The Mystery of the Downs | Page 6

approached the body. Something on the table near the lamp
attracted her attention. It was an open pocket-book and beside it were
some papers which had evidently been removed from it.
"What does this mean?" she cried. "Some one has been here."
"It is extraordinary," said Marsland.
He stood between her and the arm-chair so as to hide the dead body
from her. She stepped aside as if to seek in the appearance of the dead
man an explanation of the rifled pocket-book.
"Don't!" he said quickly, as he grasped her by the arm. "Do not touch
it."

His desire to save her from a shock awoke her feminine intuition.
"You mean he has been murdered?" she whispered, in a voice of
dismay.
CHAPTER II
She hurried from the room in terror. Marsland remained a few minutes
examining the papers that had been taken from the pocket-book.
With the lamp in his hand he was compelled to descend cautiously, and
when he reached the foot of the staircase the girl had left the house. He
extinguished the lamp he was carrying, relit the lantern, and stepped
outside. The lantern showed him the girl waiting for him some distance
down the path.
"Oh, let us leave this dreadful house," she cried as he approached.
"Please take me out of it. I am not frightened of the storm--now."
"I will take you wherever you wish to go," he said gently. "Will you tell
me where you live? I will accompany you home."
"You are very good," she said gratefully. "I live at Ashlingsea."
"That is the little fishing village at the end of the cliff road, is it not?"
he said inquiringly. "I am staying at Staveley, but I have not been there
long. Come, I will take you home, and then I will inform the police
about--this tragic discovery."
"There is a police station at Ashlingsea," she said, in a low voice.
He explained to her that he wanted to look after the comfort of his
horse before he accompanied her home, as it would be necessary to
leave the animal at the farm until the following day. She murmured a
faint acquiescence, and when they reached the storehouse she took the
lantern from him without speaking, and held it up to give him light
while he made his horse comfortable for the night.

They then set out for Ashlingsea. The violence of the storm had passed,
but the wind occasionally blew in great gusts from the sea, compelling
them to halt in order to stand up against it. The night was still very
black, but at intervals a late moon managed to send a watery beam
through the scudding storm clouds, revealing the pathway of the
winding cliff road, and the turbulent frothing waste of water dashing on
the rocks below. Rain continued to fall in heavy frequent showers, but
the minds of Marsland and his companion were so occupied with what
they had seen in the old farm-house that they were scarcely conscious
of the discomfort of getting wet.
The girl was so unnerved by the discovery of the dead body that she
was glad to avail herself of the protection and support of Marsland's
arm. Several times as she thought she saw a human form in the
darkness of the road, she uttered a cry of alarm and clung to his arm
with both hands. At every step she expected to encounter a maniac who
had the blood of one human creature on his hands and was still swayed
by the impulse to kill.
The reserve she had exhibited in the house had broken down, and she
talked freely in her desire to shut out from her mental vision the
spectacle of the murdered man sitting in the arm-chair.
On the other hand, the discovery of the body had made Marsland
reserved and thoughtful.
He learned from her that her name was Maynard--Elsie Maynard--and
that she lived with her widowed mother. Marsland was quick to gather
from the cultivated accents of her voice that she was a refined and
educated girl. He concluded that Mrs. Maynard must be a lady of some
social standing in the district, and he judged from what he had seen of
the girl's clothes that she was in good circumstances. She remarked that
her mother would be anxious about her, but would doubtless assume
she had sought shelter somewhere, as having lived in Ashlingsea for a
long time she knew everybody in the district.
Marsland thought it strange that she made no reference to the
companion who had accompanied her to the farm. If no one

accompanied her, how was it that on opening the door to him she had
greeted him as some one whom she had been expecting? She seemed
unconscious of the need