Mr. Rosen would take charge and deal with everything.
I had reached the haunted patch. I slipped off my horse and tethered him to a bush. This was necessary as I couldn’t see from the path whether the cross was there or not. I stepped over the palings and walked forward. I stared down at the disturbed earth. The cross had been taken away.
Now I was certain. Jessie had placed it there because she had been truly scared by the ghost. Afterward she must have felt she had been foolish to do so and had taken it away.
I must get to Mr. Rosen at once.
I mounted my horse. How silent it was. It was really rather lonely country between Enderby and Eversleigh. There was the short stretch where the trees grew close together and I slowed down to walk my horse through them.
I heard a sudden movement. I wasn’t sure what it was … perhaps the displacement of a stone … but it startled me and I felt myself shiver with apprehension for I was certain that I was not alone among the trees. A sensation of horror seemed to crawl over me then. Instinctively I knew that I was in danger. I hesitated whether to ride on or dash back toward Enderby. I had no time to do either for a man was coming towards me. He carried a gun which was pointing at me. I could see eyes glittering through the highwayman’s mask, and his cocked hat was drawn down over his face.
I was staring into the muzzle of a gun.
I stammered: “I have very little money with me.”
He did not speak; he raised the gun and I knew I was looking into the face of death. He did not want my money; he wanted my life.
This was the end.
I heard the report. I was slipping from my horse. There was a buzzing in my ears and I saw blood spattered on the trees.
The dizziness was passing. I was not dead then.
A body was lying on the grass. Someone else had appeared. This can’t be real, I thought. Because it was Dickon standing there with the pistol in his hand.
He was calling to me. “You’re all right. I got him … just in time. I’ve shot my first man. It was you … or him, Zipporah.”
“You …” I began.
He knelt down beside the figure on the grass. “Dead,” he said. “Right through the heart. Good shot. And in the nick of time.”
“Who … ? What … ?”
He said: “Didn’t you see what was going on? No … not till what might have been too late. It was so clear to me. … But let’s go. There’s a lot of talking to be done.”
So Dickon had saved my life.
The first thing we did was ride into the town to Rosen, Stead and Rosen. Mr. Rosen senior sat very still as he listened to the story Dickon had to unfold.
“I shot Amos Carew,” he said. “He was dressed as a highwayman … and it was either him or Zipporah.”
Mr. Rosen raised his eyebrows and they went higher and higher as he listened. “It was self-defense,” he said. “Quite understandable. No charges can be brought.”
“I knew something was wrong from the moment I arrived,” said Dickon. “All that elaborate preparation to see the old man! When I went in they were in a state of wild apprehension. So I started to look about me. I guessed that the housekeeper was on to too good a thing to want it to end and therefore she had pretended Lord Eversleigh was not dead and brought in her own man to play the part.”
“Very devious,” said Mr. Rosen.
“All rather obvious. The housekeeper was no ordinary one. She was a special friend of Lord Eversleigh.”
“I had heard of it.” said Mr. Rosen.
“Then I discovered that valuable pieces were being taken from the house. I think that was the main business. They wanted the housekeeper to stay there until they had successfully disposed of certain objects, which they could only do gradually, and make a fortune for themselves.”
“You say they …”
“Jessie, the manager of the estate who was her lover and the two men who took the part of doctor and invalid.”
“Quite a little party of them.”
“All necessary to the plot. I knew that Zipporah was gradually stumbling on the truth—though it took her a long time—and they knew it. She was close. I think Carew was the main mover in the affair. He was the desperate one. I daresay the housekeeper just wanted to go on living in comfort for a while. But she was his mistress and did what he said. Well, they were realizing that Zipporah was hot on their trail, but they didn’t think of me. I had a reputation for being … not very serious and I lived up to it. It helped me. I discovered certain things from the housekeeper’s daughter. She was not as discreet as they would have liked her to be. There’s quite a bit of stuff from Eversleigh in Amos Carew’s house. I discovered it when I called on him. I think they may have had difficulty in disposing of it. I don’t know what their future plans are … but they must have realized they couldn’t go on like that forever. I daresay when they realized the value of some of the stuff they had stolen they wanted to carry on and get more. Zipporah was getting too close so they were taking the play into its final act. They were going to get rid of her. I realized this. My mother and hers had sent me here to look after her. I was determined to do that.”
“It would seem,” said Mr. Rosen, “that she owes her life to you.”
Dickon smiled at me maliciously. “I rather think she does. I saved it twice. Carew was going to kill her when she called at his house. I don’t know where. I suppose he was hoping to make us believe that a highwayman had shot her. He would have staged something, I don’t doubt. They were very good with their plots … as long as people didn’t look too deeply into them. Well, I was there and saved her … just as I did in the wood. I was ready … waiting. I heard them talking this morning. They knew she had been into the room and that there could be no delay. They said something about a button.”
“Yes,” I said. “I went into the sick room last night. There was no one there. The invalid was taking a stroll in the gardens. The button came off my dressing gown.”
Mr. Rosen cleared his throat. “It is an extraordinary story you have told me. What we shall have to do is to find Lord Eversleigh’s body. If it was murder …” He lifted his shoulders.
“I don’t think Jessie would have allowed that,” I said. “No … it was just deceit … not murder, I’m sure.”
“This woman is quite unscrupulous as well as immoral,” said Mr. Rosen. “You did right to come straight here. Now … we must see what can be done.”
They found Uncle Carl’s body buried in the spot where Jessie had placed the cross. It was in the chest which Dickon had noticed was missing from the winter parlor. It was a simple plot they had conceived and they might have carried on with it until they had disposed of most of the valuables at Eversleigh but for the fact that Jethro had sent me that message that all was not well.
The doctors were satisfied that Uncle Carl had died from natural causes and so this was not a case of murder. It was true it might have been if Amos Carew had succeeded with his plan to be rid of me, and it was fortunate for me that Dickon had foiled that. Amos Carew had been avid for wealth and was determined to have some of Uncle Carl’s. That was why he had brought Jessie to Eversleigh to enslave poor Uncle Carl, which she had done expertly. She might be a harpy but she was no murderess and I gathered she had become increasingly frightened when she saw that she was getting drawn into an intrigue such as Amos Carew had built up when she had believed that all she had to do was cajole an old man into pampering her.