LITMIR.BIZ

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Sir George, motioning to Ralph.

      "The fact is," said Ralph, "the jewels are gone! They have been stolen in the night."

      He bolted out with this one sentence, and then was silent. Marston and I stared at him aghast.

      "Is there no mistake?" said Marston at last.

      "None," replied Ralph. "I put them in a drawer in the great inlaid writing-table in the library last night, before everybody. I went for them this morning, half an hour ago, at father's request. The lock was broken, and they were gone."

      There was another long silence.

      "I was a fool, of course, to put them there," resumed Ralph. "Charles told me so; but I thought they were as safe there as anywhere, if no one knew—and no one did except the house party."

      "Were any of the servants about?" asked Marston.

      "Not one. They had all gone to bed except one of the footmen, who was putting out the lamps in the supper-room, miles away."

      Another silence.

      "That is the dreadful part of it," burst out Ralph. "They must have been taken by some one staying in the house—some one who saw me put them there. The first thing I did was to send for the house-maids, and they assured me that they had found every shutter shut, and every door locked, this morning, as usual. Any one with time and wits might have got in through one of the library windows by taking out a pane and forcing the shutter. I suppose a practised hand might have done such a thing; but I went outside and there was not a footstep in the snow anywhere near the library windows, or, for that matter, anywhere near the house at all, except at the side and front doors, which are impracticable for any one to force an entrance by."

      "When did it leave off snowing?" asked Marston.

      "About three o'clock," replied Ralph. "It must have snowed heavily till then, for there was not a trace of all the carriage-wheels on the drive when we went out last night, but our footprints down to the lodge are clear in the snow now. There has been no snow since three o'clock this morning."

      "It all points to the same thing," said Charles, quietly, speaking for the first time. "The jewels were taken by some one staying in the house."

      "One of the servants—" began Marston.

      "No!" said Charles, cutting him short, "not one of the servants."

      "It is impossible it should have been one of them," said Ralph, after some thought. "First of all, none of them saw the jewels put into that drawer; and, secondly, how could they suspect me of hiding them in a place where I had never thought of putting them myself till that moment? Besides, that one drawer only was broken open—the centre drawer in the left-hand set of drawers. All the others were untouched, though they were all locked. No one who had not seen the jewels put in would have found them so easily. That is the frightful part of it."

      For a few minutes no one spoke. At last Marston raised his head from his hands.

      "There is no way out of it," he said, very gravely. "The robbery was committed by one of the visitors staying in the house!"

      "Yes!" said Charles.

      "Yes!" echoed a whisper from the bed.

      Charles looked up slowly and deliberately, and the eyes of father and son met again.

      "We do not often agree, father," he said, in a measured voice. "I mark this exception to the rule with pleasure."

      "When I had made out as much as this," continued Ralph, "father told me to call both of you and Charles, to consider what ought to be done before we make any move."

      "Have you an inventory of the jewels?" asked Marston at length.

      "None," said Sir George, "unless Middleton had one from Sir John."

      I thereupon recapitulated in full all the circumstances of the bequest, finally adding that Sir John had never so much as mentioned an inventory.

      "So much the better for the thief," said Marston, his chin in his hands. "It is not a case for a detective," he added.

      "I think not," said Charles.

      A kind of hoarse ghostly laugh came from the bed. "Charles is always right," whispered the sick man. "Quite unnecessary, I am sure."

      "Oh, I don't know," I said, feeling I had not yet been of as much assistance as I could have wished. "Now, I think detectives are of use—really useful, you know, in finding out things. There was a detective, I remember, trying to trace the people who murdered that poor lady at Jane's old house since my return."

      "But who could it have been? who could it have been?" burst out Ralph, unheeding. "They were all friends. It is frightful to suspect one of them. One could as easily suspect one's self. Which of them all could have done a thing like that? Out of them all, which was it?"

      "Carr!" replied Charles, quietly, looking full at his father.

      If a bomb-shell had fallen among us at that moment it could not have produced a greater effect than that one word, uttered so deliberately. Sir George started in his bed, and clutched at the bedclothes with both hands. My brain positively reeled. Carr! my friend Carr! introduced into the family by myself, was being accused by Charles. I was speechless with indignation.

      "I am sorry, Middleton," continued Charles; "I know he is your friend, but I can't help that. Carr took the jewels. I distrusted him from the moment he set foot in the house."

      "Where is he at this instant?" said Marston, getting up. "Is no one with him?"

      "There is no need to be anxious on his account," replied Charles. "I took him up to the smoking-room before I came here, and I turned the key in the door. The key is here." And he laid it on the table.

      Marston sat down again.

      "What are your grounds for suspecting Carr?" he asked. "Remember, this is a very serious thing, Charles, that you have done in locking him up, if you have not adequate reason for it."

      "You had better leave Carr alone, Charles," said Ralph, significantly.

      "Let him go on," said Sir George.

      "I have no proof," continued Charles; "I did not see him take them, but I am as certain of it as if I had seen it with my own eyes. The jewels could only have been stolen by some one staying in the house. That is certain. Who, excepting Carr, was a stranger among us? Who, excepting Carr—"

      "Stop, Charles," said Ralph again. "Don't you know that Carr slept with me down at the lodge?"

      Charles turned on his brother and gripped his shoulder.

      "Do you mean to say," he said, sharply, "that Carr did not sleep in the house last night?"

      "Dear me, Charles, that was an oversight on your part," came Sir George's whisper.

      "No," replied Ralph, "he did not. The house was full, and we had to put him in that second small room through mine in the lodge. If Carr had been dying to take them he had not the opportunity. He could not have left his room without passing through mine, and I never went to sleep at all. I had a sharp touch of neuralgia from the cold, which kept me awake all night."

      "He got out through the window," said Charles.

      "Nonsense!" said Ralph, getting visibly angry; "you are only making matters worse by trying to put it on him. Remember the size of the window. Besides, you know how the lodge stands, built against the garden wall. When I came out this morning there was not a single footstep in the snow, except those we had made as we went there the night before. I noticed our footmarks particularly, because I had been afraid there would be more snow. No one could by any possibility have left the house during the night. Even Jones himself had not been out, for there was a little eddy of snow before the back door, and I remember calling to him that he would want his broom."

      "The snow clinches the matter, Charles," said Marston, gravely. "You have made a mistake."

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