'I had intended to do so. I have lost to-day the only person who made The Gables habitable.'
He strode off upon his way, while Stackhurst, with angry eyes, stood glaring after him. 'Is he not an impossible, intolerable man?' he cried.
The one thing that impressed itself forcibly upon my mind was that Mr. Ian Murdoch was taking the first chance to open a path of escape from the scene of the crime. Suspicion, vague and nebulous, was now beginning to take outline in my mind. Perhaps the visit to the Bellamys might throw some further light upon the matter. Stackhurst pulled himself together, and we went forward to the house.
Mr. Bellamy proved to be a middle-aged man with a flaming red beard. He seemed to be in a very angry mood, and his face was soon as florid as his hair.
'No, sir, I do not desire any particulars. My son here' — indicating a powerful young man, with a heavy, sullen face, in the corner of the sitting-room—'is of one mind with me that Mr. McPherson's attentions to Maud were insulting. Yes, sir, the word 'marriage' was never mentioned, and yet there were letters and meetings, and a great deal more of which neither of us could approve. She has no mother, and we are her only guardians. We are determined—'
But the words were taken from his mouth by the appearance of the lady herself. There was no gainsaying that she would have graced any assembly in the world. Who could have imagined that so rare a flower would grow from such a root and in such an atmosphere? Women have seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart, but I could not look upon her perfect clear-cut face, with all the soft freshness of the downlands in her delicate colouring, without realizing that no young man would cross her path unscathed. Such was the girl who had pushed open the door and stood now, wide-eyed and intense, in front of Harold Stackhurst.
'I know already that Fitzroy is dead,' she said. 'Do not be afraid to tell me the particulars.'
'This other gentleman of yours let us know the news,' explained the father.
'There is no reason why my sister should be brought into the matter,' growled the younger man.
The sister turned a sharp, fierce look upon him. 'This is my business, William. Kindly leave me to manage it in my own way. By all accounts there has been a crime committed. If I can help to show who did it, it is the least I can do for him who is gone.'
She listened to a short account from my companion, with a composed concentration which showed me that she possessed strong character as well as great beauty. Maud Bellamy will always remain in my memory as a most complete and remarkable woman. It seems that she already knew me by sight, for she turned to me at the end.
'Bring them to justice, Mr. Holmes. You have my sympathy and my help, whoever they may be.' It seemed to me that she glanced defiantly at her father and brother as she spoke.
'Thank you,' said I. 'I value a woman's instinct in such matters. You use the word 'they.' You think that more than one was concerned?'
'I knew Mr. McPherson well enough to be aware that he was a brave and a strong man. No single person could ever have inflicted such an outrage upon him.'
'Might I have one word with you alone?'
'I tell you, Maud, not to mix yourself up in the matter,' cried her father angrily.
She looked at me helplessly. 'What can I do?'
'The whole world will know the facts presently, so there can be no harm if I discuss them here,' said I. 'I should have preferred privacy, but if your father will not allow it he must share the deliberations.' Then I spoke of the note which had been found in the dead man's pocket. 'It is sure to be produced at the inquest. May I ask you to throw any light upon it that you can?'
'I see no reason for mystery,' she answered. 'We were engaged to be married, and we only kept it secret because Fitzroy's uncle, who is very old and said to be dying, might have disinherited him if he had married against his wish. There was no other reason.'
'You could have told us,' growled Mr. Bellamy.
'So I would, father, if you had ever shown sympathy.'
'I object to my girl picking up with men outside her own station.'
'It was your prejudice against him which prevented us from telling you. As to this appointment' — she fumbled in her dress and produced a crumpled note—'it was in answer to this.'
DEAREST [ran the message]:
The old place on the beach just after sunset on Tuesday.
It is the only time I can get away.
'Tuesday was to-day, and I had meant to meet him to-night.'
I turned over the paper. 'This never came by post. How did you get it?'
'I would rather not answer that question. It has really nothing to do with the matter which you are investigating. But anything which bears upon that I will most freely answer.'
She was as good as her word, but there was nothing which was helpful in our investigation. She had no reason to think that her fiance had any hidden enemy, but she admitted that she had had several warm admirers.
'May I ask if Mr. Ian Murdoch was one of them?'
She blushed and seemed confused.
'There was a time when I thought he was. But that was all changed when he understood the relations between Fitzroy and myself.'
Again the shadow round this strange man seemed to me to be taking more definite shape. His record must be examined. His rooms must be privately searched. Stackhurst was a willing collaborator, for in his mind also suspicions were forming. We returned from our visit to The Haven with the hope that one free end of this tangled skein was already in our hands.
A week passed. The inquest had thrown no light upon the matter and had been adjourned for further evidence. Stackhurst had made discreet inquiry about his subordinate, and there had been a superficial search of his room, but without result. Personally, I had gone over the whole ground again, both physically and mentally, but with no new conclusions. In all my chronicles the reader will find no case which brought me so completely to the limit of my powers. Even my imagination could conceive no solution to the mystery. And then there came the incident of the dog.
It was my old housekeeper who heard of it first by that strange wireless by which such people collect the news of the countryside.
'Sad story this, sir, about Mr. McPherson's dog,' said she one evening.
I do not encourage such conversations, but the words arrested my attention.
'What of Mr. McPherson's dog?'
'Dead, sir. Died of grief for its master.'
'Who told you this?'
'Why, sir, everyone is talking of it. It took on terrible, and has eaten nothing for a week. Then to-day two of the young gentlemen from The Gables found it dead — down on the beach, sir, at the very place where its master met his end.'
'At the very place.' The words stood out clear in my memory. Some dim perception that the matter was vital rose in my mind. That the dog should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of dogs. But 'in the very place'! Why should this lonely beach be fatal to it? Was it possible that it also had been sacrificed to some revengeful feud? Was it possible—? Yes, the perception was dim, but already something was building up in my mind. In a few minutes I was on my way to The Gables, where I found Stackhurst in his study. At my request he sent for Sudbury and Blount, the two students who had found the dog.
'Yes, it lay on the very edge of the pool,' said one of them. 'It must have followed the trail of its dead master.'
I saw the faithful little creature, an Airedale terrier, laid out upon the mat in the hall. The body was stiff and rigid, the eyes projecting, and the limbs contorted. There was agony in every line of it.
From The Gables I walked down to the bathing-pool. The sun had sunk and the shadow of the great cliff lay
