The Gloved Hand Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  A FRESH ENIGMA

  Godfrey met my eyes with a little deprecating smile, put his torch inone pocket, took a handkerchief from another, and mopped his forehead.

  "Rather nerve-racking, wasn't it, Lester?" he remarked, and then hisgaze wandered to the couch, and he stepped toward it quickly.

  I saw that a change had come in Miss Vaughan's condition. Her eyeswere still closed, but her body no longer lay inert and lifeless, forfrom moment to moment it was shaken by a severe nervous tremor.Godfrey's face was very grave as he looked at her.

  "Stop stroking her wrists, Swain," he said; "that does no good," andwhen Swain, without answering or seeming to hear, kept on strokingthem, Godfrey drew the hands away, took Swain by the arm, andhalf-lifted him to his feet. "Listen to me," he said, more sternly,and shook him a little, for Swain's eyes were dull and vacant. "I wantyou to sit quietly in a chair for a while, till you get your sensesback. Miss Vaughan is seriously ill and must not be disturbed in anyway. I'm going to get a doctor and a nurse at once; they'll do whatneeds to be done. Until then, she must be left alone. Understand?"

  Swain nodded vaguely, and permitted Godfrey to lead him to a chairnear the outer door, where he sat down. As his hand fell across thearm of the chair, I could see that a little blood was still oozingfrom the wound on the wrist. Godfrey saw it, too, and picked up thehand and looked at it. Then he laid it gently down again and glancedat his watch. I followed his example, and saw that it was half-pastone.

  "Have you nerve enough to stay here half an hour by yourself, Lester?"he asked.

  "By myself?" I echoed, and glanced at the dead man and at thequivering girl.

  "I've got to run over to my place to get a few things and do sometelephoning," he explained. "We must get a doctor up here at once; andthen there's the police--I'll try to get Simmonds. Will you stay?"

  "Yes," I said, "of course. But please get back as soon as you can."

  "I will," he promised, and, after a last look around the room, steppedout upon the walk.

  I went to the door and looked after him until the sound of hisfootsteps died away. Then, feeling very lonely, I turned back into theroom. Those regular tremors were still shaking the girl's body in away that seemed to me most alarming, but there was nothing I could dofor her, and I finally pulled a chair to Swain's side. He, at least,offered a sort of companionship. He was sitting with his head hangingforward in a way that reminded me most unpleasantly of the huddledfigure by the table, and did not seem to be aware of my presence. Itried to draw him into talk, but a slight nod from time to time wasall I could get from him, and I finally gave it up. Mechanically, myhand sought my coat pocket and got out my pipe--yes, that was what Ineeded; and, sitting down in the open doorway, I filled it and lighted up.

  My nerves grew calmer, presently, and I was able to think connectedlyof the events of the night, but there were two things which, looked atfrom any angle, I could not understand. One was Swain's dazed andincoherent manner; the other was the absence of servants.

  As to Swain, I believed him to be a well-poised fellow, not easilyupset, and certainly not subject to attacks of nerves. What hadhappened to him, then, to reduce him to the pitiable condition inwhich he had come back to us over the wall, and in which he was stillplunged? The discovery of the murder and of Miss Vaughan's senselessbody might have accounted for it, but his incoherence had antedatedthat--unless, indeed, he knew of the murder before he left thegrounds. That thought gave me a sudden shock, and I put it away fromme, not daring to pursue it farther.

  As to the house, its deserted condition seemed sinister andthreatening. It was absurd to suppose that an establishment such asthis could be carried on without servants, or with less than three orfour. But where were they? And then I remembered that Godfrey and Ihad not completed our exploration of the house. We had stopped at thegruesome room where the adept and his serpent gazed unwinking into thecrystal sphere. There was at least one suite on the same floor we hadnot looked into, and no doubt there were other rooms on the atticfloor above. But that any one could have slept on undisturbed by thosepiercing screams and by our own comings and goings seemedunbelievable. Perhaps there were separate quarters in the groundssomewhere--

  And then, without conscious will of my own, I felt my body stiffen andmy fingers grip my pipe convulsively. A slow tremor seemed to startfrom the end of my spine, travel up it, and pass off across my scalp.There was someone in the room behind me; someone with gleaming eyesfixed upon me; and I sat there rigidly, straining my ears, expectingI knew not what--a blow upon the head, a cord about the neck.

  A rapid step came up the walk and Godfrey appeared suddenly out of thedarkness.

  "Well, Lester," he began; but I sprang to my feet and faced the room,for I could have sworn that I had heard behind me the rustle of asilken dress. But there was no one there except Swain and Miss Vaughanand the dead man--and none of them had moved.

  "What is it?" Godfrey asked, stepping past me into the room.

  "There was someone there, Godfrey," I said. "I'm sure of it--I feltsomeone--I felt his eyes on me--and then, as you spoke, I heard therustle of a dress."

  "Of a dress?"

  "Or of a robe," and my thoughts were on the bearded man upstairs.

  Godfrey glanced at me, crossed the room, and looked out into the hall.Then he turned back to me.

  "Well, whoever it was," he said, and I could see that he thought myears had deceived me, "he has made good his escape. There'll be adoctor and a nurse here in a few minutes, and I got Simmonds and toldhim to bring Goldberger along. He can't get here for an hour anyway.And I've got a change here for Swain," he added, with a gesturetoward some garments he carried over one arm; "also a bracer to beadministered to him," and he drew a flask from his pocket and handedit to me. "Maybe you need one, yourself," he added, smiling drily,"since you've taken to hearing rustling robes."

  "I do," I said, "though not on that account," and I raised the flaskto my lips and took a long swallow.

  "Suppose you take Swain up to the bath-room," Godfrey suggested, "andhelp him to get cleaned up. I'll go down to the gate and wait for thedoctor."

  "The gate's probably locked."

  "I thought of that," and he drew a small but heavy hammer from hispocket. "I'll smash the lock, if there's no other way. I'd like you toget Swain into shape before anyone arrives," he added. "He's not aprepossessing object as he is."

  "No, he isn't," I agreed, looking at him, and I took the garmentswhich Godfrey held out to me. Then I went over to Swain and put theflask into his uninjured hand. "Take a drink of that," I said.

  He did not understand at first; then he put the flask to his lips anddrank eagerly--so eagerly that I had to draw it away. He watched melongingly as I screwed on the cap and slipped it into my pocket; andthere was more colour in his face and a brighter light in his eyes.

  "Now, come along," I said, "and get that cut fixed up."

  He rose obediently and followed me out into the hall. Godfrey hadpreceded us, found the light-switch after a brief search, and turnedit on.

  "There's a switch in the bath-room, too, no doubt," he said. "Bringhim down again, as soon as you get him fixed up. You'll find somecotton and gauze in one of the pockets of the coat."

  Swain followed me up the stair and into the bath-room. He seemed tounderstand what I intended doing, for he divested himself of coat andshirt and was soon washing arms and face vigorously. Then he driedhimself, and stood patiently while I washed and bandaged the cut onthe wrist. It was not a deep one, and had about stopped bleeding.

  "Feel better?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said, and without waiting for me to tell him, slipped intothe clean shirt which Godfrey had brought, attached the collar andtied the tie, all this quite composedly and without hesitation orclumsiness. Yet I felt, in some indefinable way, that something wasseriously wrong with him. His eyes were vacant and his face flabby, asthough the muscles were relaxed. It gave me the feeling that hisintelligence was
relaxed, too!

  He picked up his own coat, but I stopped him.

  "Don't put that on," I said, speaking to him as I would have spoken toa child. "The sleeve is blood-stained and there's a long tear down theside. Take this one," and I held out the light lounging-coat Godfreyhad brought with him.

  Swain laid down his own garment without a word and put on the otherone. I rolled the soiled garments into a bundle, took them under myarm, turned out the lights, and led the way downstairs.

  A murmur of voices from the library told me that someone had arrived,and when I reached the door, I saw that it was the doctor and thenurse. The former was just rising from a rapid examination of thequivering figure on the couch.

  "We must get her to bed at once," he said, turning to Godfrey. "Herbedroom's upstairs, I suppose?"

  "Yes," said Godfrey; "shall I show you the way?"

  The doctor nodded and, lifting the girl carefully in his arms,followed Godfrey out into the hall. The nurse picked up amedicine-case from the floor and followed after.

  I had expected Swain to rush forward to the couch, to make a scene,perhaps, and had kept my hand upon his arm; but to my astonishment hedid not so much as glance in that direction. He stood patiently besideme, with his eyes on the floor, and when my restraining hand fellaway, he walked slowly to the chair in which he had been sitting, anddropped into it, relaxing limply as with fatigue.

  Godfrey was back in a moment.

  "That doctor was the nearest one I could find," he said. "He seems tobe all right. But if Miss Vaughan isn't better in the morning, I'llget a specialist out."

  "Godfrey," I said, in a low tone, "there's something the matter withSwain," and I motioned to where he sat, flaccid and limp, apparentlyhalf-asleep. "He is suffering from shock, or something of that sort.It's something more, anyway, than over-wrought nerves. He seems to beonly half-conscious."

  "I noticed it," said Godfrey, with a little nod. "We'll have thedoctor look at him when he comes down," and he sank wearily into achair. "This has been a pretty strenuous night, Lester."

  "Yes; and it isn't over yet. I wonder what the man with the snake isdoing?"

  "Still staring into the crystal, no doubt. Do you want to go and see?"

  "No," I said decidedly, "I don't. Godfrey," I added, "doesn't theabsence of servants seem strange to you?"

  "Very strange. But, I dare say, we'll find them aroundsomewhere--though they seem to be sound sleepers! We didn't lookthrough the whole house, you know. I'm not going to, either; I'm goingto let the police do that. They ought to be here pretty soon. I toldSimmonds to bring two or three men with him."

  I glanced at the huddled body of the murdered man. With all thenight's excitements and surprises, we had not even touched upon thatmystery. Not a single gleam of light had been shed upon it, and yet itwas the centre about which all these other strange occurrencesrevolved. Whose hand was it had thrown that cord about the throat anddrawn it tight? What motive lay behind? Fearsome and compelling mustthe motive be to drive a man to such a crime! Would Simmonds be ableto divine that motive, to build the case up bit by bit until themurderer was found? Would Godfrey?

  I turned my head to look at him. He was lying back in his chair, hiseyes closed, apparently lost in thought, and for long minutes therewas no movement in the room.

  At last the doctor returned, looking more cheerful than when he hadleft the room. He had given Miss Vaughan an opiate and she wassleeping calmly; the nervous trembling had subsided and he hoped thatwhen she waked she would be much better. The danger was that brainfever might develop; she had evidently suffered a very severe shock.

  "Yes," said Godfrey, "she discovered her father strangled in the chairyonder."

  "I saw the body when I came in," the doctor remarked, imperturbably."So it's her father, is it?"

  "Yes."

  "And strangled, you say?"

  Godfrey answered with a gesture, and the doctor walked over to thebody, glanced at the neck, then disengaged one of the tightly clenchedhands from the chair-arm, raised it and let it fall. I could not butenvy his admirable self-control.

  "How long has he been dead?" Godfrey asked.

  "Not more than two or three hours," the doctor answered. "The musclesare just beginning to stiffen. It looks like murder," he added, andtouched the cord about the neck.

  "It _is_ murder."

  "You've notified the police?"

  "They will be here soon."

  I saw the doctor glance at Godfrey and then at me, plainly puzzled asto our footing in the house; but if there was a question in his mind,he kept it from his lips and turned back again to the huddled body.

  "Any clue to the murderer?" he asked, at last.

  "We have found none."

  And then the doctor stooped suddenly and picked up something from thefloor beside the chair.

  "Perhaps this is a clue," he said, quietly, and held to the light anobject which, as I sprang to my feet, I saw to be a blood-stainedhandkerchief.

  He spread it out under our eyes, handling it gingerly, for it wasstill damp, and we saw it was a small handkerchief--a woman'shandkerchief--of delicate texture. It was fairly soaked with blood,and yet in a peculiar manner, for two of the corners were muchcrumpled but quite unstained.

  The doctor raised his eyes to Godfrey's.

  "What do you make of it?" he asked.

  "A clue, certainly," said Godfrey; "but scarcely to the murderer."

  The doctor looked at it again for a moment, and then nodded. "I'dbetter put it back where I found it, I guess," he said, and dropped itbeside the chair.

  And then, suddenly, I remembered Swain. I turned to find him stilldrooping forward in his chair, apparently half-asleep.

  "Doctor," I said, "there is someone else here who is suffering fromshock," and I motioned toward the limp figure. "Or perhaps it'ssomething worse than that."

  The doctor stepped quickly to the chair and looked down at itsoccupant. Then he put his hand under Swain's chin, raised his head andgazed intently into his eyes. Swain returned the gaze, but plainly inonly a half-conscious way.

  "It looks like a case of concussion," said the doctor, after a moment."The left pupil is enlarged," and he ran his hand rapidly over theright side of Swain's head. "I thought so," he added. "There's aconsiderable swelling. We must get him to bed." Then he noticed thebandaged wrist. "What's the matter here?" he asked, touching it withhis finger.

  "He cut himself on a piece of glass," Godfrey explained. "You'd bettertake him over to my place, where he can be quiet."

  "I've got my car outside," said the doctor, and together he and Iraised Swain from the chair and led him to it.

  He went docilely and without objection, and ten minutes later, wassafely in bed, already dozing off under the influence of the opiatethe doctor had given him. "He'll be all right in the morning," thelatter assured me. "But he must have got quite a blow over the head."

  "I don't know what happened to him," I answered. "You'll come backwith me, won't you?"

  "Yes; I may be useful," and he turned the car back the way we hadcome. "Besides," he added, frankly, "I'm curious to learn whathappened in that house to-night."

  He had certainly shown himself equal to emergencies, I reflected; andI liked his voice and his manner, which was cool and capable.

  "My name is Lester," I said. "I'm a lawyer staying with Mr. Godfrey.We heard Miss Vaughan scream and ran over to the house, but we don'tknow any more than you do."

  "My name is Hinman, and I'm just a country doctor," said my companion;"but if I can be of any help, I hope you'll call upon me. Hello!" headded, as we turned through the gate into the grounds of Elmhurst, andhe threw on the brake sharply, for a uniformed figure had stepped outinto the glare of our lamps and held up his hand.

  The police had arrived.