“No!” Claire grasped his arm. “I can’t do that either. Oh, Doctor Varian, stay here with me! Think, – these are not my people, – I’m sympathetic, of course, but, I’m terrified, – I’m afraid – ”
“There’s nothing to fear.”
“I can’t help that, – I won’t stay here alone. If you leave me, I shall run down the path to meet them.”
“Then I’ll have to stay here. Very well, Mrs Blackwood, they’ll arrive in a few moments, – we’ll wait for them together.”
And then Varian again fell to ruminating, and Claire Blackwood, sick with her own thoughts, said no word.
At last they heard footsteps, and looked out to see the little procession headed by the two sisters-in-law.
Janet Varian was half supporting Minna, but her help was not greatly needed, for the very violence of Minna’s grief and fright gave her a sort of supernormal strength and she walked uprightly and swiftly.
“Where’s Frederick?” she demanded, in a shrill voice as she came up the steps, – “and where’s Betty? Where’s my child?”
Her voice rose to a shriek on the last words, and Doctor Varian took her by the arm, giving her his undivided attention.
“Be careful now, Minna,” he said, kindly but decidedly; “don’t lose your grip. You’ve a big trouble to face, – and do try, dear, to meet it bravely.”
“I’m brave enough, Herbert, don’t worry about that. Where’s Fred, I say?”
“Here,” was the brief reply, and Varian led her to her husband’s body.
As he had fully expected, she went into violent hysterics. She cried, she screamed, then her voice subsided to a sort of low, dismal wailing, only to break out afresh with renewed shrieks.
“Perhaps it’s better that she should do this, than to control herself,” the Doctor said; “she’ll soon exhaust herself at this rate, and may in that way become more tractable. I wish we could get her to bed.”
“We can,” responded his wife, promptly. “I’ll look after that. Give a look at Eleanor, Herbert.”
The harassed doctor turned his attention to his daughter, who was controlling herself, but who was trembling piteously.
“Good girl,” said her father, taking her in his arms. “Buck up, Nell, dear. Dad’s got a whole lot on his shoulders, and my, how it will help if you don’t keel over!”
“I won’t,” and Eleanor tried to smile.
Claire Blackwood approached the pair.
“Doctor Varian,” she said, “suppose I take your daughter home with me for the night, – or longer, if she’ll stay. It might relieve you and your wife of a little care, and I’ll be good to her, I promise you. And, if I may, I’d like to go now. I can’t be of any service here, can I? And as Miss Eleanor can’t either, what do you think of our going now?”
“A very good idea, Mrs Blackwood,” and the doctor’s face showed grateful appreciation. “Take one of the young men with you, and leave the other here to help me.”
“We’ll take John Clark,” Claire decided, “and Ted Landon will, I know, be glad to stand by you.”
The three departed, and then the sisters-in-law left the room and went upstairs, Minna making no resistance to Janet’s suggestions.
Left alone with the dead, Doctor Varian and young Landon looked at each other.
“What does it all mean?” asked the younger man, a look of absolute bewilderment on his face.
“I can’t make it out,” returned the other, slowly. “But it’s a pretty awful situation. Now the women are gone, I’ll speak out the thing that troubles me most. Where’s Betty?”
“Who? Miss Varian? Why, yes, where is she? She came for her camera, you know. She – why, she must be in the house.”
“She must be, – that is, – I can’t see any alternative. I understand there’s no way out of this house, save down the path we took.”
“No other, sir.”
“Then if the girl’s in the house, – she must be found.”
“Yes, – ” and Landon saw the terrible fear in the other’s eyes, and his own glance responded. “Shall we search the rooms?”
“That must be done. Now, I’m not willing to leave the body of my brother unattended. Will you watch by it, while I run over the house, or the other way about?”
“I’ll do as you prefer I should, Doctor Varian, – but if you give me a choice, I’ll stay here. I’ve never been in the house before, and I don’t know the rooms. However, I want to be frank, – and, the truth is, I’d rather not make that search, – even if I did know the rooms.”
“I understand, Mr Landon, and I don’t blame you. I’ve never been in the house before either, – and I don’t at all like the idea of the search, but it must be made, – and made at once, and it’s my place to do it. So, then, if you’ll remain here, I’ll go the rounds.”
Ted Landon nodded silently, and sat down to begin the vigil he had been asked to keep.
Herbert Varian went first upstairs to Minna’s room, and opening the door softly, discovered the widow was lying quietly on her bed. Janet, sitting by, placed a warning forefinger against her lip, and seeing that the patient was quiet, Varian noiselessly closed the door and tiptoed away.
He stood a moment in the second story hall, looking upward at a closed door, to which a narrow and winding staircase would take him.
Should he go up there, – or search the two lower stories first? He looked out of a window at the foot of the little stair.
It gave West, and afforded no view of the sea. But the wild and inaccessible rocks which he saw, proved to him finally that there was no way of approach to this lonely house, save by that one and only path he had already climbed. He sighed, for this dashed his last hope that Betty might have left the house on some errand or some escapade before her father had reached it.
With vague forebodings and a horrible sinking at his heart, he began to ascend the turret stair.
CHAPTER IV
The Search
Doctor Herbert Varian was a man accustomed to responsibilities; more, he was accustomed to the responsibilities of other people as well as his own. Yet it seemed to him that the position in which he now found himself was more appalling than anything he had ever before experienced, and that it was liable to grow worse rather than better with successive developments.
Varian had what has been called “the leaping mind,” and without being unduly apprehensive, he saw trouble ahead, such as he shuddered to think about. His brother dead, there was the hysterical widow to be cared for. And Betty in hiding —
He paused, his hand on the latch of the door at the top of the stair.
Then, squaring his shoulders, he shook off his hesitation and opened the door.
He found himself in a small turret room, from which he went on to other rooms on that floor. They were, for the most part, quite evidently unoccupied bedrooms, but two gave signs of being in use by servants.
Varian paid little heed to his surroundings, but went rapidly about hunting for the missing girl.
“Betty, – ” he called, softly; “Betty, dear, where are you? Don’t be afraid, – Uncle Herbert will take care of you. Come, Betty, come out of hiding.”
But there was no answer to his calls. He flung open cupboard doors, he peered into dark corners and alcoves, but he saw no trace of any one, nor heard any sound.
Two