expression in her eyes as her gaze was fixed beyond me,staring blankly through the open window.
"Well," I questioned softly, "why did you not follow the true impulse ofyour heart?"
She started, her eyes glistening, her whole frame convulsed, as sheanswered wildly:
"I was hunted by the Paris police as a dangerous Anarchist, and theywould have sent me to New Caledonia to work among criminals for theremainder of my life. The two knaves under whose thrall I had fallenknew this, but they had a deeper game to play. It was part of theirscheme to entrap me thus, and then coerce me into assisting them. Theytook me to that dismal, neglected house in Gloucester Square that hadbelonged to my mother, and there unfolded plans that for perfidiousingenuity were assuredly unequalled. First, they impressed upon me theimpossibility of eluding the police for any length of time, and I wascompelled to admit that I feared arrest. Then they explained theirinfamous scheme, well-knowing that my offence made it imperative for meto obediently assist them in their shameful fraud and preserve a silencebegotten of fear. My sister Ethel, who was almost the image of myself,was mortally ill, dying slowly, poor girl! of consumption, and knewlittle of what was transpiring. The miscreant pair, however, knew thatwhen she died the revenue from the vast estates in Savoy would pass backto some relatives of my mother in France; therefore they resolved at allhazards to continue to divide the money, and had formed an ingeniousplan to that end. Briefly, they had told me that I must die instead ofEthel."
"Die?" I ejaculated.
"To the world," she went on quickly. "My stepfather told me that onEthel's death I must pose as the wife of his friend, that I mustpreserve their secret at all costs, at least for a year or eighteenmonths, until they could devise some other plan to preserve the fortuneto themselves. On their part they promised, on their oaths, to free meand allow me to again seek you. At first I refused with indignation tobe party to such an imposition, but they convinced me that the policewere already at my heels, and in return for rendering them this servicepromised to secure me immunity from arrest. My stepfather was powerful,with many influential friends in Paris, and I believed he could do thisif he chose. They did not tell me the means they intended to employ tosecure this end, but urged me to consent. For a long time I held out,but they pictured to me on the one hand arrest and transportation to aPacific island, with common murderesses and the scum of Paris; on theother, my return to you after eighteen months, marriage and happiness.So at last--at last I agreed to the compact--I allowed them to fastenthe bonds upon me and draw me under their terrible thraldom," and shebent forward sobbing bitterly, while Dora, kneeling quickly at her side,threw her arms around her, endeavouring to console her.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
THE SECRET.
Presently she resumed in a sad voice full of emotion, lifting her faceto mine, saying: "I did not dream, Stuart, of the trickery to which theyresorted in order to change my personality and secure me from fallinginto the dragnet of the police, but my lips were already sealed when Iafterwards learnt how my stepfather exerted his influence, and obtaineda special licence from the Archbishop to allow your marriage to takeplace in that weird old house in Gloucester Square, how you wereconducted there, and how you and the police were imposed upon by thebody of my unfortunate sister being passed off as that of myself. Itwas not until weeks after that eventful night, when by bribery andinfluence the pair had buried my identity, that I learned the truth.Then, unable to come to you, fearing even to make my existence known, Icould only watch and wait."
"But why did they marry me in that manner?" I asked, amazed at herremarkable story.
"There were reasons," she answered. "The police had tracked me, and itwas imperative for the success of their scheme that I should remainfree. Again, although Ethel was dying it was uncertain what time wouldelapse ere the spark of life would flicker and die out. They thereforeresolved, in order that failure should be rendered impossible, uponeffecting a master-stroke by marrying Ethel in my name, because bymarriage with you I should change my nationality, and as a Britishsubject it would be impossible to arrest me for a political offencecommitted in France. This they did, with the result you are alreadyaware, but further, my poor sister expired during the ceremony; thus thepolice, in bursting in, were doubly baffled. Afterwards, they causedher to be buried as your wife, and upon the grave actually placed awreath bearing your card, with an inscription purporting to have beenwritten by you. Upon the back of that card I also wrote a message,urging you to prosecute inquiries, hoping that it would fall into yourhands."
"It did," I said. "I found it, and your words have ever since beenuppermost in my mind."
"It was part of the compact that, posing as the wife of my dead sister'shusband, I should remain here and not visit London. As this man's wifeI was compelled to revive some of my late mother's relatives, whom I hadnever before seen. These were the rightful owners of her wealth nowthat Ethel was no more, but to them I was forced to keep up the wretcheddeception that I was Ethel, and they, never having seen her since achild, returned to France with any suspicions they had entertainedentirely allayed. I remained here alone with my maid Ashcombe as solecompanion, and with the cold mask of honesty and indifference upon myface, thinking always of you. If they would only have let me tell youthat I was innocent of that cruel deception, only let me show you that Iwas not the base adventuress you must have imagined, I think--I think Icould have borne the rest. When I could not bear it any longer I prayedto them to let me see you, I prayed for one little grain of pity.Circumstances, however, seemed to conspire to thwart their plans, for aperson whom they feared threatened to denounce them. Therefore theybecame desperate and would show me no mercy. At this time, too, I madethe astounding discovery that my stepfather had married again unknown tome, two years before, a vain haughty girl young enough to be hisdaughter. He had kept this fact from me because he knew I had beenacquainted with her in my girlhood days, and feared I might reveal hisvillainy. When I heard of this I wrote to Captain Bethune, who had beena mutual friend, and from him learned facts about yourself and her. Iheard of your anxiety, of your futile search after the truth, and ofyour continual inquiry to fathom the mystery of my life. But ourenemies had taken every precaution to prevent your discovering anything,and by threatening to give me up to the police they kept me stillenthralled and silent. They, however, saw that the one man who had, bysome unknown means, discovered their chicanery, might sooner or laterexpose the fraud; therefore, they grew reckless, and on one occasion mystepfather threatened my life if I gave you a single sign of myexistence. It was after that, that I discovered the crime."
"The crime!" I cried. "What crime?"
"I had but one friend, Captain Bethune," she said in the same low,faltering tones, "and after this threat I went to his chambers late onenight to seek his counsel and aid. I wanted to give you a sign that Istill lived, but I was held powerless by fear of the terrible vengeancethey threatened. I--I found him at home with two other men in hiscompany--one was my stepfather, the other Gilbert Sternroyd. There wasno quarrel, no word of anger, but I was witness to the terrible crime.Gilbert, happy and unsuspecting, was shot dead by a coward's hand--he--"
"You actually saw the shot fired?" I cried, starting up quickly. "Thenyou also saw the murderer? Speak! name him! Let me know the truth."
"The man who shot Gilbert Sternroyd," she said in a hard, firm voice,"the man who drew a revolver secretly from his pocket and fired fullupon him as he stepped from the room, was my stepfather! I gripped hisarm, but too late. Gilbert fell, and the coward fled."
"His name?" I demanded.
"He is known to you," she replied, slowly twisting her handkerchiefbetween her fingers, and with a manner of subdued, fierce vengefulnessshe laughed a little hard laugh; but it was more significant of inwardagony than any words could have been. "He is known to you, to theworld, as the Earl of Fyneshade!"
"Fyneshade!" I gasped dumbfounded. "And he is your stepfather?"
/> "Yes," she answered. "Seek him, and give him into the hands of thepolice, for he is the assassin."
"But the motive?" I cried. "What was it?"
"Twofold. Sternroyd had obtained knowledge of the fraud perpetrated bysubstituting my personality for Ethel's, and came to me declaring hisintention of exposing it. Besides this he was an ardent admirer ofMabel, my stepfather's young wife, and although she gave him noencouragement he was infatuated, and had made a will leaving his immensewealth to her. Fyneshade knew this, and saw that by getting rid of himhe would preserve his guilty secret, and at the same time enrich hiswife and consequently himself. He suggested this to my pseudo-husband,Francis Markwick, who--"
"Markwick!" I gasped. "Was it that scoundrel who assisted in the fraudand posed as your husband?"
"The same. I myself overheard the two men in consultation upon thebenefits to be derived from the young millionaire's death, andafterwards warned him and also told Mabel. Therefore, from the first,Lady Fyneshade and your friend Bethune knew the truth."
"But why did not Bethune inform the police instead of acting sosuspiciously?" I queried in doubt.
"Because he feared to compromise me. He swore he would not speak untilI gave him permission. This I could not give until assured of my ownimmunity from arrest."
"How would this disclosure compromise you?"
"In the first place, I was present when the murder was committed.Secondly, you will remember you entered Jack's chambers by stealth onthe following night and found the body removed."
"Yes," I said quickly. "He locked one of the rooms and would not allowme to enter."
"Because I was in that room, Stuart," she explained. "I had againcalled upon him to ask his advice, not knowing how to act. Suddenly youentered, and to conceal me became imperative."
"But the body was also concealed there, was it not?"
"No, it had been removed to Gloucester Square early in the morningfollowing the murder, after which Jack, in accordance with his promiseto shield me, fled from England in order that suspicion might fall uponhimself. If he had at once caused the arrest of the murderer I shouldhave been compromised. But Markwick denounced Jack to Mabel, who, ofcourse, already guessed the truth, and very soon your friend was amazedto find circumstantial evidence woven around him in a most serious andamazing manner."
"But I had all along been aware of his innocence," Dora interrupted,sick at heart for her friend's misery. "Sybil had told me."
"Yes," continued the woman I loved, turning to her. "Even when thepolice were hunting for him I feared to speak, knowing that by so doingI must implicate myself, and that the part I had innocently played inthe dynamite affair and in the subsequent fraud would inevitably bedisclosed. Once," she continued, again turning to me, "once I sent mymaid Ashcombe to you to ascertain secretly how you fared, but you wereout, and as it was imperative that she should leave that night for Paristo prosecute some inquiries, she failed to see you and you thereforeremained in ignorance."
"My sister, too, has suffered terrible anguish," Dora said. "She knewfrom the first that her husband was an assassin, yet to remove suspicionfrom him and avoid the terrible scandal, she was compelled to act a partthat was to her revolting. That she had no thought for Gilbert and thatshe was faithful to her husband I am confident, yet in order to obtainconfirmation of her suspicions of Fyneshade's schemes she was compelledto court the friendship of Markwick, the man she most hated, while herhusband, to avert suspicion that he had murdered Sternroyd, affected tobe jealous of his confederate."
"But my marriage," I said, "it is astounding."
"The plans of this base pair were indeed deeply laid and ingeniouslyformed," she went on. "The crafty manner in which you were entrappedand wedded is but one illustration of their marvellous ingenuity andutter unscrupulousness. In securing the handsome revenue from mymother's estates they provided for every eventuality, but by aconspiracy of circumstances Gilbert Sternroyd obtained knowledge oftheir secret, of how they had compelled me to pose as Markwick's wife,and how they had married you to my dead sister. He sympathised withMabel as wife of this titled adventurer, and, in order to rid her ofhim, intended to give him up to the police. My stepfather saw that onlyby death could he be silenced, and he therefore foully murdered him.Yes, Stuart, your marriage was an amazing one, secured by a scoundrelwhose influence was far-reaching; but even that event was not one whitmore astounding than those that followed."
"True," I said, amazed and bewildered at her disclosures.
"Towards me, also, Fyneshade has acted desperately, with doublecunning." Dora exclaimed fiercely, turning to me. "You remember onthat night when, for the first time after your strange marriage, youvisited the ghostly deserted house in Gloucester Square, I was therealso. I knew that Fyneshade, supposed to be in Paris, was in hidingthere, so I entered determined to face him and obtain liberty for Sybil,for Jack, nay for all, by compelling him to fly from the country andrenounce all claim to return. I was prepared to offer him secrecy inexchange for this. But he detected us. He felled you from behind anddragged you down to the cellar, while he also stunned me, causingconcussion of the brain; then locked me in that inner room. Probably Ishould have gone hopelessly insane and eventually starved had you notdiscovered me."
"His villainy is revolting," I exclaimed angrily. "His own action ledto my discovery of the body, but I confess these disclosures put acomplexion on the affair such as I had never dreamed;" and turning toSybil, who had slowly risen and passed to the window, I asked, "Tell methe reason you are now constrained to make this confession."
The air from the garden fanned her pale cheeks soothingly. She wasleaning forward gazing fixedly across the lawn, but turned slowly at mywords, and I saw her face was as beautiful as when we had first met.
"Because I no longer fear," she answered calmly, and one would havedoubted that this was the same woman who had been so wildly agitatedonly a few moments previously, she spoke so quietly. "Yesterday theFrench Government adopted an amnesty to political offenders, thereforethe warrant cannot now be reissued against me. As to the ingeniousfraud to which I have been a party, I can prove that I was merely a toolin the hands of these two malefactors who held me in their toils. Fromthis moment I renounce the name of Markwick, to which I have no right,and again resume my maiden name, Sybil. I may be prosecuted--well, I amready to take my trial--I--I am ready to face all, if only I can thinkthat you believe me innocent, Stuart--if only I may dare to hope we mayeven be man and wife."
Next second she was in my embrace, sobbing again with her head upon myshoulder.
"Rest assured," I said tenderly, "that the innocent shall not suffer,and upon the guilty shall fall punishment swift and certain. If itbecomes necessary for you to face a criminal trial, remember that I loveyou just as fondly as I have ever done."
"Then you do not hate me for the despicable part I have been forced toact?" she cried joyfully, raising her earnest, tear-stained face.
"No, Sybil. Like myself, you have suffered at the hands of thesemerciless scoundrels, and before Heaven I swear they shall pay for it,"I cried with fierce anger. Turning to Dora, I added, "This has indeedproved that Jack, loyal and true-hearted, is in every way worthy theaffection of the pure honest woman who has befriended us both."
"I have but endeavoured to repay you for the small services you haverendered to Jack and myself," she answered with a sweet smile. "I knowthat at one time you suspected him, but that was only natural, for heintended that you should. Already he is on his way home, and tonightwill be in London. He will be present to bear witness with Sybil as tothe tragic end of Gilbert Sternroyd." Then, with a lingering glance atus, Dora rose and discreetly left on pretence of speaking to Ashcombe,while Sybil and I, alone, clasped in each other's arms, repeated thosevows of undying love we had exchanged far away at that little southernspa, overshadowed by its purple mountains with their eternal snows.
During several hours I remained joyful and content with my
loved one,and the sun had already disappeared when we all three entered the fly todrive back to Didcot and catch the train for London. The earth, veiledin a soft shadow, seemed half slumbering, pensive and melancholy. Awhite opaque sky overhung the horizon, and lucent haze of colourlesspearl-grey filled the valley. A time of palpable sadness comes eachevening, when although not yet night the light is fading slowly, almostregretfully; and each of us in this silent farewell feels strangeanxiety, a great need of hope and faith in his heart Song comes to one'slips with the first rays of morning, tears to one's eyes with the lastray of evening light Perhaps it is the dispiriting thought of labourconstantly resumed, unceasingly abandoned; the eager wish, mingled withdread, for eternal rest. Perhaps, indeed, it is the resemblance ofeverything human to that agony of light and sound.
Sybil was seated beside me as we sped along the straight open road. Astar shone above the dark line of distant trees amid the evanescence ofearth and sky. We both looked at this consoling light.
It pierced with a ray of hope the mournful veil of twilight.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
A FAMILY COUNCIL.
From Didcot station I sent a telegram to Grindlay making an appointmentwith him to meet us at Lady Stretton's later that night, and when wearrived there we found both the Inspector and Jack Bethune awaiting us.
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