understood me. Oh, the castleswe built in the air, the romantic heights we scaled, the passionatefolly with which we deceived ourselves! 'The world is for you and I,'he said, 'in each other's hearts'; and I, Jasper, believed him, justbecause I had not learnt to be a woman. His own story fascinated me; Icannot tell how much. He had been in all countries; he knew manycities; he could talk as no man I had ever met. Perhaps, if he had notbeen so clever, it would have been different. All the other men I knew,all except one, perhaps----!"
"There was one, then," said I, and my meaning she could not mistake.
But she turned her face from me and would not name the man.
"Yes," she went on, without noticing it, "there was one; but I was achild and did not understand. The others did not interest me. Theirking was a cook; their temple the Casino. And then Edmond spoke of hisisland home; I was to be the mistress of it, and we were to be apartfrom all the world there. I did not ask him, as others might have askedhim, 'What has your life been? Why do you love me?' I was glad toescape from it all, that little world of chatter and unreality, and Isaid, 'I will be your wife.' We left Europe together and went first toSan Francisco. Life was still in a garden of roses. If I would awakesometimes to ask myself a question, I could not answer it. I was thechild of romance, but my world was empty. Then one day we came to Ken'sIsland, and I saw all its wonders, and I said, 'Yes, we will visit hereevery year and dream that it is our kingdom.' I did not know the truth;what woman would have guessed it?"
"You learnt it, Miss Ruth, nevertheless," said I, for her story wasjust what I myself had imagined it to be. "You were not long on Ken'sIsland before you knew the truth."
"A month," she said, quietly. "I was a month here, and then a ship waswrecked. My husband went out with the others; and from the terracebefore my windows I saw--ah, God! what did I not see? Then Edmondreturned and was angry with the servant who had permitted me to see. Heshot him in this room before my face. He knew that his secret was mine,he knew that I would not share it. The leaves of the rose had fallen.Ah! Jasper, what weeks of terror, of greed, of tears--and now you--youin this house to end it all!"
I sat for a long while preoccupied with my own thoughts and quiteunable to speak to her. All that she had told me was no surprise, nonew thing; but I believe it brought home to me for the first time thedanger of my presence in that house, and all that discovery meant tothe four shipmates who waited for me down below in the cavern.
For if this man Czerny--a madman, as I always say--had shot down aservant before this gentle girl, what would he do to me and the others,sworn enemies of his, who could hang him in any city where they mightfind him; who could, with one word, give his dastardly secret to theworld; who could, with a cry, destroy this treasure-house, rock-builtthough it might be? What hope of mercy had we from such a man? And Iwas sitting there, it might be, within twenty paces of the room inwhich he slept; Miss Ruth's hand lay in my own. What hope for her orfor me, I ask again? Will you wonder that I said, "None; just none! Athousand times none"! The island itself might well be a mercy besidesuch a hell as this.
"Miss Ruth," said I, coming to myself at last, "how little I thoughtwhen you went up to the great cathedral in Nice a short year ago thatsuch a sunny day would end so badly! It is one of the world'slotteries; just that and nothing more. Edmond Czerny is no sane man,as his acts prove. Some day you will blot it all out of your life asa page torn and forgotten. That your husband loved you in Nice, I dobelieve; and so much being true, he may come to reason again, andreason would give you liberty. If not, there are others who willtry--while they live. He must be a rich man, a very rich man,must Edmond Czerny. God alone knows why he should sink to such anemployment as this."
"He has sunk to it," she said, quickly, "because gold is fed by thelove of gold. Oh, yes, he is a rich man, richer than you and I canunderstand. And yet even my own little fortune must be cast upon thepile. A month ago he compelled me to sign a paper which gives up to himeverything I have in the world. He has no more use for me, Jasper; noneat all! He has sent my only living relative away from me. When you goback to England they will tell you that I am dead. And it will betrue--true; oh, I know that it will be true."
She had come to a very low state, I make sure, to utter such a word asthis, and it was a sorry thing for me to hear. To console her when Imyself was in a parlous plight was just as though one drowning manshould hold out his hand to another. To-morrow I myself might be flunginto that very ocean whose breakers I could hear rolling over the glassof the curtained windows. And what of little Ruth then?
That question I did not answer. Words were on my lips--such words as adriven man may speak--when there came to us from the sea without theboom of a distant gun, and, Miss Ruth springing to her feet, I heard agreat bell clang in the house and the rush of men and the pattering ofsteps; and together, the woman I loved and I, we stood with beatinghearts and white faces, and told each other that a ship was on therocks and that Edmond Czerny's devils were loose.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHANCE OPENS A GATE FOR JASPER BEGG, AND HE PASSES THROUGH
The devils were out; never once did I doubt it. The alarm bell ringingloudly in the corridor, the tramp of feet as of an army marching, thecry of man to man proclaimed the fact beyond any cavil. If the clang ofarms and the loud word of command had found me unwilling to believethat sailors must die that night on the reef to the southward side, thevoice of Edmond Czerny himself, crying by the very door behind which Istood, would have answered the question for good and all. For Czerny Iheard, I would have staked my life on it--Czerny, whom last I had seenat Nice on the morning of his marriage.
"To the work, to the work!" I heard him shouting; "let Steinvertz cometo me. There is a ship on the Caskets--a ship, do you hear?"
His voice was hoarse and high-pitched, like the voice of a man half madwith delirium. Those that answered him spoke in terms not lessmeasured. Had a pack of wild hounds been slipped suddenly to its prey,no howls more terrifying could have been heard than those which echoedin that house of mystery. And then, upon the top of the clamour, asthough to mark the meaning of it, came silence, a silence so awesomethat I could hear myself breathing.
"They've left the house, then," I said to Miss Ruth in a whisper;"that's something to be glad about!"
She passed the remark by and, seating herself in a chair, she buriedher face in her hands. I could hear her muttering "God help them--Godhelp them!" and I knew that she spoke of those dying out on thedangerous reef. For the time being she seemed to have forgotten mypresence; but, after a spell, she looked up suddenly and answered thequestion.
"Yes," she said; "my husband will be on the yacht. He has not thecourage to be anywhere else. You and I are quite alone now, Jasper."
My fingers closed tight about my seaman's cap, and I went to the doorand unlocked it. Strong and clear in my head, and not to be denied, wassomething which seemed to set my brain on fire. "My God," I said, "whatdoes it mean?" Was it chance or madness that I should pass it by?
"There would be men below at the furnaces and others standing toguard," I put it to her; "how many in all do you make out that a manmight chance to meet if he went below just now, Miss Ruth?"
She became very calm at the words, I thought, and stood up that shemight take my words more readily.
"Jasper!" she exclaimed, "what are you going to do, Jasper?"
"God knows," said I. "Tell me how many men there are in this house."
She stood and thought about it. The flushed face told the story of herhopes. Neither of us would speak all that came leaping to our tongues.
"There would be five, I think, in the engine-house and six for theguards," she said, and I could almost see her counting them; "the lowergate is the second in the corridor. There is a ladder there, and--oh,Jasper, what do you mean?" she asked again.
"Mean?" said I; "why this: that it is time my shipmates shared yourhospitality. Aye, we'll bring them along," says I, "Seth Barker and theothers. And then," says I, coming quite close to
her, "the luck beingwith us, we'll shut the doors. Do you say there are two of them?"
She said that there were two; one for the men, a small gate on thereef; the other for Czerny--they called it the great gate. "And, oh,"she cried, while her very gladness seemed to thrill me through--"oh, ifyou could, if you could, Jasper--!"
"Whether I can or no the night will prove," said I, more quietly thanbefore. "One thing is sure, Miss Ruth, that I am going to try. It'sworth the trying, indeed it is. Do you find your own room and knownothing at all about it. The work below is men's work, and there aremen, thank God, to do it."
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