Westenhanger

“ Eileen Cressage watched the old man eagerly stretch out his hand and take the armlet from Westenhanger’s fingers.
“What do you mean, Conway?” she exclaimed. “The real Talisman? Why, you saw the real Talisman put into that safe over yonder not three days ago by Mr. Dangerfield himself. How do you come to have it here?”
For once, Rollo Dangerfield was so moved as to forget his courtesy.
“Is it the real thing?” he asked Westenhanger, with anxiety obvious in his tone.
The engineer reassured him.
“I don’t profess to be an expert; but I can tell the difference between paste and the genuine article. ”

“ The engineer acknowledged the American’s statement with a quick smile. Wraxall, evidently, was a kindred spirit, bent on spoiling Freddie’s little effects.
“Very well,” snapped Freddie. “Then it’s one of us here, excluding Westenhanger.”
Rather to Westenhanger’s surprise, Morchard joined the critics.
“Wrong again,” he declared, weightily. “Mrs. Brent was in the house that night; and she isn’t here. I agree with Mr. Wraxall. Let’s be accurate.”
“Well, well,” snarled Freddie, “have it as you like. The main point is that everyone here, bar one, is under suspicion. ”

“ One uses the hand that’s had most practice, provided one has a free choice between the two hands; and I was careful to pitch the box so that you might have used either hand for it.”
“Well, you’re a good actor, Mr. Westenhanger. I never suspected anything at all; and the whole time you must have been watching me like a cat watching a mouse.”
“It wouldn’t have been much good if you had suspected,” said Westenhanger. He turned to Douglas. “Now, Douglas, does that evidence seem enough to prove that Miss Cressage had no hand in the Talisman’s disappearance? I promised her I could do that. ”

“ Rollo nodded; but quite evidently he was not altogether relieved from anxiety. Eileen’s face showed that she was puzzled by Westenhanger’s words, but she refrained from asking any question.
“We’ll take the document next,” Westenhanger continued, picking it up from the table as he spoke. “You know its contents, two texts and a chess-position. The chess-position is a dud affair. There’s a mate in one move staring one in the face as soon as one looks at it. Obviously the thing isn’t a problem, and no one would trouble to write down an end-game so simple as this. ”

“ It is the one unspoiled little rural oasis in the urban and suburban deserts of a seaboard that has grown fashionable. All too soon it ends, and the villas of Seabrook are reached.
Seabrook and Hythe we have already seen. Now let us strike boldly inland, and, leaving Hythe to the left, tackle the perpetual rise and fall of the roads that lead past the romantic castle of Saltwood to the bosky glades of Westenhanger. ”

“ I feel as if a weight were off my mind. I don’t care how long it is before the Kestrel comes back.”
“What’s the Kestrel got to do with it?” asked Douglas.
“I can’t tell you,” she said, in a lighter tone. “It’s my turn to play the mystery-man, Mr. Westenhanger. But everything will be all right when the Kestrel drops anchor in the bay. ”

“ It’s not so much I expect to get anything out, Douglas. I feel one has to turn to and do what one can, or else I shouldn’t be comfortable. That girl’s face wasn’t a happy sight to-night. It’s got rather on my nerves, if you want to know.”
He took up his pipe again. Douglas said nothing, but his face showed that he understood Westenhanger’s account of his feelings.
“What do you make of Wraxall?” Westenhanger demanded, abruptly.
“Decent soul, I thought. Backed us up well in the matter of sitting on Freddie.” ”

“ Westenhanger detected more feeling in the comment than he had expected; and for a moment he was surprised. Then it flashed across his mind that Rollo probably knew of Helga’s somnambulism and had thus a keener interest in such matters than most people. He hastened to reassure the old man.
“No; it’s not chronic. Just a touch of it one gets at times.”
A fleeting expression changed Rollo Dangerfield’s face for an instant; but it was gone before Westenhanger could identify it.
“I sometimes get it myself when I’m worried,” said old Dangerfield. “It’s a bad business if it gets a firm hold on one. ”

“ They went up to the house and Westenhanger unearthed a chess-board and men in the library. Soon he had set up a duplicate of the diagram with the pieces, and he and Eileen bent their heads over it.
“Even if you don’t know chess, at least you know what a knight’s move is: two squares on and then one to the right or left. You can make the move in any direction you please. ”

“ Dangerfield. Less than a week ago, I felt that Friocksheim was a place I’d never want to visit again; it had such miserable associations in my mind, in more ways than one. But now, somehow, it’s all different. We can all be happy here; there’s nothing hanging over any of us any more. You understand, don’t you?”
Rollo Dangerfield looked at her with something like affection showing in his eyes.
“Who could understand better than I do? It’s like waking out of a nightmare to find the sun shining in through the window. And we owe our awakening to you and Mr. Westenhanger. ”

“ Eileen Cressage had caught the rapid interchange of talk.
“Oh! Are you going to tell him the Legend? May I come? I’d like to hear it.”
“What legend? About the Talisman? I haven’t heard it either,” said Westenhanger. “Do you mind my coming with you along with the rest?”
Rollo Dangerfield’s smile had a touch of wistfulness, in which it seemed curiously alien from the general cast of his features.
“Anyone who is interested will be welcome,” he said, with a touch of an old-fashioned courtesy which seemed to be so much in character in his case. ”

“ Westenhanger noticed the old man’s glance at Eileen as he spoke, so he resolved to put matters on a plain footing at once.
“Miss Cressage knows almost as much about this matter as I do myself. Between us, we seem to have hit upon something which you ought to know at once. Miss Cressage, I may say, gave me the key to the mystery. Without her help I don’t think I’d have hit on the thing at all.”
At the word “mystery,” a shadow gathered on Rollo’s face. He glanced from the engineer to Eileen as though trying to read their thoughts. Westenhanger hastened to reassure him. ”

“ I’m quite set on taking that Talisman home with me somehow, if it can be managed. And I think it can, one way or another.”
Conway Westenhanger’s voice came across the room. The bridge-table was breaking up.
“I make it twenty-seven pounds twelve. You might check the figures, Douglas. I’m more at home in the calculus than in simple arithmetic; and it’s quite likely I’ve made a slip.”
“Right,” said Douglas. “It isn’t your honesty I’m in doubt about, merely your capacity. The great brains are always a bit one-sided—top-heavy, if you take my meaning. Let’s see. ”

“ Westenhanger was relieved to see that even Eileen’s face had taken on a less strained expression. She was anything but at her ease, yet there was something in her face which suggested that she had passed the worst.
Douglas Fairmile was the next to volunteer an account of his doings during the night.
“I’m no great hand at exact times and seasons,” he began. “You’ll just need to take what you get. And I’m no amateur in storms, either. If lightning leaves me alone I’ll never trouble it. ”

“ Rollo Dangerfield’s face had regained its accustomed serenity. The tinge of suspicion had vanished completely and was replaced by a trustful expression, as he looked at his two guests. He turned first to Eileen.
“I am sorry you have been kept waiting for an answer to your question, Miss Cressage. It was my fault. You will forgive an old man’s impatience when I tell you that you and Mr. Westenhanger have cleared up something which has hung over fifty years of my life. And there are other reasons, too, as you will hear.” ”

“ That limits the thing down to the people in the house. I think that’s plain.”
“Quite plain,” commented Westenhanger. “Self-evident, in fact. Proceed, Freddie.”
“The inmates of the house can be divided into three . . .”
“Just like ancient Gaul, eh?” Douglas explained.
Freddie scowled at the interruption and repeated his phrases.
“The inmates can be divided into three groups. First, there’s the Dangerfields themselves; second, the servants; third, the guests—ourselves. The Dangerfields don’t come into the matter. There’s no reason why any of them should take away the Talisman. ”

“ He could not quite dismiss from his mind the impression made upon him by the way in which old Rollo Dangerfield had taken his loss.
“The thing’s worth at least £50,000,” Westenhanger reflected. “The Dangerfields may be well enough off, but a loss on that scale is something more than a flea-bite. And yet he doesn’t seem disturbed in the slightest. One could bet that he really believes the Talisman will turn up again in a few days. If it isn’t cold confidence, then it’s the best acting I ever saw. ”

“ We can trust her.”
Westenhanger hesitated.
“It’s straining the meaning a bit further than old Dangerfield meant, perhaps. But the principle’s the main thing. She wouldn’t let anything slip out. Besides, they’ve never taken me into their confidence. I’m not giving away anything they’ve told me. So why not?”
He folded up his paper, put it into his pocket, and left the room. It took him some time to discover Eileen, but at last he found her at the tennis-courts, watching Douglas and Cynthia playing a single. ”

“ Caistor Scorton?” asked Westenhanger, casually. “She was just in front of us.”
“Yes,” answered Eric. “She’s gone up to the house.”
He walked on and they hurried forward towards Friocksheim.
“She’s gone to have another look at the cabinet, I expect,” said Westenhanger. “Well, since she’s in the house, we may as well strike while the iron’s hot. I’ll not keep you on tenterhooks much longer. As a matter of fact, there’s no more mystery in the business.”
Chapter XII
At the door of Friocksheim, Westenhanger gave Eileen his directions. ”

“ It’s not so much that there’s a thief among us that bothers me. We’ve mixed with all these people before—bar Wraxall. What really puts my nerves on edge is that I don’t know which of ’em’s the thief, I want to see the rest of us cleared.”
Westenhanger’s eye travelled incuriously over the group of Diana’s nymphs and passed on to the stag at the other side of the tapestry; but it was evidently merely a mechanical movement. His thoughts absorbed the whole of his attention. Before he made any reply to Douglas the door opened and Helga Dangerfield came into the room. ”

“ His only worry at present was whether Cynthia Pennard would marry him or not. No great need for anxiety there, Eileen reflected. Cynthia wasn’t throwing herself at his head, certainly; but it was one of those affairs which are bound to come right in the end. If only her own affairs would look as bright!
Finally, her partner, Conway Westenhanger, very obviously hadn’t a care in the world. Those mechanical inventions of his were known to be small gold mines; he wasn’t in love with anyone; and he got on well with people. What more could a man want? ”

“ Then Morchard was only down here trying to persuade us to sell him Friocksheim. Nothing doing, of course; we’d as soon think of parting with the Talisman itself. After what’s happened, we shan’t press him to prolong his visit. He’s not a friend of ours, it was merely a matter of business.”
“I wondered how he came to be here at all,” confessed Westenhanger. “He seemed a bit out of his element. And who’s the third?”
“Freddie. I have an idea that my uncle will politely but firmly hasten his departure. He’s stirred up enough trouble to last us for a while, and we’ll be happier without him.” ”

“ On the afternoon of the day after Rollo Dangerfield had shown the Talisman to his guests, Freddie was lounging on a seat in the garden when one of these inference-bearing facts crossed his mind.
“Why,” he said to himself, “now that Westenhanger’s gone to town, we shall be thirteen at table to-night. That’s very thoughtless of the Dangerfields. Out of thirteen people there’s certain to be at least one person who’s superstitious. That’ll be most uncomfortable for everybody. ”

“ Westenhanger.—There is a Teutonic stem hanh which means to hang, with the Anglo-Saxon later forms, Hôn, Hêng, from which we get our place names of hanger, Ongar, etc. A hanger is a wood or copse hanging on the side of a hill, and in Kent we find Betteshanger, 50 Hangherst, and Ackhanger, as well as Westenhanger, concerning which Leland in his Itinerary writes of “Ostinhaungre ... ”

“ There, within the brief span of historical time, wind, tide, and river, and finally the labour of man, have wrought changes as remarkable as those that in other regions required the lapse of ages which the imagination fails to conceive. The antiquary who walks from Westenhanger Station to the brow of Lympne Hill, and looks out over the vast field of shingle that extends seaward, and, on his left, towards Hythe, and then over the broad level of the marsh that stretches away on his right between the Wealden upland and Dymchurch Wall, will easily picture to himself the scene that once was there. ”

“ Old Rollo’s old-fashioned courtesy returned to him.
“I am very sorry to have interrupted you,” he said. “Please go on with your story. I am quite ready to wait for the end when it comes.”
He settled himself in his chair, evidently restraining all signs of impatience. Westenhanger continued.
“You’ll have no cause to regret our intrusion into your affairs, Mr. Dangerfield. I can promise you that. I’ll go on. With this needle I can prick through the arras and fix the exact position of the hiding-place behind the cloth. You see the stag’s very small; anywhere near the centre of the body will do. ”