For Value Received

Chapter I. Missing

It was a little after ten o'clock when Arthur Edenbridge left the Vicarage on this Tuesday night, and at the same hour Mr. Smellie, more than half asleep, was travelling from London to Middleton by the last train. Arriving at the station, he quickly entered his carriage, and the coachman, anxious for bed, whipped up the horses and was soon on his AA-ay to Crockhurst at a good round pace. Avoiding the village, he followed the lane which divided the Smellie estate from that of Sir Hastings VOL. II. B Edenbridge, and which ran past the gate by Hall's Hole. So loud the wind soughed through the fir-wood on his left that Mr. Smellie let down the window to listen. It wanted less than half an hour to midnight, and the rain was coming down like a deluge. If Mr. Smellie disliked one class of men more than another, it was that class which set traps and prowled about his pre serves by night, accompanied as often as not by a lurcher.

He had never fired a gun in his life, but his ground was kept close as a matter of business. This pine-wTood, Avith its clean springy carpet of dried spines, was hardly the place to look for a poacher. But as it adjoined a larger wood, thick with young Spanish chestnuts and rich under growth, it was likely that any one coming from the pine-wood at so uncanny an hour, had recently left the more prolific hunting- MISSING. 3 ground beyond; although, on the other hand, it was possible he might have been enjoying a secluded Avalk, taking a short cut from Hall's Hole or the fields by its side. Mr. Smellie pulled the strap and lowered the window of his carriage, looking out Avith a pleasant sense of ownership. The trees through Avhich the wind soughed so musically w-ere his, and it gaATe him a new idea of power, as if he possessed an orchestra.

Presently his sharp ears detected footsteps not far away. "Pull up, pull up!" he shouted to the coachman, Avho, perceiving a dark figure spring from the higher ground of the Avood to the muddy lane beneath, drew his horses on one side so as to enclose it by the pole at one end and the carriage door, which Mr. Smellie had thrown open, at the other. With extraordinary agility for a man of B his Aveight, Mr. Smellie sprang to the ground and, made brave by the presence of the coachman, advanced towards his prisoner. " All right, Smellie, you need not alarm yourself," said a familiar voice. "Arthur Edenbridge!" exclaimed Mr. Smellie, greatly astonished ; " what are you doing here at this time of night ? Do you know it is close on twelve o'clock ? You look as if you had tumbled in a pond ! " There was certainly some excuse for the remark.

Arthur's coat, flying open in the breeze, exposed his shirt-front limp and wet. His face, as seen by the cbm light of the carriage lamp, was pale and ghastly. " I am on my way home — I have been at the Vicarage," said Arthur, staring over Mr. Smellie's head. " Then why the devil don't you keep to the footpath ? If you had left your leg in a trap, you would only haA-e yourself to MISSING. 5 blame, let me tell you, though I dare say it would be put down to me." As the rain Avas beating on the crown of Mr. Smellie's new silk hat, he offered his hand to Arthur, and took his seat again in the carriage. " What a night ! " he said to himself as he was driven off, and, feeling something wet upon his right hand, he Aviped it with his handkerchief. " What could that young upstart be doing in my Avoods at midnight, or close upon it ?

" he asked himself, and the subject continued to perplex him until he reached home. Arthur, in the meantime, went straight on his way, forgetting- Mr. Smellie as soon as he was out of sight. A few minutes later he entered the Manor House. No sooner did the stone-paved hall resound beneath his feet, than his father came from the drawing-room to meet him. FOB VALUE RECEIVED. " Where is Hastings ? " he demanded, as if Arthur Avere in truth his brother's keeper. " Isn't he at home ; isn't he in his room ? " asked Arthur, stepping back a pace, and clutching the handle of the door he had just closed. "You don't mean to say you have not seen him ? " continued Sir Hastings, in a state of painful excitement. " In his room ! He has not been in his room nor in the house since half - past nine. Your poor mother went upstairs and found the room empty.

Come inside, for Heaven's sake ! Don't stand gaping there." Arthur followed his father into the room. " You here, Armytage ! " he exclaimed, before he passed the threshold, surprised to see the Vicar by the side of Lady Edenbridge. The brighter light of the room revealed Arthur's sorry plight. His face was wet and MISSING. 7 dirty from the dye which the rain had washed from his hat ; his coat Avas saturated, and many shades darker than when he left home at nine o'clock ; his boots were heavy with ■wet mud ; his trousers clung to his legs. " Arthur, where have you been ? " cried Lady Edenbridge, staring at him in astonish ment. " You must be wet through ! " " I suppose it has been raining," be replied, looking down at his boots. It seemed ludicrous to stand there, wet to the skin, and quietly say he supposed it had been raining.

But the night might have been wet or fine ; hot as a furnace, or cold as ice, for aught he had known. " Raining," cried Sir Hastings, mimicking bis voice, irritable from anxiety ; " why, man, it has been pouring heavens hard these two hours." The Vicar sat, with one elbow on his knee, thoughtfully twisting the ends of bis long yellow beard. He did not once remove his eyes from Arthur's face, Avhich Avore a half-dazed expression, as if his senses had been too long scattered to be brought back at will. " Hastings has gone ! " cried Lady Eden bridge ; " AA-here can he be, Arthur? What has become of him ? " " Then he did go out, after all," said Arthur, in a voice so hoarse as to suggest that the wet night had already had its effect upon him. " Do you mean to say," Sir Hastings fiercely demanded, " that you knew he was going out and did not attempt to hinder him ?

" " What lunacy ! " murmured Armytage, walking to the fireplace. " I did try to hinder him," answered Arthur, almost doggedly; " but it appears that MISSING. 9 my attempt AAras useless. I even came back after you saw me go out. I came back solely to tell Hastings Avhat a night it was. He did not ansAver me, and I did not go into his room ; but I am certain I heard him there. It Avas growing late, I — I did not want to stay; I " "What have you done to your hand?" cried Lady Edenbridge, as he raised it to put back the short, matted hair from his forehead. There AA'as blood on his knuckles. " I must haAre scratched it coming; through the wood," he answered, carelessly, as he brought out his handkerchief. " Through the wood," said Sir Hastings, fretfully. " What on earth did you Avant in the wood at this time of night ?

Upon my soul, Arthur, you are too mysterious for me. I cannot understand you. What have you been doing with yourself ? You told me you were going to the Vicarage. When I found that Hastings did not turn up, I sent to the Vicarage for you. That AA'as at half-past ten. Armytage came, instead of you, to tell us you had left there half an hour earlier. You can walk from one house to the other in ten minutes, yet on a night like this, when no sensible man AArould turn a dog out, you take more than an hour and a half. You beat me, Arthur ; upon my soul, you beat me ! " Arthur stood there, the rain dripping from his clothes until it formed an irregular ring on the drab carpet around his feet, looking from Sir Hastings to his mother, from her troubled face to Armytage, AA.thout replying. " Arthur, you must go and change your •clothes," said Lady Edenbridge, anxious that her son should not take cold, but still more fearful of the heat of her husband's temper.

" Never mind about changing clothes," MISSING. 11 continued Sir Hastings, "let us think about poor Hastings. Where has he gone to ? It will not do any good to sit here Avhile he is lying goodness knows where. AVhat is the best thing to do, Armytage ? For Heaven's sake suggest something. Do not let us __ O O AA'as te any more time now Arthur has thought proper to come home. Tell me this," he added, turning angrily upon Arthur ; " what was it that induced your brother to go out to-night ? He never does go out at night. It must have been something devilish im portant. What AA'as it ? " " We can talk about that another time. Hastings did not inform me of all his moAre ments," Arthur answered, Avith an appealing glance towards the Vicar. " The only thing to think of is how to find him. This is what I propose.

I will take George with a lantern, and search every inch of the path " Realising all that was implied by this suggestion, Lady Edenbridge uttered a cry of pain, and sank back on the sofa. " Don't you think this is the best thing to be done, Armytage ? " continued Arthur, heedless of his mother in his eagerness to be starting. "Yes, and I will go Avith you," said Eustace, not Avithout a thought of his com fortable bed at home and the dismal night out-of-doors. Sir Hastings went to give orders for the groom, Avhile Lady Edenbridge lay with closed eyes, looking as if she Avere dead. She knew that if Hastings was not sheltered by any roof but that formed by the lowering clouds, she must expect the worst. And although she had schooled her self with patient submission to believe he could not, at the best, remain with her much longer, yet eArery hour Avhich kept him by her side Avas infinitely precious.

To die MISSING. 13 in this A\'ay, surrounded only by the AA'ind and rain — his mortal enemies — was so different an end from that to which she had looked forward. " Do, pray, change your clothes before you start, Arthur," she said, aroused by the entrance of Sir Hastings to announce that George Avas ready and the lantern lighted. But Arthur Avould only stay while he removed his thin overcoat and put on hi-; ulster ; then, pulling a cloth cap Avell down over his ears, he was ready and anxious to set out. Armytage had left the Vicarage Avell equipped to meet the storm, and now clad in mackintosh from head to foot, with his beard buttoned carefully inside his coat, he left the Manor House, by Arthur's side, at one o'clock in the morning. The night was no longer so intensely dark as it had been an hour ago.

The clouds were breaking, you could distinguish degrees of blackness ; the rain had almost ceased and the wind had slackened. The carriage dm'e from the house to the Park gates was a series of small ponds, the grass on either side a quagmire ; but on plodded the three men, in open order, with George and the lantern in the centre, for some yards in silence. Presently Arthur came to a standstill, " I vote we hold a council of war," he said ; then, turningto the groom : " George, you may go on ahead, not too far, and keep the light towards us. Armytage," he added, when the groom was out of earshot, " I suppose you know where Hastings Avas going to-night ? " They were standing face to face beneath the dripping branches of one of the largest oaks. " That is exactly what I do not know, MISSING. 15 and what I should like you to tell me," was the answer.

"First of all, let us make sure where we are. Hastings Avas to have spoken to you to-night. Did he tell you — did he tell you anything before — before you started for the Vicarage ? " " Yes, he told me everything there was to tell — all that he had done ; all that he intended to do." For a few minutes Eustace was silent, apparently only intent upon thrusting his stick into the soddened earth. " Of course you were as greatly surprised as I Avas," he said, presently. " It must haA'e been a terrible shock to you, knowing Ruby as intimately as you did. It was a blow to me, Arthur ; it must have been a hundred times worse for you." "He told me also that he Avas determined to see Wilton before he slept, Army tage. I could not mention this indoors. My father would have demanded explanations, the position would have become more awkward than ever.

Hastings insisted upon going to the cottage to-night." "And you allowed him to carry out his purpose ? " " How could I hinder him ? I did what lay in my poAver. I tried my utmost to dissuade him. Hastings is a man ; I could not treat him like a child." " You did Avhat you could ! " cried Army tage, more severely than Arthur had ever yet heard him speak. " You did Avhat you could ! It Avas your manifest duty to keep him at home at all hazards. You, of all men in the world, must have knoAvn what to expect if he actually did tell Wilton the truth. Come," he added, abruptly, " there is no time to lose. We had better get to the cottage at once." "All right," Arthur answered, "let us go to Wilton's, if you like, by all means. He will MISSING. 17 be in bed and asleep, but we can easily knock him up.

But you may be quite sure of this, you Avill not gain any news of Hastings there ; he could not possibly haA'e got so far. His talk with me affected him seriously. Hastings was lamentably weak, and the wind Avas so strong that I could hardly stand against it myself. It must have over whelmed him long before he could get as _ o far as the cottage." They rejoined the groom, and, Avith the lantern close to the ground, continued their way. " Armytage," said Arthur, •■' I am afraid that poor old Hastings is done for. He is lost to us. If we find him, we shall find him dead. I would giA'e my own life to bring him back again." " There is one thing I cannot make out," said Eustace, as they reached the gates lead ing to the lane. " You left the Vicarage at VOL. n. c ten, yet you did not arrive at home until almost twelve.

What were you doing all the time ? AVhere did you get to ? " " I could not, for the life of me, tell you where I was," Arthur answered. " I know that I left the Vicarage ; I know I met Smellie's carriage ; that he mistook me for a poacher, and stopped to tackle me " " Yes ; but if he mistook you for a poacher, he must have seen you coming from his wood. That was only just before you reached home ; for I know he was to come by the last train. AVhat, in the name of fortune, were you doing during that hour and a half, Arthur?" "You need not trouble yourself to account for my actions," Arthur answered. " They do not affect the business we have in hand at present. Another time Ave will have a long talk about it all ; at present, what we have to do is to look for Hastings. As you MISSING. 19 think we ought to go to the cottage, suppose we push along a trifle faster."

They crossed the lane, ankle deep in mud, and entered the gate by Hall's Hole. " AVhat a Avretched corner this is ! " exclaimed Arthur, with a shudder; "I don't wonder it has such an uncanny reputation." "If we do not find Hastings at the cottage, this is the first place to search," said the Vicar, decidedly. " AVhat on earth for ? He would have bad trouble enough to follow the nearest path without going a yard out of his way." "Then, where would you look?" demanded Eustace. " You say it is of no use to go to Wilton's; of no use to search Hall's Hole; you have already been twice to-night over the direct path ; what other place remains ? I shall certainly come straight here if we obtain no information from AVilton. Of course, you must do as you think fit." c They Avere by this time at the garden gate.

The little house was in total darkness \. Arthur opened the gate and walked close to the wall under Mr. AVilton's bedroom Avindow, loudly calling him by name. After a short time a dim light was seen, the blind Avas slowly drawn up, and the window, its sashes swollen by the rain, with difficulty opened. "AVho's there?" cried Mr. Wilton, in a voice like a loud stage whisper. As he spoke, the Avind blew out the candle, and the cottage was once more in total darkness. " Arthur Edenbridge ! " "You, Arthur?" continued Mr. AVilton, shivering in the cold night air. " AVhat on earth is the matter? AVait a moment. I will—I will come down." Armytage had walked half-way up the garden path the better to catch his Avords. " No, no. Do not go away," said Arthur, MISSING. 21 looking up to where Mr. Wilton's voice came from, and receiving on his face a shower from the eaves ; " I want to know whether you have seen Hastings to-night."

" Seen Hastings ! " answered Mr. Wilton. "AVhere could I haATe seen him? He never comes here. He has not been here since he returned from France. You don't think I should venture out on a night like this. AVhat is the matter ? Is anything up with Hastings ? I have been alone in the house since four. I am all alone now. Mrs. Bobbett has gone to nurse her sister. If there is nothing more I can do for you, I will get inside." They could hear his teeth chattering, whilst he waited Avith his head out of the wdndow to know whether they required anything further. " Good night," shouted Armytage. " You had better shut your window." " You see," said Arthur, as he turned his back to the house, "it must be as I told you. Hastings never could haAre got so far as this." " Then," answered the Vicar, as passing through the gate they rejoined George and the lantern, " we will now begin our search. And, first of all, we will try Hall's Hole."

Chapter II. Bringing Home The Body

Eustace Armytage stepped out at once in the direction of Hall's Hole, but Arthur was inclined to lag behind. It seemed to him that the events of the last few hours were being enacted over and over again, pell-mell, one on the top of another. It seemed impossible that so recently as seven o'clock last night he had been stdl ignorant of Hastings' secret ; that only seven hours ago he had been on the point of starting to bid farewell for ever to Lily Armytage ; that instead of putting an end to his hopes, he had actually begun to realise them. It seemed impossible that less than five hours ago his lips had been pressed to hers, she not all unwilling ; impossible that those sweet joys belonged even to the same century as this cold, dismal quest of his dead brother. But if these events appeared like those of long ago, not so all that had followed his -departure from the Vicarage.

Even now he Avas oppressed by the same weight of care as when he rushed from Lily's presence, mad with passionate longing, wild with despair, as he thought of Eustace and all the difficulties •of the position into which he had been led against the warnings of his better nature. On and on he had gone, across fields, over hedges, through muck and mire, now hurrying as if to distance his own haunt ing impulses, now stopping altogether as if to face them boldly and to defeat them; yet Avith one constant purpose, that come what might, by AAdiatever means, Lily Army tage should be his wife. And now there was no longer a doubt. There Avas nothing more to separate them ; she was already his own. For had she not giATen her promise, subject only to her brother's consent ? And that Eustace would consent there could be now no doubt.

Yet he did not experience the least sense of pleasure. The memory of his parents waiting sorrowfully together at home, hoping against hope for the return of him who could, as Arthur knew well enough, return no more ; his own grief for the loss of the brother, by whose death he was to be so great a gainer, soon brought him back to the melancholy work which lay ready to his hand. " We had better begin Avith the wood," be said, as he came up with Armytage, who was standing in the path by Hall's Hole. " The wood is a far more likely place than this. If Hastings did wander from the public path, he must have wandered with a motive. I haA'e often known him take the wood as a near cut to the village, and to-night he may have chosen it for its shelter." " AVe must have daylight to do any good in the Avood," answered Armytage.

" Besides, I don't agree with you ; Hastings Avould never have gone that way so late at night. Come, let us make a beginning. You go to the right Avith the lantern, and I Avill take the left." "All right," said Arthur, taking the lantern from the groom; "I am sure Ave are- Avasting time, but anything you like." With the lantern swinging close to the ground, Arthur made his way towards the saw-pit, now stumbling oA'er a tree root hidden in the long grass, now against a felled trunk, until he reached its brink. Sitting astride the plank Avhich crossed the pit, he put the crook of his stick through the loop at the top of the lantern and lowered it down the hole. It was about five feet deep, and, owing to the recent heavy rains, held nearly nine inches of water. Nothing was to be seen but the murky pool and the damp sides of the grave-like cavity.

Drawing the lantern to the surface, Arthur gave it to George the groom, and, leaning doAvn the pit, examined the bottom Avith his stick. " Is there nothing there ? " asked Army tage, directed to the spot by the splashing of the water rather than by the dim light of the lantern. " No, nothing," answered Arthur, as he sprang to his feet. " And you — of course — you have found no traces either. Don't you think we have done our duty by this wretched place ? The fact is, Armytage, I am all of a shiver. My clothes are saturated, and the night is colder than ever. I Avant to keep on the move." " There is no need for you to remain," AA'as the not very sympathetic rejoinder; ■" George and I are quite sufficient. Two will do as Avell as three. For my part, I intend to make a much more thorough search before I have done.

AVe have scarcely begun yet. Not long ago you declared you Avould find your brother before you slept." " Before I sleep ! " exclaimed Arthur. " I feel as if I should never sleep again. Of -course, I shall remain as long as you do. You haA'e only to lead the way." Without replying, Eustace led the way towards the two stacks of faggots AA'hich formed the background of this forsaken spot. After groping about the smaller of the two, he came to a standstill before the larger. This was eight feet long by five in width, and when the Vicar had passed it on Monday it stood fiA'e feet high. " This looks more likely, sir," said George, with repulsive satisfaction. George had had nearly enough of it. " Can't you hold the light steadier, Arthur ? " said Armytage, for by this time Arthur Avas all of a shake.

" Give it to me," he continued, and taking the lantern in his hand, he held it so that its dim light fell upon a heap of loose faggots Avhich sloped down from the top of the stack, resting against its side like a buttress. " AVe are only wasting time," said Arthur, impatiently stamping bis cold feet on the soft ground. "Hoav do you knoAv that?" demanded Armytage, stopping abruptly in his search, and holdingthe lantern so that its light fell upon Arthur's face. " How do you know that Hastings' body is not underneath this heap ? You can see that the stack has been recently disturbed. I begin to fear that we are on the right track at last." " How do I know ? " answered Arthur, shuddering convulsively. " I know because I myself saw the top of this stack blown over, You saw it ! " Yes, that is what I said.

I saw it. It was only a little after nine o'clock — after I left home on my way to your house. The Avind caught me right in the teeth as I came by here ; it Avas a regular squall. It com pelled me to stop, and while I stood battling with it, I heard a crash and over went the top of the stack. And at that time, I know for a positive fact — I could swear to it — that Hastings wras safe at the Manor House." "At any rate, we may as well look, as we are here," Eustace persisted. " George, throw some of those faggots on one side;" and turn ing his back upon Arthur, he stooped to hold the lantern close to the groom's hands. "You see," he added, glancing over his shoulder, "it is by no means impossible there has been foul play ; in that case, these sticks may have been displaced and rearranged since.

Gently, my friend." George, who had kneeled down to throAv aside the faggots in obedience to the Vicar's instructions, rose abruptly to his feet Avith a forcible oath : " Good Lord ! I'll SAvear I touched some thing," he added. In an instant Armytage had thrust him aside, and falling on his knees in the wet, muddy grass, energetically set to work to clear away the faggots with his own hands. AVhen he raised the lantern again, its light fell on the face of Hastings Edenbridge. There the three men remained a few minutes in silence ; Armytage on his knee.- with the lantern ; Arthur leaning over his shoulder, his eyes riveted to the features of his brother who only a feAv hours earlier had been full of plans for -the morrow he was never to see ; George standing in the back ground wishing himself anywhere else.

Hastings Edenbridge AA'as dead. Having deeply erred, he had intended to do his best to atone for his error. But so much AA'as not permitted to him ; he had gone ; his sin and its consequences remained. Armytage rose from his knees, and the three men drew together to discuss the turn of events. " There has been foul work here," said Eustace. " I'll SAvear to that, sir," cried the groom. "That is probably what you will be required to swear to," was the significant answer. " AVhat on earth do you mean, Army tage ? " exclaimed Arthur, who, after the wet, the cold, and the exciting events of the night, appeared as deeply stupefied as if he had taken a large dose of opium. " I mean," said Eustace, " that this affair will have to be the subject of the strictest investigation. There must be an inquest.

You surely admit there is room for the strongest suspicion, Arthur. You saw these faggots blown over at a time when you knew Hastings was safe at home. Therefore some one must have deliberately removed them, have placed the body where it now lies, and after wards have put them on the top of it. There is no avoiding this conclusion. If you had not seen the top of the stack blown over, it would have been very different. It would have been difficult, but still possible, to suppose that Hastings, buffeted by the wind, VOL. II. D sought shelter here, under the lee of the stack; and that the mass of faggots blew over while he was resting. They might have knocked him clown, and, as he was too weak to extricate himself, have quickly suffocated him. But since you saw the faggots blown down, this is out of the question.