Through Deep Waters. A novel

Front matter

H IRovel. BY B. WALSH. Conbon : TRISCHLER AND COMPANY, 18, NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C. 1892. TO MY SISTERS THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. A Horrible Discovery 9 II. " It looks like a case of suicide, does it NOT?" 14 III. The Inquest ... 26 IV. "O God, then what am I ?" 32 V. Hugh Borthwick Essays his Powers as Detective 39 VI. " Have you no wish to bring the miscreant to justice?" 57 VII. Within Prison Walls 63 VIII. The Coverleys' Ball 73 IX. The Casting Vote ... 94 X. Evasion and Suspicion 104 XI. Mrs. Coverley Makes up her Mind 119 XII. The General Pays Hugh Borthwick a Visit 140 XIII. "It is the punishment of God" 150 XIV. "How can I help my thoughts?' 159 XV. Marie Laplage's Letter 165 XVI. Parting 177 XVII. General Coverley has an Interview with his Wife 186 XVIII.

After Long Years 193 XIX. "What, tears for me!" 212 XX. The Return of the Wanderers 223 XXI. Reunited 233 XXII. A Visit to Kensington Museum 239 XXIII. In Haven

Chapter I

On a hot, sultry July evening, Marshall, one of the keepers of Richmond Park, was strolling leisurely round for the last time before the closing of the gates, when, in a secluded spot, where a group of elms threw a broad shadow on the ground, he saw the figure of a man lying, as he thought, sleeping. " Here, rouse up, my man ! " he shouted ; " rouse up ! the gates will be shut in a quarter of an hour. You must finish your nap elsewhere." The man not stirring, Marshall turned his steps that way, muttering, " He sleeps pretty soundly, at any rate. The poor fellow must be dead beat. He is a respectably dressed man to be lying about like that. Here, wake up, my friend, wake up," he cried, coming close to the recumbent figure, whose face was turned from him. Still receiving no answer, Marshall stooped down, intending to give the lazy fellow a good shake ; but a cry of horror burst from his lips as he felt the rigidity of the form, and saw a ghastly white face, B with wide-open, staring eyes.

The man was not sleeping, but dead — must have been dead some time, judging from the stiffness of the body. The features were those of a man about thirty-five, and were finely cut, though now drawn and distorted ; thick, straight black hair fell heavily over the rather narrow forehead ; and a heavy moustache, with sweeping ends, over the mouth. He was dressed in an ordinary tourist's suit, and his hat, a low-crowned, broad-brimmed felt of foreign make, was lying by his side. Remarking something glittering in the grass, Marshall bent down, and picked up a long, thin blade set in a golden knob, which had evidently belonged to a stick. He let it fall again more quickly than he had raised it, for it felt sticky and wet, and stained his hands with a red clammy moisture. A sudden panic seemed to seize Marshall.

" Murder ! " he cried, and took to his heels, looking back over his shoulder as if he feared that the dead body would rise and pursue him. He never slackened his speed till he reached the lodge-gates, rushing in, open-mouthed, and scaring the inhabitants with his story. " Why, it must be one of the two gents as I saw pass the lodge 'bout an hour after tea ! " exclaimed Garnett, a white-headed park-keeper, and the owner of the lodge — " one, a very foreign-lookin' chap with black hair ; and the other, rather fair, and as stylish a man as you'd see in a day's march. I remember one on 'em was swingin' a stick with just such a round gold knob as you speak on, and they were jabberin' away as hard as you please." Mrs. Garnett, who had been listening with breath less horror, now chimed in. " I saw the fair gent coming back about an hour later ; he was rushing along in a mighty hurry,' and his face was awful white ; and I says to myself, says I, ' Lor, how ill that poor man do look ! ' Oh, the wretch !

I shouldn't like to be in his shoes this night." " Well, it's no good talking," said Garnett : " what we've to do is to give information down at the p'lice station without no delay. They'll soon find my fine gentleman, you rest assured, if so be as how he's done the job." " P'raps the man killed hisself," put in Mrs. Garnett. " What's the use of p'rapsin' ? " contemptuously grunted Garnett, who was a bit of a philosopher ; " it never did no good to any one. You women folks is always a p'rapsin' o' this, or surmisin' o' that, and what's it all come to ? Talk, and nothing more ; it don't bring us a ha'porth nearer the truth. We ain't paid to go a-surmisin' and thinkin', and I ain't goin' to wear out my brains with such fiddle-faddles. What we've got to do is to let them know down below," with a jerk of his thumb in the direction of the B police-station, " and if nobody else is a-comin' I'm off, though Marshall is the right man to go, seein' as how it was him as found the co'pse."

" I'll go with you," said Marshall, "I am quite ready. I was only a bit scared-like." "And no wonder, I am sure," exclaimed Mrs. Garnett, sympathetically. " It 'ud be a wonder if he weren't," chimed in a friend of Mrs. Garnett, who had been congratulating herself on having dropped in to see her crony on this particular evening, when so delightfully horrible a tragedy was brought to light. "I am sure I'm all of a shake, only the 'earing of it ; you might knock me down with a feather." " Women can't be expected to have no sense," grunted Garnett ; " it's against natur'. Come along, Marshall," and off he dragged his colleague, beating a masterly retreat before the indignant pair of ladies (who had given many a sniff and tossing of the head, betokening a rising storm) had found a suitable retort.

It did not take the two men ten minutes to get to the police-station, and in another ten minutes, having related their story, a couple of stout police constables were told off to carry the body to the mortuary. There the man's clothes were carefully examined to see what clue they gave to his identity, or to that of the perpetrator of the crime. The weapon used was undoubtedly the knife Marshall had picked up from the grass and dropped so quickly again. There was a monogram on the gold knob, " A. H." That the murder had not robbery for its motive was proved by the fact that in the pocket of the dead man's coat they found a small roll of bank-notes, amounting to a hundred pounds, neatly fastened with an elastic band. Besides the money, there were three letters, addressed to " C. Laplage, 2, Star Street, Edgware Road " — one, a fortnight old, written in Italian, with the postmark of Genoa, and signed "Adele"; the second, written in a man's hand, small and business-like, contained but a few lines : — " I cannot see you at my house, but will be at the spot you mention at six o'clock to-morrow evening.

Fix your terms. I am not a wealthy man, and cannot afford to pay an exorbitant price for your silence. — A. H." The third was directed in a large and evidently feminine hand, the loops of the letters extravagantly long. The contents of this were even shorter than the preceding letter, there being but one line :— " I accept the arrangement. — F. C."

Chapter II

Two days after the events of the last chapter, Mr. and Mrs. Hillyer were seated at breakfast in a pretty, bright room, overlooking a small garden, in the house they had taken and furnished at St. John's Wood. It was only a year ago that Arthur Hillyer had met Eva Ramsay at the house of his friend Mrs. Walters, to whose children she was governess ; had fallen in love with a celerity and ardour which astonished himself and his friends, who had grown to look upon him as a confirmed bachelor ; and had wooed and won her in the space of one short month. He was not what would be called a rich man, but he was very comfortably off; for, besides the property left him by his father (who had died two years before the opening of our story), he made a good income by his pen. As a young man, he had adopted the profession of engineer ; but having offended his family, he had no one to help him in his start of life, and finding it a hard struggle to make both ends meet, and keep the proverbial wolf from the door, he had added to his slender resources by writing for several papers and periodicals.

Obtaining some success in his literary ventures, he had by degrees dropped his original profession, so as to be able to devote all his time and energies to the pursuit which was infinitely more congenial to him. Eva Ramsay was the daughter of a medical man of some note, who had made a large income, but who, with the improvidence too often to be found in professional men, had lived quite up to it ; thinking, if, when looking at his daughter, a momentary mis giving flashed through his brain, " Oh, with my position, Eva will be sure to marry well, and perhaps, by-and-by, I shall be able to save something." Alas ! that " by-and-by " never came ; and, dying suddenly, he left his motherless girl totally unprovided for. She had received the usual education of girls in her position — that is to say, she had been sent to one of the most expensive schools, and she had a smattering of all accomplishments ; but when the necessity of earning her bread stared her in the face, she had not the faintest idea of what to do.

Her father had some distant relations who were well off; but they did not come forward, and Eva was far too proud to ask for aid. At last she succeeded in obtaining a situation as governess, at an almost nominal salary, at the house of Mrs. Walters. The latter was a kind-hearted woman, who, being acquainted with the family and history of her young governess, treated her with much consideration ; but still the change in the girl's life was a great and a sad one, and it was the pensive melancholy of her young face which had first attracted Arthur Hillyer's attention. It was a fair face enough ; not exactly beautiful, but, what is better, intensely sympathetic. The golden-brown hair waved loosely back from a broad, low forehead, and was twisted up into a large, heavy coil at the back of her shapely head ; the dark grey eyes had the clearness and limpidity of a child's, and met your gaze as frankly and honestly ; the nose and mouth, too large, perhaps, for perfect beauty, showed firmness and intelligence ; and the whole figure bore an air of refinement and tender grace.

It was a part of Miss Ramsay's duties to take the children out for a walk in the park each morning before the heat of the day commenced ; and Arthur Hillyer had shown a wonderful ingenuity in divining and discovering the direction of these morning walks, and joining the little party. When this had happened several times, Eva felt obliged to put an end to these meetings, which she could no longer consider acci dental, although they were as pleasant to her as to him ; and her remonstrances brought matters to a crisis. He told her of his love and pleaded passionately for a favourable answer ; and she, finding only too warm an advocate for him in her own heart, after a little hesitation, accepted him. They had been married from Mrs. Walters's house, that lady, albeit sorry to lose her young governess, behaving as kindly to her in this great crisis of her life as if she had been the girl's own mother.

The year since their marriage had passed very quickly and happily with them ; in fact, up to the present had been one prolonged honeymoon. For six months they had roamed about abroad, and then, returning to England, had chosen this snug little nest, and amused themselves by beautifying it in every imaginable way. They had not sent an order to a fashionable up holsterer, giving him carte blanche, and meekly sub mitting their taste to his. Every bit of furniture, every little piece of china had been chosen by them selves, and brought, when their eyes rested upon it, some pleasant reminiscence. With her arm linked in her husband's, it had been Eva's great delight to go on what she called "a hunting expedition," to search for pretty things. Their faces soon became familiar at the different sale-rooms, and at first several attempts were made by the regular habitues of these places (the Jews, &c, who always hang about sale-rooms) to victimise them by running up the price of whatever object they bid for ; but Hillyer was too much a man of the world to be so taken in, and (he having humoured them once or twice by running up some article to double its value and then leaving it on their hands) they had learned to think him a dangerous customer to play pranks with, and left him in peace.

It was quite a regret to the young pair when their furnishing was completed. Eva said sorrowfully one day, " Well, Arthur, really if we buy anything more we shall have to sling it up to the ceiling, for there is no other vacant place." Arthur laughingly replied, " It would not be a bad plan to make a clean sweep of everything by sending it bodily to Phillip's ; and then we could begin all over again." "What a horrible idea !" said his wife. " I would not part with one of our pretty things on any con sideration." Arthur shrugged his shoulders, and threatened that some day, when she was out, he would take the opportunity to make a clearance, for now his occupa tion was gone. Theirs was quite a modest establishment, boasting only of three women-servants, nor had Eva even a brougham. " I like a hansom just as well, Arthur," she had said when he suggested that luxury, " or even better," and as he had only thought of it to please her, he gave up the idea.

For the last week there had been a slight cloud on Eva's happiness; she had been anxious about her husband's health, for he had looked white and worried, and on the night before last (he, who had never before spent an evening from her side) had not come home till so late that she had been seriously alarmed ; but when, on his return, seeing his pallor and evident agitation, she had questioned him, he seemed only anxious to evade her love and scrutiny. It was a cloud as yet no bigger than a man's hand, but still it gave an element of uneasiness to her affection. This morning she glanced every now and then with tender solicitude at him as he sat facing her with a very pale face and knitted brow, toying with the breakfast he did not care to eat. He finally pushed his plate from him with an impatient gesture.

" You have eaten nothing, darling," said Eva, " and you look as white as a ghost this morning. Don't you feel well ? " she inquired tenderly. " I have a headache, my pet," he replied, passing his hand wearily across his forehead ; " the heat, I suppose." He took up the newspaper which lay beside his plate, and raising it so as to screen his face from his wise's anxious eyes, began carelessly to scan it through. Suddenly a smothered exclamation burst from his lips and brought her quickly round to his side of the table. " Arthur, what is it? " she cried, gazing inquiringly into his half-averted face. Receiving no answer, she followed the direction of his eyes, which were fixed with horror on a paragraph in the paper. Quickly she read it, but seeing nothing in it that could so have dismayed her husband, again asked, " Is it that man who was found dead, Arthur ?

Do you think you knew him?" "I knew a man of that name some years ago," said her husband at length, in a constrained voice. " He was a teacher of languages, and a great scamp ; but this is awful ! I cannot understand it." " It looks like a case of suicide, does it not ?" said Eva. " Will you have to go forward and say you knew him?" " No ; I do not think that will be necessary," he replied, " as my acquaintance with the man dates from a long time back. This has upset me altogether, Eva ; having known the unfortunate fellow seems to make it more horrible. It is no case of suicide, either, for, see here," pointing with his finger to a paragraph in the paper, " ' The police are following a clue which they hope will soon enable them to lay hands on the perpetrator of the crime.' I will go out and get a little fresh air," he continued, putting the paper down with a tremulous hand ; " and try to walk off this headache.

Perhaps I shall hear some further particulars of this affair," and rising and taking up his hat like a man in a dream, he kissed his wife and left the house. Eva stood at the window some seconds watching his retreating form ; thinking with gratitude of the difference between her old life of poverty and drudgery, and her present position ; and felt her heart swell with devotion and love for the man who had brought all this brightness into her life (which, after her father's death, had been so grey and monotonous) — her hero — her all. Rousing herself from her meditation, she busied herself with her household cares, and was just absorbed in the pages of a cookery-book (in which she was trying to find some new and dainty dish that would tempt Arthur, whose failing appetite filled her with concern), when she heard a ring at the bell, followed by a rather lengthy discussion in the hall.

Finally the person, a man evidently by the voice, took his departure ; and calling the servant, and inquiring into the matter, she received answer — " Oh, please, ma'am, it was somebody brought back master's stick — the gold-knobbed one. I missed it from the stand yesterday. He said he had found it, but would not give it up except to master himself; so he's going to call again." " I could have seen him, Hannah ; that would have done as well, I suppose. Are you sure it was your master's stick ? He did not say anything about losing it." " Oh, yes, ma'am, I am quite sure ; there was the 'A. H.' on it as plain as possible. And as to seeing you, ma'am, he wouldn't, for I told him you were in ; but nobody but the master would serve him ; so he's gone and taken the stick off with him." " How ridiculous !

" said Mrs. Hillyer, laughing. " I suppose he has more faith in your master's generosity than in mine. Well, I know Mr. Hillyer would have been vexed to lose that stick, for it is a particular favourite of his." So saying, she dismissed the matter from her mind as being of little importance. One o'clock came — two — three — and still the master of the house did not return. Eva was watching for him, going restlessly from one window to the other. A feeling of uneasiness began to take possession of her, and increased with every minute. A presentiment of some coming evil filled her with a nameless dread. At last, when, instead of her hus band, she saw his friend Hugh Borthwick come up to the gate of the little garden, his face pale, and his step hesitating, a conviction of some dire calamity rushed over her, and she flew out to meet him.

Very slowly he came up the garden walk ; his looks showed plainly that he was the bearer of some ill-tidings. " Where is Arthur ? " cried Eva, breathlessly. " Have you met him ? Is he ill ? " " Do not be alarmed, dear Mrs. Hillyer," he replied, " Arthur is quite well, but he is unavoidably detained, and sent me on here to tell you not to worry if he does not return to-night." "Not return to-night ! What do you mean?" cried Eva. Hugh Borthwick took her gently by the arm and led her into the little dining-room. " The fact is " — he said, " it is no use disguising the truth from you — through some misunderstanding, which will probably be cleared up to-morrow at the inquest, Arthur has been detained as being under suspicion in the matter of this Laplage, who was killed the day before yester day in Richmond Park.

He was arrested here at the corner of the street. Of course, the charge is too ridiculous to give you any anxiety. Arthur will only have to prove where he passed the afternoon and evening of that day. It seems a letter was found in the dead man's pocket, which his wife identified as one received that morning from Hillyer ; and a stick very like Arthur's, with the initials ' A. H.,' was found lying by the side of the murdered man." " A letter from Arthur in his pocket — and the stick ! There has been a man here this morning saying he had found a stick, which Hannah identified as Arthur's. Oh, what can it all mean ? " " Calm yourself, dear Mrs. Hillyer," said young Borthwick, taking her hand as she sank down on the sofa in a bewildered way. " By some curious train of circumstances suspicion has pointed to Hillyer, but the absurdity of the charge will be made evident at the inquest."

Eva rose again and feverishly paced up and down. " Of course the charge is ridiculous ! absurd ! But there is some strange mystery here — something in Arthur's own behaviour that I cannot understand. He was so upset this morning when he read of that man's death ; and then he told me that he had known him long ago— but he said nothing of having seen him lately." " Have patience, and have confidence in Arthur," said Borthwick. " His message to you was that you were to keep up a good heart, and that the time was come to show your trust in him." " My noble Arthur ! does he think for a moment that I could doubt him ? " said Eva. " No, not if the whole world were to point at him as guilty. If he has kept anything hidden from me, I know full well that it has only been to save me anxiety, although it was a mistaken and a cruel kindness.

I have no doubt it is through helping this worthless fellow that he has been drawn into this matter, for his tender heart makes him a prey to every impostor. Tell him," she said, laughing nervously, " that I laughed at the absurdity of the affair ; and that I shall sleep soundly, knowing that to-morrow will make all right. Go, go ! " Hugh explained that he should not be able to see Arthur again that day, but that the inquest was to be held the next day at twelve o'clock ; after that, her husband would in all likelihood be released, and she would then be able to tell him personally that she had never doubted him. The good-natured young fellow passed the after noon and evening with Eva, trying to instil in her a confidence he was far from feeling himself, for his friend's face and manner on being arrested had filled him with uncomfortable doubts.

The vague ness, too, of Arthur's replies at the preliminary examination had been so suspicious that the magistrate had refused absolutely to hear of bail being accepted.

Chapter III

Pale and haggard looked Arthur Hillyer when brought up the next morning at the inquest. He gripped his friend's hand anxiously, asking, " Eva, how does she bear it?" " Nobly," replied Hugh ; but he had no time to say more, for the business of the court began. The widow of the murdered man was brought forward, a woman of glorious southern beauty, with hair black as night. A hectic patch burned on her pale cheeks ; there was a feverish unrest about her manner, and the light seemed to have died out of her large, beautiful eyes, leaving them fixed and expressionless. She had been married to the deceased six years, she said. They had lived for some time in Italy, where she had first met him ; then he came to England on business matters. They had only been in London a fortnight. Questioned if she knew of what his business con sisted, she said, "Chiefly to find out a Mr. Arthur Hillyer."

" Your husband had, then, some business trans actions with the prisoner ? " " The prisoner married my husband's sister sixteen years ago, and some time after basely deserted her." (Movement of indignation from Arthur Hillyer.) "My husband, hearing that he had married again, came over to force him to acknowledge his true wife, or, at all events, to allow her the means of subsistence." " Look well at the prisoner. Can you swear that he is the man who married your husband's sister ? " The witness turned her eyes for a moment on Hillyer, then said, " I swear he is the man who called upon my husband five years back in Florence. My husband told me then that he was his brother in-law." " How was it your husband did not force him then to acknowledge his sister ? " " My husband had lost sight of her for some years, and thought her dead."

" Did he communicate his belief to the prisoner? " " He may have done so. I do not know." " Now tell us about these letters which your husband received on the morning of his death. They were the two found in his pocket, were they not?" The witness struggled lo master the agitation which seemed to be overpowering her, knit her fingers tightly together, and answered, " Yes ; one was from Mr. Arthur Hillyer. Whom the other was from, I do not know." "Your husband did not say?" "When I asked him, he said it was a matter of business." " Had he received letters in the same hand before ? " " Several." " Can you produce any ? " '■' No; " Had your husband a stick like that in his possession ? " pointing to the gold-headed weapon which lay there in evidence. The witness averted her head, and a convulsive tremor agitated her whole frame at the sight of the fatal weapon.

At last she answered, " He had no such stick in his possession." " That will do. You may go down." Seeing that she was nearly falling, one of the officials present came forward and assisted her out. There was a murmur of sympathy from the by standers. The Coroner turned to Arthur Hillyer. " You have heard the statement of Mrs. Laplage," he said. " Can you contradict it ? " " Her statement is partly true and partly false," replied Hillyer. " It is true that sixteen years ago, when I had just left college, I became acquainted with this man Laplage and his sister, who was a very beautiful woman, and that, infatuated by the latter, I married her ; but it is totally untrue that I deserted her. It was she who, after making my life a misery for six months, left me, eloping with another man. I could find no trace of the fugitives, and heard no more of her till five years ago, when, by accident, I met Laplage in Florence.

He told me then my wife was dead." " You have since re-married ? " " Yes ; I considered myself free." " When did you first hear again from the man Laplage ? " " A week ago he called on me. He told me then that my first wife was still alive, but that he was willing for money to hold his tongue, and would answer for his sister's silence. I was stunned by the blow, and fearful that my wife should see this man and hear the terrible truth unprepared, I told him that I must have time to decide, and that it was impossible to speak to him then, when at any moment we might be interrupted ; he must appoint a place of meeting. He said that he had business to transact at Richmond, and that he would meet me there at the park gates ; he would write and fix the exact date, which he did, offering at the same time to call at my house, if I preferred it, at any hour convenient to me.