The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (books to read in your 20s TXT) 📕

having been taken

with Miss Trelawny.

 

“Of course, Superintendent Dolan, I remember very well!” I said as we

shook hands. I could not but note that the acquaintanceship seemed a

relief to Miss Trelawny. There was a certain vague uneasiness in her

manner which took my attention; instinctively I felt that it would be

less embarrassing for her to speak with me alone. So I said to the

Superintendent:

 

“Perhaps it will be better if Miss Trelawny will see me alone for a few

minutes. You, of course, have already heard all she knows; and I shall

understand better how things are if I may ask some questions. I will

then talk the matter over with you if I may.”

 

“I shall be glad to be of what service I can, sir,” he answered

heartily.

 

Following Miss Trelawny, I moved over to a dainty room which opened from

the hall and looked out on the garden at the back of the house. When we

had entered and I had closed the door she said:

 

“I will thank you later for your goodness in coming to me in my trouble;

but at present you can best help me when you know the facts.”

 

“Go on,” I said. “Tell me all you know and spare no detail, however

trivial it may at the present time seem to be.” She went on at once:

 

“I was awakened by some sound; I do not know what. I only know that it

came through my sleep; for all at once I found myself awake, with my

heart beating wildly, listening anxiously for some sound from my

Father’s room. My room is next Father’s, and I can often hear him

moving about before I fall asleep. He works late at night, sometimes

very late indeed; so that when I wake early, as I do occasionally, or in

the grey of the dawn, I hear him still moving. I tried once to

remonstrate with him about staying up so late, as it cannot be good for

him; but I never ventured to repeat the experiment. You know how stern

and cold he can be—at least you may remember what I told you about him;

and when he is polite in this mood he is dreadful. When he is angry I

can bear it much better; but when he is slow and deliberate, and the

side of his mouth lifts up to show the sharp teeth, I think I feel—well,

I don’t know how! Last night I got up softly and stole to the door, for

I really feared to disturb him. There was not any noise of moving, and

no kind of cry at all; but there was a queer kind of dragging sound, and

a slow, heavy breathing. Oh! it was dreadful, waiting there in the dark

and the silence, and fearing—fearing I did not know what!

 

“At last I took my courage a deux mains, and turning the handle as

softly as I could, I opened the door a tiny bit. It was quite dark

within; I could just see the outline of the windows. But in the

darkness the sound of breathing, becoming more distinct, was appalling.

As I listened, this continued; but there was no other sound. I pushed

the door open all at once. I was afraid to open it slowly; I felt as if

there might be some dreadful thing behind it ready to pounce out on me!

Then I switched on the electric light, and stepped into the room. I

looked first at the bed. The sheets were all crumpled up, so that I

knew Father had been in bed; but there was a great dark red patch in the

centre of the bed, and spreading to the edge of it, that made my heart

stand still. As I was gazing at it the sound of the breathing came

across the room, and my eyes followed to it. There was Father on his

right side with the other arm under him, just as if his dead body had

been thrown there all in a heap. The track of blood went across the

room up to the bed, and there was a pool all around him which looked

terribly red and glittering as I bent over to examine him. The place

where he lay was right in front of the big safe. He was in his pyjamas.

The left sleeve was torn, showing his bare arm, and stretched out toward

the safe. It looked—oh! so terrible, patched all with blood, and with

the flesh torn or cut all around a gold chain bangle on his wrist. I

did not know he wore such a thing, and it seemed to give me a new shock

of surprise.”

 

She paused a moment; and as I wished to relieve her by a moment’s

divergence of thought, I said:

 

“Oh, that need not surprise you. You will see the most unlikely men

wearing bangles. I have seen a judge condemn a man to death, and the

wrist of the hand he held up had a gold bangle.” She did not seem to

heed much the words or the idea; the pause, however, relieved her

somewhat, and she went on in a steadier voice:

 

“I did not lose a moment in summoning aid, for I feared he might bleed

to death. I rang the bell, and then went out and called for help as

loudly as I could. In what must have been a very short time—though it

seemed an incredibly long one to me—some of the servants came running

up; and then others, till the room seemed full of staring eyes, and

dishevelled hair, and night clothes of all sorts.

 

“We lifted Father on a sofa; and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, who seemed

to have her wits about her more than any of us, began to look where the

flow of blood came from. In a few seconds it became apparent that it

came from the arm which was bare. There was a deep wound—not clean-cut

as with a knife, but like a jagged rent or tear—close to the wrist,

which seemed to have cut into the vein. Mrs. Grant tied a handkerchief

round the cut, and screwed it up tight with a silver paper-cutter; and

the flow of blood seemed to be checked at once. By this time I had come

to my senses—or such of them as remained; and I sent off one man for the

doctor and another for the police. When they had gone, I felt that,

except for the servants, I was all alone in the house, and that I knew

nothing—of my Father or anything else; and a great longing came to me to

have someone with me who could help me. Then I thought of you and your

kind offer in the boat under the willow-tree; and, without waiting to

think, I told the men to get a carriage ready at once, and I scribbled a

note and sent it on to you.”

 

She paused. I did not like to say just then anything of how I felt. I

looked at her; I think she understood, for her eyes were raised to mine

for a moment and then fell, leaving her cheeks as red as peony roses.

With a manifest effort she went on with her story:

 

“The Doctor was with us in an incredibly short time. The groom had met

him letting himself into his house with his latchkey, and he came here

running. He made a proper tourniquet for poor Father’s arm, and then

went home to get some appliances. I dare say he will be back almost

immediately. Then a policeman came, and sent a message to the station;

and very soon the Superintendent was here. Then you came.”

 

There was a long pause, and I ventured to take her hand for an instant.

Without a word more we opened the door, and joined the Superintendent in

the hall. He hurried up to us, saying as he came:

 

“I have been examining everything myself, and have sent off a message to

Scotland Yard. You see, Mr. Ross, there seemed so much that was odd

about the case that I thought we had better have the best man of the

Criminal Investigation Department that we could get. So I sent a note

asking to have Sergeant Daw sent at once. You remember him, sir, in

that American poisoning case at Hoxton.”

 

“Oh yes,” I said, “I remember him well; in that and other cases, for I

have benefited several times by his skill and acumen. He has a mind

that works as truly as any that I know. When I have been for the

defence, and believed my man was innocent, I was glad to have him

against us!”

 

“That is high praise, sir!” said the Superintendent gratified: “I am

glad you approve of my choice; that I did well in sending for him.”

 

I answered heartily:

 

“Could not be better. I do not doubt that between you we shall get at

the facts—and what lies behind them!”

 

We ascended to Mr. Trelawny’s room, where we found everything exactly as

his daughter had described.

 

There came a ring at the house bell, and a minute later a man was shown

into the room. A young man with aquiline features, keen grey eyes, and

a forehead that stood out square and broad as that of a thinker. In his

hand he had a black bag which he at once opened. Miss Trelawny

introduced us: “Doctor Winchester, Mr. Ross, Superintendent Dolan.” We

bowed mutually, and he, without a moment’s delay, began his work. We

all waited, and eagerly watched him as he proceeded to dress the wound.

As he went on he turned now and again to call the Superintendent’s

attention to some point about the wound, the latter proceeding to enter

the fact at once in his notebook.

 

“See! several parallel cuts or scratches beginning on the left side of

the wrist and in some places endangering the radial artery.

 

“These small wounds here, deep and jagged, seem as if made with a blunt

instrument. This in particular would seem as if made with some kind of

sharp wedge; the flesh round it seems torn as if with lateral pressure.”

 

Turning to Miss Trelawny he said presently:

 

“Do you think we might remove this bangle? It is not absolutely

necessary, as it will fall lower on the wrist where it can hang loosely;

but it might add to the patient’s comfort later on.” The poor girl

flushed deeply as she answered in a low voice:

 

“I do not know. I—I have only recently come to live with my Father; and

I know so little of his life or his ideas that I fear i can hardly judge

in such a matter. The Doctor, after a keen glance at her, said in a

very kindly way:

 

“Forgive me! I did not know. But in any case you need not be

distressed. It is not required at present to move it. Were it so I

should do so at once on my own responsibility. If it be necessary later

on, we can easily remove it with a file. Your Father doubtless has some

object in keeping it as it is. See! there is a tiny key attached to it.

…” As he was speaking he stopped and bent lower, taking from my

hand the candle which I held and lowering it till its light fell on the

bangle. Then motioning me to hold the candle in the same position, he

took from his pocket a magnifying-glass which he adjusted. When he had

made a careful examination he stood up and handed the magnifying-glass

to Dolan, saying as he did so: