The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack

by Anna Katharine Green

  “‘This is the place, sir. Wait, and I will open the door for you.’

  “I did as he bade me, though not without some reluctance. The voice, for all its tone of anxiety, sounded at once false and harsh, and I instinctively associated with it a harsh and false face. The house, too, did not improve in appearance upon approach. The steps shook under my tread, and I could not but notice by the faint light sifting through the bushes from the lamp on the other side of the way, that the balustrades had been pulled from their places, leaving only gaping holes to mark where they had once been. The door was intact, but in running my hand over it I discovered that the mouldings had been stripped from its face, and that the knocker, hanging as it did by one nail, was ready to fall at the first provocation. If Cynthia Wakeham lived here, it would be interesting to know the extent of her wealth. As there seemed to be some delay in the opening of the door, I had time to note that the grounds (all of these houses have grounds about them) were of some extent, but, as I have said, in a manifest condition of overgrowth and neglect. As I mused upon the contrast they must afford in the bright daylight to the wide and well-kept lawns of the more ambitious owners on either side, a footstep sounded on the loose boards which had evidently been flung down at one side of the house as a sort of protection to the foot from the darkness and mud of the neglected path, and a woman’s form swung dimly into view, laden with a great pile of what looked to me like brushwood. As she passed she seemed to become conscious of my presence, and, looking up, she let the huge bundle slip slowly from her shoulders till it lay in the darkness at her feet.

  “‘Are you,’ she whispered, coming close to the foot of the steps, ‘going in there?’

  “‘Yes,’ I returned, struck by the mingled surprise and incredulity in her tone.

  “She stood still a minute, then came up a step.

  “‘Are you a minister?’ she asked.

  “‘No,’ I laughed; ‘why?’

  “She seemed to reason with herself before saying: ‘No one ever goes into that house; I thought perhaps you did not know. They won’t have any one. Would you mind telling me,’ she went on, in a hungry whisper almost thrilling to hear, coming as it did through the silence and darkness of the night, ‘what you find in the house? I will be at the gate, sir, and—’

  “She paused, probably awed by the force of my exclamation, and picking up her bundle of wet boughs, slunk away, but not without turning more than once before she reached the gate. Scarcely had she disappeared into the street when a window went up in a neighboring house. At the same moment, someone, I could not tell whether it was a man or a woman, came up the path as far as the first trees and there paused, while a shrill voice called out:

  “‘They never unlocks that door; visitors ain’t wanted.’

  “Evidently, if I were not admitted soon I should have the whole neighborhood about me.

  “I lifted the knocker, but it came off in my hand. Angry at the mischance, and perhaps a little moved by the excitement of my position, I raised the broken piece of iron and gave a thundering knock on the rotten panels before me. Instantly the door opened, creaking ominously as it did so, and a man stood in the gap with a wretched old kerosene lamp in his hand. The apologetic leer on his evil countenance did not for a moment deceive me.

  “‘I beg your pardon,’ he hurriedly exclaimed, and his voice showed he was a man of education, notwithstanding his forlorn and wretched appearance, ‘but the old woman had a turn just as you came, and I could not leave her.’

  “I looked at him, and instinct told me to quit the spot and not enter a house so vilely guarded. For the man was not only uncouth to the last degree in dress and aspect, but sinister in expression and servilely eager in bearing.

  “‘Won’t you come in?’ he urged. ‘The old woman is past talking, but she can make signs; perhaps an hour from now she will not be able to do even that.’

  “‘Do you allude to the woman who wishes to make her will?’ I asked.

  “‘Yes,’ he answered, greedily, ‘Cynthia Wakeham, my sister.’ And he gently pushed the door in a way that forced me to enter or show myself a coward.

  “I took heart and went in. What poverty I beheld before me in the light of that solitary smoking lamp! If the exterior of the house bore the marks of devastation, what shall I say of the barren halls and denuded rooms which now opened before me? Not a chair greeted my eyes, though a toppling stool here and there showed that people sat in this place. Nor did I see a table, though somewhere in some remote region beyond the staircase I heard the clatter of plates, as if eating were also known in this home of almost ostentatious penury. Staircase I say, but I should have said steps, for the balustrades were missing here just as they had been missing without, and not even a rail remained to speak of old-time comfort and prosperity.

  “‘I am very poor,’ humbly remarked the man, answering my look of perplexity. ‘It is my sister who has the money.’ And moving towards the stairs, he motioned me to ascend.

  “Even then I recoiled, not knowing what to make of this adventure; but hearing a hollow groan from above, uttered in tones unmistakably feminine, I remembered my errand and went up, followed so closely by the man, that his breath, mingled with the smell of that vile lamp, seemed to pant on my shoulder. I shall never smell kerosene again without recalling the sensations of that moment.

  “Arriving at the top of the stair, up which my distorted shadow had gone before me, I saw an open door and went in. A woman was lying in one corner on a hard and uncomfortable bed, a woman whose eyes drew me to her side before a word had been spoken.

  “She was old and in the last gasp of some fatal disease. But it was not this which impressed me most. It was the searching look with which she greeted me—a piteous, hunted look, like that of some wild animal driven to bay and turning upon her conqueror for some signs of relenting or pity. It made the haggard face eloquent; it assured me without a word that some great wrong had been done or was about to be done, and that I must show myself at once her friend if I would gain her confidence.

  “Advancing to her side, I spoke to her kindly, asking if she were Cynthia Wakeham, and if she desired the services of a lawyer.

  “She at once nodded painfully but unmistakably, and, lifting her hand, pointed to her lips and shook her head.

  “‘She means that she cannot speak’, explained the man, in a pant, over my shoulder.

  “Moving a step aside in my disgust, I said to her, not to him:

  “‘But you can hear?’

  “Her intelligent eye responded before her head could add its painful acquiescence.

  “‘And you have property to leave?’

  “‘This house’, answered the man.

  “My eyes wandered mechanically to the empty cupboards about me from which the doors had been wrenched and, as I now saw from the looks of the fireplace, burned.

  “‘The ground—the ground is worth something,’ quoth the man.

  “‘The avidity with which he spoke satisfied me at least upon one point—he was the expectant heir.

  “‘Your name?’ I asked, turning sharply upon him.

  “‘Hiram Huckins.’

  “It was the name attached to the telegram.

  “‘And you are the brother of this woman?’

  “‘Yes, yes.’

  “I had addressed him, but I looked at her. She answered my look with a steadfast gaze, but there was no dissent in it, and I considered that point settled.

  “‘She is a married woman, then?’

  “‘A widow; husband died long years ago.’

  “‘Any children?’

  “‘No.’ And I saw in her face that he spoke the truth.

  “‘But you and she have brothers or sisters? You are not her only relative?’

  “‘I am the only one who has stuck by her,’ he sullenly answered. ‘We did have a sister, but she is gone; fled from home years ago; lost in the great world; dead, perhaps. She don’t care for her; ask her.’

&nb
sp; “I did ask her, but the haggard face said nothing. The eyes burned, but they had a waiting look.

  “‘To whom do you want to leave your property?’ I inquired of her pointedly.

  “Had she glanced at the man, had her face even changed, or so much as a tremor shook her rigid form, I might have hesitated. But the quiet way in which she lifted her hand and pointed with one finger in his direction while she looked straight at me, convinced me that whatever was wrong, her mind was made up as to the disposal of her property. So taking out my papers, I sat down on the rude bench drawn up beside the bed and began to write.

  “The man stood behind me with the lamp. He was so eager and bent over me so closely that the smell of the lamp and his nearness were more than I could bear.

  “‘Set down the lamp,’ I cried. ‘Get a table—something—don’t lean over me like that.’

  “But there was nothing, actually nothing for him to put the lamp on, and I was forced to subdue my disgust and get used as best I could to his presence and to his great shadow looming on the wall behind us. But I could not get used to her eyes hurrying me, and my hand trembled as I wrote.

  “‘Have you any name but Cynthia?’ I inquired, looking up.

  “She painfully shook her head.

  “‘You had better tell me what her husband’s name was,’ I suggested to the brother.

  “‘John Lapham Wakeham,’ was the quick reply.

  “I wrote down both names. Then I said, looking intently at the dying widow:

  “‘As you cannot speak, you must make signs. Shake your hand when you wish to say no, and move it up and down when you wish to say yes. Do you understand?’

  “She signalled somewhat impatiently that she did, and then, lifting her hand with a tremulous movement, pointed anxiously towards a large Dutch clock, which was the sole object of adornment in the room.

  “‘She urges you to hurry,’ whispered the man. ‘Make it short, make it short. The doctor I called in this morning said she might die any minute.’

  “As from her appearance I judged this to be only too possible, I hastily wrote a few words more, and then asked:

  “‘Is this property all that you have to leave?’

  “I had looked at her, though I knew it would be the man who would answer.

  “‘Yes, yes, this house,’ he cried. ‘Put it strong; this house and all there is in it.’

  “I thought of its barren rooms and empty cupboards, and a strange fancy seized me. Going straight to the woman, I leaned over her and said:

  “‘Is it your desire to leave all that you possess to this brother? Real property and personal, this house, and also everything it contains?’

  “She did not answer, even by a sign, but pointed again to the clock.

  “‘She means that you are to go right on,’ he cried. ‘And indeed you must,’ he pursued, eagerly. ‘She won’t be able to sign her name if you wait much longer.’

  “I felt the truth of this, and yet I hesitated.

  “‘Where are the witnesses?’ I asked. ‘She must have two witnesses to her signature.’

  “‘Won’t I do for one?’ he inquired.

  “‘No,’ I returned; ‘the one benefited by a will is disqualified from witnessing it.’

  “He looked confounded for a moment. Then he stepped to the door and shouted, ‘Briggs! Briggs!’

  “As if in answer there came a clatter as of falling dishes, and as proof of the slavery which this woman had evidently been under to his avarice, she gave a start, dying as she was, and turned upon him with a frightened gaze, as if she expected from him an ebullition of wrath.

  “‘Briggs, is there a light in Mr. Thompson’s house?’

  “‘Yes,’ answered a gruff voice from the foot of the stairs.

  “‘Go then, and ask him or the first person you see there, if he will come in here for a minute. Be very polite and don’t swear, or I won’t pay you the money I promised you. Say that Mrs. Wakeham is dying, and that the lawyer is drawing up her will. Get James Sotherby to come too, and if he won’t do it, somebody else who is respectable. Everything must be very legal, sir,’ he explained, turning to me, ‘very legal.’

  “Not knowing what to think of this man, but seeing only one thing to do, I nodded, and asked the woman whom I should name as executor. She at once indicated her brother, and as I wrote in his name and concluded the will, she watched me with an intentness that made my nerves creep, though I am usually anything but susceptible to such influences. When the document was ready I rose and stood at her side in some doubt of the whole transaction. Was it her will I had expressed in the paper I held before me, or his? Had she been constrained by his influence to do what she was doing, or was her mind free to act and but obeying its natural instincts? I determined to make one effort at finding out. Turning towards the man, I said firmly:

  “‘Before Mrs. Wakeham signs this will she must know exactly what it contains. I can read it to her, but I prefer her to read the paper for herself. Get her glasses, then, if she needs them, and bring them here at once, or I throw up this business and take the document away with me out of the house.’

  “‘But she has no glasses,’ he protested; ‘they were broken long ago.’

  “‘Get them,’ I cried; ‘or get yours—she shall not sign that document till you do.’

  “But he stood hesitating, loth, as I now believe, to leave us together, though that was exactly what I desired, which she, seeing, feverishly clutched my sleeve, and, with a force of which I should not have thought her capable, made wild gestures to the effect that I should not delay any longer, but read it to her myself.

  “Seeing by this, as I thought, that her own feelings were, notwithstanding my doubts, really engaged in the same direction as his, I desisted from my efforts to separate the two, if it were only for a moment, and read the will aloud. It ran thus:

  “The last will and testament of Cynthia Wakeham, widow of John Lapham Wakeham, of Flatbush, Kings County, New York.

  “First: I direct all my just debts and funeral expenses to be paid.

  “Second: I give, devise, and bequeath to my brother, Hiram Huckins, all the property, real and personal, which I own, or to which I may be entitled, at the time of my death, and I appoint him the sole executor of this my last will and testament.

  “Witness my hand this fifth day of June, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-eight.

  “Signed, published, and declared by the Testatrix to be her last will and testament, in our presence who, at her request and in her presence and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names hereto as witnesses, on this 5th day of June, 1888.

  “‘Is that the expression of your wishes?’ I asked, when I had finished.

  “She nodded, and reached out her hand for the pen.

  “‘You must wait,’ said I, ‘for the witnesses.’

  “But even as I spoke their approach was heard, and Huckins was forced to go to the door with the lamp, for the hall was pitch dark and the stairs dangerous. As he turned his back upon us, I thought Mrs. Wakeham moved and opened her lips, but I may have been mistaken, for his black and ominous shadow lay over her face, and I could discern but little of its expression.

  “‘Is there anything you want?’ I asked her, rising and going to the bedside.

  “But Huckins was alert to all my movements, if he had stepped for a moment away.

  “‘Give her water,’ he cried, wheeling sharply about. And pointing to a broken glass standing on the floor at her side, he watched me while I handed it to her.

  “‘She mus’n’t give out now,’ he pursued, with one eye on us and the other on the persons coming upstairs.

  “‘She will not,’ I returned, seeing her face brighten at the sound of approaching steps.

  “‘It’s Miss Thompson and Mr. Dickey,’ now spoke up the gruff voice of Briggs from the foot of the steps. ‘No other folks was up, so I brought them along.’

  “The young woman, who at this instant ap
peared in the doorway, blushed and cast a shy look over her shoulder at the fresh-faced man who followed her.

  “‘It’s all right, Minnie,’ immediately interposed that genial personage, with a cheerful smile; ‘every one knows we are keeping company and mean to be married as soon as the times improve.’

  “‘Yes, every one knows,’ she sighed, and stepped briskly into the room, her intelligent face and kindly expression diffusing a cheer about her such as the dismal spot had doubtless lacked for years.

  “I heard afterward that this interesting couple had been waiting for the times to improve, for the last fifteen years.”

  III

  CONTINUATION OF A LAWYER’S ADVENTURE.

  “The two witnesses had scarcely entered the room before the dying woman stretched out her hand again for the pen. As I handed it to her and placed the document before her on my portfolio, I asked:

  “‘Do you declare this paper to be your last will and testament and do you request these persons to witness it?’

  “She bowed a quick acquiescence, and put the pen at the place I pointed out to her.

  “‘Shall I support your hand?’ I pursued, fearful she would not have the strength to complete the task.