CHAPTER XIV
THE METHOD IN SUSAN TODD'S MADNESS
The next day the farmer's daughter went into Oakville shopping. She hadarranged to have tea with a friend and be back before dusk.
Danvers had been sent in another direction in the early morning, andknew nothing of this. He was back early in the afternoon, and wonderedat seeing nothing of the girl of his heart.
Susan spoke to him presently. She beckoned him as he passed the back ofthe house.
"I've a message for you, Mr. Danvers."
"Oh! What is it, Susan?"
"Not so loud! From Miss Tessie."
"Ah!"
"She's gone for a ride. Will you meet her in the old water mill at fouro'clock?"
"The old--why on earth all that distance away? What is she doing there?"
"That she did not tell me," the woman answered shortly; "don't go if youdon't want to. I've given you the message."
"That's all right, Susan; don't lose your temper. I'll go fast enough."
"She told me to say, too, that you were not to tell any one."
"Trust me, I won't. What's the time by your kitchen clock? Just three.There's an hour to wait. All right."
He went away about his business. Susan watched him out of sight.
Presently she went away about her business--in the direction of the oldwater mill. She took with her some old pieces of rope which had beenused for binding butter kegs, and which she knew would never be missed.They had been thrown aside as useless, because they were so soaked infat.
She had half an hour to wait before the hands of the kitchen clock wouldpoint to four, but she waited patiently.
Her revenge was coming within her grasp, the revenge she had beenpraying and hoping for--a life for a life.
The roof of the old mill and the rafters and part of the loft flooringwere fairly sound.
She tied a heavy stone to her rope, and, after climbing to the loft,pulled up the stone after her. There she waited. The old mill was abaited trap.
She passed the time in coiling the rope, and handling and weighing thestone. She intended to drop the stone on her victim's head.
She knew it would stun him. She had seen a man fall senseless--andremain senseless for an hour--on the occasion of a far less heavy weightfalling on his head.
Ten minutes would suffice for her task, if he remained senseless aslong.
She mapped out what she would do if the stone failed. She would dropfrom above, spring on him from behind, and half choke the life out ofhim with her strong, long, bony fingers.
Then she would bring him to again, when she had fastened him up. She didnot want him to die--yet.
Before four o'clock, Gerald Danvers entered the mill.
Before four o'clock he was lying senseless on the floor, a great uglygash in the back of his head, and a woman feeling at his heart to knowif it was beating, and laughing a maniacal laugh of triumph when shefound it was, and that her scheme was successful--so far.
Then she tied him up. Tightly round the ankles and knees, and his wristsclose round his waist.
His arms she kept open--open for the binding cords to be loopedthrough.
The wheel she kept in a fixed position by means of a wooden pin thrustin its side from the interior of the mill. That fixed, it was easy towalk out of the door window on the floor's level, straight to the paddlenearest it.
Susan dragged Gerald's unconscious body along the floor, out of thewindow, on to the paddle, and then she began to bind him to the blade.
She had come with plenty of pieces of rope, and, slinging one round thepaddle, she caught the end of it the other side.
By that means she fastened the feet. Another piece, thrown in a similarway, she drew through the arms, and her prisoner was securely boundthen, unable to move, literally, hand or foot.
Then she drew the man's handkerchief from his pocket, and forcing hismouth open, used it as a gag, knotting it behind his head.
She got off the paddle, back into the mill, and gazed on her handiwork.
The figure did not stir. The eyes were closed, and although the bloodhad ceased flowing, the body seemed lifeless.
This did not suit Susan. She wanted the man to awake, to suffer torture.
She wondered how she could get water to pour over him. She had comewithout dipper or basin of any kind.
Could she move the wheel, she wondered. She knew she was strong. If shecould gradually turn this, blade by blade, it would go faster andfaster, and as the bottom three blades, she could see, were in the pool,it followed that, for a few moments, the man would be--from head tofoot--in the cold water. That could not fail to revive him.
She would try. She did.
She withdrew the pin, and pulled and pushed with all the strength thatin her lay.
It seemed a hopeless task, but presently she felt the paddle she waspushing move just half an inch, then an inch, then more and more, and atlast the second paddle was where the first had been.
The wheel was moving. The man was on his road to the water at thebottom.
The wheel went round faster because the weight of the man told.
The body passed through the water and came up. And then real hard workfor Susan commenced.
She had not thought of the additional weight on the upward journey.
But she was bound to bring the body up to a level position, if she brokeevery sinew in her wiry frame.
After infinite labor she succeeded, and with a sigh of relief thrust thepin into its place again--the pin which held the wheel firm.
Not that there was any need for that. Lying in a level position, thebalance was true.
The wheel would have stayed so without the pin.
Then she looked at the prisoner--he was looking at her! The water hadnearly choked him, but it had at the same time brought him back to life,if not to understanding of the situation. The woman spoke to him:
"You are back to your senses. You can understand what I am saying?"
The look in his eyes answered her. She went on:
"You are going to die, Gerald Danvers. Die slowly. I am killing youbecause you killed my husband. It's a life for a life. Your life forthat of the man you killed on the ship.
"You will live there, just as you are, without bite or sup, till therain comes. You will be able to see the clouds as you lie there, thestars at night and the sun by day. When the rain comes the waters gatherabove, and where you see that trickling which just escapes your head, awaterfall appears and turns the wheel you are on."
The man had his eyes fixed on her all the time.
He understood clearly all she was saying now--but he could not fathomwhat was the reason for it all--what he had done to merit such arevenge.
He did not understand how--as Byron says--sweet is revenge, especiallyto women.
But for the handkerchief in his mouth, he might have been able toexplain; as it was, he could not make a sound. She continued:
"If you want to live, pray that the rain may not come; if you want todie, pray that it may. When you feel that waterfall reaching you, thenyou may know that presently there will be force enough to turn thewheel, and that you will go round and round, faster and faster, now inthe air, now in the water, now in the air, now in the water!"
She was waving her arms round and round to illustrate her meaning--shewas so fearful that he should lose any of the horror of his position.
She need not have been. He lost none.
Every word she uttered went home. He realized it the more because he sawthe woman was mad. Her eyes alone spoke the fact eloquently.
"If you pray for life, remember it will be a famishing, thirsty, hungrylife. If we have no rain for a dozen days, not a taste of food, not adrop of water do you get. You can hear the water always trickling byyou, and in a day or two as you get hungry I will bring my dinner here,and you shall see me eat it, you murdering brute, you!"
He realized, without the maniacal laughter, how mad she was.
His heart al
most ceased beating. He was not a coward, but he felt thatat this woman's mercy his death was certain. Not a speedy death, but alingering, torturing one.
Rescue was out of the question. Not a soul came near the old mill,except at haymaking time to cut the grass. That was weeks ahead.
Still the woman talked.
"Till the rain comes, you know what to expect. Till the rain comes.And when it is all over I shall cut your cords and let youdrop--splash--into the pool you have just been through.
"You killed my husband, you murderer, you! His blood calls out forvengeance. I am going to take--a terrible vengeance. But it is justice,the justice the parson tells us of--a life for a life--a tooth for atooth. You took my husband's life--I am going to take yours. Youmurdering brute!"
It was her farewell speech. She slammed to the door, and he was leftalone!