We spoke but little as we hurried along, creeping always beneath walls and behind trees, and often compelled to make long détours in order to obtain cover and avoid recognition by any of those working in the fields.
Compelled to scale the high wall of the park at last, I assisted her over without much difficulty, for although she preserved all her natural beauty, she was athletic, fond of all games and a splendid rider to hounds.
If I can only conceal the fact that Ive been absent all night, it will be of such very material assistance, she said after we had crossed the high road and gained the shelter of a long narrow spinney. I shall never be able to sufficiently repay you for this, she added.
Remember the confession of my heart to you last night, Lolita, was my answer. We will discuss it all later on when you are safe. And we pushed forward, our eyes and ears on the alert as we approached the village.
At last, by good fortune, I managed to get her unobserved inside my house. Creeping noiselessly up the stairs I took her to one of my dusty, disused attics in preference to my sitting-room, and there she locked herself in. Not, however, before I had pressed her hand in silence as assurance that she might place her trust in me.
A few moments later I found my old housekeeper in the kitchen, and having given her directions to go on an errand for me to a farm about a mile and a half distant, I started off up to the Hall upon as strange an errand as man has ever gone, namely to steal a dress belonging to his love.
I had, of course, disregarded my appointment with Pink, and not wishing to meet the searchers or the doctor himself, I reached the Hall by the bypath that led from Lowick, passing along the edge of the Monks Wood wherein I had met Lolita.
On entering the mansion I found that the startling news of the tragedy had just reached there, for the servants were all greatly alarmed. They crowded about me to learn the latest details, but I passed quickly on to my room and for a few minutes pretended to be engrossed in correspondence, although my real reason was to await an opportunity to reach her ladyships room after the servants bell had sounded and the faithful maid Weston had gone down to breakfast.
At last the bell clanged, and I stole along the corridor in order to watch the neat maids disappearance with the others. She seemed longer than usual, but presently she came, and after she had passed along to the servants hall I quickly ascended the main staircase, and sped along the two long corridors to my loves room a large, well-furnished apartment with long mirrors and a dressing-table heaped with silver-mounted toilet requisites.
Without a moments hesitation I opened the huge wardrobe, and after a brief search discovered a dark tweed tailor-made coat and skirt which I recognised as one she often wore for walking, and these I hurriedly rolled up and together with a pair of buttoned boots carried them off. I noticed that the bed, with its pale blue silken hangings, was fortunately tumbled as though it had been slept in, therefore Weston evidently did not suspect that her young mistress had been absent all night.
Not without risk of detection, I managed to convey the dress and boots down to my own room, where I packed them in a neat parcel and carried them with all speed back to Sibberton.
Mrs Dawson, who was a somewhat decrepit person, had not returned, therefore I carried the parcel up to the attic, and ten minutes later her ladyship came down looking as fresh and neat in her tweed gown as though she had only that moment emerged from her room.
Leaving her cloak and muddy dinner-dress in my charge, she escaped by the back and away down the garden, expressing her intention of returning to the Hall as though she had only been out an hour for a morning walk, as was so frequently her habit. She had thanked me fervently for my assistance, and in doing so uttered a sentence that struck me as remarkably strange, knowing what I did.
You have saved me, Willoughby. You can save my life, if you will.
I will, was my earnest reply. You know my secret, I added, raising her fingers to my hot passionate lips before we parted.
She made no mention of the tragedy, and what, indeed, could I remark?
My journey to London I was compelled to postpone in view of what had occurred. She had not referred to it, and to tell the truth I felt that my presence beside her just then was of greater need. Thus, after awaiting my housekeepers return in order to preserve appearances, I ate my breakfast with the air of a man entirely undisturbed.
Just before nine the doctor came in, ruddy and well-shaven, and throwing himself into an armchair exclaimed
You didnt keep your promise! I called and found nobody at home. You were out.
Id gone down the village, I explained.
Well, Ive been up into the park with the police. Theyve sent that blundering fool Redway worse than useless! Weve been over the ground, but theres so many footprints that its impossible to distinguish any save one.
And whats that?
Well, strangely enough, my dear fellow, its a womans.
A womans! I gasped, for I saw that all my work had been in vain and in my hurry I must have unfortunately overlooked one.
Yes, its the print of a womans slipper with a French heel not the kind of shoe usually worn in Sibberton, remarked the doctor. Funny, isnt it?
Very, I agreed with a sickly feeling. What do the police think?
Redway means to take a plaster cast of it says its an important clue. Got a cigarette?
I pushed the box before him, with sinking heart, and at the same time invited him to the table to have breakfast, for I had not yet finished.
Breakfast! he cried. Why, I had mine at six, and am almost ready for lunch. Im an early bird, you know.
It was true. He had cultivated the habit of early rising by going cub-hunting with the Stanchester hounds, and it was his boast that he never breakfasted later than six either summer or winter.
Did they find anything else? I inquired, fearing at the same time to betray any undue curiosity.
Found a lot of marks of mens boots, but they might have been ours, he answered in his bluff way as he lit his cigarette. My theory is that the mark of the womans shoe is a very strong clue. Some woman knows all about it thats very certain, and shes a person who wears thin French shoes, size three.
Does Redway say that?
No, I say it. Redways a fool, you know. Look how he blundered in that robbery in Northampton a year ago. I only wish we could get a man from Scotland Yard. Hed nab the murderer before the day is out.
At heart I did not endorse this wish. On the contrary the discovery of this footmark that had escaped me was certainly a very serious contretemps. My endeavours must, I saw, now all be directed towards arranging matters so that, if necessary, Lolita could prove a complete alibi.
Do you know, went on the doctor, theres one feature in the affair thats strangest of all, and that is that there seems to have been an attempt to efface certain marks, as though the assassin boldly returned to the spot after the removal of the body and scraped the ground in order to wipe out his footprints. Redway wont admit that, but Im certain of it absolutely certain. I suppose the ass wont accept the theory because it isnt his own.
I tried to speak, but what could I say? The words I uttered resolved themselves into a mere expression of blank surprise, and perhaps it was as well, for the man before me was as keen and shrewd as any member of the Criminal Investigation Department. He was essentially a man of action, who whether busy or idle could not remain in one place five minutes together. He rushed all over the country-side from early morning, or dashed up to London by the express, spent the afternoon in Bond Street or the Burlington, and was back at home, a hundred miles distant, in time for dinner. He was perfectly tireless, possessing a demeanour which no amount of offence could ruffle, and an even temper and chaffing good-humour that was a most remarkable characteristic. The very name of Pink in Northamptonshire was synonymous of patient surgical skill combined with a spontaneous gaiety and bluff good-humour.
I tried to speak, but what could I say? The words I uttered resolved themselves into a mere expression of blank surprise, and perhaps it was as well, for the man before me was as keen and shrewd as any member of the Criminal Investigation Department. He was essentially a man of action, who whether busy or idle could not remain in one place five minutes together. He rushed all over the country-side from early morning, or dashed up to London by the express, spent the afternoon in Bond Street or the Burlington, and was back at home, a hundred miles distant, in time for dinner. He was perfectly tireless, possessing a demeanour which no amount of offence could ruffle, and an even temper and chaffing good-humour that was a most remarkable characteristic. The very name of Pink in Northamptonshire was synonymous of patient surgical skill combined with a spontaneous gaiety and bluff good-humour.
Ive given over that bit of white fur to Red way, he went on. And I expect we shall find that the owner of it is also owner of the small shoes. I know most of the girls of Sibberton in fact, Ive attended all of them, I expect but I cant suggest one who would, or even could, wear such a shoe as that upon the woman who was present at the tragedy, if not the actual assassin.
Redway will make inquiries, I suppose? I remarked in a faint hollow voice.
At my suggestion he has wired for assistance, and I only hope theyll get a man down from London. If they dont by Gad! Ill pay for one myself. We must find this woman, Woodhouse, he added, rising and tossing his cigarette-end into the grate. Well find her at all costs!
Chapter Seven
Is Full of Mystery
The doctors keen desire to solve the mystery caused me most serious apprehension. His bluff good-humour, at other times amusing, now irritated me, and I was glad when he rose restlessly and went out, saying that he had wired to Doctor Newman at Northampton, and that they intended to make the post-mortem at two oclock.
Presently, after a rest, which I so sorely needed, I walked along to the Stanchester Arms and had a private consultation with Warr in the little back parlour of the old-fashioned inn. Standing back from the road with its high swinging sign, it was a quaint, picturesque place, long and rambling, with the attic windows peeping forth from beneath the thatch. Half-hidden by climbing roses, clematis and jessamine it was often the admiration of artists, and many times had it been painted or sketched, for it was certainly one of the most picturesque of any of the inns in rural Northamptonshire, and well in keeping with the old-world peace of the Sibberton village itself.
Having again impressed upon the landlord the necessity of delivering the letter to Lolita in secret, as well as remaining utterly dumb regarding the strangers visit, I was allowed to view the body of the unknown victim. It lay stretched upon some boards in the outhouse at rear of the inn, covered by a sheet, which on being lifted revealed the cold white face.
We stood there together in silence. In the dim light of the previous night and the uncertain glimmer of the lantern, I had not obtained an adequate idea of the young mans features, and it was in order to do this that I revisited the chamber of the dead.
For a long time I gazed upon that blanched countenance and sightless eyes, a face that seemed in those few hours to have altered greatly, having become shrunken, more refined, more transparent. The closely-cropped hair, the very even dark eyebrows, and the rather high cheek-bones were the most prominent features, and all of them, combined with the cut of his clothes and the shape of his boots, went to suggest that he was not an Englishman.
In those moments every feature of that calm dead face became photographed upon the tablets of my memory, and as it did so I somehow became convinced that he was not altogether a stranger. I had, I believed, met him previously somewhere but where I could not determine. I recollected Warrs evasion of my question. Was he also puzzled, like myself?
Outside the inn half Sibberton had assembled to discuss the terrible affair, many of the village women wearing their lilac sun-bonnets, those old-world head-dresses that are, alas! so fast disappearing from rural England. The other half of the village had entered the park to see the spot where the terrible tragedy had been enacted.
For a moment I halted talking with a couple of men who made inquiry of me, knowing that I had first raised the alarm. And then I heard a dozen different theories in as many minutes. The rural mind is always quick to suggest motive where tragedy is concerned.
At noon I walked up to the Hall again, wondering if my love would show herself. I longed to get up to London and make inquiries at that pawnbrokers in the Westminster Bridge Road, as well as to call at the address she had given me in Chelsea. As she had said, only myself stood between her and death. The situation all-round was one of great peril, and I had, at all costs, to save her.
As I entered and crossed the hall, Slater, the old butler, approached, saying
His lordship would like to see you, sir. Hes in the library.
So I turned and walked up the corridor of the east wing to that fine long old room with its thousands of rare volumes that had been the chief delight of the white-headed old peer who had spent the evening of his days in study.
I say, Woodhouse! cried the young Earl, springing from his chair as I entered, what does this murder in the park last night mean?
Its a profound mystery, I replied. The murdered man has not yet been identified.
I know, I know, he said. I went down to the inn with Pink this morning and saw him. And, do you know, he looks suspiciously like a fellow who followed me about in town several times last season.
Thats strange! I exclaimed, much interested. Yes, it is. I cant make it out at all. Theres a mystery somewhere a confounded mystery. And the young Earl thrust his hands deeply into his trousers pockets as he seated himself on the arm of a chair.
Tall, dark, good-looking, and a good all-round athlete, he was about thirty, the very picture of the well-bred Englishman. A few years in the Army had set him up and given him a soldierly bearing, while his face and hands, tanned as they were, showed his fondness for out-door sports. He kept up the Stanchester hounds, of which he was master, to that high degree of efficiency which rendered them one of the most popular packs in the country; he was an excellent polo player, a splendid shot, and a thorough all-round sportsman. In his well-worn grey flannels, and with a straw hat stuck jauntily on his head, he presented the picture of healthy manhood, wealthy almost beyond the dreams of avarice, a careless, easy-going, good-humoured man-of-the-world, whose leniency to his tenants was proverbial, and whose good-nature gave him wide popularity in Society, both in London and out of it.
By the man-in-the-street he was believed to be supremely content in his great possessions, his magnificent mansions, his princely bank balance, his steam yacht and his pack of hounds, yet I, his confidential friend and secretary, knew well the weariness and chagrin that was now eating out his heart. Her ladyship, two years his junior, was one of the three celebrated beauties known in London drawing-rooms as the giddy Gordons, and who, notwithstanding her marriage, still remained the leader of that ultra-smart set, and always had one or two admirers in her train. She was still marvellously beautiful; her portraits, representing her yachting, motoring, shooting or riding to hounds, were familiar to every one, and after her marriage it had become the fashion to regard the Countess of Stanchester as one of the leaders of the London mode.