CHAPTER XLII.
THE THREE FACES AT THE WINDOW.
Late in the afternoon Ezra arrived at the Priory. From one of thepassage windows Kate saw him driving up the avenue in a high dog-cart.There was a broad-shouldered, red-bearded man sitting beside him, andthe ostler from the _Flying Bull_ was perched behind. Kate had rushedto the window on hearing the sound of wheels, with some dim expectationthat her friends had come sooner than she anticipated. A glance,however, showed her that the hope was vain. From behind a curtain shewatched them alight and come into the house, while the trap wheeledround and rattled off for Bedsworth again.
She went slowly back to her room, wondering what friend this could bewhom Ezra had brought with him. She had noticed that he was roughlyclad, presenting a contrast to the young merchant, who was vulgarlyspruce in his attire. Evidently he intended to pass the night at thePriory, since they had let the trap go back to the village. She wasglad that he had come, for his presence would act as a restraint uponthe Girdlestones. In spite of her guardian's amiability at breakfast,she could not forget the words which he had used the morning before orthe incident of the poison bottle. She was as convinced as ever that hemeant mischief to her, but she had ceased to fear him. It never for onemoment occurred to her that her guardian's machinations might come to ahead before her rescuers could arrive.
As the long afternoon stole away she became more and more impatient andexpectant. She had been sewing in her room, but she found that shecould no longer keep her attention on the stitches. She paced nervouslyup and down the little apartment. In the room beneath she could hearthe dull muffled sound of men's voices in a long continuous monotone,broken only by the interposition now and again of one voice which was sodeep and loud that it reminded her of the growl of a beast of prey.This must belong to the red-bearded stranger. Kate wondered what itcould be that they were talking over so earnestly. City affairs, nodoubt, or other business matters of importance. She remembered havingonce heard it remarked that many of the richest men on 'Change wereeccentric and slovenly in their dress, so the new-comer might be a moreimportant person than he seemed.
She had determined to remain in her room all the afternoon to avoidEzra, but her restlessness was so great that she felt feverish and hot.The fresh air, she thought, would have a reviving effect upon her.She slipped down the staircase, treading as lightly as possible not todisturb the gentlemen in the refectory. They appeared to hear herhowever, for the hum of conversation died away, and there was a deadsilence until after she had passed.
She went out on to the little lawn which lay in front of the old house.There were some flower-beds scattered about on it, but they wereovergrown with weeds and in the last stage of neglect. She amusedherself by attempting to improve the condition of one of them andkneeling down beside it she pulled up a number of the weeds whichcovered it. There was a withered rose-bush in the centre, so she pulledup that also, and succeeded in imparting some degree of order among thefew plants which remained. She worked with unnatural energy, pausingevery now and again to glance down the dark avenue, or to listenintently to any chance sound which might catch her ear.
In the course of her work she chanced to look up at the Priory.The refectory faced the lawn, and at the window of it there stood thethree men looking out at her. The Girdlestones were nodding theirheads, as though they were pointing her out to the third man, who stoodbetween them. He was looking at her with an expression of interest.Kate thought as she returned his gaze that she had never seen a moresavage and brutal face. He was flushed and laughing, while Ezra besidehim appeared to be pale and anxious. They all, when they saw that shenoticed them, stepped precipitately back from the window. She had onlya momentary glance at them, and yet the three faces--the strange fiercered one, and the two hard familiar pale ones which flanked it--remainedvividly impressed upon her memory.
Girdlestone had been so pleased at the early appearance of his allies,and the prospect of settling the matter once for all, that he receivedthem with a cordiality which was foreign to his nature.
"Always punctual, my dear son, and always to be relied upon," he said."You are a model to our young business men. As to you, Mr. Burt," hecontinued, grasping the navvy's horny hand, "I am delighted to see youat the Priory, much as I regret the sad necessity which has brought youdown."
"Talk it over afterwards," said Ezra shortly. "Burt and I have had noluncheon yet."
"I am cursed near starved," the other growled, throwing himself into achair. Ezra had been careful to keep him from drink on the way down,and he was now sober, or as nearly sober as a brain saturated withliquor could ever be.
Girdlestone called for Mrs. Jorrocks, who laid the cloth and put a pieceof cold corned beef and a jug of beer upon the table. Ezra appeared tohave a poor appetite, but Burt ate voraciously, and filled his glassagain and again from the jug. When the meal was finished and the aleall consumed, he rose with a grunt of repletion, and, pulling a roll ofblack tobacco from his pocket, proceeded to cut it into slices, and tocram it into his pipe. Ezra drew a chair up to the fire, and his fatherdid the same, after ordering the old woman out of the room and carefullyclosing the door behind her.
"You have spoken to our friend here about the business?" Girdlestoneasked, nodding his head in the direction of Burt.
"Yes. I have made it all clear."
"Five hundred pounds down, and a free passage to Africa," said Burt.
"An energetic man like you can do a great deal in the colonies with fivehundred pounds," Girdlestone remarked.
"What I do with it is nothin' to you, guv'nor," Burt remarked surlily."I does the job, you pays the money, and there's an end as far as youare concerned."
"Quite so," the merchant said in a conciliatory voice. "You are free todo what you like with the money."
"Without axin' your leave," growled Burt. He was a man of such aturbulent and quarrelsome disposition that he was always ready to go outof his way to make himself disagreeable.
"The question is how it is to be done," interposed Ezra. He was lookingvery nervous and uneasy. Hard as he was, he had neither thepseudo-religious monomania of his father, nor the callous brutality ofBurt, and he shuddered at the thought of what was to come. His eyeswere red and bleared, and he sat with one arm thrown over the back ofhis chair, while he drummed nervously with the fingers of his other handupon his knee. "You've got some plan in your head, I suppose," he saidto his father. "It's high time the thing was carried through, or weshall have to put up the shutters in Fenchurch Street."
His father shivered at the very thought. "Anything rather than that,"he said.
"It will precious soon come to that. It was the devil of a fight tokeep things straight last week."
"What's the matter with your lip? It seems to be swollen."
"I had a turn with that fellow Dimsdale," Ezra answered, putting hishand up to his mouth to hide the disfigurement. "He followed us to thestation, and we had to beat him off; but I think I left my marks uponhim."
"He played some damned hokey-pokey business on me," said Burt."He tripped me in some new-fangled way, and nigh knocked the breath outof me. I don't fall as light as I used."
"He did not succeed in tracing you?" Girdlestone asked uneasily."There is no chance of his turning up here and spoiling the wholebusiness?"
"Not the least," said Ezra confidently. "He was in the hands of apoliceman when I saw him last."
"That is well. Now I should like, before we go further, to say a fewwords to Mr. Burt as to what has led up to this."
"You haven't got a drop to drink, boss?"
"Yes, yes, of course. What is that in the bottle over there?Ginger wine. How will that do?"
"Here's something better," Ezra said, rummaging in the cupboard."Here is a bottle of Hollands. It is Mrs. Jorrocks' private store, Ifancy."
Burt poured himself out half a tumblerful, and filled it up with water."Drive along," he said; "I am lisnin'."
Girdlesto
ne rose and stood with his back to the fire, and his handsunder his coat-tails. "I wish you to understand," he said, "that thisis no sudden determination of ours, but that events have led up to it insuch a way that it was impossible to avoid it. Our commercial honourand integrity are more precious to us than anything else, and we haveboth agreed that we are ready to sacrifice anything rather than lose it.Unfortunately, our affairs have become somewhat involved, and it wasabsolutely necessary that the firm should have a sum of money promptlyin order to extricate itself from its difficulties. This sum weendeavoured to get through a daring speculation in diamonds, which was,though I say it, ingeniously planned and cleverly carried out, and whichwould have succeeded admirably had it not been for an unfortunatechance."
"I remember," said Burt.
"Of course. You were there at the time. We were able to struggle alongfor some time after this on money which we borrowed and on the profitsof our African trade. The time came, however, when the borrowed moneywas to be repaid, and once again the firm was in danger. It was thenthat we first thought of the fortune of my ward. It was enough to turnthe scale in our favour, could we lay our hands upon it. It wassecurely tied up, however, in such a way that there were only two meansby which we could touch a penny of it. One was by marrying her to myson; the other was by the young lady's death. Do you follow me?"
Burt nodded his shaggy head.
"This being so, we did all that we could to arrange a marriage.Without flattery I may say that no girl was ever approached in a moredelicate and honourable way than she was by my son Ezra. I, for mypart, brought all my influence to bear upon her in order to induce herto meet his advances in a proper spirit. In spite of our efforts, sherejected him in the most decided way, and gave us to understand that itwas hopeless to attempt to make her change her mind."
"Some one else, maybe," suggested Burt.
"The man who put you on your back at the station," said Ezra.
"Ha! I'll pay him for that," the navvy growled viciously.
"A human life, Mr. Burt," continued Girdlestone, "is a sacred thing, buta human life, when weighed against the existence of a great firm fromwhich hundreds derive their means of livelihood, is a smallconsideration indeed. When the fate of Miss Harston is put against thefate of the great commercial house of Girdlestone, it is evident whichmust go to the wall."
Burt nodded, and poured some more Hollands from the square bottle.
"Having seen," Girdlestone continued, "that this sad necessity mightarise, I had made every arrangement some time before. This building is,as you may have observed in your drive, situated in a lonely andsecluded part of the country. It is walled round too in such a mannerthat any one residing here is practically a prisoner. I removed thelady so suddenly that no one can possibly know where she has gone to,and I have spread such reports as to her condition that no one down herewould be surprised to hear of her decease."
"But there is bound to be an inquiry. How about a medical certificate?"asked Ezra.
"I shall insist upon a coroner's inquest," his father answered.
"An inquest! Are you mad?"
"When you have heard me I think that you will come to just the oppositeconclusion. I think that I have hit upon a scheme which is reallyneat--neat in its simplicity." He rubbed his hands together, and showedhis long yellow fangs in his enjoyment of his own astuteness.
Burt and Ezra leaned forward to listen, while the old man sank his voiceto a whisper.
"They think that she is insane," he said.
"Yes."
"There's a small door in the boundary wall which leads out to therailway line."
"Well, what of that?"
"Suppose that door to be left open, would it be an impossible thing fora crazy woman to slip out through it, and to be run over by the teno'clock express?"
"If she would only get in the way of it."
"You don't quite catch my idea yet. Suppose that the express ran overthe dead body of a woman, would there be anything to prove afterwardsthat she _was_ dead, and not alive at the time of the accident? Do youthink that it would ever occur to any one's mind that the express ranover a dead body?"
"I see your meaning," said his son thoughtfully. "You would settle her,and then put her there."
"Of course. What could be more delightfully simple. Friend Burt heredoes his work; we carry her through the garden gate, and lay her on thedarkest part of the rails. Then we miss her at the house. There is analarm and a search. The gate is found open. We naturally go throughwith lanterns, and find her on the line. I don't think we need fear thecoroner, or any one else then?"
"He's a sharp 'un, is the guv'nor," cried Burt, slapping his thighenthusiastically. "It's the downiest lay I have heard this many a day."
"I believe you are the devil incarnate," said Ezra, looking at hisfather with a mixture of horror and of admiration. "But how aboutJorrocks and Stevens and Rebecca? Would you trust them?"
"Certainly not!" Girdlestone answered. "It is not necessary. Mr. Burtcan do his part of the business out of doors. We can entice her outupon some excuse. There is no reason why any one should have asuspicion of the truth."
"But they know that she is not mad."
"They will think that she did it on purpose. The secret will be lockedup in our three breasts. After one night's work our friend here goes tothe colonies a prosperous man, and the firm of Girdlestone holds up itshead once more, stainless and irreproachable."
"Speak low!" said Ezra, in a whisper. "I hear her coming downstairs."They listened to her light springy footstep as it passed the door."Come here, Burt," he said, after a pause. "She is at work on the lawn.Come and have a look at her."
They all went over to the window, and looked out. It was then thatKate, glancing up, saw the three cruel faces surveying her.
"She's a rare well-built 'un," said Burt, as he stepped back from thewindow. "It is the ugliest job as ever I was on."
"But we can rely upon you?" Girdlestone asked, looking at him withpuckered eyes.
"You bet--as long as you pay me," the navvy answered phlegmatically, andwent back to his pipe and to Mrs. Jorrocks' bottle of Hollands.