登陆注册
15517200000040

第40章 VI. THE HOLE IN THE WALL(5)

The plantation stood dark against the fiery colors of sunrise, a black fringe having that feathery appearance which makes trees when they are bare the very reverse of rugged. Hours and hours afterward, when the same dense, but delicate, margin was dark against the greenish colors opposite the sunset, the search thus begun at sunrise had not come to an end. By successive stages, and to slowly gathering groups of the company, it became apparent that the most extraordinary of all gaps had appeared in the party; the guests could find no trace of their host anywhere. The servants reported that his bed had been slept in and his skates and his fancy costume were gone, as if he had risen early for the purpose he had himself avowed. But from the top of the house to the bottom, from the walls round the park to the pond in the center, there was no trace of Lord Bulmer, dead or alive. Horne Fisher realized that a chilling premonition had already prevented him from expecting to find the man alive. But his bald brow was wrinkled over an entirely new and unnatural problem, in not finding the man at all.

He considered the possibility of Bulmer having gone off of his own accord, for some reason; but after fully weighing it he finally dismissed it. It was inconsistent with the unmistakable voice heard at daybreak, and with many other practical obstacles.

There was only one gateway in the ancient and lofty wall round the small park; the lodge keeper kept it locked till late in the morning, and the lodge keeper had seen no one pass. Fisher was fairly sure that he had before him a mathematical problem in an inclosed space. His instinct had been from the first so attuned to the tragedy that it would have been almost a relief to him to find the corpse. He would have been grieved, but not horrified, to come on the nobleman's body dangling from one of his own trees as from a gibbet, or floating in his own pool like a pallid weed. What horrified him was to find nothing.

He soon become conscious that he was not alone even in his most individual and isolated experiments.

He often found a figure following him like his shadow, in silent and almost secret clearings in the plantation or outlying nooks and corners of the old wall. The dark-mustached mouth was as mute as the deep eyes were mobile, darting incessantly hither and thither, but it was clear that Brain of the Indian police had taken up the trail like an old hunter after a tiger.

Seeing that he was the only personal friend of the vanished man, this seemed natural enough, and Fisher resolved to deal frankly with him.

"This silence is rather a social strain," he said.

"May I break the ice by talking about the weather?--which, by the way, has already broken the ice. I know that breaking the ice might be a rather melancholy metaphor in this case.""I don't think so," replied Brain, shortly. "I don't fancy the ice had much to do with it. I don't see how it could.""What would you propose doing?" asked Fisher.

"Well, we've sent for the authorities, of course, but I hope to find something out before they come,"replied the Anglo-Indian. "I can't say I have much hope from police methods in this country. Too much red tape, habeas corpus and that sort of thing. What we want is to see that nobody bolts; the nearest we could get to it would be to collect the company and count them, so to speak. Nobody's left lately, except that lawyer who was poking about for antiquities.""Oh, he's out of it; he left last night," answered the other. "Eight hours after Bulmer's chauffeur saw his lawyer off by the train I heard Bulmer's own voice as plain as I hear yours now.""I suppose you don't believe in spirits?" said the man from India. After a pause he added: "There's somebody else I should like to find, before we go after a fellow with an alibi in the Inner Temple.

What's become of that fellow in green--the architect dressed up as a forester? I haven't seem him about."Mr. Brain managed to secure his assembly of all the distracted company before the arrival of the police. But when he first began to coment once more on the young architect's delay in putting in an appearance, he found himself in the presence of a minor mystery, and a psychological development of an entirely unexpected kind.

Juliet Bray had confronted the catastrophe of her brother's disappearance with a somber stoicism in which there was, perhaps, more paralysis than pain;but when the other question came to the surface she was both agitated and angry.

"We don't want to jump to any conclusions about anybody," Brain was saying in his staccato style. "But we should like to know a little more about Mr. Crane.

Nobody seems to know much about him, or where he comes from. And it seems a sort of coincidence that yesterday he actually crossed swords with poor Bulmer, and could have stuck him, too, since he showed himself the better swordsman. Of course, that may be an accident and couldn't possibly be called a case against anybody; but then we haven't the means to make a real case against anybody. Till the police come we are only a pack of very amateur sleuthhounds.""And I think you're a pack of snobs," said Juliet.

"Because Mr. Crane is a genius who's made his own way, you try to suggest he's a murderer without daring to say so. Because he wore a toy sword and happened to know how to use it, you want us to believe he used it like a bloodthirsty maniac for no reason in the world. And because he could have hit my brother and didn't, you deduce that he did. That's the sort of way you argue. And as for his having disappeared, you're wrong in that as you are in everything else, for here he comes."And, indeed, the green figure of the fictitious Robin Hood slowly detached itself from the gray background of the trees, and came toward them as she spoke.

He approached the group slowly, but with composure; but he was decidedly pale, and the eyes of Brain and Fisher had already taken in one detail of the green-clad figure more clearly than all the rest.

The horn still swung from his baldrick, but the sword was gone.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 镜像宇宙

    镜像宇宙

    齐星的精神能进入另一个宇宙。这里有地球、有太阳系、有银河系……一样的天体,一样的运行轨迹,它像现实宇宙的一面镜子。这里的金星是金子做的,这里的木星是一棵巨树,这里的水星全是水,这里的人类骑着自行车在星空中遨游……它有着和现实宇宙不一样的生态和文明。这是懒神的传承。——当现实宇宙中的人类怀着征服星辰大海的梦想踏上征途,哈木斯虫族用灭族之战为人类启蒙。家园危在旦夕,少年何去何从?不屈的意志,血与火的洗礼。这是强者的征途。
  • 佛穿火影

    佛穿火影

    古老相传,开创忍道的是六道仙人,可是六道仙人从和处而来:传言千年前,十尾乱世,六道仙人拯救了人类,封印了十尾。可是千年前的世界到底是什么样子……
  • 四川某院的男生寝室

    四川某院的男生寝室

    四个宅男,生活在一间九平米的寝室。这是一起吃泡面的故事......这是一起玩游戏的故事......这是一起打光棍的故事......这是一篇关于大学生成长的故事......
  • 逸侠游记

    逸侠游记

    (2017年,最新爽文)爱也许是瞬间的热恋,爱或许是千古之恋看都市少年黄辰逸如何在逆境,充满生死环境中成长,和他几经曲折的爱情故事。本书分为九部分,每一卷分成一部分,每一部分都有一个故事,环环柤扣,每一卷都有介绍,(杀手重影,千年迷案,女人天香,九鼎震天下,鬼王异域,蜀山之战,天书奇缘,生死迷局,至尊颠天下)看黄辰逸如何在逆境,充满生死环境中成长,如何在身边女人中寻求真爱她,最终他的命运又怎样……
  • 太原诗钞

    太原诗钞

    本书是太原市委宣传部组织整理出版的歌咏太原人、事、物等相关诗歌的结集出版。本书上起上古歌谣,下至当代诗人的现代诗,精选300首,纵横二千多年,是一部展示太原历史和人文的优秀作品。诗集为了方便读者阅读,附有作者简介、题解以及简要的注释。
  • 仙途之殇

    仙途之殇

    仙之路,莫不逆而为之;爱之切,谁不争而拥之?情殇少年,逆天之路。诱惑之间,地狱天堂!爱也好,恨也罢,谁相守?逆了苍天为谁?伊人佳影却成空---
  • 孤胄纵横

    孤胄纵横

    凌家难,独子震世仇;格局改,孤胄傲诸侯!(非文词饾饤,但文采独到!)重温冷兵器时代的战场,重现古诸侯世纪的硝烟!
  • 妃本孤狂之有女九小姐

    妃本孤狂之有女九小姐

    “你要对我负责。”某人携一抹清浅的笑,目光深沉地看过来。她一惊,“为什么?”“唔,你摸也摸过了,亲也亲过了,还不负责吗?”那算吗……?明明是在救他好么?某人眉头一挑“你若不想负责也可以。”“真的?”“嗯。”某人长臂一展,一阵天旋地转她就被压在了身下,“不负责的话……就让我把便宜占回来好了。”于是,她就眼睁睁地看着某人为所欲为,不但占回了本金,还收回了比本金还多的利息……她怒了,还有这么算的吗?高利贷啊……————————————看潇洒与霸气之间的碰撞,高冷与傲娇之间的对峙,看远筹帷幄如何步步推到精明无比。“我这一生唯一的庆幸,便是我对你是一见钟情。”
  • 美女总裁的修真高手

    美女总裁的修真高手

    他,身怀绝世修真系统,将一个修仙时代推至高潮,整个世界从此暴走!花丛都市,美女如云,作为美女总裁的贴身老公,压力很大。“美女,你别这样,我是有老婆的,我是一个很‘专一’的好老公……”
  • 落幕英雄传

    落幕英雄传

    科技进步,思想解放,让旧时代渐渐落下了帷幕。本书讲述了一位年轻贵族,在新旧交替之时,凭着智慧和勇气同命运抗争的故事。虽然有着阶级局限性,虽然已成为时代眼泪,但依旧保持着旧时代骑士的尊严与荣耀。本书不穿越、未重生、无转世。此为一铁杆德棍的幻想之作。