CHAPTER XX
"PINS AND NEEDLES"
Twenty minutes later he presented himself once more at the back door,and asked in scathing accents for Mr. Jarvis, dangling the keys of thewine-cellar in one careless hand.
That gentleman appeared to him, changed for his evening duties in thedining-room, and with one eye upon the clock, clapped him upon theshoulder and guffawed into his face.
"Blinkin' idiot!" thought Dollops, as he grinned back. "Might erfrightened me into foamin' at the mouth like a bloomin' 'oss, he might."Then, aloud: "Nice practical joke ter play upon a feller, eh, Mr.Jarvis? Nah! if I'd been sufferin' wiv me nerves and 'avin' calisthenicswot's so fashionable just at presint, you could of sent me to mycoffin--strite."
"But you're alive an' kickin' now, me 'earty!" returned Jarvis, withanother guffaw, "an' lookin' in the pink, I must s'y. What about thembottles of port?--or didn't yer stop ter look into the wine-cellar?Didn't bring 'em up, I notice."
"No." Dollops's smile was catching. "But I nearly brought up sumthinkelse, I kin tell yer--an' that's me 'eart, for it were a-sittin' in memouf like as though it would choke me! I've 'arf a mind ter cut you outof me will, Mr. Jarvis. But, seriously speakin', where's my gentleman?I've a note fer 'im if 'e's engaged, and if not, I'd like ter see 'im.Say it's important."
"News from the Front, eh? Fahnd out 'oo committed that there crime lastnight, I don't think," said Jarvis, with his heavy humour. "Well, I'llsend along Minnie after him. Dinner's bein' prepared, and no doubt yourboss'll be dressin'. If 'e ain't nosin' round after clues, with thatthere fat Superintendent. Wot's 'e, anyway?--your Mr. Deland? Amachoordetective?"
Dollops nodded.
"That's the line. Tell 'im I've got summink ter say about his bluetrousers wot I've been a-pressing at the Three Fishers. An' it's mostimportant."
"Oh!--very. Blue trousers is an important matter when a man's beenmurdered in 'is own 'ome, I take it. Orl right, orl right; don't loseyer temper, sporty. I'll see to it at once. Like ter go up to 'is room,would yer?"
"No. Rather wait 'ere for 'is message."
"Very well. Sit down and make yerself comfortable, and no doubt there'llbe a bite er dinner fer yer, if you're patient. Won't say 'no' to anibble er chicken, I lay, follered with a dash er Peach Melba?... Ithought not."
So saying, the garrulous Jarvis proceeded kitchenward to summon Minnieand entrust her with the message for Mr. Deland, and then returned tothe servants' hall and passed the rest of the time with Dollops, talkingof London--a subject which appeared to be dear to both their hearts, andwhich certainly gave them something in common with each other.
Minnie returned in ten minutes bearing a little note upon her silversalver, which she presented to the smiling Dollops with a mock bow and acourtesy. She was a pert little country thing, with a trick of the eyethat took a man's heart.
"'Ere's a note fer yer lordship," she said smartly. "Your gentleman says'e's sorry 'e can't get down, and it don't matter about the bluetrousies a particle. And 'e don't need you this evenin', so that you kinexplore the countryside if yer want to. Wot say to a little walk, Mr.Ginger-'Air? It's my evenin' out, and I don't mind if I do."
Dollops winked and nudged her with his elbow.
"You're a pretty piece, _you_ are, and if we was in Lunnon I'd be takin'you to the pickshurs," he returned with a grin. "But I've an appointmentrahnd about ten o'clock up in the village. I'm yer man till then,Saucer-Eyes. No, Mr. Jarvis, a bit of dinner, as you s'y, wouldn't goquite amiss. I'm that 'ungry me insides rattle."
And while Jarvis was carving the chicken for the servants' hall, andgiving him a generous portion, and Minnie was off to her room to prinkup and change for the evening, Dollops opened his master's letter andscanned the few lines written upon it.
"Be under the big gate by twelve o'clock to-night," it said. "Hear allnews then. Burn this."
So when Jarvis returned Dollops was lighting a cigarette from a twist ofnote-paper, which, upon sight of the big plate of steaming-hot chickenthat awaited him, he promptly threw into the fire, watchingabsent-mindedly until it had become a charred fragment, and then set toupon the feast with a vengeance.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Cleek, dinner at last over--a meal passed in sober silence,with the shadow of that dead Thing still hanging over the diners andwiping the joy of life from their faces--went with Mr. Narkom out uponthe terrace, cigars alight, and discussed with him the probabilities andpossibilities of the whole affair, comparing notes with theSuperintendent and jotting down in his business-like way any ideas thatoccurred to him as they talked together, until his cuff was covered overwith pencil scrawls and the furrow between his eyes had deepenedconsiderably.
Slowly the evening wore itself away, the presence of the silent-watchingconstabulary in the house making all friendliness between hosts andunwanted guests a matter of impossibility. Women and men drew togetherin little knots, discussing the affair in low-pitched voices, and evenMaud Duggan's eyes held something of accusation now when they dwelt uponCleek's face, so that at length he took Mr. Narkom by the arm and drewhim toward the door.
"Come, old friend," he said quietly. "We are intruders here, you and I.These other poor folk cannot be at rest in our presence. Come along tothe library once more, and have a look about it. The place draws me, Imust say. For I still believe that the secret of the whole terriblething lies there. To-morrow afternoon is to be Coroner's Inquest--ahateful proceeding, to say the least of it--and I've given myself justthat time to solve the mystery."
"Cinnamon! And you don't imagine you're going to, do you, Cleek?"returned Mr. Narkom excitedly, as they passed down the passage togetherand entered the room. "That's rather a tall order, I must say. Seems asif we'd scoured this room from end to end."
"And yet, from what I heard from Master Cyril a short while ago, that isexactly what we have _not_ done," rejoined Cleek, dropping to his kneesand examining the wall plug which had interested him before. Meanwhile,Mr. Narkom strolled to the other side of the room, leaned against thespinning wheel in an attitude of ease, and then ... as Cleek's fingersbegan to trace an invisible path along the edge of the carpet, theSuperintendent gave out a sudden little cry and jumped as though he hadbeen shot.
"Eh?--what's the matter, old friend?" Cleek was on his feet in aninstant, for the Superintendent had gone a little pale, and was runninghis hands up and down his back in a curious fashion.
"Pins and needles! Funniest sensation I've ever come across. Brrh! Justlike a slight electric shock."
Electric shock! Cleek was beside him in an instant, his face suddenlyalight, and his hands searching over the instrument, here, there, andeverywhere. Electric shock, eh? That was peculiar, to say the least ofit.
Then he stopped suddenly and sucked in his breath, and, whipping roundupon his heel, clapped the Superintendent upon the shoulder.
"And it takes _you_, after all, to lead us to the actual secret!" hesaid affectionately, smiling into Mr. Narkom's astonished face. "Forhere's the thing in a nutshell. What a blind fool I've been all thetime, old friend. Here's the murderer, the perpetrator of last night'scrime--the mechanical means of doing away with human life in such aperplexing manner. Here--right here. See?"
"What the--what are you driving at, my dear chap?" ejaculated theSuperintendent excitedly, stooping at the pressure of Cleek's arm uponhis shoulder. "This--spinning-wheel thing? You don't mean to tell methat _It_ murdered Sir Andrew, do you? Because I'm not fool enough tobelieve _that_ story--and not dunderhead enough to be taken in by apractical joke. What _do_ you mean, old chap? I'm on pins and needles toknow."
"And it's just those particular pins and needles of yours which havefound the thing out," returned Cleek in the sharp staccato ofexcitement. "Look here! It's as easy as A B C--once you've got the hangof it. And that sensation of yours _was_ an electric shock all right.And it was just this spinning wheel which gave it to you. The thing'swired--see? Devilishly well done, too, and disguised very succe
ssfully.But here it is. Under the wheel. And see that funny box-like thingattached, which looks as though it belonged to a part of themachinery?--and doesn't. That's a battery, by all that's good! Now, whatthe dickens does that battery do, I'd like to know?... 'A whirringsound'--'hum-hum-hum!' That's how they described it to me this morning,do you remember? Gad! And this is the thing that produced thatsupernatural sound, then! Just a touch of a switch somewhere, and thething sets in motion. Now let's follow this wiring along to itsdestination, and that will tell us a good deal."
He traced the line of palish flexible wire--so nearly the colour of theold wood as to be hardly discernible unless one really knew of itspresence, round the wheel, and down on to the floor--the thing stood amere matter of inches from the window-sill--and then disappeared upthrough a narrow piece of oak-coloured woodwork which was entirelyunnoticed from the panelling it covered, until it reached thewindow-ledge and ended at the extreme right-hand corner of the middlewindow, and vanished in a cluster of ivy which clung about the outsideof it, sending its tendrils right up to the edge of the sill itself.
Mr. Narkom followed the thing with fascination, poking a finger here andthere to help discern its threadlike and imperceptible progress, and wasalmost as quick as Cleek in leaping out through the low sill to theflower-bed below upon which those tell-tale footprints had made such astrong impression. Then, of a sudden, they both stopped and staredblankly at each other. For the end of the thing lay beneath the ivycovering, in a little home-made switch which, touched by the finger,obviously set the whole contraption in motion.
Cleek hopped back into the room to see that no one was about, but theconstable in charge stood outside the door, not in it, and they hadclosed that door carefully behind them upon entrance. Then he leaned outover the top of the window-sill and spoke softly to Mr. Narkom.
"Put your finger upon the switch when I say 'Go,'" he said in a tensewhisper, "and I'll stay inside here and watch how the thing works. Nowthen.... _Go!_"
Mr. Narkom applied his finger forthwith, while to Cleek within came asoft whirring, drumming sound, and then--an almost imperceptible "click"and--the most amazing of all these amazing matters came instantly topass! For as he leapt out of the path of it, led by some mysterious,intuitive impulse, a bullet sped rapidly past his ear, and lodged itselfin the woodwork, just a fraction of an inch below the spot where thatother bullet had lodged, and--the secret was out at last!