The Valley of Fear Part 4 (2/2)
Inspector MacDonald had sent up a note to the effect that he would wait upon Mrs Douglas in her roo room She entered now, a tall and beautiful woree, very different froure I had pictured It is true that her face was pale and drawn, like that of one who has endured a great shock; but her manner was composed, and the finely e of the table was as steady aseyes travelled from one to the other of us with a curiously inquisitive expression That questioning gaze transformed itself suddenly into abrupt speech
”Have you found anything out yet?” she asked
Was it ination that there was an undertone of fear rather than of hope in the question?
”We have taken every possible step, Mrs Douglas,” said the inspector ”You lected”
”Spare no money,” she said in a dead, even tone ”It is my desire that every possible effort should bewhich ht upon the matter”
”I fear not; but all I know is at your service”
”We have heard from Mr Cecil Barker that you did not actually see--that you were never in the rooedy occurred?”
”No, he turned ed me to return to my room”
”Quite so You had heard the shot, and you had at once coown and then ca the shot that you were stopped on the stair by Mr Barker?”
”It may have been a couple of minutes It is so hard to reckon tio on He assuredThen Mrs Allen, the housekeeper, led ain It was all like so your husband had been downstairs before you heard the shot?”
”No, I cannot say He went froo He did the round of the house every night, for he was nervous of fire It is the only thing that I have ever known him nervous of”
”That is just the point which I want to coland, have you not?”
”Yes, we have been married five years”
”Have you heard hi soht earnestly before she answered ”Yes,” she said at last, ”I have always felt that there was a danger hanging over him He refused to discuss it with me It was not from want of confidence in me--there was the most complete love and confidence between us--but it was out of his desire to keep all alarht I should brood over it if I knew all, and so he was silent”
”How did you know it, then?”
Mrs Douglas's face lit with a quick smile ”Can a husband ever carry about a secret all his life and a woman who loves him have no suspicion of it? I knew it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in his American life I knew it by certain precautions he took I knew it by certain words he let fall I knew it by the way he looked at unexpected strangers I was perfectly certain that he had some powerful enemies, that he believed they were on his track, and that he was always on his guard against them I was so sure of it that for years I have been terrified if ever he caht I ask,” asked Holmes, ”what the words hich attracted your attention?”
”The Valley of Fear,” the lady answered ”That was an expression he has used when I questioned him 'I have been in the Valley of Fear I aet out of the Valley of Fear?' I have asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,' he has answered”
”Surely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?”
”I did; but his face would becoh that one of us should have been in its shadow,' he said 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was so terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell you no more”
”And he never mentioned any names?”
”Yes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident three years ago Then I remember that there was a naer and a sort of horror McGinty was the name--Bodymaster McGinty I asked him when he recovered who Bodymaster McGinty was, and whose body he was master of 'Never of h, and that was all I could get from him But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear”
”There is one other point,” said Inspector MacDonald ”Youhouse in London, did you not, and beca secret or ?”
”There was ro mysterious”
”He had no rival?”
”No, I was quite free”
”You have heard, no doubt, that his wedding ring has been taken Does that suggest anything to you? Suppose that some enemy of his old life had tracked him down and committed this cri ring?”
For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman's lips
”I really cannot tell,” she answered ”It is certainly a ”
”Well, ill not detain you any longer, and we are sorry to have put you to this trouble at such a time,” said the inspector ”There are some other points, no doubt; but we can refer to you as they arise”
She rose, and I was again conscious of that quick, questioning glance hich she had just surveyed us ”What iht as well have been spoken Then, with a bow, she swept from the room
”She's a beautiful wohtfully, after the door had closed behind her ”This ood deal He is a ht be attractive to a woman He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what cause he had for jealousy Then there's that wedding ring You can't get past that Theoff a dead man's--What do you say to it, Mr Holmes?”
My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought Now he rose and rang the bell ”Ames,” he said, when the butler entered, ”where is Mr Cecil Barker now?”
”I'll see, sir”
He caarden
”Can you reht when you joined him in the study?”
”Yes, Mr Holht him his boots when he went for the police”
”Where are the slippers now?”
”They are still under the chair in the hall”
”Very good, Ames It is, of course, important for us to knohich tracks may be Mr Barker's and which from outside”
”Yes, sir I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with blood--so indeed werethe condition of the roo if ant you”
A few ht with him the carpet slippers from the hall As Ames had observed, the soles of both were dark with blood
”Strange!” ht of theand exa with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill It exactly corresponded He sues
The inspector was transfigured with excites