18 - Ashiel Mystery - A Detective Story by Mrs. Charles Bryce

When Juliet Byrne, an adopted child, finally uncovers the truth about her familys mysterious past, her father is shockingly murdered. Its up to the brilliant and eccentric Detective Gimblet, with his penchant for chocolate, to untangle the enigmatic Ashiel Mystery.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter eighteen of The Asheyl Mystery. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by Mary Herndon Bell. The Asheyl Mystery by Missus Charles Bryce,

(00:22):
chapter eighteen. Later on in the afternoon, when Gimblet arrived
at the castle, he was immediately shown into the presence
of Lord Ashell, who was pacing the smoking room restlessly,
a cigarette between his teeth. He looked pale and haggard.
The strain of the last few days had evidently been

(00:42):
too much for him. Gimblet greeted him sympathetically. You have
not found your uncle's will I can see, he began,
And you are fretting at the idea of keeping his
daughter out of her fortune. But set your mind at rest.
We shall be able to put that right. Is she here,
by the way, he added, remembering Lady Ruth's anxiety here,

(01:05):
of course? Not, what do you mean, cried Mark, stopping
suddenly in his walk. Well, I was sure she was not,
Gimblet replied, But I promised to ask. Lady Ruth is
rather upset because miss Byrne did not come in to lunch.
I told her she had probably gone for a longer
walk than had been her intentions, he added soothingly, for

(01:28):
Mark was looking at him with a disturbed expression. He
seemed relieved, however, by the detective's suggestion. Yes, no doubt
that would be the reason, he murmured, lighting a fresh
cigarette and throwing himself down in an easy chair with
his hands clasped behind his head. No, I haven't found

(01:49):
any will, and there's not a corner left that I
haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really made it,
just talked about it, probably as people are so fond
of doing. And now I'm at a loose end, all
alone in this big house, with no one to speak
to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast
of a day. Or I should go out and try

(02:10):
for a salmon in self defense. Tomorrow I shall go south.
And you have you found out anything new about the
murder yet? I have found out one thing which you
will be glad to hear, said Gimblet. And that is
the place where the missing will is concealed. What cried Mark,
leaping to his feet, Where is it? What? Does it say,

(02:32):
give it to me. I haven't got it, Gimblet told him.
I don't know what it says, but I know where
to look for it. It is in the statue your
uncle put up on the track known as the green Way.
I have found a memorandum of his which sets the
matter beyond a doubt. And he related at length the

(02:52):
story of the half sheet of paper with the mysterious writing,
and how he had learnt by accident of the manner
in which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions,
omitting nothing except the fact that he had already acted
on the information so far as to make certain of
the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that

(03:14):
he should prefer the papers to be brought to light
in the presence of a magistrate. I believe there are
other documents there besides the will, he said, without troubling
to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a belief.
I understood from your uncle that there might be some
of an almost international importance in case any dispute should

(03:36):
subsequently arise about them. I wish to have more than
one reliable witness to their being found. Can you send
a man over to the lodge at Glen Liquet and
ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am
told that he is a magistrate. Gimblet did not think
it necessary to relate how he had obtained possession of
the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to face curiosity.

(04:00):
His adventures on that night savored too strongly of house
breaking to be drawn attention to. Your uncle must have
posted it to me in London the day before he died,
he said, mendaciously. It was forwarded here, and at first
I could make neither head nor tail of it. Why
didn't you tell me, Mark asked impatiently. And yet he added,

(04:23):
reflecting I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes,
of course I will send over for General Tenby. He
can't come for three or four hours, though, which will
make it rather late. Are you sure we had not
better open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the
southeast corner turns like a key, you say, suppose some
one else finds that out and makes off with whatever

(04:46):
may be hidden there. I am absolutely sure we needn't
fear anything of the sort, because I have the best
of reasons for being positive that no one has the
slightest inkling of the secret, Gimblet assured him. There is
a whole gang of scoundrels after the document of which
your uncle told me, who are ready to spend any

(05:06):
money or risk any penalty in order to obtain it.
They will not be deterred even by having to pay
for it with their lives. You may be quite sure
that if any one had suspected where it was concealed,
it would not have been allowed to remain there, and
we should find the cash empty. But we may safely

(05:26):
argue that they have not found it, since in that
case they certainly would not hang about the neighborhood. Do
you mean to say, cried Mark, that you think there
are any of these kneedless people lurking about that letter
which came from Uncle Douglas, the letter from Paris. I
guessed it meant something of the sort. There is a

(05:47):
foreigner's staying at Criannon's, said Gimblet, whom I have every
reason to suspect more than that, there has been a
Russian in your very midst, who I am afraid you
will be shocked to hear is hand in glove with him.
Whom do you mean, exclaimed Mark, not not Julia Romaninov.

(06:09):
It seemed to the detective that he winced as he
uttered the name of the girl silently. Gimblet bowed his head,
and for a minute the two men stood without a word.
Then stammered, Mark, you think that she that she? Oh,
he cried, I can hardly believe that. Gimblet did not reply,

(06:32):
but after a few moments walked over to the writing
table and spread out a piece of notepaper. He kept
his back turned towards the young man, who seemed thankful
for an opportunity to recover his composure. His face was
still working nervously, however, when at length the detective turned
and held out a pen towards him. Will you not

(06:53):
write at once to General Tenby, he suggested. Mark sat
down before the blotting pad. He will be at home,
he said, mechanically. This weather will have driven them in
early if they have been shooting. The note was written
and dispatched by a groom on horseback, and then Gimblet

(07:13):
bad and revoir to his host at the door of
the castle. I will go back to the cottage, he said,
I have an accumulation of correspondence that absolutely must be
attended to, and I do not think there is anything
to be done up here before General Tenby comes. Once
we have the Nielis papers in our hands, I have

(07:34):
a little plan by which I think our birds may
be trapped. Will you meet me at the cottage at
half past six? The General will have to pass it
on the way to Verashall, and we can stop him
as he goes by. It will be about seven o'clock,
I expect, said Mark, when he gets down from Glen Liquick.
I'll be with you before he is. The Lord knows

(07:55):
how I shall get through the time till he comes.
I loathe writing letters, but this afternoon i'm dashed. If
I don't almost envy you and your correspondence, I know
it is the waiting that tells on one Gimblet said,
his voice full of kindly sympathy. What you want is
to get right away from this place. Its associations must

(08:16):
be horrible to you. No one could really be astonished
if you never set foot in it again. Mark laughed
rather bitterly. That's just what I feel like, he said. Shortly.
My uncle killed, my cousin, arrested, my friend, accused Miss
Byrne refusing to let me behave decently to her about
the money. Oh well, he pulled himself up and spoke

(08:40):
in a more guarded tone. One gets used to everything
in time, no doubt, But just at present, I'm afraid
I am rather depressing company. See you later. They went
their ways, Gimblet going forth into the drenching rain, which
was now falling down the road through the soaking woodland,
to the cottage, where the cry ann and policemen still

(09:02):
smoked their pipes undisturbed. Lady Ruth met him at the gate,
running down in her waterproof When she saw him approaching,
Where is Juliet? She cried, wasn't she at Induraschel? Hasn't
she come back? Asked Gimblet, answering her question by another
No sign of her. What can have happened, mister Gimblet,

(09:26):
I am really getting dreadfully anxious. She must have gone
on to the hills and lost her way in the mist.
She is sure to get back in time, Gimblet tried
to reassure her, though he himself was beginning to wonder
at the girl's absence. Perhaps, he added, she is at
missus Clutchum's I dare say that's the truth of it.

(09:47):
She can't be there, Lady Ruth answered, Missus Clutsam told
me she was going out all day to day to
visit her husband's sister, who is staying somewhere twenty miles
from here on the open road, and longing, of course,
to hear all about the murder at first hand. Relations
are so exacting, and if they are relations in law,
they become positive shylocks. Juliet may have gone to the lodge, though,

(10:11):
all the same, and stayed to keep the Romaninov girl company.
She seemed to be satisfied with this explanation, and Gimblet
had tea with her and then went to write his letters.
Soon after six, one of the policemen went down to
the high road to lie and wait for General Tenby,
and about twenty minutes past the hour, wheels rattled on

(10:32):
the gravel of the short carriage drive, and the General
drove up to the door. He was a tall, soldierly
looking man of between fifty and sixty, with a red
face and a keen blue eye and a precise jerky manner. Ah,
Lady Ruth, glad to see you bearing up so well
under these tragic circumstances, he said, shaking hands with that

(10:54):
lady who came to the door to welcome him. Poor
Ashyle ought to have had shudders to his windows. Dreadful mistake.
No shutters, let's in drafts and coals in the head.
If nothing worse. These old houses are all the same,
no safety in them from anything. Young mc conachan wrote
me an urgent note to come over. Don't quite see

(11:15):
what for, but here I am eh. What do you say,
oh detective from London? Is it how d'ye do? Perhaps
you can tell me what the program is? Young Lord
Ashell promised to meet us here at half past six.
Gimblet told him we expect to put our hands on
some important documents, and I was anxious you should be present.

(11:38):
Quite unnecessary, absolutely ridiculous. Still here, I am may as
well come along. The General went on talking to Lady Ruth,
but after a few minutes the inspector from Crianan sent
in to ask if he could speak to him, and
they retired together to Lady Ruth's little private seating room,
where they remained closeted for some time while the old

(12:00):
soldier was listening to what the policeman had to tell him.
Gimblet began to show signs of restlessness. He went to
the door and looked about him. The weather was clearing,
the clouds breaking and scudding fast before a wind which
had arisen in the north. A tinge of blue showed
here and there in the interstices between them, while a
veil of mists that trailed after them shone faintly orange

(12:23):
in the rays of the hidden sun. Gimblet went back
and sat down in the drawing room with the Scotsman
in his hand. He put it down after a few minutes, however,
and began fidgeting about the room. Then he went and
conferred with the second of the two policemen, and as
he was talking to him, the General and the inspector reappeared.

(12:44):
I think, said Gimblet, coming towards them, that we will
not wait any longer for Lord, ashele General Tenby, staring
at him with rather a strange expression, nevertheless silently assented,
and the four men started on their walk to the Greenway.
As they went up the glen, a ray of sunshine
emerged from between the flying clouds and fell upon the

(13:06):
statue at the end of the enclosed glade away to
the right. Their eyes could follow the track of a
distant shower, and as they went, a rainbow curved across
the sky, stretching from hill to hill, like some great
monumental arch set up for the celestial armies to march
under on their return from the conquest of the Earth.

(13:28):
That statue, Gimblet remarked to the general who walked beside him,
is a specimen of the worst modern Italian sculpture. The
figure of Pandora is modeled like a sack of potatoes.
The composition is weak and unsatisfactory, and the pediment on
which the whole group is poised large enough to support

(13:48):
three others of the same size. The General grunted, I
always understood that the late Lord ashele knew what he
was about. He said stiffly. He told me himself that
it cost him a great deal of money. Gimblet sighed.
He could not help feeling that it was a pity
Lord Asheyle had not earlier fallen into the habit of

(14:08):
consulting him. Still, he was bound to admit that though
the stone group, regarded as a work of art, was
altogether deplorable, the general effect of the erection, in its
rectangular setting of the forest was excellent. The whole scene
was one of peaceful and romantic beauty. Poets might have
sat themselves down in that moist and shining spot, and,

(14:30):
forgetful of the possibilities of rheumatism, found their muse inspiring
beyond the ordinary. Gimblet was at heart something of a poet,
but he felt no inclination to communicate the feelings which
the place and hour aroused in him to any of
his companions. And it was in a silence which had
in it something dimly foreboding, that the party drew near

(14:51):
to the statue. In silence, Gimblet approached the great block
of stone and laid his hand upon the projecting horn
of the bull, equally silently. The two policemen had taken
up positions at the end of the pedestal. The General
stood behind them, alert and interested. After a swift glance
which took in all these details, Gimblet turned the horn

(15:14):
round in its socket. The hidden door swung open, and
there was a sound of muttered exclamations from the police
and a loud oath from the General. Gimblet sprang around
the corner of the pedestal, and there as he expected,
cowering in the mouth of the disclosed cavity and looking
in his fury of fear and mortification for all the

(15:35):
world like some trapped vermin. Prouched Lord ashele, glaring at
his liberators with a rage that was hardly sane. Beyond
him on the floor at the back, they could see
the tin dispatch box standing open and empty. The two policemen,
acting on instructions previously given them, made one simultaneous grab

(15:56):
at the young man and dragged him into the open
with several sound seconds despair, before the door slammed to
again in obedience to the invisible mechanism that controlled it.
They set him on his legs on the wet turf
and stood one on each side of him, a retaining
hand still resting on either arm. For a moment, Mark

(16:17):
gazed from the General to the detective, his eyes full
of hatred. Then he controlled himself with an effort, and
when he spoke it was with a forced lightness of manner.
I have to thank you for letting me out, he said.
The air in there was getting terrible. He paused and
filled his lungs ostentatiously, but no one answered him. Losing

(16:41):
something of his assumed calmness. He went on uneasily. I
just thought i'd come along and see if there was
any truth in mister Gimblet's story, and I was quite
right to doubt it, since there isn't. He's not quite
as clever as he thinks, for he was as positive
as you like that my uncle's will was hidden here.
But as a matter of fact, it's not. As I

(17:03):
was taking the trouble to make sure when that cursed
statue shut me in. There's nothing in it of any
sort except an empty tin box. There's nothing in it now,
said Gimblet, speaking for the first time, because I had
no doubt you meant to destroy the will if you
found it, so I moved it to a safe place
last night. As for the other papers, I have sent

(17:26):
them to London, where they will be still safer. I
knew you would give yourself away by coming here. That's
why I told you the secret of the Bull's Horn.
Mark's face was dreadful to see. He made a menacing
step forward, as if he would throw himself upon the detective,
but the strong right hands of Inspector Cameron and Police

(17:46):
Constable Fraser tightened on his arms and restrained his further action.
He seemed for the first time to be conscious of
their presence. Leave go of my arm, he shouted. What
the devil do you mean by putting your dirty hands
on me, my lord, said the inspector. You had better

(18:07):
come quietly. I am here to arrest you for the
murder of your uncle, Lord ashele and I warn you
that anything you say may be used against you. Are
you going to arrest the whole family? Scoffed Mark, where's
your warrant? Man? I have it here, my lord, replied
the inspector, fumbling in his pocket for the paper the

(18:27):
astonished general had signed when the inspector had imparted to
him in Lady Ruth's little sitting room the information he
had received from mister Gimblet. As Inspector Cameron fumbled, the
young man with a sudden jerk which found them unprepared,
threw off the hold upon his arms and leaped aside.
As he did so, he plunged his hand into his

(18:48):
pocket and drew forth a little file. You shall never
take me alive, he cried, and lifted it to his lips.
Stop him, shouted Gimblet, throwing his whole weight upon the
uplifted arm. He forced the file away from Mark's already
open mouth. The other men rushed to his assistance, and

(19:09):
between them, the frustrated would be suicide was overpowered and
held firmly while the inspector fastened a pair of handcuffs
over his wrists. When it was done, he raised his
pinioned hands as well as he could and shook them
furiously at Gimblet. It's you I have to thank for this,
he shouted. Curse you, you eve's dropping spy. But there

(19:31):
are surprises in store for you, my friend. You've got me,
it seems. And you say you've got the will, you'll
find it more difficult to lay your hands on the
arras the words, and still more the triumphant tone in
which they were uttered, cast a chill upon them all.
What do you mean? Cried Gimblet. But not another syllable

(19:54):
could be got out of the prisoner, and the inspector, besides,
protested against questions being addressed him. With all the elation
over his captor taken out of him, and with a
mind full of brooding anxiety, Gimblet hurried on ahead of
the returning party and burst in upon Lady Ruth with
eager inquiries, but Juliet had not returned. How was any

(20:16):
one to know that she had? That morning made her
way into the secret passage of the old Tower and
watched through the slip of glass in the case of
the clock, what Julia Romaninov was doing in the library,
But leaving Gimblet and Lady Ruth to organize a search
for her, we will return to Juliet in her hiding
place and see what was the end of her adventure.

(20:39):
End of Chapter eighteen.