mr. conroy departed for london immediately after that momentous walk with ella winter, which would never be forgotten by either of them. there was a last pressure of the hands, a last look into each other's eyes, and he was gone. she wished their engagement not to be spoken of at present, and he willingly complied.
the days wore on. when three had passed, and there came no tidings of hubert stone, old aaron grew somewhat perplexed. what could he mean by absenting himself? that so good a swimmer and strong a man, as hubert was, had failed to reach the shore, no one who knew him entertained any fear. where was he, then?
on the fourth day aaron presented himself before his mistress, who was alone in her own sitting-room.
"no news yet of that scapegrace lad, ma'am!" he said, a quaver of trouble in his voice. "he must have swum off to get succour for you, miss ella, as it was his duty to do; but heaven alone knows where he's got to."
ella smiled. she believed hubert to be perfectly safe and quite able to take care of himself, but she wished to set the old retainer's doubts at rest.
"be at ease, aaron. after a feat like that your nephew would naturally need some recreation; i dare say he has gone away for a few days' holiday. we shall see him back again shortly."
"what i can't get out of my head is this: that he might have been left on board. and oh, my dear young mistress, that night the wreck went to pieces in the gale!"
"he was not left on board, aaron; rely upon that: and one of the boatmen, you know, saw him swimming towards the shore. it must have been he; nobody else was out. believe me," impressively added miss winter, "there is not, so far as i believe, the slightest cause for alarm. hubert is gone away, perhaps on business, combining that at least with pleasure, and you will soon have him at home again. such is my opinion, and i have good grounds for it."
aaron felt reassured. he acknowledged that it might be so.
"not but what the careless young jackanapes ought to have told me before he went, miss ella!" he urged.
"or have written to you," replied ella.
but as more days passed on and hubert neither came nor sent, other people as well as aaron began to wonder; and the question, what could have become of him? made the chief topic of the neighbourhood. that he had undertaken this bout of swimming to obtain succour for miss winter, none disputed, and ella did not undeceive them. the real facts, there could be little doubt, were these. upon hubert's forcing the closed door and finding miss winter senseless on the deck, he must at the same time have seen the little boat coming to her rescue. fearful that her first words might be to denounce him, and probably feeling heartily ashamed of himself, he must have plunged into the sea to swim ashore, not choosing to stay and face the result.
but on what part of the shore had he landed, and where could he be staying? what, in fact, had become of him? aaron and his wife grew strangely uneasy: if anything were detaining him, business or pleasure, surely he would write, they said to one another.
"he has not got so much as a clean shirt with him--or a collar," lamented dorothy. "what _can_ he do without them?"
"oh, drat the shirts and collars!" retorted aaron, not less crusty and contradictory than usual. "as if he couldn't buy himself things o' that sort!"
there came a relief to their fears. dr. jago, hearing that the old people were becoming seriously alarmed, avowed that hubert stone had got safely to land that night, after his swimming-feat, and had made his way at once to his house. here he had put on dry clothes, some things of the young man's happening to be at the doctor's, had borrowed a little money of him, and had gone away again, saying he had business at a distance.
"and why couldn't you have told this afore, sir?" grumbled aaron, when he had heard dr. jago's narrative.
"because hubert asked me not to mention it until he was back again," replied the little doctor. "but i thought it might be better to do so now, as he stays away so long and you seem to be getting into a fever over it."
"do you know where he went to, sir?"
"no; i do not. he is all right, depend upon it, aaron; he'll be turning up one of these fine days."
"all the same, he might have writ to me just a line," contended the old man.
miss winter was nearly as anxious as aaron for the return of hubert. she had determined to question him further upon that strange assertion he had made--that she had no right to heron dyke--and to insist upon a full and explicit answer. a thought crossed her mind sometimes that possibly hubert might be fearing this very questioning, and was staying away in consequence.
and the time again rolled on. three weeks came and went, and hubert stone remained to them all as one dead.
"he does not return, miss ella," cried aaron to his mistress one morning; and there was a worn, pitiful look on his face that she had never seen before. "dorothy's fretting frightfully: she will have it, something dreadful has happened to him, and that we shall never set eyes on him again."
involuntarily there came into ella's memory what dorothy had told her about the dread apparition seen by her that midnight in the shrubbery. she herself had no faith in such superstitious fancies, but she could quite understand the hold they would have over the mind of a woman like dorothy stone.
"it is strange," she replied, "i grant that; and, as you say, he might have written. still, had any harm befallen him you would surely have heard of it from one source or another. i have felt no fear since i heard the report of dr. jago."
"but he stays so long, ma'am."
"we can only go on hoping for the best. young men have sometimes strange fancies for roving, and they do not always think of those to whom their absence or silence may cause grief."
"he's gone to london, mayhap, that wild place, and won't come back till he's parted with his last shilling," suggested aaron, anxious to snatch a morsel of comfort anyhow. "i'd once a fling of that sort myself, ma'am, when i was a young fellow, only i got no further than norwich. they thought i had drowned myself; and father, he had wippenham pond dragged for me."
"let us hope that hubert's freak may prove no worse than yours," said ella, cheeringly. "wait a moment; don't go; i want to speak to you."
failing hubert, miss winter had made up her mind to question aaron as to whether he knew anything or not, for her suspense was becoming intolerable.
"aaron," she began very gravely, "when your grandson hubert was on board the wreck with me that afternoon, now three weeks ago, he told me something which made a very great impression upon me at the time, and which i cannot forget since. it is in my mind every hour of the day--a source of annoyance. as he does not return, i must question you."
aaron gazed at his mistress. she thought he looked uneasy.
"what he said was this: 'a dozen words from me, and heron dyke would know you as its mistress no more. what you hold, you hold by fraud.' now, aaron stone, i ask you, as my uncle's old and faithful servant, to tell me what meaning was hidden in your grandson's words, when he spoke to me thus."
aaron's face was turning livid; he stood a picture of abject terror. twice he essayed to speak, and twice no sound came from his dry lips. miss winter noted the emotion.
"what he knows--if there is anything to know--i think you must know; and i ask you, aaron, what he meant."
"i know no more than the dead what he meant," gasped the old man in a husky whisper. "he must have been mad--mad!"
"can you attach no meaning to his words?"
"none, ma'am; none whatever. he must have been quite mad."
"no, he was not mad, i think. he spoke those words as a truthful man speaks. it seemed to me then, it seems to me still, that there was truth in them: though i don't know how much."
"miss ella," cried the old man eagerly, "you know what has been said--that a keg o' spirits was on board below. hubert must have got to it."
that this was to a certain extent true, she believed; but not that he had taken sufficient to induce him to invent such a thing.
"his mother died in an asylum, poor thing," resumed aaron, catching up his labouring breath; "and at times--only at times, you know, ma'am--i have not been able to rightly make him out, and i've fancied that he might have a touch of her complaint, and wasn't altogether his own master. it must have been so that afternoon."
aaron's hands trembled like those of a man afflicted with palsy, and the muscles of his face twitched convulsively as he spoke. his mistress could scarcely find in her heart to question him further.
"and yet it was a very strange assertion for hubert to make," she said, speaking gently. "he stated distinctly that i held heron dyke by fraud. now, were such the case, aaron, you, as my uncle's confidential servant, must surely be aware of it. hubert would not know what you do not, especially of a grave secret."
"that he'd not," affirmed the old man. "i knew more of the squire's secrets, miss ella, than any man living. were he alive this moment he'd tell you so."
"then there was--there is--no fraud, as far as you are aware?"
"certainly not, ma'am. how would it be possible?"
"that i cannot guess."
"look here now, miss ella, there _couldn't be_. the squire's will was drawn up by lawyer daventry, and signed by himself in the presence of witnesses. everything but a few legacies was to come to you, as he had meant it to all his life. fraud, ma'am! if he had left it away from you one might talk of fraud; not as it is. no, no! that wretched lad--and won't i give it him!--was in one of his wild fits when he said such words, not rightly accountable."
could miss winter say more? she asked aaron no further questions, but let him go. still, in her own mind she could not feel satisfied. what brought that look of terror into aaron's face when she repeated to him hubert's words? why had he trembled to that strange excess? and why had his emotion been so great?
and the more miss winter strove to assure herself that there was no cause to fear things were not honest and straightforward, the less she thought them so, and she resolved to speak to her uncle's lawyer, mr. daventry. walking into nullington, she found him at his office, and saw him alone.
"i have come to seek your advice on what seems to me a very important matter," she began, when she was seated. "i could not rest without coming to you."
"i need hardly say, my dear miss winter, that i am entirely at your service," he replied.
"it has been intimated to me that fraud of some kind has been at work in connection with my inheritance of heron dyke," she continued, having previously determined to avoid if possible the mention of hubert's name. "i am precluded from telling you in what way this information reached me; but it was declared to me, in unmistakable terms, that i had no more right to the property than you have."
lawyer daventry's eyebrows went up in utter surprise. he drew his chair a little closer to that of miss winter, and began to bite his quill pen meditatively, as he waited to hear more.
"you, mr. daventry, had the management of all my uncle's most important affairs. you drew up his will; you were, i believe, present when he signed it; and you, i am sure, would not lend yourself to deceit of any kind; tell me then what, in your opinion, this information can mean."
"my opinion, miss winter, is that there is not an iota of truth in it. the chances are that it will turn out to be nothing more than an attempt to extort money."
"it will certainly not prove to be that," replied ella, decisively. "on that point i can speak with confidence."
"you will not tell me who it was who gave you this information?"
"i would rather not; at least, at present. it was--i think i may say," she added somewhat hesitatingly--"an old friend."
"a very queer friend, it seems to me. he must have had a motive: what was it?"
"pardon me," she rejoined, "but that is not the question. let us assume, if you like, that the motive is not altogether unknown to me. what then? we are still no nearer what i want to know: whether it is possible that there can be any truth in the allegation."
"but the motive might be a malicious one. in which case----"
"pardon me again, but the point is this," she interposed. "is there anything within your knowledge of my uncle's affairs which would lead you to believe that the slightest possibility of fraud, in connection with my inheritance of his property, can exist?"
"no. it does not appear to me that the slightest possibility can exist of anything of the kind," continued mr. daventry. "i drew up your uncle's will in accordance with his instructions and his well-known wishes, and the will was duly signed and witnessed. had he died before his seventieth birthday, the will would have been worthless, so far as the estate went, which would have lapsed to the other gilbert denison. your uncle's savings you would still inherit, but not heron dyke. on the other hand, if he lived over his birthday, the property would be yours beyond possibility of dispute."
"and, as you can testify, he did live over it," returned ella, feeling relieved.
mr. daventry smiled. "my dear young lady, i could not testify to anything of the kind. we lawyers are cautious men. as i did not see your uncle subsequently to his birthday, i could not testify to it."
"but others saw him! others know that he lived over it!" cried ella with a kind of gasp.
"undoubtedly. i spoke only of my own personal knowledge."
"when did you see him last?--how long before his death? perhaps you don't remember?"
"i remember perfectly well. it was on the 24th of november, the day he signed his will. i went to the hall by appointment, with one of my clerks, and i was struck by the change i saw in the squire. to me he looked like a dying man."
"but surely you saw him after that?" cried ella, in surprise.
"no, i did not. i went up to call once or twice, but did not get to see him. that doctor, jago, would admit nobody; and the last time the squire sent out a curt message to the effect that when he wanted me he would send for me. on the 28th of april, early in the morning, a peremptory message came for me----"
"then you did see him after his birthday," interrupted ella.
"a moment yet, please. i did not see him: i had gone to london the day before, and was not back. this answer was despatched to the squire. he would not wait; webb must go if i could not, came back the mandate; and by ten o'clock in the morning, webb was at the hall. he is my managing clerk, as you are aware, himself a qualified solicitor. he knew nothing much of the squire's business, not having then long joined me."
"did he see my uncle?"
"oh, of course. the squire was in bed; frightfully feeble, as it seemed to webb. he wanted his will read over to him, and a short codicil added--which was done, and signed.
"did mr. webb think him much changed?"
"webb had never seen him before. he thought he looked curiously ill and feeble, so far as he could see of him in the darkened room. the squire lay on the pillow, his black velvet skull-cap on, and his long white hair straggling on each side his shrunken face. webb, describing this to me when i reached home at night, said he looked like a fine old picture. his voice had sunk to little more than a whisper; but his mind was clear nay, vigorous."
the tears rose to ella's eyes. she could see, in imagination, her poor uncle lying there.
"no, my dear young lady, rely upon it, there's no flaw in your succession to heron dyke," concluded the experienced lawyer. "my advice to you is, think no more of the affair. there's nothing in it, save, as shakespeare says, 'a pure invention of the enemy.' set your mind at rest."
ella, somewhat reassured, though not wholly, went on her way. she could not forget the intense truth that had shone forth in hubert stone's countenance and tones. that _he_ believed what he had asserted had been to her mind clearly apparent.
it was a few days subsequent to this visit to mr. daventry, that miss winter was engaged to take afternoon tea at the lilacs. some ladies were forming themselves into a committee for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of the poor of nullington during the ensuing winter, and they were to meet that afternoon, thursday, at mrs. ducie's. however, miss winter could not go, some friends having come to the hall, unexpectedly, from a distance, and she sent mrs. toynbee to represent her.
so the new carriage from london, that had been so great an eyesore to old aaron, conveyed her thither in state. mrs. toynbee enjoyed her afternoon immensely: she met lady cleeve, maria kettle, and other ladies with whom she had a slight acquaintance, who were already there. as miss winter's representative she found herself and her opinions deferred to, which was what she liked. moreover, mrs. toynbee had some extraordinary news to tell, and was bursting with its importance.
not until quite the last did she get a suitable opportunity; so much close discussion of the business in hand had taken place. philip cleeve had come in then; his mother had asked him to call for her. he was the only gentleman present, captain lennox having gone to norwich. a remark made by some one gave the opportunity to mrs. toynbee.
"we had a most startling adventure at the hall this morning," began she: and at the word "startling," the whole company fell into silence, and looked up. "several rooms at the hall, as i am given to understand, have been shut up for a great number of years; it was the late mr. denison's pleasure to keep them so----"
"is katherine keen found?" interrupted one of the listeners, in excitement.
"katherine keen! oh dear, no," returned mrs. toynbee, stiffly. "in one of these unused rooms there stood a curiously carved escritoire, or bureau, of polished black oak, a family heirloom, the panels of which bear the date of 1714. miss winter took a fancy to examine this relic, for so i may term it; she had it removed to her morning-room, and to-day, after breakfast, she set to work to examine its contents, calling me to her aid. they proved to be nothing more valuable than a number of expired leases, and other papers connected with the farm property. but while thus engaged we made a very curious discovery. by some means or other, probably from the accidental touching of a hidden spring, a secret recess at the back of the escritoire was suddenly exposed to view."
"oh dear, how delightful! a secret recess!"
"we were, as you may imagine, on the tiptoe of curiosity in a moment. i was, and i could see that miss winter was: she had seemed to me to be searching for some particular document, by the way she examined all the old papers."
"but what did you find in the recess?"
"what we found, hidden away from the light for it is hard to guess how many years, was a large parcel of jewels," replied mrs. toynbee in slow and important tones.
"jewels! good gracious!"
"beautiful jewels. rings, brooches, necklets, earrings, and lockets; nearly all set with precious stones of great apparent value. of course their setting is sadly old-fashioned; but that can easily be altered by-and-by."
the ladies went into fresh excitement; one and all declaring how much they should like to see the jewels.
"what have you done with them, mrs. toynbee?"
"miss winter has put them back into the cabinet. at the lowest estimation, the stones alone must be worth a thousand pounds."
"articles of that value ought to be at the bankers'," remarked philip cleeve. he was standing by the mantelpiece, a little apart from the circle. an anxiety bordering on restlessness sat in his countenance, sufficiently apparent to one of those around him--maria kettle; and his hand, which had met hers on his entrance, felt dry and feverish.
"i dare say miss winter will send them to the bankers' in a few days' time," said mrs. toynbee in answer to the remark. "but she wants mr. daventry to see them first, and he is not at home. she----"
"daventry is in london," interrupted philip. "he won't be back till the beginning of next week--monday or tuesday."
"true," assented mrs. toynbee. "i called at the office as i drove in, and found that only mr. webb was there. miss winter--really she is ultra-scrupulous in many things--does not feel sure whether the jewels rightly belong to her; she will do nothing with them before she gets mr. daventry's opinion. until then they will remain where they are, untouched."
"i hope they will be safe," laughed philip.
"safe!" echoed mrs. toynbee: "why should they not be safe? they are where they have been lying hidden all these years. none of the servants have been told of the discovery; not even old aaron and his wife."
"by the way," cried margaret ducie, lifting her head from the pencilled notes she had been making of the suggested plans for the relief of the poor, "has that relative of theirs, young stone, turned up yet?"
"not yet," said mrs. toynbee. "nobody can imagine where he is staying. we think he must be unavoidably detained somewhere--though it is strange he does not write to say so."
the meeting and conversation recorded above took place on thursday afternoon. on the following monday morning old aaron stone proceeded, as usual, to open the doors and windows of the hall--for he would not allow that duty to be performed by anybody but himself. at an unearthly hour, as the maids considered it, whom he obliged to be also up in readiness for their work, old aaron would be on the move. as he was on this day; there was only just light enough yet for him to see his way about.
after unbolting the outer doors, he first turned into miss winter's morning-room, as it was called, which opened from the large hall. the moment he entered it, he saw that some one had been there before him. the lower sash of the window was thrown up, one of the shutters had been forced open, while sundry papers scattered about the floor betrayed that the escritoire had been visited. aaron knew nothing about the jewels that had been found and left there; but the evidence of robbery was enough for him. hurrying up to miss winter's chamber, he aroused her from sleep with his news. she partly dressed herself and followed him down.
her first thought was of the jewels, and she proceeded to examine the secret recess. yes, it stood open. the jewels had disappeared; they were stolen. but not another article in the room, save the bureau, had been touched.
whilst his mistress was slowly gathering in these particulars, aaron opened the other shutter, and stepped over the low sill into the garden. the hard gravelled path came close up to the window, so that he had little hope of finding any footmarks which might serve as a clue to the thief or thieves. but aaron, glancing keenly about, saw something lying under a holly-bush, a little distance away, that for the moment caused his heart to stand still. to his old eyes it almost looked like hubert; hubert lying on his back.
the sleepy maids were beginning to come downstairs then. one of them--it was betsy tucker--entered the morning-room, and stood half-dazed at what she saw. the window open, papers scattered on the carpet, her mistress, partially dressed, standing before the bureau, and aaron hastening down the gravel path outside.
a low cry, growing into an agonised shriek, burst upon the girl's ear and that of her mistress. it came from the old man. he had dropped on one knee, and was trying to lift what was lying there: hubert stone. ah, never more, never more would he be lifted in life. his wide-open eyes, staring upwards, saw nothing, his form was rigid, his hair wet with the night's dews. he had been dead some hours, stabbed by some villain through the heart.
