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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen of The Eshiel 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 volunteer, please visit www dot librevox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Garth Komira. The Ashiel Mystery by Missus Charles Bryce,
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  Speaker 1: chapter seventeen. Behind the shrubberies which lay at the back
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  Speaker 1: of the holly hedge that surrounded the little enclosed garden
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  Speaker 1: outside the library, beyond the end of the battlements, and
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  Speaker 1: reached by a disused footpath, a great tree stood upon
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the steep hillside and thrust its sweeping
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  Speaker 1: branches over the void. Its trunk was gray and moss grown.
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  Speaker 1: Moss carpeted the ground between its protruding roots, but the
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  Speaker 1: bracken and heather held back and left a half circle
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  Speaker 1: beneath it, untenanted by their kind. It would seem that
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  Speaker 1: all vegetation fears to venture beneath the shade of the beach,
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  Speaker 1: and for the most part it stands solitary, shunned by
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  Speaker 1: other growing things except moss, which creeps undaunted, where its
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  Speaker 1: more vigorous brothers lack the courage to establish themselves. Here
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  Speaker 1: came Juliet that morning. A week ago, David Southern had
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  Speaker 1: shown her the path to the tree. It had been
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  Speaker 1: a favorite haunt of his when he was a boy.
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  Speaker 1: He told her. It was a private chamber to which
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  Speaker 1: he resorted on the rare occasions when he was disposed
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  Speaker 1: to solitude, when something had gone wrong with his world.
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  Speaker 1: He had been used to retire there with his dog,
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  Speaker 1: or more seldom a book. There he had been accustomed
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  Speaker 1: to lie his back supported by the tree, and hold
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  Speaker 1: forth to the dog upon the troubles and difficulties of
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  Speaker 1: life and the general crookedness of things. Or if a
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  Speaker 1: book were his companion, he would gaze out between the
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  Speaker 1: pages at distant cryin on, clinging faintly to the knees
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  Speaker 1: of Benguzi, and watched the swift change of passing cloud
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  Speaker 1: and hanging curtain of mist upon the faces of the
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  Speaker 1: hills and lock. It had been a place all his own,
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  Speaker 1: secret from everyone, even from Mark, his companion, during all
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  Speaker 1: those holidays that he had spent it in Verashiel. Somehow,
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  Speaker 1: David told Juliet, and it was a confidence he had
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  Speaker 1: seldom before imparted to any one. He had never quite
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  Speaker 1: managed to hit it off with Mark. He couldn't say
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  Speaker 1: why exactly, No doubt it was his own fault, but
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  Speaker 1: there was no accounting for one's likes and dislikes, And
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  Speaker 1: with quick regret at having betrayed his carefully suppressed feelings
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  Speaker 1: in regard to his cousin, David had laughed apologetically and
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  Speaker 1: spoken of other things. Here then, just as the steamer
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  Speaker 1: robbery was drawing close to the wooden landing stage at
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the loch, with Juliet Romaninov still standing
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  Speaker 1: in the bows. Here because she had once been to
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  Speaker 1: this place with him, because without her he had so
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  Speaker 1: often sat upon these mossy roots, came Juliet to dream
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  Speaker 1: of her love. Like him, she seated herself against the
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  Speaker 1: tree trunk at the giddy brink of the precipitous rock.
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  Speaker 1: Like him, her eyes rested on the smooth waters below her,
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  Speaker 1: or on the far away misty distance were crying on slumbered.
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  Speaker 1: But unlike him, her eyes as they looked, were filled
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  Speaker 1: with tears. Where was he now? Oh, David poor unjustly
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  Speaker 1: treated David in what narrow cell lighted only by a
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  Speaker 1: high iron barred window. For so the scene shaped itself
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  Speaker 1: in her mind, with uncovered floor of stone, bare walls,
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  Speaker 1: in a bench to lie on. Was the man she loved,
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  Speaker 1: wearing away his days under the burden of so frightful
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  Speaker 1: an accusation For the thousandth time. Juliette's blood boiled within
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  Speaker 1: her at the thought, and she grew hot with anger
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  Speaker 1: and indignant scorn that anyone should have dared to suspect him.
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  Speaker 1: Why were such fools, such wicked, evil, working imbeciles as
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  Speaker 1: the police allowed to exist for one moment upon the
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  Speaker 1: face of the globe. But no doubt they had some
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  Speaker 1: hidden motive in arresting him, for it was quite incredible
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  Speaker 1: that they really imagined he had committed this appalling crime.
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  Speaker 1: She could not understand their motive, to be sure, but
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  Speaker 1: without doubt there must have been some reason which was
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  Speaker 1: not clear to her. Oh, David, David, was he thinking
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  Speaker 1: of her as she was thinking of him? Did he
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  Speaker 1: know by instinct that she would be doing all that
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  Speaker 1: could be done to bring about his release? But was she? Again?
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  Speaker 1: Her mind was filled with the disquieting question. Was there
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  Speaker 1: nothing that might be done that she was leaving undone?
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  Speaker 1: Had she forgotten something, neglected? Something She was sure Gimblet
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  Speaker 1: did not believe David to be guilty, but was he
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  Speaker 1: certain of being able to prove his innocence. He did
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  Speaker 1: not seem to have discovered much at present. Suddenly, in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of her distress, she smiled to herself, at
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  Speaker 1: least Miss Tarbor had shown herself in her true colors
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  Speaker 1: and was no more to be considered. Juliet felt that
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  Speaker 1: she could almost forgive her for her readiness to believe
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  Speaker 1: the worst. It was dreadful, yes, and shameful that anyone
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  Speaker 1: else should think for a moment that David could be
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  Speaker 1: capable of such a deed. But in Miss Tarbor, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: the thought had not been inexcusable. On the whole. It
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  Speaker 1: was so nice of her to break the engagement that
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  Speaker 1: she might be forgiven the ridiculous reason she had advanced
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  Speaker 1: for doing it. Of course, Juliet assured herself it was
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  Speaker 1: a mere pretext, because no one could possibly believe it,
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  Speaker 1: And in this manner she continued to reiterate her conviction
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  Speaker 1: that the suspicions entertained of her lover were all assumed
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  Speaker 1: for some darkly obscure purpose. So the morning wore away,
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  Speaker 1: a shower or two passed down the valley, but under
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  Speaker 1: the thick tent of the beech leaves, she scarcely felt it.
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  Speaker 1: She was besides dressed for the bad weather, and the
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  Speaker 1: gray and mournful face of the day was in harmony
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  Speaker 1: with her mood. There was something comforting in this high perch.
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  Speaker 1: She seemed more aloof from the troubles and despair of
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  Speaker 1: the last few days than she had imagined possible. There
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  Speaker 1: was a calm, a remoteness about the gray mountains, disappearing
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  Speaker 1: and reappearing from behind their screen of cloud, but unchanged
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  Speaker 1: and unmoved by what went on around and among them.
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  Speaker 1: That was in some way reassuring the burn that ran
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  Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hill on which she sat.
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  Speaker 1: Hurrying down to the lock in such turbulent, foaming haste,
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  Speaker 1: she was able to compare with a sad smile to herself.
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  Speaker 1: The lock, she thought was white, an impassive hist justice
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  Speaker 1: which did not allow itself to be influenced by the emotions.
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  Speaker 1: The burn would get down just the same, without so
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  Speaker 1: much turmoil and fuss, and she would see David's name
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  Speaker 1: cleared equally surely if she waited calmly on events instead
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  Speaker 1: of burning her heart out in hopeless impatience and anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: As she gazed with some such thus as these, down
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  Speaker 1: to the stream that splashed on its way below her,
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  Speaker 1: her attention was caught by a movement in the bushes
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  Speaker 1: halfway down the deep slope at the top of which
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  Speaker 1: she was sitting. The day was windless, and no leaf
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  Speaker 1: moved on any tree. There must be some animal among
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  Speaker 1: the shrubs that covered the embankment, some large animals, since
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  Speaker 1: its movements caused so much commotion. For as she watched,
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  Speaker 1: first one bush and then another stirred and bent and
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  Speaker 1: was shaken as if by something thrusting its way through
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  Speaker 1: the dense growth. What could it be a sheep? Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: there were many of them on the hillside. This must
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  Speaker 1: be one that had strayed far from the rest. And
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  Speaker 1: yet would a sheep make so much stir Juliet drew
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  Speaker 1: back a little behind the trunk of the beech tree.
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  Speaker 1: Could it be a deer? She could not hear any
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  Speaker 1: sound of the creature's advance, for the air was full
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  Speaker 1: of the clamor of the burn. But she could trace
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  Speaker 1: the direction of its progress by shaking leaves and swinging boughs.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed to be gradually mounting the slope. Suddenly a
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  Speaker 1: head emerged from the waving mass of rhododendron, and with
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  Speaker 1: astonishment Juliette saw that it was that of Julia Romaninov.
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  Speaker 1: Her first impulse was to lean forward and call her,
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  Speaker 1: but as she did so, the cry died upon her lips.
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  Speaker 1: For the manner of Julia's advance struck her as very odd.
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  Speaker 1: The girl was bending nearly double, and moving with a
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  Speaker 1: caution that seemed very strange and unnecessary. What was the matter?
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  Speaker 1: Was she stalking something? Crouching as she was in the
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  Speaker 1: bushes she would not be seen by anyone on the
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  Speaker 1: path below. Did she not want to be seen? It
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  Speaker 1: looked more and more like it. But why in the
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  Speaker 1: world should Julia creep along as if she feared to
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  Speaker 1: be observed? Where was she going and why? Suddenly Juliette
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  Speaker 1: came to a quick decision. She would find out what
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  Speaker 1: Julia Romaninov was doing. She backed hurriedly into the bracket
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  Speaker 1: and made her way slowly and cautiously around the clearing
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  Speaker 1: under the beech tree to the edge of the hill,
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  Speaker 1: again keeping under cover of the fern and heather. When
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  Speaker 1: she peered over, Julia had disappeared. From view beneath the rhododendrons.
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  Speaker 1: For a minute, Juliette's eyes searched the side of the
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  Speaker 1: slope below. Then she drew back her head quickly, for
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  Speaker 1: she had caught sight of another bush shaking uneasily, a
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  Speaker 1: little way beyond the gap in which she had had
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  Speaker 1: her first glimpse of the cause of the disturbance. Cowering
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  Speaker 1: low in the bracken, she crept along the top, keeping
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  Speaker 1: a foot or two from the edge, where the rock
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  Speaker 1: fell nearly perpendicularly for a few yards before its angle
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  Speaker 1: changed to the comparatively gradual, though actually steep, slope of
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  Speaker 1: the hill which Julia was climbing. From time to time
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  Speaker 1: she looked cautiously between clumps of fern or heath to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that she was keeping level with her unconscious quarry.
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  Speaker 1: The front of the hill swung around in a bold
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  Speaker 1: curve till it reached the castle, and it soon became
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  Speaker 1: evident that if both girls continued to advance along the
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  Speaker 1: lines they were following, they would converge at a point
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  Speaker 1: where the end of the battlemented wall met the great
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  Speaker 1: holly hedge that formed two sides of the garden enclosure.
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  Speaker 1: Juliette perceived this when she was not more than a
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  Speaker 1: dozen yards from the corner, and dropped at full length
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  Speaker 1: to the soft ground at a spot where she could
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  Speaker 1: see between the stalks and under the leaves, and yet
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  Speaker 1: herself remained concealed. She had not long to wait. In
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  Speaker 1: a minute, Julia's face appeared over the brow of the hill.
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  Speaker 1: She pulled herself up by a young fir sapling that
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  Speaker 1: hung over the brink, and stood for a moment, flushed
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  Speaker 1: and panting after her long climb. She was dressed in
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  Speaker 1: a greenish tweed which blended with the woodland surroundings, and
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  Speaker 1: her shoulder was turned to the place where Juliette lay,
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  Speaker 1: wondering whether she would be discovered fronting them. The end
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  Speaker 1: of the little turret with which the wall of the
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  Speaker 1: old fortress now came to a sudden termination, could be
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  Speaker 1: seen rearing its gray stones above the dark, glossy foliage
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  Speaker 1: of the hedge, which grew here with peculiar vigor and
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  Speaker 1: continued to the extreme edge of the cliff and even farther.
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  Speaker 1: What was Juliette's surprise to see Julia when she had
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  Speaker 1: found her breath and taken one quick look round to
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  Speaker 1: satisfy herself. She was unobserved, suddenly cast herself down in
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  Speaker 1: her turn upon the damp earth, and, inserting her head
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  Speaker 1: beneath the prickly barricade of the holly leaves, began to
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  Speaker 1: crawl and wiggle forward until she had completely disappeared underneath it.
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  Speaker 1: What in the world could she be doing? Minutes passed
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  Speaker 1: and she did not reappear. Juliette waited, her nerves stretched
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  Speaker 1: in expectation, but nothing happened. Overhead, little birds, tom tits,
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  Speaker 1: and creepers played about the bank of the fir trees.
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  Speaker 1: A robin came and looked at her consideringly with a bright,
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  Speaker 1: sensible eye from two hundred feet below. The murmur of
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  Speaker 1: the burn rose constant and insistent, but no other sound
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  Speaker 1: broke the stillness, nor was there any sign of human
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  Speaker 1: life upon the top of the cliff. At last, the
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  Speaker 1: girl could stand it no longer. Her patience was exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: Curiosity urged her like a goad, and if she had
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  Speaker 1: not much expectation of making any important discovery, she was
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  Speaker 1: at least determined to solve the mystery that now perplexed her.
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  Speaker 1: Without more ado, she got to her feet and ran
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  Speaker 1: to the holly hedge. There, throwing herself down once more,
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  Speaker 1: she parted the leaves with a cautious hand and followed
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  Speaker 1: the path taken by the Russian. The hedge was old
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  Speaker 1: and very thick, more than three yards in width at
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  Speaker 1: this end of it. In the middle, the trunks of
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  Speaker 1: the trees that formed it rose in a close, growing
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  Speaker 1: impassable barrier. But just opposite the place where Julia had vanished,
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  Speaker 1: Juliet found that there was a gap, caused perhaps by
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  Speaker 1: the death in earlier days of one of the trees, or,
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  Speaker 1: as she afterwards thought more likely, by the intentional omission
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  Speaker 1: or destruction of one of the young plants. It was
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  Speaker 1: a narrow opening, but she managed to wriggle through it.
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  Speaker 1: On the other side, progress was bounded by the wall,
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  Speaker 1: whose massive granite blocks presented a smooth, unbroken surface where
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  Speaker 1: then had Julia gone. The branches did not grow low
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  Speaker 1: on this as on the outer side of the hedge,
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  Speaker 1: and there was room to stand, though not to stand upright.
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  Speaker 1: Stooping uncomfortably, the girl looked about her and saw in
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  Speaker 1: the soft brown earth the plain print of many footsteps,
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  Speaker 1: both going and coming between the place where she crouched
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  Speaker 1: and the end of the wall. She looked behind her,
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  Speaker 1: and there were no marks. Clearly Julia had gone to
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  Speaker 1: the end. But what then? The corner of the wall
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  Speaker 1: was at the very edge of the precipice. From what
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  Speaker 1: she had remembered to have seen from below, the rock
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  Speaker 1: was too sure to offer any foothold. Besides, why having
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  Speaker 1: just climbed to the summit, should anyone immediately descend again,
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  Speaker 1: and by such an extraordinary route. While these thoughts followed
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  Speaker 1: one another in her mind, Juliette had advanced along the
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  Speaker 1: track of the footsteps, and clinging tightly to the trunk
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  Speaker 1: of the last holly bush, she leant forward and looked down.
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  Speaker 1: As she thought the descent was impossible. The rock fell
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  Speaker 1: away at her feet, sheer and smooth. There was no
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  Speaker 1: path that a cat could take. It made her giddy
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  Speaker 1: to look, and she drew back hurriedly. Where then could
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  Speaker 1: Julia have gone? Not to the left, that was certain,
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  Speaker 1: for then she would have emerged again into view. To
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  Speaker 1: the right that seemed impossible. Still, Juliette leant forward again
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  Speaker 1: and peered round the corner of the wall. There, not
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  Speaker 1: more than a couple of feet away. It was a
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  Speaker 1: small opening less than eighteen inches wide by about a
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  Speaker 1: yard in height. Hidden by the overhanging edge of the hedge,
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  Speaker 1: it would be invisible from below. Here was the road
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  Speaker 1: juliet had taken. Juliette did not hesitate. She could reach
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  Speaker 1: the aperture easily, and it would have been the simplest
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  Speaker 1: thing in the world to climb into it, but for
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  Speaker 1: the yawning chasm beneath. Holding firmly to the friendly holly,
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  Speaker 1: and resisting with an effort the temptation to look down,
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  Speaker 1: she swung herself bravely over the edge and scrambled into
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  Speaker 1: the hole. With a gasp of relief. It was, after
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  Speaker 1: all not very difficult. She found herself standing within the
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  Speaker 1: entrance of a narrow passage built into the thickness of
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  Speaker 1: the wall. Beside the opening through which she had come,
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  Speaker 1: a little door of oak, gray with age and strengthened
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  Speaker 1: with rusty bars and cross piece of iron, drooped upon
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  Speaker 1: its one remaining hinge. Two huge slabs of stone leaning
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  Speaker 1: near it against the wall showed how it had been
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  Speaker 1: the custom in former centuries to fortify the entrance still
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  Speaker 1: more effectively in time of danger. Juliette did not wait
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  Speaker 1: to examine these fragments, interesting though they might be to archaeologists,
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  Speaker 1: but hurried down the passage as quickly as she could
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  Speaker 1: in the darkness that filled it, feeling her way with
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  Speaker 1: an outstretched hand upon the stones on either side. As
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  Speaker 1: her eyes became accustomed to the obscurity, she saw that
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  Speaker 1: though the way was dark, it was yet not entirely so.
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  Speaker 1: A gloomy light penetrated at intervals through ivy covered loopholes
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  Speaker 1: pierced in the thickness of the outer wall, and she
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  Speaker 1: imagined bygone Maconicans pouring boiling oil or other hospitable greeting
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  Speaker 1: through those slits onto the heads of their neighbors. But surely,
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  Speaker 1: she reflected, no one would ever have attacked the castle
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  Speaker 1: from that side, where the precipice already offered an impregnable defense.
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  Speaker 1: The passage must have been used as a means of
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  Speaker 1: communication with the outer world, or perhaps as a last
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: resort for the purpose of escape by the beleaguered forces.
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  Speaker 1: After fifty yards or so of comparatively easy progress, the
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  Speaker 1: shafts of twilight from the loopholes ceased to permeate the
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  Speaker 1: murky darkness in which she walked, and she was obliged
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  Speaker 1: to go more slowly and to feel her way dubiously
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  Speaker 1: by the touch of hands and feet. The floor appeared
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  Speaker 1: to her to be sloping away beneath her, and as
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  Speaker 1: she advanced, the descent became more and more rapid, till
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  Speaker 1: she could hardly keep her feet. She went very gingerly,
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  Speaker 1: with a vague fear lest the path should stop unexpectedly,
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  Speaker 1: and she herself stepped into space. Presently, she found herself
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  Speaker 1: once more upon level ground, when another difficulty confronted her.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: The walls came suddenly to an end. Feeling cautiously about
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  Speaker 1: her in the darkness, she made out that she had
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: come to a point where another passage crossed the one
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: she was following, a sort of cross road in this
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  Speaker 1: unknown country of shade and stone. Here then were three
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  Speaker 1: possible routes to take, and no means of knowing which
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  Speaker 1: of them Julia Romaninov had gone by. After a little
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  Speaker 1: head visitation, she decided to keep straight on. It would,
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  Speaker 1: at all events, be easier to return if she did,
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  Speaker 1: and she would be less likely to make a mistake
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  Speaker 1: and loose her way. So on she stumbled, And who
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  Speaker 1: shall say that fate had not a hand in this
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  Speaker 1: chance decision. Though the distance she traversed was inconsiderable, the
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  Speaker 1: darkness and uncertainty made it appear to her immense. In
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  Speaker 1: each moment, she expected to come upon the Russian girl.
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  Speaker 1: At every other step, she paused and listened, But no
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: sound met her ears, except a slight, regular thudding noise,
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  Speaker 1: which she presently discovered with something of a shock, to
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  Speaker 1: be the beating of her own heart. The sound of
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: her progress was almost inaudible, as the day was damp
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and she was wearing galoshes, and her small rubber shod
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: feet fell upon the stone floor with a gentle pattern
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  Speaker 1: that was scarcely perceptible. At last, she fell over the
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  Speaker 1: first step of a flight of stairs, to them, one
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  Speaker 1: by one, with every precaution her fears could suggest, For
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  Speaker 1: by now the first enthusiasm of the chase had worn off,
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  Speaker 1: and the solitude and darkness of this strange place had
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  Speaker 1: worked upon her nerves till she was terrified if she
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  Speaker 1: knew not what, and ready to scream at a touch.
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  Speaker 1: Already she bitterly regretted having started out upon this enterprise
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: of spying. Why had she not gone and reported what
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: she had seen to mister gimblet that surely would have
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: been the obvious, the sensible course. It was, she reflected,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: a course still open to her, and in another moment
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: she would have turned and taken it. But even as
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the thought crossed her mind, she was aware that the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: darkness was sensibly decreased, and in another second she had
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: risen into comparative daylight. As she stood still debating what
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: she should do, and taking in all that could now
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: be distinguished of her surroundings, she saw that the stairs
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: ended in an open one trap door leading to a high,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: black lined shaft, like the inside of a chimney, in which,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: some two feet above the trap, an odd, narrow curve
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: of glass acted as a window and admitted a very
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: small quantity of light. A streak of light seemed to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: come also from the wall beside it. Juliette drew herself
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: cautiously up till her head was in the chimney and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: her eyes level with the slip of glass. With a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: sudden shock of surprise, she saw that she was looking
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: into the room which, above all others, she had so
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: much cause to remember ever having entered. It was indeed
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the library of the castle, and she was looking at
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: it from the inside of that clock into which Gimblet
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: had once before seen Juliet romaninov Vanish. The curtains were
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: drawn in the room, but after the absolute blackness of
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the stone corridors, the semidusk looked nearly as bright as
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: full daylight to Juliet, and she had no difficulty in
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: distinguishing that there was but one person in the library,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and that person Julia. She was standing by a bookshelf
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: at the far end, near the window, and seemed to
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: be methodically engaged in an examination of the books. Juliet
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: saw her take out first one then another musty leather
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: bound volume, shake it, turn over the leaves, and put
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: it back in its place, after groping with her hand
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: at the back of the shelf. Plainly, she was hunting
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: for something, but for what she had no business where
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: she was in any case, and Juliette's indignation gathered and
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: swelled within her as she watched this unwarrantable intrusion. She
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: would confront the girl and ask her what she meant
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: by such behavior, but how to get into the library.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Looking about her, she saw that the streak of light
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: in the wall beside her came through a perpendicular crack,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: which might well be the edge of a little door.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: She pushed gently, and the wood yielded to her fingers.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter seventeen. Recording by Garth Komra