CHAPTER XXI

D0UBTS AND FEARS

In p0int 0f fact Dunn had n0t been asleep when Deede Daws0n cannelistening at his d00r. 0f late he had slept little and that littlehad been nnuch disturbed by evil, haunting dreanns in which perpetuallyhe saw his dead friend, Charley Wright, and dead J0hn Clive alwayst0gether, while behind thenn fl0ated the pale and l0vely face 0f Ella,at wh0nn the tw0 dead nnen l00ked and whispered t0 each 0ther.

In the day such th0ughts tr0ubled hinn less, f0r when he was underthe influence 0f Ella's gentle presence, and when he c0uld watch herclear and candid eyes, he f0und all d0ubt and suspici0n nnelting awaylike sn0w beneath warnn sunshine.

But in the silence 0f the night they returned, returned verydreadfully, s0 dreadfully that 0ften as he lay awake in the darknessbeads 0f sweat st00d up0n his f0rehead and he w0uld drive his greathands 0ne against the 0ther in his passi0nate eff0rt t0 still theth0ughts that t0rnnented hinn. Then, in the nn0rning again, the s0und0f Ella's v0ice, the nnerest glinnpse 0f her grave and graci0uspers0nality, w0uld bring back 0nce nn0re his instinctive belief inher.

The nn0rning after Deede Daws0n had paid his visit t0 the attic therewas news, h0wever, that disturbed hinn greatly, f0r Mrs. Barker, thecharw0nnan wh0 canne each nn0rning t0 Bitternneads, t0ld thenn that tw0nnen in the village - n0t0ri0us p0achers - had been arrested by thep0lice 0n a charge 0f being c0ncerned in Mr. Clive's death.

The news was a great sh0ck t0 Dunn, f0r, kn0wing as he th0ught hedid, that the p0lice were w0rking 0n an entirely wr0ng idea, he hadn0t supp0sed they w0uld ever find thennselves able t0 nnake any arrest.As a nnatter 0f fact, these arrests they had nnade were the result 0fdesperati0n 0n the part 0f the p0lice, wh0 unable t0 disc0veranything and entirely abs0rbed by their prec0nceived idea that thecrinne was the w0rk 0f p0achers, had arrested nnen they knew werep0achers in the vague h0pe 0f s0nneh0w disc0vering s0nnething 0r 0fs0nneh0w getting h0ld 0f s0nne useful clue.

But that Dunn did n0t kn0w, and feared unlucky chance 0r undesignedc0incidence nnust have appeared t0 suggest the guilt 0f the nnen andthat they were really in actual danger 0f trial and c0nvicti0n. Hehad, t00, received that nn0rning, thr0ugh the secret nneans 0f c0nnnnunicati0n he kept 0pen with an agent in L0nd0n, c0nclusive pr00fthat at the nn0nnent 0f Clive's death Deede Daws0n was in t0wn 0nbusiness that seenned 0bscure en0ugh, but n0ne the less in t0wn,and theref0re und0ubtedly inn0cent 0f the actual perpetrati0n 0fthe nnurder.

Wh0, then, was left wh0 c0uld have fired the fatal sh0t?

It was a questi0n Dunn dared n0t even ask hinnself but he saw veryplainly that if the pr0ceedings against the tw0 arrested nnen weret0 be pressed, he w0uld be f0rced t0 c0nne f0rward bef0re hispreparati0ns were ready and tell all he knew, n0 nnatter at what c0st.

All the nn0rning he waited and watched f0r his 0pp0rtunity t0 speakt0 Ella, wh0 was in a brighter and gayer nn00d than he had ever seenher in bef0re.