If they meant murder, then I determined that murder should be met with murder. In some way that was at present vague in my mind I determined that I would follow the party on the morrow, if that was the time arranged, and if I could only secure some weapon, even if I were not in time to save her, her death should be avenged. I went home with my head singing, and with, as it seemed, the sky blood-red above me.
I thought at first that I would borrow a gun from the landlord of the inn, but as I looked a peaceful sort of fellow, I came to the conclusion that that must at once throw suspicion upon me. I determined, just before I went to bed, that I would go very early to Green Barn in the morning, and there would let Fate decide for me at the last moment. I undressed and went to bed, but it was long before my eyes closed in sleep.
I was abroad early, and was actually in the grounds before the house was astir. I guessed that if this was the date on which they meant to put their plan into execution, they would make for that more secluded wood I had observed the night before, and I determined that when the time came I would take my station there. But first I made up my mind that I must have a weapon, and boldly enough I decided that I would get that, if the worst came to the worst, from the house itself. With that purpose in mind, I crept as near to the house as I could, with a view to observing how the rooms were placed, and in the hope that I might discover the gun-room, if such a place existed.
Fortune favoured me. I worked my way gradually round towards the back of the house, and judged that the party were at breakfast, by the fact that now and then a servant crossed a small paved yard, bearing dishes. I counted the number of times she went, and I reckoned my chances on two things. First, I guessed that some of the servants would be in the dining-room, and the others in the kitchens, which were detached from the house; the servant I saw pass to and fro was the messenger between both. And while I noted that fact, I saw that the gun-room was just off the small hall into which she went each time she carried anything across. I could see the shining barrels against the walls distinctly.
What I purposed doing was this. Counting the time carefully, I would wait for her to cross the yard and to go into the house; then, when she had disappeared, I would follow, and would get into the gun-room. Before she came out of the house again I should have time to select a weapon and to load it; to remain concealed in the gun-room, into which she was not likely to look; and to come out and make my way into the grounds after she had disappeared into the kitchens.
My plan prospered as well as I had hoped. I slipped into the gun-room as the girl disappeared into the house, and in a moment I had a gun down from its place, and had slipped the cartridges into position. Making sure that all was right, I crouched behind the door, and saw the girl pass and cross the yard, and disappear; then I stole out, and, getting clear of the house, ran hard for the woods. There I dropped down into a little hollow in the thickest part of the trees, and waited.
In something less than half an hour I saw them coming towards me from the direction of the house; Harvey Scoffold and the doctor, with Debora walking between. She was dressed smartly in a shooting costume, and carried a light gun over her shoulder, as did the others. They made straight for the woods; and I lay there, with murder in my heart and the gun gripped in my fingers.
CHAPTER X.
I TOUCH THE SKIRTS OF HAPPINESS
My feeling of horror at what I instinctively knew was soon to happen was perhaps increased by the fact that this morning the girl seemed to be in the brightest possible humour. She was laughing and chatting, turning first to one man and then to the other, as she stepped gaily along between them. Nor were Harvey Scoffold and Bardolph Just lacking in apparent good humour; Harvey Scoffold, in particular, was laughing boisterously. Every now and then the two men would exchange glances behind the unconscious girl, as though assuring each other that they were ready for some signal to pass from one to the other.
They came straight on down through the wood, with one figure now hidden for a moment by the trees, and then the three of them fully in sight again. In the hollow where I lay I now and then heard a quick rustling, and saw a rabbit dart across and disappear; I realised that I might be in some danger if the party fired in my direction. But concerning that I was quite reckless.
Debora proved to be a capital shot, and Harvey Scoffold was second only to her. The doctor fired only once, and then he missed; I saw the girl turn and look at him, and laugh. And his face was not pleasant to see.
At last I saw what I had expected. Harvey Scoffold and the girl moved forward a little, and the doctor stopped. I saw Scoffold look back, with a sharp turn of the head for a moment; saw him glance sideways at the girl. I raised myself a little, and, with my heart thumping against my ribs, levelled the gun I held, and looked along the smooth, shining barrel of it until I had Bardolph Just squarely at the end of it.
A rabbit darted across, straight in front of Harvey Scoffold and the girl; I saw it out of the tail of my eye as I watched the doctor. Both guns spoke, and even as they did so I saw Bardolph Just with his gun to his shoulder, and the barrel pointing straight at the girl's back, not five yards in front of him. It was all so sudden – first the bark of the two guns in front – then my own weapon seemed to go off at the same moment. In my excitement I let him have both barrels; I saw his own gun explode harmlessly in the air, and then fall from his hands. He dropped to his knees with a cry, and held his left wrist with the fingers of his right hand locked round it. His face was very white, and he rocked himself backwards and forwards as he knelt there, and bit his lower lip until I saw a faint trickle of blood down his chin.
I knew that I had in all probability shattered his wrist; so much at least I hoped. The others had run back, and the girl was kneeling beside him, while Scoffold stood staring at him in very genuine amazement. I saw the doctor turn his head swiftly and look sharply in my direction; then he said something in a low tone to Scoffold. I could not hear what was said, but I saw him stagger to his feet, with the help of the girl, and saw them go slowly towards the house. Harvey Scoffold stood still, looking after them for a moment; then he turned sharply and faced towards where I was. I saw him open the breech of his gun and slip a cartridge in; then he walked straight towards me.
My gun was of course empty, but when he first caught sight of me I was kneeling in a very business-like attitude, with the weapon levelled. He looked straight down the barrels of it. He stopped, and I saw him fumbling with the trigger of his own.
"Have a care, Mr. Scoffold," I said quietly. "I have you covered."
"What are you doing there?" he stammered.
"I'll tell you presently," I answered him, still keeping my gun raised. "Now, reverse that gun of yours; come a little nearer. That's it; now lay it on the grass. Go back a pace or two; now stand still. And remember that if you play any tricks I'm in a mood to blow your brains out. I shall shoot you through the head, Mr. Harvey Scoffold – not through the arm."
By this time he was standing some paces away, his arms hanging by his sides. I got up, and stepped forward to where his gun lay, and picked it up. I dropped my own behind me. "Perhaps you'd like to know," I said, after I had made sure that the gun I had taken from him was loaded, "that my own weapon was unloaded. The doctor had both barrels."
I heard him mutter something under his breath, and I guessed pretty accurately what it was. He kept his eyes on me, evidently watching for a way of escape; he shifted his feet uneasily, as he stood there covered by his own gun.
"Now, Harvey Scoffold, I'll have a little explanation with you before I go up to the house," I said. "You were in the plot to murder this young girl. Be careful how you answer me, for my temper is such at this moment that my fingers itch for this trigger."
"My dear fellow – I do assure you – " he began; but at the look in my eyes he hung his head, and blurted out the truth.
"What could I do?" he muttered. "I did my best to stop it – to persuade the doctor to abandon the idea. I only came out this morning because I thought – because I hoped I might be able to prevent it."
"You are lying, Harvey Scoffold," I told him. "I have been here both last night and since early this morning; I have seen everything, and heard a great deal. You were in the plot; you were to hold the attention of the girl while murder was done. If I had not been here she would be lying dead now."
"It's true," he said. "I'm bound to confess it's true. But I thank God you came in time!"
"Bah!" I ejaculated contemptuously. "I don't like your penitence, Mr. Scoffold. Now turn about and go up to the house. I'll follow you."
He hesitated for a moment, and then turned and walked towards the house. I picked up the other gun and followed him, and in that order we came to the house, and marched up the steps and into the hall. He looked back at me over his shoulder then.
"Which way?" he asked sulkily.
"I want to see the doctor," I replied, setting the guns down in a corner. "Lead the way; I'll follow you."
He turned into a room on the right, crossed it, and came to a door at the other side. Opening this, he passed through, and I followed him. Directly I got into the room I saw before me a curious little scene, and one that, even now, in the recollection of it, sends a thrill at once of pity and of admiration through me, however unwillingly. The doctor was seated by a table, on which was spread a white cloth; an open case of surgical instruments was by his side. Leaning across the table was Martha Leach, doing something with a bowl of water and a small sponge. Very slowly and calmly Bardolph Just was cleaning the broken flesh and bone, quite as calmly, save for an occasional spasm of pain that crossed his face, as though he had been operating on a patient. He turned his head for a moment as we came into the room, and stopped what he was doing.
"Take that fellow away!" he shouted.
But I stood my ground. "Thanks," I replied, "I prefer to remain. There is a word or two to be said between us, doctor; but pray don't let me interrupt what you are doing. Your injury is not quite as bad as I had hoped; but then I am not much good behind a gun. I hoped to hit a vital spot."
"Why did you shoot me?" he asked sullenly.
"Don't ask idle questions," I retorted. "Get on with your work."
He rewarded me for that remark with a scowl, and went on again with the work in hand. Now and then he gave a quick order, half under his breath, to the obedient Martha Leach, who waited upon him slavishly; under his direction she presently bound up the arm, after cutting splints for it according to a fashion he told her. Then, in obedience to a sign from him, she brought him a small glass of spirits, which he drank quickly; I saw the colour begin to come back into his white face.
"That was an ordeal, Harvey," he said. "Upon my word, I didn't think I had the courage. I think it'll mend all right now; both bones were shattered."
He took not the faintest notice of me, as he presently laid his hand in a sling which the woman Leach dexterously twisted round his neck. He nodded to her in token that she should go; and she went slowly out of the room, carrying the cloth and basin with her; she gave me a deadly look as she passed me. But for her looks I no longer cared.
Perhaps the least composed of the three of us was Harvey Scoffold; he fidgeted about from one foot to the other, and strove to whistle a tune; and all the while glanced furtively at Bardolph Just or at myself. Bardolph Just, for his part, stood like a man slowly making up his mind to something; I saw, besides, that he was raging within himself with pain, and mortification, and chagrin, and could with difficulty control his feelings. When at last he looked up he repeated that question he had asked before.
"Why did you shoot me?"
"I preferred to shoot you rather than see murder done; I meant to kill you, if I could, because I counted your life more worthless than that of Miss Debora Matchwick."
"I was not going to kill her," he said sullenly.
"No," I answered him, "there was to be an accident, and no one would have been more sorry than her dear, devoted guardian at the deplorable result of that accident! You need not lie to me, Dr. Just; your accomplice has already given the game away."
He glanced quickly at Harvey Scoffold, and that gentleman merely shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands protestingly; but I saw that the doctor believed that Scoffold had been made to speak. The doctor walked across to the window, and stood there looking out for some time. He spoke at last, without turning his head.
"You constitute yourself judge and executioner both," he said. "If you had killed me I think it must have proved a hanging matter for you, Mr. Jail-bird."
"But I should have saved the girl," I answered. "What is my life worth, that I should weigh it in the balance when there is a question of her safety?"
"What are you going to do?" he asked, turning his head a little.
"I am going to see Miss Matchwick, and I am going to put the case fairly before her," I replied steadily. "I intend to tell her of the three attempts you have made upon her life; I intend to let her understand that your game, Dr. Just, is murder."
"Very fine, and very brave," he remarked; then he suddenly swung round on me, and barked out a question. "If you are so certain of your facts, why not go to the police – why not stop this game of murder, as you call it?"
"You know I can't do that," I said. "In the first place I cannot even declare who I am, nor why I'm in your house; and in the second, as you know, I have no proof."
He walked across to where Harvey Scoffold was standing, and nudged him with his free arm in the ribs. "Hark to him, Harvey – hark to this fine talker! He has no proof – and he dare not show himself as other men might. This thing without a name is going to do doughty deeds for the sake of a young girl; he claims already to have saved her three times from death. What is anybody to make of it, if he chooses to tell his story?"
"I make this of it," I broke in hotly. "I am here to see Miss Matchwick; I will put the thing fairly before her. If I can do nothing else, I can at least show her where her danger lies, so that she may not walk into it without her eyes open."
I never understood the man until long afterwards – at least, I never understood him fully; perhaps if I had I should have been prepared for the desperate chances he took, and for the sheer recklessness with which he carried matters through. He turned now to Scoffold, and said quickly —
"That's a good notion, Harvey; that's a fair and just thing to say. We've had enough of this fellow, who brags and boasts, and shoots men from behind bushes. The young lady shall judge for us, and shall give him his dismissal. It's a good idea, and one that we will see carried out. Fetch Debora here."
"Stop!" I cried, as Harvey Scoffold was moving towards the door. "We'll have no underhand tricks, and no warnings. Ring the bell, and send a servant for Miss Matchwick."
Scoffold stopped and looked at the doctor; the latter slowly nodded his head. So it came about that Scoffold rang the bell, and on the coming of the servant requested that Miss Debora should be asked to step that way. After the man had retired, and while we waited in a grim silence for the coming of Debora, I felt my cheeks begin to flame; almost it seemed as though I felt again the sharp tingling pain where she had lashed me across the face.
When the door opened at last the girl came in quickly. She walked straight towards where the doctor stood, and spoke at once impulsively.
"Oh, I am so sorry – so very sorry!" she said. "How did it happen? Have you found out who did it?"
Bardolph Just did not speak; he simply looked at me. Following the direction of his eyes, she turned also and looked at me. I saw her draw herself up with that quick little lift of her chin; I saw a dawning smile in the doctor's eyes.
"What is that man doing here?" she asked.
"He came, my dear Debora, with a purpose – a purpose which he has partly accomplished. My broken wrist tells its own tale; had he had his way, I should probably not be speaking to you now."
"Had he had his way, Miss Debora," I blurted out, "you would be lying dead somewhere in this house – as the result of an accident!"
I saw her face blanch; she turned furtive, frightened eyes for a moment on the doctor. He shook his head, with a lifting of the eyebrows which seemed to suggest that he left such a mad accusation to be judged properly by her; and she flashed round on me.
"I don't believe it – I don't believe a word of it!" she said.
"Thank you, my dear child," said Bardolph Just. "I might have known what your answer would be."
"Very satisfactory – quite what might have been expected," murmured Scoffold.
The girl had turned her head, and was looking at me steadily. What was in her mind I could not tell, for her face told me nothing. Scorn of me I could read, and contempt; I felt my heart sink, even while I nerved myself for the task before me.
"Is that why I am sent for?" she said. "Is it to hear such an accusation as this? Is this what you had to say to me?"
Still her eyes looked contemptuously into mine, where I stood half abashed before her; still I felt that the doctor was growing momentarily more sure of his victory.
"I asked that you might be sent for," I said, beginning my reply steadily, "in order that you might understand what is being done, and that you might guard yourself against it. If you think me so poor a thing that I may not help you, then for God's sake set me aside out of the matter; get someone else more worthy to assist you. But wake up – open your eyes – face this Death that is waiting for you at every turn!"
She might have been a figure of stone, so little movement did she make. And now I saw that both Harvey Scoffold and the doctor were watching her, and not me.
"I have pleaded with you before; I have told you what I know is being done against you and against your life," I went on, speaking more eagerly with every word. "That man has tried to kill you three several times. He tried to make you walk out of that door at dead of night; he tried to poison you – of those things I have already told you. I was able to save you on those two occasions, but after that he sent me away from you, and I had to leave you to the mercy of these men. Only by the merest chance did I find out that you had come down here, and were going on this apparently innocent expedition this morning. Will you not believe me when I tell you that I heard the whole thing plotted between them last night?"
She gave me no answer, although I waited for one. After a pause I went on —
"There was to be an accident this morning; gun accidents have happened frequently. Mr. Scoffold there received his instructions – "
"I protest against this madman!" broke in Harvey Scoffold. "I assure you – "
"Hold your tongue!" snapped the doctor unexpectedly. "Let him say what he has to say."
"So I got a gun from the house," I went on; "for I meant to kill Dr. Just, if by chance I was quick enough to prevent him carrying out his scheme. I lay in the woods over there, and I waited; then I saw Harvey Scoffold walk in front with you, and I saw the doctor step back. As God is my witness I saw the man raise his gun and point it direct at you; then I raised my own and fired."
Very slowly she turned her head, and stole a look at the doctor's face. I saw him repeat his former gesture, as though it were not worth while for him to deny the matter; the thing was so absurd. I saw Debora also glance at Harvey Scoffold, who smiled gaily and shook his head; then she looked back towards me. I did not understand her; I could not read into that mind that was behind her unfathomable eyes. If, while I waited for her judgment, I looked at her with any look of pleading, it was only that she might, for her own sake, judge me fairly, and judge me to be honest.
"I won't trouble to remember the absurd name you bear, a name which is not your own," she began very quietly. "I will only remember that you are nobody, and that you forced your way into Dr. Just's house while you were a criminal flying from the law. Do you think it likely that I should take your word in such a matter as this?"
I saw Bardolph Just exchange a quick look with Harvey Scoffold, a look compounded of gratification as well as amazement. Scoffold, for his part, was openly grinning.
"Your zeal for me and for my welfare is quite misplaced, and quite unnecessary," went on Debora. "I'm sorry you should have thought it necessary to try and kill my guardian; it is a merciful thing that you have only injured him. That is all I have to say to you."
"Debora," I said, looking at her earnestly, "I entreat you to believe that what I have said is true. I know these men; I know what their purpose is; I know what must inevitably happen if you will not realise your own danger."
"Come – we've had enough of this!" broke in Bardolph Just. "It's quite time we told this fellow that he'd best get away from the place, and be seen here no more. He's had his answer, and I hope he's pleased with it."
"Debora," I went on, ignoring the man altogether, "I will take you away from this place, and will put you with friends who will be good to you. Debora, won't you listen to me?"
"I have given you my answer, and it is a final one," she said. "Had the warning come from anyone else I might have been troubled by it – mystified by it; coming from a man with your record it is worthless. When I listened to you first I did not understand who you were; now I know. That is the end of it."
"It is not the end of it!" I cried fiercely, as she turned away from me. "I will save you in spite of yourself; I will make you understand your danger, even if you do not see it now. I shall ask no thanks and seek no reward. I shall have done it for another reason." I turned to the doctor, and pointed a finger at him. "As for you, sir, such a retribution is preparing for you as shall not be long delayed. You think you have seen the last of me – you have not done that by any means. Don't forget that I am a desperate man, with nothing to lose in this world save my liberty; and I shall not count that, if it becomes necessary for me to declare who I am, and to come forward into the light of day to protect this girl. That's my last word on the matter."
"I'm glad to hear it!" retorted the doctor. "Open the door, Harvey, please."
Mr. Harvey Scoffold obeyed with alacrity, and, thus dismissed, I went out of the house, and made my way towards the village. I was sent upon my way more quickly, perhaps, from hearing a peal of laughter from the room I had left. I went away with rage and bitterness in my heart.
I went back to my lodging at the little inn, more perplexed than ever as to what I should do. I knew that this was a new danger which threatened the girl, because she would prove an easier victim in any new scheme which might be maturing, by reason of her belief in the man who meant to kill her; her trust in him would make her utterly unsuspicious. The thought of that drove me almost frantic, and I raged up and down my little room in the inn, tormented by doubts and fears, and seeing my own helplessness loom more largely before me with every moment. Late in the afternoon I went out into the village of Comerford, undecided whether to go back to London, or whether to remain in that place. I wandered aimlessly about the streets, and finally seated myself on a gate a little way out, and propped my chin in my hands and gave myself up to the gloomiest thoughts.
I became aware, in a curious, detached fashion, of a small country boy, with a very freckled face and very light hair, who had walked past me twice, and had observed me narrowly; now I came to think of it, I had seen him loitering along on the other side of the street some half-hour previously. I looked at him with a frown now, and asked him what he wanted.
To my surprise he asked me if I was Mr. John New. I sat up and looked at him, and said that I was. From one of his pockets the boy drew out a twisted piece of paper, flattened it with one grubby hand upon the other, and spelled out the name. Then to my amazement, he handed the note to me.
"Where did you get this from?" I demanded.
He told me that a lady had given it to him, and had given him also a shilling to find me. She had told him what I was like, and that I was a stranger in the village; my aimlessly wandering about the streets had done the rest, and had shown me to him. I added another shilling to the boy's new wealth on the spot, and he went away happy. Then I untwisted the note, and read what was written on it.
"I want to see you, and I must see you to-day. There is a place at the other side of the wood where you lay this morning – an old chalk-pit, half filled with water. At one side of that is a little ruined hut. I shall be there this evening at a little after six. I beg, that you will not fail me.
"DEBORA."
So much had I been tricked, and so little faith had I in man or woman then, that for a moment I believed that this was another trap set, into which my feet should stumble. But the next moment, I told myself that surely this village boy would not have lied to me over the matter. A woman had sent the note, and it could be but one woman. I thrust the precious paper into my pocket, and set off then and there, with my heart singing within me, to the place appointed.
I came to it well before the time, and found it to be just as the note described. I had kept well away from the wood, and I came easily to the old disused chalk-pit, which had in it a small pond of stagnant water, formed by the rains of many seasons. Half-way up one side of it was the little hut to which Debora had referred. I made my way to it at once. Sitting down on an old bench, I looked through the open door, and so could command the way by which she would come.
The time drew on, and still I saw nothing of her. I was beginning to think that some one had discovered that she had communicated with me, or else that, after all, this might be a trap set for me. I blamed myself that I was here in this lonely place without a weapon. And then suddenly, far off, I saw what it was that had delayed her.
The evening was very still and very fine; I could see a long way. Presently, in the distance, I made out a figure walking backwards and forwards on the edge of the wood; after quite a long time I made it out to be the doctor. I knew in a moment that the man stood as a barrier between the girl in the house and me in the hut, and that while he kept unconscious guard there it was impossible for us to meet. Yet I was as helpless as she must be, and I could only wait until it pleased the man to go back to the house.
He must have walked there backwards and forwards for more than half an hour before I suddenly saw him in the clear light stop, and snap the fingers of his uninjured hand together, with the action of a man coming to a sudden quick resolution; then he turned, and went off with long strides in the direction of the house. I wondered what he was going to do.
I endured another period of waiting that seemed interminable; and then I saw her coming quickly through the wood and down towards the chalk-pit. She skirted the edge of it, and came on quickly towards where I stood in the doorway of the hut waiting for her. After her declaration in the house, in the presence of the two men, I could not know in what mood she came, and I was puzzled how I should greet her. About that, however, I need not have thought at all, for the miracle of it was that she came straight towards me, with her eyes shining, and her hands stretched out towards me, so that in the most wonderful way, and yet in a way most natural, I took her suddenly in my arms. And she broke at once into a torrent of prayers and excuses.
"Oh, my dear! my dear! I was so afraid you would not meet me. I have not deserved that you should; it might have happened that you would not understand, and would believe that all the hateful things I said were meant by me. You didn't believe that, did you?"
"Well – yes, I did," I stammered. "What else could I believe?"
"Don't you understand that I should have had no chance at all with those men, unless I had thrown them off their guard? I hated myself afterwards, when they laughed and joked about you; I could have killed them. Then I made up my mind that I must send and find you."
"It was wonderful that the boy should know me so easily," I answered. "How did you describe me?"
She hung her head, and I saw the colour mount from neck to brow. "I told the boy to look for a man with the mark of a blow across his face," she whispered; and then, before I could prevent her, even had I wished, she had put her arms about my neck and had drawn my head down, and was kissing me passionately on the mark itself. "That's to heal it – and that – and that – and that!" she whispered.
We were both more composed presently, and were seated side by side on the old bench inside the hut. We had no fear of being surprised by anyone; the side of the chalk-pit went up sheer behind the hut, and from the edge of it all was open country. Before us, as I have said, stretched the chalk-pit itself, and the wood, and beyond that the grounds of the house. So we sat contentedly, and looked into each other's eyes, and said what we wanted to say.
"It came upon me suddenly," began Debora, "this morning when I turned and saw Dr. Just on his knees, holding his wrist. I seemed to know instinctively that you had shot him. I knew, dear, that you would not run away, and I had time before they sent for me to make up my mind what to do. I had not quite realised what he had meant to do. I did not think he would be daring enough to shoot me in that fashion. But I am glad, for your sake, that you did not kill him."