The Slave of Silence

black. In her hand she carried not only the telegram but a

nce of Colonel Berrington; Stephen Richford had slipped off somewhere. Ma

raid that there is worse to come. Dr. Andrews has just telephoned. He has seen Sir Charles's medical man, and

apers. And I found a letter that puzzles me. It was written last night as the date shows, in th

iting. Something was evidently wrong here, Mark thought. The Colonel was a man of courage, as he very well knew,

want you to read it. I br

n said. "As there is no heading and signatu

be on the envelope," Beatrice sa

d that it was of no use to try and keep out of the way. There was nothing more; no threat or sign of anger, nothing to signify that there was any feeling

hotel, probably by somebody dining here last night. It is just possible that it was written by s

he question quite nervously. "In a place so large as th

r the roof, has to sign the visitors' book. With this letter in my hand I can compare signatures. If there is n

s agitation deepened. With all her distress a

o the office and see at onc

stood watching him for a moment, then he turned

y mistaken, I know who wrote that letter. What connection she had with your father and what

sh of sudden inspiration, "it wa

mine to tell, but for a long time I have been seeking the grey lady. I had not the remotest idea that she and Sir Charles had anything in common; little did I dream that she was here in this hote

side was terribly agitated; indeed Beatrice could not have

ast person to see my father alive. She may have told him some terrible news; she

an by that?" Be

and-and could possibly have had nothing to do with my fathe

ly what was passing t

quietly. "What a difference mo

e passed through the great hall where the death of Sir Charles was already forgotten. "I

dge of these matters. As far as I could see, the marriage ceremon

r nervously. "I am going to find out for certain. The service was not quite finished; there was no exhortation, t

s saying too much. There was a certain expression of reli

?" she asked eagerly. "Have y

of a guest in the visitors' book. The lady came only yesterday, as the date is opposite her writin

it suggests the kind of name a lady novelist would assume. Too singular to b

nd dined in the red salon. She had breakfast here very early, and then she paid her bill and departed. The clerk cannot say where she went, for her small a

He had been waited upon at his office, he explained, by the deceased baronet's medical man, who had suggested the necessity for an inquest, which had been fixed upon for ten o'clock the following day. Under the circumstances th

g that Richford had been drinking. The thing was so unusual that it stood out all the more glaringly. "There's no occasion for an inquest. Dr. Oswin

ds. Both Dr. Oswin and Dr. Andrews have suggested an inquest; they have notified us,

but he checked himself. He laid his hand more or less familiar

this course, I have no more to say. But there is nothing to gain b

ay to you. We will go on as far as my sitting-room. Please don

ot utter a word until the door of the sitting-room had closed upon Beatrice

situation," Richford

he register. You know what my feelings have been all along; I have never made the slightest attempt to disguise them. If I had known that my father was dead-that he had died on the way to church, I sh

tener as no outburst of contempt or scorn could. They to

sneered. "Nobody could

father lying there, and he crept away without giving the slightest alarm. You may sneer, you may say that such a thing is impossible, that the man I allude to would have nothing to gain by such a course; but as I said before, I am going to prove it. Look at this telegram I hold in my hand. It was sent before ten o'clock to-day to the person to whom it is addr

y, because,-well, you see it i

hen you grasped the fact that if the marriage was postponed it would never take place, that I was in a position to defy you. You locked my father's door; you said nothing; y

ng to do?" Richfo

" Beatrice cried, "I swear by Heaven

shaking and quivering