CHAPTER XLI
WHICH TELLS OF THE CONTENTS OF THE NOTE BOOK
Louisa sat beside the fire and read. The notes were written in SirThomas's clear caligraphy, in short, jerky sentences, just as the sickman had spoken them, usually in reply to questions put to him.
As Louisa read on, she could almost hear Lord Radclyffe's whisperedwords, whilst she herself sang Tosti's melancholy song: "Good-bye!"
"I was not altogether ignorant of my brother Arthur's marriage over inMartinique, but he had always given me to understand that the marriagewas not a strictly legal one, and that his son Philip had no rightwhatever to claim any possible succession to our family title andestates. Even on his deathbed Arthur assured me of this, and said tome most emphatically 'Luke is your heir! My son Philip has no legalclaim!'
"I never made the slightest effort to communicate with Arthur's widowor with his child, for Arthur had assured me that they were wellprovided for and quite happy amongst their own kindred. After thecatastrophe of St. Pierre I completely lost sight of them.
"Then came a letter addressed to me from St. Vincent, the firstinkling which I had that not only did Arthur's son know of hisfather's position in life, but that he had full and justifiablereasons for believing that he himself was heir presumptive to thefamily title and estates which would have been his father's, had thelatter outlived the present holder.
"This letter was followed by several others about which neither Lukenor Mr. Warren knew anything, for I told them nothing. At last therecame one from Brussels. By this time I had searched carefully throughsome letters which my brother Arthur had desired that I should destroyafter his death, but which I had always kept by me, meaning one day tocomply with his wish.
"I had more than a suspicion then that my brother's marriage was aperfectly legal one, and that his son was the only trueheir-presumptive to the title and estates which I had always fondlythought could only devolve upon Luke. I went over to Brusselsdetermined to see this Philip before he set foot in England. Thethought that he would supersede Luke was more than I could bear.
"I arrived in Brussels early one morning, having crossed over in thenight. At once I drove to the mean hotel where he was lodging. He wassharing a room with a man with whom he had picked up a casualacquaintanceship on the sea voyage between the West Indies andAntwerp. The two men had come over together in the Belgian boat. Theylooked a pair of young blackguards, but it did not take me very longto be convinced that for some reason best known to himself my brotherArthur had deceived me and that his son Philip was indeed thelegitimate and rightful heir to the title which I hold. The paperswere authentic and undisputable. This much I knew and that Luke, whomI loved best in all the world, more than any father has ever lovedhis son, would never be Earl of Radclyffe so long as Philip deMountford lived.
"Men will say that I am an abandoned criminal, and, indeed, it may beso. May God forgive me hereafter, for I killed my brother's son. Ipretended to rejoice at his homecoming, and in half an hour had gainedhis confidence. In the afternoon we went out together and after ashort walk we picked up a taxicab. Philip gave the driver the addressof a restaurant at which I had asked him to dine with me. I keptcarefully in the shadow, so that the man shouldn't see me. Then on theway in the cab, I killed him. When his head was turned away from me, Iplunged an old Italian stiletto which I had carried about with me,ever since I had had letters from Philip, straight into his neck.
"He died instantly without a groan, and I was sick to death, but Imanaged to sit quietly beside him until the cab pulled up: then Ijumped out and told the chauffeur to drive my friend on to some remoteplace on the boulevards.
"I watched the cab until it was out of sight, then I hailed another,and drove straight to the Gard du Nord, and crossed back to Englandthat night. I threw the stiletto overboard into the sea. I had spenttwelve hours in Brussels, and I had killed Philip de Mountford, andmade sure that Luke would be Earl of Radclyffe after me.
"It was not likely that in their search for the missing criminal whohad stabbed an unknown stranger in a cab, the Belgian police wouldsuspect an English peer. The mystery of that crime has remainedimpenetrable, because nothing was ever known of the stranger who wasmurdered. At the mean hotel where he lodged no one knew anythingabout him. Only one person knew and he was silent for purposes of hisown.
"Before the police searched the unknown stranger's room, the roomwhich he shared with the chance friend whom he had picked up on theBelgian boat, the latter already had found and concealed the paperswhich would have revealed the identity of the murdered man, if notthat of his murderer.
"I, at home in England, wondered how it was that the Belgian policehad never discovered that the murdered man was named Philip deMountford and that he claimed to be the heir to the earldom ofRadclyffe. I expected paragraphs in the paper, some unpleasantnesseven, but none came.
"I could not understand it, for I had forgotten the existence of thechance friend.
"And then one day last April I understood. Once more I had lettersfrom abroad, from a man who claimed to be my brother's son. At first Ithought the whole thing a silly imposture, until the day when a manconfronted me in my own house, armed with every proof that I hadkilled Philip de Mountford in Brussels. He had the latter's passports,his birth and marriage certificates, his letters of identification,all, all the papers that he had filched from among the dead man'sthings, and which he now flaunted before me, daring me to prove him animpostor. 'If I am not Philip de Mountford,' he said to me, 'thenwhere is Philip de Mountford?' And from that hour, I was as wax in hishands. He held me and he knew it. I might have proved him an impostor,and he could prove me a murderer.
"Heaven alone knows how I did not lose my reason then. I floundered ina sea of wild conjectures, wild projects, wild hopes of escape. Butmy tyrant held me, and I dared not rebel.
"And once more I was obsessed with the awful certitude that Luke wouldnever be Earl of Radclyffe after me, while this man lived.
"He had so taken upon himself the personality of Philip, the evidenceswhich went to prove his identity with the late Arthur de Mountford'sson were so strangely circumstantial, that, short of my proclaimingloudly that I had killed my brother's son with my own hand, nothingcould prevent the impostor from succeeding in filching Luke'sinheritance.
"And even if I had confessed then, it seemed to me that this man wouldstill succeed in proving that I had murdered an unknown stranger--achance friend, who was an English bricklayer's son--and that he and heonly was Philip de Mountford, the late Arthur's son.
"When did I first dream of killing him, as I killed the other? I couldnot tell you that. But it was some time ago, and I watched myopportunity with patience and perseverance. Then at last theopportunity came, following on terrible provocation. That dark, foggyNovember night that you all remember so well! I was to meet my tyrantat the Veterans' Club at nine o'clock. I drove up there and as Istepped out of the cab I came face to face with Luke. Something in theboy's manner told me what had happened. He didn't tell me, but Iguessed. The two men had quarrelled and Luke had had to endure theother's arrogance.
"The news upset me. I felt faint and choked with the fog. Luke didn'tlike to leave me, and seeing how I tottered he gave me his stick tolean upon. We walked together for a little while up and down, and Ifelt stronger and better. I begged Luke to leave me. Presently, as theimpostor came out at the club door, Luke obeyed at last, and said'good night' to me.
"Paul Baker--I knew that that was his name--wanted me to drivestraight back to Grosvenor Square, but asked me to drop him first nearthe railings of Green Park. He often walked about there in theevenings. It was a curious fad which he had. We called a cab, and hetold the driver where to pull up. When I was sitting next to him, Irealized that I had a stick in my hand. I really had forgotten that itwas Luke's. Whilst I toyed with it, I noticed that the top came out,and that a sharp dagger was concealed inside the body of the stick.
"Paul Baker was looking out of the window at the fog, and
inside thecab it was very dark, so he did not know what I was doing. I killedhim, just as I had killed Arthur's son, with a dagger thrust throughthe neck. This time I did not feel sick, because I hated this man so.When the driver pulled up near Green Park I jumped out quite coollyand told the man to take my friend to some distant address inKensington.
"I threw the stick away behind the railings in the park. I hadforgotten that the stick was Luke's: I knew that it was not mine, andthat therefore they could not trace it to me.
"I did not imagine for a moment that Luke could be accused of a crimewhich he had not committed. I did not think that justice could be soblind.
"All I wanted was to be rid of my tyrant, and that Luke's inheritanceshould not be filched from him."
CHAPTER XLII
WHICH TELLS ONCE MORE OF COMMONPLACE INCIDENTS
The note-book fell out of Louisa's hands on to her lap. How simple thetragedy seemed, now that she knew. How understandable was the mysteryof Luke's silence. He knew that "Uncle Rad" was guilty. There lay theawful difficulty!
"Uncle Rad has been father, mother, brother, sister to us all! Blesshim!" that was Luke's feeling with regard to Uncle Rad.
The un-understandable was so simple after all!
Louisa went back to the sitting-room. The two men were sitting,smoking in silence. Colonel Harris, too, understood the mystery atlast. His loyalty was crowned with the halo of justification.
* * * * *
The public never knew, I think, that Luke de Mountford had actuallybeen arrested for the murder of the Clapham Road bricklayer. Thepolice the next day applied for a remand and then Luke was broughtquietly before the magistrate and equally quietly dismissed.
He was free to go and see Uncle Rad.
Louisa did not see him the whole of that day, for he sat by thebedside of the sick man whose strange and perturbed spirit was slowlysinking to rest. Uncle Rad was at peace, for he held the hand andlooked into the face of the man on whom he had lavished the storehouseof an affection that had known no bounds.
The two men understood each other perfectly. He who had committed acrime, and he who was ready to bear its burden, both had done theirshare for the other's sake.
It was only after the magnificent obsequies of the Earl of Radclyffethat the truth about the murder of the bricklayer's son was made knownto the public at large.
It had to be done for Luke's sake. Colonel Harris insisted upon itwith all the weight of his fatherly authority. Sir Thomas Ryder didlikewise.
For Louisa's sake, too, it had to be. But, twenty-four hours beforethe publication of the confession in the newspapers, Luke and Louisahad been quietly married by special license, and had gone abroad.
Once more we must think of them as the commonplace, conventional manand woman of the world, who outwardly behaved just like thousands ofEnglish men and women of their class behave.
When they came back from their honeymoon--which lasted one year abroadand all the rest of their lives after that--there was not a trace inthem, in their appearance, their manner, their mode of life, of theterrible tragedy which had threatened to annihilate honour, life, andlove.
"Ah! those English!" murmured the foreign excellencies who graced theEnglish court, "they have no heart, no sentiment! Lord and LadyRadclyffe! They behave just as if he had never been accused of murder!As if his uncle had never been the awful criminal that he was! Theyare hypocrites, these English, and they have no heart!"
Convention was once more the master! Its giant hands held the stringswhich made the puppets dance.
But at times his grip would relax, when Luke and Louisa were allalone, no prying eyes to watch, no indifferent gaze to see theunburdening of their hearts. Then Luke would lie at Louisa's feet, forhis love was worship, and his passion uncontrolled. His arms wouldencircle the perfect form that he loved with such intensity, that attimes the happiness of loving had in it an exquisite sense of pain.The tragedy of the past was never quite absent from them then: theghost of a great crime and the shadow of a still greater renunciationthrew a mystic halo over their love for each other. And at thosetimes--like Paolo and Francesca--they read no more.
But these English, they have no heart, you know!
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the original edition have been corrected.
In Chapter I, "She gleamed a phrase" was changed to "She gleaned a phrase".
In Chapter III, "At the tine I thought" was changed to "At the time I thought".
In Chapter IV, "Radcylffe would be gone" was changed to "Radclyffe would be gone".
In Chapter VI, a comma was changed to a period after "he was invariably clumsy".
In Chapter VII, a period was changed to a comma after "held open for him".
In Chapter XI, a period was changed to a comma after "saying simply", and a quotation mark was added before "I can't explain".
In Chapter XIII, "he caugh sight of Louisa" was changed to "he caught sight of Louisa".
In Chapter XIV, "an old man's irritabilty" was changed to "an old man's irritability".
In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after "have you seen your uncle?".
In Chapter XVII, "his neighour's wife" was changed to "his neighbour's wife".
In Chapter XX, a quotation mark following "a quarter past eight" was deleted.
In Chapter XXI, "Sir Thomas, Ryder" was changed to "Sir Thomas Ryder", "such paltry gounds" was changed to "such paltry grounds", and "keep Lousia out of it" was changed to "keep Louisa out of it".
In Chapter XXII, "pressently would have to be brushed off" was changed to "presently would have to be brushed off".
In Chapter XXV, "No. 1. Cromwell Road" was changed to "No. 1 Cromwell Road", and "along Picadilly until" was changed to "along Piccadilly until".
In Chapter XXXIX, "the small of disinfectants" was changed to "the smell of disinfectants", and "he went to the piano" was changed to "she went to the piano".
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