The Riddle of the Purple Emperor

  CHAPTER XXI

  "'TIS A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS"

  For a minute the young man made neither sound nor movement, and Cleekwas tempted to believe that his presence there was accidental--a meretrick of chance. But of a sudden, as he peered farther out, he caught aglimpse of Sir Edgar's face, and that one glance told him that here wasno chance eavesdropper, but one whose hatred of the Hindoo presumablywould carry him very near to murder now, if he had not already committedthat act. His face was white with the passion that kills if need be, andhis twitching hands and lips told their own story. As Cleek's eyes fellon a little shining instrument in one of those shaking hands, he knew itwas time to act quickly. He leaned over just as Sir Edgar raised therevolver to aim at Gunga Dall's retreating figure and with a grip ofiron grasped the boy by the shoulder. He swung his slim figure over theshallow window-sill and into the ballroom before you could say JackRobinson.

  The strength of his muscles was extraordinary, and as the young manstood before him, sputtering in fury at this calm proceeding, Cleek gavea short, sharp laugh.

  "Took you rather by surprise didn't I, my friend?" he said as Sir Edgarturned upon him menacingly. "But quick thought demands quick action, andmy apologies are manifold. Believe me----"

  "Who the devil are you and what are you doing here?" cut in Sir Edgar,angrily, trying to recognize the strangely contorted face of the man whostood guard over him.

  "Who am I?" replied Cleek, with a light chuckle. "Ah, my friend, morethan you would like to have that question answered. What I am doing isanother matter--preventing another murder, I fancy. Anyway----"

  He gave a quick spring and there came a swift rustle, a metallic click!The revolver was on the floor and a band of steel was locked about eachof the young man's wrists.

  "You've put handcuffs on me," Sir Edgar cried out, angrily. "How dareyou commit such an outrage! I'll have you arrested--I----"

  "Better let that subject alone, young man. I suppose you don't realizethat I overheard all that passed between Gunga Dall and Lady Brentonjust now."

  "Well, and you know that he lied," put in Sir Edgar, eagerly. "My motherwasn't there that night--you must know that."

  "On the contrary, my friend, I know that she was," responded Cleek,serenely.

  Sir Edgar made an effort to raise his shackled hands. His face waspassionate.

  "It's a lie, an infernal lie, I tell you!" he cried, vehemently. "It wasI who killed the old woman, if you want to know the truth. Not LadyBrenton!"

  "I do want to know the truth," replied Cleek, severely. "But that is notit, so don't tell any more lies than you are obliged to. If I say LadyBrenton was here that night, it does not mean that she killed MissCheyne, nor that you did, either, despite the fact that you had arevolver in your pocket."

  A sudden, startled look passed over Sir Edgar's face. His mouth was alittle drawn.

  "Then what is the meaning of this outrage? What right have you to arrestme?" he said with a very creditable attempt at bluster which deceivedCleek not at all.

  "The right of the law, young man. You asked me who I was just now. Well,I'll tell you as much as the world knows--I am Cleek, Cleek of ScotlandYard."

  "Cleek!" Filled with astonishment and not a little awe, Sir Edgar foundhimself looking into a hard, cynical face with narrowed eyes and athin-lipped, cruel mouth.

  Cleek smiled.

  "Perhaps you know this man better," he said, quietly, and in a flash hisfeatures blent, softened, altered, made of themselves yet another mask,and Sir Edgar found himself gazing into the face of Lieutenant Deland.

  "Good heavens! The lieutenant!" he said, with a throb of fear in hisvoice. "Then you were that man--and Mr. Narkom knew all the time."

  "Yes, Sir Edgar, and perhaps, too, you can tell me of this one, eh?"

  In a flash, that face had given place to the bovine stupidity of Mr.George Headland, as the young man had seen him at Scotland Yard.

  "Mr. George Headland!" The name scarcely sounded above a whisper andCleek smiled a little as his face now resumed its normal expression.

  "All three, my friend," he said, genially. "So you see it is useless toattempt to deceive me. I have given you these proofs, to drive thatlesson home. Put yourself unreservedly in my hands, and you will besafe, otherwise--well, remember that the inquest is only postponed, notsettled."

  Something of menace in the low tones caused the face of Sir EdgarBrenton to grow more pale and for a brief moment there was silence. ThenCleek spoke swiftly.

  "Give me your word to work with me, on the side of the law, and I willsee that the one you seek to shield shall not be harmed so much as by ahair of her head," he said. "Do you believe me?"

  "Yes, I do, Mr.----"

  "Mr. George Headland, please."

  "Very well, Mr. Headland, I place myself in your hands completely, ifyou will give me your word of honour to say nothing, absolutely nothing,to any living soul about this."

  "You may safely trust the knowledge with me," responded Cleek, lightly,as he undid the manacled hands. "And now, Sir Edgar, I want you to tellme everything that happened that night, and the night when the imposterwas also killed, then go up to town and stay there till I send for you.Now, fire away!"

  Sir Edgar hesitated, then gave a queer little gulp.

  "Well, I suppose there is no help for it," he said in a shaken voice,seating himself beside Cleek on the wide window seat. "I was coming backfrom a dinner party, just as I said, but I meant to see Margaret,despite Miss Cheyne, and I still had that revolver in my pocket. It wasthe revolver that Miss Cheyne herself threw at me that same day when,like a fool, I tried to get her consent to our happiness. How and whythis one was marked with my initial as it was, I don't know, but I'llswear Mr. Cl--Headland, that the first one was not. I'll take my oath onthat. It was a Smith & Wesson repeater. Well, anyhow, I came back toCheyne Court, and after knocking till I was tired, I was about to turnaway and had got to the bottom of the steps when I thought I heard thesound of footsteps behind me. On turning, to my astonishment, I foundthe door ajar. In I went, and as I did so, there came the sound of ashot--from the ballroom."

  "Ah, then it was you I heard, when I knocked?" interposed Cleek.

  Sir Edgar nodded.

  "Yes, I didn't stop to notice, just rushed into that room, and saw theold woman dead and not a soul to be seen. Then I heard your knockingagain, and I think I lost my head--I thought it might be the police. Iknow I was mad, but I just made a dash for the window and was out andthrough it like a shot!"

  "H'mn--then there was someone else in the house, too, for it was a womanwho crossed that lawn, one who wore a gold scarf," said Cleek, hisbrows knitted. "Well, go on, what next?"

  "You can imagine my feelings when you said you had been driven out byMiss Cheyne herself when I met you in the lane. I thought that in myfright I had imagined the murder and that she must just have fainted andcome to afterward. I know it was silly, but I was afraid to speak."

  "That's all right," said Cleek, quietly. "But now what about the secondmurder? How did you come to go to Cheyne Court again? That wantsexplaining away, too."

  "And it can easily be explained," retorted Sir Edgar, rapidly. "I wastrying to find Lady Margaret, and I caught a glimpse, or thought I did,of a woman's figure in the grounds and followed it right into the house.There again I found the body of Miss Cheyne, as naturally I took it tobe, and felt I must have gone out of my senses. There was somethingqueer and supernatural in finding her again in the same spot. Like adonkey I took to my heels, and ran straight into Dr. Verrall half-waydown the lane."

  Cleek twitched up an enquiring eyebrow.

  "Met Dr. Verrall in the lane, did you?"

  "Yes. He told me he had come from Miss Wynne's house, he had been toborrow some drug from the old doctor's surgery or something. Anyway, Itell you I was tempted to blurt out the truth, but again I was afraid,for, as a matter of fact, we are not usually the best of friends--yousee, well----" He broke off, finding this position rather more aw
kwardthan the others had been.

  A little one-sided smile crept up Cleek's face and he put his hand uponthe young man's shoulder.

  "I know," he said, quietly, "he was jealous of you and Miss Wynne,wasn't he? She--er--entertains somewhat of a liking for you, doesn'tshe?"

  "Yes, that's just it. Not that there was any cause, for though I haveknown Jenny all my life, I have never dreamt of marrying her. And afterI met Margaret, she was the only girl in the world!"

  "I know, I know," Cleek said, quietly. "But to return to our muttons,Sir Edgar. Didn't you meet any one else at all? Just think a moment. Nowoman at all--eh?"

  For a moment Sir Edgar hesitated. Then his honest eyes met Cleek's, andread the knowledge in their keen depths.

  "Yes," he said in a broken, choked voice, "you seem to know everything,Mr. Headland. I met my mother. She was doing what I know now she oftenhad done, when perturbed or upset--walking in her sleep. God knows whyshe had chosen that particular part to wander in. But asleep shecertainly was, for she failed to recognize me at all, and I managed tolead her gently back until she was once more in her bedroom."

  Cleek looked at the young man sharply for a moment, as thoughquestioning the verity of this statement.

  Walking in her sleep, eh? That would account for many things. Heremembered that Ailsa had told him about the sound of footsteps in LadyBrenton's room.... Walking in her sleep, eh? So that was theexplanation, was it? Or was it not likely to have been a case ofhypnotism? Then remembering Lady Brenton's headaches Cleek began to seedaylight at last. So Gunga Dall had not been lying after all when hesaid he saw her ladyship, and she had not lied either in replying thatshe knew she wasn't there. For if she were walking in her sleep, LadyBrenton certainly did _not_ know of the fact. And that cleared a goodmany things in Cleek's mind.

  "You know I'm speaking the truth, Mr. Headland, you _do_ believe me,don't you?" put in Sir Edgar, suddenly, with a little anxious note inhis voice. "I'd take my oath on it, you know."

  "No need for that, my friend," responded Cleek, with a smile, "your wordis enough. But if you want to help me, keep your eye on our youngfriend Bobby Wynne when you get to town. His movements will possibly besomewhat interesting, and I'd like to keep posted regarding them---- Soshe was walking in her sleep then, eh? I begin to see light."

  "Well, I'm hanged if I do," responded Sir Edgar, with a little shrug ofthe shoulders, "still, I'll do my part. And if only you'll find myMargaret--God! Mr. Headland, I'll do anything in the world to show mygratitude!"

  Their hands met and clasped for a moment in the grip of friendship andin the next, Sir Edgar was striding away with new hope.

  Cleek watched him go from the room and swing down the long path that layby the window. Then he faced round suddenly and took up his stand oncemore by the broad window-sill to reconsider the changed aspect ofthings. Lady Brenton was clearly out of the case now, for it was notpossible that she could have committed the actual murder, even in hersleep, so the case had narrowed down once more. What was worse, it wascentring on the girl who had worn that gold scarf--Lady Margaretherself! And yet he would not believe that even desperate as she mighthave been made, she could deliberately kill her enemy. Yet if it werenot she, who, then, had worn the scarf in her place? Not Miss Jennifer,for her scarf had been gold, it is true, but of a different colour andtexture. The thought of her appearance recalled Dr. Verrall and againCleek frowned heavily.

  Dr. Verrall knew more than he had revealed at the inquest. InstinctivelyCleek realized that the doctor was trying to shield Jennifer Wynne fromdiscovery, shield the girl he loved despite everything. Jennifer hadaccess to the old doctor's surgery, and someone had undoubtedly tamperedwith the bottle of prussic acid, as he knew already. Dr. Verrall himselfmight have climbed up--but the shreds of cloth which Cleek had foundclinging to the ivy were not like any suit Dr. Verrall had worn.Certainly not like the black broadcloth which he had on the night of themurder when fetched from the lane where he had lurked so opportunely.True, he might have changed quickly, but not so quickly as that.

  Cleek was still bent on the problem, but not so absorbed that he did nothear yet another light footfall outside, one that seemed to beapproaching the window where he still sat. It stopped right under thewindow, and Cleek did not dare so much as move a finger lest he betrayhis presence. Backward and forward paced the light steps, and the rustleof a skirt told him it was a woman. Two, three, five minutes passed,and Cleek sat hunched and motionless, unable to see who this new visitorto the house of mystery might be.

  That it was someone keeping a tryst was only too evident; waiting, too,for someone who had been delayed past an agreed time, as was indicatedby the impatient tapping of one foot on the path. Well, Cleek wasprepared to wait all night if necessary.

  A sound came suddenly across the night, the sound of a cuckoo. With alittle cry of relief, the woman outside answered the cry, softly andclearly.

  "Quick! I am here," Cleek heard the words almost gasped out. Then therecame the sound of snapping twigs as if a man were forcing his waythrough the dense shrubberies, followed by the sharp crunch of feet onthe gravel. With these came the soft whisper of a man's voice warningthe woman to keep silence as she rushed toward him, in a state borderingon absolute hysteria.

  "Quick!" she said again. "If I am discovered here, or my absencenoticed, all is lost! You don't know what horrors of suspense I haveendured. I was afraid you would think better of your promise and go tothe police, after all. All through the inquest I dreaded every openingof the door! Tell me you won't give him up. He is so young. Oh, I shallscream in a minute."

  Again came the man's whispered "Hush!" and then he broke forth suddenlyin an excited undertone.

  "I tell you I saw him," he said in a voice which was quite unfamiliar toCleek. "If you've got the money, all right, if not----"

  He let the rest go by default, and Cleek heard a little moan of distresscome from the woman. "All I've got left is here. I can't give youanother penny," she cried, and Cleek heard her fumbling as in a bag.

  But now he scarcely noticed her movements. Other and more startlingthoughts were in his mind. A scent of jasmine was in his nostrils.

  He did not need to move or see now, he knew that the unseen speaker wasJennifer Wynne, and that the boy she was trying to save was none otherthan the lad she had mothered and watched over--her idle young scamp ofa brother. It was all as plain as a pikestaff. The lad, in the power ofthe tipster Blake, had seen through his disguise, and in the quarrelthat must have followed had murdered him!

  But with what? The prussic acid had been taken from his father'sdispensary. Had he then gone prepared to kill him? Or was it not Bobby,after all, for whom Jennifer was allowing herself to be blackmailed.Could it be Sir Edgar? And who was this man who had discovered hersecret, this man who was keeping back in the shadow of the bushes? Whatpart was his in this grim tragedy of death?

  It was Jennifer herself who gave the answer.

  "I tell you this is the last I can give you or get from anywhere or anyone," she said in a low, tense tone. "I knew you were both out forsomething, directly I recognized the imposture, but you must be contentand leave me alone. How do I know that you didn't kill him yourself forthat matter? Oh, if I only knew, if I only knew the truth, that it werenot my boy!" Here her voice stopped and for a reason which made Cleekgroan inwardly.

  Down at the end of the path there came the sound of feet. He knew andunderstood what was happening, what an unkind blow Fate had dealt him.

  Dollops was returning to be near his master, lest anything unforeseenshould occur. There was just one little rustle like the sound of notescrackling. Then Jennifer sped forward along the path that led away fromthe house. The bushes crackled and snapped again, and the sound of aman's running feet echoed faintly from the other side of the hedge.Cleek was on his feet and over the window-sill like a flash. He ran downthe lane openly, without so much as a look toward Dollops, struckthrough the ground, and cut into the meadows adjoining. Yes!--there wast
he figure of his quarry. Cleek bent his head and ran on.

  It was but a brief second, then he looked up, to find his man again. Hestopped short, as though struck by some invisible force.

  Far as eye could see were the smooth green meadows dotted here and therein the distance with slumbering sheep, but of sign of human being therewas none. The man had disappeared as though the ground or the sky hadopened and swallowed him up. Cleek was alone in that expanse of greenpasture, utterly and entirely alone!