CHAPTER XLIII
HEARING THE TRUTH
David Steel stood contemplating the weird scene with almost doubtingeyes. In his wildest moments he had never imagined anything more dramaticthan this. The candle in its silver sconce that Mrs. Henson had snatchedup before her flight was perilously near her flimsy dress. Henson caughther once more in a fierce grip. David could stand it no longer. As Hensoncame by him his right arm flashed out, there was a dull thud, and Henson,without having the least idea what had happened, fell to the ground, witha very hazy idea of his surroundings for a moment or two.
Equally unconscious that she had a protector handy, Mrs. Henson turnedand fled for the house. A minute later and she was followed by Henson,still puzzling his racking head to know what had happened. David wouldhave followed, but the need for caution flashed upon him. If he stoodthere perfectly still Henson would never know who his antagonist was.David stood there waiting. As he glanced round he saw some little objectglittering near to his feet. It was the ruby ring!
"Be you there, sir?" a rusty voice whispered close by.
"I am, Williams," David replied; "I have been waiting for some time."
Williams chuckled, making no kind of apology for his want of punctuality.
"I've been looking after our man, sir," he said. "That Dutch chap whatMiss Enid said you'd come for. And I saw all that business in theshrubbery just now. My! if I didn't feel good when you laid out Henson onthe grass. The sound of that smack was as good as ten years' wages forme. And he's gone off to his room with a basin of vinegar and a ream ofbrown paper. Why didn't you break his neck?"
David suggested that the law took a prejudiced view of that kind ofthing, and that it would be a pity to hang anyone for such a creature asReginald Henson.
"Our man is all right?" he asked.
"As a trivet," said Williams. "Sleeping like a baby; he is in my ownbed over the stable. I'll show you into the harness-room, where MissEnid's waiting for you, sir, and then I'll go and see as Henson don'tcome prowling about. Not as he's likely to, considering the clump onthe side of the head you gave him. I take it kind of Providence to letme see that!"
Williams hobbled away, chuckling to himself and followed by David. Therewas a feeble oil-lamp in the harness-room. Enid was waiting thereanxiously.
"So you have put Henson out of the way for a time," she said. "He passedme just now using awful language, and wondering how it had all comeabout. Wasn't it a strange thing that Van Sneck should come here?"
"Not very," David said. "He is evidently looking for his master,Reginald Henson. I have not the slightest doubt that he has been heremany times before. Williams says he is asleep. Pity to wake him justyet, don't you think?"
"Perhaps it is. But I am horribly afraid of our dear friend Reginald, allthe same."
"Our dear Reginald will not trouble us just yet. He came down as far asLondon with Bell. Of course he had heard the news of Van Sneck's flight.Was he disturbed?"
"I have never seen him in such a passion before, Mr. Steel. And not onlywas he in a passion, but he was horribly afraid about something. And hehas made a discovery."
"He hasn't found out that your sister--"
"Is at Littimer Castle? That is really the most consoling part of thebusiness. He has been at Littimer for a day or two, and he has not theremotest idea that Christabel Lee is our Chris."
"A feather in your sister's cap. She has quite captivated Littimer,Bell says."
"And she played her part splendidly. Mr. Steel, it is very, very good toknow that Hatherly has cleared himself in the eyes of Lord Littimer atlast. Did Reginald suspect--"
"Nothing," Steel said. "He is utterly and hopelessly puzzled over thewhole business. And Bell has managed to convince him that he is notsuspected at all. That business over the Rembrandt was really a brilliantbit of comedy. But what has Henson found out?"
"That Chris is not dead. He has seen Walker and the undertaker. But hedoes not know yet that Dr. Bell was in the house that eventful night,which is a blessing. As a matter of fact, Reginald has not been quite thesame man since Rollo nearly killed him that exciting evening. His nervesseem to be greatly shaken."
"That is because the rascal feels the net closing round him," Steel said."It was a fine stroke on your sister's part to win over that fellowMerritt to her side. I supplied the details per telephone, but the plotwas really Miss Chris's. How on earth should we have managed without thetelephone over this business?"
"I am at a loss to say," Enid smiled. "But tell me about that plot. I amquite in the dark as to that side of the matter."
David proceeded to explain his own and Chris's ingenious scheme forgetting Merritt into their power. Enid followed the story with vastenjoyment, tempered with the fact that Henson was so near.
"I should never have thought of that," she said; "but Chris was always soclever. But tell me, what was Henson doing in the garden just now?Williams says he was illtreating my aunt, but that seems hardly possibleeven for Reginald."
"It was over a ring that Mrs. Henson had," David explained. "She wasrunning away with it, and Henson was trying to get it back. You see--"
"A ring!" Enid gasped. "Did you happen to see it? Oh, if it is only--.But he would not be so silly as that. A ring is the cause of all thetrouble. _Did_ you see it?"
"I not only saw it but I have it in my possession," David replied.
Enid turned up the flaring little lamp with a shaking hand. Quiteunstrung, she held out her fingers for the ring.
"It is just possible," she said, hoarsely, "that you possess the key ofthe situation. If that ring is what I hope it is we can tumble Hensoninto the dust to-morrow. We can drive him out of the country, and he willnever, never trouble us again. How did you get it?"
"Mrs. Henson dropped it and I picked it up."
"Please let me see it," Enid said, pleadingly. "Let me be put out ofmy misery."
David handed the ring over; Enid regarded it long and searchingly. With alittle sigh of regret she passed it back to David once more.
"You had better keep it," she said. "At any rate, it is likely to bevaluable evidence for us later on. But it is not the ring I hoped to see.It is a clever copy, but the black pearls are not so fine, and theengraving inside is not so worn as it used to be on the original. It isevidently a copy that Henson has had made to tease my aunt with, to offerher at some future date in return for the large sums of money that shegave him. No; the original of that ring is popularly supposed to be atthe bottom of the North Sea. If such had been the case--seeing thatHenson had never handled it before the Great Tragedy came--the originalmust be in existence."
"Why so?" David asked.
"Because the ring must have been copied from it," Enid said. "It is avery faithful copy indeed, and could not have been made from meredirections--take the engraving inside, for instance. The engraving formsthe cipher of the house of Littimer, If Henson has the real ring, if wecan find it, the tragedy goes out of our lives for ever."
"I should like to hear the story," said Steel.
Enid paused and lowered the lamp as a step was heard outside. But it wasonly Williams.
"Mr. Henson is in his bedroom still," he said. "I've just taken him thecigars. He's got a lump on his head as big as a billiard-ball. Thinks hehit it against a branch. And my lady have locked herself in her room andrefused to see anybody."
"Go and look at our patient," Enid commanded.
Williams disappeared, to return presently with the information that VanSneck was still fast asleep and lying very peacefully.
"Looks like waiting till morning, it do," he said. "And now I'll go backand keep my eye on that 'ere distinguished philanthropist."
Williams disappeared, and Enid turned up the lamp again. Her face waspale and resolute. She motioned David towards a chair.
"I'll tell you the story," she said. "I am going to confide in you thesaddest and strangest tale that ever appealed to an imaginativenovelist."