As Quarley opened the door to the turret, Sidney Richland came stumbling forward as though he had merely chanced to pass this way. He stopped abruptly behind Quarley and stood there glancing into the turret.
Quarley was as motionless as a statue. The eyes of his expressionless face were fixed. A gasp came from Sidney Richland as he gazed over Quarley’s shoulder. A sharp exclamation was Jarvis Raleigh’s contribution as the master of Montgard stepped forward to join the other two.
Stokes Corvin had strolled to the library door. Looking down the corridor, he saw the tableau which the three men formed. With a puzzled expression, he hastened forward and came up behind the three. He saw the reason for their amazement.
The front door that led outside was still triple-bolted. It had not been touched. No one could have departed by that direction. Yet the turret, silent as a tomb, was empty, without sign of a living man.
Reeves Lockwood, unwelcome visitor to Montgard, bearer of important information, was no longer in the circular entry. He had vanished as completely as if a hand from the void had plucked him into another world!
Jarvis Raleigh was the first man to move. He stepped into the empty turret and stood there, gazing all about him in singular fashion. A queer, insane leer appeared upon his lips.
“He is gone!” Raleigh’s words came with a snarl. “He is gone — the meddler — like others who went before him. Away from here — all of you!”
Jarvis Raleigh’s footsteps clicked upon the tiling. Stokes Corvin withdrew toward the library. Sidney Richland started down the central corridor toward the stairs. Quarley stepped aside as his master closed the inner door and bolted it.
Without another word, Jarvis Raleigh turned and took the corridor that would lead him to his own quarters on the second floor. Quarley stood immobile. The old servant seemed to accept this strange event as an ordinary occurrence.
OUTSIDE the huge house, the figure of The Shadow still lurked among the trees. Minutes passed in long procession. The Shadow’s cloak swished. The black-clad watcher was making his departure.
The Shadow had seen nothing wrong in Montgard. He had assumed that Reeves Lockwood had decided to remain over night. For once, The Shadow, trailing crime, had been unable to catch a solitary inkling of a most amazing mystery.
Less than one hundred feet from the spot where The Shadow had been lurking, a strange disappearance of a living man had been effected. The closed outer door of the central turret had blocked The Shadow’s view, as the inner door had hidden the occurrence from the eyes of those within.
Reeves Lockwood had gone into nothingness and The Shadow, as yet, had gained no inkling of that astounding fact!
CHAPTER X
JARVIS RALEIGH SPEAKS
TWO days had passed since the strange disappearance of Reeves Lockwood. Another evening was approaching. All seemed quiet about Montgard. Stokes Corvin, as he stood beside the parapet of the veranda, felt a placid lull as he gazed across the lawn.
The sun had set and long streaks of blackness showed upon the grass. Puffing a cigarette, Corvin stared toward the empty kennel that showed some fifty yards away. The hound, Rox, had not been found. Jerome had reported that fact to Jarvis Raleigh.
A footstep sounded on the veranda. Stokes Corvin turned to face Barbara Wyldram. He had not seen the girl since two nights ago. Barbara had been ill and Maria had carried her meals to her room.
In the dusk, Barbara seemed very beautiful. The pallor of her face, increased by her brief illness, was not apparent. Stokes Corvin bowed as he greeted the girl. When Barbara joined him on the parapet, he flicked his cigarette out to the grass.
It was apparent that the girl was troubled. She glanced back toward the open door, then spoke in a low and cautious tone.
“I must talk to you, Stokes,” she said. “Is it true — what Sidney has just told me — about Reeves Lockwood?”
“His disappearance?” Corvin’s tone was also guarded. “Yes. It was a very strange incident, Barbara. One which has puzzled me ever since it occurred.”
“He vanished from the entry in the turret?”
“Yes.”
“What has been done about it?”
“Nothing, Barbara.” The man’s voice denoted puzzlement. “That is, nothing tangible. Sidney and I have searched the entry, unbeknown to either Jarvis Raleigh or Quarley. That is all.”
“You found no trace?”
“None. We chose a time while Jarvis was upstairs and Quarley was busy. We unlocked the inner door and went into the entry. We studied the tiling inch by inch and even tapped the walls. Cautiously, of course.”
“You did not go beyond the outer door?”
“No. It was at night. In the evening, Jerome might have been outside with the dogs. Sidney also feared that Jarvis might be on his upstairs balcony.”
Barbara Wyldram nodded. It was plain that the girl was apprehensive. She seemed to be drinking in the free air of the veranda, dreading the moment when she would have to return to the stifling atmosphere of the house. Stokes Corvin spoke in reassuring tones.
“Sidney has alarmed you, Barbara,” he said. “He chatters about the strange secret which exists here. He talks of legend almost as if it were fact.
“Jarvis Raleigh is eccentric; Quarley is an odd sort also. Their behavior is to be expected. But Sidney should have more common sense than he has shown.”
“I UNDERSTAND Sidney’s oddity,” agreed Barbara. “Nevertheless, he has real cause to be terribly disturbed. He wants to know what has happened to Reeves Lockwood!”
“I admit,” declared Corvin, “that the case is perplexing. Nevertheless, we have not obtained sufficient evidence to warrant the panic-stricken attitude that Sidney has taken. Personally, I am on the alert. Nevertheless, I have not yet classed Lockwood’s supposed disappearance as an unexplainable mystery.”
“You have a theory?”
“Yes. A slim one, I must admit; yet a theory quite as good as Sidney’s secret or Maria’s ghosts. I have a very definite notion that Reeves Lockwood never entered that turret.”
“But Quarley admitted him—”
“Quarley announced him. Since then, Quarley has preserved strict silence. Neither Sidney nor I have had the opportunity to question Jerome. How do we know, for a certainty, that Reeves Lockwood came here two nights ago?”
“But there must be something behind all this.”
“Certainly. That is precisely what I have set out to determine. Here, Barbara, is the theory which I have formed. I have not yet expounded it to Sidney. I intend to do so, however.
“Sidney has been chafing at the rules which Jarvis Raleigh has imposed. He had practically threatened to complain to Reeves Lockwood, the man whom Jarvis Raleigh detests. Sidney is also impressed by the tales of strange disappearances at Montgard.
“Suppose that letter from Lockwood was a hoax. Suppose that Quarley, by order from Jarvis Raleigh, pretended that Lockwood had arrived. That would explain all would it not?”
“It would,” admitted Barbara.
“And it would surely cow Sidney,” added Corvin. “More than that, it would be calculated to have an effect upon you and myself.”
“You reassure me,” sighed Barbara. “This is helpful, Stokes. I would prefer to feel that we were the victims of a hoax than to believe that Reeves Lockwood was the victim of murder.”
Stokes Corvin laid a light hand on the girl’s arm. Barbara stood close, feeling new confidence from the grasp.
“Be brave,” whispered Corvin. “I shall help you, Barbara. You may rely upon me; if my theory is correct, there is nothing to fear. On the contrary.”
“You mean that Reeves Lockwood may actually have disappeared?”