The Mystery of the Hidden Room Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  THE SHOT

  The door was opened for me by Ruth herself, who drew me within, andlocked it behind me. Then with a finger on her lip, she led the way insilence to the drawing-room, seeming to breathe only when the door ofthat room was closed against further intrusion.

  "What is it, Ruth?" I asked, more and more alarmed by all this secrecycoming on top of my own foolish fears.

  Instead of answering she drew me down beside her on the divan andtouched with her fingers my graying temples.

  "Did I do that to you, Carlton?" she murmured, brokenly. "Oh, my dear, Iwonder you had the courage to forgive me!"

  "Ruth!" I cried sharply and at the misery in my voice she slipped to herknees and buried her face in her arms.

  "Forgive me," she sobbed. "I should not have let myself go, butsometimes I feel I must go mad, alone night after night in this greatsilent house with only that horrible secretary of Phil's for company!"

  "Hush," I returned, drawing her to me, but she pushed me from her andraised her head in a startled way.

  "Listen!" she whispered, holding up her hand. "I thought I heard someoneprowling around."

  More to satisfy Ruth and ease her fears, for I had heard no sound, Iwent to the door and flung it open. But the dimly lighted hall was emptysave for the wavering shadows that lost themselves in the gloom of thestairwell. The utter silence and loneliness of the great house gave mean eerie feeling, and I was glad to close the door and return to Ruth.

  She had regained command of herself and was once more seated on thedivan. As I approached she questioned me with her eyes. With a shake ofthe head and a reassuring smile, I resumed my place beside her.

  "I thought I could stand it," she said, after what seemed aninterminable interval, "but you don't know what I have had to put upwith. No, Carlton, please!" for I had caught her to me in my desire toshield her from all harm.

  "Forgive me," I returned humbly, rising and pacing the long room, "but Ican't bear to hear you say such things when I love you so!"

  "I know, Carlton. I won't grieve you that way again. It was for anotherreason that I asked you here."

  She was so long, however, in telling me that reason that I had time tostudy her more closely, and my heart grew ever more bitter as I saw howthin she was and how the lines of suffering had gathered on her whitebrow and around her sweet, drooping mouth. Verily I cursed the day thatPhilip Darwin had crossed Ruth's path, and if he had entered the room atthat moment I honestly believe I should have killed him.

  She must have read my thought for she cried out sharply, "No, no,Carlton, not that!" and when I flushed she added more quietly, "Won'tyou come and sit beside me, please?"

  When I had complied with her request, she lowered her voice until it wasthe merest thread, at the same time looking around her as if she fearedthe presence of someone else in the room.

  "You know I have a feeling that Mr. Orton, Phil's secretary, is alwayshanging around listening and spying upon me. Ugh, he makes me shiverwith his prominent, near-sighted eyes, his eternal humility and mockgrin. He reminds me of Uriah Heep in _David Copperfield_. I suppose I'mfoolish, but I've been alone so much of late."

  "But, Ruth, I thought your father lived here with you?"

  "Yes, he did, but two weeks ago the doctor told him to take a vacationand he has been visiting friends out of town. I expect him hometo-morrow or the next day at the latest. Then I shall be all rightagain."

  She clasped her hands in her lap and strove to keep back the tears.

  "Ruth, dear," I said, taking her little trembling hands in both my own,"why did you send for me? Surely there is something I can do!"

  She smiled faintly as she gently withdrew her hands and reclasped themin her lap. "It was for your sake I sent for you," she said, simply.

  "For my sake?" I asked puzzled.

  "You'd think that I had caused you enough suffering without addingneedlessly to your sorrow," she continued, as if to herself. "Oh,Carlton," turning suddenly toward me, "forgive me, but I did a veryfoolish thing last night. I was so lonely and dispirited and nervouswith hearing Mr. Orton prowling around and seeing him appear suddenlyfrom shadowy corners that I locked myself in my room and poured out myheart to you."

  "Ruth, darling!" I murmured.

  "It was foolish, Carlton, nay more, it was imprudent, and realizing thislast fact I tore up the letter and threw it in my waste basket. I wouldhave done better to have kept it, for to-night about ten-thirty, when Iwas on the point of retiring, Mr. Orton knocked on my door and said thatPhil desired my presence in his study."

  "You obeyed?"

  "Yes," she answered wearily. "It is only one of the many indignities Ihave had to endure. So I followed him to the study and there on thetable the first thing I laid my eyes on was my letter--all those scrapspasted together on a larger sheet. Think of it, Carlton!"

  But I couldn't think. The petty sordidness of it was beyond me. I couldonly stare at her and speak a name below my breath. Orton was what Isaid.

  "Yes, he had found the letter. He examines my waste basket every day itseems," she continued, bitterly, "in hopes of finding just what he didfind this morning. An unfaithful husband is always sure to be suspiciousof his wife, and her moral superiority is equally sure to gall him."

  "I am not going to tell you what Phil said," she went on presently. "Icouldn't, for most of it passed me by. But when he spoke of revenginghimself upon you, of ruining you and breaking you, then I decided it wastime to act. He told me he was going out, so I sent my maid with thenote and instructions to my chauffeur. I had to warn you, to put you onyour guard that you might be able to fight any rumors which he mayspread. But, Carlton, please promise me that you will keep out of hisway. Please, for my sake!"

  She clung to me as I shook my head impatiently. "It would only make itharder for me, Carlton!" she pleaded.

  "Never mind me, Ruth!" I said almost angrily. "Think of yourself for afew minutes. Why don't you get a divorce or at least a separation? Youhave more than enough grounds."

  "No, no. He would take it out on Dick. Don't you see he has me in hispower?"

  It was useless to try to influence her, especially as I could wellappreciate the justice of her remark. I slightly cursed Philip Darwinfor a blackguard, and then turned the conversation into a side channel.

  "Ruth, do you think you could get that letter for me?" I asked.

  "Why, Carlton?"

  "Because it is a powerful weapon to hold over you if he should everdecide to cast you aside." Seeing that this had no effect upon her, Iadded--would that I had cut my tongue out ere it had uttered thosewords! "because he can use it as a weapon against me."

  Instantly she was on her feet. "He put it in the drawer of the table inhis study. Stay here, dear, while I see if I can get it."

  She opened the door of the drawing-room and crossed the hall to thestudy. The drawing-room occupied about one-third of the lower floor ofthe main wing and lay to the right of the entrance hall, while the studywas its exact counterpart on the left, so that the door of the study wasdirectly opposite the door of the drawing-room which was now openbefore me.

  I saw Ruth try the door of the study and as it yielded to her hand sheadvanced timidly into the room, leaving the door barely ajar behind her.My view being thus effectually cut off I strained forward in an endeavorto catch the slightest sound, but was only rewarded by the most profoundstillness, through which there presently echoed and re-echoed the voiceof the old clock in the hall proclaiming the midnight hour. Then, as ifthat ancient time-piece had been the signal previously agreed upon,there rang through the house from the direction of the study the sharpreport of a pistol, followed by silence, absolute, profound!

  A moment I remained petrified, then with a bound I gained the studydoor, my one thought for Ruth. But on the threshold I stood rooted tothe spot by the sight that met my eyes!

  In the patch of light cast by a small lamp upon the study table, lyingback in his chair with a sardonic grin
on his face and an ever-wideningstain upon his shirt front, was Philip Darwin, while beside him as ifturned to stone, stood Ruth with a pistol in her hand!