The Firm of Girdlestone by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (novels for teenagers txt) 📕

Bedsworth, and I shall send to London."

"God bless you!" ejaculated Kate.

"But not to Phillimore Gardens. Hot-headed young men do foolish things under such circumstances as these. This is a case that wants careful management. I know a gentleman in London who is just the man, and who I know would be only too proud to help a lady in distress. He is a retired officer, and his name is Major Clutterbuck--Major Tobias Clutterbuck."

"Oh, I know him very well, and I have heard of you, too," said Kate, with a smile. "I remember your name now in connection with his."

It was Mrs. Scully's turn to blush now. "Never mind that," she said. "I can trust the major, and I know he will be down here at a word from me. I shall let him have the facts, and he can tell the Dimsdales if he thinks it best. Good-bye, dear; don't be unhappy any more, but remember that you have friends outside who will very quickly set all right. Good-bye!" and waving her hand in encouragement, the good widow woke up the pony, which had fallen fast asleep, and rattled away down the lane in the direction from which she had come.


CHAPTER XL.

THE MAJOR HAS A LETTER.

At four o'clock Mr. Girdlestone stepped into the Bedsworth telegraph office and wired his short message. It ran thus: "Case hopeless. Come on to-morrow with a doctor." On receipt of this he knew by their agreement that his son would come down, bringing with him the man of violence whom he had spoken of at their last interview. There was nothing for it now but that his ward should die. If he delayed longer, the crash might come before her money was available, and then how vain all regrets would be.

It seemed to him that there was very little risk in the matter. The girl had had no communication with any one. Even of those around her, Mrs. Jorrocks was in her dotage, Rebecca Taylforth was staunch and true, and Stevens knew nothing. Every one on the country side had heard of the invalid young lady at the Priory. Who would be surprised to hear that she had passed away? He dare not call in any local medical man, but his inventive brain had overcome the difficulty, and had hit upon a device by which he might defy both doctors and coroner. If all went as he had planned it, it was difficult to see any chance of detection. In the case of a poorer man the fact that the girl's money reverted to him might arouse suspicion, but he rightly argued that with his great reputation no one would ever dream that such a consideration could have weight with him.

Having sent the telegram off, and so taken a final step, John Girdlestone felt more at his ease. He was proud of his own energy and decision. As he walked very pompously and gravely down the village street, his heart glowed within him at the thought of the long struggle which he had maintained against misfortune. He passed over in his mind all the successive borrowings and speculations and makeshifts and ruses which the firm had resorted to. Yet, in spite of every danger and difficulty, it still held up its head with the best, and would weather the storm at last. He reflected proudly that there was no other man in the City who would have had the dogged tenacity and the grim resolution which he had displayed during the last twelve months. "If ever any one should put it all in a book," he said to himself, "there are few who would believe it possible. It is not by my own strength that I have done it."

The man had no consciousness of blasphemy in him as he revolved this thought in his mind. He was as thoroughly in earnest as were any of those religious fanatics who, throughout history, have burned, sacked, and destroyed, committing every sin under heaven in the name of a God of peace and of mercy.

When he was half-way to the Priory he met a small pony-carriage, which was rattling towards Bedsworth at a great pace, driven by a good-looking middle-aged lady with a small page by her side. The merchant encountered this equipage in a narrow country lane without a footpath, and as it approached him he could not help observing that the lady wore an indignant and gloomy look upon her features which was out of keeping with their general contour. Her forehead was contracted into a very decided frown, and her lips were gathered into what might be described as a negative smile. Girdlestone stood aside to let her pass, but the lady, by a sudden twitch of her right-hand rein, brought the wheels across in so sudden a manner that they were within an ace of going over his toes. He only saved himself by springing back into a gap of the hedge. As it was, he found on looking down that his pearl grey trousers were covered with flakes of wet mud. What made the incident more perplexing was that both the middle-aged lady and the page laughed very heartily as they rattled away to the village. The merchant proceeded on his way marvelling in his heart at the uncharitableness and innate wickedness of unregenerated human nature.

Good Mrs. Scully little dreamed of the urgency of the case. Had she seen the telegram which John Girdlestone had just despatched, it is conceivable that she might have read between the words, and by acting more promptly have prevented a terrible crime. As a matter of fact, with all her sympathy the worthy woman had taken a large part of Kate's story with the proverbial grain of salt. It seemed to her to be incredible and impossible that in this nineteenth century such a thing as deliberate and carefully planned murder should occur in Christian England. That these things occur in the abstract we are ready to admit, but we find it very difficult to realize that they may come within the horizon of our own experience. Hence Mrs. Scully set no importance upon Kate's fears for her life, and put them down to the excited state of the girl's imagination. She did consider it, however, to be a very iniquitous and unjustifiable thing that a young girl should be cooped up and separated from all the world in such a very dreary place of seclusion as the Priory. This consideration and nothing more serious had set that look of wrath upon her pleasant face, and had stirred her up to frustrate Girdlestone and to communicate with Kate's friends.

Her intention had been to telegraph to London, but as she drove to Bedsworth she bethought her how impossible it would be for her within the limits of a telegram to explain to her satisfaction all that she wanted to express. A letter, she reflected, would, if posted now, reach the major by the first post on Saturday morning. It would simply mean a few hours' delay in the taking of steps to relieve Kate, and what difference could a few hours more or less make to the girl. She determined, therefore, that she would write to the major, explaining all the circumstances, and leave it to him what course of action should be pursued.

Mrs. Scully was well known at the post office, and they quickly accommodated her with the requisites for correspondence. Within a quarter of an hour she had written, sealed, stamped, and posted the following epistle:--

"DEAREST TOBY,

"I am afraid you must find your period of probation very slow.
Poor boy! what does he do? No billiards, no cards, no betting--
how does he manage to get through the day at all? Smokes, I
suppose, and looks out of the window, and tells all his grievances
to Mr. Von Baumser. Aren't you sorry that ever you made the
acquaintance of Morrison's second floor front? Poor Toby!

"Who do you think I have come across down here? No less a person
than that Miss Harston who was Girdlestone's ward. You used to
talk about her, I remember, and indeed you were a great admirer of
hers. You would be surprised if you saw her now, so thin and worn
and pale. Still her face is very sweet and pretty, so I won't
deny your good taste--how could I after you have paid your
addresses to me?

"Her guardian has brought her down here and has locked her up in a
great bleak house called the Priory. She has no one to speak to,
and is not allowed to write letters. She seemed to be heart-broken
because none of her friends know where she is, and she fears that
they may imagine that she has willingly deserted them. Of course,
by her friends she means that curly-headed Mr. Dimsdale that you
spoke of. The poor girl is in a very low nervous state, and told
me over the wall of the park that she feared her guardian had
designs on her life. I can hardly believe that, but I do think
that she is far from well, and that it is enough to drive her mad
to coop her up like that. We must get her out somehow or another.
I suppose that her guardian is within his rights, and that it is
not a police matter. You must consider what must be done, and let
young Dimsdale know if you think best. He will want to come down
to see her, no doubt, and if Toby were to come too I should not be
sorry.

"I should have telegraphed about it, but I could not explain myself
sufficiently. I assure you that the poor girl is in a very bad
way, and we can't be too energetic in what we do. It was very sad
to hear the positive manner in which she declared that her guardian
would murder her, though she did not attempt to give any reason why
he should commit such a terrible crime. We saw a horrid one-eyed
man at the gate, who appeared to be on guard to prevent any one
from coming out or in. On our way to Bedsworth we met no less a
person than the great Mr. Girdlestone himself, and we actually
drove so clumsily that we splashed him all over with mud.
Wasn't that a very sad and unaccountable thing? I fancy I see Toby
smiling over that.

"Good-bye, my dear lad. Be as good as you can. I know you've got
rather out of the way of it, but practice works wonders.

"Ever yours,