SELENE'S STORY
Laurence was an expert gardener, and, after despatching a reply to the
Marquis's letter, he had, though deep in thought, settled down to assist
Head in the greenhouses.
"We've got a thief in this establishment," the gardener remarked, after
a lengthy pause in the conversation.
"Oh, indeed," replied Laurence absently. He was at the moment revelling
in the prospect of Miss Selene Scott's company that afternoon, and did
not find Head's conversation remarkably entertaining.
"Yes; my old coat has gone out of the barn since last evening--my old
coat what the missus won't let me wear except I'm haymaking. Strictly,
'tween you and me, sir, I suspects the hodd man next door!"
Laurence was all attention at once. Anything concerning the unknown
inhabitants of the Dene was of interest to him, and he begged for
further details of the "robbery"(!)
But Head was ready for his dinner, he said, and promptly moved off
towards the barn, to which his meal was usually brought by one of his
numerous olive-branches. Laurence followed, at the gardener's
suggestion, to be shown whence the coat had disappeared in the night!
On the threshold of the barn a small boy was playing marbles alone. He
rose and touched his cap on catching sight of young Carrington; then,
addressing his father, informed him that "mother made you a shepherd's
pie, what you likes."
Head walked into the barn to fetch this delicacy, but emerged a moment
later.
"Where've you been, Tommy?" he asked.
"Tommy" disappeared into the great building, but he also returned a
minute after with a blank look on his face.
"I put it in there a moment ago, Daddy, and now it's gone," was his
lamentation.
"There now, sir," said Head to Laurence, "what did I tell you about a
thief? He's stolen my dinner!"
Laurence, feeling almost inclined to laugh, in his turn accompanied the
gardener into the barn. As he did so, he fancied he detected a rustling
in the mountains of fresh-smelling hay that rose all around. Head had
evidently heard the sound also, for he seized a pitchfork and commenced
stabbing it into the portion which appeared to be that whence the
rustling came, but with no result.
As he poked about in the hay, the man stopped suddenly.
"What's this?" he said, picking up something upon which his fork had
chanced. He held up to view a small revolver.
Could it be, Laurence wondered at the sight of it, the weapon with which
the unknown stranger had attempted the life of Squire Carrington?
Disguising his pleasure at the sight of what might possibly be a clue to
the hiding-place of the Squire's would-be murderer, Laurence pocketed
the small weapon, and moved away, leaving Head to grumble over his loss.
But a subsequent scrutiny of the pistol was cut short by the arrival of
Kingsford, who announced luncheon. Almost simultaneously a carriage
bearing the Marquis of Moorland's coat of arms drove up the avenue, and
deposited two ladies and a couple of small portmanteaux on the doorstep.
The butler proceeded to open the door, and, perceiving that the visitors
were Miss Scott and her aunt, ushered them into the drawing-room, where
Laurence quickly joined them. As the young man entered the room he heard
his father's voice call over the banisters to the butler:
"Don't let any one in; pray don't; bar the door. Say that I have got a
pistol ready. What? Mrs. Knox and Miss Scott? Oh, that's all right. I
thought it was a--a burglar!"
A sigh of relief followed, and, after a moment or two, the Squire,
looking paler and more miserable than ever, arrived in the drawing-room.
All through lunch he remained silent except when spoken to, while
Laurence was being charmed by Miss Scott's graphic description of the
fire, and Mrs. Knox paid undivided attention to the sumptuous repast
laid out on the table.
"But the funniest thing of all, Mr. Carrington," said the young lady to
Laurence during the course of the conversation, "was that when I was
going down to supper, I happened to look out into the garden from a
landing window, when what should I see but a figure creeping along the
side of the house. Well, as auntie will tell you, if there's anything
I'm frightened of it's a tramp. This looked like either a burglar or a
tramp, but I knew that he daren't break in with all the servants and
guests about, so I didn't mention the fact to anyone. To me it looks as
if the person I saw had something to do with the dreadful fire, but why
he should want to murder us all I should very much like to know. Well,
but that isn't all. Soon after you'd gone--you went so awfully early,
you know--I happened to go out on to the covered-in verandah for a
breath of fresh air, and was talking very privately to Maggie
Haroldsworth. I had just mentioned to her that you had gone" (Miss Scott
blushed as she noticed the colour rise to Laurence's cheeks at the
mention of his name in the "very private" conversation) "mentioned that
you and the Squire had gone, when suddenly the same figure I had seen
before sprang up from some bushes, almost underneath where we stood, and
dashed off into the shrubbery. The lawn was quite dark, so that I could
not see very well what the person was like, but Maggie insisted that it
was a woman with coloured skirts, though I doubt if it really was, for
no woman I ever saw ran like that figure did."
At this point Squire Carrington roused himself from the state of
lethargy into which he had fallen, and looked up, paying some attention
to vivacious Miss Scott's story.
"Another thing Maggie insisted on, was that she distinctly saw the
mysterious creature's features. She told me all about it afterwards,
when we were bundling out of the house, for the alarm was raised before
we had stopped talking about the woman--if it really was one. Well, she
says that the light from one of the basement rooms fell on this
creature's face as it dashed out of the bushes, and that she could take
her dying oath it was a black woman! Why, Mr. Carrington, what's the
matter? Mr. Laurence, Auntie, the Squire has fainted!"
For the second time within twenty-four hours Squire Carrington had
fallen forward in a dead faint!