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

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Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen 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. Recording by Don W. Jenkins. The
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Speaker 1: Ashyl Mystery by Missus Charles Bryce, Chapter nineteen. When Juliet,
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Speaker 1: incensed and indignant at the Russian's behavior, discovered the door
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Speaker 1: in the clock and was on the point of opening
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Speaker 1: it and making her presence known, a noise of steps
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Speaker 1: in the passage made her pause. As she listened, there
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Speaker 1: was the sound of a key turning in the lock.
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Speaker 1: The library door was thrown suddenly open, and Mark stepped
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Speaker 1: into the room. Juliet saw Julia's expression as she sprang
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Speaker 1: round to face the newcomer. She saw it change swift
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Speaker 1: as lightning, from a look of horror, rified dismay to
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Speaker 1: one of sudden, transforming tenderness as the girl recognized the
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Speaker 1: intruder that the hand already in the act of pushing
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Speaker 1: open the door of the clock, fell inert and limped
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Speaker 1: to her side, and if she had been able to move,
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Speaker 1: she would have lost no time in retreating. She knew
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Speaker 1: instinctively that she was seeing a secret laid bare which
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Speaker 1: she had no right to spy upon. And yet though
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Speaker 1: her impulse was to fly from the place in embarrassment
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Speaker 1: and confusion, something stronger than her natural discretion and delicacy
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Speaker 1: held her where she stood. For Julia had not come
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Speaker 1: here for the purpose of meeting Mark. She had come
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Speaker 1: with a purpose less, personal something Juliet felt convinced that
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Speaker 1: was in some way vaguely discreditable and at the same
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Speaker 1: time menacing. It could be for no harmless reason that
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Speaker 1: she had taken this secret, dangerous way into the castle,
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Speaker 1: And so Juliet kept her ground, blushing at her roll
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Speaker 1: of spy and averting her eyes. As Juliet dropped the
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Speaker 1: book she was holding and ran forward to meet Mark
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Speaker 1: with that tall tale look upon her face. But Mark
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Speaker 1: did not show the same pleasure. He stood holding the
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Speaker 1: handle of the door, which he had closed gently behind him,
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Speaker 1: and looking with a certain sternness at the girl Julia.
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Speaker 1: He said, you here, What are you doing? Oh Mark,
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Speaker 1: She cried, not answering his question. Aren't you glad to
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Speaker 1: see me? It is so long, Oh, it is so
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Speaker 1: long since I saw you. She threw her arms round
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Speaker 1: his neck with a happy laugh, and drew his face
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Speaker 1: down to hers. Darling, Darling, she murmured, how can we
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Speaker 1: live without each other? For one single day? She spoke
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Speaker 1: in a low, soft voice to Juliet, to whom every
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Speaker 1: purling syllable was painfully audible. It sounded cooingly like the
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Speaker 1: voice of doves, to the surprise of the girl to
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Speaker 1: whom Mark had proposed marriage two days before, when she
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Speaker 1: ventured to peep through her spy window. Mark's arms were
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Speaker 1: round Julia, and he was kissing her ardently. But after
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Speaker 1: a moment he released himself gently. You haven't told me, dear,
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Speaker 1: he said, what you are doing here? His voice held
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Speaker 1: a note of authority, before which Julia's assurance vanished. I
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Speaker 1: I wasn't doing anything, she muttered, Julia, he remonstrated, well,
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Speaker 1: she said, with some show of defiance. I suppose any
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Speaker 1: one may take a book from the library. Of course,
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Speaker 1: he said, you may take anything of mine you want,
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Speaker 1: still as you are not staying in the house. In short,
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Speaker 1: it seems to me that the more obvious course would
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Speaker 1: have been to have said something to me about it.
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Speaker 1: And besides, he added, struck by a sudden thought, how
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Speaker 1: in the world did you get in? The door was
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Speaker 1: locked and the key is on the outside. Oh, if
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Speaker 1: you're going to make such a fuss about nothing, she
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Speaker 1: exclaimed petulantly, her toe beginning to tap the boards, It's
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Speaker 1: not worth explaining anything to you. She turned away and
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Speaker 1: walked toward the fireplace. I'm not making a fuss, Mark
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Speaker 1: said quietly, but you must tell me, Julia, what you
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Speaker 1: are doing here and how you came to speak plainly,
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Speaker 1: I don't believe you came for a book. If you
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Speaker 1: don't believe me, what's the good of my saying anything.
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Speaker 1: She retorted, Oh, how horrid you are to day, Mark,
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Speaker 1: I don't believe you love me a bit any more,
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Speaker 1: and leaning her head against the mantelpiece, she burst into tears.
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Speaker 1: You know it isn't that, Julia, he said, looking at
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Speaker 1: her fixedly. Don't cry. There's a dear good girl. You
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Speaker 1: know that I love you why you're the only thing
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Speaker 1: in the whole world that I really want. But you
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Speaker 1: must tell me how you came here. Tell me, he repeated,
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Speaker 1: taking her hands from her face and forcing her to
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Speaker 1: look at him. What you want in the library? Tell me, Julia?
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Speaker 1: I want to know. She seemed to struggle to keep silence,
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Speaker 1: but to be unable to resist his questioning eyes. I
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Speaker 1: suppose I must tell you, she murmured. It's not that
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Speaker 1: I don't want to, but they would kill me if
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Speaker 1: they need. Oh, Mark, I ought not to tell you,
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Speaker 1: But how can I keep anything secret from my beloved?
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Speaker 1: Swear to me that you will never repeat it or
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Speaker 1: try to hinder me in what I have to do.
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Speaker 1: He bent and kissed her, Julie, He said, can't you
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Speaker 1: trust me? I do? I do? She cried, While you
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Speaker 1: love me, I trust you. But if you left off,
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Speaker 1: what then? What is the nightmare that haunts me? Mark? Mark?
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Speaker 1: What would become of me if you were to change
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Speaker 1: towards me? He kissed her again, murmuring reassuring words that
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Speaker 1: did not reach Juliet's ears. So tell me now, he ended,
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Speaker 1: What you were doing here? Mark, She said nervously. You
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Speaker 1: know where my childhood was passed? In Saint Petersburg. He
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Speaker 1: replied wonderingly, Yes, in Petersburg, and you know how things
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Speaker 1: are there. It is so different from your England, my England,
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Speaker 1: for I am English, really, Mark, Although that thought always
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Speaker 1: seems so strange to me, since during so many years
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Speaker 1: I believed myself to be a Russian. I am the
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Speaker 1: daughter of English parents. My father was a very respectable
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Speaker 1: London plumber of the name of Hardston, whose business went
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Speaker 1: to the bad and who died, leaving my mother to
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Speaker 1: face ruin and starvation with a family of five small children,
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Speaker 1: of whom I was the last. When a lady who
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Speaker 1: took an interest in the parish in which we lived
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Speaker 1: suggested that a friend of hers should adopt one of
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Speaker 1: the children, my mother was only too thankful to accept
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Speaker 1: the proposal, and I was the one from whom she
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Speaker 1: chose to be parted. I have never seen her since,
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Speaker 1: but she is still alive, and I send her money
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Speaker 1: from time to time. The lady who adopted me was
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Speaker 1: Countess Romaninov, and I believed myself to be her child
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Speaker 1: till a day or two before she died, when she
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Speaker 1: told me to my lasting regret the true story of
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Speaker 1: my origin. But I was brought up a Russian, and
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Speaker 1: I shall never feel myself to be English. Somehow, the
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Speaker 1: soil you live on in your childhood seems to get
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Speaker 1: into your bones. As you say here, it is true
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Speaker 1: that I speak your language easily, but it was Russian,
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Speaker 1: that my baby lips first learned my sympathies, my point
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Speaker 1: of view. My friends, all except yourself, are Russian, and
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Speaker 1: I have one essentially Russian attribute. I am a member
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Speaker 1: of what you would call a nihilist society. Mark interrupted
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Speaker 1: her with an interjection of surprise, but she nodded her
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Speaker 1: head defiantly and continued, All my life, all my private
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Speaker 1: ends and desires, must be governed by the needs of
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Speaker 1: my country. First and foremost, I exist that the rule
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Speaker 1: of the tyrant may be abolished, and the slav be
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Speaker 1: free to work out his own salvation. He shall be
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Speaker 1: saved from the fate that now overwhelms and crushes him,
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Speaker 1: dragged bodily from under the heel of the oppressor. I
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Speaker 1: am not the only one. We are many who think
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Speaker 1: as one mind, And the day is not far distant
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Speaker 1: when our sacrifices shall bear fruit. Ah, Mark, what a
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Speaker 1: great cause, What a noble purpose is this of ours?
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Speaker 1: Perhaps I shall be able to convert you to fire
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Speaker 1: your cold British blood with my enthusiasm. She stopped and
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Speaker 1: looked at him inquiringly, but he made no reply, and
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Speaker 1: after a moment she continued, placing her hand fondly upon
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Speaker 1: on his shoulder as she spoke. Our plan is to
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Speaker 1: terrify the rulers into submission. We must not shrink from
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Speaker 1: killing and killing suddenly and unexpectedly, till they abandon the
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Speaker 1: wickedness of their ways. They must never know what it
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Speaker 1: is to feel safe, and we see to it that
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Speaker 1: they do not. Death waits for them at the street corner,
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Speaker 1: on their travels, at their own doorsteps. They never know
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Speaker 1: at what moment the bomb may not be thrown or
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Speaker 1: the pistol fired. It is sad that explosives are so unreliable.
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Speaker 1: There are many difficulties. You would not believe the obstacles
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Speaker 1: that we find placed in our path at every turning.
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Speaker 1: And for those who are suspected, there is Siberia and
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Speaker 1: the mines. But it is worth it. It is worth
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Speaker 1: anything to feel that one is working and risking all
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Speaker 1: for one's country and one's fellow countrymen. It is an
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Speaker 1: honor to belong to a band of such noble men
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Speaker 1: and women. But now and then one is admitted who
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Speaker 1: turns out to be unworthy. Yes, even such a cause
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Speaker 1: as ours has traitors to contend with. And your uncle
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Speaker 1: Lord Asheyle, was one of them, What said Mark, incredulously,
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Speaker 1: Uncle Douglas a nihilist nonsense, It's impossible. He was really
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Speaker 1: for he joined the Friends of Man when he was
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Speaker 1: at the British embassy at Petersburg long years ago, And
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Speaker 1: no sooner had he been initiated than he turned round
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Speaker 1: and denounced the Society and all its works. Worse still,
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Speaker 1: he declared his intention of hindering it from carrying out
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Speaker 1: its program. He would have been got rid of there
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Speaker 1: and then, But as ill luck would have it, he had,
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Speaker 1: by an unheard of chain of accidents, become possessed of
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Speaker 1: an important document belonging to the Society. It was, indeed
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Speaker 1: a list of the principal people on the executive Committee
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Speaker 1: that fell into his hands, and he took the precaution
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Speaker 1: of sending it to England, with instructions that if anything
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Speaker 1: happened to him, it should be forwarded to the Russian
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Speaker 1: police before he made known his ridiculous objections to our program. Here,
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Speaker 1: as you will understand, was a most imposing situation with
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Speaker 1: which there was a apparently no means of coping. For
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Speaker 1: years that one man hampered and frustrated our entire organization.
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Speaker 1: He was practically able to dictate his own terms, For
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Speaker 1: he announced his intention of publishing the list of names
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Speaker 1: if we carried out any important project, and no device
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Speaker 1: could be contrived to stop his. Being as good as
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Speaker 1: his word, the tyrant has walked unscathed except by mere
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Speaker 1: private enterprise, and the government we could have caused to
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Speaker 1: crumble to the ground has flourished and continued to work
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Speaker 1: evil As before. We have been crippled, paralyzed in every direction.
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Speaker 1: It was only last year that there seemed reason to
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Speaker 1: think that Lord Ashele had removed the document from the
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Speaker 1: Bank of England, where it had for so long been guarded,
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Speaker 1: and there appeared to be a possibility that he now
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Speaker 1: kept it in his own house. If that were so,
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Speaker 1: there seemed a good chance of getting hold of it.
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Speaker 1: And how proud I am marked to think that it
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Speaker 1: was I who was chosen to make the attempt. I
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Speaker 1: came to England with the best introductions into society, and
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Speaker 1: had no difficulty in making friends with your aunt and
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Speaker 1: obtaining an invitation to stay here. Last year I did
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Speaker 1: not succeed in gaining any information. Your uncle, for some reason,
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Speaker 1: seemed rather to avoid me, and I did not make
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Speaker 1: any headway toward gaining his confidence. I never could be
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Speaker 1: sure if he suspected me. This year, there was a
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Speaker 1: question of replacing me by some one else, but it
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Speaker 1: was judged that Lord Ashele's suspicions would be certainly awakened
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Speaker 1: by the appearance of another Russian, so in the hope
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Speaker 1: that I was not associated in his mind with the
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Speaker 1: people to which he had behaved so basely, I was
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Speaker 1: ordered to try again. A member of the Society, who
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Speaker 1: occupies a high and responsible position on the Council, accompanied
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Speaker 1: me to the neighborhood, and from time to time I
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Speaker 1: report to him and receive his advice and instructions. He
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Speaker 1: stays in Creanan so that I have some one within
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Speaker 1: reach to go to for advice. At least, so I
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Speaker 1: am officially informed. But I know very well he is
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Speaker 1: really there to keep watch on me, for it is
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Speaker 1: not the habit of the Society to trust its members
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Speaker 1: more than is unavoidable. If it is as possible, I
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Speaker 1: go once a week to Kreanan and make my report,
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Speaker 1: but I can't always manage to go, And then he
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Speaker 1: rows across the loch after dark and I go out
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Speaker 1: and meet him. He was to come on the night
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Speaker 1: of the murder, and my first thought when I heard
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Speaker 1: of it was that he might be caught in the
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Speaker 1: shrubberies and mistaken for the murderer. But it appears that
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Speaker 1: he had already taken alarm, and I am thankful to
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Speaker 1: say he was able to escape in good time. So
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Speaker 1: did David really see some one wandering about that night?
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Speaker 1: Mark commented thoughtfully, Ah, Julia, if you'd told me all
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Speaker 1: this earlier, everything might have been different. Poor old David
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Speaker 1: never need have been dragged into it at all. She
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Speaker 1: looked at him a moment, as if puzzled, then continued
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Speaker 1: her story. It was thought that I might be able
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Speaker 1: to bring about your uncle's death by some means that
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Speaker 1: should have all the appearance of an accident, and so
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Speaker 1: perhaps not involve action on the part of those who
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Speaker 1: hold the document, that is, if it should prove not
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Speaker 1: to be in his own keeping, for he had always
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Speaker 1: assured the counsel that no decisive step would be taken
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Speaker 1: except as a retort to signs of violence on our part,
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Speaker 1: whether directed toward himself or others. I have not been
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Speaker 1: able to find any trace of the list I thought
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Speaker 1: I had it one day in London when I followed
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Speaker 1: Lord Ashell to a detective's office and managed to gain
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Speaker 1: possession of an envelope given him by Lord Ashell. But
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Speaker 1: as far as I could make out, it contained nothing
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Speaker 1: of any importance. It was a bitter disappointment. You can
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Speaker 1: imagine the consternation into which we were thrown by the murder.
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Speaker 1: It seemed certain that his death would be attributed to
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Speaker 1: our organization, and if anyone held the list for him,
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Speaker 1: it would be published immediately. Four days have passed, however,
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Speaker 1: and my superior has received a cable saying that so
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Speaker 1: far all as well. It looks more and more as
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Speaker 1: if the list had been kept here. But I have
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Speaker 1: hunted everywhere and found nothing. Oh, I have searched without
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Speaker 1: ceasing since the moment I heard of his death. I
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Speaker 1: came here even on the very night of the murder
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Speaker 1: and moved the body with my own hands in order
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Speaker 1: to get at the bureau drawers. There is a secret
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Speaker 1: way into the room through that old clock there, which
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Speaker 1: leads into the grounds. I found it long ago one
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Speaker 1: day when I was exploring outside in the shrubbery. I
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Speaker 1: have often been here and searched, and searched again. Do
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Speaker 1: you know anything of this document, Mark. If you do,
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Speaker 1: I beg and implore you to give it to me.
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Speaker 1: Otherwise I cannot answer for your life. And as for
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Speaker 1: our marriage, that is out of the question unless I
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Speaker 1: am successful in my undertaking. It may be imagine with
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Speaker 1: what amazement and growing horror Juliet listened to this avowal
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Speaker 1: that Julia, the girl with whom she had associated on
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Speaker 1: terms of easy familiarity which had been near to becoming
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Speaker 1: something like intimacy in the close contact and companionship of
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Speaker 1: a country house life, that this girl, an honored guest
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Speaker 1: in Lord Ashell's house, should have gained her footing there
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Speaker 1: for her own treacherous ends, or at the bidding of
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Speaker 1: a band of political assassins. Juliet could scarcely believe her
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Speaker 1: ears as she heard the calm, indifferent tone in which
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Speaker 1: Julius spoke of the drawbacks to getting rid of Lord
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Speaker 1: Ashell under the contemplated accident which was to have befallen him.
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Speaker 1: She would have fled from where she stood if mingled,
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Speaker 1: fear and curiosity to hear more had not rooted her
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Speaker 1: to the spot. Her alarm was tempered by the presence
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Speaker 1: of Mark. If this girl should discover her hiding there
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Speaker 1: and show signs of the violence that might be expected
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Speaker 1: from such a character. Mark would be there to protect her.
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Speaker 1: She could trust him to know how to deal with
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Speaker 1: the Russian whose true nature must now be apparent to him.
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Speaker 1: But Mark, to her astonishment, had not drawn away from
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Speaker 1: Julia with the repugnance and disgust that were to be expected. Instead,
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Speaker 1: he was looking at her strangely, indeed, but almost eagerly.
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Speaker 1: It was you, then, who moved the body. To think
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Speaker 1: that I never guessed, he murmured, half to himself. If
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Speaker 1: I had known, I might have spared myself the trouble
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Speaker 1: to Then, more loudly, he reproached his companion, And you
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Speaker 1: have never said a word to me, Oh Julia, you
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Speaker 1: didn't trust me, he shook his head at her, mournfully.
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Speaker 1: Trust you, she retorted, Did you trust me? But I
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Speaker 1: would have trusted you, she added, gazing fondly into his eyes,
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Speaker 1: if I had dared risk the punishment that will surely
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Speaker 1: be meted out to me if it is known I
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Speaker 1: have done so. You don't know how rigid the rules
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Speaker 1: of our society are. But you haven't told me yet.
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Speaker 1: If you have the list, not I he said, I
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Speaker 1: never heard of its existence. I suppose that anonymous letter
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Speaker 1: that came addressed to Uncle Douglas after his death had
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Speaker 1: something to do with that. Did a letter come from Paris?
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Speaker 1: They sent them to him from time to time. It
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Speaker 1: prevented his suspecting me. But you will give me the
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Speaker 1: list if you find it, won't you? It means everything
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Speaker 1: to me. Of course I will, he promised. It is
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Speaker 1: no earthly good to me so far as I know.
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Speaker 1: But you, when you were looking for it, did you,
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Speaker 1: among all the papers you examined, ever come across such
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Speaker 1: a thing as a will? No? Never, she replied, missus
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Speaker 1: Clutson told me it could not be found. You may
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Speaker 1: be sure if I had discovered one which did not
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Speaker 1: leave you everything, I should have destroyed it. Dear little Julia.
16:50
Speaker 1: Mark drew her to him and kissed her. How sweet
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Speaker 1: you are. There is no one like you. Really? Do
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Speaker 1: you really love me, Mark, Darling? Of course I do?
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Speaker 1: Will you always? Are you quite quite sure that I
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Speaker 1: am the one girl in all the world for you,
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Speaker 1: as you are the one man for me? Darling? You
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Speaker 1: are the only one in the world I have ever
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Speaker 1: so much as looked at. Would you never never forget
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Speaker 1: me or marry any one else, no matter what happened. Never,
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Speaker 1: he assured her. Never. She sighed contentedly. What should I
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Speaker 1: do if you forgot me? Mark? I should die? But
17:23
Speaker 1: she added, in a different tone, I think I should
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Speaker 1: kill you first. Mark laughed a little uneasily. Hush, hush,
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Speaker 1: he said, you mustn't talk so much about killing. A
17:32
Speaker 1: minute ago you were talking of killing my poor old uncle.
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Speaker 1: If I took you seriously, what should I think? It
17:37
Speaker 1: is lucky I love you as I do. Otherwise, doesn't
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Speaker 1: it occur to you that it might get you into
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Speaker 1: trouble to talk in this wild way. You can take
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Speaker 1: me as seriously as you like, she answered gravely. I
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Speaker 1: am serious enough, God knows, but I shouldn't talk about it,
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Speaker 1: even to you if I didn't know it was safe.
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Speaker 1: You see, I know you are like me, like you.
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Speaker 1: I'm dashed if I am. How do you mean I
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Speaker 1: am like you? She looked at him squarely and nodded, yes,
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Speaker 1: She said, you are like me. You would not hesitate
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Speaker 1: to kill if you thought it necessary. You think just
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Speaker 1: the same as me on that subject. Only you have
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Speaker 1: gone farther than I have yet, Julia. He cried, what
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Speaker 1: do you mean? I mean that I know all about you, Mark,
18:20
Speaker 1: She replied gravely, I know what you think you have
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Speaker 1: kept secret from me. I know it was you who
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Speaker 1: killed your uncle. With a muffled cry, Mark shook himself
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Speaker 1: free and sprang away from her. What are you saying,
18:31
Speaker 1: he whispered hoarsely. You are mad, girl. But I won't
18:34
Speaker 1: have such lies. Uttered, I won't have it, I tell you.
18:37
Speaker 1: With terrified amazement, Juliet saw his face change become ugly distorted,
18:42
Speaker 1: but Julia showed no sign of alarm. Why get so excited,
18:46
Speaker 1: she asked, calmly, what does it matter? Do you imagine
18:49
Speaker 1: I would betray you? I who would sell my soul
18:52
Speaker 1: for you? I know you did it. It is no
18:54
Speaker 1: use keeping up this pretense of innocence to me who
18:57
Speaker 1: had more right to kill him than you? Why shouldn't
19:00
Speaker 1: you kill who you wish? But don't you say you
19:03
Speaker 1: didn't do it? It is foolish. I saw you. It
19:07
Speaker 1: is a lie. You can't have seen me, Mark declared again,
19:09
Speaker 1: but with less assurance. You were in the drawing room
19:12
Speaker 1: all the time. Lady Ruth and Maisie Tarveror both said
19:15
Speaker 1: so the drawing room doesn't even look out on the garden.
19:18
Speaker 1: There is no room that does except the library, and
19:21
Speaker 1: you weren't there then. Anyhow. I didn't see you fire
19:24
Speaker 1: the shot, said Julia. But I saw you afterwards when
19:27
Speaker 1: you went to put your rifle back in the gun room.
19:30
Speaker 1: I told you that after the first search in the
19:32
Speaker 1: ground was over and everyone had gone up to bed,
19:34
Speaker 1: I slipped out of the house by the door near
19:36
Speaker 1: the gun room and came round to the library to
19:39
Speaker 1: see if Lord Ashell had carried the list on him.
19:42
Speaker 1: When I came back, I let myself in quietly by
19:44
Speaker 1: the door which I had left unbolded, and had just
19:47
Speaker 1: got half way up the back stairs when I heard
19:49
Speaker 1: footsteps in the passage below, and crouched down behind the banisters.
19:53
Speaker 1: I saw you come along the passage, carrying an electric
19:56
Speaker 1: lantern in one hand and your rifle in the other.
19:59
Speaker 1: I saw you look round anxiously before opening the gun
20:01
Speaker 1: room door and going in. When you had vanished, I
20:04
Speaker 1: hurried on up to my room, for it was not
20:06
Speaker 1: the time or place to tell you what I had seen.
20:09
Speaker 1: But I left a crack of my door open, and
20:11
Speaker 1: after a long while I saw you pass along the
20:13
Speaker 1: passage to your own room, this time without your gun.
20:17
Speaker 1: I knew, of course, that you had been cleaning it
20:19
Speaker 1: and putting it away. She spoke with the indifference with
20:22
Speaker 1: which one may refer to a regrettable but uncontrovertible fact,
20:26
Speaker 1: and Mark seemed to feel it useless to deny what
20:28
Speaker 1: she said. You had no right to spy on me,
20:31
Speaker 1: he exclaimed angrily when she had done. Oh Mark, she cried, dismayed,
20:36
Speaker 1: I wasn't spying. It was the merest accident, and I
20:39
Speaker 1: think it's horrid of you to mind my knowing. Why
20:42
Speaker 1: didn't you tell me all about it before? I might
20:44
Speaker 1: have helped you, I'm sure, But he would have none
20:47
Speaker 1: of her endearments, and threw off the hand she laid
20:49
Speaker 1: upon his arm with a rough gesture. Mark, Oh Mark,
20:53
Speaker 1: she wailed, don't be angry with me. You know I
20:56
Speaker 1: can't bear it. I can bear anything but that. Don't
20:59
Speaker 1: don't be angry with me. She had but one thought
21:02
Speaker 1: it was for him, and he who ran might read
21:04
Speaker 1: it shining in the depths of her great eyes. After
21:07
Speaker 1: a few minutes of sulking, Mark relented. No one can
21:11
Speaker 1: be angry with you for long, Julia, He declared. Instantly,
21:15
Speaker 1: she was once more all smiles. Don't ever be angry
21:18
Speaker 1: with me again, she urged her hand in his. And
21:21
Speaker 1: now that you have forgiven me, tell me all about it.
21:24
Speaker 1: What made you do such a dreadful thing? Mark? You
21:26
Speaker 1: must have had some good reason. I know I never
21:29
Speaker 1: would doubt that. There's nothing much to tell, he said unwillingly.
21:33
Speaker 1: I had a good reason. Yes, I must have money.
21:36
Speaker 1: It is for your sake, darling, that I must get it.
21:38
Speaker 1: I can't marry you without it. I hadn't meant to
21:41
Speaker 1: kill him if I could get it without. He was
21:43
Speaker 1: ill and had left his fortune to me. I thought
21:45
Speaker 1: I should get it in time by letting nature take
21:47
Speaker 1: her course. It was that a ruin, and I really
21:50
Speaker 1: had to do it for your sake, darling. I didn't
21:52
Speaker 1: want to hurt the old boy. Why should I. It's
21:55
Speaker 1: not a pleasant thing to have to do. But I
21:57
Speaker 1: had no choice. There was no other way of getting
21:59
Speaker 1: enough money. I simply had to get it. It was
22:02
Speaker 1: his life or mine. You don't understand. I can't explain.
22:05
Speaker 1: It just had to be done. And there's an end
22:07
Speaker 1: of it. Everything was going wrong that girl, that burn girl.
22:11
Speaker 1: I imagine he was going to marry her. You know,
22:13
Speaker 1: we all did. That would have spoilt everything. At first
22:17
Speaker 1: I thought she could be got out of the way,
22:19
Speaker 1: but she seemed to bear a charmed life. What cried Julia,
22:23
Speaker 1: Did you try to kill her too? Why if anyone
22:26
Speaker 1: had to be got rid of, he admitted defiantly, it
22:28
Speaker 1: seemed better to go for a stranger like her than
22:31
Speaker 1: for my own uncle. Come, you must see that surely
22:34
Speaker 1: she was nothing to me, and anyhow my hand was forced.
22:37
Speaker 1: It's very hard that I should have been put in
22:40
Speaker 1: such a position. I'm the last person to do harm
22:42
Speaker 1: to a fly, But one must think of one's self.
22:45
Speaker 1: Since it was no use denying the murder, he seemed
22:48
Speaker 1: to find some sort of satisfaction in telling Julia of
22:50
Speaker 1: his other crimes. And yet though he tried hard to
22:53
Speaker 1: speak with an affectation of indifference, it was plain that
22:56
Speaker 1: he kept a watchful eye upon his listener, and was
22:59
Speaker 1: ready to fat and resentfully upon the first sign of
23:02
Speaker 1: horror or even disapproval for all his efforts. The tone
23:05
Speaker 1: of his disclosures was at once swaggering and suspicious, but
23:09
Speaker 1: he need have had no anxiety as to the spirit
23:12
Speaker 1: in which they would be received. It was clear that
23:14
Speaker 1: Julia brought to his judgment no remembrance of ordinary human
23:18
Speaker 1: standards of conduct. To her, he was above such criticisms
23:22
Speaker 1: as the immortals might be supposed to be above the
23:25
Speaker 1: rules that applied to dwellers upon earth. What he did
23:29
Speaker 1: was right in her eyes, because he did it, and
23:31
Speaker 1: she admired his brutality as she adored the rest of
23:34
Speaker 1: him wholeheartedly, without reservation. I had a shot at her,
23:39
Speaker 1: he went on one day on the moor when she
23:41
Speaker 1: was with David, but I missed her. It was our
23:43
Speaker 1: rotten shot. I can't think how I came to do it.
23:46
Speaker 1: That's when she fell into the river. I saw her
23:48
Speaker 1: standing by it as I came home from stocking. I
23:50
Speaker 1: had walked on ahead, and where the path runs along
23:53
Speaker 1: above the waterfall pool, I happened to go to the
23:56
Speaker 1: edge and look over there. She was on a stone,
23:58
Speaker 1: right at the edge, by the deepest part. It looked
24:01
Speaker 1: as if she'd been put there on purpose. And I
24:03
Speaker 1: should have been a fool to miss such a chance.
24:05
Speaker 1: It's no good going against fate. As a matter of fact,
24:08
Speaker 1: I thought i'd got her sitting this time. I caught
24:11
Speaker 1: up the nearest piece of rock and dropped it down
24:13
Speaker 1: on her. That was a good shot, though I say it,
24:16
Speaker 1: but it hit her on the shoulder instead of the head,
24:18
Speaker 1: as luck would have it, which was bad luck for me. However,
24:21
Speaker 1: in she went, and I thought all was well and
24:23
Speaker 1: lost no time in getting away from the place if
24:25
Speaker 1: it hadn't been for that meddling fool Andy Well. Then
24:28
Speaker 1: at dinner, Uncle Douglas came out with the news that
24:31
Speaker 1: she was his daughter, not as intended, and everything looked
24:34
Speaker 1: worse than ever. Afterwards, when she went to talk to
24:37
Speaker 1: him in the library and passed through the billiard room
24:39
Speaker 1: where I was knocking the balls about and feeling pretty savage,
24:42
Speaker 1: I can tell you I happened via Fluke to ask
24:44
Speaker 1: her if she knew where David was. She said he'd
24:47
Speaker 1: gone into the garden. Then I saw my chance, and
24:50
Speaker 1: it seemed too good to miss. Why should I let
24:52
Speaker 1: my inheritance be stolen from me? I ran off to
24:55
Speaker 1: the gun room for a gun. I meant to take
24:57
Speaker 1: David's rifle, but I found he hadn't cleaned it, so
25:00
Speaker 1: I left it alone and took mine, as the thing
25:02
Speaker 1: was really too important to risk. Using a strange gun
25:04
Speaker 1: unless it was absolutely necessary, and his is a little
25:07
Speaker 1: shorter in the stock than I like. I nipped back
25:10
Speaker 1: and let myself out of the passage door into the
25:13
Speaker 1: enclosed garden. It was a black night, though I knew
25:16
Speaker 1: my way blindfolded about there, but the curtains of the
25:19
Speaker 1: library were drawn and I couldn't see between them without
25:22
Speaker 1: stepping on the flower bed. I knew too much to
25:24
Speaker 1: leave my footmarks all over them, but I had to
25:27
Speaker 1: get on to the bed to have a chance of
25:29
Speaker 1: getting a shot, so I got the long plank the
25:32
Speaker 1: gardeners used to avoid stepping on the flower beds when
25:34
Speaker 1: they are bedding out from the two house behind the
25:37
Speaker 1: holly hedge, where I knew it was kept, and put
25:39
Speaker 1: it down near the hedge. It is held up clear
25:42
Speaker 1: of the ground by two cross pieces of wood, one
25:44
Speaker 1: at each end, you know, so there will be no
25:46
Speaker 1: marks left to identify me by. When I walked to
25:50
Speaker 1: the end of the plank, I could see straight into
25:52
Speaker 1: the middle of the room, but they must have been
25:54
Speaker 1: sitting near the fire, for no one was in sight.
25:56
Speaker 1: I could see the riding bureau and the chair in
25:58
Speaker 1: front of it, and dimly in the back of the room.
26:01
Speaker 1: I could make out the face of the clock, but
26:02
Speaker 1: that was all well. I stood there for what seemed
26:05
Speaker 1: a long while. You've no idea how cramping it is
26:08
Speaker 1: to stand on a narrow plank with no room to
26:10
Speaker 1: take a step forward or back for a long time.
26:13
Speaker 1: And I don't mind telling you I got a bit
26:15
Speaker 1: jumpy waiting there. If any one chanced to come along,
26:18
Speaker 1: What could I say by way of explanation. I couldn't
26:21
Speaker 1: think of anything the least likely to wash, And somehow,
26:24
Speaker 1: in the dark one begins to imagine things. I saw
26:27
Speaker 1: David coming at me across the lawn every other minute,
26:30
Speaker 1: and it seemed so hideously likely that he should come.
26:33
Speaker 1: I knew he was somewhere out in the grounds. By jove,
26:37
Speaker 1: if he had, he'd have got the bullet instead of
26:39
Speaker 1: Uncle Douglas. But he didn't come. Bo's beastly shadows and
26:43
Speaker 1: shapes and whisperings and rustlings that seemed to be all
26:45
Speaker 1: around me hiding in the night turned out to be
26:48
Speaker 1: nothing after all. But when I didn't fancy him at
26:50
Speaker 1: my elbow, I imagined he was in the gun room,
26:53
Speaker 1: wondering where the dickens my rifle had got to. Oh,
26:56
Speaker 1: I had a happy half hour among the roses. I
26:59
Speaker 1: tell you a rifle as a heavy thing too. I
27:01
Speaker 1: leaned it up against a rose bush and tried to
27:03
Speaker 1: sit down on the plank, but it wouldn't do, and
27:05
Speaker 1: I saw I must bear it standing or Uncle Douglas
27:08
Speaker 1: might cross in front of the slit between the curtains
27:10
Speaker 1: without my having time to get a shot. You must
27:13
Speaker 1: remember I'd been on the hill all day, so that
27:15
Speaker 1: I was very stiff to begin with. It got so
27:18
Speaker 1: bad that I began to think it was hardly worth
27:20
Speaker 1: the candle at last, And it's a wonder I didn't
27:22
Speaker 1: miss him clean when just as I was on the
27:24
Speaker 1: point of giving the whole thing up and going in again,
27:26
Speaker 1: he came suddenly into my field of vision and actually
27:29
Speaker 1: sat down at the table. I took a careful aim
27:32
Speaker 1: and fired. I saw him fall forward, and then I
27:35
Speaker 1: jumped off the plank and hurled it back under the hedge.
27:37
Speaker 1: Before I ran for the house, I had left the
27:39
Speaker 1: door ajar, and I just stayed close to it, and
27:42
Speaker 1: then darted into the empty billiard room and thrust my
27:45
Speaker 1: rifle under a sofa. It was a quick bit of work.
27:48
Speaker 1: I had counted on Juliet Byrne, waiting a moment or
27:51
Speaker 1: two to see if she could do anything to help
27:53
Speaker 1: him before she roused the house or it roused itself.
27:56
Speaker 1: And she was rather longer than I expected. I don't
27:59
Speaker 1: mind owning. I got into a panic when minutes passed
28:02
Speaker 1: and no one appeared, and I began to think I
28:04
Speaker 1: must have missed the old boy altogether. I was within
28:07
Speaker 1: an ace of going to make certain when the door
28:09
Speaker 1: opened and in she came, Oh, well, you know all
28:13
Speaker 1: the rest that silly old ass. David was still mooning
28:16
Speaker 1: about in the garden thinking of her, I suppose, which
28:18
Speaker 1: was very lucky for me. Julia had listened with absorbed interest.
28:23
Speaker 1: I think it's wonderful. She said that you should have
28:26
Speaker 1: gone through all that for my sake. I shall always
28:29
Speaker 1: try to deserve it, My dear, Was it all all
28:32
Speaker 1: for me that you did it? Truly? Yes, Mark assured her,
28:36
Speaker 1: gruffly monosyllabic. But how was it? She asked, caressingly, that
28:41
Speaker 1: sir David's footprints were found all over the rose bed.
28:45
Speaker 1: What was he doing there? That was an afterthought? Mark
28:49
Speaker 1: admitted it was a top whole idea. After everyone had
28:52
Speaker 1: gone upstairs, I crept down and got my man liquor
28:55
Speaker 1: from where I had hidden it, and took it to
28:57
Speaker 1: the gun room, where I cleaned it put it in
28:59
Speaker 1: its usual place. It was lucky for me that David
29:02
Speaker 1: had left his weapon dirty. It was jolly unlike him
29:05
Speaker 1: to do it. I was thinking what a good thing
29:07
Speaker 1: it was, and how well things looked like turning out
29:10
Speaker 1: for I thought I could manage the girl if she
29:12
Speaker 1: was able to prove that she really wasn't a Conahan.
29:15
Speaker 1: And it struck me I ought to be able to
29:17
Speaker 1: contrive that the business should look a bit blacker against
29:20
Speaker 1: poor old David. Everyone knew he'd had a row with
29:23
Speaker 1: Uncle Douglas about his beastly dog, and if I could
29:25
Speaker 1: only manufacture a little more evidence against him, I knew
29:29
Speaker 1: I should be pretty safe one way or another. I
29:32
Speaker 1: was going back to the garden to put by the
29:34
Speaker 1: gardener's plank when I thought of using his boots. It
29:37
Speaker 1: didn't take long to find them among all the boots
29:39
Speaker 1: used that day by the household, which were ranged in
29:41
Speaker 1: a row in the place where they cleaned them in
29:43
Speaker 1: the back premises. His boot maker's name was in them.
29:47
Speaker 1: I took them, and when I got to the garden door.
29:49
Speaker 1: I put them on and went out and trampled out
29:51
Speaker 1: among the roses till I was pretty sure that even
29:53
Speaker 1: the blindest country booby couldn't fail to notice the tracks
29:55
Speaker 1: I'd left, though of course I couldn't see them myself
29:58
Speaker 1: in the dark. Then I got the plank out of
30:01
Speaker 1: the hedge and put it away where i'd found it.
30:03
Speaker 1: After that, I took the boots back and went to bed.
30:05
Speaker 1: I'm very glad I was to get there. Now you've
30:08
Speaker 1: heard the whole story. How clever you are, murmured the girl.
30:12
Speaker 1: There's no one like you, she said, no one. Mark
30:15
Speaker 1: smiled rather fatuously. He evidently shared her opinion that his
30:19
Speaker 1: brains were something slightly out of the way, and everything
30:22
Speaker 1: happened just as you'd planned, she went on, admiringly. They
30:26
Speaker 1: suspected Sir David from the first. I should have myself
30:29
Speaker 1: if I hadn't known it was you who had done it. Yes,
30:32
Speaker 1: said Mark, They suspected him, the silly idiots. They might
30:35
Speaker 1: have known. He hasn't the initiative to do a thing
30:38
Speaker 1: like that, and the girl can't prove her relationship to
30:41
Speaker 1: Uncle Douglas. Just as I expected, I thought there might
30:44
Speaker 1: be some difficulty about that. But I wish I could
30:47
Speaker 1: find the will he made in her favor. I should
30:49
Speaker 1: feel safer then, for she told me he said he'd
30:52
Speaker 1: worded it so that she should get the money, whether
30:54
Speaker 1: she was proved his daughter or not. And who knows
30:57
Speaker 1: what other mad clauses he may have put in it lately.
31:00
Speaker 1: For some reason I could never make out, I felt
31:02
Speaker 1: sure he had changed toward me. He let fall a
31:05
Speaker 1: hint one day that his legacies to me were a
31:07
Speaker 1: conditional on my good behavior. I don't feel easy about
31:10
Speaker 1: it at all. Some one must have been telling him
31:13
Speaker 1: things poisoning his mind. But I've hunted high and low
31:16
Speaker 1: and found nothing. I'm sick of looking over musty old bills.
31:20
Speaker 1: Oh we shall find it between us, now, said Julia, hopefully.
31:23
Speaker 1: I wish I had some idea where the list I
31:25
Speaker 1: want is, though she added, there's that detective too pursued mark,
31:30
Speaker 1: that fellow Gimblet. I'm rather fed up with him, not
31:33
Speaker 1: that he seems any use at his work, though he's
31:35
Speaker 1: supposed to be rather first class at it. I believe
31:38
Speaker 1: Gimblet is that who it is. Missus Clutson told me
31:41
Speaker 1: a London detective was here, but I didn't know who
31:44
Speaker 1: it was. I have met him before and found him
31:46
Speaker 1: very easy to manage. I don't think you need be
31:49
Speaker 1: afraid of anything he may do. I shall be glad
31:52
Speaker 1: when he's off the place, anyhow, said Mark, I shall
31:54
Speaker 1: be glad when the whole business is over and forgotten.
31:57
Speaker 1: Julia rejoined. I wish we could be married once, Mark, Darling.
32:01
Speaker 1: But why can't it be given out that we are engaged.
32:03
Speaker 1: I don't understand why we should keep it a secret. Now.
32:06
Speaker 1: I can't stand seeing so little of you as I
32:09
Speaker 1: have these last few days. Be patient, Darling, wait just
32:12
Speaker 1: a little longer. There are reasons, As I have told you,
32:15
Speaker 1: I must get my financial affairs straight, for one thing,
32:18
Speaker 1: before I allow you to tie yourself to me. Suppose
32:20
Speaker 1: I turn out to be a beggar, I couldn't let
32:23
Speaker 1: you marry me. Then you know, Mark, Julia's voice was
32:26
Speaker 1: full of reproach. You know perfectly well how little I
32:29
Speaker 1: care about your money. I would be only too glad
32:32
Speaker 1: to marry you if you hadn't a penny. But perhaps
32:35
Speaker 1: you mean that if you were poor, you wouldn't want
32:37
Speaker 1: to burden yourself with a wife. You know how I
32:39
Speaker 1: adore you, Julia. How can you suggest such a thing.
32:42
Speaker 1: I couldn't even dream of a life without you. You
32:45
Speaker 1: show how little you know me. But believe me, it
32:48
Speaker 1: is wisest to wait a short time longer before we
32:50
Speaker 1: are publicly engaged. You must take my word for it
32:53
Speaker 1: and not make me unhappy by imagining such cruel things. Come,
32:58
Speaker 1: let us look for this list of yours. What were
33:00
Speaker 1: you doing searching among the books? Yes, said she, rising
33:04
Speaker 1: as he went toward a book shelf, and following him.
33:07
Speaker 1: I thought it might be hidden between the leaves of
33:09
Speaker 1: one of these old volumes. One reads of such things,
33:12
Speaker 1: I wonder, he said, absently, The will too may be here.
33:16
Speaker 1: Is there a Bible anywhere? I believe that's a favorite
33:19
Speaker 1: place of concealment. Then when the air is virtuous and
33:22
Speaker 1: reads his Bible, he gets the legacy, you know, while
33:25
Speaker 1: if he isn't, he doesn't. A sort of poetic justice
33:28
Speaker 1: is meted out. If I find it in that way,
33:30
Speaker 1: I shall take it as a sign that I am
33:32
Speaker 1: really the virtuous one, and that Heaven absolves me from
33:34
Speaker 1: all blame. He spoke mockingly, but Juliet answered very seriously,
33:39
Speaker 1: of course you ought to have it. And if I
33:41
Speaker 1: don't blame you, why should any one else? Well, he said,
33:45
Speaker 1: after a pause, At all events, I mean to get it,
33:47
Speaker 1: whether or no, if I have to pull down every
33:49
Speaker 1: stone of the place that reminds me, he added, where
33:53
Speaker 1: is the secret entrance she used through this old clock?
33:56
Speaker 1: Who would have thought it? In a moment, Juliet realized
33:59
Speaker 1: that she was going to be caught. She had been
34:01
Speaker 1: so absorbed in listening to the dreadful revelations that had
34:04
Speaker 1: been made during the last half hour that not till
34:06
Speaker 1: now had she considered how dangerous was her position. As
34:10
Speaker 1: he spoke, Mark threw open the door of the clockcase.
34:13
Speaker 1: Too late. She turned to fly. He caught her by
34:15
Speaker 1: the arm, and, with a stifled oath, dragged her into
34:18
Speaker 1: the room. How long have you been there? He cried,
34:21
Speaker 1: and fell to swearing horribly, while Julius stood by, not speaking,
34:25
Speaker 1: but looking at Juliet with an expression which frightened her
34:28
Speaker 1: more than all his violence. End of chapter nineteen read
34:34
Speaker 1: by Don W. Jenkins, Rancho, San Diego, California, Shaggy Bark
34:40
Speaker 1: dot blogspot dot com.