Kitabı oku: «Miser Farebrother: A Novel (vol. 3 of 3)», sayfa 8
They had listened to him in profound admiration. Entranced by his masterly analysis, it seemed to Fred as if they had only to go to the prison in which Phœbe was immured and demand her release. But when he uttered the words "My God!" and started to his feet and paced the room in a state of excitement, which, for a few moments was uncontrollable, their feelings of admiration changed to astonishment, and they gazed at him in amazement.
"What is it, Dick?" cried Fred. "What is it?"
He seized Garden's hands, and would have held him still; but Garden threw him off, and continued to pace the room.
"Don't speak to me for a moment!" he cried. "What I have suddenly thought of is so wild that I cannot reveal it. But if it is a true inspiration, it means salvation! Ask me nothing, for I shall not answer you. It is for you to answer me. It has occurred to me that Mrs. Pamflett and Mrs. Lethbridge are about the same height and figure."
"Good God!" cried Fred. "What do you mean?"
"Answer my question, Fred," said Garden, "as you value Miss Farebrother's life. The women – one a devil, the other an angel – are about the same height and figure?"
"Yes, they are."
"And from a short distance – say thirty or forty yards – might possibly be mistaken for each other?"
"Yes, it is possible."
"Thank you." He had succeeded in mastering his agitation, and now to all appearance was calm. "Meanwhile," he said, sitting at the table and beginning to write, "what has become of the diamond bracelet?"
The question was uttered in a musing tone, as though he were asking it of himself. He continued to write for four or five minutes, and having completed his task, he read what he had written, folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Then he turned to Kiss and Mr. Linton.
"You have nothing more to say?"
"Nothing."
"You delight in dramatic surprises?" he said, addressing Linton, with a radiant look.
"If they are new to the stage," replied the bewildered dramatic author, "they are invaluable."
"I may supply you with one. It is just on the cards." He now addressed Kiss as well as Mr. Linton. "Our interview is at an end. What I wish you to do is to so arrange matters that we can at any moment lay hands upon Mrs. Pamflett, her son, and the woman who is implicated in the theft of the diamond bracelet. Do you think you can manage it?"
"I will answer for that."
"When you came here to-night," he said, earnestly, "you reproached yourself for being the cause of an innocent girl being sentenced to death for a murder she did not commit. You went back, as it were, to first causes. It is likely – almost certain, indeed, so much depends upon chance – that if you had not come, the inspiration which may mean salvation would not have descended upon me. To you, therefore, if all ends as I fervently pray it may, will belong the credit of directing justice aright. Humanly administered, it is sometimes fallible."
"Mr. Garden," said Kiss, in a voice no less earnest than that of the young lawyer, "I have not the slightest idea of your meaning, but you have won my esteem, and I honour you with all my heart and soul."
"I thank you," said the young lawyer, with dignity and courtesy; "what you kindly accord to me is worth the winning. Good-night."
When Kiss and Mr. Linton were gone, Garden said to Fred: "I am deeply, truly in earnest. For a little while leave the direction of this affair entirely in my hands. Give me your promise."
"I give it, Dick, old fellow, cheerfully."
"I am going now to the office of a newspaper, the editor of which I am acquainted with. I shall take a cab there and back. Unless some urgent necessity arises, do not leave the rooms till I return."
The next morning, in the columns of one daily London newspaper, the following interesting item found a place:
"Our readers will remember the incident of the abstraction of a wonderful diamond bracelet from the jewel-case of a lady of fabulous wealth. This bracelet was valued at sixty thousand pounds. A singular and somewhat humorous turn was given to this robbery by the wealthy husband of the owner, who, when public attention was directed to the matter, stated that the ornament stolen was one he had had made in exact imitation of the original, and that the stones of which the thieves had obtained possession were false. Information has reached us that this was not the case, and that the missing bracelet is the genuine one. If this be true, the daring robbers made a rare haul, of which, as nothing whatever has been heard of them, they have by this time reaped the advantage. The task of disposing of these diamonds singly in the markets of the world could not have been very difficult, their identification being almost impossible. In the interests of justice it is to be regretted that the truth was not made public in the first instance; supposing the thieves to have been moderately prudent, it is now too late to repair the error."
This paragraph was copied in subsequent editions of hundreds of London and provincial newspapers.
CHAPTER XIV
RICHARD GARDEN MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF FANNY LETHBRIDGE
Punctually at nine o'clock in the morning Tom Barley made his appearance in Fred Cornwall's rooms. Garden, having assumed the command of what nearly every one but himself would have considered a forlorn hope, of course was present; he was fresh and bright, but Fred's face was haggard and anxious. In this respect Tom Barley was no better off; the poor fellow was suffering a martyrdom. The reproaches hurled against him by 'Melia Jane had caused him to look upon himself as a monster of wickedness, and to believe that it was his evidence alone that had brought his beloved young mistress into deadly peril. When Fred Cornwall offered him his hand he shrank back a little, and stood before the young lawyers in an attitude of sad humility, with his arms drooping by his side.
"Why will you not give me your hand, Tom?" asked Fred.
"It's more than I dare do, sir," replied Tom. "I ought to have mine cut off, and my tongue cut out as well, for saying what I did in court, and for bringing Miss Phœbe to her death. If I'd had a notion of the consequences of my evidence, not a word would they have got out of me, whatever the consequence. 'Melia Jane is right; I don't deserve to live. It come over me last night that I might have saved Miss Phœbe if, instead of saying what I did say, I had said something else."
"What?" inquired Garden, in a kind tone.
"Confessed to killing Miser Farebrother myself. I was there, and might have done it, and would if I'd seen him, as sure as there's a God above us, if I'd had a notion of what things were coming to! Yes; if I'd said as much they'd have been bound to believe me, and Miss Phœbe would have been set free. You see, sir, there was every reason for my killing him; he treated me like a dog for years, and I hated him worse than poison. Are you a lawyer, sir?"
"Yes," replied Garden; "and I am assisting Mr. Cornwall in this matter that we all have so much at heart. I do not at all despair of proving Miss Farebrother's innocence even yet."
"There's only one way of doing that, sir, if it can be done legally. I'd like to ask you a question, if you wouldn't mind answering it."
"Go on, Tom."
"Would it be too late for me to go to the police-station now, and give myself up for the murder? If they'd only believe me I should be a happy man again. Then Miss Phœbe would be saved, and everything'd be right."
"It is too late for that, Tom. Besides, it would be depriving us of the chance of bringing the crime home to the guilty parties and making them suffer for it."
"Ah! if we could do that, sir, it would be the happiest day's work that ever was done in this cruel world! I'd be content to die the day after."
"Well, I am not at all sure that we shall not manage it," said Garden, "and perhaps, Tom, it all depends upon you."
"Upon me, sir!" cried Tom; and Fred also turned to Garden in surprise.
"Perhaps upon you. We shall soon know if the tack I am on will bring us safe into port."
"Your inspiration, Dick?" asked Fred, anxiously.
"My inspiration, Fred," said Garden, gravely. "If the tack is a wrong one, we'll try another. Now, Tom, you have nothing to reproach yourself with. You could do no less than speak the truth."
"I could, sir; I could have held my tongue."
"There is no possibility of your being mistaken in any part of the evidence you gave?"
"Unluckily no, sir. I say so to you because you're Miss Phœbe's friend; but if I had the opportunity now I'd swear the other way."
"Don't speak like that, Tom. What we want is to save Miss Farebrother honestly and honourably: that is our first great object. The next is to bring the murderers to justice. You were not in court during the whole of the trial."
"No, sir. I was told when to go to give my evidence, and then I had to go back to my duty."
"You were not aware, before you answered the questions as to the woman you saw in the grounds at Parksides and the dress she wore, that other witnesses were examined with respect to the colour of the dress Miss Farebrother had on when she left her aunt's house?"
"No, sir, I knew nothing of it; and I wondered what they were driving at."
"You swore to the colour – blue?"
"Yes, sir," replied poor Tom, hanging his head.
"You would swear to it again?"
Tom looked round helplessly.
"You would swear to it again?" repeated Garden.
"No, I wouldn't," said Tom savagely.
"You would, Tom, because it is the truth; and if I am on the right tack, only the truth will serve us. Now, although you were not in court during the whole of the trial, you read the report of it in the papers?"
"I did, sir."
"Clear your mind, Tom, and bend it on what I am about to ask you. In reading the report of the trial, did anything particular strike you?"
"It was full of lies, sir."
"I am sure of that. But anything very special" – and here Garden's voice trembled slightly, as though he were approaching a crucial test – "say as to the colour of dresses? Think, Tom."
"No occasion to think, sir. What they said about Mrs. Pamflett's dresses was a pack of lies from beginning to end."
"How is that, Tom?" asked Garden, rising and moving a step nearer to Tom Barley.
"Why, sir, wasn't it said that Mrs. Pamflett hated blue dresses, and never wore one."
"They did, Tom."
"Damned lies, sir! Why didn't they ask me about that? I ought to know, living at Parksides the years I did. I've seen her hundreds and hundreds of times in a blue dress."
Garden caught Fred's hand. "You are ready to swear that?"
"Ready, sir? Yes; and it's the truth – by God!"
A look of triumph flashed into Garden's eyes, and his face was radiant. "I'm on the right tack, Fred," he cried; "Miss Farebrother is saved!"
On the evening of that day Richard Garden and Fred Cornwall met Kiss by appointment. The kind-hearted actor had news of vital importance to give them. Mrs. Pamflett and Jeremiah were still at No. 12 Surrey Street and had not stirred out the whole of the day.
"Adjoining the room they eat and drink in," said Kiss, "is a little box-room, too small to let to any lodger, but large enough for lumber, and that's the use it's put to by the landlady. Formerly it was part of the room the two fiends have taken, but some time ago it was partitioned off for boxes and that kind of thing. Consequently the wall that separates it from the larger room is made of wood instead of brick. It is a cupboard, nothing more, and anybody concealed there can hear what is going on in the adjoining apartment. Sir, Mrs. Linton, provided with sandwiches and cold tea, has been concealed in that cupboard nearly the whole of the day unknown to the Pamfletts. The woman who stole the diamond bracelet has been with them, and she heard all that passed. That strange paragraph which is in all the evening papers about the bracelet that was stolen being the genuine one, is true. Mrs. Linton heard the woman swear to it. She wanted to know whether Jeremiah Pamflett had possession of the bracelet. At first he denied that he had, but the woman said he was telling a lie, and she did not intend to be done. They almost got to high words, but the Pamfletts spoke in a low voice and calmed the woman down; and upon her swearing that if they did not tell her the truth she would go straight to the police-station and confess the robbery and have them arrested, they confessed that they had got the bracelet, but had deposited it elsewhere for safety. 'That being so,' said the woman, 'you must have stolen it from Miser Farebrother, and the girl who has been found guilty of his murder is innocent. It was you who murdered him! You are in my power now, and if you don't pay me well to hold my tongue I'll have the pair of you hanged!' For a little while after that Mrs. Linton heard nothing more – only a murmur of voices; but before she went away she heard the woman say, 'To-morrow night, then, at ten o'clock; and mind you come with the bracelet and the money ready. If you don't, your life is not worth an hour's purchase.' That was all; when the woman was gone, Mrs. Pamflett and her son talked in whispers, and not a word could Mrs. Linton catch. But I think she heard enough."
"Quite enough," said Garden, "and you have rendered us an inestimable service. What you have told us would almost justify our taking immediate action against the monsters; but there is something else of great importance to do within the next few hours. We will take them red-handed to-morrow night, the two murderers and the thief who in the first instance stole the bracelet. Then the case will be complete, and there will be no escape for them. Now go back and keep watch upon their movements. They must not be allowed to go anywhere without being followed. If you have the slightest reason to fear that they will give you the slip, lay hands upon them, collect a crowd, and give them in charge."
"Upon what charge?" asked Kiss.
"Upon the charge of stealing the bracelet. If that will not do, say that new evidence has come to light respecting the murder of Miser Farebrother, which proves them to be implicated in it. Give the police my card, and say I will attend at the police station at ten o'clock to-morrow morning to prove my case. Meanwhile, you will, of course, let me know that you have taken action. But the necessity will not arise: the Pamfletts will not attempt to escape from the woman for the next twenty-four hours; they are quite aware that sudden flittings from place to place would be likely to draw attention upon them, and their chief desire is to avoid observation and be left to themselves, in order that in a little while they may disappear quietly from the country, taking with them the bracelet and the money they must have stolen from Miser Farebrother. If I were not thoroughly convinced of this I should set aside a most important affair in connection with the evidence upon the murder, and have the Pamfletts arrested immediately. My object is to make the case against them so complete that they shall have no loop-hole of escape. It will hasten the hour of Miss Farebrother's release, instead of retarding it."
"You are a good general, Mr. Garden," said Kiss; "you put heart into your soldiers. Your instructions shall be followed to the letter."
Half an hour afterward they were in Aunt Leth's house, and were shown into the room in which that good woman and Fanny were sitting. Aunt Leth started up at their entrance, but before she could speak, Garden said,
"You received my letter?"
"Yes, and Fred's also, telling me to do everything you desired."
"Then you have everything prepared?"
"Yes, everything."
"Try to be calm, I beg of you, for your dear niece's sake."
"I will, I will. But it is all so strange – and I cannot understand – "
"Make no attempt to do so yet; very soon you will know all. You will be ready to start with Fred at one o'clock?"
"Yes, I shall be ready."
"Wrap yourself up warm; the nights are chilly now. You may have some time to wait, but you will not mind that. I want to be sure that you will be there before us. Fred will show you exactly what you have to do, and the time to do it. Sit down now and compose yourself. It would be all the better if you could sleep for an hour or two before you start. If you cannot sleep, you can rest; and remember that everything we are doing is to save an innocent angel, to restore her to light and love."
"One word only," said the agitated woman: "you have hope?"
"Something more than hope," replied Garden, with a bright look; "almost a certainty!"
"Oh, thank God! – thank God!" murmured Aunt Leth; and, sinking into a chair, she covered her face with her hands, and, with tears gushing from her eyes, prayed silently and fervently.
"Mr. Garden," said Fanny, stepping forward and taking his hand, "you will save my dear cousin?"
"If it is in man's power to save her," said Garden, gazing earnestly at her sweet, imploring face, "I will save her."
"It is in your power, is it not? You believe it is in your power?"
"Yes, Miss Lethbridge; I firmly believe it."
All this time she had held his hand, and now she lowered her face to it; and a thrill ran through Garden's frame as he felt the soft pressure of her lips. Then Fanny turned and went to her mother's side, and folded her in her arms.
CHAPTER XV
A STRANGE EXPERIMENT
At an hour past midnight Fred Cornwall called for Aunt Leth in a closed carriage, drawn by a pair of smart horses. Aunt Leth, warmly enveloped in a cloak which entirely covered her dress, was waiting for him. Parting from her family with tears and kisses and blessings, she accompanied Fred to the carriage, and they drove slowly off in the direction of Parksides.
About a mile behind them, on the same road, trotted a horse attached to a dog-cart. Garden was driving, and Tom Barley sat by his side. On the back seat sat a groom.
"What I want you to do, Tom," said Garden, "is to go over the ground exactly as you did on the night of the murder. Where you stopped then, I want you to stop now; and it will be all the better if you can remember the exact turns you took on that occasion."
"There's no fear, sir, of my not being able to remember. Day and night I think of nothing else."
"And now tell me again what occurred on the night Miss Farebrother was turned from her father's house, and you rode with her to London on that scoundrel Pamflett's horse."
Engaged in conversation, they drove along until they heard the sound of carriage-wheels in front of them; and presently, through the darkness, they discerned the carriage.
"Hold the horse, Tom," said Garden. "That carriage seems to be going the same road as we are, and I want to be certain that we are going right."
"We are going quite right, sir. I could take you blindfold, I believe."
"I dare say, Tom," said Garden, jumping down from the dog-cart; "but I am a self-willed fellow, and I would not make a mistake to-night for all the gold in the world. We have plenty of time, have we not?"
"Plenty, sir."
"Stop here, then. I will rejoin you presently."
He ran and called after the carriage; and the coachman, obeying instructions from some one inside, pulled up. In a breathless state, Garden presented himself at the carriage door.
"Are you all right and comfortable?" he gasped.
"Yes, Dick," replied Fred. "And you?"
"Everything is going on splendidly," said Garden. "A bright night, Mrs. Lethbridge, isn't it?"
She pressed his hand in acquiescence, her voice failing her when she tried to answer him. It was a singular opinion to have of a night so dark that they could scarcely see a dozen yards before them.
"You must take care and not catch cold," said Garden. "Was Miss Lethbridge well when you left her?"
Fred replied for Aunt Leth. "Yes, Dick; and she sent you the kindest of messages."
"It was very good of her to think of me. But you don't mean to say you saw her, Fred? She ought to have been asleep hours before."
"She is not going to bed to-night. Bob will remain up with her. Uncle Leth will take a little rest on the sofa."
"Well, perhaps it is natural. I must get back to the dog-cart now, or Tom Barley may be impatient. Drive on, coachman."
As Garden retraced his steps to the dog-cart he saw with his mind's eye Fanny's pretty face looking up through her tears, and the smile upon his lips was a proof that the vision was an agreeable one.
It was a little past four o'clock when the dog-cart drew up at the gates of Parksides.
"Now, Tom," said Garden, as he and Tom Barley alighted, "take me over the ground, and don't make the slightest mistake."
The strange task upon which they were engaged occupied them till sunrise.
"Was the light when you saw the woman in the blue dress about the same as it is now?" asked Garden.
"Yes, sir; only it was a little earlier in the morning. And I was standing as near as possible on this very spot when I first saw her."
"I want to know the exact direction, Tom. We are facing those trees yonder. Was it there?"
"Yes, sir; among those very trees."
"Be sure, Tom," said Garden, stepping two or three paces behind, and taking a white handkerchief from his pocket. "Don't turn, Tom! You are sure?"
"I am sure, sir," said Tom, looking straight before him.
Garden waved the white handkerchief high in the air, and the next moment Tom uttered a loud cry, and darted forward. Garden ran swiftly after him, and caught his arm.
"Why, what is the matter with you, Tom?"
"There! there!" cried Tom, struggling to release himself; but Garden held him fast. Tom's voice trembled from excitement, and his face was white. "I saw her this very minute."
"Saw whom?"
"The woman in the blue dress," cried Tom. "Let me go, sir! let me go!"
"You must be dreaming, Tom," said Garden, his heart beating high with exultation. "Keep still, keep still! Remember you have promised to obey me implicitly."
"I saw her, I tell you!" cried Tom, shaking all over, but ceasing to struggle. "And now she has disappeared!"
"As she did on the night of the murder?"
"Yes, as she did then."
"But you saw her again?"
"Yes, I saw her again."
"But not in the same spot?"
"No," said Tom, turning in another direction. "This way."
He walked on fifty or sixty yards, and Garden, holding his arm more lightly, accompanied him.
"Why do you stop, Tom?"
"Because I saw her in that clump the second time."
Garden took his hand from Tom's arm and stepped behind him. Again he took his white handkerchief from his pocket.
"Are you quite sure you are not mistaken, Tom?"
"It isn't possible for me to be mistaken," said Tom. Garden once more waved his handkerchief in the air. "There! there! There she is again!"
"All right!" shouted Garden, as though he were addressing some person in the distance. Racing after Tom, he threw his arms around him.
"If you don't let me go," screamed Tom, "I shall do you a mischief! There she is coming towards us!"
Slowly approaching them was a woman in a pink dress, holding her head down.
"Now, Tom," whispered Garden. "It will be over in a moment or two. For God's sake keep still, or you will ruin everything! Do you say that dress is blue?"
"What trick are you playing me?" exclaimed Tom, in a hoarse, broken voice. "Do you want to drive me mad? It is blue, I tell you! I'll take my dying oath on it!"
The woman was now very near to them. She raised her head, and Tom started back in affright as he recognised the face of Aunt Leth.
"Tom," she said, holding out her hand.
But Tom, holding his hands out-stretched before him, shrank from her as she advanced.
"Tom," said Garden, "you know Mrs. Lethbridge?"
"Yes," replied Tom, in the voice of a man who was utterly dazed, "I know her."
"Would she knowingly deceive you? Would she, whose one great hope is that of saving Miss Farebrother's life, knowingly tell you a lie?"
"No; she could not, she could not!"
"Mrs. Lethbridge," said Garden, "what is the colour of the dress you are wearing?"
"Pink," said Aunt Leth, with wistful trembling.
"Pink!" muttered Tom. "Am I going mad?"
"And here is Mr. Cornwall," said Garden, as Fred joined them. "Fred, what is the colour of the dress Mrs. Lethbridge has on?"
"Pink," said Fred.
"Mrs. Pamflett's favourite colour," said Garden. "The colour of the dress she wore when you saw her here on the night of the murder."
"If you've got any pity in you, sir," implored Tom, "tell me what all this means!"
"It means, Tom," answered Garden, "that Miss Farebrother is saved, and her innocence proved. It means, Tom, that you are colour-blind. By the mercy of God this has been discovered in time. See to Mrs. Lethbridge, Fred; she is fainting!"
