CHAPTER XI.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 18 May 1912, Page 10 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XI.

THE FORBIDDEN DOOR

ANTHONY CAJRTERET walked out at tho litfclo country in »iu\r©y,.-wnere a motor-ear from the Red Uourt was waiting for him. Although it was four weeks since ho had received intimation of Colonel Warreuaer's death, this was his first visit to tho manor house since the news of th-e great inherit an co awaiting him. Two days after that chance, meeting with, tho -.Grahams he had accepted an invitation to accompany them on.a short oruisa up the Mediterranean on Jack Vorral's ; jiaohjt—Vorral,. Violet's bro-tiheMn-la-w, -was an old acquaintance of his.'•- Ho had only returned to England last night. . -A couple of weeks of blazing fc>outh r era sunshino had tanned his face. It was ntot that alone) which altered his appearan'co, as he sat driving the car along fch>9 frosty Surrey roads, so strikingly from the George Carr whom the polico had been hunting for tirelessly and unavailrngly for the past month. Tho Tfell^cut clothes, helped ,in the change he presented5, but the chief change was in his face. It was not only the slight moustache that had grown, but tho gaunt,- desperate, hopeless look bad vanished. Ho was like another man—younger, brighter. ik> had jtold himself that morning, as he .lookedv.in tho glass,: that ,even if any who had known him as- George Carr "were to run up against him now they migh'tfc well be doubtful as to his identity, even if the resemblance struck them. Besides, who would -ever dream of associating Anthony Carteret, one of Fortune's favourites, with the broken, shabbily-dressed man .of that grim, shadowy -under-world ? After all, the world is full of resemblances.

'(Messrs. Hersham and Horsham, tho dead nsari's solicitors, had been very deferential, very delighted to congratulate their ridh client's hoir, yory eager to express the hope that they might hay© tho pleasure of continuing to act for him as they,'had ■ done for Colonel Warrender. It was roses, roses all the way. Tho venerable firm seemed to have conveniently forgotten that they had been decidedly curt and brusque at an interview they had had with Anthony Carter&t more than a- couple of years ago, when the "young fols" affairs wore being wound up after the smash. If Oa-rteret himself remembered, it was only with a littlo smile. Human nature is human nature —even in solicitors. ~,,.- -. ■, •Th« v/ill by which he had benefited was on& made years ago; it was n matter of, some surprise to Carteret that'his godfather had not altered it. Colonel, Wan-onder had told him bluntly, jujyfi before the smash, that ho had no intention of leaving his fortune to a spondthriffc .who had shown he did not know the value of money. But ho had not kept that threat; he was a widower, with no living relations to, make 'his hisire. Coloinel Warronder hatl-iiot .diad at tho Red Court; latttt'rly, for somo reason, he seemed to have avoided his houso in Surrey, living at his club in town. His illness,had beon sudden and short—too brief, as he had said to 'his doctor on tihe day of his death, for l:im to have "put his houso in-order" before tho end, whatever that m;ght mean. Tho solicitors had told Carteret of. a certain curious stipulation the dying man had imposed* on his heir, almost wiili his last words^a stipulation referring to this old house to which he was driving now; so strange a• ne as to miyszlo Carteret the more.ho thought of it. ~. ' ~ ! ■■•■■ ; ■

"bur Jato client —albeit the best of 111lSn: — W!l 3 latterly, -rather cccenlt^ic," Messrs. Horsham had said, deixrocatingly.

Bufc -tlien.Coiloiiel Warrender had always been that, Ca.rteret reflected, remembering his many whims and -caprices.' But in. spite, of them he had always had a ye-ry strong attachment for tJi© old. bluntly-spoken soldier, even when.<fcho latter, at their last meetins;, had called him a fwl and a wastrel; and he had been not a littlo sorry to hear of the, Colonel's death, though thiroTigh it ho had so-unexpectedly hon.efitnrl. ..' ■

The Hod Court was some iiniles from tha. station, thouo-h tho car made shoi-t work of them, driven as Carteret drove it, Jk was a fine old place of crumbling red briolc, standing far back from the road . behind the lode gates, almost hidden from it, buried, as the houso was,; in thickly-wooded gironnds, that, t^u-ched on ono s'do t^". °"nv(lon of +bo more. n-odost house 'whero tho Grahams lived

Tha gloam of wintry sunlight glintod. on tho groat old pilo as Carteret droyo ut> tho winding avenue of beech trees. Tt stood on the site of an ancient priory, a portion of which had been left to bo incorporated in the nre-f-enii builfling, qunint and irregular of ar-ohit'ontitre, that had boon added to and Altered by successive generations, with ils square tower th.at rose'in tho middlo of tho house sr> built round by newer additions as to bo almost hid-d-n.

By Carteret's instructions alii the old s'aff of servants had been kept on. Somo of thorn hnd bo-?n in Colono-l Warrender's sorvice for years, and were known to their new master; especially with tho hoiisokeonor, Mrs. Dring. "Master Anthony" bad alwriyi lxson a fi-oai favourite when as a mot,hortess boy ho had snont tho .wroator part of hi". .lioliclia T'c' there.

Tfe was Mrs. Dring who Iniirriod iin fo offer him welromo a.s tho nr slo])pcd, and ha jumped down to greet her smilingly.

"Tt'rt liko old ti»nos hack to yon n".a>n. Mrs. l)rin.<r!" ho rrio-d. "T/nnr-h 0 No, T don't lv.iinfc any lunr-h ; T had thrit" hr-forx> T k'ft town.. Ah, Lore's Drinjj. lookn'jr irst tho snmo ni ovor,'' as her }mc;hnnd n.ppoarod at tho door. in tJto cloth"11.1? of ••» hypnnp fj l "vno''i' I tion M-h<> had Irokod old t> O-n-forot in h;^ *1)oyi«4 daws, and whom Time soomod t'J k<iro d^no with, fo»- thr«?« t^ventv years pa,^t. had apparently 1,->ft him no oldor or nrovor, only a lit-tJn raor© «hi!relied up. Cartere-fc shook

hands warmly with the pair of them. There was something like a lump in Sis throat at this home-coming of his. Home! This familiar place, every stick and every stone of which he know, filled with boyish memories, that after his mother's death, when ho was scarcely in his teens, had been like a _ second home to him, was to be his homo in the future; ita doors were wide open, welcoming him, as the old, familiar faces welcomed him back from exile. Ho-stood talking to the two old servants for a little while. A dog that had belonged to Colonel Warrender camo out to give him a boisterous greeting; then _ho wont indoors, and walked up to his Toom to wipe off the dust of travel, and ta meet fresh memories at every turn of the broad, winding stairs and in the long, low-coiled room where ho had slept so often as ■a. boy.

Ho stood looking thoughtfully out of the window over the wooded park. Had a man ever such luck? To have played tho fool with one fortune as he had done, and to have a second chance given to him —so splendid an inheritance to como brock to from tho husks and the sw'no of the past two bitter years? Ho frowned impatiently at the latter thought. That was a closed chapter—if the chapters of what wo call lifn .aro ever closed. If not—if ono link were ever to bo for.fted.in tho great crucible of chance and civcumstnnco linking him with rth-e man tho polico were hunting for—all his riches would not save him from standing in the dock on a charge of murder.

A closed chapter—but Eve was part of that chapter, tho girl ho loved. If ho shut the door wholly on tho nnst, ho must shut it on Eve. too. How ould ho do that ? And yet ho could not seek Evo out. could not see her or o^mmunicnt" with her. "without tho risk that it might lead to <his being traced. " Whilst tho man who murdered Girimrodo remains undiscovered, how can our lives touch again—unless I'm prepared to face a trial for murder, when tho cha.nees are that I shall be found guilty?" ho said to himself. There was a shadow in this face as ho turned away from tho window. Tho dusk was already creeping from tho shadowy corners, the winter afternoon closing in, as ho tmado his way downstairs. - Half-way down a sudden thought mido him pause. Cartsret turned, retracing his stops, and walked c'own a, long corridor to tho door at tho "end. It vyas a heavy oak door, that gave admittance to the staircase and room in tho tower, whero ho had often trespassed as a boy. He was not likely to trespass through that door (again, for it was fastened up. as if barricaded from an enemy, with strong steel clamps and rivets. Tho forbidden door through which tho dying man's last unexplained words — <T'-Uvcn with, a startling vehemence that left no doubt how impelling was the motivo behind them—had said uo one must ever pass. This was tho injunction imposed on him by tho dying man's last wish— fjommand, as it amounted to in 'his heir's thoughts—of which tho solicitors had spoken. "What was the reason of this inoxplio.'iblo thing? What mystery lay behind that, steel-clamped door, that'evidently tho dead -man had dreaded should como to light after his death"? Anthony Carteret was conscious of n littlo odd thrill as he stood facing it.

Through a tiny window of stained rrlass at tho end of the > corridor the last slanting gleams of wintry sunlight fell. They had tho curious effect of painting a flaming sword across that barred, guarded door, as if to keep any intruder from trespassing upon the dead nnn's secret. Th<> sight of that great door at the end of tho .shadowy corridor, fastened' no -immovably by H« heavy iron clamps riveted to tho solid oak, across which i\ glint, of tho red westering sunlight slnnting through the narrow stained window gavo tho fantastic effect as of a fto-mincj sword barring that forbidden threshold,, stirred Anthony Cartoret's inveriration with a little thrill. Wat liy behind that guarded door? What, secret to call for such precau-

turns? This was tho one entrance to the towrr, with its winding stone stairs lending to a single room —tho sole portion that had boon Roared of tho old priory when it was demolished to make way for tho present house. Owing to tho additions made since this rambling barrack of a place was built, very lit— tlo could bo soon from tho grounds of tho tower itself, with its narrow slitwtndowf; liko those of some mediaeval fortaliee, lost among tho high-pitched, gabled root's and great chimney stacks. in rtlio days when Ca.rterct had boon a. frequent visitor at tho manor house thi.'; door had never been locked. Ho undorstcod from tho solicitors that it hiul been fastened up only a short time hol'ore Colonel "Warrcndor's death. Apparently tho owner of Hod Court had vouchsafed to no ono his reason for doing po. But that his reason could have l)oen no light one was not to bo doubted. Just before the end of his brief illness, with that .sudden clearing of tho wandering faculties that often oonies to a man at tho last, the dying man had started up in bed, clutching f. v.M-ishly at the doctor's hand. "Tho tower door at Rod Court must nr>rer bo opened! T lay this solemn injunction on my heir, being in full possession of my faculties, that he is to regard my la.'t wish as binding as though ho had takon an with to rosnrft. it in letter and in spirit!" Colonel "Warrender 'had cried, with a wild vehemence and excitement. Anthony Oarterot thought now of thfso ?trnngo words rcneatcd to him by tho s-iVcitors. His godfather had sopttio'l distrcFS?d d'lrhi"- bis lucid intervals t^at. n« ih?> had said to his doctor, his illness had como upnn ihini too suddenly to leave him time to "set his howo in order"—to disnaso prrhriT)*: nf Romo sof-nt t'tfit lav hici'lon beMr"! f^'--.-door. Was that what his words had

'Well, whatever that ■soTot was, tTio

dying man's expressed wish was on« that he must in honour respect scrupulously. The last gleams of the wintry sunlight. had faded away as Carteret stood there ; he turned away and walked back down the long corridor. •'l've jusfc been having a'look at tho tower dcor, Mrs: Dring," he said, meeting tho housekeeper in'the hall—"the door that I understand neither I nor anyone e!so is to open. What does it all mean?"

He saw the rather nervous look that seemed to como into tho old., wrinkled face. Mrs. Drin-o; shook her head.

"Goodness knows, Mr. Anthony," f!io said. "It was only a few months boforo his death that the master had it done —and stood by while tho door was clamped up as you see it now, and the great screw-heads br^z^d over, as though ■he meant it should never be opened again. Not a word of his reason did he give—but then he never "was one to waste words., as you remember. Only ho never seemed to be the same man afterwards, and he- neve.- seemed to have the same liking for the house ngain. It was a<: though something was on his mind, Mr. Anthony—a secret euro that, whatever it was. seemed to turn him against R?d Court. And the wreater part of the last weeks of his Mfo h" spent at his club in London as if »

Tho eld housekeeper broke off nbruptIv. a.l? though she felt she had been bptr^vofl into undue gossiping, and a«kwl him at what hour ho would like dinner.

"And where will you have tea, Mr Anthony—in the library?"

Tho Last crimson glow had diet! out in tho sky, and tho dusk of tho short winter afternoon was closing in—the twilight that always fell earlier at Red Court because of tho thick growth of trees about the house. Already in. the long: room, with Its faint "perfume of Russia leather bindings, tho curtains woro drawn acroos the French windows that opened, upon the flagged terrace above the sunk lawn, shutting out tho sad skies, and the lamps were lighted; a firo of logs blazing on the low hearth threw its dancing gleams and shadows over tho wainscoted walls.

Carteret picked up a book from the shelves and flung himself into an easy chair near the fire; but it was not long before ho threw the volume down impatiently, and, filling his pipe, sat smoking thoughtfully and looking into the fire.

In one corner was a table covered with lettars —letters that had steadily accumulated during the past momth. whilst he had been away yachting with Verral and the Grahams. He glanced across at it with a little smile.

"At this rate I shall want a secretary—no, two or three I" he said to himself.

Ho had opened hailf a, dozen from the pilo of letters at random. .Tho secretaries of the various charities had lost little time nil approaching him hat in hand; tho cranks with inventions that only needed financial support to " bring in "millions, sir." the professional cadgers with artistically-told tales of woe, all manner of people eager to help another man to spend his money—they Lad written in from every country, almost from every town in tho kingdom. All tho world seemed to have awakened to tho fact that Anthony Carteret had inherited half a million of money, as well as Colonel Warrendcr's famous diamond, said to bo tho seventh bigsrest stono known, that was worth something like a fortune in itself.

It was a stone that had been brought from India 'by an ancestor of Colonel Warrender's, who had been in the John Oomnariy service. In those days when Englishmen went to the "East to get ririh quickly, and wore not too fflrupulous as to t^n means; nrobablv th-s stono had been looted from the palrvco of fiomo reigning Indian prince—a diamond that hnd been known, from its many flashing facets, in tho. fantastic hyperbole «f the East, as "The Thousand Eyes."

Tho possession of this stone had not bo-on an unmixed joy to its late owner. Several determined attempts had been mado to steal it —it was plunder not unworthy of the ingenuity and resources o-f tho "high-fliers" at the crooked srnme: and fmnllv the Colonel had kept th-> dintnond at h'S bank.

At Ill's present moment Th o Thonsond Eyes reposed in Anthony Cartnret's ' waistcoat noeket. Carte ret "■lanced anos<? at tho spattered envelown of all shapes ."ml sizes; thrs-" lie lmd already opened did not ftimnlate his eagerness to open more. Probably -amongst that locust-swarm of begging appeals wore some private letters from old friends welcoming liim back, grain amongst the chaff; bub they must wait. Of aill h:"s circle of acquaintances, tho ono> to whom Carteret's thoughts went oftencst <liij, not even know of this change in his circumstances —Evo Rommany. The month h.ojiad just spent on \erral'a yacht, thrown into a closes daily intimacy with Violet Graham, tn<« girl with whom he had onco half thought himself in love, had not dimmed for him tho .mental imago of that "ther woman, that seemed to rise before 'nm now, with all her dark vivid beauty, as ho stared into the red heart of the lire. Ho liked Violet—she was bright, gay, charming; only she had no magic to'quicken his pulses aus had the mere thought of that dancing-girl left behind in that closed chapter or his life— a chapter of misunderstandings and cross-purposes, as it seemed, where he and Eve were concerned. that had only been ab last .swept away when love had declared itself too late. In sending back to her the four bank rotes that she had refused to take on tho night when he had board of h:s good fort-are. Cartcret had not hinted to Evo nf his changed prospects. He had dared to give no hint; tho letter might cro astray, fall into wrong hands. But now that ho was back in England and tho police efforts in respect of the Lendal Mansions crime wore .necessarily becoming relaxed he fait that ho must f.e-o Eve —contrive a meeting soon, great as tho rusk might be. It was possible that tho polico "wcro_still keeping a f urtivo surveillance on'the dancing-girl's movements, in the hope of thereby tracing George Carr. Yet, whatever the risk might be, ho must see Evo again. "T hono she- wasn't foolishly proud and .stubborn, and refused to use tho twenty pounds," Carteret paid to himself.

AVhat a fortune that fifty pounds, of which thoso four bank notes were part, had seemed to tho penniless man, coming to him unexpectedly like' a gift frrnn tho gods! Lato on tho night of Grimrndo's death he had almost run into tho arms of a man whom ho had known in tho days of his prosperity. Thorn had been an instnnt mutual recognition ; from a feeling of pride <jeorgo Carr would have passed on without a. word, but the other would not !..'t him.

Ho was a man named Ross, who'liad be-en aw.^y from England for somn time, and was leaving England again almost immediately; ho h^d heard r.»thing «f Cartoret's "smash." Tho, Lather's evident look of want had star Mod and shocked Ross.

" Come to <my ihotpl. Oa.rtorpt. I !%ivon'b much time; I'm leaving London hv -fho nrdnipht train for Plymouth. Hut I'm not goino; to lot you £o withn'lt a word, so it's no eood protosti.-ig. d!<T ohap!" ho had said.

Carterefc had always liked Ross; he

had driven with him to hia hotel, passmg tho crowd that had gathered outside Lendal Mansions, waiting for hours, blocking the pavement. " Carteret, there's an old debt between vs —I'm afraid I'd forgotten all about it until the sight of you brought it back to me; fifty of the best that I borrowed once when I was hard up and never repaid. I'm glad to have the obanco of clearing up that debt straight away."

It was a debt that Carteret too had forgotten until tho other's words. In the old careless, open-handed days he had lent a good deal of money that had never been repaid. What a godsend that fifty pounds had been to him that night! He. hoped Eve had used the four notes in getting Dick out of England from Royce's influence.

"Eve!"

Ho whispered her name in the silence of the Toom. If things had been otherwise. ... if ho could only have taken her from the surroundings in which ho hated to think of her living, to havo brought her here, tho girl he loved, as the mistress of this house of his inheritance,.to make the inheritance doubly worth having! Eve, whose presence would have brightsned this old

'nee, grown grave and lonely because it was co long since it had known tho subtle something that only a woman can givo to a home. Mrs. Warrender had died sorna venrs before her husband.

If only things had been otherwise! But for that one mad impulse of hers it would have been possible. Now even to bo seen with her might be. the aneansr of unleashing the hounds of justice on his track, and Anthony Carteret, for all his wealth, would stand in tho dock to lio tried for murder.

Only, in spito of the risk, ho must sco Eve again—see her soon. He was too impatient to brook de^av. >. s

Carteret glanced at the stack of "/otters again, that reminded him of his new responsibilities and position as a rich man. What was he going to do with his fortune, with this second splendid chance that Fate had given him? Not play the fool with it as he had played the fool before.

No doubt men at tho clubs, old acquaintances of "his who remembered the old.Anthony Carteret, wero already prophesying that the second foi-tuuo would follow the first quick enough— cards, the turf, and the rest of it. Thoro was a little grim smile about his mouth at the thought, a» on an impu'lso ho crossed over to the window, and, pulling aside tho heavy curtains, stared out into the walling dusk enveloping the wooded grounds. Those bitter years of exile had taught him too much for him ever to go bac.*. to the old purposeless, pleasure-seeking life. Ho had seen how "the other half" lived, had lived their life himself; he had come back from that plunge into tho depths_ with a wider sympathetic understanding h<3 had lacked before, with a sense of his responsibility to those less fortunate in the use of his TJches.

His eyes had been suddenly arrested. Was that a figure moving stealthily among the shadows of the trees beyond the lawn? For a moment Carteret stared intently; then ho laughed. That he should have mistaken the motionless shadow of a tree for a human being, as he must have done! Then behind him camo tho pleasant tinkle of a teatray, and ho turned as Ms*. Dnng appeared, who in honour of tho occasion had brought in tho tray herself.

Ho mado tho' old housekeeper stop and pour out tea f°r him, whilst ho talked to her. "1 am tired of my own company, you know," ho said.

"I hope that doesn't mean '.hat you will soon tire of lied Court, Mr. Anthony," said Mrs. Dring, privileged as old servants are. "I in'md the time when night after night lied Court was ablaze with lights and full of gay company, before tho mistress died; and I hopo now you're master the old times will come back again," she went on. "For it's grown a sad place of late, as though there was a shadow on the house. But • perhaps you'll alter all that, sir? I'm sure wo all hope so."

Again her voice had taken that nervous note which had struck bitn before.

"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Dring?" he. cried, looking at her closely. "'A shadow on" tho house?"

"It's since the tower door has been fihut up," tho housekeeper said, "tho house hasn't been the same. Stories and whispers have got about, of course, Mr. Anthony—and some of the younger servants won't stay. They come, and gradually they get nervous and creepy, and presently they say they can't stay, because there's something uncanny at Red Court. You'll forgive an old body if I'm speaking too freely, sir?" she broke off abruptly, with a glance nt him.

"Oh, you and I know each other too well for anything but plain speaking, Mrs. Dring," said Carteret, with a laugh; and yet what tho housekeeper bad told him had disquieted him more than ho showed. Of course, it was to be expected that tho Colonel's odd whim would givo rise to talk. But he had thought Mrs. Dring too level-headed, possessed of too much common sense, to get nervous, as evidently she had dono. "Uncanny—but that's, nonsense! Colonel Warrender, for some reason of his own, choosas to have a door fastened up. What is there uncanny abut that?" he demanded.

For a moment Mrs. Dring hesitatedSho glanced at him tentatively, as if doubtful whether to speak or not. Carteret .'.aw her indecision.

" Don't bo iaf raid of speaking out, Mrs. Dring," ho said, enoouragingly. "Well, Mr. Anthony, perhaps you'll laugh at me, but thero is something queer about- that tower with its barred door." who said, hesitatingly. "I'm not a woman given to fancies, but I know it from what I'vo seen with my own eves since that door was fastened u P :" "