"No," said Cyril, very decidedly. "Dora can remain with Pence, whom she
probably will marry. We will go to London and get married at a registry
office in the afternoon, and then cross to Paris for our honeymoon. I
haven't much money, Miss Rothschild, but I have enough for that. In our
own happiness let us forget all our troubles."
"I'll come," said Bella with a sigh. "After all, we can do nothing. By
the way, Cyril, what about Durgo's things?"
"Well it's odd you should mention that. He evidently thought that
something might happen to him on that night, for he left a note behind
him saying that if he did not return they were to be given to me. So I
have shifted them long since to my lodgings. There they lie packed up,
and ready to be taken away in our motor to-morrow."
"Cyril, you have been arranging this for some time?"
"Well, I have. It's the only way of getting you to leave this place, and
you will always be miserable while you remain here."
"I only stayed in the hope that poor Mrs. Vand might return, and then I
would be able to comfort her. Oh! how I wish Durgo with his occult
powers was here to help us."
"I don't; Durgo's occult powers brought him little happiness, and didn't
solve the mystery of my father's death. One would have thought that
Granny Tunks, in her trances, would have told Durgo that the scarecrow
which he saw daily was his dearly-beloved master's dead body."
"It is strange," said Bella thoughtfully; "but then, as Durgo said about
something else, perhaps it was not permitted. What's become of Granny
Tunks, Cyril? Is she still at the hut?"
"Yes; but I heard to-day that she is going on the road again with her
old tribe of the Lovels. I daresay Granny will be at all the fairs and
race meetings, swindling people for many a long day."
"And her son Luke?"
"He'll get off with a light sentence. He certainly had no hand in the
murders, and there is no one to prosecute him for blackmail. Granny and
Luke will soon be together again. I hope never to hear more of them, for
my part. Bella! Bella! don't let us talk of such things. We have had
enough of these tragedies. Let us be selfish for once in our lives and
consider ourselves. Hullo, what's this?"
The question was provoked by the sight of Inglis with three constables,
who whirled past in a fly which they had evidently obtained from the
station. As they dashed onward in a cloud of dust the inspector,
recognising the two, shouted out something indistinctly, with his hand
to his mouth.
"What does he say, Cyril?" asked Bella anxiously.
"Something about fire. I wonder where they are going? Oh!"--Cyril
suddenly stopped short--"I wonder if they are after poor Mrs. Vand.
Come, Bella, let us see where they go to."
"But where are you going?" asked Bella, as he rushed along the road
dragging her after him swiftly. "Oh!" she cried out with horror, "look!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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