And he made me do all sorts of things for him. I wouldn't have
cared for myself, but if I tried to refuse he made mother suffer.
She was very, very frightened of him, but she would never leave him.
She didn't dare. There was one night he made me go very late with
a packing-case full of silver things he had, and he wouldn't tell
me where he had got them. I believe he stole them all, but I helped
him pack them, and I took them away the night Mr. Dunsmore came and
gave them to a man wearing a mask. My stepfather said it was just a
secret family matter he was helping some friends in, and later on I
saw the same man in the woods near here one day--the day Mr. Clive
was killed by the poachers--and when he came another time to the
house I thought I must try to find out what he wanted. I listened
while they talked and they said such strange things I made up my
mind to try to warn Mr. Dunsmore, for I was sure there was something
they were plotting."
"There was indeed," said Rupert grimly. "And but for that warning
you sent me they would have succeeded."
"Somehow they found out what I had done," Ella continued. "As soon
as I got back he kept looking at me so strangely. I was afraid--I
had been afraid a long time, for that matter--but I tried not to
show it. In the afternoon he told me to go up to the attic. He
said he wanted me to help him pack some silver.
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