"Help!" she shrieked.

Upon her throat she felt a hot hand; she saw the heavy vase uplifted above her.

"Take that!" he cried, as he brought it down upon her head with a crushing blow, and she fell senseless upon the stone pavement.

For a second or two he looked at her, wondering if she were dead. Then tearing off his surplice, he rushed into the vestry, and, putting on his coat and hat, fled from the church, locking the door after him.

The upturned face of the prostrate girl was calm and deathlike. She lay motionless upon the cold grey flags. The sun shone out again, and the coloured light, streaming from the stained-gla.s.s window, fell full upon her handsome features. But its warmth did not rouse her; she gave no sign of life.

Late in the afternoon, however, she struggled back to consciousness, and sat for a long time on the pulpit steps trying to calm herself and decide how to act.

The excruciating pain in her head would not allow her thoughts to shape sufficiently, so she made a tour of the building to discover some mode of egress. It was not long before she found that in one of the main doors the key had been left, and, unlocking it, she stepped out into the bright, warm afternoon with a feeling that a strange, oppressive weight had suddenly clouded her brain.

That evening the city clerks, small shopkeepers, with their wives and relations, who comprise the majority of the congregation of St.

Barnabas, Camberwell, were agog when it transpired that their popular spiritual guide, the Rev. Hubert Holt, had suddenly thrown up his curacy. The vicar took the service, and at the conclusion announced with regret that his a.s.sistant had written to him that afternoon resigning his appointment, stating that a pressing engagement made it imperative that he should leave England at once. He gave no reason, but when the vicar sent round to his lodgings to request him to call and wish him adieu, it was discovered that he had packed a few things hurriedly, and already departed.

Then a local sensation was produced in the district between Denmark Hill and Camberwell Gate, and the devout parishioners prayed for the preservation and well-being of their popular but absent curate.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

SILKEN SACKCLOTH.

The certificate of death is all we require.

"I have it here."

"Why, how did you obtain it?"

"By a most fortunate circ.u.mstance. We saw one day, in the _Independance Belge_, that an unknown Englishman, apparently a gentleman, had died at the Hotel du Nord at Antwerp. Pierre at once suggested that he might identify him as Hugh Trethowen. He went to Antwerp and did so. The man was buried as my husband, and here is the certificate."

"A very smart stroke of business--very smart. But--er--don't talk quite so plainly; you--"

"What do you mean? Surely you have no qualm of conscience? The payment we agreed upon ought to counteract all that."

"Of course. Nevertheless, it is unnecessary to refer to the strategy too frequently. As long as we have an indisputable death certificate in the name of Hugh Trethowen, and you have your marriage certificate as his wife, there will not be the slightest difficulty."

"I know that. To me you appear afraid lest we should be exposed."

"You need not upbraid me for exercising due caution. The success of the plan you have been so long maturing depends upon it. Supposing we were unable to prove the will, in what position should we be?"

"In an awkward one--decidedly awkward. But why speak of failure when we are bound to succeed?"

"Are you quite sure the--er--dead man will never trouble us?"

"Positive. A sentence of fifteen years in New Caledonia means certain death. He might just as well have been buried at once, poor devil!"

This confidential conversation took place in Mr. Bernard Graham's gloomy private office in Devereux Court. The old solicitor, with a serious, intense expression upon his countenance, was sitting at his littered writing-table with a short legal doc.u.ment, covering only half of the sheet of foolscap, spread out upon his blotting-pad. Its purport was that the testator, Hugh Trethowen, left all he possessed to his "dear wife, Valerie," and the date of the signatures showed that it had been completed only a few days before they left Coombe for Paris.

In the client's chair, opposite her legal adviser, sat Valerie. Attired in deep mourning, that became her well, her thin black veil scarcely hid the anxious expression upon her face. a.s.suming her part with an actress's regard to detail, she did not overlook the fact that pallor was becoming to a widow; therefore, since she had put on the garments of sorrow, she had refrained from adding those little touches of carmine to her cheeks which she knew always enhanced her beauty. Neither her face nor voice betrayed signs of nervousness. With the steady, dogged perseverance of the inveterate gambler she had been playing for heavy stakes, and now, at the last throw of the dice, she had determined to win.

Their interview had been by appointment in order to arrange the final details. Now that Graham was in possession of the death certificate, he was to proceed at once to obtain probate on the will, after which the estate would pa.s.s to her. For his services in this matter, and in various other little affairs to which she was indebted to him, he was to receive twelve thousand pounds. A munificent fee, indeed, for proving a will!

There was a silence while the old solicitor took up the certificate she had handed him, and carefully scrutinised it. The declaration was quite plain and straightforward. It stated that Hugh Trethowen, English subject, had died from syncope at the Hotel du Nord, and had been buried at the cemetery of Stuivenberg.

"If he lived to complete his sentence?" hazarded Mr. Graham in a low voice, putting down the slip of paper, and removing his pince-nez to polish them. "Imprisoned persons, you know, have an awkward knack of turning up at an inopportune moment."

"And supposing he did, what could he prove?" she asked. "Has he not left a will bequeathing everything to me?--am I not mourning for him as his widow? Besides, he knows nothing--he can never know."

"I admit your cleverness," he said. "Notwithstanding that, however, we cannot be too circ.u.mspect."

"We've absolutely nothing to fear, I tell you," she exclaimed impatiently. "Hugh is as safely out of the way as if he were in his grave."

"And what of the others--Egerton, for instance?"

"He dare not breathe a word. As a matter of fact, he is ignorant of the whereabouts of his friend."

"Is Holt to be relied upon?"

"Absolutely. He has left the country."

"Oh! Where is he?"

"In America Through some unexplained cause he took a pa.s.sage to New York. I expect he is in disgrace."

"Does he share?"

"Of course. He has written me a long letter announcing his intention not to return to England at present, and giving an address in Chicago where I am to send the money."

"Very good," Graham said approvingly. "As long as we can safely rely upon the secret being preserved, we need apprehend nothing."

"It will be preserved, never fear," declared Valerie flippantly. "They know how essential is secrecy for the safety of their own necks."

"Don't be so unsentimental," urged the old man smiling. "You talk a little too plainly."

"Merely the truth," declared she laughing. "But never mind--you prove the will, and the twelve thousand pounds are yours."

"Agreed. I shall take preliminary steps to-morrow."

"The sooner the better, you know."

"Shan't you live at Coombe?"

"Oh, what an idea!" she exclaimed in ridicule. "How could I live there among all those country busy-bodies and old fogies? I should cut a nice figure as a widow, shouldn't I? No. When I get the money I shall set up a good house here in London, mourn for a little time, then cast off my sackcloth and ashes."

"Remember," he said, "I am to receive twelve thousand pounds. But, really, you make a most charming widow."

"And you bestow a little flattery upon me as a sort of recognition," she observed, a trifle piqued at the point of his remark. Then, laughing again, she said lightly, "Well, if I really am so charming as some people tell me, I suppose I ought to be able to keep my head above water in the social vortex. At all events I mean to try."

"You cannot fail. Your beauty is always fatal to those who oppose you,"