"Yes, we know that. And what part did your brother play in it all?"

A shade of embarra.s.sment crept into her manner. She was willing to sacrifice Stent and Bolinski, but it was natural she should shield her brother as far as she could.

"He believed the first story they told him, which at the beginning imposed upon me. He kept watch for them in a way, told them what he could pick up of the various rumours flying about. He was in a state of great alarm one night, when some Member of the House of Commons had told him that Mr Monkton was acquainted with a man of the name of Stent."

Reginald Monkton lifted his head. "It is true. I had known him slightly for some years, as a man connected with one or two companies, respectable ones, in which I had shares. I had no idea that he made the greater part of his money by fraud."

"And what became of Mr Monkton that night?" asked Wingate, turning to Mrs Saxton.

"They caught him unawares, as he was walking from the House, threw a cloth, saturated with a stupefying drug, over his face, put him in a cab, driven by a confederate, and took him to Bolinski's house. They then took off his outer clothes, put them on the person you call the dying man, who could only just walk, and rushed back to Westminster.

There they got out, waited a few seconds, hailed a taxi, put him inside, and directed the driver to take him to Chesterfield Street. The rest of that episode you know."

"And when was it that you went to Forest View, and masqueraded in the guise of a parlourmaid?"

A burning colour crept into her face at the question. It was easy to see that she was feeling her position acutely. It was some seconds before she could control herself sufficiently to order her speech.

"They had moved him very speedily from Bolinski's to the house of one of their confederates. Then they took him down to Horsham, where Stent had a house. He came to me one day and said the affairs in which they were interested were maturing slowly. He had hoped to release Mr Monkton very quickly, but owing to the delay it was absolutely necessary they should keep him in custody until the _coup_ came off. They kept him in a secret room there--what is called the priest's room. A woman they trusted had been obliged to go abroad. Would I take her place? He said it would only be for a short time."

"And you went?" cried Sheila, with a withering glance.

The woman's voice was almost inaudible, as she answered with bowed head: "Yes, I went, but I swear that when I did so I did not know what was really meditated."

They looked at her in horror, and Wingate repeated the words, "what was really meditated."

"Yes," she said, almost in a whisper. "It was a refined cruelty, the invention of a cunning and malignant mind. Their object was to break down his reason, to reduce him to a condition worse than that of death itself, and then to restore him to his home and child, shattered in health, mind and reputation."

CHAPTER THIRTY.

THE MYSTERY SOLVED.

At those dreadful words, spoken in a low, vibrating voice, a shudder ran through the listeners. Sheila laid her head upon her father's shoulder, and sobbed unrestrainedly. Wingate uttered a cry of horror.

"And whose was the devilish mind that conceived this awful thing, and what was the motive?" he cried, when he had recovered from his stupefaction.

"You will know directly, but it is best I should tell the story in my own way, and in proper sequence. Well, I went to Forest View, to look after Mr Monkton. I may say that Stent never went near him himself, for fear of recognition. I found that he was being treated with drugs, so as to keep him more or less in a state of torpor. When I saw what was being done, I was horrified, and remonstrated. But Stent was always plausible, told me the effect was temporary, and that as soon as he could fix the time for his release, he would give him antidotes that would speedily restore him to his normal state.

"I very shortly conceived the idea of liberating him, but the means were hard to discover. Stent distrusted everybody, and it was only by acceding to all his humours that I was able to worm anything out of him.

Half-a-dozen times he permitted me to administer the drug during his absence. It was one of his own preparation--for he was among other things a most skilled chemist. On these occasions I gave your father but a small portion of the dose intended for him. By these means I revived his benumbed faculties, and was able to a.s.sure him that I was his friend, and was eagerly seeking the means of restoring him to freedom.

"Then one day, when Stent was in an unusually good temper, he came to me, with that evil smile on his face which I had learned to know and dread. `A curious thing is going to happen to-morrow. A man is coming here to stay for a little time. Can you guess what he is coming for?'

Of course, I answered I could not.

"`He will stay here under an a.s.sumed name, but he is rather a great personage in his own world. He will want, if I know him aright, to go to Monkton's room every day, and gloat over his handiwork.'

"It was imprudent of me, but I could not help blurting out, `Yours as well as his.'

"His smile grew more evil as he said, `I am afraid you are a little too tender-hearted for this world, my dear. Anyway, I am paid a big price for the job, and you know I never refuse money.'

"I saw my mistake, and pretended to fall in with his mood, and succeeded in winning him back to amiability. I expressed great curiosity to know the real name of the man who, to use his own expression, was coming down `to gloat over his handiwork.' To this day I shall never know what caused him to satisfy it. But at last he told me."

Sheila and her lover gazed at the pale-faced woman intently. In their eagerness they almost forgot their loathing.

"The instigator of his abduction, the man who hired this fiend to carry out his deadly, malignant revenge, is a man well-known, wealthy, a peer of the realm. I daresay you have heard of him. He is called Lord Wrenwyck."

Sheila gasped at this astounding revelation. "The husband of the popular Lady Wrenwyck, who in her youth was a celebrated beauty?"

Then she turned to her father, whose pale, worn face cut her to the heart. "But, dearest, what was his motive for such a dastardly deed?"

Monkton spoke in a low voice, but he did not meet his daughter's eyes.

"A fancied wrong, my child. We crossed each other many years ago, and he has brooded over it till he grew half insane, and thought of this scheme of vengeance."

"But you will have him punished," cried his daughter loudly. "You must!

You cannot mete out to him what he has done to you, but you will deal with him as the law allows you."

Monkton turned uneasily in his chair. "It is the dearest wish of my heart to bring him low, but, in my position, one cannot afford scandal.

In a few weeks I shall be restored to my old place, to my old strength.

That there has been a mystery is only known to a few. To the public, Reginald Monkton has recovered from a brief illness induced by overstrain and over-work. It is better so."

Sheila gazed at him almost wildly. "That is your resolve. But it seems to me folly; forgive me if I question your decision, if I criticise you."

For a moment the glances of Wingate and Mrs Saxton met, and they read each other's thoughts. Monkton must let Lord Wrenwyck go unpunished; it would be political death to him to have that old folly brought into public gaze.

He interposed hastily. "Dearest Sheila, your father is right. I understand his reasons perfectly. He is not an ordinary man. If he is to keep his position, he must forgo the revenge to which he is so justly ent.i.tled."

Sheila looked at him with puzzled eyes. Austin was wise beyond his years, but surely he was wrong in this. She pressed her hand to her head, and murmured faintly, "I do not understand. But I suppose it must be as you say."

Mrs Saxton went on swiftly with her story.

"According to all accounts. Lord Wrenwyck is half insane. He had been mixed up with some financial transactions with Stent, and had taken the man's measure, had satisfied himself that he would carry out any villainous scheme, so long as he was well paid for the risk. He it was who suggested the abduction of Mr Monkton, the systematic drugging at Forest View, where he would come in while his unhappy prisoner was asleep, and watch him with a fiendish smile spreading over his repulsive countenance."

At this point Sheila raised her hands with a gesture of despair. "And yet this fiend is to go scot-free, and live to work further evil."

"He will not do that," said Mrs Saxton quickly. "Smeaton, after our interview, compelled him to go to Scotland Yard. Depend upon it. Lord Wrenwyck will not risk his fate a second time. He will be rendered powerless by the fact that his cunningly laid scheme was frustrated, and also that it is known to those who could set the law in motion at any moment they chose."

And again Sheila murmured, "You may be right, but I cannot understand."

"I am coming now to the end of my story," Mrs Saxton continued, after this interruption. "I was walking one day into Horsham, and was accosted by a young man who seemed desirous of striking up an acquaintance. I rebuffed him, of course, and learned afterwards that he made similar advances to the young woman who was supposed to be my fellow-servant. At once it struck me that he was spying upon us. He lodged at a small inn a little distance away, and gave out that he was an artist. I mentioned the matter to Stent, but he rather laughed at the idea; told me I had got detectives on the brain. He was dest.i.tute of nerves himself, and had an exaggerated belief in his own capacity to outwit everybody.

"Pondering upon the means by which I could extricate my patient--if I may call him so--from a position which I felt convinced was growing more perilous, the idea of using this young man came into my mind. Day after day I impressed upon Stent that my fears were well grounded, and that at any moment he might be faced with discovery. At last I invented a story that I had seen this man who called himself Franks standing outside the house with another person, obviously a detective, and had heard the latter say distinctly; `Smeaton himself thinks we have given them rope enough.'

"You know the story of the removal in the dead of night?"

She addressed her question to Wingate, appreciating the fact that he showed his hostility less plainly than did his sweetheart.

The young man nodded. "Yes, we know that."

"Stent was at last impressed, and agreed that we must leave Forest View as quickly and secretly as possible. Stent and the other maid--Lord Wrenwyck had left us by then--travelled in the van. I drove Mr Monkton in the motor by a roundabout route--I may tell you I am an expert driver. My destination was supposed to be the house of the confederate where he had first been taken.