Fergus Hume

“ Juliet was dark and rather little, not at all like her Junoesque mother. She was extremely pretty and dressed to perfection. Having more brains and a stronger will than Mallow, she guided him in every way, and had already succeeded in improving his morals. With so gentle and charming a mentor, Cuthbert was quite willing to be led into the paths of virtue. He adored Juliet and she loved him, so it appeared that the marriage would be quite ideal.
"Much as we love one another," said Cuthbert when the lovers were seated on the sofa. "I wonder you can talk of anything but this horrid murder." ”

“ Octagon in a hollow tone, all her theatrical airs gone. "I was a fool to wait so long. For twenty years that woman has held me under her thumb. It was Emilia that made me consent to your engagement to Juliet. Otherwise," she added malevolently, "I should have died rather than have consented. Oh," she shook her hands in the air, "how I hate you and your uncle and the whole of the Mallows."
"A woman scorned, I see," said Cuthbert, rather cruelly, "well, you must be aware that I know everything."
"You don't know who killed Emilia?"
"Maraquito said it was you." ”

“ Maraquito laughed in an evil manner. "Won't I?" she taunted. "I just will. Hale will do what I want, and he will have Basil arrested unless you promise to give up this girl and marry me."
"Hale will do nothing, neither will you," retorted Cuthbert. "I don't care about threatening a woman, but you must not think that you are able to play fast and loose with me."
"How can you hurt me?" asked Maraquito with a scornful smile, although her lips quivered at his tone.
"I can tell Jennings that you are Bathsheba Saul!" ”

“ I doubt very much, madam, if your past life will bear looking into."
"You coward!" she moaned.
"I know I am a coward," said Mallow uncomfortably; "it is not my way to threaten a woman—I said that before. But I love Juliet so much that at any cost I must protect her."
"And my love counts for nothing."
"I am sorry, Maraquito, but I cannot respond. A man's heart is not his own to give."
"Nor a woman's," she moaned bitterly; "oh, heaven, how I suffer. Help!"
Cuthbert heard footsteps ascending the stairs—the light footsteps of a hasty man. ”

“ You were a dancer, I believe?"
"Scarcely that," said Senora Gredos, nervously playing with her fan; "I was learning. It was Le Beau who told you?"
"Indirectly," responded Caranby.
"I should like to know," said Maraquito deliberately, "who has taken the trouble to tell you this. My life—the life of a shattered invalid—can scarcely interest anyone."
"I really forget to whom I am indebted for the information," said Lord Caranby mendaciously, "and a lady of your beauty must always interest men while they have eyes to see. I have seen ladies like you in Andalusia, but no one so lovely. ”

“ Your father should have had the title, Cuthbert!"
"Well, I shall have it some day," said her son soothingly. "Caranby is not likely to marry."
"Yes, but I'll never be Lady Caranby," lamented Mrs. Mallow, who was intensely selfish and egotistical. "And I should have adorned the title. Such an old one as it is, too. But I'm glad that horrid Selina Loach never became his wife. Even that Saul girl would have been better."
"Don't speak evil of the dead, mother."
"I don't see why we should praise the bad dead," snapped Mrs. Mallow. "I never liked either Isabella nor Selina. ”

“ You see in her the image of Emilia as I loved her twenty years ago."
"Loved her?" echoed Jennings, significantly.
"You are right," responded Caranby with a keen look. "I see Cuthbert has told you all. I never did love Emilia. But she hypnotized me in some way. She was one of those women who could make a man do what pleased her. And this Bathsheba—Maraquito—Celestine, can do the same. It is a pity she is an invalid, but on the whole, as she looks rather wicked, mankind is to be congratulated. ”

“ I will put this paper away and say nothing about it to anyone save to Jennings."
"The detective!" said Yeo, surprised and startled. "Do you think that is wise? He may make the matter public."
"No, he won't. He has traced the coiners to their lair, and that is enough glory for him. When he knows the truth he will stop searching further into the case. If I hold my tongue, he may go on, and make awkward discoveries."
"Yes, I see it is best you should tell him. But Miss Saxon?"
"She shall never know. Let her think Maraquito killed Emilia. Only you, I and Jennings will know the truth." ”

“ Cuthbert listened moodily. "You see," he said, "everything is against us. I only wanted the mystery cleared up so that Juliet might marry me, but now that she wishes to do so, without searching further, I am not going to do anything else."
"Nor I," said Jennings sadly, "nothing is to be learned. The case will remain a mystery to the end of time."
Caranby rose and took Cuthbert's arm. "You young men are faint-hearted," he said, with a shrug.
"If you want my opinion, Mrs. Octagon killed her sister. A fatal woman, I tell you both—a fatal woman." ”

“ Then she died and I went as parlor-maid to a Senora Gredos. I was only there six months," and she sighed.
"Why did you leave?" asked Geraldine.
Susan grew red. "I wished for a change," she said curtly.
But the housemaid did not believe her. She was a sharp girl and her feelings were not refined. "It's just like these men—"
"I said nothing about men," interrupted Susan, sharply.
"Well, then, a man. You've been in love, Susan, and—"
"No. I am not in love," and Susan colored more than ever.
"Why, it's as plain as cook that you are, now," tittered Geraldine. ”

“ I was just thinking it's a wild place in which to find one's self at night. By the way," added Basil, as though anxious to change a disagreeable subject, "do you think Jarvey Hale a nice fellow?"
"No, I don't. I have met him at Maraquito's, and I don't like him. He's a bounder. Moreover, a respectable lawyer has no right to gamble to the extent he does. I wonder Miss Loach trusted him."
"Perhaps she didn't know of his gambling," said Basil, his eyes wandering everywhere but to the face of his companion; "but, should you think Hale would be hard on a fellow?" ”

“ Lord knows why she should love a commonplace man like you, but she does."
"Isn't that rather personal?" said Mallow dryly.
"I beg your pardon. But what I wish to say is this. If you marry Miss Saxon and place yourself beyond Maraquito's reach, I will be able to induce her to marry me. Our interests are bound up together. Now, to do this you must have Mrs. Octagon's consent. I can get it."
"In what way?"
"She loves Basil, her son, more than she does herself," went on Hale, paying no attention to the remark. "To save him she would do much." ”

“ Yes. You may look and look, Mr. Jennings, but lame as she is and weak in the back and unable to move from that couch, she loves him. She had that photograph in her room and kissed it, as it I saw with my own eyes. I took it the last thing before I went, as I loved Mr. Mallow too, and I was not going to let that Spanish lady kiss him even in a picture."
"Upon my word," murmured Jennings, taken aback by this vehemence, "it is very strange all this."
"Oh, yes, you gentlemen don't think a poor girl has a heart. I couldn't help falling in love, though he never looked my way. ”

“ But if you loved me—"
"I do love you," she said with a passionate cry. "Have I not proved my love by bearing—as I thought—your burden? Could I do more? Would a woman who loves as I do accuse the man she loves of a horrible crime? I strove to shield you from your enemies."
"I thought you were shielding Basil. Jennings thought so also."
Juliet drew back, looking paler than ever. "What do you know of him."
"Very little," said Cuthbert quickly. "Was he at Rose Cottage on the night in question?"
"No. He was not there. I did not see him."
"Yet he was at the Marlow Theatre with you." ”

“ When the soul is young, what matters the house of clay. But, as I was saying," she added hastily, not choosing to talk of her age, which was a tender point with her, "Selina Loach likes low company. I know nothing of Mrs. Herne, but what you say of her does not sound refined."
"Oh, she is quite a lady."
"And as to Mr. Clancy and Mr. Jarvey Hale," added Mrs. Octagon, taking no notice, "I mistrust them. That Hale man looked as though he would do a deed of darkness on the slightest provocation."
So tragic was her mother's manner, that Juliet turned even paler than she was. ”

“ Now that Selina is dead, Isabella is under the thumb of Maraquito."
"This is all theory," said Jennings impatiently.
"We can only theorize in our present state of uncertainty," was the reply of the nobleman. "But my explanation is a reasonable one."
"I do not deny that. But why should Maraquito send for Mrs. Octagon?"
"Why?" echoed Caranby in surprise, "in order to stop the marriage with Cuthbert. Maraquito loves Cuthbert and hates Juliet. I daresay this is the solution of Mrs. Octagon's strange behavior since the death. ”

“ He thought it was strange that Maraquito should get the detective to write to him, as he knew she mistrusted the man. And, apart from this, he had no wish to see Senora Gredos again. Things were now smooth between him and Juliet—comparatively so—and it would not do to rouse the girl's jealousy. Maraquito was a dangerous woman, and if he paid her a solitary visit, he might fall into some snare which she was quite capable of laying. Such was her infatuation, that he knew she would stop at nothing to gain her ends. ”

“ Octagon viciously, and then her face became gloomy. "Dead!—Walter Mallow. Ah! I loved him so."
"You had a strange way of showing it then," said Cuthbert, calmly, and he also took a seat.
Mrs. Octagon immediately rose. "I forbid you to sit down in my house, Lord Caranby. We are strangers."
"Oh, no, we aren't, Mrs. Octagon. I came here to arrange matters."
"What matters?" she asked disdainfully, and apparently certain he had nothing against her.
"Matters connected with my marriage with Juliet."
"Miss Saxon, if you please. She shall never marry you." ”

“ Senora Gredos frowned and then her face cleared. "The man is such a secretive creature that I don't trust him," she said; "and yet he declared himself to be my friend. He knows I like you, and hinted that he should be glad to bring us together."
"Jennings is a gentleman in spite of his profession," said Mallow in cutting tones. "I scarcely think he would take so great a liberty."
"Is it a liberty?" asked Maraquito softly.
"I consider it to be one. Jennings knows that I am engaged."
"Stop!" she cried, gripping her fan so tightly that her knuckles grew white. ”

“ Cuthbert talked of the matter in so easy a manner that it was impossible to think he had killed Miss Loach. Also he was not the sort of man to murder an inoffensive old woman, the more especially as he—on the face of it—had no motive to commit so brutal an act, or to jeopardize his neck. Struck by his friend's silence, Mallow looked up suddenly. Whether he read the truth in Jennings' eyes or the recollection of Jennings' profession brought the Crooked Lane crime into his mind, it is impossible to say. But he suddenly grew pale and dropped the knife with a look of abhorrence. ”

“ Jennings thought that Mrs. Herne must have Jewish blood in her veins, seeing she was so fond of gems. Certainly she was very like Maraquito, even to having eyebrows almost meeting over her thin high nose. But these, as was her hair, were gray, and her skin lacked the rich coloring of the younger woman. Jennings rapidly took in the resemblance, and commenced the conversation, more convinced than ever that there was some bond of blood between Mrs. Herne and Senora Gredos. This belief helped him not a little. ”

“ Cuthbert Mallow looked at her, wondering why she was so agitated, and Juliet stole her hand into his. Then he addressed her seriously.
"Mrs. Octagon," he said, "your remark about my uncle leads me to think you suspect him."
"No I don't. But you can't marry Juliet on account of this crime."
"Then you hear me," said Mallow, driven into a corner, "from this moment I devote myself to finding out who killed your unfortunate sister. When the assassin is discovered you may consent to our marriage." ”

“ So she arranged, but meantime Peggy had informed the waiting Mallow of Juliet's strange behavior. Determined to make her speak, and anxious to arrive at some understanding, Cuthbert waited at the foot of the stairs. Juliet, coming down, ran straight into his arms, and turned white.
"You!" she gasped, retreating, "you are here after all."
"Did you not hear Miss Garthorne tell you so?" asked Cuthbert.
"Peggy is behaving very wickedly."
"It is you who are behaving badly," said Mallow bluntly, "you know much about this case and you are keeping me in the dark." ”

“ She destroyed Caranby's life. He would have married Selina Loach and have been a happy man but for her."
"There I think you wrong her. It is Isabella Octagon who is to blame. She has indeed been a fatal woman to my poor uncle. But for her, he would not have been prevented from marrying Selina and thus have fallen into the toils of Emilia. Emilia would not have murdered Selina, and the result would not have come out after all these years in the death of my uncle at the hands of Bathsheba Saul." ”