The Solitary Farm

"I shall rebuke Sister Vand at a proper time," said Silas authoritatively. "In the meantime – "

"You rebuke me," said Bella, who had risen to her feet, weary of the conversation. "I decline to permit your interference."

"I don't want to rebuke you," cried Pence eagerly. "I wish to make you smile on me. Become my spouse, or fair lily of the valley, and you will have me always at your feet."

"I have told you before, Mr. Pence, that I cannot marry you."

"Then you still intend to wed that son of Belial, overflowing with insolence and wine?" questioned the preacher bitterly; "your father's murderer."

"Mr. Lister is perfectly innocent, as I happen to know."

"Can you prove his innocence?"

"Can you prove his guilt?" retorted the girl spiritedly.

"I saw him enter the Manor on that night."

"You saw a man who resembled him. Mr. Lister was in London and can prove that he was there. It is useless your using threats, Mr. Pence, for had you been able to carry them out you would long since have seen the police."

Pence frowned. "Who is this other man?" he asked.

"You can find out!" said Bella impatiently, "and I am going indoors."

"There is no other man," cried Pence angrily. "Why, I saw Mr. Lister quite clearly. I could not mistake him."

"You did, however."

"The police shall decide that."

"Go to the police. You threatened to do so before. Why don't you do what you say instead of trying to frighten me with stage thunder?"

Silas stamped and raged. "You will find the thunder real enough before I have done with you. This Lister man is guilty, and shall hang. You shall become my wife, my – "

"Never! never! never!" and Bella stamped in her turn.

"You will. As you have no name of your own you should be glad to take that of an honest man."

The girl started and stared. "My name is Huxham," she said angrily.

"It is nothing of the sort. When I wished to marry you, Captain Huxham, your supposed father, told me that you were a nameless waif whom he had adopted out of charity."

"It is wholly false."

"It is true! it is true!" Pence leaped the fence before she knew what was his intention, and caught her in his arms, "and you must become my wife."

"You beast! you villain!" cried the girl, struggling. "How dare – "

She got no further. Even while the words were on her lips a pair of very strong hands caught Pence by the shoulders, and wrenching him from the girl flung him over the fence. The next moment Cyril held Bella in his arms.

"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she sobbed, utterly broken down, "how glad I am that you arrived to punish him."

"I shall punish him more!" cried Cyril, striding towards the gate.

"No, no!" said Bella, stopping him. "Think of my good name. It is useless making a scandal. But ask him if what he says is true."

"What does he say?" questioned Cyril, with a note of savagery in his voice.

"Oh hush! hush!" implored Bella, clinging to him. "Speak lower. I don't wish everyone to hear what Mr. Pence declares."

"But what is it? what is it?"

"Ask him. After all, he may be wrong, and – "

Still holding the girl, Lister, mindful of her wish, spoke in a loud whisper to the dusty figure on the other side of the fence. Pence had just risen, sorely bruised, but, unable to leave his rival with the girl he loved, yet lingered in the roadway.

"Here, you," said Lister sharply, "what have you been saying to Miss Huxham? Speak out, you dog, or I'll thrash you thoroughly. Let me go, Bella; let me go, I say."

"No, no! We must avoid all scandal. Think of what might be – be – " she gasped, and without ending her sentence fell half fainting into Cyril's arms.

Then came Pence's chance to discharge the vials of his wrath, for he saw that Lister, hampered by the fainting girl, could not touch him. Stepping up to the palings with his face distorted with anger, he spoke in low tones of hate. "I say now to you what I shall soon say to all. Captain Huxham adopted the girl, whom you falsely say that you love. She has no position and no name and no money, so if you marry her – "

"Stop," said Cyril imperiously. "Can you swear to the truth of this wild statement? Miss Huxham always passed as the captain's daughter."

"She is not Miss Huxham," said Silas, insistently. "She is Miss – I don't know what. I can prove what I say, if necessary. And I shall, unless – "

"Unless what?"

"Unless you renounce her so that she can become my wife."

Bella heard the words and stood unexpectedly erect with fresh energy, wrathful at Pence's persistency. "Nothing will ever induce me to become your wife. And if what you say is true my aunt would have told me."

"Mrs. Vand is not your aunt and Captain Huxham was not your father," said the preacher sullenly. "If needs be I can prove it."

"Then do so," cried Cyril quickly, "for by doing so you will remove the sole barrier to our marriage."

"What do you mean?" asked Silas, recoiling in sheer surprise.

"Let me speak," said Bella, guessing what her lover meant. "We mean that had you held your tongue Cyril and I might have been forced to part. Now that I know I am not Captain Huxham's daughter I can marry him."

Pence looked from one face to the other in the chill moonlight and drew his own conclusions with swift intuition, sharpened by hate. "Then this Lister man is the murderer of Huxham?"

"You have to prove that," said Cyril cheerfully. "I am not bound to incriminate myself, you know."

Silas raised his hands to the heavens in mute appeal, for he saw that in some way, not entirely clear to him, he had brought about the very thing he had been trying to avert. Enraged at his blunder and despairing of gaining his ends, the man, timid as he usually was, would have sprung over the fence to renew the struggle with his rival, but that many dark figures were seen coming along the road. Apparently the concert was over.

In spite of his anger, Pence retained sufficient sense to decide immediately on a sensible course. He mechanically brushed his clothes, and bent over the palings to speak with Cyril. "To-morrow," he said, in a tense whisper, "you will be arrested, on my evidence, and she" – he pointed a trembling finger at Bella – "will be known as a nameless outcast."

The girl uttered a faint cry at the insult, and Cyril would have struck the man who spoke. But Pence was prepared, and swerved away from the fence with a taunting laugh, to retreat rapidly down the road towards the advancing throng.

"Come inside; come inside," said Bella, plucking at Cyril's sleeve; "you must not be seen here with me at this hour. Mr. Pence will say nothing for his own sake. Come inside until Dora returns."

This was wise counsel, so the pair hastily retreated and closed the door, before they could be seen by the sharp eyes of the village gossips. Bella ran into the dining-room, where supper was laid, and sinking into a chair, mutely pointed to the water jug. Lister, seeing how pale she was, poured out a glass, and held it to her lips. Shortly she was more her old self, as the colour returned to her cheeks and the brightness to her eyes. It was then that she asked a leading question:

"Do you think that what Mr. Pence says is true?"

"I hope so. I fervently hope so," replied Cyril, sitting down to discuss the matter, "for then we can marry, and – " he started and stopped. It occurred to him that Pence's statement might be the cause of Granny Tunks' queer remark, an explanation of which had been prevented by Durgo. Then again, from the negro's action, and from the facts that Mrs. Tunks had seen – so she said – his coming in the crystal, and obeyed him so implicitly, it might be that Durgo knew much that he would only disclose at the proper time. Of one thing Cyril was certain – namely, that Durgo was his friend, and would do his best to put things right, if Lister assisted him to recover traces of his father and the jewels, which Edwin Lister was supposed to possess.

"I shouldn't wonder if Pence's statement was true," said Cyril, musingly, as he reflected on the present position of affairs. "It did seem strange to me that such a rough sea-dog as Huxham undoubtedly was, should have so refined a daughter as you."

"I thought it was my education, and – "

"No," said Cyril, looking at her searchingly in the light of the small lamp. "Your feet and hands are too delicate, and your features too clearly cut, and your whole bearing too well bred, to be the child of such a man. Huxham and his sister are plebeians: you are an aristocrat. I am quite sure."

Bella coloured at his praise of her beauty. "Perhaps what Mr. Pence says may explain why the money was not left to me."

Cyril nodded. "If you are not Huxham's daughter, of course he would not leave you the money. But it was strange that he should tell Pence – why, what is the matter?"

Bella had started to her feet, and was looking at him strangely. "I am unwilling to suspect Mr. Pence, seeing that it seems almost certain your father is guilty, but I don't believe that my father – I mean that Captain Huxham told him."

"Why not?"

"It was not Captain Huxham's way to confide in anyone, and if he had kept silent for so long he certainly would not have told anyone later, especially Silas Pence. If anyone knew the truth it would be my aunt – I mean Mrs. Vand – and she hated me quite sufficiently to tell me that I was no kith or kin of hers. This she did not do."

"Well, and what do you make of the business?"

"This," said Bella, slowly. "I believe that Mr. Pence does know something of the murder, although he may not have struck the blow. Your father may have been disturbed by Mr. Pence, and may have taken the hundred pounds. But I am certain that Mr. Pence found some papers telling that I was not Captain Huxham's daughter, and has them in his possession now."

Cyril shook his head. "You have no proofs of this wild charge."

"No, I have not. All the same, I believe – "

"Belief is one thing, and certainty another," said Lister, decisively, "and, again, I must tell you that my father – if indeed he is guilty – got much more than one hundred pounds"; and he related all that had taken place in Durgo's rooms. Bella listened in silence, and was particularly struck with the use made by the negro of Mrs. Tunks.

"I believe that Granny and this black man are in league," she declared; "you know she foretold his coming by the crystal. And that is all rubbish."

"In this instance she foretold truly," said Cyril drily.

"Because she knew beforehand, and simply made use of the crystal to impress me," retorted the girl. "Do you think Durgo himself is guilty?"

"No, I do not," replied Cyril very decidedly. "He bewailed the fact that my father had not asked him to get Huxham out of the way. No, Bella, in some way, my father managed the matter himself. He might have killed the old sailor during a quarrel, and have secured the jewels and have gone into hiding either here or on the Continent. We can only wait until we hear from him. Then the mystery may be solved."

"I am not so sure that your father got the jewels," said Bella, after a pause. "After all, they were in the chest in the attic by Durgo's showing."

"The papers were, but Durgo was not certain if Huxham left the jewels there, my dear. You see, the old skipper might, and probably did, keep the jewels in his study for safety. But the jewels were in the house I am sure, for Huxham feared lest they should be stolen, and so planted the corn and used the search-light. By the way, I saw that used the other night."

"Henry Vand knows how to use it," said Bella indifferently; "my father showed him how to work it on one occasion. But what is to be done?"

"I must wait and see what Durgo intends to do. He knows much that we are ignorant of, and for my father's sake I think he will help us both."

"And Mr. Pence's statement?"

Cyril took her in his arms. "I believe it," he said, kissing her fondly, "so the barrier between us is removed."

"Thank God for that," said Bella reverently, and being unstrung wept bitterly.

CHAPTER XV

DURGO, THE DETECTIVE

As has been seen, Durgo was no ordinary man, and even had he been white instead of black, would have passed for a clever member of the Aryan race. Undoubtedly the strain of Arab blood in him sharpened his intellectual faculties, and made him ambitious to play a leading part in the history of his tribe. That the members of it were savages mattered very little, since he had been educated in the lore of the ruling race, and could raise them sooner or later almost to his own level. Almost, that is, but not quite, for Durgo had no notion that any individual of his tribe should be as clever as himself. He wished to be a despot, and rule from an autocratic throne.

The one weak point in his character – if gratitude can be called weakness – was his adoration of Edwin Lister. That gentleman had undoubtedly saved his life, and assuredly had aided him to attain to his present position of culture by inducing the old chief to send his clever son to England. But Cyril knew, what Durgo in his blind idolatry did not – that Edwin Lister was not a man to work for nothing, and wanted much more than he ever gave. There was every chance that he would abuse the gratitude of Durgo, when the negro's ambition was achieved, and if his protégé revolted from complying with the exorbitant demands which would surely be made on his generosity, he would speedily be reminded of what had been done for him. With an ordinary man this would have mattered little as such a one would decline unreasonable exactions. But Durgo's strongest trait was gratitude, and it was probable that in spite of his clever brain and European education, he would become the mere puppet of his benefactor. Thus the very nobility of Durgo's nature would reduce him to slavery, and he would be ruined because he possessed the rarest of all virtues.

Little as Cyril had seen of his father, he knew his character thoroughly, being able to read by intuition, as well as by observation. Edwin had only one god to worship, and that was himself – a deity so congenial that the egotist was most devout in his religion. Of course, Durgo's enslavement and Edwin Lister's tyranny had nothing to do with Cyril, as father and son had long since gone on their several ways. But Cyril liked the negro, and swore to himself that if Durgo aided him to marry Bella, he would stand by him when Edwin Lister played the tyrant. As yet – so much Cyril gathered – the trader had not shown the cloven foot, but he would do so sooner or later, and then Cyril hoped to open Durgo's eyes to the fact that his gratitude was being abused.

But there was much to be done before affairs arrived at this point, and the first necessary step to take was to discover the whereabouts of Edwin Lister. Durgo had learned much from Cyril, and something from Granny Tunks; now it was necessary that he should be informed by Bella of the accusation of Pence, and of her doubts about the preacher. She resolved to see Durgo for herself, and when Dora was at school, she watched at the window of the cottage for the coming of the negro. She did not even tell Cyril of her intention, as he disbelieved her statement that Pence had stolen certain papers and was connected in some way with the murder. That she had absolutely no grounds for such a belief troubled Bella very little, since she was very much the woman. All she knew was, that Pence could not have heard the truth about her not being Huxham's daughter from Huxham himself and it was necessary to find out how he came to know, let alone the necessity of making certain of its truth. Cyril would have scruples in assaulting Pence, and learning the truth at the sword's point, as it were. Durgo, being uncivilised, for all his education would have no such scruples, and therefore was the best person to apply to. He would undoubtedly twist Pence's slender neck as he would that of a rabbit, if he could force from him any information likely to forward his aims. And unless some such brutal course was taken Bella felt sure that Pence would hold his tongue. In her exasperation against the troublesome preacher, all the girl's worst traits came uppermost.

Durgo did not pass along the road in the morning, and Bella almost despaired of seeing him. She nearly decided to go to "The Chequers Inn," but a memory of Mrs. Giles' gossiping tongue prevented her risking so much. In the afternoon, however, Durgo lounged along the road, in his lazy, heavy, massive fashion, arrayed in his rough tweed clothes, and looking very much like a burly prize-fighter. Luckily there was no one in sight, as Miss Ankers' cottage was in a solitary corner on the outskirts of Marshely, so Bella ran hatless into the garden to beckon the negro into the cottage.

"Come in! come in! I wish to speak to you," she said hurriedly, when he stepped up to the white palings; and she glanced right and left, to be sure that no curious eyes were on her.

Durgo stared and frowned, as education in a world-famous University had not quite eradicated his contempt for women. However, when Bella ran inside again, and stood beckoning him in the passage, he resolved to enter, if only to learn why she acted in this bold way. So tall was Durgo, and so low the door, that he had to stoop considerably to enter, and when in the little drawing-room he bulked hugely as Gulliver in the Lilliputian temple.

"What is it, missy?" asked Durgo roughly, for he was not inclined to waste his time in saying pretty nothings to this Englishwoman, when so much was at stake. "I cannot stay here; I am busy."

"I wish to help you," said Bella, going straight to the point.

"In what way?" Durgo stared at her peremptory tone.

"I wish to help you on condition that you help me."

"In what way?" he asked again, and sat down on a chair, which creaked under his mighty weight.

"Listen," said Bella, speaking very slowly, and with her eyes on his strong, black face. "You are not of my colour or race, yet I am going to trust you, as Cyril told me all about you. Besides, we are both working for the same end – that is, we both wish to find Edwin Lister. Cyril told me what Mrs. Tunks discovered."

"He had no right," frowned Durgo; "I want no women – "

"Don't despise women," said Bella drily, "for you may need the help of one woman, and she is my own self. You know that I am supposed to be Captain Huxham's daughter?"

"Supposed to be?" Durgo noted the way she placed her words at once, which said much for his powers of observation, and the quick working of his brain.

"Yes, Silas Pence, the preacher – "

"I know him, missy. Go on."

"Loves me," continued Bella, with a blush; "and to marry me he would stop at nothing. Last night he declared that I was not the daughter of Captain Huxham, and that Captain Huxham had told him as much."

"Do you believe that?"

"Yes. That is, I believe I am not Captain Huxham's daughter, since the money was not left to me. But I do not believe that Captain Huxham told this to Silas Pence. I believe," Bella bent forward, "that Mr. Pence is concerned in this murder, and stole certain papers, which revealed the truth."

Durgo's eyes flashed. He saw at once the value of such information. "Can you prove this?" he asked in his throaty tones.

"That's just where it is," she answered quickly. "I wish you to prove it."

"How can I do that?"

"Question Mr. Pence, and make him answer. Force him, in whatever way you like, to show how he actually obtained the information. If he stole the papers stating the fact – and this I believe – he must have been in the room where the murder was committed some hour during that night. If so, he must have seen Edwin Lister, and must know where he is."

"Hai!" Durgo leaped to his feet. "That is true: that is probable. Perhaps he can say if my master got the jewels."

"Perhaps he can, but I am certain that he will not."

"Oh, I think he will! I think he will," said Durgo significantly.

"Don't hurt him," cried Bella, alarmed, for much as she disliked the preacher she did not wish him to come to harm at the hands of this African semi-savage. As a matter of fact, she was sorry to enlist Durgo's services at all; but, under the circumstances, there seemed to be no help for it.

"I shall not hurt him more than is necessary," said Durgo, catching up his bowler hat and placing it on his woolly head; "if he speaks plainly I won't hurt him at all. You have helped me, missy, and you will find that I am not ungrateful. When you marry the son of my master, you will be rich. I, Durgo, the king, will make you rich," he ended arrogantly.

"One moment," said Bella, detaining him; "these jewels belong to Captain Huxham. Have you any right to take them?"

"Every right, since they never belonged to Captain Huxham," said the negro decisively. "My father, the great chief Kawal, gave them to Maxwell Faith, and from Maxwell Faith they were stolen by Huxham. If Faith were alive I would return the jewels to him, and ask him to help me with my expedition. But he is dead; Huxham murdered him, and stole the jewels. Edwin Lister came to get back what belongs to me, and I think he has them."

"Supposing you find Mr. Lister, and learn that he has not the jewels?"

Durgo rolled his eyes ferociously. "I shall then enter the Manor-house by force, and learn where they are hidden."

"You would only be handed over to the police by Mrs. Vand and her husband, Henry. It will be better for me to search."

"How can you, since you are not friendly with Mrs. Vand?"

Bella laughed. "I know much more about the Manor-house than Mrs. Vand does, I assure you," she said significantly. "There are all manner of secret passages and unknown chambers in that ancient mansion. If I desired to enter, I could do so in the night-time by a secret door hidden behind the ivy at the back of the house."

"Then do so," said Durgo eagerly, "and search for the jewels."

"Not yet. Wait until you see Edwin Lister, and learn if he procured the jewels. By the way, where did your father get them?"

Durgo reflected for a few minutes. "I have heard much talk of my father's treasure, of which these jewels were part. You know how rich the Northern part of Africa was in the time of the Romans?"

"Yes. Cyril made me read Gibbons' History."

"Well, when the Arabs swept across Northern Africa, they looted the Roman cities, then possessed more or less by the Goths and Vandals. Many of the Arabs came South to Nigeria, and brought their plunder with them. I think that these jewels, which my father gave to Maxwell Faith, came into his possession from some remote ancestor, who so brought them. But I cannot say. Still, that is my opinion."

"It is a feasible idea, certainly," said Bella musingly, and astonished at the knowledge of the negro, quite forgetting that he had been educated at Oxford; "but where the jewels came from, matters little. What we have to find out, is where they are, and Mr. Pence – "

"I shall see this man," interrupted Durgo quietly; "he may lie to others: he will tell the truth to me."

"No violence," warned Bella anxiously.

Durgo nodded. "I fear your police too much," said he, with an ironical grin, and strode out of the house, looking more burly and defiant than ever. Bella had regretted her employment of his services, but what else could she do when so much was at stake? Bella wished to marry Cyril, and, to do so, desired to be certain that she was not Captain Huxham's daughter. The papers – if her wild surmise was correct – would prove if what Pence said was true. Then, since Cyril's father had not murdered her father – she put it in this confused way – she would be able to marry her lover with a clear conscience. That he might be the son of an assassin troubled her very little. To get her way after the manner of a woman deeply in love, she would have set the world on fire, or would have wrecked the solar system. And in placing the safety of Pence in the hands of a semi-civilised negro, she undoubtedly was risking his life. But she did not care, so long as she attained to the knowledge which she was confident he possessed.

It will be seen that Bella Huxham was no Sunday-school angel, or even the amiable heroine of a Family Herald novelette, who never by any chance does wrong. She was simply an average girl, with good instincts, brought up so far as school-training was concerned in a conventional way. At home no one had taught her to discern right from wrong, and, like the ordinary healthy young animal of the human race, she had not passed through sufficient sorrow to make her inquire into the truths of religion. Bella needed trouble to train her into a good, brave woman, and she was certainly getting the training now. But she made mistakes, as was natural, considering her inexperience.