Page:All the Year Round - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/92

 no doubt with blood. Then he washed his hands and face, and putting on the frock, wet as it was in part, stood up and once more looked suspiciously about. All this took time, but I dared not remove my eye from the glass for a single instant. Once I had tried to reach the bell-handle, but I could not. Something would, however, have to be done presently, and done on the instant.

For he was going. He turned his back upon the pond; looked about, as if to see whether there were any traces of his crime visible; then crossed the field, got over the gate by the hay-stack, was lost to sight for a moment, appeared again, disappeared again, and finally, after being out of sight for some time, showed at last, walking along the high road, until he came to a road-side inn, that very Marquis of Granby spoken of above, into which he entered.

And now, indeed, I felt that the time had come when some decisive step must be taken. If he were not secured now, while he was in the public-house—if he got out of it without being taken—he might get off by ways which were hidden from my range of vision, and so escape. I still dared not move my eye from the telescope or the telescope from the inn-door. It was absolutely indispensable that he should not be able to leave the house without my knowing it. I must not stir then; but as something required to be done instantly, somebody else must stir for me. In a moment I decided on my course. Remaining motionless at my post, I lifted up my voice, and gave utterance to such a succession of shouts that I confidently expected that the whole establishment would rush up-stairs to the observatory, thinking that I myself was being murdered. It was not so, however, and considering the noise I made, it seemed really astonishing how long I called in vain. At last it did appear that I was heard. The head gardener was in the grounds close by, and the sound of my voice reached him at length through the open window. Even when he heard, however, it was evident that he could not make out whence the cries which reached him came. "Who calls?" he cried. "Here," I shouted. "In the tower. Help, help at once! There is not a moment to lose." And very soon I heard the welcome sound of footsteps hurrying up the turret stairs. Almost before the door was opened, or the gardener in the room, I issued my orders. "Jump upon the pony," I cried, still with my glass fixed on the door of the old inn, "and gallop at full speed down to the Marquis of Granby. There has been a murder committed, and the murderer is in that house. He has on a scarlet cap, has red hair and a red beard, and a canvas frock, with a dark patch in front."

"What! My helper here?" cried the gardener.

"The same. Seize him, or, if he has left when you get there, raise the hue and cry, and follow him. He has murdered poor old Mr. Irwin. Don't stop to answer," I added, as the man uttered an exclamation of surprise and horror. "Go—go at once. I dare not leave this post. Go, and if you meet any one on your way send him—her—any one—to me."

The man was a sharp fellow, and disappeared instantly. Very soon I had the satisfaction of hearing the sound of a horse's hoofs galloping out of the yard at the back. Meanwhile, half the household, alarmed by what the man had told them, had rushed up to the observatory, and were now gathered round me as I sat at the telescope. They were silent for a time, and I could feel, though my eyes were engaged, that they were watching me intently.

"What is his name?" I asked, after a while.

"His name is Mason," somebody replied: "William Mason." Then there was silence again as I went on watching.

"For God's sake, what is it, sir?" cried the old housekeeper, suddenly, in answer, I suppose, to an involuntary exclamation of mine.

"The door has opened," I answered.

"Is he coming out?"

No one appeared for a moment; at last some one passed out. It was not he, however—it was an old woman carrying a bundle.

There were several false alarms of this kind, as different people who had been taking refreshment at the tap came out, one after another, in pretty rapid succession. At last, after a longer interval than usual, the door opened quickly once again.

"It is he," I said, hardly knowing till I heard the confused murmur of an exclamation from the group behind me that I spoke. "He has come out. He is looking first one way and then another, and now he is gone, and the gardener will be too late!"

I could still see him, and could make out in which direction he was going.

"Is any one belonging to the stable here?"

"Yes, sir," replied a voice I knew.

"Get a horse saddled at once, Matthew, and bring him round. The swiftest you have in."

In a moment I heard the man's footsteps clattering down the stairs.

"Can you see him still?" asked the old housekeeper.

"At present I can, but I shall not be able to do so long. The part of the road he is approaching is hidden from my view."

Very soon my prediction came true. There was a turn in the road. Trees and buildings and rising ground intervened and hid the figure. It did not show again for a long space: when it did it came out by the railway station.

I sat and thought the situation over, and the conviction forced itself upon me, more and more strongly, that this railway station would be the ultimate destination of the murderer, and that the only chance now was to keep a steady watch upon its approaches. But my eyes, especially the left eye, which I had to keep closed, were now so tired that I could hardly use them. I found it, however, by no means easy to get a substitute.

There were only present at this time the women servants and a boy. The boy could not be trusted, of course, and the women, one and all, proclaimed, as they seated themselves