CHAPTER XXV
THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED
Max helped the detective raise the man from the ground. He was quite dead, and from the position in which they had found him, both men concluded that he had been in the act of climbing up to the high window when the rope by which he was holding broke under his weight. It was evident that he had fallen upon an old millstone which was among the lumber on the floor beneath, and that the shock of the fall had broken his neck.
They had found out all this before Max could form any opinion as to the identity of the dead man. He was short of stature, and apparently between fifty and sixty years of age, slightly built, but muscular. The body was dressed in the clothes of a respectable mechanic.
There was very little light in the barn by this time, and Max directed the groom, who had been standing outside, and who had entered, attracted by Max's shout of discovery, to bring a lantern.
"I suppose we'd better send for a doctor," said Max, "though the man's as dead as a doornail. In the meantime, just give a look around and see whether the woman is anywhere about."
The detective appeared to follow the suggestion, for he at once proceeded to a further inspection of the building with the aid of one of the two lanterns which the groom had by this time brought. And presently he came back to Max with a bundle in his hand.
Max, by the light of the lantern that the groom was holding for him, was looking at the face of the dead man, whom he guessed to be one of Mrs. Higgs's accomplices, perhaps the mysterious person whose influence over the old woman, according to Carrie, was so bad.
While he was staring intently at the dead face, he heard a stifled cry, and looking up, saw that Carrie had stolen into the barn behind the groom, and had her eyes fixed upon the body.
Max sprang up.
"Do you know him? Is it the man who used to get into the place by night?" asked he, eagerly.
Carrie, without answering, looked from the dead man to the detective, and from him to the bundle he was carrying.
"Ah!" exclaimed she.
Max looked in his turn. The detective was displaying, one by one, a woman's skirt, bodice, bonnet, shawl, and a cap with a "front" of woman's hair sewn inside it.
"I think you can guess, sir, what's become of the woman now?" said the officer, grimly.
Max started violently, shocked by a surprise which, both for the detective and for Carrie, had been discounted some time ago.
"Mrs. Higgs" was a man.
Even with this knowledge to help him, Max, as he stared again at the dead face, found it difficult to recognize in the still features those which in life had inspired him with feelings of repulsion.
Just a quiet, inoffensive, respectable-looking man not coarse or low in type; this would have been his comment upon the dead man if he had known nothing about him. Max shuddered as he withdrew his gaze; and, as he did so, he met the eyes of Carrie.
He beckoned to her to come away with him, and she followed him as far as the door, toward which some members of the household, to whom the news had penetrated, were now hastening.
"Carrie!" cried he, as he looked searchingly in her face, "you knew this? How long have you known it?"
She could scarcely answer. She was shaking from head to foot and was evidently suffering from a great shock.
"Yes, I knew it, but only since I came here. It was part of what Mr. Dudley Horne let out in his raving."
"Only part of it?" cried Max.
But Carrie would confess nothing more. And, as Mr. Wedmore came across the yard at this moment, followed by Dr. Haselden, Carrie ran back into the house as Max met his father.
"What's all this about a dead man found in the barn?" asked Mr. Wedmore, with all the arrogance of the country gentleman, who thinks that no one has a right to die on his premises without his permission.
Max held his father back for a moment until the doctor had passed on. In the excitement of this occurrence, Mr. Wedmore was glad to have an opportunity of appearing to forget that there was any quarrel between them. On second thoughts, he inclined to think that he had perhaps, on this occasion, been a little too hard on his son, and he was anxious for some loophole by which he could creep out of the consequences of his own sternness. This, however, could hardly have been guessed by his manner, which was at least as arrogant as ever.
"It's somebody who was mixed up in the death of Edward Jacobs, sir, I think," said Max, in a low voice. "A man who has been living down at the East End of London disguised as a woman, and who was, I believe, at the bottom of all the mischief."
"Man disguised as a woman?" cried Mr. Wedmore, incredulously. "What an improbable story! And what should he do down here in my barn?"
"I think he must have come down to see Dudley, sir. We believe that it was he who tried to drown Dudley after he had succeeded in drowning Edward Jacobs."
Mr. Wedmore frowned in perplexity.
"Trying to drown Dudley! What on earth should he do that for? What had Dudley to do with him?"
"Well, sir, we don't quite know. But Dudley was acquainted with this man, undoubtedly, though we don't know whether he knew him to be a man, or only as Mrs. Higgs, which was the name the man went by."
"Let me see the man," said Mr. Wedmore.
And, pushing past his son, he entered the barn.
The doctor made way for him.
"He is quite dead. He must have been killed instantly," said Doctor Haselden, as his friend came up.
Mr. Wedmore took the lantern from the man who held it and looked at the dead face. As he did so, his first expression of curiosity gave place to one of perplexity, followed by a stare of intense amazement and horror.
"What is it? Do you know him?" asked Doctor Haselden, while Max, who had followed his father in, watched with intense interest and surprise.
Mr. Wedmore did not seem to hear. He continued to look at the dead face for some moments with an appearance of utter absorption, and then, suddenly staggering back, he made for the open air without a word of explanation.
Max stared at the doctor, and then followed his father out. But Mr. Wedmore was already halfway to the house, where he shut himself into the study, and locking the door, refused to be disturbed.
Max was more bewildered than ever by this new turn of affairs. With a dogged determination not to be kept any longer out of a secret of which everybody but himself seemed to know something, he went straight up to the sick room in search of Carrie. His knock, however, was answered by the professional nurse, who opened the door and asked him what he wanted.
"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Max. "At least—I wanted to know how Mr. Horne is now."
"He won't be so well tonight, I expect," answered the nurse, tartly. "There's been a great noise and disturbance outside, and he's heard something of it, and it's made him restless and curious. He is asking questions about it all the time, and he won't be satisfied. He keeps asking for the other nurse, who is out taking her walk, as I tell him."
At this point, Dudley's voice was heard from the bed. "Who's that at the door? Who is it?"
Max, after a moment's hesitation, during which the nurse assumed an air of washing her hands of the whole matter, answered:
"Me, old chap—Max. How are you?"
Dudley sprang up in bed. The nurse folded her arms and frowned.
"Come in, oh, come in, just one moment! I'll be quiet, nurse, quite quiet. But I must see him—I must see somebody."
Max threw an imploring glance at the nurse, who refused to look at him. Then he went in.
"Only a minute—I won't stay a minute."
The nurse shrugged her shoulders.
"It's against the doctor's orders. I wash my hands of the consequences," said she.
And, with her head held very high, she left the room.
Max stood irresolute. By the look of excitement on Dudley's face, he judged that anything must be better for him than the eager suspense from which he was evidently suffering. This news of the death of the odious inhabitant of the house by the wharf must surely bring relief to him. As soon as they were alone together, Dudley burst out eagerly:
"That noise! It's no use deceiving me; I know what it was. They were after him. Tell me—has he got away? Has my father got away?"
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