Flora seemed affected by her uncle's depression, and Blunt relapsed into his usual taciturnity.
Immediately after dinner Ackroyd slipped his arm through mine and led me off to his study.
'Once we've had coffee, we shan't be disturbed again,' he explained. 'I told Raymond to see to it that we shouldn't be interrupted.' I studied him quietly without appearing to do so. He was clearly under the influence of some strong excitement. For a minute or two he paced up and down the room, then, as Parker entered with the coffee tray, he sank into an armchair in front of the fire.
The study was a comfortable apartment. Bookshelves lined one wall of it. The chairs were big and covered in dark blue leather. A large desk stood by the window and was covered with papers neatly docketed and filed. On a round table were various magazines and sporting papers.
'I've had a return of that pain after food lately,' remarked Ackroyd calmly, as he helped himself to coffee. 'You must give me some more of those tablets of yours.' It struck me that he was anxious to convey the impression that our conference was a medical one. I played up accordingly.
'I thought as much. I brought some up with me.' 'Good man. Hand them over now.' 'They're in my bag in the hall. I'll get them.' Ackroyd arrested me.
'Don't you trouble. Parker will get them. Bring in the doctor's bag, will you, Parker?' 'Very good, sir.' Parker withdrew. As I was about to speak, Ackroyd threw up his hand.
'Not yet. Wait. Don't you see I'm in such a state of nerves that I can hardly contain myself?' I saw that plainly enough. And I was very uneasy. All sorts of forebodings assailed me.
Ackroyd spoke again almost immediately.
'Make certain that window's closed, will you,' he asked.
Somewhat surprised, I got up and went to it. It was not a french window, but one of the ordinary sash type. The heavy blue velvet curtains were drawn in front of it, but the window itself was open at the top.
Parker re-entered the room with my bag while I was still at the window.
'That's all right,' I said, emerging again into the room.
'You've put the latch across?' 'Yes, yes. What's the matter with you, Ackroyd?' The door had just closed behind Parker, or I would not have put the question.
Ackroyd waited just a minute before replying.
'I'm in hell,' he said slowly, after a minute. 'No, don't bother with those damn tablets. I only said that for Parker. Servants are so curious. Come here and sit down. The door's closed too, isn't it?' 'Yes. Nobody can overhear; don't be uneasy.' 'Sheppard, nobody knows? what I've gone through in the last twenty-four hours. If a house ever fell in ruin about him, mine has about. This business of Ralph's is the last straw. But we won't talk about that now. It's the other - the other - I don't know what to do about it. And I've got to make up my mind' 'What's the trouble?' Ackroyd remained silent a minute or two. He seemed curiously averse to begin. When he dld the question he asked came as a complete uprise. It was the last thing I expected.
'Sheppard, you attended Ashiey Ferrars in his last illness, didn't you?' 'Yes, I did.' He seemed to find even greater difficulty in framing his next question.
'Did you ever suspect - did it ever enter your head - that well, that he might have been murdered?
'I'll tell you the truth,' I sald 'At the time I had no suspicion whatever, but since - well, it was mere idle talk on my sister's part that first put the idea into my head - Since then I haven't been able to start out again - But I've no foundation whatever if for that suspicion.' 'He was poisoned,' said Ackroyd.
He spoke in a dull heavy volce 'Who by?' I asked sharply 'His wife.' 'How do you know that?"' 'She told me so herself.' 'When?' 'Yesterday! My God! yesterday! It seems ten years ago.' I waited a minute, then he went on.
'You understand, Sheppard I'm tellmg you this in confidence.
It's to go no furtther - 1 want your advice - I can't carry the whole weight by myself - As l said you, I don't know what to do.' 'Can you tell me the whole story?' I said. 'I'm still in the dark. How did Mrs Ferrars come to make this confession to you?' 'It's like this. Three months ago I asked Mrs Ferrars to marry me. She refused. I asked her again and she consented, but she refused to allow me to make the engagement public until her year of mourning was up. Yesterday I called upon her, pointed out that a year and three weeks had now elapsed since her husband's death, and that there could be no further objection to making the engagement public property.
I had noticed that she had been very strange in her manner for some days. Now, suddenly, without the least warning, she broke down completely. She - she told me everything. Her hatred of her brute of a husband, her growing love for me, and the - the dreadful means she had taken. Poison! My God! It was murder in cold blood.' I saw the repulsion, the horror, in Ackroyd's face. So Mrs Ferrars must have seen it. Ackroyd's is not the type of the great lover who can forgive all for love's sake. He is fundamentally a good citizen. All that was sound and wholesome and law-abiding in him must have turned from her utterly in that moment of revelation.
'Yes,' he went on, in a low, monotonous voice, 'she confessed everything. It seems that there is one person who has known all along - who has been blackmailing her for huge sums. It was the strain of that that drove her nearly mad.' 'Who was the man?' Suddenly before my eyes there arose the picture of Ralph Paton and Mrs Ferrars side by side. Their heads so close together. I felt a momentary throb of anxiety. Supposing oh! but surely that was impossible. I remembered the frankness of Ralph's greeting that very afternoon. Absurd!
'She wouldn't tell me his name,' said Ackroyd slowly. 'As a matter of fact, she didn't actually say that it was a man.
But of course ' 'Of course,' I agreed. 'It must have been a man. And you've no suspicion at all?' For answer Ackroyd groaned and dropped his head into his hands.
'It can't be,' he said. 'I'm mad even to think of such a thing. No, I won't even admit to you the wild suspicion that crossed my mind. I'll tell you this much, though. Something she said made me think that the person in question might be actually among my household - but that can't be so. I must have misunderstood her.' 'What did you say to her?' I asked.
'What could I say? She saw, of course, the awful shock it had been to me. And then there was the question, what was my duty in the matter? She had made me, you see, an accessory after the fact. She saw all that, I think, quicker than I did. I was stunned, you know. She asked me for twenty-four hours - made me promise to do nothing till the end of that time. And she steadfastly refused to give me the name of the scoundrel who had been blackmailing her. I suppose she was afraid that I might go straight off and hammer him, and then the fat would have been in the fire as far as she was concerned. She told me that I should hear from her before twenty-four hours had passed. My God! I swear to you, Sheppard, that it never entered my head what she meant to do. Suicide! And I drove her to it.' 'No, no,' I said. 'Don't take an exaggerated view of things. The responsibility for her death doesn't lie at your door.' 'The question is, what am I to do now? The poor lady is dead. Why rake up past trouble?' 'I rather agree with you,' I said.
'But there's another point. How am I to get hold of that scoundrel who drove her to death as surely as if he'd killed her? He knew of the first crime, and he fastened on to it like some obscene vulture. She's paid the pe
nalty. Is he to go scot free?' 'I see,' I said slowly. 'You want to hunt him down? It will mean a lot of publicity, you know.' 'Yes, I've thought of that. I've zigzagged to and fro in my mind.' 'I agree with you that the villain ought to be punished, but the cost has got to be reckoned.' Ackroyd rose and walked up and down. Presently he sank into the chair again.
'Look here, Sheppard, suppose we leave it like this. If no word comes from her, we'll let the dead things lie.' 'What do you mean by word coming from her?' I asked curiously.
'I have the strongest impression that somewhere or somehow she must have left a message for me - before she went. I can't argue about it, but there it is.' I shook my head.
'She left no letter or word of any kind?' I asked.
'Sheppard, I'm convinced that she did. And more, I've a feeling that by deliberately choosing death, she wanted the whole thing to come out, if only to be revenged on the man who drove her to desperation. I believe that if I could have seen her then, she would have told me his name and bid me go for him for all I was worth.' He looked at me.
'You don't believe in impressions?' 'Oh, yes, I do, in a sense. If, as you put it, word should come from her ' I broke off. The door opened noiselessly and Parker entered with a salver on which were some letters.
'The evening post, sir,' he said, handing the salver to Ackroyd.
Then he collected the coffee cups and withdrew.
My attention, diverted for a moment, came back to Ackroyd. He was staring like a man turned to stone at a long blue envelope. The other letters he had let drop to the ground.
'Her writing,' he said in a whisper. 'She must have gone out and posted it last night, just before - before ' He ripped open the envelope and drew out a thick enclosure.
Then he looked up sharply.
'You're sure you shut the window?' he said.
'Quite sure,' I said, surprised. 'Why?' 'All this evening I've had a queer feeling of being watched, spied upon. What's that ' He turned sharply. So did I. We both had the impression of hearing the latch of the door give ever so slightly. I went across to it and opened it. There was no one there.