The Colonel rose. "If you can discover the truth and let me know
what it is my daughter is concealing from me I shall be eternally
grateful," he said. "I shall expect you to-morrow at noon."
"To-morrow at noon you will expect the trained nurse for whom the
doctor has telegraphed. Good evening."
I went to the door with Colonel Hargreaves, and saw him down the
garden to the front gate.
When I went back to the house Dorcas Dene was waiting for me in the
hall. "Are you busy for the next few days?" she said.
"No--I have practically nothing to do."
"Then come to Godalming with me to-morrow. You are an artist, and I
must get you permission to sketch that lake while I am nursing my
patient indoors."
* * * * * * *
It was past noon when the fly, hired from the station, stopped at
the lodge gates of Orley Park, and the lodge-keeper's wife opened
them to let us in.
"You are the nurse for Miss Maud, I suppose, miss?" she said,
glancing at Dorcas's neat hospital nurse's costume.
"Yes."
"The Colonel and the doctor are both at the house expecting you,
miss--I hope it isn't serious with the poor young lady."
"I hope not," said Dorcas, with a pleasant smile.
A minute or two later the fly pulled up at the door of a picturesque
old Elizabethan mansion. The Colonel, who had seen the fly from the
window, was on the steps waiting for us, and at once conducted us
into the library. Dorcas explained my presence in a few words. I was
her assistant, and through me she would be able to make all the
necessary inquiries in the neighbourhood.
"To your people Mr. Saxon will be an artist to whom you have given
permission to sketch the house and the grounds--I think that will
be best."
The Colonel promised that I should have free access at all hours to
the grounds, and it was arranged that I should stay at a pretty
little inn which was about half a mile from the park. Having received
full instructions on the way down from Dorcas, I knew exactly what
to do, and bade her good-bye until the evening, when I was to call
at the house to see her.
The doctor came into the room to conduct the new nurse to the
patient's bedside, and I left to fulfil my instructions.
At "The Chequers," which was the name of the inn, it was no sooner
known that I was an artist, and had permission to sketch in the
grounds of Orley Park, than the landlady commenced to entertain me
with accounts of the accident which had nearly cost Miss Hargreaves
her life.
The fainting-fit story, which was the only one that had got about,
had been accepted in perfect faith.
"It's a lonely place, that lake, and there's nobody about the
grounds, you see, at night, sir--it was a wonder the poor young
lady was found so soon."
"Who found her?" I asked.
"One of the gardeners who lives in a cottage in the park. He'd been
to Godalming for the evening, and was going home past the lake."
"What time was it?"
"Nearly ten o'clock. It was lucky he saw her, for it had been dark
nearly an hour then, and there was no moon."
"What did he think when he found her?"
"Well, sir, to tell you the truth, he thought at first it was
suicide, and that the young lady hadn't gone far enough in and had
lost her senses."
"Of course, he couldn't have thought it was murder or anything of
that sort," I said, "because nobody could get in at night--without
coming through the lodge gates."
"Oh! yes, they could at one place, but it'ud have to be somebody
who knew the dogs or was with someone who did. There's a couple of
big mastiffs have got a good run there, and no stranger 'ud try to
clamber over--it's a side gate used by the family, sir--after they'd
started barking."
"Did they bark that night at all, do you know?"
"Well, yes," said the landlady. "Now I come to think of it,
Mr. Peters--that's the lodge-keeper--heard 'em, but they was quiet
in a minute, so he took no more notice."
That afternoon the first place I made up my mind to sketch was the
Lodge. I found Mr. Peters at home, and my pass from the Colonel
secured his good graces at once. His wife had told him of the
strange gentleman who had arrived with the nurse, and I explained
that there being only one fly at the station and our destination
the same, the nurse had kindly allowed me to share the vehicle
with her.
I made elaborate pencil marks and notes in my new sketching book,
telling Mr. Peters I was only doing something preliminary and
rough, in order to conceal the amateurish nature of my efforts,
and keep the worthy man gossiping about the "accident" to his
young mistress.
I referred to the landlady's statement that he had heard dogs bark
that night.
"Oh, yes, but they were quiet directly."
"Probably some stranger passing down by the side gate, eh?"
"Most likely, sir. I was a bit uneasy at first, but when they quieted
down I thought it was all right."
"Why were you uneasy?"
"Well, there'd been a queer sort of a looking man hanging about that
evening. My missus saw him peering in at the lodge gates about
seven o'clock."
"A tramp?"
"No, a gentlemanly sort of man, but he gave my missus a turn, he had
such wild, staring eyes. But he spoke all right. My missus asked him
what he wanted, and he asked her what was the name of the big house
he could see, and who lived there. She told him it was Orley Park,
and Colonel Hargreaves lived there, and he thanked her and went
away. A tourist, maybe, sir, or perhaps an artist gentleman, like
yourself."
"Staying in the neighbourhood and examining its beauties perhaps."
"No; when I spoke about it the next day in the town I heard as he'd
come by the train that afternoon; the porters had noticed him, he
seemed so odd."
I finished my rough sketch and then asked Mr. Peters to take me to
the scene of the accident. It was a large lake and answered the
description given by the Colonel.
"That there's the place where Miss Maud was found," said Mr. Peters.
"You see it's shallow there, and her head was just on the bank here
out of the water."
"Thank you. That's a delightful little island in the middle. I'll
smoke a pipe here and sketch. Don't let me detain you."
The lodge-keeper retired, and obeying the instructions received from
Dorcas Dene, I examined the spot carefully.
The marks of hobnailed boots were distinctly visible in the mud at
the side, near the place where the struggle, admitted by
Miss Hargreaves, had taken place. They might be the tramp's--they
might be the gardener's; I was not skilled enough in the art of
footprints to determine. But I had obtained a certain amount of
information, and with that, at seven o'clock, I went to the house
and asked for the Colonel.
I had, of course, nothing to say to him, except to ask him to let
Dorcas Dene know that I was there. In a few minutes Dorcas came to
me with her bonnet and cloak on.
"I'm going to get a walk while it is light," she said; "come
with me."
Directly we were outside I gave her my information, and she at once
decided to visit the lake.
She examined the scene of the accident carefully, and I pointed out
the hobnailed boot marks.
"Yes," she said, "those are the gardener's probably--I'm looking
for someone else's."
"Whose?"
"These," she said, suddenly stopping and pointing to a series of
impressions in the soil at the edge. "Look--here are a woman's
footprints, and here are larger ones beside them--now close to--now
a little way apart--now crossing each other. Do you see anything
particular in these footprints?"
"No--except that there are no nails in them."
"Exactly--the footprints are small, but larger than Miss Hargreaves'
--the shape is an elegant one, you see the toes are pointed, and
the sole is a narrow one. No tramp would have boots like those.
Where did you say Mrs. Peters saw that strange-looking gentleman?"
"Peering through the lodge gates."
"Let us go there at once."
Mrs. Peters came out and opened the gates for us.
"What a lovely evening," said Dorcas. "Is the town very far?"
"Two miles, miss."
"Oh, that's too far for me to-night."
She took out her purse and selected some silver.
"Will you please send down the first thing in the morning and buy me
a bottle of Wood Violet scent at the chemist's. I always use it, and
I've come away without any."
She was just going to hand some silver to Mrs. Peters, when she
dropped her purse in the roadway, and the money rolled in every
direction.
We picked most of it up, but Dorcas declared there was another
half-sovereign. For fully a quarter of an hour she peered about in
every direction outside the lodge gates for that missing
half-sovereign, and I assisted her. She searched for quite ten
minutes in one particular spot, a piece of sodden, loose roadway
close against the right-hand gate.
Suddenly she exclaimed that she had found it, and, slipping her
hand into her pocket, rose, and, handing Mrs. Peters a five-shilling
piece for the scent, beckoned me to follow her, and strolled down
the road.
"How came you to drop your purse? Are you nervous to-night?" I said.
"Not at all," replied Dorcas, with a smile. "I dropped my purse that
the money might roll and give me an opportunity of closely examining
the ground outside the gates."
"Did you really find your half-sovereign?"
"I never lost one; but I found what I wanted."
"And that was?"
"The footprints of the man who stood outside the gates that night.
They are exactly the same shape as those by the side of the lake.
The person Maud Hargreaves struggled with that night, the person who
flung her into the lake and whose guilt she endeavoured to conceal
by declaring she had met with an accident, was the man who wanted
to know the name of the place, and asked who lived there--_the man
with the wild eyes._"
_IV. THE SECRET OF THE LAKE_
"You are absolutely certain that the footprints of the man with the
wild eyes, who frightened Mrs. Peters at the gate, and the
footprints which are mixed up with those of Miss Hargreaves by the
side of the lake, are the same?" I said to Dorcas Dene.
"Absolutely certain."
"Then perhaps, if you describe him, the Colonel may be able to
recognise him."
"No," said Dorcas Dene, "I have already asked him if he knew anyone
who could possibly bear his daughter a grudge, and he declares that
there is no one to his knowledge. Miss Hargreaves has scarcely
any acquaintances."
"And has had no love affair?" I asked.
"None, her father says, but of course he can only answer for the
last three years. Previously to that he was in India, and Maud--who
was sent home at the age of fourteen, when her mother died--had
lived with an aunt at Norwood."
"Who do you think this man was who managed to get into the grounds
and meet or surprise Miss Hargreaves by the lake--a stranger to her?"
"No; had he been a stranger, she would not have shielded him by
inventing the fainting fit story."
We had walked some distance from the house, when an empty station
fly passed us. We got in, Dorcas telling the man to drive us to the
station.
When we got there, she told me to go and interview the porters and
try and find out if a man of the description of our suspect had
left on the night of the "accident."
I found the man who had told Mr. Peters that he had seen such a
person arrive, and had noticed the peculiar expression of his eyes.
This man assured me that no such person had left from that station.
He had told his mates about him, and some of them would be sure to
have seen him. The stranger brought no luggage, and gave up a single
ticket from Waterloo.
Dorcas was waiting for me outside, and I gave her my information.
"No luggage," she said; "then he wasn't going to an hotel or to stay
at a private house."
"But he might be living somewhere about."
"No; the porters would have recognised him if he had been in the
habit of coming here."
"But he must have gone away after flinging Miss Hargreaves into the
water. He might have got out of the grounds again and walked to
another station, and caught a train back to London."
"Yes, he might," said Dorcas, "but I don't think he did. Come, we'll
take the fly back to Orley Park."
Just before we reached the park Dorcas stopped the driver, and we
got out and dismissed the man.
"Whereabouts are those dogs--near the private wooden door in the
wall used by the family, aren't they?" she said to me.
"Yes, Peters pointed the spot out to me this afternoon."
"Very well, I'm going in. Meet me by the lake to-morrow morning
about nine. But watch me now as far as the gates. I'll wait outside
five minutes before ringing. When you see I'm there, go to that
portion of the wall near the private door. Clamber up and peer over.
When the dogs begin to bark, and come at you, notice if you could
possibly drop over and escape them without someone they knew called
them off. Then jump down again and go back to the inn."
I obeyed Dorcas's instructions; and when I had succeeded in climbing
to the top of the wall, the dogs flew out of their kennel, and
commenced to bark furiously. Had I dropped I must have fallen
straight into their grip. Suddenly I heard a shout, and I recognised
the voice--it was the lodge-keeper. I dropped back into the road and
crept along in the shadow of the wall. In the distance I could hear
Peters talking to someone, and I knew what had happened. In the act
of letting Dorcas in, he had heard the dogs, and had hurried off to
see what was the matter. Dorcas had followed him.
* * * * * * *
At nine o'clock next morning I found Dorcas waiting for me.
"You did your work admirably last night," she said. "Peters was in a
terrible state of alarm. He was very glad for me to come with him. He
quieted the dogs, and we searched about everywhere in the shrubbery
to see if anyone was in hiding. That man wasn't let in at the door
that night by Miss Hargreaves; he dropped over. I found the
impression of two deep footprints close together, exactly as they
would be made by a drop or jump down from a height."
"Did he go back that way--_were there return footprints_?"
I thought I had made a clever suggestion, but Dorcas smiled, and
shook her head. "I didn't look. How could he return past the dogs
when Miss Hargreaves was lying in the lake? They'd have torn him
to pieces."
"And you still think this man with the wild eyes is guilty? Who can
he have been?"
"His name was Victor."
"You have discovered that!" I exclaimed. "Has Miss Hargreaves been
talking to you?"
"Last night I tried a little experiment. When she was asleep, and
evidently dreaming, I went quietly in the dark and stood just behind
the bed, and in the gruffest voice I could assume, I said, bending
down to her ear, 'Maud!'
"She started up, and cried out, 'Victor!'
"In a moment I was by her side, and found her trembling violently.
'What's the matter, dear?' I said, 'have you been dreaming?'
"'Yes--yes,' she said. 'I--I was dreaming.'
"I soothed her, and talked to her a little while, and finally she
lay down again and fell asleep."
"That's something," I said "to have got the man's Christian name."
"Yes, it's a little, but I think we shall have the surname to-day.
You must go up to town and do a little commission for me presently.
In the meantime, pull that boat in and row me across to the fowl
island. I want to search it."
"You don't imagine the man's hiding there," I said. "It's too small."
"Pull me over," said Dorcas, getting into the boat.