THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM

To my friend Bertha Nicoll with affectionate esteem. 

CHAPTER I--ADAM SALTON ARRIVES

Adam Salton sauntered into the Empire Club, Sydney, and found awaitinghim a letter from his grand-uncle. He had first heard from the oldgentleman less than a year before, when Richard Salton had claimedkinship, stating that he had been unable to write earlier, as he hadfound it very difficult to trace his grand-nephew's address. Adam wasdelighted and replied cordially; he had often heard his father speak ofthe older branch of the family with whom his people had long lost touch. Some interesting correspondence had ensued. Adam eagerly opened theletter which had only just arrived, and conveyed a cordial invitation tostop with his grand-uncle at Lesser Hill, for as long a time as he couldspare. 

"Indeed, " Richard Salton went on, "I am in hopes that you will make yourpermanent home here. You see, my dear boy, you and I are all that remainof our race, and it is but fitting that you should succeed me when thetime comes. In this year of grace, 1860, I am close on eighty years ofage, and though we have been a long-lived race, the span of life cannotbe prolonged beyond reasonable bounds. I am prepared to like you, and tomake your home with me as happy as you could wish. So do come at once onreceipt of this, and find the welcome I am waiting to give you. I send, in case such may make matters easy for you, a banker's draft for 200pounds. Come soon, so that we may both of us enjoy many happy daystogether. If you are able to give me the pleasure of seeing you, send meas soon as you can a letter telling me when to expect you. Then when youarrive at Plymouth or Southampton or whatever port you are bound for, wait on board, and I will meet you at the earliest hour possible. "

* * * * *

Old Mr. Salton was delighted when Adam's reply arrived and sent a groomhot-foot to his crony, Sir Nathaniel de Salis, to inform him that hisgrand-nephew was due at Southampton on the twelfth of June. 

Mr. Salton gave instructions to have ready a carriage early on theimportant day, to start for Stafford, where he would catch the 11. 40 a. M. Train. He would stay that night with his grand-nephew, either on theship, which would be a new experience for him, or, if his guest shouldprefer it, at a hotel. In either case they would start in the earlymorning for home. He had given instructions to his bailiff to send thepostillion carriage on to Southampton, to be ready for their journeyhome, and to arrange for relays of his own horses to be sent on at once. He intended that his grand-nephew, who had been all his life inAustralia, should see something of rural England on the drive. He hadplenty of young horses of his own breeding and breaking, and could dependon a journey memorable to the young man. The luggage would be sent on byrail to Stafford, where one of his carts would meet it. Mr. Salton, during the journey to Southampton, often wondered if his grand-nephew wasas much excited as he was at the idea of meeting so near a relation forthe first time; and it was with an effort that he controlled himself. Theendless railway lines and switches round the Southampton Docks fired hisanxiety afresh. 

As the train drew up on the dockside, he was getting his hand trapstogether, when the carriage door was wrenched open and a young man jumpedin. 

"How are you, uncle? I recognised you from the photo you sent me! Iwanted to meet you as soon as I could, but everything is so strange to methat I didn't quite know what to do. However, here I am. I am glad tosee you, sir. I have been dreaming of this happiness for thousands ofmiles; now I find that the reality beats all the dreaming!" As he spokethe old man and the young one were heartily wringing each other's hands. 

The meeting so auspiciously begun proceeded well. Adam, seeing that theold man was interested in the novelty of the ship, suggested that heshould stay the night on board, and that he would himself be ready tostart at any hour and go anywhere that the other suggested. Thisaffectionate willingness to fall in with his own plans quite won the oldman's heart. He warmly accepted the invitation, and at once they becamenot only on terms of affectionate relationship, but almost like oldfriends. The heart of the old man, which had been empty for so long, found a new delight. The young man found, on landing in the old country, a welcome and a surrounding in full harmony with all his dreamsthroughout his wanderings and solitude, and the promise of a fresh andadventurous life. It was not long before the old man accepted him tofull relationship by calling him by his Christian name. After a longtalk on affairs of interest, they retired to the cabin, which the elderwas to share. Richard Salton put his hands affectionately on the boy'sshoulders--though Adam was in his twenty-seventh year, he was a boy, andalways would be, to his grand-uncle. 

"I am so glad to find you as you are, my dear boy--just such a young manas I had always hoped for as a son, in the days when I still had suchhopes. However, that is all past. But thank God there is a new life tobegin for both of us. To you must be the larger part--but there is stilltime for some of it to be shared in common. I have waited till we shouldhave seen each other to enter upon the subject; for I thought it betternot to tie up your young life to my old one till we should havesufficient personal knowledge to justify such a venture. Now I can, sofar as I am concerned, enter into it freely, since from the moment myeyes rested on you I saw my son--as he shall be, God willing--if hechooses such a course himself. "

"Indeed I do, sir--with all my heart!"

"Thank you, Adam, for that. " The old, man's eyes filled and his voicetrembled. Then, after a long silence between them, he went on: "When Iheard you were coming I made my will. It was well that your interestsshould be protected from that moment on. Here is the deed--keep it, Adam. All I have shall belong to you; and if love and good wishes, orthe memory of them, can make life sweeter, yours shall be a happy one. Now, my dear boy, let us turn in. We start early in the morning and havea long drive before us. I hope you don't mind driving? I was going tohave the old travelling carriage in which my grandfather, yourgreat-grand-uncle, went to Court when William IV. Was king. It is allright--they built well in those days--and it has been kept in perfectorder. But I think I have done better: I have sent the carriage in whichI travel myself. The horses are of my own breeding, and relays of themshall take us all the way. I hope you like horses? They have long beenone of my greatest interests in life. "

"I love them, sir, and I am happy to say I have many of my own. Myfather gave me a horse farm for myself when I was eighteen. I devotedmyself to it, and it has gone on. Before I came away, my steward gave mea memorandum that we have in my own place more than a thousand, nearlyall good. "

"I am glad, my boy. Another link between us. "

"Just fancy what a delight it will be, sir, to see so much of England--andwith you!"

"Thank you again, my boy. I will tell you all about your future home andits surroundings as we go. We shall travel in old-fashioned state, Itell you. My grandfather always drove four-in-hand; and so shall we. "

"Oh, thanks, sir, thanks. May I take the ribbons sometimes?"

"Whenever you choose, Adam. The team is your own. Every horse we use to-day is to be your own. "

"You are too generous, uncle!"

"Not at all. Only an old man's selfish pleasure. It is not every daythat an heir to the old home comes back. And--oh, by the way . . . No, we had better turn in now--I shall tell you the rest in the morning. "

CHAPTER II--THE CASWALLS OF CASTRA REGIS

Mr. Salton had all his life been an early riser, and necessarily an earlywaker. But early as he woke on the next morning--and although there wasan excuse for not prolonging sleep in the constant whirr and rattle ofthe "donkey" engine winches of the great ship--he met the eyes of Adamfixed on him from his berth. His grand-nephew had given him the sofa, occupying the lower berth himself. The old man, despite his greatstrength and normal activity, was somewhat tired by his long journey ofthe day before, and the prolonged and exciting interview which followedit. So he was glad to lie still and rest his body, whilst his mind wasactively exercised in taking in all he could of his strange surroundings. Adam, too, after the pastoral habit to which he had been bred, woke withthe dawn, and was ready to enter on the experiences of the new daywhenever it might suit his elder companion. It was little wonder, then, that, so soon as each realised the other's readiness, they simultaneouslyjumped up and began to dress. The steward had by previous instructionsearly breakfast prepared, and it was not long before they went down thegangway on shore in search of the carriage. 

They found Mr. Salton's bailiff looking out for them on the dock, and hebrought them at once to where the carriage was waiting in the street. Richard Salton pointed out with pride to his young companion thesuitability of the vehicle for every need of travel. To it wereharnessed four useful horses, with a postillion to each pair. 

"See, " said the old man proudly, "how it has all the luxuries of usefultravel--silence and isolation as well as speed. There is nothing toobstruct the view of those travelling and no one to overhear what theymay say. I have used that trap for a quarter of a century, and I neversaw one more suitable for travel. You shall test it shortly. We aregoing to drive through the heart of England; and as we go I'll tell youwhat I was speaking of last night. Our route is to be by Salisbury, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Worcester, Stafford; and so home. "

Adam remained silent a few minutes, during which he seemed all eyes, forhe perpetually ranged the whole circle of the horizon. 

"Has our journey to-day, sir, " he asked, "any special relation to whatyou said last night that you wanted to tell me?"

"Not directly; but indirectly, everything. "

"Won't you tell me now--I see we cannot be overheard--and if anythingstrikes you as we go along, just run it in. I shall understand. "

So old Salton spoke:

"To begin at the beginning, Adam. That lecture of yours on 'The Romansin Britain, ' a report of which you posted to me, set me thinking--inaddition to telling me your tastes. I wrote to you at once and asked youto come home, for it struck me that if you were fond of historicalresearch--as seemed a fact--this was exactly the place for you, inaddition to its being the home of your own forbears. If you could learnso much of the British Romans so far away in New South Wales, where therecannot be even a tradition of them, what might you not make of the sameamount of study on the very spot. Where we are going is in the realheart of the old kingdom of Mercia, where there are traces of all thevarious nationalities which made up the conglomerate which becameBritain. "

"I rather gathered that you had some more definite--more personal reasonfor my hurrying. After all, history can keep--except in the making!"

"Quite right, my boy. I had a reason such as you very wisely guessed. Iwas anxious for you to be here when a rather important phase of our localhistory occurred. "

"What is that, if I may ask, sir?"

"Certainly. The principal landowner of our part of the county is on hisway home, and there will be a great home-coming, which you may care tosee. The fact is, for more than a century the various owners in thesuccession here, with the exception of a short time, have lived abroad. "

"How is that, sir, if I may ask?"

"The great house and estate in our part of the world is Castra Regis, thefamily seat of the Caswall family. The last owner who lived here wasEdgar Caswall, grandfather of the man who is coming here--and he was theonly one who stayed even a short time. This man's grandfather, alsonamed Edgar--they keep the tradition of the family Christianname--quarrelled with his family and went to live abroad, not keeping upany intercourse, good or bad, with his relatives, although thisparticular Edgar, as I told you, did visit his family estate, yet his sonwas born and lived and died abroad, while his grandson, the latestinheritor, was also born and lived abroad till he was over thirty--hispresent age. This was the second line of absentees. The great estate ofCastra Regis has had no knowledge of its owner for fivegenerations--covering more than a hundred and twenty years. It has beenwell administered, however, and no tenant or other connected with it hashad anything of which to complain. All the same, there has been muchnatural anxiety to see the new owner, and we are all excited about theevent of his coming. Even I am, though I own my own estate, which, though adjacent, is quite apart from Castra Regis. --Here we are now innew ground for you. That is the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, and whenwe leave that we shall be getting close to the old Roman county, and youwill naturally want your eyes. So we shall shortly have to keep ourminds on old Mercia. However, you need not be disappointed. My oldfriend, Sir Nathaniel de Salis, who, like myself, is a free-holder nearCastra Regis--his estate, Doom Tower, is over the border of Derbyshire, on the Peak--is coming to stay with me for the festivities to welcomeEdgar Caswall. He is just the sort of man you will like. He is devotedto history, and is President of the Mercian Archaeological Society. Heknows more of our own part of the country, with its history and itspeople, than anyone else. I expect he will have arrived before us, andwe three can have a long chat after dinner. He is also our localgeologist and natural historian. So you and he will have many interestsin common. Amongst other things he has a special knowledge of the Peakand its caverns, and knows all the old legends of prehistoric times. "

They spent the night at Cheltenham, and on the following morning resumedtheir journey to Stafford. Adam's eyes were in constant employment, andit was not till Salton declared that they had now entered on the laststage of their journey, that he referred to Sir Nathaniel's coming. 

As the dusk was closing down, they drove on to Lesser Hill, Mr. Salton'shouse. It was now too dark to see any details of their surroundings. Adam could just see that it was on the top of a hill, not quite so highas that which was covered by the Castle, on whose tower flew the flag, and which was all ablaze with moving lights, manifestly used in thepreparations for the festivities on the morrow. So Adam deferred hiscuriosity till daylight. His grand-uncle was met at the door by a fineold man, who greeted him warmly. 

"I came over early as you wished. I suppose this is your grand-nephew--Iam glad to meet you, Mr. Adam Salton. I am Nathaniel de Salis, and youruncle is one of my oldest friends. "

Adam, from the moment of their eyes meeting, felt as if they were alreadyfriends. The meeting was a new note of welcome to those that had alreadysounded in his ears. 

The cordiality with which Sir Nathaniel and Adam met, made the impartingof information easy. Sir Nathaniel was a clever man of the world, whohad travelled much, and within a certain area studied deeply. He was abrilliant conversationalist, as was to be expected from a successfuldiplomatist, even under unstimulating conditions. But he had beentouched and to a certain extent fired by the younger man's evidentadmiration and willingness to learn from him. Accordingly theconversation, which began on the most friendly basis, soon warmed to aninterest above proof, as the old man spoke of it next day to RichardSalton. He knew already that his old friend wanted his grand-nephew tolearn all he could of the subject in hand, and so had during his journeyfrom the Peak put his thoughts in sequence for narration and explanation. Accordingly, Adam had only to listen and he must learn much that hewanted to know. When dinner was over and the servants had withdrawn, leaving the three men at their wine, Sir Nathaniel began. 

"I gather from your uncle--by the way, I suppose we had better speak ofyou as uncle and nephew, instead of going into exact relationship? Infact, your uncle is so old and dear a friend, that, with your permission, I shall drop formality with you altogether and speak of you and to you asAdam, as though you were his son. "

"I should like, " answered the young man, "nothing better!"

The answer warmed the hearts of both the old men, but, with the usualavoidance of Englishmen of emotional subjects personal to themselves, they instinctively returned to the previous question. Sir Nathaniel tookthe lead. 

"I understand, Adam, that your uncle has posted you regarding therelationships of the Caswall family?"

"Partly, sir; but I understood that I was to hear minuter details fromyou--if you would be so good. "

"I shall be delighted to tell you anything so far as my knowledge goes. Well, the first Caswall in our immediate record is an Edgar, head of thefamily and owner of the estate, who came into his kingdom just about thetime that George III. Did. He had one son of about twenty-four. Therewas a violent quarrel between the two. No one of this generation has anyidea of the cause; but, considering the family characteristics, we maytake it for granted that though it was deep and violent, it was on thesurface trivial. 

"The result of the quarrel was that the son left the house without areconciliation or without even telling his father where he was going. Henever came back again. A few years after, he died, without having in themeantime exchanged a word or a letter with his father. He married abroadand left one son, who seems to have been brought up in ignorance of allbelonging to him. The gulf between them appears to have beenunbridgable; for in time this son married and in turn had a son, butneither joy nor sorrow brought the sundered together. Under suchconditions no _rapprochement_ was to be looked for, and an utterindifference, founded at best on ignorance, took the place of familyaffection--even on community of interests. It was only due to thewatchfulness of the lawyers that the birth of this new heir was ever madeknown. He actually spent a few months in the ancestral home. 

"After this the family interest merely rested on heirship of the estate. As no other children have been born to any of the newer generations inthe intervening years, all hopes of heritage are now centred in thegrandson of this man. 

"Now, it will be well for you to bear in mind the prevailingcharacteristics of this race. These were well preserved and unchanging;one and all they are the same: cold, selfish, dominant, reckless ofconsequences in pursuit of their own will. It was not that they did notkeep faith, though that was a matter which gave them little concern, butthat they took care to think beforehand of what they should do in orderto gain their own ends. If they should make a mistake, someone elseshould bear the burthen of it. This was so perpetually recurrent that itseemed to be a part of a fixed policy. It was no wonder that, whateverchanges took place, they were always ensured in their own possessions. They were absolutely cold and hard by nature. Not one of them--so far aswe have any knowledge--was ever known to be touched by the softersentiments, to swerve from his purpose, or hold his hand in obedience tothe dictates of his heart. The pictures and effigies of them all showtheir adherence to the early Roman type. Their eyes were full; theirhair, of raven blackness, grew thick and close and curly. Their figureswere massive and typical of strength. 

"The thick black hair, growing low down on the neck, told of vastphysical strength and endurance. But the most remarkable characteristicis the eyes. Black, piercing, almost unendurable, they seem to containin themselves a remarkable will power which there is no gainsaying. Itis a power that is partly racial and partly individual: a powerimpregnated with some mysterious quality, partly hypnotic, partlymesmeric, which seems to take away from eyes that meet them all power ofresistance--nay, all power of wishing to resist. With eyes like those, set in that all-commanding face, one would need to be strong indeed tothink of resisting the inflexible will that lay behind. 

"You may think, Adam, that all this is imagination on my part, especiallyas I have never seen any of them. So it is, but imagination based ondeep study. I have made use of all I know or can surmise logicallyregarding this strange race. With such strange compelling qualities, isit any wonder that there is abroad an idea that in the race there is somedemoniac possession, which tends to a more definite belief that certainindividuals have in the past sold themselves to the Devil?

"But I think we had better go to bed now. We have a lot to get throughto-morrow, and I want you to have your brain clear, and all yoursusceptibilities fresh. Moreover, I want you to come with me for anearly walk, during which we may notice, whilst the matter is fresh in ourminds, the peculiar disposition of this place--not merely yourgrand-uncle's estate, but the lie of the country around it. There aremany things on which we may seek--and perhaps find--enlightenment. Themore we know at the start, the more things which may come into our viewwill develop themselves. "

CHAPTER III--DIANA'S GROVE

Curiosity took Adam Salton out of bed in the early morning, but when hehad dressed and gone downstairs; he found that, early as he was, SirNathaniel was ahead of him. The old gentleman was quite prepared for along walk, and they started at once. 

Sir Nathaniel, without speaking, led the way to the east, down the hill. When they had descended and risen again, they found themselves on theeastern brink of a steep hill. It was of lesser height than that onwhich the Castle was situated; but it was so placed that it commanded thevarious hills that crowned the ridge. All along the ridge the rockcropped out, bare and bleak, but broken in rough natural castellation. The form of the ridge was a segment of a circle, with the higher pointsinland to the west. In the centre rose the Castle, on the highest pointof all. Between the various rocky excrescences were groups of trees ofvarious sizes and heights, amongst some of which were what, in the earlymorning light, looked like ruins. These--whatever they were--were ofmassive grey stone, probably limestone rudely cut--if indeed they werenot shaped naturally. The fall of the ground was steep all along theridge, so steep that here and there both trees and rocks and buildingsseemed to overhang the plain far below, through which ran many streams. 

Sir Nathaniel stopped and looked around, as though to lose nothing of theeffect. The sun had climbed the eastern sky and was making all detailsclear. He pointed with a sweeping gesture, as though calling Adam'sattention to the extent of the view. Having done so, he covered theground more slowly, as though inviting attention to detail. Adam was awilling and attentive pupil, and followed his motions exactly, missing--ortrying to miss--nothing. 

"I have brought you here, Adam, because it seems to me that this is thespot on which to begin our investigations. You have now in front of youalmost the whole of the ancient kingdom of Mercia. In fact, we see thewhole of it except that furthest part, which is covered by the WelshMarches and those parts which are hidden from where we stand by the highground of the immediate west. We can see--theoretically--the whole ofthe eastern bound of the kingdom, which ran south from the Humber to theWash. I want you to bear in mind the trend of the ground, for some time, sooner or later, we shall do well to have it in our mind's eye when weare considering the ancient traditions and superstitions, and are tryingto find the _rationale_ of them. Each legend, each superstition which wereceive, will help in the understanding and possible elucidation of theothers. And as all such have a local basis, we can come closer to thetruth--or the probability--by knowing the local conditions as we goalong. It will help us to bring to our aid such geological truth as wemay have between us. For instance, the building materials used invarious ages can afford their own lessons to understanding eyes. Thevery heights and shapes and materials of these hills--nay, even of thewide plain that lies between us and the sea--have in themselves thematerials of enlightening books. "

"For instance, sir?" said Adam, venturing a question. 

"Well, look at those hills which surround the main one where the site forthe Castle was wisely chosen--on the highest ground. Take the others. There is something ostensible in each of them, and in all probabilitysomething unseen and unproved, but to be imagined, also. "

"For instance?" continued Adam. 

"Let us take them _seriatim_. That to the east, where the trees are, lower down--that was once the location of a Roman temple, possiblyfounded on a pre-existing Druidical one. Its name implies the former, and the grove of ancient oaks suggests the latter. "

"Please explain. "

"The old name translated means 'Diana's Grove. ' Then the next one higherthan it, but just beyond it, is called '_Mercy_'--in all probability acorruption or familiarisation of the word _Mercia_, with a Roman punincluded. We learn from early manuscripts that the place was called_Vilula Misericordiae_. It was originally a nunnery, founded by QueenBertha, but done away with by King Penda, the reactionary to Paganismafter St. Augustine. Then comes your uncle's place--Lesser Hill. Thoughit is so close to the Castle, it is not connected with it. It is afreehold, and, so far as we know, of equal age. It has always belongedto your family. "

"Then there only remains the Castle!"

"That is all; but its history contains the histories of all the others--infact, the whole history of early England. " Sir Nathaniel, seeing theexpectant look on Adam's face, went on:

"The history of the Castle has no beginning so far as we know. Thefurthest records or surmises or inferences simply accept it as existing. Some of these--guesses, let us call them--seem to show that there wassome sort of structure there when the Romans came, therefore it must havebeen a place of importance in Druid times--if indeed that was thebeginning. Naturally the Romans accepted it, as they did everything ofthe kind that was, or might be, useful. The change is shown or inferredin the name Castra. It was the highest protected ground, and sonaturally became the most important of their camps. A study of the mapwill show you that it must have been a most important centre. It bothprotected the advances already made to the north, and helped to dominatethe sea coast. It sheltered the western marches, beyond which lay savageWales--and danger. It provided a means of getting to the Severn, roundwhich lay the great Roman roads then coming into existence, and madepossible the great waterway to the heart of England--through the Severnand its tributaries. It brought the east and the west together by theswiftest and easiest ways known to those times. And, finally, itprovided means of descent on London and all the expanse of countrywatered by the Thames. 

"With such a centre, already known and organised, we can easily see thateach fresh wave of invasion--the Angles, the Saxons, the Danes, and theNormans--found it a desirable possession and so ensured its upholding. Inthe earlier centuries it was merely a vantage ground. But when thevictorious Romans brought with them the heavy solid fortificationsimpregnable to the weapons of the time, its commanding position aloneensured its adequate building and equipment. Then it was that thefortified camp of the Caesars developed into the castle of the king. Aswe are as yet ignorant of the names of the first kings of Mercia, nohistorian has been able to guess which of them made it his ultimatedefence; and I suppose we shall never know now. In process of time, asthe arts of war developed, it increased in size and strength, andalthough recorded details are lacking, the history is written not merelyin the stone of its building, but is inferred in the changes ofstructure. Then the sweeping changes which followed the Norman Conquestwiped out all lesser records than its own. To-day we must accept it asone of the earliest castles of the Conquest, probably not later than thetime of Henry I. Roman and Norman were both wise in their retention ofplaces of approved strength or utility. So it was that these surroundingheights, already established and to a certain extent proved, wereretained. Indeed, such characteristics as already pertained to them werepreserved, and to-day afford to us lessons regarding things which havethemselves long since passed away. 

"So much for the fortified heights; but the hollows too have their ownstory. But how the time passes! We must hurry home, or your uncle willwonder what has become of us. "

He started with long steps towards Lesser Hill, and Adam was soonfurtively running in order to keep up with him. 

CHAPTER IV--THE LADY ARABELLA MARCH

"Now, there is no hurry, but so soon as you are both ready we shallstart, " Mr. Salton said when breakfast had begun. "I want to take youfirst to see a remarkable relic of Mercia, and then we'll go to Liverpoolthrough what is called 'The Great Vale of Cheshire. ' You may bedisappointed, but take care not to prepare your mind"--this to Adam--"foranything stupendous or heroic. You would not think the place a vale atall, unless you were told so beforehand, and had confidence in theveracity of the teller. We should get to the Landing Stage in time tomeet the _West African_, and catch Mr. Caswall as he comes ashore. Wewant to do him honour--and, besides, it will be more pleasant to have theintroductions over before we go to his _fete_ at the Castle. "

The carriage was ready, the same as had been used the previous day, butthere were different horses--magnificent animals, and keen for work. Breakfast was soon over, and they shortly took their places. Thepostillions had their orders, and were quickly on their way at anexhilarating pace. 

Presently, in obedience to Mr. Salton's signal, the carriage drew upopposite a great heap of stones by the wayside. 

"Here, Adam, " he said, "is something that you of all men should not passby unnoticed. That heap of stones brings us at once to the dawn of theAnglian kingdom. It was begun more than a thousand years ago--in thelatter part of the seventh century--in memory of a murder. Wulfere, Kingof Mercia, nephew of Penda, here murdered his two sons for embracingChristianity. As was the custom of the time, each passer-by added astone to the memorial heap. Penda represented heathen reaction after St. Augustine's mission. Sir Nathaniel can tell you as much as you wantabout this, and put you, if you wish, on the track of such accurateknowledge as there is. "

Whilst they were looking at the heap of stones, they noticed that anothercarriage had drawn up beside them, and the passenger--there was onlyone--was regarding them curiously. The carriage was an old heavytravelling one, with arms blazoned on it gorgeously. The men took offtheir hats, as the occupant, a lady, addressed them. 

"How do you do, Sir Nathaniel? How do you do, Mr. Salton? I hope youhave not met with any accident. Look at me!"

As she spoke she pointed to where one of the heavy springs was brokenacross, the broken metal showing bright. Adam spoke up at once:

"Oh, that can soon be put right. "

"Soon? There is no one near who can mend a break like that. "

"I can. "

"You!" She looked incredulously at the dapper young gentleman who spoke. "You--why, it's a workman's job. "

"All right, I am a workman--though that is not the only sort of work Ido. I am an Australian, and, as we have to move about fast, we are alltrained to farriery and such mechanics as come into travel--I am quite atyour service. "

"I hardly know how to thank you for your kindness, of which I gladlyavail myself. I don't know what else I can do, as I wish to meet Mr. Caswall of Castra Regis, who arrives home from Africa to-day. It is anotable home-coming; all the countryside want to do him honour. " Shelooked at the old men and quickly made up her mind as to the identity ofthe stranger. "You must be Mr. Adam Salton of Lesser Hill. I am LadyArabella March of Diana's Grove. " As she spoke she turned slightly toMr. Salton, who took the hint and made a formal introduction. 

So soon as this was done, Adam took some tools from his uncle's carriage, and at once began work on the broken spring. He was an expert workman, and the breach was soon made good. Adam was gathering the tools which hehad been using--which, after the manner of all workmen, had beenscattered about--when he noticed that several black snakes had crawledout from the heap of stones and were gathering round him. This naturallyoccupied his mind, and he was not thinking of anything else when henoticed Lady Arabella, who had opened the door of the carriage, slip fromit with a quick gliding motion. She was already among the snakes when hecalled out to warn her. But there seemed to be no need of warning. Thesnakes had turned and were wriggling back to the mound as quickly as theycould. He laughed to himself behind his teeth as he whispered, "No needto fear there. They seem much more afraid of her than she of them. " Allthe same he began to beat on the ground with a stick which was lyingclose to him, with the instinct of one used to such vermin. In aninstant he was alone beside the mound with Lady Arabella, who appearedquite unconcerned at the incident. Then he took a long look at her, andher dress alone was sufficient to attract attention. She was clad insome kind of soft white stuff, which clung close to her form, showing tothe full every movement of her sinuous figure. She wore a close-fittingcap of some fine fur of dazzling white. Coiled round her white throatwas a large necklace of emeralds, whose profusion of colour dazzled whenthe sun shone on them. Her voice was peculiar, very low and sweet, andso soft that the dominant note was of sibilation. Her hands, too, werepeculiar--long, flexible, white, with a strange movement as of wavinggently to and fro. 

She appeared quite at ease, and, after thanking Adam, said that if any ofhis uncle's party were going to Liverpool she would be most happy to joinforces. 

"Whilst you are staying here, Mr. Salton, you must look on the grounds ofDiana's Grove as your own, so that you may come and go just as you do inLesser Hill. There are some fine views, and not a few naturalcuriosities which are sure to interest you, if you are a student ofnatural history--specially of an earlier kind, when the world wasyounger. "

The heartiness with which she spoke, and the warmth of her words--not ofher manner, which was cold and distant--made him suspicious. In themeantime both his uncle and Sir Nathaniel had thanked her for theinvitation--of which, however, they said they were unable to availthemselves. Adam had a suspicion that, though she answered regretfully, she was in reality relieved. When he had got into the carriage with thetwo old men, and they had driven off, he was not surprised when SirNathaniel spoke. 

"I could not but feel that she was glad to be rid of us. She can playher game better alone!"

"What is her game?" asked Adam unthinkingly. 

"All the county knows it, my boy. Caswall is a very rich man. Herhusband was rich when she married him--or seemed to be. When hecommitted suicide, it was found that he had nothing left, and the estatewas mortgaged up to the hilt. Her only hope is in a rich marriage. Isuppose I need not draw any conclusion; you can do that as well as Ican. "

Adam remained silent nearly all the time they were travelling through thealleged Vale of Cheshire. He thought much during that journey and cameto several conclusions, though his lips were unmoved. One of theseconclusions was that he would be very careful about paying any attentionto Lady Arabella. He was himself a rich man, how rich not even his unclehad the least idea, and would have been surprised had he known. 

The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and upon arrival atLiverpool they went aboard the _West African_, which had just come to thelanding-stage. There his uncle introduced himself to Mr. Caswall, andfollowed this up by introducing Sir Nathaniel and then Adam. The new-comer received them graciously, and said what a pleasure it was to becoming home after so long an absence of his family from their old seat. Adam was pleased at the warmth of the reception; but he could not avoid afeeling of repugnance at the man's face. He was trying hard to overcomethis when a diversion was caused by the arrival of Lady Arabella. Thediversion was welcome to all; the two Saltons and Sir Nathaniel wereshocked at Caswall's face--so hard, so ruthless, so selfish, so dominant. "God help any, " was the common thought, "who is under the domination ofsuch a man!"

Presently his African servant approached him, and at once their thoughtschanged to a larger toleration. Caswall looked indeed a savage--but acultured savage. In him were traces of the softening civilisation ofages--of some of the higher instincts and education of man, no matter howrudimentary these might be. But the face of Oolanga, as his mastercalled him, was unreformed, unsoftened savage, and inherent in it wereall the hideous possibilities of a lost, devil-ridden child of the forestand the swamp--the lowest of all created things that could be regarded asin some form ostensibly human. Lady Arabella and Oolanga arrived almostsimultaneously, and Adam was surprised to notice what effect theirappearance had on each other. The woman seemed as if she would not--couldnot--condescend to exhibit any concern or interest in such a creature. Onthe other hand, the negro's bearing was such as in itself to justify herpride. He treated her not merely as a slave treats his master, but as aworshipper would treat a deity. He knelt before her with his hands out-stretched and his forehead in the dust. So long as she remained he didnot move; it was only when she went over to Caswall that he relaxed hisattitude of devotion and stood by respectfully. 

Adam spoke to his own man, Davenport, who was standing by, having arrivedwith the bailiff of Lesser Hill, who had followed Mr. Salton in a ponytrap. As he spoke, he pointed to an attentive ship's steward, andpresently the two men were conversing. 

"I think we ought to be moving, " Mr. Salton said to Adam. "I have somethings to do in Liverpool, and I am sure that both Mr. Caswall and LadyArabella would like to get under weigh for Castra Regis. "

"I too, sir, would like to do something, " replied Adam. "I want to findout where Ross, the animal merchant, lives--I want to take a small animalhome with me, if you don't mind. He is only a little thing, and will beno trouble. "

"Of course not, my boy. What kind of animal is it that you want?"

"A mongoose. "

"A mongoose! What on earth do you want it for?"

"To kill snakes. "

"Good!" The old man remembered the mound of stones. No explanation wasneeded. 

When Ross heard what was wanted, he asked:

"Do you want something special, or will an ordinary mongoose do?"

"Well, of course I want a good one. But I see no need for anythingspecial. It is for ordinary use. "

"I can let you have a choice of ordinary ones. I only asked, because Ihave in stock a very special one which I got lately from Nepaul. He hasa record of his own. He killed a king cobra that had been seen in theRajah's garden. But I don't suppose we have any snakes of the kind inthis cold climate--I daresay an ordinary one will do. "

When Adam got back to the carriage, carefully carrying the box with themongoose, Sir Nathaniel said: "Hullo! what have you got there?"

"A mongoose. "

"What for?"

"To kill snakes!"

Sir Nathaniel laughed. 

"I heard Lady Arabella's invitation to you to come to Diana's Grove. "

"Well, what on earth has that got to do with it?"

"Nothing directly that I know of. But we shall see. " Adam waited, andthe old man went on: "Have you by any chance heard the other name whichwas given long ago to that place. "

"No, sir. "

"It was called--Look here, this subject wants a lot of talking over. Suppose we wait till we are alone and have lots of time before us. "

"All right, sir. " Adam was filled with curiosity, but he thought itbetter not to hurry matters. All would come in good time. Then thethree men returned home, leaving Mr. Caswall to spend the night inLiverpool. 

The following day the Lesser Hill party set out for Castra Regis, and forthe time Adam thought no more of Diana's Grove or of what mysteries ithad contained--or might still contain. 

The guests were crowding in, and special places were marked for importantpeople. Adam, seeing so many persons of varied degree, looked round forLady Arabella, but could not locate her. It was only when he saw the old-fashioned travelling carriage approach and heard the sound of cheeringwhich went with it, that he realised that Edgar Caswall had arrived. Then, on looking more closely, he saw that Lady Arabella, dressed as hehad seen her last, was seated beside him. When the carriage drew up atthe great flight of steps, the host jumped down and gave her his hand. 

It was evident to all that she was the chief guest at the festivities. Itwas not long before the seats on the dais were filled, while the tenantsand guests of lesser importance had occupied all the coigns of vantagenot reserved. The order of the day had been carefully arranged by acommittee. There were some speeches, happily neither many nor long; andthen festivities were suspended till the time for feasting arrived. Inthe interval Caswall walked among his guests, speaking to all in afriendly manner and expressing a general welcome. The other guests camedown from the dais and followed his example, so there was unceremoniousmeeting and greeting between gentle and simple. 

Adam Salton naturally followed with his eyes all that went on withintheir scope, taking note of all who seemed to afford any interest. Hewas young and a man and a stranger from a far distance; so on all theseaccounts he naturally took stock rather of the women than of the men, andof these, those who were young and attractive. There were lots of prettygirls among the crowd, and Adam, who was a handsome young man and wellset up, got his full share of admiring glances. These did not concernhim much, and he remained unmoved until there came along a group ofthree, by their dress and bearing, of the farmer class. One was a sturdyold man; the other two were good-looking girls, one of a little overtwenty, the other not quite so old. So soon as Adam's eyes met those ofthe younger girl, who stood nearest to him, some sort of electricityflashed--that divine spark which begins by recognition, and ends inobedience. Men call it "Love. "

Both his companions noticed how much Adam was taken by the pretty girl, and spoke of her to him in a way which made his heart warm to them. 

"Did you notice that party that passed? The old man is Michael Watford, one of the tenants of Mr. Caswall. He occupies Mercy Farm, which SirNathaniel pointed out to you to-day. The girls are his grand-daughters, the elder, Lilla, being the only child of his elder son, who died whenshe was less than a year old. His wife died on the same day. She is agood girl--as good as she is pretty. The other is her first cousin, thedaughter of Watford's second son. He went for a soldier when he was justover twenty, and was drafted abroad. He was not a good correspondent, though he was a good enough son. A few letters came, and then his fatherheard from the colonel of his regiment that he had been killed by dacoitsin Burmah. He heard from the same source that his boy had been marriedto a Burmese, and that there was a daughter only a year old. Watford hadthe child brought home, and she grew up beside Lilla. The only thingthat they heard of her birth was that her name was Mimi. The twochildren adored each other, and do to this day. Strange how differentthey are! Lilla all fair, like the old Saxon stock from which she issprung; Mimi showing a trace of her mother's race. Lilla is as gentle asa dove, but Mimi's black eyes can glow whenever she is upset. The onlything that upsets her is when anything happens to injure or threaten orannoy Lilla. Then her eyes glow as do the eyes of a bird when her youngare menaced. "

CHAPTER V--THE WHITE WORM

Mr. Salton introduced Adam to Mr. Watford and his grand-daughters, andthey all moved on together. Of course neighbours in the position of theWatfords knew all about Adam Salton, his relationship, circumstances, andprospects. So it would have been strange indeed if both girls did notdream of possibilities of the future. In agricultural England, eligiblemen of any class are rare. This particular man was specially eligible, for he did not belong to a class in which barriers of caste were strong. So when it began to be noticed that he walked beside Mimi Watford andseemed to desire her society, all their friends endeavoured to give thepromising affair a helping hand. When the gongs sounded for the banquet, he went with her into the tent where her grandfather had seats. Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel noticed that the young man did not come to claimhis appointed place at the dais table; but they understood and made noremark, or indeed did not seem to notice his absence. 

Lady Arabella sat as before at Edgar Caswall's right hand. She wascertainly a striking and unusual woman, and to all it seemed fitting fromher rank and personal qualities that she should be the chosen partner ofthe heir on his first appearance. Of course nothing was said openly bythose of her own class who were present; but words were not necessarywhen so much could be expressed by nods and smiles. It seemed to be anaccepted thing that at last there was to be a mistress of Castra Regis, and that she was present amongst them. There were not lacking some who, whilst admitting all her charm and beauty, placed her in the second rank, Lilla Watford being marked as first. There was sufficient divergence oftype, as well as of individual beauty, to allow of fair comment; LadyArabella represented the aristocratic type, and Lilla that of thecommonalty. 

When the dusk began to thicken, Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel walkedhome--the trap had been sent away early in the day--leaving Adam tofollow in his own time. He came in earlier than was expected, and seemedupset about something. Neither of the elders made any comment. They alllit cigarettes, and, as dinner-time was close at hand, went to theirrooms to get ready. 

Adam had evidently been thinking in the interval. He joined the othersin the drawing-room, looking ruffled and impatient--a condition of thingsseen for the first time. The others, with the patience--or theexperience--of age, trusted to time to unfold and explain things. Theyhad not long to wait. After sitting down and standing up several times, Adam suddenly burst out. 

"That fellow seems to think he owns the earth. Can't he let peoplealone! He seems to think that he has only to throw his handkerchief toany woman, and be her master. "

This outburst was in itself enlightening. Only thwarted affection insome guise could produce this feeling in an amiable young man. SirNathaniel, as an old diplomatist, had a way of understanding, as if byforeknowledge, the true inwardness of things, and asked suddenly, but ina matter-of-fact, indifferent voice:

"Was he after Lilla?"

"Yes, and the fellow didn't lose any time either. Almost as soon as theymet, he began to butter her up, and tell her how beautiful she was. Why, before he left her side, he had asked himself to tea to-morrow at MercyFarm. Stupid ass! He might see that the girl isn't his sort! I neversaw anything like it. It was just like a hawk and a pigeon. "

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel turned and looked at Mr. Salton--a keen lookwhich implied a full understanding. 

"Tell us all about it, Adam. There are still a few minutes beforedinner, and we shall all have better appetites when we have come to someconclusion on this matter. "

"There is nothing to tell, sir; that is the worst of it. I am bound tosay that there was not a word said that a human being could object to. Hewas very civil, and all that was proper--just what a landlord might be toa tenant's daughter . . . Yet--yet--well, I don't know how it was, but itmade my blood boil. "

"How did the hawk and the pigeon come in?" Sir Nathaniel's voice wassoft and soothing, nothing of contradiction or overdone curiosity in it--atone eminently suited to win confidence. 

"I can hardly explain. I can only say that he looked like a hawk and shelike a dove--and, now that I think of it, that is what they each did looklike; and do look like in their normal condition. "

"That is so!" came the soft voice of Sir Nathaniel. 

Adam went on:

"Perhaps that early Roman look of his set me off. But I wanted toprotect her; she seemed in danger. "

"She seems in danger, in a way, from all you young men. I couldn't helpnoticing the way that even you looked--as if you wished to absorb her!"

"I hope both you young men will keep your heads cool, " put in Mr. Salton. "You know, Adam, it won't do to have any quarrel between you, especiallyso soon after his home-coming and your arrival here. We must think ofthe feelings and happiness of our neighbours; mustn't we?"

"I hope so, sir. I assure you that, whatever may happen, or eventhreaten, I shall obey your wishes in this as in all things. "

"Hush!" whispered Sir Nathaniel, who heard the servants in the passagebringing dinner. 

After dinner, over the walnuts and the wine, Sir Nathaniel returned tothe subject of the local legends. 

"It will perhaps be a less dangerous topic for us to discuss than morerecent ones. "

"All right, sir, " said Adam heartily. "I think you may depend on me nowwith regard to any topic. I can even discuss Mr. Caswall. Indeed, I maymeet him to-morrow. He is going, as I said, to call at Mercy Farm atthree o'clock--but I have an appointment at two. "

"I notice, " said Mr. Salton, "that you do not lose any time. "

The two old men once more looked at each other steadily. Then, lest themood of his listener should change with delay, Sir Nathaniel began atonce:

"I don't propose to tell you all the legends of Mercia, or even to make aselection of them. It will be better, I think, for our purpose if weconsider a few facts--recorded or unrecorded--about this neighbourhood. Ithink we might begin with Diana's Grove. It has roots in the differentepochs of our history, and each has its special crop of legend. TheDruid and the Roman are too far off for matters of detail; but it seemsto me the Saxon and the Angles are near enough to yield material forlegendary lore. We find that this particular place had another namebesides Diana's Grove. This was manifestly of Roman origin, or ofGrecian accepted as Roman. The other is more pregnant of adventure andromance than the Roman name. In Mercian tongue it was 'The Lair of theWhite Worm. ' This needs a word of explanation at the beginning. 

"In the dawn of the language, the word 'worm' had a somewhat differentmeaning from that in use to-day. It was an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon'wyrm, ' meaning a dragon or snake; or from the Gothic 'waurms, ' aserpent; or the Icelandic 'ormur, ' or the German 'wurm. ' We gather thatit conveyed originally an idea of size and power, not as now in thediminutive of both these meanings. Here legendary history helps us. Wehave the well-known legend of the 'Worm Well' of Lambton Castle, and thatof the 'Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh' near Bamborough. In both theselegends the 'worm' was a monster of vast size and power--a veritabledragon or serpent, such as legend attributes to vast fens or quags wherethere was illimitable room for expansion. A glance at a geological mapwill show that whatever truth there may have been of the actuality ofsuch monsters in the early geologic periods, at least there was plenty ofpossibility. In England there were originally vast plains where theplentiful supply of water could gather. The streams were deep and slow, and there were holes of abysmal depth, where any kind and size ofantediluvian monster could find a habitat. In places, which now we cansee from our windows, were mud-holes a hundred or more feet deep. Whocan tell us when the age of the monsters which flourished in slime cameto an end? There must have been places and conditions which made forgreater longevity, greater size, greater strength than was usual. Suchover-lappings may have come down even to our earlier centuries. Nay, arethere not now creatures of a vastness of bulk regarded by the generalityof men as impossible? Even in our own day there are seen the traces ofanimals, if not the animals themselves, of stupendous size--veritablesurvivals from earlier ages, preserved by some special qualities in theirhabitats. I remember meeting a distinguished man in India, who had thereputation of being a great shikaree, who told me that the greatesttemptation he had ever had in his life was to shoot a giant snake whichhe had come across in the Terai of Upper India. He was on atiger-shooting expedition, and as his elephant was crossing a nullah, itsquealed. He looked down from his howdah and saw that the elephant hadstepped across the body of a snake which was dragging itself through thejungle. 'So far as I could see, ' he said, 'it must have been eighty orone hundred feet in length. Fully forty or fifty feet was on each sideof the track, and though the weight which it dragged had thinned it, itwas as thick round as a man's body. I suppose you know that when you areafter tiger, it is a point of honour not to shoot at anything else, aslife may depend on it. I could easily have spined this monster, but Ifelt that I must not--so, with regret, I had to let it go. '

"Just imagine such a monster anywhere in this country, and at once wecould get a sort of idea of the 'worms, ' which possibly did frequent thegreat morasses which spread round the mouths of many of the greatEuropean rivers. "

"I haven't the least doubt, sir, that there may have been such monstersas you have spoken of still existing at a much later period than isgenerally accepted, " replied Adam. "Also, if there were such things, that this was the very place for them. I have tried to think over thematter since you pointed out the configuration of the ground. But itseems to me that there is a hiatus somewhere. Are there not mechanicaldifficulties?"

"In what way?"

"Well, our antique monster must have been mighty heavy, and the distanceshe had to travel were long and the ways difficult. From where we are nowsitting down to the level of the mud-holes is a distance of severalhundred feet--I am leaving out of consideration altogether any lateraldistance. Is it possible that there was a way by which a monster couldtravel up and down, and yet no chance recorder have ever seen him? Ofcourse we have the legends; but is not some more exact evidence necessaryin a scientific investigation?"

"My dear Adam, all you say is perfectly right, and, were we starting onsuch an investigation, we could not do better than follow your reasoning. But, my dear boy, you must remember that all this took place thousands ofyears ago. You must remember, too, that all records of the kind thatwould help us are lacking. Also, that the places to be considered weredesert, so far as human habitation or population are considered. In thevast desolation of such a place as complied with the necessaryconditions, there must have been such profusion of natural growth aswould bar the progress of men formed as we are. The lair of such amonster would not have been disturbed for hundreds--or thousands--ofyears. Moreover, these creatures must have occupied places quiteinaccessible to man. A snake who could make himself comfortable in aquagmire, a hundred feet deep, would be protected on the outskirts bysuch stupendous morasses as now no longer exist, or which, if they existanywhere at all, can be on very few places on the earth's surface. Farbe it from me to say that in more elemental times such things could nothave been. The condition belongs to the geologic age--the great birthand growth of the world, when natural forces ran riot, when the strugglefor existence was so savage that no vitality which was not founded in agigantic form could have even a possibility of survival. That such atime existed, we have evidences in geology, but there only; we can neverexpect proofs such as this age demands. We can only imagine or surmisesuch things--or such conditions and such forces as overcame them. "

CHAPTER VI--HAWK AND PIGEON

At breakfast-time next morning Sir Nathaniel and Mr. Salton were seatedwhen Adam came hurriedly into the room. 

"Any news?" asked his uncle mechanically. 

"Four. "

"Four what?" asked Sir Nathaniel. 

"Snakes, " said Adam, helping himself to a grilled kidney. 

"Four snakes. I don't understand. "

"Mongoose, " said Adam, and then added explanatorily: "I was out with themongoose just after three. "

"Four snakes in one morning! Why, I didn't know there were so many onthe Brow"--the local name for the western cliff. "I hope that wasn't theconsequence of our talk of last night?"

"It was, sir. But not directly. "

"But, God bless my soul, you didn't expect to get a snake like theLambton worm, did you? Why, a mongoose, to tackle a monster like that--ifthere were one--would have to be bigger than a haystack. "

"These were ordinary snakes, about as big as a walking-stick. "

"Well, it's pleasant to be rid of them, big or little. That is a goodmongoose, I am sure; he'll clear out all such vermin round here, " saidMr. Salton. 

Adam went quietly on with his breakfast. Killing a few snakes in amorning was no new experience to him. He left the room the momentbreakfast was finished and went to the study that his uncle had arrangedfor him. Both Sir Nathaniel and Mr. Salton took it that he wanted to beby himself, so as to avoid any questioning or talk of the visit that hewas to make that afternoon. They saw nothing further of him till abouthalf-an-hour before dinner-time. Then he came quietly into the smoking-room, where Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel were sitting together, readydressed. 

"I suppose there is no use waiting. We had better get it over at once, "remarked Adam. 

His uncle, thinking to make things easier for him, said: "Get what over?"

There was a sign of shyness about him at this. He stammered a little atfirst, but his voice became more even as he went on. 

"My visit to Mercy Farm. "

Mr. Salton waited eagerly. The old diplomatist simply smiled. 

"I suppose you both know that I was much interested yesterday in theWatfords?" There was no denial or fending off the question. Both theold men smiled acquiescence. Adam went on: "I meant you to see it--bothof you. You, uncle, because you are my uncle and the nearest of my ownkin, and, moreover, you couldn't have been more kind to me or made memore welcome if you had been my own father. " Mr. Salton said nothing. Hesimply held out his hand, and the other took it and held it for a fewseconds. "And you, sir, because you have shown me something of the sameaffection which in my wildest dreams of home I had no right to expect. "He stopped for an instant, much moved. 

Sir Nathaniel answered softly, laying his hand on the youth's shoulder. 

"You are right, my boy; quite right. That is the proper way to look atit. And I may tell you that we old men, who have no children of our own, feel our hearts growing warm when we hear words like those. "

Then Adam hurried on, speaking with a rush, as if he wanted to come tothe crucial point. 

"Mr. Watford had not come in, but Lilla and Mimi were at home, and theymade me feel very welcome. They have all a great regard for my uncle. Iam glad of that any way, for I like them all--much. We were having tea, when Mr. Caswall came to the door, attended by the negro. Lilla openedthe door herself. The window of the living-room at the farm is a largeone, and from within you cannot help seeing anyone coming. Mr. Caswallsaid he had ventured to call, as he wished to make the acquaintance ofall his tenants, in a less formal way, and more individually, than hadbeen possible to him on the previous day. The girls made himwelcome--they are very sweet girls those, sir; someone will be very happysome day there--with either of them. "

"And that man may be you, Adam, " said Mr. Salton heartily. 

A sad look came over the young man's eyes, and the fire his uncle hadseen there died out. Likewise the timbre left his voice, making it soundlonely. 

"Such might crown my life. But that happiness, I fear, is not for me--ornot without pain and loss and woe. "

"Well, it's early days yet!" cried Sir Nathaniel heartily. 

The young man turned on him his eyes, which had now grown excessivelysad. 

"Yesterday--a few hours ago--that remark would have given me new hope--newcourage; but since then I have learned too much. "

The old man, skilled in the human heart, did not attempt to argue in sucha matter. 

"Too early to give in, my boy. "

"I am not of a giving-in kind, " replied the young man earnestly. "But, after all, it is wise to realise a truth. And when a man, though he isyoung, feels as I do--as I have felt ever since yesterday, when I firstsaw Mimi's eyes--his heart jumps. He does not need to learn things. Heknows. "

There was silence in the room, during which the twilight stole onimperceptibly. It was Adam who again broke the silence. 

"Do you know, uncle, if we have any second sight in our family?"

"No, not that I ever heard about. Why?"

"Because, " he answered slowly, "I have a conviction which seems to answerall the conditions of second sight. "

"And then?" asked the old man, much perturbed. 

"And then the usual inevitable. What in the Hebrides and other places, where the Sight is a cult--a belief--is called 'the doom'--the court fromwhich there is no appeal. I have often heard of second sight--we havemany western Scots in Australia; but I have realised more of its trueinwardness in an instant of this afternoon than I did in the whole of mylife previously--a granite wall stretching up to the very heavens, sohigh and so dark that the eye of God Himself cannot see beyond. Well, ifthe Doom must come, it must. That is all. "

The voice of Sir Nathaniel broke in, smooth and sweet and grave. 

"Can there not be a fight for it? There can for most things. "

"For most things, yes, but for the Doom, no. What a man can do I shalldo. There will be--must be--a fight. When and where and how I know not, but a fight there will be. But, after all, what is a man in such acase?"

"Adam, there are three of us. " Salton looked at his old friend as hespoke, and that old friend's eyes blazed. 

"Ay, three of us, " he said, and his voice rang. 

There was again a pause, and Sir Nathaniel endeavoured to get back toless emotional and more neutral ground. 

"Tell us of the rest of the meeting. Remember we are all pledged tothis. It is a fight _a l'outrance_, and we can afford to throw away orforgo no chance. "

"We shall throw away or lose nothing that we can help. We fight to win, and the stake is a life--perhaps more than one--we shall see. " Then hewent on in a conversational tone, such as he had used when he spoke ofthe coming to the farm of Edgar Caswall: "When Mr. Caswall came in, thenegro went a short distance away and there remained. It gave me the ideathat he expected to be called, and intended to remain in sight, or withinhail. Then Mimi got another cup and made fresh tea, and we all went ontogether. "

"Was there anything uncommon--were you all quite friendly?" asked SirNathaniel quietly. 

"Quite friendly. There was nothing that I could notice out of thecommon--except, " he went on, with a slight hardening of the voice, "except that he kept his eyes fixed on Lilla, in a way which was quiteintolerable to any man who might hold her dear. "

"Now, in what way did he look?" asked Sir Nathaniel. 

"There was nothing in itself offensive; but no one could help noticingit. "

"You did. Miss Watford herself, who was the victim, and Mr. Caswall, whowas the offender, are out of range as witnesses. Was there anyone elsewho noticed?"

"Mimi did. Her face flamed with anger as she saw the look. "

"What kind of look was it? Over-ardent or too admiring, or what? Was itthe look of a lover, or one who fain would be? You understand?"

"Yes, sir, I quite understand. Anything of that sort I should of coursenotice. It would be part of my preparation for keeping myself-control--to which I am pledged. "

"If it were not amatory, was it threatening? Where was the offence?"

Adam smiled kindly at the old man. 

"It was not amatory. Even if it was, such was to be expected. I shouldbe the last man in the world to object, since I am myself an offender inthat respect. Moreover, not only have I been taught to fight fair, butby nature I believe I am just. I would be as tolerant of and as liberalto a rival as I should expect him to be to me. No, the look I mean wasnothing of that kind. And so long as it did not lack proper respect, Ishould not of my own part condescend to notice it. Did you ever studythe eyes of a hound?"

"At rest?"

"No, when he is following his instincts! Or, better still, " Adam wenton, "the eyes of a bird of prey when he is following his instincts. Notwhen he is swooping, but merely when he is watching his quarry?"

"No, " said Sir Nathaniel, "I don't know that I ever did. Why, may Iask?"

"That was the look. Certainly not amatory or anything of that kind--yetit was, it struck me, more dangerous, if not so deadly as an actualthreatening. "

Again there was a silence, which Sir Nathaniel broke as he stood up:

"I think it would be well if we all thought over this by ourselves. Thenwe can renew the subject. "

CHAPTER VII--OOLANGA

Mr. Salton had an appointment for six o'clock at Liverpool. When he haddriven off, Sir Nathaniel took Adam by the arm. 

"May I come with you for a while to your study? I want to speak to youprivately without your uncle knowing about it, or even what the subjectis. You don't mind, do you? It is not idle curiosity. No, no. It ison the subject to which we are all committed. "

"Is it necessary to keep my uncle in the dark about it? He might beoffended. "

"It is not necessary; but it is advisable. It is for his sake that Iasked. My friend is an old man, and it might concern him unduly--evenalarm him. I promise you there shall be nothing that could cause himanxiety in our silence, or at which he could take umbrage. "

"Go on, sir!" said Adam simply. 

"You see, your uncle is now an old man. I know it, for we were boystogether. He has led an uneventful and somewhat self-contained life, sothat any such condition of things as has now arisen is apt to perplex himfrom its very strangeness. In fact, any new matter is trying to oldpeople. It has its own disturbances and its own anxieties, and neitherof these things are good for lives that should be restful. Your uncle isa strong man, with a very happy and placid nature. Given health andordinary conditions of life, there is no reason why he should not live tobe a hundred. You and I, therefore, who both love him, though indifferent ways, should make it our business to protect him from alldisturbing influences. I am sure you will agree with me that any labourto this end would be well spent. All right, my boy! I see your answerin your eyes; so we need say no more of that. And now, " here his voicechanged, "tell me all that took place at that interview. There arestrange things in front of us--how strange we cannot at present evenguess. Doubtless some of the difficult things to understand which liebehind the veil will in time be shown to us to see and to understand. Inthe meantime, all we can do is to work patiently, fearlessly, andunselfishly, to an end that we think is right. You had got so far aswhere Lilla opened the door to Mr. Caswall and the negro. You alsoobserved that Mimi was disturbed in her mind at the way Mr. Caswalllooked at her cousin. "

"Certainly--though 'disturbed' is a poor way of expressing herobjection. "

"Can you remember well enough to describe Caswall's eyes, and how Lillalooked, and what Mimi said and did? Also Oolanga, Caswall's West Africanservant. "

"I'll do what I can, sir. All the time Mr. Caswall was staring, he kepthis eyes fixed and motionless--but not as if he was in a trance. Hisforehead was wrinkled up, as it is when one is trying to see through orinto something. At the best of times his face has not a gentleexpression; but when it was screwed up like that it was almostdiabolical. It frightened poor Lilla so that she trembled, and after abit got so pale that I thought she had fainted. However, she held up andtried to stare back, but in a feeble kind of way. Then Mimi came closeand held her hand. That braced her up, and--still, never ceasing herreturn stare--she got colour again and seemed more like herself. "

"Did he stare too?"

"More than ever. The weaker Lilla seemed, the stronger he became, justas if he were feeding on her strength. All at once she turned round, threw up her hands, and fell down in a faint. I could not see what elsehappened just then, for Mimi had thrown herself on her knees beside herand hid her from me. Then there was something like a black shadowbetween us, and there was the nigger, looking more like a malignant devilthan ever. I am not usually a patient man, and the sight of that uglydevil is enough to make one's blood boil. When he saw my face, he seemedto realise danger--immediate danger--and slunk out of the room asnoiselessly as if he had been blown out. I learned one thing, however--heis an enemy, if ever a man had one. "

"That still leaves us three to two!" put in Sir Nathaniel. 

"Then Caswall slunk out, much as the nigger had done. When he had gone, Lilla recovered at once. "

"Now, " said Sir Nathaniel, anxious to restore peace, "have you found outanything yet regarding the negro? I am anxious to be posted regardinghim. I fear there will be, or may be, grave trouble with him. "

"Yes, sir, I've heard a good deal about him--of course it is notofficial; but hearsay must guide us at first. You know my manDavenport--private secretary, confidential man of business, and generalfactotum. He is devoted to me, and has my full confidence. I asked himto stay on board the _West African_ and have a good look round, and findout what he could about Mr. Caswall. Naturally, he was struck with theaboriginal savage. He found one of the ship's stewards, who had been onthe regular voyages to South Africa. He knew Oolanga and had made astudy of him. He is a man who gets on well with niggers, and they opentheir hearts to him. It seems that this Oolanga is quite a great personin the nigger world of the African West Coast. He has the two thingswhich men of his own colour respect: he can make them afraid, and he islavish with money. I don't know whose money--but that does not matter. They are always ready to trumpet his greatness. Evil greatness it is--butneither does that matter. Briefly, this is his history. He wasoriginally a witch-finder--about as low an occupation as exists amongstaboriginal savages. Then he got up in the world and became an Obi-man, which gives an opportunity to wealth _via_ blackmail. Finally, hereached the highest honour in hellish service. He became a user ofVoodoo, which seems to be a service of the utmost baseness and cruelty. Iwas told some of his deeds of cruelty, which are simply sickening. Theymade me long for an opportunity of helping to drive him back to hell. Youmight think to look at him that you could measure in some way the extentof his vileness; but it would be a vain hope. Monsters such as he isbelong to an earlier and more rudimentary stage of barbarism. He is inhis way a clever fellow--for a nigger; but is none the less dangerous orthe less hateful for that. The men in the ship told me that he was acollector: some of them had seen his collections. Such collections! Allthat was potent for evil in bird or beast, or even in fish. Beaks thatcould break and rend and tear--all the birds represented were of apredatory kind. Even the fishes are those which are born to destroy, towound, to torture. The collection, I assure you, was an object lesson inhuman malignity. This being has enough evil in his face to frighten evena strong man. It is little wonder that the sight of it put that poorgirl into a dead faint!"

Nothing more could be done at the moment, so they separated. 

Adam was up in the early morning and took a smart walk round the Brow. Ashe was passing Diana's Grove, he looked in on the short avenue of trees, and noticed the snakes killed on the previous morning by the mongoose. They all lay in a row, straight and rigid, as if they had been placed byhands. Their skins seemed damp and sticky, and they were covered allover with ants and other insects. They looked loathsome, so after aglance, he passed on. 

A little later, when his steps took him, naturally enough, past theentrance to Mercy Farm, he was passed by the negro, moving quickly underthe trees wherever there was shadow. Laid across one extended arm, looking like dirty towels across a rail, he had the horrid-lookingsnakes. He did not seem to see Adam. No one was to be seen at Mercyexcept a few workmen in the farmyard, so, after waiting on the chance ofseeing Mimi, Adam began to go slowly home. 

Once more he was passed on the way. This time it was by Lady Arabella, walking hurriedly and so furiously angry that she did not recognise him, even to the extent of acknowledging his bow. 

When Adam got back to Lesser Hill, he went to the coach-house where thebox with the mongoose was kept, and took it with him, intending to finishat the Mound of Stone what he had begun the previous morning with regardto the extermination. He found that the snakes were even more easilyattacked than on the previous day; no less than six were killed in thefirst half-hour. As no more appeared, he took it for granted that themorning's work was over, and went towards home. The mongoose had by thistime become accustomed to him, and was willing to let himself be handledfreely. Adam lifted him up and put him on his shoulder and walked on. Presently he saw a lady advancing towards him, and recognised LadyArabella. 

Hitherto the mongoose had been quiet, like a playful affectionate kitten;but when the two got close, Adam was horrified to see the mongoose, in astate of the wildest fury, with every hair standing on end, jump from hisshoulder and run towards Lady Arabella. It looked so furious and sointent on attack that he called a warning. 

"Look out--look out! The animal is furious and means to attack. "

Lady Arabella looked more than ever disdainful and was passing on; themongoose jumped at her in a furious attack. Adam rushed forward with hisstick, the only weapon he had. But just as he got within strikingdistance, the lady drew out a revolver and shot the animal, breaking hisbackbone. Not satisfied with this, she poured shot after shot into himtill the magazine was exhausted. There was no coolness or hauteur abouther now; she seemed more furious even than the animal, her facetransformed with hate, and as determined to kill as he had appeared tobe. Adam, not knowing exactly what to do, lifted his hat in apology andhurried on to Lesser Hill. 

CHAPTER VIII--SURVIVALS

At breakfast Sir Nathaniel noticed that Adam was put out about something, but he said nothing. The lesson of silence is better remembered in agethan in youth. When they were both in the study, where Sir Nathanielfollowed him, Adam at once began to tell his companion of what hadhappened. Sir Nathaniel looked graver and graver as the narrationproceeded, and when Adam had stopped he remained silent for severalminutes, before speaking. 

"This is very grave. I have not formed any opinion yet; but it seems tome at first impression that this is worse than anything I had expected. "

"Why, sir?" said Adam. "Is the killing of a mongoose--no matter bywhom--so serious a thing as all that?"

His companion smoked on quietly for quite another few minutes before hespoke. 

"When I have properly thought it over I may moderate my opinion, but inthe meantime it seems to me that there is something dreadful behind allthis--something that may affect all our lives--that may mean the issue oflife or death to any of us. "

Adam sat up quickly. 

"Do tell me, sir, what is in your mind--if, of course, you have noobjection, or do not think it better to withhold it. "

"I have no objection, Adam--in fact, if I had, I should have to overcomeit. I fear there can be no more reserved thoughts between us. "

"Indeed, sir, that sounds serious, worse than serious!"

"Adam, I greatly fear that the time has come for us--for you and me, atall events--to speak out plainly to one another. Does not there seemsomething very mysterious about this?"

"I have thought so, sir, all along. The only difficulty one has is whatone is to think and where to begin. "

"Let us begin with what you have told me. First take the conduct of themongoose. He was quiet, even friendly and affectionate with you. Heonly attacked the snakes, which is, after all, his business in life. "

"That is so!"

"Then we must try to find some reason why he attacked Lady Arabella. "

"May it not be that a mongoose may have merely the instinct to attack, that nature does not allow or provide him with the fine reasoning powersto discriminate who he is to attack?"

"Of course that may be so. But, on the other hand, should we not satisfyourselves why he does wish to attack anything? If for centuries, thisparticular animal is known to attack only one kind of other animal, arewe not justified in assuming that when one of them attacks a hithertounclassed animal, he recognises in that animal some quality which it hasin common with the hereditary enemy?"

"That is a good argument, sir, " Adam went on, "but a dangerous one. Ifwe followed it out, it would lead us to believe that Lady Arabella is asnake. "

"We must be sure, before going to such an end, that there is no point asyet unconsidered which would account for the unknown thing which puzzlesus. "

"In what way?"

"Well, suppose the instinct works on some physical basis--for instance, smell. If there were anything in recent juxtaposition to the attackedwhich would carry the scent, surely that would supply the missing cause. "

"Of course!" Adam spoke with conviction. 

"Now, from what you tell me, the negro had just come from the directionof Diana's Grove, carrying the dead snakes which the mongoose had killedthe previous morning. Might not the scent have been carried that way?"

"Of course it might, and probably was. I never thought of that. Isthere any possible way of guessing approximately how long a scent willremain? You see, this is a natural scent, and may derive from a placewhere it has been effective for thousands of years. Then, does a scentof any kind carry with it any form or quality of another kind, eithergood or evil? I ask you because one ancient name of the house lived inby the lady who was attacked by the mongoose was 'The Lair of the WhiteWorm. ' If any of these things be so, our difficulties have multipliedindefinitely. They may even change in kind. We may get into moralentanglements; before we know it, we may be in the midst of a strugglebetween good and evil. "

Sir Nathaniel smiled gravely. 

"With regard to the first question--so far as I know, there are no fixedperiods for which a scent may be active--I think we may take it that thatperiod does not run into thousands of years. As to whether any moralchange accompanies a physical one, I can only say that I have met noproof of the fact. At the same time, we must remember that 'good' and'evil' are terms so wide as to take in the whole scheme of creation, andall that is implied by them and by their mutual action and reaction. Generally, I would say that in the scheme of a First Cause anything ispossible. So long as the inherent forces or tendencies of any one thingare veiled from us we must expect mystery. "

"There is one other question on which I should like to ask your opinion. Suppose that there are any permanent forces appertaining to the past, what we may call 'survivals, ' do these belong to good as well as to evil?For instance, if the scent of the primaeval monster can so remain inproportion to the original strength, can the same be true of things ofgood import?"

Sir Nathaniel thought for a while before he answered. 

"We must be careful not to confuse the physical and the moral. I can seethat already you have switched on the moral entirely, so perhaps we hadbetter follow it up first. On the side of the moral, we have certainjustification for belief in the utterances of revealed religion. Forinstance, 'the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much'is altogether for good. We have nothing of a similar kind on the side ofevil. But if we accept this dictum we need have no more fear of'mysteries': these become thenceforth merely obstacles. "

Adam suddenly changed to another phase of the subject. 

"And now, sir, may I turn for a few minutes to purely practical things, or rather to matters of historical fact?"

Sir Nathaniel bowed acquiescence. 

"We have already spoken of the history, so far as it is known, of some ofthe places round us--'Castra Regis, ' 'Diana's Grove, ' and 'The Lair ofthe White Worm. ' I would like to ask if there is anything notnecessarily of evil import about any of the places?"

"Which?" asked Sir Nathaniel shrewdly. 

"Well, for instance, this house and Mercy Farm?"

"Here we turn, " said Sir Nathaniel, "to the other side, the light side ofthings. Let us take Mercy Farm first. When Augustine was sent by PopeGregory to Christianise England, in the time of the Romans, he wasreceived and protected by Ethelbert, King of Kent, whose wife, daughterof Charibert, King of Paris, was a Christian, and did much for Augustine. She founded a nunnery in memory of Columba, which was named _Sedesmisericordioe_, the House of Mercy, and, as the region was Mercian, thetwo names became involved. As Columba is the Latin for dove, the dovebecame a sort of signification of the nunnery. She seized on the ideaand made the newly-founded nunnery a house of doves. Someone sent her afreshly-discovered dove, a sort of carrier, but which had in the whitefeathers of its head and neck the form of a religious cowl. The nunneryflourished for more than a century, when, in the time of Penda, who wasthe reactionary of heathendom, it fell into decay. In the meantime thedoves, protected by religious feeling, had increased mightily, and wereknown in all Catholic communities. When King Offa ruled in Mercia, abouta hundred and fifty years later, he restored Christianity, and under itsprotection the nunnery of St. Columba was restored and its dovesflourished again. In process of time this religious house again fellinto desuetude; but before it disappeared it had achieved a great namefor good works, and in especial for the piety of its members. If deedsand prayers and hopes and earnest thinking leave anywhere any moraleffect, Mercy Farm and all around it have almost the right to beconsidered holy ground. "

"Thank you, sir, " said Adam earnestly, and was silent. Sir Nathanielunderstood. 

After lunch that day, Adam casually asked Sir Nathaniel to come for awalk with him. The keen-witted old diplomatist guessed that there mustbe some motive behind the suggestion, and he at once agreed. 

As soon as they were free from observation, Adam began. 

"I am afraid, sir, that there is more going on in this neighbourhood thanmost people imagine. I was out this morning, and on the edge of thesmall wood, I came upon the body of a child by the roadside. At first, Ithought she was dead, and while examining her, I noticed on her neck somemarks that looked like those of teeth. "

"Some wild dog, perhaps?" put in Sir Nathaniel. 

"Possibly, sir, though I think not--but listen to the rest of my news. Iglanced around, and to my surprise, I noticed something white movingamong the trees. I placed the child down carefully, and followed, but Icould not find any further traces. So I returned to the child andresumed my examination, and, to my delight, I discovered that she wasstill alive. I chafed her hands and gradually she revived, but to mydisappointment she remembered nothing--except that something had crept upquietly from behind, and had gripped her round the throat. Then, apparently, she fainted. "

"Gripped her round the throat! Then it cannot have been a dog. "

"No, sir, that is my difficulty, and explains why I brought you out here, where we cannot possibly be overheard. You have noticed, of course, thepeculiar sinuous way in which Lady Arabella moves--well, I feel certainthat the white thing that I saw in the wood was the mistress of Diana'sGrove!"

"Good God, boy, be careful what you say. "

"Yes, sir, I fully realise the gravity of my accusation, but I feelconvinced that the marks on the child's throat were human--and made by awoman. "

Adam's companion remained silent for some time, deep in thought. 

"Adam, my boy, " he said at last, "this matter appears to me to be farmore serious even than you think. It forces me to break confidence withmy old friend, your uncle--but, in order to spare him, I must do so. Forsome time now, things have been happening in this district that have beenworrying him dreadfully--several people have disappeared, without leavingthe slightest trace; a dead child was found by the roadside, with novisible or ascertainable cause of death--sheep and other animals havebeen found in the fields, bleeding from open wounds. There have beenother matters--many of them apparently trivial in themselves. Somesinister influence has been at work, and I admit that I have suspectedLady Arabella--that is why I questioned you so closely about the mongooseand its strange attack upon Lady Arabella. You will think it strangethat I should suspect the mistress of Diana's Grove, a beautiful woman ofaristocratic birth. Let me explain--the family seat is near my ownplace, Doom Tower, and at one time I knew the family well. When still ayoung girl, Lady Arabella wandered into a small wood near her home, anddid not return. She was found unconscious and in a high fever--thedoctor said that she had received a poisonous bite, and the girl being ata delicate and critical age, the result was serious--so much so that shewas not expected to recover. A great London physician came down butcould do nothing--indeed, he said that the girl would not survive thenight. All hope had been abandoned, when, to everyone's surprise, LadyArabella made a sudden and startling recovery. Within a couple of daysshe was going about as usual! But to the horror of her people, shedeveloped a terrible craving for cruelty, maiming and injuring birds andsmall animals--even killing them. This was put down to a nervousdisturbance due to her age, and it was hoped that her marriage to CaptainMarch would put this right. However, it was not a happy marriage, andeventually her husband was found shot through the head. I have alwayssuspected suicide, though no pistol was found near the body. He may havediscovered something--God knows what!--so possibly Lady Arabella mayherself have killed him. Putting together many small matters that havecome to my knowledge, I have come to the conclusion that the foul WhiteWorm obtained control of her body, just as her soul was leaving itsearthly tenement--that would explain the sudden revival of energy, thestrange and inexplicable craving for maiming and killing, as well as manyother matters with which I need not trouble you now, Adam. As I saidjust now, God alone knows what poor Captain March discovered--it musthave been something too ghastly for human endurance, if my theory iscorrect that the once beautiful human body of Lady Arabella is under thecontrol of this ghastly White Worm. "

Adam nodded. 

"But what can we do, sir--it seems a most difficult problem. "

"We can do nothing, my boy--that is the important part of it. It wouldbe impossible to take action--all we can do is to keep careful watch, especially as regards Lady Arabella, and be ready to act, promptly anddecisively, if the opportunity occurs. "

Adam agreed, and the two men returned to Lesser Hill. 

CHAPTER IX--SMELLING DEATH

Adam Salton, though he talked little, did not let the grass grow underhis feet in any matter which he had undertaken, or in which he wasinterested. He had agreed with Sir Nathaniel that they should not doanything with regard to the mystery of Lady Arabella's fear of themongoose, but he steadily pursued his course in being _prepared_ to actwhenever the opportunity might come. He was in his own mind perpetuallycasting about for information or clues which might lead to possible linesof action. Baffled by the killing of the mongoose, he looked around foranother line to follow. He was fascinated by the idea of there being amysterious link between the woman and the animal, but he was alreadypreparing a second string to his bow. His new idea was to use thefaculties of Oolanga, so far as he could, in the service of discovery. His first move was to send Davenport to Liverpool to try to find thesteward of the _West African_, who had told him about Oolanga, and ifpossible secure any further information, and then try to induce (bybribery or other means) the nigger to come to the Brow. So soon as hehimself could have speech of the Voodoo-man he would be able to learnfrom him something useful. Davenport was successful in his missions, forhe had to get another mongoose, and he was able to tell Adam that he hadseen the steward, who told him much that he wanted to know, and had alsoarranged for Oolanga to come to Lesser Hill the following day. At thispoint Adam saw his way sufficiently clear to admit Davenport to someextent into his confidence. He had come to the conclusion that it wouldbe better--certainly at first--not himself to appear in the matter, withwhich Davenport was fully competent to deal. It would be time forhimself to take a personal part when matters had advanced a littlefurther. 

If what the nigger said was in any wise true, the man had a rare giftwhich might be useful in the quest they were after. He could, as itwere, "smell death. " If any one was dead, if any one had died, or if aplace had been used in connection with death, he seemed to know the broadfact by intuition. Adam made up his mind that to test this faculty withregard to several places would be his first task. Naturally he wasanxious, and the time passed slowly. The only comfort was the arrivalthe next morning of a strong packing case, locked, from Ross, the keybeing in the custody of Davenport. In the case were two smaller boxes, both locked. One of them contained a mongoose to replace that killed byLady Arabella; the other was the special mongoose which had alreadykilled the king-cobra in Nepaul. When both the animals had been safelyput under lock and key, he felt that he might breathe more freely. Noone was allowed to know the secret of their existence in the house, except himself and Davenport. He arranged that Davenport should takeOolanga round the neighbourhood for a walk, stopping at each of theplaces which he designated. Having gone all along the Brow, he was toreturn the same way and induce him to touch on the same subjects intalking with Adam, who was to meet them as if by chance at the farthestpart--that beyond Mercy Farm. 

The incidents of the day proved much as Adam expected. At Mercy Farm, atDiana's Grove, at Castra Regis, and a few other spots, the negro stoppedand, opening his wide nostrils as if to sniff boldly, said that hesmelled death. It was not always in the same form. At Mercy Farm hesaid there were many small deaths. At Diana's Grove his bearing wasdifferent. There was a distinct sense of enjoyment about him, especiallywhen he spoke of many great deaths. Here, too, he sniffed in a strangeway, like a bloodhound at check, and looked puzzled. He said no word ineither praise or disparagement, but in the centre of the Grove, where, hidden amongst ancient oak stumps, was a block of granite slightlyhollowed on the top, he bent low and placed his forehead on the ground. This was the only place where he showed distinct reverence. At theCastle, though he spoke of much death, he showed no sign of respect. 

There was evidently something about Diana's Grove which both interestedand baffled him. Before leaving, he moved all over the placeunsatisfied, and in one spot, close to the edge of the Brow, where therewas a deep hollow, he appeared to be afraid. After returning severaltimes to this place, he suddenly turned and ran in a panic of fear to thehigher ground, crossing as he did so the outcropping rock. Then heseemed to breathe more freely, and recovered some of his jauntyimpudence. 

All this seemed to satisfy Adam's expectations. He went back to LesserHill with a serene and settled calm upon him. Sir Nathaniel followed himinto his study. 

"By the way, I forgot to ask you details about one thing. When thatextraordinary staring episode of Mr. Caswall went on, how did Lilla takeit--how did she bear herself?"

"She looked frightened, and trembled just as I have seen a pigeon with ahawk, or a bird with a serpent. "

"Thanks. It is just as I expected. There have been circumstances in theCaswall family which lead one to believe that they have had from theearliest times some extraordinary mesmeric or hypnotic faculty. Indeed, a skilled eye could read so much in their physiognomy. That shot ofyours, whether by instinct or intention, of the hawk and the pigeon waspeculiarly apposite. I think we may settle on that as a fixed trait tobe accepted throughout our investigation. "

When dusk had fallen, Adam took the new mongoose--not the one fromNepaul--and, carrying the box slung over his shoulder, strolled towardsDiana's Grove. Close to the gateway he met Lady Arabella, clad as usualin tightly fitting white, which showed off her slim figure. 

To his intense astonishment the mongoose allowed her to pet him, take himup in her arms and fondle him. As she was going in his direction, theywalked on together. 

Round the roadway between the entrances of Diana's Grove and Lesser Hillwere many trees, with not much foliage except at the top. In the duskthis place was shadowy, and the view was hampered by the clusteringtrunks. In the uncertain, tremulous light which fell through the tree-tops, it was hard to distinguish anything clearly, and at last, somehow, he lost sight of her altogether, and turned back on his track to findher. Presently he came across her close to her own gate. She wasleaning over the paling of split oak branches which formed the paling ofthe avenue. He could not see the mongoose, so he asked her where it hadgone. 

"He slipt out of my arms while I was petting him, " she answered, "anddisappeared under the hedges. "

They found him at a place where the avenue widened so as to let carriagespass each other. The little creature seemed quite changed. He had beenebulliently active; now he was dull and spiritless--seemed to be dazed. He allowed himself to be lifted by either of the pair; but when he wasalone with Lady Arabella he kept looking round him in a strange way, asthough trying to escape. When they had come out on the roadway Adam heldthe mongoose tight to him, and, lifting his hat to his companion, movedquickly towards Lesser Hill; he and Lady Arabella lost sight of eachother in the thickening gloom. 

When Adam got home, he put the mongoose in his box, and locked the doorof the room. The other mongoose--the one from Nepaul--was safely lockedin his own box, but he lay quiet and did not stir. When he got to hisstudy Sir Nathaniel came in, shutting the door behind him. 

"I have come, " he said, "while we have an opportunity of being alone, totell you something of the Caswall family which I think will interest you. There is, or used to be, a belief in this part of the world that theCaswall family had some strange power of making the wills of otherpersons subservient to their own. There are many allusions to thesubject in memoirs and other unimportant works, but I only know of onewhere the subject is spoken of definitely. It is _Mercia and itsWorthies_, written by Ezra Toms more than a hundred years ago. Theauthor goes into the question of the close association of the then EdgarCaswall with Mesmer in Paris. He speaks of Caswall being a pupil and thefellow worker of Mesmer, and states that though, when the latter leftFrance, he took away with him a vast quantity of philosophical andelectric instruments, he was never known to use them again. He once madeit known to a friend that he had given them to his old pupil. The termhe used was odd, for it was 'bequeathed, ' but no such bequest of Mesmerwas ever made known. At any rate the instruments were missing, and neverturned up. "

A servant came into the room to tell Adam that there was some strangenoise coming from the locked room into which he had gone when he came in. He hurried off to the place at once, Sir Nathaniel going with him. Havinglocked the door behind them, Adam opened the packing-case where the boxesof the two mongooses were locked up. There was no sound from one ofthem, but from the other a queer restless struggling. Having opened bothboxes, he found that the noise was from the Nepaul animal, which, however, became quiet at once. In the other box the new mongoose laydead, with every appearance of having been strangled!

CHAPTER X--THE KITE

On the following day, a little after four o'clock, Adam set out forMercy. 

He was home just as the clocks were striking six. He was pale and upset, but otherwise looked strong and alert. The old man summed up hisappearance and manner thus: "Braced up for battle. "

"Now!" said Sir Nathaniel, and settled down to listen, looking at Adamsteadily and listening attentively that he might miss nothing--even theinflection of a word. 

"I found Lilla and Mimi at home. Watford had been detained by businesson the farm. Miss Watford received me as kindly as before; Mimi, too, seemed glad to see me. Mr. Caswall came so soon after I arrived, thathe, or someone on his behalf, must have been watching for me. He wasfollowed closely by the negro, who was puffing hard as if he had beenrunning--so it was probably he who watched. Mr. Caswall was very cooland collected, but there was a more than usually iron look about his facethat I did not like. However, we got on very well. He talked pleasantlyon all sorts of questions. The nigger waited a while and thendisappeared as on the other occasion. Mr. Caswall's eyes were as usualfixed on Lilla. True, they seemed to be very deep and earnest, but therewas no offence in them. Had it not been for the drawing down of thebrows and the stern set of the jaws, I should not at first have noticedanything. But the stare, when presently it began, increased inintensity. I could see that Lilla began to suffer from nervousness, ason the first occasion; but she carried herself bravely. However, themore nervous she grew, the harder Mr. Caswall stared. It was evident tome that he had come prepared for some sort of mesmeric or hypnoticbattle. After a while he began to throw glances round him and thenraised his hand, without letting either Lilla or Mimi see the action. Itwas evidently intended to give some sign to the negro, for he came, inhis usual stealthy way, quietly in by the hall door, which was open. ThenMr. Caswall's efforts at staring became intensified, and poor Lilla'snervousness grew greater. Mimi, seeing that her cousin was distressed, came close to her, as if to comfort or strengthen her with theconsciousness of her presence. This evidently made a difficulty for Mr. Caswall, for his efforts, without appearing to get feebler, seemed lesseffective. This continued for a little while, to the gain of both Lillaand Mimi. Then there was a diversion. Without word or apology the dooropened, and Lady Arabella March entered the room. I had seen her comingthrough the great window. Without a word she crossed the room and stoodbeside Mr. Caswall. It really was very like a fight of a peculiar kind;and the longer it was sustained the more earnest--the fiercer--it grew. That combination of forces--the over-lord, the white woman, and the blackman--would have cost some--probably all of them--their lives in theSouthern States of America. To us it was simply horrible. But all thatyou can understand. This time, to go on in sporting phrase, it wasunderstood by all to be a 'fight to a finish, ' and the mixed group didnot slacken a moment or relax their efforts. On Lilla the strain beganto tell disastrously. She grew pale--a patchy pallor, which meant thather nerves were out of order. She trembled like an aspen, and though shestruggled bravely, I noticed that her legs would hardly support her. Adozen times she seemed about to collapse in a faint, but each time, oncatching sight of Mimi's eyes, she made a fresh struggle and pulledthrough. 

"By now Mr. Caswall's face had lost its appearance of passivity. Hiseyes glowed with a fiery light. He was still the old Roman ininflexibility of purpose; but grafted on to the Roman was a new Berserkerfury. His companions in the baleful work seemed to have taken onsomething of his feeling. Lady Arabella looked like a soulless, pitilessbeing, not human, unless it revived old legends of transformed humanbeings who had lost their humanity in some transformation or in the sweepof natural savagery. As for the negro--well, I can only say that it wassolely due to the self-restraint which you impressed on me that I did notwipe him out as he stood--without warning, without fair play--without asingle one of the graces of life and death. Lilla was silent in thehelpless concentration of deadly fear; Mimi was all resolve andself-forgetfulness, so intent on the soul-struggle in which she wasengaged that there was no possibility of any other thought. As formyself, the bonds of will which held me inactive seemed like bands ofsteel which numbed all my faculties, except sight and hearing. We seemedfixed in an _impasse_. Something must happen, though the power ofguessing was inactive. As in a dream, I saw Mimi's hand move restlessly, as if groping for something. Mechanically it touched that of Lilla, andin that instant she was transformed. It was as if youth and strengthentered afresh into something already dead to sensibility and intention. As if by inspiration, she grasped the other's band with a force whichblenched the knuckles. Her face suddenly flamed, as if some divine lightshone through it. Her form expanded till it stood out majestically. Lifting her right hand, she stepped forward towards Caswall, and with abold sweep of her arm seemed to drive some strange force towards him. Again and again was the gesture repeated, the man falling back from herat each movement. Towards the door he retreated, she following. Therewas a sound as of the cooing sob of doves, which seemed to multiply andintensify with each second. The sound from the unseen source rose androse as he retreated, till finally it swelled out in a triumphant peal, as she with a fierce sweep of her arm, seemed to hurl something at herfoe, and he, moving his hands blindly before his face, appeared to beswept through the doorway and out into the open sunlight. 

"All at once my own faculties were fully restored; I could see and heareverything, and be fully conscious of what was going on. Even thefigures of the baleful group were there, though dimly seen as through aveil--a shadowy veil. I saw Lilla sink down in a swoon, and Mimi throwup her arms in a gesture of triumph. As I saw her through the greatwindow, the sunshine flooded the landscape, which, however, wasmomentarily becoming eclipsed by an onrush of a myriad birds. "

By the next morning, daylight showed the actual danger which threatened. From every part of the eastern counties reports were received concerningthe enormous immigration of birds. Experts were sending--on their ownaccount, on behalf of learned societies, and through local and imperialgoverning bodies--reports dealing with the matter, and suggestingremedies. 

The reports closer to home were even more disturbing. All day long itwould seem that the birds were coming thicker from all quarters. Doubtless many were going as well as coming, but the mass seemed never toget less. Each bird seemed to sound some note of fear or anger orseeking, and the whirring of wings never ceased nor lessened. The airwas full of a muttered throb. No window or barrier could shut out thesound, till the ears of any listener became dulled by the ceaselessmurmur. So monotonous it was, so cheerless, so disheartening, somelancholy, that all longed, but in vain, for any variety, no matter howterrible it might be. 

The second morning the reports from all the districts round were morealarming than ever. Farmers began to dread the coming of winter as theysaw the dwindling of the timely fruitfulness of the earth. And as yet itwas only a warning of evil, not the evil accomplished; the ground beganto look bare whenever some passing sound temporarily frightened thebirds. 

Edgar Caswall tortured his brain for a long time unavailingly, to thinkof some means of getting rid of what he, as well as his neighbours, hadcome to regard as a plague of birds. At last he recalled a circumstancewhich promised a solution of the difficulty. The experience was of someyears ago in China, far up-country, towards the head-waters of the Yang-tze-kiang, where the smaller tributaries spread out in a sort of naturalirrigation scheme to supply the wilderness of paddy-fields. It was atthe time of the ripening rice, and the myriads of birds which came tofeed on the coming crop was a serious menace, not only to the district, but to the country at large. The farmers, who were more or lessafflicted with the same trouble every season, knew how to deal with it. They made a vast kite, which they caused to be flown over the centre spotof the incursion. The kite was shaped like a great hawk; and the momentit rose into the air the birds began to cower and seek protection--andthen to disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead the birdslay low and the crop was saved. Accordingly Caswall ordered his men toconstruct an immense kite, adhering as well as they could to the lines ofa hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of cord, began to fly ithigh overhead. The experience of China was repeated. The moment thekite rose, the birds hid or sought shelter. The following morning, thekite was still flying high, no bird was to be seen as far as the eyecould reach from Castra Regis. But there followed in turn what provedeven a worse evil. All the birds were cowed; their sounds stopped. Neither song nor chirp was heard--silence seemed to have taken the placeof the normal voices of bird life. But that was not all. The silencespread to all animals. 

The fear and restraint which brooded amongst the denizens of the airbegan to affect all life. Not only did the birds cease song or chirp, but the lowing of the cattle ceased in the fields and the varied soundsof life died away. In place of these things was only a soundless gloom, more dreadful, more disheartening, more soul-killing than any concourseof sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread. Pious individuals putup constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude. After alittle there were signs of universal depression which those who ran mightread. One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality, of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope. Men seemed to havelost the power of expression of their thoughts. The soundless air seemedto have the same effect as the universal darkness when men gnawed theirtongues with pain. 

From this infliction of silence there was no relief. Everything wasaffected; gloom was the predominant note. Joy appeared to have passedaway as a factor of life, and this creative impulse had nothing to takeits place. That giant spot in high air was a plague of evil influence. It seemed like a new misanthropic belief which had fallen on humanbeings, carrying with it the negation of all hope. 

After a few days, men began to grow desperate; their very words as wellas their senses seemed to be in chains. Edgar Caswall again tortured hisbrain to find any antidote or palliative of this greater evil thanbefore. He would gladly have destroyed the kite, or caused its flying tocease; but the instant it was pulled down, the birds rose up in evengreater numbers; all those who depended in any way on agriculture sentpitiful protests to Castra Regis. 

It was strange indeed what influence that weird kite seemed to exercise. Even human beings were affected by it, as if both it and they wererealities. As for the people at Mercy Farm, it was like a taste ofactual death. Lilla felt it most. If she had been indeed a real dove, with a real kite hanging over her in the air, she could not have beenmore frightened or more affected by the terror this created. 

Of course, some of those already drawn into the vortex noticed the effecton individuals. Those who were interested took care to compare theirinformation. Strangely enough, as it seemed to the others, the personwho took the ghastly silence least to heart was the negro. By nature hewas not sensitive to, or afflicted by, nerves. This alone would not haveproduced the seeming indifference, so they set their minds to discoverthe real cause. Adam came quickly to the conclusion that there was forhim some compensation that the others did not share; and he soon believedthat that compensation was in one form or another the enjoyment of thesufferings of others. Thus the black had a never-failing source ofamusement. 

Lady Arabella's cold nature rendered her immune to anything in the way ofpain or trouble concerning others. Edgar Caswall was far too haughty aperson, and too stern of nature, to concern himself about poor orhelpless people, much less the lower order of mere animals. Mr. Watford, Mr. Salton, and Sir Nathaniel were all concerned in the issue, partlyfrom kindness of heart--for none of them could see suffering, even ofwild birds, unmoved--and partly on account of their property, which hadto be protected, or ruin would stare them in the face before long. 

Lilla suffered acutely. As time went on, her face became pinched, andher eyes dull with watching and crying. Mimi suffered too on account ofher cousin's suffering. But as she could do nothing, she resolutely madeup her mind to self-restraint and patience. Adam's frequent visitscomforted her. 

CHAPTER XI--MESMER'S CHEST

After a couple of weeks had passed, the kite seemed to give Edgar Caswalla new zest for life. He was never tired of looking at its movements. Hehad a comfortable armchair put out on the tower, wherein he sat sometimesall day long, watching as though the kite was a new toy and he a childlately come into possession of it. He did not seem to have lost interestin Lilla, for he still paid an occasional visit at Mercy Farm. 

Indeed, his feeling towards her, whatever it had been at first, had nowso far changed that it had become a distinct affection of a purely animalkind. Indeed, it seemed as though the man's nature had become corrupted, and that all the baser and more selfish and more reckless qualities hadbecome more conspicuous. There was not so much sternness apparent in hisnature, because there was less self-restraint. Determination had becomeindifference. 

The visible change in Edgar was that he grew morbid, sad, silent; theneighbours thought he was going mad. He became absorbed in the kite, andwatched it not only by day, but often all night long. It became anobsession to him. 

Caswall took a personal interest in the keeping of the great kite flying. He had a vast coil of cord efficient for the purpose, which worked on aroller fixed on the parapet of the tower. There was a winch for thepulling in of the slack; the outgoing line being controlled by a racket. There was invariably one man at least, day and night, on the tower toattend to it. At such an elevation there was always a strong wind, andat times the kite rose to an enormous height, as well as travelling forgreat distances laterally. In fact, the kite became, in a short time, one of the curiosities of Castra Regis and all around it. Edgar began toattribute to it, in his own mind, almost human qualities. It became tohim a separate entity, with a mind and a soul of its own. Being idle-handed all day, he began to apply to what he considered the service ofthe kite some of his spare time, and found a new pleasure--a new objectin life--in the old schoolboy game of sending up "runners" to the kite. The way this is done is to get round pieces of paper so cut that there isa hole in the centre, through which the string of the kite passes. Thenatural action of the wind-pressure takes the paper along the string, andso up to the kite itself, no matter how high or how far it may have gone. 

In the early days of this amusement Edgar Caswall spent hours. Hundredsof such messengers flew along the string, until soon he bethought him ofwriting messages on these papers so that he could make known his ideas tothe kite. It may be that his brain gave way under the opportunitiesgiven by his illusion of the entity of the toy and its power of separatethought. From sending messages he came to making direct speech to thekite--without, however, ceasing to send the runners. Doubtless, theheight of the tower, seated as it was on the hill-top, the rushing of theceaseless wind, the hypnotic effect of the lofty altitude of the speck inthe sky at which he gazed, and the rushing of the paper messengers up thestring till sight of them was lost in distance, all helped to furtheraffect his brain, undoubtedly giving way under the strain of beliefs andcircumstances which were at once stimulating to the imagination, occupative of his mind, and absorbing. 

The next step of intellectual decline was to bring to bear on the mainidea of the conscious identity of the kite all sorts of subjects whichhad imaginative force or tendency of their own. He had, in Castra Regis, a large collection of curious and interesting things formed in the pastby his forebears, of similar tastes to his own. There were all sorts ofstrange anthropological specimens, both old and new, which had beencollected through various travels in strange places: ancient Egyptianrelics from tombs and mummies; curios from Australia, New Zealand, andthe South Seas; idols and images--from Tartar ikons to ancient Egyptian, Persian, and Indian objects of worship; objects of death and torture ofAmerican Indians; and, above all, a vast collection of lethal weapons ofevery kind and from every place--Chinese "high pinders, " double knives, Afghan double-edged scimitars made to cut a body in two, heavy knivesfrom all the Eastern countries, ghost daggers from Thibet, the terriblekukri of the Ghourka and other hill tribes of India, assassins' weaponsfrom Italy and Spain, even the knife which was formerly carried by theslave-drivers of the Mississippi region. Death and pain of every kindwere fully represented in that gruesome collection. 

That it had a fascination for Oolanga goes without saying. He was nevertired of visiting the museum in the tower, and spent endless hours ininspecting the exhibits, till he was thoroughly familiar with everydetail of all of them. He asked permission to clean and polish andsharpen them--a favour which was readily granted. In addition to theabove objects, there were many things of a kind to awaken human fear. Stuffed serpents of the most objectionable and horrid kind; giant insectsfrom the tropics, fearsome in every detail; fishes and crustaceanscovered with weird spikes; dried octopuses of great size. Other things, too, there were, not less deadly though seemingly innocuous--dried fungi, traps intended for birds, beasts, fishes, reptiles, and insects; machineswhich could produce pain of any kind and degree, and the only mercy ofwhich was the power of producing speedy death. 

Caswall, who had never before seen any of these things, except thosewhich he had collected himself, found a constant amusement and interestin them. He studied them, their uses, their mechanism--where there wassuch--and their places of origin, until he had an ample and realknowledge of all concerning them. Many were secret and intricate, but henever rested till he found out all the secrets. When once he had becomeinterested in strange objects, and the way to use them, he began toexplore various likely places for similar finds. He began to inquire ofhis household where strange lumber was kept. Several of the men spoke ofold Simon Chester as one who knew everything in and about the house. Accordingly, he sent for the old man, who came at once. He was very old, nearly ninety years of age, and very infirm. He had been born in theCastle, and had served its succession of masters--present or absent--eversince. When Edgar began to question him on the subject regarding whichhe had sent for him, old Simon exhibited much perturbation. In fact, hebecame so frightened that his master, fully believing that he wasconcealing something, ordered him to tell at once what remained unseen, and where it was hidden away. Face to face with discovery of his secret, the old man, in a pitiable state of concern, spoke out even more fullythan Mr. Caswall had expected. 

"Indeed, indeed, sir, everything is here in the tower that has ever beenput away in my time except--except--" here he began to shake and trembleit--"except the chest which Mr. Edgar--he who was Mr. Edgar when I firsttook service--brought back from France, after he had been with Dr. Mesmer. The trunk has been kept in my room for safety; but I shall sendit down here now. "

"What is in it?" asked Edgar sharply. 

"That I do not know. Moreover, it is a peculiar trunk, without anyvisible means of opening. "

"Is there no lock?"

"I suppose so, sir; but I do not know. There is no keyhole. "

"Send it here; and then come to me yourself. "

The trunk, a heavy one with steel bands round it, but no lock or keyhole, was carried in by two men. Shortly afterwards old Simon attended hismaster. When he came into the room, Mr. Caswall himself went and closedthe door; then he asked:

"How do you open it?"

"I do not know, sir. "

"Do you mean to say that you never opened it?"

"Most certainly I say so, your honour. How could I? It was entrusted tome with the other things by my master. To open it would have been abreach of trust. "

Caswall sneered. 

"Quite remarkable! Leave it with me. Close the door behind you. Stay--did no one ever tell you about it--say anything regarding it--makeany remark?"

Old Simon turned pale, and put his trembling hands together. 

"Oh, sir, I entreat you not to touch it. That trunk probably containssecrets which Dr. Mesmer told my master. Told them to his ruin!"

"How do you mean? What ruin?"

"Sir, he it was who, men said, sold his soul to the Evil One; I hadthought that that time and the evil of it had all passed away. "

"That will do. Go away; but remain in your own room, or within call. Imay want you. "

The old man bowed deeply and went out trembling, but without speaking aword. 

CHAPTER XII--THE CHEST OPENED

Left alone in the turret-room, Edgar Caswall carefully locked the doorand hung a handkerchief over the keyhole. Next, he inspected thewindows, and saw that they were not overlooked from any angle of the mainbuilding. Then he carefully examined the trunk, going over it with amagnifying glass. He found it intact: the steel bands were flawless; thewhole trunk was compact. After sitting opposite to it for some time, andthe shades of evening beginning to melt into darkness, he gave up thetask and went to his bedroom, after locking the door of the turret-roombehind him and taking away the key. 

He woke in the morning at daylight, and resumed his patient butunavailing study of the metal trunk. This he continued during the wholeday with the same result--humiliating disappointment, which overwroughthis nerves and made his head ache. The result of the long strain wasseen later in the afternoon, when he sat locked within the turret-roombefore the still baffling trunk, distrait, listless and yet agitated, sunk in a settled gloom. As the dusk was falling he told the steward tosend him two men, strong ones. These he ordered to take the trunk to hisbedroom. In that room he then sat on into the night, without pausingeven to take any food. His mind was in a whirl, a fever of excitement. The result was that when, late in the night, he locked himself in hisroom his brain was full of odd fancies; he was on the high road to mentaldisturbance. He lay down on his bed in the dark, still brooding over themystery of the closed trunk. 

Gradually he yielded to the influences of silence and darkness. Afterlying there quietly for some time, his mind became active again. Butthis time there were round him no disturbing influences; his brain wasactive and able to work freely and to deal with memory. A thousandforgotten--or only half-known--incidents, fragments of conversations ortheories long ago guessed at and long forgotten, crowded on his mind. Heseemed to hear again around him the legions of whirring wings to which hehad been so lately accustomed. Even to himself he knew that that was aneffort of imagination founded on imperfect memory. But he was contentthat imagination should work, for out of it might come some solution ofthe mystery which surrounded him. And in this frame of mind, sleep madeanother and more successful essay. This time he enjoyed peacefulslumber, restful alike to his wearied body and his overwrought brain. 

In his sleep he arose, and, as if in obedience to some influence beyondand greater than himself, lifted the great trunk and set it on a strongtable at one side of the room, from which he had previously removed aquantity of books. To do this, he had to use an amount of strength whichwas, he knew, far beyond him in his normal state. As it was, it seemedeasy enough; everything yielded before his touch. Then he becameconscious that somehow--how, he never could remember--the chest was open. He unlocked his door, and, taking the chest on his shoulder, carried itup to the turret-room, the door of which also he unlocked. Even at thetime he was amazed at his own strength, and wondered whence it had come. His mind, lost in conjecture, was too far off to realise more immediatethings. He knew that the chest was enormously heavy. He seemed, in asort of vision which lit up the absolute blackness around, to see the twosturdy servant men staggering under its great weight. He locked himselfagain in the turret-room, and laid the opened chest on a table, and inthe darkness began to unpack it, laying out the contents, which weremainly of metal and glass--great pieces in strange forms--on anothertable. He was conscious of being still asleep, and of acting rather inobedience to some unseen and unknown command than in accordance with anyreasonable plan, to be followed by results which he understood. Thisphase completed, he proceeded to arrange in order the component parts ofsome large instruments, formed mostly of glass. His fingers seemed tohave acquired a new and exquisite subtlety and even a volition of theirown. Then weariness of brain came upon him; his head sank down on hisbreast, and little by little everything became wrapped in gloom. 

He awoke in the early morning in his bedroom, and looked around him, nowclear-headed, in amazement. In its usual place on the strong table stoodthe great steel-hooped chest without lock or key. But it was now locked. He arose quietly and stole to the turret-room. There everything was asit had been on the previous evening. He looked out of the window wherehigh in air flew, as usual, the giant kite. He unlocked the wicket gateof the turret stair and went out on the roof. Close to him was the greatcoil of cord on its reel. It was humming in the morning breeze, and whenhe touched the string it sent a quick thrill through hand and arm. Therewas no sign anywhere that there had been any disturbance or displacementof anything during the night. 

Utterly bewildered, he sat down in his room to think. Now for the firsttime he _felt_ that he was asleep and dreaming. Presently he fell asleepagain, and slept for a long time. He awoke hungry and made a heartymeal. Then towards evening, having locked himself in, he fell asleepagain. When he woke he was in darkness, and was quite at sea as to hiswhereabouts. He began feeling about the dark room, and was recalled tothe consequences of his position by the breaking of a large piece ofglass. Having obtained a light, he discovered this to be a glass wheel, part of an elaborate piece of mechanism which he must in his sleep havetaken from the chest, which was now opened. He had once again opened itwhilst asleep, but he had no recollection of the circumstances. 

Caswall came to the conclusion that there had been some sort of dualaction of his mind, which might lead to some catastrophe or somediscovery of his secret plans; so he resolved to forgo for a while thepleasure of making discoveries regarding the chest. To this end, heapplied himself to quite another matter--an investigation of the othertreasures and rare objects in his collections. He went amongst them insimple, idle curiosity, his main object being to discover some strangeitem which he might use for experiment with the kite. He had alreadyresolved to try some runners other than those made of paper. He had avague idea that with such a force as the great kite straining at itsleash, this might be used to lift to the altitude of the kite itselfheavier articles. His first experiment with articles of little butincreasing weight was eminently successful. So he added by degrees moreand more weight, until he found out that the lifting power of the kitewas considerable. He then determined to take a step further, and send tothe kite some of the articles which lay in the steel-hooped chest. Thelast time he had opened it in sleep, it had not been shut again, and hehad inserted a wedge so that he could open it at will. He madeexamination of the contents, but came to the conclusion that the glassobjects were unsuitable. They were too light for testing weight, andthey were so frail as to be dangerous to send to such a height. 

So he looked around for something more solid with which to experiment. His eye caught sight of an object which at once attracted him. This wasa small copy of one of the ancient Egyptian gods--that of Bes, whorepresented the destructive power of nature. It was so bizarre andmysterious as to commend itself to his mad humour. In lifting it fromthe cabinet, he was struck by its great weight in proportion to its size. He made accurate examination of it by the aid of some instruments, andcame to the conclusion that it was carved from a lump of lodestone. Heremembered that he had read somewhere of an ancient Egyptian god cut froma similar substance, and, thinking it over, he came to the conclusionthat he must have read it in Sir Thomas Brown's _Popular Errors_, a bookof the seventeenth century. He got the book from the library, and lookedout the passage:

"A great example we have from the observation of our learned friend Mr. Graves, in an AEgyptian idol cut out of Loadstone and found among theMummies; which still retains its attraction, though probably taken out ofthe mine about two thousand years ago. "

The strangeness of the figure, and its being so close akin to his ownnature, attracted him. He made from thin wood a large circular runner, and in front of it placed the weighty god, sending it up to the flyingkite along the throbbing cord. 

CHAPTER XIII--OOLANGA'S HALLUCINATIONS

During the last few days Lady Arabella had been getting exceedinglyimpatient. Her debts, always pressing, were growing to an embarrassingamount. The only hope she had of comfort in life was a good marriage;but the good marriage on which she had fixed her eye did not seem to movequickly enough--indeed, it did not seem to move at all--in the rightdirection. Edgar Caswall was not an ardent wooer. From the very firsthe seemed _difficile_, but he had been keeping to his own room ever sincehis struggle with Mimi Watford. On that occasion Lady Arabella had shownhim in an unmistakable way what her feelings were; indeed, she had madeit known to him, in a more overt way than pride should allow, that shewished to help and support him. The moment when she had gone across theroom to stand beside him in his mesmeric struggle, had been the verylimit of her voluntary action. It was quite bitter enough, she felt, that he did not come to her, but now that she had made that advance, shefelt that any withdrawal on his part would, to a woman of her class, benothing less than a flaming insult. Had she not classed herself with hisnigger servant, an unreformed savage? Had she not shown her preferencefor him at the festival of his home-coming? Had she not . . . LadyArabella was cold-blooded, and she was prepared to go through all thatmight be necessary of indifference, and even insult, to become chatelaineof Castra Regis. In the meantime, she would show no hurry--she mustwait. She might, in an unostentatious way, come to him again. She knewhim now, and could make a keen guess at his desires with regard to LillaWatford. With that secret in her possession, she could bring pressure tobear on Caswall which would make it no easy matter for him to evade her. The great difficulty was how to get near him. He was shut up within hisCastle, and guarded by a defence of convention which she could not passwithout danger of ill repute to herself. Over this question she thoughtand thought for days and nights. At last she decided that the only waywould be to go to him openly at Castra Regis. Her rank and positionwould make such a thing possible, if carefully done. She could explainmatters afterwards if necessary. Then when they were alone, she woulduse her arts and her experience to make him commit himself. After all, he was only a man, with a man's dislike of difficult or awkwardsituations. She felt quite sufficient confidence in her own womanhood tocarry her through any difficulty which might arise. 

From Diana's Grove she heard each day the luncheon-gong from Castra Regissound, and knew the hour when the servants would be in the back of thehouse. She would enter the house at that hour, and, pretending that shecould not make anyone hear her, would seek him in his own rooms. Thetower was, she knew, away from all the usual sounds of the house, andmoreover she knew that the servants had strict orders not to interrupthim when he was in the turret chamber. She had found out, partly by theaid of an opera-glass and partly by judicious questioning, that severaltimes lately a heavy chest had been carried to and from his room, andthat it rested in the room each night. She was, therefore, confidentthat he had some important work on hand which would keep him busy forlong spells. 

Meanwhile, another member of the household at Castra Regis had schemeswhich he thought were working to fruition. A man in the position of aservant has plenty of opportunity of watching his betters and formingopinions regarding them. Oolanga was in his way a clever, unscrupulousrogue, and he felt that with things moving round him in this greathousehold there should be opportunities of self-advancement. Beingunscrupulous and stealthy--and a savage--he looked to dishonest means. Hesaw plainly enough that Lady Arabella was making a dead set at hismaster, and he was watchful of the slightest sign of anything which mightenhance this knowledge. Like the other men in the house, he knew of thecarrying to and fro of the great chest, and had got it into his head thatthe care exercised in its porterage indicated that it was full oftreasure. He was for ever lurking around the turret-rooms on the chanceof making some useful discovery. But he was as cautious as he wasstealthy, and took care that no one else watched him. 

It was thus that the negro became aware of Lady Arabella's venture intothe house, as she thought, unseen. He took more care than ever, since hewas watching another, that the positions were not reversed. More thanever he kept his eyes and ears open and his mouth shut. Seeing LadyArabella gliding up the stairs towards his master's room, he took it forgranted that she was there for no good, and doubled his watchingintentness and caution. 

Oolanga was disappointed, but he dared not exhibit any feeling lest itshould betray that he was hiding. Therefore he slunk downstairs againnoiselessly, and waited for a more favourable opportunity of furtheringhis plans. It must be borne in mind that he thought that the heavy trunkwas full of valuables, and that he believed that Lady Arabella had cometo try to steal it. His purpose of using for his own advantage thecombination of these two ideas was seen later in the day. Oolangasecretly followed her home. He was an expert at this game, and succeededadmirably on this occasion. He watched her enter the private gate ofDiana's Grove, and then, taking a roundabout course and keeping out ofher sight, he at last overtook her in a thick part of the Grove where noone could see the meeting. 

Lady Arabella was much surprised. She had not seen the negro for severaldays, and had almost forgotten his existence. Oolanga would have beenstartled had he known and been capable of understanding the real valueplaced on him, his beauty, his worthiness, by other persons, and comparedit with the value in these matters in which he held himself. DoubtlessOolanga had his dreams like other men. In such cases he saw himself as ayoung sun-god, as beautiful as the eye of dusky or even white womanhoodhad ever dwelt upon. He would have been filled with all noble andcaptivating qualities--or those regarded as such in West Africa. Womenwould have loved him, and would have told him so in the overt and fervidmanner usual in affairs of the heart in the shadowy depths of the forestof the Gold Coast. 

Oolanga came close behind Lady Arabella, and in a hushed voice, suitableto the importance of his task, and in deference to the respect he had forher and the place, began to unfold the story of his love. Lady Arabellawas not usually a humorous person, but no man or woman of the white racecould have checked the laughter which rose spontaneously to her lips. Thecircumstances were too grotesque, the contrast too violent, for subduedmirth. The man a debased specimen of one of the most primitive races ofthe earth, and of an ugliness which was simply devilish; the woman ofhigh degree, beautiful, accomplished. She thought that her firstmoment's consideration of the outrage--it was nothing less in hereyes--had given her the full material for thought. But every instantafter threw new and varied lights on the affront. Her indignation wastoo great for passion; only irony or satire would meet the situation. Hercold, cruel nature helped, and she did not shrink to subject thisignorant savage to the merciless fire-lash of her scorn. 

Oolanga was dimly conscious that he was being flouted; but his anger wasno less keen because of the measure of his ignorance. So he gave way toit, as does a tortured beast. He ground his great teeth together, raved, stamped, and swore in barbarous tongues and with barbarous imagery. EvenLady Arabella felt that it was well she was within reach of help, or hemight have offered her brutal violence--even have killed her. 

"Am I to understand, " she said with cold disdain, so much more effectiveto wound than hot passion, "that you are offering me your love?Your--love?"

For reply he nodded his head. The scorn of her voice, in a sort ofbaleful hiss, sounded--and felt--like the lash of a whip. 

"And you dared! you--a savage--a slave--the basest thing in the world ofvermin! Take care! I don't value your worthless life more than I dothat of a rat or a spider. Don't let me ever see your hideous face hereagain, or I shall rid the earth of you. "

As she was speaking, she had taken out her revolver and was pointing itat him. In the immediate presence of death his impudence forsook him, and he made a weak effort to justify himself. His speech was short, consisting of single words. To Lady Arabella it sounded mere gibberish, but it was in his own dialect, and meant love, marriage, wife. From theintonation of the words, she guessed, with her woman's quick intuition, at their meaning; but she quite failed to follow, when, becoming morepressing, he continued to urge his suit in a mixture of the grossestanimal passion and ridiculous threats. He warned her that he knew shehad tried to steal his master's treasure, and that he had caught her inthe act. But if she would be his, he would share the treasure with her, and they could live in luxury in the African forests. But if sherefused, he would tell his master, who would flog and torture her andthen give her to the police, who would kill her. 

CHAPTER XIV--BATTLE RENEWED

The consequences of that meeting in the dusk of Diana's Grove were acuteand far-reaching, and not only to the two engaged in it. From Oolanga, this might have been expected by anyone who knew the character of thetropical African savage. To such, there are two passions that areinexhaustible and insatiable--vanity and that which they are pleased tocall love. Oolanga left the Grove with an absorbing hatred in his heart. His lust and greed were afire, while his vanity had been wounded to thecore. Lady Arabella's icy nature was not so deeply stirred, though shewas in a seething passion. More than ever she was set upon bringingEdgar Caswall to her feet. The obstacles she had encountered, theinsults she had endured, were only as fuel to the purpose of revengewhich consumed her. 

As she sought her own rooms in Diana's Grove, she went over the wholesubject again and again, always finding in the face of Lilla Watford akey to a problem which puzzled her--the problem of a way to turnCaswall's powers--his very existence--to aid her purpose. 

When in her boudoir, she wrote a note, taking so much trouble over itthat she destroyed, and rewrote, till her dainty waste-basket was half-full of torn sheets of notepaper. When quite satisfied, she copied outthe last sheet afresh, and then carefully burned all the spoiledfragments. She put the copied note in an emblazoned envelope, anddirected it to Edgar Caswall at Castra Regis. This she sent off by oneof her grooms. The letter ran:

 "DEAR MR. CASWALL, "I want to have a chat with you on a subject in which I believe you are interested. Will you kindly call for me one day after lunch--say at three or four o'clock, and we can walk a little way together. Only as far as Mercy Farm, where I want to see Lilla and Mimi Watford. We can take a cup of tea at the Farm. Do not bring your African servant with you, as I am afraid his face frightens the girls. After all, he is not pretty, is he? I have an idea you will be pleased with your visit this time. 

 "Yours sincerely, "ARABELLA MARCH. "

At half-past three next day, Edgar Caswall called at Diana's Grove. LadyArabella met him on the roadway outside the gate. She wished to take theservants into her confidence as little as possible. She turned when shesaw him coming, and walked beside him towards Mercy Farm, keeping stepwith him as they walked. When they got near Mercy, she turned and lookedaround her, expecting to see Oolanga or some sign of him. He was, however, not visible. He had received from his master peremptory ordersto keep out of sight--an order for which the African scored a new offenceup against her. They found Lilla and Mimi at home and seemingly glad tosee them, though both the girls were surprised at the visit coming sosoon after the other. 

The proceedings were a repetition of the battle of souls of the formervisit. On this occasion, however, Edgar Caswall had only the presence ofLady Arabella to support him--Oolanga being absent; but Mimi lacked thesupport of Adam Salton, which had been of such effective service before. This time the struggle for supremacy of will was longer and moredetermined. Caswall felt that if he could not achieve supremacy he hadbetter give up the idea, so all his pride was enlisted against Mimi. Whenthey had been waiting for the door to be opened, Lady Arabella, believingin a sudden attack, had said to him in a low voice, which somehow carriedconviction:

"This time you should win. Mimi is, after all, only a woman. Show herno mercy. That is weakness. Fight her, beat her, trample on her--killher if need be. She stands in your way, and I hate her. Never take youreyes off her. Never mind Lilla--she is afraid of you. You are alreadyher master. Mimi will try to make you look at her cousin. There liesdefeat. Let nothing take your attention from Mimi, and you will win. Ifshe is overcoming you, take my hand and hold it hard whilst you arelooking into her eyes. If she is too strong for you, I shall interfere. I'll make a diversion, and under cover of it you must retire unbeaten, even if not victorious. Hush! they are coming. "

The two girls came to the door together. Strange sounds were coming upover the Brow from the west. It was the rustling and crackling of thedry reeds and rushes from the low lands. The season had been anunusually dry one. Also the strong east wind was helping forwardenormous flocks of birds, most of them pigeons with white cowls. Notonly were their wings whirring, but their cooing was plainly audible. From such a multitude of birds the mass of sound, individually small, assumed the volume of a storm. Surprised at the influx of birds, towhich they had been strangers so long, they all looked towards CastraRegis, from whose high tower the great kite had been flying as usual. Buteven as they looked, the cord broke, and the great kite fell headlong ina series of sweeping dives. Its own weight, and the aerial force opposedto it, which caused it to rise, combined with the strong easterly breeze, had been too much for the great length of cord holding it. 

Somehow, the mishap to the kite gave new hope to Mimi. It was as thoughthe side issues had been shorn away, so that the main struggle wasthenceforth on simpler lines. She had a feeling in her heart, as thoughsome religious chord had been newly touched. It may, of course, havebeen that with the renewal of the bird voices a fresh courage, a freshbelief in the good issue of the struggle came too. In the misery ofsilence, from which they had all suffered for so long, any new train ofthought was almost bound to be a boon. As the inrush of birds continued, their wings beating against the crackling rushes, Lady Arabella grewpale, and almost fainted. 

"What is that?" she asked suddenly. 

To Mimi, born and bred in Siam, the sound was strangely like anexaggeration of the sound produced by a snake-charmer. 

Edgar Caswall was the first to recover from the interruption of thefalling kite. After a few minutes he seemed to have quite recovered his_sang froid_, and was able to use his brains to the end which he had inview. Mimi too quickly recovered herself, but from a different cause. With her it was a deep religious conviction that the struggle round herwas of the powers of Good and Evil, and that Good was triumphing. Thevery appearance of the snowy birds, with the cowls of Saint Columba, heightened the impression. With this conviction strong upon her, shecontinued the strange battle with fresh vigour. She seemed to tower overCaswall, and he to give back before her oncoming. Once again hervigorous passes drove him to the door. He was just going out backwardwhen Lady Arabella, who had been gazing at him with fixed eyes, caughthis hand and tried to stop his movement. She was, however, unable to doany good, and so, holding hands, they passed out together. As they didso, the strange music which had so alarmed Lady Arabella suddenlystopped. Instinctively they all looked towards the tower of CastraRegis, and saw that the workmen had refixed the kite, which had risenagain and was beginning to float out to its former station. 

As they were looking, the door opened and Michael Watford came into theroom. By that time all had recovered their self-possession, and therewas nothing out of the common to attract his attention. As he came in, seeing inquiring looks all around him, he said:

"The new influx of birds is only the annual migration of pigeons fromAfrica. I am told that it will soon be over. "

The second victory of Mimi Watford made Edgar Caswall more moody thanever. He felt thrown back on himself, and this, added to his absorbinginterest in the hope of a victory of his mesmeric powers, became a deepand settled purpose of revenge. The chief object of his animosity was, of course, Mimi, whose will had overcome his, but it was obscured ingreater or lesser degree by all who had opposed him. Lilla was next toMimi in his hate--Lilla, the harmless, tender-hearted, sweet-naturedgirl, whose heart was so full of love for all things that in it was noroom for the passions of ordinary life--whose nature resembled thosedoves of St. Columba, whose colour she wore, whose appearance shereflected. Adam Salton came next--after a gap; for against him Caswallhad no direct animosity. He regarded him as an interference, adifficulty to be got rid of or destroyed. The young Australian had beenso discreet that the most he had against him was his knowledge of whathad been. Caswall did not understand him, and to such a nature as his, ignorance was a cause of alarm, of dread. 

Caswall resumed his habit of watching the great kite straining at itscord, varying his vigils in this way by a further examination of themysterious treasures of his house, especially Mesmer's chest. He satmuch on the roof of the tower, brooding over his thwarted passion. Thevast extent of his possessions, visible to him at that altitude, might, one would have thought, have restored some of his complacency. But thevery extent of his ownership, thus perpetually brought before him, created a fresh sense of grievance. How was it, he thought, that with somuch at command that others wished for, he could not achieve the dearestwishes of his heart?

In this state of intellectual and moral depravity, he found a solace inthe renewal of his experiments with the mechanical powers of the kite. For a couple of weeks he did not see Lady Arabella, who was always on thewatch for a chance of meeting him; neither did he see the Watford girls, who studiously kept out of his way. Adam Salton simply marked time, keeping ready to deal with anything that might affect his friends. Hecalled at the farm and heard from Mimi of the last battle of wills, butit had only one consequence. He got from Ross several more mongooses, including a second king-cobra-killer, which he generally carried with himin its box whenever he walked out. 

Mr. Caswall's experiments with the kite went on successfully. Each dayhe tried the lifting of greater weight, and it seemed almost as if themachine had a sentience of its own, which was increasing with theobstacles placed before it. All this time the kite hung in the sky at anenormous height. The wind was steadily from the north, so the trend ofthe kite was to the south. All day long, runners of increasing magnitudewere sent up. These were only of paper or thin cardboard, or leather, orother flexible materials. The great height at which the kite hung made agreat concave curve in the string, so that as the runners went up theymade a flapping sound. If one laid a finger on the string, the soundanswered to the flapping of the runner in a sort of hollow intermittentmurmur. Edgar Caswall, who was now wholly obsessed by the kite and allbelonging to it, found a distinct resemblance between that intermittentrumble and the snake-charming music produced by the pigeons flyingthrough the dry reeds. 

One day he made a discovery in Mesmer's chest which he thought he wouldutilise with regard to the runners. This was a great length of wire, "fine as human hair, " coiled round a finely made wheel, which ran to awondrous distance freely, and as lightly. He tried this on runners, andfound it work admirably. Whether the runner was alone, or carriedsomething much more weighty than itself, it worked equally well. Also itwas strong enough and light enough to draw back the runner without unduestrain. He tried this a good many times successfully, but it was nowgrowing dusk and he found some difficulty in keeping the runner in sight. So he looked for something heavy enough to keep it still. He placed theEgyptian image of Bes on the fine wire, which crossed the wooden ledgewhich protected it. Then, the darkness growing, he went indoors andforgot all about it. 

He had a strange feeling of uneasiness that night--not sleeplessness, forhe seemed conscious of being asleep. At daylight he rose, and as usuallooked out for the kite. He did not see it in its usual position in thesky, so looked round the points of the compass. He was more thanastonished when presently he saw the missing kite struggling as usualagainst the controlling cord. But it had gone to the further side of thetower, and now hung and strained _against the wind_ to the north. Hethought it so strange that he determined to investigate the phenomenon, and to say nothing about it in the meantime. 

In his many travels, Edgar Caswall had been accustomed to use thesextant, and was now an expert in the matter. By the aid of this andother instruments, he was able to fix the position of the kite and thepoint over which it hung. He was startled to find that exactly underit--so far as he could ascertain--was Diana's Grove. He had aninclination to take Lady Arabella into his confidence in the matter, buthe thought better of it and wisely refrained. For some reason which hedid not try to explain to himself, he was glad of his silence, when, onthe following morning, he found, on looking out, that the point overwhich the kite then hovered was Mercy Farm. When he had verified thiswith his instruments, he sat before the window of the tower, looking outand thinking. The new locality was more to his liking than the other;but the why of it puzzled him, all the same. He spent the rest of theday in the turret-room, which he did not leave all day. It seemed to himthat he was now drawn by forces which he could not control--of which, indeed, he had no knowledge--in directions which he did not understand, and which were without his own volition. In sheer helpless inability tothink the problem out satisfactorily, he called up a servant and told himto tell Oolanga that he wanted to see him at once in the turret-room. Theanswer came back that the African had not been seen since the previousevening. 

Caswall was now so irritable that even this small thing upset him. As hewas distrait and wanted to talk to somebody, he sent for Simon Chester, who came at once, breathless with hurrying and upset by the unexpectedsummons. Caswall bade him sit down, and when the old man was in a lessuneasy frame of mind, he again asked him if he had ever seen what was inMesmer's chest or heard it spoken about. 

Chester admitted that he had once, in the time of "the then Mr. Edgar, "seen the chest open, which, knowing something of its history and guessingmore, so upset him that he had fainted. When he recovered, the chest wasclosed. From that time the then Mr. Edgar had never spoken about itagain. 

When Caswall asked him to describe what he had seen when the chest wasopen, he got very agitated, and, despite all his efforts to remain calm, he suddenly went off into a faint. Caswall summoned servants, whoapplied the usual remedies. Still the old man did not recover. Afterthe lapse of a considerable time, the doctor who had been summoned madehis appearance. A glance was sufficient for him to make up his mind. Still, he knelt down by the old man, and made a careful examination. Thenhe rose to his feet, and in a hushed voice said:

"I grieve to say, sir, that he has passed away. "

CHAPTER XV--ON THE TRACK

Those who had seen Edgar Caswall familiarly since his arrival, and hadalready estimated his cold-blooded nature at something of its true value, were surprised that he took so to heart the death of old Chester. Thefact was that not one of them had guessed correctly at his character. They thought, naturally enough, that the concern which he felt was thatof a master for a faithful old servant of his family. They littlethought that it was merely the selfish expression of his disappointment, that he had thus lost the only remaining clue to an interesting piece offamily history--one which was now and would be for ever wrapped inmystery. Caswall knew enough about the life of his ancestor in Paris towish to know more fully and more thoroughly all that had been. Theperiod covered by that ancestor's life in Paris was one inviting everyform of curiosity. 

Lady Arabella, who had her own game to play, saw in the _metier_ ofsympathetic friend, a series of meetings with the man she wanted tosecure. She made the first use of the opportunity the day after oldChester's death; indeed, as soon as the news had filtered in through theback door of Diana's Grove. At that meeting, she played her part so wellthat even Caswall's cold nature was impressed. 

Oolanga was the only one who did not credit her with at least some senseof fine feeling in the matter. In emotional, as in other matters, Oolanga was distinctly a utilitarian, and as he could not understandanyone feeling grief except for his own suffering, pain, or for the lossof money, he could not understand anyone simulating such an emotionexcept for show intended to deceive. He thought that she had come toCastra Regis again for the opportunity of stealing something, and wasdetermined that on this occasion the chance of pressing his advantageover her should not pass. He felt, therefore, that the occasion was onefor extra carefulness in the watching of all that went on. Ever since hehad come to the conclusion that Lady Arabella was trying to steal thetreasure-chest, he suspected nearly everyone of the same design, and madeit a point to watch all suspicious persons and places. As Adam wasengaged on his own researches regarding Lady Arabella, it was onlynatural that there should be some crossing of each other's tracks. Thisis what did actually happen. 

Adam had gone for an early morning survey of the place in which he wasinterested, taking with him the mongoose in its box. He arrived at thegate of Diana's Grove just as Lady Arabella was preparing to set out forCastra Regis on what she considered her mission of comfort. Seeing Adamfrom her window going through the shadows of the trees round the gate, she thought that he must be engaged on some purpose similar to her own. So, quickly making her toilet, she quietly left the house, and, takingadvantage of every shadow and substance which could hide her, followedhim on his walk. 

Oolanga, the experienced tracker, followed her, but succeeded in hidinghis movements better than she did. He saw that Adam had on his shouldera mysterious box, which he took to contain something valuable. Seeingthat Lady Arabella was secretly following Adam, he was confirmed in thisidea. His mind--such as it was--was fixed on her trying to steal, and hecredited her at once with making use of this new opportunity. 

In his walk, Adam went into the grounds of Castra Regis, and Oolanga sawher follow him with great secrecy. He feared to go closer, as now onboth sides of him were enemies who might make discovery. When herealised that Lady Arabella was bound for the Castle, he devoted himselfto following her with singleness of purpose. He therefore missed seeingthat Adam branched off the track and returned to the high road. 

That night Edgar Caswall had slept badly. The tragic occurrence of theday was on his mind, and he kept waking and thinking of it. After anearly breakfast, he sat at the open window watching the kite and thinkingof many things. From his room he could see all round the neighbourhood, but the two places that interested him most were Mercy Farm and Diana'sGrove. At first the movements about those spots were of a humblekind--those that belong to domestic service or agricultural needs--theopening of doors and windows, the sweeping and brushing, and generallythe restoration of habitual order. 

From his high window--whose height made it a screen from the observationof others--he saw the chain of watchers move into his own grounds, andthen presently break up--Adam Salton going one way, and Lady Arabella, followed by the nigger, another. Then Oolanga disappeared amongst thetrees; but Caswall could see that he was still watching. Lady Arabella, after looking around her, slipped in by the open door, and he could, ofcourse, see her no longer. 

Presently, however, he heard a light tap at his door, then the dooropened slowly, and he could see the flash of Lady Arabella's white dressthrough the opening. 

CHAPTER XVI--A VISIT OF SYMPATHY

Caswall was genuinely surprised when he saw Lady Arabella, though he neednot have been, after what had already occurred in the same way. The lookof surprise on his face was so much greater than Lady Arabella hadexpected--though she thought she was prepared to meet anything that mightoccur--that she stood still, in sheer amazement. Cold-blooded as she wasand ready for all social emergencies, she was nonplussed how to go on. She was plucky, however, and began to speak at once, although she had notthe slightest idea what she was going to say. 

"I came to offer you my very warm sympathy with the grief you have solately experienced. "

"My grief? I'm afraid I must be very dull; but I really do notunderstand. "

Already she felt at a disadvantage, and hesitated. 

"I mean about the old man who died so suddenly--your old . . . Retainer. "

Caswall's face relaxed something of its puzzled concentration. 

"Oh, he was only a servant; and he had over-stayed his three-score andten years by something like twenty years. He must have been ninety!"

"Still, as an old servant . . . "

Caswall's words were not so cold as their inflection. 

"I never interfere with servants. He was kept on here merely because hehad been so long on the premises. I suppose the steward thought it mightmake him unpopular if the old fellow had been dismissed. "

How on earth was she to proceed on such a task as hers if this was theutmost geniality she could expect? So she at once tried anothertack--this time a personal one. 

"I am sorry I disturbed you. I am really not unconventional--thoughcertainly no slave to convention. Still there are limits . . . It is badenough to intrude in this way, and I do not know what you can say orthink of the time selected, for the intrusion. "

After all, Edgar Caswall was a gentleman by custom and habit, so he roseto the occasion. 

"I can only say, Lady Arabella, that you are always welcome at any timeyou may deign to honour my house with your presence. "

She smiled at him sweetly. 

"Thank you _so_ much. You _do_ put one at ease. My breach of conventionmakes me glad rather than sorry. I feel that I can open my heart to youabout anything. "

Forthwith she proceeded to tell him about Oolanga and his strangesuspicions of her honesty. Caswall laughed and made her explain all thedetails. His final comment was enlightening. 

"Let me give you a word of advice: If you have the slightest fault tofind with that infernal nigger, shoot him at sight. A swelled-headednigger, with a bee in his bonnet, is one of the worst difficulties in theworld to deal with. So better make a clean job of it, and wipe him outat once!"

"But what about the law, Mr. Caswall?"

"Oh, the law doesn't concern itself much about dead niggers. A few moreor less do not matter. To my mind it's rather a relief!"

"I'm afraid of you, " was her only comment, made with a sweet smile and ina soft voice. 

"All right, " he said, "let us leave it at that. Anyhow, we shall be ridof one of them!"

"I don't love niggers any more than you do, " she replied, "and I supposeone mustn't be too particular where that sort of cleaning up isconcerned. " Then she changed in voice and manner, and asked genially:"And now tell me, am I forgiven?"

"You are, dear lady--if there is anything to forgive. "

As he spoke, seeing that she had moved to go, he came to the door withher, and in the most natural way accompanied her downstairs. He passedthrough the hall with her and down the avenue. As he went back to thehouse, she smiled to herself. 

"Well, that is all right. I don't think the morning has been altogetherthrown away. "

And she walked slowly back to Diana's Grove. 

Adam Salton followed the line of the Brow, and refreshed his memory as tothe various localities. He got home to Lesser Hill just as Sir Nathanielwas beginning lunch. Mr. Salton had gone to Walsall to keep an earlyappointment; so he was all alone. When the meal was over--seeing inAdam's face that he had something to speak about--he followed into thestudy and shut the door. 

When the two men had lighted their pipes, Sir Nathaniel began. 

"I have remembered an interesting fact about Diana's Grove--there is, Ihave long understood, some strange mystery about that house. It may beof some interest, or it may be trivial, in such a tangled skein as we aretrying to unravel. "

"Please tell me all you know' or suspect. To begin, then, of what sortis the mystery--physical, mental, moral, historical, scientific, occult?Any kind of hint will help me. "

"Quite right. I shall try to tell you what I think; but I have not putmy thoughts on the subject in sequence, so you must forgive me if dueorder is not observed in my narration. I suppose you have seen the houseat Diana's Grove?"

"The outside of it; but I have that in my mind's eye, and I can fit intomy memory whatever you may mention. "

"The house is very old--probably the first house of some sort that stoodthere was in the time of the Romans. This was probably renewed--perhapsseveral times at later periods. The house stands, or, rather, used tostand here when Mercia was a kingdom--I do not suppose that the basementcan be later than the Norman Conquest. Some years ago, when I wasPresident of the Mercian Archaeological Society, I went all over it verycarefully. This was when it was purchased by Captain March. The househad then been done up, so as to be suitable for the bride. The basementis very strong, --almost as strong and as heavy as if it had been intendedas a fortress. There are a whole series of rooms deep underground. Oneof them in particular struck me. The room itself is of considerablesize, but the masonry is more than massive. In the middle of the room isa sunk well, built up to floor level and evidently going deepunderground. There is no windlass nor any trace of there ever havingbeen any--no rope--nothing. Now, we know that the Romans had wells ofimmense depth, from which the water was lifted by the 'old rag rope';that at Woodhull used to be nearly a thousand feet. Here, then, we havesimply an enormously deep well-hole. The door of the room was massive, and was fastened with a lock nearly a foot square. It was evidentlyintended for some kind of protection to someone or something; but no onein those days had ever heard of anyone having been allowed even to seethe room. All this is _a propos_ of a suggestion on my part that thewell-hole was a way by which the White Worm (whatever it was) went andcame. At that time I would have had a search made--even excavation ifnecessary--at my own expense, but all suggestions were met with a promptand explicit negative. So, of course, I took no further step in thematter. Then it died out of recollection--even of mine. "

"Do you remember, sir, " asked Adam, "what was the appearance of the roomwhere the well-hole was? Was there furniture--in fact, any sort of thingin the room?"

"The only thing I remember was a sort of green light--very clouded, verydim--which came up from the well. Not a fixed light, but intermittentand irregular--quite unlike anything I had ever seen. "

"Do you remember how you got into the well-room? Was there a separatedoor from outside, or was there any interior room or passage which openedinto it?"

"I think there must have been some room with a way into it. I remembergoing up some steep steps; they must have been worn smooth by long use orsomething of the kind, for I could hardly keep my feet as I went up. OnceI stumbled and nearly fell into the well-hole. "

"Was there anything strange about the place--any queer smell, forinstance?"

"Queer smell--yes! Like bilge or a rank swamp. It was distinctlynauseating; when I came out I felt as if I had just been going to besick. I shall try back on my visit and see if I can recall any more ofwhat I saw or felt. "

"Then perhaps, sir, later in the day you will tell me anything you maychance to recollect. "

"I shall be delighted, Adam. If your uncle has not returned by then, I'll join you in the study after dinner, and we can resume thisinteresting chat. "

CHAPTER XVII--THE MYSTERY OF "THE GROVE"

That afternoon Adam decided to do a little exploring. As he passedthrough the wood outside the gate of Diana's Grove, he thought he saw theAfrican's face for an instant. So he went deeper into the undergrowth, and followed along parallel to the avenue to the house. He was glad thatthere was no workman or servant about, for he did not care that any ofLady Arabella's people should find him wandering about her grounds. Taking advantage of the denseness of the trees, he came close to thehouse and skirted round it. He was repaid for his trouble, for on thefar side of the house, close to where the rocky frontage of the clifffell away, he saw Oolanga crouched behind the irregular trunk of a greatoak. The man was so intent on watching someone, or something, that hedid not guard against being himself watched. This suited Adam, for hecould thus make scrutiny at will. 

The thick wood, though the trees were mostly of small girth, threw aheavy shadow, so that the steep declension, in front of which grew thetree behind which the African lurked, was almost in darkness. Adam drewas close as he could, and was amazed to see a patch of light on theground before him; when he realised what it was, he was determined, morethan ever to follow on his quest. The nigger had a dark lantern in hishand, and was throwing the light down the steep incline. The glareshowed a series of stone steps, which ended in a low-lying heavy irondoor fixed against the side of the house. All the strange things he hadheard from Sir Nathaniel, and all those, little and big, which he hadhimself noticed, crowded into his mind in a chaotic way. Instinctivelyhe took refuge behind a thick oak stem, and set himself down, to watchwhat might occur. 

After a short time it became apparent that the African was trying to findout what was behind the heavy door. There was no way of looking in, forthe door fitted tight into the massive stone slabs. The only opportunityfor the entrance of light was through a small hole between the greatstones above the door. This hole was too high up to look through fromthe ground level. Oolanga, having tried standing tiptoe on the highestpoint near, and holding the lantern as high as he could, threw the lightround the edges of the door to see if he could find anywhere a hole or aflaw in the metal through which he could obtain a glimpse. Foiled inthis, he brought from the shrubbery a plank, which he leant against thetop of the door and then climbed up with great dexterity. This did notbring him near enough to the window-hole to look in, or even to throw thelight of the lantern through it, so he climbed down and carried the plankback to the place from which he had got it. Then he concealed himselfnear the iron door and waited, manifestly with the intent of remainingthere till someone came near. Presently Lady Arabella, movingnoiselessly through the shade, approached the door. When he saw herclose enough to touch it, Oolanga stepped forward from his concealment, and spoke in a whisper, which through the gloom sounded like a hiss. 

"I want to see you, missy--soon and secret. "

"What do you want?"

"You know well, missy; I told you already. "

She turned on him with blazing eyes, the green tint in them glowing likeemeralds. 

"Come, none of that. If there is anything sensible which you wish to sayto me, you can see me here, just where we are, at seven o'clock. "

He made no reply in words, but, putting the backs of his hands together, bent lower and lower till his forehead touched the earth. Then he roseand went slowly away. 

Adam Salton, from his hiding-place, saw and wondered. In a few minuteshe moved from his place and went home to Lesser Hill, fully determinedthat seven o'clock would find him in some hidden place behind Diana'sGrove. 

At a little before seven Adam stole softly out of the house and took theback-way to the rear of Diana's Grove. The place seemed silent anddeserted, so he took the opportunity of concealing himself near the spotwhence he had seen Oolanga trying to investigate whatever was concealedbehind the iron door. He waited, perfectly still, and at last saw agleam of white passing soundlessly through the undergrowth. He was notsurprised when he recognised the colour of Lady Arabella's dress. Shecame close and waited, with her face to the iron door. From some placeof concealment near at hand Oolanga appeared, and came close to her. Adamnoticed, with surprised amusement, that over his shoulder was the boxwith the mongoose. Of course the African did not know that he was seenby anyone, least of all by the man whose property he had with him. 

Silent-footed as he was, Lady Arabella heard him coming, and turned tomeet him. It was somewhat hard to see in the gloom, for, as usual, hewas all in black, only his collar and cuffs showing white. Lady Arabellaopened the conversation which ensued between the two. 

"What do you want? To rob me, or murder me?"

"No, to lub you!"

This frightened her a little, and she tried to change the tone. 

"Is that a coffin you have with you? If so, you are wasting your time. It would not hold me. "

When a nigger suspects he is being laughed at, all the ferocity of hisnature comes to the front; and this man was of the lowest kind. 

"Dis ain't no coffin for nobody. Dis box is for you. Somefin you lub. Me give him to you!"

Still anxious to keep off the subject of affection, on which she believedhim to have become crazed, she made another effort to keep his mindelsewhere. 

"Is this why you want to see me?" He nodded. "Then come round to theother door. But be quiet. I have no desire to be seen so close to myown house in conversation with a--a--a nigger like you!"

She had chosen the word deliberately. She wished to meet his passionwith another kind. Such would, at all events, help to keep him quiet. Inthe deep gloom she could not see the anger which suffused his face. Rolling eyeballs and grinding teeth are, however, sufficient signs ofanger to be decipherable in the dark. She moved round the corner of thehouse to her right. Oolanga was following her, when she stopped him byraising her hand. 

"No, not that door, " she said; "that is not for niggers. The other doorwill do well enough for you!"

Lady Arabella took in her hand a small key which hung at the end of herwatch-chain, and moved to a small door, low down, round the corner, and alittle downhill from the edge of the Brow. Oolanga, in obedience to hergesture, went back to the iron door. Adam looked carefully at themongoose box as the African went by, and was glad to see that it wasintact. Unconsciously, as he looked, he fingered the key that was in hiswaistcoat pocket. When Oolanga was out of sight, Adam hurried after LadyArabella. 

CHAPTER XVIII--EXIT OOLANGA

The woman turned sharply as Adam touched her shoulder. 

"One moment whilst we are alone. You had better not trust that nigger!"he whispered. 

Her answer was crisp and concise:

"I don't. "

"Forewarned is forearmed. Tell me if you will--it is for your ownprotection. Why do you mistrust him?"

"My friend, you have no idea of that man's impudence. Would you believethat he wants me to marry him?"

"No!" said Adam incredulously, amused in spite of himself. 

"Yes, and wanted to bribe me to do it by sharing a chest of treasure--atleast, he thought it was--stolen from Mr. Caswall. Why do you distrusthim, Mr. Salton?"

"Did you notice that box he had slung on his shoulder? That belongs tome. I left it in the gun-room when I went to lunch. He must have creptin and stolen it. Doubtless he thinks that it, too, is full oftreasure. "

"He does!"

"How on earth do you know?" asked Adam. 

"A little while ago he offered to give it to me--another bribe to accepthim. Faugh! I am ashamed to tell you such a thing. The beast!"

Whilst they had been speaking, she had opened the door, a narrow ironone, well hung, for it opened easily and closed tightly without anycreaking or sound of any kind. Within all was dark; but she entered asfreely and with as little misgiving or restraint as if it had been broaddaylight. For Adam, there was just sufficient green light from somewherefor him to see that there was a broad flight of heavy stone steps leadingupward; but Lady Arabella, after shutting the door behind her, when itclosed tightly without a clang, tripped up the steps lightly and swiftly. For an instant all was dark, but there came again the faint green lightwhich enabled him to see the outlines of things. Another iron door, narrow like the first and fairly high, led into another large room, thewalls of which were of massive stones, so closely joined together as toexhibit only one smooth surface. This presented the appearance of havingat one time been polished. On the far side, also smooth like the walls, was the reverse of a wide, but not high, iron door. Here there was alittle more light, for the high-up aperture over the door opened to theair. 

Lady Arabella took from her girdle another small key, which she insertedin a keyhole in the centre of a massive lock. The great bolt seemedwonderfully hung, for the moment the small key was turned, the bolts ofthe great lock moved noiselessly and the iron doors swung open. On thestone steps outside stood Oolanga, with the mongoose box slung over hisshoulder. Lady Arabella stood a little on one side, and the African, accepting the movement as an invitation, entered in an obsequious way. The moment, however, that he was inside, he gave a quick look around him. 

"Much death here--big death. Many deaths. Good, good!"

He sniffed round as if he was enjoying the scent. The matter and mannerof his speech were so revolting that instinctively Adam's hand wanderedto his revolver, and, with his finger on the trigger, he rested satisfiedthat he was ready for any emergency. 

There was certainly opportunity for the nigger's enjoyment, for the openwell-hole was almost under his nose, sending up such a stench as almostmade Adam sick, though Lady Arabella seemed not to mind it at all. Itwas like nothing that Adam had ever met with. He compared it with allthe noxious experiences he had ever had--the drainage of war hospitals, of slaughter-houses, the refuse of dissecting rooms. None of these waslike it, though it had something of them all, with, added, the sournessof chemical waste and the poisonous effluvium of the bilge of a water-logged ship whereon a multitude of rats had been drowned. 

Then, quite unexpectedly, the negro noticed the presence of a thirdperson--Adam Salton! He pulled out a pistol and shot at him, happilymissing. Adam was himself usually a quick shot, but this time his mindhad been on something else and he was not ready. However, he was quickto carry out an intention, and he was not a coward. In another momentboth men were in grips. Beside them was the dark well-hole, with thathorrid effluvium stealing up from its mysterious depths. 

Adam and Oolanga both had pistols; Lady Arabella, who had not one, wasprobably the most ready of them all in the theory of shooting, but thatbeing impossible, she made her effort in another way. Gliding forward, she tried to seize the African; but he eluded her grasp, just missing, indoing so, falling into the mysterious hole. As he swayed back to firmfoothold, he turned his own gun on her and shot. Instinctively Adamleaped at his assailant; clutching at each other, they tottered on thevery brink. 

Lady Arabella's anger, now fully awake, was all for Oolanga. She movedtowards him with her hands extended, and had just seized him when thecatch of the locked box--due to some movement from within--flew open, andthe king-cobra-killer flew at her with a venomous fury impossible todescribe. As it seized her throat, she caught hold of it, and, with afury superior to its own, tore it in two just as if it had been a sheetof paper. The strength used for such an act must have been terrific. Inan instant, it seemed to spout blood and entrails, and was hurled intothe well-hole. In another instant she had seized Oolanga, and with aswift rush had drawn him, her white arms encircling him, down with herinto the gaping aperture. 

Adam saw a medley of green and red lights blaze in a whirling circle, andas it sank down into the well, a pair of blazing green eyes became fixed, sank lower and lower with frightful rapidity, and disappeared, throwingupward the green light which grew more and more vivid every moment. Asthe light sank into the noisome depths, there came a shriek which chilledAdam's blood--a prolonged agony of pain and terror which seemed to haveno end. 

Adam Salton felt that he would never be able to free his mind from thememory of those dreadful moments. The gloom which surrounded thathorrible charnel pit, which seemed to go down to the very bowels of theearth, conveyed from far down the sights and sounds of the nethermosthell. The ghastly fate of the African as he sank down to his terribledoom, his black face growing grey with terror, his white eyeballs, nowlike veined bloodstone, rolling in the helpless extremity of fear. Themysterious green light was in itself a milieu of horror. And through itall the awful cry came up from that fathomless pit, whose entrance wasflooded with spots of fresh blood. Even the death of the fearless littlesnake-killer--so fierce, so frightful, as if stained with a ferocitywhich told of no living force above earth, but only of the devils of thepit--was only an incident. Adam was in a state of intellectual tumult, which had no parallel in his experience. He tried to rush away from thehorrible place; even the baleful green light, thrown up through thegloomy well-shaft, was dying away as its source sank deeper into theprimeval ooze. The darkness was closing in on him in overwhelmingdensity--darkness in such a place and with such a memory of it!

He made a wild rush forward--slipt on the steps in some sticky, acrid-smelling mass that felt and smelt like blood, and, falling forward, felthis way into the inner room, where the well-shaft was not. 

Then he rubbed his eyes in sheer amazement. Up the stone steps from thenarrow door by which he had entered, glided the white-clad figure of LadyArabella, the only colour to be seen on her being blood-marks on her faceand hands and throat. Otherwise, she was calm and unruffled, as whenearlier she stood aside for him to pass in through the narrow iron door. 

CHAPTER XIX--AN ENEMY IN THE DARK

Adam Salton went for a walk before returning to Lesser Hill; he felt thatit might be well, not only to steady his nerves, shaken by the horriblescene, but to get his thoughts into some sort of order, so as to be readyto enter on the matter with Sir Nathaniel. He was a little embarrassedas to telling his uncle, for affairs had so vastly progressed beyond hisoriginal view that he felt a little doubtful as to what would be the oldgentleman's attitude when he should hear of the strange events for thefirst time. Mr. Salton would certainly not be satisfied at being treatedas an outsider with regard to such things, most of which had points ofcontact with the inmates of his own house. It was with an immense senseof relief that Adam heard that his uncle had telegraphed to thehousekeeper that he was detained by business at Walsall, where he wouldremain for the night; and that he would be back in the morning in timefor lunch. 

When Adam got home after his walk, he found Sir Nathaniel just going tobed. He did not say anything to him then of what had happened, butcontented himself with arranging that they would walk together in theearly morning, as he had much to say that would require seriousattention. 

Strangely enough he slept well, and awoke at dawn with his mind clear andhis nerves in their usual unshaken condition. The maid brought up, withhis early morning cup of tea, a note which had been found in the letter-box. It was from Lady Arabella, and was evidently intended to put him onhis guard as to what he should say about the previous evening. 

He read it over carefully several times, before he was satisfied that hehad taken in its full import. 

 "DEAR MR. SALTON, "I cannot go to bed until I have written to you, so you must forgive me if I disturb you, and at an unseemly time. Indeed, you must also forgive me if, in trying to do what is right, I err in saying too much or too little. The fact is that I am quite upset and unnerved by all that has happened in this terrible night. I find it difficult even to write; my hands shake so that they are not under control, and I am trembling all over with memory of the horrors we saw enacted before our eyes. I am grieved beyond measure that I should be, however remotely, a cause of this horror coming on you. Forgive me if you can, and do not think too hardly of me. This I ask with confidence, for since we shared together the danger--the very pangs--of death, I feel that we should be to one another something more than mere friends, that I may lean on you and trust you, assured that your sympathy and pity are for me. You really must let me thank you for the friendliness, the help, the confidence, the real aid at a time of deadly danger and deadly fear which you showed me. That awful man--I shall see him for ever in my dreams. His black, malignant face will shut out all memory of sunshine and happiness. I shall eternally see his evil eyes as he threw himself into that well-hole in a vain effort to escape from the consequences of his own misdoing. The more I think of it, the more apparent it seems to me that he had premeditated the whole thing--of course, except his own horrible death. 

 "Perhaps you have noticed a fur collar I occasionally wear. It is one of my most valued treasures--an ermine collar studded with emeralds. I had often seen the nigger's eyes gleam covetously when he looked at it. Unhappily, I wore it yesterday. That may have been the cause that lured the poor man to his doom. On the very brink of the abyss he tore the collar from my neck--that was the last I saw of him. When he sank into the hole, I was rushing to the iron door, which I pulled behind me. When I heard that soul-sickening yell, which marked his disappearance in the chasm, I was more glad than I can say that my eyes were spared the pain and horror which my ears had to endure. 

 "When I tore myself out of the negro's grasp as he sank into the well- hole; I realised what freedom meant. Freedom! Freedom! Not only from that noisome prison-house, which has now such a memory, but from the more noisome embrace of that hideous monster. Whilst I live, I shall always thank you for my freedom. A woman must sometimes express her gratitude; otherwise it becomes too great to bear. I am not a sentimental girl, who merely likes to thank a man; I am a woman who knows all, of bad as well as good, that life can give. I have known what it is to love and to lose. But you must not let me bring any unhappiness into your life. I must live on--as I have lived--alone, and, in addition, bear with other woes the memory of this latest insult and horror. In the meantime, I must get away as quickly as possible from Diana's Grove. In the morning I shall go up to town, where I shall remain for a week--I cannot stay longer, as business affairs demand my presence here. I think, however, that a week in the rush of busy London, surrounded with multitudes of commonplace people, will help to soften--I cannot expect total obliteration--the terrible images of the bygone night. When I can sleep easily--which will be, I hope, after a day or two--I shall be fit to return home and take up again the burden which will, I suppose, always be with me. 

 "I shall be most happy to see you on my return--or earlier, if my good fortune sends you on any errand to London. I shall stay at the Mayfair Hotel. In that busy spot we may forget some of the dangers and horrors we have shared together. Adieu, and thank you, again and again, for all your kindness and consideration to me. 

 "ARABELLA MARSH. "

Adam was surprised by this effusive epistle, but he determined to saynothing of it to Sir Nathaniel until he should have thought it well over. When Adam met Sir Nathaniel at breakfast, he was glad that he had takentime to turn things over in his mind. The result had been that not onlywas he familiar with the facts in all their bearings, but he had alreadyso far differentiated them that he was able to arrange them in his ownmind according to their values. Breakfast had been a silent function, soit did not interfere in any way with the process of thought. 

So soon as the door was closed, Sir Nathaniel began:

"I see, Adam, that something has occurred, and that you have much to tellme. "

"That is so, sir. I suppose I had better begin by telling you all Iknow--all that has happened since I left you yesterday?"

Accordingly Adam gave him details of all that had happened during theprevious evening. He confined himself rigidly to the narration ofcircumstances, taking care not to colour events by any comment of hisown, or any opinion of the meaning of things which he did not fullyunderstand. At first, Sir Nathaniel seemed disposed to ask questions, but shortly gave this up when he recognised that the narration wasconcise and self-explanatory. Thenceforth, he contented himself withquick looks and glances, easily interpreted, or by some acquiescentmotions of his hands, when such could be convenient, to emphasise hisidea of the correctness of any inference. Until Adam ceased speaking, having evidently come to an end of what he had to say with regard to thissection of his story, the elder man made no comment whatever. Even whenAdam took from his pocket Lady Arabella's letter, with the manifestintention of reading it, he did not make any comment. Finally, when Adamfolded up the letter and put it, in its envelope, back in his pocket, asan intimation that he had now quite finished, the old diplomatistcarefully made a few notes in his pocket-book. 

"Your narrative, my dear Adam, is altogether admirable. I think I maynow take it that we are both well versed in the actual facts, and thatour conference had better take the shape of a mutual exchange of ideas. Let us both ask questions as they may arise; and I do not doubt that weshall arrive at some enlightening conclusions. "

"Will you kindly begin, sir? I do not doubt that, with your longerexperience, you will be able to dissipate some of the fog which envelopscertain of the things which we have to consider. "

"I hope so, my dear boy. For a beginning, then, let me say that LadyArabella's letter makes clear some things which she intended--and alsosome things which she did not intend. But, before I begin to drawdeductions, let me ask you a few questions. Adam, are you heart-whole, quite heart-whole, in the matter of Lady Arabella?"

His companion answered at once, each looking the other straight in theeyes during question and answer. 

"Lady Arabella, sir, is a charming woman, and I should have deemed it aprivilege to meet her--to talk to her--even--since I am in theconfessional--to flirt a little with her. But if you mean to ask if myaffections are in any way engaged, I can emphatically answer 'No!'--asindeed you will understand when presently I give you the reason. Apartfrom that, there are the unpleasant details we discussed the other day. "

"Could you--would you mind giving me the reason now? It will help us tounderstand what is before us, in the way of difficulty. "

"Certainly, sir. My reason, on which I can fully depend, is that I loveanother woman!"

"That clinches it. May I offer my good wishes, and, I hope, mycongratulations?"

"I am proud of your good wishes, sir, and I thank you for them. But itis too soon for congratulations--the lady does not even know my hopesyet. Indeed, I hardly knew them myself, as definite, till this moment. "

"I take it then, Adam, that at the right time I may be allowed to knowwho the lady is?"

Adam laughed a low, sweet laugh, such as ripples from a happy heart. 

"There need not be an hour's, a minute's delay. I shall be glad to sharemy secret with you, sir. The lady, sir, whom I am so happy as to love, and in whom my dreams of life-long happiness are centred, is MimiWatford!"

"Then, my dear Adam, I need not wait to offer congratulations. She isindeed a very charming young lady. I do not think I ever saw a girl whounited in such perfection the qualities of strength of character andsweetness of disposition. With all my heart, I congratulate you. Then Imay take it that my question as to your heart-wholeness is answered inthe affirmative?"

"Yes; and now, sir, may I ask in turn why the question?"

"Certainly! I asked because it seems to me that we are coming to a pointwhere my questions might be painful to you. "

"It is not merely that I love Mimi, but I have reason to look on LadyArabella as her enemy, " Adam continued. 

"Her enemy?"

"Yes. A rank and unscrupulous enemy who is bent on her destruction. "

Sir Nathaniel went to the door, looked outside it and returned, lockingit carefully behind him. 

CHAPTER XX--METABOLISM

"Am I looking grave?" asked Sir Nathaniel inconsequently when here-entered the room. 

"You certainly are, sir. "

"We little thought when first we met that we should be drawn into such avortex. Already we are mixed up in robbery, and probably murder, but--athousand times worse than all the crimes in the calendar--in an affair ofghastly mystery which has no bottom and no end--with forces of the mostunnerving kind, which had their origin in an age when the world wasdifferent from the world which we know. We are going back to the originof superstition--to an age when dragons tore each other in their slime. We must fear nothing--no conclusion, however improbable, almostimpossible it may be. Life and death is hanging on our judgment, notonly for ourselves, but for others whom we love. Remember, I count onyou as I hope you count on me. "

"I do, with all confidence. "

"Then, " said Sir Nathaniel, "let us think justly and boldly and fearnothing, however terrifying it may seem. I suppose I am to take as exactin every detail your account of all the strange things which happenedwhilst you were in Diana's Grove?"

"So far as I know, yes. Of course I may be mistaken in recollection ofsome detail or another, but I am certain that in the main what I havesaid is correct. "

"You feel sure that you saw Lady Arabella seize the negro round the neck, and drag him down with her into the hole?"

"Absolutely certain, sir, otherwise I should have gone to herassistance. "

"We have, then, an account of what happened from an eye-witness whom wetrust--that is yourself. We have also another account, written by LadyArabella under her own hand. These two accounts do not agree. Thereforewe must take it that one of the two is lying. "

"Apparently, sir. "

"And that Lady Arabella is the liar!"

"Apparently--as I am not. "

"We must, therefore, try to find a reason for her lying. She has nothingto fear from Oolanga, who is dead. Therefore the only reason which couldactuate her would be to convince someone else that she was blameless. This 'someone' could not be you, for you had the evidence of your owneyes. There was no one else present; therefore it must have been anabsent person. "

"That seems beyond dispute, sir. "

"There is only one other person whose good opinion she could wish tokeep--Edgar Caswall. He is the only one who fills the bill. Her liespoint to other things besides the death of the African. She evidentlywanted it to be accepted that his falling into the well was his own act. I cannot suppose that she expected to convince you, the eye-witness; butif she wished later on to spread the story, it was wise of her to try toget your acceptance of it. "

"That is so!"

"Then there were other matters of untruth. That, for instance, of theermine collar embroidered with emeralds. If an understandable reason berequired for this, it would be to draw attention away from the greenlights which were seen in the room, and especially in the well-hole. Anyunprejudiced person would accept the green lights to be the eyes of agreat snake, such as tradition pointed to living in the well-hole. Infine, therefore, Lady Arabella wanted the general belief to be that therewas no snake of the kind in Diana's Grove. For my own part, I don'tbelieve in a partial liar--this art does not deal in veneer; a liar is aliar right through. Self-interest may prompt falsity of the tongue; butif one prove to be a liar, nothing that he says can ever be believed. This leads us to the conclusion that because she said or inferred thatthere was no snake, we should look for one--and expect to find it, too. 

"Now let me digress. I live, and have for many years lived, inDerbyshire, a county more celebrated for its caves than any other countyin England. I have been through them all, and am familiar with everyturn of them; as also with other great caves in Kentucky, in France, inGermany, and a host of other places--in many of these are tremendouslydeep caves of narrow aperture, which are valued by intrepid explorers, who descend narrow gullets of abysmal depth--and sometimes never return. In many of the caverns in the Peak I am convinced that some of thesmaller passages were used in primeval times as the lairs of some of thegreat serpents of legend and tradition. It may have been that suchcaverns were formed in the usual geologic way--bubbles or flaws in theearth's crust--which were later used by the monsters of the period of theyoung world. It may have been, of course, that some of them were wornoriginally by water; but in time they all found a use when suitable forliving monsters. 

"This brings us to another point, more difficult to accept and understandthan any other requiring belief in a base not usually accepted, or indeedentered on--whether such abnormal growths could have ever changed intheir nature. Some day the study of metabolism may progress so far as toenable us to accept structural changes proceeding from an intellectual ormoral base. We may lean towards a belief that great animal strength maybe a sound base for changes of all sorts. If this be so, what could be amore fitting subject than primeval monsters whose strength was such as toallow a survival of thousands of years? We do not know yet if brain canincrease and develop independently of other parts of the livingstructure. 

"After all, the mediaeval belief in the Philosopher's Stone which couldtransmute metals, has its counterpart in the accepted theory ofmetabolism which changes living tissue. In an age of investigation likeour own, when we are returning to science as the base of wonders--almostof miracles--we should be slow to refuse to accept facts, howeverimpossible they may seem to be. 

"Let us suppose a monster of the early days of the world--a dragon of theprime--of vast age running into thousands of years, to whom had beenconveyed in some way--it matters not--a brain just sufficient for thebeginning of growth. Suppose the monster to be of incalculable size andof a strength quite abnormal--a veritable incarnation of animal strength. Suppose this animal is allowed to remain in one place, thus being removedfrom accidents of interrupted development; might not, would not thiscreature, in process of time--ages, if necessary--have that rudimentaryintelligence developed? There is no impossibility in this; it is onlythe natural process of evolution. In the beginning, the instincts ofanimals are confined to alimentation, self-protection, and themultiplication of their species. As time goes on and the needs of lifebecome more complex, power follows need. We have been long accustomed toconsider growth as applied almost exclusively to size in its variousaspects. But Nature, who has no doctrinaire ideas, may equally apply itto concentration. A developing thing may expand in any given way orform. Now, it is a scientific law that increase implies gain and loss ofvarious kinds; what a thing gains in one direction it may lose inanother. May it not be that Mother Nature may deliberately encouragedecrease as well as increase--that it may be an axiom that what is gainedin concentration is lost in size? Take, for instance, monsters thattradition has accepted and localised, such as the Worm of Lambton or thatof Spindleston Heugh. If such a creature were, by its own process ofmetabolism, to change much of its bulk for intellectual growth, we shouldat once arrive at a new class of creature--more dangerous, perhaps, thanthe world has ever had any experience of--a force which can think, whichhas no soul and no morals, and therefore no acceptance of responsibility. A snake would be a good illustration of this, for it is cold-blooded, andtherefore removed from the temptations which often weaken or restrictwarm-blooded creatures. If, for instance, the Worm of Lambton--if suchever existed--were guided to its own ends by an organised intelligencecapable of expansion, what form of creature could we imagine which wouldequal it in potentialities of evil? Why, such a being would devastate awhole country. Now, all these things require much thought, and we wantto apply the knowledge usefully, and we should therefore be exact. Wouldit not be well to resume the subject later in the day?"

"I quite agree, sir. I am in a whirl already; and want to attendcarefully to what you say; so that I may try to digest it. "

Both men seemed fresher and better for the "easy, " and when they met inthe afternoon each of them had something to contribute to the generalstock of information. Adam, who was by nature of a more militantdisposition than his elderly friend, was glad to see that the conferenceat once assumed a practical trend. Sir Nathaniel recognised this, and, like an old diplomatist, turned it to present use. 

"Tell me now, Adam, what is the outcome, in your own mind, of ourconversation?"

"That the whole difficulty already assumes practical shape; but withadded dangers, that at first I did not imagine. "

"What is the practical shape, and what are the added dangers? I am notdisputing, but only trying to clear my own ideas by the consideration ofyours--"

So Adam went on:

"In the past, in the early days of the world, there were monsters whowere so vast that they could exist for thousands of years. Some of themmust have overlapped the Christian era. They may have progressedintellectually in process of time. If they had in any way so progressed, or even got the most rudimentary form of brain, they would be the mostdangerous things that ever were in the world. Tradition says that one ofthese monsters lived in the Marsh of the East, and came up to a cave inDiana's Grove, which was also called the Lair of the White Worm. Suchcreatures may have grown down as well as up. They _may_ have grown into, or something like, human beings. Lady Arabella March is of snake nature. She has committed crimes to our knowledge. She retains something of thevast strength of her primal being--can see in the dark--has the eyes of asnake. She used the nigger, and then dragged him through the snake'shole down to the swamp; she is intent on evil, and hates some one welove. Result . . . "

"Yes, the result?"

"First, that Mimi Watford should be taken away at once--then--"

"Yes?"

"The monster must be destroyed. "

"Bravo! That is a true and fearless conclusion. At whatever cost, itmust be carried out. "

"At once?"

"Soon, at all events. That creature's very existence is a danger. Herpresence in this neighbourhood makes the danger immediate. "

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel's mouth hardened and his eyebrows came downtill they met. There was no doubting his concurrence in the resolution, or his readiness to help in carrying it out. But he was an elderly manwith much experience and knowledge of law and diplomacy. It seemed tohim to be a stern duty to prevent anything irrevocable taking place tillit had been thought out and all was ready. There were all sorts of legalcruxes to be thought out, not only regarding the taking of life, even ofa monstrosity in human form, but also of property. Lady Arabella, be shewoman or snake or devil, owned the ground she moved in, according toBritish law, and the law is jealous and swift to avenge wrongs donewithin its ken. All such difficulties should be--must be--avoided forMr. Salton's sake, for Adam's own sake, and, most of all, for MimiWatford's sake. 

Before he spoke again, Sir Nathaniel had made up his mind that he musttry to postpone decisive action until the circumstances on which theydepended--which, after all, were only problematical--should have beentested satisfactorily, one way or another. When he did speak, Adam atfirst thought that his friend was wavering in his intention, or "funking"the responsibility. However, his respect for Sir Nathaniel was so greatthat he would not act, or even come to a conclusion on a vital point, without his sanction. 

He came close and whispered in his ear:

"We will prepare our plans to combat and destroy this horrible menace, after we have cleared up some of the more baffling points. Meanwhile, wemust wait for the night--I hear my uncle's footsteps echoing down thehall. "

Sir Nathaniel nodded his approval. 

CHAPTER XXI--GREEN LIGHT

When old Mr. Salton had retired for the night, Adam and Sir Nathanielreturned to the study. Things went with great regularity at Lesser Hill, so they knew that there would be no interruption to their talk. 

When their cigars were lighted, Sir Nathaniel began. 

"I hope, Adam, that you do not think me either slack or changeable ofpurpose. I mean to go through this business to the bitter end--whateverit may be. Be satisfied that my first care is, and shall be, theprotection of Mimi Watford. To that I am pledged; my dear boy, we whoare interested are all in the same danger. That semi-human monster outof the pit hates and means to destroy us all--you and me certainly, andprobably your uncle. I wanted especially to talk with you to-night, forI cannot help thinking that the time is fast coming--if it has not comealready--when we must take your uncle into our confidence. It was onething when fancied evils threatened, but now he is probably marked fordeath, and it is only right that he should know all. "

"I am with you, sir. Things have changed since we agreed to keep him outof the trouble. Now we dare not; consideration for his feelings mightcost his life. It is a duty--and no light or pleasant one, either. Ihave not a shadow of doubt that he will want to be one with us in this. But remember, we are his guests; his name, his honour, have to be thoughtof as well as his safety. "

"All shall be as you wish, Adam. And now as to what we are to do? Wecannot murder Lady Arabella off-hand. Therefore we shall have to putthings in order for the killing, and in such a way that we cannot betaxed with a crime. "

"It seems to me, sir, that we are in an exceedingly tight place. Ourfirst difficulty is to know where to begin. I never thought thisfighting an antediluvian monster would be such a complicated job. Thisone is a woman, with all a woman's wit, combined with the heartlessnessof a _cocotte_. She has the strength and impregnability of a diplodocus. We may be sure that in the fight that is before us there will be nosemblance of fair-play. Also that our unscrupulous opponent will notbetray herself!"

"That is so--but being feminine, she will probably over-reach herself. Now, Adam, it strikes me that, as we have to protect ourselves and othersagainst feminine nature, our strong game will be to play our masculineagainst her feminine. Perhaps we had better sleep on it. She is a thingof the night; and the night may give us some ideas. "

So they both turned in. 

Adam knocked at Sir Nathaniel's door in the grey of the morning, and, onbeing bidden, came into the room. He had several letters in his hand. Sir Nathaniel sat up in bed. 

"Well!"

"I should like to read you a few letters, but, of course, I shall notsend them unless you approve. In fact"--with a smile and a blush--"thereare several things which I want to do; but I hold my hand and my tonguetill I have your approval. "

"Go on!" said the other kindly. "Tell me all, and count at any rate onmy sympathy, and on my approval and help if I can see my way. "

Accordingly Adam proceeded:

"When I told you the conclusions at which I had arrived, I put in theforeground that Mimi Watford should, for the sake of her own safety, beremoved--and that the monster which had wrought all the harm should bedestroyed. "

"Yes, that is so. "

"To carry this into practice, sir, one preliminary is required--unlessharm of another kind is to be faced. Mimi should have some protectorwhom all the world would recognise. The only form recognised byconvention is marriage!"

Sir Nathaniel smiled in a fatherly way. 

"To marry, a husband is required. And that husband should be you. "

"Yes, yes. "

"And the marriage should be immediate and secret--or, at least, notspoken of outside ourselves. Would the young lady be agreeable to thatproceeding?"

"I do not know, sir!"

"Then how are we to proceed?"

"I suppose that we--or one of us--must ask her. "

"Is this a sudden idea, Adam, a sudden resolution?"

"A sudden resolution, sir, but not a sudden idea. If she agrees, all iswell and good. The sequence is obvious. "

"And it is to be kept a secret amongst ourselves?"

"I want no secret, sir, except for Mimi's good. For myself, I shouldlike to shout it from the house-tops! But we must be discreet; untimelyknowledge to our enemy might work incalculable harm. "

"And how would you suggest, Adam, that we could combine the momentousquestion with secrecy?"

Adam grew red and moved uneasily. 

"Someone must ask her--as soon as possible!"

"And that someone?"

"I thought that you, sir, would be so good!"

"God bless my soul! This is a new kind of duty to take on--at my time oflife. Adam, I hope you know that you can count on me to help in any wayI can!"

"I have already counted on you, sir, when I ventured to make such asuggestion. I can only ask, " he added, "that you will be more than everkind to me--to us--and look on the painful duty as a voluntary act ofgrace, prompted by kindness and affection. "

"Painful duty!"

"Yes, " said Adam boldly. "Painful to you, though to me it would be alljoyful. "

"It is a strange job for an early morning! Well, we all live and learn. I suppose the sooner I go the better. You had better write a line for meto take with me. For, you see, this is to be a somewhat unusualtransaction, and it may be embarrassing to the lady, even to myself. Sowe ought to have some sort of warrant, something to show that we havebeen mindful of her feelings. It will not do to take acquiescence forgranted--although we act for her good. "

"Sir Nathaniel, you are a true friend; I am sure that both Mimi and Ishall be grateful to you for all our lives--however long they may be!"

So the two talked it over and agreed as to points to be borne in mind bythe ambassador. It was striking ten when Sir Nathaniel left the house, Adam seeing him quietly off. 

As the young man followed him with wistful eyes--almost jealous of theprivilege which his kind deed was about to bring him--he felt that hisown heart was in his friend's breast. 

The memory of that morning was like a dream to all those concerned in it. Sir Nathaniel had a confused recollection of detail and sequence, thoughthe main facts stood out in his memory boldly and clearly. Adam Salton'srecollection was of an illimitable wait, filled with anxiety, hope, andchagrin, all dominated by a sense of the slow passage of time andaccompanied by vague fears. Mimi could not for a long time think at all, or recollect anything, except that Adam loved her and was saving her froma terrible danger. When she had time to think, later on, she wonderedwhen she had any ignorance of the fact that Adam loved her, and that sheloved him with all her heart. Everything, every recollection howeversmall, every feeling, seemed to fit into those elemental facts as thoughthey had all been moulded together. The main and crowning recollectionwas her saying goodbye to Sir Nathaniel, and entrusting to him lovingmessages, straight from her heart, to Adam Salton, and of his bearingwhen--with an impulse which she could not check--she put her lips to hisand kissed him. Later, when she was alone and had time to think, it wasa passing grief to her that she would have to be silent, for a time, toLilla on the happy events of that strange mission. 

She had, of course, agreed to keep all secret until Adam should give herleave to speak. 

The advice and assistance of Sir Nathaniel was a great help to Adam incarrying out his idea of marrying Mimi Watford without publicity. Hewent with him to London, and, with his influence, the young man obtainedthe license of the Archbishop of Canterbury for a private marriage. SirNathaniel then persuaded old Mr. Salton to allow his nephew to spend afew weeks with him at Doom Tower, and it was here that Mimi became Adam'swife. But that was only the first step in their plans; before goingfurther, however, Adam took his bride off to the Isle of Man. He wishedto place a stretch of sea between Mimi and the White Worm, while thingsmatured. On their return, Sir Nathaniel met them and drove them at onceto Doom, taking care to avoid any one that he knew on the journey. 

Sir Nathaniel had taken care to have the doors and windows shut andlocked--all but the door used for their entry. The shutters were up andthe blinds down. Moreover, heavy curtains were drawn across the windows. When Adam commented on this, Sir Nathaniel said in a whisper:

"Wait till we are alone, and I'll tell you why this is done; in themeantime not a word or a sign. You will approve when we have had a talktogether. "

They said no more on the subject till after dinner, when they wereensconced in Sir Nathaniel's study, which was on the top storey. DoomTower was a lofty structure, situated on an eminence high up in the Peak. The top commanded a wide prospect, ranging from the hills above theRibble to the near side of the Brow, which marked the northern bound ofancient Mercia. It was of the early Norman period, less than a centuryyounger than Castra Regis. The windows of the study were barred andlocked, and heavy dark curtains closed them in. When this was done not agleam of light from the tower could be seen from outside. 

When they were alone, Sir Nathaniel explained that he had taken his oldfriend, Mr. Salton, into full confidence, and that in future all wouldwork together. 

"It is important for you to be extremely careful. In spite of the factthat our marriage was kept secret, as also your temporary absence, bothare known. "

"How? To whom?"

"How, I know not; but I am beginning to have an idea. "

"To her?" asked Adam, in momentary consternation. 

Sir Nathaniel shivered perceptibly. 

"The White Worm--yes!"

Adam noticed that from now on, his friend never spoke of Lady Arabellaotherwise, except when he wished to divert the suspicion of others. 

Sir Nathaniel switched off the electric light, and when the room waspitch dark, he came to Adam, took him by the hand, and led him to a seatset in the southern window. Then he softly drew back a piece of thecurtain and motioned his companion to look out. 

Adam did so, and immediately shrank back as though his eyes had opened onpressing danger. His companion set his mind at rest by saying in a lowvoice:

"It is all right; you may speak, but speak low. There is no dangerhere--at present!"

Adam leaned forward, taking care, however, not to press his face againstthe glass. What he saw would not under ordinary circumstances havecaused concern to anybody. With his special knowledge, it wasappalling--though the night was now so dark that in reality there waslittle to be seen. 

On the western side of the tower stood a grove of old trees, of forestdimensions. They were not grouped closely, but stood a little apart fromeach other, producing the effect of a row widely planted. Over the topsof them was seen a green light, something like the danger signal at arailway-crossing. It seemed at first quite still; but presently, whenAdam's eye became accustomed to it, he could see that it moved as iftrembling. This at once recalled to Adam's mind the light quiveringabove the well-hole in the darkness of that inner room at Diana's Grove, Oolanga's awful shriek, and the hideous black face, now grown grey withterror, disappearing into the impenetrable gloom of the mysteriousorifice. Instinctively he laid his hand on his revolver, and stood upready to protect his wife. Then, seeing that nothing happened, and thatthe light and all outside the tower remained the same, he softly pulledthe curtain over the window. 

Sir Nathaniel switched on the light again, and in its comforting glowthey began to talk freely. 

CHAPTER XXII--AT CLOSE QUARTERS

"She has diabolical cunning, " said Sir Nathaniel. "Ever since you left, she has ranged along the Brow and wherever you were accustomed tofrequent. I have not heard whence the knowledge of your movements cameto her, nor have I been able to learn any data whereon to found anopinion. She seems to have heard both of your marriage and your absence;but I gather, by inference, that she does not actually know where you andMimi are, or of your return. So soon as the dusk fails, she goes out onher rounds, and before dawn covers the whole ground round the Brow, andaway up into the heart of the Peak. The White Worm, in her own propershape, certainly has great facilities for the business on which she isnow engaged. She can look into windows of any ordinary kind. Happily, this house is beyond her reach, if she wishes--as she manifestly does--toremain unrecognised. But, even at this height, it is wise to show nolights, lest she might learn something of our presence or absence. "

"Would it not be well, sir, if one of us could see this monster in herreal shape at close quarters? I am willing to run the risk--for I takeit there would be no slight risk in the doing. I don't suppose anyone ofour time has seen her close and lived to tell the tale. "

Sir Nathaniel held up an expostulatory hand. 

"Good God, lad, what are you suggesting? Think of your wife, and allthat is at stake. "

"It is of Mimi that I think--for her sake that I am willing to riskwhatever is to be risked. "

Adam's young bride was proud of her man, but she blanched at the thoughtof the ghastly White Worm. Adam saw this and at once reassured her. 

"So long as her ladyship does not know whereabout I am, I shall have asmuch safety as remains to us; bear in mind, my darling, that we cannot betoo careful. "

Sir Nathaniel realised that Adam was right; the White Worm had nosupernatural powers and could not harm them until she discovered theirhiding place. It was agreed, therefore, that the two men should gotogether. 

When the two men slipped out by the back door of the house, they walkedcautiously along the avenue which trended towards the west. Everythingwas pitch dark--so dark that at times they had to feel their way by thepalings and tree-trunks. They could still see, seemingly far in front ofthem and high up, the baleful light which at the height and distanceseemed like a faint line. As they were now on the level of the ground, the light seemed infinitely higher than it had from the top of the tower. At the sight Adam's heart fell; the danger of the desperate enterprisewhich he had undertaken burst upon him. But this feeling was shortlyfollowed by another which restored him to himself--a fierce loathing, anda desire to kill, such as he had never experienced before. 

They went on for some distance on a level road, fairly wide, from whichthe green light was visible. Here Sir Nathaniel spoke softly, placinghis lips to Adam's ear for safety. 

"We know nothing whatever of this creature's power of hearing orsmelling, though I presume that both are of no great strength. As toseeing, we may presume the opposite, but in any case we must try to keepin the shade behind the tree-trunks. The slightest error would be fatalto us. "

Adam only nodded, in case there should be any chance of the monsterseeing the movement. 

After a time that seemed interminable, they emerged from the circlingwood. It was like coming out into sunlight by comparison with the mistyblackness which had been around them. There was light enough to see by, though not sufficient to distinguish things at a distance. Adam's eyessought the green light in the sky. It was still in about the same place, but its surroundings were more visible. It was now at the summit of whatseemed to be a long white pole, near the top of which were two pendantwhite masses, like rudimentary arms or fins. The green light, strangelyenough, did not seem lessened by the surrounding starlight, but had aclearer effect and a deeper green. Whilst they were carefully regardingthis--Adam with the aid of an opera-glass--their nostrils were assailedby a horrid stench, something like that which rose from the well-hole inDiana's Grove. 

By degrees, as their eyes got the right focus, they saw an immensetowering mass that seemed snowy white. It was tall and thin. The lowerpart was hidden by the trees which lay between, but they could follow thetall white shaft and the duplicate green lights which topped it. As theylooked there was a movement--the shaft seemed to bend, and the line ofgreen light descended amongst the trees. They could see the green lighttwinkle as it passed between the obstructing branches. 

Seeing where the head of the monster was, the two men ventured a littlefurther forward, and saw that the hidden mass at the base of the shaftwas composed of vast coils of the great serpent's body, forming a basefrom which the upright mass rose. As they looked, this lower mass moved, the glistening folds catching the moonlight, and they could see that themonster's progress was along the ground. It was coming towards them at aswift pace, so they turned and ran, taking care to make as little noiseas possible, either by their footfalls or by disturbing the undergrowthclose to them. They did not stop or pause till they saw before them thehigh dark tower of Doom. 

CHAPTER XXIII--IN THE ENEMY'S HOUSE

Sir Nathaniel was in the library next morning, after breakfast, when Adamcame to him carrying a letter. 

"Her ladyship doesn't lose any time. She has begun work already!"

Sir Nathaniel, who was writing at a table near the window, looked up. 

"What is it?" said he. 

Adam held out the letter he was carrying. It was in a blazoned envelope. 

"Ha!" said Sir Nathaniel, "from the White Worm! I expected something ofthe kind. "

"But, " said Adam, "how could she have known we were here? She didn'tknow last night. "

"I don't think we need trouble about that, Adam. There is so much we donot understand. This is only another mystery. Suffice it that she doesknow--perhaps it is all the better and safer for us. "

"How is that?" asked Adam with a puzzled look. 

"General process of reasoning, my boy; and the experience of some yearsin the diplomatic world. This creature is a monster without heart orconsideration for anything or anyone. She is not nearly so dangerous inthe open as when she has the dark to protect her. Besides, we know, byour own experience of her movements, that for some reason she shunspublicity. In spite of her vast bulk and abnormal strength, she isafraid to attack openly. After all, she is only a snake and with asnake's nature, which is to keep low and squirm, and proceed by stealthand cunning. She will never attack when she can run away, although sheknows well that running away would probably be fatal to her. What is theletter about?"

Sir Nathaniel's voice was calm and self-possessed. When he was engagedin any struggle of wits he was all diplomatist. 

"She asks Mimi and me to tea this afternoon at Diana's Grove, and hopesthat you also will favour her. "

Sir Nathaniel smiled. 

"Please ask Mrs. Salton to accept for us all. "

"She means some deadly mischief. Surely--surely it would be wiser not. "

"It is an old trick that we learn early in diplomacy, Adam--to fight onground of your own choice. It is true that she suggested the place onthis occasion; but by accepting it we make it ours. Moreover, she willnot be able to understand our reason for doing so, and her own badconscience--if she has any, bad or good--and her own fears and doubtswill play our game for us. No, my dear boy, let us accept, by allmeans. "

Adam said nothing, but silently held out his hand, which his companionshook: no words were necessary. 

When it was getting near tea-time, Mimi asked Sir Nathaniel how they weregoing. 

"We must make a point of going in state. We want all possiblepublicity. " Mimi looked at him inquiringly. "Certainly, my dear, in thepresent circumstances publicity is a part of safety. Do not be surprisedif, whilst we are at Diana's Grove, occasional messages come for you--forall or any of us. "

"I see!" said Mrs. Salton. "You are taking no chances. "

"None, my dear. All I have learned at foreign courts, and amongstcivilised and uncivilised people, is going to be utilised within the nextcouple of hours. "

Sir Nathaniel's voice was full of seriousness, and it brought to Mimi ina convincing way the awful gravity of the occasion. 

In due course, they set out in a carriage drawn by a fine pair of horses, who soon devoured the few miles of their journey. Before they came tothe gate, Sir Nathaniel turned to Mimi. 

"I have arranged with Adam certain signals which may be necessary ifcertain eventualities occur. These need be nothing to do with youdirectly. But bear in mind that if I ask you or Adam to do anything, donot lose a second in the doing of it. We must try to pass off suchmoments with an appearance of unconcern. In all probability, nothingrequiring such care will occur. The White Worm will not try force, though she has so much of it to spare. Whatever she may attempt to-day, of harm to any of us, will be in the way of secret plot. Some other timeshe may try force, but--if I am able to judge such a thing--not to-day. The messengers who may ask for any of us will not be witnesses only, theymay help to stave off danger. " Seeing query in her face, he went on: "Ofwhat kind the danger may be, I know not, and cannot guess. It willdoubtless be some ordinary circumstance; but none the less dangerous onthat account. Here we are at the gate. Now, be careful in all matters, however small. To keep your head is half the battle. "

There were a number of men in livery in the hall when they arrived. Thedoors of the drawing-room were thrown open, and Lady Arabella came forthand offered them cordial welcome. This having been got over, LadyArabella led them into another room where tea was served. 

Adam was acutely watchful and suspicious of everything, and saw on thefar side of this room a panelled iron door of the same colour andconfiguration as the outer door of the room where was the well-holewherein Oolanga had disappeared. Something in the sight alarmed him, andhe quietly stood near the door. He made no movement, even of his eyes, but he could see that Sir Nathaniel was watching him intently, and, hefancied, with approval. 

They all sat near the table spread for tea, Adam still near the door. Lady Arabella fanned herself, complaining of heat, and told one of thefootmen to throw all the outer doors open. 

Tea was in progress when Mimi suddenly started up with a look of frighton her face; at the same moment, the men became cognisant of a thicksmoke which began to spread through the room--a smoke which made thosewho experienced it gasp and choke. The footmen began to edge uneasilytowards the inner door. Denser and denser grew the smoke, and more acridits smell. Mimi, towards whom the draught from the open door wafted thesmoke, rose up choking, and ran to the inner door, which she threw opento its fullest extent, disclosing on the outside a curtain of thin silk, fixed to the doorposts. The draught from the open door swayed the thinsilk towards her, and in her fright, she tore down the curtain, whichenveloped her from head to foot. Then she ran through the still opendoor, heedless of the fact that she could not see where she was going. Adam, followed by Sir Nathaniel, rushed forward and joined her--Adamcatching his wife by the arm and holding her tight. It was well that hedid so, for just before her lay the black orifice of the well-hole, which, of course, she could not see with the silk curtain round her head. The floor was extremely slippery; something like thick oil had beenspilled where she had to pass; and close to the edge of the hole her feetshot from under her, and she stumbled forward towards the well-hole. 

When Adam saw Mimi slip, he flung himself backward, still holding her. His weight told, and he dragged her up from the hole and they felltogether on the floor outside the zone of slipperiness. In a moment hehad raised her up, and together they rushed out through the open doorinto the sunlight, Sir Nathaniel close behind them. They were all paleexcept the old diplomatist, who looked both calm and cool. It sustainedand cheered Adam and his wife to see him thus master of himself. Bothmanaged to follow his example, to the wonderment of the footmen, who sawthe three who had just escaped a terrible danger walking together gaily, as, under the guiding pressure of Sir Nathaniel's hand, they turned to re-enter the house. 

Lady Arabella, whose face had blanched to a deadly white, now resumed herministrations at the tea-board as though nothing unusual had happened. The slop-basin was full of half-burned brown paper, over which tea hadbeen poured. 

Sir Nathaniel had been narrowly observing his hostess, and took the firstopportunity afforded him of whispering to Adam:

"The real attack is to come--she is too quiet. When I give my hand toyour wife to lead her out, come with us--and caution her to hurry. Don'tlose a second, even if you have to make a scene. Hs-s-s-h!"

Then they resumed their places close to the table, and the servants, inobedience to Lady Arabella's order, brought in fresh tea. 

Thence on, that tea-party seemed to Adam, whose faculties were at theirutmost intensity, like a terrible dream. As for poor Mimi, she was sooverwrought both with present and future fear, and with horror at thedanger she had escaped, that her faculties were numb. However, she wasbraced up for a trial, and she felt assured that whatever might come shewould be able to go through with it. Sir Nathaniel seemed just asusual--suave, dignified, and thoughtful--perfect master of himself. 

To her husband, it was evident that Mimi was ill at ease. The way shekept turning her head to look around her, the quick coming and going ofthe colour of her face, her hurried breathing, alternating with periodsof suspicious calm, were evidences of mental perturbation. To her, theattitude of Lady Arabella seemed compounded of social sweetness andpersonal consideration. It would be hard to imagine more thoughtful andtender kindness towards an honoured guest. 

When tea was over and the servants had come to clear away the cups, LadyArabella, putting her arm round Mimi's waist, strolled with her into anadjoining room, where she collected a number of photographs which werescattered about, and, sitting down beside her guest, began to show themto her. While she was doing this, the servants closed all the doors ofthe suite of rooms, as well as that which opened from the roomoutside--that of the well-hole into the avenue. Suddenly, without anyseeming cause, the light in the room began to grow dim. Sir Nathaniel, who was sitting close to Mimi, rose to his feet, and, crying, "Quick!"caught hold of her hand and began to drag her from the room. Adam caughther other hand, and between them they drew her through the outer doorwhich the servants were beginning to close. It was difficult at first tofind the way, the darkness was so great; but to their relief when Adamwhistled shrilly, the carriage and horses, which had been waiting in theangle of the avenue, dashed up. Her husband and Sir Nathaniellifted--almost threw--Mimi into the carriage. The postillion plied whipand spur, and the vehicle, rocking with its speed, swept through the gateand tore up the road. Behind them was a hubbub--servants rushing about, orders being shouted out, doors shutting, and somewhere, seemingly farback in the house, a strange noise. Every nerve of the horses wasstrained as they dashed recklessly along the road. The two men held Mimibetween them, the arms of both of them round her as though protectingly. As they went, there was a sudden rise in the ground; but the horses, breathing heavily, dashed up it at racing speed, not slackening theirpace when the hill fell away again, leaving them to hurry along thedowngrade. 

It would be foolish to say that neither Adam nor Mimi had any fear inreturning to Doom Tower. Mimi felt it more keenly than her husband, whose nerves were harder, and who was more inured to danger. Still shebore up bravely, and as usual the effort was helpful to her. When onceshe was in the study in the top of the turret, she almost forgot theterrors which lay outside in the dark. She did not attempt to peep outof the window; but Adam did--and saw nothing. The moonlight showed allthe surrounding country, but nowhere was to be observed that tremulousline of green light. 

The peaceful night had a good effect on them all; danger, being unseen, seemed far off. At times it was hard to realise that it had ever been. With courage restored, Adam rose early and walked along the Brow, seeingno change in the signs of life in Castra Regis. What he did see, to hiswonder and concern, on his returning homeward, was Lady Arabella, in hertight-fitting white dress and ermine collar, but without her emeralds;she was emerging from the gate of Diana's Grove and walking towards theCastle. Pondering on this and trying to find some meaning in it, occupied his thoughts till he joined Mimi and Sir Nathaniel at breakfast. They began the meal in silence. What had been had been, and was known tothem all. Moreover, it was not a pleasant topic. 

A fillip was given to the conversation when Adam told of his seeing LadyArabella, on her way to Castra Regis. They each had something to say ofher, and of what her wishes or intentions were towards Edgar Caswall. Mimi spoke bitterly of her in every aspect. She had not forgotten--andnever would--never could--the occasion when, to harm Lilla, the woman hadconsorted even with the nigger. As a social matter, she was disgustedwith her for following up the rich landowner--"throwing herself at hishead so shamelessly, " was how she expressed it. She was interested toknow that the great kite still flew from Caswall's tower. But beyondsuch matters she did not try to go. The only comment she made was ofstrongly expressed surprise at her ladyship's "cheek" in ignoring her owncriminal acts, and her impudence in taking it for granted that others hadoverlooked them also. 

CHAPTER XXIV--A STARTLING PROPOSITION

The more Mimi thought over the late events, the more puzzled she was. What did it all mean--what could it mean, except that there was an errorof fact somewhere. Could it be possible that some of them--all of themhad been mistaken, that there had been no White Worm at all? On eitherside of her was a belief impossible of reception. Not to believe in whatseemed apparent was to destroy the very foundations of belief . . . Yetin old days there had been monsters on the earth, and certainly somepeople had believed in just such mysterious changes of identity. It wasall very strange. Just fancy how any stranger--say a doctor--wouldregard her, if she were to tell him that she had been to a tea-party withan antediluvian monster, and that they had been waited on by up-to-datemen-servants. 

Adam had returned, exhilarated by his walk, and more settled in his mindthan he had been for some time. Like Mimi, he had gone through the phaseof doubt and inability to believe in the reality of things, though it hadnot affected him to the same extent. The idea, however, that his wifewas suffering ill-effects from her terrible ordeal, braced him up. Heremained with her for a time, then he sought Sir Nathaniel in order totalk over the matter with him. He knew that the calm common sense andself-reliance of the old man, as well as his experience, would be helpfulto them all. 

Sir Nathaniel had come to the conclusion that, for some reason which hedid not understand, Lady Arabella had changed her plans, and, for thepresent at all events, was pacific. He was inclined to attribute herchanged demeanour to the fact that her influence over Edgar Caswall wasso far increased, as to justify a more fixed belief in his submission toher charms. 

As a matter of fact, she had seen Caswall that morning when she visitedCastra Regis, and they had had a long talk together, during which thepossibility of their union had been discussed. Caswall, without beingenthusiastic on the subject, had been courteous and attentive; as she hadwalked back to Diana's Grove, she almost congratulated herself on her newsettlement in life. That the idea was becoming fixed in her mind, wasshown by a letter which she wrote later in the day to Adam Salton, andsent to him by hand. It ran as follows:

 "DEAR MR. SALTON, "I wonder if you would kindly advise, and, if possible, help me in a matter of business. I have been for some time trying to make up my mind to sell Diana's Grove, I have put off and put off the doing of it till now. The place is my own property, and no one has to be consulted with regard to what I may wish to do about it. It was bought by my late husband, Captain Adolphus Ranger March, who had another residence, The Crest, Appleby. He acquired all rights of all kinds, including mining and sporting. When he died, he left his whole property to me. I shall feel leaving this place, which has become endeared to me by many sacred memories and affections--the recollection of many happy days of my young married life, and the more than happy memories of the man I loved and who loved me so much. I should be willing to sell the place for any fair price--so long, of course, as the purchaser was one I liked and of whom I approved. May I say that you yourself would be the ideal person. But I dare not hope for so much. It strikes me, however, that among your Australian friends may be someone who wishes to make a settlement in the Old Country, and would care to fix the spot in one of the most historic regions in England, full of romance and legend, and with a never-ending vista of historical interest--an estate which, though small, is in perfect condition and with illimitable possibilities of development, and many doubtful--or unsettled--rights which have existed before the time of the Romans or even Celts, who were the original possessors. In addition, the house has been kept up to the _dernier cri_. Immediate possession can be arranged. My lawyers can provide you, or whoever you may suggest, with all business and historical details. A word from you of acceptance or refusal is all that is necessary, and we can leave details to be thrashed out by our agents. Forgive me, won't you, for troubling you in the matter, and believe me, yours very sincerely. 

 "ARABELLA MARCH. "

Adam read this over several times, and then, his mind being made up, hewent to Mimi and asked if she had any objection. She answered--after ashudder--that she was, in this, as in all things, willing to do whateverhe might wish. 

"Dearest, I am willing that you should judge what is best for us. Bequite free to act as you see your duty, and as your inclination calls. Weare in the hands of God, and He has hitherto guided us, and will do so toHis own end. "

From his wife's room Adam Salton went straight to the study in the tower, where he knew Sir Nathaniel would be at that hour. The old man wasalone, so, when he had entered in obedience to the "Come in, " whichanswered his query, he closed the door and sat down beside him. 

"Do you think, sir, that it would be well for me to buy Diana's Grove?"

"God bless my soul!" said the old man, startled, "why on earth would youwant to do that?"

"Well, I have vowed to destroy that White Worm, and my being able to dowhatever I may choose with the Lair would facilitate matters and avoidcomplications. "

Sir Nathaniel hesitated longer than usual before speaking. He wasthinking deeply. 

"Yes, Adam, there is much common sense in your suggestion, though itstartled me at first. I think that, for all reasons, you would do wellto buy the property and to have the conveyance settled at once. If youwant more money than is immediately convenient, let me know, so that Imay be your banker. "

"Thank you, sir, most heartily; but I have more money at immediate callthan I shall want. I am glad you approve. "

"The property is historic, and as time goes on it will increase in value. Moreover, I may tell you something, which indeed is only a surmise, butwhich, if I am right, will add great value to the place. " Adam listened. "Has it ever struck you why the old name, 'The Lair of the White Worm, 'was given? We know that there was a snake which in early days was calleda worm; but why white?"

"I really don't know, sir; I never thought of it. I simply took it forgranted. "

"So did I at first--long ago. But later I puzzled my brain for areason. "

"And what was the reason, sir?"

"Simply and solely because the snake or worm _was_ white. We are nearthe county of Stafford, where the great industry of china-burning wasoriginated and grew. Stafford owes much of its wealth to the largedeposits of the rare china clay found in it from time to time. Thesedeposits become in time pretty well exhausted; but for centuries Staffordadventurers looked for the special clay, as Ohio and Pennsylvania farmersand explorers looked for oil. Anyone owning real estate on which chinaclay can be discovered strikes a sort of gold mine. "

"Yes, and then--" The young man looked puzzled. 

"The original 'Worm' so-called, from which the name of the place came, had to find a direct way down to the marshes and the mud-holes. Now, theclay is easily penetrable, and the original hole probably pierced a bedof china clay. When once the way was made it would become a sort ofhighway for the Worm. But as much movement was necessary to ascend sucha great height, some of the clay would become attached to its rough skinby attrition. The downway must have been easy work, but the ascent wasdifferent, and when the monster came to view in the upper world, it wouldbe fresh from contact with the white clay. Hence the name, which has nocryptic significance, but only fact. Now, if that surmise be true--and Ido not see why not--there must be a deposit of valuable clay--possibly ofimmense depth. "

Adam's comment pleased the old gentleman. 

"I have it in my bones, sir, that you have struck--or rather reasonedout--a great truth. "

Sir Nathaniel went on cheerfully. "When the world of commerce wakes upto the value of your find, it will be as well that your title toownership has been perfectly secured. If anyone ever deserved such again, it is you. "

With his friend's aid, Adam secured the property without loss of time. Then he went to see his uncle, and told him about it. Mr. Salton wasdelighted to find his young relative already constructively the owner ofso fine an estate--one which gave him an important status in the county. He made many anxious enquiries about Mimi, and the doings of the WhiteWorm, but Adam reassured him. 

The next morning, when Adam went to his host in the smoking-room, SirNathaniel asked him how he purposed to proceed with regard to keeping hisvow. 

"It is a difficult matter which you have undertaken. To destroy such amonster is something like one of the labours of Hercules, in that notonly its size and weight and power of using them in little-known ways areagainst you, but the occult side is alone an unsurpassable difficulty. The Worm is already master of all the elements except fire--and I do notsee how fire can be used for the attack. It has only to sink into theearth in its usual way, and you could not overtake it if you had theresources of the biggest coal-mine in existence. But I daresay you havemapped out some plan in your mind, " he added courteously. 

"I have, sir. But, of course, it may not stand the test of practice. "

"May I know the idea?"

"Well, sir, this was my argument: At the time of the Chartist trouble, anidea spread amongst financial circles that an attack was going to be madeon the Bank of England. Accordingly, the directors of that institutionconsulted many persons who were supposed to know what steps should betaken, and it was finally decided that the best protection againstfire--which is what was feared--was not water but sand. To carry thescheme into practice great store of fine sea-sand--the kind that blowsabout and is used to fill hour-glasses--was provided throughout thebuilding, especially at the points liable to attack, from which it couldbe brought into use. 

"I propose to provide at Diana's Grove, as soon as it comes into mypossession, an enormous amount of such sand, and shall take an earlyoccasion of pouring it into the well-hole, which it will in time choke. Thus Lady Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm, will find herself cutoff from her refuge. The hole is a narrow one, and is some hundreds offeet deep. The weight of the sand this can contain would not in itselfbe sufficient to obstruct; but the friction of such a body working upagainst it would be tremendous. "

"One moment. What use would the sand be for destruction?"

"None, directly; but it would hold the struggling body in place till therest of my scheme came into practice. "

"And what is the rest?"

"As the sand is being poured into the well-hole, quantities of dynamitecan also be thrown in!"

"Good. But how would the dynamite explode--for, of course, that is whatyou intend. Would not some sort of wire or fuse he required for eachparcel of dynamite?"

Adam smiled. 

"Not in these days, sir. That was proved in New York. A thousand poundsof dynamite, in sealed canisters, was placed about some workings. At thelast a charge of gunpowder was fired, and the concussion exploded thedynamite. It was most successful. Those who were non-experts in highexplosives expected that every pane of glass in New York would beshattered. But, in reality, the explosive did no harm outside the areaintended, although sixteen acres of rock had been mined and only thesupporting walls and pillars had been left intact. The whole of therocks were shattered. "

Sir Nathaniel nodded approval. 

"That seems a good plan--a very excellent one. But if it has to teardown so many feet of precipice, it may wreck the whole neighbourhood. "

"And free it for ever from a monster, " added Adam, as he left the room tofind his wife. 

CHAPTER XXV--THE LAST BATTLE

Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to hurry on with theconveyance of Diana's Grove, so no time was lost in letting Adam Saltonhave formal possession of the estate. After his interview with SirNathaniel, he had taken steps to begin putting his plan into action. Inorder to accumulate the necessary amount of fine sea-sand, he ordered thesteward to prepare for an elaborate system of top-dressing all thegrounds. A great heap of the sand, brought from bays on the Welsh coast, began to grow at the back of the Grove. No one seemed to suspect that itwas there for any purpose other than what had been given out. 

Lady Arabella, who alone could have guessed, was now so absorbed in hermatrimonial pursuit of Edgar Caswall, that she had neither time norinclination for thought extraneous to this. She had not yet moved fromthe house, though she had formally handed over the estate. 

Adam put up a rough corrugated-iron shed behind the Grove, in which hestored his explosives. All being ready for his great attempt wheneverthe time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to passthe time, interested himself in other things--even in Caswall's greatkite, which still flew from the high tower of Castra Regis. 

The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle thebailiffs and farmers round the Brow. The hour of the intended cataclysmwas approaching apace. Adam wished--but in vain--for an opportunity, which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret ofCastra Regis. At last, one morning, he met Lady Arabella moving towardsthe Castle, so he took his courage _a deux mains_ and asked to be allowedto accompany her. She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with hiswishes. So together they entered, and found their way to theturret-room. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house, but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played thehost so well as to deceive even Adam. They all went out on the turretroof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising andlowering the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movementsof the multitudes of birds, how they answered almost instantaneously tothe lowering or raising of the kite. 

As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked himif she might make a request. Permission having been accorded, sheexplained that before she finally left Diana's Grove, where she had livedso long, she had a desire to know the depth of the well-hole. Adam wasreally happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment, but because hewished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the passageof the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his beingon the premises. He brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus, with a sufficient length of piano-wire for testing any probable depth. The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was oncefixed over the hole, he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageoustime for his final experiment. 

* * * * *

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm. Lilla, ofcourse, felt lonely in the absence of her cousin, but the even tenor oflife went on for her as for others. After the first shock of parting wasover, things went back to their accustomed routine. In one respect, however, there was a marked difference. So long as home conditions hadremained unchanged, Lilla was content to put ambition far from her, andto settle down to the life which had been hers as long as she couldremember. But Mimi's marriage set her thinking; naturally, she came tothe conclusion that she too might have a mate. There was not for hermuch choice--there was little movement in the matrimonial direction atthe farmhouse. She did not approve of the personality of Edgar Caswall, and his struggle with Mimi had frightened her; but he was unmistakably anexcellent _parti_, much better than she could have any right to expect. This weighs much with a woman, and more particularly one of her class. So, on the whole, she was content to let things take their course, and toabide by the issue. 

As time went on, she had reason to believe that things did not point tohappiness. She could not shut her eyes to certain disturbing facts, amongst which were the existence of Lady Arabella and her growingintimacy with Edgar Caswall; as well as his own cold and haughty nature, so little in accord with the ardour which is the foundation of a youngmaid's dreams of happiness. How things would, of necessity, alter if shewere to marry, she was afraid to think. All told, the prospect was nothappy for her, and she had a secret longing that something might occur toupset the order of things as at present arranged. 

When Lilla received a note from Edgar Caswall asking if he might come totea on the following afternoon, her heart sank within her. If it wasonly for her father's sake, she must not refuse him or show anydisinclination which he might construe into incivility. She missed Mimimore than she could say or even dared to think. Hitherto, she had alwayslooked to her cousin for sympathy, for understanding, for loyal support. Now she and all these things, and a thousand others--gentle, assuring, supporting--were gone. And instead there was a horrible aching void. 

For the whole afternoon and evening, and for the following forenoon, poorLilla's loneliness grew to be a positive agony. For the first time shebegan to realise the sense of her loss, as though all the previoussuffering had been merely a preparation. Everything she looked at, everything she remembered or thought of, became laden with poignantmemory. Then on the top of all was a new sense of dread. The reactionfrom the sense of security, which had surrounded her all her life, to anever-quieted apprehension, was at times almost more than she could bear. It so filled her with fear that she had a haunting feeling that she wouldas soon die as live. However, whatever might be her own feelings, dutyhad to be done, and as she had been brought up to consider duty first, she braced herself to go through, to the very best of her ability, whatwas before her. 

Still, the severe and prolonged struggle for self-control told uponLilla. She looked, as she felt, ill and weak. She was really in anerveless and prostrate condition, with black circles round her eyes, pale even to her lips, and with an instinctive trembling which she wasquite unable to repress. It was for her a sad mischance that Mimi wasaway, for her love would have seen through all obscuring causes, and havebrought to light the girl's unhappy condition of health. Lilla wasutterly unable to do anything to escape from the ordeal before her; buther cousin, with the experience of her former struggles with Mr. Caswalland of the condition in which these left her, would have taken steps--evenperemptory ones, if necessary--to prevent a repetition. 

Edgar arrived punctually to the time appointed by herself. When Lilla, through the great window, saw him approaching the house, her condition ofnervous upset was pitiable. She braced herself up, however, and managedto get through the interview in its preliminary stages without anyperceptible change in her normal appearance and bearing. It had been toher an added terror that the black shadow of Oolanga, whom she dreaded, would follow hard on his master. A load was lifted from her mind when hedid not make his usual stealthy approach. She had also feared, though inlesser degree, lest Lady Arabella should be present to make trouble forher as before. 

With a woman's natural forethought in a difficult position, she hadprovided the furnishing of the tea-table as a subtle indication of thesocial difference between her and her guest. She had chosen theimplements of service, as well as all the provender set forth, of thehumblest kind. Instead of arranging the silver teapot and china cups, she had set out an earthen teapot, such as was in common use in the farmkitchen. The same idea was carried out in the cups and saucers of thickhomely delft, and in the cream-jug of similar kind. The bread was ofsimple whole-meal, home-baked. The butter was good, since she had madeit herself, while the preserves and honey came from her own garden. Herface beamed with satisfaction when the guest eyed the appointments with asupercilious glance. It was a shock to the poor girl herself, for sheenjoyed offering to a guest the little hospitalities possible to her; butthat had to be sacrificed with other pleasures. 

Caswall's face was more set and iron-clad than ever--his piercing eyesseemed from the very beginning to look her through and through. Herheart quailed when she thought of what would follow--of what would be theend, when this was only the beginning. As some protection, though itcould be only of a sentimental kind, she brought from her own room thephotographs of Mimi, of her grandfather, and of Adam Salton, whom by nowshe had grown to look on with reliance, as a brother whom she couldtrust. She kept the pictures near her heart, to which her hand naturallystrayed when her feelings of constraint, distrust, or fear became sopoignant as to interfere with the calm which she felt was necessary tohelp her through her ordeal. 

At first Edgar Caswall was courteous and polite, even thoughtful; butafter a little while, when he found her resistance to his dominationgrow, he abandoned all forms of self-control and appeared in the samedominance as he had previously shown. She was prepared, however, forthis, both by her former experience and the natural fighting instinctwithin her. By this means, as the minutes went on, both developed thepower and preserved the equality in which they had begun. 

Without warning, the psychic battle between the two individualities beganafresh. This time both the positive and negative causes were all infavour of the man. The woman was alone and in bad spirits, unsupported;nothing at all was in her favour except the memory of the two victoriouscontests; whereas the man, though unaided, as before, by either LadyArabella or Oolanga, was in full strength, well rested, and inflourishing circumstances. It was not, therefore, to be wondered at thathis native dominance of character had full opportunity of assertingitself. He began his preliminary stare with a conscious sense of power, and, as it appeared to have immediate effect on the girl, he felt an ever-growing conviction of ultimate victory. 

After a little Lilla's resolution began to flag. She felt that thecontest was unequal--that she was unable to put forth her best efforts. As she was an unselfish person, she could not fight so well in her ownbattle as in that of someone whom she loved and to whom she was devoted. Edgar saw the relaxing of the muscles of face and brow, and the almostcollapse of the heavy eyelids which seemed tumbling downward in sleep. Lilla made gallant efforts to brace her dwindling powers, but for a timeunsuccessfully. At length there came an interruption, which seemed likea powerful stimulant. Through the wide window she saw Lady Arabellaenter the plain gateway of the farm, and advance towards the hall door. She was clad as usual in tight-fitting white, which accentuated her thin, sinuous figure. 

The sight did for Lilla what no voluntary effort could have done. Hereyes flashed, and in an instant she felt as though a new life hadsuddenly developed within her. Lady Arabella's entry, in her usualunconcerned, haughty, supercilious way, heightened the effect, so thatwhen the two stood close to each other battle was joined. Mr. Caswall, too, took new courage from her coming, and all his masterfulness andpower came back to him. His looks, intensified, had more obvious effectthan had been noticeable that day. Lilla seemed at last overcome by hisdominance. Her face became red and pale--violently red and ghastlypale--by rapid turns. Her strength seemed gone. Her knees collapsed, and she was actually sinking on the floor, when to her surprise and joyMimi came into the room, running hurriedly and breathing heavily. 

Lilla rushed to her, and the two clasped hands. With that, a new senseof power, greater than Lilla had ever seen in her, seemed to quicken hercousin. Her hand swept the air in front of Edgar Caswall, seeming todrive him backward more and more by each movement, till at last he seemedto be actually hurled through the door which Mimi's entrance had leftopen, and fell at full length on the gravel path without. 

Then came the final and complete collapse of Lilla, who, without a sound, sank down on the floor. 

CHAPTER XXVI--FACE TO FACE

Mimi was greatly distressed when she saw her cousin lying prone. She hada few times in her life seen Lilla on the verge of fainting, but neversenseless; and now she was frightened. She threw herself on her kneesbeside Lilla, and tried, by rubbing her hands and other measures commonlyknown, to restore her. But all her efforts were unavailing. Lilla stilllay white and senseless. In fact, each moment she looked worse; herbreast, that had been heaving with the stress, became still, and thepallor of her face grew like marble. 

At these succeeding changes Mimi's fright grew, till it altogethermastered her. She succeeded in controlling herself only to the extentthat she did not scream. 

Lady Arabella had followed Caswall, when he had recovered sufficiently toget up and walk--though stumblingly--in the direction of Castra Regis. When Mimi was quite alone with Lilla and the need for effort had ceased, she felt weak and trembled. In her own mind, she attributed it to asudden change in the weather--it was momentarily becoming apparent that astorm was coming on. 

She raised Lilla's head and laid it on her warm young breast, but all invain. The cold of the white features thrilled through her, and sheutterly collapsed when it was borne in on her that Lilla had passed away. 

The dusk gradually deepened and the shades of evening closed in, but Mimidid not seem to notice or to care. She sat on the floor with her armsround the body of the girl whom she loved. Darker and blacker grew thesky as the coming storm and the closing night joined forces. Still shesat on--alone--tearless--unable to think. Mimi did not know how long shesat there. Though it seemed to her that ages had passed, it could nothave been more than half-an-hour. She suddenly came to herself, and wassurprised to find that her grandfather had not returned. For a while shelay quiet, thinking of the immediate past. Lilla's hand was still inhers, and to her surprise it was still warm. Somehow this helped herconsciousness, and without any special act of will she stood up. She lita lamp and looked at her cousin. There was no doubt that Lilla was dead;but when the lamp-light fell on her eyes, they seemed to look at Mimiwith intent--with meaning. In this state of dark isolation a newresolution came to her, and grew and grew until it became a fixeddefinite purpose. She would face Caswall and call him to account for hismurder of Lilla--that was what she called it to herself. She would alsotake steps--she knew not what or how--to avenge the part taken by LadyArabella. 

In this frame of mind she lit all the lamps in the room, got water andlinen from her room, and set about the decent ordering of Lilla's body. This took some time; but when it was finished, she put on her hat andcloak, put out the lights, and set out quietly for Castra Regis. 

As Mimi drew near the Castle, she saw no lights except those in andaround the tower room. The lights showed her that Mr. Caswall was there, so she entered by the hall door, which as usual was open, and felt herway in the darkness up the staircase to the lobby of the room. The doorwas ajar, and the light from within showed brilliantly through theopening. She saw Edgar Caswall walking restlessly to and fro in theroom, with his hands clasped behind his back. She opened the doorwithout knocking, and walked right into the room. As she entered, heceased walking, and stared at her in surprise. She made no remark, nocomment, but continued the fixed look which he had seen on her entrance. 

For a time silence reigned, and the two stood looking fixedly at eachother. Mimi was the first to speak. 

"You murderer! Lilla is dead!"

"Dead! Good God! When did she die?"

"She died this afternoon, just after you left her. "

"Are you sure?"

"Yes--and so are you--or you ought to be. You killed her!"

"I killed her! Be careful what you say!"

"As God sees us, it is true; and you know it. You came to Mercy Farm onpurpose to break her--if you could. And the accomplice of your guilt, Lady Arabella March, came for the same purpose. "

"Be careful, woman, " he said hotly. "Do not use such names in that way, or you shall suffer for it. "

"I am suffering for it--have suffered for it--shall suffer for it. Notfor speaking the truth as I have done, but because you two, with devilishmalignity, did my darling to death. It is you and your accomplice whohave to dread punishment, not I. "

"Take care!" he said again. 

"Oh, I am not afraid of you or your accomplice, " she answered spiritedly. "I am content to stand by every word I have said, every act I have done. Moreover, I believe in God's justice. I fear not the grinding of Hismills; if necessary I shall set the wheels in motion myself. But youdon't care for God, or believe in Him. Your god is your great kite, which cows the birds of a whole district. But be sure that His hand, when it rises, always falls at the appointed time. It may be that yourname is being called even at this very moment at the Great Assize. Repentwhile there is still time. Happy you, if you may be allowed to enterthose mighty halls in the company of the pure-souled angel whose voicehas only to whisper one word of justice, and you disappear for ever intoeverlasting torment. "

The sudden death of Lilla caused consternation among Mimi's friends andwell-wishers. Such a tragedy was totally unexpected, as Adam and SirNathaniel had been expecting the White Worm's vengeance to fall uponthemselves. 

Adam, leaving his wife free to follow her own desires with regard toLilla and her grandfather, busied himself with filling the well-hole withthe fine sand prepared for the purpose, taking care to have lowered atstated intervals quantities of the store of dynamite, so as to be readyfor the final explosion. He had under his immediate supervision a corpsof workmen, and was assisted by Sir Nathaniel, who had come over for thepurpose, and all were now staying at Lesser Hill. 

Mr. Salton, too, showed much interest in the job, and was constantlycoming in and out, nothing escaping his observation. 

Since her marriage to Adam and their coming to stay at Doom Tower, Mimihad been fettered by fear of the horrible monster at Diana's Grove. Butnow she dreaded it no longer. She accepted the fact of its assuming atwill the form of Lady Arabella. She had still to tax and upbraid her forher part in the unhappiness which had been wrought on Lilla, and for hershare in causing her death. 

One evening, when Mimi entered her own room, she went to the window andthrew an eager look round the whole circle of sight. A single glancesatisfied her that the White Worm in _propria persona_ was not visible. So she sat down in the window-seat and enjoyed the pleasure of a fullview, from which she had been so long cut off. The maid who waited onher had told her that Mr. Salton had not yet returned home, so she feltfree to enjoy the luxury of peace and quiet. 

As she looked out of the window, she saw something thin and white movealong the avenue. She thought she recognised the figure of LadyArabella, and instinctively drew back behind the curtain. When she hadascertained, by peeping out several times, that the lady had not seenher, she watched more carefully, all her instinctive hatred flooding backat the sight of her. Lady Arabella was moving swiftly and stealthily, looking back and around her at intervals, as if she feared to befollowed. This gave Mimi an idea that she was up to no good, so shedetermined to seize the occasion for watching her in more detail. 

Hastily putting on a dark cloak and hat, she ran downstairs and out intothe avenue. Lady Arabella had moved, but the sheen of her white dresswas still to be seen among the young oaks around the gateway. Keeping inshadow, Mimi followed, taking care not to come so close as to awake theother's suspicion, and watched her quarry pass along the road in thedirection of Castra Regis. 

She followed on steadily through the gloom of the trees, depending on theglint of the white dress to keep her right. The wood began to thicken, and presently, when the road widened and the trees grew farther back, shelost sight of any indication of her whereabouts. Under the presentconditions it was impossible for her to do any more, so, after waitingfor a while, still hidden in the shadow to see if she could catch anotherglimpse of the white frock, she determined to go on slowly towards CastraRegis, and trust to the chapter of accidents to pick up the trail again. She went on slowly, taking advantage of every obstacle and shadow to keepherself concealed. 

At last she entered on the grounds of the Castle, at a spot from whichthe windows of the turret were dimly visible, without having seen againany sign of Lady Arabella. 

Meanwhile, during most of the time that Mimi Salton had been movingwarily along in the gloom, she was in reality being followed by LadyArabella, who had caught sight of her leaving the house and had neveragain lost touch with her. It was a case of the hunter being hunted. Fora time Mimi's many turnings, with the natural obstacles that wereperpetually intervening, caused Lady Arabella some trouble; but when shewas close to Castra Regis, there was no more possibility of concealment, and the strange double following went swiftly on. 

When she saw Mimi close to the hall door of Castra Regis and ascendingthe steps, she followed. When Mimi entered the dark hall and felt herway up the staircase, still, as she believed, following Lady Arabella, the latter kept on her way. When they reached the lobby of the turret-rooms, Mimi believed that the object of her search was ahead of her. 

Edgar Caswall sat in the gloom of the great room, occasionally stirred tocuriosity when the drifting clouds allowed a little light to fall fromthe storm-swept sky. But nothing really interested him now. Since hehad heard of Lilla's death, the gloom of his remorse, emphasised byMimi's upbraiding, had made more hopeless his cruel, selfish, saturninenature. He heard no sound, for his normal faculties seemed benumbed. 

Mimi, when she came to the door, which stood ajar, gave a light tap. Solight was it that it did not reach Caswall's ears. Then, taking hercourage in both hands, she boldly pushed the door and entered. As shedid so, her heart sank, for now she was face to face with a difficultywhich had not, in her state of mental perturbation, occurred to her. 

CHAPTER XXVII--ON THE TURRET ROOF

The storm which was coming was already making itself manifest, not onlyin the wide scope of nature, but in the hearts and natures of humanbeings. Electrical disturbance in the sky and the air is reproduced inanimals of all kinds, and particularly in the highest type of themall--the most receptive--the most electrical. So it was with EdgarCaswall, despite his selfish nature and coldness of blood. So it waswith Mimi Salton, despite her unselfish, unchanging devotion for thoseshe loved. So it was even with Lady Arabella, who, under the instinctsof a primeval serpent, carried the ever-varying wishes and customs ofwomanhood, which is always old--and always new. 

Edgar, after he had turned his eyes on Mimi, resumed his apatheticposition and sullen silence. Mimi quietly took a seat a little wayapart, whence she could look on the progress of the coming storm andstudy its appearance throughout the whole visible circle of theneighbourhood. She was in brighter and better spirits than she had beenfor many days past. Lady Arabella tried to efface herself behind the nowopen door. 

Without, the clouds grew thicker and blacker as the storm-centre camecloser. As yet the forces, from whose linking the lightning springs, were held apart, and the silence of nature proclaimed the calm before thestorm. Caswall felt the effect of the gathering electric force. A sortof wild exultation grew upon him, such as he had sometimes felt justbefore the breaking of a tropical storm. As he became conscious of this, he raised his head and caught sight of Mimi. He was in the grip of anemotion greater than himself; in the mood in which he was he felt theneed upon him of doing some desperate deed. He was now absolutelyreckless, and as Mimi was associated with him in the memory which drovehim on, he wished that she too should be engaged in this enterprise. Hehad no knowledge of the proximity of Lady Arabella, and thought that hewas far removed from all he knew and whose interests he shared--alonewith the wild elements, which were being lashed to fury, and with thewoman who had struggled with him and vanquished him, and on whom he wouldshower the full measure of his hate. 

The fact was that Edgar Caswall was, if not mad, close to theborder-line. Madness in its first stage--monomania--is a lack ofproportion. So long as this is general, it is not always noticeable, forthe uninspired onlooker is without the necessary means of comparison. Butin monomania the errant faculty protrudes itself in a way that may not bedenied. It puts aside, obscures, or takes the place of somethingelse--just as the head of a pin placed before the centre of the iris willblock out the whole scope of vision. The most usual form of monomaniahas commonly the same beginning as that from which Edgar Caswallsuffered--an over-large idea of self-importance. Alienists, who studythe matter exactly, probably know more of human vanity and its effectsthan do ordinary men. Caswall's mental disturbance was not hard toidentify. Every asylum is full of such cases--men and women, who, naturally selfish and egotistical, so appraise to themselves their ownimportance that every other circumstance in life becomes subservient toit. The disease supplies in itself the material for self-magnification. When the decadence attacks a nature naturally proud and selfish and vain, and lacking both the aptitude and habit of self-restraint, thedevelopment of the disease is more swift, and ranges to farther limits. It is such persons who become inbued with the idea that they have theattributes of the Almighty--even that they themselves are the Almighty. 

Mimi had a suspicion--or rather, perhaps, an intuition--of the true stateof things when she heard him speak, and at the same time noticed theabnormal flush on his face, and his rolling eyes. There was a certainwant of fixedness of purpose which she had certainly not noticed before--aquick, spasmodic utterance which belongs rather to the insane than tothose of intellectual equilibrium. She was a little frightened, not onlyby his thoughts, but by his staccato way of expressing them. 

Caswall moved to the door leading to the turret stair by which the roofwas reached, and spoke in a peremptory way, whose tone alone made herfeel defiant. 

"Come! I want you. "

She instinctively drew back--she was not accustomed to such words, moreespecially to such a tone. Her answer was indicative of a new contest. 

"Why should I go? What for?"

He did not at once reply--another indication of his overwhelming egotism. She repeated her questions; habit reasserted itself, and he spoke withoutthinking the words which were in his heart. 

"I want you, if you will be so good, to come with me to the turret roof. I am much interested in certain experiments with the kite, which wouldbe, if not a pleasure, at least a novel experience to you. You would seesomething not easily seen otherwise. "

"I will come, " she answered simply; Edgar moved in the direction of thestair, she following close behind him. 

She did not like to be left alone at such a height, in such a place, inthe darkness, with a storm about to break. Of himself she had no fear;all that had been seemed to have passed away with her two victories overhim in the struggle of wills. Moreover, the more recentapprehension--that of his madness--had also ceased. In the conversationof the last few minutes he seemed so rational, so clear, so unaggressive, that she no longer saw reason for doubt. So satisfied was she that evenwhen he put out a hand to guide her to the steep, narrow stairway, shetook it without thought in the most conventional way. 

Lady Arabella, crouching in the lobby behind the door, heard every wordthat had been said, and formed her own opinion of it. It seemed evidentto her that there had been some rapprochement between the two who had solately been hostile to each other, and that made her furiously angry. Mimi was interfering with her plans! She had made certain of her captureof Edgar Caswall, and she could not tolerate even the lightest and mostcontemptuous fancy on his part which might divert him from the mainissue. When she became aware that he wished Mimi to come with him to theroof and that she had acquiesced, her rage got beyond bounds. She becameoblivious to any danger there might be in a visit to such an exposedplace at such a time, and to all lesser considerations, and made up hermind to forestall them. She stealthily and noiselessly crept through thewicket, and, ascending the stair, stepped out on the roof. It wasbitterly cold, for the fierce gusts of the storm which swept round theturret drove in through every unimpeded way, whistling at the sharpcorners and singing round the trembling flagstaff. The kite-string andthe wire which controlled the runners made a concourse of weird soundswhich somehow, perhaps from the violence which surrounded them, acting ontheir length, resolved themselves into some kind of harmony--a fittingaccompaniment to the tragedy which seemed about to begin. 

Mimi's heart beat heavily. Just before leaving the turret-chamber shehad a shock which she could not shake off. The lights of the room hadmomentarily revealed to her, as they passed out, Edgar's face, concentrated as it was whenever he intended to use his mesmeric power. Now the black eyebrows made a thick line across his face, under which hiseyes shone and glittered ominously. Mimi recognised the danger, andassumed the defiant attitude that had twice already served her so well. She had a fear that the circumstances and the place were against her, andshe wanted to be forearmed. 

The sky was now somewhat lighter than it had been. Either there waslightning afar off, whose reflections were carried by the rolling clouds, or else the gathered force, though not yet breaking into lightning, hadan incipient power of light. It seemed to affect both the man and thewoman. Edgar seemed altogether under its influence. His spirits wereboisterous, his mind exalted. He was now at his worst; madder than hehad been earlier in the night. 

Mimi, trying to keep as far from him as possible, moved across the stonefloor of the turret roof, and found a niche which concealed her. It wasnot far from Lady Arabella's place of hiding. 

Edgar, left thus alone on the centre of the turret roof, found himselfaltogether his own master in a way which tended to increase his madness. He knew that Mimi was close at hand, though he had lost sight of her. Hespoke loudly, and the sound of his own voice, though it was carried fromhim on the sweeping wind as fast as the words were spoken, seemed toexalt him still more. Even the raging of the elements round him appearedto add to his exaltation. To him it seemed that these manifestationswere obedient to his own will. He had reached the sublime of hismadness; he was now in his own mind actually the Almighty, and whatevermight happen would be the direct carrying out of his own commands. As hecould not see Mimi, nor fix whereabout she was, he shouted loudly:

"Come to me! You shall see now what you are despising, what you arewarring against. All that you see is mine--the darkness as well as thelight. I tell you that I am greater than any other who is, or was, orshall be. When the Master of Evil took Christ up on a high place andshowed Him all the kingdoms of the earth, he was doing what he thought noother could do. He was wrong--he forgot _Me_. I shall send you light, up to the very ramparts of heaven. A light so great that it shalldissipate those black clouds that are rushing up and piling around us. Look! Look! At the very touch of my hand that light springs into beingand mounts up--and up--and up!"

He made his way whilst he was speaking to the corner of the turret whenceflew the giant kite, and from which the runners ascended. Mimi lookedon, appalled and afraid to speak lest she should precipitate somecalamity. Within the niche Lady Arabella cowered in a paroxysm of fear. 

Edgar took up a small wooden box, through a hole in which the wire of therunner ran. This evidently set some machinery in motion, for a sound asof whirring came. From one side of the box floated what looked like apiece of stiff ribbon, which snapped and crackled as the wind took it. For a few seconds Mimi saw it as it rushed along the sagging line to thekite. When close to it, there was a loud crack, and a sudden lightappeared to issue from every chink in the box. Then a quick flameflashed along the snapping ribbon, which glowed with an intense light--alight so great that the whole of the countryside around stood out againstthe background of black driving clouds. For a few seconds the lightremained, then suddenly disappeared in the blackness around. It wassimply a magnesium light, which had been fired by the mechanism withinthe box and carried up to the kite. Edgar was in a state of tumultuousexcitement, shouting and yelling at the top of his voice and dancingabout like a lunatic. 

This was more than Lady Arabella's curious dual nature could stand--theghoulish element in her rose triumphant, and she abandoned all idea ofmarriage with Edgar Caswall, gloating fiendishly over the thought ofrevenge. 

She must lure him to the White Worm's hole--but how? She glanced aroundand quickly made up her mind. The man's whole thoughts were absorbed byhis wonderful kite, which he was showing off, in order to fascinate herimaginary rival, Mimi. 

On the instant she glided through the darkness to the wheel whereon thestring of the kite was wound. With deft fingers she unshipped this, tookit with her, reeling out the wire as she went, thus keeping, in a way, intouch with the kite. Then she glided swiftly to the wicket, throughwhich she passed, locking the gate behind her as she went. 

Down the turret stair she ran quickly, letting the wire run from thewheel which she carried carefully, and, passing out of the hall door, hurried down the avenue with all her speed. She soon reached her owngate, ran down the avenue, and with her key opened the iron door leadingto the well-hole. 

She felt well satisfied with herself. All her plans were maturing, orhad already matured. The Master of Castra Regis was within her grasp. The woman whose interference she had feared, Lilla Watford, was dead. Truly, all was well, and she felt that she might pause a while and rest. She tore off her clothes, with feverish fingers, and in full enjoyment ofher natural freedom, stretched her slim figure in animal delight. Thenshe lay down on the sofa--to await her victim! Edgar Caswall's lifeblood would more than satisfy her for some time to come. 

CHAPTER XXVIII--THE BREAKING OF THE STORM

When Lady Arabella had crept away in her usual noiseless fashion, the twoothers remained for a while in their places on the turret roof: Caswallbecause he had nothing to say, Mimi because she had much to say andwished to put her thoughts in order. For quite a while--which seemedinterminable--silence reigned between them. At last Mimi made abeginning--she had made up her mind how to act. 

"Mr. Caswall, " she said loudly, so as to make sure of being heard throughthe blustering of the wind and the perpetual cracking of the electricity. 

Caswall said something in reply, but his words were carried away on thestorm. However, one of her objects was effected: she knew now exactlywhereabout on the roof he was. So she moved close to the spot before shespoke again, raising her voice almost to a shout. 

"The wicket is shut. Please to open it. I can't get out. "

As she spoke, she was quietly fingering a revolver which Adam had givento her in case of emergency and which now lay in her breast. She feltthat she was caged like a rat in a trap, but did not mean to be taken ata disadvantage, whatever happened. Caswall also felt trapped, and allthe brute in him rose to the emergency. In a voice which was raucous andbrutal--much like that which is heard when a wife is being beaten by herhusband in a slum--he hissed out, his syllables cutting through theroaring of the storm:

"You came of your own accord--without permission, or even asking it. Nowyou can stay or go as you choose. But you must manage it for yourself;I'll have nothing to do with it. "

Her answer was spoken with dangerous suavity

"I am going. Blame yourself if you do not like the time and manner ofit. I daresay Adam--my husband--will have a word to say to you aboutit!"

"Let him say, and be damned to him, and to you too! I'll show you alight. You shan't be able to say that you could not see what you weredoing. "

As he spoke, he was lighting another piece of the magnesium ribbon, whichmade a blinding glare in which everything was plainly discernible, downto the smallest detail. This exactly suited Mimi. She took accuratenote of the wicket and its fastening before the glare had died away. Shetook her revolver out and fired into the lock, which was shivered on theinstant, the pieces flying round in all directions, but happily withoutcausing hurt to anyone. Then she pushed the wicket open and ran down thenarrow stair, and so to the hall door. Opening this also, she ran downthe avenue, never lessening her speed till she stood outside the door ofLesser Hill. The door was opened at once on her ringing. 

"Is Mr. Adam Salton in?" she asked. 

"He has just come in, a few minutes ago. He has gone up to the study, "replied a servant. 

She ran upstairs at once and joined him. He seemed relieved when he sawher, but scrutinised her face keenly. He saw that she had been in someconcern, so led her over to the sofa in the window and sat down besideher. 

"Now, dear, tell me all about it!" he said. 

She rushed breathlessly through all the details of her adventure on theturret roof. Adam listened attentively, helping her all he could, andnot embarrassing her by any questioning. His thoughtful silence was agreat help to her, for it allowed her to collect and organise herthoughts. 

"I must go and see Caswall to-morrow, to hear what he has to say on thesubject. "

"But, dear, for my sake, don't have any quarrel with Mr. Caswall. I havehad too much trial and pain lately to wish it increased by any anxietyregarding you. "

"You shall not, dear--if I can help it--please God, " he said solemnly, and he kissed her. 

Then, in order to keep her interested so that she might forget the fearsand anxieties that had disturbed her, he began to talk over the detailsof her adventure, making shrewd comments which attracted and held herattention. Presently, _inter alia_, he said:

"That's a dangerous game Caswall is up to. It seems to me that thatyoung man--though he doesn't appear to know it--is riding for a fall!"

"How, dear? I don't understand. "

"Kite flying on a night like this from a place like the tower of CastraRegis is, to say the least of it, dangerous. It is not merely courtingdeath or other accident from lightning, but it is bringing the lightninginto where he lives. Every cloud that is blowing up here--and they allmake for the highest point--is bound to develop into a flash oflightning. That kite is up in the air and is bound to attract thelightning. Its cord makes a road for it on which to travel to earth. When it does come, it will strike the top of the tower with a weight ahundred times greater than a whole park of artillery, and will knockCastra Regis into pieces. Where it will go after that, no one can tell. If there should be any metal by which it can travel, such will not onlypoint the road, but be the road itself. "

"Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air when such a thing istaking place?" she asked. 

"No, little woman. It would be the safest possible place--so long as onewas not in the line of the electric current. "

"Then, do let us go outside. I don't want to run into any foolishdanger--or, far more, to ask you to do so. But surely if the open issafest, that is the place for us. "

Without another word, she put on again the cloak she had thrown off, anda small, tight-fitting cap. Adam too put on his cap, and, after seeingthat his revolver was all right, gave her his hand, and they left thehouse together. 

"I think the best thing we can do will be to go round all the placeswhich are mixed up in this affair. "

"All right, dear, I am ready. But, if you don't mind, we might go firstto Mercy. I am anxious about grandfather, and we might see that--as yet, at all events--nothing has happened there. "

So they went on the high-hung road along the top of the Brow. The windhere was of great force, and made a strange booming noise as it swepthigh overhead; though not the sound of cracking and tearing as it passedthrough the woods of high slender trees which grew on either side of theroad. Mimi could hardly keep her feet. She was not afraid; but theforce to which she was opposed gave her a good excuse to hold on to herhusband extra tight. 

At Mercy there was no one up--at least, all the lights were out. But toMimi, accustomed to the nightly routine of the house, there were manifestsigns that all was well, except in the little room on the first floor, where the blinds were down. Mimi could not bear to look at that, tothink of it. Adam understood her pain, for he had been keenly interestedin poor Lilla. He bent over and kissed her, and then took her hand andheld it hard. Thus they passed on together, returning to the high roadtowards Castra Regis. 

At the gate of Castra Regis they were extra careful. When drawing near, Adam stumbled upon the wire that Lady Arabella had left trailing on theground. 

Adam drew his breath at this, and spoke in a low, earnest whisper:

"I don't want to frighten you, Mimi dear, but wherever that wire is thereis danger. "

"Danger! How?"

"That is the track where the lightning will go; at any moment, even nowwhilst we are speaking and searching, a fearful force may be loosed uponus. Run on, dear; you know the way to where the avenue joins thehighroad. If you see any sign of the wire, keep away from it, for God'ssake. I shall join you at the gateway. "

"Are you going to follow that wire alone?"

"Yes, dear. One is sufficient for that work. I shall not lose a momenttill I am with you. "

"Adam, when I came with you into the open, my main wish was that weshould be together if anything serious happened. You wouldn't deny methat right, would you, dear?"

"No, dear, not that or any right. Thank God that my wife has such awish. Come; we will go together. We are in the hands of God. If Hewishes, we shall be together at the end, whenever or wherever that maybe. "

They picked up the trail of the wire on the steps and followed it downthe avenue, taking care not to touch it with their feet. It was easyenough to follow, for the wire, if not bright, was self-coloured, andshowed clearly. They followed it out of the gateway and into the avenueof Diana's Grove. 

Here a new gravity clouded Adam's face, though Mimi saw no cause forfresh concern. This was easily enough explained. Adam knew of theexplosive works in progress regarding the well-hole, but the matter hadbeen kept from his wife. As they stood near the house, Adam asked Mimito return to the road, ostensibly to watch the course of the wire, telling her that there might be a branch wire leading somewhere else. Shewas to search the undergrowth, and if she found it, was to warn him bythe Australian native "Coo-ee!"

Whilst they were standing together, there came a blinding flash oflightning, which lit up for several seconds the whole area of earth andsky. It was only the first note of the celestial prelude, for it wasfollowed in quick succession by numerous flashes, whilst the crash androll of thunder seemed continuous. 

Adam, appalled, drew his wife to him and held her close. As far as hecould estimate by the interval between lightning and thunder-clap, theheart of the storm was still some distance off, so he felt no presentconcern for their safety. Still, it was apparent that the course of thestorm was moving swiftly in their direction. The lightning flashes camefaster and faster and closer together; the thunder-roll was almostcontinuous, not stopping for a moment--a new crash beginning before theold one had ceased. Adam kept looking up in the direction where the kitestrained and struggled at its detaining cord, but, of course, the dullevening light prevented any distinct scrutiny. 

At length there came a flash so appallingly bright that in its glareNature seemed to be standing still. So long did it last, that there wastime to distinguish its configuration. It seemed like a mighty treeinverted, pendent from the sky. The whole country around within theangle of vision was lit up till it seemed to glow. Then a broad ribbonof fire seemed to drop on to the tower of Castra Regis just as thethunder crashed. By the glare, Adam could see the tower shake andtremble, and finally fall to pieces like a house of cards. The passingof the lightning left the sky again dark, but a blue flame fell downwardfrom the tower, and, with inconceivable rapidity, running along theground in the direction of Diana's Grove, reached the dark silent house, which in the instant burst into flame at a hundred different points. 

At the same moment there rose from the house a rending, crashing sound ofwoodwork, broken or thrown about, mixed with a quick scream so appallingthat Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was, felt his blood turn intoice. Instinctively, despite the danger and their consciousness of it, husband and wife took hands and listened, trembling. Something was goingon close to them, mysterious, terrible, deadly! The shrieks continued, though less sharp in sound, as though muffled. In the midst of them wasa terrific explosion, seemingly from deep in the earth. 

The flames from Castra Regis and from Diana's Grove made all aroundalmost as light as day, and now that the lightning had ceased to flash, their eyes, unblinded, were able to judge both perspective and detail. The heat of the burning house caused the iron doors to warp and collapse. Seemingly of their own accord, they fell open, and exposed the interior. The Saltons could now look through to the room beyond, where the well-hole yawned, a deep narrow circular chasm. From this the agonisedshrieks were rising, growing ever more terrible with each second thatpassed. 

But it was not only the heart-rending sound that almost paralysed poorMimi with terror. What she saw was sufficient to fill her with evildreams for the remainder of her life. The whole place looked as if a seaof blood had been beating against it. Each of the explosions from belowhad thrown out from the well-hole, as if it had been the mouth of acannon, a mass of fine sand mixed with blood, and a horrible repulsiveslime in which were great red masses of rent and torn flesh and fat. Asthe explosions kept on, more and more of this repulsive mass was shot up, the great bulk of it falling back again. Many of the awful fragmentswere of something which had lately been alive. They quivered andtrembled and writhed as though they were still in torment, a suppositionto which the unending scream gave a horrible credence. At moments somemountainous mass of flesh surged up through the narrow orifice, as thoughforced by a measureless power through an opening infinitely smaller thanitself. Some of these fragments were partially covered with white skinas of a human being, and others--the largest and most numerous--withscaled skin as of a gigantic lizard or serpent. Once, in a sort of lullor pause, the seething contents of the hole rose, after the manner of abubbling spring, and Adam saw part of the thin form of Lady Arabella, forced up to the top amid a mass of blood and slime, and what looked asif it had been the entrails of a monster torn into shreds. Several timessome masses of enormous bulk were forced up through the well-hole withinconceivable violence, and, suddenly expanding as they came into largerspace, disclosed sections of the White Worm which Adam and Sir Nathanielhad seen looking over the trees with its enormous eyes of emerald-greenflickering like great lamps in a gale. 

At last the explosive power, which was not yet exhausted, evidentlyreached the main store of dynamite which had been lowered into the wormhole. The result was appalling. The ground for far around quivered andopened in long deep chasms, whose edges shook and fell in, throwing upclouds of sand which fell back and hissed amongst the rising water. Theheavily built house shook to its foundations. Great stones were thrownup as from a volcano, some of them, great masses of hard stone, squaredand grooved with implements wrought by human hands, breaking up andsplitting in mid air as though riven by some infernal power. Trees nearthe house--and therefore presumably in some way above the hole, whichsent up clouds of dust and steam and fine sand mingled, and which carriedan appalling stench which sickened the spectators--were torn up by theroots and hurled into the air. By now, flames were bursting violentlyfrom all over the ruins, so dangerously that Adam caught up his wife inhis arms, and ran with her from the proximity of the flames. 

Then almost as quickly as it had begun, the whole cataclysm ceased, though a deep-down rumbling continued intermittently for some time. Thensilence brooded over all--silence so complete that it seemed in itself asentient thing--silence which seemed like incarnate darkness, andconveyed the same idea to all who came within its radius. To the youngpeople who had suffered the long horror of that awful night, it broughtrelief--relief from the presence or the fear of all that washorrible--relief which seemed perfected when the red rays of sunrise shotup over the far eastern sea, bringing a promise of a new order of thingswith the coming day. 

* * * * *

His bed saw little of Adam Salton for the remainder of that night. Heand Mimi walked hand in hand in the brightening dawn round by the Brow toCastra Regis and on to Lesser Hill. They did so deliberately, in anattempt to think as little as possible of the terrible experiences of thenight. The morning was bright and cheerful, as a morning sometimes isafter a devastating storm. The clouds, of which there were plenty inevidence, brought no lingering idea of gloom. All nature was bright andjoyous, being in striking contrast to the scenes of wreck anddevastation, the effects of obliterating fire and lasting ruin. 

The only evidence of the once stately pile of Castra Regis and itsinhabitants was a shapeless huddle of shattered architecture, dimly seenas the keen breeze swept aside the cloud of acrid smoke which marked thesite of the once lordly castle. As for Diana's Grove, they looked invain for a sign which had a suggestion of permanence. The oak trees ofthe Grove were still to be seen--some of them--emerging from a haze ofsmoke, the great trunks solid and erect as ever, but the larger branchesbroken and twisted and rent, with bark stripped and chipped, and thesmaller branches broken and dishevelled looking from the constant stressand threshing of the storm. 

Of the house as such, there was, even at the short distance from whichthey looked, no trace. Adam resolutely turned his back on thedevastation and hurried on. Mimi was not only upset and shocked in manyways, but she was physically "dog tired, " and falling asleep on her feet. Adam took her to her room and made her undress and get into bed, takingcare that the room was well lighted both by sunshine and lamps. The onlyobstruction was from a silk curtain, drawn across the window to keep outthe glare. He sat beside her, holding her hand, well knowing that thecomfort of his presence was the best restorative for her. He stayed withher till sleep had overmastered her wearied body. Then he went softlyaway. He found his uncle and Sir Nathaniel in the study, having an earlycup of tea, amplified to the dimensions of a possible breakfast. Adamexplained that he had not told his wife that he was going over thehorrible places again, lest it should frighten her, for the rest andsleep in ignorance would help her and make a gap of peacefulness betweenthe horrors. 

Sir Nathaniel agreed. 

"We know, my boy, " he said, "that the unfortunate Lady Arabella is dead, and that the foul carcase of the Worm has been torn to pieces--pray Godthat its evil soul will never more escape from the nethermost hell. "

They visited Diana's Grove first, not only because it was nearer, butalso because it was the place where most description was required, andAdam felt that he could tell his story best on the spot. The absolutedestruction of the place and everything in it seen in the broad daylightwas almost inconceivable. To Sir Nathaniel, it was as a story of horrorfull and complete. But to Adam it was, as it were, only on the fringes. He knew what was still to be seen when his friends had got over theknowledge of externals. As yet, they had only seen the outside of thehouse--or rather, where the outside of the house once had been. Thegreat horror lay within. However, age--and the experience of age--counts. 

A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place in thetime which had elapsed since the dawn. It would almost seem as if Natureherself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred. True, the utter ruin of the house was made even more manifest in thesearching daylight; but the more appalling destruction which lay beneathwas not visible. The rent, torn, and dislocated stonework looked worsethan before; the upheaved foundations, the piled-up fragments of masonry, the fissures in the torn earth--all were at the worst. The Worm's holewas still evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into the verybowels of the earth. But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, oftorn, evil-smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent death, were gone. Either some of the later explosions had thrown up from thedeep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had stillsome cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass which stirred fromfar below had helped to drag down and obliterate the items of horror. Agrey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste of the falling ruin, covered everything, and, though ghastly itself, helped to mask somethingstill worse. 

After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three men thatthe turmoil far below had not yet ceased. At short irregular intervalsthe hell-broth in the hole seemed as if boiling up. It rose and fellagain and turned over, showing in fresh form much of the nauseous detailwhich had been visible earlier. The worst parts were the great masses ofthe flesh of the monstrous Worm, in all its red and sickening aspect. Such fragments had been bad enough before, but now they were infinitelyworse. Corruption comes with startling rapidity to beings whosedestruction has been due wholly or in part to lightning--the whole massseemed to have become all at once corrupt! The whole surface of thefragments, once alive, was covered with insects, worms, and vermin of allkinds. The sight was horrible enough, but, with the awful smell added, was simply unbearable. The Worm's hole appeared to breathe forth deathin its most repulsive forms. The friends, with one impulse, moved to thetop of the Brow, where a fresh breeze from the sea was blowing up. 

At the top of the Brow, beneath them as they looked down, they saw ashining mass of white, which looked strangely out of place amongst suchwreckage as they had been viewing. It appeared so strange that Adamsuggested trying to find a way down, so that they might see it moreclosely. 

"We need not go down; I know what it is, " Sir Nathaniel said. "Theexplosions of last night have blown off the outside of the cliffs--thatwhich we see is the vast bed of china clay through which the Wormoriginally found its way down to its lair. I can catch the glint of thewater of the deep quags far down below. Well, her ladyship didn'tdeserve such a funeral--or such a monument. "

* * * * *

The horrors of the last few hours had played such havoc with Mimi'snerves, that a change of scene was imperative--if a permanent breakdownwas to be avoided. 

"I think, " said old Mr. Salton, "it is quite time you young peopledeparted for that honeymoon of yours!" There was a twinkle in his eye ashe spoke. 

Mimi's soft shy glance at her stalwart husband, was sufficient answer.