CHAPTER XII
I ASK MISS TEMPLE A QUESTION
"Miss Temple," I said, as we sat beside each other on the bigleather-covered settle facing the fire, "I want to thank you with all myheart for going up to London to see me. I know why you went and cannever tell you how deeply I appreciate it."
She looked at me with her bewitching smile, which somehow made me feelboth delightfully happy and yet vaguely uncertain of myself. "I had tocome, Mr. Morgan," she said. "As soon as I knew the police werefastening their suspicions upon you, I knew I should be obliged to tellwhat I had seen. Yet I felt horrified at the thought of accusing myfather. I could not understand his being where I imagined I saw him. Iknew his mad desire for the jewel and was filled with dismay at thethought that he would attempt to secure it by such means. Of course Ihad no thought then of Mr. Ashton's death. I ran to my room, threw offmy wet clothes, and appeared in the hall just as your cries aroused thehouse. Li Min must have re-entered the house just after I retired to myroom. I did not look into the hallway of the west wing. I avoided doingso purposely, as I did not wish to humiliate my father by letting himknow that I had seen him on the roof. Of course I was deceived by thelong coat and cap. My father is of about the same height as Li Min, andI had been so accustomed to seeing him in that particular coat andcap--he invariably wore them when walking about the grounds--that I feltno doubt whatever as to his identity. Had I found you in London, Mr.Morgan, I should have told you everything and been guided by youradvice."
"I wish you had found me there," I said, "but, as it is, everything hasturned out well. Only I am sorry that you should have had to undergosuch a terrible experience."
"Oh, it wasn't so bad. They gave me a very comfortable room at thepolice station in London, and the matron was extremely kind. I mighthave enjoyed the experience thoroughly, had I not been so terriblyworried about my father." The dark shadow which fell across her facereminded me forcibly of the suffering she had undergone. I hastened tochange the subject.
"Sometime I hope to show you London and my studio under differentcircumstances," I said. "I've got a lot of interesting old things therethat I've picked up. You must surely come."
"Oh, I should love to. And your pictures! You must show me those, too."
"I'll be glad to. We will get up a party, some time. I've lots ofdelightful friends among the painters and musical people. You'd likethem, I know."
"It's the life I've always dreamed of," she said, her cheeks flushingwith excitement. "I've been to so many places, Rome and Paris, andVienna and Cairo, and the East, you know, but I really know very littleabout them. The outside I have seen, of course, but the real life--thatI have missed. And now we are stuck down here, where we don't knowanybody, because father fancies it is good for his health. I suppose itis, but it isn't real, joyous living. I hardly feel alive."
"But you go to London, don't you? Your father spoke of his house there."
"Oh, yes, we are there a great deal, but father's friends are mostlyprofessors of Assyriology and Egyptology, and people of that sort, andthey come and stay for hours and talk about scarabs and hieroglyphicsand mummies, and all that sort of thing. Sometimes I feel almost asthough I were about to become a mummy myself."
She certainly did not look it, with her wonderful color, heightened bythe firelight and her large and brilliant eyes. I could not help lookingdeep into them as I replied.
"We must prevent that, at all costs. Let me show you what it is toreally live."
"Isn't that rather a large order? And we have known each other for soshort a time, too." She laughed nervously, but did not seem displeasedat my remark.
"I think the experiences of the past week have caused us to know eachother very well," I said, gravely, "and I hope you may think as much ofthe friendship which has come to us as I do."
"Are we then really friends?" she said slowly. "I never had a manfriend--nor very many of any sort, I fear. We have always moved about somuch from place to place."
I regretted my choice of words. I could readily believe that she wouldnot find it easy to have a man friend, for he would at once proceed tofall head over heels in love with her, as I had done. "Perhaps notfriends," I said, and, as I did so, I placed my hand over hers, whichlay beside me upon the leather seat of the settle. "At least not friendsonly. I suppose, Miss Temple, that you will be very much surprised, whenI tell you that I have never thought of you in that way. I have alwaysdreamed, all my life, of a woman like you, who would be close beside me,and share all my hopes and dreams, and be the cause of them all as well,and be glad of my successes and not think the less of me because of myfailures. But a woman to be all that must be more than a man's friend,Miss Temple--she must be his wife."
The color flooded her cheeks as I said this, but she did not draw awayher hand. "A woman would have to be very greatly loved by a man, andlove him very greatly in return, to be all that to him," she said.
"I can only speak for myself, Miss Temple--Muriel. I love you verygreatly, so much indeed, that I am telling you of it now--when I havethe opportunity--instead of waiting, as no doubt you think I should.But, were I to wait, I do not know what trick of fate might intervene toprevent me. Your father might suddenly be seized with the idea of goingto India, or Japan, or somewhere else, and I should be unable to tellyou what has been singing in my heart ever since the first moment I sawyou. We have passed through much trouble, you and I, and that hasbrought us closer to each other than years of formal acquaintanceshipmight ever have done. I want you--I need you--I love you, and I shallalways love you." I drew her to me, unresisting. "Do you love me, dear?"I said, and, when she put her arms about my neck and her head upon mybreast I knew what her answer was, and that I had found my heart'sdesire.
It must have been half an hour later when Major Temple burst into thelibrary, in a great state of excitement. We heard him coming along thehall, and I had made up my mind to ask his consent to our marriage assoon as he came in. I failed to do so, because he seemed much excited,and asked us at once if we had seen anything of Boris, his favoritemastiff. He had missed the dog that morning, before setting out forExeter he said, but his mind was so troubled by the prospect of thehearing, and his daughter's arrest, that he gave the matter but scantthought. He had suddenly realized, a few moments ago, while writing someletters in his study, that the dog was not in his favorite place uponthe hearthrug and that in fact he had not seen him since his return fromExeter. He made inquiries at once, but none of the servants had seen thedog since the day before. I remembered at once the howling that I hadheard during the night and spoke of it. The Major thought for a moment,then raised his head with a sudden look of comprehension. "Don't youremember, Mr. Morgan, that Boris was with us when we made ourexamination of the green room last night? I do not recollect seeing himafter that. We all left the room very hurriedly, you will remember,having just learned that my daughter could not be found. The poor fellowhas no doubt been locked in there ever since, and it was his howls thatyou heard. Wait until I see if I can find another key--there are twoabout the house somewhere. Sergeant McQuade has the one usually left inthe door."
He disappeared for a few moments, then returned with several keys upon awire ring. "One of these will open it, I think," he said, and led theway to the green room, Muriel and I following him. "Poor dog," he saidas we hastily ascended the stairs, "he must be dying for food, or adrink of water."
Upon our arrival at the door, Major Temple tried several of the keysbefore finding one that would open it. At last the lock turned, however,and he attempted to push open the door. It refused to open, and felt, hesaid, as though some heavy object had been placed against it, upon theinside of the room. I went to his assistance and by pushing with ourunited strength forced the door inward sufficiently to allow us toenter. The Major took a candle from the room occupied by myself, acrossthe hall, and we squeezed our way into the room with some difficulty,Muriel remaining outside. What was our astonishment to see lying uponthe floor, his head close to the door,
as though struck down in aneffort to escape, the Major's mastiff, Boris, stone dead, his eyes wideopen and staring, his mouth distended and still covered with foam, hisface wearing an expression of intense fear. It was a horrible sight,and we looked at each other in alarm. "My God," said the Major--"thisroom is accursed. Let us go." He started for the door.
"Shall I come in?" we heard Muriel asking from the hall without.
"No--no!" the Major commanded. "We will be with you in a moment." Hemotioned to me to go ahead, and he followed me and closed the door.
"What is the matter?" asked his daughter as she saw our startled faces."Isn't Boris there?"
"Yes, he is there." The Major's tone was grave and solemn. "He is there,Muriel, and he is dead. I do not know what is the secret of that room,but I shall never enter it again." He turned from us, and led the waydown the hall.
"Dead!" said Muriel, turning to me. "Is it really true?"
I assured her that it was.
She glanced at me with a scared sort of a look. "Do you think," shesaid, slowly, "that Li Min's story of the vengeance of Buddha couldreally be true, after all?"
"No, I do not," I said, though I was not so absolutely sure as Ipretended to be. "It is hardly likely that Buddha would turn hisvengeance upon an inoffensive dog, who had certainly done nothing toincur it. It is a curious and unfortunate coincidence, that is all. Thedog has no doubt died of fright, caused by his unusual situation,coupled perhaps with lack of food, water and air. Or he may have dashedhimself against the door in his struggles and died of apoplexy. I'vefrequently heard of dogs dying from some such cause, especially oldones. How old was Boris?"
"About four years," said Muriel, and I knew from the way in which shespoke that she did not believe my explanation of the affair in theleast.
When we reached the floor below, the Major directed Gibson and one ofthe other servants to remove the dog's body from the room, and we allretired to the library, where we discussed the matter for a long time.Major Temple, on sober thought, was inclined to agree with my view ofthe matter, but in spite of our attempts to regard the event in acommon-sense light, we could not shake off a mysterious feeling of dreadat the thought of these two creatures, a man and a dog having soinexplicably come to their ends in this room. In Ashton's case, atleast, there was a tangible enough evidence of the cause of death, butin the case of Boris there was none. Major Temple stepped out andexamined the dog's body when the men brought it down from above, andupon his return reported that there was no wound or mark of any sortupon the animal that could account for its death.
Miss Temple essayed a few airs upon the piano, but our thoughts were notattuned to music, and presently, as it was close to eleven o'clock, shesaid good-night to us both and left us. As she passed me on her way fromthe room, she leaned over and kissed me upon the forehead, and I turnedto find the Major staring at me in perplexity. Poor man, so many strangethings had happened during the course of this eventful day that I fearhe would not have been greatly surprised had I suddenly stood upon myhead and attempted to recite the Jabberwock backward. I at once told himof my love for Muriel, and of her feelings toward me, and asked hisconsent to our marriage. "It is a bit sudden, I'll admit, Sir," Iconcluded, "but none the less real and true for all that."
"But, my dear Sir," gasped the Major, evidently very much taken aback bymy flow of words, and my earnest and somewhat excited manner, "I hardlyknow you. How can you expect me to reply to such a question, to give myconsent to your marriage with my daughter, when I know absolutelynothing of your position, your prospects, or your income?"
I expected his objections and answered them at once. "You are quiteright, Sir, of course," I answered. "As for my income, I am making closeto a thousand pounds a year from my profession, which, as you may know,is that of an illustrator for books and for the magazines. In additionto that, I have an income from my father's estate of 800 pounds a year.At my mother's death I shall have as much more. My father was EdwardMorgan, of whom you may perhaps have heard. He was a well-known civilengineer, and railway constructor, and distinguished himself in India,in the construction of the great sea-wall at Calcutta. My mother isstill living, and I know she would be most happy to welcome Muriel as adaughter, for I have no brothers or sisters, and she is very lonely."
At the mention of my profession and my income I noticed that MajorTemple's frown relaxed somewhat, but when I mentioned my father's nameand the fact of his having spent a part of his life in India, he fairlybeamed.
"Are you really the son of Edward Morgan?" he cried, rising. "Why, myboy, I knew him well. I was in the Indian service for fifteen years, andwho did not know him, who has spent much time in that benighted country?Many's the time I've dined with him at our club in Calcutta. He was afine man, and, if I remember rightly, he refused a knighthood for hisservices." He came up to me and took my hand. "It's all very sudden, Imust say, but I should be very glad to see Muriel happily married, and,if she believes you to be the right man, I shall interpose noobjections. But I should advise that you both wait a reasonable time,until you are certain that you have not made any mistake. As for me, Iam an old man, and I have traveled all over the world, but the onlyreal happiness I have ever found was in the love of my wife. She wentout to India with me, and she never came back." He turned and gazed intothe fire to hide his emotions. "I have become half-mad over thisbusiness of collecting antiquities and curios," he resumed, presently,"but it isn't real, it's only an insane hobby after all, and I have onlyjust realized how selfish it all is, and how selfish I have been aswell, to consider for a moment bartering my daughter's happiness for amiserable Chinese idol to which I never had any right in the firstplace." He drew a cigar from his pocket and lighted it hurriedly.
I thanked him for his attitude toward my suit, and agreed to leave thesetting of our marriage day entirely in the hands of himself and Muriel.Then, seeing that he was tired out after the long strain of the day, Ibade him good-night and retired to my room.
As I stopped at my doorway, I noticed that the door of the green roomstood partly open, and, filled with a curious fascination, I once morepeered into its dark and silent interior. I could see only the faintoutlines of the tall, old-fashioned bed, against the dim night light ofthe sky without the windows. I stepped inside, acting upon the impulseof the moment, and striking a wax taper lit one of the gas jets in theheavy, old-fashioned bronze chandelier. The room seemed comfortableenough, although I felt that peculiar stifling sensation which I hadnoticed upon my first entering it. I looked about, and wondered for thethousandth time what strange secret lay concealed within its walls, whatmysterious influence existed which was potent to strike down man orbeast alike without warning, as though by the hand of death itself. Ilonged to penetrate to the heart of this mystery, to satisfy myself, atleast, that what had occurred herein had not been supernatural, theaction of unknown forces, but merely some working of well-known naturallaws, obscure perhaps, but none the less understandable, if but thesecret could once be grasped. Suddenly I was seized with an idea. Whyshould I not spend the night here, instead of in the room across thehall, and possibly thus determine the grim secret, which had set ourreason and common sense at naught. The idea grew upon me, and sostrongly was I possessed with it that I at once returned to my own room,undressed, put on my pajamas, and, taking from my dressing-case, whichhad been sent down from London, a small pocket revolver that I alwayscarried with me and had never yet used, I crossed the hall into the roomopposite, carrying with me some extra coverings for my bed. I did notfeel at all sleepy, so, after closing the door and climbing, not withoutdifficulty, into the high poster bed, I lay back comfortably upon thepillows and proceeded to occupy myself in reading a magazine which I hadfound lying upon the table in my own room.
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