The House of Strange Secrets: A Detective Story

by A. Eric Bayly

  CHAPTER XXIV

  THE FATE OF THE EAVESDROPPER

  Once on level ground--which, he was surprised to find, was paved withstone--Laurence was able once again to stand upright and stretch out hishands, without touching anything in the pitch darkness.

  He found the wall at length, and moved along it. Presently it came to anend, but, like the corner of a room, met another wall running at rightangles to it. Some distance farther there was a break in the coldsurface of the wall. Laurence concluded that it was the mouth of apassage leading off somewhere. He did not turn down this, though, butgroped on until he reached another angle in the wall that seemed like asecond corner of a room. A third time he made a similar discovery; thenhe came upon another passage, unbarred, leading away he knew not where.At last he found himself once again at the foot of the staircase downwhich he had come.

  Plainly this pointed to the natural conclusion that he was in a largesquare room, in which there was apparently no living creature excepthimself, but out of which led two passages, in addition to the staircasethat descended from the secret attic.

  As Laurence stood consulting as to what he should do next, he becameaware of a muffled sound coming from above his head. The ceiling of theplace in which he stood was high. He could not reach it without standingon tiptoe, when he found it to be of wood.

  The sound he heard was a regular tap-tap, as though someone was movingabout in a room directly above that in which he stood. What did it mean?Why, Laurence decided without hesitation, the sounds of footsteps werethose made by Lena as she strolled about in the barn. The room in whichhe found himself must accordingly be exactly under the barn itself. Andyet, throughout the years he and his father had spent at the Manse, nota suspicion had entered the head of either that the old barn--datingback, it was said, to the time of Cromwell--was the centre of alabyrinth of secret passages and chambers such as it now seemed to be.

  There were two courses open to him, Laurence thought to himself--toreturn by the narrow staircase, find his way out into the light of day,and return later with a lantern and some weapon of defence; or to takeone of the two passages which he had found, and discover whither it led.

  Wisdom and common sense urged the former course; daring and, perhaps,foolhardiness clamoured for the adventure that might be the result offurther exploring. And, as might have, perhaps, been expected, theverdict of common sense was dismissed, the girl waiting upstairsforgotten, and Laurence, finding one of the dark passages close at hand,plunged into it, and, feeling his way with a hand on either wall,quickly left the square room under the barn behind him.

  The passage seemed of interminable length, nor was there any break inthe wall on either side. Not a ray of light pierced the grim darkness.Not a sound was audible save that of his own footsteps. The air washeavy with an odour of decay. Altogether the experience was one which anordinary person would not relish. But then, as has been said, Laurencewas no ordinary person. He hardly knew what fear was; the only time hehad been really unnerved being after his experiences in tracking thecyclist on the moor. Every moment he considered it possible that hemight encounter the man he believed to be lurking in the many possiblehiding-places that there seemed to be. Yet he did not hesitate for oneinstant, though unarmed with so much as a walking-cane.

  'Tis a long lane that has no turning, and at length the prowler in thedark was brought to a sudden standstill by his outstretched hand comingin contact with something--either a wall or a door--that completelybarred his way.

  Laurence fumbled about, in the hope of finding some catch or handlewhich would assure him that he had reached a door. He naturally presumedthat it would be a door, for otherwise what would be the meaning of thelong passage were it to lead nowhere? For some little time he searchedin vain, then, deciding that there was no fear of the creature intowhose haunts he had penetrated being in his immediate neighbourhood, theyoung man struck a match and held it high above his head.

  The sight that met his gaze when the light of the vesta flared up andthen burned quickly before going out was a strange one, yet he wasprepared for what he saw. The passage down which he had come closelyresembled a railway subway, such as that at King's Cross Station,London. Though on the whole fairly straight, it swerved once or twice insuch a way that he was unable, when looking back, to see for anydistance the path by which he had reached the oak door before which hewas standing.

  He was able to make a cursory examination of this door while the lightlasted. It looked very old, and the damp stood upon it like beads ofperspiration. It was heavily studded with iron knobs, and there was amassive-looking lock at the foot of it, and another near the top.Undoubtedly the man who had built the passage and this door had takengood care to have the best work put into them. What was the builder'sscheme--the cause of all the secrecy? Nothing more likely than that itwas an illegal one.

  But Laurence's meditations on this subject were cut short by a soundthat fell upon his ear.

  Someone was talking--someone on the other side of the oak door.

  The sounds became louder. Two persons were speaking, one in loud andrough tones. They were approaching the door behind which he stood.

  As they drew nearer Laurence became aware of a gleam of light that shotthrough the keyhole of the lock at the top of the door. In an instant hewas standing on the bottom lock, clinging by his hands to the ironknobs. With his eye to the keyhole he was able to see through into whatlooked like a spacious lobby or hall. The figures of two men werestanding facing one another half a dozen yards away, their faces lit upby the yellow glare from a candle that the shorter one of them wascarrying. But for this artificial light the hall would have been as darkas the passage in which Laurence stood. As it was, the watcher wasenabled to get a good view of the men's features. To his amazement hediscovered that the speakers were none other than Doctor Meadows and hisconvict servant Horncastle.

  The discovery so startled young Carrington that in his astonishment heslipped from the protruding ledge on which he was standing and droppedwith a clatter upon the stone pavement.

  Both men turned suddenly and glanced in the direction whence the soundappeared to come.

  As quietly as possible Laurence clambered up again and peered through,to find the two faces staring straight at him. How was it that they didnot guess there was someone behind the door? They certainly did not, forHorncastle exclaimed--

  "Drat them rats! The place is haunted by 'em."

  "Are you sure that was a rat?" asked Meadows. "The noise was muchgreater than any I ever heard a rat make. There must be a colony ofthem--or is it possible that there is something else behind the panelsof that wall? The house agent mentioned to me a secret room." He loweredhis voice. Laurence did not catch what his words were. Then he wenton--

  "If that were the case there might be someone--someone suspicious; youknow what I mean--overlooking us. Of course, the idea is absurdlyimprobable. Suppose we look behind that oak panelling, though? We canput it all back; we will, at any rate, drive the rats away."

  "Well, you're a queer one, you are. Suspicious as I don't know what. I'mgame, then, only I 'aves my pint o' gin afterwards, or else--or elseI'll blab to that messing Carrington chap about----"

  And to the eavesdropper's extreme annoyance, Horncastle broke off shortwhen Laurence was thinking himself to be on the verge of a discoveryacquired--though, in his excitement, he forgot all that--by means thatcould hardly be considered of exemplary fairness.

  As the two men moved towards where he stood, Laurence's interest gaveway to dismay. What might not these unscrupulous folks do when theydiscovered eavesdropping a man who had betrayed grave suspicions of thenature of their "secret"? At any rate, Laurence realised that he had agood start, and, as Doctor Meadows, throwing down a dog-whip which hehad held in his hand, moved towards the panelling and ordered hisconvict servant to fetch the necessary tools, Carrington movednoiselessly down from his perch. He was about to turn back and effecthis escape, when something--something like the lash of a whi
p--brushedpast his face and suddenly caught his neck. At the same time two handsfrom out of the darkness behind seemed to strike against the sides ofhis head, a knee was planted in the small of his back, a leg seemed toentwine itself round his, and, like a flash of lightning, his sensesleft him, as Laurence Carrington fell like a dead man upon the stonepavement of the secret passage.