The Moon Rock

orm had passed, but the sea still raged white beneath an inky sky. A faint gleam from a shut

ickly. The door was partly opened, and Thalas

er's sister," was the rep

them to enter. By the light of the lamp he carried they saw

d to Dr. Ravenshaw. "It's you

the doctor looked at him quickly. "What's the

ow. But I'm afeered, ye

eyes averted from the three wondering faces regarding him.

a? Has anything happ

g heavy had crashed down, then silence like the grave. I wen

to break in the door

tort. "I know my place. I was just goi

his happened-since you

gone. Just before y

once, Thalassa," said

t downstairs while we investi

come with you, doctor. Robert may need

call on his courage, followed last. The lamp in Thalassa's hand burnt unsteadily, first flaming angrily, then flickering to a g

ssage above. "See!" He pointed to the gaping door, and then turned to the closed one o

no reply. Far beneath them they could hear the solemn roar of the sea dashing against the cliffs, but there was no sound in the closed

ude like the startling clang of an unexpected bell. "Knock again, Thalassa, mo

recoiled swiftly. "God A'mighty!" he hoa

a sluggish thin dark trickle making its way underneath the doo

le in there," he sa

The door is locked from the inside, and it's two hund

n hysterically. "My poor brother may be dying." She rattled the door-han

Ravenshaw. "Stand away, Mrs. Pendleton

d them with a white face, but did not go to their assistance. At the fourth effo

d in shadow. Then their eyes detected a dark outline on the floor between the table and the window-the figure of a man, lying athwart th

of the swinging lamp. The light revealed the stark form of Robert Turold. At this sight

osing himself in front of her. "I begged of you not to c

was incapable of translating the command into

be calm," Mrs. Pendleton plea

hed him, huddled together, their white faces framed in the shadow of the doorway. In a moment he was on his feet

and her feminine intuition gathered that which he was seeking t

figure, and a small shining thing lying alongside, which he alone had seen. "Come," he said, in a professional manner, taking her by the

him there-like that?"

e churchtown. Go for Sergeant Pengowan, Thalassa, and tell him to come at once. And afterwards you had better c

away. His heavy boots clattered down the staircase and alo

than fireflies, which flickered feebly in their alcoves. They went into the front room, where a table lamp gave

rints of the Cornish coast, and a whitefaced clock on the mantel-piece with a loud clucking tick. Dr. Ravenshaw knew the room well, but Robert Turold's sis

elf all his life for the sake of the ti

h were to come later, when her mind recovered its bearings. For the moment she was incapable of thinking coherently. She was conscious only of the fact that her b

de, crying round the old house like a frightened woman in the dark. Nearly an hour passed before they heard the sound

hers-walked over. Thalassa is waiting at the churchtown for the sergeant, who is away

as though with running, and seem

ting for Pengowan, before he came to me with the news. He gave a great knock at the door of my lodgings like the thunder of doom, and when I go

e just as Thalassa was about to leave it to seek

s. Pendleton sprang from her seat to greet him. Grief and horror were in her look, but surprise c

e cried, "Robert

ponded her brother. "What has happened? Did someb

red that she wished to keep the object of her visit secret from her

Robert again before I returned to London in the morning. So we motor

, then drew Dr. Ravenshaw to the door with a glance. "I shou

d the dead man prone on the floor. Austin approached his brother's corpse, eyed it shudderingly, and turned away. Then he stooped to loo

ill to be found occasionally in old English houses. A landscape scene was painted in the arch above the dial, showing the moon above a wood, in a sky crowded with stars. The moon was depicted as a human face, with eyes which moved in response to the swing of the pendulum. But the pendulum was motionl

ick that

he time you

Maker, me

thief, shall s

d, pointing to a streak of blood on th

ished to see your brother on some private business, and she was very anxious that I should accompany her. Thalassa let us in, and

assa hear

ot, only t

f course. Was my brother qu

The body was

ked from inside,

nd it l

dden train of thought. "But where's the key? I do not see it in the door. Oh, here it is!" He stoope

we were breaking in the

to examine it. "My brother kept private papers in the clock-case," he added. "Yes-it is as I

I were you," couns

eet and placed the p

rt must have shot himself, then tried to get his will from t

ou think?" said

house stands almost on the edge of the cliff, which is nearly two hundred feet high. My feeling is that after my poor brother shot himself he remembered in

y to this imaginary picture of

he destroy himse

sure he made to us this afternoon? It is a mat

thoughtfully. "Yes, pe

errupted by the sound of a

ce," observed Dr. Rave