hoped that the two were merely bent on
exploring the place and that the darkness of the old lumber-room would
quickly satisfy their curiosity and send them down again. I heard them
come into the room, the man speaking in a tone so low that the words were
indistinguishable from where I stood; and then the sound of the door
being shut struck my ear unpleasantly.
"Then the man spoke in a more audible voice, a voice which in a flash I
recognized as Henshaw's. And his first words caught my attention with an
unpleasant grip."