"The Shaft of Death!" said Pons, white-faced. "I did not know it would end like this. Your department, I think, Parker. But be careful, in case there are any other lethal devices left by old Brimstone Grimpton."
I bent over the recumbent figure in the expensive overcoat only to recoil with a cry of shocked surprise. It was not just the terrible, gaping wound in the chest, so tremendous that it actually exposed the heart; or the certainty that a corpse lay before me in the passage; or even the horribly distorted face, the staring eyes or the tongue protruding from the bleeding lips. It was an abysmal catalogue all too familiar to me as a medical practitioner.
I gently laid the mutilated remains back on the floor and stared in silence at the dreadfully changed face of Thaddeus Grimpton.
"Did you know this, Pons?"
Solar Pons stood and gave me an enigmatic glance.
"It came to me rather late, Parker, I regret to say. But we have other work before us. This diabolical toy appears to be actuated by a spring concealed beneath the flagstone here."
He bent to demonstrate and with a sudden whirring of gears, which made us start back in alarm, the dreadful weapon withdrew silently to its former position between two stones in the wall where it was difficult to detect. Pons had knelt again and was busy about Grimpton's clothing. He drew forth a bundle of blood-stained documents.
"The missing estate material, Pons."
Solar Pons nodded.
"Containing, I have no doubt, the specifications and details of the building of this passage beneath the sarcophagus, Parker. Though it is obvious the old man said nothing in there about his deadly sentinel."
"But what is the point of all this, Pons?"
"The object of the game, my dear fellow. Which lies behind that door. Just have a care and stand back."
Carefully skirting the flagstone set directly in front of the door, Pons cautiously tried the bronze handle. He gently opened the door and shone the lantern's beam within the small chamber disclosed. The light danced upon paintings stacked against the dusty walls; velvet-lined cases, some half-open, disclosing silverware; leather bags stacked in profusion upon a heavy table. I entered behind Pons as the lantern disclosed yet more valuables. Pons hefted one of the bags thoughtfully. The rotted fastening split and a cascade of sovereigns rained upon the table.
"Heavens, Pons!" I said in a none too steady voice. 'The Treasure of old Brimstone Grimpton."
"For once the legends did not lie, Parker," said Pons softly. "There will be little sleep for us tonight. We must first apprise my client of his sad loss and then telephone Inspector Morgan."
He pulled reflectively at the lobe of his ear, the torch beam dancing golden on the coins which had already cost two men's lives and had endangered that of a third.
"The gypsy must be released at once, Parker. Let us put matters in train without delay."
11
"I do not know how to thank you, Mr Pons. Though I cannot tell you what a shock it was to learn of my brother's treacherous behaviour."
Solar Pons looked sympathetically at Septimus Grimpton, who sat the other side of the library table from us, the sunlight from the windows making a halo round his white locks and revealing the ravages that the last three days had wrought upon him. Inspector Morgan sat awkwardly twisting a pencil between his fingers opposite, while Granger, the secretary, made the fifth member of our party.
"It was a long-planned strategy, I am afraid, Mr Grimpton. My own inquiries since and Inspector Morgan's investigations in Bristol have revealed your brother's intense jealousy over your inheriting this house and estate."
"But he was well provided for in my father's will, Mr Pons."
Solar Pons shook his head.
"The traditional jealousy of the younger son, I am afraid, Mr Grimpton. Though I was incredibly obtuse on this occasion, until a very late stage."
"Come, Pons," I protested. "It was a brilliant performance, particularly as there was no discernible motive."
"I am still completely in the dark, Mr Pons," said the secretary. "Why, for example, should Mr Grimpton's brother make these crude burglary attempts?"
Solar Pons tented his fingers before him and looked sombrely round the table.
"Desperation, Mr Granger. For years he had been searching for the money and valuables recovered from the chamber below the Mausoleum. He regarded them as his own portion of his patrimony, despite the generous provision made in his father's will. He was convinced there was a hiding place and that some record would be found among the estate papers. That was why he cultivated you so assiduously during the past years, Mr Grimpton."
"He was here a good deal at week-ends, from Bristol, Mr Pons."
Solar Pons nodded.
"Exactly. And one could imagine his annoyance when he discovered a year ago that you had engaged a secretary to help you with your scholarly researches."
"How so, Mr Pons?"
"Because he was in the habit of spending long periods in the library. I have that from your butler, Simmons. He was undoubtedly searching for clues. But when Mr Granger came things changed drastically. The library was no longer available to him. Or, if it were, he could not very well rummage through the shelves and document files without engendering suspicion in the breast of Mr Granger here."
I stared at Pons for a long moment.
"So he staged the burglaries, Pons?"
"Not quite, Parker. He had to ensure at times that Mr Granger was out of the way and nowhere near the library. An illness of some sort provided the answer."
"But Mr Grimpton's herbal tea did me the world of good, Mr Pons," the secretary protested.
Solar Pons gave a thin smile.
"By clearing up a stomach disorder that Grimpton had himself induced. I found a large assortment of highly potent but quite harmless substances in Simmons' pantry. To an amateur herbalist like Grimpton it would not take much to concoct a mixture that would upset the most stable stomach. It could be introduced into food or drink in a number of ways. And Simmons has told me that small quantities of things like spices and curry powders have been missing over a long period."
"I am sorry to speak ill of your brother, Mr Grimpton," said the secretary bitterly. "But that is a most damnable thing."
"I am not excusing my brother, Granger," said Septimus Grimpton in a low voice. "He appears to have been the blackest of villains."
"Masquerading in the guise of a person of great charity and compassion," put in Inspector Morgan. "I am afraid I was completely on the wrong track over the gypsy, Mr Pons."
"It was an understandable error, Inspector. And fitted most of the known facts at the time. This was the confused background which suited our man. With Mr Granger out of the way he could pursue his search uninterrupted."
"But the burglaries, Pons," I interrupted.
"That was elementary, Parker. They were the most palpable simulations, staged merely to hide the real purpose of the search. On one occasion Mr Grimpton here surprised his brother late at night in the study; on another Mr Granger chased an intruder. Thaddeus Grimpton, when disturbed, had little time other than to hastily seize a few items from the house and make his escape through the French windows, leaving the occupants to believe a burglar responsible. As you know, we have found the things in a trunk in his room. I have no doubt he conveniently re-appeared at the height of the disturbances and, of course, the burglaries would have occurred only when he was staying here. I noted that from our conversations, gentlemen."