shelton's motor-car purred along again, leaving uzali and russell alone. half way up the drive to the house they encountered mercer. he, too, looked grave.
"how did it go?" he asked eagerly.
"it went just as i told you it would go," uzali replied. "i fathered my theory on the police who came to regard it as their own. they are under the impression that those three men came to maldon grange with the intention of committing a burglary, and that they quarrelled after they got into the house. the only thing i was a bit doubtful of was the medical evidence on the body of jansen. the absence of violence rather upset the local doctor and he seemed to think that death was due to a sudden fright which had affected the action of the heart. i forget the technical terms he used. at any rate, he satisfied the jury, and we have only to keep quiet and all scandal will be averted. i hope you see now that nothing would have been gained by allowing the whole truth to come out. nobody would have been the wiser for it, and as certain as we are standing here now, before a month had passed we should have half a dozen cold-blooded murderers trying the same experiment on their victims. you never hear of a new crime, especially a new form of murder, without seeing it imitated within a few weeks. and murder would be more common than it is if criminals could only be convinced that they would never be found out. be content to leave everything in my hands, and i promise you that beyond our three selves no one shall ever know of this. how is your patient?"
flower was in a very bad way indeed. wilfrid said that his conscience troubled him, inasmuch as he had not revealed the real state of affairs to dr. shelton. perhaps, on the whole, his silence was wise. in time he might come to recognize that uzali's policy was the correct one.
"i am going to fetch miss galloway," he said. "now the danger is over i think she ought to be in the house till the end comes. whatever flower's faults his niece owes him much and i believe she would like it."
but wilfrid was too late. when he reached maldon grange early in the afternoon with beatrice the blinds were drawn and the servants were creeping quietly about the house. mason came downstairs with a grave face saying that his patient had passed quietly away an hour before. this was the tidings that reached uzali and russell when they came back just before tea. wilfrid had sent to oldborough for his mother and gave beatrice into her charge. the girl was terribly distressed and wilfrid had made up his mind that she should never know the truth.
"i am glad to hear you say that," uzali said. "now you see how sound my advice was. why should the poor girl know the truth? why should anybody know it for the matter of that? will you express my regrets to miss galloway and tell her how sorry i am for what has occurred? i am pleased there is some one in the house who can look after her. and now, russell, if you don't mind we'll get back to london. probably when we arrive there we shall find the news of flower's death has preceded us. to-morrow morning we will go to the offices of the company and interview cotter. he will be surprised to see us——"
"i shall be more surprised to see him," russell said grimly.
"not in the least, my dear fellow. cotter has left the sinking ship right enough, but when he knows that his employer is dead and, what is far more to the point, that my fellow-countrymen are no more, he will return for the loaves and fishes fast enough. i dare say this will cost money, but i am anxious to keep up the credit of flower's name and you know there have been strange rumours about him in the city lately."
it was wonderful how everything fell out exactly as uzali seemed to expect. the death of samuel flower was the sensation in the city next day, and the offices were thronged with people when uzali and his companion reached them. uzali sent in his card and demanded to see cotter at once on important business. perhaps the peremptory command had its effect, or perhaps it was the name on the card, but a clerk came through the crowd of people with the information that mr. cotter would see prince uzali at once.
the little man sat in his master's office rubbing his hands nervously together. there was a half-malicious, half-frightened look in his eyes like that of a rat caught in a trap. uzali closed the door and came straight to the point.
"now you slimy scoundrel," he said, "we won't waste words, because you know who i am. it were weak to deny it. a few hours ago you had made up your mind to desert your master, but now you know he is dead, you think it is better policy to come back here. the death of three other persons has made your path a safer one, but we need not go into that. i believe that when matters are settled up mr. flower will prove to be deeply in debt. now, i will send an accountant to go through the books with me and i will arrange to pay everybody. in return, i must have the first offer of maldon grange, which is bound to come into the market; indeed, to be quite candid, i mean to buy maldon grange as a residence. when this has been done you will be free to depart on the one condition that you never show your face to me again. it will not be the slightest use your coming to maldon grange, because you will find the vaults empty."
cotter looked up with a puzzled expression on his face and uzali learned what he wanted. the secret of the treasure in the vaults of maldon grange was not known to cotter.
"wonderful man, flower," uzali muttered as he walked away with russell. "extraordinary how he managed to hoodwink everybody. he must have contrived to remove everything of value from the city of my birth before he destroyed the town by blowing up the water dam. well, he has gone to his last account, but he was the means of restoring my own, so i will not say more against him. and now you see what i am going to do. i shall save a scandal in the city. flower's blackguardly business will cease to exist, and in a short time maldon grange will find its way into my possession. i have long been thinking of purchasing a country house, and maldon will suit me very well. i shall count on your assistance in turning out those cases of priceless treasure. i shall sell what i don't want, and no curious tongues will be set wagging. on one thing i am determined and i will take no refusal. but for you and mercer i should never have seen my family treasures again, and that is why i am going to divide that equivalent in value between the three of us. don't protest, for already i have far more money than i know what to do with. i shall have all those things valued as soon as possible and i calculate there will be a cheque for a hundred thousand pounds for each of you when the business is finished. now for a quiet lunch somewhere. i seem to need it."
to this day beatrice cannot make out how events transacted themselves. that samuel flower had left nothing when his debts came to be paid she knew perfectly well. she also had to bewail the fact that she had not a single relative in the world. it was uzali who, some time after he had taken possession of maldon grange, gave the plausible explanation of wilfrid's sudden accession to fortune. he talked freely about concessions, of mineral wealth in his own country which he had shared with russell and mercer. he hinted at the marvellous way in which the venture had turned out.
"prince uzali says you have been speculating," beatrice said with an attempt at sternness in her voice the next time she had an opportunity of being alone with wilfrid. "isn't that very dreadful of you? to have a husband who speculates——"
"i only speculated once in my lifetime," wilfrid laughed, "and that was so far as you are concerned. and if one speculation only turns out as good as the other, i shall have no cause to be dissatisfied. but how much longer are you going to keep me waiting, beatrice? we have a superfluity of this world's goods and there is nothing between us now. besides, my mother has quite set her heart upon seeing you——"
"in that case," beatrice said mischievously as she glanced up in her lover's face, "there is no more to be said. i should never dream of doing anything to annoy your mother."
and with that wilfrid was content.
