The Mystery of Lincoln's Inn Part 47

"I prefer to go with you," replied the Deputy, with unmistakable decision. Then he added, "My authority may be of some use to you, signor, with the grave-diggers."

And the voice of the Deputy was exceedingly grim, while Ucelli turned a sickly white and found nothing more to say.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

"Come!" said the Deputy-Minister peremptorily to Ucelli. "Meanwhile, Mr.

Eversleigh, do you remain here till we return. I do not think you will have to wait very long."

"Very well, signor," Gilbert replied, though he would have preferred accompanying the two Italians.

"Come!" cried the Deputy once more to Ucelli.

But the Syndic had now found his tongue. He begged the Deputy to give him a few moments' private conversation in the next room.

"You can say what you have to say here, surely. If you speak in our own language, Mr. Eversleigh will not understand you, so you will be quite safe."

Ucelli urged that Mr. Eversleigh was evidently a highly intelligent man, and must have picked up some knowledge of Italian. Therefore, with all respect to the Deputy-Minister, he ventured to think it possible Mr.

Eversleigh might understand. And again he requested a private interview, which finally was granted to him.

The Deputy and the Syndic retired to an adjoining room, and left Gilbert alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts were a strange jumble. In the fore-ground of them were Silwood, James Russell, the Syndic, and the Deputy-Minister, but behind them were his father, Kitty, and Harry Bennet. As he sat there, they all presently seemed to mingle, to become obscure, as in some feverish dream, and then to stand out sharp and clear again.

Perhaps half an hour had pa.s.sed when there rang through the house the report of a revolver, immediately followed by the sounds of a struggle and the cries and shouts of those engaged in it.

Gilbert sprang to his feet at once, and ran into the next room, from which the noise had come.

There, on the floor, were Ucelli, and above him the Deputy-Minister holding him by the throat. A little distance away lay a revolver; there was the smell of burnt powder in the air, while the furniture of the apartment was in disorder.

"Get something," panted the Deputy, "with which we can bind and secure him, Mr. Eversleigh. Take that table-cover and tear it up--that will do."

Gilbert, who had of course easily grasped the situation, did as he was bid, and in two or three minutes the Syndic was bound hand and foot.

"You are not hurt?" Gilbert inquired of the Deputy. "I heard the sound of a shot."

"No; though it was not Ucelli's fault. He deliberately tried to kill me, but I was too quick for him," said the Deputy, still gasping. "I will tell you all when I have recovered a little."

And breathing heavily, he seated himself on a chair. Gilbert glanced at Ucelli--the man's face was the colour of paper.

"First of all," said Signor Vinci, after an interval, "he tried to bribe me, and failing in that, sought to kill me, though what he hoped to gain by killing me I cannot understand."

"It was the act of a madman."

"You would say he was driven to it by despair? That, perhaps, is the explanation; or it may be he expected to make good his escape. But you see what all this means? It means you are correct in what you have stated about Silwood. Ucelli has not made a confession--that is, a direct confession--but his conduct can bear no other interpretation."

"Yes," a.s.sented Gilbert.

"Our next step must be to get the grave opened, and then the case will be complete. But first I will give Ucelli the opportunity of making a full confession."

The conversation between the Deputy-Minister and Gilbert had, up to this point, been in English. Turning to the Syndic, Signor Vinci asked him in his own language if he wished to make a statement.

"What is the use?" asked Ucelli. "I have done for myself--the game is up!"

"That being so, why not make a clean breast of everything?"

"What good would that do me? You will, besides, lay a charge against me of trying to murder you, and I shall be condemned to a life-sentence."

The Deputy thought for a few seconds.

"You are determined to say nothing?" he asked Ucelli.

"I will confess all--but only if you will promise me one thing on your honour," said Ucelli, who had been thinking too.

"I cannot make terms with you."

"In this instance you can."

"To what do you refer?"

"If you will waive the charge against me of trying to kill you, I will disclose everything. After all, I did not kill you; and if you will withhold the charge of attempt to murder, I will open my lips."

"You ask a great deal!" cried Vinci, but he did not refuse the man. As rapidly as he could, he told Gilbert of Ucelli's proposal, and said he was disposed to accept it.

"You may be surprised," he said to Gilbert, who was indeed astonished.

"But I will tell you the reason. It is for your sake. If Ucelli makes a full confession, you will learn all you desire to know. Naturally, I have a desire that Ucelli should be punished for his attempt on my life, but I am willing to forego it. By so doing, and in this way obtaining the confession, I acknowledge and repay the obligation you have placed the Ministry of Justice under, for you have put into our hands the means of convicting Ucelli. I am sure this is what the Minister, His Excellency Signor Fava, would have me do."

"It is n.o.ble of you," said Gilbert, warmly, "to give up wreaking vengeance on your own account."

The Italian bowed and smiled pleasantly. He now addressed the Syndic, who had been watching the faces of the two others as they conversed, trying to gather from their expression what they were saying.

"I agree to your proposal," he said to Ucelli. "I will make no personal charge against you. You, on your part, will tell us all--absolutely all without equivocation."

"Yes, Excellency, absolutely all," replied the Syndic, a little colour of hope coming into his pallid cheeks. "With your permission, I will speak in French, which Mr. Eversleigh understands, as does your Excellency, I doubt not."

"Let it be so," a.s.sented the Deputy. "Speak on!"

"I must go back some years, four or five," said Ucelli; "it was then that Silwood first came to Camajore. He made a stay of several weeks, in the course of which he became intimate with me; he often spent the evenings here, playing chess, a game of which I am fond. His holiday at an end, he went back to England. I did not see him again till last July.

I wondered at his coming when cholera was everywhere, but he had an object in view--a scheme, which compelled him to run the risk."

Here the Syndic paused, as if to collect his thoughts.

"You saw him again?" prompted the Deputy.

"Alas, yes! He came to me and tempted me, and I succ.u.mbed. For a sum of money I agreed to a.s.sist him in his scheme. I knew I was doing a criminal act, but the bribe he offered me quieted all my scruples,"

Ucelli resumed. "I am a poor man, and I fell!"