CHAPTER VIII
WHEN THE BLOW FELL
It was not an easy road Cleek traversed, for in the darkness and in theutter absence of lamps of any sort the lane became a thing of stones andpitfalls for the unwary traveller, and there were many times when he wasdown upon his hands and knees in the soft, sweet-smelling,heather-thatched hillside, having lost footing with the road altogether,and only his pocket-lamp kept him from absolute downfall and disaster.But the great gates were reached at last, and he saw that they had beenset ajar, so that he could slip in undisturbed, if he wished--a littleforethought on Maud Duggan's part for which he silently thanked her.
He slid in between them, glanced a moment up at Rhea's great bronzefigure etched out against the moonlit sky and taking on a supernaturallifelikeness which was eery beyond words, and then darted up thedriveway, groping his way in the shadows toward the great house which ofa sudden seemed to be blazing with light from every window, as thoughthe soul of it had suddenly been awakened out of its sleep and it hadcome to life in one huge simultaneous effort.
Under the tread of his light feet the gravel barely moved, and havinggot his bearings that same afternoon, he pelted up in the darknesstoward the front door, stopped suddenly, listened, darted leftwardtoward the lawns, and came--_phut!_--up against somebody who was runningin the opposite direction, swift-breathing like a man pursued, and who,having met the impact of Cleek's tautened body, stationed there for justsuch a purpose, bounded back again and gave out an involuntary gasp ofastonishment and ill-concealed irritation.
"Whew! I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said this stranger, as Cleekflashed on his lamp and sent its rays travelling up the man's slimfigure from top to toe. "Who the--why the--what the----?"
"Awfully sorry, I'm sure," responded Cleek, with a light laugh, in hisbest blithering-idiot manner, "but I happened to be strollin' up in thisdirection to pay a call upon Miss Maud Duggan, and fell into you. Sobeastly dark in these parts, doncherknow. After London, a chap is likelyto lose his bearin's. Exceedin'ly sorry and all that."
The man stopped suddenly and, bending forward, peered up under Cleek'stweed cap into the face beneath it. Cleek saw him as a slim, handsomefellow of the leisure classes, lithe of limb and athletic of body, andin that small ray of torch-light, augmented by the moon's pale gleams,liked the look of him, though he was startled by the meeting--that wasobvious--and a little shaken as well.
"Eh? What's that? Miss Duggan, did you say? Then what's your name, may Iask? You're a stranger to these parts, I suppose?"
"Yes. Up for the salmon-fishin', doncherknow. Strollin' back to theCastle, are you? We'll go together. My name's Deland--Arthur Deland. AmI permitted to know yours?"
"Certainly. But I'm not--going to the Castle to-night. I've--I'vejust--come from there, you see, and was on my way home again when wecannoned into each other. My name's Macdonald, Angus Fletcher Macdonald.I'm a--particular friend of Miss Duggan's.... But time's getting along,and I've a good distance to go. So I'll be off, if you don't mind.Good-night."
"Good-night."
Cleek nodded to him in the half dark, then as the man swung away fromhim down the wide drive, turned in his tracks and watched him till themoon, hiding under a cloud, hid him, too.
"Macdonald, eh? The unfortunate lover whom the father will notcountenance. H'm. Wonder what he was doing here at this time of night?Rather nervous, I should say, at our encounter. And why the dickens--ifanything's happened--didn't he know something about it? It's a goodtwenty minutes since she signalled to me, and if he's just come fromthe house----"
Of a sudden he stopped short and sucked in his breath as a new thoughtpenetrated itself into that perfectly pigeon-holed and regulatedmentality of his. "Gad! surely _he_ hasn't---- Well! I ought to havedetained him and brought him back on some pretext--if anything really_has_ happened to cause her to want me at this hour of the night....Well, I'll nip along and find out. And if anything's really wrong, Ishan't forget _that_ gentleman in a hurry."
He reached the house without further adventure, and rang the door-bellwith a steady hand. But he was hardly prepared for its response. For atthe sound of it Maud Duggan came running toward him, her face white as adead face, her eyes wild, her hair untidy, and clutching him by the armfairly hauled him into the hallway, just as the butler--stung out of hiscalm demeanour by the happenings of that night--appeared from the end ofthe hall and came toward them.
"Oh, I'm so glad you came, so glad, Mr. Deland!" she shrilled out in ahigh-pitched, terrified voice. "It was lucky you turned up as--as youpromised. But I'm afraid our game of c-cards cannot take place.Because--oh, how can I say it? How? A terrible thing has happened, Mr.Deland, and that which I feared has come to pass, only in a much moreawful manner! My--my f-father has been murdered, in full sight of usall, right there in the library, just as he was about to draw up a newwill to disinherit Ross. Foully ... murdered ... poor darling!"
Then the sobs caught in her throat, and she turned away a moment and hidher face in her handkerchief, while Cleek, mastering his curiosity andamazement at this curious and amazing statement, waited a moment for herto regain her composure. Then:
"My dear young lady!" he cried in a low-pitched, even voice. "Murdered!And in the presence of you all! Then of course you know who his murdereris."
"I don't, I don't! We none of us know! None of us!" she ejaculated,shutting her hands together and lifting a tear-stained, haggard face tohis. "Oh, Mr. Deland, that is the terrible, the mysterious part of itall. It happened in a flash. Suddenly the lights went out; we heard thewheel humming, just as the Peasant Girl said it would hum, and then ...then ... the lights came up again, and there he lay, shot through thetemple and stabbed to the heart, quite, quite dead!"
"Whew! Rather a marvellous happening, I must say," gave out Cleek,laying a hand upon her shaking shoulder and edging her tenderly towardthe open door of that little ante-room into which he had been shownonly that morning, when the old laird himself had entered upon theirconversation, with his lady in attendance. And now he was dead!murdered! It seemed indeed hardly credible. "Sit down awhile, and thentell me at your leisure all the happenings which took place. Got anybrandy in the house? Or have you had some? No? Well, I've always a flaskhandy. Now, take a pull at this, and then lean back in that chair andclose your eyes. You'll be a different person, I assure you. Here's myflask. Make it a good peg, too."
Dumbly she did as she was bidden, acting as a sick child does, withoutquestion, and thankful only for a directing hand. Meanwhile, Cleek stoodover her, watching how the colour ebbed slowly back into her pallidcheeks and the red crept again into her blue lips, and congratulatinghimself that he had been just in time, and no more, before she wouldhave fainted.
She shut her eyes as he had told her, and when a few minutes hadelapsed, Cleek leaned forward and touched her gently upon the wrist.
"Now let's hear all about it--if you're able. Where is your stepmother?"
"Upstairs in her room--prostrate." She spat the words out with positivevenom. "Ross is with his father, bowed down with grief, poor old boy;while his fiancee, Cynthia Debenham, who came back with him, and hercousin, Catherine Dowd, are in the house somewhere, seeing to thenecessary household arrangements."
"And you've telephoned the police?"
"Yes. And then signalled to you. They'll be along presently, I suppose?"
"Possibly--yes. I'd have brought my own man if I had only known. Mr.Narkom will be here in the morning to take charge of affairs. I sent forhim to-day. And the rest of the household?"
"Cyril is with his mother. Wakened up out of his sleep, poor boy, by allthe commotion, and of course hardly aware yet of what a terrible tragedyhas happened here in his own home. The servants are huddled togetherlike frightened rabbits, and the women refuse to put in any appearanceat all. Miss McCall has been trying to get them in hand--she's so quietand yet so resourceful, you know, Mr. Deland--and she has helped us sucha lot in that way."
"And that accounts for every one, th
en? No one left the house sincethe--the thing took place?"
"Not a soul. There was no reason to, you see. And no one has been here,either. Callers to Aygon Castle are few and far between, Mr. Deland, asyou can imagine. We're so very far from civilization."
"I see. And no one's been to the place at all, you say? Beyond theimmediate family, and this Miss--Miss Dowd and your brother's fiancee?They returned with him, I suppose, after having persuaded him not totake such a foolhardy view of the case which I heard this morning? Well,I'm glad he came back, if only--for this. Poor chap! it will ease hisconscience, at any rate. And those are the only people who have enteredthis place to-night, Miss Duggan? You are positive of that?"
She lifted wide eyes to his face. There was conviction in every line ofher own.
"Absolutely positive, Mr. Deland."
"Well, that's all right, then." Cleek nodded slowly at her but his lipswere grim. Either _she_ or Macdonald had lied. For he had heard him say,in that broken, staccato voice of his, "I've just--come from there, yousee, and was on my way home again." And a dollar to a ducat that _she_was not at fault. Well, the man Macdonald would want watching. And if he_had_ "done a bunk," as the boys say, he would know his man instantlyand scout all Britain over for him--though at present his motive forconnection with the crime was certainly unknown.
He sent his keen eyes over her wan face, and came to his ownconclusions. Here was no liar, if he knew the signs. Then he leanedtoward her.
"Now," said he, "just tell me--what happened. All about it. Don't leaveanything out--not the veriest little thing. How did you all happen to bein the library in the first place?"
"As I told you, Father had summoned us all there for the purpose ofdisinheriting Ross by crossing his name from his will, and in thepresence of witnesses substituting another instead."
"And whose name, may I ask?"
She bent her head suddenly, and put one hand against her cheek.
"Mine, Mr. Deland."
"_Yours?_... Oho! And not young Cyril's, then?"
"No. Upon that Father was adamant. He said justice must be done to theelder family--that is Ross and me, as you know--and he would see justicedone. If Ross could not have the rightful inheritance because of hisunfitness (poor Ross!) then it was to come to me, unless I saw fit tomarry Captain Macdonald. In that event it all went to charity.Naturally, I protested with him."
"Why?"
"Because, don't you see? I hoped he would perhaps relent and leaveRoss's name where it was. The ignominy to the poor boy would have beenso terrible--if he had struck his name out. Ross would never have gotover it--never! He is so proud of his house, so wrapped up in it inevery way."
"And did your father manage to destroy the will then beforeit--happened?"
"No. He had it in his hands. I was wrestling with him, trying to get itaway, and Paula had caught me by the shoulders and was endeavouring toget me away, too, when the lights suddenly went out, and--and came upagain. And there he was in his chair--_dead_!"
"And you say that you heard the sound of the spinning wheel 'humming' inthe darkness? You really did hear that, Miss Duggan?"
"Yes--I would swear to it on my oath."
"And how then did your father die? By what means?"
"By a shot through his temple, I suppose (though he was stabbed aswell)--although there was no noise, Mr. Deland, nothing to tell us thatthe awful thing was happening, save the failing of the current at thatmoment."
"H'm. I see. A soundless pistol--in fact, an air-gun. Any one in thehouse got such a thing, do you know?"
She shook her head.
"Not that I know of, unless ... but he gave his away long ago."
"Who, may I ask?"
She sent suddenly startled eyes up into his face, as though she realizedthat she had unguardedly been trapped into a damaging admission.
"Why--why--my brother Ross, Mr. Deland," she said in a hoarse,frightened voice.