CHAPTER XXVI
MRS. RALSTON OF CRAIG
Mr. Lindsey made no remark on this answer, and for a minute or two he andMr. Portlethorpe sat looking at each other. Then Mr. Portlethorpe bentforward a little, his hands on his knees, and gave Mr. Lindsey a sort ofquizzical but earnest glance.
"Now, why do you ask that last question?" he said quietly. "You'vesome object?"
"It's like this," answered Mr. Lindsey. "Here's a man comes into theseparts to take up a title and estates, who certainly had been out ofthem for thirty years. His recent conduct is something more thansuspicious--no one can deny that he left my clerk there to drown, withoutpossibility of help! That's intended murder! And so I ask, What do you,his solicitor, know of him--his character, his doings during the thirtyyears he was away? And you answer--nothing!"
"Just so!" assented Mr. Portlethorpe. "And nobody does hereabouts. Exceptthat he is Sir Gilbert Carstairs, nobody in these parts knows anythingabout him--how should they? We, I suppose, know more than anybody--and weknow just a few bare facts."
"I think you'll have to let me know what these bare facts are," remarkedMr. Lindsey. "And Moneylaws, too. Moneylaws has a definite charge tobring against this man--and he'll bring it, if I've anything to do withit! He shall press it!--if he can find Carstairs. And I think you'dbetter tell us what you know, Portlethorpe. Things have got to come out."
"I've no objection to telling you and Mr. Moneylaws what we know,"answered Mr. Portlethorpe. "After all, it is, in a way, commonknowledge--to some people, at any rate. And to begin with, you areprobably aware that the recent history of this Carstairs family is aqueer one. You know that old Sir Alexander had two sons and onedaughter--the daughter being very much younger than her brothers. Whenthe two sons, Michael and Gilbert, were about from twenty-one totwenty-three, both quarrelled with their father, and cleared out of thisneighbourhood altogether; it's always believed that Sir Alexander gaveMichael a fair lot of money to go and do for himself, each hating theother's society, and that Michael went off to America. As to Gilbert, hegot money at that time, too, and went south, and was understood to befirst a medical student and then a doctor, in London and abroad. Thereis no doubt at all that both sons did get money--considerableamounts,--because from the time they went away, no allowance was everpaid to them, nor did Sir Alexander ever have any relations with them.What the cause of the quarrel was, nobody knows; but the quarrel itself,and the ensuing separation, were final--father and sons never resumedrelations. And when the daughter, now Mrs. Ralston of Craig, near here,grew up and married, old Sir Alexander pursued a similar money policytowards her--he presented her with thirty thousand pounds the day she wasmarried, and told her she'd never have another penny from him. I tellyou, he was a queer man."
"Queer lot altogether!" muttered Mr. Lindsey. "And interesting!"
"Oh, it's interesting enough!" agreed Mr. Portlethorpe, with a chuckle."Deeply so. Well, that's how things were until about a year before oldSir Alexander died--which, as you know, is fourteen months since. As Isay, about six years before his death, formal notice came of the death ofMichael Carstairs, who, of course, was next in succession to the title.It came from a solicitor in Havana, where Michael had died--there wereall the formal proofs. He had died unmarried and intestate, and hisestate amounted to about a thousand pounds. Sir Alexander put the affairin our hands; and of course, as he was next-of-kin to his eldest son,what there was came to him. And we then pointed out to him that now thatMr. Michael Carstairs was dead, Mr. Gilbert came next--he would get thetitle, in any case--and we earnestly pressed Sir Alexander to make awill. And he was always going to, and he never did--and he diedintestate, as you know. And at that, of course, Sir Gilbert Carstairscame forward, and--"
"A moment," interrupted Mr. Lindsey. "Did anybody know where he was atthe time of his father's death?"
"Nobody hereabouts, at any rate," replied Mr. Portlethorpe. "Neitherhis father, nor his sister, nor ourselves had heard of him for many along year. But he called on us within twenty-four hours of hisfather's death."
"With proof, of course, that he was the man he represented himself tobe?" asked Mr. Lindsey.
"Oh, of course--full proof!" answered Mr. Portlethorpe. "Papers, letters,all that sort of thing--all in order. He had been living in London for ayear or two at that time; but, according to his own account, he had gonepretty well all over the world during the thirty years' absence. He'dbeen a ship's surgeon--he'd been attached to the medical staff of morethan one foreign army, and had seen service--he'd been on one or twovoyages of discovery--he'd lived in every continent--in fact, he'd had avery adventurous life, and lately he'd married a rich American heiress."
"Oh, Lady Carstairs is an American, is she?" remarked Mr. Lindsey.
"Just so--haven't you met her?" asked Mr. Portlethorpe.
"Never set eyes on her that I know of," replied Mr. Lindsey. "But go on."
"Well, of course, there was no doubt of Sir Gilbert's identity,"continued Mr. Portlethorpe; "and as there was also no doubt that SirAlexander had died intestate, we at once began to put matters right.Sir Gilbert, of course, came into the whole of the real estate, and heand Mrs. Ralston shared the personalty--which, by-the-by, wasconsiderable: they both got nearly a hundred thousand each, in cash.And--there you are!"
"That all?" asked Mr. Lindsey.
Mr. Portlethorpe hesitated a moment--then he glanced at me.
"Moneylaws is safe at a secret," said Mr. Lindsey. "If it is a secret."
"Well, then," answered Mr. Portlethorpe, "it's not quite all. There is acircumstance which has--I can't exactly say bothered--but has somewhatdisturbed me. Sir Gilbert Carstairs has now been in possession of hisestates for a little over a year, and during that time he has sold nearlyevery yard of them except Hathercleugh!"
Mr. Lindsey whistled. It was the first symptom of astonishment that hehad manifested, and I glanced quickly at him and saw a look ofindescribable intelligence and almost undeniable cunning cross hisface. But it went as swiftly as it came, and he merely nodded, as ifin surprise.
"Aye!" he exclaimed. "Quick work, Portlethorpe."
"Oh, he gave good reasons!" answered Mr. Portlethorpe. "He said, from thefirst, that he meant to do it--he wanted, and his wife wanted too, to getrid of these small and detached Northern properties, and buy a reallyfine one in the South of England, keeping Hathercleugh as a sort ofholiday seat. He'd no intention of selling that, at any time.But--there's the fact!--he's sold pretty nearly everything else."
"I never heard of these sales of land," remarked Mr. Lindsey.
"Oh, they've all been sold by private treaty," replied Mr. Portlethorpe."The Carstairs property was in parcels, here and there--the last twobaronets before this one had bought considerably in other parts. It wasall valuable--there was no difficulty in selling to adjacent owners."
"Then, if he's been selling to that extent, Sir Gilbert must have largesums of money at command--unless he's bought that new estate you'retalking of," said Mr. Lindsey.
"He has not bought anything--that I know of," answered Mr. Portlethorpe."And he must have a considerable--a very large--sum of money at hisbankers'. All of which," he continued, looking keenly at Mr. Lindsey,"makes me absolutely amazed to hear what you've just told me. It's veryserious, this charge you're implying against him, Lindsey! Why should hewant to take men's lives in this fashion! A man of his position, hisgreat wealth--"
"Portlethorpe!" broke in Mr. Lindsey, "didn't you tell me just now thatthis man, according to his own account, has lived a most adventurouslife, in all parts of the world? What more likely than that in thecourse of such a life he made acquaintance with queer characters,and--possibly--did some queer things himself? Isn't it a significantthing that, within a year of his coming into the title and estates,two highly mysterious individuals turn up here, and that all this foulplay ensues? It's impossible, now, to doubt that Gilverthwaite andPhillips came into these parts because this man was already here! Ifyou've read all the stuff that's been in
the papers, and add to it justwhat we've told you about this last adventure with the yacht, you can'tdoubt it, either."
"It's very, very strange--all of it," agreed Mr. Portlethorpe. "Have youno theory, Lindsey?"
"I've a sort of one," answered Mr. Lindsey. "I think Gilverthwaite andPhillips probably were in possession of some secret about Sir GilbertCarstairs, and that Crone may have somehow got an inkling of it. Now, aswe know, Gilverthwaite died, suddenly--and it's possible that Carstairskilled both Phillips and Crone, as he certainly meant to kill this lad.And what does it all look like?"
Before Mr. Portlethorpe could reply to that last question, and while hewas shaking his head over it, one of our junior clerks brought in Mrs.Ralston of Craig, at the mention of whose name Mr. Lindsey immediatelybustled forward. She was a shrewd, clever-looking woman, well undermiddle age, who had been a widow for the last four or five years, andwas celebrated in our parts for being a very managing and interferingsort of body who chiefly occupied herself with works of charity andphilanthropy and was prominent on committees and boards. And she lookedover the two solicitors as if they were candidates for examination, andshe the examiner.
"I have been to the police, to find out what all this talk is about SirGilbert Carstairs," she began at once. "They tell me you know more thanthey do, Mr. Lindsey. Well, what have you to say? And what have you tosay, Mr. Portlethorpe? You ought to know more than anybody. What does itall amount to!"
Mr. Portlethorpe, whose face had become very dismal at the sight ofMrs. Ralston, turned, as if seeking help, to Mr. Lindsey. He wasobviously taken aback by Mrs. Ralston's questions, and a little afraidof her; but Mr. Lindsey was never afraid of anybody, and he at onceturned on his visitor.
"Before we answer your questions, Mrs. Ralston," he said, "there's oneI'll take leave to ask you. When Sir Gilbert came back at your father'sdeath, did you recognize him?"
Mrs. Ralston tossed her head with obvious impatience.
"Now, what ridiculous nonsense, Mr. Lindsey!" she exclaimed. "How onearth do you suppose that I could recognize a man whom I hadn't seensince I was a child of seven--and certainly not for at least thirtyyears? Of course I didn't!--impossible!"