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21 - Ashiel Mystery - A Detective Story by Mrs. Charles Bryce · Ashiel Mystery - A Detective Story

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of The Ashyl Mystery. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Mary Herndon Bell. The Ashyl Mystery by Missus
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  Speaker 1: Charles Bryce, Chapter twenty one. Juliet dug her nails into
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  Speaker 1: the cracks of the stone floor with all the energy
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  Speaker 1: of despair. But in a moment her feet were over
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the pit, and she was falling. Her
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  Speaker 1: fingers gripped the edge with a fierce tenacity, and for
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  Speaker 1: some minutes she hung there, minutes that seemed longer than
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  Speaker 1: all the rest of her life put together. And so
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  Speaker 1: she hung, her knees drawn up in a frantic effort
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  Speaker 1: to pull herself out of the depths, till her muscles
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  Speaker 1: refused any longer to contract, and she felt herself gradually
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  Speaker 1: straightening out and growing. It seemed heavier and heavier, till
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  Speaker 1: she knew that in one more second her fingers would
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  Speaker 1: slip from their hold and all would be over. But
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  Speaker 1: as she dropped into a straight position and wearily abandoned
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  Speaker 1: her efforts to raise herself, one of her feet suddenly
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  Speaker 1: touched some firm substance beneath it, something narrow it was
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  Speaker 1: for the other foot, as yet still hung in space,
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  Speaker 1: but some blessed solid thing on which it was possible
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  Speaker 1: to stand as with a feeling of thankfulness and relief
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  Speaker 1: such as she had never before experienced, she allowed her
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  Speaker 1: weight to rest on it, and found that it did
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  Speaker 1: not give. She felt a sharp blow on the knuckles
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  Speaker 1: of her left hand, which made her withdraw it quickly
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  Speaker 1: and lean against the wall to steady herself. Mark was
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  Speaker 1: throwing stones at her fingers to make her leave go sooner.
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  Speaker 1: Another missed her narrowly and shot over her head. She
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  Speaker 1: drew down her right hand, and, still leaning against the wall,
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  Speaker 1: felt about with her other foot for a support. She
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  Speaker 1: soon found it a little farther back, it seemed than
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  Speaker 1: the first foothold, but more experimental investigation showed that it
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  Speaker 1: was really part of the same object. There appeared indeed
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  Speaker 1: to be several of them about, all near to the wall,
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  Speaker 1: so that it was plain that poor Julia, as she
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  Speaker 1: shot over the brink, had fallen outside and beyond them.
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  Speaker 1: What the bars were that she seemed to be standing on,
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  Speaker 1: Juliet could not at first imagine, and it was not
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  Speaker 1: till Mark, growing tired of waiting for a splash that
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  Speaker 1: never came, reached the conclusion that his ears had deceived him,
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  Speaker 1: and took himself in Julia's lantern off to other spheres
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  Speaker 1: of usefulness. That she perceived that a faint light penetrated
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  Speaker 1: into the upper part of the pit. When her eyes
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  Speaker 1: had become accustomed to it, she was able to make
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  Speaker 1: out that she was perched upon a portion of the
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  Speaker 1: roots of a tree which had grown in through holes
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  Speaker 1: in the wall. Three great roots there were, curling into
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  Speaker 1: and across the shaft of the pit, and disappearing down
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  Speaker 1: into the darkness below, where Juliet did not dare to look.
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  Speaker 1: She managed, with great caution, to stoop down and catch
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  Speaker 1: hold of the highest of the roots, and so to
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  Speaker 1: settle herself in a fairly comfortable position, sitting on the
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  Speaker 1: middle root of the three, with her feet on the
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  Speaker 1: lowest and her back against the top one. They might
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  Speaker 1: have been made on purpose, she told herself, her naturally
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  Speaker 1: high spirits and brave young optimism coming nobly to her
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  Speaker 1: rescue again, and she set herself to try and enlarge
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  Speaker 1: one of the holes in the wall, but she could
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  Speaker 1: not make much perceptible difference there what it had taken centuries,
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  Speaker 1: and the growth of a great tree to effect could
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  Speaker 1: not be much improved on in an hour by one
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  Speaker 1: young girl, however strong the necessity that urged her by
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  Speaker 1: the time, she had exhausted her efforts and must needs
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  Speaker 1: lean back and rest Awhile, the biggest hole was just
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  Speaker 1: wide enough to put her hand through, and she saw
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  Speaker 1: no prospect of enlarging it further. Through it, she could
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  Speaker 1: see a corner of the loch and the gray foot
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  Speaker 1: of ben Gersey, but that was all it showed. However,
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  Speaker 1: on which side of the tower she was, and she
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  Speaker 1: remembered the great beach that clung to the precipice below
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  Speaker 1: the place where the foundations of the castle sprang from
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  Speaker 1: the rock. At least she had always imagined it was
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  Speaker 1: below the foundations, but now she knew better. She thrust
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  Speaker 1: her hand out and waved it, but did not dare
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  Speaker 1: to leave it there. The terror Mark had instilled in
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  Speaker 1: her was too recent and too real. If she put
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  Speaker 1: out her hand, he would see it and perhaps shoot
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  Speaker 1: it off, or at least know that he had failed
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  Speaker 1: to kill her. As yet better, he should think her
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  Speaker 1: dead like poor Julia. What was Julia really dead? She
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  Speaker 1: leant over and called down into the darkness, Julia, Julia.
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  Speaker 1: But no answer came, although she waited, holding her breath,
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  Speaker 1: and called again and again. Then she had fallen into
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  Speaker 1: the water. She must be drowned, even if the fall
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  Speaker 1: did not kill her, Poor misguided Julia. Better dead, after all,
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  Speaker 1: thought Juliet, with eyes full of tears, than alive. And
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  Speaker 1: at the mercy of that terrible man. What disillusionments must
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  Speaker 1: have come to her sooner or later, final disillusionings that
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  Speaker 1: could not be explained away. How horrible to find that
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  Speaker 1: the man you loved was like that. Nothing else in
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  Speaker 1: the world could be so appalling. Yes, Julia was better dead.
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  Speaker 1: As Juliet thought of the dreadful manner in which death
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  Speaker 1: had come to the unfortunate girl, she forgot her faults,
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  Speaker 1: forgot her strange views upon the justifiability of taking human life,
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  Speaker 1: forgot even that she had approved of Lord Ashele's assassination
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  Speaker 1: and contemplated bringing about his death herself, and remembered only
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  Speaker 1: the frightful nature of her punishment. And while she sat there,
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  Speaker 1: clinging precariously to the twisted roots, of the beech tree.
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  Speaker 1: Juliet's tears streamed down into the watery grave. Hours passed
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  Speaker 1: and darkness fell upon the world. Without. In the patch
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  Speaker 1: of lock that was visible to her, she could see
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  Speaker 1: a star mirrored. It cheered her somehow. What there was
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  Speaker 1: comforting about it she could not have said, but in
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  Speaker 1: some way it seemed to be an emblem of her hopes.
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  Speaker 1: She wedged herself tightly between the roots, laid her head
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  Speaker 1: down upon the uppermost of them, and such as the
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  Speaker 1: adaptability of youth and health, slept on her dangerous perch
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  Speaker 1: like a bird upon a bough. With the day she
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  Speaker 1: awoke stiff and hungry. How long would it be before
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  Speaker 1: she was found? She felt braver under this new stimulus
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  Speaker 1: of hunger, and more ready to risk detection by Mark.
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  Speaker 1: After all, he could hardly get at her here, and
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  Speaker 1: some one else might see her if she signaled. She
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  Speaker 1: took off her shoes and stockings and pushed them through
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  Speaker 1: the hole in the wall. Then her handkerchief, and finally
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  Speaker 1: the white blouse she wore was taken off and thrust
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  Speaker 1: out between the stones. She kept her hold upon one
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  Speaker 1: of the sleeves and wedged it down between the wall
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  Speaker 1: and the beech root, so that the blouse might hang
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  Speaker 1: out on the face of the rock like a flag
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  Speaker 1: and catch the attention of some passer by. From time
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  Speaker 1: to time, too, she squeezed her hand through the gap
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  Speaker 1: and fluttered her fingers backward and forward. She knew that
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  Speaker 1: the path by the burn ran below, and it was
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  Speaker 1: used constantly by the gillies and by the household only.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, so early in the morning there was not
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  Speaker 1: likely to be any one about, and she remembered with
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  Speaker 1: a sinking heart that people seldom look up as they walk,
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  Speaker 1: yet in the course of the day some one would
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  Speaker 1: surely see it. She sternly refused to allow herself to
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  Speaker 1: expect an immediate rescue. She would not, she told herself,
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  Speaker 1: began to get really anxious about it till evening. It
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  Speaker 1: would be long to wait. Of course, she looked at
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  Speaker 1: the little watch which Sir Arthur had given her on
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  Speaker 1: her last birthday. It was six o'clock. She must be patient,
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  Speaker 1: but in spite of all her forced cheerfulness, the time
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  Speaker 1: passed terribly slowly. She found an old letter in her
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  Speaker 1: pocket and a pencil with which she scrawled painstaking directions
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  Speaker 1: for her rescue. She would push it through the hole,
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  Speaker 1: she thought if she heard any sound of voices above
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  Speaker 1: the clamor of the burn. After that, there remained nothing
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  Speaker 1: more to do, and the hour seemed to creep along
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  Speaker 1: more and more slowly, till each second seemed like a minute,
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  Speaker 1: and each minute an hour. She tried to divert herself
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  Speaker 1: by repeating poetry and doing imaginary sums. And it was
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  Speaker 1: about eleven o'clock, when she was in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the dates of the Kings of England, that she heard
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  Speaker 1: Gimblet's voice hailing her in a shout from below. It
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  Speaker 1: was not till after her rescue, not till after she
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  Speaker 1: was given safely over to the affectionate ministrations of Lady Ruth,
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  Speaker 1: Juliet gave way under the strain to which she had
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  Speaker 1: been subjected and broke down altogether. Up till that moment,
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  Speaker 1: the urgency of her own danger had prevented her from
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  Speaker 1: feeling as acutely as she would have in other circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: the terrible fate of the Russian girl. But as soon
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  Speaker 1: as she herself was safe, the full horror of its
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  Speaker 1: settle upon her mind till thought became an agony. She
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  Speaker 1: was shaken by alternate fits of shuddering and weeping, until
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  Speaker 1: Lady Ruth, who had a scathing contempt for doctors, was
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  Speaker 1: on the point of sending for one. The arrival of
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  Speaker 1: Sir Arthur an hour or so after her release, did
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  Speaker 1: much to calm her. He had started posthaste from Belgium
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  Speaker 1: as soon as he heard of the tragedy, which was
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  Speaker 1: not till three days after it had occurred, and had
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  Speaker 1: spent the long journey in incessant self reproach that he
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  Speaker 1: had ever allowed Juliet to go along among these murderous strangers.
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  Speaker 1: The sight of his familiar face was full of comfort
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  Speaker 1: to the distracted girl, and the knowledge that Mark was
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  Speaker 1: arrested and powerless to harm her with the gladsome news
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  Speaker 1: that David was free again, combined to soothe her nerves
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  Speaker 1: and restore her self control. The fear of one cousin
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  Speaker 1: began to give place insensibly to the dread lest the
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  Speaker 1: other should find her red eyed and woe begone. And
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  Speaker 1: soon the importance of looking her best when David should
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  Speaker 1: return occupied her mind almost to the exclusion of the
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  Speaker 1: terror she had experienced. Thus does the emotion of love
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  Speaker 1: monopolize the attention of those it possesses, so that individuals
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  Speaker 1: may fall thick around him, and the surface of the
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  Speaker 1: earth be convulsed with the strife of nations. And still
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  Speaker 1: your lover will walk almost unconscious among such catastrophes, except
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  Speaker 1: in so much as they affect himself are the object
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  Speaker 1: of his affections. But not yet was Juliet to see David.
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  Speaker 1: His mother's health had broken down under the distress and
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  Speaker 1: worry of the accusation brought against him, and it was
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  Speaker 1: to her side that he hurried as soon as he
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  Speaker 1: was released from prison. While Lady Ruth carried Juliet off
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  Speaker 1: at once to the cottage there to be comforted, fed,
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  Speaker 1: made much of and put to bed. Gimblet and the
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  Speaker 1: men who had assisted him in the work of rescue
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  Speaker 1: stayed behind in the walls of the tower to rig
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  Speaker 1: up with ropes and buckets an apparatus by which to
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  Speaker 1: descend to the lowest depth of the ubliette, where poor
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  Speaker 1: Julia's body must be lying. They had little hope of
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  Speaker 1: finding her alive, nor did they do so. She was
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  Speaker 1: floating face downwards in the water at the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: the pit, in a grim, wrathful silence. The men raised
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  Speaker 1: the poor, lifeless body, and with some difficulty, brought it
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  Speaker 1: back to the light of day. When the gruesome business
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  Speaker 1: was done, Gimblet returned to the cottage, tired out with
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  Speaker 1: his night's work, for, like all the men on the place,
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  Speaker 1: he had been scouring the moors since the previous evening,
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  Speaker 1: when Mark's derisive words had first sent them hot foot
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  Speaker 1: to assure themselves of Juliet's whereabouts. As he reached the cottage,
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  Speaker 1: the daily post bag was being handed in, and among
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  Speaker 1: his letters was one from the Colonel of Mark's regiment.
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  Speaker 1: My dear Sir it Ran, I have sent you a
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  Speaker 1: wire in answer to your letter received to day, since
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  Speaker 1: in view of what you say, I see that it
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  Speaker 1: is necessary to disclose to what I hoped for the
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  Speaker 1: sake of the regiment to continue to keep secret. But if,
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  Speaker 1: as you tell me, the innocence and even the life
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  Speaker 1: of Sir David Southern is involved, and you have good
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  Speaker 1: reason to consider mc conachan the man guilty of his
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  Speaker 1: uncle's death, it becomes my duty to put aside my
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  Speaker 1: private feelings and confess to you that I am unable
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  Speaker 1: to look upon Mark mc conachan as entirely above suspicion.
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  Speaker 1: When he was a subaltern in the regiment I have
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  Speaker 1: the honor to command, he was a source of grave
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  Speaker 1: worry and trouble to me. From the day he joined.
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  Speaker 1: I had miss givings, and though his good looks, lively spirits,
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  Speaker 1: and recklessness with money made him popular with others of
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  Speaker 1: his age, I soon discovered that his moral sense was
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  Speaker 1: practically nonexistent, and considered him a very undesirable addition to
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  Speaker 1: our ranks. Still, I hoped he might improve, and for
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  Speaker 1: a year or two nothing occurred to force me to
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  Speaker 1: take serious notice of his behavior. Unknown to me, however,
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  Speaker 1: he took to gambling very heavily, and must have lost
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  Speaker 1: a great deal more than he could afford, for he
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  Speaker 1: appears to have got deep in the clutches of money
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  Speaker 1: lenders long before I heard anything about it. So desperate
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  Speaker 1: did his financial affairs become that shortly before he left
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  Speaker 1: the regiment he was actually driven to forging the name
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  Speaker 1: of a brother officer, a rich young man with whom
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  Speaker 1: he was on very friendly terms. The large amount for
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  Speaker 1: which the check was drawn drew the attention of the
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  Speaker 1: bankers to it, and in spite of the extreme skill
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  Speaker 1: with which I am told this signature had been counterfeited.
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  Speaker 1: The forgery was detected, and the matter was brought before me.
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  Speaker 1: The victim of this fraud was as anxious as myself
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  Speaker 1: to avoid a public scandal, and it was arranged that
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  Speaker 1: nothing should be done for a year to give time
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  Speaker 1: to Makanikin to refund the money. If, however, he failed
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  Speaker 1: to do so within that time, there would be nothing
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  Speaker 1: for it but to make the matter public. These terms
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  Speaker 1: were agreed on, and ma Conchan was told to send
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  Speaker 1: in his papers at once. The year allowed is now
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  Speaker 1: drawing to a close, and the money has not been forthcoming.
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  Speaker 1: So there is no doubt that Mark m Kanachin's need
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  Speaker 1: of obtaining a large amount is extremely pressing. My knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of his character obliges me to add that I consider
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  Speaker 1: him one of the few men I ever knew whom
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  Speaker 1: I could imagine going to almost any length to provide
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  Speaker 1: himself with what he so urgently requires. Please consider this
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  Speaker 1: letter confidential unless you obtain actual proof of his guilt.
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  Speaker 1: I am sir yours faithfully, T. G Ursford, Colonel commanding
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  Speaker 1: thirty first Lancers. Gimblet put the letter away with the
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  Speaker 1: other items of evidence of Mark's guilt, the telegram from
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  Speaker 1: the analyst in Edinburgh, the measurements of the footprints on
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  Speaker 1: the rose bed, and of those other marks near the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: hedge by which he had first been mystified. It was
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  Speaker 1: another thread in the thin cord that, like the silken
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  Speaker 1: line Ariadne gave to theseus, had led him to come
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  Speaker 1: successfully out of the bewildering labyrinth into which the investigation
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  Speaker 1: of the crime had beguiled him. End of Chapter twenty one,