Presently the bell stopped and she addressed herself again to an
examination of the room. In an old-fashioned sloping desk she found a
few sheets of paper, a pen and a bottle half-filled with thick ink.
There were also two telegraph forms, and these gave her an idea. She
went back to the table in the middle of the room. With paper before her
she began to note the contents of the apartment.
"I am trying to be Bealish," she admitted.
She might also have confessed that she was trying to keep her mind off
her possibly perilous position and that though she was not afraid she
had a fear of fear.
"A case full of very dull good books. That means that the person who
lived here before was very serious-minded."
She walked over and examined the titles, pulled out a few books and
looked at their title pages. They all bore the same name, "L. T. B.
Stringer." She uttered an exclamation. Wasn't there some directory of
clergymen's names?--she was sure this was a clergyman, nobody else would
have a library of such weighty volumes.
Her fingers ran along the shelves and presently she found what she
wanted--Crocker's Clergy List of 1879. She opened the book and presently
found, "Stringer, Laurence Thomas Benjamin, Vicar of Upper Staines,
Deans Folly, Upper Reach Village, near Staines."
Her eyes sparkled. Instinctively she knew that she had located her
prison. Van Heerden had certainly hired the house furnished, probably
from the clergyman or his widow. She began to search the room with
feverish haste. Near the window was a cupboard built out. She opened it
and found that it was a small service lift, apparently communicating
with the kitchen. In a corner of the room was an invalid chair on
wheels.
She sat down at the table and reconstructed the character of its
occupant. She saw an invalid clergyman who had lived permanently in this
part of the house. He was probably wheeled from his bedroom to his
sitting-room, and in this cheerless chamber had spent the last years of
his life. And this place was Deans Folly? She took up the telegraph form
and after a few minutes' deliberation wrote:
"To Beale, Krooman Mansions."
She scratched that out, remembering that he had a telegraphic address
and substituted:
"Belocity, London." She thought a moment, then wrote: "Am imprisoned at
Deans Folly, Upper Reach Village, near Staines. Oliva." That looked too
bold, and she added "Cresswell."
She took a florin from her bag and wrapped it up in the telegraph form.
She had no exact idea as to how she should get the message sent to the
telegraph office, and it was Sunday, when all telegraph offices would be
closed. Nor was there any immediate prospect of her finding a messenger.
She supposed that tradesmen came to the house and that the kitchen door
was somewhere under her window, but tradesmen do not call on Sundays.
She held the little package irresolutely in her hand. She must take her
chance to-day. To-morrow would be Monday and it was certain somebody
would call.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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