A Woman's Burden Part 45

"Yes, indeed; very little's right," sighed Miriam, "but you mustn't tempt me to begin pouring my troubles into your ears directly you enter the door."

"Your troubles are mine, Mir----"

"Oh, I know how good you are; that's why I hate to worry you."

"Now, come along, sit down and tell me all about it."

"No; not till after dinner. It will keep; but just that you may know why I look worried, I may tell you that Jabez has been here again this afternoon."

"Oh! the same old errand I suppose?"

"Yes; he wanted money. I gave him what I could."

"Well, that ended the matter, didn't it? My dear Mrs. Arkel, I do wish you'd let me deal with this scamp of a brother of yours. You see, I know all about him, and he wouldn't----"

"All? I'm afraid not even you know _all_ about him?"

"Yes," said Dundas emphatically. "All; even to the fact that he is at this moment wanted on a charge of murder!"

CHAPTER X.

THE MAJOR'S POINT OF VIEW.

Although for long Miriam had felt convinced that Major Dundas knew considerably more about her brother's life than he had any intention of acquainting her with, the force with which he drove home those last words completely terrorised her. Coming as they did immediately on the top of what Mrs. Parsley had told her, they, to her mind, conveyed only one meaning--that her brother was known now as the murderer of Mr.

Barton, and as such would a.s.suredly have to pay the penalty of his crime. She could not conceal the alarm she felt, and as she leaned back in her chair pale to the lips, her throat seemed almost to close, and her heart to stop with nervous dread. With quick indrawn breath she waited for his next words. They were words of comfort.

"Mrs. Arkel," he said, "I fear I have alarmed you. Believe me, you can trust in me. What I have just told you I knew a year ago. If I did not have your brother arrested then you need not fear that I shall do so now. He is safe from me--for your sake."

She was puzzled. It could not have been then to the murder of Mr. Barton he had referred after all. He could not have known about that a year ago. He must have meant that other--that terrible crime which had so overshadowed her life during all these years, and of the consequences of which to Jabez she had lived in daily dread. She took for granted that it was so.

"I know--I know," she said, "and I can never thank you for your forbearance. But, indeed, the charge against my unfortunate brother was not one of murder--it was manslaughter."

Dundas paused before replying.

"I am afraid," he said, a trifle drily, "that you will find the verdict of the coroner's jury leaves no room for misunderstanding on that point; still, there is of course the chance that after all this time--it is six years ago you remember--I may be mistaken."

"Do you know all the facts of the case, Major?"

"Surely. The affair made a great stir in my regiment at the time. You see your brother had shown very soon after enlisting that he was a man of ungovernable temper, and no amount of discipline seemed to have any effect upon him. He was punished again and again for his insubordination. At last after punishment more than usually severe he deserted, and for a long time, in spite of the most careful search, he eluded capture. When in the end they did find him it was in London, and he was arrested by four men and a sergeant. He surrendered so quietly that the sergeant foolishly omitted to handcuff him. The hour was late and the street ill-lighted. He attempted escape. The sergeant s.n.a.t.c.hed a bayonet from the musket of one of the men, and as he did so Crane closed with him and stabbed him to the heart, and then managed to get clean away. The whole affair, I suppose, was the work of a few seconds. They chased him as far as the river, and he was seen to throw himself in.

Then they appear to have abandoned him, and he has not since been heard of. I think these are the facts exactly, are they not, Mrs. Arkel?"

"From one point of view, yes; but Jabez has always declared that the sergeant tried to stab _him_, and that he s.n.a.t.c.hed the bayonet from him in self-defence only. In the struggle that ensued the sergeant was stabbed, true, but the act was defensive on Jabez' part, not aggressive.

That I really believe is the truth, in which case of course it would be manslaughter and not murder."

"Your brother naturally makes out the best possible case for himself.

But the evidence of the men went to prove conclusively that the act was deliberate. At all events he funked trial, and the coroner's verdict was one of wilful murder."

"Yes, I know he did. It was marvellous how he escaped, and afterwards he was afraid to give himself up. How he managed, good swimmer as he was, to keep himself afloat in that surging stream, was always inexplicable to him himself--sheer force of despair, I suppose. However, he did manage it, and eventually found shelter at Mother Mandarin's."

"Who is this Mother Mandarin?"

"She is an old woman who keeps an opium den in Lambeth. Her name came to her through her having been an orange-seller at one time. Jabez had among other vices contracted that of opium smoking, and he was a good customer of hers. Consequently when he rushed in soaking wet that night, and told her he was in danger, she took him in and concealed him. For months he remained there, not even the immediate neighbours knowing of his presence."

"No--it was a.s.sumed he was drowned. The district was supposed to have been thoroughly searched, and absolutely no trace of him was found. I myself was of the same opinion until that day I saw him here."

"How did you recognise him?"

"By the colour of his eyes and hair, and more particularly by the scar on his forehead. For a while I could not place him, though I was positive I knew the man. Then suddenly it flashed across me, and the ident.i.ty of his name with yours struck me. You remember how startled you were? I concluded of course from the name that he must be some connection, but it never dawned upon me he was your brother. I can hardly describe to you what I felt when you told me."

"Can you imagine what it was to me to have to tell you?"

"I know--don't think of it now. It has all been very terrible--very horrible. And the worst of it is I fear there is more to come!"

She paled again, and looked up quickly.

"Is there something you are keeping from me? If so it would be kinder to tell me. I can bear anything now I think."

The Major appeared nervous and ill at ease.

"Well, Mrs. Arkel, I feel in one way I ought to, and yet the subject is so very painful for both of us----"

"For both of us?"

"Surely you know how I feel----"

"Yes, yes; but tell me what you have in your mind."

"Well, then, I am very much inclined to think that your brother killed my uncle."

Miriam remained perfectly calm. She had fully expected this; but she felt secure from what he had said, that for her sake he would take no action.

"What reasons have you for thinking that?"

"Perhaps it is safer to call them suspicions. I have really no direct evidence, only I feel that between you and me, even on this terrible topic, absolute frankness is best. I admit that for long past I have not been able to dissociate in my mind the fact of your brother having been in Lesser Thorpe on Christmas Eve, and having been heard to threaten my uncle, from the fact of the old man having been murdered the following night. You may say it was pure coincidence--that it is mere conjecture on my part, based on the most fallible of circ.u.mstantial evidence; but I tell you candidly that if it had not been for you, I should have sifted that thing to the bottom long ago. As it was I preferred to leave it in the hands of the police."

"What you say is perfectly true, and I, too, would rather we spoke quite freely on the subject, horrible as it is. I tell you that from the bottom of my heart I don't believe that Jabez is guilty of this crime.

But there is another thing I must also tell you. Mrs. Parsley told me before she left to-day that the boy Shorty has recently made certain confessions in connection with Mr. Barton's murder, amongst them that he saw Jabez in the library that night--in fact, he accuses Jabez directly of the murder."

"And even in the face of that you believe him innocent? My dear Mrs.

Arkel, I confess I cannot. It requires only the least bit of evidence to confirm my suspicions. But I am glad you told me this, for it is serious."

"You won't allow it to alter you? For my sake you won't----"

"For your sake I would do almost anything. I say almost, because there is just one thing I cannot do."