beatrice emerged from a throng of chattering people presently and wilfrid followed her into the hall.
"i hope you don't mind," she said, "but i should like you to see my maid. it may be nothing but a passing fit of hysteria, but i never saw her so nervous before. she went to the village on an errand this afternoon, and when she came back she told me she had been frightened by two large monkeys in the pine wood behind the house. she said that they vanished in a most extraordinary way. i should have put the whole thing down to sheer imagination if i had not known that some animals have escaped recently from the circus at castlebridge."
"it is possible the girl spoke the truth," said wilfrid, with a coolness he was far from feeling, "but i will see her with pleasure. i daresay if i prescribe something soothing you can send into oldborough and get it made up."
wilfrid returned by and by with the information that there was nothing the matter with the maid and that her story seemed clear and coherent. there was no time for further discussion, as flower came forward and enlisted wilfrid to make up a hand at bridge. the house was looking at its best and brightest now. all the brilliantly lighted rooms were filled with a stream of gaily dressed guests. the click of the balls came from the billiard-room. it seemed hard to associate a scene like this, the richest flower of the joie de vivre, with the shadow of impending tragedy, and yet it lurked in every corner and was even shouting its warning aloud in wilfrid's ears. and only a few short hours ago everything was smooth, humdrum, monotonous.
"i hope you are not in any hurry to leave," flower murmured as he piloted wilfrid to the card table. "most of these chattering idiots will be gone by eleven, and there is something that i have to say to you."
"i shall be at your service," wilfrid said. "i will stay as long as you please. in any case i should like to have another look at your hand before i go."
flower turned away apparently satisfied and made his way back to the billiard-room. for a couple of hours and more the guests stayed enjoying themselves until, at length, they began to dribble away, and with one solitary exception the card tables were broken up. wilfrid lingered in the hall as if admiring the pictures, until it seemed that he was the last guest. it was a little awkward, for flower had disappeared and beatrice was not to be seen. she came presently and held out her hand.
"i am very tired," she said. "my uncle wants to see you before you go and i know you will excuse me. but i hope we shall not lose sight of one another again. i hope you will be a visitor at the grange. please tell your mother for me that i will come and call upon her in a day or two."
"is it worth while?" wilfrid asked somewhat sadly. "we are poor and struggling, you know, so poor that this display of luxury and wealth almost stifles me."
"we have always been such good friends," beatrice murmured.
"i hope we always shall be," wilfrid replied. "i think you know what my feelings are. but this is neither the time nor place to speak of them."
he turned away afraid to say more. perhaps beatrice understood, for a pleasant smile lighted up her face and the colour deepened in her cheeks. at the same moment flower came out of the library. he glanced suspiciously from one to the other. little escaped those keen eyes.
"you had better go to bed, beatrice," he said abruptly. "i have some business with mr. mercer. let us talk it over in the billiard-room. i can't ask you in the library because my man cotter will be busy there for the next half-hour."
in spite of his curtness it was evident that flower was restless and ill at ease. his hand shook as he poured out the whisky and soda, and his fingers twitched as he passed the cigarettes.
"i am going to ask you a question," he said. "you recollect what you told us this afternoon about that borneo incident—about the man whom you found dead in such extraordinary circumstances. i couldn't put it to you more plainly this afternoon before my niece, but it struck me that you knew more than you cared to say. did you tell us everything?"
"really, i assure you there is no more to be said," wilfrid exclaimed. "the victim was practically a stranger to me, and i should have known nothing about it if i had not been fetched. i am as puzzled now as i was then."
flower's brows knitted with disappointment.
"i am sorry to hear that," he said. "i thought perhaps you had formed some clue or theory that might account for the man's death."
"i assure you, nothing," wilfrid said. "i made a most careful examination of the body; in fact, i went so far as to make a post-mortem. i could find nothing wrong except a certain amount of congestion of the brain which i attributed then and do still to the victim's dissipated habits. every organ of the body was sound. all things considered, the poor fellow's blood was in a remarkably healthy state. i spared no pains."
"then he might have died a natural death?"
"no," wilfrid said firmly. "i am sure he didn't. i am convinced that the man was murdered in some way, though i don't believe that any surgeon could have put his hand upon the instrument used or have indicated the vital spot which was affected. i admit that i should have allowed the matter to pass if i had not found that strange piece of string knotted round the brows. it would be absurd to argue that the string was the cause of death, but i fancy that it was a symbol or a warning of much the same sort that the conspirators in the olden days used when they pinned rough drawings of a skull and crossbones to the breasts of their victims."
flower was listening with his whole mind concentrated upon the speaker's words. he seemed as if he were about to ask some further question, when he changed his mind. from the breast-pocket of his dress-coat he produced a letter, and from it extracted a piece of knotted string.
"of course you recognize this?" he asked.
"i do," wilfrid said. "it is the piece which miss galloway picked up this afternoon."
"well, then it isn't," flower said with a snarl. "this is another piece altogether. i hold in my hand, as you see, a letter. this letter was sent me from borneo by one of my agents. it is connected with a highly complicated and delicate piece of business, the secret of which is known only to my agent, to my secretary and myself. the letter is written in cypher in my agent's own handwriting. i know that from the time it was written to the time it was posted it was never out of his hand. it reached me with every seal intact, and yet, neatly coiled up inside, was the identical piece of string which you are looking at now. i should like to know, dr. mercer, how you account for that."
"i couldn't," said wilfrid. "nobody could explain such an extraordinary occurrence. of course, there is a chance that your agent himself might——"
"nothing of the kind," flower put in. "he is not that sort of man. besides, if he had been, there must have been some explanation in the letter, whereas the thing is not alluded to at all. frankly, i am disappointed that you can give me no further information. but i will not detain you longer."
"one moment," wilfrid said. "i must have a look at your hand before i go. it is as well to be on the safe side."
"one moment," flower said. "i'll see if my man cotter has finished, then i will come back to you."
wilfrid was not sorry to be alone, for this was fresh material for his already bewildered thoughts. there was danger pressing here, but from what quarter, and why, it was impossible to determine. yet he was convinced the hand of tragedy was upon the house, and that all flower's wealth, all his costly possessions, would never save him from the shadow of the coming trouble. this pomp and ostentation, these beautiful chairs and tables and carpets and pictures, were no more than a hollow mockery.
time was creeping on and yet flower did not return. the hands of the clock over the billiard-room mantelpiece moved onwards till the hour of twelve struck, and still flower made no sign. it seemed to wilfrid that the subtle odours of the blooms which lined the hall and overflowed into the billiard-room were changing their scent, that the clear light thrown by the electrics was merging to a misty blue. he felt as if a great desire to sleep had overtaken him. he closed his eyes and lay back. where had he smelt that perfume?
he jumped to his feet with a start. with a throbbing head he darted for the window. he knew now what it was—the same pungent, acrid smell those men were making in their fire under the trees. was it deadly? a moment's delay might prove fatal.
