‘You’ll tell me the whole, or I’ll get up out of this bed!’
‘No, no, don’t do that! It’s only this, Ger! – his gun has been found. Shot-belt, too.’
‘Who? – Where?’
‘Chard. Good fellow, Chard! Rode off to the place where you were hit as soon as he’d fetched the sawbones over last night. Thought he might discover some trace. Well, he did. Found Martin’s gun thrust down a rabbit-hole, and his shot-belt in a gorse-bush. Looks as though he had got rid of ’em quickly, because the end of the stock wasn’t hidden well. That’s all, but everyone here knows you’ve been shot at, and your brother ain’t to be found – and if you think that news won’t spread, you’re a sapskull, Ger!’
‘Martin would not take ball out for kestrels!’
‘Daresay he wouldn’t. Nothing to stop him loading his piece with ball, if he went for bigger game!’ said the Viscount brutally. ‘No wish to distress you, but he had a couple of rounds in his belt. Seen ’em – not gammoning you!’
The Earl pressed a hand to his brow. ‘A couple of rounds in his belt… Yes, and what more?’
‘Nothing. No trace of him to be found. Thought he had done for you, of course! Took fright! Just the sort of hothead who would do so!’
‘Very well. And then?’
‘Got my own notion about that,’ said Ulverston darkly.
‘What is it?’
‘Nearest port. If he took fright, dared not stay – only thing to do, get out of the country!’
The Earl’s hand dropped. ‘Yes. I think I see.’
Ulverston perceived that he was looking very pale, and said in a conscience-stricken tone: ‘Shouldn’t have told you! Don’t put yourself into a fret, dear boy! Only want you to tell me what you wish done!’
‘Chard. Send him up to me!’
‘Can’t. At least, not immediately, Ger! Told him to ride over to fetch your cousin! Seemed to me he’s the man we need.’ He paused, and then, as Gervase said nothing, but only stared frowningly before him, he added: ‘I know you didn’t like it when Frant kept Martin under surveillance. Told him you didn’t need a watch-dog, didn’t you? Well, it’s precisely what you did need, Ger! While Frant was here, and Martin knew he was alive to his little game, he dared not pursue his damned purpose. No sooner was Frant out of the way, and Martin knew he was no longer being watched, than he seized the first chance that offered! Daresay this engagement of mine inflamed him.’
The Earl’s eyes travelled to his face. ‘If Martin tried to kill me, it was so that he should inherit my dignities. He could not more surely brand himself as my murderer than by running away!’
‘Ay, thought of that myself!’ agreed Ulverston. ‘Stupidest thing he could do, of course; but the more I think about it the more I think he’s just the sort of rash young fool who would do it! No head, Ger! no head at all! Might even have repented of it as soon as he’d pulled the trigger. Lord, I haven’t been staying here this while without learning a few things about your precious Martin! Done a lot of wild things in his time, because he wouldn’t stop to think before he gave way to his passions! Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’d taken fright as soon as he realized what he’d done, and run for it. No, and I’ll tell you another thing, Ger! It won’t surprise me if he comes back, and tells us all some hoaxing story to account for his having gone off like that. Just as soon as he’s had time to get over his fright and see the folly of running away!’
‘I must get up!’ the Earl said, in a fretting tone. ‘I must get up!’
Rather alarmed at the consequence of his unguarded talk, Ulverston said hastily: ‘No, no, what good would that do? Dash it, I wish I hadn’t told you!’ He looked round quickly, as he heard the door open, and hailed Miss Morville’s entrance with a mixture of relief and guilt. ‘Here, ma’am, come and tell St Erth he must stay where he is! You won’t like it, but I’ve told him his brother ain’t been seen since yesterday, and what must he do but declare he shall get up?’
‘It seems to me a great pity,’ said Miss Morville acidly, ‘that you cannot be left to bear Lord St Erth company for a bare quarter of an hour without throwing him into a fever, my lord! I beg your pardon if I seem impolite, but I must desire you to go away!’
‘Well, you do, ma’am! Devilish impolite!’ said the Viscount indignantly. ‘Dash it, St Erth had to know it!’
‘If you do not go, my lord, I fear I shall become still more impolite!’ Miss Morville warned him.
The Viscount retreated in no very good order, and Miss Morville, after a glance at her patient, went to the table and picked up a glass from it. Into this she poured a dose from an ominous bottle she had brought into the room. Gervase said in a tired voice: ‘More of your sedative draughts, Miss Morville?’
‘It is merely the medicine Dr Malpas ordered me to give you at this hour,’ she replied, bringing it to him.
He took it from her, but he did not at once raise the glass to his lips. ‘Lucy was right. I had to know.’
‘To be sure, but not now.’
He again put his hand to his brow. ‘I wish I could think! My head feels like a block of wood!’
‘Very likely. It will be better when you have recovered your strength, and that you may do by being patient, and doing as you are bid.’
He smiled wryly, but lifted the glass, and drank its contents. ‘Does my mother-in-law know what is being said?’
‘She does, of course. It is painful for her, but you cannot cure that.’
‘Poor woman! Assure her I shall not die! Ought I to see her?’
‘No, you will see no one but Turvey and me until tomorrow.’
He sighed, but even as she uttered the words the door opened, and Theo came softly into the room.
He was looking pale, and very grim. He said in a low voice to Miss Morville: ‘Ulverston told me I might see my cousin. How is he?’
‘He is excessively tired, and would be the better for sleeping,’ answered Miss Morville.
He came farther into the room, and looked towards the bed. He saw that the Earl was awake and dreamily regarding him, and stepped closer, saying in a moved voice: ‘Gervase! How is it, my dear fellow?’
‘Excellent! I could not wish for a cleaner wound.’
‘Chard told me the whole. I came at once – knowing I should never have left Stanyon!’
‘Not now, if you please!’ said Miss Morville.
Theo glanced at her. ‘No. You are very right! But Ulverston sent me to try what I could do to set his mind at rest. I believe I know your will, Gervase. I will do whatever it is you wish me to do. If you want this affair to be hushed up, I will do my possible, upon my honour!’
‘Yes, I knew I could depend upon you for that,’ Gervase said. ‘The doctor’s story will answer the purpose as well as any other. I have now come to my senses, and I have disclosed to you that I caught a glimpse of a thick-set man in homespuns, skulking in the undergrowth. But Martin must be found!’
‘He will be,’ Theo said soothingly. ‘Only do not fret, Gervase! I can take care of this for you, and I will.’
‘Thank you,’ Gervase said, his eyes half-closed.
Miss Morville signed to Theo to go, and he nodded, and went away without another word. She found the Earl’s pulse to be tumultuous, and could only hope that rest and quiet would restore its even tone.
The Earl spent the remainder of the day between dozing and waking. His two nurses found him docile, swallowing the nourishment and the medicine they gave him, and acquiescing in Miss Morville’s ban on visitors; but his pulse continued to be agitated, and his brief spells of sleep were uneasy. Towards night, he seemed to be more comfortable; and, rousing himself from his abstraction, he resolutely opposed Miss Morville’s scheme to share the night watch with his valet. There was no real need for a watch to be kept, and perceiving that insistence would only tease him, Miss Morville c
onsented to go to bed. It was arranged that Turvey should spend the night on a truckle-bed set up in the dressing-room; and with a silent resolve to pay at least one visit to the sick-room during the night, Miss Morville withdrew to her own bedchamber. She was, in fact, extremely weary, and although her conscience told her that she ought to visit the Dowager before retiring, she felt quite unequal to the strain of a conversation with that lady.
It was ten o’clock when she laid her head on the pillow, and she almost instantly fell asleep, waking rather more than two hours later, within ten minutes of the time she had set for herself. She lit her candle, and got up. She had removed only her dress and her slippers on going to bed, and these were soon resumed, and her hair tidied. Picking up her candle, she stole down the gallery, and round the angle of the court into the gallery on to which the Earl’s bedroom opened. The house was very silent, but a lamp had been set on a table outside the Earl’s door, and dimly lit the gallery. Miss Morville stealthily opened the door, and crept into the room.
Here too a lamp was burning low, set at a little distance from the bed, that its light should not worry the Earl. He seemed to be sleeping, but the tumbled bedclothes indicated that he was restless. The sound of heavy and rhythmic breathing coming from the dressing-room informed Miss Morville that Turvey, at all events, was enjoying an excellent night’s repose. She saw with displeasure that the fire had been allowed to die down, and went softly to lay more wood upon it. Then she returned to the bedside, and ventured, very cautiously, to draw the quilt, which was slipping off the bed, over the Earl’s exposed shoulder. He stirred, but he did not open his eyes, and after standing still for a moment she began to tiptoe towards the door.
She had almost reached it when she was checked by a sound she could have sworn was a footstep. It was muffled, but even as she decided that she had been mistaken she heard it again. She was puzzled, for it came neither from the gallery nor from the dressing-room, but seemed rather to be located opposite the dressing-room. It was followed by a sound so like the brushing of a hand across a door that her heart jumped. She moved swiftly back to the bed, and stood there, staring through the dim light at the wall to the right. One swift, uncertain glance she cast towards the dressing-room, as though she would have called to Turvey; then she closed her lips, and again searched with her eyes the other side of the room.
The wall was panelled, like the rest of the room, the sections masked by carved pilasters, and the dado and skirting mitred round in an unbroken line. The light of the flames, which were beginning to lick round the logs she had laid on the fire, flickered over the interlaced arches, and the elaborately carved capitals. The brushing sound was heard again, like someone groping in darkness. Then there came the unmistakable click of a lifting latch. Miss Morville stood rigidly still. Suddenly she knew that the Earl was awake; she heard him move, and before she could turn to look at him felt his hand grasp her wrist warningly. She looked quickly down, and saw that he too had his eyes fixed on the panelling. He said, so softly that she scarcely heard him: ‘Quiet!’
Her heart was beating uncomfortably fast, but she knew her presence to be safeguard enough, and she had not meant to raise the alarm.
The woodwork creaked; one of the sections of the wainscot was sliding behind another, and the lamplight showed a hand grasping the edge of it.
Seventeen
The aperture was widening slowly, but the lamp had been turned too low for its light to be thrown into the cavity revealed by the removal of the panel. There was a moment’s pause, which Miss Morville found singularly nerve-racking, and then the silence was broken by a voice, raised little above a whisper, which uttered urgently: ‘St Erth!’
The grip was removed from Miss Morville’s wrist. ‘Come in, Martin!’ the Earl said calmly.
Martin bent, and stepped over the skirting-board into the room. He started when Miss Morville moved from her station by the shadowed bed into the light, and stammered: ‘I didn’t know! I thought –’ He broke off, shrugging. ‘It’s of no consequence. St Erth, I had to see you! I beg pardon if I startled you, but I was determined to have speech with you!’
‘Where does that passage lead?’ interrupted the Earl, nodding towards the cavity.
‘It isn’t a passage: it’s only the secret stair! It leads to the cupboard by the door out to the old bowling-green. You must know it!’
‘You are mistaken. I neither knew, nor was I told, that a secret stair led directly to my room.’
Miss Morville moved silently to the door into the dressing-room, which stood ajar, and closed it, and then went to turn up the lamp.
‘I suppose you were thought to know of it,’ Martin said. ‘What’s the odds? I want –’
‘Who does know of it?’
‘Why, everyone!’ said Martin impatiently. ‘There’s no secret about it nowadays! No one uses it, of course –’
‘That does not seem to be true.’
‘Well, I mean in the general way! I had to see you!’
Miss Morville had trimmed the lamp, and its golden light grew stronger. Looking up, she now perceived that Martin was looking haggard, and unusually white. She made no comment, but picked up one of the spare pillows, and carried it to the bed. ‘Let me put this behind you, my lord,’ she said. ‘It will be better for you not to support yourself on your elbow.’
He thanked her, and leaned back, with a sigh of relief. She glanced at Martin, and said composedly: ‘Your brother is still weak, and should not be talking at this hour. Pray do not prolong your visit!’
‘I’ve no wish to do him any harm – though I daresay you won’t believe that!’
She did not answer, but sat down beside the fire. He scowled at her, but she returned his look with one of her wide, direct stares. Flushing, he turned from her to his half-brother.
‘Tell me!’ said the Earl. ‘Why do you choose to enter my room by a secret stair rather than by the door?’
‘Choose! They will not let me come near you!’
‘Who will not let you?’
‘Theo – Ulverston – that damned groom of yours!’
‘Indeed! But has a sentry been posted at my door?’
‘No! Not at your door, but at mine!’ Martin said bitterly. ‘Chard is sitting outside my room. The only wonder is that he has not locked me in!’
‘Dear me! How, may I ask, did you contrive to slip past him unnoticed? Or is there also a secret way into your room?’
‘No, there is not! I climbed out of the window. I tell you, I had to see you!’
‘Why, Martin?’
‘They think I tried to kill you!’
‘Have they said so?’
‘Not in so many words, but the questions they have asked me – the way they look at me! I’m not a fool! I know what they think! They say my gun and my shot-belt were found where – where it happened, and that I had rounds of ball in my belt! I had not! It is a damned lie, St Erth! Good God, what should I want with ball when all I went for was an accursed pair of kestrels, and perhaps a pigeon or two?’
‘Did you get the kestrels?’ enquired Gervase.
‘No. I never got a sight of them.’
‘Or a pigeon?’
‘No!’
‘Did you not fire your gun at all?’
‘Yes, at a rabbit,’ Martin muttered. ‘Oh, we have had all that out, never fear! The gun has been fired, and I don’t deny it! I bagged a rabbit, but where it is now I don’t know! I can’t produce it! I never fired at you!’
The Earl’s head lay back against the supporting pillow; from under drooping eyelids he was watching every change in Martin’s face. ‘Martin, why did you run away?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t run away!’ Martin exclaimed.
‘Hush! Not so loud! My valet is sleeping in the next room. Where, then, have you been?’
‘I don’t know!’ He saw his brother’s br
ows lift, and added, in a goaded tone: ‘Ask Chard! He will tell you fast enough! It was some village short of Wisbech where he picked me up: I don’t know its name!’
‘I hope you mean to tell me what he was doing there, for I have not the remotest guess.’
‘I’ll tell you!’ Martin threw at him. ‘He was set on by your friend Ulverston to look for me on the road to King’s Lynn! Ulverston believed I should be found making for the nearest port! God, how I have kept my hands from Ulverston’s throat I don’t know!’
‘Yes, I remember now that Lucy told me that,’ Gervase said thoughtfully.
‘I was trying to get to Stanyon, not to the coast!’ Martin said, taking an impetuous step nearer to the bed.
‘That, also, he foretold,’ murmured Gervase.
Martin recoiled. ‘I might have spared myself the pains of coming to you! You won’t believe me any more than he or Theo do! Very well! Have me arrested for murder!’
‘But I am not dead,’ Gervase said, smiling faintly. ‘What is it that I shan’t believe?’
‘I was kidnapped!’ said Martin belligerently.
Miss Morville, who had been gazing into the fire, apparently divorced from this interchange, raised her head, and looked curiously at him.
‘Now tell me you don’t believe me! I expect that!’
‘Not at all. Where, when, and how?’
Martin cast him a sullen glance. ‘I don’t know when – except that it was not long after I had shot the rabbit, and I’ve no notion when that may have been, except that it can’t have been a great while before you were fired at. I’d had no sport; I thought I might as well try for a brace of wood-pigeons, but you know what they are! There’s no getting them, unless you lie-up, once they’ve been alarmed! I crouched down behind a thicket, to wait. I suppose someone stalked me: I don’t know! All I know is that I was struck a stunning blow from behind. I do know that, but nothing more, until I came to myself, and how much later that was I’ve no notion!’
There was a short silence. ‘And your spaniel?’ said the Earl.