I thought of Roma. Drawings in a cave! Had Godfrey been right? Had she made some startling discovery and had she been murdered because of it?
“I believe it’s of very great importance,” went on Alice.
“But where…” I looked about the dim cave and could see nothing.
She laughed indulgently. “If it had been easy to see it would have been discovered long ago. Look.” She advanced into the cave. “There’s a great boulder here. You have to roll it away…and I suppose nobody thought of doing that…until I did. Oh, Mrs. Verlaine, it’s really my discovery. I could be famous, I suppose.”
“It depends what you’ve found, Alice.”
“Something wonderful. And I’m going to show you.”
She had succeeded in rolling away the boulder and beyond it a cavern yawned. “Look,” she said. “You have to squeeze through here…It’s not easy. I’ll go first and you follow.”
“Alice. Is it safe?”
“Oh yes…it’s only caves. I’ve already explored. You don’t think I’d let you come if it wasn’t safe, do you? Come on.” She had disappeared and I could just see the white of her dress. I followed it and stepped through into another cave.
Alice produced a candle from her pocket and striking a match lighted it. “There!” There was now a faint glow in the cave and I exclaimed with wonder for as my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light I saw that here was a wealth of stalagmite and stalactite formation and its beauty was unearthly. All kinds of shapes had been formed and even in this light I could see that the colors were wonderful—copper had produced that green, iron the brown and red, manganese that delightful pink. It was like stepping into a world of fantasy.
“Alice!” I cried. “But it’s a wonderful discovery…”
She laughed gleefully. “I thought you’d say that. I was longing to show it to you.”
“But we must get back. We must tell of this. It’s like the caves of Cheddar. Fancy all this time…it was here…and no one knew.”
“You are excited, Mrs. Verlaine.”
“It’s a great discovery.”
“There’s something else I want to show you though…this isn’t all. Give me your hand, you have to go carefully.” She took my hand and almost immediately I nearly stumbled. She was alarmed. “Oh, Mrs. Verlaine, do be careful. It would be awful if you fell here…”
“I’ll be careful, Alice. But let’s get someone else. Mr. Wilmot will be delighted. He’ll be mad with joy.”
“First I want to show you, Mrs. Verlaine. Oh please, let me show you first.”
I laughed. Then I said: “Listen! I can hear the sound of running water.”
“Yes. The next cave is far more exciting. Do come and look at it now. I can’t wait to show you. It’s a sort of waterfall. It’s an underground stream I think, and it goes through the caves and out into the sea somewhere. There are the drawings on the walls…that’s what I think is most interesting, Mrs. Verlaine.”
I said: “The sand here is quite damp.”
“It’s the stream and the waterfall.” She produced another candle. “One each,” she said. “I thought you’d like to have one. Isn’t this exciting? I call it my cave. It’s on the Stacy land, you know, and all the foreshore belongs to Sir William and his heirs.”
I could not take my eyes from those marvelous formations; the shapes were quite fantastic and when I thought that they had been slowly formed through the centuries I was so overawed that I could only stand and stare.
But Alice was impatient to disclose further wonders. I followed her through a gap in the rock and we were in a third cave. I could hear the water clearly now and I saw it freely trickling over the rocks. I peered forward.
Alice said: “The drawings on the walls are like those we saw in the British Museum.”
“Alice!” I cried. “But this is wonderful.” I was sure now that it was what Roma had discovered. Was it possible that Godfrey’s theory of the jealous archaeologist had some truth in it after all?
“You can see for yourself,” said Alice. “Over there.”
As I advanced my feet sank into the damp sand and it was difficult walking. I went forward holding the candle high, my eyes on the walls of the cave. Alice stood watching me.
“It’s quite…miraculous!” I began; and then suddenly I knew.
I turned to Alice. “Alice,” I cried, “stay where you are.”
She was standing at the mouth of the cave, the candle held high over her head.
“Yes, Mrs. Verlaine,” she said meekly.
“Alice…I…can’t…move…my feet. Alice…Alice…I’m sinking.”
She said: “They’re slow quicksands, Mrs. Verlaine. It takes a long time for you to disappear altogether.”
“Alice!” I shrieked. But she just stood there smiling at me.
“You!” I cried.
“Yes,” she replied. “Why not? Because I’m young. I’m clever, Mrs. Verlaine. I’m cleverer than the rest of you. These are my caves. These are my sands…and I shall never let anyone take them from me.”
“No,” I murmured, my thoughts confused. I could not believe this. It was a nightmare, a fantastic dream. I should wake in a moment.
She stood watching me, holding the candle above her head—and she was the more evil because she looked so meek, so docile. My candle slipped from my fingers; I stared at it as it lay on the sand for a second or so before it was sucked under.
Alice had moved; I saw her turn away and then she was holding up a rope…the thick kind which I had seen tethering boats on the shore.
She was going to save me. She had been teasing me. Oh, what a dangerous and cruel trick to play!
“If I threw this to you, Mrs. Verlaine, I might be able to pull you in…but I might not…the sands are strong. They look so soft…but they grip so tightly and they don’t like letting their victims go. Just little particles of sand! Isn’t it fascinating, Mrs. Verlaine? But then nature is fascinating. The vicar always says so.”
“Alice, throw me the rope.”
She shook her head.
“It’s what is called exquisite torture, Mrs. Verlaine. All the time you think I may throw you the rope and that makes it all the harder. You see if you give up hope you’re resigned…and you let yourself slip away…Don’t struggle. That makes you go down more quickly. Unless you want to go quickly, of course. I shall stay here…until you’ve gone.”
“Alice…you fiend.”
“Yes, I am. But you must admit I’m a clever one.”
“You deliberately brought me here.”
“Yes, deliberately,” she said. “You and the others.”
“No!”
“But yes. This place belongs to me. I’m Sir William’s daughter. It should be mine. Napier is his son but Napier killed Beau and Sir William hates him. He hated Napier’s mother and he loves mine. He will leave me the place when Napier is sent away. That’s what I want. And when anyone bothers me I shall bring them down to my cave. You bothered me, Mrs. Verlaine. You came here to look for your sister. She bothered me because she almost discovered my cave. She came looking for it. She came down here so I showed her what I had found…just as I showed you.”
The sand was about my ankles now. She watched me with the eye of a connoisseur. “The deeper you sink the quicker it swallows you,” she told me. “But you are tall and these are slow quicksands.”
“Help me, Alice,” I pleaded. “What have I ever done to harm you?”
“You are too inquisitive, and you came here to find out, didn’t you? That was very sly to pretend it was only to teach us music when all the time you were her sister. I knew that as soon as Mr. Wilmot came. He gave it away, didn’t he? I used to follow you and hear you talking. I knew I’d have to kill you, but another disappearance seemed too many so I lured you to the cottage and that would have been an end of you but for that old gardener.”