CHAPTER XXIV

A CONFESSION

Jane was still being held by Sir Frank at the floor, and was still screaming, fully convinced that her captor was a burglar, in spite of having recognized him by his voice.  Random was so exasperated by her stupidity that he shook her.

“What is the matter, you fool?” he demanded.  “Don’t you know that I am a friend?”

“Y-e-s, s-i-r,” gasped Jane, fetching her breath again after the shaking; “but go for the police.  My mistress is being murdered.”

“Mr. Hope is looking after that, and the screams have ceased.  Who was with your mistress?”

“I don’t know, sir,” sobbed the servant.  “I didn’t know anyone had called, and then I heard the screaming.  I looked into the parlor to see what was the matter, but the lamp had been thrown over and had gone out, and there was a dreadful struggle going on in the darkness, so I screamed and ran out and then I—­oh—­oh” Jane showed symptoms of renewed hysteria, and clutched Random tightly, as a man came cautiously round the corner.

“Are you there, Random?” asked Hope’s voice.

“It’s so infernally dark and foggy that I have missed him.”

“Missed who?”

“The man who was trying to murder Mrs. Jasher, He got her down when I entered and struck a match.  Then he dashed through the window before I could catch him or even recognize him.  He’s vanished in the mist.”

“It’s no use looking for him anyhow,” said Random, peering into the dense blackness, which was thick with damp.  “We had better see after Mrs. Jasher.”

“Whom have you got there?”

“Jane—­who seems to have lost her head.”

“It’s a mercy I haven’t lost my life, sir, with burglars and murderers all about the place,” sobbed the girl, dropping on to the veranda.

Random promptly hauled her to her feet.

“Go and get a candle, and keep calm if you can,” he said in an abrupt military voice.  “This is no time to play the fool.”

His sharpness had great effect on the girl, and she became much more her usual self.  Hope lighted another match, and the trio proceeded through the passage towards the kitchen, where Jane had left a lamp burning.  Seizing this from its bracket, Sir Frank retraced his way along the passage to the pink parlor, followed closely by Hope and timorously by Jane.  A dreadful scene presented itself.  The dainty little room was literally smashed to pieces, as though a gigantic bull had been wallowing therein.  The lamp lay on the floor, surrounded by several extinguished candles.  It was a mercy that all the lights had been put out when overturned, else the gim-crack cottage would have been long since in a blaze.  Chairs and tables and screens were also overturned, and the one window had its rose-hued curtains torn down and its glass broken, showing only too clearly the way