The Solitary Farm

by Fergus Hume

  CHAPTER XIX

  AN AWKWARD POSITION

  The appearance and accusation of Bella were so unexpected that Mrs. Vandand her husband became perfectly white, and obvious fear robbed them ofall powers of movement. Granny Tunks sat up, rubbed her eyes, and staredat Bella with the open panel behind her in great surprise.

  "Where have you come from, deary?" she asked, rising unsteadily.

  "Never mind," said Bella, with her eyes on the guilty faces of themarried couple. "It is enough that I am here to accuse these two ofmurder."

  Mrs. Tunks uttered a screech. "What are you talking about, lovey? Thisgood gentleman and kind lady have murdered no one."

  Bella glanced at her in a puzzled way. "You declared that Henry Vandmurdered my father," she remarked quietly, and keeping up the fiction ofher being Huxham's daughter; "you said that a cripple----"

  "Me!" screeched Granny again. "I never said such a thing."

  "Of course not," chimed in Vand, who was the first to recover his powersof speech. "It's all nonsense."

  "Your face showed that it was the truth just now," said Bella sharply,"when Mrs. Tunks talked in her sleep."

  "Sleep? No lovey, no sleep. I sent my spirit away to learn things. Whatdid I say? Tell me, my good gentleman, what did I say?"

  "I don't remember. I forgot," said Vand striving to appear cool.

  "I don't forget," cried Bella indignantly, "she spoke of the jewels andof my father's murder. How did you find out?" she asked Granny Tunks,who dropped into her chair and seemed to shrink. "How did you learnabout the jewels and Maxwell Faith?"

  "I never heard the name. I never knew there were any jewels," murmuredthe witch-wife. "I never said anything about murder. When I came back tomy body I never remember anything. No, no, no! The spirit is strongerthan the flesh and jealous of its secrets," and she went on murmuringand maundering like one in her dotage. Yet Bella knew well, that inspite of her age, Granny Tunks was very far from being intellectuallyweak.

  Meanwhile, Mrs. Vand, who had sunk into a chair, had gradually recoveredher colour and wits. "You are the ghost!" she said suddenly to Bella.

  In spite of the strained situation, the girl laughed, though not verymirthfully. "Yes, I am the ghost!" she acknowledged. "It was I whosighed and rapped and rustled my skirts so as to drive you and Sarah outof the room."

  "How dare you! how dare you!" shouted Mrs. Vand, rising wrathfully."What do you mean by entering my house, and how did you get in."

  "I got in by a way of which you know nothing," said Bella coolly, "and Iam not going to reveal my secret. But I know this house better than you,Aunt Rosamund"--she gave her the old familiar name--"and I know of manysecret passages. This,"--she touched the panel at her back--"is theentrance to one of them. In the old days many a conspirator concealedhimself here. I have used the hiding-place to learn your secret."

  "How dare you! how dare you!" blustered Mrs. Vand, and would have goneon abusing Bella wrathfully but that her crafty husband interposed.

  "Miss Huxham, you have behaved wrongly in entering the house in thissecret manner, seeing that I told you how welcome you were to comeopenly. Both Rosamund and myself would have been glad to see you."

  "Not me! not me!" vociferated Mrs. Vand, with a bright spot of angry redon each cheek. "I always hated her, and I hate her more than ever."

  "Hold your tongue," muttered her husband, and gave her plump arm such apinch that she leaped aside with a cry of pain. Taking no notice of herdistress he turned to Bella. "You should have come openly," he repeated."May I ask why you made use of the secret passages?"

  "You may, and I am quite willing to answer. I came to find thewhereabouts of the jewels which belonged to my father."

  "I know of no jewels," said Vand steadily; "do you, Rosamund?"

  "No, I don't," returned Mrs. Vand aggressively. "There was the propertyand the income, both of which Jabez left to me by arrangement. Butjewels? I never saw any; if I had I should have got hold of them, sincethey are mine--if they exist, that is."

  "Granny here said when she spoke that they existed," insisted Bellaquietly.

  Mrs. Vand shrugged her fat shoulders. "I don't believe in hocus-pocusand hanky-panky. Henry thought that the house was haunted, as I didmyself, and he brought Granny here to lay the ghost. She has done so,since she brought you out to talk in a silly manner. You are the ghost,Bella, so I don't believe that there are any such things as spirits."

  "I don't believe in spirits either," said Bella promptly, "and so I wishto know, Mrs. Tunks, how you learned all you said."

  "All what?" mumbled the witch-wife vacantly.

  "All about the jewels and the murder and the----"

  "I don't remember saying a word," interrupted Granny, rising slowly andwith a lack-lustre look in her beady eyes. When I go into a trance Idon't recall what I say. But let me go into a trance again and I'll tellyou where the jewels are if you will give me a share," and her eyesbegan to glitter in an avaricious manner.

  "No," said Vand, in his most peremptory tones, "we have had enough ofthis rubbish."

  "Oh," sneered his wife, "you admit then that it is rubbish?"

  "Yes, now that I know Miss Huxham played the ghost. Granny"--he turnedto the old woman--"all your teachings of the unseen have proved false,so you can take yourself out of this house, and never come near itagain."

  Bella, quite believing that the old woman was a fraud, and knew thetruth of what she had spoken when in her so-called trance, expected tosee her defy the man she had accused. But in place of doing so GrannyTunks flung the tail of her white cloak over her head and moved towardsthe door. Seeing her retreat, Mrs. Vand, after the manner of bullies andcowards, became suddenly brave. Leaping towards the old creature, andbefore her husband could restrain her, she struck her hard once or twicebetween the shoulders. "Get out of this, you lying cat! Go to the devil,your master, you vile animal!"

  Vand caught back his infuriated wife with a fierce oath, but Grannystill continued on her way out of the room. As she passed into the darkhall she turned and sent a glance at Mrs. Vand which made thattriumphant tyrant shiver in her shoes. But she did not defend herself inany way, and shortly the three in the vast drawing-room heard the frontdoor open and shut. Granny Tunks was gone, and with her seemed todisappear the malignant influence which had hung over the house for solong. Bella did not believe in witchcraft, but she could not helpthinking that the old woman must have exercised some evil spell, and nowhad departed taking her familiar with her. At all events, the air seemedto be clearer for her absence.

  "Now then," said Vand, addressing Bella in his usual courteous way, "asyou are satisfied, Miss Huxham, perhaps you will go also."

  "No," said Bella determinedly. "I believe that Granny spoke truly, andthat you and my aunt have something to do with the murder."

  "It's a lie!" shouted Mrs. Vand furiously, and would have struck herniece, as she had struck Granny, but that Vand kept her back. "Whyshould I murder my own dear brother?"

  "To get the heritage you now enjoy," said Bella firmly. "I don't say youactually murdered him, but----"

  "I should think you didn't, indeed," raved Mrs. Vand, stamping inimpotent wrath. "You heard what I said at the inquest. What I said thenis true. I left this house at seven o'clock with Tunks, as he can prove.I was all the evening with Henry, as he can swear to, and he left me onthe other side of the boundary channel. I came in quietly at ten andwent to bed. I never knew that Jabez was dead until the next morning,and then I woke you. And as I was out of the house from seven until ten,how could I have murdered my brother--your poor dead father--when thedoctor declared that he was struck down shortly after eight? Howdare----"

  "You forget," interrupted Bella quickly, "that Dr. Ward said the murderwas committed between eight and eleven, so that gave you an hour to----"

  "Grant me patience, heaven!" cried Mrs. Vand, casting up her eyes. "Why,the coroner himself said that the poor dear must have been murderedshortly after eight o'clock, since I came in at te
n and saw no light inthe study."

  "Ah," said Bella significantly, "he declared that on your evidence andbecause he hated Dr. Ward, and wished to put him in the wrong."

  "Then you accuse me of murder?"

  "No; I accuse you of nothing."

  "You say that I am guilty?" asked Vand, suddenly but quietly.

  "I do not say so, but Granny Tunks did."

  "If so, would she not have accused me to my face when I turned her outof the house?" said Vand earnestly. "I assure you, Miss Huxham, that Ihad no motive to kill your father. I was quite content to wait, eventhough Rosamund and I were secretly married. Besides, on that night Ileft Rosamund on the further side of the boundary channel, as she canprove. Also my mother can show that I returned to my home at fifteenminutes past ten, and that I was in bed by half-past. There is not ashred of evidence to support this unfounded charge you have made."

  "I did not make it Granny said----"

  "I know what she said," interrupted Vand imperiously. "Hold your tongue,Rosamund, and let me speak. Granny said what she did say in a trance. Atone time I really believed in such things; now, and especially since ourghost has proved to be you, I have ceased to believe. You heard merelythe raving of an old beldame. I dare say she wished to blackmail myselfand Rosamund by bringing this unfounded charge, and chose this so-calledtrance to bring the charge. If she really has any grounds to goupon--and I swear that she has not--she will doubtless go to the policeto-morrow."

  "And I hope she will go!" cried Mrs. Vand angrily, "for then Henry and Ican have her up for libel. No wonder everyone is so disagreeable!Granny, no doubt, has been spreading all manner of reports against us. Idaresay we are regarded as a couple of criminal, gory, murderingassassins," ended Mrs. Vand, with a fine choice of words.

  Bella was puzzled. Like the Vands themselves, she did not believe in theoccult arts with which Granny Tunks was supposed to be familiar, and itwas not unlikely that the clever old woman intended to risk blackmail.Certainly, if Mrs. Tunks could really prove the guilt of Vand, she wouldnot have retreated so easily when he ordered her out of the house, muchless would she have condoned the blow of Mrs. Vand. If Granny honestlycould prove her case, she was mistress of the situation; but as she hadslunk away so quietly, it seemed that she had merely spoken fromconjecture. Bella began to think she had been too precipitate inrevealing herself, as the Vands decidedly had right on their side.

  "Yet, after all," she said reluctantly, "how did Granny come to knowabout the jewels?"

  "Jewels! Had Jabez really jewels?" asked Mrs. Vand avariciously.

  "Yes," said Bella coldly. "I read some papers which proved that he hadjewels valued at forty thousand pounds."

  "Where did you get those papers?"

  "I refuse to tell you that," retorted the girl, anxious not toincriminate Mrs. Tunks until she had interviewed her.

  "You must tell!" yelled Mrs. Vand, her face on fire with rage andexpectation. "You've come in sneaking by these secret passages to steal.Jabez never gave you any of his papers. They are mine, and if they tellwhere the jewels are, you minx----"

  "They don't tell where the jewels are," interrupted Bella, "but theystate how Captain Huxham murdered Maxwell Faith in Nigeria to get them."

  "You talk of your dead father as Captain Huxham," said Mrs. Vandsniffing.

  Her husband made a gesture of silence. "Maxwell Faith was the namementioned by Granny in her trance, and she also spoke of this murder.Did she see the papers?"

  "Ah!" Bella was suddenly enlightened. Perhaps Granny had learned aboutthe jewels from the papers which had been taken from the carved chest inthe attic. But then in that first set of papers, as she thought, thename of Maxwell Faith had not been mentioned. "Granny saw one set ofpapers, but not the set I mean."

  "Then there are other papers you have stolen," cried Mrs. Vandfuriously. "Upon my word, Bella, you are a fine thief and no mistake.Give up those papers, so that we may learn where my jewels are."

  "They are not your jewels, but mine," said Bella, stepping back into thehollow left by the open panel, "and you shall not have them."

  "Where are they? where are they?" cried Vand, becoming excited in histurn.

  "I wish I knew, but I don't. Captain Huxham had them, before hedied----"

  "Then the assassin must have them."

  "Yes. Perhaps you can tell me who is the assassin?"

  "I can't say; you know as much as we do," said Vand coldly. "If I hadmurdered the old man, as you were so ready to think, on Granny Tunk'sravings, I should have the jewels and long since would have cleared outwith them. But the fact that I am still here with Rosamund proves that Iam innocent."

  "We must go and see the police to-morrow, Henry," said Mrs. Vand, "andhave this wicked girl arrested. She must be made to give up the papersshe has stolen. Oh!"--Mrs. Vand plunged forward--"I could scratch hereyes out!"

  Undoubtedly the furious woman would have made the attempt, but thatBella was on her guard. Already in the secret passage, she had only totouch a spring and the panel sprang back into its place with a click. Inthe darkness Bella heard her so-called aunt hurl herself against thehard wood, using very bad language. Then came the beating of fistsagainst the panel in the vain attempt to break it down. Bella knew thatthe panel was too strong to break, but thought it was best to leave thehouse as speedily as possible. Cyril was waiting for her near theboundary channel, and the sooner she joined him the better. As sheturned to go she heard the high, screaming voice of Mrs. Vand ragingwildly.

  "Go up on the roof and use the search-light, Henry!" shouted Mrs. Vand."The minx will get out of the house by some way we don't know of, andmust get down the corn-path. I'll catch her there, and you show thelight so that I can seize her. I'll tear her hair out! I'll scratch hereyes out! I'll make her ill, and----" what else Mrs. Vand was about todo to her, Bella did not hear, as there was no time to be lost ingetting away from the dangerous neighborhood of the infuriated woman.

  Bella sped along the narrow passage fearlessly, as long experience hadmade her acquainted with its intricacies. It was contrived in the thickdividing walls of the old house on the ground floor. At one part therewas a shaft leading to another passage on the first floor, and up thisit was possible to scramble by notches cut in the walls. Bella had halfa mind to ascend to the upper story, and linger for a chance of escape.But as Cyril waited her at the boundary channel, it was possible that hemight come into contact with Mrs. Vand, who would be furiously hunting.Therefore, she judged it best to leave the house and gain the corn-pathbefore Mrs. Vand could intercept her. With this scheme in her mind Bellaran along the passage until she came to a door, which turned on acentral pivot. This she twisted, and slipped like an eel through theopening to find herself in a kind of tiny chamber. Groping round thisshe soon discovered the hasp of a closed door, which she skilfullymanipulated. The door--a narrow one and somewhat high--swung open, andthe girl was outside in a quiet corner at the back of the house, andhidden fairly well by a projecting buttress. A screen of ivy clothed theManor wall at this point, and the door was concealed behind the screen,so that its existence had never been suspected. Bella had discovered theexit from the inside, and had cut round the ivy that masked the door sothat she could get it open. Of course, the cut ivy had more or lesswithered, but even so, no one guessed that there was a door behind thebrownish oblong.

  The night was dark and warm and silent. Bella stole along the footpath,which ran between the house and the tall, rustling stalks of the corn.Several times she paused, thinking she heard a noise, but everything wasstill, and she speedily turned the corner of the mansion. ApparentlyMrs. Vand was not on the hunt yet, or perhaps she was busy with thesearch-light which she had asked her husband to use. However this mightbe, Bella saw that the course was clear, and stealing round to the frontdoor, which she found to be closed, she sped like an antelope down thewinding corn-path which led to the boundary channel. Just as she reachedthe top of this and was prepared to start down it, the beam of theelectric light struck i
nto the dark sky.

  Huxham had rigged up the light on the flat roof, between the slopingtiles, but Vand had transferred it to the quarter deck, which was slunground the chimney. Thus he was enabled to sweep the whole horizonwithout being interrupted by the tall roofs of the Manor. The beam swunground here and there, pointing like a great finger, and finally settledon the corn-path and on Bella's dark figure running for dear life fromthe mansion. The girl heard Vand's shout as he espied her, heard alsothe front door opening, as Mrs. Vand rushed in pursuit.

  But Mrs. Vand, like Hamlet, was stout and scant of breath, and with allthe will in the world urged by a venomous hatred, could not gain on herdetested niece, who ran like Atlanta. The search-beam revealed the pathplainly, and showing the flying figure of Bella, with Mrs. Vand pantingin vindictive pursuit. Towards the end of the path near the boundarychannel Bella called softly and breathlessly, "Cyril! Cyril! Mrs. Vandis following. Hide! hide!"

  At that moment the beam struck the boundary channel, and revealed thewhite-clothed figure of young Lister. It rested for a moment there, andthen dropped back to aid the steps of Mrs. Vand. Cyril seized the chanceof the friendly darkness, and as Bella ran into his arms he dragged herinto the standing corn. In less than a moment they were lying somedistance from the path amongst the crushed stalks, while Mrs. Vandblundered past, running unsteadily. If Vand had kept the beam on Bella,she and her lover would not have been able to hide, but having beenforced to give light to his stout wife, the two were enabled to escape.They could hear Mrs. Vand puffing and panting like a grampus, as shesearched round and round. In Cyril's arms, on Cyril's breast, Bella feltperfectly safe, and in spite of the position and of the near presence ofher enemy, was bubbling over with laughter.

  Mrs. Vand crossed the boundary channel, and finding no one on the hitherside, concluded that Bella had escaped. She returned slowly, and, asVand had now shut off the beam--for he also had seen that the search wasvain--she stumbled up the path in a very bad temper. As her sighs andgroans died away and the darkness gathered around, Cyril and Bella rose,and gliding back to the verge of the boundary channel, crossed rapidly.In a few minutes they were on their way to Marshely.

  "What does it all mean, dear?" asked Cyril, when they were quite safe.

  Bella told him all about her adventure.