Part 8 (2/2)

”'Oh, miss,' she gasped, 'I made sure you must have seen something!'

”'And so I have,' I answered, 'but it was neither burglars nor ghosts.'

”'Thank G.o.d!' I heard her say as she turned her back to me in her grey bedroom--which faced the north. And I took this for a carelessly pious expression and ran downstairs, thinking no more of it.

”A few days later I began to understand.

”The plan of Tresillack house (I must explain) was simplicity itself.

To the left of the hall as you entered was the dining-room; to the right the drawing-room, with a boudoir beyond. The foot of the stairs faced the front door, and beside it, pa.s.sing a glazed inner door, you found two others right and left, the left opening on the kitchen, the right on a pa.s.sage which ran by a store-cupboard under the bend of the stairs to a neat pantry with the usual shelves and linen-press, and under the window (which faced north) a porcelain basin and bra.s.s tap. On the first morning of my tenancy I had visited this pantry and turned the tap; but no water ran. I supposed this to be accidental. Mrs. Carkeek had to wash up gla.s.s ware and crockery, and no doubt Mrs. Carkeek would complain of any failure in the water supply.

”But the day after my surprise visit (as I called it) I had picked a basketful of roses, and carried them into the pantry as a handy place to arrange them in. I chose a china bowl and went to fill it at the tap.

Again the water would not run.

”I called Mrs. Carkeek. 'What is wrong with this tap?' I asked.

'The rest of the house is well enough supplied.'

”'I don't know, miss. I never use it.'

”'But there must be a reason; and you must find it a great nuisance was.h.i.+ng up the plate and gla.s.ses in the kitchen. Come around to the back with me, and we'll have a look at the cisterns.'

”'The cisterns'll be all right, miss. I a.s.sure you I don't find it a trouble.'

”But I was not to be put off. The back of the house stood but ten feet from a wall which was really but a stone face built against the cliff cut away by the architect. Above the cliff rose the kitchen garden, and from its lower path we looked over the wall's parapet upon the cisterns.

There were two--a very large one, supplying the kitchen and the bathroom above the kitchen; and a small one, obviously fed by the other, and as obviously leading, by a pipe which I could trace, to the pantry.

Now the big cistern stood almost full, and yet the small one, though on a lower level, was empty.

”'It's as plain as daylight,' said I. 'The pipe between the two is choked.' And I clambered on to the parapet.

”'I wouldn't, miss. The pantry tap is only cold water, and no use to me. From the kitchen boiler I gets it hot, you see.'

”'But I want the pantry water for my flowers.' I bent over and groped.

'I thought as much!' said I, as I wrenched out a thick plug of cork and immediately the water began to flow. I turned triumphantly on Mrs.

Carkeek, who had grown suddenly red in the face. Her eyes were fixed on the cork in my hand. To keep it more firmly wedged in its place somebody had wrapped it round with a rag of calico print; and, discoloured though the rag was, I seemed to recall the pattern (a lilac sprig). Then, as our eyes met, it occurred to me that only two mornings before Mrs. Carkeek had worn a print gown of that same sprigged pattern.

”I had the presence of mind to hide this very small discovery, sliding over it some quite trivial remark; and presently Mrs. Carkeek regained her composure. But I own I felt disappointed in her. It seemed such a paltry thing to be disingenuous over. She had deliberately acted a fib before me; and why? Merely because she preferred the kitchen to the pantry tap. It was childish. 'But servants are all the same,' I told myself. 'I must take Mrs. Carkeek as she is; and, after all, she is a treasure.'

”On the second night after this, and between eleven and twelve o'clock, I was lying in bed and reading myself sleepy over a novel of Lord Lytton's, when a small sound disturbed me. I listened. The sound was clearly that of water trickling; and I set it down to rain. A shower (I told myself) had filled the water-pipes which drained the roof.

Somehow I could not fix the sound. There was a water pipe against the wall just outside my window. I rose and drew up the blind.

”To my astonishment no rain was falling; no rain had fallen. I felt the slate window-sill; some dew had gathered there--no more. There was no wind, no cloud: only a still moon high over the eastern slope of the coombe, the distant plash of waves, and the fragrance of many roses.

I went back to bed and listened again. Yes, the trickling sound continued, quite distinct in the silence of the house, not to be confused for a moment with the dull murmur of the beach. After a while it began to grate on my nerves. I caught up my candle, flung my dressing-gown about me, and stole softly downstairs.

”Then it was simple. I traced the sound to the pantry. 'Mrs. Carkeek has left the tap running,' said I: and, sure enough, I found it so--a thin trickle steadily running to waste in the porcelain basin. I turned off the tap, went contentedly back to my bed, and slept.

”--for some hours. I opened my eyes in darkness, and at once knew what had awakened me. The tap was running again. Now it had shut easily in my hand, but not so easily that I could believe it had slipped open again of its own accord. 'This is Mrs. Carkeek's doing,' said I; and am afraid I added 'Bother Mrs. Carkeek!'

”Well, there was no help for it: so I struck a light, looked at my watch, saw that the hour was just three o'clock, and descended the stairs again. At the pantry door I paused. I was not afraid--not one little bit. In fact the notion that anything might be wrong had never crossed my mind. But I remember thinking, with my hand on the door, that if Mrs. Carkeek were in the pantry I might happen to give her a severe fright.

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