THE MAN WHO DID IT
It was darker than it was wont to be at that season of the year.
Black, heavy clouds hung low in the heavens. The air was motionless,
hot, oppressive. One needed no keen perception to tell that a storm
was brewing. As Dorothy gained the river bank, in the distance was the
loud muttering of thunder. She stopped to look about her, still
keeping well in the shadow of the hedge. Apparently her flight had
been unnoticed. It struck her that, if she had liked, she might have
gone long ago, and been far away, ere this, without anyone being one
penny the wiser; and so have lessened the chance of "the family" being
associated with her ill-fame. As she looked back it seemed to her that
the house was badly lighted. There was light in one room on the ground
floor; with that exception the whole house was in darkness. Surely it
was not the Vernon custom to keep the whole house unlighted when the
night came on. There were lights in the windows of houses on the other
side of the stream, and there were lights on the river. Tinted lights
picked out the outlines of houseboats, making them orgies of colour.
Dorothy, who had never seen anything of the sort before, stared at
them in amaze, wondering what they were. Small craft, moving here and
there, carried Chinese lanterns, slung on cords, which swayed
mysteriously in the silent air. In the distance were many lights. The
regatta was to be followed by what dwellers by the river call a
Venetian Fête: there was to be a procession of illuminated boats,
which already was forming afar off. If they wished to keep their
procession dry they would be wise to start it soon.
By degrees, as her eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, Dorothy became
aware that the river seemed to be alive with boats of all sorts and
kinds. She had expected to find it deserted; she was surprised to find
that it seemed to be more crowded even than it had been in the
daytime. Remembering the servant's recommendation to stoop, so that
her figure might not be too clearly visible against the skyline, she
made the best of her way to the steps, up which Frances had hurried,
out of the boat, when she first saw her on the lawn. For one to whom
the place was not familiar, in that light they were not easy to find.
She stumbled on them more by chance than anything else. She began,
cautiously, to descend them. She could not make out how many there
were; and had gone down six when, feeling for the seventh, she touched
the surface of the water with the sole of her shoe. Starting back just
in time to save herself from stepping into the stream, she sat down,
unintentionally, and with more force than was quite pleasant, on one
of the steps at her back. The unexpected nearness of the water
startled her; she did not know what she had escaped. Had she completed
that step she might have gone head foremost into the river. She tried
to make out where the boat was of which the servant girl had spoken,
and presently could see it dimly. It seemed to be a long way off, how
was she to get at it? Wholly unacquainted with riverine methods it did
not occur to her to look for the cord by which it was tied, and so
draw it towards her. Which was perhaps well; for, though she had never
been in a small boat in her life, how she was going to navigate one in
the darkness, all alone, was a problem she did not stay to
contemplate.
As she still sat on the step of which she had so unwillingly made a
seat, dubious, fearful, the whole dark world was lit up by a vivid
flash of lightning; and in what seemed to her to be its sudden,
unearthly glow she saw, right in front of her, the face of the man who
had killed George Emmett; saw it for one astounding moment, with more
than normal plainness. Then, as suddenly as it came, it went, blotted
out by the returning darkness. Whether she had seen a vision, or been
the victim of an optical delusion, she had not a notion. For a moment
or two all was still. Then a voice came to her through the blackness.
"Can you tell me whereabouts I shall find Mr Vernon's house?"
It was the voice of the man. As she heard it every muscle in Dorothy's
body seemed to be attacked by a sort of tetanus. Whatever doubt she
might have had about the face, as to whether or not it was an optical
delusion, she had none whatever about the voice. She had heard it too
recently--under circumstances of too much import--not to be sure of
its identity when she heard it again. In it was a tone which had not
been in it when she heard it in that sitting-room in "The Bolton
Arms"; none the less was she sure that it was the same voice.
She could not have answered the question if she had tried; she did not
try. She sat silent, rigid, waiting for the voice to come again.
Presently it came.
"You must forgive me if I startled you, but that flash of lightning
revealed you so clearly that I was asking myself if you could have
been sent by Providence to help me in a difficulty I am in. I am
trying to make out which is the garden of Mr Vernon's house. The
directions I received were most explicit; but, in this light, for a
stranger, even the most explicit directions are hard to follow. Can
you tell me if I have nearly hit it?"
As she listened, Dorothy began to realise that the speaker was in a
boat which was within a foot or two of where she was sitting. The boat
showed an inclination to move with the stream; he backed it with a
gentle movement of his scull. His face was turned towards her; but she
only saw it very vaguely. He seemed to be waiting for her to reply;
when she continued silent he spoke again.
"Do I make myself clear? It is Mr Vernon's house I am looking for--the
Weir House, I believe it is called."
With an effort she managed to speak, her voice sounding strange even
to herself.
"Why--why do you want Mr Vernon's house?"
There was a sound which might have been a chuckle; as if the man was
tickled, either by the girl's caution or by her curiosity.
"Well, if you must know, I want to pay a call."
"You!"
"Yes, me; why not? Why do you say 'You' with such an accent?"
Although she knew what this man had done she was not afraid of him at
all; even alone with him here in the darkness she was never for an
instant conscious of the least alarm. That sensation which had held
her rigid had had nothing in common with fear. And, although she could
hardly help being surprised at his unexpected sudden neighbourhood,
surprise soon passed; her dominant feeling was one of wonder as to
what he could want at Mr Vernon's house. Regardless of the hint
conveyed by his rejoinder she questioned him again.
"Are--are you a friend of Mr Vernon's?"
"May I ask why you inquire? Unless, indeed, this is the garden of Mr
Vernon's house, and you are a friend of his." A thought seemed to
strike him. "What an ass I am! Perhaps you're Miss Vernon. In which
case, Miss Vernon, pray pardon my stupidity, and let me assure you
that, though I am not a friend of Mr Vernon's, nor even an
acquaintance, I am given to understand that there is someone in his
house whom I am rather anxious to see; and, perhaps, if you are Miss
Vernon, you could help me."
"Who is it you wish to see?"
She had neither admitted nor denied that she was the person he had
suggested; but he seemed to have taken it for granted that her
avoidance of the point was tantamount to an admission.
"The person I wish to see is a lady, a young one, Miss Gilbert--Miss
Dorothy Gilbert." The listener's heart stood still; she was
overwhelmed by that curious feeling of vertigo to which she seemed to
have grown subject of late. Probably the man in the boat
misinterpreted her silence; he went on to explain himself further. "I
have just been informed, Miss Vernon, that Miss Dorothy Gilbert is a
friend of yours, and that, at present, she is a guest of yours; I hope
my information is correct."
The girl on the steps found her voice again; at anyrate, in part.
"Do--do you know Miss Gilbert?"
"It may sound odd, considering, but I don't; any more than I know Miss
Vernon. But I hope to find an open sesame to her acquaintance in the
fact that I did know her father intimately; to all intents and
purposes he and I were lifelong friends."
"My father!--you knew my father!"
The girl on the steps stood up. The full strength of her voice had all
at once come back. She spoke in tones which might have been audible on
the other side of the river. The man in the boat seemed to be as
startled by her words, and by her instant change of manner, as she had
been by the discovery of his identity. There was a sudden splashing,
as if, in his surprise, he had let the blades of his oars drop into
the water; then an exclamation, as he woke to the fact that the boat
had drifted from its original place. Presently he brought it back.
"Your father?--did you say your father? Then, in that case, I suppose
you are Dorothy Gilbert--Harry Gilbert's daughter."
"I am."
"Are you sure. Why did you give me to understand that you were Miss
Vernon?"
"I wanted to find out who it was you wanted to see; it was you who
said I was Miss Vernon; I didn't. Did you say you knew my father?"
"Rather; no man knew him better. Then if you are Dorothy Gilbert,
perhaps it's just as well that I've come upon you in this queer
fashion; if you don't mind, I'll step ashore. I suppose this is Mr
Vernon's garden?" She told him that it was. "I can't quite make out
what kind of landing this is, but if you'll catch hold of the painter,
so as to make sure of the boat, I'll do the rest." She did not know
what the painter was, but she took the cord which he held out, and
kept it till she was able to transfer it to him when he also was
standing on the steps by her side.
"The accommodation seems limited down here; suppose we get up higher."
She ascended the steps; he followed; the cord was long enough to
permit of his retaining it in his grasp even when he stood on the
lawn. The moment they had reached the lawn she fired at him a
question.
"What is your name?"'
"Arnecliffe--Leonard Arnecliffe."
"Then why did you say it was Gilbert?"
"Gilbert?--I said my name was Gilbert?--What on earth do you mean?"
"To the waiter at 'The Bolton Arms.'"
"To the waiter--what the devil do you know about what I said to the
waiter at 'The Bolton Arms'?" She was still; not this time because she
could not have spoken, but because words surged up to her lips which
she had the greatest difficulty in keeping back. Whether he
misconstrued her silence as egregiously this time was not clear. His
words, when he spoke again, were odd ones. "I've been looking for you
all over Europe, and now that I've found you I'm hanged if I know how
to begin what I've got to say." She looked up at him, as he towered
above her in the gloom; she not only knew what she wished to say, but
how she wished to say it, only she was afraid. "Miss Gilbert, your
father and I were friends in quite an exceptional sense."
"Wasn't he like you?"
"In appearance? No; except that we both of us were tallish, and that
once he was dark, like me; but when he died his hair was as white as
snow. His was a strange story--did you know it?"
"How could I? I scarcely remember having seen him; he never wrote me a
letter in his life; I don't think I ever saw my mother; I know nothing
about either my father or my mother."
"So I gathered. I've been looking for you in order to tell you all
about both; only--luck, and a certain gentleman, has been against me."
"How did you know that I was here?"
"By one of those greatest flukes in the world, which are the
commonplaces of existence. I was at a friend's house on the other side
of the river when two youngsters came in who said that they had seen a
Dorothy Gilbert this afternoon at Mrs Vernon's garden-party; so, on
the off-chance of your being my Dorothy Gilbert, I came. I take it
that there is no doubt that you are my Dorothy Gilbert."
"I am Dorothy Gilbert of Newcaster."
She uttered the words in a tone of defiance which seemed to startle
him. For a moment he was still. When he spoke again his voice was
lower.
"That's what I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
"The stories which the papers tell about you."
"I don't know what they may be, but I think it's very possible that I
should understand them if you were to tell me what they are."
"But you had no hand in--in what took place at Newcaster."
"Oh yes, I had."
"Miss Gilbert! It's impossible!"
"I saw you do it."
"You saw me----" The man stopped; as if unwilling to complete the
sentence; then asked: "What do you mean--by you saw me?"
"I saw--what you did to him."
"Miss Gilbert!"
"It was because--I saw you do it that I ran away; I didn't want them
to make me tell them what I'd seen."
"Good God! what--what an extraordinary thing!"
"Yes, you may well call it an extraordinary thing. Dorothy Gilbert,
you're my prisoner; I arrest you for murdering George Emmett. And you,
my lad, I don't know what your name is, but I arrest you too. You're
both of you my prisoners; and, if you take my advice, you won't make
any fuss, but you'll just come quietly; and to make sure you'll put
these on--there's a bracelet for each of you."
The speaker was a policeman, in unmistakable policeman's clothes. So
engrossed had they been in their own affairs that to them it was as if
he had sprung out of the ground; but the explanation of his appearance
on the scene was sufficiently simple. West, the parlourmaid, having
succeeded in releasing herself from the trap in which Dorothy's
quick-witted sympathiser had temporarily secured her, had rushed off
to the police station the moment she was free; more set than ever on
effecting her purpose because of the trick of which she had been made
the victim. Not only had she given information at the station-house
itself; but on her homeward way she had encountered the individual to
whom she was engaged to be married, and who was himself a constable.
The hope of hastening her wedding-day by earning the hundred pounds
which was offered as a reward was the motive which had caused her to
act as informant; but in what seemed to her to be the fortunate
meeting with the object of her affections, she saw an opportunity of
enabling him to bring about his own advancement by managing so that he
should effect the arrest in person. Explaining her purpose, she
induced him to accompany her. As she was leading him to the servants'
entrance she saw what she jumped to the conclusion was the dim outline
of Dorothy's figure at the end of the lawn. On the instant she started
him on the chase. Doing as Dorothy had done, keeping under the shadow
of the hedge, taking advantage of their preoccupation, he was on them
before either of the pair had suspected his propinquity; and, with a
grin, was holding out a pair of handcuffs.
"Now, my lad, your right hand, and, Miss Dorothy Gilbert, your
left--sorry to inconvenience you, but business is business."
The speaker, however, was taking too much for granted in supposing
that, having surprised his prey, the rest would be perfectly easy; and
the way in which he learnt his error probably took him at least as
much by surprise as he had taken them. It took but an instant for
Dorothy's companion to grasp the situation; and even less for him to
decide upon a course of action. As the unsuspecting constable was
suggesting, with a grin, that they should hold out their hands to
permit of his handcuffing them together, the man took him by the
shoulder, whirled him round, and sent him spinning down the steep
bank, on the verge of which he had been standing, into the river. Ere
the noise of the splash which he had made as he entered the water had
died away someone came running towards them across the lawn. It was
Frances Vernon. She called out as she came:
"Dorothy! Dorothy! some policemen are at the front door! Oh, Dorothy!"
Nor was Miss Vernon alone. Behind her came another figure, also
feminine. It was the indignant and law-respecting West; who, as was
immediately made evident, had seen the treatment which had been
accorded her lover with feelings which were not too deep for words.
"And there's been a policeman here!--and he's took her prisoner!--and
he was the first to do it!--she's his prisoner, that's what she
is!--only that great brute shoved him into the river. I saw him do
it!--and there he's drowning now for all he cares!--'Gustus! 'Gustus!
You great coward, why don't you jump in and pull him out!--he was only
doing his duty!--do you want to have him drowned before your eyes?
'Gustus! Is that you, 'Gustus?"
Descending the bank with all possible care, the agitated West got as
near to the water's edge as she dared, peering into the murky stream
for some signs of the being she loved. There were sounds on the lawn
behind them. The man laid his hand on Dorothy's shoulder.
"Down the steps!--into the boat! I don't mean to let them take us like
this; there's something which I must say to you first--quick!" How she
had got there she scarcely knew; but all at once the girl found
herself seated in a small boat, which wobbled portentously as the man
followed her into it. "Steady!" she heard him say. Whether he was
speaking to himself, to her, or to the boat, she was not sure. "Don't
move; keep perfectly still; we shall be all right. Damn the sculls!
Where the devil is that rowlock? I've got it!" The boat moved forward;
then stopped, with a jar. It seemed they had run into another
boat--the presence of which moved her companion to wrath. "Hollo!--who
are you?--what the deuce are you doing there? Get out of the way, if
you don't want me to run you down!"
A voice replied--a voice which Dorothy knew well:
"Gently! gently! Listen to me! Hug the shore for about two hundred
yards and you'll find a cut; go down it and, made fast to the opposite
bank, under the trees, you'll find a houseboat. It belongs to old
Vernon; it's empty now; go aboard; for the present you'll be safer
there than anywhere, I'll see to that; I'll put them off the scent.
I'll come as soon as ever I can; wait for me there till I come. Off
you go!"
And off they went, just as burly figures began to appear on the edge
of the lawn. As they moved, almost noiselessly, through the water, the
man asked Dorothy:
"Who was that spoke to us, and talked about a cut, and a houseboat? I
couldn't get a proper sight of him. Did you know him?"
"I think," said Dorothy--as if she were not sure--"that it was Mr
Frazer."
As if she had not recognised his voice with just as much certainty as
she had done her companion's!