by Fergus Hume
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE.
IT was close on two o'clock, and, weary of waiting for Claude, themaster of the Manor House had seated himself at the luncheon table. Hewas curious to know what had taken place between his friend and Mr.Paynton, as he judged from the length of time the interview had lastedthat some important communication must have been made. Had Claudediscovered the identity of Paynton with Jeringham? If so, had Jeringhamconfessed to the crime? These questions so annoyed and perplexed Taitthat he could not swallow a mouthful of food. Throwing aside his napkinhe rose from the table to see if Larcher had returned.
As he pushed back his chair the door opened and Claude, with a roll ofpapers in his hand, made his appearance. Tait turned to greet him with asmile, but it disappeared from his face and the words died on his lipswhen he saw the white and haggard countenance of his friend.
"Good Heavens, man!" he cried, hastening toward him; "what is thematter? Here, sit down! Drink this glass of wine!"
Claude did as he was bidden; then waved his hand in the direction ofDormer, who, stolid as ever, stood waiting orders.
"You can go, Dormer," said Tait hastily. Then, when the man leaving theroom closed the door after him, and they found themselves alone, hecontinued: "Is anything wrong, Claude? Did Paynton tell----"
"Not Paynton," said Larcher, finishing his wine and setting down theglass; "there is not such a person!"
"Aha!" remarked Tait, rubbing his hands. "I thought the name was afeigned one. And who is our friend, Mr. Paynton?"
"My father!"
Tait opened his mouth to utter an ejaculation, shut it without doing so,and looked dumfounded at his friend.
"What--what--what do you mean? Are you mad?" he stammered, sitting downlimply.
"No, I am not mad," groaned Claude, "though I have suffered enough tomake me so. I mean what I say. It was Jeringham who was murdered.Jeringham, who was dressed as Darnley on that night, as was my father.Jeringham, whose corpse was so unrecognizable by decomposition that itwas thought to be that of George Larcher. My father is alive! My fatheris hiding here as Ferdinand Paynton. This is his story of the tragedy."
He placed the roll of paper in Tait's hands, and poured himself outanother glass of wine. Overcome with amazement the little man lookedfirst at the paper, then at his friend. It was some minutes before hecould collect his wits together and speak coherently.
"What an extraordinary thing," he said at length. "You thought both yourparents dead, but now it seems they are alive. Your mother at ClarenceCottage, Hampstead; your father at Rose Cottage, Thorston. Did you tellyour father that Mrs. Larcher was still in existence?" he asked sharply.
"I had no time to do so," said Claude, with an effort. "My father placedthose papers in my hand, and then confessed who he was. I wished tospeak further to him, but he pushed me out of the room, saying, 'Readthat confession, and form your judgment before you accept me as yourfather.' I hardly knew what I was doing till I found myself in the laneoutside. Then I came on here. I still feel quite bewildered."
"I don't wonder at it! Take another glass of wine. Did your----"
"Don't ask any questions, Tait," said Claude, rising impatiently. "Readme the confession at once. I can't do it myself."
"Won't you have some luncheon?"
"No! Every mouthful would choke me. I'll lie down on the sofa, and youbring your chair close to me to read."
Tait nodded, and unrolled the papers, while Claude, filling himselfanother glass of claret, crossed over to the sofa and lay down thereon.With the glass of wine on the carpet beside him; with the untastedluncheon on the table, he closed his eyes with a weary sigh, andcompelled himself to listen. Tait glanced sympathetically at him, thenwithout remark, though he was burning to speak, smoothed out the paperand began to read slowly. The writing was clear and legible, the matterinteresting, so there was no difficulty in deciphering the story of thetragedy, as narrated by the man, who, for twenty-two years, had beensupposed to be the victim. The confession (so-called) was in the form ofa letter from father to son:
"DEAR CLAUDE:
"At length I have made up my mind to reveal myself to you, and to set out at length the circumstances which placed me in this position. I am led to do so by three things. Firstly, your presence in this neighborhood with the avowed intention of avenging my death. Secondly, the publication of the novel entitled 'A Whim of Fate,' which sets out the particulars of what happened at Horriston in 1866, more or less perverted for fictional purposes. Thirdly, the advice of Francis Hilliston, an old and valued friend, who points out that the only way to stop you in the investigation is to admit my identity, and so do away with your motive, viz., the avenging of my death. On reading this I leave it to yourself whether you will still consider me your father, and visit me accordingly, or whether you will look on me as a guilty man. Till you are acquainted with the truth, so far as I am aware of it, I swear that I will not approach you or open my mouth in your presence. On this understanding I set forth the following facts as shortly as is consistent with clearness. Judge me as you please, but I declare before God that I am innocent of Jeringham's death, and that I know not who killed him. This for the prologue; and now for the story.
"You will understand that I wish to cast no aspersions on the memory of your mother; but in the present case, it is necessary that I should speak plainly. Your mother and I were ill suited to one another, and lived unhappily together. Even when in the army I was addicted to literary pursuits, and, when I sent in my papers, I devoted myself almost entirely to study. Your mother was gay and social. Being a beautiful woman she liked admiration, and was never so happy as when out at balls, at the theater, or at garden parties. She lived in a whirl of excitement, and she quarreled bitterly with me because I preferred a quieter life. I accompanied her sometimes, but not often enough to please her, and when we came to reside at The Laurels after my leaving the army, she frequently declared that she regretted having given up Mark Jeringham for me. Naturally enough I resented this plain speaking, and we were estranged. Not even your birth could bridge over the abyss between us, and, while we lived at The Laurels at Horriston, I believe we were as unhappy and ill-matched a couple as existed in England. It was the quick coupled with the dead, and we both suffered accordingly.
"The first cause of our unhappiness was, as you see, incompatibility of temper; the second was the presence of Jeringham, who came to Horriston ostensibly on a visit, in reality to stay near my wife.
"You can easily understand that I resented the presence of this young man. He was remarkably like me in height, figure, and looks, and my wife had a fancy for him before her marriage with me. That she became my wife, she laughingly avowed, was because of my uniform. So far as looks were concerned there was nothing to choose between Jeringham and myself, but the glitter of the military trappings (so she declared) turned the balance in my favor. You may be sure I liked Jeringham none the more after such a declaration of lukewarm affection from your mother; and when he came to reside at Horriston, four years after our marriage, I resented his continued presence about the house. Your mother was angry at my expostulations, and the introduction of this second element of discord into the house estranged us more widely than ever. It was a miserable and most unhappy time.
"It was my friend Hilliston who pointed out the real reason for Jeringham's visits. This latter was not in love with my wife, but with her maid, Mona Bantry. As Denis, the brother of Mona, was an old servant of mine, I did not care to speak to my wife on the matter, but to keep the affair quiet, and to save the girl from the anger of her brother, I discouraged the visits of Jeringham on all possible occasions. We had a quarrel in public, and, as all the gossips of Horriston knew that he had been fond of my wife
before her marriage to me, the quarrel was set down to jealousy on my part. All the neighborhood knew there was bad blood between Jeringham and myself, and (foolishly enough, I admit) I made use of several expressions calculated to show my hatred. These heated speeches were afterward remembered and commented upon.
"Things were in this position when the fancy dress ball took place at Horriston. Hearing that it was to be a masked ball, I resolved to assume a similar dress to that of Jeringham, and learn from my wife's own lips if she still cared for me. You may think I acted in an unworthy manner, but as a matter of fact I was nearly out of my mind with anger and jealousy, and hardly knew what I was doing. My wife was going to the ball as Mary, Queen of Scots, accompanied by Jeringham as Darnley. This was sufficiently pointed to show in what direction her affections leaned, and I took advantage of the opportunity. Feigning an excuse, I ostensibly went to London, but in reality remained at Horriston, where I obtained from the costumer a similar dress to that worn by Jeringham.
"Thus masked and disguised I repaired to the ball. There I was recognized by a Miss Belinda Pike, but she kindly consented to keep my secret. You can guess what happened. Deceived by the dress my wife took me for Jeringham, and I learned sufficient to know that she loved him and hated me. I did not reveal myself, but went away mad with wrath. My sole idea was to unmask Jeringham, and show my wife how unworthy he was of her love. To this end I sought out Hilliston, and, learning that my wife was shortly returning home, Hilliston and I went to The Laurels together, as I intended to make Mona confess that Jeringham was her lover. I left Hilliston outside in the garden to watch for the coming of my wife, and entered the house to see Mona. She was waiting in the sitting room for her mistress, and I then and there forced her to admit the truth. She declared that Jeringham was the father of her unborn child, and implored me not to tell her brother. Fortunately, I had directed Denis to stay in the entrance hall, so he did not hear his sister's confession, and she was safe for the time being.
"While I was talking with Mona, my wife entered. She immediately accused me of having feigned a visit to London in order to stay at home with Mona. The girl slipped out of the room, and my wife continued her ravings. She said that Jeringham had come home with her and was at that moment in the garden; there she swore to join him. I prevented her leaving the room, and ultimately she fainted. I ran out to call Mona, and found that she had left the house, no doubt to join Jeringham in the garden, to tell him that the secret was known. I also went into the garden to seek for Jeringham. To my horror I stumbled over a dead body, and hastily ran back for a light to see whose it was. Denis came with the lantern, and we found it was the corpse of Jeringham. He had been stabbed to the heart.
"I would have given the alarm, but that Denis, quicker-witted than I at the moment, prevented me. He pointed out that it was well-known that I was on bad terms with Jeringham; that the unhappy man had been murdered in my garden; that my hands were red with the blood, and my clothes stained owing to handling the corpse; and said that I would be accused of the murder. I saw in a flash the peril in which I stood. I don't know if Denis suspected me of the crime, as he was not present when I first found the body, but he acted the part of a friend. We threw the body into the river and I made my preparations for flight. No one but Hilliston and Miss Pike knew that I had returned from London on that night, for my wife would keep silence, as I thought, for her own sake, and Mona had disappeared. I left the house in charge of Denis, and without a word to my wife, who had brought about this catastrophe, I sought safety in flight. It was cowardly, if you like, but I had no other resource. I would have been accused of the murder had I stayed, for the evidence was strong against me. I fled and trusted to chance to hide the crime.
"The rest you know. My wife was accused and tried for my murder, as Jeringham's corpse was so disfigured that it was thought to be mine. I have mentioned the strong resemblance between us, and this helped the deception. I was compelled to keep in hiding as Jeringham, but I declare, had the case gone against my wife, I should have come forward and told all. As it was I went abroad, aided by Hilliston, who acted as my friend all through. He looked after my unhappy wife till she died in London; he took charge of you and brought you up like a son. He also secured me sufficient of my own property to live quietly, so I came to Thorston under the name of Paynton, and here I have lived ever since. I thought to die in peace, but you, Claude, have reopened the case. I tell you this to show you the futility of trying to find the real murderer. I do not know who killed Jeringham, nor do I think you will ever find out. If, after reading this, you still consider me your father, come at once to a most unhappy man. Be just, be lenient, my son, and forgive your unhappy father,
"GEORGE LARCHER."