The Ashiel mystery: A Detective Story Read online

  CHAPTER XVIII

  Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived at the castle, he wasimmediately shown into the presence of Lord Ashiel, who was pacing thesmoking-room restlessly, a cigarette between his teeth. He looked paleand haggard, the strain of the last few days had evidently been toomuch for him.

  Gimblet greeted him sympathetically.

  "You have not found your uncle's will, I can see," he began, "and you arefretting at the idea of keeping his daughter out of her fortune. But setyour mind at rest; we shall be able to put that right. Is she here, bythe way?" he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety.

  "Here, of course not! What do you mean?" cried Mark, stopping suddenlyin his walk.

  "Well, I was sure she was not," Gimblet replied, "but I promised to ask.Lady Ruth is rather upset because Miss Byrne did not come in to lunch. Itold her she had probably gone for a longer walk than had been herintention," he added soothingly, for Mark was looking at him with adisturbed expression.

  He seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion.

  "Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a freshcigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his handsclasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's nota corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never reallymade it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing.And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one tospeak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or Ishould go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall goSouth. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?"

  "I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," saidGimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed."

  "What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say?Give it to me!"

  "I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but Iknow where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on thetrack known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which setsthe matter beyond a doubt."

  And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with themysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner inwhich the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothingexcept the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as tomake certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that heshould prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of amagistrate.

  "I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said,without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such abelief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of analmost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequentlyarise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to theirbeing found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, andask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is amagistrate."

  Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtainedpossession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "facecuriosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly ofhouse-breaking to be drawn attention to.

  "Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died,"he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could makeneither head nor tail of it."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he addedreflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course Iwill send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours,though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not betteropen the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turnslike a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes offwith whatever may be hidden there."

  "I am absolutely sure we needn't fear anything of the sort, because Ihave the best of reasons for being positive that no one has the slightestinkling of the secret," Gimblet assured him. "There is a whole gang ofscoundrels after the document of which your uncle told me, who are readyto spend any money, or risk any penalty, in order to obtain it. They willnot be deterred even by having to pay for it with their lives. You may bequite sure that if anyone had suspected where it was concealed, it wouldnot have been allowed to remain there, and we should find the _cache_empty. But we may safely argue that they have not found it, since in thatcase they certainly would not hang about the neighbourhood."

  "Do you mean to say," cried Mark, "that you think there are any ofthese Nihilist people lurking about? That letter which came forUncle Douglas--the letter from Paris--I guessed it meant somethingof the sort."

  "There is a foreigner staying at Crianan," said Gimblet, "whom I haveevery reason to suspect. More than that, there has been a Russian in yourvery midst who, I am afraid, you will be shocked to hear, is hand inglove with him."

  "Whom do you mean?" exclaimed Mark, "not--not Julia Romaninov?" It seemedto the detective that he winced as he uttered the name of the girl.Silently Gimblet bowed his head, and for a minute the two men stoodwithout a word. "Then," stammered Mark, "you think that she--thatshe--Oh," he cried, "I can hardly believe that!"

  Gimblet did not reply, but after a few moments walked over to thewriting-table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept his backturned towards the young man, who seemed thankful for an opportunity torecover his composure.

  His face was still working nervously, however, when at length thedetective turned and held out a pen towards him.

  "Will you not write at once to General Tenby?" he suggested.

  Mark sat down before the blotting-pad.

  "He will be at home," he said mechanically. "This weather will havedriven them in early if they have been shooting."

  The note was written and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and thenGimblet bade au revoir to his host at the door of the castle.

  "I will go back to the cottage," he said; "I have an accumulation ofcorrespondence that absolutely must be attended to, and I do not thinkthere is anything to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once wehave the Nihilist papers in our hands I have a little plan by which Ithink our birds may be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage athalf-past six? The General will have to pass it on the way toInverashiel, and we can stop him as he goes by."

  "It will be about seven o'clock, I expect," said Mark, "when he gets downfrom Glenkliquart. I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows how Ishall get through the time till he comes. I loathe writing letters, butthis afternoon I'm dashed if I don't almost envy you and yourcorrespondence."

  "I know it is the waiting that tells on one," Gimblet said, his voicefull of kindly sympathy. "What you want is to get right away from thisplace. Its associations must be horrible to you. No one could really beastonished if you never set foot in it again."

  Mark laughed rather bitterly.

  "That's just what I feel like," he said shortly. "My uncle killed; mycousin arrested; my friend accused. Miss Byrne refusing to let me behavedecently to her about the money. Oh well," he pulled himself up, andspoke in a more guarded tone, "one gets used to everything in time, nodoubt, but just at present, I'm afraid, I am rather depressing company.See you later."

  They went their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain whichwas now falling down the road, through the soaking woodlands to thecottage, where the Crianan policemen still smoked their pipesundisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate, running down in herwaterproof when she saw him approaching.

  "Where is Juliet?" she cried. "Wasn't she at Inverashiel?"

  "Hasn't she come back?" asked Gimblet, answering her question by another.

  "No sign of her. What can have happened? Mr. Gimblet, I am really gettingdreadfully anxious. She must have gone on to the hills and lost her wayin the mist."

  "She is sure to get back in time," Gimblet tried to reassure her, thoughhe himself was beginning to wonder at the girl's absence. "Perhaps," headded, "she is at Mrs. Clutsam's. I daresay that's the truth of it." />
  "She can't be there," Lady Ruth answered. "Mrs. Clutsam told me she wasgoing out all day, to-day, to visit her husband's sister who is stayingsomewhere twenty miles from here on the Oban road, and longing, ofcourse, to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations are soexacting, and if they are relations-in-law they become positive Shylocks.Juliet may have gone to the lodge though, all the same, and stayed tokeep the Romaninov girl company."

  She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation; and Gimblet had teawith her, and then went to write his letters.

  Soon after six one of the policemen went down to the high road to lie inwait for General Tenby, and about twenty minutes past the hour wheelsrattled on the gravel of the short carriage-drive, and the General droveup to the door. He was a tall, soldierly-looking man of between fifty andsixty, with a red face and a keen blue eye, and a precise, jerky manner.

  "Ah, Lady Ruth! Glad to see you bearing up so well under these tragiccircumstances," he said, shaking hands with that lady, who came to thedoor to welcome him. "Poor Ashiel ought to have had shutters to hiswindows. Dreadful mistake, no shutters: lets in draughts and colds in thehead, if nothing worse. These old houses are all the same. No safety inthem from anything. Young McConachan wrote me an urgent note to comeover. Don't quite see what for, but here I am. Eh? What do you say? Oh,detective from London, is it? How d'ye do? Perhaps you can tell me whatthe programme is?"

  "Young Lord Ashiel promised to meet us here at half-past six," Gimblettold him. "We expect to put our hands on some important documents, and Iwas anxious you should be present."

  "Quite unnecessary. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, here I am. May as wellcome along."

  The General went on talking to Lady Ruth, but after a few minutes theinspector from Crianan sent in to ask if he could speak to him, and theyretired together to Lady Ruth's little private sitting-room, where theyremained closeted for some time. While the old soldier was listening towhat the policeman had to tell him, Gimblet began to show signs ofrestlessness. He went to the door and looked about him. The weather wasclearing, the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which hadarisen in the North; a tinge of blue showed here and there in theinterstices between them, while a veil of mist that trailed after themshone faintly orange in the rays of the hidden sun.

  Gimblet went back and sat down in the drawing-room with the _Scotsman_ inhis hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however, and beganfidgeting about the room. Then he went and conferred with the second ofthe two policemen, and as he was talking to him the General and theinspector reappeared.

  "I think," said Gimblet, coming towards them, "that we will not wait anylonger for Lord Ashiel."

  General Tenby, staring at him with rather a strange expression,nevertheless silently assented, and the four men started on their walk tothe green way.

  As they went up the glen a ray of sunshine emerged from between theflying clouds, and fell upon the statue at the end of the enclosed glade.Away to the right their eyes could follow the track of a distant shower;and as they went a rainbow curved across the sky, stretching from hill tohill like some great monumental arch set up for the celestial armies tomarch under on their return from the conquest of the earth.

  "That statue," Gimblet remarked to the General, who walked beside him,"is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The figure ofPandora is modelled like a sack of potatoes; the composition is weak andunsatisfactory; and the pediment on which the whole group is poised largeenough to support three others of the same size."

  The General grunted.

  "I always understood that the late Lord Ashiel knew what he wasabout," he said stiffly. "He told me himself that it cost him a greatdeal of money."

  Gimblet sighed. He could not help feeling that it was a pity Lord Ashielhad not earlier fallen into the habit of consulting him.

  Still, he was bound to admit that though the stone group, regarded asa work of art, was altogether deplorable, the general effect of theerection, in its rectangular setting of forest, was excellent. Thewhole scene was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might havesat themselves down in that moist and shining spot; and, forgetful ofthe possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring beyondthe ordinary.

  Gimblet was at heart something of a poet, but he felt no inclination tocommunicate the feelings which the place and hour aroused in him to anyof his companions; and it was in a silence which had in it somethingdimly foreboding that the party drew near to the statue.

  In silence, Gimblet approached the great block of stone and laid his handupon the projecting horn of the bull. Equally silently the two policemenhad taken up positions at the end of the pedestal; the General stoodbehind them, alert and interested.

  After a swift glance, which took in all these details, Gimblet turned thehorn round in its socket.

  The hidden door swung open, and there was a sound of mutteredexclamations from the police and a loud oath from the General. Gimbletsprang round the corner of the pedestal, and there, as he expected,cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity, and looking, in his furyof fear and mortification, for all the world like some trapped vermin,crouched Lord Ashiel, glaring at his liberators with a rage that washardly sane.

  Beyond him, on the floor at the back, they could see the tin dispatchbox standing open and empty.

  The two policemen, acting on instructions previously given them, made onesimultaneous grab at the young man and dragged him into the open withseveral seconds to spare before the door slammed to again, in obedienceto the invisible mechanism that controlled it. They set him on his legson the wet turf, and stood, one on each side of him, a retaining handstill resting on either arm.

  For a moment Mark gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes fullof hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and when he spokeit was with a forced lightness of manner.

  "I have to thank you for letting me out," he said. "The air in there wasgetting terrible." He paused, and filled his lungs ostentatiously, butno one answered him. Losing something of his assumed calmness, he wenton, uneasily: "I just thought I'd come along and see if there was anytruth in Mr. Gimblet's story; and I was quite right to doubt it, sincethere isn't. He's not quite as clever as he thinks, for he was aspositive as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here, but as amatter of fact it's not, as I was taking the trouble to make sure whenthat cursed statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any sort exceptan empty tin box."

  "There's nothing in it now," said Gimblet, speaking for the first time,"because I had no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you found it, soI removed it to a safe place last night. As for the other papers, I havesent them to London, where they will be still safer. I knew you wouldgive yourself away by coming here. That's why I told you the secret ofthe bull's horn."

  Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing step forward as ifhe would throw himself upon the detective. But the strong right hands ofInspector Cameron and Police Constable Fraser tightened on his arms andrestrained his further action. He seemed for the first time to beconscious of their presence.

  "Leave go of my arm," he shouted. "What the devil do you mean by puttingyour dirty hands on me?"

  "My lord," said the inspector, "you had better come quietly. I am here toarrest you for the murder of your uncle, Lord Ashiel, and I warn you thatanything you say may be used against you."

  "Are you going to arrest the whole family?" scoffed Mark. "Where's yourwarrant, man?"

  "I have it here, my lord," replied the inspector, fumbling in his pocketfor the paper the astonished General had signed when the inspector hadimparted to him, in Lady Ruth's little sitting-room, the information hehad received from Mr. Gimblet.

  As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the young man, with a sudden jerk whichfound them unprepared, threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside.

  As he did so, he plunged his hand into his pocket and drew forth alittle phial.

  "You shall never take me alive," he cried, and lifted it
to his lips.

  "Stop him!" shouted Gimblet.

  Throwing his whole weight upon the uplifted arm, he forced the phial awayfrom Mark's already open mouth; the other men rushed to his assistance,and between them the frustrated would-be suicide was overpowered, andheld firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs over hiswrists. When it was done he raised his pinioned hands, as well as hecould, and shook them furiously at Gimblet.

  "It's you I have to thank for this," he shouted. "Curse you, youeavesdropping spy. But there are surprises in store for you, my friend.You've got me, it seems, and you say you've got the will. You'll find itmore difficult to lay your hands on the heiress!"

  The words and still more the triumphant tone in which they were utteredcast a chill upon them all.

  "What do you mean?" cried Gimblet.

  But not another syllable could be got out of the prisoner; and theinspector, besides, protested against questions being addressed to him.

  With all the elation over his capture taken out of him, and with a mindfull of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of the returningparty, and burst in upon Lady Ruth with eager inquiries.

  But Juliet had not returned.

  How was anyone to know that she had that morning made her way into thesecret passage of the old tower, and watched through the slip of glass inthe case of the clock what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library?

  But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search for her, we willreturn to Juliet in her hiding-place and see what was the end of heradventure.