The Missioner Part 20

CHAPTER XIV

SEARCHING THE PAPERS

The late Stephen Hurd had been a methodical man. Every one of those many packets of foolscap and parchment bore in the left-hand corner near the top a few carefully written words summarizing their contents. It was clear from the first that Wilhelmina had undertaken not an examination but a search. Mortgages, leases, agreements, she left unopened and untouched. One by one she pa.s.sed them back to the young man who handed them out to her, for replacement. In the end she had retained one small packet of letters only, on the outside of which were simply the initials P. N. These she held for a moment thoughtfully in her hand.

"Do you happen to remember, Mr. Hurd," she said, "whether this small packet which I have here was amongst the papers which you found had been disturbed after the attack upon your father?"

"I am sorry," the young man answered, "but it is quite impossible for me to say. I do not remember it particularly."

Wilhelmina turned it over thoughtfully. It was an insignificant packet to hold the tragedy of a woman's life.

"You see," she continued, "that it has the appearance of having been tampered with. There are marks of sealing wax upon the tape and upon the paper here. Then, too," she continued, turning it over, "it has been tied up hastily, unlike any of the other packets. The tape, too, is much too long. It looks almost as though some letters or papers had been withdrawn."

"I am afraid I cannot help you at all," he admitted regretfully. "My father never allowed any one but himself to open that safe. Mine was the out-of-door share of the work--and the rent-book, of course. I kept that."

She slowly undid the tape. The contents of the packet consisted of several letters, which she smoothed out with her fingers before beginning to read. Stephen Hurd stood with his back towards her, rearranging the bundles of doc.u.ments in the safe.

"You have no idea then," she asked softly, "of the contents of this packet?"

He turned deliberately round. He was not in the least comfortable. It was almost as though she could see through his tweed shooting-jacket into that inner pocket.

"May I see which packet you refer to?" he asked.

She showed it to him without placing it in his hand. He shook his head.

"No!" he said, "I have not noticed them before."

She sighed--or was it a yawn? At any rate, her eyes left his face, for which he was immediately grateful. She began to read the papers, and, having finished his task, he walked towards the window and stood there looking out. He stood there minute after minute, hearing only the sound of rustling paper behind. When at last it ceased he turned around.

She had risen to her feet and was slowly drawing on her gloves. The letters had disappeared, presumably into her pocket, but she made no reference to them. When she spoke, her voice was smooth and deliberate as usual. Somehow or other he was at once conscious, however, that she had received a shock.

"I presume, Mr. Hurd," she said quietly, "that amongst your father's private papers you did not discover anything--unexpected?"

"I am afraid I scarcely follow you, madam," he answered.

"I am asking you," she repeated deliberately, "whether amongst your father's private papers, which I presume you have looked through, you found anything of a surprising nature?"

He shook his head.

"I found scarcely any," he answered, "only his will and a memorandum of a few investments. May I ask----"

She turned towards the door.

"No!" she said, "do not ask me any questions. To tell you the truth, I am not yet fully persuaded that the necessity exists."

"I do not understand," he protested.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "FORGIVE ME," HE SAID, WITH HIS HAND UPON THE GATE. Page 117]

She shrugged her shoulders. She did not trouble to explain her words.

He followed her along the cool, white-flagged hall, hung with old prints and trophies of sport, into the few yards of garden outside, brilliant with cottage flowers. Beyond the little iron gate her carriage was waiting--a low victoria, drawn by a pair of great horses, whose sleek coats and dark crimson rosettes suggested rather a turn in the Park than these country lanes. The young man was becoming desperate. She was leaving him altogether mystified. Somewhere or other he had missed his cue: he had meant to have conducted the interview so differently. And never had she looked so provokingly well! He recognized, with hopeless admiration, the perfection of her toilette--the trim white flannel dress, shaped by the hand of an artist to reveal in its simple lines the peculiar grace of her slim figure; the patent shoes with their suggestion of open-work silk stockings; the black picture hat and veil, a delicate recognition of her visit to a house of mourning, yet light and gossamer-like, with no suggestion of gloom. Never had she seemed so desirable to him, so fascinating and yet so unattainable. He made a last and clumsy effort to re-establish himself.

"Forgive me," he said, with his hand upon the gate, "but I must ask you what you mean by that last question. My father had no secrets that I know of. How could he, when for the last forty years his life was practically spent in this village street?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"Sometimes," she murmured, "events come to those even who sit and wait, those whose lives are absolutely secluded. No one is safe from fate, you know."

"But my father!" he answered. "He had no tastes, no interests outside the boundary of your estates."

She motioned to him to open the gate.

"Perhaps not," she a.s.sented, "yet I suppose that there is not one of us who knows as much of his neighbour's life as he imagines he does. Good afternoon, Mr. Hurd! My visit has given me something to think about. I may send for you to come to the house before I go away."

She drove away, leaning back amongst the cus.h.i.+ons with half closed eyes, as though tired. The country scenery with its pastoral landscape, its Watteau-like perfections, was wholly unseen. Her memory had travelled back, she was away amongst the days when the roar of life had been in her ears, when for a short while, indeed, the waves had seemed likely to break over her head. An unpleasant echo, this! No more than an echo--and yet! The thought of old Stephen Hurd lying in his grave suddenly chilled her. She s.h.i.+vered as she left the carriage, and instead of entering the house, crossed the lawn to where Gilbert Deyes was lounging. He struggled to his feet at her approach, but she waved him back again.

"Sybarite," she murmured, glancing around at his arrangements for complete comfort. "You have sent Austin out alone."

"Dear lady, I confess it," he answered. "What would you have? It is too fine an afternoon to kill anything."

She sank into a chair by his side. A slight smile parted her lips as she glanced around. On a table by his side, a table drawn back into the shade of the cedar tree, were several vellum-bound volumes, a tall gla.s.s, and a crystal jug half full of some delicate amber beverage, mixed with fruit and ice, a box of cigarettes, an ivory paper-cutter, and a fan.

"Your capacity for making yourself comfortable," she remarked, "amounts almost to genius."

"Let it go at that," he answered. "I like the sound of the word."

"I want you to go to Paris for me," she said abruptly.

He flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and looked at her thoughtfully. Not a line of his face betrayed the least sign of surprise.

"To-morrow?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"I can get up in time for the two-twenty," he remarked thoughtfully. "I wonder whether it will be too late for the Armenonville!"

She laughed quietly.

"You are a 'poseur,'" she declared.

"Naturally," he admitted. "We all are, even when the audience consists of ourselves alone. I fancy I'm rather better than most, though."

She nodded.

"You won't mind admitting--to me--that you are surprised?"

"Astonished," he said. "To descend to the commonplace, what on earth do you want me to go to Paris for?"