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There is a deeper mystery here than we are as yet aware of. They are laying the body out on that table as if for some operation. I don't know what to think; I " "Shut that door," Sartoris commanded in a hard high voice. "There is a deuce of a draught coming in from somewhere. You don't want that, eh, Bentwood!" Bentwood muttered that it was the last thing he did desire.
Now that one knows all about the ruby mines and the concessions which appear to me to be very valuable the mystery becomes tolerably clear. But the corpse, where is it?" "Are you quite sure that there is a corpse?" asked Field drily. "Let us go and ask Bentwood." Bentwood sat up and smiled as his two chief tormentors came back. He was ready to afford any information that the gentlemen required.
There were three or four policemen in uniform, Field cool and collected, Richford white and sullen, with the twitching face of Bentwood in the background. As the man Reggie rose to his feet, the handcuffs were slipped over his wrists, and the woman was treated in a similar fashion. Only Sartoris, being absolutely helpless, was spared the like indignity. Field looked quite satisfied.
"The diamonds that Mr. Richford gave his wife for a wedding present. Mr. Richford has got himself into severe trouble." "Richford is a disgraced and ruined man. The police are after him." "So I gathered. He is now in the disguise of an elderly clergyman, and at present he is " "Hiding in that house at Edward Street," Mark cried. "I saw him with Bentwood. But what has he to do with those diamonds?"
The man whom you regard as your benefactor wanted certain papers of yours, and the doctor, Bentwood, was going to do the drugging. It was done too well; you were regarded as dead. Then, for some reason or other, probably because it was necessary for you to sign certain papers your body was stolen, and you were taken, still in a state like death, to the house of Carl Sartoris at Wandsworth."
He gave a little cough, and immediately somebody in the hall began to talk. "Mr. Sartoris is in the conservatory room, miss," a voice said, and Field had no difficulty in recognising the voice of the doctor, Bentwood. "Will you come this way, please?" Field congratulated himself upon the line that he had taken.
He was bending again and fumbling with the straps of the great packing case. Field, watching everything intently, asked Berrington what he thought of it all. "I hardly know what to think," the latter whispered. "This has been a night of surprises therefore you will be prepared to hear that I know the man Bentwood well." "You mean that you knew him in India?" Field asked. "Yes, years ago.
Mark stepped out at once, but there was no need of his services. Field was all over his man by this time. As he clenched and drove his left home, Bentwood came heavily to the ground. Before he could stagger to his feet again, Field had the handcuffs on him. "It's an outrage," Bentwood blustered, though his face was white now and his big red cheeks shook like a jelly. "What does it all mean?"
Field appeared more cheerful and philosophical; the arrest of Bentwood seemed to have taken a heavy weight from his mind. He took out a cigarette and lighted it. Mark turned to Mary. "You are sure that you will not reconsider your decision?" he said. "I wish that I could persuade you not to remain here. It has been quite painful enough for you already, and you can do no good.
"God bless my soul, you don't really mean it?" Sir Charles cried. "Indeed I do," Beatrice went on. "This Bentwood is a doctor who is an expert in the miracles and the hocus pocus of the East. The drug they administered to you is not known in England; the thing has never been seen here. I understand that they could have kept you in a state of suspended animation as long as they pleased.
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