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Ralston: "in my few visits to Hathercleugh since he came, I have found out that while he is very well posted up in certain details of our family history, he is unaccountably ignorant of others with which he ought to have been perfectly familiar. I found out, too, that he is exceedingly clever in avoiding subjects in which his ignorance might be detected.
But if he was at Hathercleugh, what of the tale which Hollins had told us the night before? nay, that very morning, for it was after midnight when he sat there in Mr. Lindsey's parlour. And, suddenly, another idea flashed across me Was that tale true, or was the man telling us a pack of lies, all for some end?
I had always been a bit proud of what I called my woodcraft, having played much at Red Indians as a youngster, and I took care to walk lightly as I stalked him from one brake to another. He went on and on a long way, right away from Hathercleugh, and in the direction of where Till meets Tweed.
"You're aware that there were certain small matters at Hathercleugh of what we may term the heirloom nature, though whether they were heirlooms or not I can't say the miniature of himself set in diamonds, given by George the Third to the second baronet; the necklace, also diamonds, which belonged to a Queen of Spain; the small picture, priceless, given to the fifth baronet by a Czar of Russia; and similar things, Mr.
Lindsey came in and took over the job of settling matters on my behalf. And the affair was quickly arranged. I was to stay with Mr. Lindsey another month, so as to give him the opportunity of getting a new head clerk, then I was to enter on my new duties at Hathercleugh.
And," he ended, slapping his knee, "I've no doubt that you're the child of that marriage, that your real name is Gavin Carstairs, and that you're the successor to the baronetcy, and the real owner of Hathercleugh, as I shall have pleasure in proving." "We shall see," said Smeaton, quietly as ever. "But there's a good deal to do before we get to that, Mr. Lindsey!
"Well, then," he whispered, getting himself still closer: "mind you, I can't say anything for certain it's only a hint I'm giving you; but if I were in your shoes, I'd take a quiet look round yon old part of Hathercleugh House I would so! It's never used, as you'll know nobody ever goes near it; but, Mr. Hugh, whoever and however it is, there's somebody in it now!" "The old part!" I exclaimed.
There is a circumstance which has I can't exactly say bothered but has somewhat disturbed me. Sir Gilbert Carstairs has now been in possession of his estates for a little over a year, and during that time he has sold nearly every yard of them except Hathercleugh!" Mr. Lindsey whistled.
She would naturally be anxious to get to her aunt as quickly as possible; she would think of the nearest way she would take it. And now I began to understand the whole thing: Maisie had gone into the grounds of Hathercleugh, and she had never left them! The realization made me sick with fear.
And at last he was out of the Hathercleugh grounds, and close to the Till, and in the end he took to a thin belt of trees that ran down the side of the Till, close by the place where Crone's body had been found, and almost opposite the very spot, on the other bank, where I had come across Phillips lying dead; and suddenly I saw what he was after.
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