X
THE SHADOW
Bela was to be buried at four. As Judge Ostrander prepared to lock hisgate behind the simple cortege which was destined to grow into a vastcrowd before it reached the cemetery, he was stopped by the sergeant whowhispered in his ear:
"I thought your honour might like to know that the woman--you know theone I mean without my naming her--has been amusing herself this morningin a very peculiar manner. She broke down some branches in theravine,--small ones, of course,--and would give no account of herselfwhen one of my men asked her what she was up to. It may mean nothing,but I thought you would like to know."
"Have you found out who she is?"
"No, sir. The man couldn't very well ask her to lift her veil, and atthe tavern they have nothing to say about her."
"It's a small matter. I will see her myself to-day and find out what shewants of me. Meanwhile, remember that I leave this house and groundsabsolutely to your protection for the next three hours. I shall be knownto be absent, so that a more careful watch than ever is necessary. Not aman, boy or child is to climb the fence. I may rely on you?"
"You may, judge."
"On my return you can all go. I will guard my own property after to-day.You understand me, sergeant?"
"Perfectly, your honour."
This ended the colloquy.
Spencer's Folly, as the old ruin on the bluff was called in memory ofthe vanished magnificence which was once the talk of the county,presented a very different appearance to the eye in broad daylight fromwhat it did at night with a low moon sending its mellow rays through thegreat gap made in its walls by that ancient stroke of lightning. Eventhe enkindling beams of the westering sun striking level through theforest failed to adorn its broken walls and battered foundations. To thejudge, approaching it from the highway, it was as ugly a sight as theworld contained. He hated its arid desolation and all the litter ofblackened bricks blocking up the site of former feastings and recklessmerriment, and, above all, the incongruous aspect of the one gable stillstanding undemolished, with the zigzag marks of vanished staircasesoutlined upon its mildewed walls. But, most of all, he shrank from asight of the one corner still intact where the ghosts of dead memorieslingered, making the whole place horrible to his eye and one to beshunned by all men. How long it had been shunned by him he realised whenhe noticed the increased decay of the walls and the growth of theverdure encompassing the abominable place!
The cemetery from which he had come looked less lonesome to his eyes andfar less ominous; and, for a passing instant, as he contemplated thescene hideous with old memories and threatening new sorrows, he enviedBela his narrow bed and honourable rest.
A tall figure and an impressive presence are not without theirdisadvantages. This he felt as he left the highway and proceeded up thepath which had once led through a double box hedge to the high, pillaredentrance. He abhorred scandal and shrank with almost a woman's distastefrom anything which savoured of the clandestine. Yet here he was aboutto meet on a spot open to the view of every passing vehicle, a womanwho, if known to him, was a mystery to every one else. His expressionshowed the scorn with which he regarded his own compliance, yet he knewthat no instinct of threatened dignity, no generous thought for her orselfish one for himself would turn him back from this interview till hehad learned what she had to tell him and why she had so carefullyexacted that he should hear her story in a spot overlooking the Hollowit would beseem them both to shun.
There had originally been in the days of Spencer's magnificence a lordlyportico at the end of this approach, girt by pillars of extraordinaryheight. But no sign remained of pillar, or doorway--only a gap, as Ihave said. Towards this gap he stepped, feeling a strange reluctance inentering it. But he had no choice. He knew what he should see--No, hedid not know what he should see, for when he finally stepped in, it wasnot an open view of the Hollow which met his eyes, but the purple-cladfigure of Mrs. Averill with little Peggy at her side. He had notexpected to see the child, and, standing as they were with their backsto him, they presented a picture which, for some reason to be found inthe mysterious recesses of his disordered mind, was exceedinglyrepellent to him. Indeed, he was so stricken by it that he had actuallymade a move to withdraw, when the exigency of the occasion returned uponhim in full force, and, with a smothered oath, he overcame his weaknessand stepped firmly up into the ruins.
The noise he made should have caused Deborah's tall and graceful figureto turn. But the spell of her own thoughts was too great; and he wouldhave found himself compelled to utter the first word, if the child, whohad heard him plainly enough, had not dragged at the woman's hand and sowoke her from her dream.
"Ah, Judge Ostrander," she exclaimed in a hasty but not ungracefulgreeting, "you are very punctual. I was not looking for you yet." Then,as she noted the gloom under which he was labouring, she continued withreal feeling, "Indeed, I appreciate this sacrifice you have made to mywishes. It was asking a great deal of you to come here; but I saw noother way of making my point clear. Come over here, Peggy, and build mea little house out of these stones. You don't mind the child, do you,judge? She may offer a diversion if our retreat is invaded."
The gesture of disavowal which he made was courteous but insincere. Hedid mind the child, but he could not explain why; besides he mustovercome such folly.
"Now," she continued as she rejoined him on the place where he had takenhis stand, "I will ask you to go back with me to the hour when JohnScoville left the tavern on that fatal day. I am not now on oath, but Imight as well be for any slip I shall make in the exact truth. I wasmaking pies in the kitchen, when some one came running in to say thatReuther had strayed away from the front yard. She was about the age ofthe little one over there, and we never allowed her out alone for fearof her tumbling off the bluff. So I set down the pie I was just puttingin the oven, and was about to run out after her when my husband calledto me from the front, and said he would go. I didn't like his tone--itwas sullen and impatient, but I knew he loved the child too well to seeher suffer any danger, and so I settled back to work and was satisfiedenough till the pies were all in. Then I got uneasy, and, hearingnothing of either of them, I started in this direction because they toldme John had taken the other. And here I found her, sir, right in theheart of these ruins. She was playing with stones just as Peggy dear isdoing now. Greatly relieved, I was taking her away when I thought Iheard John calling. Stepping up to the edge just behind where you arestanding, sir--yes, there, where you get such a broad outlook up anddown the ravine, I glanced in the direction from which I had heard hiscall--Just wait a moment, sir; I want to know the exact time."
Stopping, she pulled out her watch and looked at it, while he, falteringup to the verge which she had pointed out, followed her movements withstrange intensity as she went on to say in explanation of her act:
"The time is important, on account of a certain demonstration I amanxious to make. You will remember that I was expecting to see John,having heard his voice in the ravine. Now if you will lean a littleforward and look where I am pointing, you will notice at the turn of thestream, a spot of ground more open than the rest. Please keep your eyeson that spot, for it was there I saw at this very hour twelve years agothe shadow of an approaching figure; and it is there you will presentlysee one similar, if the boy I have tried to interest in this experimentdoes not fail me. Now, now, sir! We should see his shadow before we seehim. Oh, I hope the underbrush and trees have not grown up too thick! Itried to thin them out to-day. Are you watching, sir?"
He seemed to be, but she dared not turn to look. Both figures leaned,intent, and in another moment she had gripped his arm and clung there.
"Did you see?" she whispered, "Don't mind the boy; it's the shadow Iwanted you to notice. Did you observe anything marked about it?"
She had drawn him back into the ruins. They were standing in that onesecluded corner under the ruinous gable, and she was gazing up at himvery earnestly. "Tell me, judge," she entreated as he made no effort toans
wer.
With a hurried moistening of his lips, he met her look and responded,with a slight emphasis:
"The boy held a stick. I should say that he was whittling it."
"Ah!" Her tone was triumphant. "That was what I told him to do. Did yousee anything else?"
"No. I do not understand this experiment or what you hope from it."
"I will tell you. The shadow which I saw at a moment very like this,twelve years ago, showed a man whittling a stick and wearing a cap witha decided peak in front. My husband wore such a cap--the only one I knewof in town. What more did I need as proof that it was his shadow I saw?"
"And wasn't it?"
"Judge Ostrander, I never thought differently till after the trial--tillafter the earth closed over my poor husband's remains. That was why Icould say nothing in his defence--why I did not believe him when hedeclared that he had left his stick behind him when he ran up the bluffafter Reuther. The tree he pointed out as the one against which he hadstood it, was far behind the place where I saw this advancing shadow.Even the oath he made to me of his innocence at the last interview weheld in prison did not impress me at the time as truthful. But later,when it was all over, when the disgrace of his death and the necessityof seeking a home elsewhere drove me into selling the tavern and all itseffects, I found something which changed my mind in this regard, andmade me confident that I had done my husband a great injustice."
"You found? What do you mean by that? What could you have found?"
"His peaked cap lying in a corner of the garret. He had not worn it thatday."
The judge stared. She repeated her statement, and with more emphasis:
"He had not worn it that day; for when he came back to be hustled offagain by the crowd, he was without hat of any kind, and he neverreturned again to his home--you know that, judge. I had seen the shadowof some other man approaching Dark Hollow. WHOSE, I AM IN THIS TOWN NOWTO FIND OUT."