THE SILVER DAGGER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 174, 28 August 1914, Page 2

THE SILVER DAGGER

H°°=i By R. A. J. WALLING l=°=l®

Author of " Flaunting Moll," " A Sea Dog of Devon,'* &c. [copybjght]

CIIAPTER XXYI. (Continued). IN WHICH A CONSIDERATE CURATE MAKES A DISCOVERY. "No? Well, I found out from Miss Torfrey what kind of a lover Diego was.* Now, mark his brother's words: 'You're a greedy spendthrift.' You don't know how I've worried over those words during the last five months. I've made some enquiries. Miss Torfrey told me where he stayed in Scotland last year. I had hint traced; the report of him is of a great gambler and a ' ga v dop".' Same in London, where he was found to have been frequenting some very doubtful places in more than doubtful company, relieving the mouotonv of his business in the city with the aid of certain wine, cards, and other things. And though Mr Diego was flush when he arrived in 'town, he left somewhat in debt. "Now I'll turn to the burglary of the cabinet. That took place, you will recall, on the night after the day when the sham detective was called m. We kr.ow that Mr Diego was in the neighbourhood the night it = was committed, an-l that he pretended not to have arrived till the next day. We also know t-liat the same night the Shrine in the wood was ransacked. We also v know that on the garden bed outside Torfrey's window, the only mark which could be discovered was a long oblong depression in the earth; That coffin was tpkeri there to receive the results of the burglary, and by it .'.as made the loiu; oblong'depression in the earth." "Yes," said Pudifin, "but a coffin! Whoever would have thought of a coffin as a receptacle for stolen property? And why was a coffin chosen? It seems' so absurd!" Mr Granger listened to the interjection, but did not reply to it. "I . will now,"" lie said, "go on to the horning when Mr Pudifin and I were in the wood, and overheard a conversation between Mr Diego and Mr Benson, touching the removal of Miss Torfrey and other things. Now you remember, Mr Pudifin, that Diego said something like this: That Rodrigo had insisted on the translation of 'la bella cadavera,'but he would never have the jtfiick to look at it? And Benson, who tlid not speak anything but English, cried. 'What?'' And then, after a pause,-.they both burst into laughter 1 ?" Yes,." said Pudifin, eagerly, "I remember, but I could make nothing of it. Great Scot! —translation! Oh, what a fool never to think of it! The translation of the bella cadavera was the removal of, the beautiful corpse, of course, and not the rendering of a Spanish' phrase , into English! And, for the beautiful corpse, this precious pair of

rogues had substituted Torfrey's valuables, and carted it off to the island, thinking that Ridrigo would never have the time or curiosity to look at it, and that they would be able '' "To share the swag later on," said Mr Granger. "All correct, sir; you can bet your last tanner that's what happened. And a devilish clever little plan, too. Remember the apparition of the Senora in Torfrey's bedroom. If he'd had the pluck to go for the ghost, and had looked out at the window, what would he have seen? The coffin from which she had risen! And that would have finished a man in Torfrey's state of nerVfes. So, off goes the coffin to the island, jewels and coin, and {ill. And then, when things went wrong, owing to a little burglary, in which, I am ashamed to say, a clergyman of the Church of England was concerned, Rodrigo had plenty of leisure to look, into this and other affairs, and discovered the chest. He had discovered it that day when you met him by the Shrine, Mr Pudifin. lie walked back to the house with you—he talked with you in the library. He advised you not to interfere with his plans " "Yes, yes," said Pudifin, "and then " ' 1 And then, he said that the last person who had interfered with his plans had felt a heavy hand upon him, or something of that sort." "Good heavens!" ' cried Pudifin. "what he said was that a meddler and a muddler and a foolish young person had felt the pbwer which he wielded, and that it would be with fewer qualms that lie would make me feel it. And his voice sank almost to a whisper, and he caught at his neckcloth as he spoke." ".At that moment I• have no doubt the brother who had betrayed his trust was lying a corpse in the Shrine, where he had been taken to explain his misdeed —and to pay the penalty of it. That's how I figure it out, Mr Pudifin," Granger concluded. "Ugh!" exclaimed Hoskings. A cold silence seemed to descend upon the three men. None cared to break it for minutes. At length Granger said:— "I told you character had a great deal to say in a problem of this sort. If I had been able to study the character of Mr .Diego Gomez more closely, we should not have been so long in getting our solution. As for the elder brother, I confess I cannot help admiring him. He carried out his desperate scheme of vengeance with a single-minded determination which you can hardly match. And he finished bravely. I was watching him at the last out there in that cave. IfJ. had not hit up his arm, his hereditary'enemy, Torfrey, and good-

ness knows how many more of us, would have been in kingdom-come at this moment." "There's one thing I don't understand yet," said Hoskings. "What of the two coffins? And-whence came the second one? If Elena Gomez was buried up in Pudifin's churchyard, as appears, and the grave had not been disturbed, where did they get another coffin exactly like it?" "That's hardly in doubt," said Pudifin. "It came from the Shrine. From what Gomez said, it is clear that he believed old Torfrey had sacrilegiously exhumed the body of the senora and had it buried in the vault with himself.'' "Yes—it was half indicated in Torfrey's own story of the Shrine, and Gomez made it clear in his confession. But if the senora lies in your churchyard, there could have been no exhumation, and old Torfrey could not have had her buried with him in the vault. That \s the mystery.'' "I think not," said Granger. "I fancy I hold the key of that, question. Have you ever heard of the perversion called ' fetishism' ? Of course you have, as a doctor, and you must kuow ! liow widely it is spread even among civilised men. There is still sufficient evidence to show that the rascally old lawyer was a fetishist of the mast perverted kind. Think of the miniature portrait and of the lock of hair. Now think of what Pudifin saw in the beastly mortuary down there when lie went with the bogus detective the morning after the burglary: he saw one thing of which nobody has taken much notice of so far. They have all been thinking of the violated corpse of the old sinner who built the place, the dagger, and all the rest of it. They have forgotten that the ground was littered with broken statuary. Now, whatever was broken up, it was not the statues of old Torfrey and the woman that stood by the wall. They remained —defaced, but not smashed.. What was it? I have come to the conclusion that this fetishist had a better scheme for carrying out his depraved ideas, than exhuming the body of the senora. He would lie in the grave with her, but lie would lie there not with a mouldering corpse, but with a perfect representation of the woman as she lived." "Oh, Granger!" cried Hoskings. "You are drawing it strong." "Wait a minute, doctor. I think the evidence is complete. Part of the plan that Gomez had was to remove from the blasphemous surroundings of the Shrine the body of the senora. It was his intention that it should be taken off in the yacht." '' That's pretty clear.'' "Also, he had instructed Diego to 'translate' it, as he said." "Yes—that also." "But there was no corpse, although there was a coffin —an old coffin, obviously of about the same date as the genuine thing." '' There is no doubt about that,'' said Pudifin. "Then there can be no doubt that Diego found the coffin in the vault, and opened it, or the proceeds of the burglary could not have got into it. Now, think of the broken sculpture lying about, and of the fact mentioned in your letter to the doctor, that one of the things you found in it was a beautiful carving, of a lady's hand in marble —a treasure which Torfrey had not

"I'm horribly clumsy in a boat," said Pudifin, his face the colour of red flannel. "And so helpless," added Lucy, seating herself in the stern seat,; you never attempted to save me; I might have gone overboard and been a wet corpse at this moment for all you did." '' I can swim,'' said Pudifin, but tone of badinage was forced. His heart was banging hard against his ribs. " Yes, I know,'' the girl remarked. "You know, Charlie, I often think you're such a considerate fellow." "How so?" "Take the bishop, for instance.'You knew how it would hurt his feelings to learn that one of his clergy had committed a burglary, and much against your will you refrained from telling him." "I say! Granger worked that joke to death six months ago." "Well, take Nancy Goodeare. That pious and grumpy old person lives right away the other side of the parish, and you have to pass my window to reach her, but you visit her every day and twice on Saturdays.'' "You wouldn't have a curate neglect his parishioners'?" "Oh, no. But there are others. Then, take the girl you're in love with " "Lucy!" "It's no use to shout at me like that. Do you think I can't see what's plain to all the parish?" "Lucy!—l deny that I'm in love with any girl—at least " "Of course, they always do deny it. But look here, Charlie, you've put me off the line of argument. I was " "This is what you call an argument!" cried Pudifin. "I was about to remark," she said, '' that you were a most considerate fellow. Even to the girl you.'rc in love with. You won't tell her about it simply because you think she's got some silly scruples about the length of time people ought to be bereaved before they fall in love again. Absolutely idiotic, I call it," said she, lean-

known he possessed, and supposed must have been in the cabinet before he came into ownership of it!" There was a long pause. "And now, I suppose, the whole ghastly story will have to be raked over again and form another sensation for nine days," said Pudifin. "I'm afraid there's no help for it," said Granger. "It's true," Hoskings remarked, "that we are the only persons who know anything about it." ".Yes, that's true," Granger added. "And that if the facts have to be made public it Avill be very unpleasant for Miss Torfrey,'' the other added. "I wonder,'' mused Granger, "whether Mr Pudifin could by any possibility go outside and forget all about it —find some parochial affair that would take it clean out of his mind? I fancy, if you and I went back to the Shrine alone, doctor, we might find that what we saw this afternoon was all a delusion, a dream, an optical deception." Granger spoke slowly, with halfclosed eyes. ";By Jove!" cried Hoskings. "That's a good scheme! There's plenty of room in the grave."' "You fellows mustn't do this for me," said Pudifin, in perplexity. ' "It would be wrong—it would seem like being accessories of the crime. . You ; mustn't do it for me." "We won't, Charlie," Hoskings assured him. "We'll do it for Miss Torfrey. When she's Mrs P. —well, you can tell her if you like." Six months later Lucy Torfrey was paddling a boat a few yards from the beach near the Villa Zamora, looking back at the road which led from St. Maurice down to the water's edge. On the road there was a figure moving rapidly towards her. Miss Torfrey talked to herself. "My knight errant! Itching to make a proposal to me, I'll wager; afraid of his life to mention the subject, of course. Desperately in love with riie; desperately afraid of my tongue. No use —I can't curb it. Shall I invite him into the boat and then keep him out to sea till he is driven by sheer hunger to declare himself? Happy thought! " She waved a handkerchief to hijn as he reached the beach. . Mr Pudifin waved answer, and she pulled, in, "Couldn't possibly come out for an hour on the river, I suppose, Charlie?" she said. "If I stretched my elastic conscience enough I might give up what I was going to do this afternoon and join you," he replied, stepping into the boat. "Oh," she pouted. "Well, what?" "Then you didn't come down on purpose to see me?" "Whatever made you think that, Lucy?" enquired Mr Pudifin, bending low and finding some difficulty with the tiller ropes, which had slipped down. "Conceited curate! I didn't say I thought it. I only asked you. I think you're very rude. For punishment, you shall pull. Take off your coat and change places. Oh! " she cried, grasping his arms as she passed and the boat rocked. .

ing over the side of the boat and splashing the end of the tiller-rope in the water. Pudifin stopped rowing. "Lucy!" he said, softly. "Don't- sit there saying 'Lucy,'" said she. "Pull on, or we shall drift into that barge." "I decline to pull another stroke unless" you steer ashore,'' said Mr Pudifin. "Witch! Let me get out of the boat, that's all!" " I 'll steer right out to sea if you look so fierce and use such horrible language," Luck answered, her colour rising. "Sweetheart!" said Charlie, "I've been an awful ass, and you're the pluckiest girl in the world as well as the dearest. But—steer ashore! I can't tell you anything —not a particle of what I want to in a cockle-shell like this." "Are you in a hurry to see , Mrs Goodeare? Shall we land near her house?" asked Lucy.

"Mrs Goodeare, be hanged!" he cried. "Ah, that's better. Let's land here under the •woods." "Oh, do be careful, Charlie! You'll lip the bottom out of the boat. I thought you were fond of the river. I never saw a man in such a hurry to get ashore." "Now, Miss Torment," lie said, as the boat's nose grounded, "I'm going to mend my ways—l won't be a considerate curate any,longer." "(The End.)