As we flew along to Crom I told him what I knew of the secret passage
between the chapel and the monument. He wondered at my having discovered
the secret; but when I told him of how the blackmailing gang had used
the way to evade the Secret Service men, he suddenly cried out:
"There was but one who ever knew the secret of that passage; my kinsman,
with whom I stayed in Crom when young, told me of him. He tried much to
find the entrance to the Castle, and finally under threat he went away
to America. He was a base-born and a thief. It must be he who has come
back after these years and has told of the secret way. Alas! they must
have watched me when I went, all unsuspicious; and so discovered the
other secret." Then he tried to explain where the entrance was. It was
not in the chamber where we had expected it would be, but in a narrow
corner of the stair, the whole corner being one stone and forming the
entrance.
When we arrived at Crom we found that the Secret Service men were
waiting for me, having been instructed from London. There were also
telegrams from Adams and Cathcart saying that they were on the way to
join me. Adams wired from Aberdeen, and Cathcart from Kingussie. Mrs.
Jack was with the detectives and had taken them through the rooms which
Marjory had used. They had had up the servants one by one and examined
them as to what they knew. The chief man had insisted on this; he said
matters were now too serious to play the fool any longer. The servants
were not told anything, even that Marjory was missing; but of course
they had their suspicions. A peremptory order was given that no one
should leave the house without permission. The chief confided to me that
Mrs. Jack had quite broken down when she was telling him that Marjory
knew all along about the blackmailers and had never told her. "But she's
all right now, Sir," he concluded. "That old lady is just full of sand;
and I tell you her head is level. She's been thinking of everything
which could possibly be of use to us. I guess I have heard more of
this racket within the last half hour than I have done in the last two
weeks."
By the instructions of Don Bernardino we went into the library. I asked
Mrs. Jack to send for lamps and candles, and these were brought shortly.
In the meantime I asked that one of the detectives should be sent into
the old chapel and another to the monument on the hill. Both were warned
to have their guns ready, and to allow no one to pass at any hazard. To
each before going I explained the secret mode of entry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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