Colonel Thorndykes Secret | Page 6

do it willingly, but I do it

for your sake."
"That is right," Colonel Thorndyke said, holding out his thin bronzed
hand to his brother; "that is off my mind. Now, there is only one other
thing--those confounded jewels. But I won't talk about them now."
It was not indeed till three or four days later that the Colonel again
spoke to his brother on any than ordinary matters. He had indeed been
very weak and ailing. After breakfast, when, as usual, he was a little
stronger and brighter than later in the day, he said to his brother
suddenly:--
"I suppose there are no hiding places in this room?"
"Hiding places! What do you mean, George?"
"Places where a fellow could hide up and hear what we are talking
about."
"No, I don't think so," the Squire replied, looking round vaguely. "Such
an idea never occurred to me. Why do you ask?"
"Because, John, if there is such a thing as a hiding place, someone will
be sure to be hiding there. Where does that door lead to?"
"It doesn't lead anywhere; it used to lead into the next room, but it was
closed up before my time, and turned into a cupboard, and this door is
permanently closed."
"Do you mind stepping round into the next room and seeing if anyone
is in the cupboard?"
Thinking that his brother was a little light headed, John Thorndyke
went into the next room, and returned, saying gravely that no one was
there.
"Will you look behind the curtains, John, and under this sofa, and
everywhere else where even a cat could be hidden? That seems all
right," the Colonel went on, as his brother continued the search. "You

know there is a saying that walls have ears, and I am not sure that it is
not so. I have been haunted with the feeling that everything I did was
watched, and that everything I said was listened to for years; and I can
tell you it is a devilishly unpleasant thought. Draw your chair quite
close to me. It is about my jewels, John. I always had a fancy for
jewels--not to wear them, but to own them. In my time I have had good
opportunities in that way, both in the Madras Presidency and in the
Carnatic. In the first place, I have never cared for taking presents in
money, but I have never refused jewels; and what with Rajahs and
Nabobs and Ministers that one had helped or done a good turn to
somehow, a good deal came to me that way.
"Then I always made a point of carrying money with me, and after a
defeat of the enemy or a successful siege, there was always lots of loot,
and the soldiers were glad enough to sell anything in the way of jewels
for a tithe of their value in gold. I should say if I put the value of the
jewels at 50,000 pounds I am not much wide of the mark. That is all
right, there is no bother about them; the trouble came from a diamond
bracelet that I got from a soldier. We were in camp near Tanjore. I was
officer of the day. I had made my rounds, and was coming back to my
quarters, when I saw a soldier coming out of a tent thirty or forty yards
away. It was a moonlight night, and the tent was one belonging to a
white Madras regiment. Suddenly, I saw another figure, that had been
lying down outside the tent, rise. I saw the flash of the moonlight on
steel; then there was a blow, and the soldier fell. I drew my sword and
rushed forward.
"The native--for I could see that it was a native--was bending over the
man he had stabbed. His back was towards me, and on the sandy soil he
did not hear my footsteps until I was close to him; then he sprang up
with a cry of fury, and leaped on me like a tiger. I was so taken by
surprise that before I could use my sword the fellow had given me a
nasty stab on the shoulder; but before he could strike again I had run
him through. By this time several other, men ran out of the tent,
uttering exclamations of rage at seeing their fallen comrade.
"'What is it, sir?' they asked me.

"'This scoundrel, here, has stabbed your comrade,' I said. 'He did not
see me coming, and I ran up just as he was, I think, rifling him for
booty. He came at me like a wild cat, and has given me a nasty stab.
However, I have put an end to his game. Is your comrade dead?'
"'No, sir, he is breathing still;