"Take me with you, take me with you," she screamed, and, as the men let go of the rope, she grabbed hold of it with desperate and inconceivable quickness.
The next moment the airship shot up into the radiant sky, and at the end of the rope, which dangled from the car under Weston's hands, Miss Destiny spun like a spider. She uttered no sound, she made no movement, but hung on desperately while the ship soared. I caught a glimpse of the amazement on Weston's face as it lessened before my eyes. A shout of terror at the little woman's terrible position came from the crowd. Dredge stood where he was, paralyzed, and Gertrude screamed with fright. Lucinda beat her hands in despair.
The ship soared and swung to the right, and that black figure still clung to the rope. Weston--as we could see--was making preparations to descend, but owing to some difficulty could not get his gear to work. By this time the ship was at a considerable height, and everyone was watching with terror the happening of this midair tragedy. How Miss Destiny hung on so long I could not guess: she seemed to have the strength of a fiend. Suddenly a gust of wind caught the ship, as she receded, and the rope, with the little figure twisting at the end, swung towards the rear of the car. In a second it was in the grip of the stern propeller, and we saw the sudden jerk of the rope upward. A moment later and it was jerked out of the gripping hands of Anne Caldershaw's murderess. She fell, a speck through the blue sky, and a groan went up from the crowd at the sight of that terrible death.
[CHAPTER XXII.]
THE WHOLE TRUTH
So Miss Destiny was the criminal after all, and her confession alone revealed what had taken place in Anne Caldershaw's back room, shortly before I had arrived in my motor car to search for adventure. Inspector Dredge came to The Lodge that same evening to relate all that had taken place, and to inform us how he had come to Burwain. The little woman's body was found broken in pieces on the outskirts of Tarhaven, and small wonder, considering the terrible height from which she had fallen. We did not hear until the next day what Weston thought, as his airship proved to be unmanageable, and drifted over toward the island of Grain, where he managed to descend. There he remained for the night, and came back by train to Burwain in the afternoon of the ensuing day. But neither Gertrude nor I troubled about Weston's failure or absence. We were far too much taken up with the story told by Inspector Dredge.
"As you were so much connected with the matter, Mr. Vance," said the stern-faced man, when he appeared at four o'clock in the drawing-room of The Lodge, "it is only fair that you should know the truth."
"I also am connected with the matter, Mr. Inspector," said Gertrude, "for I----"
He interrupted her with a grave bow. "I know what you would say, miss. You were in the back room, and left your cloak there, which was afterwards worn by Joseph Striver when he escaped in Mr. Vance's motor car. No blame attaches to you, miss, and I quite understand that you did not care to incriminate yourself by coming to explain to me. Yet, if you had done so," he ended, with rebukeful emphasis, "we might have arrived earlier at the truth."
"Who told you all this?" I asked curiously.