XV
When I opened my eyes next morning, it was with a feeling that something was wrong. I felt heavy, dazed, horribly depressed. For a moment I wondered if I had relapsed into my former bad habit during the previous evening, and had drunk more than was good for me. My head felt as if I had imbibed a lot of champagne, with a good deal of whisky afterward, and my mouth was dry, parched, and unpleasant.
I glanced at the clock on my mantelpiece—a quarter past eight, it said, and I usually awoke at half past six. I wanted to rise at once—at least, one-half of me did, but I sank back again on my pillow and went straight off to sleep—a heavy, unnatural sleep.
I became conscious, after a time, that there was a great noise going on. As I became more fully conscious, I was aware that the noise was a pounding on my door, and that some one was calling my name in anxious, terrified tones. Even then, when I was quite conscious of this, I remained supine between the sheets for a few minutes.
I got out of bed at last, slipped into a dressing gown, and opened the door. There was a small mob—the housekeeper, a footman, Nancy's demure maid, the coachman, and a page boy. When they saw me, they fell back.
“Well?” I said.
The housekeeper found breath first.
“Oh, sir,” she said, “I am glad to see you! We couldn't think why you didn't open the door. Indeed, Dennis has been knocking at it this ten minutes.”
“Well?” I said again.
“We're afraid there's something the matter, sir. Deasy—”
“What of Deasy?” I said.
“We can't get him to open his door, sir. He usually comes out about half past seven, and now it's half past nine. Dennis there has shouted himself black in the face, but never a word has Deasy answered.”
“An' the door is that strong,” said Dennis, “shure I wouldn't be able to open, it unless I used a crowbar.”
“Do the ladies know of this?” I asked.
“Indeed an' they do, sir. They are in the breakfast room in a state of high flustration.”
“Go down and tell them not to be alarmed. I will be there in a moment.”
I shut the door on the excited domestics. Then I jumped into my clothes and rushed downstairs to Deasy's pantry.
All the household appeared to have gathered there. I sent them away, with the exception of Dennis, the coachman, and the gardener, who were elderly men and likely to work quietly.
“You can't make him hear?” I said. “And you can't open the door?”
“Indeed, then, we can do neither, sir,” answered the coachman.
“Then there's nothing for it but to break down the door,” I said. “Get a crowbar quickly.”
The gardener hurried away, and I went to the breakfast room, where I found Princess Amirel and Nancy.
“What is all this, Mr. Hanmer?” asked the princess. “Is it true that they cannot awake Deasy, and that they had trouble in rousing you?”
“I'm afraid it is, princess,” I replied.
“However, here I am, all right, and we'll soon know what is the matter with Deasy. Don't be alarmed!”
“Cosmo, is it true that the bulldog died last night, and that his death seemed to be due to poisoning?” Nancy asked.
“Yes, he is dead,” I answered. “As to the cause, I can't say. I think he was poisoned; and I am certain I was drugged last night.”
“Drugged?”
“Yes, drugged. I expect to find that Deasy has been drugged, too, when we break into his room,” I said; “but it's useless to be frightened. Will you stay here until I return? I will bring you news as quickly as possible.”
“Wait, Mr. Hanmer!” said the princess. “Do you believe that some one has been at work during the night—some enemy, I mean?”
“I am certain that I was drugged last night, princess,” I replied; “but how it was done I don't know. I must go—please stay here until I return.”
I went back to the men. The gardener had just returned, carrying a steel bar.
When at last the door burst open, the men hung back on the threshold, but I walked in. There was only a dim light in the room, but it was enough to show me the figure of Deasy, lying perfectly motionless on the bed. I beckoned the three men to follow.
I thought at first that the butler was dead, but when I drew close I saw that he was sleeping very heavily. There was no sign of pain or illness in his face. I laid my hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. One might as well have shaken a log of wood.
The men stared at their fellow servant. I turned from Deasy to them.
“Now, men,” I said, “look around this room carefully and notice everything in it. Dennis, draw up the shade and open the window—that's better. Now, then, use your eyes, and see if anything seems unusual.”
But there was nothing unusual. Deasy was a model of neatness and tidiness at all times, and everything in the room was in place. On the table in the center stood two tall silver candlesticks, with about half a candle in each, a small decanter, in which a little whisky still remained, a book, an empty glass, a tobacco jar, and a pipe, resting in an ash tray. Everything pointed to the fact that Deasy, having finished his day's labors, had taken a little well earned recreation with pipe, glass, and book, and had then retired.
The men saw nothing that struck them as unusual.
“I suppose Deasy always smoked his pipe and had his glass before going to bed,” I said, looking at Michael Fogarty, the coachman.
“Indeed, then, he did, sir,”” Michael answered readily enough. “It was his custom to smoke two pipes, drink two glasses of whisky, and read a bit out of his book.”
“He seems to have followed his usual custom last night,” I said. “Men, Deasy has been drugged. In fact, I am certain that I, too, have been drugged. You remember what difficulty you had in waking me? There has been foul play in the house during the night.”
They uttered exclamations of horror and surprise.
“Now, then,” I went on, “we must act quickly. One of you fetch a doctor and a police inspector at once, and get both of them here as soon as possible. The other two of you will remain here until they come.”
It was decided that the coachman should go, and he left the room immediately. I bade the other two men sit down, and I took a seat by the bedside, watching Deasy, and at the same time trying to form some notion of what had happened.
I had no doubt whatever that some crime had been committed during the night, and that Deasy and I had been drugged in order that the criminal might do his work undisturbed. I began to think about the means employed to drug us both; and suddenly I remembered something that had happened the previous night.
When I first arrived at the castle I was suffering from sleeplessness, and Nancy had advised me to drink a glass of hot water before going to bed. I had been doing this for nearly three weeks. I usually went to my room at eleven o'clock, and by Deasy's orders a glass of hot water awaited me there. On the previous evening I had found the water almost boiling hot, and had poured at least half of it out, filling up the glass with cold water. Without a doubt that water had been drugged, and so, I felt sure, had Deasy's whisky. He had drunk almost the whole of the draft, while I had thrown at least half of mine away.
It must have been the work of some person living in the castle, for after ten o'clock in the evening it was an impossibility for any one to enter or leave the place. It must be that we had a traitor in the camp, in the pay of Count Hofberg, to whom I attributed the instigation of the crime. Who could the traitor be? I racked my brains in a useless effort to think of a likely person.
In an hour Michael was back with a doctor and a police inspector. He brought them to Deasy's room, and I told them what had happened, as far as I knew it. Both listened attentively, and the doctor went over to the bed and looked carefully at Deasy.
“The man has been heavily drugged,” he said presently. “He's in no danger; he'll sleep off the effects. I'll seal that whisky decanter and glass, and hand them over to you, inspector. We'll find out what's been used. Let me have the glass you drank from last night, Mr. Hanmer; there may still be some trace of the drug in it.”
I sent Dennis for the glass, and when he returned the doctor packed everything up and handed the box to the inspector. The latter looked at me questioningly.
“Yes,” I said, “there's a good deal to be done yet, inspector. Deasy and myself were drugged for some purpose—robbery, as I believe. In the strong room there”—I pointed to the door—“were a number of valuables, among them some jewels belonging to Princess Amirel of Amavia, who is a guest at the castle. Since we broke into this room of Deasy's we have not touched the strong room. I should like you to examine it.”
The inspector walked across and tried the door of the strong room.
“It's locked,” he said. “It seems to be all right.”
I turned to the servants.
“Does any one know where Deasy keeps his keys?” I asked.
“I do, sir,” answered Dennis. “He always slept with them under his pillow.”
The inspector slipped his hand beneath the pillow.
“They're here,” he said, and drew the keys out.
It took some little time to find the key of the strong room, but we got the door open at last, and entered. The inspector tried the safe in which the princess had deposited her satchel. It was safely locked.
“That seems to be all right, sir,” said the inspector, rattling the handle.
“Wait a moment,” I said. “Princess Amirel has the key of this safe. I will ask her to open it.”
I went to the breakfast room, where the princess and Nancy were waiting. I told them what had happened since I left them, and of my fears for the safety of the jewels. I begged the princess to come with me to open the safe. To this she readily consented, and all three of us proceeded to the strong room.
“Princess,” I said, “you placed the satchel containing your jewels in this safe with your own hands in the presence of Deasy and myself. The key has never left your possession since?”
“It has not,” she answered, looking round the ring of faces. “I locked the door myself, and the key has never been out of my keeping.”
“Please open the safe,” I said.
She produced the key from her pocket and fitted it to the lock. The door swung open, and there lay the satchel, exactly where the princess had placed it.
“Please examine the satchel, princess,” I said.
She drew it out. A sudden, sharp exclamation burst from her lips.
“The lock is broken!” she gasped. “Oh, my jewels are gone! See, the satchel is empty!”
I had expected it. We had been outwitted.
We held a hurried consultation as to what was to be done. Other valuables might have been stolen. No one but Deasy knew what had been stored in the strong room.
By the advice of the inspector the safe and the strong room were locked up again. The doctor proceeded to minister to Deasy, and a messenger was dispatched to the nearest resident magistrate and to a superior police official. As the famous Amavia amethyst had disappeared, a message was also sent to the Prince of Amavia from the princess, acquainting him with the fact, and requesting his presence at the castle. For the amethyst was a crown jewel, and its loss was of the greatest moment and importance.
About two o'clock Prince Adalbert arrived at the castle. I went out into the courtyard to receive him. He brought with him two companions—Count Hofberg and my old orderly, the meek-faced, flashily dressed Samuel Jefferson.
The presence of Jefferson affected me much as a superstitious old woman is affected by the sudden appearance of a magpie.