affection of one of her young years. After all, she was not much more
than a child, and had never before conceived a real affection for any
living thing. She had not yet experienced that affinity which comes of
maturer years, that subtle sympathy, that perfect passion and patience
which alone enable one heart to feel each pang or each joy that makes
another beat.
Roddy's moods were often as changeful as the wind, while at times he was
restless, impatient and depressed--perhaps when his wireless experiments
gave no result. But it was often beyond her understanding.
Seeing him so perturbed, Elma wondered whether, in her confession of
affection, she had said anything wrong. Was he, after all, growing
tired of her? Had that sudden fit of jealousy been assumed on purpose
to effect a breach?
She did not go to him. She still sat idly among the grasses.
A military aeroplane from Farnborough was circling overhead, and she
watched it blankly.
After a little while her lover mastered whatever emotion had been
aroused within him, and came back to her.
He spoke in his old caressing manner, even if a little colder than
before.
"Forgive me, dearest," he said softly. "I--I was jealous of that man
Rutherford. That you really love me has brought to me a great and
unbounded joy. No shadow has power to rest upon me to-day. But I--I
somehow fear the future--I fear that yours would be but a sorry mode of
existence with me. As I have said, my profession is merely that of a
traveller and adventurer. Fortune may come in my way--but probably not.
We cannot all be like the Italian beggar who bought the great Zuroff
diamond--one of the finest stones in existence--for two soldi from a
rag-dealer in the Mercato Vecchio in Ravenna."
"You have your fortune to make, Roddy," she said trustfully, taking his
hand. "And you will make it. Keep a stout heart, and act with that
great courage which you always possess."
"I am disheartened," he said.
"Disheartened! Why?"
"Because of the mystery--because of these strange mental attacks, this
loss of memory to which I am so often subject. I feel that before I can
go farther I must clear up the mystery of those lost days--clear
myself."
"Of what?" she asked, his hand still in hers.
"Of what that woman made me--compelled me to do," he said in a harsh,
broken voice. He had not told her he had discovered where he had been
taken. He felt that he was always disbelieved.
"Now, Roddy, listen!" she cried, jumping up. "I believe that it is all
hallucination on your part. You were kept prisoner at that house--as
you have explained--but beyond that I believe that, your brain being
affected by the injection the devils gave to you, you have imagined
certain things."
"But I did not imagine the finding of Edna Manners!" he cried. "Surely
you believe me!"
"Of course I do, dear," she said softly.
"Then why do you not tell who she was? At least let me clear up one
point of the mystery."
"Unfortunately I am not allowed to say anything. My father has
forbidden it."
"But what has your father to do with it? I know he has put the matter
into the hands of ex-inspector Fuller. But why?"
"Father knows. I do not."
"But he told me that much depended upon discovering her," said her
lover. "Why does he search when I know that she died in my arms?"
"You have never told him so. He wishes to obtain proof of whether she
is dead, I think," said the girl.
"Why?"
"That I cannot tell. He has his own motives, I suppose. I never dare
ask him. It is a subject I cannot mention."
"Why?"
"He forbade me ever to utter Edna's name," she replied slowly.
"That is very curious, when he told me that he must find her. And he
employed the famous Fuller to search for trace of her. But," he added,
"trace they will never find, for she is dead. If I told him so he would
certainly not believe me. They all think that I am half demented, and
imagine weird things!" And he drew a long breath full of bitterness.
"Never mind," she said. "It would be infamous to be melancholy, or
athirst for great diamonds on such a glorious day."
"True, my darling, true!" he said. "Let us sit down again. There!
Lean back so as to be in the shade, and give me your hand. Now I want
to kiss you."
And taking her in his warm embrace, he rained kisses upon her full red
lips in wild ecstasy, with low murmurs of love that were sweet in the
young girl's ears, while she, on her part, reclined in his arms without
raising protest or trying to disengage herself from his strong clasp.
"I love you, Elma!" he cried. "That you have no thought for that man
Rutherford who danced with you so many times on Wednesday night, who
took you into supper and laughed so gaily with you, has greatly relieved
me. I know I am poor, but I will do my very utmost to make good and to
be worthy of your love."
Again his lips met hers in a long, passionate caress. For both of them
the world was nonexistent at that moment, and then, for the first time,
her pretty lips pressed hard against his and he felt one long, fierce
and affectionate kiss.
He knew that she was his at last!
Half an hour later, as they went down the steep hill and across the
beautiful wooded country towards Haslemere, Roddy Homfray trod on air.
For him the face of the world had suddenly changed. Theirs was a
perfect peace and gladness in that morning of late summer. Elma, on her
part, needed nothing more than the joy of the moment, and whatever
darkness her lover may have seen in the future was all sunlight to her.
Roddy's glad smile was for her all-sufficient.
That day surely no shadow could fall between them and the sun!
As they walked along, Roddy suddenly exclaimed:
"What fools are clever folk!"
Surely his hours of melancholy had not returned, she thought.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because my enemies--my unknown mysterious enemies--your enemies--are
fools, Elma, my darling." And then perhaps for a moment they caught
sight of each other's souls.
"Perhaps they are. But we must both be guarded against them," the girl
said as he walked beside her.
"Guarded! Yes, Poor Edna has fallen their victim. Next, my darling, it
might be you yourself! But of the motive I can discern nothing."
"I! What have I done?" cried the girl, looking straight at him. "No,
surely I can have no enemies."
"We all have enemies, darling. Ah! you do not yet realise that in our
life to-day falsehoods are daily food and that a lie is small coinage in
which the interchange of the world, francs, marks, dollars, or
diplomacy, is carried on to the equal convenience of us all. Lying lips
are no longer an abomination. They are part of our daily existence."
"You are horribly philosophic, Roddy!" she said with a laugh. "But I
quite understand that it is so. The scandals in politics and in society
prove it every day."
"Yes. And let us--both of us--now that we love each other, be
forewarned of the mysterious evil that threatens."
"How?"
"I can't tell. Yet I have a vague premonition that though the sun
shines to-day, that all is bright and glorious, and that the clear
horizon of our lives is speckless, yet very soon a darkness will arise
to obscure further the mystery of that night in Welling Wood."
"I sincerely hope not. Let us leave the affair to Inspector Fuller,"
said Elma. "He was down to see my father the night before last. I do
not know what was said. I left them together in the library when I went
to bed."
"You heard nothing?"
"Only as I came in I heard Fuller mention the name of your friend Andrew
Barclay, who has gone to Marseilles to see the Moorish Minister."
"Yes, Barclay is certainly my friend. But how could the detective have
possibly known that?"
"Detectives are strangely inquisitive people," remarked the girl, as
hand in hand they went down the hill.
"That is so. And I only hope Mr Fuller will discover the truth
concerning poor Edna Manners. Ah! I recollect it all so well. And yet
the recollection goes giddily round and round and round in a sickening
whirl of colour before my blinded eyes. It is all horrible! And it is
all hideous and incredible. She died! I dashed to raise the alarm--and
then I know no more! All I recollect is that I grovelled, frightened,
sobbing! I saw the shimmering of sun-rays through the darkness of
leaves. I was in a strange garden and it was day! And always since,
whenever I have closed my eyes, I can see it still!"
"No, Roddy," she urged. "Try to put it all aside. Try not to think of
it!"
"But I can't forget it!" he cried, covering his face with his hands. "I
can't--I can't--it is all so terrible--horrible."
In sympathy the girl took his arm. Her touch aroused him. Of a sudden
all the strength of his being came to his aid.
"Forgive me, darling! Forgive me!" he craved.
And together they crossed the low old stile into the road which led down
through a quaint little village, and out on the way to Haslemere.
On that same morning at noon Richard Allen again stood in the
dining-room at Willowden, when Gordon Gray, alias Rex Rutherford,
entered. He was in a light motor-coat, having just returned from his
tour to Scotland.
"Well, Dick!" he cried cheerily in that easy, good-humoured way of his,
that cheerful mannerism by which he made so many friends. "So you've
had luck--eh?"
"Yes, after a narrow escape. Got caught, and had to fight a way out,"
laughed the other.
"Not the first time. Do you recollect that night in Cannes two years
ago? By Jove! I thought we were done."
"Don't let's talk of nasty things," his friend said. "Here's the
precious little map--the secret of the Wad Sus mines."
"Splendid!" cried Gray, taking the small piece of folded paper to the
window. "By Jove! it gives exact measurements in metres, and minute
directions."
"Yes. And the old Minister has in his possession a great emerald taken
from the ancient workings."
"We ought to get that. It will show _bona fides_ when we deal with the
concession. It would be better to buy it than to get it by other means.
If it were stolen there would be a hue-and-cry raised. But if we could
get it honestly--honestly, mark you, Dick!--we could get the official
certificate saying where and when it was found."
"True!" remarked Allen, who chanced to be standing near the window and
whose attention had suddenly been attracted by a movement in the bushes
on the opposite side of the lawn. "But don't move, Gordon!" he cried
quickly. "Keep quiet! Don't show yourself! Get back behind the
curtains. There's somebody over in the bushes yonder, watching the
window! Just by the yew-tree there. Watch!"
In an instant Gordon Gray was on the alert. For some moments both men
stood with bated breath, watching eagerly.
Suddenly the figure moved and a ray of sunlight revealed a woman's face.
"By Gad! Dick! Yes, I've seen that woman somewhere before! What can
be her game? She's evidently taking observations! Call Freda and
Jimmie, quick! We must all get out of this at once! There's not a
second to lose! _Quick_!"
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
THE EARS OF THE BLIND.
The discovery of the watcher at Willowden was most disconcerting to Gray
and his accomplices.
They recognised the stranger as a person who had once kept observation
upon them in London two years before, and now saw to their dismay that
their headquarters had been discovered.
So that night Gray and Claribut worked hard in frantic haste and
dismantled the wireless installation, which they packed in boxes, while
Freda eagerly collected her own belongings. Then making sure that they
were not still being watched they stowed the boxes in the car, and
creeping forth sped rapidly away along the Great North Road.
"I don't like the look of things?" Gray muttered to Freda, who sat
beside him. "We've only got away in the nick of time. The police might
have been upon us before morning. We'll have to be extremely careful."
And then a silence fell between them as they drove through the pelting
rain. Once again they had wriggled out of an awkward situation.
At a first-floor window of an ancient half-timbered house in a narrow,
dingy street behind the cathedral in quaint old Bayeux, in Normandy, a
pretty, fair-haired young girl was silting in the sunshine, her hands
lying idly in her lap.
It was noon. The ill-paved street below--a street of sixteenth-century
houses with heavy carved woodwork and quaint gables--was deserted, as
the great bell of the magnificent old cathedral, built by Odo, the
bishop, after the Norman Conquest of Britain, boomed forth the hour of
twelve.
The girl did not move or speak. She seldom did, because first, her blue
eyes were fixed and sightless, and, secondly, she was always strange of
manner.
Jean Nicole, the boot-repairer, and his wife, with whom the girl lived,
were honest country folk of Normandy. Both came from Vaubadon, a remote
little village on the road to St Lo. After the war they had moved to
Bayeux, when one day they chanced to see an advertisement in the _Ouest
Eclair_, an advertisement inviting a trustworthy married couple to take
charge of a young lady who was slightly mentally deficient, and offering
a good recompense.
They answered the advertisement, with the result that they were invited
to the Hotel de l'Univers at St Malo, where the worthy pair were shown
up to a private sitting-room wherein sat a well-dressed Englishman and a
smartly-attired woman, his wife.
They explained that they had been left in charge of the young lady in
question, who was unfortunately blind. Her father's sudden death, by
accident, had so preyed upon her mind that it had become deranged.
The man, who gave the name of Mr Hugh Ford, explained that he and his
wife were sailing from Havre to New York on business on the following
Saturday, and they required someone to look after the unfortunate young
lady during their absence. Would Monsieur and Madame Nicole do so?
The boot-repairer and his stout spouse, eager to increase their income,
expressed their readiness, and within an hour arrangements were made, an
agreement drawn up by which the pair were to receive from a bank in
Paris a certain monthly sum for mademoiselle's maintenance, and the
young lady was introduced to them.
Her affliction of blindness was pitiable. Her eyes seemed fixed as she
groped her way across the room, and it was with difficulty that her
guardian made her understand that she was going to live with new
friends.
At last she uttered two words only in English.
"I understand."
The middle-aged Frenchman and his wife knew no English, while it seemed
that the young lady knew no French.
"Her name is Betty Grayson," explained Mr Ford, speaking in French.
"She seldom speaks. Yet at times she will, perhaps, become talkative,
and will probably tell you in English some absurd story or other, always
highly dramatic, about some terrible crime. But, as I tell you,
Monsieur Nicole, her mind is unhinged, poor girl! So take no notice of
her fantastic imagination."
"_Tres bien, monsieur_," replied the dark-faced boot-repairer. "I quite
follow. Poor mademoiselle!"
"Yes. Her affliction is terribly unfortunate. You see her condition--
quite hopeless, alas! She must have complete mental rest. To be in the
presence of people unduly excites her, therefore it is best to keep her
indoors as much as possible. And when she goes out, let it be at night
when nobody is about."
"I understand, monsieur."
"The best London specialists on mental diseases have already examined
her. Poor Betty! They have told me her condition, therefore, if she
gets worse it will be useless to call in a doctor. And she may get
worse," he added meaningly, after a pause.
"And when will monsieur and madame be back?" inquired Madame Nicole.
"It is quite impossible to tell how long my business will take," was Mr
Ford's reply. "We shall leave Havre by the _Homeric_ on Saturday, and I
hope we shall be back by November. But your monthly payments will be
remitted to you by the Credit Lyonnais until our return."
So the pair had gone back by train from St Malo to quiet old Bayeux, to
that dingy, ramshackle old house a few doors from that ancient mansion,
now the museum in which is preserved in long glass cases the wonderful
strip of linen cloth worked in outline by Queen Matilda and her ladies,
representing the Conquest of England by her husband, William of
Normandy, and the overthrow of Harold--one of the treasures of our
modern world. On the way there they found that Miss Grayson could speak
French.
The rooms to which they brought the poor sightless English mademoiselle
were small and frowsy. The atmosphere was close, and pervaded by the
odour of a stack of old boots which Monsieur Nicole kept in the small
back room, in which he cut leather and hammered tacks from early morn
till nightfall.
From the front window at which the girl sat daily, inert and
uninterested, a statuesque figure, silent and sightless, a good view
could be obtained of the wonderful west facade of the magnificent Gothic
Cathedral, the bells of which rang forth their sweet musical carillon
four times each hour.
Summer sightseers who, with guide-book in hand, passed up the old Rue
des Chanoines to the door of the Cathedral, she heard, but she could not
see. Americans, of whom there were many, and a sprinkling of English,
chattered and laughed upon their pilgrimage to the magnificent
masterpiece of the Conqueror's half-brother, and some of them glanced up
and wondered at the motionless figure seated staring out straight before
her.
It is curious how very few English travellers ever go to Bayeux, the
cradle of their race, and yet how many Americans are interested in the
famous tapestries and the marvellous monument in stone.
On that warm noon as Betty Grayson sat back in the window, silent and
motionless, her brain suddenly became stirred, as it was on occasions,
by recollections, weird, horrible and fantastic.
Madame Nicole, in her full black dress and the curious muslin cap of the
shape that has been worn for centuries by the villagers of Vaubadon--for
each village in Normandy has its own fashion in women's caps so that the
denizens of one village can, in the markets, be distinguished from those
of another--crossed the room from the heavy, old oak sideboard, laying
the midday meal. In the room beyond Jean, her husband, was earning his
daily bread tapping, and ever tapping upon the boots.
"Madame," exclaimed the girl, rising with a suddenness which caused the
boot-repairer's wife to start. "There is a strange man below. He keeps
passing and re-passing and looking up at me."
The stout, stolid Frenchwoman in her neat and spotless cap started, and
smiled good-humouredly.
"Then you can see at last--eh?" she cried. "Perhaps he is only some
sightseer from the Agence Cook." The woman was astounded at the sudden
recovery of the girl's sight.
"No. I do not think so. He looks like an English business man. Come
and see," said the girl.
Madame crossed to the window, but only two women were in sight,
neighbours who lived across the way, and with them was old Abbe Laugee
who had just left his confessional and was on his way home to
_dejeuner_.
"Ah! He's gone!" the girl said in French. "I saw him passing along
last evening, and he seemed to be greatly interested in this house."
"He may perhaps have a friend living above us," suggested Madame Nicole.
Scarcely had she replied, however, when a knock was heard at the outside
door, which, on being opened, revealed the figure of a rather tall,
spruce-looking Englishman, well-dressed in a dark grey suit.
"I beg pardon, madame," he said in good French, "but I believe you have
a Mademoiselle Grayson living with you?"
Ere the woman could speak the girl rushed forward, and staring straight
into the face of the man, cried:
"Why! It's--it's actually Mr Porter!"
The man laughed rather uneasily, though he well concealed his chagrin.
He had believed that she was blind.
"I fear you have mistaken me for somebody else," he said. Then, turning
to the woman, he remarked: "This is Miss Grayson, I suppose?"
"Yes, monsieur."
"Ah! Then she imagines me to be somebody named Porter--eh?" he remarked
in a tone of pity.
"I imagine nothing," declared the girl vehemently. "I used to, but I am
now growing much better, and I begin to recollect. I recognise you as
Mr Arthur Porter, whom I last saw at Willowden, near Welwyn. And you
know it is the truth."
The man shrugged his shoulders, and turning to Madame Nicole said in
French:
"I have heard that mademoiselle is suffering from--well, from
hallucinations."
"Yes, monsieur, she does. For days she will scarcely speak. Her memory
comes and goes quite suddenly. And she has to-day recovered her sight."
"That is true," replied the pretty blue-eyed girl. "I recognise this
gentleman as Mr Arthur Porter," she cried again. "I recollect many
things--that night at Farncombe when--when I learnt the truth, and then
lost my reason."
"Take no notice, monsieur," the woman urged. "Poor mademoiselle! She
tells us some very odd stories sometimes--about a young man whom she
calls Monsieur Willard. She says he was murdered."
"And so he was!" declared the girl in English. "Mr Homfray can bear me
out! He can prove it!" she said determinedly.
Their visitor was silent for a moment. Then he asked:
"What is this strange story?"
"You know it as well as I do, Mr Porter," she replied bitterly. But
the stranger only smiled again as though in pity.
"My name is not Porter," he assured her. "I am a doctor, and my name is
George Crowe, a friend of your guardian, Mr Ford. He called upon me in
Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and as I was travelling to Paris he asked
me to come here and see you."
"What?" shrieked the girl. "Dare you stand there and deny that you are
Arthur Porter, the friend of that woman, Freda Crisp!"
"I certainly do deny it! And further, I have not the pleasure of
knowing your friend."
Betty Grayson drew a long breath as her blue eyes narrowed and her brow
knit in anger.
"I know that because of my lapses of memory and my muddled brain I am
not believed," she said. "But I tell you that poor Mr Willard was
killed--murdered, and that the identity of the culprits is known to me
as well as to old Mr Homfray, the rector of Little Farncombe."
"Ah! That is most interesting," remarked the doctor, humouring her as
he would a child. "And who, pray, was this Mr Willard?"
"Mr Willard was engaged to be married to me!" she said in a hard voice.
"He lived in a house in Hyde Park Square, in London, a house which his
father had left him, and he also had a pretty seaside house near Cromer.
But he was blackmailed by that adventuress, your friend, Mrs Crisp,
and when at last he decided to unmask and prosecute the woman and her
friends he was one morning found dead in very mysterious circumstances.
At first it was believed that he had committed suicide, but on
investigation it was found that such was not the case. He had been
killed by some secret and subtle means which puzzled and baffled the
police. The murder is still an unsolved mystery."
"And you know the identity of the person whom you allege killed your
lover--eh?" asked the doctor with interest.
"Yes, I do. And so does Mr Homfray."
"Then why have neither of you given information to the police?" asked
the visitor seriously.
"Because of certain reasons--reasons known to old Mr Homfray."
"This Mr Homfray is your friend, I take it?"
"He is a clergyman, and he is my friend," was her reply. Then suddenly
she added: "But why should I tell you this when you yourself are a
friend of the woman Crisp, and of Gordon Gray?"
"My dear young lady," he exclaimed, laughing, "you are really making a
very great error. To my knowledge I have never seen you before I passed
this house last evening, and as for this Mrs Crisp, I have never even
heard of her! Yet what you tell me concerning Hugh Willard is certainly
of great interest."
"Hugh Willard!" she cried. "You betray yourself, Mr Porter! How do
you know his Christian name? Tell me that!"
"Because you have just mentioned it," replied the man, not in the least
perturbed.
"I certainly have not!" she declared, while Madame Nicole, not
understanding English, stood aside trying to gather the drift of the
conversation.
The man's assertion that his name was Crowe, and that he was a doctor
when she had recognised him as an intimate friend of the woman who had
blackmailed her lover, aroused the girl's anger and indignation. Why
was he there in Bayeux?