"And you set yourself to lay a trap for him?"
"No, sir; I did not. Unconsciously I may have been set on the watch:
no, that is wrong--I _did_ watch. But I swear it was in every hope and
expectation of clearing him. He was my friend. Even when I saw, I had
at first no intention to expose him until--"
"That is enough, sir," I broke in, and turned to my brother. "I have
no option but to put Mr. Urquhart too under arrest. Kindly convey him
back to his room, and send Captain Murray to me. He may leave Mr.
Mackenzie in the _entresol_."
My brother led Urquhart out, and in a minute Captain Murray tapped at
my door. He was an honest Scot, not too sharp-witted, but straight as
a die. I am to show him this description, and he will cheerfully agree
with it.
"This is a hideous business, Murray," said I as he entered. "There's
something wrong with Urquhart's story. Indeed, between ourselves it
has the fatal weakness that he won't tell it."
Murray took a minute to digest this, then he answered, "I don't know
anything about Urquhart's story, sir. But there's something wrong
about Urquhart." Here he hesitated.
"Speak out, man," said I: "in confidence. That's understood."
"Well, sir," said he, "Urquhart won't fight."
"Ah! so that question came up, did it?" I asked, looking at him
sharply.
He was not abashed, but answered, with a twinkle in his eye, "I
believe, sir, you gave me no orders to stop their talking, and in a
case like this--between youngsters--some question of a meeting would
naturally come up. You see, I know both the lads. Urquhart I really
like; but he didn't show up well, I must own--to be fair to the other,
who is in the worse fix."
"I am not so sure of that," I commented; "but go on."
He seemed surprised. "Indeed, Colonel? Well," he resumed, "I being the
sort of fellow they could talk before, a meeting was discussed. The
question was how to arrange it without seconds--that is, without
breaking your orders and dragging in outsiders. For Mackenzie wanted
blood at once, and for awhile Urquhart seemed just as eager. All of a
sudden, when...." here he broke off suddenly, not wishing to commit
himself.
"Tell me only what you think necessary," said I.
He thanked me. "That is what I wanted," he said. "Well, all of a
sudden, when we had found out a way and Urquhart was discussing it, he
pulled himself up in the middle of a sentence, and with his eyes fixed
on the other--a most curious look it was--he waited while you could
count ten, and, 'No,' says he, 'I'll not fight you at once'--for we
had been arranging something of the sort--'not to-night, anyway, nor
to-morrow,' he says. 'I'll fight you; but I won't have your blood on
my head _in that way_.' Those were his words. I have no notion what
he meant; but he kept repeating them, and would not explain, though
Mackenzie tried him hard and was for shooting across the table. He was
repeating them when the Major interrupted us and called him up."
"He has behaved ill from the first," said I. "To me the whole affair
begins to look like an abominable plot against Mackenzie. Certainly I
cannot entertain a suspicion of his guilt upon a bare assertion which
Urquhart declines to back with a tittle of evidence."
"The devil he does!" mused Captain Murray. "That looks bad for him.
And yet, sir, I'd sooner trust Urquhart than Mackenzie, and if the
case lies against Urquhart--"
"It will assuredly break him," I put in, "unless he can prove the
charge, or that he was honestly mistaken."
"Then, sir," said the Captain, "I'll have to show you this. It's ugly,
but it's only justice."
He pulled a sovereign from his pocket and pushed it on the
writing-table under my nose.
"What does this mean?"
"It is a marked one," said he.
"So I perceive." I had picked up the coin and was examining it.
"I found it just now," he continued, "in the room below. The upsetting
of the table had scattered Mackenzie's stakes about the floor."
"You seem to have a pretty notion of evidence," I observed sharply.
"I don't know what accusation this coin may carry; but why need it be
Mackenzie's? He might have won it from Urquhart."
"I thought of that," was the answer. "But no money had changed hands.
I enquired. The quarrel arose over the second deal, and as a matter of
fact Urquhart had laid no money on the table, but made a pencil-note
of a few shillings he lost by the first hand. You may remember, sir,
how the table stood when you entered."
I reflected. "Yes, my recollection bears you out. Do I gather that you
have confronted Mackenzie with this?"
"No. I found it and slipped it quietly into my pocket. I thought we
had trouble enough on hand for the moment."
"Who marked this coin?"
"Young Fraser, sir, in my presence. He has been losing small sums, he
declares, by pilfering. We suspected one of the orderlies."
"In this connection you had no suspicion of Mr. Mackenzie?"
"None, sr." He considered for a moment, and added: "There was a
curious thing happened three weeks ago over my watch. It found its
way one night to Mr. Mackenzie's quarters. He brought it to me in the
morning; said it was lying, when he awoke, on the table beside his
bed. He seemed utterly puzzled. He had been to one or two already to
discover the owner. We joked him about it, the more by token that his
own watch had broken down the day before and was away at the mender's.
The whole thing was queer, and has not been explained. Of course in
that instance he was innocent: everything proves it. It just occurred
to me as worth mentioning, because in both instances the lad may have
been the victim of a trick."
"I am glad you did so," I said; "though just now it does not throw any
light that I can see." I rose and paced the room. "Mr. Mackenzie had
better be confronted with this, too, and hear your evidence. It's best
he should know the worst against him; and if he be guilty it may move
him to confession."
"Certainly, sir," Captain Murray assented. "Shall I fetch him?"
"No, remain where you are," I said; "I will go for him myself."
I understood that Mr. Urquhart had retired to his own quarters or to
my brother's, and that Mr. Mackenzie had been left in the _entresol_
alone. But as I descended the stairs quietly I heard within that room
a voice which at first persuaded me he had company, and next that,
left to himself, he had broken down and given way to the most childish
wailing. The voice was so unlike his, or any grown man's, that it
arrested me on the lowermost stair against my will. It resembled
rather the sobbing of an infant mingled with short strangled cries of
contrition and despair.
"What shall I do? What shall I do? I didn't mean it--I meant to do
good! What shall I do?"
So much I heard (as I say) against my will, before my astonishment
gave room to a sense of shame at playing, even for a moment, the
eavesdropper upon the lad I was to judge. I stepped quickly to the
door, and with a warning rattle (to give him time to recover himself)
turned the handle and entered.
He was alone, lying back in an easy chair--not writhing there in
anguish of mind, as I had fully expected, but sunk rather in a state
of dull and hopeless apathy. To reconcile his attitude with the sounds
I had just heard was merely impossible; and it bewildered me worse
than any in the long chain of bewildering incidents. For five seconds
or so he appeared not to see me; but when he grew aware his look
changed suddenly to one of utter terror, and his eyes, shifting from
me, shot a glance about the room as if he expected some new accusation
to dart at him from the corners. His indignation and passionate
defiance were gone: his eyes seemed to ask me, "How much do you know?"
before he dropped them and stood before me, sullenly submissive.
"I want you upstairs," said I: "not to hear your defence on this
charge, for Mr. Urquhart has not yet specified it. But there is
another matter."
"Another?" he echoed dully, and, I observed, without surprise.
I led the way back to the room where Captain Murray waited. "Can you
tell me anything about this?" I asked, pointing to the sovereign on
the writing-table.
He shook his head, clearly puzzled, but anticipating mischief.
"The coin is marked, you see. I have reason to know that it was marked
by its owner in order to detect a thief. Captain Murray found it just
now among your stakes."
Somehow--for I liked the lad--I had not the heart to watch his face as
I delivered this. I kept my eyes upon the coin, and waited, expecting
an explosion--a furious denial, or at least a cry that he was the
victim of a conspiracy. None came. I heard him breathing hard. After
a long and very dreadful pause some words broke from him, so lowly
uttered that my ears only just caught them.
"This too? O my God!"
I seated myself, the lad before me, and Captain Murray erect and rigid
at the end of the table. "Listen, my lad," said I. "This wears an ugly
look, but that a stolen coin has been found in your possession does
not prove that you've stolen it."
"I did not. Sir, I swear to you on my honour, and before Heaven, that
I did not."
"Very well," said I: "Captain Murray asserts that he found this
among the moneys you had been staking at cards. Do you question that
assertion?"
He answered almost without pondering. "No, sir. Captain Murray is a
gentleman, and incapable of falsehood. If he says so, it was so."
"Very well again. Now, can you explain how this coin came into your
possession?"
At this he seemed to hesitate; but answered at length, "No, I cannot
explain."
"Have you any idea? Or can you form any guess?"
Again there was a long pause before the answer came in low and
strained tones: "I can guess."
"What is your guess?"
He lifted a hand and dropped it hopelessly. "You would not believe,"
he said.
I will own a suspicion flashed across my mind on hearing these
words--the very excuse given a while ago by Mr. Urquhart--that the
whole affair was a hoax and the two young men were in conspiracy to
fool me. I dismissed it at once: the sight of Mr. Mackenzie's face,
was convincing. But my temper was gone.
"Believe you?" I exclaimed. "You seem to think the one thing I can
swallow as creditable, even probable, is that an officer in the Morays
has been pilfering and cheating at cards. Oddly enough, it's the last
thing I'm going to believe without proof, and the last charge I shall
pass without clearing it up to my satisfaction. Captain Murray, will
you go and bring me Mr. Urquhart and the Major?"
As Captain Murray closed the door I rose, and with my hands behind
me took a turn across the room to the fireplace, then back to the
writing-table.
"Mr. Mackenzie," I said, "before we go any further I wish you to
believe that I am your friend as well as your Colonel. I did something
to start you upon your career, and I take a warm interest in it. To
believe you guilty of these charges will give me the keenest grief.
However unlikely your defence may sound--and you seem to fear it--I
will give it the best consideration I can. If you are innocent, you
shall not find me prejudiced because many are against you and you are
alone. Now, this coin--" I turned to the table.
The coin was gone.
I stared at the place where it had lain; then at the young man. He had
not moved. My back had been turned for less than two seconds, and I
could have sworn he had not budged from the square of carpet on
which he had first taken his stand, and on which his feet were still
planted. On the other hand, I was equally positive the incriminating
coin had lain on the table at the moment I turned my back.
"It is gone!" cried I.
"Gone?" he echoed, staring at the spot to which my finger pointed. In
the silence our glances were still crossing when my brother tapped at
the door and brought in Mr. Urquhart, Captain Murray following.
Dismissing for a moment this latest mystery, I addressed Mr. Urquhart.
"I have sent for you, sir, to request in the first place that here in
Mr. Mackenzie's presence and in colder blood you will either withdraw
or repeat and at least attempt to substantiate the charge you brought
against him."
"I adhere to it, sir, that there was cheating. To withdraw would be to
utter a lie. Does he deny it?"