The Dust of Conflict Read online

  IV -- THE VERDICT

  THE inquest on keeper Davidson was duly held, and at the commencementseemed likely to cause Tony Palliser less anxiety than he had expected.There were reasons for this, and among them was the fact that thePallisers had lived at Northrop for generations, and the fathers of themen who served them had watched their game and groomed their horses.Godfrey Palliser was also a liberal master, who seldom put an embargo onany man's perquisites; while Tony scattered pleasant words and silverwith a tactful kindliness that made either doubly acceptable.

  There was accordingly a desire to spare them unpleasantness in the mindsof those who attended the informal courts of inquiry held at the "BlackBull," as the result of which the men who appeared to testify at the onesanctioned by the law of the land came there with convictions alreadyformed, for Northrop village had thrashed out the question. Northropknew all about Tony's flirtation with Lucy Davidson, but it also knew agood deal more about that lady than Tony did, and exculpated him. Hehad, it was true, been seen to give Davidson five pounds, but that wasnot an astonishing thing when the friends he brought down had beenenthusiastic over, the partridge shooting provided them; while therewere not many men in his uncle's service he had not given sovereigns to.The men remembered this, and hoped for more.

  It was also known that he had not left his room on the eventful night,and though everybody was aware that Appleby had gone out, the guests atthe hall were occasionally addicted to taking nocturnal strolls after anevening in the billiard room. Northrop accordingly knew just how much itmeant to admit when it attended the inquest, and when the rustic mindadopts that attitude there is nothing further to be extracted from it.

  The coroner did not elucidate a great deal when he commenced hisinquiry. Tony, who appeared distressed by the recollection, as indeed hewas, deposed to the finding of the body and was corroborated by two ofhis friends. He was listened to sympathetically. Sergeant Stitttestified that he had found signs which apparently suggested a scuffle,but could not be certain there had been one. Then a hush of attentionfollowed the appearance of the doctor. He alluded to certain bruises.

  "The one upon the head was evidently caused by a fall upon a stone,which would, I think, alone have produced insensibility," he said. "Theone upon the cheek was apparently the result of a blow from a stick, butit might have been occasioned by a fall."

  "Would either of the blows alone have occasioned death?" asked ajuryman.

  "Not directly," said the doctor. "The cause of death was exhaustionresulting from immersion. A man who fell upon the boulders beneath thebridge and rolled into the water would be very likely to succumb in thatfashion."

  Two servants from the hall were called, and then Tony's man. "I saw Mr.Appleby go out," he said. "It was about eleven o'clock, but might havebeen later. He took something from a rack which held sticks and riding-whips. He usually did take a stick. What do I mean by usually? Well, hewould walk down the avenue and home by the footpath now and then justbefore he went to his room at night. I heard him come in about half anhour later. I noticed mud on his shoes and trousers next morning; but hewould have to cross a wet place before he reached the lawn."

  Everybody seemed satisfied; but there was a little murmur when MissWayne appeared, and somewhat indignant glances were cast upon SergeantStitt. She wore a veil, but she removed it when she turned to the jury;and it was in a clear, cold voice, which had a trace of haughtiness init, she answered the questions asked her.

  "I am. I believe, the last person Mr. Appleby spoke to before he wentout," she said. "So far as I noticed he did not appear disturbed or inany way irritated. I met him at the head of the stairway."

  "Was the meeting accidental?"

  A faint trace of color crept into the girl's cheek, but it was in aclear, even voice she said: "He had given me to understand that hewished to see me."

  "Had he anything in particular to say to you?"

  One or two of the jury made it evident that they considered the questionin bad taste, but there was a curious silence when it was seen that thewitness hesitated.

  "He asked me for ten pounds," she said.

  Tony gasped when this was told him, and felt his face grow a triflewarm, while a little thrill of indignation ran through him. He had beenpleased to see his friend and sweetheart on good terms, but that oneshould borrow ten pounds from the other suggested a degree of intimacyhe had not contemplated.

  "Do you know why he wanted the money?" asked the coroner.

  The girl looked at him steadily, and nobody saw that her hands weretrembling. "No," she said coldly. "That is, I do not know exactly. Ihad, however, asked him to do me a favor which might cost a littlemoney, and surmised that he needed some. It was not quite certain that Ishould see him on the morrow."

  "What was the favor?"

  Violet Wayne straightened herself with an almost imperceptible movement,but there was a change in her pose, and she held her shapely headhigher. "It had nothing to do with anything that could concern thisinquiry," she said.

  "You are on oath, Miss Wayne," said the coroner. "Remembering that, youare willing to repeat the assurance you have just given me?"

  "Yes," said the girl, standing very still, though every nerve in her wastingling. She long remembered the strain she underwent just then, but itwas not until afterwards she was sorry that she had submitted to it. Shedid nothing by half, and her love for Tony carried an obligation withit. There were only one or two people, and Tony was not among them, whorealized all that Violet Wayne was, but they paid her a respectfulhomage they offered to no other woman.

  The coroner had not seen her until that morning, but her bearing, andperhaps her beauty, had an effect, for he signified that he wascontented, and Godfrey Palliser was called. He carried himself a triflestiffly, and was as usual immaculate in dress while it was with asuggestion of carefully suppressed annoyance, which some of thosepresent sympathized with, he gave his evidence.

  Davidson had served him four years, he said. He frequently went roundthe woods at night, and had of late suspected that poachers had been atwork about the fir spinny. So far as he knew, and he had made inquiries,nobody but Bernard Appleby, a relation of his own, and a young man ofunimpeachable character, had gone out of his house on the night inquestion. Appleby had spent fourteen days at the hall and it was atleast twelve months since he had stayed there before. It appearedunlikely that he should have intended to meet Davidson.

  Palliser was followed by a teamster, whose evidence made an impression."I came out of the 'Black Bull' with Davidson at ten minutes to eleven,"he said. "He wasn't exactly what one would call sober, though a man whodidn't know him wouldn't have noticed it. He told me he was going roundby the fir spinny to see if he could catch somebody who'd been layingsnares. I told him to be careful he didn't pitch over the footbridge."

  Most of those present were sensible of a little relief. Nothingunpleasant could, it seemed, transpire now, and the jury, who waited forAppleby to inform them that he had seen nothing of Davidson during hisstroll, began to see what their verdict would be. There was also nogreat show of interest when the coroner asked for Bernard Appleby.

  He asked twice, however, and there was no answer, while the juryexchanged significant glances when five minutes passed and the witnessdid not appear. Then there was a curious silence as Sergeant Stitt,flushed with haste, came in.

  "Mr. Appleby was duly summoned, sir," he said. "I have just receivedthis telegram from the solicitors he is engaged with."

  Nobody moved while the coroner opened the message, and there was deepstillness as he read aloud: "In reply to inquiry Appleby has not resumedhis duties here as expected. Have no clue to his whereabouts. Anxiousfor information."

  "It will be the duty of the police to discover them as soon aspossible," he said. "Have you any notion, Sergeant Stitt?"

  Stitt led in a young man whom everybody recognized as the booking clerkfrom the station four miles away. "Mr. Appleby bought a ticket forLiverpool just in time to catch the train
on the evening Davidson's bodywas found," he said. "He came into the office and sat down about aminute. I noticed he turned up the steamer sailings in the paper heborrowed."

  "A mail-boat left for New York the following afternoon," said SergeantStitt.

  The effect was evident. Men looked at one another with suspicion intheir eyes, the coroner sent for Palliser and conferred with him andStitt, while the heavy stillness the murmur of their voices emphasizedwas curiously significant. Hitherto nobody had seriously thought ofconnecting Appleby with Davidson's death, but it now appeared that therecould be only one meaning to the fact that he had sought safety inflight. Then the coroner stood up.

  "It is unfortunate that more precautions were not taken to secure theattendance of so important a witness as Mr. Appleby," he said. "As itappears tolerably certain that he is no longer in this country, thereis, I think, nothing to be gained by postponing the inquiry, and it isfor you to consider whether you can arrive at a decision without histestimony."

  The jury were not long over the work, and the Northrop carpenter andwheelwright made their decision known. "We find," he said, "that thedeceased died of exhaustion as the result of a fall from the footbridge,during, or very soon after, a struggle with a person, or more than oneperson, by whom he was injured. We recommend that a double fence beplaced on the said bridge, with three by two standards and two railswell tennoned in."

  "I am afraid that is a trifle too ambiguous," said the coroner.

  There was another consultation, and this time the verdict was concise."Manslaughter by some person or persons unknown."

  "It will now be the duty of the police to find them," said the coroner.

  Northrop Hall was almost empty of its guests that evening. They, ofcourse, knew what everybody's suspicions now pointed to, and while itwas unpleasant to leave abruptly, felt that it would be an especiallytactful thing to Godfrey Palliser accepted their excuses with dryconcurrence, but he pressed Violet Wayne and her aunt to remain. Itwould be a kindness, he said, because Tony seemed considerablydistressed by the affair. The girl fancied that he appeared so when hecame into the room where she sat beside a sinking fire. Only one lampwas lighted and the room was dim; while a cold wind wailed outside, andthe rain beat upon the windows. Tony shivered, and his face seemed atrifle haggard when he stopped and leaned on the back of her chair.

  "It is a wild night, he said.

  "Tell me what you are thinking, Tony," said the girl, "I fancy I know."

  "I was thinking of the big liner driving through the blackness withBernard on board. She will be plunging forecastle under into theAtlantic combers now. I almost wish I were on board her too."

  "But I should be here," the girl said softly. "Do you want to leave me,Tony?"

  Tony laughed. "Oh, I talk at random now and then, and I'm not quitemyself to-day. That confounded coroner made me savage for one thing. Didyou feel it very much?"

  "Can't you see that I am tired, dear?"

  Tony, who moved a little, saw it plainly by the pallor of her face andthe weariness in her eyes.

  "I felt I could have killed the officious beast," he said, and stoodstill, looking down on her irresolutely. "But whatever did you giveBernard ten pounds for, Violet?"

  "Is there any reason why I should tell you?"

  "Yes"--and the man's tone suggested that he felt his grievance waswarranted. "I think there is. Of course, I'm not a censorious person--Ican't afford to be--but it really didn't seem quite the thing, you know."

  The protest was perhaps natural, but Violet Wayne checked a little sigh.She was in love with Tony, and that meant a good deal, but he was tryingnow and then, and she had discovered that his views were narrow, and nowand then somewhat mean. Indeed, she had once or twice received an almostpainful astonishment when he had made them plain to her.

  In the present case his reproaches were especially ill-timed after whatshe had suffered on his behalf. Tony was in difficulties, and she haddesired to free him of them; but it had been clear that he must behelped surreptitiously, lest his self-respect should suffer, which waswhy she had passed on the task to a man she had confidence in, and hadso feared the coroner would force a revelation from her.

  "You don't wish to vex me?" she said.

  "No," said the man, still with a trace of petulance. "That is the lastthing I would like to do; but if you ever want ten pounds when youhaven't got them I wish you would come to me. You see, it really isn'tflattering to me that you would sooner borrow from Tom, Dick, and Harry,and it sets the confounded idiots talking."

  A faint light crept into Violet Wayne's eyes, and Tony knew he had gonefar enough.

  "The one thing I resent is that it apparently sets you thinking," shesaid. "I can't be satisfied with less than I offer you, Tony, and theman who loves me must believe in me implicitly. I did not get angry whenyou would not share your troubles with me."

  Tony softened. "I'm sorry, Violet, but the fact is I don't feel verypleased about anything to-night. Nobody could expect it!"

  "Is it Davidson's death that is troubling you?"

  She looked at him with a curious intentness, for Tony's face washaggard, and a horrible fear came upon the man as she did so. Her gazedisconcerted him, and he fancied he saw suspicion in it. Accordingly heclutched at the first excuse that presented itself.

  "Not altogether! It's Bernard," he said.

  Another irretrievable step was taken. Tony had waited as usual forevents, instead of choosing a path to be adhered to in spite of them. Asthe result he was forced into one by which he had not meant to go, andit led rapidly down hill. Violet Wayne, however, straightened herself atrifle in her chair.

  "Tony," she said, "it is quite impossible that you should think whatyour words suggest."

  The man's face flushed, for her quiet assurance stirred the bitternessof jealousy that had hitherto lain dormant in him, and again he answeredwithout reflection, eager only to justify himself.

  "When a man borrows money, and goes out at night to meet another who mayhave been blackmailing him, and then disappears when that man is founddead with marks of violence on him, what would anybody think?" he said.

  "Blackmailing him!" said Violet Wayne, and then sat very still a momentwhile the blood crept into her pale cheek, for the meaning of one or twovague allusions she had heard concerning Lucy Davidson flashed upon her.

  "It slipped out. Of course, I should not have mentioned it to you."

  "You have done so, but the thing is so utterly hateful that it carriesits refutation with it"; and there was a portentous sparkle in thegirl's eyes as she fixed them upon him.

  Tony saw it, and trembled inwardly. He had been favored with glimpses ofViolet Wayne's inner self before, and could discern the differencebetween a becoming prudery and actual abhorrence.

  "Still," he said slowly, realizing that he was committed, "hedisappeared. Of course, the affair may not be as black as it looks, andperhaps he was driven into it. Men with really good intentions areforced into doing what they never meant to now and then."

  Violet Wayne laughed a little scornful laugh. "Isn't the cowardice whichleads a man into meanness he is ashamed of more contemptible than boldiniquity?"

  "Well," said Tony, "I don't quite know. I don't worry over thosequestions, but it seems to me there is something to be said for the manwho does what he shouldn't when he can't help it."

  "Can't help it?"

  "Yes," said Tony. "I mean when it would only cause trouble to everybodyif he did the correct thing."

  The girl looked at him curiously. "I think we had better abandon thatsubject, Tony," she said. "We will go back to the other. Your friendcould have had no hand in Davidson's death--because he is your friend,and because I know what kind of man he is. Is there nothing you could doto clear him?"

  Tony shook his head. "No; I wish I could," he said.

  "Still, you see, it doesn't matter quite so much in his case. He leavesnobody to worry about it behind him, and had no prospects. He told me hewas going out to t
ry his fortune in another land, anyway."

  "It doesn't matter! Is it nothing that he should go out with a brand ofthat kind upon him?"

  "Well," said Tony reflectively, "I really don't think it counts for verymuch where he is going to. You see, they are not remarkably particularin America."

  Violet Wayne rose. "You are not in a pleasant mood tonight, Tony, and Iam tired. We will not stay here and vex each other."

  Tony endeavored to slip his arm about her. "I know I'm a bad-temperedbeast now and then. I can only tell you that you are ever so much toogood for me again."

  The girl did very little to repulse him, in fact scarcely more than lifther eyes, but Tony's arm fell to his side. Then she smiled somewhatcuriously. "Don't make too determined an effort to convince me," shesaid. "I should not like to believe you."

  She went out, leaving Tony alone with a horror of himself. He realizedthat there could be no turning back now. He must go on by the path hehad taken, and standing with hand clenched on the mantle he groaned alittle.