The Heart of a Mystery

by T. W. Speight

Hermia's heart gave a great bound, and she caught her breath with a gasp like a drowning person. It seemed to her as if an ice-cold wind blew for a minute across her face. She shuddered, and involuntarily drew a little farther away from the dying man.

"I haven't strength enough left me to go into a lot of details," resumed Varrel, after a pause, "but if I'm not hurried, I think it will last out till I've told you enough to make the whole business clear, and--and to lift the last shadow of suspicion off John Brancker."

Again he lapsed into silence, and to Hermia it seemed as if he were struggling against some inward force which would fain have compelled him, even at this the eleventh hour, to carry his secret unrevealed to the grave. She waited in a sort of dread expectancy and with nerves all a-tremble for his next words.

The statement which follows, although given here in unbroken sequence, was several times interrupted by a fit of coughing, or by a labored gasping for breath. More than once, in obedience to his request, Hermia gave him to drink of a jug of barley-water which stood within reach of his hand.

"Yes, mine alone is the guilt. I wanted money; I was desperately hard up, and I made up my mind to rob the Bank, if it was possible anyhow to do so. I knew that Thursday night, when the gold had been fetched from London to pay away to market-day customers, was the best time for my purpose. I was acquainted with all the ins and outs of the place, and it was a simple matter for me to push open the swing doors and steal unseen into the building when the day's business was nearly over. Then up the spiral staircase and so into the book-room, where snugly hidden in an empty cupboard, I was safe from observation until the time should have come for me to take my next step, which was to make my way to Mr. Avison's office--he was abroad, and I knew that it was never used during his absence--there to bide my time. To reach it I should have to pass through Mr. Hazeldine's office, the door which led into it from the lobby being kept locked. I was aware that for several weeks past Mr. Hazeldine had been in the habit of working till a late hour, and I calculated that he would most likely do so on this particular night. Earlier in the day I had watched him start for London, and I knew that when he returned he would bring with him the gold he had been there to fetch.

"I waited where I was until the general staff had gone for the night, but I knew that Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd often worked after hours, and it seemed not unlikely that they might still be on the premises. It was absolutely necessary, however, that I should make my way to Mr. Avison's office before Mr. Hazeldine's return; and this, after a time, I succeeded in doing without being seen by anyone. As I crept down the spiral staircase I could hear the murmur of voices in Mr. Brancker's office. I had not been long in my second hiding-place, before I heard the well-remembered voice of Mr. Hazeldine as he spoke with Obed Sweet in the passage. Then he entered his office and turned up the gas, which had been previously lighted by Sweet; I had left the door between the two rooms open about an inch, and through the interstice a portion of the office was visible to me, including the iron door which gave admittance to the strong room.

"The first thing Mr. Hazeldine did was to place his black bag, containing the gold he had brought from London, on a chair, then he took off his hat and overcoat, and hung them up; and then, presumably, he seated himself at the table where he worked, but when so seated, he was out of my line of vision, and on no account durst I open the door even as much as an inch further. Presently he rose, and having unlocked the door of the strong-room, went inside. Here was the opportunity I had been waiting for, which was neither more nor less than to make a dash from my hiding-place, push to and lock the iron door, with Mr. Hazeldine on the other side of it, and then make off with the black bag and its contents. But now the chance was here I was afraid to take advantage of it. In the passage outside I heard Obed Sweet's wheezy cough, and as far as I knew, both Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd were still at work in the other office. There was nothing for it but to await a more favorable opportunity.

"In a minute or two Mr. Hazeldine went back to his seat, leaving the door of the strong-room wide open. Presently the sound of Obed's voice reached me from the corridor. Evidently there was someone still at work. I could only grind my teeth and wait.

"After what, alone and in the dark, seemed to me an intolerable time--but which may have been a few minutes only, or may have been an hour--I heard the reverberation of the front door. There could no longer be any doubt that Mr. Hazeldine was now the only official, save Sweet, left in the building. At last my opportunity seemed at hand.

"Still I waited, hoping minute by minute that Mr. Hazeldine would again find it necessary to enter the strong room. As I remarked before, I could not see him, but more than once I heard him groan like a man in pain. The black bag still remained where he had put it on coming in. Then, after a time, to my intense surprise, I again heard the muffled clash of the front door. I could not make it out at all, neither, apparently, could Sweet, who presently came blundering into the office without his customary knock, clearly under the impression that it was Mr. Hazeldine who had just gone, and finely disconcerted he was on discovering his mistake. 'I shall be about half-an-hour yet, Sweet, and will let myself out when I'm ready,' said Mr. Hazeldine; whereupon Sweet made his exit.