Round the Fire Stories

“He is a villain or a lunatic—one or the other. We shall very soon seewhich. Come with me, Jackson, and we shall get to the bottom of thisblack business.”

A door opened out of the passage which was the private entrance from hisrooms into the museum. This he opened softly with his key, having firstkicked off his shoes, an example which I followed. We crept togetherthrough room after room, until the large hall lay before us, with thatdark figure still stooping and working at the central case. With anadvance as cautious as his own we closed in upon him, but softly as wewent we could not take him entirely unawares. We were still a dozenyards from him when he looked round with a start, and uttering a huskycry of terror, ran frantically down the museum.

“Simpson! Simpson!” roared Mortimer, and far away down the vista ofelectric lighted doors we saw the stiff figure of the old soldiersuddenly appear. Professor Andreas saw him also, and stopped running,with a gesture of despair. At the same instant we each laid a hand uponhis shoulder.

“Yes, yes, gentlemen,” he panted, “I will come with you. To your room,Mr. Ward Mortimer, if you please! I feel that I owe you an explanation.”

My companion’s indignation was so great that I could see that he darednot trust himself to reply. We walked on each side of the old Professor,the astonished commissionaire bringing up the rear. When we reached theviolated case, Mortimer stopped and examined the breastplate. Alreadyone of the stones of the lower row had had its setting turned back inthe same manner as the others. My friend held it up and glancedfuriously at his prisoner.

“How could you!” he cried. “How could you!”

“It is horrible—horrible!” said the Professor. “I don’t wonder at yourfeelings. Take me to your room.”

“But this shall not be left exposed!” cried Mortimer. He picked thebreastplate up and carried it tenderly in his hand, while I walkedbeside the Professor, like a policeman with a malefactor. We passed intoMortimer’s chambers, leaving the amazed old soldier to understandmatters as best he could. The Professor sat down in Mortimer’sarm-chair, and turned so ghastly a colour that for the instant, all ourresentment was changed to concern. A stiff glass of brandy brought thelife back to him once more.

“There, I am better now!” said he. “These last few days have been toomuch for me. I am convinced that I could not stand it any longer. It isa nightmare—a horrible nightmare—that I should be arrested as a burglarin what has been for so long my own museum. And yet I cannot blame you.You could not have done otherwise. My hope always was that I should getit all over before I was detected. This would have been my last night’swork.”

“How did you get in?” asked Mortimer.

“By taking a very great liberty with your private door. But the objectjustified it. The object justified everything. You will not be angrywhen you know everything—at least, you will not be angry with me. I hada key to your side door and also to the museum door. I did not give themup when I left. And so you see it was not difficult for me to let myselfinto the museum. I used to come in early before the crowd had clearedfrom the street. Then I hid myself in the mummy-case, and took refugethere whenever Simpson came round. I could always hear him coming. Iused to leave in the same way as I came.”

“You ran a risk.”

“I had to.”

“But why? What on earth was your object—_you_ to do a thing like that?”Mortimer pointed reproachfully at the plate which lay before him on thetable.

“I could devise no other means. I thought and thought, but there was noalternative except a hideous public scandal, and a private sorrow whichwould have clouded our lives. I acted for the best, incredible as it mayseem to you, and I only ask your attention to enable me to prove it.”

“I will hear what you have to say before I take any further steps,” saidMortimer, grimly.

“I am determined to hold back nothing, and to take you both completelyinto my confidence. I will leave it to your own generosity how far youwill use the facts with which I supply you.”

“We have the essential facts already.”

“And yet you understand nothing. Let me go back to what passed a fewweeks ago, and I will make it all clear to you. Believe me that what Isay is the absolute and exact truth.

“You have met the person who calls himself Captain Wilson. I say ‘callshimself’ because I have reason now to believe that it is not his correctname. It would take me too long if I were to describe all the means bywhich he obtained an introduction to me and ingratiated himself into myfriendship and the affection of my daughter. He brought letters fromforeign colleagues which compelled me to show him some attention. Andthen, by his own attainments, which are considerable, he succeeded inmaking himself a very welcome visitor at my rooms. When I learned thatmy daughter’s affections had been gained by him, I may have thought itpremature, but I certainly was not surprised, for he had a charm ofmanner and of conversation which would have made him conspicuous in anysociety.

“He was much interested in Oriental antiquities, and his knowledge ofthe subject justified his interest. Often when he spent the evening withus he would ask permission to go down into the museum and have anopportunity of privately inspecting the various specimens. You canimagine that I, as an enthusiast, was in sympathy with such a request,and that I felt no surprise at the constancy of his visits. After hisactual engagement to Elise, there was hardly an evening which he did notpass with us, and an hour or two were generally devoted to the museum.He had the free run of the place, and when I have been away for theevening I had no objection to his doing whatever he wished here. Thisstate of things was only terminated by the fact of my resignation of myofficial duties and my retirement to Norwood, where I hoped to have theleisure to write a considerable work which I had planned.

“It was immediately after this—within a week or so—that I first realizedthe true nature and character of the man whom I had so imprudentlyintroduced into my family. The discovery came to me through letters frommy friends abroad, which showed me that his introductions to me had beenforgeries. Aghast at the revelation, I asked myself what motive this mancould originally have had in practising this elaborate deception uponme. I was too poor a man for any fortune-hunter to have marked me down.Why, then, had he come? I remembered that some of the most precious gemsin Europe had been under my charge, and I remembered also the ingeniousexcuses by which this man had made himself familiar with the cases inwhich they were kept. He was a rascal who was planning some giganticrobbery. How could I, without striking my own daughter, who wasinfatuated about him, prevent him from carrying out any plan which hemight have formed? My device was a clumsy one, and yet I could think ofnothing more effective. If I had written a letter under my own name, youwould naturally have turned to me for details which I did

not wish togive. I resorted to an anonymous letter, begging you to be upon yourguard.

“I may tell you that my change from Belmore Street to Norwood had notaffected the visits of this man, who had, I believe, a real andoverpowering affection for my daughter. As to her, I could not havebelieved that any woman could be so completely under the influence of aman as she was. His stronger nature seemed to entirely dominate her. Ihad not realized how far this was the case, or the extent of theconfidence which existed between them, until that very evening when histrue character for the first time was made clear to me. I had givenorders that when he called he should be shown into my study instead ofto the drawing-room. There I told him bluntly that I knew all about him,that I had taken steps to defeat his designs, and that neither I nor mydaughter desired ever to see him again. I added that I thanked God thatI had found him out before he had time to harm those precious objectswhich it had been the work of my lifetime to protect.

“He was certainly a man of iron nerve. He took my remarks without a signeither of surprise or of defiance, but listened gravely and attentivelyuntil I had finished. Then he walked across the room without a word andstruck the bell.

“‘Ask Miss Andreas to be so kind as to step this way,’ said he to theservant.

“My daughter entered, and the man closed the door behind her. Then hetook her hand in his.

“‘Elise,’ said he, ‘your father has just discovered that I am a villain.He knows now what you knew before.’

“She stood in silence, listening.

“‘He says that we are to part for ever,’ said he.