Sir Walter switched on an electric light."Nothing, I trust, has happened?""Nothing whatever, Sir Walter.No sign or sound of anything out of the common can be recorded.""Thank Heaven - thank Heaven for that!"
"Though we had exhausted the possibilities of such a thing, we none the less expected gas," explained the detective."That seemed the only conceivable means by which life might be destroyed in that room.Therefore we wore gas masks of the latest pattern, supposed to defy any gaseous combination ever turned out of a laboratory.It is well known thatnew, destructive gases were discovered just before the end of the war - gases said to be infinitely more speedy and deadly than any that were employed.As to that, and whether the Government has the secret of them, I cannot say.But no gas was liberated in the Grey Room last night.Otherwise a rat in a trap and birds in a cage, which we kept by us, would have felt it.The room is pure enough."Sir Walter followed him down the corridor, and chatted with the other men also.They had left the Grey Room and taken off their masks; they looked weary and haggard in the waxing, white light of day.
"You've done your duty, and I am beyond measure thankful that no evil has overtaken you.What can now be prepared for you in the way of food?"They thanked him, and declared that in an hour they would be glad of breakfast.Then Sir Walter went to his own apartments, rang, and gave the needful directions.He joined Mary soon afterwards, and she shared his thanksgivings.She was already dressed, and descended immediately to Dr.Mannering.
Henry Lennox also appeared soon afterwards.He had already learned from Fred Caunter that the watchers were safely through the night.Chadlands was the scene of another inquest, and again a coroner's jury declared that Septimus May, as his son before him, had died by the Hand of God.Later in the day the dead man was conveyed to his own parish, and two days later Sir Walter and Mary, with her cousin, attended the funeral.
Meantime, the detectives began their serious work.They proceeded with system and upon their own plan.They omitted to question not the least of the persons who dwelt at Chadlands, and inquired also privately concerning every memher of the house party there assembled when Tom May died.Into the sailor's private life they also searched, and so gradually investigated every possible line of action and point of approach to his death.The cause of this they were content to disregard, arguing that if an assassin could be traced, his means of murder would then be learned; but, from the first, no sort of light illumined their activities, and nothing to be regarded as a clue could be discovered, either in Tom May'srelations with the world, or in the history and character of anyone among the many who were subject for inquiry.
Concerning the house party, only Ernest Trayers and his wife had met the sailor before, on the occasion of his wedding; while as to the staff at Chadlands, nothing transpired to indicate that any had ever had occasion to feel affronted by an act of his.They were, moreover, loyal to a man and woman.They furnished no peculiarities, and gave no ground for the least suspicion.The case, in Frith's opinion, was unique, because, despite the number of persons it was necessary to study and consider, in none of their relations with the family involved could there be found a shadow of unfriendly intercourse, a harbored grudge, or a suggestion of ill-feeling.The people were all simple and ingenuous.They declared and displayed nothing but regard for their employer, and many of them had succeeded their own parents in their present employment.It was a large household, very closely united by ties of tradition and affection.Henry Lennox also proved above suspicion, though his former attachment to Mary was not concealed.It needed no great student of character, however, to appreciate his transparent honesty under examination, a remark that extended to Dr.Mannering, whose incautious advent in the corridor on the night of their vigil had offended the watchers.
For three weeks they worked industriously - without vision, but to the best of their experience and intellectual powers.In the familiar phrase, they left no stone unturned; and following their report, which frankly admitted absolute failure, a small commission instituted a further inquiry on the evidence, and invited those chiefly concerned to attend it.
Sir Walter, his daughter, Henry Lennox, and Dr.Mannering were examined with sympathy and consideration.But they could offer no opinions, throw no light, and suggest no other lines of inquiry than those already pursued.
For the world the mystery died like a new star, which was blazed into fame only to retreat or diminish and disappear once more.Fresh problems and new sensations filled the newspapers, and a time at last came when, to his relief, Sir Walter could open his morning journal and find no mention of Chadlands therein.Architects examined the room a second time, andthe authorities also gave permission to certain notable spiritualists to make further nocturnal and diurnal vigils therein, though no solitary watcher was permitted.Three came and passed a day and a night in the Grey Room.They were rewarded with no phenomena whatever.
The master of Chadlands was at length informed that he might leave England, but directed to set a seal on the Grey Room, and to treat it in such a manner that it should no longer be capable of entrance.
The red tape that had wound itself about the tragedy was thus unloosed at last, and the suffering pair made all haste to get away.Its owner undertook to treat the Grey Room as directed on his return from abroad, and meanwhile had both door and window boarded up with heavy timbers.
The household was long since restored to self-possession and even cheerfulness.Some felt pride in their passing publicity, and none expressed any fear of remaining.But Sir Walter guessed that few feet would tread the great corridor until a day was near for his return.
