Then suddenly his mind switched off with a jolt; he had forgotten that
the most damning proof of his guilt was in the cabinet opposite the bed,
where he had thrust it. At that very moment he was actually in
possession of the stolen goods; a minute search would be made, even his
own room would not be exempt. He must hide the jewel-case somewhere. But
where? Then he remembered having dropped the keys, and he hunted for
them; but he could not find them. He was getting confused, obfuscated:
he would search for the keys in the morning: perhaps, after all, he had
left them in the dressing-room.
Throughout the remaining hours of that awful night, he lay pondering the
momentous question, at one moment burning with fever, at another icy
cold. The dawn broke, the sun rose, the room grew hot; and the heat gave
him an idea. As the clock struck six, he rose, put on his boating
flannels, and, with his bath towel over his arm, opened the bedroom
door. He had actually forgotten the missing keys! Such lapses are common
to the criminal.
Miriam was a light sleeper--as her awaking at the noise of the falling
chair had proved--she became conscious of his presence and she opened
her eyes.
"Oh, what is it, Percy?" she asked, petulantly and a little nervously.
"I'm going down to the lake for a swim," he said; "it's precious hot
this morning. I left my white shoes in the room."
"No, you didn't," she said, impatiently. "I saw them with your other
boots in the dressing-room yesterday."
"Oh, right!" he said. "Awfully sorry to have disturbed you."
He returned to the dressing-room, arranged the long bath towel over the
jewel-case, and went downstairs. He was too early, as he knew, for any
of the servants to be about, and he went through the lower hall and was
unbolting the outer door when he chanced to glance at the window nearest
it; it was closed by a common hasp, and was without bars. With a little
nod of satisfaction, he opened the window noiselessly; then went out by
the door.
He was about to go through the shrubbery, towards the little wood, at
the bottom of which lay the lake, but it occurred to him that some of
the servants might be getting up and that any movement of his should be
open and free from secrecy. So he went straight across the lawn in the
sauntering fashion of a man going for a bath and enjoying the fresh,
warm air; but when he entered the wood, which was enchanted ground for
Derrick and Celia, he looked round him cautiously; for it was just
possible that one of the gamekeepers might be about; but there was no
sight or sound of anyone, and when he had gained the centre of the wood,
he stopped and looked around him, and presently, after waiting a minute
or two listening intently, he hid the box under a bush and covered it
with the leaves of last autumn. Then, with a sense of relief, for, light
as it was, the jewel-case had weighed upon him like a leaden thing, he
went to the lake, slipped off his things and had his swim.