The Stowmarket Mystery | Page 6

at Naples, very suddenly, and without the knowledge of any of her relatives."
"She had been living at Beechcroft nearly a year, then?"
"Yes, she went South in the winter. The reason she gave was that the Hall would be depressing on the anniversary of her brother's death. She had become most popular in the district. Helen is very fond of her, and was quite shocked to hear of her marriage. The local people do not like Signor Capella."
"Why?"
"It is difficult to give a reason. Miss Layton does not indulge in details, but that is the impression I gather from her letters."
Hume paused, and Brett shot a quick glance at him.
"Finish what you were going to say," he said.
"Only this--Helen and I have mutually released each other from our engagement, and in the same breath have refused to be released. That is, if you understand--"
The barrister nodded.
"The result is that we are both thoroughly miserable. Our respective fathers do not like the idea of our marriage under the circumstances. We are simply drifting in the feeble hope that some day a kindly Providence will dissipate the cloud that hangs over me. Ah, Mr. Brett, I am a rich man. Command the limits of my fortune, but clear me. Prove to Helen that her faith in my innocence is justified."
"For goodness' sake light another cigarette," snapped the barrister. "You have interfered with my line of thought. It is all wriggly."
Quite a minute elapsed before he began again.
"What caused the trouble at Mrs. Eastham's ball?"
"I think I can explain that. It seems that Alan's father told him to get married--"
"Told him!"
"Well, left instructions."
"How?"
"I do not know. I only gathered as much from my cousin's remarks. Well, it was not until his final home-coming that he realised what a beautiful woman the jolly little girl he knew as a boy had developed into. She was just the kind of wife he wanted, and I fancy he imagined I had stolen a march on him. But he was a thoroughly straightforward, manly fellow, and something very much out of the common must have upset him before he vented his anger on me and Helen."
"Have you any notion--"
"Not the least. Pardon me. I suppose you were going to ask if I guessed the cause?"
"Yes."
"It is quite unfathomable. We parted the best of friends in London, although he knew all about the engagement. We met again at 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve, and he was very short with me. I can only vaguely assume that some feeling of resentment had meanwhile been working up in him, and it found expression during his chat with Helen in the conservatory."
"Did you use threats to him during the subsequent wrangle?"
"Threats! Good gracious, no. I was angry with him for spoiling Miss Layton's enjoyment. I called him an ass, and said that he had better have remained away another year than come back and make mischief. That is all. Mrs. Eastham was far more outspoken."
"Indeed. What did she say?"
"She hinted that his temper was a reminiscence of his Southern birth, always a sore point with him, and contrasted me with him, to his disadvantage. All very unfair, of course, but, you see, she was the hostess, and Alan had upset her party very much."
"So you walked home, and resolved to hold out the olive branch?"
"Most decidedly. I was older, perhaps a trifle more sedate. I knew that Helen loved me. There were no difficulties in the way of our marriage, which was arranged for the following spring. Indeed, my second trial took place on the very date we had selected. It was my duty to use poor Alan gently. Even his foolish and unreasonable jealousy was a compliment."
Brett threw the scrap-book on to the table. He clasped his hands in front of his knees, tucking his heels on the edge of his chair.
"Mr. Hume," he said slowly, gazing fixedly at the other, "I believe you. You did not kill your cousin."
CHAPTER III
THE DREAM
"Thank you," was the quiet answer.
"You hinted at some supernatural influence in relation to this crime. What did you mean?"
"Ah, that is the unpublished part of the affair. We are a Scots family, as our name implies. The first Sir Alan Frazer became a baronet owing to his services to King George during the '45 Rebellion. There was some trouble about a sequestered estate--now our place in Scotland--which belonged to his wife's brother, a Hume and a rebel. Anyhow, in 1763, he fought a duel with Hume's son, his own nephew by marriage, and was killed."
"Really," broke in Brett, "this ancient history--"
"Is quite to the point. Sir Alan the first fought and died in front of the library at Beechcroft."
The barrister commenced to study the moulding in the centre of the ceiling.
"He was succeeded by his grandson, a little