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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen of The AshEL Mystery. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to find out how you can volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The AshEL Mystery by Missus Charles Bryce,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen. Gimblet was up early next morning, refreshed by
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  Speaker 1: a sound and dreamless sleep. For two hours. Before breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: he wrestled with the cryptic message on the sheet of paper,
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  Speaker 1: trying first one way then another of solving the riddle
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  Speaker 1: it presented, but still finding no solution. He was silent
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  Speaker 1: and preoccupied during the morning meal, replying to inquiries as
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  Speaker 1: to his headache, alternately with obvious inattention and exaggerated gratitude.
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  Speaker 1: Neither of the ladies spoke much, however, and his absent
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  Speaker 1: mindedness passed all unnoticed. Lord Ashell was to be buried
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  Speaker 1: that day. Before they left the dining room, somber figures
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  Speaker 1: could be seen striding along the high road toward Invershill,
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  Speaker 1: inhabitants of the scattered villages and people from the neighboring
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  Speaker 1: estates hurrying to show their respect for the dead peer
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  Speaker 1: for the last time. The tragic circumstances of the murder
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  Speaker 1: had aroused great excitement all over the countryside, and a
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  Speaker 1: large gathering assembled at the little island at the head
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  Speaker 1: of the loch, where the mcconaughhans had left their bones
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  Speaker 1: since the early days of the youth of the race.
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  Speaker 1: From the surrounding glens, from distant hills and valleys, and
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  Speaker 1: even from far away Edinburgh and Oban, came mcconaughhan's to
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  Speaker 1: render their final tribute to the head of the clan.
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  Speaker 1: It was surprising to see how large was the muster.
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  Speaker 1: For the most part, a company of tall, thin men
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  Speaker 1: with lean faces and drooping wisps of mustache, to a
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  Speaker 1: mournful dirge on the pipes, Ashell was laid in his
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  Speaker 1: rocky grave, and the throng of black, garmented people was
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  Speaker 1: ferried back the way it had come. Gimblet, rapped to
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  Speaker 1: the ears in a thick overcoat with a silk scarf
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  Speaker 1: wound high around his neck, shivered in the cold air,
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  Speaker 1: for the wind had veered to the north, and the
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  Speaker 1: first breath of the Arctic winter was already carried on it.
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  Speaker 1: The waters of the lock had turned a slady black,
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  Speaker 1: little angry waves broke incessantly over its surface, and inky
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  Speaker 1: black clouds were gathering slowly on the distant horizon. It
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  Speaker 1: looked as if the fine weather were at an end,
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  Speaker 1: as if nature herself were mourning angrily at the wanton
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  Speaker 1: destruction of her child. The pity and regret Gimblet had
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  Speaker 1: felt as he stood by the murdered man's graves suddenly
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  Speaker 1: turned to a feeling of rage, both with himself and
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  Speaker 1: with the victim of the crime. Why in the world
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  Speaker 1: had he not managed to guard against the danger of
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  Speaker 1: whose imminence he had full warning? And why in the
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  Speaker 1: name of everything that was imbecile had lord ashell who
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  Speaker 1: knew much better than any one else, how real the
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  Speaker 1: danger was chosen to sit at a lighted window and
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  Speaker 1: offer so tempting a target to his enemy. Suddenly, in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of his musings, a sound fell on the
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  Speaker 1: detective's ear, a voice he had heard before, low and
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  Speaker 1: musical and curiously resonant. He looked in the direction from
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  Speaker 1: which it came, and saw two people standing together a
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  Speaker 1: little apart. In the crowd of those waiting at the
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  Speaker 1: water's edge for a craft to carry them ashore. There
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  Speaker 1: were only two or three boats, and though the Gillies
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  Speaker 1: bent to their oars with a will, everyone could not
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  Speaker 1: cross the narrow channel which divided the island from the mainland.
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  Speaker 1: At one and the same time, a group had already
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  Speaker 1: formed on the beach of those who were not the
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  Speaker 1: first to get away, and among these were the two
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  Speaker 1: figures that had attracted Gimblet's attention. They were two ladies
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  Speaker 1: who stood watching the boats which had landed their passengers
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  Speaker 1: and were now returning empty. Searest to him, a tall
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  Speaker 1: woman of ample proportions, was visibly affected by the ceremony
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  Speaker 1: she had just witnessed, and dabbed from time to time
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  Speaker 1: at her eyes with a handkerchief. But it was her
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  Speaker 1: companion who interested him. She was short and slender, her
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  Speaker 1: slightness accentuated by the long dress of black cloth and
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  Speaker 1: the small, plain hat of the same color which she wore.
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  Speaker 1: A thick black veil hung down over her face and
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  Speaker 1: obscured it from his view. But about her general appearance
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  Speaker 1: there was something strangely familiar. In a moment, Gimblet knew
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  Speaker 1: what it was and where he had seen her before.
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  Speaker 1: He had caught sight in her hand of a little
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  Speaker 1: bag of striped black satin with purple pansies embroidered at
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  Speaker 1: intervals upon it. Just such a bag had lain upon
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  Speaker 1: the table of his flat in Whitehall a few weeks ago,
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  Speaker 1: on the day when its owner had stolen the envelope
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  Speaker 1: and trusted to him by Lord Ashell it is. She
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  Speaker 1: breathed the detective the widow, and for one while moment
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  Speaker 1: he was on the point of accosting her and demanding
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  Speaker 1: his missing letter. Wiser counsels prevailed, however, and he moved
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  Speaker 1: away to the other side of the small group of
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  Speaker 1: mourners gathered on the stony beach. When he ventured to
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  Speaker 1: look at her again, it was over the shoulder of
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  Speaker 1: a stalwart highlander, whose large frame effectually concealed all of
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  Speaker 1: the little detective except his hat and eyes. A further
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  Speaker 1: surprise was in store for him. The ladies had lifted
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  Speaker 1: her veil and displayed the features of the girl he
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  Speaker 1: had watched in the library on the preceding night. Gimblet
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  Speaker 1: had seen enough, He turned away and found Juliet at
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  Speaker 1: his elbow. She would have passed him by, absorbed in
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  Speaker 1: her sorrow for the father she had found and lost
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  Speaker 1: in the space of one short hour, but he laid
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  Speaker 1: his hand upon her arm. Tell me, he begged, Who
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  Speaker 1: are those two ladies waiting for the boat? Juliet's eyes
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  Speaker 1: followed the direction of his own. Those, she said, are
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  Speaker 1: missus Clutsam and miss Julia Romano. No Ah, Gimblet murmured,
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  Speaker 1: they were among your fellow guests at the castle, weren't they? Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Juliet's reply was short and a little cold. She could
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  Speaker 1: not understand why the detectives should choose this moment to
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  Speaker 1: question her on trivial details. It showed she considered a
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  Speaker 1: lamentable lack of tact, and involuntarily she resented it. But
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  Speaker 1: surely you told me that everyone had left in Barashchel, persisted,
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  Speaker 1: Gimblet unabashed. He seemed absurdly eager for the information, no doubt,
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  Speaker 1: Julia reflected bitterly. He admired, Julia, most men would missus
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  Speaker 1: Clutsam lives in another small house of my father's near here,
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  Speaker 1: she replied stiffly. She asked Miss Romaninov to stay with
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  Speaker 1: her for a few days till she could arrange where
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  Speaker 1: to go. This disaster naturally upset everyone's plans. She has
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful face, said Gimblet, Who would think, he murmured,
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  Speaker 1: and stopped abruptly. Perhaps you would like me to introduce you,
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  Speaker 1: Juliet spoke with lofty indifference, but the dismay in Gimblet's
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  Speaker 1: tone as he answered disarmed her. On no account, he
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  Speaker 1: cried the last thing. Besides, for that matter, he added,
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  Speaker 1: truthfully we have met before. Then you will have the
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  Speaker 1: pleasure of renewing your acquaintance. Juliet suggested mischievously. Gimblet had
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  Speaker 1: shown himself so genuinely aghast that her resentful suspicions had vanished.
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  Speaker 1: I expect to have an opportunity of doing so. He agreed, seriously.
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  Speaker 1: That young lady, he went on, in a low, confidential tone,
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  Speaker 1: played a trick on me that I find it hard
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  Speaker 1: to forgive. I look forward with some satisfaction to the
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  Speaker 1: day when the laugh will be on my side. I
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  Speaker 1: admit I ought to be above such paltry considerations. But
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  Speaker 1: what would you. I don't think I am. But please
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  Speaker 1: don't mention my presence to her or her friend. I
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  Speaker 1: imagine she has not so far heard of it. I
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  Speaker 1: won't if you don't like, said Juliet. I don't suppose
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  Speaker 1: I shall see them to speak to But Why do
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  Speaker 1: you feel so sure she doesn't know you are here? Oh?
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  Speaker 1: How should she? Gimblet returned evasively. I don't suppose my
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  Speaker 1: presence would appear worth commenting upon to any one but
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  Speaker 1: yourself or Lord Ashwell, unless Lady Ruth should mention it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think she will, said Juliet. She said she
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  Speaker 1: could not speak to anyone to day, and she and
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  Speaker 1: Mark have gone off together in his own boat. I
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  Speaker 1: said I would walk home. Won't you drive with me?
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  Speaker 1: Gimblet suggested he had hired a machine from the distant
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  Speaker 1: village of Inverlegin to carry him to and from the funeral,
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  Speaker 1: but Juliet preferred to walk, finding in physical exercise the
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  Speaker 1: only relief she could obtain from the aching trouble that
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  Speaker 1: oppressed and sickened her. Gimblet drove back alone to the cottage.
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  Speaker 1: He had much to occupy his thoughts. Once back in
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  Speaker 1: his room, he turned his mind to the writing on
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  Speaker 1: the sheet of paper. Remember that where there's a way,
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  Speaker 1: there's a will, face curiosity and take the bull by
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  Speaker 1: the horn. The message, as Gimblet read it, was as
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  Speaker 1: puzzling as if it had been completely in cipher. If
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  Speaker 1: certain of the words possessed some arbitrary meaning to which
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  Speaker 1: the key promised by Lord Ashwell would have furnished the solution.
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  Speaker 1: There seemed little hope of understanding the message until the
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  Speaker 1: key was found. The word way, for instance, may stand
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  Speaker 1: for another that had been previously decided on, and, if
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  Speaker 1: rightly construed, probably indicated the place where the papers were concealed.
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  Speaker 1: Will face curiosity, bull, and horn were likely to represent
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  Speaker 1: other very different words, or perhaps even whole sentences. Without
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  Speaker 1: the key, it was hopeless to search along that line.
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  Speaker 1: Such search must end, as it would begin, in conjecture.
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  Speaker 1: Only he would see if anything more promising could be
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  Speaker 1: arrived at by taking the message as it was and
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  Speaker 1: assuming that all the words bore the meaning usually attributed
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  Speaker 1: to them. For more than an hour, Gimblet racked his
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  Speaker 1: brains to read sense into the senseless phrases, and at
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  Speaker 1: the end of that time was no wise at the
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  Speaker 1: beginning where there's a way, there's a will. Was it
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  Speaker 1: by accident or design that the order in which the
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  Speaker 1: words way and will were placed was different from the
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  Speaker 1: one commonly assigned to them. Had Lord Ashell made a
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  Speaker 1: mistake in arranging the message, or did the will refer
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  Speaker 1: to his Will and testament. If so, why should he
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  Speaker 1: take so roundabout a way of designating it? Doubtless because
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  Speaker 1: something more important than the will was involved. Indeed, if
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  Speaker 1: anything was clear from the ambiguous sentence and the precaution
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  Speaker 1: that Asheyl had taken that though it fell into the
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  Speaker 1: hands of his enemies, it should convey nothing to them,
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  Speaker 1: it was that he considered the mystification of the uninitiated
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  Speaker 1: a matter of transcendental importance. It was plain he contemplated
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of the nihilists knowing where to look for
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  Speaker 1: his message, And at the thought, Gimblet shifted uneasily in
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  Speaker 1: his chair, remembering his first encounter with their representative face
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  Speaker 1: curiosity and take the bull by the horn. Perhaps those words,
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  Speaker 1: as they stood contained some underlying sense, which at present
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  Speaker 1: it was hard to read in them. What it was
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  Speaker 1: seemed impossible to guess. To take the bull by the
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  Speaker 1: horn is a common enough expression, and might represent no
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  Speaker 1: more than a piece of advice to act boldly on
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  Speaker 1: the whole, That was not likely, for would anyone wind
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  Speaker 1: up such a carefully veiled communication with so trite an
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  Speaker 1: every day a saying, or finish such an obscure message
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  Speaker 1: with so ordinary a sentiment face curiosity. However, it was
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a direction how to proceed. The only trouble was
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  Speaker 1: to know what in the world it meant whose curiosity
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  Speaker 1: was to be faced. The behaviors of members of a
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  Speaker 1: nihilist's society could hardly be said to be impelled by
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  Speaker 1: that motive. Gimblet could not see that any one else
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  Speaker 1: had shown any symptom of it. Had curiosity then some
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  Speaker 1: other meaning. The detective, as has been said, was an
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  Speaker 1: amateur of the antique. When not at work, a great
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  Speaker 1: part of his time was passed in the neighborhood of
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  Speaker 1: curiosity shops and the merchandise they dealt, and immediately occurred
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  Speaker 1: to him in connection with the word? Did the dead
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  Speaker 1: man refer to some peculiarity of the ancient keep? Was
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  Speaker 1: there perhaps the figure or picture of a bull within
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  Speaker 1: the castle whose horn pointed to the ultimate place of concealment?
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  Speaker 1: It would have seemed Gimblet thought that the hidden receptacle
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  Speaker 1: in the secret stair was difficult enough to find. But
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  Speaker 1: the reason the papers were not placed in there was
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  Speaker 1: plain to him after a minute's reflection. It was doubtless
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  Speaker 1: because they were too bulky to be contained in the
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  Speaker 1: shallow drawer. At all events, there was certainly another hiding place,
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  Speaker 1: and on the whole the best plan seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: to see if the castle could produce any curiosity that
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  Speaker 1: would offer a solution of the problem to the castle. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: he went and asked to see Lord ashewell. He was
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  Speaker 1: shown into the smoking room, where Mark was kneeling on
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  Speaker 1: the hearth rug, surrounded by piles of folded and docketed papers.
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  Speaker 1: The door of a small cupboard in the wall beside
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  Speaker 1: the fireplace stood open, revealing a row of deep shelves
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  Speaker 1: packed with the same neat packets. Still hunting for the
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  Speaker 1: will you see, he said, looking up as Gimblet entered.
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  Speaker 1: I'm beginning to give up hope of finding it. But
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  Speaker 1: it's a mercy to have something to do these days,
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  Speaker 1: rather a tedious job, isn't it, said the detective, looking
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  Speaker 1: down at the musty tape bound bundles. Well, it gives
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  Speaker 1: one rather a kink in the back. After a time,
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  Speaker 1: Mark admitted, But I shan't feel easy in my mind
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  Speaker 1: till I've looked through everything, and I'm getting a very
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  Speaker 1: useful idea of the estate. Accounts in the meantime. It
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  Speaker 1: is rather a long business, but I'm getting on with
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  Speaker 1: it slow. But sure, there are such a fearful lot.
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  Speaker 1: Are all these cupboards full of papers? Gimblet asked, looking
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  Speaker 1: around him at the numerous little doors in the paneling
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  Speaker 1: stuffed with them, every blessed one of them. Mark replied,
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  Speaker 1: rather gloomily. And the worst of it is, I'm pretty
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  Speaker 1: certain they're nothing but these dust, the old bills and letters.
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  Speaker 1: But there's nowhere else to look. And I know he
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  Speaker 1: kept nearly everything here. Gimblet sauntered round the room, pulling
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  Speaker 1: open the drawers and peeping in at the piles of documents.
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  Speaker 1: What an accumulation, he remarked. None of these cupboards are locked,
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  Speaker 1: I see, he added, No, he never locked anything up,
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  Speaker 1: said Mark. I've heard him boast he never used a key.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know if one had time to read them?
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  Speaker 1: I believe some of these old letters might be rather amusing.
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  Speaker 1: It looked as if my grandfather and his fathers had
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  Speaker 1: kept every single one that ever was written to them.
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  Speaker 1: I've just come across one from Rayburn, the painter, and
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  Speaker 1: I saw another a quarter of an hour ago from
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  Speaker 1: Lord Clive, Really, said Gimblet eagerly. Which cupboard were they in?
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  Speaker 1: I should like to see them immensely some time they
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  Speaker 1: were in this one, said Mark, pointing to the shelves
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  Speaker 1: opposite him. Gimblet stood facing it and looked hopefully round
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  Speaker 1: him in all directions for anything like a bull. There
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  Speaker 1: was nothing, however, to suggest such an animal in. He
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  Speaker 1: reflected that interesting though these old letters might be, it
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  Speaker 1: would be going rather far to refer to them as curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly an idea struck him. I suppose you haven't come
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  Speaker 1: across anything concerning a papal bull, he inquired. No, said Mark,
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  Speaker 1: looking up in surprise. It's not very likely. I should
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  Speaker 1: you know? No, I suppose not, said Gimblet. Still, you
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  Speaker 1: old families did get a hold of all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: odd things sometimes, and your uncle was a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a collector, wasn't he, Uncle Douglas, said Mark, not he.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't care a bit for that kind of thing
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  Speaker 1: you can see in the drawing room, the sort of
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  Speaker 1: horrors he used to buy. He was thoroughly early Victorian
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  Speaker 1: in his tastes, and ought to have been born fifty
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  Speaker 1: years sooner than he was. Dear me, said Gimblet, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know why I thought he was rather by way
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  Speaker 1: of being a connoisseur. Well, well, I mustn't waste any
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  Speaker 1: more time. I wanted to ask you if you would
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  Speaker 1: mind my going all over the house I may see
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  Speaker 1: something suggestive. Who know? At present I have only examined
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  Speaker 1: the library in your uncle's bedroom. By all means, said
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  Speaker 1: Mark Blanston, will show you anything you want to see. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, you like to be alone, don't you.
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  Speaker 1: I was forgetting Well, go anywhere you like, and good
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  Speaker 1: luck to your hunting. On a writing table in one
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  Speaker 1: of the bedrooms, Gimblet found a paperweight in the bronze
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  Speaker 1: shape of a Spanish torro head down tail, brandishing a
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  Speaker 1: fine emblem of goaded rage. But there was nothing promising
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  Speaker 1: about the round mahogany table on which it stood. No drawer,
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  Speaker 1: secret or otherwise could all his measurings and tappings discovered.
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  Speaker 1: The animal, when lifted up by the horn and dangled
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  Speaker 1: before the detective's critical eye, proclaimed itself modern and of
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  Speaker 1: no artistic merit. It was like a hundred others to
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  Speaker 1: be had in any Spanish town, and by no expanding
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  Speaker 1: of terms, could be considered a curiosity except for this
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  Speaker 1: one more than doubtful find, he drew the whole house
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  Speaker 1: absolutely blank. There were very few specimens of ancient work
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  Speaker 1: in the castle, which, like so many other old houses,
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  Speaker 1: had been stripped of everything interesting it contained in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the nineteenth century and entirely refurnished and redecorated
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  Speaker 1: in the worst possible taste, with the exception of some
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  Speaker 1: family portraits. The lacquered clock in the library was the
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  Speaker 1: one genuine survival of the Victorian Holocaust, and though Gimblet
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  Speaker 1: passed nearly half an hour in contemplating it, he could
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  Speaker 1: not see any way of connecting it with a bull.
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  Speaker 1: Nor was he a whit the wiser when he finally
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  Speaker 1: turned his back on it than he had been at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning end of Chapter fourteen. Read by Don W. Jenkins, Rancho,
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  Speaker 1: San Diego, California, Shaggy Bark dot blogspot dot com.