When he released me he looked sombre.
“There will be gossip to face. There will be those who whisper behind our backs. They will warn you …”
“Let them.”
“It will not be an easy life.”
“It is the life I want.”
“You will have a stepdaughter.”
“Of whom I am already fond.”
“A difficult girl who may become more so.”
“I shall try to be a mother to her.”
“You have done much for her already, but…”
“You seem determined to tell me why I should not marry you. Do you want me to say no?”
“I should never allow you to say no.”
“And what if I did?”
“I should carry you to one of the dungeons and keep you there.”
Then I remembered the key and I told him how I had discovered it.
“I was hoping to present you with your long lost emeralds,” I said.
“If this is the key to them I’ll present them to you,” he told me.
“Do you think this key really does open wherever they are?”
“We can find out.”
“When?”
“Now. The two of us. Yes, we’ll go exploring together.”
“Where do you think?”
“I think in the dungeons. There are fleursdelis in one
of the cages exactly like this. It may well be that one of them will give us the clue. You would like to go now? “
I was suddenly aware of others besides ourselves. Jean Pierre searching in the chateau for the emeralds. we must find them before he did, for if he found them, he would steal them and bring disgrace on his family.
“Yes, please,” I said.
“Now.”
He led the way to the stables, where he found a lantern; he lighted this and we made our way to the dungeons.
“I think I know where we will find the lock,” he told me.
“It’s coming back now. I remember years ago when I was a boy there was an examination of the dungeons and this cage with the fleur-delis decorations was discovered. It was noticed because it was so unusual.
A dado of fleursdelis around the cage. It seemed such a strange idea to decorate such a place. Evidently there was a purpose. “
“Didn’t they look to see if there was a locked hiding-place?”
“Evidently there was no sign of that. The theory was that some poor prisoner had somehow managed to make them no one knew how and fit them on the wall of his cage. How he worked in the gloom was a mystery.”
We reached the dungeons and he swung open the iron-studded door. How different it was entering that dark and gloomy place with him; all fear was gone. I felt in a way it was symbolic. Whatever happens, if we’re together, I can face it, I thought.
With one hand he held the lantern high; with the other he took my hand.
“The cage is somewhere here,” he said.
The smell of decay and dampness was in the close atmosphere; my foot touched one of those iron rings to which a rusting chain was attached.
Horrible! And yet I was not afraid.
He gave a sudden exclamation.
“Come and look here.”
I was beside him and here I saw theli^-‘16;115, There were twelve of them placed at intervili‘0’”” I the cage about six inches from the ground. , He gave me the lantern and crouchi10^”He the” to push aside the first of the flowers butil^011111”01 move because it was so firmly attached to tli^11,1 watchea him touch them in turn. At the sixth hif1180 , ” Just a minute,” he said.
“This one seili’ oose:
He gave an exclamation; I lifted thel^”I hlghe1’ and saw him push the flower aside. Beneadi’^,^100 The key fitted, and actually turned in^ lock-can you see a door here?” he asked. , . “There must be something,” I answtl-‘ e there. ” I tapped the wall.
“There is a cavity behind this wall,” II^”’ j He threw his weight against the sidei^ cage and ^ our excitement there was a groaning sr an so part of the wall appeared to move.
“It is a door,” I said. ‘ll1 a He tried again. A small door swung AdA and I heard him exclaim in triumph. i. r I went to stand beside him, the lanttf^ bobbing in my hand. , . I saw what was like a cupboard as^115? ^ about two feet by two and inside it a casket^” mlght have been silver.
He lifted it out and looked at me. , , “It looks,” he said, ‘as though we’ve fo^”the emeralds” Open it,” I cried. 1.1.1, Like the door, it offered some resist^’ but there mey were the rings, bracelets, girdle, nc^” and tlara which I had restored to colour on the y^B,1 , And as we stood there looking at ^ other over mat casket I realized that he was looking atl^f not the stones, , j , , (-hateau, he said. So you have restored the treasure to the” And I knew he wasn’t thinking of the
^meralds-339
That was the happiest moment I was to know for a long time. It was like reaching the top of a mountain and having done so suddenly being flung down into despair.
Was it a creak of that iron-studded door? Was it a movement in the gloom?
The thought of danger came to us both simultaneously. We knew that we were not alone.
The Comte drew me quickly to his side and put an arm about me.
“Who is there?” he shouted.
A figure loomed out of the darkness.
“So you found them?” said Philippe.
I looked into his face and was terrified, for the dim light of the lantern which I still held showed me a man I had never seen before.
Philippe’s features, yes, but gone was the lassitude, the air of delicate effeminacy. Here was a desperate man, a man with one grim purpose.
“You were looking for them too?” asked the Comte.
“You got there before me. So it was you. Mademoiselle Lawson … I was afraid you would.”
The Comte pressed my shoulder.
“Go now,” he began.
But Philippe interrupted.
“Stay where you are. Mademoiselle Lawson.”
“Have you gone mad?” demanded the Comte.
“By no means. Neither of you will leave here.”
The Comte, still gripping me, took a step forward, but stopped short when Philippe raised his hand. He was holding a gun.
“Don’t be a fool, Philippe,” said the Comte.
“You won’t escape this time. Cousin, though you did in the woods.”
“Give me the gun.”
“I need it to kill you.”
With a swift movement the Comte thrust me behind him. Philippe’s short grim laugh echoed oddly in that place.
“You won’t save her. I’m going to kill you both.”
“Listen to me, Philippe.”
“I’ve had to listen to you too often. Now it’s your turn to listen to me.”
“You propose to kill me because you want what is mine, is that it?”
“You’re right. If you’d wanted to live you shouldn’t have planned to marry Mademoiselle Lawson; you shouldn’t have found those emeralds.
You should have left something for me. Thank you, Mademoiselle Lawson, for leading me to them, but they’re mine now. Everything is mine. “
“And you think you’re going to get away with … murder?”
“Yes, I’ve thought it out. I meant to catch you together … like this. I didn’t know Mademoiselle Lawson would be so obliging as to find the emeralds for me first. So it couldn’t be better. Murder and suicide. Oh, not mine, Cousin. I want to live … live in my own right . not under your shadow, for once. Mademoiselle Lawson will have taken a gun from the gun-room, killed you and then herself. You played into my hands so beautifully your reputation being what it is.”
“Philippe, you fool.”
“I’ve done with talking. Now’s the time for action. You first. Cousin we must have it in the right order …”
I saw the gun raised. I tried to move to protect him but he held me firmly behind him. Involuntarily I shut my eyes. I heard the ear-splitting sound. Then after the explosion . silence. Faint with terror I opened my eyes.