I'll tell you this. There is no man I know, whom I would soonerVera married, than yourself. You have your faults, but--but you will begood to her, always good to her. Ah! I know you will, and that is asmuch as any woman should expect. And Gwen is glad, too, that you aregoing to marry Vera. But now, Dick, there is this thing I must tellyou. I--I should not rest after death, if I died without your knowing."
Again he paused, and, in silent expectation, I waited for the oldsportsman to speak.
"You have lately come to know," he said at last, "that there is to dowith me, and with my family, a mystery of some kind. Part of my secret,kept so well for all these years, I believe you have recentlydiscovered. The rest you don't know. Well--I'll tell it--to--you--now."
With an effort, he shifted his body into a more comfortable position.Then, after coughing violently, he went on--
"Dick, prepare yourself for a shock," he said, staring straight at mewith his fevered eyes. "I have--I have been a forger, and--and worse--amurderer!"
I started. What he said seemed impossible. He must suddenly be ravingagain. I refused to believe either statement, and I frankly told himso.
"I am not surprised at your refusing to believe me," he said, calmly."I don't look like a criminal, perhaps--least of all like a forger, or amurderer. Yet I am both. It all occurred years ago. Ah! it's anightmare--a horrible dream, which has lived with me all my life since."
He paused, then continued.
"It happened in the house I had then just bought--my house in BelgraveStreet. The governor had left me money, but I was ambitious--avaricious, if you like. I wanted more money--much more. And I wantedit at once. I could not brook delay. I had travelled a good deal, eventhen, and I was still a bachelor. During my wanderings, I had becomeacquainted with all sorts and conditions of people. In Mexico I had metHenry Whichelo, and on our way home to England on the same ship, webecame very intimate. Another man on board, with whom I had also grownintimate, was Dan Paulton--or Dago, as his friends called him. A man ofenergy and dash, and of big ideas, he somehow fascinated and appealed tome. Well--he--he discovered my ambition to grow rich quickly andwithout trouble. He was a plausible and most convincing talker--he isthat still, though less than he was--and by degrees he broke it to methat he was interested in, and in some way associated with, a group of`continental financiers,' as he called them. Later, I discovered, whentoo late, that really they were bank-note forgers! He talked to me insuch a way that gradually, against my will, and quite against my betternature, I became interested in the operations of these men. And, as hehad thus ensnared me by his insidious talk, so, in the same way, he hadensnared our companion, Whichelo."
And he paused, because of his difficulty in breathing.
"It was about this time that I married. Within a year after mymarriage, I found that blackguard Paulton was doing his best to stealGwen from me," he went on, in a half-whisper. "He was talking her rightround, I found, as he seemed able to talk anybody round. By this time,I had discovered him to be a far greater scoundrel than I had everbefore suspected. Then came a revulsion in my feelings. I had comesuddenly to hate him. My mind became set upon revenge. Already I hadbecome actively interested in Paulton's continental schemes for makingmoney, the forgery of French bank-notes, and by manufacturing coin. Myfortune was already more than doubled. Alas! It was too late to drawback. Some of the base coin had actually been moulded and finished inmy house in Belgrave Street. The rest was made abroad. The coins,perfectly made by an ingenious process, were nearly all French louis andten-franc pieces, these being the coins most easy to circulate at thetime. Paulton's plan for issuing the coin we made, was ingenious andmost successful. It seemed impossible--of--of--discovery. And--"
Once again he was compelled to pause, drawing a long and difficultbreath. Then he continued--
"It was the year before I met you that the tragedy occurred. Paulton,Whichelo, Henderson, and also a half-brother of Paulton's named Sutton,who was nearly always with him, and myself, were gathered in the room onthe second floor, in my house in Belgrave Street, the room that wasfound recently with a hole cut in the floor. It was late at night, andthe place was dimly lit. We worked in silence. The work we wereengaged upon I need not trouble to explain to you--I expect you canguess it. My mind was in a whirl. I was thinking all the time of mywife, wondering how far her intrigue with Paulton had already gone.Then and there I would have assaulted Paulton, turned him out of thehouse, but I had so far compromised myself that I confess, I dare not.I could not do anything that might incur his enmity--he had thewhip-hand of me completely--I, who had recently bought a knighthood,just as easily as I could have bought a new hat.
"Suddenly, some one knocked. Ah! How we all started! I was the firstto spring to my feet. In a few moments all tools and implements we hadbeen using, had been spirited away. They had disappeared intoreceptacles in the floor and in the walls, made specially for theirconcealment. Then I unlocked the door. Gwen entered. She had beendining out with friends, and had returned much earlier than she hadexpected. Her bedroom was far removed from the room in which we were atwork, but she had noticed a faint light between a chink in the shutters,and so, on entering the house, she had come up to that room."
And he was seized by another fit of coughing, and pointed to a glasshalf-filled with liquid, which I placed to his lips.
"How surprised and startled she looked, at finding us all there,apparently reading newspapers and smoking!" he went on. "That was thefirst time she began to suspect--something. The glance she exchangedwith Paulton, brought the fire of jealousy to my brain. I believe atthat moment I went mad, for I loved her. I have a furious, a most awfultemper. You have never, in all these years we have known each other, myboy, discovered that--and yet I say the truth. Yes--it--it got thebetter of me that night. Without an instant's forethought, I sprangacross the room, crazed, beside myself with jealousy. I slammed thedoor and locked it. Then rushing at my wife--God forgive my having doneit--I seized her by the arms, and flung her to the ground, charging herwith infidelity, vilifying her most horribly, hurling blasphemy uponPaulton who, pale as death, glared at me. Then--ah, shall I ever forgetthat moment!" he cried, in agony of mind. "Then he sprang at me. Idodged him, and he slipped and fell. Instantly recovering himself, hemade a second rush. This time his half-brother, Sutton, came at me,too, with a drawn knife. In my frenzy I picked up the nearest thinghandy, with which to defend myself. It was a short iron bar, used foropening boxes, the only tool we had, in our haste, overlooked whenhiding the implements. With one bound, Paulton was upon me, hishalf-brother just behind. As I aimed a terrific blow at him with theiron rod, he ducked. The blow meant for him struck Sutton just belowthe ear. The man collapsed in a heap upon the floor. He never spokeagain. He died without a cry!"
The dying man moaned again in mental agony, and moved feverishly uponhis pillow.
"Don't--don't tell me any more," I urged in distress, seeing how itupset him to recall what had happened.
"I must. By Heaven, I must!" he exclaimed hoarsely. "You must knoweverything before I die. I shall never rest unless you do. _Never_!"
He breathed with increasing difficulty, then went on--
"And--and seeing what had happened, Paulton, I truly believe, went mad,"said the prostrate man. "It took Whichelo, and Henderson and myself,all our strength to hold him down. Gwen was on the sofa, in hysterics.What surprised me was that nobody in the street outside was attracted bythe uproar. I suppose they couldn't hear it through the double windows.I won't go into further details of that awful night. I can't bear tothink of them, even now. But from that night onward, Paulton had me inhis power. It was Whichelo who suggested embalming Sutton's body andhiding it in the house. He would himself perform the embalming. He hadembalmed bodies in Mexico, and understood the process."
He remained silent for some seconds.
"And so that was done," he continued. "Paulton and Henderson had leftthe hous
e, the former satisfied at the thought that he could now use meas his cat's-paw--and by Heaven! he has done so! The coin we had in thehouse, some genuine, but most of it base, we hid away with the bodybetween the ceiling and the floor. None knew our secret but my wife,Gwen--who almost revealed it during an attack of brain fever, whichresulted from the shock she had received--Paulton, Henderson and myself.Vera was not old enough to know, but when she reached her seventeenthyear, we decided to tell her the whole story, deeming it wiser, forvarious reasons, to do so. And now you understand."
"And during all the years I have known you," I said, "where has Paultonbeen? What became of Whichelo, and of Henderson? I met Whichelo forthe first time in my life, just after you had left Houghton