The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent LoveLe Queux, William
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The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love
Le Queux, William
Spy stories
We went on through the gloomy forest, for the light had faded and
evening was now creeping on. From time to time we halted and listened.
But there was a dead silence, broken only by the shrill cry of a night
bird and the low rustling of the leaves in the autumn wind. The men knew
their way, it seemed, even though the wood was trackless. Yet they had
nearly twenty minutes start of us, and in that time they might be
already out in the open country. Would they succeed in evading us? Yet
even if they did, I could describe the dress of one of them, while that
of his companion was, as far as I made out, dark blue, of a somewhat
nautical cut. He wore also a flat cap, with a peak.
We went on, striking straight for the open moorland which we knew
bounded the woods in that direction, and before the light had entirely
faded we found ourselves out amongst the heather with the distant hills
looming dark against the horizon. But we saw no sign of the men who had
so secretly concealed the body of their victim.
"I will take you back to the castle, Miss Leithcourt," I said. "And then
I'll drive on into Dumfries and see the police. These men must be
arrested."
"Yes, do," she urged. "I will get into the house by the stable-yard, for
they must not see me in this terrible plight."
It was rough walking, therefore at my invitation she took my arm, and as
she did so I felt that she was shivering.
"You are very wet," I remarked. "I hope you won't take cold."
"Oh! I'm used to getting wet. I drive and cycle a lot, you know, and
very often get drenched," was her reply. Then after a pause she said:
"We must discover who that woman was. She seems, from her complexion and
her hair, to be a foreigner, like the man."
"Yes, I think so," was my reply. "I will tell the police all that we
have found out, and they will go there presently and recover the body."
"If they can only find those two men, then we should know the truth,"
she declared. "One of them--the one in brown--was unusually
broad-shouldered, and seemed to walk with a slight stoop."
"You expected to discover another woman, did you not, Miss Leithcourt?"
I asked presently, as we walked across the moor.
"Yes," she answered. "I expected to find an entirely different person."
"And if you had found her it would have proved the guilt of someone with
whom you are acquainted?"
She nodded in the affirmative.
"Then what we have found this evening does not convey to you the
identity of the assassins?"
"No, unfortunately it does not. We must for the present leave the matter
in the hands of the police."
"But if the identity of the dead woman is established?" I asked.
"It might furnish me with a clue," she exclaimed quickly. "Yes, try and
discover who she is."
"Who was the woman you expected to find?"
"A friend--a very dear friend."
"Will you not tell me her name?" I inquired.
"No, it would be unfair to her," she responded decisively, an answer
which to me was particularly tantalizing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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