CHAPTER III
THE HAUNTED VILLAGE
It was more than twenty-four hours later, and Superintendent Narkom,fully recovered from the effects of the awful night in the cellar of theApaches at the Coq d'Or, was now in fine feather. Anything that had todo with what certain of his men were wont to allude to as "the hupperclarses" possessed an especial interest for him, and to-day's affair wasflying high in the social scale indeed.
"A duke, I think you said?"
The inquiry came from beside him, from Cleek, as they both sat in theSuperintendent's limousine, in which they were skimming onward in thedirection of the Carlton, where they were due at half-past two.
"A duke--yes," agreed Mr. Narkom.
"But there are so many. And you whisked me off in such hot haste thatthere was no time to inquire which. Now, however, if you don't mindsatisfying a natural curiosity----"
"The Duke of Essex. He came up to town this morning and called me to aprivate interview at his hotel. It was a corroboration of what he toldthe Chief the other day."
"Ah!" said Cleek, with something like a twinkle in his eye. "That willbe a pleasant little bit of news to tell Mrs. Narkom over the dinnertable to-night. The Duke of Essex, eh? Well, well! That is theillustrious personage, is it not, who is famous for having a castlewhose underground dungeons have been converted into a vast banquetinghall, and who is said to possess a service of gold plate which is theequal, if not the superior, of that which adorns the royal table onState occasions? That's the Johnnie, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's the---- My dear Cleek, you are hardly respectful, are you?"
"No, I am not. But you see, there must be something of the--er--well,fashionably democratic strain in my blood, and I'm never quite soovercome by the importance of dukes as a policeman ought to be. But wewill stick to our--duke, if you please. Will his call upon us havesomething to do with guarding that gold plate and the very remarkablearray of wedding presents which is sure to be an accompaniment to themarriage of his only child, Lady Adela Fulgarney?"
"Nothing whatsoever. It is an affair of a totally different kind."
"H'm! That is both disappointing and gratifying, Mr. Narkom.Disappointing, because I see by the papers that Lady Adela's wedding isset for Thursday, the day after to-morrow; and gratifying, because totell you the truth, I shouldn't much care to play the role of plainclothes man and special guard over the wedding gifts of even soimportant a lady as a duke's daughter."
"As if I would have brought the case to _you_ had it been anything ofthe sort!" came reproachfully from Mr. Narkom.
"I think my only reason for imagining that the duke's call would besomething in connection with Lady Adela's approaching marriage lay inthe fact that a good many of the guests have, according to thenewspapers, already arrived in Valehampton and either become domiciledat Essex Castle or at some of the neighbouring estates. At such a periodone would naturally expect the duke to feel an interest in nothing butthe forthcoming event--or, at least, not sufficient interest in anythingelse to cause him to leave his guests and make a flying trip up toLondon within forty-eight hours of the ceremony. It must be something ofvery serious importance, I take it, Mr. Narkom, to impel him to makethis sudden visit to town and this urgent appeal to the Yard at such atime as this."
"It is. Wait until you hear the full details, old chap. I've had only amere outline of them, but even that was sufficient to make me sit up.It's the devil's own business. And if Old Nick himself isn't at thebottom of it I'm blest if I can imagine who in the world can be. You'vetackled about all sorts in your day, but I don't think you ever wentspook hunting before."
"Went _what_!"
"Spook hunting, ghost tracking, spirit laying--that sort of thing. Thatblessed village of Valehampton is haunted. The country folk are leavingit by the dozen. Half the duke's tenants have flown the place already,and the other half are getting ready to follow suit. That's what he'scome up here for, that's what he wants you to do: Lay the ghost that'smaking life in the place a nightmare and driving people almost insanewith fright."
"Tommyrot!"
"No, it isn't, Cleek--it's facts. The place seems under a curse onaccount of some infernal dead man who was buried there. The duke willgive you the particulars--I can't--and the beggar's making life a burdento the village folk. Somebody or other said that a curse would followwherever that dead Johnnie's body rested, and it has, too. One of theduke's tenants let it be buried from his house, and since that timenobody can live in the blessed place. And as for the church bells--lord!They make a perfect pandemonium of the neighbourhood at night--ring,bang, slam, without rhyme or reason, until people are silly with terrorover the peal of them."
"Who rings them?"
"Nobody--that's the devil of it. The duke thought it was the work ofsomebody who was doing the thing for a lark, and he and the vicar hadall the ropes removed. It didn't make any difference. The bells rangjust the same the next night, and they've rung pretty nearly every nightsince. But that's not the worst of it. People have begun to be spiritedaway--out of their own houses, in the dead of night, without a blessedsign of where or how they went, and not a trace of them since. Lastnight, as if to cap the climax---- Hello! here we are at the Carlton atlast. Jump out, old chap. We'll soon be with the duke now, and he willtell you."
The limousine had come to a halt. Mr. Narkom, opening the door, got out,dapper and sleek as always--doing the gentlemanly part of the Yard'sbusiness in a gentlemanly way--and Cleek, silk-hatted andmorning-coated, the very antithesis of the professional detective,followed him, crossing the pavement and entering the hotel with an easygrace and repose of manner.
It was at once the envy and despair of his associates, that "way ofcarrying himself," as they expressed it, "like as if the earth wasn'tnone too good for him to walk upon, and he was sort of expecting a redcarpet." And it was a curious fact that men of all classes on cominginto contact with him were conscious of an indefinable something aboutthe man which commanded rather than asked for respect.
And yet the man seemed, as a general thing, inclined to efface himselfwhen in public. He did so now. Keeping in the background, he neitherspoke nor asserted himself in any way; simply stood there and waitedpassively while Mr. Narkom sent up a card to the duke, and was whollyunperturbed when, a few minutes later, the messenger returned and statedthat "His Grace would be pleased to see the gentlemen at once if theywould kindly go up."
They went up forthwith, and were shown without delay into the presenceof the Duke of Essex.
"Your fame is world-wide, Mr. Cleek, and I hold myself most fortunate inbeing able to have a man so ably equipped for taking up this amazingcase," began the duke as Narkom introduced his famous ally. "I wish toenlist your services in ferreting out a very remarkable affair--in fact,one of the most unbelievable mysteries which even the fictionists couldpossibly evolve."
"Mr. Narkom has been giving me a hint of the case," said Cleek, as heseated himself upon the chair which the duke indicated. "It is about thereputed 'haunting' of the village where your country seat is located, Ibelieve? I am told that you desire me to discover the mysterious agencywhich causes the church bells to ring without ropes or hands and issupposed to be accountable for the mysterious disappearance of certainpersons."
"That's it precisely. I do not wonder at your smiling, Mr. Cleek. Atfirst the affair appears so utterly absurd that it is difficult toimagine anybody with an ounce of brains regarding it seriously. Let metell you the facts, however, and you will, I am sure, change your viewsupon that point as completely as I have been compelled to change mine. Imay say, however, that it is an exaggeration to state that 'persons'have disappeared. Two have come to an untimely end because of themysterious visitation, but only one can be said to have disappeared. Thebody of the second victim has been discovered. It was found this morningat daybreak lying at the foot of the church belfry. The poor fellow'sskull had been battered in by some implement of which no trace is to befound. The other victim--the one who disappeared--was a gi
rl ofthirteen. She vanished from her father's cottage in the dead of nightone week ago. Every door and window was found locked on the inside inthe morning, and whatever the diabolical power may have been thatspirited her away, it did so effectually; for not the faintest shadow ofa clue to her whereabouts has been discovered from that hour to this."
Cleek's brows gathered, and his direct eyes lost something of theirplacid expression.
"This would seem to be something more serious than I had at firstimagined," he said. "Would you mind giving me the full details asexplicitly as possible, and from the very beginning, please?"
The duke did so with as little divergence from the direct line ofevidence as was consistent with the narration of a story so amazing.