"AS PROOF OF HOLY WRIT"
Tchigorsky hung over the papers before him as if inspired. There was not
much, apparently, in the book with the metal clasps, but that little
seemed to be fascinating to a degree. The Russian turned it over till he
came to the end.
"You appear to be satisfied," Geoffrey said.
"Satisfied is a poor word to express my feelings," Tchigorsky replied.
He stretched himself; he drew a deep breath like one who has been under
water.
"I have practically everything here in this diary," he said. "It is
written in a language you would fail to understand, but it is all like
print to me. Everything is traced down from the first of the family
catastrophes to the last attempt by means of the bees. There are letters
from Lassa containing instructions for the preparation of certain drugs
and poisons; in fact, here is everything."
"So that we are rid of our foes at last?"
"Not quite. The princess is cunning. We shall have to extract a
confession from her; we shall have to get her and her two slaves
together. It is all a matter of hours, but we shall have to be
circumspect. If the woman finds she is baffled she may be capable of a
bitter revenge to finish with."
"What are you going to do?" Geoffrey asked.
"We are going back to the castle the same way we came," Tchigorsky
explained. "We are going to show your uncle Ralph our find. For the
present it is not expedient that Sergius Tchigorsky should come to life
again."
The box was locked once more and replaced, and then the two burglars
crept from the house. They had not disturbed anybody, for the upper
windows of the farmhouse were all in darkness.
A brisk walk brought them to the castle. Upstairs a dim light was still
burning in Ralph Ravenspur's window. The light flared up at the signal,
and a few minutes later the three were seated round the lamp, while the
window was darkened again.
Ralph sat stolidly smoking as if he had not moved for hours. He evinced
not the slightest curiosity as to the success of his companions.
Tchigorsky smote him on the back with unwonted hilarity.
"So you have been successful?" he croaked.
"Oh, you have guessed that!" Tchigorsky cried.
"It was a mere matter of time," Ralph replied. "It was bound to come. I
knew that from the first day I got here."
"All very well," Tchigorsky muttered; "but it was only a 'matter of
time' till the Ravenspurs were wiped out root and branch."
"You knew the day you got here?" Geoffrey exclaimed.
Ralph turned his inscrutable face to the speaker.
"I did, lad," he said. "I came home to ascertain how the thing was
worked. Before I slept the first night under the old roof I knew the
truth. And I came in time--guided by the hand of Providence--to save the
first of a fresh series of tragedies.
"You wonder why I did not speak; you have asked me before why I did not
proclaim my knowledge. And I replied that the whole world would have
laughed at me; you would have been the first to deride me, and the
assassin would have been warned. I kept my counsel; I worked on like a
mole in the dark; and when I had something to go on, Tchigorsky came.
Before you are many hours older the miscreants will stand confessed."
Tchigorsky nodded approval. He was deftly rolling a cigarette between
his long fingers.
"Ralph is right," he said. "We have only to fire the mine now. By the
way, Ralph, you were clever to get that key."
"Easy enough," Ralph croaked. "I knew the woman would be uneasy about
her papers, so I gave her a touch of the cordial on her lips and brought
her to her senses. A certain messenger who shall be nameless was sent
off with the key. The messenger was detained, is still detained
according to arrangements, and her pocket was picked. Elphick dropped
back and gave me the key, which I passed on to you."
Geoffrey followed in some bewilderment. The messenger business was all
strange to him.
"Did you know that diary existed?" he asked.
"Of course I did," Ralph growled. "In a measure, I might say that I had
seen it. Many a time at night have I lain in a flower-bed under that
woman's window and heard her reading from the diary or writing in it.
That is why I asked no questions when you came in. I knew you had been
successful. And now, Princess Zara, it is my turn."
Ralph's voice dropped to a whisper, an intense, burning whisper of hate
and vengeance. He rose and paced the room like a caged bird.
"What will be her fate?" asked Geoffrey.
"Burn her, slay her, hang her," Ralph cried. "No death is too painful,
too loathsome for a creature like that. I could forgive her fanatical
cruelty; I could forgive the way she fought for her creed. But when it
comes to those allied by ties----"
The speaker paused and sat down.
"Who talks too fast says too much," he remarked sententiously.
"What is the next move?" Geoffrey asked.
"Bed, I should say," Tchigorsky suggested dryly. "As far as one can
judge we are likely to have a busy day before us to-morrow. And don't
you be surprised at anything you see or hear. It will be all in the
day's work, as you English say. I am going to lie up in hiding here, but
I shall turn up when the time comes. Good-night."
It was late when Geoffrey rose the following day, and the family had
long had breakfast when he came downstairs. Most of the family were
still in the breakfast room or on the terrace in the sunshine.
"How is the visitor?" he asked.
"Mrs. May seems very queer," Mrs. Gordon explained. "She complains of a
sort of paralysis in her lower limbs. At the same time she refuses to
see a doctor, saying that she has had something of the kind before."
"Does she account for her presence here?" said Geoffrey.
"Oh, yes. Of course she had heard you were missing and been informed
that everybody from the castle was on the beach. It was getting dark
when she saw two strange suspicious-looking men coming this way. She
felt sure that they had designs on the house and followed them. She
tried to get somebody to assist her, but could not see a soul anywhere.
Then she put on that queer dress and came on here.
"The two men entered the castle and she crept after them. They
discovered her and one of them gave her a blow on the head that stunned
her. When she came to her senses again she was lying in bed. Wasn't it
plucky of her?"
"Very," Geoffrey said dryly; "but where is Marion?"
"Marion, like yourself, seems to be lazily inclined to-day. It is so
very unlike her; indeed, I fear the poor child is anything but well.
Those quiet people always feel the most, and poor Marion was greatly
upset yesterday."
Vera came in at the same moment. She had a merry word or two for
Geoffrey as to his late appearance. She had not seen Marion as yet. "Run
up to her room, there is a dear girl," said Geoffrey. "This sort of
thing is not like Marion; I fear something has happened to her."
"I wish you would," Ravenspur observed.
Vera disappeared only to come back presently with the information that
Marion's room was empty, and that her bed had not been occupied. She
held a little envelope in her hand.
"I can only find this," she said.
Ravenspur snatched the letter, and tore it open.
"Extraordinary," he exclaimed. "Marion says she has found a clue to the
troubles and is following it up at once. If she does not come back till
late we are not to worry about her. Strange! But I have every confidence
in the girl."
"May she not come to harm!" Vera said fervently.
"Oh, I hope not," Mrs. Gordon cried. "But will this mystery and misery
never end?"