William Le Queux

“ Already we had left behind us the crisp clear air of the mountains. The snow everywhere was half melted and slushy and the train pushed its way onward through a dense curtain of driving sleet.
We ate our dinner amid a gay crowd of holiday makers returning, not only from Mürren but from Grindelwald, Wengen, Adelboden, Kandersteg, and other winter sports centres. The talk was gay and animated, merry laughter resounded through the long car. Yet Thelma sat pale, silent and nervous and her tired eyes told their own tale of sleeplessness and anxiety. ”

“ Weather conditions in the Alps change with every moment. A blizzard may succeed brilliant sunshine within five minutes—a blizzard that whips the face with its icy blast, piles snow deep, and freezes one to the marrow. In the glacier regions of the higher Alps, the weather cannot be depended upon for a few minutes together.
Thelma, that day, wore the ski kit in which I had first seen her—the Fair Isle jazzy patterned jersey, and over it the short little wind-proof jacket trimmed with fur, and her corduroy breeches and stockings. ”

“ Each winter the Kürhaus hotel is a centre for the ever-growing band of enthusiasts who meet there for the bright social life and superb out-door sport which Mürren affords. These are the people who truly enjoy themselves healthfully. Skiing and similar pursuits demand perfect physical fitness and at the Kürhaus one is in the centre of wholesome out-door exercise by day and in the evening of a gay merriment which only seems to round off and complete the pleasures of days spent in the open air on the towering mountain slopes. ”

“ Shaylor was, like so many other gentlewomen of today, keeping up a brave appearance, with but small funds at her disposal.
I longed to mention Harold Ruthen, but did not dare to do so lest I should betray what her mother had told me in confidence. But I was angry that the fellow dared to seek her at Bexhill and cause her worry. It, however, proved one fact, that he, at any rate, was not aware of Stanley’s whereabouts, and, for the moment, could not do him the harm that I believe he fully intended.
How one’s most momentous actions depend at times upon the merest trivialities! ”

“ And above all, even in those swiftly flying moments, I still speculated as to Humphreys’ possible motive in a plot which, I was now convinced, must have been originally formed amid the snows of Switzerland—a plot between the mysterious doctor and the cosmopolitan financier who had posed as my friend. How could Hartley Humphreys, reputed millionaire, benefit by the extinction of two such humble lives as Thelma’s and my own? Murder is seldom or never motiveless, except it be committed by the homicidal maniac. ”

“ It was evident that my caller was the man who had lived on the first floor in Half Moon Street, and was the friend of the Stanley Audley who had married Thelma!
What did that amazing visit portend? It worried me. Why should a reassuring message be given to me by a man who was not the person in whom I was interested, and whom I had never met? The whole affair was becoming more and more obscure and mysterious. As a solicitor I had been brought into contact with more than one queer affair, but the Audley mystery was beyond anything in my experience. ”

“ Feng had always opposed my association with Thelma—had seemed, indeed, decidedly hostile to her. His hostility, at least, had apparently evaporated. Yet I found he was as strongly as ever opposed to the continuance of my intimacy with her.
Did he fear for me? Did he fear for her? Did he fear for both of us?
I could not tell. But there was no mistaking the advice he gave.
“Look here, Yelverton,” he said to me a few hours before I was to leave the hospital, “you have had a very narrow escape. You owe your life to the merest chance and you may not be so lucky in the future.” ”

“ Guides in the Alps seldom fail.
With difficulty we wriggled out of the snow and stood up. Even in our shaken condition we could not but admire the panorama of the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Wetterhorn, across the darkening valley before us. But haste was imperative: the light was fading quickly and we were a long way from Mürren.
I had lost one of my skis, which had been torn from its strong Huitfeldt binding in our fall. Mrs. Audley’s, however, were intact, and we started to descend. She soon recovered in the keen Alpine air, and was able to help me, lame dog that I was. ”

“ Though I led the conversation several times in the direction of Harold Ruthen, Thelma said nothing of his visits to Bexhill. I was irritated because she would not be frank with me. At length I thought it would be best to speak plainly and told her of my adventure in Lancaster Gate, of course without mentioning the discovery of the forged bank-notes.
“But, surely it could not have been Stanley!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Why should he want to avoid you, of all men? He could not imagine you as anything else but a friend!”
“Equally so, why does he not let you know his whereabouts?” ”

“ There is a room reserved for him and always ready. Devoted to Thelma, he spends much of his time with us. He never tires of talking of the Crystal Claw, the magic talisman that saved us for each other. And every now and again, with his inimitable chuckle, he croaks out, “Yelverton, I told you the arm of the Thu-tseng was long!”
It was long indeed. It stretched half across the world to give us—two tiny units caught in a cruel trap—a helping hand in our dire distress. We owe our wealth, our radiant happiness, our very lives to the magical influence of the Crystal Claw. ”

“ Audley and his pretty wife, smart in another sports suit of emerald green that I had not before seen her wearing, shouted simultaneously the warning, “Achtung!”
Next second, recognizing us, they greeted us cheerily as they slid swiftly past upon their skis.
“A very charming pair—eh?” remarked old Humphreys. “The more I see of them the more interesting they become. What do you think of the girl? You are young, and should be a critic of feminine beauty,” he added, with a smile.
“I agree. She is very charming,” I said, “Audley is, however, rather too serious, don’t you think?” ”

“ There we skated or curled, or we took excursions on the wonderful rack-railway up to the Allmendhubel, or else over the snow to what is known as the Half-way House, or else down to the Blumen-tal.
Mürren in winter is par excellence a sports centre for young people who indulge in skating, tobogganing, lugeing and skiing, the winter sports that are, in these post-war days, happily eclipsing the exotic pleasures one obtains on the Riviera. There, in the Bernese Oberland, the vice of gambling hardly exists save in the form of occasional bridge as a relaxation after the day’s sport. ”

“ You have had a pretty severe warning and if I were you I should certainly heed it. Whatever the secret may be—and it clearly must be something very serious—it evidently does not concern you personally and if you drop the whole affair you will be safe enough. Surely there is no reason why you should run any further risk?”
“It concerns Thelma,” I said doggedly, “and for her sake I have determined, no matter at what risk to myself, and no matter who threatens me, to elucidate the mystery of Audley’s dual rôle, and his curious disappearance. For the future at least I shall be forearmed.” ”

“ Feng spoke behind me.
“A pretty sight, Yelverton. It is good, indeed, to be young. There’s an example of the fate lying before you: you’ll have to marry some day, you know.”
“No sign of it yet, doctor,” I laughingly replied.
As a matter of fact, matrimony had so far made no appeal to me: I had never met a girl who had stirred me deeply. I had many friends—or at least [20] acquaintances—of my own sex, but I was deeply absorbed in my hobbies and, not seeking society for society’s sake, I had hardly any woman friends. ”

“ Humphreys said. “Ruthen is seeing after it for me. I fancy I can get it a bit cheaper than they want. As I’ll be in London for quite a year now, I prefer a house to hotel life.”
Mention of the name of Ruthen caused me to prick up my ears. I had no idea that the young man who so constantly pestered Thelma with his questions was acquainted with Humphreys.
“Yes,” agreed the doctor. “I think you will be better off in a house than in hotels. I always find the latter very wearisome and restless.” ”

“ Thelma’s obvious distress and the extraordinary mystery into which I had stumbled occupied all my thoughts and I could no longer take the slightest pleasure in the gay life which seethed and bubbled around me. It was therefore with a feeling of genuine relief that I found myself at last in the restaurant car of the Boulogne express, slowly leaving Interlaken for the long night run across France by way of Delle and Rheims. ”

“ Feng shook his head. “You can rule Stanley Audley, as the husband, out of your reckoning. But what about Stanley Audley, the bank-note forger. Suppose he and his associates know that your constant efforts to find him might mean bringing the whole gang to justice? Desperate men would not hesitate at murder when the stakes involved are so great. My own belief is they fear that by your continued friendship with Mrs. Audley you will pick up a hint that will set you—and the police—on the right track. Probably they think that is your real motive. ”

“ At Mürren one [13] finds a winter life that cannot be excelled in Europe.
The scene was wonderfully attractive. All around us were the great hills clothed in virgin snow, dotted here and there with merry parties of girls whose bright sports costumes provided startling splashes of color against the white background. Everywhere pretty lips laughed in the sheer joy of young exuberant life. Everywhere merry conversation rang out from dawn to dusk, everybody seemed to be active, healthy and happy. ”

“ She was—by a message purporting to come from her husband asking her to call at Heathermoor Gardens. She did so and fell into the hands of the man who intended she should die. Yet so clever was old Humphreys, that, though I kept him under close observation, I could not discern that he was acting at all suspiciously. I did not know of course, of his plot to burn you alive. But we were watching him very closely. That night Stanley and I tracked him to the house at Hampstead. We saw you arrive later, but we little dreamed that Thelma was held there a drugged and helpless prisoner. ”

“ From members there, I gleaned several facts concerning Stanley Audley. He was apparently a rich young “man-about-town,” but surrounded, as all wealthy young men are, by parasites who sponged upon his generosity. Of these Harold Ruthen was undoubtedly one.
Days passed, and although I went hither and thither, making inquiries in all likely quarters, I could obtain no further knowledge. Stanley Audley had disappeared. I felt more convinced than ever that Thelma possessed knowledge she feared to disclose.
In my perplexity, I thought, at last, of old Dr. Feng. Perhaps he would be able to help me. ”

“ I asked. “Mr. Humphreys, I believe you know far more than ever you will reveal to me,” I said earnestly. “Do tell me what [265] you know. I don’t conceal the fact from you that I love Thelma.”
“You needn’t. I’ve known that all along. So has Feng. You’ve worn your heart on your sleeve for everybody to see. Ah! how very foolish you have been, my boy. But tell me—are you still determined to solve the mystery concerning Audley’s disappearance?” ”

“ Suddenly the tall, lithe, young Alpine guide in his neat blue serge skiing suit drew on his leather mitts, hitched on his rucksack and the little party slid swiftly away over the snow.
It was clear the girl was an expert—her every movement showed it. Those who go skiing well know the difficulty of keeping their balance on the long, narrow planks turned up in front which constitute ski. But the bride had long ago passed through the initial stages. ”

“ Old Feng gave me a queer look. “You can never [66] tell,” he said slowly. “Most people want help badly at some time in their lives. Mrs. Audley, for instance, is in a position of considerable difficulty at the moment and may be in a worse one very soon. And remember this, my boy—the Thu-tseng has an arm longer than you dream of.”
As the days slipped by I became more and more concerned about Thelma. Feng’s antagonism to herself and her husband became daily more apparent, and I was glad when, the day after old Humphreys had departed, he left for London. ”

“ Every trace of the cause of the fire would be consumed: only our bodies, charred beyond all possible identification, would be found beneath the ruins. Our fate would remain unsolved and the fire would be relegated to the ever-growing list of London’s unsolved mysteries. I found myself dully speculating as to the insurance, realizing that the owner of the house would be duly recompensed, and that the assassin whom I had never even suspected would go scot free. ”

“ Much above the common height for a Chinese he possessed features of the type which seldom show many signs of advancing age. Erect and virile he carried himself like a much younger man and of his activity and endurance I had had ample proof, for, in our frequent long tramps and ski expeditions across the snow, he had shown me more than once that his muscles were equal to my own, despite the great disparity in our ages. ”

“ It did not seem so strange in the free and easy camaraderie of Mürren where the free and easy sporting life bred a harmless unconventionality and where even the British starchy reserve was very early sloughed off. Everybody made a joke of the whole affair and Dr. Feng and old Mr. Humphreys laughed like boys at this novel status I had acquired.
Of course there was some malice: there always is in a mixed company. After we had glided some miles across the snow, we halted and I poured out some tea from the vacuum flask I carried. ”

“ Feng, I was a mere child in musical knowledge. [14] Our music, however, made us both popular and it had become quite a regular evening custom for us to play to the Kürhaus guests in the great ball-room.
There was, however, a still deeper side to our intercourse. Feng had initiated me into the first principles of the little-known Yogi philosophy—the doctrine that the real man is not the visible body, that the immortal “I,” of which each human being is conscious to a greater or lesser extent, merely occupies and uses the corporal transient flesh. ”

“ Brown corduroy breeches, and heavy well-oiled boots and ski-anklets completed one of the most sensible ski-outfits I have ever seen. That she was no novice at skiing was evident from the badge, a pair of crossed skis, she wore in her cap. It was the badge of the Swiss Ski Club—the same as that worn by the Alpine guides themselves.
Naturally I was surprised. I had, on the previous night, believed her to be simply a handsome young bride who had come to spend her honeymoon amid [18] the winter gayety of Mürren, but now it was clear she was no beginner. ”

“ The night of the bob-sleigh trip found me playing the drum in the amateur jazz band—a dance-orchestra formed among the visitors each year, to carry on the dancing after midnight. Mrs. Audley and her husband came into the dance-hall of the Kürhaus just as the merriment began, and they danced together while I sat behind the drum with a little comic, flat-brimmed hat in imitation of George Robey, upon my head.
“Really your amateur band is more amusing than the professional one,” declared Audley, during the interval. “Last night we watched you. It seems that the visitors wait until you start up.” ”