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diff --git a/16998.txt b/16998.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..488502f --- /dev/null +++ b/16998.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10730 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Betrayal, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Betrayal + + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + + + +Release Date: November 4, 2005 [eBook #16998] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BETRAYAL*** + + +E-text prepared by MRK + + + +THE BETRAYAL + +by + +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +1904 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + II GOOD SAMARITANS + III THE CRY IN THE NIGHT + IV MISS MOYAT'S PROMISE + V THE GRACIOUSNESS OF THE DUKE + VI LADY ANGELA GIVES ME SOME ADVICE + VII COLONEL RAY'S RING + VIII A WONDERFUL OFFER + IX TREACHERY + X AN EXPRESSION OF CONFIDENCE + XI HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS + XII AN ACCIDENT + XIII A BRIBE + XIV A RELUCTANT APOLOGY + XV TWO FAIR CALLERS + XVI LADY ANGELA'S ENGAGEMENT + XVII MORE TREACHERY + XVIII IN WHICH I SPEAK OUT + XIX MRS. SMITH-LESSING + XX TWO TO ONE + XXI LADY ANGELA APPROVES + XXII MISS MOYAT MAKES A SCENE + XXIII MOSTYN RAY EXPLAINS + XXIV LORD BLENAVON'S SURRENDER + XXV MY SECRET + XXVI "NOBLESSE OBLIGE" + XXVII FRIEND OF ENEMY? + XXVIII A WOMAN'S TONGUE + XXIX THE LINK IN THE CHAIN + XXX MOSTYN RAY'S LOVE STORY + XXXI MY FATHER'S LETTER + XXXII A PAINFUL ENCOUNTER + XXXIII THE DUKE'S MESSAGE + XXXIV MYSELF AND MY STEPMOTHER + XXXV ANGELA'S CONFESSION + XXXVI I LOSE MY POST + XXXVII LORD CHELSFORD'S DIPLOMACY + XXXVIII A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY + XXXIX THE TRAITOR + XL THE THEORIES OF A NOVELIST + + + + +THE BETRAYAL + +CHAPTER I + +THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + +Like a clap of thunder, the north wind, rushing seawards, seemed +suddenly to threaten the ancient little building with destruction. The +window sashes rattled, the beams which supported the roof creaked and +groaned, the oil lamps by which alone the place was lit swung perilously +in their chains. A row of maps designed for the instruction of the +young--the place was a schoolhouse--commenced a devil's dance against +the wall. In the street without we heard the crash of a fallen +chimneypot. My audience of four rose timorously to its feet, and I, +glad of the excuse, folded my notes and stepped from the slightly raised +platform on to the floor. + +"I am much obliged to you for coming," I said, "but I think that it is +quite useless to continue, for I can scarcely make you hear, and I am +not at all sure that the place is safe." + +I spoke hastily, my one desire being to escape from the scene of my +humiliation unaccosted. One of my little audience, however, was of a +different mind. Rising quickly from one of the back seats, she barred +the way. Her broad comely face was full of mingled contrition and +sympathy. + +"I am so sorry, Mr. Ducaine," she exclaimed. "It does seem a cruel +pity, doesn't it?--and such a beautiful lecture! I tried so hard to +persuade dad and the others to come, but you know how they all love +hearing anything about the war, and--" + +"My dear Miss Moyat," I interrupted, "I am only sorry that a mistaken +sense of kindness should have brought you here. With one less in the +audience I think I should have ventured to suggest that we all went +round to hear Colonel Ray. I should like to have gone myself +immensely." + +Blanche Moyat looked at me doubtfully. + +"That's all very well," she declared, "but I think it's jolly mean of +the Duke to bring him down here the very night you were giving your +lecture." + +"I do not suppose he knew anything about that," I answered. "In any +case, I can give my lecture again any time, but none of us may ever have +another opportunity of hearing Colonel Ray. Allow me--" + +I opened the door, and a storm of sleet and spray stung our faces. Old +Pegg, who had been there to sell and collect tickets, shouted to us. + +"Shut the door quick, master, or it'll be blown to smithereens. It's a +real nor'easter, and a bad 'un at that. Why, the missie'll hardly +stand. I'll see to the lights and lock up, Master Ducaine. Better be +getting hoam while thee can, for the creeks'll run full to-night." + +Once out in the village street I was spared the embarrassment of +conversation. We had to battle the way step by step. We were drenched +with spray and the driving rain. The wind kept us breathless, mocking +any attempt at speech. We passed the village hall, brilliantly lit; the +shadowy forms of a closely packed crowd of people were dimly visible +through the uncurtained windows. I fancied that my companion's clutch +upon my arm tightened as we hurried past. + +We reached a large grey stone house fronting the street. Miss Moyat +laid her hand upon the handle of the door and motioned to me to enter. + +I shook my head. + +"Not to-night," I shouted. "I am drenched." + +She endeavoured to persuade me. + +"For a few moments, at any rate," she pleaded. "The others will not be +home yet, and I will make you something hot. Father is expecting you to +supper." + +I shook my head and staggered on. At the corner of the street I looked +behind. She was holding on to the door handle, still watching me, her +skirts blowing about her in strange confusion. For a moment I had half +a mind to turn back. The dead loneliness before me seemed imbued with +fresh horrors--the loneliness, my fireless grate and empty larder. +Moyat was at least hospitable. There would be a big fire, plenty to eat +and drink. Then I remembered the man's coarse hints, his unveiled +references to his daughters and his wish to see them settled in life, +his superabundance of whisky and his only half-veiled tone of patronage. +The man was within his rights. He was the rich man of the +neighbourhood, corn dealer, farmer, and horse breeder. I was an unknown +and practically destitute stranger, come from Heaven knew where, and +staying on--because it took a little less to keep body and soul together +here than in the town. But my nerves were all raw that night, and the +thought of John Moyat with his hearty voice and slap on the shoulder was +unbearable. I set my face homewards. + +From the village to my cottage stretched a perfectly straight road, with +dykes on either side. No sooner had I passed the last house, and set my +foot upon the road, than I saw strange things. The marshland, which on +the right reached to the sea, was hung here and there with sheets of +mist driven along the ground like clouds before an April tempest. White +flakes of spray, salt and luminous, were dashed into my face. The sea, +indriven up the creeks, swept the road in many places. The cattle, +trembling with fear, had left the marshland, and were coming, lowing, +along the high path which bordered the dyke. And all the time an +undernote of terror, the thunder of the sea rushing in upon the land, +came like a deep monotonous refrain to the roaring of the wind. + +Through it all I battled my way, hatless, soaked to the skin, yet +finding a certain wild pleasure in the storm. By the time I had reached +my little dwelling I was exhausted. My hair and clothes were in wild +disorder, my boots were like pulp upon my feet. My remaining strength +was expended in closing the door. The fire was out, the place struck +cold. I staggered towards the easy chair, but the floor seemed suddenly +to heave beneath my feet. I was conscious of the fact that for two days +I had had little to eat, and that my larder was empty. My limbs were +giving way, a mist was before my eyes, and the roar of the sea seemed to +be in my ears, even in my brain. My hands went out like a blind man's, +and I suppose broke my fall. There was rest at least in the +unconsciousness which came down like a black pall upon my senses. + +It could only have been a short time before I opened my eyes. Some one +was knocking at the door. Outside I could hear the low panting of a +motor-car, the flashing of brilliant lamps threw a gleam of light across +the floor of my room. Again there came a sharp rapping upon the door. +I raised myself upon my elbow, but I made no attempt at speech. The +motor was the Rowchester Daimler omnibus. What did these people want +with me? I was horribly afraid of being found in such straits. I lay +quite still, and prayed that they might go away. + +But my visitor, whoever he was, had apparently no idea of doing anything +of the sort. I heard the latch lifted, and the tall bulky form of a man +filled the threshold. With him came the wind, playing havoc about my +room, sending papers and ornaments flying around in wild confusion. He +closed the door quickly with a little imprecation. I heard the +scratching of a match, saw it carefully shielded in the hollow of the +man's hand. Then it burned clearly, and I knew that I was discovered. + +The man was wrapped from head to foot in a huge ulster. He was so tall +that his cap almost brushed my ceiling. I raised myself upon my elbow +and looked at him, looked for the first time at Mostyn Ray. He had the +blackest and the heaviest eyebrows I had ever seen, very piercing eyes, +and a finely shaped mouth, firm even to cruelty. I should have known +him anywhere from the pictures which were filling the newspapers and +magazines. My first impression, I think, was that they had done him but +scanty justice. + +As for me, there is no doubt but that I was a pitiful object. Of colour +I had never very much, and my fainting fit could scarcely have improved +matters. My cheeks, I had noticed that morning when shaving, were +hollow, and there were black rims under my eyes. With my disordered +clothing and hair, I must indeed have presented a strange appearance as +I struggled to gain my feet. + +He looked at me, as well he might, in amazement. + +"I would ask you," he said, "to excuse my unceremonious entrance, but +that it seems to have been providential. You have met with an accident, +I am afraid. Allow me." + +He helped me to stagger to my feet, and pushed me gently into the easy +chair. The match burnt out, and he quietly struck another and looked +around the room for a candle or lamp. It was a vain search, for I had +neither. + +"I am afraid," I said, "that I am out of candles--and oil. I got a +little overtired walking here, and my foot slipped in the dark. Did I +understand that you wished to see me?" + +"I did," he answered gravely. "My name is Mostyn Ray--but I think that +we had better have some light. I am going to get one of the motor +lamps." + +"If you could call--in the morning," I began desperately, but he had +already opened and closed the door. I looked around my room, and I +could have sobbed with mortification. The omnibus was lit inside as +well as out, and I knew very well who was there. Already he was talking +with the occupants. I saw a girl lean forward and listen to him. Then +my worst fears were verified. I saw her descend, and they both stood +for a moment by the side of the man who was tugging at one of the huge +lamps. I closed my eyes in despair. + +Once more the wind swept into my room, the door was quickly opened and +closed. A man-servant in his long coat, and cockaded hat tied round his +head with a piece of string, set down the lamp upon my table. Behind, +the girl and Mostyn Ray were talking. + +"The man had better stop," he whispered. "There is the fire to be +made." + +For the first time I heard her voice, very slow and soft, almost +languid, yet very pleasant to listen to. + +"No!" she said firmly. "It will look so much like taking him by storm. +I can assure you that I am by no means a helpless person." + +"And I," he answered, "am a campaigner." + +"Get back as quickly as you can, Richards," she directed, "and get the +things I told you from Mrs. Brown. Jean must bring you back in the +motor." + +Once more the door opened and shut. I heard the swish of her skirts as +she came over towards me. + +"Poor fellow!" she murmured. "I'm afraid that he is very ill." + +I opened my eyes and made an attempt to rise. She laid her hand upon my +shoulder and smiled, + +"Please don't move," she said, "and do forgive us for this intrusion. +Colonel Ray wanted to call and apologize about this evening, and I am so +glad that he did. We are going to take no end of liberties, but you +must remember that we are neighbours, and therefore have privileges." + +What could I say in answer to such a speech as this? As a matter of +fact speech of any sort was denied me; a great sob had stuck in my +throat. They did what was kindest. They left me alone. + +I heard them rummaging about in my back room, and soon I heard the +chopping of sticks. Presently I heard the crackling of flames, and I +knew that a fire had been lit. A dreamy partial unconsciousness +destitute of all pain, and not in itself unpleasant, stole over me. I +felt my boots cut from my feet. I was gently lifted up. Some of my +outer garments were removed. Every now and then I heard their voices, I +heard her shocked exclamation as she examined my larder, I heard the +words "starvation," "exhaustion," scarcely applying them to myself. +Then I heard her call to him softly. She was standing by my bookcase. + +"Do you see this?" she murmured. "'Guy Ducaine, Magdalen,' and the +college coat of arms. They must belong to him, for that is his name." + +I did not hear his answer, but directly afterwards a little exclamation +escaped him. + +"By Jove, what luck! I have my flask with me, after all. Is there a +spoon there, Lady Angela?" + +She brought him one directly. He stooped down, and I felt the metal +strike my teeth. The brandy seemed to set all my blood flowing once +more warmly in my veins. The heat of the fire, too, was delicious. + +And then the strangest thing of all happened. I opened my eyes. My +chair was drawn sideways to the fire and immediately facing the window. +The first thing that I saw was this. Pressed against it, peering into +the room, was the white face of a man, an entire stranger to me. + + + +CHAPTER II + +GOOD SAMARITANS + +They both hurried to my side. I was sitting up in my chair, pointing, +my eyes fixed with surprise. I do not know even now why the incident +should so much have alarmed me, but it is a fact that for the moment I +was palsied with fear. There had been murder in the man's eyes, +loathsome things in his white unkempt face. My tongue clove to the roof +of my mouth. They gave me more brandy, and then I spoke. + +"There was a man--looking in. A man's face there, at the window!" + +Ray took up the lamp and strode to the door. When he returned he +exchanged a significant glance with Lady Angela. + +"There is no one there now, at any rate," he said. "I dare say it was +fancy." + +"It was not," I answered. "It was a man's face--a horrible face." + +"The omnibus is coming back," he said quietly. "The servants shall have +a good look round." + +"I would not worry about it," Lady Angela said, soothingly. "It is easy +to fancy things when one is not well." + +So they meant to treat me like a child. I said nothing, but it was a +long time before my limbs ceased to shake. The tall servant reappeared +with a huge luncheon basket--all manner of delicacies were emptied out +upon my table. Lady Angela was making something in a clip, Ray was +undoing a gold-foiled bottle. Soon I found myself eating and drinking, +and the blood once more was mashing through my veins. I was my own man +again, rescued by charity. And of all the women in the world, fate had +sent this one to play the Lady Bountiful. + +"You are looking better, my young friend," Colonel Ray said presently. + +"I feel-quite all right again, thank you," I answered. "I wish I could +thank you and Lady Angela." + +"You must not attempt anything of the sort," she declared. "My father, +by-the-bye, Mr. Ducaine, wished me to express his great regret that he +should have interfered in any way with your arrangements for this +evening. You know, there are so many stupid people around here who have +never understood anything at all about the war, and he was very anxious +to get Colonel Ray to talk to them. He had no idea, however, that it +was the night fixed for your lecture, and he hopes that you will accept +the loan of the village hall from him any night you like, and we should +so much like all of us to come." + +"His Grace is very kind," I murmured. "I fear, however, that the people +are not very much interested in lectures, even about their own +neighbourhood." + +"I am, at any rate," Lady Angela answered, smiling, "and I think we can +promise you an audience." + +Colonel Ray, who had been standing at the window, came back to us. + +"If I may be permitted to make a suggestion, Lady Angela," he said, "I +think it would be well if you returned home now, and I will follow +shortly on foot." + +"Indeed," I said, "there is no need for you, Colonel Ray, to remain. I +am absolutely recovered now, and the old woman who looks after me will +be here in the morning." + +He seemed scarcely to have heard me. Afterwards, when I knew him +better, I understood his apparent unconcern of any suggestion counter to +his own. He thought slowly and he spoke seldom, but when he had once +spoken the matter, so far as he was concerned, was done with. Lady +Angela apparently was used to him, for she rose at once. She did not +shake hands, but she nodded to me pleasantly. Colonel Ray handed her +into the wagonette, and I heard the quicker throbbing of the engine as +it glided off into the darkness. + +It was several minutes before he returned. I began to wonder whether he +had changed his mind, and returned to Rowchester with Lady Angela. Then +the door handle suddenly turned, and he stepped in. His hair was tossed +with the wind, his shoes were wet and covered with mud, and he was +breathing rather fast, as though he had been running. I looked at him +inquiringly. He offered me no explanation. But on his way to the +chair, which he presently drew up to the fire, he paused for a full +minute by the window, and shading the carriage lamp which he still +carried, with his hand, he looked steadily out into the darkness. A +thought struck me. + +"You have seen him!" I exclaimed. + +He set down the lamp upon the table, and deliberately seated himself. + +"Seen whom?" he asked, producing a pipe and tobacco. + +"The man who looked in--whose face I saw at the window." + +He struck a match and lit his pipe. + +"I have seen no one," he answered quietly. "The face was probably a +fancy of yours. I should recommend you to forget it." + +I looked down at his marsh-stained shoes. One foot was wet to the +ankle, and a thin strip of green seaweed had wound itself around his +trousers. To any other man I should have had more to say. Yet even in +those first few hours of our acquaintance I had become, like all the +others, to some extent the servant of his will, spoken or unspoken. So +I held my peace and looked away into the fire. I felt he had something +to say to me, and I waited. + +He moved his head slowly towards the bookcase. + +"Those books," he asked, "are yours?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Your name then is Guy Ducaine?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you ever know your father?" + + +It was a singular question. I looked at him quickly. His face was +sphinxlike. + +"No. Why do you ask? Did you?" + +He ignored me absolutely for several moments. His whole attention +seemed fixed upon the curling wreath of blue smoke which hung between +us. + +"He died, I suppose," he continued, "when you were about twelve years +old." + +I nodded. + +"My uncle," I said, "gave me a holiday and a sovereign to spend. He +told me that a great piece of good fortune had happened to me." + +Colonel Ray smiled grimly. + +"That was like old Stephen Ducaine," he remarked. "He died himself a +few years afterwards." + +"Three years." + +"He left you ten thousand pounds. What have you done with it?" + +"Mr. Heathcote, of Heathcote, Sons, and Vyse, was my solicitor." + +"Well?" + +I remembered that he had been away from England for several years. + +"The firm failed," I told him, "for a quarter of a million. Mr. +Heathcote shot himself. I am told that there is a probable dividend of +sixpence-half-penny in the pound to come some day." + +Colonel Ray smoked on in silence. This was evidently news to him. + +"Awkward for you," he remarked at last. + +I laughed a little bitterly. I knew quite well that he was expecting me +to continue, and I did so. + +"I sold my things at Magdalen, and paid my debts. I was promised two +pupils if I would take a house somewhere on this coast. I took one and +got ready for them with my last few pounds. Their father died +suddenly--and they did not come. I got rid of the house, at a +sacrifice, and came to this cottage." + +"You took your degree?" + +"With honours." + +He blew out more smoke. + +"You are young," he said, "a gentleman by birth, and I should imagine a +moderate athlete. You have an exceptional degree, and I presume a fair +knowledge of the world. Yet you appear to be deliberately settling down +here to starve." + +"I can assure you," I answered, "that the deliberation is lacking. I +have no fear of anything of the sort. I expect to get some pupils in +the neighbourhood, and also some literary work. For the moment I am a +little hard up, and I thought perhaps that I might make a few shillings +by a lecture." + +"Of the proceeds of which," he remarked, with a dry little smile, "I +appear to have robbed you." + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"I hoped for little but a meal or two from it," I answered. "The only +loss is to my self-respect. I owe to charity what I might have earned." + +He took his pipe from his mouth and looked at me with a thin derisive +smile. + +"You talk," he said, "like a very young man. If you had knocked about +in all corners of the world as I have you would have learnt a greater +lesson from a greater book. When a man meets brother man in the wilds, +who talks of charity? They divide goods and pass on. Even the savages +do this." + +"These," I ventured to remark, "are not the wilds." + +He sighed and replaced his pipe in his mouth. + +"You are young, very young," he remarked, thoughtfully. "You have that +beastly hothouse education, big ideas on thin stalks, orchids instead of +roses, the stove instead of the sun. The wilds are everywhere--on the +Thames Embankment, even in this God-forsaken corner of the world. The +wilds are wherever men meet men." + +I was silent. Who was I to argue with Ray, whose fame was in every +one's mouth--soldier, traveller, and diplomatist? For many years he had +been living hand and glove with life and death. There were many who +spoke well of him, and many ill--many to whom he was a hero, many to +whom his very name was like poison. But he was emphatically not a man +to contradict. In my little cottage he seemed like a giant, +six-foot-two, broad, and swart with the burning fire of tropical suns. +He seemed to fill the place, to dominate me and my paltry surroundings, +even as in later years I saw him, the master spirit in a great assembly, +eagle-eyed, strenuous, omnipotent. There was something about him which +made other men seem like pygmies. There was force in the stern +self-repression of his speech, in the curve of his lips, the clear +lightning of his eyes. + +My silence did not seem altogether to satisfy him. I felt his eyes +challenge mine, and I was forced to meet his darkly questioning gaze. + +"Come," he said, "I trust that I have said enough. You have buried the +thought of that hateful word." + +"You have stricken it mortally," I answered, "but I can scarcely promise +so speedy a funeral. However, what more I feel," I added, "I will keep +to myself." + +"It would be better," he answered curtly. + +"You have asked me," I said, "many questions. I am emboldened to ask +you one. You have spoken of my father." + +The look he threw upon me was little short of terrible. + +"Ay," he answered, "I have spoken of him. Let me tell you this, young +man. If I believed that you were a creature of his breed, if I believed +that a drop of his black blood ran in your veins, I would take you by +the neck now and throw you into the nearest creek where the water was +deep enough to drown." + +I rose to my feet, trembling. + +"If those are your feelings, sir," I declared, "I have no wish to claim +your kindness." + +"Sit down, boy," he answered coldly. "I have no fear of you. Nature +does not pay us so evil a trick as to send us two such as he in +successive generations." + +He rose and looked out of the window. The storm had abated but little. +The roar of the sea and wind was still like thunder in the air. Black +clouds were driven furiously across the sky, torrents of rain and spray +beat every now and then upon the window. He turned back and examined +the carriage lamp. + +"It is an awful night," I said. "I cannot offer you a bed unless you +will take mine, but I can bring rugs and a pillow to the fire if you +will lie there." + +Then for the only time in my life I saw him hesitate. He looked out of +my uncurtained window into the night. Very often have I wondered what +thought it was that passed then through his brain. + +"I thank you," he said; "the walk is nothing, and they will expect me at +Rowchester. You have pencil and paper. Write down what I tell +you.--Colonel Mostyn Ray, No. 17, Sussex Square. You have that? Good! +It is my address. Presently I think you will get tired of your life +here. Come then to me. I may be able to show you the way--" + +"Out of the conservatory," I interrupted, smiling. + +He nodded, and took up the lantern. To my surprise, he did not offer to +shake hands. Without another word he passed out into the darkness. + +In my dreams that night I fancied that a strange cry came ringing to my +ears from the marshes--a long-drawn-out cry of terror, ending in a sob. +I was weary, and I turned on my side again and slept. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CRY IN THE NIGHT + +"You'd be having company last night, sir?" Mrs. Hollings remarked +inquisitively. Mrs. Hollings was an elderly widow, who devoted two +hours of her morning to cleaning my rooms and preparing my breakfast. + +"Some friends did call," I answered, pouring out the coffee. + +"Friends! Good Samaritans I should call 'em," Mrs. Hollings declared, +"if so be as they left all the things I found here this morning. Why, +there's a whole chicken, to say nothing of tongue and biscuits, and +butter, and relishes, and savouries, the names of which isn't often +heard in this part of the world. There's wine, too, with gold paper +round the top, champagne wine, I do believe." + +"Is the tide up this morning?" I asked. + +"None to speak of," Mrs. Hollings answered, "though the road's been +washed dry, and the creeks are brimming. I've scarcely set foot in the +village this morning, but they're all a-talking about the soldier +gentleman the Duke brought down to the village hall last night. Might +you have seen him, sir?" + +"Yes, I saw him," I answered. + +"A sad shame as it was the night of your lecture, sir," the woman +babbled on, "for they were all crazy to hear him. My! the hall was +packed." + +"Would you mind seeing to my room now, Mrs. Hollings?" I asked. "I am +going out early this morning." + +Mrs. Hollings ascended my frail little staircase. I finished my +breakfast in haste, and catching up my hat escaped out of doors. + +I shall never forget the glory of that morning. The sky was blue and +cloudless, the sun was as hot as though this were indeed a midsummer +morning. The whole land, saturated still with the fast receding sea, +seemed to gleam and glitter with a strange iridescence. Great pools in +unaccustomed places shone like burnished silver, the wet sands were +sparkling and brilliant, the creeks had become swollen rivers full of +huge masses of emerald seaweed, running far up into the marshland and +spreading themselves out over the meadows beyond. There was salt in the +very atmosphere. I felt it on my tongue, and my cheeks were rough with +it. Overhead the seagulls in great flocks were returning from shelter, +screaming as though with joy as they dived down to the sea. It was a +wonderful morning. + +About two hundred yards past my cottage the road, which from the village +ran perfectly straight, took a sharp turn inland, leaving the coast +abruptly on account of the greater stretch of marshland beyond. It was +towards this bend that I walked, and curiously enough, with every step I +took some inexplicable sense of nervous excitement grew stronger and +stronger within me. The fresh morning air and the sunlight seemed +powerless to dissipate for a moment the haunting terror of last night. +It was a real face which I had seen pressed against the window, and +where had Ray been when he returned with sand-clogged boots and the +telltale seaweed upon his trousers? And later on, had I dreamed it, or +had there really been a cry? It came back to me with horrible +distinctness. It was a real cry, the cry of a man in terror for his +life. I stopped short in the road and wiped my damp forehead. What a +fool I was! The night was over. Here in the garish day there was +surely nothing to fear? Nevertheless, I, who had started out thirsting +only to breathe the fresh salt air, now walked along with stealthy +nervous footsteps, looking all the time from left to right, starting at +the sight of a dark log on the sands, terrified at a broken buoy which +had floated up one of the creeks. Some fear had come over me which I +could not shake off. I was afraid of what I might see. + +So I walked to the bend of the road. Here, in case the turn might be +too sharp for some to see at night, a dozen yards or so of white posts +and railings bordered the marshes. I leaned over them for a moment, +telling myself that I paused only to admire the strange colours drawn by +the sunlight from the sea-soaked wilderness, the deep brown, the strange +purple, the faint pink of the distant sands. But it was none of these +which my eyes sought with such fierce eagerness. It was none of the +artist's fervour which turned my limbs into dead weights, which drew the +colour even from my lips, and set my heart beating with fierce quick +throbs. Half in the creek and half out, not a dozen yards from the +road, was the figure of a man. His head and shoulders were beneath the +water, his body and legs and outstretched arms were upon the marsh. And +although never before had I looked upon death, I knew very well that I +was face to face with it now. + +How long it was before I moved I cannot tell. At last, however, I +climbed the palings, jumped at its narrowest point a smaller creek, and +with slow footsteps approached the dead man. Even when I stood by his +side I dared not touch him, I dared not turn him round to see his face. +I saw that he was of middle size, fairly well dressed, and as some blown +sand had drifted over his boots and ankles I knew that he had been there +for some hours. There was blood upon his collar, and the fingers of his +right hand were tightly clenched. I told myself that I was a coward, +and I set my teeth. I must lift his head from the water, and cover him +up with my own coat while I fetched help. But when I stooped down a +deadly faintness came over me. My fingers were palsied with horror. I +had a sudden irresistible conviction I could not touch him. It was a +sheer impossibility. There was something between us more potent than +the dread of a dead man--something inimical between us two, the dead and +the living. I staggered away and ran reeling to the road, plunging +blindly through the creek. + +About two hundred yards further down the road was a small lodge at one +of the entrances of Rowchester. It was towards this I turned and ran. +The door was closed, and I beat upon it fiercely with clenched fists. +The woman who answered it stared at me strangely. I suppose that I was +a wild-looking object. + +"It's Mr. Ducaine, isn't it?" she exclaimed. "Why, sakes alive! +what's wrong, sir?" + +"A dead man in the marshes," I faltered. + +She was interested enough, but her comely weather-hardened face +reflected none of the horror which she must have seen on mine. + +"Lordy me! whereabouts, sir?" she inquired. + +I pointed with a trembling forefinger. She stood by my side on the +threshold of the cottage and shaded her eyes with her hand, for the +glare of the sun was dazzling. + +"Well, I never did!" she remarked. "But I said to John last night that +I pitied them at sea. He's been washed up by the tide, I suppose, and I +count there'll be more before the day's out. A year come next September +there was six of 'em, gentlefolk, too, who'd been yachting. Eh, but +it's a cruel thing is the sea." + +"Where is your husband?" I asked. + +"Up chopping wood in Fernham Spinney," she answered. "I'd best send one +of the children for him. He'll have a cart with him. Will you step +inside, sir?" + +I shook my head and answered her vaguely. She sent a boy with a +message, and brought me out a chair, dusting it carefully with her +apron. + +"You'd best sit down, sir. You look all struck of a heap, so to speak. +Maybe you came upon it sudden." + +I was glad enough to sit down, but I answered her at random. She +re-entered the cottage and continued some household duties. I sat quite +still, with my eyes steadily fixed upon a dark object a little to the +left of those white palings. Above my head a starling in a wicker cage +was making an insane cackling, on the green patch in front a couple of +tame rabbits sat and watched me, pink-eyed, imperturbable. Inside I +could hear the slow ticking of an eight-day clock. The woman was +humming to herself as she worked. All these things, which my senses +took quick note of and retained, seemed to me to belong to another +world. I myself was under some sort of spell. My brain was numb with +terror, the fire of life had left my veins, so that I sat there in the +warm sunshine and shivered until my teeth chattered. Inside, the woman +was singing over her work. + +And then the spell developed. A nameless but loathsome fascination drew +me from my seat, drew me with uneven and reluctant footsteps out of the +gate and down the narrow straight road. There was still not a soul in +sight. I drew nearer and nearer to the spot. Once more I essayed to +move him. It was utterly in vain. Such nerve as I possessed had left +me wholly and altogether. A sense of repulsion, nauseating, invincible, +made a child of me. I stood up and looked around wildly. It was then +for the first time I saw what my right foot had trodden into the sand. + +I picked it up, and a little cry, unheard save by the sea-birds which +circled about my head, broke from my lips. It was a man's signet ring, +thin and worn smooth with age. It was quaintly shaped, and in the +centre was set a small jet-black stone. The device was a bird, and +underneath the motto--"Vinco!" + +My hand closed suddenly upon it, and again I looked searchingly around. +There was not a soul in sight. I slipped the ring into my waistcoat +pocket and moved back to the white railings. I leaned against them, +and, taking a pipe and tobacco from my pocket, began to smoke. + +Strangely enough, I had now recovered my nerve. I was able to think and +reason calmly. The woman at the lodge had taken it for granted that +this man's body had been thrown up by the sea. Was that a possible +conclusion? There was a line all down the sands where the tide had +reached, a straggling uneven line marked with huge masses of wet +seaweeds, fragments of timber, the flotsam and jetsam of the sea. The +creek where the man's body was lying was forty yards above this. Yet on +such a night who could say where those great breakers, driven in by the +wind as well as by their own mighty force, might not have cast their +prey? Within a few yards of him was a jagged mass of timber. The cause +of those wounds would be obvious enough. I felt the ring in my +waistcoat pocket--it was there, safely enough hidden, and I looked +toward the lodge. As yet there were no signs of John or the cart. + +But behind me, coming from the village, I heard the sound of light and +rapid footsteps. I turned my head. It was Blanche Moyat, +short-skirted, a stick in her hand, a feather stuck through her +Tam-o'-Shanter. + +"Good-morning," she cried out heartily; "I've been to call at your +cottage." + +"Very kind of you," I answered, hesitatingly. Miss Moyat was +good-hearted, but a little overpowering--and in certain moods she +reminded me of her father. + +"Oh, I had an errand," she explained, laughing. "Father said if I saw +you I was to say that he has to call on the Duke this afternoon, and, +if you liked, he would explain about your lecture last night, and try +and get the village hall for you for nothing. The Duke is very +good-natured, and if he knows that he spoilt your evening, father thinks +he might let you have it for nothing." + +"It is very kind of your father," I answered. "I do not think that I +shall ever give that lecture again." + +"Why not?" she protested. "I am sure I thought it a beautiful lecture, +and I'm not keen on churches and ruins myself," she added, with a laugh +which somehow grated upon me. "What are you doing here?" + +"Watching the dead," I answered grimly. + +She looked at me for an explanation. I pointed to the dark object by +the side of the creek. She gave a violent start. Then she screamed and +caught hold of my arm. + +"Mr. Ducaine!" she cried. "What is it?" + +"A dead man!" I answered. + +Her face was a strange study. There was fear mingled with unwholesome +curiosity, the heritage of her natural lack of refinement. She leaned +over the palings. + +"Oh, how horrible!" she exclaimed. "I don't know whether I want to look +or not. I've never seen any one dead." + +"I should advise you," I said, "to go away." + +It was apparently the last thing she desired to do. Of the various +emotions which had possessed her, curiosity was the one which survived. + +"You are sure he is dead?" she asked. + +"Quite," I answered. + +"Was he drowned, then?" + +"I think," I replied, "that he has been washed up by the tide. There +has probably been a shipwreck." + +"Gracious!" she exclaimed. "It is just a sailor, then?" + +"I have not looked at his face," I answered, "and I should not advise +you to. He has been tossed about and injured. His clothes, though, are +not a seaman's." + +She passed through a gap in the palings. + +"I must look just a little closer," she exclaimed. "Do come with me, +Mr. Ducaine. I'm horribly afraid." + +"Then don't go near him," I advised. "A dead man is surely not a +pleasant spectacle for you. Come away, Miss Moyat." + +But she had advanced to within a couple of yards of him. Then she +stopped short, and a little exclamation escaped from her lips. + +"Why, Mr. Ducaine," she cried out, "this is the very man who stopped me +last night outside our house, and asked the way to your cottage." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MISS MOYAT'S PROMISE + +We stood looking at one another on the edge of the marsh. In the clear +morning sunlight I had no chance of escape or subterfuge. There was +terror in my face, and she could see it. + +"You--you cannot be sure!" I exclaimed. "It may not be the same man." + +"It is the same man," she answered confidently. "He stopped me and +asked if I could direct him to your house. It was about half an hour +after you had gone. He spoke very softly and almost like a foreigner. +I told him exactly where your cottage was. Didn't he come to you?" + +"No," I answered. "I have never seen him before in my life." + +"Why do you look--so terrified?" she asked. "You are as pale as a +ghost." + +I clutched hold of the railings. She came over to my side. Up the road +I heard in the distance the crunching of heavy wheels. A wagon was +passing through the lodge gates. John, the woodman, was walking with +unaccustomed briskness by the horses' heads, cracking his whip as he +came. I looked into the girl's face by my side. + +"Miss Moyat," I said hoarsely, "can't you forget that you saw this man?" + +"Why?" she asked bewildered. + +"I don't want to be dragged into it," I answered, glancing nervously +over my shoulder along the road. "Don't you see that if he is just +found here with his head and shoulders in the creek, and nothing is +known about him, they will take it that he has been washed up by the sea +in the storm last night? But if it is known that he came from the land, +that he was seen in the village asking for me--then there will be many +things said." + +"I don't see as it matters," she answered, puzzled. "He didn't come, +and you don't know anything about him. But, of course, if you want me +to say nothing--" + +She paused. I clutched her arm. + +"Miss Moyat," I said, "I have strong reasons for not wishing to be +brought into this." + +"All right," she said, dropping her voice. "I will do--as you ask." + +There was an absurd meaning in her little side-glance, which at another +time would have put me on my guard. But just then I was engrossed with +my own vague fears. I forgot even to remove my hand from her arm. So +we were standing, when a moment later the silence was broken by the +sound of a galloping horse coming fast across the marshes. We started +aside. Lady Angela reined in a great bay mare a few yards away from us. +Her habit was all bespattered with mud. She had evidently ridden across +country from one of the private entrances to the Park. + +"What is this terrible story, Mr. Ducaine?" she exclaimed. "Is there +really a shipwreck? I can see no signs of it." + +"No shipwreck that I know of, Lady Angela," I answered. "There is a +dead man here--one only. I have heard of nothing else." + +Her eyes followed my outstretched hand, and she saw the body half on the +sands, half on the marsh. She shivered a little. + +"Poor fellow!" she exclaimed. "Is it any one from the village, Mr. +Ducaine?" + +"It is a stranger, Lady Angela," I answered. "We think that his body +must have been washed in from the sea." + +She measured the distance from high-water mark with a glance, and shook +her head. + +"Too far away," she declared. + +"There was a wild sea last night," I answered, "and such a tide as I +have never seen here before." + +"What are you doing with it?" she asked, pointing with her whip. + +"John Hefford is bringing a wagon," I answered. "I suppose he had +better take it to the police station." + +She wheeled her horse round. + +"I am glad that it is no worse," she said. "There are reports going +about of a terrible shipwreck. I trust that you are feeling better, Mr. +Ducaine?" + +"I am quite recovered--thanks to your kindness and Colonel Ray's," I +answered. + +She nodded. + +"You will hear from my father during the day," she said. "He is quite +anxious to come to your lecture. Good-morning." + +"Good-morning, Lady Angela." + +She galloped away. Miss Moyat turned towards me eagerly. + +"Why, Mr. Ducaine," she exclaimed, "I had no idea that you knew Lady +Angela." + +"Nor do I," I answered shortly. "Our acquaintance is of the slightest." + +"What did she mean about the lecture?" + +I affected not to hear. John the wagoner had pulled up his team by the +side of the palings, and was touching his hat respectfully. + +"Another job for the dead 'ouse, sir, my missis tells me." + +"There is the body of a dead man here, John," I answered, "washed up by +the tide, I suppose. It isn't an uncommon occurrence here, is it?" + +"Lor bless you, no, sir," the man answered, stepping over the palings. +"I had three of them here in one month last year. If you'll just give +me a hand, sir, we'll take him down to the police station." + +I set my teeth and advanced towards the dead man. John Hefford proved +at once that he was superior to all such trifles as nerves. He lifted +the body up and laid it for the first time flat upon the sands. + +"My! he's had a nasty smash on the head," John remarked, looking down +at him with simple curiosity. "Quite the gent too, I should say. Will +you give me a hand, sir, and we'll have him in the wagon." + +So I was forced to touch him after all. Nevertheless I kept my eyes as +far as possible from the ghastly face with the long hideous wound across +it. I saw now, however, in one swift unwilling glance, what manner of +man this was. He had thin features, a high forehead, deep-set eyes too +close together, a thin iron-grey moustache. Whatever his station in +life may have been, he was not of the labouring classes, for his hands +were soft and his nails well cared for. We laid him in the bottom of +the wagon, and covered him over with a couple of sacks. John cracked +the whip and strode along by the side of the horses. Blanche Moyat and +I followed behind. + +She was unusually silent, and once or twice I caught her glancing +curiously at me, as though she had something which it was in her mind to +say, but needed encouragement. As we neared my cottage she asked me a +question. + +"Why don't you want me to say that I saw this man in the village last +night, and that he asked for you, Mr. Ducaine? I can't understand what +difference it makes. He may have spoken to others besides me, and then +it is bound to be known. What harm can it do you?" + +"I cannot explain how I feel about it," I answered. "I am not sure that +I know myself. Only you must see that if it were known that he set out +from the village last night to call upon me, people might say unpleasant +things." + +She lowered her voice. + +"You mean--that they might suspect you of killing him?" + +"Why not? Nobody knows much about me here, and it would seem +suspicious. It was I who found him, and only a few hundred yards from +my cottage. If it were known that he had left the village last night to +see me, don't you think that it would occur to any one to wonder if we +had met--and quarrelled? There could be no proof, of course, but the +mere suggestion is unpleasant enough." We were in the middle of the open +road, and the wagon was several yards in front. Nevertheless she drew a +little closer to me, and almost whispered in my ear-- + +"Do you know who he is, what he wanted to see you about?" + +"I have no idea," I answered. "I am quite sure that I never saw him +before in my life." + +"Did you see him last night?" she asked. + +"Not to speak to," I answered. "I did catch just a glimpse of him, I +believe, in rather a strange way. But that was all." + +"What do you mean + +"I saw him looking in through my window, but he came no nearer. Lady +Angela and Colonel Ray were in the room." + +"In your room?" + +"Yes. Colonel Ray called to say that he was sorry to have spoilt my +lecture." + +"And Lady Angela?" + +"Yes." + +"She came in too?" + +The girl's open-mouthed curiosity irritated me. + +"I happened to be ill when Colonel Ray came. They were both very kind +to me." + +"This man, then," she continued, "he looked in and went away?" + +"I suppose so," I answered. "I saw no more of him." + +She turned towards me breathlessly. + +"I don't see how a fall could have killed him, or how he could have +wandered off into the marshes just there. The creek isn't nearly deep +enough to have drowned him unless he had walked deliberately in and lain +down. He was quite sober, too, when he spoke to me. Mr. Ducaine, how +did he die? What killed him?" + +I shook my head. + +"If I could answer you these questions," I said, "I should feel much +easier in my own mind. But I cannot. I know no more about it than you +do." + +We were both silent for a time, but I saw that there was a new look in +her face. It was a welcome relief when a groom from Rowchester overtook +us and pulled up his horse by our side. + +"Are you Mr. Ducaine, sir?" he asked, touching his hat. + +"Yes," I answered. + +"I have a note for you from his Grace, sir," he said. "I was to take +back an answer if I found you at home." + +He handed it to me, and I tore it open. It contained only a few lines, +in a large sprawling hand-writing. + +"ROWCHESTER, Wednesday Morning. + +"The Duke of Rowchester presents his compliments to Mr. Ducaine, and +would be much obliged if he could make it convenient to call upon him at +Rowchester between three and four o'clock this afternoon." + +I folded the note up and turned to the groom. + +"Will you tell his Grace," I said, "that you found me on the road, and I +was unable, therefore, to write my answer, but I will call at the time +he mentions?" + +The man touched his hat and rode away. Blanche Moyat, who had been +standing a few yards off, rejoined me. + +"Has the Duke sent for you to go there?" she asked, with obvious +curiosity. + +"Yes. He has offered to lend me the village hall," I told her. "I +expect that is what he wants to see me about." + +She tossed her head. + +"You didn't tell me so just now when I told you that father had offered +to speak about it," she remarked. + +"I am afraid," I said, gravely, "my mind was full of more serious +matters." + +She said no more until we reached the front of the Moyats' house. Then +she did not offer me her hand, but she stood quite close to me, and +spoke in an unnaturally low tone. + +"You wish me, then," she said, "not to mention about that man--his +asking the way to your cottage?" + +"It seems quite unnecessary," I answered, "and it would only mean that I +should be bothered with questions which I could not answer." + +"Very well," she said, "Good-bye!" + +I shuddered to myself as I followed the wagon down the narrow street +towards the police station. A strange reserve had crept into her manner +during the latter portion of our walk. There was something in her mind +which she shrank from putting into words. Did she believe that I was +responsible for this grim tragedy which had so suddenly thrown its +shadow over my humdrum little life? + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GRACIOUSNESS OF THE DUKE + +At a quarter-past three that afternoon I was ushered into the presence +of the Duke of Rowchester. I had never seen him before, and his +personality at once interested me. He was a small man, grey-haired, +keen-eyed, clean shaven. He received me in a somewhat bare apartment, +which he alluded to as his workroom, and I found him seated before a +desk strewn with papers. He rose immediately at my entrance, and I +could feel that he was taking more than usual note of my appearance. + +"You are Mr. Ducaine," he said, holding out his hand. "I am very glad +to see you." + +He motioned me to a chair facing the window, a great uncurtained affair, +through which the north light came flooding in, whilst he himself sat in +the shadows. + +"I trust," he said, "that you have quite recovered from your last +night's indisposition. My daughter has been telling me about it." + +"Quite, thank you," I answered. "Lady Angela and Colonel Ray were very +kind to me." + +He nodded, and then glanced at the papers on his desk. + +"I have been going through several matters connected with the estate, +Mr. Ducaine," he said, "and I have come across one which concerns you." + +"The proposed lease of the Grange," I remarked. + +"Exactly. It seems that you arranged a three years' tenancy with Mr. +Hulshaw, my agent, and were then not prepared to carry it out." + +"It was scarcely my own fault," I interposed. "I explained the +circumstances to Mr. Hulshaw. I was promised two pupils if I took a +suitable house in this neighbourhood, but, after all my plans were +concluded, their father died unexpectedly, and their new guardian made +other arrangements." + +"Exactly," the Duke remarked. "The only reason why I have alluded to +the matter is that I disapprove of the course adopted by my agent, who, +I believe, enforced the payment of a year's rent from you." + +"He was within his rights, your Grace," I said. + +"He may have been," the Duke admitted, "but I consider his action +arbitrary. Not only that, but it was unnecessary, for he has already +found another tenant for the place. I have instructed him, therefore, +to send you a cheque for the amount you paid him, less the actual cost +of preparing the lease." + +Now my entire capital at that moment was something under three +shillings. A gift of fifty pounds, therefore, which after all was not a +gift but only the just return of my own money, was more than +opportune--it was Heaven-sent. If I could have given way to my feelings +I should have sprung up and wrung the little man's hands. As it was, +however, I expect my face betrayed my joy. "Your Grace is exceedingly +kind," I told him. "The money will be invaluable to me just now." + +The Duke inclined his head. + +"I am only sorry," he said, "that Hulshaw should have exacted it. It +shows how impossible it is to leave the conduct of one's affairs wholly +in the hands of another person. Now there is a further matter, Mr. +Ducaine, concerning which I desired to speak to you. I refer to your +projected lecture last night." + +"I beg that your Grace will not allude to it," I said, hastily. "It is +really of very little importance." The Duke had a habit which I began at +this time to observe. He appeared to enter into all discussions with +his mind wholly made up upon the subject, and any interruptions and +interpolations he simply endured with patience, and then continued on +his way without the slightest reference to them. He sat during my +remark with half-closed eyes, and when I had finished he went on, wholly +ignoring it-- + +"This is a strange little corner of the world," he said, "and the minds +of the people here are for the most part like the minds of little +children; they need forming. I have heard some remarks concerning the +war from one or two of my tenants which have not pleased me. +Accordingly, while Colonel Ray was here, I thought it an excellent +opportunity to endeavour to instruct them as to the real facts of the +case. It was not until after the affair was arranged--not, indeed, +until I was actually in the hall--that I heard of our misfortune in +selecting the evening which you had already reserved for your own +lecture. I trust that you will allow me to offer you the free use of +the hall for any other date which you may select. My people here, and I +myself, shall esteem it a pleasure to be amongst your audience." + +I was quite overwhelmed. I could only murmur my thanks. The Duke went +on to speak for a while on general matters, and then skilfully brought +the conversation back again to myself and my own affairs. Before I knew +where I was I found myself subjected to a close and merciless +cross-examination. My youth, my college career, my subsequent +adventures seemed all to be subjects of interest to him, and I, although +every moment my bewilderment increased, answered him with the obedience +of a schoolboy. + +It came to an end at last. I found myself confronted with a question +which, if I had answered it truthfully, must have disclosed my penniless +condition. I rose instead to my feet. + +"Your Grace will excuse me," I said, "but I am taking up too much of +your time. It is not possible that these small personal details can be +of any interest to you." + +He waved me back to my chair, which I did not, however, immediately +resume. I was not in the least offended. The Duke's manner throughout, +and the framing of his questions, had been too tactful to awaken any +resentment. But I had no fancy for exposing my ill-luck and +friendless state to any one. I was democrat enough to feel that a +cross-examination which would have been impertinent in anybody else was +becoming a little too personal even from the Duke of Rowchester. + +"Sit down, Mr. Ducaine," he said. "I do not blame you for resenting +what seems to be curiosity, but you must take my word for it that it is +nothing of the sort. I can perhaps explain myself better by asking you +still another sort of question. Are you in a position to accept a post +of some importance?" + +I looked at him in surprise, as well I might. + +"Sit down, Mr. Ducaine," he repeated. "I have said enough, I hope, to +prove that I am not trifling with you." + +"You have managed, at any rate, to surprise me very much, your Grace," I +said. "I am eager to receive employment of any sort. May I ask what it +was that you had in view?" + +He shook his head slowly. + +"I cannot tell you to-day," he said. "It is a matter upon which I +should have to consult others." + +A sudden thought struck me. + +"May I ask at whose suggestion you thought of me?" I asked. + +"It was Colonel Ray who pointed out certain necessary qualifications +which you possess," the Duke answered. "I shall report to him, and to +some others, the result of our conversation, and I presume you have no +objection to my making such inquiries as I think necessary concerning +you?" + +"None whatever," I answered. + +The Duke rose to his feet. I took up my cap. + +"If Colonel Ray is in," I said, "and it is not inconvenient, I should be +glad to see him for a moment." + +"Colonel Ray left unexpectedly by the first train this morning," the +Duke answered, looking at me keenly. + +I gave no sign, but my heart sank. + +"If it is anything important I can give you his address," he remarked. + +"Thank you," I answered, "it is of no consequence." + +There was a moment's silence. It seemed to me that the Duke was +watching me with peculiar intentness. + +"Ray stayed with you late last night," he remarked. + +"Colonel Ray was very kind," I answered. + +"By-the-bye," he said, "I hear that some stranger lost his life in the +storm last night. You found the body, did you not?" + +"Yes," I answered. "There was a great deal of wreckage on the shore +this morning." + +The Duke nodded. + +"It was no one belonging to the neighbourhood, I understand?" he asked. + +"The man was a stranger to all of us," I answered. + +The Duke stood with knitted brows. He seemed on the point of asking me +some other question, but apparently he abandoned the idea. He nodded +again and rang the bell. I was dismissed. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY ANGELA GIVES ME SOME ADVICE + +Rowchester was a curious medley of a house, a mixture of farmhouse, +mansion, and castle, added to apparently in every generation by men with +varying ideas of architecture. The front was low and irregular, and a +grey stone terrace ran the entire length, with several rows of steps +leading down into the garden. On one of these, as I emerged from the +house, Lady Angela was standing talking to a gardener. She turned round +at the sound of my footsteps, and came at once towards me. + +She was bareheaded, and looked as straight and slim as a dart. I +fancied that she could be no more than eighteen, her figure and face +were so girlish. The quiet composure of her manner, however, and the +subdued yet graceful ease of her movements, were so suggestive of the +"great lady," that it was hard to believe that she was indeed little +more than a schoolgirl. + +"I hope that you are better, Mr. Ducaine," she said. + +"Thank you, Lady Angela, I have quite recovered," I answered. + +She looked at me critically. + +"I can assure you," she said, "that you look a very different person. +You gave us quite a fright last night." + +"I am ashamed to have been so much trouble," I answered. "Such a thing +has never happened to me before." + +"You must take more care of yourself," she said gravely. "I hope that +my father has expressed himself properly about the lecture." + +"His Grace has been very kind," I answered. "He has promised me the +free use of the hall at any time." + +"Of course," she said. "I hope that you will give your lecture soon. I +am looking forward very much to hearing it. This always seems to me +such a quaint, fascinating corner of the world that I love to read and +hear all that people have to say about it." + +"You are very kind," I said; "but if you come I am afraid you will be +bored. The notes which I have put together are prepared for the +comprehension of the village people." + +"So much the better," she declared. "I prefer anything which does not +make too great a strain upon the intellect. Besides, it is the very +simplicity of this country which makes it so beautiful." + +"Yet it is a land," I remarked, "of elusive charms." + +"Sometimes, unless they are pointed out," she replied, "by one who has +the eye and ear for nature, these are the hardest to appreciate. Only +the other evening I was standing upon the cliffs, and I thought what a +dreary waste of marshes and sands the place was, and then a single gleam +of late sunshine seemed to transform everything. There is hidden +colour everywhere if one looks closely enough, and I suppose it is true +that the most beautiful things in the world are those which remain just +below the surface--a little invisible until one searches for them. +By-the-bye, Mr. Ducaine," she added, "if you are on your way home I can +show you a path which will save you nearly half the distance." + +"You are very kind, Lady Angela," I answered. "Cannot I find it, +though, without taking you out of your way?" + +She smiled. + +"You might," she said, "but I walk down to the cliffs every afternoon. +I was just starting when you came. It is quite a regular pilgrimage +with me. All day long we hear the sea, but except from the upper +windows we have no clear view of it. This is the path." + +We crossed the Park together. All the while she talked to me easily and +naturally of the country around, the great antiquity of its landmarks, +the survival of many ancient customs and almost obsolete forms of +speech. At last we came to a small plantation, through which we emerged +on to the cliffs. Here, to my surprise, we came upon a quaintly shaped +grey stone cottage almost hidden by the trees. I had passed on the +sands below many times without seeing it. + +"Rather a strange situation for a house, is it not?" Lady Angela +remarked. "My grandfather built it for an old pensioner, but I do not +think that it has been occupied for some time." + +"It is marvellously hidden," I said. "I never had the least idea that +there was a house here at all." + +We stood now on the edge of the cliff, and she pointed downwards. + +"There is a little path there, you see, leading to the sands," she said. +"It saves you quite half the distance to your cottage if you do not mind +a scramble. You must take care just at first. So many of the stones +are loose." + +I understood that I was dismissed, and I thanked her and turned away. +But she almost immediately called me back. + +"Mr. Ducaine!" + +"Lady Angela?" + +Her dark eyes were fixed curiously upon my face. She seemed to be +weighing something in her mind. I had a fancy that when she spoke again +it would be without that deliberation--almost restraint--which seemed to +accord a little strangely with the girlishness of her appearance and +actual years. She stood on the extreme edge of the cliff, her slim +straight figure outlined to angularity against the sky. She remained so +long without speech that I had time to note all these things. The +sunshine, breaking through the thin-topped pine trees, lay everywhere +about us; a little brown feathered bird, scarcely a dozen yards away, +sang to us so lustily that the soft feathers around his throat stood out +like a ruff. Down below the sea came rushing on to the shingles. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said at last, "did my father make you any offer of +employment this afternoon?" + +It was a direct, almost a blunt question. I was taken by surprise, but +I answered her without hesitation. + +"He made me no definite offer," I said. "At the same time he asked me a +great many questions, for which he must have had some reason, and he +gave me the idea that, subject to the approval of some others, he was +thinking of me in connection with some post." + +"Colonel Ray was telling me," she said, "how unfortunate you have been +with your pupils. I wonder--don't you think perhaps that you might get +some others?" + +"I have tried," I answered. "So far I have not been lucky. At present, +too, I scarcely see how I could expect to get any, for I have nowhere to +put them. I had to give up the lease of the Grange, and there is no +house round here which I could afford to take." + +Some portion of her delicate assurance had certainly deserted her. Her +manner was almost nervous. + +"If you could possibly find the pupils," she said, hesitatingly, "I +should like to ask you a favour. The Manor Farm on the other side of +the village is my own, and I should so like it occupied. I would let it +to you furnished for ten pounds a year. There is a man and his wife +living there now as caretakers. They would be able to look after you." + +"You are very kind," I said again, "but I am afraid that I could not +take advantage of such an offer." + +"Why not?" + +"I have no claim upon you or your father," I answered. "We are almost +strangers, are we not? I might accept and be grateful for employment, +but this is charity." + +"A very conventional reply, Mr. Ducaine," she remarked, with faint +sarcasm. "I gave you credit for a larger view of things." + +I found her still inexplicable. She was evidently annoyed, and yet she +did not seem to wish me to be. There was a cloud upon her face and a +nervousness in her manner which I wholly failed to understand. + +"If I were to tell you," she said, raising her eyes suddenly to mine, +"that your acceptance of my offer would be a favour--would put me under +a real obligation to you?" + +"I should still have to remind you," I declared, "that as yet I have no +pupils, and it takes time to get them. Further, I have arrived at that +position when immediate employment, if it is only as a breaker of stones +upon the road, is a necessity to me." + +She sighed. + +"My father will offer you a post," she said slowly. + +"Now you are a real Samaritan, Lady Angela," I declared. "I only hope +that it may be so." + +Her face reflected none of my enthusiasm. + +"You jump at conclusions," she said, coldly. "How do you know that the +post will be one which you will be able to fill?" + +"If your father offers it to me," I answered, confidently, "he must take +the risk of that." + +I was surprised at her speech-perhaps a little nettled. I was an +"Honours" man, an exceptional linguist, and twenty-five. It did not +seem likely to me that there was any post which the Duke might offer +which, on the score of ability, at any rate, I should not be competent +to fill. + +"He will offer it you," she said, looking steadily downwards on to the +sands below, "and you will accept it. I am sorry!" + +"Sorry!" I exclaimed. + +"Very. If I could find you those pupils I would," she continued. "If I +could persuade you to lay aside for once the pride which a man seems to +think a part of his natural equipment, it would make me very happy. +I--" + +"Stop," I interrupted. "You must explain this, Lady Angela." + +She shook her head. + +"Explain is just what I cannot," she said, sadly. "That is what I can +never do." + +I was completely bewildered now. She was looking seaward, her face +steadily averted from mine. As to her attitude towards me, I could make +nothing of it. I could not even decide whether it was friendly or +inimical. Did she want this post for some one else? If so, surely her +influence with her father would be strong enough to secure it. She had +spoken to me kindly enough. The faint air of reserve that she seemed to +carry with her everywhere, which, coupled with a certain quietness of +deportment, appeared to most of the people around to indicate pride, had +for these few minutes, at any rate, been lifted. She had come down from +the clouds, and spoken to me as any other woman to any other man. And +now she had wound up by throwing me into a state of hopeless +bewilderment. + +"Lady Angela," I said, "I think that you owe me some explanation. If +you can assure me that it is in any way against your wishes, if you will +give me the shadow of a reason why I should refuse what has not yet been +offered to me--well, I will do it. I will do it even if I must starve." + +A little forced smile parted her lips. She looked at me kindly. + +"I have said a great deal more than I meant to, Mr. Ducaine. I think +that it would have been better if I had left most of it unsaid. You +must go your own way. I only wanted to guard you against +disappointment." + +"Disappointment! You think, after all, then--" + +"No, that is not what I meant," she interrupted. "I am sure that you +will be offered the post, and I am sure that you will not hesitate to +accept it. But nevertheless I think that it will bring with it great +disappointments. I will tell you this. Already three young men whom +I knew very well have held this post, and each in turn has been +dismissed. They have lost the confidence of their employers, and though +each, I believe, was ambitious and meant to make a career, they have now +a black mark against their name." + +"You are very mysterious, Lady Angela," I said, doubtfully. + +"It is of necessity," she answered. "Perhaps I take rather a morbid +view of things, but one of them was the brother of a great friend of +mine, and they fear that he has lost his reason. There are peculiar and +painful difficulties in connection with this post, Mr. Ducaine, and I +think it only fair to give you this warning." + +"You are very kind," I said. "I only wish that the whole thing was +clearer to me." + +She smiled a little sadly. + +"At least," she said, "let me give you one word of advice. You will be +brought into contact with many people whose integrity will seem to you a +positive and certain thing. Nevertheless, treat every one alike. Trust +no one. Absolutely no one, Mr. Ducaine. It is your only chance. Now +go." + +Her gesture of dismissal was almost imperative. I scrambled down the +path and gained the sands. When I looked up she was still standing +there. The wind blew her skirts around her slim young limbs, and her +hair was streaming behind her. Her face seemed like a piece of delicate +oval statuary, her steady eyes seemed fixed upon some point where the +clouds and sea meet. She took no heed of, she did not even see, my +gesture of farewell. I left her there inscrutable, a child with the +face of a Sphinx. She had set me a riddle which I could not solve. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COLONEL RAY'S RING + +The ring lay on the table between us. Colonel Ray had not yet taken it +up. In grim silence he listened to my faltering words. When I finished +he smiled upon me as one might upon a child that needed humouring. + +"So," he said, slipping the ring upon his finger, "you have saved me +from the hangman. What remains? Your reward, eh?" + +"It may seem to you," I answered hotly, "a fitting subject for jokes. I +am sorry that my sense of humour is not in touch with yours. You are a +great traveller, and you have shaken death by the hand before. For me +it is a new thing. The man's face haunts me! I cannot sleep or rest +for thinking of it--as I have seen it dead, and as I saw it alive +pressed against my window that night. Who was he? What did he want +with me?" + +"How do you know," Ray asked, "that he wanted anything from you?" + +"He looked in at my window." + +"He might have seen me enter." + +Then I told him what I had meant to keep secret. + +"He asked for me in the village. He was directed to my cottage." + +Ray had been filling his pipe. His fingers paused in their task. He +looked at me steadily. + +"How do you know that?" he asked. + +"The person to whom he spoke in the village told me so." + +"Then why did that person not appear at the inquest?" + +"Because I asked her not to," I told him. "If she had given evidence +the verdict must have been a different one." + +"It seems to me," he said quietly, "that you have acted foolishly. If +that young woman, whoever she may be, chooses to tell the truth later on +you will be in an awkward position." + +"If she had told the truth yesterday," I answered, "the position would +have been quite awkward enough. Let that go! I want to know who that +man was, what he wanted with me." + +Colonel Ray shrugged his shoulders. + +"My young friend," he said, "have you come from Braster to ask that +question?" + +"To give you the ring and to ask you that question." + +"How do you know that the ring is mine?" + +"I saw it on your finger when you were giving me wine." + +"Then you believe," he said, "that I killed him?" + +"It is no concern of mine," I cried hoarsely. "I do not want to know. +I do not want to hear. But I tell you that the man's face haunts me. +He asked for me in the village. I feel that he came to Rowchester to +see me. And he is dead. Whatever he came to say or to tell me will be +buried with him. Who was he? Tell me that?" + +Ray smoked on for a few moments reflectively. + +"Sit down, sit down!" he said gruffly, "and do abandon that tragical +aspect. The creature was not worth all this agitation. He lived like a +dog, and he died like one." + +"It is true, then?" I murmured. + +"If you insist upon knowing," Ray said coolly, "I killed him! There are +insects upon which one's foot falls, reptiles which one removes from the +earth without a vestige of a qualm, with a certain sense of relief. He +was of this order." + +"He was a human being," I answered. + +"He was none the better for that," Ray declared. "I have known animals +of finer disposition." + +"You at least," I said fiercely, "were not his judge. You struck him in +the dark, too. It was a cowardly action." + +Ray turned his head. Then I saw that around his neck was a circular +bandage. + +"If it interests you to know it," he remarked drily, "I was not the +assailant. But for the fact that I was warned it might have been my +body which you came across on the sands. I started a second too soon +for our friend--and our exchange of compliments sent him to eternity." + +"It was in self-defence, then?" + +"Scarcely that. He would have run away if he could. I decided +otherwise." + +"Tell me who he was," I insisted. + +Ray shook his head. + +"Better for you not to know," he remarked reflectively. "Much better." + +My cheeks grew hot with anger. + +"Colonel Ray," I said, "this may yet be a serious affair for you. Why +you should assume that I am willing to be a silent accessory to your +crime I cannot imagine. I insist upon knowing who this man was." + +"You have come to London," Ray answered quietly, "to ask me this?" + +"I have told you before why I am here," I answered. "I will not be put +off any longer. Who was that man, and what did he want with me?" + +For a period of time which I could not measure, but which seemed to me +of great duration, there was silence between us. Then Ray leaned over +towards me. + +"I think," he said, "that it is my turn to talk. You have come to me +like a hysterical schoolboy, you seem ignorant of the primeval elements +of justice. After all it is not wonderful. As yet you have only looked +in upon life. You look in, but you do not understand. You have called +me a coward. It is only a year or so since His Majesty pinned a little +cross upon my coat--for valour. I won that for saving a man's life. +Mind you, he was a man. He was a man and a comrade. To save him I rode +through a hell of bullets. It ought to have meant death. As a matter +of fact it didn't. That was my luck. But you mustn't call me a coward, +Ducaine. It is an insult to my decoration." + +"Oh, I know that you are brave enough," I answered, "but this man was a +poor weak creature, a baby in your hands." + +"So are the snakes we stamp beneath our feet," he answered coolly. "Yet +we kill them. In Egypt I have been in more than one hot corner where we +fought hand to hand. I have killed men more than once. I have watched +them galloping up with waving swords, and their fine faces ablaze with +the joy of battle, and all the time one's revolver went spit, and the +saddles were empty. Yet never once have I sent a brave man to his last +account without regret, enemy and fanatic though he was. I am not a +bloodthirsty man. When I kill, it is because necessity demands it. As +for that creature whom you found in the marshes, well, if there were a +dozen such in this room now, I would do my best to rid the earth of +them. Take my advice. Dismiss the whole subject from your mind. Go +back to Braster and wait. Something may happen within the next +twenty-four hours which will be very much to your benefit. Go back to +Braster and wait." + +"You will tell me nothing, then?" I asked. "It is treating me like a +child. I am not a sentimentalist. If the man deserved death the matter +is between you and your conscience. But he came to Rowchester to see +me. I want to know why." + +"Go back to Rowchester and wait," Ray said. "I shall tell you nothing. +Depend upon it that his business with you, if he had any, was evil +business. He and his whole brood left their mark for evil wherever they +crawled." + +"His name?" I asked. + +"Were there no papers upon him?" Ray demanded. + +"None." + +"So much the better," Ray declared grimly. "Now, my young friend, I +have given you all the time I can spare. Beyond what I have said I +shall say nothing. If you had known me better--you would not be here +still." + +So I left him. His words gave me no loophole of hope. His silence was +the silence of a strong man, and I had no weapons with which to assail +it. I had wasted the money which I could ill afford on this journey to +London. Certainly Ray's advice was good. The sooner I was back in +Braster the better. + +From the station I had walked straight to Ray's house, and from Ray's +house I returned, without any deviation, direct to the great terminus. +For a man with less than fifty pounds in the world London is scarcely a +hospitable city. I caught a slow train, and after four hours of +jolting, cold, and the usual third-class miseries, alighted at +Rowchester Junction. Already I had started on the three mile tramp +home, my coat collar turned up as some slight protection against the +drizzling rain, when a two-wheeled trap overtook me, and Mr. Moyat +shouted out a gruff greeting. He raised the water-proof apron, and I +clambered in by his side. + +"Been to Sunbridge?" he inquired cheerfully. + +"I have been to London," I answered. + +"You haven't been long about it," he remarked. "I saw you on the +eight-twenty, didn't I?" + +I nodded. + +"My business was soon over," I said. + +"I've been to Sunbridge," he told me. "Went over with his Grace. My +girl was talking about you the other night, Mr. Ducaine." + +I started. + +"Indeed?" I answered. + +"Seemed to think," he continued, "that things had been growing a bit +rough for you, losing those pupils after you'd been at the expense of +taking the Grange, and all that, you know." + +"It was rather bad luck," I admitted quietly. + +"I've been wondering," he continued, with some diffidence, "whether +you'd care for a bit of work in my office, just to carry you along till +things looked up. Blanche, she was set upon it that I should ask you +anyway. Of course, you being a college young gentleman might not care +about it, but there's times when any sort of a job is better than none, +eh?" + +"It is very kind of you, Mr. Moyat," I answered, "and very kind of Miss +Blanche to have thought of it. A week ago I shouldn't have hesitated. +But within the last few days I have had a sort of offer--I don't know +whether it will come to anything, but it may. Might I leave it open for +the present?" + +I think that Mr. Moyat was a little disappointed. He flicked the cob +with the whip, and looked straight ahead into the driving mist. + +"Just as you say," he declared. "I ain't particular in want of any one, +but I'm getting to find my own bookkeeping a bit hard, especially now +that my eyes ain't what they were. Of course it would only be a thirty +bob a week job, but I suppose you'd live on that all right, unless you +were thinking of getting married, eh?" + +I laughed derisively. + +"Married, Mr. Moyat!" I exclaimed. "Why, I'm next door to a pauper." + +"There's such a thing," he remarked thoughtfully, "if one's a steady +sort of chap, and means work, as picking up a girl with a bit of brass +now and then." + +"I can assure you, Mr. Moyat," I said as coolly as possible, "that +anything of that sort is out of the question so far as I am concerned. +I should never dream of even thinking of getting married till I had a +home of my own and an income." + +He seemed about to say something, but checked himself. We drove on in +silence till we came to a dark pile of buildings standing a little way +back from the road. He moved his head towards it. + +"They tell me Braster Grange is took after all," he remarked. "Mr. +Hulshaw told me so this morning." + +I was very little interested, but was prepared to welcome any change in +the conversation. + +"Do you know who is coming there?" I asked. + +"An American lady, I believe, name of Lessing. I don't know what +strangers want coming to such a place, I'm sure." + +I glanced involuntarily over my shoulder. Braster Grange was a long +grim pile of buildings, which had been unoccupied for many years. +Between it and the sea was nothing but empty marshland. It was one of +the bleakest spots along the coast--to the casual observer nothing but +an arid waste of sands in the summer, a wilderness of desolation in the +winter. Only those who have dwelt in those parts are able to feel the +fascination of that great empty land, a fascination potent enough, but +of slow growth. Mr. Moyat's remark was justified. + +We drove into his stable yard and clambered down. + +"You'll come in and have a bit of supper," Mr. Moyat insisted. + +I hesitated. I felt that it would be wiser to refuse, but I was cold +and wet, and the thought of my fireless room depressed me. So I was +ushered into the long low dining-room, with its old hunting prints and +black oak furniture, and, best of all, with its huge log fire. Mrs. +Moyat greeted me with her usual negative courtesy. I do not think that +I was a favourite of hers, but whatever her welcome lacked in +impressiveness Blanche's made up for. She kept looking at me as though +anxious that I should remember our common secret. More than once I was +almost sorry that I had not let her speak. + +"You've had swell callers again," she remarked, as we sat side by side +at supper-time. "A carriage from Rowchester was outside your door when +I passed." + +"Ah, he's a good sort is the Duke," Mr. Moyat declared appreciatively. +"A clever chap, too. He's A1 in politics, and a first-class business +man, chairman of the great Southern Railway Company, and on the board of +several other City companies." + +"I can't see what the gentry want to meddle with such things at all +for," Mrs. Moyat said. "There's some as says as the Duke's lost more +than he can afford by speculations." + +"The Duke's a shrewd man," Mr. Moyat declared. "It's easy to talk." + +"If he hasn't lost money," Mrs. Moyat demanded, "why is Rowchester +Castle let to that American millionaire? Why doesn't he live there +himself?" + +"Prefers the East Coast," Mr. Moyat declared cheerfully. "More +bracing, and suits his constitution better. I've heard him say so +himself." + +"That is all very well," Mrs. Moyat said, "but I can't see that +Rowchester is a fit country house for a nobleman. What do you think, +Mr. Ducaine?" + +I was more interested in the discussion than anxious to be drawn into +it, so I returned an evasive reply. Mrs. Moyat nodded sympathetically. + +"Of course," she said, "you haven't seen the house except from the road, +but I've been over it many a time when Mrs. Felton was housekeeper and +the Duke didn't come down so often, and I say that it's a poor place for +a Duke." + +"Well, well, mother, we won't quarrel about it," Mr. Moyat declared, +rising from the table. "I must just have a look at the mare. Do you +look after Mr. Ducaine, Blanche." + +To my annoyance the retreat of Mr. and Mrs. Moyat was evidently +planned, and accelerated by a frown from their daughter. Blanche and I +were left alone--whereupon I, too, rose to my feet." + +"I must be going," I said, looking at the clock. + +Blanche only laughed, and bade me sit down by her side. + +"I'm so glad dad brought you in to-night," she said. "Did he say +anything to you?" + +"What about?" + +"Never mind," she answered archly. "Did he say anything at all?" + +"He remarked once or twice that it was a wet night," I said. + +"Stupid!" she exclaimed. "You know what I mean." + +"He did make me a very kind offer," I admitted. + +She looked at me eagerly. + +"Well?" + +"I told him that I am expecting an offer of work of some sort from the +Duke. Of course it may not come. In any case, it was very kind of Mr. +Moyat." + +She drew a little closer to me. + +"It was my idea," she whispered. I put it into his head." + +"Then it was very kind of you too," I answered. She was apparently +disappointed. We sat for several moments in silence. Then she looked +around with an air of mystery, and whispered still more softly into my +ear-- + +"I haven't said a word about that--to anybody." + +"Thank you very much," I answered. "I was quite sure that you wouldn't, +as you had promised." + +Again there was silence. She looked at me with some return of that half +fearsome curiosity which had first come into her eyes when I made my +request. + +"Wasn't the inquest horrid?" she said. "Father says they were five +hours deciding--and there's old Joe Hassell; even now he won't believe +that--that--he came from the sea." + +"It isn't a pleasant subject," I said quietly. "Let us talk of +something else." + +She was swinging a very much beaded slipper backwards and forwards, and +gazing at it thoughtfully. + +"I don't know," she said. "I can't help thinking of it sometimes. I +suppose it is terribly wicked to keep anything back like that, isn't +it?" + +"If you feel that," I answered, "you had better go and tell your father +everything." + +She looked at me quickly. + +"Now you're cross," she exclaimed. "I'm sure I don't know why." + +"I am not cross," I said, "but I do not wish you to feel unhappy about +it." + +"I don't mind that," she answered, lifting her eyes to mine, "if it is +better for you." + +The door opened and Mr. Moyat appeared. Blanche was obviously annoyed, +I was correspondingly relieved. I rose at once, and took my leave. + +"Blanche got you to change your mind?" he said, looking at me closely. + +"Miss Moyat hasn't tried," I answered, shaking him by the hand. "We +were talking about something else." + +Blanche pushed past her father and came to let me out. We stood for a +moment at the open door. She pointed down the street. + +"It was just there he stopped me," she said in a low tone. "He was very +pale, and he had such a slow, strange voice, just like a foreigner. It +was in the shadow of the market-hall there. I wish I'd never seen him." + +A note of real fear seemed to have crept into her voice. Her eyes were +straining through the darkness. I forced a laugh as I lit my cigarette. + +"You mustn't get fanciful," I declared. "Men die every day, you know, +and I fancy that this one was on his last legs. Good-night." + +Her lips parted as though in an answering greeting, but it was +inaudible. As I looked round at the top of the street I saw her still +standing there in the little flood of yellow light, gazing across +towards the old market-hall. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A WONDERFUL OFFER + +On my little table lay the letter I expected, large, square, and white. +I tore it open with trembling fingers. The handwriting was firm and yet +delicate. I knew at once whose it was. + +"Rowchester, Tuesday. + +"DEAR MR. DUCAINE,--My father wishes me to say that he and Lord +Chelsford will call upon you to-morrow morning, between ten and eleven +o'clock.--With best regards, I am, + +"Yours sincerely, + +"ANGELA HARBERLY." + +The letter slipped from my hands on to the table. Lord Chelsford was a +Cabinet Minister and a famous man. What could he have to do with any +appointment which the Duke might offer me? I read the few words over +and over again. The handwriting, the very faint perfume which seemed to +steal out of the envelope, a moment's swift retrospective thought, and +my fancy had conjured her into actual life. She was there in the room +with me, slim and shadowy, with her quiet voice and movements, and with +that haunting, doubtful look in her dark eyes. What had she meant by +that curious warning? What was the knowledge or the fear which inspired +it? If one could only understand! + +I sat down in my chair and tried to read, but the effort was useless. +Directly opposite to me was that black uncurtained window. Every time I +looked up it seemed to become once more the frame for a white evil face. +At last I could bear it no longer. I rose and left the house. I +wandered capless across the marshes to where the wet seaweed lay strewn +about, and the long waves came rolling shorewards; a wilderness now +indeed of grey mists, of dark silent tongues of sea-water cleaving the +land. There was no wind-no other sound than the steadfast monotonous +lapping of the waves upon the sands. Along that road he had come; the +faintly burning light upon my table showed where he had pressed his face +against the window. Then he had wandered on, past the storm-bent tree +at the turn of the road pointing landwards. A few yards farther was the +creek from which we had dragged him. The events of the night struggled +to reconstruct themselves in my mind, and I fought against their slow +coalescence. I did not wish to remember--to believe. In my heart I +felt that for some hidden reason Ray was my friend. This visit of the +Duke's, with whatever it might portend, was without doubt inspired by +him. And, on the other hand, there was the warning of Lady Angela, so +earnestly expressed, so solemn, almost sad. How could I see light +through all these things? How could I hope to understand? + +The Duke came punctually, spruce and debonnair, a small rose in his +buttonhole, his wizened cheeks aglow with the smart of the stinging east +wind. With him came Lord Chelsford, whose face and figure were familiar +enough to me from the pages of the illustrated papers. Dark, spare, and +tall, he spoke seldom, but I felt all the while the merciless +investigation of his searching eyes. The Duke, on the other hand, +seemed to have thrown aside some part of his customary reserve. He +spoke at greater length and with more freedom than I had heard him. + +"You see, Mr. Ducaine," he began, "I am not a man who makes idle +promises. I am here to offer you employment, if you are open to accept +a post of some importance, and also, to be frank with you, of some +danger." + +"If I am qualified for the post, your Grace," I answered, "I shall be +only too willing to do my best. But you must excuse me if I express +exactly what is in my mind. I am almost a stranger to you. I am a +complete stranger to Lord Chelsford. How can you rely upon my +trustworthiness? You must have so many young men to choose from who are +personally known to you. Why do you come to me?" + +The Duke smiled grimly. + +"In the first place," he said, "we are only strangers from the personal +point of view, which is possibly an advantage. I have in my pocket a +close record of your days since you entered the university. I know +those who have been your friends, your tastes, how you have spent your +time. Don't be foolish, young sir," he added sharply, as he saw the +colour rise in my cheeks: "you will have a trust reposed in you such as +few men have ever borne before. This prying into your life is from no +motives of private curiosity. Wait until you hear the importance of the +things which I am going to say to you." I was impressed into silence. +The Duke continued--"You have heard, my young friend," he said, "of the +Committee of National Defence?" "I have read of it," I answered. + +"Good! This committee has been formed and sanctioned by the War Office +in consequence of the shocking revelations of inefficiency which came to +light during the recent war. It occurred to the Prime Minister, as I +dare say it did to most of the thinking men in the country, that if our +unreadiness to take the offensive was so obvious, it was possible that +our defensive precautions had also been neglected. A. board was +therefore formed to act independently of all existing institutions, and +composed chiefly of military and naval men. The Commander-in-Chief, +Lord Chelsford, Colonel Ray, and myself are amongst the members. Our +mandate is to keep our attention solely fixed upon the defences of the +country, to elaborate different schemes for repelling different methods +of attack, and in short to make ourselves responsible to the country for +the safety of the Empire. Every harbour on the south and east coast is +supposed to be known to us, every yard of railway feeding the seaports +from London, all the secret fortifications and places, south of London, +capable of being held by inferior forces. The mobilization of troops to +any one point has been gone thoroughly into, and every possible movement +and combination of the fleet. These are only a few of the things which +have become our care, but they are sufficient for the purpose of +illustration. The importance of this Board must be apparent to you; +also the importance of absolute secrecy as regards its doings and +movements." + +I was fascinated by the greatness of the subject. However, I answered +him as quickly as possible, and emphatically. + +"The Board," the Duke continued, "has been meeting in London. For the +last few months we have had business of the utmost importance on hand. +But on January 10, that is just six weeks ago, we came to a full stop. +The Commander-in-Chief had no alternative but temporarily to dissolve +the assembly. We found ourselves in a terrible and disastrous position. +Lord Ronald Matheson had been acting as secretary for us. We met always +with locked doors, and the names of the twelve members of the Board are +the most honoured in England. Yet twenty-four hours after our meetings +a verbatim report of them, with full particulars of all our schemes, was +in the hands of the French Secret Service." + +"Good God!" I exclaimed, startled for the moment out of my respectful +silence. + +The Duke himself seemed affected by the revelation which he had made. +He sat forward in his chair with puckered brows and bent head. His +voice, which had been growing lower and lower, had sunk almost to a +whisper. It seemed to me that he made a sign to Lord Chelsford to +continue. Almost for the first time the man who had done little since +his entrance save watch me, spoke. + +"My own political career, Mr. Ducaine," he said, "has been a long one, +but I have never before found myself confronted with such a situation. +Even you can doubtless realize its effect. The whole good of our work +is undone. If we cannot recommence, and with different results, I am +afraid, as an Englishman, to say what may happen. War between England +and France to-day would be like a great game of chess between two +masters of equal strength--one having a secret knowledge of his +opponent's each ensuing move. You can guess what the end of that would +be. Our only hope is at once to reconstruct our plans. We are hard at +it now by day and by night, but the time has arrived when we can go no +further without a meeting, and the actual committal to paper and diagram +of our new schemes. We have discussed the whole matter most carefully, +and we have come to the following decision. We have reduced the number +of the Board by half, those who have resigned, with certain exceptions, +having done so by ballot. We have decided that instead of holding our +meetings at the War Office they shall take place down here at the Duke's +house, and so far as possible secretly. Then, as regards the +secretaryship. No shadow of suspicion rests upon Lord Ronald any more +than upon his predecessors, but, as you may have read in the newspapers, +he has temporarily lost his reason owing to the shock, and has been +obliged to go to a private home. We have decided to engage some one +absolutely without political connexions, and whose detachment from +political life must be complete. You have had a warm advocate in +Colonel Mostyn Ray, and, subject to some stringent and absolute +conditions, I may say that we have decided to offer you the post." + +I looked from one to the other. I have no doubt that I looked as +bewildered as I felt. + +"I am a complete stranger to all of you," I murmured. "I am not +deserving in any way of such a position." + +Lord Chelsford smiled. + +"You underrate yourself, young man," he said drily, "or your college +professors have wandered from the truth. Still, your surprise is +natural, I admit. I will explain a little further. Our choice is more +limited than you might think. At least fifty names were proposed, all +of them of young men of the highest character. Each one, however, had +some possibly doubtful relative or association or custom in life. It is +evident that there is treachery somewhere in the very highest quarters. +These young men were sure to be brought into contact with it. Now it +was Ray's idea to seek for some one wholly outside the diplomatic world, +living in a spot remote from London, with as few friends as possible, +who would have no sentimental objections to the surveillance of +detectives. You appear to us to be suitable." + +"It is a wonderful offer!" I exclaimed. + +"In a sense it is," Lord Chelsford continued. "The remuneration, of +course, will be high, but the post itself may not be a permanency, and +you will live all the time at high pressure. The Duke will place a +small house at your disposal, and it will be required that you form no +new acquaintances without reference to him, nor must you leave this +place on any account without permission. You will virtually be a +prisoner, and if certain of my suspicions are correct you may even find +the post one of great physical danger. On the other hand, you will have +a thousand a year salary, and a sum of five thousand pounds in two +years' time if all is well." + +Excitement seemed to have steadied my nerves. I forgot all the minor +tragedies which had been real enough things to face only a few hours +ago. I spoke calmly and decisively. + +"I accept, Lord Chelsford," I said. "I shall count my life a small +thing indeed against my fidelity." + +He drummed idly with his forefinger upon the table. His eyes were +wandering around the room absently. His face was calm and +expressionless. + +"Very well, then," he said, "my business here is settled. I shall leave +it with the Duke to acquaint you with the practical details of your +work, and our arrangement." + +He rose to his feet. The Duke glanced at his watch. + +"You have only just time for the train," he remarked. "The car shall +take you there. I prefer to walk back, and I have something further to +say to Mr. Ducaine." + +Lord Chelsford took leave of me briefly, and the Duke, after +accompanying him outside, returned to his former seat. I ventured upon +an incoherent attempt to express my gratitude, which he at once waved +aside. He leaned over the table, and he fixed his eyes steadfastly upon +me. + +"I am able now," he said, "to ask you a question postponed from the +other day. It is concerning the man who was found dead in the creek." + +His merciless eyes noted my start. + +"Ah!" he continued. "I can see that you know something. I have my +suspicions about this man. You can now understand my interest when I +hear of strangers in the neighbourhood. I do not believe that he was a +derelict from the sea. Do you?" + +"No," I answered. + +He nodded. + +"Am I right," he said, "in presuming that you know he was not?" + +"I know that he was not," I admitted. + +His fingers ceased their beating upon the table. His face became white +and masklike. + +"Go on," he said. + +"I know that he came through Braster, and he asked for me. He looked in +through the window of my cottage when Colonel Ray was with me. I saw +him no more after that until I found him dead." + +"Ray left you after you had seen this man's face at the window?" + +"Yes." + +"The wounds about the man's head and body. If he was not thrown up by +the sea, can you explain them?" + +"No," I answered with a shudder. + +"At the inquest it was not mentioned, I think, that he had been seen in +the village?" + +"It was not," I admitted. "Most of the people were at Colonel Ray's +lecture. He spoke to one girl, a Miss Moyat." + +"She did not give evidence." + +"I thought," I said in a low tone, "that she had better not." + +"Did you hear anything after Ray left?" he asked suddenly. + +I could have cried out, but my tongue seemed dry in my throat. + +"There was a sound," I muttered, "I fancied that it was a cry. But I +could not tell. The wind was blowing, and the sea and rain! No, I +could not tell." + +He rose up. + +"You appear," he said drily, "to have discretion. Cultivate it! It is +a great gift. I shall look for you at eleven o'clock in the morning. I +am having a large house party this week, and amongst them will be our +friends." + +He left me without any further farewell, and turned slowly homewards. +When he reached the bend in the road he paused, and remained there for +several moments motionless. His eyes were fixed upon the small creek. +He seemed to be measuring the distance between it and the road. He was +still lingering there when I closed the door. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TREACHERY + +The sunlight was streaming through the window when at last my pen ceased +to move. I rubbed my eyes and looked out in momentary amazement. +Morning had already broken across the sea. My green-shaded lamp was +burning with a sickly light. The moon had turned pale and colourless +whilst I sat at my desk. + +I stretched myself and, lighting a cigarette, commenced to collect my +papers. Immediately a dark figure rose from a couch in the farther +corner of the room and approached me. + +"Can I get you anything, sir?" + +I turned in my chair. The man-servant whom the Duke had put in charge +of the "Brand," my present habitation, and who remained with me always +in the room while I worked, stood at my elbow. + +"I would like some coffee, Grooton," I said. "I am going to walk up to +the house with these papers, and I shall want a bath and some breakfast +directly I get back." + +"Very good, sir. It shall be ready." + +I folded up the sheets and maps, and placing them in an oilskin case, +tied them round my body under my waistcoat. Then I withdrew all the +cartridges save one from the revolver which had lain all night within +easy reach of my right hand, and slipped it into my pocket. + +"Coffee ready, Grooton?" + +"In one moment, sir." + +I watched him bending over the stove, pale, dark-visaged, with the +subdued manners and voice which mark the aristocracy of servitude. My +employer's confidence in him must be immense, for while he watched over +me I was practically in his power. + +"Have you been long with the Duke, Grooton?" I asked him. + +"Twenty-one years, sir. I left his Grace to go to Lord Chelsford, who +found me some work in London." + +"Secret service work, wasn't it, Grooton?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Interesting?" + +"Some parts of it very interesting, sir." + +I nodded and drank my coffee. Grooton was watching me with an air of +respectful interest. + +"You will pardon my remarking it, sir, but I hope you will try and get +some sleep during the day. You are very pale this morning, sir." + +I looked at the glass, and was startled at my own reflection. This was +only my third day, and the responsibilities of my work were heavy upon +me. My cheeks were sunken and there were black rings around my eyes. + +"I will lie down when I come back, Grooton," I answered. + +Outside, the fresh morning wind came like a sudden sweet tonic to my +jaded nerves. I paused for a moment to face bareheaded the rush of it +from the sea. As I stood there, drinking it in, I became suddenly aware +of light approaching footsteps. Some one was coming towards the cottage +from the Park. + +I did not immediately turn my head, but every nerve in my body seemed to +stiffen into quivering curiosity. + +The pathway was a private one leading from the house only to the +"Brand," and down the cliff to Braster. It was barely seven o'clock, +and the footsteps were no labouring man's. I think that I knew very +well who it was that came so softly down the cone-strewn path. + +We faced one another with little of the mask of surprise. She came like +a shadow, flitting between the slender tree trunks out into the +sunshine, where for a moment she seemed wan and white. Her dark eyes +flashed a greeting at me. I stood cap in hand before her. It was the +first time we had met since I had taken up my abode at the "Brand." + +"Good-morning, Mr. Ducaine," she said. "You need not look at me as +though I were a ghost. I always walk before breakfast in the country." + +"There is no better time," I answered. + +"You look as though you had been up all night," she remarked. + +"I had work to finish," I told her. + +She nodded. + +"So you would have none of my advice, Mr. Secretary," she said softly, +coming a little nearer to me. "You are already installed." + +"Already at work," I asserted. + +She glanced towards the "Brand." + +"I hope that you are comfortable," she said. "A couple of hours is +short notice in which to make a place habitable." + +"Grooton is a magician," I told her. "He has arranged everything." + +"He is a wonderful servant," she said thoughtfully. + +A white-winged bird floated over our heads and drifted away skywards. +She followed it with her eyes. + +"You wonder at seeing me so early," she murmured. "Don't you think that +it is worth while? Nothing ever seems so sweet as this first morning +breeze." + +I bowed gravely. She was standing bareheaded now at the edge of the +cliff, watching the flight of the bird. It was delightful to see the +faint pink come back to her cheeks with the sting of the salt wind. +Nevertheless, I had an idea in my mind that it was not wholly for her +health's sake that Lady Angela walked abroad so early. + +"Tell me," she said presently, "have you had a visitor this morning?" + +"What, at this hour?" I exclaimed. + +"There are other early risers besides you and me," she said. "The +spinney gate was open, so some one has passed through." + +I shook my head. + +"I have not seen or heard a soul," I told her. "I have just finished +some work, and I am on my way up to the house with it." + +"You really mean it?" she persisted. + +"Of course I do," I answered her. "Grooton is the only person I have +spoken to for at least nine hours. Why do you ask?" + +She hesitated. + +"My window looks this way," she said, "and I fancied that I saw some one +cross the Park while I was dressing. The spinney gate was certainly +open." + +"Then I fancy that it has been open all night," I declared, "for to the +best of my belief no one has passed through it save yourself. May I +walk with you back to the house, Lady Angela? There is something which +I should very much like to ask you." + +She replaced her hat, which she had been carrying in her hand. I stood +watching her deft white fingers flashing amongst the thick silky coils +of her hair. The extreme slimness of her figure seemed accentuated by +her backward poise. Yet perhaps I had never before properly appreciated +its perfect gracefulness. + +"I was going farther along the cliffs," she said, "but I will walk some +of the way back with you. One minute." + +She stood on the extreme edge, and, shading her eyes with her hand, she +looked up and down the broad expanse of sand--a great untenanted +wilderness. I wondered for whom or what she was looking, but I asked no +question. In a few moments she rejoined me, and we turned inland. + +"Well," she said, "what is it that you wish to say?" + +"Lady Angela," I began, "a few weeks ago there was no one whose +prospects were less hopeful than mine. Thanks to your father and +Colonel Ray all that is changed. To-day I have a position I am proud +of, and important work. Yet I cannot help always remembering this: I am +holding a post which you warned me against accepting." + +"Well?" + +"I am very curious," I said. "I have never understood your warning. I +believe that you were in earnest. Was it that you believed me incapable +or untrustworthy, or--" + +"You appear to me," she murmured, "to be rather a curious person." + +I bent forward and looked into her face. There was in her wonderful +eyes a glint of laughter which became her well. She walked with slow +graceful ease, her hands behind her, her head almost on a level with my +own. I found myself studying her with a new pleasure. Then our eyes +met, and I looked away, momentarily confused. Was it my fancy, or was +there a certain measure of rebuke in her cool surprise, a faint +indication of her desire that I should remember that she was the Lady +Angela Harberly, and I her father's secretary? I bit my lip. She +should not catch me offending again, I determined. + +"You must forgive me," I said stiffly, "but your warning seemed a little +singular. If you do not choose to gratify my curiosity, it is of no +consequence." + +"Since you disregarded it," she remarked, lifting her dress from the +dew-laden grass on to which we had emerged, "it does not matter, does +it? Only you are very young, and you know little of the world. Lord +Ronald was your predecessor, and he is in a lunatic asylum. No one +knows what lies behind certain unfortunate things which have happened +during the last months. There is a mystery which is as yet unsolved." + +I smiled. + +"In your heart you are thinking," I said, "that such an unsophisticated +person as myself will be an easy prey to whatever snares may be laid for +me. Is it not so?" + +She looked at me with uplifted eyebrows. + +"Others of more experience have been worsted," she remarked calmly. +"Why not you?" + +"If that is a serious question," I said, "I will answer it. Perhaps my +very inexperience will be my best friend." + +"Yes?" + +"Those before me," I continued, "have thought that they knew whom to +trust. I, knowing no one, shall trust no one." + +"Not even me?" she asked, half turning her head towards me. + +"Not even you," I answered firmly. + +A man's figure suddenly appeared on the left. I looked at him puzzled, +wondering whence he had come. + +"Here is your good friend, Colonel Mostyn Ray," she remarked, with a +note of banter in her tone. "What about him?" + +"Not even Colonel Mostyn Ray," I answered. "The notes which I take with +me from each meeting are to be read over from my elaboration at the +next. Nobody is permitted to hold a pen or to make a note whilst they +are being read. Afterwards I have your father's promise that not even +he will ask for even a cursory glance at them. I deliver them sealed to +Lord Chelsford." + +Ray came up to us. His dark eyebrows were drawn close together, and I +noticed that his boots were clogged with sand. He had the appearance of +a man who had been walking far and fast. + +"You keep up your good habits, Lady Angela," he said, raising his cap. + +"It is my only good one, so I am loth to let it go," she answered. "If +you were as gallant as you appear to be energetic," she added, glancing +at his boots, "you would have stopped when I called after you, and taken +me for a walk." + +His eyes shot dark lightnings at her. + +"I did not hear you call," he said. + +"You had the appearance of a man who intended to, hear nothing and see +nothing," she remarked coolly. "Never mind! There will be no breakfast +for an hour yet. You shall take me on to Braster Hill. Come!" + +They left me at a turn in the path. I saw their heads close together in +earnest conversation. I went on towards the house. + +I entered by the back, and made my way across the great hall, which was +still invaded by domestics with brushes and brooms. Taking a small key +from my watch-chain, I unfastened the door of a room almost behind the +staircase, and pushed it open. The curtains were drawn, and the room +itself, therefore, almost in darkness. I carefully locked myself in, +and turned up the electric light. + +The apartment was a small one, and contained only a few pieces of heavy +antique furniture. Behind the curtains were iron shutters. In one +corner was a strong safe. I walked to it, and for the first time I +permitted myself to think of the combination word. Slowly I fitted it +together, and the great door swung open. + +There were several padlocked dispatch-boxes, and, on a shelf above, a +bundle of folded papers. I took this bundle carefully out and laid it +on the table before me. I was on the point of undoing the red tape with +which it was tied, when my fingers became suddenly rigid. I stared at +the packet with wide-open eyes. I felt my breath come short and my +brain reeling. The papers were there sure enough, but it was not at +them that I was looking. It was the double knot in the pink tape which +fascinated me. + + + +CHAPTER X + +AN EXPRESSION OF CONFIDENCE + +I have no exact recollection of how long I spent in that little room. +After a while I closed the door safe, and reset the combination lock +with trembling fingers. Then I searched all round, but could find no +traces of any recent intruder. I undid the heavy shutters, and let in a +stream of sunshine. Outside, Ray and Lady Angela were strolling up and +down the terrace. I watched the latter with fascinated eyes. It was +from her that this strange warning had come to me, this warning which as +yet was only imperfectly explained. What did she know? Whom did she +suspect? Was it possible that she, a mere child, had even the +glimmering of a suspicion as to the truth? My eyes followed her every +movement. She walked with all the lightsome grace to which her young +limbs and breeding entitled her, her head elegantly poised on her +slender neck, her face mostly turned towards her companion, to whom she +was talking earnestly. Even at this distance I seemed to catch the +inspiring flash of her dark eyes, to follow the words which fell from +her lips so gravely. And as I watched a new idea came to me. I turned +slowly away and went in search of the Duke. + +I found him sitting fully dressed in an anteroom leading from his +bedroom, with a great pile of letters before him, and an empty postbag. +He was leaning forward, his elbow upon the table, his head resting upon +his right hand. Engrossed as I was with my own terrible discovery, I +was yet powerfully impressed by his unfamiliar appearance. In the clear +light which came flooding in through the north window he seemed to me +older, and his face more deeply lined than any of my previous +impressions of him had suggested. His eyes were fixed upon the mass of +correspondence before him, most of which was as yet unopened, and his +expression was one of absolute aversion. At my entrance he looked up +inquiringly. + +"What do you want, Ducaine?" he asked. + +"I am sorry to have disturbed your Grace," I answered. "I have come to +place my resignation in your hands." + +His face was expressive enough in its frowning contempt, but he said +nothing for a moment, during which his eyes met mine mercilessly. + +"So you find the work too hard, eh?" he asked. + +"The work is just what I should have chosen, your Grace," I answered. +"I like hard work, and I expected it. The trouble is that I have +succeeded no better than Lord Ronald." + +My words were evidently a shock to him. He half opened his lips, but +closed them again. I saw the hand which he raised to his forehead +shake. + +"What do you mean, Ducaine? Speak out, man." + +"The safe in the study has been opened during the night," I said. "Our +map of the secret fortifications on the Surrey downs and plans for a +camp at Guilford have been examined." + +"How do you know this?" + +"I tied the red tape round them in a peculiar way. It has been undone +and retied. The papers have been put back in a different order." + +The Duke was without doubt agitated. He rose from his chair and paced +the room restlessly. + +"You are sure of what you say, Ducaine?" he demanded, turning, and +facing me suddenly. + +"Absolutely sure, your Grace," I answered. + +He turned away from me. + +"In my own house, under my own roof," I heard him mutter. "Good God!" + +I had scarcely believed him capable of so much feeling. When he resumed +his seat and former attitude I could see that his face was almost gray. + +"This is terrible news," he said. "I am not at all sure, though, Mr. +Ducaine, that any blame can attach itself to you." + +"Your Grace," I answered, "there were three men only who knew the secret +of that combination. One is yourself, another Colonel Ray, the third +myself. I set the lock last night. I opened it this morning. I ask +you, in the name of common sense, upon whom the blame is likely to fall? +If I remain this will happen again. I cannot escape suspicion. It is +not reasonable." + +"The word was a common one," the Duke said half to himself. "Some one +may have guessed it." + +"Your Grace," I said, "is it likely that any one would admit the +possibility of such a thing?" + +"It may have been overheard." + +"It has never been spoken," I reminded him. "It was written down, +glanced at by all of us, and destroyed." + +The Duke nodded. + +"You are right," he admitted. "The inference is positive enough. The +safe has been opened between the hours of ten at night and seven o'clock +this morning by--" + +"By either myself, Colonel Ray, or your Grace," I said. + +"I am not sure that I am prepared to admit that," the Duke objected +quietly. + +"It is inevitable!" I declared. + +"Only the very young use that word," the Duke said drily. + +"I spoke only of what others must say," I answered. + +"It is a _cul de sac_, I admit," the Duke said. "Nevertheless, Mr. +Ducaine, I am not prepared without consideration to accept your +resignation. I cannot see that our position would be improved in any +way, and in my own mind I may add that I hold you absolved from +suspicion." + +I held myself a little more upright. The Duke spoke without enthusiasm, +but with conviction. + +"Your Grace is very kind," I answered gratefully, "but there are the +others. They know nothing of me. It is inevitable that I should become +an object of suspicion to them." + +The Duke looked thoughtfully for several moments at the table before +him. Then he looked up at me. + +"Ducaine," he said, "I will tell you what I propose. You have done your +duty in reporting this thing to me. Your duty ends there--mine begins. +The responsibility, therefore, for our future course of action remains +with me. You, I presume, are prepared to admit this." + +"Certainly, your Grace," I answered. + +"I see no useful purpose to be gained," the Duke continued, "in +spreading this thing about. I believe that we shall do better by +keeping our own counsel. You and I can work secretly in the matter. I +may have some suggestions to make when I have considered it more fully; +but for the present I propose that we treat the matter as a +hallucination of yours. We shall hear in due course if this stolen +information goes across the water. If it does--well, we shall know how +to act." + +"You mean this?" I asked breathlessly. "Forgive me, your Grace, but it +means so much to me. You believe that we are justified?" + +"Why not?" the Duke asked coldly. "It is I who am your employer. It is +I who am responsible to the country for these things. You are +responsible only to me. I choose that you remain. I choose that you +speak of this matter only when I bid you speak." + +To me it was relief immeasurable. The Duke's manner was precise, even +cold. Yet I felt that he believed in me. I scarcely doubted but that +he had suspicions of his own. I, at any rate, was not involved in them. +I could have wrung him by the hand but for the inappropriateness of such +a proceeding. So far as he was concerned I could see that the matter +was already done with. His attention was beginning to wander to the +mass of letters before him. + +"Would you allow me to help your Grace with your correspondence?" I +suggested. "I have no work at present." + +The Duke shook his head impatiently. + +"I thank you," he said. "My man of business will be here this morning, +and he will attend to them. I will not detain you, Mr. Ducaine." + +I turned to leave the room, but found myself face to face with a young +man in the act of entering it. + +"Blenavon!" the Duke exclaimed. + +"How are you, sir?" the newcomer answered. "Sorry I didn't arrive in +time to see you last night. We motored from King's Lynn, and the whole +of this respectable household was in bed." + +I knew at once who he was. The Duke looked towards me. + +"Ducaine," he said, "this is my son, Lord Blenavon." + +Lord Blenavon's smile was evidently meant to be friendly, but his +expression belied it. He was slightly taller than his father, and his +cast of features was altogether different. His cheeks were pale, almost +sunken, his eyes were too close together, and they had the dimness of +the _roue_ or the habitual dyspeptic. His lips were too full, his chin +too receding, and he was almost bald. + +"How are you, Mr. Ducaine?" he said. "Awful hour to be out of bed, +isn't it? and all for the slaying of a few fat and innocent birds. Let +me see, wasn't I at Magdalen with you?" + +"I came up in your last year," I reminded him. + +"Ah, yes, I remember," he drawled. "Terrible close worker you were, +too. Are you breakfasting down stairs, sir?" + +"I think that I had better," the Duke said. "I suppose you brought some +men with you?" + +"Half a dozen," Lord Blenavon answered, "including his Royal Highness." + +The Duke thrust all his letters into his drawer, and locked them up with +a little exclamation of relief. + +"I will come down with you," he said. "Mr. Ducaine, you will join us." + +I would have excused myself, for indeed I was weary, and the thought of +a bath and rest at home was more attractive. But the Duke had a way of +expressing his wishes in a manner which it was scarcely possible to +mistake, and I gathered that he desired me to accept his invitation. We +all descended the stairs together. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS + +The long dining-room was almost filled with a troop of guests who had +arrived on the previous day. Most of the men were gathered round the +huge sideboard, on which was a formidable array of silver-covered +hot-water dishes. Places were laid along the flower-decked table for +thirty or forty. I stood apart for a few moments whilst the Duke was +greeting some of his guests. Ray, who was sitting alone, motioned me to +a place by him. + +"Come and sit here, Ducaine," he said; "that is," he added, with a +sudden sarcastic gleam in his dark eyes, "unless you still have what the +novelists call an unconquerable antipathy to me. I don't want to rob +you of your appetite." + +"I did not expect to see you down here again so soon, Colonel Ray," I +answered gravely. "I congratulate you upon your nerves." + +Ray laughed softly to himself. + +"You would have me go shuddering past the fatal spot, I suppose, with +shaking knees and averted head, eh? On the contrary, I have been down +on the sands for more than an hour this morning, and have returned with +an excellent appetite." + +I looked at him curiously. + +"I saw you returning," I said. "Your boots looked as though you had +been wading in the wet sand. You were not there without a purpose." + +"I was not," he admitted. "I seldom do anything without a purpose." + +For a moment he abandoned the subject. He proceeded calmly with his +breakfast, and addressed a few remarks to a man across the table, a man +with short cropped hair and beard, and a shooting dress of sombre black. + +"You are quite right," he said, turning towards me suddenly. "I had a +purpose in going there. I thought that the gentleman whose untimely +fate has enlisted your sympathies might have dropped something which +would have been useful to me." + +For the moment I forgot this man's kindness to me. I looked at him with +a shudder. + +"If you are in earnest," I said, "I trust that you were unsuccessful." + +I fancied that there was that in his glance which suggested the St. +Bernard looking down on the terrier, and I chafed at it. + +"It would have been better for you," he said, grimly, "had my search met +with better result." + +"For me?" I repeated. + +"For you! Yes! The man came to see you. If he had been alive you +might have been in his toils by now. He was a very cunning person, and +those who sent him were devils." + +"How do you know these things?" I asked, amazed. + +"From the letters which I ripped from his coat," he answered. + +"He came to Braster to see me, then?" I exclaimed. + +"Precisely." + +"And the letters which you took from him--were they addressed to me?" + +"They were." + +I was getting angry, but Ray remained imperturbable. + +"I think," I said, "you will admit that I have a right to them." + +"Not a shadow of a doubt of it," he answered. "In fact, it was so +obvious that I destroyed them." + +"Destroyed my letters!" + +"Precisely! I chose that course rather than allow them to fall into +your hands." + +"You admit, then," I said, "that I had a right to them." + +"Indubitably. But they do not exist." + +"You read them, without doubt. You can acquaint me with their +contents." + +"Some day," he said, "I probably shall. But not yet. Believe me or +not, as you choose, but there are certain positions in which ignorance +is the only possible safe state. You are in such a position at the +present moment." + +"Are you," I asked, "my moral guardian?" + +"I have at least," he said, "incurred certain responsibilities on your +behalf. You could no longer hold your present post and be in +communication with the sender of those letters." + +My anger died away despite myself. The man's strength and honesty of +purpose were things which I could not bring myself to doubt. I +continued my breakfast in silence. + +"By-the-bye," he remarked presently, "you, too, my young friend, were +out early this morning." + +"I was writing all night," I answered. "I had documents to put in the +safe." + +He shot a quick searching glance at me. + +"You have been to the safe this morning, then?" + +I answered him with a composure at which I inwardly marvelled. + +"Certainly! It was the object of my coming here." + +"You entered the room with the Duke. Was he in the study at that hour?" + +"No, I went upstairs to him. I had a question to ask." + +"And you have met Lord Blenavon? What do you think of him?" + +"We were at Magdalen together for a term," I answered. "He was good +enough to remember me." + +Ray smiled, but he did not speak another word to me all the +breakfast-time. Once I made a remark to him, and his reply was curt, +almost rude. I left the room a few minutes afterwards, and came face to +face in the hall with Lady Angela. + +"I am glad, Mr. Ducaine," she remarked, "that your early morning +labours have given you an appetite. You have been in to breakfast, have +you not?" + +"Your father was good enough to insist upon it," I answered. + +"You have seen him already this morning, then?" + +"For a few minutes only," I explained. "I went up to his room." + +"I trust so far that everything is going on satisfactorily?" she +inquired, raising her eyes to mine. + +I did not answer her at once. I was engaged in marvelling at the +wonderful pallor of her cheeks. + +"So far as I am concerned, I think so," I said. "Forgive me, Lady +Angela," I added, "but I think that you must have walked too far this +morning. You are very pale." + +"I am tired," she admitted. + +There was a lounge close at hand. She moved slowly towards it, and sat +down. There was no spoken invitation, but I understood that I was +permitted to remain with her. + +"Do you know," she said, looking round to make sure that we were alone, +"I dread these meetings of the Council. I have always the feeling that +something terrible will happen. I knew Lord Ronald very well, and his +mother was one of my dearest friends. I am sure that he was perfectly +innocent. And to-day he is in a madhouse. They say that he will never +recover." + +I did not wish to speak about these things, even with Lady Angela. I +tried to lead the conversation into other channels, but she absolutely +ignored my attempt. + +"There is something about it all so grimly mysterious," she said. "It +seems almost as though there must be a traitor, if not in the Council +itself, in some special and privileged position." + +She looked up at me as though asking for confirmation of her views. I +shook my head. + +"Lady Angela," I said, "would you mind if I abstained from expressing +any opinion at all? It is a subject which I feel it is scarcely right +for me to discuss." + +She looked at me with wide-open eyes, a dash of insolence mingled with +her surprise. I do not know what she was about to say, for at that +moment the young man with the sombre shooting suit and closely cropped +hair paused for a moment on his way out of the breakfast-room. +He glanced at me, and I received a brief impression of an +unwholesome-looking person with protuberant eyeballs, thin lashes, and +supercilious mouth. + +"I trust that the day's entertainment will include something more than a +glimpse of Lady Angela," he said, with a low bow. + +She raised her eyes. It seemed to me, who was watching her closely, +that she shrank a little back in her seat. I was sure that she shared +my instinctive dislike of the man. + +"I think not," she said. "Perhaps you are expecting me to come down +with the lunch and compliment you all upon your prowess." + +"It would be delightful!" he murmured. + +She shook her head. + +"There are too many of you, and I am too few," she said lightly. +"Besides, shooting is one of the few sports with which I have no +sympathy at all. I shall try and get somewhere away from the sound of +your guns." + +"I myself," he said, "am not what you call a devotee of the sport. I +wonder if part of the day one might play truant. Would Lady Angela take +pity upon an unentertained guest?" + +"I should find it a shocking nuisance," she said, coolly. "Besides, it +would not be allowed. You will find that when my father has once +marshalled you, escape is a thing not to be dreamed of. Every one says +that he is a perfect martinet where a day's shooting is concerned." + +He smiled enigmatically. "We shall see," he remarked, as he turned +away. Lady Angela watched him disappear. "Do you know who that is?" +she asked me. I shook my head. "Some one French, very French," I +remarked. "He should be," she remarked. "That is Prince Henri de +Malors. He represents the hopes of the Royalists in France." + +"It is very interesting," I murmured. "May I ask is he an old family +friend?" + +"Our families have been connected by marriage," she answered. "He and +Blenavon saw a great deal of one another in Paris, very much to the +disadvantage of my brother, I should think. I believe that there was +some trouble at the Foreign Office about it." + +"It is very interesting," I repeated. + +"Blenavon was very foolish," she declared. "It was obviously a most +indiscreet friendship for him, and Paris was his first appointment. But +I must go and speak to some of these people." + +She rose and left me a little abruptly. I escaped by one of the side +entrances, and hurried back to my cottage. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN ACCIDENT + +The Prince accepted my most comfortable easy chair with an air of +graceful condescension. Lady Angela had already seated herself. It was +late in the afternoon, and Grooton was busy in the room behind, +preparing my tea. + +"The Prince did not care to shoot to-day," Lady Angela explained, "and I +have been showing him the neighbourhood. Incidentally, I am dying for +some tea, and the Prince has smoked all his cigarettes." + +The Prince raised his hand in polite expostulation, but he accepted a +cigarette with a little sigh of relief. + +"You have found a very lonely spot for your dwelling-house, Mr. +Ducaine," he said. "You English are so fond of solitude." + +"It suits me very well," I answered, "for just now I have a great deal +of work to do. I am safely away from all distractions here." + +Lady Angela smiled at me. + +"Not quite so safe perhaps, Mr. Ducaine, as you fondly imagined," she +remarked. "I am afraid that we disturbed you. You look awfully busy." + +She glanced towards my writing-table. It was covered with papers, and a +map of the southern counties leaned up against the wall. The Prince +also was glancing curiously in the same direction. + +"I have finished my work for the day," I said, rising. "If you will +permit me, I will put it away." + +Grooton brought in tea. The Prince was politely curious as to the +subject matter of those closely written sheets of paper. + +"You are perhaps interested in literature, Mr. Ducaine," he remarked. + +"Immensely," I answered, waving my hand towards my bookshelves. + +"But you yourself--you no doubt write?" + +"Oh, one tries," I answered, pouring out the tea. + +"It may be permitted then to wish you success," he remarked dryly. + +"You are very good," I answered. + +Lady Angela calmly interposed. The Prince ate buttered toast and drank +tea with a bland affectation of enjoyment. They rose almost immediately +afterwards. + +"You are coming up to the house this evening, Mr. Ducaine?" Lady Angela +asked. + +"I am due there now," I answered. "If you will allow me, I will walk +back with you." + +The Prince touched my arm as Lady Angela passed out before us. + +"I am anxious, Mr. Ducaine," he said, looking me in the face, "for a +few minutes' private conversation with you. I shall perhaps be +fortunate enough to find you at home to-morrow." + +He did not wait for my answer, for Lady Angela looked back, and he +hastened to her side. He seemed in no hurry, however, to leave the +place. The evening was cloudy and unusually dark. A north wind was +tearing through the grove of stunted firs, and the roar of the incoming +sea filled the air with muffled thunder. The Prince looked about him +with a little grimace. + +"It is indeed a lonely spot," he remarked. "One can imagine anything +happening here. Did I not hear of a tragedy only the other day--a man +found dead?" + +"If you have a taste for horrors, Prince," I remarked, "you can see the +spot from the edge of the cliff here." + +The Prince moved eagerly forward. + +"I disclaim all such weakness," he said, "but the little account which I +read, or did some one tell me of it?--ah, I forget; but it interested +me." + +I pointed downwards to where the creek-riven marshes merged into the +sands. + +"It was there--a little to the left of the white palings," I said. "The +man was supposed to have been cast up from the sea." + +He measured the distance with his eye. I anticipated his remark. + +"The tide is only halfway up now," I said, "and on that particular night +there was a terrible gale." + +"Nevertheless," he murmured, half to himself, "it is a long way. Was +the man what you call identified, Mr. Ducaine?" + +"No!" + +"There were no letters or papers found upon him?" + +"None." + +The Prince looked at me sharply. + +"That," he said softly, "was strange. Does it not suggest to you that +he may have been robbed?" + +"I had not thought of it," I answered. "The verdict, I believe, was +simply Found drowned." + +"Found drowned," the Prince repeated. "Ah! Found drowned. +By-the-bye," he added suddenly, "who did find him?" + +"I did," I said coolly. + +"You?" The Prince peered at me closely through the dim light. "That," +he said reflectively, "is interesting." + +"You find it so interesting," I remarked, "that perhaps you could help +to solve the question of the man's identity." + +He seemed startled. + +"I?" he exclaimed. "But, no. Why should you think that?" + +I turned to join Lady Angela. He did not immediately follow. + +"Why did you bring him?" I asked her softly. "You had some reason." + +"He was making inquiries about you," she answered, "secretly and openly. +I thought you ought to know, and I could think of no other way of +putting you on your guard." + +"The Prince of Malors!" I murmured. "He surely would not stoop to play +the spy." + +She was silent, and moved a step or two farther away from the spot where +he still stood as though absorbed. His angular figure was clearly +defined through the twilight against the empty background of space. He +was on the very edge of the cliff, almost looking over. + +"I know very little about him myself," she said hurriedly, "but I have +heard the others talk, Lord Chelsford especially. He is a man, they +say, with a twofold reputation. He has played a great part in the world +of pleasure, almost a theatrical part; but, you know, the French people +like that." + +"It is true," I murmured. "They love their heroes decked in tinsel." +She nodded. + +"They say that it is part of a pose, and that he has serious political +ambitions. He contemplates always some great scheme which shall make +him the idol, if only for a day, of the French mob. A day would be +sufficient, for he would strike while--Prince, be careful," she called +out. "Ah!" + +We heard a shrill cry, and we saw the Prince sway on the verge of the +cliff. He threw up his arms and clutched wildly at the air, but he was +too late to save himself. We saw the ground crumble beneath his feet, +and with a second cry of despair he disappeared. + +Grooton, Lady Angela, and I reached the edge of the cliff at about the +same moment. We peered over in breathless anxiety. Lady Angela +clutched my arm, and for a moment I did not in the least care what had +happened to the Prince. + +"Don't be frightened," I whispered. "The descent is not by any means +sheer. He can't possibly have got to the bottom. I will clamber down +and look for him," + +She shuddered. + +"Oh, you mustn't," she exclaimed. "It is not safe. How terrible it +looks down there!" + +I raised my voice and shouted. Almost immediately there came an answer. + +"I am here, my friends, in the middle of a bush. I dare not move. It +is so dark I cannot see where to put my foot. Can you lower me a +lantern, and I will see if I can climb up?" + +Grooton hastened back to the cottage. + +"I think you will be all right," I cried out. "It is not half as steep +as it looks." + +"I believe," he answered, "that I can see a path up. But I will wait +until the lantern comes." + +The lantern arrived almost immediately. We lowered it to him by a rope, +and he examined the face of the cliff. + +"I think that I can get up," he cried out, "but I should like to help +myself with the rope. Can you both hold it tightly?" + +"All right," I answered. "We've got it." + +He clambered up with surprising agility. But as he reached the edge of +the cliff he groaned heavily. + +"Are you hurt?" Lady Angela asked. + +"It is my foot," he muttered, "my left foot. I twisted it in falling." + +Grooton and I helped him to the cottage. He hobbled painfully along +with tightly clenched lips. + +"I shall have to ask for a pony cart to get up to the house, I am +afraid," he said. "I am very sorry to give you so much trouble, Mr. +Ducaine." + +"The trouble is nothing,". I answered, "but I am wondering how on earth +you managed to fall over the cliff." + +"I myself, I scarcely know," he answered, as he sipped the brandy which +Grooton had produced. "I am subject to fits of giddiness, and one came +over me as I stood there looking down. I felt the ground sway, and +remember no more. I am very sorry to give you tall this trouble, but +indeed I fear that I cannot walk." + +"We will send you down a cart," I declared. "You will have rather a +rough drive across the grass, but there is no other way." + +"You are very kind," he declared. "I am in despair at my clumsiness." + +I gave him my box of cigarettes. Lady Angela hesitated. + +"I think," she said, "that I ought to stay with you, Prince, while Mr. +Ducaine goes up for the cart." + +"Indeed, Lady Angela, you are very kind," he answered, "but I could not +permit it. I regret to say that I am in some pain, and I have a +weakness for being alone when I suffer. If I desire anything Mr. +Ducaine's servant will be at hand." + +So we left him there. At any other time the prospect of that walk with +Lady Angela would have filled me with joy. But from the first moment of +leaving the cottage I was uneasy. + +"What do you think of that man?" I asked her abruptly. "I mean +personally?" + +"I hate him," she answered coolly. "He is one of those creatures whose +eyes and mouth, and something underneath his most respectful words, seem +always to suggest offensive things. I find it very hard indeed to be +civil to him." + +"Do you happen to know what Colonel Ray thinks of him?" I asked her. + +"I have no special knowledge of Colonel Ray's likes or dislikes," she +answered. + +"Forgive me," I said. "I thought that you and he were very intimate, +and that you might know. I wonder whether he takes the Prince +seriously." + +"Colonel Ray is one of my best friends," she said, "but I am not in his +confidence." + +A slight reserve had crept into her tone. I stole a glance at her face; +paler and more delicate than ever it seemed in the gathering darkness. +Her lips were firmly set, but her eyes were kind. A sudden desire for +her sympathy weakened me. + +"Lady Angela," I said, "I must talk to some one. I do not know whom to +trust. I do not know who is honest. You are the only person whom I +dare speak to at all." + +She looked round cautiously. We were out of the plantation now, in the +open park, where eavesdropping was impossible. + +"You have a difficult post, Mr. Ducaine," she said, "and you will +remember--" + +"Oh, I remember," I interrupted. "You warned me not to take' it. But +think in what a position I was. I had no career, I was penniless. How +could I throw away such a chance?" + +"Something has happened--this morning, has it not?" she asked. + +I nodded. + +"Yes." + +She waited for me to go on. She was deeply interested. I could hear +her breath coming fast, though we were walking at a snail's pace. I +longed to confide in her absolutely, but I dared not. + +"Do not ask me to tell you what it was," I said. "The knowledge would +only perplex and be a burden to you. It is all the time like poison in +my brain." + +We were walking very close together. I felt her fingers suddenly upon +my arm and her soft breath upon my cheek. + +"But if you do not tell me everything--how can you expect my sympathy, +perhaps my help?" + +"I may not ask you for either," I answered sadly. "The knowledge of +some things must remain between your father and myself." + +"Between my father--and yourself!" she repeated. + +I was silent, and then we both started apart. Behind us we could hear +the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching, soft quick footsteps, +muffled and almost noiseless upon the spongy turf. We stood still. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A BRIBE + +I wheeled round and peered into the darkness. Lady Angela's fingers +clutched my arm. I could feel that she was trembling violently. It was +Grooton whose figure loomed up almost immediately before us--Grooton, +bareheaded and breathless. "What is it?" I exclaimed quickly. "I +think, sir, that you had better return," he panted. + +He pointed over his shoulder towards the "Brand," and I understood. In +a moment I was on my way thither, running as I had not done since my +college days. I stumbled over antheaps, and more than once I set my +foot in a rabbit hole, but somehow I kept my balance. As I neared the +cottage I slackened my speed and proceeded more stealthily. I drew +close to the window and peered in. Grooton had been right indeed to +fetch me. The Prince was standing before my desk, with a bundle of +papers in his hand. I threw open the door and entered the room. Swift +though my movement had been, a second's difficulty with the catch had +given the Prince his opportunity. He was back in his easy chair when I +entered, reclining there with half-closed eyes. He looked up at me with +well simulated surprise. + +"You are soon back, Mr. Ducaine," he remarked calmly. "Did you forget +something?" + +"I forgot," I answered, struggling to recover my breath, "to lock up my +desk." + +"An admirable precaution," he admitted, watching as I gathered my papers +together, "especially if one has valuables. It is an exposed spot this, +and very lonely." + +"I am curious," I said, leaning against the table and facing him, "I am +curious to know which of my poor possessions can possibly be of interest +or value to the Prince of Malors." + +The calm hauteur of his answering stare was excellently done. I had a +glimpse now of the aristocrat. + +"You speak in enigmas, young man," he said. "Kindly be more explicit." + +"My language can scarcely be more enigmatic than your actions," I +answered. "I was fool enough to trust you and I left you here alone. +But you were not unobserved, Prince. My servant, I am thankful to say, +is faithful. It was he who summoned me back." + +"Indeed!" he murmured. + +"I might add," I continued, "that I took the liberty of looking in +through the side window there before entering." + +"If it amused you to do so, or to set your servant to spy upon me," he +said, "I see no reason to object. But your meaning is still +unexplained." + +"The onus of explanation," I declared, "appears to me to rest with you, +Prince. I offered the hospitality of my room, presumably to a +gentleman--not to a person who would seize that opportunity to examine +my private papers." + +"You speak with assurance, Mr. Ducaine." + +"The assurance of knowledge," I answered. "I saw you at my desk from +outside." + +"You should consult an oculist," he declared. "I have not left this +chair. My foot is still too painful." + +"You lie well, Prince," I answered, "but not well enough." + +He looked at me thoughtfully. + +"I am endeavouring," he said, "to accommodate myself to the customs of +this wonderful country of yours. In France one sends one's seconds. +What do you do here to a man who calls you a liar?" + +"We treat him," I answered hotly, "as the man deserves to be treated who +abuses the hospitality of a stranger, and places himself in the position +of a common thief." + +The Prince shrugged his shoulders lightly, and helped himself to one of +my cigarettes. + +"You are very young, Mr. Ducaine," he said, looking at me thoughtfully. +"You have no doubt your career to make in the world. So, in a greater +sense of the word, have I. I propose, if you will allow me, to be quite +frank with you." + +"I have no wish for your confidences, Prince," I answered. "They cannot +possibly concern or interest me." + +"Do not be too sure of that," he said. "Like all young men of your age, +you jump too readily at conclusions. It is very possible that you and I +may be of service to one another, and I may add that those who have been +of service to the Prince of Malors have seldom had cause to regret it." + +"This conversation," I interposed, "seems to me to be beside the point. +I have no desire to be of service to you. My inclinations are rather +the other way." + +"The matter may become more clear to you if you will only curb your +impatience, my young friend," the Prince said. "It is only my ambition +to serve my country, to command the gratitude of a nation which to-day +regards both me and mine with mingled doubt and suspicion. I have +ambitions, and I should be an easy and generous master to serve." + +"I am honoured with your confidence, Prince, but I still fail to see how +these matters concern me," I said, setting my teeth hard. + +"With your permission I will make it quite clear," he continued. "For +years your War Office has suffered from constant dread of an invasion by +France. The rumour of our great projected manoeuvres in the autumn have +inspired your statesmen with an almost paralysing fear. They see in +these merely an excuse for marshalling and equipping an irresistible +army within striking distance of your Empire. Personally I believe that +they are entirely mistaken in their estimate of my country's intentions. +That, however, is beside the mark. You follow me?" + +"Perfectly," I assured him. "This is most interesting, although as yet +it seems to me equally irrelevant." + +"Your War Office," the Prince continued, "has established a Secret +Council of Defence, whose only task it is to plan the successful +resistance to that invasion, if ever it should take place. You, Mr. +Ducaine, are, I believe, practically the secretary of that Council. You +have to elaborate the digests of the meetings, to file schemes for the +establishment of fortifications and camps; in a word, the result of +these meetings passes through your hands. I will not beat about the +bush, Mr. Ducaine. You can see that you have something in your keeping +which, if passed on to me, would accomplish my whole aim. The army +would be forced to acknowledge my claim upon them; the nation would hear +of it." + +"Well," I asked, "supposing all you say is true? What then?" + +"You are a little obtuse, Mr. Ducaine," the Prince said softly. "If +twenty thousand pounds would quicken your understanding--" + +I picked up a small inkpot from the side of the table and hurled it at +him. He sprang aside, but it caught the corner of his forehead, and he +gave a shrill cry of pain. He struck a fierce blow at me, which I +parried, and a moment later we were locked in one another's arms. I +think that we must have been of equal strength, for we swayed up and +down the room, neither gaining the advantage, till I felt my breath come +short and my head dizzy. Nevertheless, I was slowly gaining the +mastery. My grasp upon his throat was tightening. I had hold of his +collar and tie, and I could have strangled him with a turn of my wrist. +Just then the door opened. There was a quick exclamation of horrified +surprise in a familiar tone. I threw him from me to the ground, and +turned my head. It was Lady Angela who stood upon the threshold. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A RELUCTANT APOLOGY + +Lady Angela looked at us both in cold surprise. + +"Mr. Ducaine! Prince!" she exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this +extraordinary exhibition?" + +The Prince, whose sangfroid was marvellous, rose to his feet, and began +to wipe his forehead with a spotless cambric handkerchief. + +"My dear Lady Angela," he said, "I am most distressed that you should +have been a witness of this--extraordinary incident. I have been trying +to adapt myself to the methods of your country, but, alas! I cannot say +that I am enamoured of them. Here, it seems, that gentlemen who differ +must behave like dustmen. Will you pardon me if I turn my back to you +for a moment? I see a small mirror, and I am convinced that my tie and +collar need readjustment." + +"But why quarrel at all?" she exclaimed. "Mr. Ducaine," she added, +turning coolly to me, "I trust you have remembered that the Prince is my +father's guest." + +I was speechless, but the Prince himself intervened. + +"The blame, if any," he declared, "was mine. Mr. Ducaine appeared to +misunderstand me from the first. I believe that his little ebullition +arose altogether from too great zeal on behalf of his employers. I +congratulate him upon it, while I am bound to deprecate his extreme +measures." + +"And you, Mr. Ducaine," she asked, turning towards me, "what have you +to say?" + +"Nothing," I declared, stung by her tone and manner as much as by his +coolness, "except that I found the Prince of Malors meddling with my +private papers, and subsequently I interrupted him in the offer of a +bribe." + +The Prince smoothed his necktie, which he had really tied very well, +complacently. + +"The personal belongings of Mr. Ducaine," he said calmly, "are without +interest to me. I fancy that the Prince of Malors can ignore any +suggestions to the contrary. As for the bribe, Mr. Ducaine talks +folly. I am not aware that he has anything to sell, and I decline to +believe him a blackmailer. I prefer to look upon him as a singularly +hot-headed and not over-intelligent person, who takes very long jumps at +conclusions. Lady Angela, I find my foot much better. May I have the +pleasure of escorting you to the house?" + +I held my tongue, knowing very well that the Prince played his part +solely that I might be entrapped into speech. But Lady Angela seemed +puzzled at my silence. She looked at me for a moment inquiringly out of +her soft dark eyes. I made no sign. She turned away to the Prince. + +"If you are sure that you can walk without pain," she said. "We will +not trouble you, Mr. Ducaine," she added, as I moved to open the door. + +So they left me alone, and I was not sure whether the honours remained +with him or with me. He had never for a moment lost his dignity, nor +had he even looked ridiculous when calmly rearranging his tie and +collar. I laughed to myself bitterly as I prepared to follow them. I +was determined to lay the whole matter before the Duke at once. + +As I reached the terrace I saw a man walking up and down, smoking a +pipe. He stood at the top of the steps and waited for me. It was +Colonel Ray. He took me by the arm. + +"I have been waiting for you, Ducaine," he said. "I was afraid that I +might miss you, or I should have come down." + +"I am on my way to the Duke," I said, "and my business is urgent." + +"So is mine," he said grimly. "I want to know exactly what has passed +between you and the Prince of Malors." + +"I am not at all sure, Colonel Ray," I answered, "that I am at liberty +to tell you. At any rate, I think that I ought to see the Duke first." + +His face darkened, his eyes seemed to flash threatening fires upon me. +He was smoking so furiously that little hot shreds of tobacco fell from +his pipe. + +"Boy," he exclaimed, "there are limits even to my forbearance. You are +where you are at my suggestion, and I could as easily send you adrift. +I do not say this as a threat, but I desire to be treated with common +consideration. I appeal to your reason. Is it well to treat me like an +enemy?" + +"Whether you are indeed my friend or my enemy I am not even now sure," I +answered. "I am learning to be suspicious of every person and thing +which breathes. But as for this matter between the Prince and myself, +it can make little difference who knows the truth. He shammed a fall +over the cliff and a sprained ankle. Lady Angela and I started for the +house to send a cart for him, but, before we were halfway across the +Park, Grooton fetched me back. I found the Prince examining the papers +on which I had been working, and when I charged him with it he offered +me a bribe." + +"And you?" + +"I struck him!" + +Ray groaned. + +"You struck him! And you had him in your power--to play with as you +would. And you struck him! Oh, Ducaine, you are very, very young. I +am your friend, boy, or rather I would be if you would let me. But I am +afraid that you are a blunderer." + +I faced him with white face. + +"I seem to have found my way into a strange place," I answered. "I have +neither wit nor cunning enough to know true men from false. I would +trust you, but you are a murderer. I would have trusted the Prince of +Malors, but he has proved himself a common adventurer. So I have made +up my mind that all shall be alike. I will be neither friend nor foe to +any mortal, but true to my country. I go my way and do my duty, Colonel +Ray." + +He blew out dense volumes of smoke, puffing furiously at his pipe for +several minutes. There seemed to be many things which he had it in his +mind to say to me. But, as though suddenly altering his purpose, he +stood on one side. + +"You shall go your own way," he said grimly. "The Lord only knows where +it will take you." + +It took me in the first place to the Duke, to whom I recounted briefly +what had happened. I could see that my story at once made a deep +impression upon him. When I had finished he sat for several minutes +deep in thought. For the first time since I had known him he seemed +nervous and ill at ease. He was unusually pale, and there were deep +lines engraven about his mouth. One hand was resting upon the table, +and I fancied that his fingers were shaking. + +"The Prince of Malors," he said at last, and his voice lacked altogether +its usual ring of cool assurance, "is of Royal blood. He is not even in +touch with the political powers of France to-day. He may have been +guilty of a moment's idle curiosity--" + +"Your Grace must forgive me," I interrupted, "but you are overlooking +facts. The fall over the cliff was premeditated, the sprained foot was +a sham, the whole affair was clearly planned in order that he might be +left alone in my room. Besides, there is the bribe." + +The Duke folded his hands nervously together. He looked away from me +into the fire. + +"It is a very difficult position," he declared, "very difficult indeed. +The Prince has been more than a friend to Blenavon. He has been his +benefactor. Of course he will deny this thing with contempt. Let me +think it out, Ducaine." + +"By all means, your Grace," I answered, a little nettled at his +undecided air. "So far as I am concerned, my duty in the matter ends +here. I have, told you the exact truth concerning it, and it seems to +me by no means improbable that the Prince has been in some way +responsible for those former leakages." + +The Duke shook his head slowly. + +"It is impossible," he said. + +"Your Grace is the best judge," I answered. + +"The Prince was not in the house last night when the safe was opened, he +objected. + +"He probably has accomplices," I answered. "Besides, how do we know +that he was not here?" + +"Even if he were," the Duke said, raising his head, "how could he have +known the cipher?" + +I made no answer at all. It seemed useless to argue with a man who had +evidently made up his mind not to be convinced. + +"Have you mentioned this matter to any one?" the Duke asked. + +"To Colonel Ray only, your Grace," I answered. + +"Ray!" The Duke was silent for a moment. He was looking steadily into +the fire. "You told Ray what you have told me?" + +"In substance, yes, your Grace. In detail, perhaps not so fully." + +"And he?" + +"He did not doubt my story, your Grace," I said quietly. + +The Duke frowned across at me. + +"Neither do I, Ducaine," he declared. "It is not a question of veracity +at all. It is a question of construction. You are young, and these +things are all new to you. The Prince might have been trying you, or +something which you did not hear or have forgotten might throw a +different light upon his actions and suggestion. I beg that you will +leave the matter entirely in my hands." + +I abandoned the subject then and there. But as I left the room I came +face to face with Blenavon, who was loitering outside. He at once +detained me. His manner since the morning had altered. He addressed me +now with hesitation, almost with respect. + +"Can you spare me a few minutes, Mr. Ducaine?" he asked. "I will not +detain you long." + +"I am at your service, Lord Blenavon," I answered. "We will go into the +hall and have a smoke," he suggested, leading the way. "To me it seems +the only place in the house free from draughts." + +I followed him to where, in a dark corner of the great dome-shaped hall, +a wide cushioned lounge was set against the wall. He seated himself and +motioned me to follow his example. For several moments he remained +silent, twisting a cigarette with thin nervous fingers stained yellow +with nicotine. Every now and then he glanced furtively around. I +waited for him to speak. He was Lady Angela's brother, but I disliked +and distrusted him. + +He finally got his cigarette alight, and turned to me. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "I want you to apologize to my friend, the +Prince of Malors, for your behaviour this afternoon." + +"Apologize to the Prince!" I exclaimed. "Why should I?" + +"Because this is the only condition on which he will consent to remain +here." + +"I should have thought," I said, "that his immediate departure was +inevitable. I detected him in behaviour--" + +"That is just where you are wrong," Blenavon interrupted eagerly. "You +were mistaken, entirely mistaken." + +I laughed, a little impolitely, I am afraid, considering that this was +the son of my employer. + +"You know the circumstances?" I asked. He nodded. + +"The Prince has explained them to me. It was altogether a +misunderstanding. He felt his foot a little easier, and he was simply +looking for a newspaper or something to read until you returned. +Inadvertently he turned over some of your manuscript, and at that moment +you entered." + +"Most inopportunely, I am afraid," I answered, with an unwilling smile. +"I am sorry, Lord Blenavon, that I cannot accept this explanation of the +Prince's behaviour. I am compelled to take the evidence of my eyes and +ears as final." + +Blenavon sucked at his cigarette fiercely for a minute, threw it away, +and commenced to roll another. + +"It's all rot!" he exclaimed. "Malors wouldn't do a mean action, and, +besides, what on earth has he to gain? He is a fanatical Royalist. He +is not even on speaking terms with the Government of France to-day." + +"I perceive," I remarked, looking at him closely, "that you are familiar +with the nature of my secretarial work." + +He returned my glance, and it seemed to me that there was some hidden +meaning in his eyes which I failed to catch. + +"I am in my father's confidence," he said slowly. + +There was a moment's silence. I was listening to a distant voice in the +lower part of the hall. + +"Am I to take it, Mr. Ducaine, then," he said at last, "that you +decline to apologize to the Prince?" + +"I have nothing to apologize for," I answered calmly. "The Prince was +attempting to obtain information in an illicit manner by the perusal of +papers which were in my charge." + +Blenavon rose slowly to his feet. His eyes were fixed upon the opposite +corner of the hall. Lady Angela, who had just descended the stairs, was +standing there, pale and unsubstantial as a shadow, and it seemed to me +that her eyes, as she looked across at me, were full of trouble. She +came slowly towards us. Blenavon laid his hand upon her arm. + +"Angela," he said, "Mr. Ducaine will not accept my word. I can make no +impression upon him. Perhaps he will the more readily believe yours." + +"Lady Angela will not ask me to disbelieve the evidence of my own +senses," I said confidently. + +She stood between us. I was aware from the first of something +unfamiliar in her manner, something of which a glimmering had appeared +on our way home through the wood. + +"It is about Malors, Angela," he continued. "You were there. You know +all that happened. Malors is very reasonable about it. He admits that +his actions may have seemed suspicious. He will accept an apology from +Mr. Ducaine, and remain." + +She turned to me. + +"And you?" she asked. + +"The idea of an apology," I answered, "appears to me ridiculous. My own +poor little possessions were wholly at his disposal. I caught him, +however, in the act of meddling with papers which are mine only on +trust." + +Lady Angela played for a moment with the dainty trifles which hung from +her bracelet. When she spoke she did not look at me. + +"The Prince's explanation," she said, "is plausible, and he is our +guest. I think perhaps it would be wisest to give him the benefit of +the doubt." + +"Doubt!" I exclaimed, bewildered. "There is no room for doubt in the +matter." + +Then she raised her eyes to mine, and I saw there new things. I saw +trouble and appeal, and behind both the shadow of mystery. + +"Have you spoken to my father?" she asked. + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Did he accept--your view?" + +"He did not," I answered bitterly. "I could not convince him of what I +saw with my own eyes." + +"You have done your duty, then," she said softly. "Why not let the rest +go? As you told us just now, this is not a personal matter, and there +are reasons why he did not wish the Prince to leave suddenly." + +I was staggered. I held my peace, and the two stood watching me. Then +I heard footsteps approaching us, and a familiar voice. + +"What trio of conspirators is this talking so earnstly in the shadows? +Ah!" + +The Prince had seen me, and he stood still. I faced him at once. + +"Prince," I said, "it has been suggested to me that my eyesight is +probably defective. It is possible in that case that I have not seen +you before to-day, that the things with which I charge you are false, +that in all probability you were in some other place altogether. If +this is so, I apologize for my remarks and behaviour towards you." + +He bowed with a faint mirthless smile. + +"It is finished, my young friend," he declared. "I wipe it from my +memory." It seemed to me that I could hear Blenavon's sigh of relief, +that the shadow had fallen from Lady Angela's face. There was a little +murmur of satisfaction from both of them. But I turned abruptly, and +with scarcely even an attempt at a conventional farewell I left the +house, and walked homewards across the Park. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TWO FAIR CALLERS + +After three days the house party at Rowchester was somewhat unexpectedly +broken up. Lord Chelsford departed early one morning by special train, +and the Duke himself and the remainder of his guests left for London +later on in the day. I remained behind with three weeks' work, and a +fear which never left me by day or by night. Yet the relief of solitude +after the mysteries of the last few days was in itself a thing to be +thankful for. + +For nine days I spoke with no one save Grooton. For an hour every +afternoon, and for rather longer at night, I walked on the cliffs or the +sands. Here on these lonely stretches of empty land I met no one, saw +no living thing save the seagulls. It was almost like a corner of some +forgotten land. These walks, and an occasional few hours' reading, were +my sole recreation. + +It was late in the afternoon when I saw a shadow pass my window, and +immediately afterwards there was a timid knock at the door. Grooton had +gone on his daily pilgrimage with letters to the village, so I was +obliged to open it myself. To my surprise it was Blanche Moyat who +stood upon the threshold. She laughed a little nervously. + +"I'm no ghost, Mr. Ducaine," she said, "and I shan't bite!" + +"Forgive me," I answered. "I was hard at work and your knock startled +me. Please come in." + +I ushered her into my sitting-room. She was wearing what I recognized +as her best clothes, and not being entirely at her ease she talked +loudly and rapidly. + +"Such a stranger as you are, Mr. Ducaine," she exclaimed. "Fancy, it's +getting on for a month since we any of us saw a sign of you, and I'm +sure never a week used to pass but father'd be looking for you to drop +in. We heard that you were living here all by yourself, and this +morning mother said, perhaps he's ill. We tried to get father to come +up and see, but he's off to Downham market to-day, and goodness knows +when he'd find time if we left it to him. So I thought I'd come and +find out for myself." + +"I am quite well, thanks, Miss Moyat," I answered, "but very busy. The +Duke has been giving me some work to do, and he has lent me this +cottage, so that I shall be close at hand. I should have looked you up +the first time I came to Braster, but as a matter of fact I have not +been there since the night of my lecture." + +She was nervously playing with the fastening of her umbrella, and it +seemed to me that her silence was purposeful. I ventured some remark +about the weather, which she interrupted ruthlessly. + +"It's a mile and a half to our house from here," she said, "not a step +farther. I don't see why you shouldn't have made a purpose journey." + +I ignored the reproach in her eyes, as I had every right to do. But I +began to understand the reason of her nervousness and her best clothes, +and I prayed for Grooton's return. + +"If I had had an evening to myself," I said, "I should certainly have +paid your father a visit. But as it happens, the Duke has required me +at the house every night while he was here, and he has left me enough +work to do to keep me busy night and day till he comes back." + +She looked down upon the floor. + +"I had to come and see you," she said in a low tone. "Sometimes I can't +sleep for thinking of it. I feel that I haven't done right." + +I knew, of course, what she meant. + +"I thought we had talked all that out long ago," I answered, a little +wearily. "You would have been very foolish if you had acted +differently. I don't see how else you could have acted." + +"Oh, I don't know," she said. "We were always brought up very +particular--especially about telling the truth." + +"Well, you haven't said anything that wasn't the truth," I reminded her. + +"Oh, I don't know. I haven't said what I ought to say," she declared. +"It seems all right when you are with me, and talk about it," she +continued slowly, raising her eyes to mine. "It's when I don't see you +for weeks and weeks that it seems to get on my mind, and I get afraid. +I don't understand it, I don't understand it even now." + +"Don't understand what?" I repeated. + +She looked around. Her air of troubled mystery was only half assumed. + +"How that man died!" she whispered. + +"I can assure you that I did not kill him, if that is what you mean," I +told her coolly. "The matter is over and done with. I think that you +are very foolish to give it another thought." + +She shuddered. + +"Men can forget those things easier," she said. "Perhaps he had a wife +and children. Perhaps they are wondering all this time what has become +of him." + +"People die away from their homes and families every day, every hour," I +answered. "It is only morbid to brood over one particular example." + +"Father would never forgive me if he knew," she murmured, irrelevantly. +"He hates us to do anything underhand." + +I heard Grooton return with a sigh of relief. + +"You will have some tea," I suggested. + +She shook her head and stood up. I did not press her. + +"No, I won't," she said. "I am sorry I came. I don't understand you, +Mr. Ducaine. You seem to have changed altogether just these last few +weeks. I can see that you are dying to get rid of me now, but you were +glad enough to see me, or at any rate you pretended to be, once." + +My breath was a little taken away. I looked at her in surprise. Her +cheeks were flushed, her voice had shaken with something more like anger +than any form of pathos. I was at a loss how to answer her, and while I +hesitated the interruption which I had been praying for came, though +from a strange quarter. My door was pushed a few inches open, and I +heard Lady Angela's clear young voice. + +"Are you there, Mr. Ducaine? May I come in?" + +Before I could answer she stood upon the threshold, I saw the delightful +little smile fade from her lips as she looked in. She hesitated, and +seemed for a moment about to retreat. + +"Please come in, Lady Angela," I begged, eagerly. + +She came slowly forward. + +"I must apologize for my abominable country manners," she said, resting +the tips of her fingers for a moment in mine. "I saw your door was not +latched, and it never occurred to me to knock." + +"It was not necessary," I assured her. "A front door which does not +boast a knocker or a bell must expect to be taken liberties with. But +it is a great surprise to see you here. I had no idea that any one was +at Rowchester, or expected there, except Lord Blenavon. Has the Duke +returned?" + +She shook her head. + +"I came down alone," she answered. "I found London dull. Let me see, I +am sure that I know your face, do I not?" she added, turning to Blanche +Moyat with a smile. "You live in Braster, surely?" + +"I am Miss Moyat," Blanche answered quietly. + +"Of course. Dear me! I ought to have recognized you. We have been +neighbours for a good many years." + +"I will wish you good-afternoon, Mr. Ducaine," Blanche said, turning to +me. "Good-afternoon--your Ladyship," she added a little awkwardly. + +I opened the door for her. + +"I will come down and see your father the first evening I have to +spare," I said. "I hope you will tell him from me that I should have +been before, but for the luxury of having some work to do." + +"I will tell him," she said almost inaudibly. + +"And thank you very much for coming to inquire after me," I added. +"Good-afternoon." + +"Good-afternoon, Mr. Ducaine." + +I closed the door. Lady Angela was lounging in my easy chair with a +slight smile upon her lips. + +"Two lady callers in one afternoon, Mr. Ducaine," she remarked quietly. +"You will lose your head, I am afraid." + +"I can assure you, Lady Angela," I answered, "that there is not the +slightest fear of such a catastrophe." + +She sat looking meditatively into the fire, swinging her dogskin gloves +in her hands. She wore a plain pearl grey walking dress and deerstalker +hat with a single quill in it. The severe but immaculate simplicity of +her toilette might have been designed to accentuate the barbarities of +Blanche Moyat's cheap finery. + +"I understood that you would be in town for at least three weeks," I +remarked. "I trust that his Grace is well." + +"I trust that he is," she answered. "I see nothing of him in London. +He has company meetings and political work every moment of his time. I +do not believe that there is any one who works harder." + +"He has, at least," I remarked, "the compensation of success." + +"You are wondering, I suppose," she said, looking up at me quickly, +"what has brought me back again so soon." + +"I certainly did not expect you," I admitted. + +She rose abruptly. + +"Come outside," she said, "and I will show you. Bring your hat." + +We passed into the March twilight. She led the way down the cliff and +towards the great silent stretch of salt marshes. An evening wind, +sharp with brine, was blowing in from the ocean, stirring the surface of +the long creeks into silent ripples, and bending landwards the thin +streaks of white smoke rising amongst the red-tiled roofs of the +village. I felt the delicate sting of it upon my cheeks. Lady Angela +half closed her eyes as she turned her face seawards. + +"I came for this," she murmured. "There is nothing like it anywhere +else." + +We stood there in silence for several long minutes. Then she turned to +me with a little sigh. + +"I am content," she said. "Will you come up and dine with us to-night? +Blenavon will be there, you know." I hesitated. + +"I am afraid it is rather a bother to you to leave your work," she +continued, "but I am not offering you idle hospitality. I really want +you to come." + +"In that case," I answered, "of course I shall be delighted." + +She pointed to Braster Grange away on the other side of the village. I +noticed for the first time that it was all lit up. + +"Have you heard anything of our new neighbours?" she asked. + +"Only their names," I answered. "I did not even know that they had +arrived." + +"There is only a woman, I believe," she said. "I have met her abroad, +and I dislike her--greatly. I hear that my brother spends most of his +time with her, and that he has dined there the last three nights. It is +not safe or wise of him, for many reasons. I want to stop it. That is +why I have asked you to come to us." + +"It is quite sufficient," I told her. "If you want me for any reason I +will come. I am two days ahead of my work." + +We threaded our way amongst the creeks. All the time the salt wind blew +upon us, and the smell of fresh seaweed seemed to fill the air with +ozone. Just as we came in sight of the road we heard the thunder of +hoofs behind. We turned around. It was Blenavon, riding side by side +with a lady who was a stranger to me. Her figure was slim but elegant. +I caught a glimpse of her face as they flashed by, and it puzzled me. +Her hair was almost straw coloured, her complexion was negative, her +features were certainly not good. Yet there was something about her +attractive, something which set me guessing at once as to the colour of +her eyes, the quality of her voice, if she should speak. Blenavon +reined in his horse. + +"So you have turned up, Angela," he remarked, looking at her a little +nervously. "You remember Mrs. Smith-Lessing, don't you--down at +Bordighera, you know?" + +Angela shook her head, but she never glanced towards the woman who sat +there with expectant smile. + +"I am afraid that I do not," she said. "I remember a good many things +about Bordighera, but--not Mrs. Smith-Lessing. I shall see you at +dinner-time, Blenavon. I have some messages for you." + +I saw the whip come down upon the woman's horse, but I did not dare to +look into her face. Blenavon, with a smothered oath and a black look at +his sister, galloped after her. I rejoined Lady Angela, who was already +in the road. + +"Dear me," she said, "what a magnificent nerve that woman must have! To +dare to imagine that I should receive her! Why, she is known in every +capital in Europe--a police spy, a creature whose brains and body and +soul are to be bought by any one's gold." + +"What on earth can such a woman want here?" I remarked. + +"In hiding, very likely," Lady Angela remarked. "Or perhaps she may be +an additional complication for you." + +I laughed a little scornfully. + +"You, too, are getting suspicious," I declared. "The Prince and Mrs. +Smith-Lessing are a strong combination." + +"Be careful then that they are not too strong for you," she answered, +smiling. "I have heard a famous boast of Mrs. Smith-Lessing's, that +never a man nor a lock has yet resisted her." + +I thought of her face as I had seen it in the half light--a faint +impression of delicate colourlessness, and for the life of me I could +not help a little shiver. Lady Angela looked at me in surprise. + +"Are you cold?" she asked. "Let us walk more quickly." + +"It is always cold at this time in the evening," I remarked. "It is the +mist coming up from the marshes. One feels it at unexpected moments." + +"I am not going to take you any farther," she declared, "especially as +you are coming up to-night. Eight o'clock, remember. Go and salve your +conscience with some work." + +I protested, but she was firm. So I stood by the gate and watched her +slim young figure disappear in the gathering shadows. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LADY ANGELA'S ENGAGEMENT + +I dined that night at Rowchester. Lord Blenavon was sulky, and Lady +Angela was only fitfully gay. It was not altogether a cheerful party. +Lady Angela left us the moment Blenavon produced his cigarette-case. + +"Do not stay too long, Mr. Ducaine," she said, as I held the door open +for her. "I want a lesson at billiards." + +I bowed and returned to my seat. Blenavon was leaning back in his +chair, smoking thoughtfully. + +"My sister," he remarked, looking up at the ceiling and speaking as +though to himself, "would make an admirable heroine for the +psychological novelist. She is a bundle of fancies; one can never rely +upon what she is going to do. What other girl in the world would get +engaged on the Thursday, and come down here on the Friday to think it +over--leaving, of course, her _fiance_ in town? Doesn't that strike you +as singular?" + +"Is it," I asked calmly, "a genuine case?" + +Lord Blenavon nodded. + +"I do not think that it is a secret," he said, helping himself to wine +and passing the decanter. "She has made up her mind at last to marry +Mostyn Ray. The affair has been hanging about for more than a year. In +fact, I think that there was something said about it before Ray went +abroad. Personally, I think that he is too old. I don't mind saying so +to you, because that has been my opinion all along. However, I suppose +it is all settled now." + +I kept my eyes fixed upon the wineglass in front of me, but the things +which I saw, no four walls had ever enclosed. One moment the rush of +the sea was in my ears, another I was lying upon the little horsehair +couch in my sitting-room. I felt her soft white fingers upon my pulse +and forehead. Again I saw her leaning down from the saddle of her great +brown horse, and heard her voice, slow, emotionless, yet always with its +strange power to play upon my heartstrings. And yet, while the grey +seas of despair were closing over my head, I sat there with a +stereotyped smile upon my lips, fingering carelessly the stem of my +wineglass, unwilling guest of an unwilling host. I do not know how long +we sat there in silence, but it seemed to me an eternity, for all the +time I knew that Blenavon was watching me. I felt like a victim upon +the rack, whilst he, the executioner, held the cords. I do not think, +however, that he learnt anything from my face. + +With a little shrug of the shoulders he abandoned the subject. + +"By-the-bye, Ducaine," he said, "I hope you won't mind my asking you a +rather personal question." + +"If it is only personal," I answered quietly, "not at all. As you know, +I may not discuss any subject connected with my work." + +"Quite so! I only want to know whether your secretarial duties begin +and end with your work on the Council of Defence, or are you at all in +my father's confidence as regards his private affairs?" + +"I am temporary secretary to the Council of Defence only, Lord +Blenavon," I answered. "I know nothing whatever of your father's +private affairs. He has his own man of business." + +I am not sure whether he believed me. He cracked some walnuts and +commenced peeling them. + +"My father will never listen to me," he said, "but I feel sure that he +makes a mistake in becoming a director of all these companies. Politics +should be quite sufficient to engross his time, and the money cannot be +so much of an object to him. I don't suppose his holdings are large, +but I am quite sure that one or two of those Australian gold mines are +dicky, and you know he was an enormous holder of Chartereds, and +wouldn't sell, worse luck! Of course I'm not afraid of his losing in +the long run, but it isn't exactly a dignified thing to be associated +with these concerns that aren't exactly A1. His name might lead people +into speculations who couldn't altogether afford it." + +"I know nothing whatever of these matters," I answered, "but from what I +have seen of your father I should imagine that he is remarkably able to +guard his own interests." + +Blenavon nodded. + +"I suppose that is true," he admitted. "But when he is already a rich +man, with very simple tastes, I am rather surprised that he should care +to meddle with such things." + +"Playing at commerce," I remarked, "has become rather a hobby with men +of leisure lately." + +"And women, too," Blenavon assented. "Rather an ugly hobby, I call it." + +A servant entered and addressed Blenavon. "The carriage is at the door, +your Lordship," he announced. + +Blenavon glanced at his watch and rose. + +"I shall have to ask you to excuse me, Ducaine," he said. "I was to +have dined out to-night, and I must go and make my peace. Another glass +of wine?" + +I rose at once. + +"Nothing more, thank you," I said. "I will just say good-night to your +sister." + +"She's probably in the drawing-room," he remarked. "If not, I will make +your excuses when I see her." + +Blenavon hurried out. A few moments later I heard the wheels of his +carriage pass the long front of the house and turn down the avenue. I +lingered for a moment where I was. The small oak table at which we had +dined seemed like an oasis of colour in the midst of an atmosphere of +gloom. The room was large and lofty, and the lighting was altogether +inadequate. From the walls there frowned through the shadows the +warlike faces of generations of Rowchesters. At the farther end of the +apartment four armed giants stood grim and ghostlike in the twilight, +which seemed to supply their empty frames with the presentment of actual +warriors. I looked down upon the table, all agleam with flowers, and +fruit, and silver, over which shone the red glow of the shaded lamps. +Exactly opposite to me, in that chair now pushed carelessly back, she +had sat, so close that my hand could have touched hers at any moment, so +close that I had been able to wonder more than ever before at the +marvellous whiteness of her skin, the perfection of her small, +finely-shaped features, the strange sphinxlike expression of her face, +always suggestive of some great self-restraint, mysterious, and subtly +stimulating. And as I stood there she seemed again to be occupying the +chair, at first a faint shadowy presence, but gaining with every second +shape and outline, until I could scarcely persuade myself that it was +not she who sat there, she whose eyes more than once during dinner-time +had looked into mine with that curious and instinctive demand for +sympathy, even as regards the things of the moment, the passing jest, +the most transitory of emotions. A few minutes ago I had felt that I +knew her better than ever before in my life, and now the chair was +empty. My heart was beating at the imaginary presence of the vainest of +shadows. She was going to marry Colonel Mostyn Ray. + +And then I stood as though suddenly turned to stone. Before me were the +great front windows of the castle. Beyond, eastwards, stretched the +salt marshes, the salt marshes riven with creeks. Once more my +unwilling hands touched that huddled-up heap of extinct humanity. I saw +the dead white face, which the sun could never warm again, and I felt +the hands, cold, clammy, horrible. Ray was a soldier, and life and +death had become phrases to him; but I--it was the first dead man I had +ever seen, and the horror of it was cold in my blood. Ray had murdered +him, fought with him, perhaps, but killed him. What would she say if +she knew? Would his hands be clean to her, or would the horror rise up +like a red wall between them? + +"Will you take coffee, sir?" + +I set my teeth and turned slowly round. I even took the cup from the +tray without spilling it. + +"What liqueur may I bring you, sir?" the man asked. + +"Brandy," I answered. + +In a few minutes I was laughing at myself, not quite naturally, perhaps, +but only I could know that. I was getting to be a morbid, nervous +person. It was the solitude! I must get away from it all before long. +Fate had been playing strange tricks with me. Life, which a few months +ago had been a cold and barren thing, was suddenly pressed to my lips, a +fantastic, intoxicating mixture. I had drawn enough poison into my +veins. I would have no more. I swore it. + + * * * * * + +I tried to leave the castle unnoticed, but the place was alive with +servants. One of them hurried up to me as I tried to reach my hat and +coat. + +"Her ladyship desired me to say that she was in the billiard-room, sir," +he announced. + +"Will you tell Lady Angela--" and then I stopped. The door of the +billiard-room was open, and Lady Angela stood there, the outline of her +figure sharply defined against a flood of light. She had a cue in her +hand, and she looked across at me. + +"You are a long time, Mr. Ducaine. I am waiting for you to give me a +lesson at billiards." + +I crossed the hall to her side. + +"I thought that as Lord Blenavon had gone out--" + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"That you would evade your duty, which is clearly to stay and entertain +your hostess." + +She closed the door and glanced at me curiously. + +"What has happened to you?" she asked. "You look as though you had been +with ghosts." + +"Is it so impossible?" I asked, moving a little nearer to the huge log +fire. "What company is more terrifying than the company of our dead +thoughts and dead hopes and dead memories?" + +"Really, I am afraid that Blenavon must have been a very depressing +companion!" she said, leaning her elbow upon the broad mantelpiece. + +It was absurd! I tried to shake myself free from the miseries of the +last hour. + +"I am afraid it must have been the other way," I said, "for your brother +has gone out." + +"Yes," she said quietly, "he has gone to that woman at Braster Grange. +I wish I knew what brought her into this part of the country." + +I looked round at the billiard-table. + +"Did you mean that you would like a game?" I asked. "I am rather out of +practice, but I used to fancy myself a little." + +"I have no doubt," she answered, sinking into a low chair, "that you are +an excellent player, but I am willing to take it for granted. I do not +wish to play billiards. Draw that chair up to the fire and talk to me." + +It was of all things what I wished to avoid that night. But there was +no escape. I obeyed her. + +"What your brother has told me is, I presume, no secret," I said. "I am +to wish you happiness, am I not?" + +She looked up at me in quick surprise. + +"Did Blenavon tell you--" + +"That you had promised to marry Colonel Mostyn Ray. Yes." + +"That is very strange," she said thoughtfully. "Blenavon is not as a +rule needlessly communicative, and at present it is almost a secret." + +"Nevertheless," I said, turning slowly towards her, "I presume that it +is true." + +"It is perfectly true," she answered. + +There was silence between us for several minutes. One of the footmen +came softly in to see whether we required a marker, and finding us +talking, withdrew. I was determined that the onus of further speech +should remain with her. + +"You are surprised?" she asked at last. + +"Very." + +"And why?" + +"I scarcely know," I answered, "except that I have never associated the +thought of marriage with Colonel Ray, and he is very much older than +you." + +"Yes, he is a great deal older," she answered. "I think that his +history has been rather a sad one. He was in love for many years with a +woman who married--some one else. I have always felt sorry for him ever +since I was a little girl." + +"Do you know who that woman was?" + +"I have never heard her name," she answered. + +I found courage to lift my eyes and look at her. + +"May I ask when you are going to be married?" + +Her eyes fell. The question did not seem to please her. + +"I do not know," she said. "We have not spoken of that yet. Everything +is very vague." + +"Colonel Ray is coming down here, of course?" I remarked. + +"Not to my knowledge," she declared. "Not at any rate until the next +meeting of the Council. I shall be back in town before then." + +"I begin to believe," I said, with a grim smile, "that your brother was +right." + +"My brother right?" + +"He finds you enigmatic! You become engaged to a man one day, and you +leave him the next--without apparent reason." + +She was obviously disturbed. A slight wave of trouble passed over her +face. Her eyes failed to meet mine. + +"That I cannot altogether explain to you," she said. "There are reasons +why I should come, but apart from them this place is very dear to me. I +think that whenever anything has happened to me I have wanted to be +here. You are a man, and you will not altogether understand this." + +"Why not?" I protested. "We, too, have our sentiment, the sentiment of +places as well as of people. If I could choose where to die I think +that it would be here, with my windows wide open and the roar of the +incoming tide in my ears." + +"For a young man," she remarked, looking across at me, "I should +consider you rather a morbid person." + +"There are times," I answered, "when I feel inclined to agree with you. +To-night is one of them." + +"That," she said coolly, "is unfortunate. You have been over-working." + +"I am worried by a problem," I told her. "Tell me, are you a great +believer in the sanctity of human life?" + +"What a question!" she murmured. "My own life, at any rate, seems to me +to be a terribly important thing." + +"Suppose you had a friend," I said, "who was one night attacked in a +quiet spot by a man who sought his life, say, for the purpose of +robbery. Your friend was the stronger and easily defended himself. +Then he saw that his antagonist was a man of ill repute, an evildoer, a +man whose presence upon the earth did good to no one. So he took him by +the throat and deliberately crushed the life out of him. Was your +friend a murderer?" + +She smiled at me--that quiet, introspective smile which I knew so well. + +"Does the end justify the means? No, of course not. I should have been +very sorry for my friend; but if indeed there is a Creator, it is He +alone who has power to take back what He has given." + +"Your friend, then--" + +"Don't call him that!" + +I rose up and moved towards the door. I think that she saw something in +my face which checked any attempt she might have made to detain me. + +"You must forgive me," I said. "I cannot stay." + +She said nothing. I looked back at her from the door. Her eyes were +fixed upon me, a little distended, full of mute questioning. I only +shook my head. So I left her and passed out into the night. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MORE TREACHERY + +There followed for me a period of unremitting hard work, days during +which I never left my desk save at such hours when I knew that the +chances of meeting any one scarcely existed. Several times I saw Lady +Angela from my window on the sands below, threading her way across the +marshes to the sea. Once she passed my window very slowly, and with a +quick backward glance as she turned to descend the cliff. But I sat +still with clenched teeth. I had nailed down my resolutions, I had +determined to hold fast to such threads of my common sense as remained. +Only in the night-time, when sleep mocked me and all hope of escape was +futile, was I forced to grapple with this new-born monster of folly. It +drove me up across the Park to where the house, black and lightless, +rose a dark incongruous mass above the trees, down to the sea, where the +wind came booming across the bare country northwards, and the spray +leaped white and phosphorescent into the night like flakes of +wind-hurled snow. I stood as close to the sea as I dared, and I prayed. +Once I saw morning lighten the mass of clouds eastwards, and the grey +dawn break over the empty waters. I heard the winds die away, and I +watched the sea grow calm. Far across on the horizon there was faint +glimmer of cold sunlight. Then I went back to my broken rest. It was +my solitude in those days which drove me to seek peace or some measure +of it from these things. + +At last a break came, a summons to London to a meeting of the Council. +I was just able to catch my train and reach the War Office at the +appointed time. There were two hours of important work, and I noticed a +general air of gravity on the faces of every one present. After it was +over Ray came to my side. + +"Ducaine," he said, "Lord Chelsford wishes to speak' to you for a few +moments. Come this way." + +He led me into a small, barely-furnished room, with high windows and +only one door. It was empty when we entered it. Ray looked at me as he +closed the door, and I fancied that for him his expression was not +unfriendly. + +"Ducaine," he said, "there has been some more of this damned leakage. +Chelsford will ask you questions. Answer him simply, but tell him +everything--everything, you understand." + +"I should not dream of any concealment," I answered. + +"Of course not! But it is possible--Ah!" + +He broke off and remained listening. There was the sound of a quick +footstep in the hall. + +"Now you will understand what I mean," he whispered. "Remember!" + +It was not Chelsford, but the Duke, who entered and greeted me +cordially. With a farewell nod to me Ray disappeared. The Duke looked +round and watched him close the door. Then he turned to me. + +"Ducaine," he said, "a copy of our proposed camp at Winchester, and the +fortifications on Bedler's Hill, has reached Paris." + +"Your Grace," I answered, "it was I who pointed out to you that our +papers dealing with those matters had been tampered with. I am waiting +now to be cross-questioned by Lord Chelsford. I have done all that is +humanly possible. It goes without saying that my resignation is yours +whenever you choose to ask for it." + +The Duke sat down and looked at me thoughtfully. + +"Ducaine," he said, "I believe in you." + +I drew a little breath of relief. The Duke was a hard man and a man of +few words. I felt that in making that speech he had departed a great +deal from his usual course of action, and I knew that he meant it. + +"I am very much obliged to your Grace," I answered. + +"I think," he continued, "that Lord Chelsford and in fact all the others +are inclined to accept you on my estimate. We all of us feel that we +are the victims of some unique and very marvellous piece of roguery on +the part of some one or other. I believe myself that we are on the eve +of a discovery." + +"Thank Heaven!" I murmured. + +"We shall only succeed in unravelling this mystery," the Duke continued +deliberately, "by very cautious and delicate manoeuvring. I have an +idea which I propose to carry out. But its success depends largely upon +you." + +"Upon me?" I repeated, amazed. + +"Exactly! Upon your common sense and judgment." The Duke paused to +listen for a moment. Then he continued, speaking very slowly, and +leaning over towards me-- + +"Lord Chelsford proposes for his own satisfaction to cross-examine you. +It occurs to me that you will probably tell him of your fancied +disturbance of those papers in the safe, and of your little adventure +with the Prince of Malors." I looked at him in surprise. "Have they not +all been told of this?" I asked. "No." + +There was a moment's dead silence. I was a little staggered. The Duke +remained imperturbable. + +"They have not been told," he repeated. "No one has been told. The +matter was one for my discretion, and I exercised it." + +There seemed to be no remark which I could make, so I kept silence. + +"We have discussed this matter before," the Duke said, "and my firm +conviction is that you were mistaken. That safe could only have been +opened by yourself, Ray, or myself. I think I am justified in saying +that neither of us did open it." + +"Nevertheless that safe was opened," I objected. "Those were the very +papers, copies of which have found their way to Paris." + +"Exactly," the Duke answered. "Only you must remember that every member +of the Board was sufficiently acquainted with their contents to have +sent those particulars to Paris, without opening the safe for a further +investigation of them. Any statement of your suspicion would only +result in attention being diverted from the proper quarters to members +of my household. I believe that even if you are right, even if those +papers were disturbed, it was done simply to throw dust in your eyes. +Do you follow me?" + +"Yes, your Grace," I answered. + +"Lord Chelsford, if you were able to convince him, would most certainly +be misled in this direction. That is why I have kept your report to +myself. That is why my advice to you now is to say nothing about your +imagined displacement of those papers. That is my advice. You +understand?" + +"Yes, your Grace," I repeated. + +"With regard to the Prince of Malors," the Duke continued, "my firm +conviction is that you were mistaken. Malors is not a politician. He +has nothing whatever to gain or lose in this matter. He is a member of +one of the most ancient houses of Europe, a house which for generations +has been closely connected with my own. I absolutely decline to believe +that whilst under my roof a Malors could lower himself to the level of a +common spy. Such an accusation brought against him would be regarded as +a blot upon my hospitality. Further, it would mean the breaking off of +my ancient ties of friendship. I am very anxious, therefore, that you +should bring yourself to accept my view as to this episode also." + +"Your Grace," I answered, "you ask me very hard things." + +He looked at me with his clear cold eyes. + +"Surely not too hard, Mr. Ducaine," he said. "I ask you to accept my +judgment. Consider for a moment. You are a young man, little more than +a boy. I for forty years have been a servant of my country, both in the +field and as a lawmaker. I am a Cabinet Minister. I have a life-long +experience of men and their ways. My judgment in this matter is that +you were mistaken, and much mischief is likely to ensue if the Prince of +Malors should find himself an object of suspicion amongst us." + +"Your Grace," I said, "forgive me, but why do you not say these things +to the Board, or to Lord Chelsford and Colonel Ray after they have heard +my story?" + +"Because," the Duke answered, "I have no confidence in the judgment of +either of them. Both in their way are excellent men, but they are of +this new generation, who do not probe beneath the surface, who form +their opinions only from the obvious. It is possible that after hearing +your story they might consider the problem solved. I am, at any rate, +convinced that they would commence a search for its solution in +altogether wrong quarters." + +"Your Grace," I said firmly, "I am very sorry indeed that I cannot take +your advice. I think it most important that Lord Chelsford should know +that those papers were tampered with. And as regards the Prince of +Malors, whatever his motive may have been, I discovered him in the act +of perusing the documents relating to the subway of Portsmouth. I +cannot possibly withhold my knowledge of these things from Lord +Chelsford. In fact, I think it is most important that he should know of +them." + +The Duke rose slowly to his feet. He showed no sign of anger. + +"If you prefer your own judgment to mine, Mr. Ducaine," he said, "I +have no more to say. I have taken you into my confidence, and I have +endeavoured to show you your most politic course of behaviour. If your +views are so far opposed, you must not consider it an injustice if I +decide that a person of more judgment is required successfully to +conduct the duties of secretary to the Council." + +"I can only thank your Grace for your past kindness," I answered with +sinking heart. + +He looked across at me with still cold eyes. + +"Do not misunderstand me," he said. "I do not dismiss you. I shall +leave that to the Board. If my colleagues are favourably disposed +towards you I shall not interfere. Only so far as I am concerned you +must take your chance." + +"I quite understand your Grace," I declared. "I think that you are +treating me very fairly." + +The Duke leaned back in his chair. + +"Here they come!" he remarked. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN WHICH I SPEAK OUT + +The door was thrown open. Lord Chelsford and Colonel Ray entered +together. The Commander-in-Chief accompanied them, and there was also +present a person who sat a little apart from the others, and who, I +learned afterwards, was a high official in the secret service. More +than ever, perhaps, I realized at that moment in the presence of these +men the strangeness of the events which for a short space of time, at +any rate, had brought me into association with persons and happenings of +such importance. + +Lord Chelsford seated himself at the open desk opposite to the Duke. As +was his custom, he wasted no time in preliminaries. + +"We wish for a few minutes' conversation with you, Mr. Ducaine," he +said, "on the subject of this recent leakage of news concerning our +proceedings on the Council of Defence. I need not tell you that the +subject is a very serious one." + +"I quite appreciate its importance, sir," I answered. + +"The particular documents of which we have news from Paris," Lord +Chelsford continued, "are those having reference to the proposed camp at +Winchester and the subway at Portsmouth. I understand, Mr. Ducaine, +that these were drafted by you, and placed in a safe in the library of +Rowchester on the evening of the eighteenth of this month." + +"That is so, sir," I answered. "And early the next morning I reported +to the Duke that the papers had been tampered with." + +There was a dead silence for several moments. Lord Chelsford glanced at +the Duke, who sat there imperturbable, with a chill, mirthless smile at +the corner of his lips. Then he looked again at me, as though he had +not heard aright. + +"Will you kindly repeat that, Mr. Ducaine?" he said. + +"Certainly, sir," I answered. "I had occasion to go to the safe again +early on the morning of the nineteenth, and I saw at once that the +documents in question had been tampered with. I reported the matter at +once to his Grace." + +The eyes of every one were bent upon the Duke. He nodded his head +slowly. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "certainly came to me and made the statement +which he has just repeated. I considered the matter, and I came to the +conclusion that he was mistaken. I was sure of it then. I am equally +sure of it now." + +"Tell us, Mr. Ducaine," Lord Chelsford said, "what your reasons were +for making such a statement." + +I took a piece of red tape and a newspaper from the table before which I +stood. I folded up the newspaper and tied the tape around it. + +"When I put those documents away," I said, "I tied them up with a knot +like this, of my own invention, which I have never seen used by anybody +else. In the morning I found that my knot had been untied, and that the +tape around the papers had been re-tied in an ordinary bow." + +"Will you permit me for a moment," the Duke interposed. "The safe, I +believe, Mr. Ducaine, was secured with a code lock, the word of which +was known to-whom?" + +"Yourself, sir, Colonel Ray, and myself." + +The Duke nodded. + +"If I remember rightly," he said, "the code word was never mentioned, +but was written on a piece of paper, glanced at by each of us in turn, +and immediately destroyed." + +"That is quite true, sir." + +"Now, do you believe, Mr. Ducaine," the Duke continued, "that it was +possible for any one else except us the to have attained to the +knowledge of that word." + +"I do not sir," I admitted. + +"Do you believe that it was possible for any one to have opened the safe +without the knowledge of that word?" + +"Without breaking it open, no, sir." + +"There were no signs of the lock having been tampered with when you went +to it in the morning?" "None, sir." + +"It was set at the correct word, the word known only to Colonel Ray, +myself, and yourself?" "Yes, sir." + +The Duke leaned back in his chair and addressed Lord Chelsford. + +"For the reasons which you have heard from Mr. Ducaine himself," he +said drily, "I came to the conclusion that he was mistaken in his +suggestion. I think that you will probably be inclined to agree with +me." + +These men had learnt well the art of masking their feelings. From Lord +Chelsford's polite bow I could gather nothing. + +"I am forced to admit," he said, "that no other conclusion seems +possible. Now, Mr. Ducaine, with regard to the execution of your work. +It is carried out altogether, I believe, at the 'Brand'?" + +"Entirely, sir." + +"Your only servant is the man Grooton, for whom the Duke and I myself +are prepared to vouch. You are also watched by detectives residing in +the village, as I dare say you know. I also understand that you have no +private correspondence, and receive practically no visitors. Now tell +me the only persons who, to your knowledge, have entered the 'Brand' +since you have been engaged in this work." + +I answered him at once. + +"Colonel Ray, Lady Angela Harberly, Lord Blenavon, the Prince of Malors, +and a young lady called Blanche Moyat, the daughter of a farmer in +Braster at whose house I used sometimes to visit." + +Lord Chelsford referred to some notes in his hand. Then he leaned back +in his chair, and looked at me steadfastly. + +"Is there any one," he asked, "whom you suspect to have visited you for +the purpose, either direct or indirect, of gaining information as to +your work?" + +"Yes, sir," I answered promptly. + +A little exclamation escaped from the Commander-in-Chief. Lord +Chelsford never removed his eyes from my face, the Duke had still the +appearance of a tolerant but slightly bored listener. + +"Who?" Lord Chelsford asked. + +"The Prince of Malors," I answered. + +There was a moment's silence. Lord Chelsford turned again to his notes. +Then he looked up at me. + +"Your reasons?" he asked. + +I told them the story carefully and circumstantially. When I had +finished Colonel Ray left his seat and whispered something in Lord +Chelsford's ear. The Duke interposed. + +"I wish," he said, "to add a brief remark to the story which you have +just heard. I have known Malors since he was a boy, my father knew his +father, and, as you may know, our families have been frequently +connected in marriage. I do not wish to impugn the good faith of this +young man, but the Prince of Malors was my guest, and the accusation +against him is one which I cannot believe." + +"The story, as I have told it, sir, is absolutely true," I said to Lord +Chelsford. "There was no room for any mistake or misapprehension on my +part. I am afraid that I haven't been a great success as your +secretary. Colonel Ray gave me to understand, of course, that your +object in engaging an utterly unknown person was to try and stop this +leakage of information. It is still going on, and I cannot stop it. I +am quite prepared to give up my post at any moment." + +Lord Chelsford nodded towards the door. + +"Will you be so good as to step into the next room for a few minutes, +Mr. Ducaine?" he said. "We will discuss this matter together." + +I departed at once, and found my way into a bare waiting-room, hung with +a few maps, and with uncarpeted floor. The minutes dragged along +slowly. I hated the thought of dismissal, I rebelled against it almost +fiercely. I had done my duty, I had told the truth, there was nothing +against me save this obstinate and quixotic loyalty of the Duke to an +old family friend. Yet I scarcely dared hope that there was a chance +for me. + +At last I heard the door open, and the sound of friendly adieux in the +passage. Lord Chelsford came in to me alone. He took up a position +with his back to the fire, and looked at me thoughtfully. + +"Well, Mr. Ducaine," he said, "we have discussed this matter +thoroughly, and we are all practically agreed that there is no reason +why we should ask you to give up your position." + +I was almost overcome. It was a wonderful relief to me. + +"But surely the Duke--" I faltered. + +"The Duke is very loyal to his friends, Mr. Ducaine," he said, "but he +is also a man with a nice sense of justice. You and he regard two +incidents from entirely different points of view, but he does not for a +moment suggest that your account of them is not an honest one. He looks +upon you as a little nervous and overstrung by your responsibilities and +disposed to be imaginative. He will not hear anything against the +Prince of Malors." + +"My story is as true as God's Word," I declared. + +"I am inclined to believe in it myself, Mr. Ducaine," said Lord +Chelsford. "There are indications of a strong revival of Royalist +sentiment amongst the French people, and it is very possible that the +Prince of Malors may wish to ingratiate himself by any means with the +French army. This sort of thing scarcely sounds like practical +politics, but one has to bear in mind the peculiar temperament of the +man himself, and the nation. I personally believe that the Prince of +Malors would consider himself justified in abusing the hospitality of +his dearest friend in the cause of patriotism. At any rate, this is my +view, and I am acting upon it. All danger from that source will now be +at an end, for in an hour's time the Prince will be under the +surveillance of detectives for the remainder of his stay in England." + +I breathed a sigh of relief. + +"I am to go back to Braster, then?" I asked. + +"To-night, if possible," Lord Chelsford answered. "Go on living as you +have been living. And, listen! If you should have further cause to +suspect the Prince of Malors or anybody else, communicate with me or +with Ray. The Duke is, of course, a man of ability and an honourable +man, but he is prejudiced in favour of his friends. Some of us others +have had to learn our lessons of life, and men, in a sharper school. +You understand me, Mr. Ducaine, I am sure." + +"I perfectly understand, sir," I answered. + +"There is nothing more which you wish to ask me?" + +"There is a suggestion I should like to make, sir, with regard to the +disposal of my finished work," I told him. + +"Go on, Mr. Ducaine. I shall be glad to listen to it." + +There was a knock at the door. Lord Chelsford held up his finger. + +"Send it me in writing," he said in a low tone, "to-morrow.--Come in!" + +Ray entered. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MRS. SMITH-LESSING + +Ray and I left the building together. As we turned into Pall Mall he +glanced at his watch. + +"You have missed the six o'clock train," he remarked. "I suppose you +know that there is nothing now till the nine-twenty. Will you come to +the club with me, and have some dinner?" + +It was less an invitation than a command. I felt a momentary impulse of +rebellion, but the innate masterfulness of the man triumphed easily. I +found myself walking, a little against my will, down Pall Mall by his +side. A man of some note, he was saluted every minute by passers-by, +whom, however, he seemed seldom to notice. In his town clothes, his +great height, his bronzed face, and black beard made him a sufficiently +striking personality. I myself, though I was little short of six feet, +seemed almost insignificant by his side. Until we reached the club he +maintained an unbroken silence. He even ignored some passing comment of +mine; but when once inside the building he seemed to remember that he +was my host, and his manner became one of stiff kindness. He ordered an +excellent dinner and chose the wine with care. Then he leaned a little +forward across the table, and electrified me by his first remark. + +"Ducaine," he said, "what relatives have you with whom you are in any +sort of communication?" + +"None at all!" I answered. + +"Sir Michael Trogoldy was your mother's brother," he remarked. "He is +still alive." + +"I believe so," I admitted. "I have never approached him, nor has he +ever taken any notice of me." + +"You did not write to him, for instance, when Heathcote absconded, and +you had to leave college?" + +"Certainly not," I answered. "I did not choose to turn beggar." + +"How much," he asked, "do you know of your family history?" + +"I know," I told him, "that my father was cashiered from the army for +misconduct, and committed suicide. I know, too, that my mother's people +treated her shamefully, and that she died alone in Paris and almost in +poverty. It was scarcely likely, therefore, that I was going to apply +to them for help." Ray nodded. + +"I thought so," he remarked grimly. "I shall have to talk to you for a +few minutes about your father." + +I said nothing. My surprise, indeed, had bereft me of words. He sipped +his wine slowly, and continued. + +"Fate has dealt a little hardly with you," he said. "I am almost a +stranger to you, and there are even reasons why you and I could never be +friends. Yet it apparently falls to my lot to supplement the little you +know of a very unpleasant portion of your family history. That rascal +of a lawyer who absconded with your money should have told you on your +twenty-first birthday." + +"A pleasant heritage!" I remarked bitterly; "yet I always wanted to know +the whole truth." + +"Here goes, then," he said, filling my glass with wine. "Your father +was second in command at Gibraltar. He sold a plan of the gallery forts +to the French Government, and was dismissed from the army." + +I started as though I had been stung. Ray continued, his stern +matter-of-fact tone unshaken. + +"He did not commit suicide as you were told. He lived, in Paris, a life +of continual and painful degeneration. Your mother died of a broken +heart. There was another woman, of course, whose influence over your +father was unbounded, and at whose instigation he committed this +disgraceful act. This woman is now at Braster." + +My brain was in a whirl. I was quite incapable of speech. + +"Her real name," he continued coolly, "God only knows. For the moment +she calls herself Mrs. Smith-Lessing. She is a Franco-American, a +political adventuress of the worst type, living by her wits. She is +ugly enough to be Satan's mistress, and she's forty-five if she's a day, +yet she has but to hold up her finger, and men tumble the gifts of their +life into her lap, gold and honour, conscience and duty. At present I +think it highly probable that you are her next selected victim." + +For several minutes Ray proceeded with his dinner. I did my best to +follow his example, but my appetite was gone. I could scarcely persuade +myself that the whole affair was not a dream--that the men who sat all +round us in little groups, the dark liveried servants passing noiselessly +backwards and forwards, were not figures in some shadowy nightmare, and +that I should not wake in a moment to find myself curled up in a railway +carriage on my way home. But there was no mistaking the visible +presence of Colonel Mostyn Ray. Strong, stalwart, he sat within a few +feet of me, calmly eating his dinner as though my agony were a thing of +little account. He, at least, was real. + +"This woman," he continued, presently, "either is, or would like to be, +mixed up with the treachery that is somewhere close upon us. Sooner or +later she will approach you. You are warned." + +"Yes," I repeated vaguely, "I am warned." + +"I have finished," Colonel Ray remarked. "Go on with your dinner and +think. I will answer any question presently." + +There were only two I put to him, and that was when my hansom had been +called and I was on the point of leaving. + +"Is he--my father--alive now?" I asked. + +"I have reason to believe," Ray answered, "that he may be dead." + +"How is it," I asked, "that you are so well acquainted with these +things? Were you at any time my father's friend?" + +"I was acquainted with him," Ray answered. "We were at one time in the +same regiment. My friendship was--with your mother." + +The answer was illuming, but he never winced. + +"Indirectly," I said, "I seem to have a good deal to thank you for. Why +do you say that you can never be my friend?" + +"You are your father's son," he answered curtly. + +"I am also my mother's son," I objected. + +"For which reason," he said, "I have done what I could to give you a +start in life." + +And with these words he dismissed me. + + * * * * * + +I received Ray's warning concerning Mrs. Smith-Lessing, the new tenant +of Braster Grange, somewhere between seven and eight o'clock, and barely +an hour later I found myself alone in a first-class carriage with her, +and a four hours' journey before us. She had arrived at King's Cross +apparently only a few minutes before the departure of the train, for the +platform was almost deserted when I took my seat. Just as I had changed +my hat for a cap, however, wrapped my rug around my knees, and settled +down for the journey, the door of my carriage was thrown open, and I saw +two women looking in, one of whom I recognized at once. Mrs. +Smith-Lessing, although the night was warm, was wearing a heavy and +magnificent fur coat, and the guard of the train himself was attending +her. Behind stood a plainly dressed woman, evidently her maid, carrying +a flat dressing-case. There was a brief colloquy between the three. It +ended in dressing-case, a pile of books, a reading lamp, and a +formidable array of hat-boxes, and milliner's parcels being placed upon +the rack and vacant seats in my compartment, and immediately afterwards +Mrs. Smith-Lessing herself entered. I heard her tell her maid to enter +the carriage behind. The door was closed and the guard touched off his +hat. A minute later and we were off. + +I was alone with the adventuress. I had no doubt but that she had +chosen my carriage with intent. I placed my dispatch-box on the rack +above my head, and opened out a newspaper, which I had no intention of +reading. She, for her part, arranged her travelling light and took out +a novel. She did not apparently even glance in my direction, and seemed +to become immersed at once in her reading. So we travelled for half an +hour or so. + +At the end of that time I was suddenly conscious that she had laid down +her book, and was regarding me through partially-closed eyes. I too +laid down my paper. Our eyes met, and she smiled. + +"Forgive me," she said, "but did I not see you one day last week upon +the sands at Braster with Lady Angela Harberly?" + +"I believe so," I answered. "You were riding, I think, with her +brother." + +"How fortunate that I should find myself travelling with a neighbour!" +she murmured. "I rather dreaded this night journey. I just missed the +six o'clock, and I have been at the station ever since." + +I understood at once one of the charms of this woman. Her voice was +deliciously soft and musical. The words seemed to leave her lips +slowly, almost lingeringly, and she spoke with the precision and slight +accent of a well-educated foreigner. Her eyes seemed to be wandering +all over me and my possessions, yet her interest, if it amounted to +that, never even suggested curiosity or inquisitiveness. + +"It is scarcely a pleasant journey at this time of night," I remarked. + +"Indeed, no," she assented. "I wonder if you know my name? I am Mrs. +Smith-Lessing, of Braster Grange. And you?" + +"My name is Guy Ducaine," I told her. "I live at a small cottage called +the 'Brand.'" + +"That charming little place you can just see from the sands?" she +exclaimed. "I thought the Duke's head-keeper lived there." + +"It was a keeper's lodge before the Duke was kind enough to let it to +me," I told her. + +She nodded. + +"It is a very delightful abode," she murmured. + +She picked up her book, and after turning over the pages aimlessly for a +few minutes, she recommenced to read. I followed her example; but when +a little later on I glanced across in her direction, I found that her +eyes were fixed upon me, and that her novel lay in her lap. + +"My book is so stupid," she said apologetically. "I find, Mr. +Ducaine," she added with sudden earnestness, "the elements of a much +stranger story closer at hand." + +"That," I remarked, laying down my own book, and looking steadily across +at her, "sounds enigmatic." + +"I think," she said, "that I am very foolish to talk to you at all about +it. If you know who I am, you are probably armed against me at all +points. You will weigh and measure my words, you will say to yourself, +'Lies, lies, lies!' You will not believe in me or anything I say. And, +again, if you do not know, the story is too painful a one for me to +tell." + +"Then let us both avoid it," I said, reaching again for my paper. "We +shall stop at Ipswich in an hour. I will change carriages there." + +She turned round in her seat towards the window, as though to hide her +face. My own attempt at reading was a farce. I watched her over the +top of my paper. She was looking out into the darkness, and she seemed +to me to be crying. Every now and then her shoulders heaved +convulsively. Suddenly she faced me once more. There were traces of +tears on her face; a small lace handkerchief was knotted up in her +nervous fingers. + +"Oh, I cannot," she exclaimed plaintively. "I cannot sit here alone +with you and say nothing. I know that I am judged already. It does not +matter. I am your father's wife, Guy. You owe me at least some +recognition of that fact." + +"I never knew my father," I said, "except as the cause of my own +miserable upbringing and friendless life." + +"You never knew him," she answered, "and therefore you believe the +worst. He was weak, perhaps, and, exposed to a terrible temptation, he +fell! But he was not a bad man. He was never that." + +"Do you think, Mrs. Smith-Lessing," I said, struggling to keep my voice +firm, though I felt myself trembling, "that this is a profitable +discussion for either of us?" + +"Why not?" she exclaimed almost fiercely. "You have heard his story +from enemies. You have judged him from the report of those who were +never his friends. He sinned and he repented. Better and worse men +than he have done that. If he were wholly bad, do you believe that +after all these years I should care for him still?" + +I held my peace. The woman was leaning over towards me now. She seemed +to have lost the desire to attract. Her voice had grown sharper and +less pleasant, her carefully arranged hair was in some disorder, and the +telltale blue veins by her temples and the crow's feet under her eyes +were plainly visible. Her face seemed suddenly to have become pinched +and wan, the flaming light in her strangely coloured eyes was a +convincing assertion of her earnestness. She was not acting now, though +what lay behind the storm I could not tell. + +"You seem afraid to talk to me," she exclaimed. "Why? I have done you +no harm!" + +"Perhaps not," I answered, "yet I cannot see what we gain by raking up +this miserable history. It is both painful and profitless." + +"I will say no more," she declared, with a sudden note of dignity in her +tone. "I can see that I am judged already in your mind. After all, it +does not really matter. No one likes to be thought worse of than they +deserve, and women are all--a little foolish. But at least you must +answer me one question. I have the right to ask it. You must tell me +where he is." + +"Where who is?" I asked. + +Again her eyes flamed upon inc. Her lips parted a little, and I could +see the white glimmer of her teeth. + +"Oh, you shall not fence with me like a baby!" she exclaimed. "Tell me, +or lie to me, or refuse to tell me! Which is it?" + +"Upon my honour," I said, looking at her curiously, "I have no idea whom +you mean!" + +She looked at inc steadily for several moments, her lips parted, her +breath seeming to come sharply between her teeth. + +"I mean your father," she said. "Whom else should I mean?" + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TWO TO ONE + +I looked across at the woman, who was waiting my answer with every +appearance of feverish interest. + +"What should I know about him?" I said slowly. "I have been told that +he is dead. I know no more than that." + +She started as though my words had stung her. + +"It is not possible!" she exclaimed. "I must have heard of it. When he +left me--it was less than three months ago--he seemed better than I had +known him for years." + +"All my life," I said, "I have understood that my father died by his own +hand after his disgrace. To-night for the first time I was told that +this was not the fact. I understood, from what my informant said, that +he had died recently." + +She drew a sharp breath between her teeth, and suddenly struck the +cushioned arm of the carriage by her side with her clenched hand. + +"It is a lie!" she declared. "Whoever told you so, it is a lie!" + +"Do you mean that he is not dead?" I exclaimed. "Do you mean that you +have not seen him yourself--within the last few months?" she demanded +fiercely. "He left me to come to you on the first day of the New Year." + +"I have never seen him to my knowledge in my life," I answered. + +She leaned back in her seat, murmuring something to herself which I +could not catch. Past-mistress of deceit though she may have been, I +was convinced that her consternation at my statement was honest. She +did not speak or look at me again for some time. As for me, I sat +silent with the horror of a thought. Underneath the rug my limbs were +cold and lifeless. I sat looking out of the rain-splashed window into +the darkness, with fixed staring eyes, and a hideous fancy in my brain. +Every now and then I thought that I could see it--a white evil face +pressed close to the blurred glass, grinning in upon me. Every shriek +of the engine--and there were many just then, for we were passing +through a network of tunnels--brought beads of moisture on to my +forehead, made me start and shake like a criminal. Surely that was a +cry! I started in my seat, only to see that my companion, now her old +self again, was watching me intently. + +"I am afraid," she said softly, "that you are not very strong. The +excitement of talking of these things has been too much for you." + +"I have never had a day's illness in my life," I answered. "I am +perfectly well." + +"I am glad," she said simply. "I must finish what I was telling you. +Your father was continually talking and thinking of you. He knew all +about you at college. He knew about your degree, of your cricket and +rowing. Lately he began to get restless. He lost sight of you after +you left Oxford, and it worried him. There were reasons, as you know, +why it was not well for him to come to England, but nevertheless he +determined to brave it out. It was to find you that he risked so much. +He left me on New Year's Day, and I have never heard a word from him +since. That is why I came to England." + +"The whole reason?" I asked, like a fool. + +"The whole reason," she affirmed simply. + +"I do not wish to see my father," I said. "If he comes to me I shall +tell him so." + +"He wants to tell you his story himself," she murmured. + +"I would never listen to it," I answered. She sighed. + +"You are very young," she said. "You do not know what temptation is. +You do not know how badly he was treated. You have heard his history, +perhaps, from his enemies. He is getting old now, Guy. I think that if +you saw him now you would pity him." + +"My pity," I answered, "would never be strong enough to suffer me to +open the door to him--if he should come. He has left me alone all these +years. The only favour I would ever ask of him would be that he +continues to do so." + +"You will believe the story of strangers?" + +"No one in the world could be a greater stranger to me than he." She +sighed. + +"You will not even let me be your friend," she pleaded. "You are young, +you are perhaps ambitious. There may be many ways in which I could help +you." + +"As you helped my father, perhaps," I answered bitterly. "Thank you, I +have no need of friends--that sort of friends." + +Her eyes seemed to narrow a little, and the smile upon her lips was +forced. + +"Is that kind of you?" she exclaimed. "Your father was in a position of +great trust. It is different with you. You are idle, and you need a +career. England has so little to offer her young men, but there are +other countries--" + +I interrupted her brusquely. + +"Thank you," I said, "but I have employment, and such ambitions as I +have admit of nothing but an honest career." + +Again I saw that contraction of her eyes, but she never winced or +changed her tone. + +"You have employment?" she asked, as though surprised. + +"Yes. As you doubtless know, I am in the service of the Duke of +Rowchester," I told her. + +"It is news to me," she replied. "You will forgive me at least for +being interested, Guy. But when you say in the service of the Duke of +Rowchester you puzzle me. In England what does that, mean?" + +"I am one of the Duke's secretaries," I answered. + +"Is the Duke, then, a politician?" she asked, "that he needs +secretaries?" + +"Not at all," I answered drily. "His Grace is President of the Society +for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or Children, whichever you +like. We have a large correspondence." + +She picked up her book. + +"I am afraid that I understand you," she said. "You have a good deal of +the brutality of youth, Guy, and, I might add, of its credulity also. +Whose word is it, I wonder, that you have taken so abjectly--with such +an open mouth? If I have enemies I have not deserved them. But, after +all, it matters little." + +We did not speak again until we neared the junction. Then she began to +gather up her things. + +"How are you getting home?" she asked. "It is two o'clock, and +raining." + +"I am going to walk," I answered. + +"But that is absurd," she protested. "I have a closed carriage here. I +insist that you let me drive you. It is only common humanity; and you +have that great box too." + +I buttoned up my coat. + +"Mrs. Smith-Lessing," I said, "you perhaps wish to force me into +seeming ungracious. You have even called me brutal. It is your own +fault. You give me no chance of escape. You even force me now to tell +you that I do not desire--that I will not accept--any hospitality at +your hands." + +She fastened her jacket with trembling fingers. Her face she kept +averted from me. + +"Very well," she said softly, "I shall not trouble you any more." + +At the junction I fetched the sleepy-looking porter to see to her +luggage, and then left her. My rug I left in the station-master's +office, and with the dispatch-box in my hand I climbed the steps from +the station, and turned into the long straight road which led to +Braster. I had barely gone a hundred yards when a small motor brougham, +with blazing lights and insistent horn, came flying past me and on into +the darkness. I caught a momentary glimpse of Mrs. Smith-Lessing's +pale face as the car flashed by, a weird little silhouette, come and +gone in a second. Away ahead I saw the mud and rain from the pools fly +up into the air in a constant stream caught in the broad white glare of +the brilliant search-lamps. Then the car turned a corner and vanished. + +I was tired, yet I found the change from the close railway carriage, and +the tension of the last few hours, delightful. The road along which I +trudged ran straight to the sea, the distant roar of which was already +in my ears, and the wet wind which blew in my face was salt and +refreshing. It was a little after two in the morning, and the darkness +would have been absolute, but for a watery moon, which every now and +then gave a fitful light. For a mile or more I walked with steady, +unflagging footsteps. Then suddenly I found myself slackening my pace. +I walked slower and slower. At last I stopped. + +About fifty yards farther on my left was Braster Grange. It stood a +little way back from the road. Its gardens were enclosed by a thin +storm-bent hedge, just thick enough to be a screen from the road. The +entrance was along a lane which branched off here from the main road, +and led on to the higher marshes, and thence on to the road from Braster +village to Rowchester and my cottage. Straight on, the road which I was +following led into Braster, but the lane to the left round past the +Grange saved me fully half a mile. In an ordinary way I should never +have hesitated for a moment as to my route. I knew every inch of the +lane, and though it was rough walking, there were no creeks or obstacles +of any sort to be reckoned with. And yet, as I neared the corner, I +came to a full stop. As I stood there in the road I felt my heart +beating, I seemed possessed by a curious nerve failure. My breath came +quickly. I felt my heart thumping against my side. I stood still and +listened. Down on the shingles I could hear the sea come thundering in +with a loud increasing roar, dying monotonously away at regular +intervals. I could hear the harsh grinding of the pebbles, the backward +swirl of long waves thrown back from the land. I heard the wind come +booming across the waste lands, rustling and creaking amongst the few +stunted trees in the grounds of Braster Grange. Of slighter sounds +there seemed to be none. The village ahead was dark and silent, the +side of the house fronting the road was black and desolate. It was a +lonely spot, a lonely hour. Yet as I stood there shivering with +nameless apprehensions, I felt absolutely certain that I was confronted +by some hidden danger. + +In a moment or two, I am thankful to say, my courage returned. I struck +a match and lit a cigar, one of a handful which Ray had forced upon me. +Then I crossed stealthily to the other side of the road, and felt for +the hedge. I pricked my hands badly, but after feeling about for some +moments I was able to cut for myself a reasonably thick stick. With +this in my right hand, and the dispatch-box under my left arm I +proceeded on my way. + +I walked warily, and when I had turned into the lane which passed the +entrance to Braster Grange I walked in the middle of it instead of +skirting the wall which enclosed the grounds. I passed the entrance +gates, and had only about twenty yards farther to go before I emerged +upon the open marshland. Here the darkness was almost impenetrable, for +the lane narrowed. The hedge on the left was ten or twelve feet high, +and on the right were two long barns. I clasped my stick tightly, and +walked almost stealthily. I felt that if I could come safely to the end +of these barn buildings I could afford to laugh at my fears. + +Suddenly my strained hearing detected what I had been listening for all +the time. There was a faint but audible rustling in the shrubs +overgrowing the wall on my left. I made a quick dash forward, tripped +against some invisible obstacle stretched across the lane, and went +staggering sideways, struggling to preserve my balance. Almost at the +same moment two dark forms dropped from the shelter of the shrubs on to +the lane by my side. I felt the soft splash of a wet cloth upon my +cheeks, an arm round my neck, and the sickening odour of chloroform in +my nostrils. But already I had regained by balance. I wrenched myself +free from the arm, and was suddenly blinded by the glare of a small +electric hand-light within a foot of my face. I struck a sweeping blow +at it with my stick, and from the soft impact it seemed to me that the +blow must have descended upon the head of one of my assailants. I heard +a groan, and I saw the shadowy form of the second man spring at me. +What followed was not, I believe, cowardice on my part, for my blood was +up and my sense of fear gone. I dashed my stick straight at the +approaching figure, and I leaped forward and ran. I had won the hundred +yards and the quarter of a mile at Oxford, and I was in fair training. +I knew how to get off fast, and after the first dozen yards I felt that +I was safe. The footsteps which had started in pursuit ceased in a few +minutes. Breathless, but with the dispatch-box safe under my arm, I +sprinted across the marsh, and never paused till I reached the road. +Then I looked back and listened. I could see or hear nothing, but from +one of the top rooms in the Grange a faint but steady light was shining +out. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LADY ANGELA APPROVES + +It was the only breath of fresh air which I had allowed myself all the +morning, though the dazzling sunlight and the soft west wind had tempted +me all the time. And now, as ill luck would have it, I had walked +straight into the presence of the one person in the world whom I wished +most earnestly to avoid. She was standing on the edge of the cliff, her +hands behind her, gazing seawards, and though I stopped short at the +sight of her, and for a moment entertained wild thoughts of flight, it +was not possible for me to carry them out. A dry twig snapped beneath +my feet, and, turning quickly round, she had seen me. She came forward +at once, and for some reason or other I knew that she was glad. She +smiled upon me almost gaily. + +"So this sunshine has even tempted you out, Sir Hermit," she exclaimed. +"Is it not good to feel the Spring coming?" + +"Delightful," I answered. + +She looked at me curiously. + +"How pale you are!" she said. "You are working too hard, Mr. Ducaine." + +"I came down from London by the mail last night," I said. "I saw +Colonel Ray--had dinner with him, in fact." + +She nodded, but asked me no questions. + +"I think," she said abruptly, "that they are all coming down here in a +few days. I heard from my father this morning." + +I sighed. + +"I have been very unfortunate, Lady Angela," I said. "Your father is +displeased with me. I think that but for Colonel Ray I should have been +dismissed yesterday." + +"Is it about--the Prince of Malors?" she asked in a low tone. + +"Partly. I was forced to tell what I knew." She hesitated for a moment, +then she turned impulsively toward me. + +"You were right to tell them, Mr. Ducaine," she said. "I have hated +myself ever since the other night when I seemed to side against you. +There are things going on about us which I cannot fathom, and sometimes +I have fears, terrible fears. But your course at least is a clear one. +Don't let yourself be turned aside by any one. My father has prejudices +which might lead him into grievous errors. Trust Colonel Ray--no one +else. Yours is a dangerous position, but it is a splendid one. It +means a career and independence. If there should come a time even--" + +She broke off abruptly in her speech. I could see that she was +agitated, and I thought that I knew the cause. + +"Lady Angela," I said slowly, "would it not be possible for you and +Colonel Ray to persuade Lord Blenavon to go abroad?" + +She swayed for a moment as though she would have fallen, and her eyes +looked at me full of fear. + +"You think--that it would be better?" + +"I do." + +"It would break my father's heart," she murmured, "if ever he could be +brought to believe it." + +"The more reason why Lord Blenavon should go," I said. "He is set +between dangerous influences here. Lady Angela, can you tell me where +your brother was last night?" + +"How should I?" she answered slowly. "He tells me nothing." + +"He was not at home?" + +"He dined at home. I think that he went out afterwards." + +I nodded. + +"And if he returned at all," I said, "I think you will find that it was +after three o'clock." + +She came a little nearer to me, although indeed we were in a spot where +there was no danger of being overheard.' + +"What do you know about it?" + +"Am I not right?" I asked. + +"He did not return at all," she answered. "He is not home yet." + +I had believed from the first that Blenavon was one of my two +assailants. Now I was sure of it. + +"When he does come back," I remarked grimly, "you may find him more or +less damaged." + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "you must explain yourself." + +I saw no reason why I should not do so. I told her the story of my +early morning adventure. She listened with quivering lips. + +"You were not hurt, then?" she asked eagerly. + +"I was not hurt," I assured her. "I was fortunate." + +"Tell me what measures you are taking," she begged. + +"What can I do?" I asked. "It was pitch dark, and I could identify no +one. I am writing Colonel Ray. That is all." + +"That hateful woman," she murmured. "Mr. Ducaine, I believe that if +Blenavon is really concerned in this, it is entirely through her +influence." + +"Very likely," I answered. "I have heard strange things about her. She +is a dangerous woman." + +We were both silent for a moment. Then Lady Angela, whose eyes were +fixed seawards, suddenly turned to me. + +"Oh," she cried, "I am weary of all these bothers and problems and +anxieties. Let us put them away for one hour of this glorious morning. +Dare you play truant for a little while and walk on the sands?" + +"I think so," I answered readily, "if you will wait while I go and put +Grooton in charge." + +"I will be scrambling down," she declared. "It is not a difficult +operation." + +I joined her a few minutes later, and we set our faces toward the point +of the bay. Over our heads the seagulls were lazily drifting and +wheeling, the quiet sea stole almost noiselessly up the firm yellow +sands. Farther over the marshes the larks were singing. Inland, men +like tiny specks in the distance were working upon their farms. We +walked for a while in silence, and I found myself watching my companion. +Her head was thrown slightly back, she walked with all the delightful +grace of youth and strength, yet there was a cloud which still lingered +upon her face. + +"These," I said abruptly "should be the happiest days of your life, Lady +Angela. After all, is it worth while to spoil them by worrying about +other people's doings?" + +"Other people's doings?" she murmured. + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"Selfishness, you know, is the permitted vice of the young--and of +lovers." + +"Blenavon can scarcely rank amongst the other people with me," she said. +"He is my only brother." + +"Colonel Ray is to be your husband," I reminded her, "which is far more +important." + +She turned upon me with flaming cheeks. + +"You do not understand what you are talking about, Mr. Ducaine," she +said, stiffly. "Colonel Ray and I are not lovers. You have no right to +assume anything of the sort." + +"If you are not lovers," I said, "what right have you to marry?" + +She seemed a little staggered, as indeed she might be by my boldness. + +"You are very mediaeval," she remarked. + +"The mediaeval sometimes survives. It is as true now as then that +loveless marriages are a curse and a sin," I answered. "It is the one +thing which remains now as it was in the beginning." + +She looked at me furtively, almost timidly. + +"I should like to know why you are speaking to me like this," she said. +"I do not want to seem unkind, but do you think that the length of our +acquaintance warrants it?" + +"I do not know how long I have known you," I answered. "I do not +remember the time when I did not know you. You are one of those people +to whom I must say the things which come into my mind. I think that if +you do not love Colonel Ray you have no right to marry him." + +She looked me in the face. Her cheeks were flushed with walking, and +the wind had blown her hair into becoming confusion. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "do you consider that Colonel Ray is your +friend?" + +"He has been very good to me," I answered. + +"There is something between you two. What is it?" + +"It is not my secret," I told her. + +"There is a secret, then," she murmured. "I knew it. Is this why you +do not wish me to marry him?" + +"I have not said that I do not wish you to marry him," I reminded her. + +"Not in words. You had no need to put it into words." + +"You are very young," I said, "to marry any one for any other reason +save the only true one. Some day there might be some one else." + +She watched the flight of a seagull for a few moments--watched it till +its wings shone like burnished silver as it lit upon the sun-gilded sea. + +"I do not think so," she said, dreamily. "I have never fancied myself +caring very much for any one. It is not easy, you know, for some of +us." + +"And for some," I murmured, "it is too easy." + +She looked at me curiously, but she had no suspicion as to the meaning +of my words. + +"I want you to tell me something," she said, in a few minutes. "Have +you any other reason beyond this for objecting to my marriage with +Colonel Ray?" + +"If I have," I answered slowly, "I cannot tell it you. It is his +secret, not mine." + +"You are mysterious!" she remarked. + +"If I am," I objected, "you must remember that you are asking me strange +questions." + +"Colonel Ray is too honest," she said, thoughtfully, "to keep anything +from me which I ought to know." + +I changed the conversation. After all I was a fool to have blundered +into it. We talked of other and lighter things. I exerted myself to +shake off the depression against which I had been struggling all the +morning. By degrees I think we both forgot some part of our troubles. +We walked home across the sandhills, climbing gradually higher and +higher, until we reached the cliffs. On all sides of us the coming +change in the seasons seemed to be vigorously asserting itself. The +plovers were crying over the freshly-turned ploughed fields, a whole +world of wild birds and insects seemed to have imparted a sense of +movement and life to what only a few days ago had been a land of +desolation, a country silent and winterbound. Colour was asserting +itself in all manner of places--in the green of the sprouting grass, the +shimmer of the sun upon the sea-stained sands, in the silvery blue of +the Braster creeks. Lady Angela drew a long breath of content as we +paused for a moment at the summit of the cliffs. + +"And you wonder," she murmured, "that I left London for this!" + +"Yes, I still wonder," I answered. "The beauties of this place are for +the lonely--I mean the lonely in disposition. For you life in the busy +places should just be opening all her fascinations. It is only when one +is disappointed in the more human life that one comes back to Nature." + +"Perhaps then," she said, a little vaguely, "I too must be suffering +from disappointments. I have never realized--" + +We had taken the last turn. My cottage was in sight. To my surprise a +man was standing there as though waiting. He turned round as we +approached. His face was very pale, and the back of his head was +bandaged. He carried his arm, too, in a sling. It was Colonel Mostyn +Ray! + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +MISS MOYAT MAKES A SCENE + +Ray was smoking his customary enormous pipe, which he deliberately +emptied as Lady Angela and I approached. The sight of him and the +significance of his wounds reduced me to a state of astonishment which +could find no outlet in words. I simply stood and stared at him. Lady +Angela, however, after her first exclamation of surprise, went up and +greeted him. + +"Why, my dear Mostyn," she exclaimed, "wherever have you sprung from, +and what have you been doing to yourself?" + +"I came from London--newspaper train," he answered. + +"And your head and arm?" + +"Thrown out of a hansom last night," he said grimly. + +We were all silent for a moment. So far as I was concerned, speech was +altogether beyond me. Lady Angela, too, seemed to find something +disconcerting in Ray's searching gaze. + +"My welcome," he remarked quietly, "does not seem to be overpowering." + +Lady Angela laughed, but there was a note of unreality in her mirth. + +"You must expect people to be amazed, Mostyn," she said, "if you treat +them to such surprises. Of course I am glad to see you. Have you seen +Blenavon yet?" + +"I have not been to the house," he answered. "I came straight here." + +"And your luggage?" she asked. + +"Lost," he answered tersely. "I only just caught the train, and the +porter seems to have missed me." + +"You appear to have passed through a complete chapter of mishaps," she +remarked. "Never mind! You must want your lunch very badly, or do you +want to talk to Mr. Ducaine?" + +"Next to the walk up to the house with you," he answered, "I think that +I want my lunch more than anything in the world." + +Lady Angela smiled her farewells at me, and Ray nodded curtly. I +watched them pass through the plantation and stroll across the Park. +There was nothing very loverlike in their attitude. Ray seemed scarcely +to be glancing towards his companion; Lady Angela had the air of one +absorbed in thought. I watched them until they disappeared, and then I +entered my own abode and sat down mechanically before the lunch which +Grooton had prepared. I ate and drank as one in a dream. Only last +night Ray had said nothing about coming to Braster. Yet, there he was, +without luggage, with his arm and head bound up. Just like this I +expected to see the man whom I had struck last night. + +Now though Ray's attitude towards me was often puzzling, an absolute +faith in his honesty was the one foundation which I had felt solid +beneath my feet during these last few weeks of strange happenings. This +was the first blow which my faith had received, and I felt that at any +cost I must know the truth. After lunch I finished the papers which, +when complete, it was my duty to lock away in the library safe up at the +house, and secured them in my breast-pocket. But instead of going at +once to the house I set out for Braster Junction. + +There was a porter there whom I had spoken to once or twice. I called +him on one side. + +"Can you tell me," I asked, "what passengers there were from London by +the newspaper train this morning?" + +"None at all, sir," the man answered readily. + +"Are you quite sure?" I asked. + +The man smiled. + +"I'm more than sure, sir," the man answered, "because she never stopped. +She only sets down by signal now, and we had the message 'no passengers' +from Wells. She went through here at forty miles an hour." + +"I was expecting Colonel Ray by that train," I remarked, "the gentleman +who lectured on the war, you know, at the Village Hall." + +The man looked at me curiously. + +"Why, he came down last night, same train as you, sir. I know, because +he only got out just as the train was going on, and he stepped into the +station master's house to light his pipe." + +"Thank you," I said, giving the man a shilling. "I must have just +missed him, then." + +I left the station and walked home. Now, indeed, all my convictions +were upset. Colonel Ray had left me outside his clubhouse last night, +twenty minutes before the train started, without a word of coming to +Braster. Yet he travelled down by the same train, avoided me, lied to +Lady Angela and myself this morning, and had exactly the sort of wounds +which I had inflicted upon that unknown assailant who attacked me in the +darkness. If circumstantial evidence went for anything, Ray himself had +been my aggressor. + +I avoided the turn by Braster Grange and went straight on to the +village. Coming out of the post office I found myself face to face with +Blanche Moyat. She held out her hand eagerly. + +"Were you coming in?" she asked. + +"Well, not to-day," I answered. "I am on my way to Rowchester, and I am +late already." + +She kept by my side. + +"Come in for a few moments," she begged, in a low tone. "I want to talk +to you." + +"Not the old subject, I hope," I remarked. + +She looked around with an air of mystery. + +"Do you know that some one is making inquiries about--that man?" + +"I always thought it possible," I answered, "that his friends might turn +up some time or other." + +We were opposite the front of the Moyats' house. She opened the door +and beckoned me to follow. I hesitated, but eventually did so. She led +the way into the drawing-room, and carefully closed the door after us. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "I mean it, really. There is some one in the +village making inquiries--about--the man who was found dead." + +"Well," I said, "that is not very surprising, is it? His friends were +almost certain to turn up sooner or later." + +"His friends! But do you know who it is?" she asked. + +I sank resignedly into one of Mrs. Moyat's wool-work covered chairs. +An absurd little canary was singing itself hoarse almost over my head. +I half closed my eyes. How many more problems was I to be confronted +with during these long-drawn-out days of mystery? + +"Oh, I do not know," I declared. "I am sure I do not care. I am sorry +that I ever asked you for one moment to keep your counsel about the +fellow. I never saw him, I do not know who he was, I know nothing about +him. And I don't want to, Miss Moyat. He may have been prince or +pedlar for anything I care." + +"Well, he wasn't an ordinary person, after all," she declared, with an +air of mystery. "Have you heard of the lady who's taken Braster Grange? +She's a friend of Lord Blenavon's. He's always there." + +"I have heard that there is such a person," I answered wearily. + +"She's been making inquiries right and left--everywhere. There's a +notice in yesterday's _Wells Gazette_, and a reward of fifty pounds for +any one who can give any information about him sufficient to lead to +identification." + +"If you think," I said, "that you can earn the pounds, pray do not let +me stand in your way." + +She looked at me with a fixed intentness which I found peculiarly +irritating. + +"You don't think that I care about the fifty pounds," she said, coming +over and standing by my chair. + +"Then why take any notice of the matter at all?" I said. "All that you +can disclose is that he came from the land and not from the sea, and +that he asked where I lived. Why trouble yourself or me about the +matter at all? There really isn't any necessity. Some one else +probably saw him besides you, and they will soon find their way to this +woman." + +"It was only to me," she murmured, "that he spoke of you." + +"Do you believe," I asked, "that I murdered him?" + +She shuddered. + +"No, of course I don't," she declared. + +"Then why all this nervousness and mystery?" I asked. "I have no fear +of anything which might happen. Why should you be afraid?" + +"I am not afraid," she said slowly, "but there is something about it +which I do not understand. Ever since that morning you have avoided +me." + +"Nonsense!" I exclaimed. + +"It is not nonsense," she answered. "It is the truth. You used to come +sometimes to see father--and now you never come near the place. It +is--too bad of you," she went on, with a little sob. "I thought that +after that morning, and my promising to do what you asked, that we +should be greater friends than ever. Instead of that you have never +been near us since. And I don't care who knows it. I am miserable." + +She was leaning against the arm of my chair. It was clearly my duty to +administer the consolation which the situation demanded. I realized, +however, that the occasion was critical, and I ignored her proximity. + +"Miss Moyat," I said, "I am sorry if asking you to tell that harmless +little fib has made you miserable. I simply desired--" + +"It isn't altogether that," she interrupted. "You know it isn't." + +"You give me credit for greater powers of divination than I possess," I +answered calmly. "Your father was always very kind to me, and I can +assure you that I have not forgotten it. But I have work to do now, and +I have scarcely an hour to spare. Mr. Moyat would understand it, I am +sure." + +The door was suddenly opened. Mrs. Moyat, fat and comely, came in. +She surveyed us both with a friendly and meaning smile, which somehow +made my cheeks burn. It was no fault of mine that Blanche had been +hanging over my chair. + +"Come," she said, "I'm sure I'm very glad to see you once more, Mr. +Ducaine. Such a stranger as you are too! But you don't mean to sit in +here without a fire all the afternoon, I suppose, Blanche. Tea is just +ready in the dining-room. Bring Mr. Ducaine along, Blanche." + +I held out my hand. + +"I am sorry that I cannot stop, Mrs. Moyat," I said. "Good-afternoon, +Miss Moyat." + +She looked me in the eyes. + +"You are not going," she murmured. + +"I am afraid," I answered, "that it is imperative. I ought to have been +at Rowchester long ago. We are too near neighbours, though, not to see +something of one another again before long." + +"Well, I'm sure there's no need to hurry so," Mrs. Moyat declared, +backing out of the room. "Blanche, you see if you can't persuade Mr. +Ducaine. Father'll be home early this evening, too." + +"I think," Blanche said, "that Mr. Ducaine has made up his mind." + +She walked with me to the hall door, but she declined to shake hands +with me. Her appearance was little short of tragic. I think that at +another time I might have been amused, for never in my life had I spoken +more than a few courteous words to the girl. But my nerves were all on +edge, and I took her seriously. I walked down the street, leaving her +standing in the threshold with the door open as though anxious to give +me a chance to return if I would. I looked back at the corner, and +waved my hand. There was something almost threatening in the grim +irresponsive figure, standing watching me, and making no pretence at +returning my farewell--watching me with steady eyes and close-drawn +brows. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MOSTYN RAY EXPLAINS + +I walked straight to the House, and locked up my papers in the great +safe. I had hoped to escape without seeing either Ray or Lady Angela, +but as I crossed the hall they issued from the billiard-room. Lady +Angela turned towards me eagerly. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she exclaimed, "have you seen anything of Lord Blenavon +to-day?" + +I shook my head. + +"I have not seen him for several days, Lady Angela," I answered. + +Ray said something to her which I could not hear. She nodded and left +us together. + +"It seems," he said, "that this amiable young gentleman is more or less +in the clutches of our siren friend at Braster Grange. I think that you +and I had better go and dig him out." + +"Thank you," I answered, "but I had all I wanted of Braster Grange last +night." + +"Pooh!" he answered lightly, "you are not even scratched. They are +clumsy conspirators there. I think that you and I are a match for them. +Come along!" + +"You must excuse me, Colonel Ray," I said, "but I have no desire to +visit Braster Grange, even with you." + +Lady Angela, whose crossing the hall had been noiseless, suddenly +interposed. + +"You are quite right, Mr. Ducaine," she said; "but this is no visit of +courtesy, is it? I am sure that my brother would never stay there +voluntarily. Something must have happened to him." + +"We will go and see," Ray declared. "Come along, Ducaine." + +I hesitated, but a glance from Lady Angela settled the matter. For +another such I would have walked into hell. Ray and I started off +together, and I was not long before I spoke of the things which were in +my mind. + +"Colonel Ray," I said, "when I saw you this morning you made two +statements, both of which were false." + +Ray brought out his pipe and began to fill it in leisurely fashion. + +"Go on," he said. "What were they?" + +"The first was that you had come down from London by the newspaper train +this morning, and the second was that you had received your injuries in +a hansom cab accident." + +His pipe was started, and he puffed out dense volumes of smoke with an +air of keen enjoyment. + +"Worst of having a woman for your hostess," he remarked, "one can't +smoke except a sickly cigarette or two. You should take to a pipe, +Ducaine." + +"Will you be good enough to explain those two misstatements, Colonel +Ray?" + +"Lies, both of them!" he answered, with grim cheerfulness. "Rotten +lies, and I hate telling 'em. The hansom cab accident must have sounded +a bit thin." + +"It did," I assured him. + +He removed his pipe from his teeth, and pushed down the tobacco with the +end of his finger. + +"I came down from town by the same train that you did," he said, "and as +for my broken head and smashed arm, you did it yourself." + +"I imagined so," I answered. "Perhaps you will admit that you owe me +some explanation." He laughed, a deep bass laugh, and looked down at me +with a gleam of humour in his black eyes. + +"Come," he said, "I think that the boot is on the other leg. My head is +exceedingly painful and my leg is very stiff. For a young man of your +build you have a most surprising muscle." + +"I am to understand, then, that it was you who committed an unprovoked +assault upon me--who planned to have me waylaid in that dastardly +fashion?" + +"Do you think," Ray asked quietly, "that I should be such a damned +fool?" + +"What am I to think, then, what am I to believe?" I asked, with a sudden +anger. "You found me starving, and you gave me employment, but ever +since I started my work life has become a huge ugly riddle. Are you my +friend or my enemy? I do not know. There is a drama being played out +before my very eyes. The figures in it move about me continually, yet I +alone am blindfolded. I am trusted to almost an incredible extent. +Great issues are confided to me. I have been given such a post as a man +might work for a lifetime to secure. Yet where a little confidence +would give me zest for my work--would take away this horrible sense of +moving always in the darkness--it is withheld from me." + +Ray smoked on in silence for several moments. + +"Well," he said, "I am not sure that you are altogether unreasonable. +But, on the other hand, you must not forget that there is method, and a +good deal of it, in the very things of which you complain. There are +certain positions in which a man may find himself where a measure of +ignorance is a blessed thing. Believe me, that if you understood, your +difficulties would increase instead of diminish." + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"But between you and me at least, Colonel Ray," I said, "there is a +plain issue. You can explain the events of last night to me." + +"I will do that," he answered, "since you have asked it. Briefly, then, +I parted from you on the steps of my club at a few minutes past nine +last night." + +"Yes!" + +"I saw from the moment we appeared that you were being watched. I saw +the man who was loitering on the pavement lean over to hear the address +you gave to the cabman, and you were scarcely away before he was +following you. But it was only just as he drove by, leaning a little +forward in his hansom, that I saw his face. I recognized him for one of +that woman's most dangerous confederates, and I knew then that some +villainy was on foot. To cut a long story short, I came down unobserved +in your train, followed you to Braster Grange, and was only a yard or +two behind when this fellow, who acts as the woman's _chauffeur_, sprang +out upon you. I was unfortunately a little two quick to the rescue, and +received a smash on the head from your stick. Then you bolted, and I +found myself engaged with a pair of them. On the whole I think that +they got the worst of it." + +"The other one--was Lord Blenavon!" I exclaimed. + +"It was." + +"Then he is concerned in the plots which are going on against us," I +continued. "I felt certain of it. What a blackguard!" + +"For his sister's sake," Colonel Ray said softly, "I want to keep him +out of it if I can. Therefore I hit him a little harder than was +necessary. He should be hors de combat for some time." + +"But why didn't you cry out to me?" I said. "I should not have run if I +had known that I had an ally there." + +"To run was exactly what I wanted you to do," Ray answered. "You had +the dispatch-box, and I wanted to see you safe away." + +I glanced at his bandaged head and arm. + +"I suppose that I ought to apologize to you," I said. + +"Under the circumstances," he declared, "we will cry quits." + +Then as we walked together in the glittering spring sunshine, this big +silent man and I, there came upon me a swift, poignant impulse, the +keener perhaps because of the loneliness of my days, to implore him to +unravel all the things which lay between us. I wanted the story of that +night, of my concern in it, stripped bare. Already my lips were opened, +when round the corner of the rough lane by which Braster Grange was +approached on this side came a doctor's gig. Ray shaded his eyes and +gazed at its occupant. + +"Is this Bouriggs, Ducaine?" he asked, "the man who shot with us?" + +"It is Dr. Bouriggs," I answered. + +Ray stopped the gig and exchanged greetings with the big sandy-haired +man, who held a rein in each hand as though he were driving a market +wagon. They chatted for a moment or two, idly enough, as it seemed to +me. + +"Any one ill at the Grange, doctor?" Ray asked at length. + +The doctor looked at him curiously. + +"I have just come from there," he answered. "There is nothing very +seriously wrong." + +"Can you tell me if Lord Blenavon is there?" Ray asked. + +The doctor hesitated. + +"It was hinted to me, Colonel Ray," he said, "that my visit to the +Grange was not to be spoken of. You will understand, of course, that +the etiquette of our profession--" + +"Quite right," Ray interrupted. "The fact is, Lady Angela is very +anxious about her brother, who did not return to Rowchester last night, +and she has sent us out as a search party. Of course, if you were able +to help us she would be very gratified." + +The doctor hesitated. + +"The Duke and, in fact, all the family have always been exceedingly kind +to me," he remarked, looking straight between his horse's ears. "Under +the circumstances you mention, if you were to assert that Lord Blenavon +was at Braster Grange I do not think that I should contradict you." + +Ray smiled. + +"Thank you, doctor," he said. "Good morning." + +The doctor drove on, and we pursued our way. + +"It was a very dark night," Ray said, half to himself, "but if Blenavon +was the man I hit he ought to have a cracked skull." + +After all, our interrogation of the doctor was quite unnecessary. We +were admitted at once to the Grange by a neatly-dressed parlour-maid. +Mrs. Smith-Lessing was at home, and the girl did not for a moment seem +to doubt her mistress's willingness to receive us. As she busied +herself poking the fire and opening wider the thick curtains, Ray asked +her another question. + +"Do you know if Lord Blenavon is here?" + +"Yes, sir," the girl answered promptly. "He was brought in last night +rather badly hurt, but he is much better this morning. I will let Mrs. +Smith-Lessing know that you are here, sir." + +She hurried out, with the rustle of stiff starch and the quick +light-footedness of the well-trained servant. Ray and I exchanged +glances. + +"After all, this is not such a home of mystery as we expected," I +remarked. + +"Apparently not," he answered. "The little woman is playing a bold +game." + +Then Mrs. Smith-Lessing came in. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LORD BLENAVON'S SURRENDER + +She came in very quietly, a little pale and wan in this cold evening +light. She held out her hand to me with a subdued but charming smile of +welcome. + +"I am so glad that you have come to see me," she said softly. "You can +help me, too, about this unfortunate young man who has been thrown upon +my hands. I--" + +Then she saw Ray, and the words seemed to die away upon her lips. I had +to steel my heart against her to shut out the pity which I could +scarcely help feeling. She was white to the lips. She stood as one +turned to stone, with her distended eyes fixed upon him. It was like a +trapped bird, watching its impending fate. She faltered a little on her +feet, and--I could not help it--I hurried to her side with a chair. As +she sank into it she thanked me with a very plaintive smile. + +"Thank you," she said, simply. "I am not very strong, and I did not +know that man was with you." + +Ray broke in. His voice sounded harsh, his manner, I thought, was +unnecessarily brutal. + +"I can understand," he said, "that you find my presence a little +unwelcome. I need scarcely say that this is not a visit of courtesy. +You know very well that willingly I would never spend a moment under the +same roof as you. I am here to speak a few plain words, to which you +will do well to listen." + +She raised her eyes to his. Her courage seemed to be returning at the +note of battle in his tone. Her small, well-shaped head was thrown +back. The hands which grasped the sides of her chair ceased to tremble. + +"Go on," she said. + +"We will not play at cheap diplomacy," he said, sneeringly. "I know you +by a dozen names, which you alter and adopt to suit the occasion. You +are a creature of the French police, one of those parasitical creatures +who live by sucking the honesty out of simpler persons. You are here +because the more private meetings of the English Council of Defence are +being held at Rowchester. It is your object by bribery, or theft, or +robbery, or the seductive use of those wonderful charms of yours, to +gain possession of copies of any particulars whatever about the English +autumn manoeuvres, which, curiously enough, have been arranged as a sort +of addendum to those on your side of the Channel. You have an ally, I +regret to say, in the Duke's son, you are seeking to gain for yourself a +far more valuable one in the person of this boy. You say to yourself, +no doubt, Like father, like son. You ruined and disgraced the one. You +think, perhaps, the other will be as easy." + +"Stop!" she cried. + +He looked at her curiously. Her face was drawn with pain. In her eyes +was the look of a being stricken to death. + +"It is terrible!" she murmured, "that men so coarse and brutal as you +should have the gift of speech. I do not wish to ask for any mercy from +you, but if I am to stay here and listen, you will speak only of facts." + +He shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. + +"You should be hardened by this time," he said, "but I forgot that we +had an audience. It is always worth while to play a little to the +gallery, isn't it? Well, facts, then. The boy is warned against you, +and from to-day this house is watched by picked detectives. Blenavon +can avail you nothing, for he knows nothing. Such clumsy schemes as +last night's are foredoomed to failure, and will only get you into +trouble. You will waste your time here. Take my advice, and go!" + +She rose to her feet. Smaller and frailer than ever she seemed, as she +stood before Ray, dark and massive. + +"Your story is plausible," she said coldly. "It may even be true. But, +apart from that, I had another and a greater reason for coming to +England, for coming to Braster. I came to seek my husband--the father +of this boy. I am even now in search of him." + +I held my breath and gazed at Ray. For the moment it seemed as though +the tables were turned. No signs of emotion were present in his face, +but he seemed to have no words. He simply looked at her. + +"He left me in January," she continued, "determined at least to have +speech with his son. He heard then for the first time of the absconding +trustee. He came to England, if not to implore his son's forgiveness, +at least to place him above want. And in this country he has never been +heard of. He has disappeared. I am here to find him. Perhaps," she +added, leaning a little over towards Ray, and in a slightly altered +tone, "perhaps you can help me?" + +Again it seemed to me that Ray was troubled by a certain speechlessness. +When at last he found words, they and his tone were alike harsh, almost +violent. + +"Do you think," he said, "that I would stretch out the little finger of +my hand to help you or him? You know very well that I would not. The +pair of you, in my opinion, were long since outside the pale of +consideration from any living being. If he is lost, so much the better. +If he is dead, so much the better still." + +"It is because I know how you feel towards him," she said, slowly, +"that I wondered--yes, I wondered!" + +"Well?" + +"Whether you could not, if you chose, solve for me the mystery of his +disappearance." + +There was as much as a dozen seconds or so of tense silence between +them. She never once flinched. The cold question of her eyes seemed to +burn its way into the man's composure. A fierce exclamation broke from +his lips. + +"If he were dead," he said, "and if it were my hand which had removed +him, I should count it amongst the best actions of my life." + +She looked at him curiously--as one might regard a wild beast. + +"You can speak like this before his son?" + +"I veil my words at no time and for no man," he answered. "The truth is +always best." + +Then the door opened, and Blenavon entered. His arm and head were +bandaged, and he walked with a limp. He was deathly pale, and +apparently very nervous. He attempted a casual greeting with Ray, but +it was a poor pretence. Ray, for his part, had evidently no mind to +beat about the bush. + +"Lord Blenavon," he said, "this house is no fit place for your father's +son. I have warned you before, but the time for advice is past. Your +hostess here is a creature of the French police, and her business here +is to suborn you and others whom she can buy or cajole into a +treasonable breach of confidence. It is very possible that you know all +this, and more. But I appeal to you as an Englishman and the +representative of a great English family. Are you willing to leave at +once with us and to depart altogether from this part of the country, or +will you face the consequences?" + +Blenavon was a coward. He shook and stammered. He was not even master +of his voice. + +"I do not understand you," he faltered. "You have no right to speak to +me like this." + +"Right or no right, I do," Ray answered. "If you refuse I shall not +spare you. Last night was only one incident of many. I break my faith +as a soldier by giving you this opportunity. Will you come?" + +"I am waiting now for a carriage," Blenavon answered. "I have sent to +the house for one." + +"You will not return to the house," Ray said shortly. "You will leave +here for the station, the station for London, and London for the +Continent. You do this, and I hold my peace. You refuse, and I see +Lord Chelsford and your father to-night." + +From the first I knew that he would yield, but he did it with an ill +grace. + +"I don't see why I should go," he said, sulkily. + +"Either you and I together, or I alone, are going to catch the six +o'clock train to London," Ray said. "If I go alone you will be an exile +from England for the rest of your life, your name will be removed from +every club to which you belong, and you will have brought irreparable +disgrace upon your family. The choice is yours." + +Blenavon turned towards the woman as though for aid. But she stood with +her back to him, pale and with a thin scornful smile upon her lips. + +"The choice," Ray repeated, glancing at his watch, "is yours, but the +time is short." + +"I will go," Blenavon said. "I was off in a day or two, anyway. Of +what you suspect me I don't know, and I don't care. But I will go." + +Ray put his watch into his pocket. He turned to Mrs. Smith-Lessing. + +"Better come too," he said quietly. "You have no more chance here. +Every one knows now who and what you are." + +She looked at him with white expressionless face. + +"It does not suit me to leave the neighbourhood at present," she said +calmly. + +If she had been a man Ray would have struck her. I could see his white +teeth clenched fiercely together. + +"It does not suit me," he said, in a low tone vibrate with suppressed +passion, "to have you here. You are a plague spot upon the place. You +have been a plague spot all your life. Whatever you touch you corrupt." + +She shrank away for a moment. After all, she was a woman, and I hated +Ray for his brutality. + +"What a butcher you are!" she said, looking at him curiously. "If ever +you should marry--God help the woman." + +"There are women and women," he answered roughly. "As for you, you do +not count in the sex at all." + + She turned away from him with a little shudder, and for the first time +during the interview she hid her face in her hands. It was all I could +do to avoid speech. + +"Come," he said, "do you agree? Will you leave this place? I promise +you that your schemes here at any rate are at an end." + +She turned to me. Perhaps something in my face had spoken the sympathy +which I could not wholly suppress. + +"Guy," she said, "I want to be rid of this man, because every word he +speaks--hurts. But I cannot even look at him any more. At this war of +words he has won. I am beaten. I admit it. I am crushed. I am not +going away. I spoke truthfully when I said that I came to England in +search of your father. We may both of us be the creatures that man +would have you believe, but we have been husband and wife for eighteen +years, and it is my duty to find out what has become of him. Therefore +I stay." + +I could see Ray's black eyes flashing. He almost gripped my arm as he +drew me away. We three left the house together. At the bottom of the +drive we met a carriage sent down from Rowchester. Ray stopped it. + +"Blenavon and I will take this carriage to the station," he said. "Will +you, Ducaine, return to Lady Angela and tell her exactly what has +happened?" + +"Oh, come, I'm not going to have that," Blenavon exclaimed. + +"It will not be unexpected news," Ray said sternly. "Your sister +suspects already." + +"I'm not going to be bundled away and leave you to concoct any precious +story you think fit," Blenavon declared, doggedly. "I--" + +Ray opened the carriage door and gripped Blenavon's arm. "Get in," he +said in a low, suppressed tone. There was something almost animal in +the fury of Ray's voice. I looked away with a shudder. Blenavon +stepped quietly into the carriage. Then Ray came over to me, and as he +looked searchingly into my face, he pointed up the carriage drive. + +"Boy," he said, "you are young, and in hell itself there cannot be many +such as she. You think me brutal. It is because I remember--your +mother!" + +He stepped into the carriage. I turned round and set out for +Rowchester. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MY SECRET + +There followed for me another three days of unremitting work. Then +midway through one morning I threw my pen from me with a great sense of +relief. They might come or send for me when they chose. I had +finished. My eyes were hot and my brain weary. Instinctively I threw +open my front door, and it seemed to me that the sun and the wind and +the birds were calling. + +So I walked northwards down on the beach, across the grass-sprinkled +sandhills and the mud-bottomed marshes. I walked with my cap stuffed in +my pocket, my head bared to the freshening wind, and all the way I met +no living creature. As I walked, my thoughts, which had been +concentrated for these last few days upon my work, went back to that +terrible half-hour at Braster Grange. I thought of Ray. I realized now +that for days past I had been striving not to think of him. The man's +sheer brutality appalled me. I believed in him now wholly, I believed +at least in his honesty, his vigorous and trenchant loyalty. But the +ways of the man were surely brutal to torture even vermin caught in the +trap, and that woman, adventuress though she might be, had flinched +before him in agony, as though her very nerves were being hacked out of +her body. And Blenavon, too! Surely he might have remembered that he +was her brother. He might have helped him to retain just a portion of +his self-respect. Was he as severe on every measure of wrong-doing? I +fancied to myself the meeting on that lonely road between the poor +white-faced creature who had looked in upon my window, and this strong +merciless man. Warmed with exercise as I was, I shivered. Ray reminded +me of those grim figures of the Old Testament. An eye for an eye, a +life for a life, were precepts with him indeed. He was as inexorable as +Fate itself. I feared him, and I knew why. I feared him when I +thought of Angela, almost over-sensitive, so delicate a flower to be +held in his strong, merciless grasp. I walked faster and faster, for +thoughts were crowding in upon me. Such a tangled web, such bitter +sweetness as they held for me. These were the thoughts which in those +days it was the struggle of my life to keep from coming to fruition. I +knew very well that, if once I gave way to them, flight alone could save +me. For the love of her was in my nerves, in every beat of my pulse, a +wild and beautiful dream, against which I was fighting always a hopeless +battle. + +Far away, coming towards me along the sands, I saw her. I stopped +short. For a moment my heart was hot with joy, then I looked wildly +around, thinking of flight. It was not possible. Already she had seen +me. She waved her hand and increased her pace, walking with the swift +effortless grace of her beautiful young limbs, her head thrown back, a +welcoming smile already parting her lips. I set my teeth and prepared +myself for the meeting. Afterwards would come the pain, but for the +present the joy of seeing her, of being with her, was everything! I +hastened forward. + +"I could not stay indoors," she said, as she turned by my side, +"although I have an old aunt and some very uninteresting visitors to +entertain. Besides, I have news! My father is coming down to-day, and +I think some of the others. We have just had a telegram." + +"I am glad," I answered. "I have just finished my work, and I want some +more." + +"You are insatiable," she declared, smiling. "You have written for +three days, days and nights too, I believe, and you look like a ghost. +You ought to take a rest now. You ought to want one, at any rate." + +Then the smile faded from her lips, and the anxiety of a sudden thought +possessed her. + +"I have not heard a word from Colonel Ray," she said. "It terrifies me +to think that he may have told my father about Blenavon." + +"You must insist upon it that he does not," I declared. "Your brother +has left England, has he not?" + +"He is at Ostend." + +"Then Colonel Ray will keep his word," I assured her. "Besides, you +have written to him, have you not?" + +"I have written," she answered. "Still, I am afraid. He will do what +he thinks right, whatever it may be." + +"He will respect your wishes," I said. + +She smiled a little bitterly. + +"He is not an easy person to influence," she murmured. "I doubt whether +my wishes, even my prayers, would weigh with him a particle against his +own judgment. And he is severe--very severe." + +I said nothing, and we walked for some time in silence. + +"Next week," she said abruptly, "I must go back to London." + +It was too sudden! I could not keep back the little exclamation of +despair. She walked for some time with her head turned away from me, as +though something on the dark clear horizon across the waters had +fascinated her, but I caught a glimpse of her face, and I knew that my +secret had escaped me. Whether I was glad or sorry I could not tell. +My thoughts were all in hopeless confusions. When she spoke, there was +a certain reserve in her tone. I knew that things would never again be +exactly the same between us. Yet she was not angry! I hugged that +thought to myself. She was startled and serious, but she was not angry. + +"One season is very much like another," she said, "but it is not +possible to absent oneself altogether. Then afterwards there is Cowes +and Homburg, and I always have a plan for at least three weeks in +Scotland. I believe we shall close Rowchester altogether." + +"The Duke?" I asked. + +"He never spends the summer here," she answered. "We are generally +together after July, so perhaps," she added, "you may have to endure +more of my company than you think." + +She looked at me with a faint, provoking smile. How dare she? I was +master of myself now, and I answered her coldly. + +"I shall be very sorry to leave here," I said. "I hope if my work lasts +so long that I shall be able to go on with it at the 'Brand.'" + +She made no answer to that, but in a moment or two she turned and looked +at me thoughtfully. + +"You are rather a surprising person," she remarked, "in many ways. And +you certainly have strange tastes." + +"Is it a strange taste to love this place?" I asked. + +"Of course not. But, on the other hand, it is strange that you should +be content to remain here indefinitely. Solitude is all very well at +times, but at your age I think that the vigorous life of a great city +should have many attractions for you. Life here, after all, must become +something of an abstraction." + +"It contents me," I declared shortly. + +"Then I am not sure that you are in an altogether healthy frame of +mind," she answered, coolly. "Have you no ambitions?" + +"Such as I have," I muttered, "are hopeless. They were built on +sand--and they have fallen." + +"Then reconstruct them," she said. "You are far too young to speak with +such a note of finality." + +"Some day," I answered, "I suppose I shall. At present I am content to +live on, amongst the fragments. One needs only imagination. The things +one dreams about are always more beautiful and perhaps more satisfying +than the things one does." + +Again our eyes met, and I fancied that this time she was looking a +little frightened. At any rate she knew. I was sure of that. + +"What an ineffective sort of proceeding!" she murmured. + +A creek separated us for a few minutes. When we came together again I +asked her a question. + +"There is something, Lady Angela," I said, "which, if you would forgive +the impertinence of it, I should very much like to ask you." + +She moved her head slowly, as though giving a tacit consent. But I do +not think that she was quite prepared for what I asked her. + +"When are you going to marry Colonel Ray?" + +She looked at me quickly, almost furtively, and I saw that her cheeks +were flushed. There was a look in her eyes, too, which I could not +fathom. + +"The date is not decided yet," she said. "You know there is some talk +of trouble in Egypt, and if so he might have to leave at a moment's +notice." + +"It will not be, at any rate, before the autumn, then?" I persisted. + +"No!" + +I drew a little breath of relief. I was reckless whether she heard it +or not. Suddenly she paused. + +"Who is that?" she asked. + +I recognized him at once--a small grey figure, standing on the top of a +sandhill a little way off, and regarding us steadily. It was the Duke. + +"Your father!" I said. + +We quickened our pace. If Lady Angela was in any way discomposed she +showed no signs of it. She waved her hand, and the Duke solemnly +removed his hat. + +"I am so glad that he has come down before the others," she said. "I am +longing to have a talk with him. And I don't believe he knows anything +about Blenavon. No, he's far too cheerful." + +She went straight up to him and passed her arm through his. He greeted +me stiffly, but not unkindly. + +"I am so glad that you have come," she said. "If I had not heard I +should have telegraphed to you. I've seen it in all the papers." + +"You approve?" I heard him ask quietly. + +"Approve is not the word," she declared eagerly. "It is magnificent." + +"I wonder," he asked, "if you realize what it means?" + +"It simply doesn't matter," she answered, with a delightful smile. "I +can make my own dresses, if you like. Annette is a shocking nuisance to +me." + +"I am afraid," he remarked, with an odd little smile, "that Blenavon +will scarcely regard the matter in the same light." + +"Bother Blenavon!" she answered lightly. "I suppose you know that he's +gone off abroad somewhere?" + +"I had a hurried line from him with information to that effect," the +Duke answered. "I think that it would have been more respectful if he +had called to see me on his way through London." + +I heard her sigh of relief. + +"Now, tell me," she begged, "where shall we begin? Cowes, Homburg, town +house, or Annette? I'm ready." + +The Duke looked at her for a moment as I had never seen him look at any +living person. + +"You must not exaggerate to yourself the importance of this affair, +Angela," he said. "I do not think we need interfere for the present +with any existing arrangements." + +She took his arm, and they walked on ahead to the clearing in front of +my. cottage, talking earnestly together. I had no clue to the meaning +of those first few sentences which had passed between them. And +needless to say, I now lingered far enough behind to be out of earshot. +When they reached the turn in the path they halted and waited for me. + +"I am anxious for a few minutes' conversation inside with you, Ducaine," +the Duke said. "Angela, you had better perhaps not wait for me." + +She nodded her farewell, a brief imperious little gesture, it seemed to +me, with very little of kindliness in it. Then the Duke followed me +into my sitting-room. I waited anxiously to hear what he had to say. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"NOBLESSE OBLIGE" + +The Duke selected my most comfortable easy chair and remained silent for +several minutes, looking thoughtfully out of the window. +Notwithstanding the fresh colour, which he seldom lost, and the trim +perfection of his dress, I could see at once that there was a change in +him. The lines about his mouth were deeper, his eyes had lost much of +their keen brightness. I found myself wondering whether, after all, +some suspicion of Lord Blenavon's doings had found its way to him. + +"You are well forward with your work, I trust, Mr. Ducaine?" he said at +last. + +"It is completed, your Grace," I answered. + +"The proposed subway fortifications as well as the new battery +stations?" + +"Yes, your Grace." + +"What about the maps?" + +"I have done them also to the best of my ability, sir," I answered. "I +am not a very expert draughtsman, I am afraid, but these are at least +accurate. If you would care to look them over, they are in the library +safe." + +"And the code word?" + +In accordance with our usual custom I scribbled it upon a piece of +paper, and held it for a moment before his eyes. Then I carefully +destroyed it. + +"To-morrow," he said, "perhaps to-night, we have some railway men coming +down to thoroughly discuss the most efficient method of moving troops +from Aldershot and London to different points, and to inaugurate a fresh +system. You had better hold yourself in readiness to come up to the +house at any moment. They are business men, and their time is valuable. +They will probably want to work from the moment of their arrival until +they go." + +"Very good, your Grace," I answered. + +He turned his head and looked at me for a moment reflectively. + +"You remember our conversation at the War Office, Mr. Ducaine?" + +"Yes, your Grace." + +"I do not wish you to have a false impression as to my meaning at that +time," he said coldly. "I do not, I have never, doubted your +trustworthiness. My feeling was, and is, that you are somewhat young +and of an impetuous disposition for a post of such importance. That +feeling was increased, of course, by the fact that I considered your +story with reference to the Prince of Malors improbable to the last +degree. In justice to you," he continued more slowly, "I must now admit +the possibility that your description of that incident may after all be +in accordance with the facts. Certain facts have come to my knowledge +which tend somewhat in that direction. I shall consider it a favour, +therefore, if you will consider my remarks at that interview retracted." + +"I thank your Grace very much," I answered. + +"With reference to the other matter," he continued, "there my opinion +remains unaltered. I do not believe that the papers in the safe were +touched after you yourself deposited them there, and I consider your +statement to the contrary a most unfortunate one. But the fact remains +that you have done your work faithfully, and the Council is satisfied +with your services. That being so, you may rely upon it that any +feeling I may have in the matter I shall keep to myself." + +I would have expressed my gratitude to him, but he checked me. + +"There is," he said, "one other, a more personal matter, concerning +which I desired a few words with you. I have had a visit from a +relative of yours who is also an old friend of my own. I refer to Sir +Michael Trogoldy." + +I looked at him in amazement. I was, in fact, so surprised that I said +nothing at all. + +"Sir Michael, it seems, has been making inquiries about you, and learned +of your present position," the Duke continued. "He asked me certain +questions which I was glad to be able to answer on your behalf. He also +entrusted me with a note, which I have here in my pocket." + +He produced it and laid it upon the table. I made no movement to take +it. + +"The details of your family history," the Duke said, "are unknown to me. +But if the advice of an old man is in any way acceptable to you, I +should strongly recommend you to accept any offer of friendship which +Sir Michael may make. He is an old man, and he is possessed of +considerable wealth. Further, I gather that you are his nearest +relative." + +"Sir Michael was very cruel to my mother, sir," I said slowly. + +"You have nothing to gain by the harbouring of ancient grievances," the +Duke replied. "I have always known Sir Michael as a just if a somewhat +stern man. Please, however, do not look upon me in any way as a +would-be mediator. My interest in this matter ceases with the delivery +of that letter." + +The Duke rose to his feet. I followed him to the door. + +"In any case, sir," I said, "I am very much obliged to you for your +advice and for bringing me this letter." + +"By-the-bye," the Duke said, pausing on the threshold, "I fear that we +may lose the help of Colonel Ray upon the Council. There are rumours of +serious trouble in the Soudan, and if these are in any way +substantiated, he will be certainly sent there. Good afternoon, Mr. +Ducaine." + +"Good afternoon, your Grace." + +So he left me, stiff, formal, having satisfied his conscience, though I +felt in my heart that his opinion of me, once formed, was not likely to +be changed. Directly I was alone I opened my uncle's letter. + +"127, GROSVENOR SQUARE, + +"LONDON, W. + +"DEAR Guy,-- + +"It has been on my mind more than once during the last few years--ever +since, in fact, I heard of you at college--to write and inform myself as +to your prospects in life. You are the son of my only sister, although +I regret to say that you are the son also of a man who disgraced himself +and his profession. You have a claim upon me which you have made no +effort to press. Perhaps I do not think the worse of you for that. In +any case, I wish you to accept an allowance of which my lawyers will +advise you, and if you will call upon me when you are in town I shall be +glad to make your acquaintance. I may say that it was a pleasure to me +to learn that you have succeeded in obtaining a responsible and +honourable post. + +"I am, yours sincerely, + +"MICHAEL TROGOLDY." + +I took pen and paper, and answered this letter at once. + +"My DEAR SIR MICHAEL,-- + +"As I am your nephew, and I understand, almost your nearest relative, I +see no reason why I should not accept the allowance which you are good +enough to offer me. I shall also be glad to come and see you next time +I am in London, if it is your wish. + +"Yours sincerely, + +"GUY DUCAINE." + +Grooton brought in my tea, also a London morning paper which he had +secured in the village. + +"I thought that you might be interested in the news about the Duke, +sir," he said respectfully. + +"What news, Grooton?" I asked, stretching out my hand for the paper. + +"You will find a leading article on the second page, sir, and another in +the money news. It reads quite extraordinary, sir." + +I opened the paper eagerly. I read every word of the leading article, +which was entitled "Noblesse Oblige," and all the paragraphs in the +money column. What I read did not surprise me in the least when once I +had read the circumstances. It was just what I should have expected +from the Duke. It seemed that he had lent his name to the prospectus of +a company formed for the purpose of working some worthless patent +designed to revolutionize the silk weaving trade. The Duke's reason for +going on the Board was purely philanthropic. He had hoped to restore an +ancient industry in a decaying neighbourhood. The whole thing turned +out to be a swindle. One angry shareholder stated plainly at the +meeting that he had taken his shares on account of the Duke's name upon +the prospectus, and hinted ugly things. The Duke had risen calmly in +his place. He assured them that he fully recognized his +responsibilities in the matter. If the person who had last spoken was +in earnest when he stated that the Duke's name had induced him to take +shares in this company, then he was prepared to relieve him of those +shares at the price which he had paid for them. Further, if there was +any other persons who were able honestly to say that the name of the +Duke of Rowchester upon the prospectus had induced them to invest their +money in this concern, his offer extended also to them. + +There were roars of applause, wild enthusiasm. It was magnificent, but +the lowest estimate of what it would cost the Duke was a hundred +thousand pounds. + +I put down the paper, and my cheeks were flushed with enthusiasm. I +think that if the Duke had been there at that moment I could have kissed +his hand. I passed with much less interest to the letter which Grooton +had brought in with the paper. It was from a firm of solicitors in +Lincoln's Inn, and it informed me, in a few precise sentences, that they +had the authority of their client, Sir Michael Trogoldy, to pay me +yearly the sum of five hundred pounds. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +FRIEND OR ENEMY? + +There came no summons from Rowchester, and I dined alone. I must have +dozed over my after-dinner cigarette, for at first that soft rapping +seemed to come to me from a long way off. Then I sat up in my chair +with a start. My cigarette had burnt out, my coffee was cold. I had +been asleep, and outside some one was knocking at my' front door. + +I had sent Grooton to the village with letters, and I was alone in the +place. I sprang from my chair just as the handle of the door was turned +and a woman stepped quietly in. She was wrapped from head to foot in a +long cloak, and she was thickly veiled. But I knew her at once. It was +Mrs. Smith-Lessing. + +My first impulse was one of anger. It seemed to me that she was taking +advantage of the sympathy which Ray's brutality during our last +interview had forced from me. I spoke to her coldly, almost angrily. + +"Mrs. Smith-Lessing," I said, "I regret that I cannot receive you here. +My position just now does not allow me to receive visitors." + +She simply raised her veil and sank into the nearest chair. I was +staggered when I saw her face. It was positively haggard, and her eyes +were burning. She looked at me almost with horror. + +"I had to come," she said. "I could not keep away a moment longer. +Tell me the truth, Guy Ducaine. The truth, mind!" she repeated, +fearfully. + +"What do you mean?" I asked, bewildered. "I do not understand you." + +"Tell me the truth about that man who came to see you on the seventh of +January." + +I shook my head. + +"I have nothing to tell you," I said firmly. "When I found him on the +marshes he was dead. I did not hear till afterwards that he had ever +asked for me." + +"This is the truth?" she asked eagerly. + +"It is the truth!" I answered. + +I could see the relief shine in her face. She was still anxious, +however. + +"Is it true," she asked, "that you told a girl in the village, Blanche +Moyat, to keep secret the fact that this man inquired in the village for +the way to your cottage?" + +"That also is true," I admitted. "She did not tell me until afterwards, +and I saw no purpose in publishing the fact that the man had been on his +way to see me." + +"You have been very foolish," she said. "You have quarrelled with the +girl. She is telling this against you, and there will be trouble." + +"I cannot help it," I answered. "I never spoke to the man. I saw +nothing of him until I found him dead." + +"Guy!" she cried, "this is an awful thing. I am not sure, but I believe +that the man was your father!" + +As often as the thought had comae to me I had thrust it away. This +time, however, there was no escape. The whole hideous scene spread +itself out again before my eyes. I saw the doubled-up body, limp and +nerveless. I felt again the thrill of horror with which one looks for +the first time on death. The mockery of the sunlight filling the air, +gleaming far and wide upon the creek-riven marshes and wet sands, the +singing of the birds, the slow tramp of the wagon horses. All these +things went to fill up that one terrible picture. I looked at the woman +opposite to me, and in her face was some reflection of the horror which +I as surely felt. + +"For your sake," she murmured, "we must find out how he met with his +death." + +"The verdict was Found drowned," I murmured. + +"People will change their opinion now," she answered. "Besides, you and +I know that he was not drowned." + +"You are sure of that?" I asked. + +"Quite," she answered. "He had letters with him, I know, and papers for +you. Besides, he carried always with him a number of trifles by which +he could have been identified. When he was searched at the police +station his pockets were empty. He had been robbed. Guy, he had, as I +have had, one unflinching, relentless enemy. Tell me, was Colonel Ray +in Braster at the time?" + +"No," I answered hoarsely. "I cannot tell you. I will have no more to +do with it. The matter is over--let it rest," + +"But, my poor boy," she said quietly, "it will not be allowed to rest. +Can't you see that this girl's statement does away with the theory that +he was washed up from the sea? He met with his death there on the +sands. He left Braster to visit you, and he was found within a few +yards of your cottage dead, and with marks of violence upon him. You +will be suspected, perhaps charged. It is inevitable. Now tell me the +truth. Was Mostyn Ray in Braster at the time?" + +"He lectured that night in the village," I answered. + +Her eyes gleamed with a strange fire. + +"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I have him at last, then. I saw him +falter when I spoke of your father. Guy, I will save you, but I would +give the rest of my days to bring this home to Mostyn Ray." + +I shook my head. + +"You will never do it," I declared. "There might be suspicion, but +there will never be any proof. If there was any murder done at all, it +was done without witnesses." + +"We shall see about that," she muttered. "There is what you call +circumstantial evidence. It has hanged people before now." + +We remained silent for several moments. All this time she was watching +me. + +"Guy," she said softly, "you are very like what he was--at your age." + +Her cloak had fallen back. She was wearing a black evening gown with a +string of pearls around her neck. The excitement had given her a faint +colour, and something like tears softened her eyes as she looked across +at me. But the more I looked at her the more anxious I was to see her +no more. Her words reminded me of the past. I remembered that it was +she who had been my father's evil genius, she who had brought this +terrible disgrace upon him, and this cloud over my own life. I rose to +my feet. + +"I do not wish to ask for any favours from you," I said, "but I will ask +you to remember that if you are seen here I shall certainly lose my +post." + +"What does it matter?" she answered contemptuously. "I am not a rich +woman, Guy, but I know how to earn money. Mostyn Ray would not believe +it, perhaps, but I loved your father. Yours has been a miserable little +life. Come with me, and I promise that I will show you how to make it +great. You have no relatives or any ties. I promise you that I will be +a model stepmother." + +I looked at her, bewildered. + +"It is not possible for me to do anything of the sort," I told her. "I +do not wish to seem unkind, but nothing in this world would induce me to +consider such a thing for a moment. I have chosen my life and the +manner of it. Do you think that I can ever forget that you and my +father between you broke my mother's heart, and made it necessary for me +to be brought up without friends, ashamed of my name and of my history? +One does not forget these things. I bear you no ill will, but I wish +that you would go away." + +She sat there quite quietly, listening to me. + +"Guy," she said, when I had finished, "all that you speak of happened +many years ago. There is forgiveness for everybody, isn't there? You +and I are almost alone in the world. I want to be your friend. You +might find me a more powerful one than you think. Try me! I will make +your future mine. You shall have your own way in all things. I know +the hills and the valleys of life, the underneath and the matchless +places. If you accept my offer you will never regret it. I can be a +faithful friend or a relentless enemy. Between you and me, Guy, there +can be no middle course. I want to be your friend. Don't make me your +enemy." + +The woman puzzled me. She had every appearance of being in earnest. +Yet the things which she proposed were absurd. + +"This is folly," I answered her. "I cannot count it anything else. Do +you suppose that I want to creep through life at a woman's +apron-strings? I am old enough, and strong enough, I hope, to think and +act for myself. My career is my own, to make or to mar. I do not wish +for enmity from any one, but your friendship I cannot accept. Our ways +lie apart--a long way apart." + +"Do not be too sure of that," she said quietly. "I think that you and I +may come together again very soon, and it is possible that you may need +my help." + +"All that I need now," I answered impatiently, "is your absence." + +She rose at once from her chair. + +"Very well," she said, "I will go. Only let me warn you that I am a +persistent woman. I think that it will not be very long before you will +see things differently. Will you shake hands with me, Guy?" + +Her small white fingers came hesitatingly out from under her cloak. I +did not stop to think to what my action might commit me, whether indeed +it was seemly that I should accept any measure of friendship from this +woman. I took her hand and held it for a moment in mine. + +"You cannot go back alone," I said, doubtfully, as I opened the door. + +"I have a servant waiting close by," she answered, "and I am not at all +afraid. Think over what I have said to you--and good-bye." + +She drew her cloak around her and flitted away into the darkness. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A WOMAN'S TONGUE + +Grooton returned a few minutes later from the village. He begged the +favour of a few words with me. He was a man of impassive features and +singular quietness of demeanour. Yet it was obvious that something had +happened to disturb him. + +"I think it only right, sir, that you should know of the reports which +are circulating in the neighbourhood," he said, fixing his dark grave +eyes respectfully upon me. "I called for a few minutes at the inn, and +made it my business to listen." + +"Do these reports concern me, Grooton?" I asked. + +"They do, sir." + +"Go ahead, then," I told him. + +"They refer also, sir," he said, "to the man who was found dead near the +cottage where you used to live in January last. He was supposed to have +been washed up from the sea, but it has recently been stated that he was +seen, on the evening of the day before his body was found, in the +village, and it is also stated that he inquired from a certain person as +to the whereabouts of your cottage. He set out with the intention of +calling upon you, and he was found dead in the morning by you, sir, +within a hundred yards of where you were living." + +"Anything else, Grooton?" + +"There is a lot of foolish talk, sir. He is said to have been a +relative of yours with whom you were not on good terms, and the young +lady who has just given this information to the police through her +father states that she has remained silent up to now at your request." + +"I am supposed, then," I said, "to be concerned in this fellow's death?" + +"I have heard that opinion openly expressed, sir," Grooton assented, +respectfully. + +I nodded. + +"Thank you, Grooton," I said. "I shall be prepared then for anything +that may happen. If you hear anything further let me know." + +"I shall not fail to do so, sir," he answered. + +He bowed and withdrew. Then as I lit my pipe and resumed my seat it +suddenly occurred to me that the man who was chiefly concerned in this +matter should at least be warned. I sat down at my desk and wrote to +Ray. I had scarcely finished when I heard footsteps outside, followed +by an imperious knocking at my front door. I opened it at once. The +Duke and Lady Angela entered. I saw at once from her disturbed +expression that something had happened. + +The Duke wore a long cape over his dinner clothes, and he had evidently +walked fast. He looked at me sharply as I rose to my feet. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "I have come to ask you to explain the sudden +departure of my son for abroad." + +I was taken aback, and I dare say I showed it. + +"I have already told Lady Angela--all that I know," I said. + +"My daughter's story," the Duke answered, "is incoherent. It tells me +only enough to make me sure that something is being concealed." + +I glanced at Lady Angela. She was looking white and troubled. + +"I have told my father," she said, "all that I know." + +"Then I must discover the rest for myself," the Duke replied. "I know +that Blenavon is uncertain and unstable to a degree. When I heard that +he had left for the Continent, I was not particularly surprised or +interested. I have only just discovered the manner of his leaving. It +puts an entirely different complexion upon the affair. I understand +that he left with Colonel Ray without luggage or explanations of any +sort. His own servant had no warning, and was left behind. My daughter +informs me that such information as she has she gained from you. I +require you to supplement it." + +"I am afraid that the only person who can enlighten you further, sir, is +Colonel Ray," I answered. "I understood you to say, I believe, that he +would be here shortly." + +"I insist upon it," the Duke said sternly, "that you tell me what you +know at once and without further prevarication." + +I was in a dilemma from which there seemed to be no escape. Lady Angela +had seated herself in my easy chair and was keeping her face averted +from me. The Duke stood between us. + +"I know very little, sir, except what I overheard," I declared. +"Colonel Ray was, I believe, responsible for Lord Blenavon's abrupt +departure, and I would rather that your information came from him." + +"Colonel Ray is not here, and you are," the Duke answered. "Remember +that I am no trifler with words. I have said that I insist. I repeat +it!" + +There seemed to be no escape for me. Lady Angela remained silent, the +Duke was plainly insistent. I did not dare to trifle with him. + +"Very good, your Grace," I said, "I will tell you what I know. It dates +from last Monday, when you will remember that I was in London to attend +a meeting of the Council." + +"Go on!" + +"I returned here by the last train, bringing with me the notes and +instructions taken at that meeting. Outside Braster Grange an attack +was made upon me, evidently with the intention of securing these. I +escaped, with the assistance of Colonel Ray, who had come down from +London by the same train unknown to me." + +"Well?" + +"The attack was made from the grounds of Braster Grange. It seems that +Lord Blenavon spent the night there. The next morning Colonel Ray +insisted upon my accompanying him to Braster Grange. Lord Blenavon was +still there, and we saw him. He was suffering from wounds such as in +the darkness I had inflicted upon my assailant of the night before." + +It seemed to me that even then the Duke would not, or could not, +understand. His brows were knitted into a heavy frown, and he was +evidently following my story with close attention. But exactly where I +was going to lead, he seemed to have no idea. + +"The tenant of Braster Grange," I continued, "is a Mrs. Smith-Lessing, +whom Colonel Ray has told me is a servant of the French secret police. +I am afraid that Lord Blenavon has been a good deal under her +influence." + +Then the Duke blazed out, which was very much what I expected from him. +Horror, amazement, and scornful disbelief were all expressed in his +transfigured face and angry words. + +"Blenavon! My son! The confederate of a French spy! What nonsense! +Who dares to suggest such a thing? Angela--I--I beg your pardon." + +He stopped short, making an effort to regain his self-control. He +continued in a more collected manner, but his voice still shook with +inexpressible scorn. + +"Angela," he said, turning to her, "is it within your knowledge that +Blenavon had any acquaintance with this person?" + +I think that her face might well have answered him: very white it was, +and very sorrowful. + +"Blenavon met Mrs. Smith-Lessing, I believe, at Bordighera," she said. +"I have seen them together several times." + +"Here?" the Duke asked sharply. + +"Yes, I have seen them riding on the sands, and Blenavon dined there on +the night--Mr. Ducaine has been speaking of." + +"Blenavon is a fool!" the Duke said. "This is to my mind convincing +proof that he was ignorant of the woman's antecedents. At the worst he +probably regarded her as an ordinary adventuress. As for the rest, I +look upon it as the most extraordinary mare's nest which the mind of man +could possibly conceive. Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Ducaine, that +Colonel Ray went so far as to charge Blenavon to his face with being in +league with this person?" + +"He certainly did, sir." + +"And Blenavon? Oh, Ray is mad, stark mad!" + +"Your son denied it, sir," I answered. + +"Denied it! Of course he did. What followed?" + +"Colonel Ray was very forcible and very imperative, sir," I answered. +"He insisted upon Lord Blenavon leaving England at once." + +"Well?" + +"Lord Blenavon consented to do so, sir," I said quietly. + +I saw the veins in the Duke's forehead stand out like whipcord. He +began a sentence and left it unfinished. He was in that condition when +words are impotent. + +"Can you tell me, Mr. Ducaine," he asked, "what possible argument +Colonel Ray could have made use of to induce my son to consent to this +extraordinary proceeding?" + +"I know no more about the matter, your Grace," I answered. "Perhaps +Lord Blenavon felt that his intimacy with Mrs. Smith-Lessing had +compromised him--that appearances were against him--" + +"Pshaw!" the Duke interrupted. "Blenavon's intrigues are foolish +enough, but they are beside the mark.. I want to know what further +argument or inducement Colonel Ray used. I understand neither why Ray +desired to get rid of my son, nor why my son obeyed his ridiculous +request." + +"Colonel Ray will doubtless have some further explanation to offer you, +sir," I said. + +"He had better," the Duke answered grimly. "I shall wire him to come +here at once. With your permission, Mr. Ducaine, I will sit down for a +moment. This affair has shaken me." + +Indeed, as the excitement passed away, I could see that he was looking +ill and worn. Lady Angela made him take the easy chair, and he accepted +a liqueur glass full of brandy which I poured out. He remained for +several minutes sipping it and looking thoughtfully into the fire. He +seemed to me to have aged by a dozen years. The brisk alertness of his +manner had all departed. He was an old man, limp and querulous. + +"This unfortunate affair, Mr. Ducaine," he said, looking up at last, +"remains of course between ourselves and Ray--and the woman." + +"It is unnecessary for you to ask me that, sir," I answered quietly. +"Colonel Ray will doubtless have some explanation. He is a man of +vigorous temper, and I fancy that Lord Blenavon was not quite himself." + +The Duke rose to his feet. + +"If you are ready, Angela," he said, "we will not detain Mr. Ducaine +further." + +"You will allow me to walk with you to the house, sir," I begged. + +He shook his head. + +"I am quite recovered, I thank you," he said. "My daughter will give me +her arm." + +I let them out myself and held the lamp over my head to light them on +their way. With slow uncertain steps, and leaning heavily upon Lady +Angela's arm, I watched him disappear in the blackness of the +plantation. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE LINK IN THE CHAIN + +Practically for three days and three nights the Council sat continually. +There was no pretence now at recreation, no other guests. We worked, +all of us, from the Duke downwards, unflaggingly and with very little +respite. When at last the end came, my padlocked notebook, with its +hundreds of pages of hieroglyphics, held the principal material for +three schemes of coast defence, each one considered separately and +supported by a mass of detail as to transport, commissariat, and many +minor points. + +The principal members of the Council departed by special train early on +Monday morning. I myself, a little dizzy and hot-eyed, walked across +the park an hour after dawn, and flung myself upon my bed with a deep +sigh of relief. Before I had closed my eyes, however, Grooton appeared +with apologies for his dishabille. + +"I have been up to the house twice, sir," he said, "but they would not +let me see you or even send in a message. I thought it only right to +let you know at once, sir, that the police have been here rummaging +about. They had what they called a search warrant, I believe. I came +up to the house immediately, but I could not induce any of the servants +to bring word in to you. Mr. Jesson, the Duke's own man, told me that +it was as much as his place was worth to allow any one to enter the +library." + +"All right, Grooton," I muttered. "Hang the police!" + +I believe he said something else, but I never heard it. I was already +fast asleep. + + * * * * * + +About mid-day I was awakened by the dazzling sunshine which seemed to +fill the room. I called for a bath, dressed, and made an excellent +breakfast. Then I brought out my notebook and prepared for work. I had +scarcely dipped my pen in the ink, however, when a shadow darkened the +window. I looked up quickly. It was Ray. + +He entered without knocking, and I saw at once that he was in a strange +condition. He scarcely greeted me, but sank into my easy chair, and +drawing out his pipe began to fill it. Then I saw, too, what I had +never seen before. His fingers were shaking. + +"Boy," he said, "have you any wine?" + +"The Duke sent me some claret," I answered. "Will that do?" + +I summoned Grooton and ordered the wine and some biscuits. Ray was a +man who ate and drunk sparingly. Yet he filled a tumbler and drank it +straight off. + +"You and I," he remarked, "are the only two who sat the whole show out. +It was a grind, wasn't it?" + +"It was," I answered, "but I have slept, and I feel none the worse for +it. Lord Chelsford carried us on splendidly. There is solid work +here," I said; "something worth the planning." + +I touched my notebook almost affectionately, for the work was +fascinating now that it had attained coherent form. Ray smoked on and +said nothing for several minutes. Then he looked up at me. + +"Have you a spare bedroom, Ducaine?" + +"One or two," I answered. "They are not all furnished, but one at any +rate is decent." + +"Will you put me up for a day--perhaps two?" + +"Of course," I answered, "but--" + +He answered my unspoken question. + +"The Duke has turned me out," he said grimly. "Who would have suspected +the old man of such folly? He believes in Blenavon. I told him the +plain truth, and he told me that I was a liar." + +"I thought that he would be difficult to convince," I remarked. + +"He has all the magnificent pig-headedness of his race," Ray answered. +"Blenavon is Blenavon, and he can do no wrong. He would summon him home +again, but fortunately the young man himself is no fool. He will not +come. You told Lady Angela?" + +"Everything." + +"She believed you?" + +"I think that she did," I answered. + +His face softened. + +"The Duke showed me from the door himself," he said. "You will not +object to my sending a note to Lady Angela by your servant?" + +"Make whatever use of him you choose," I answered. "There are pen and +ink and notepaper upon the table." + +Then I settled down to my work. Ray wrote his note, and went upstairs +to sleep. In an hour's time he was down again. There were black rims +under his eyes, and I could see at once that he had had no rest. +Grooton had brought his bag from the house, and a note from Lady Angela. +He read it with unchanging face, and placed it carefully in his breast +coat-pocket. + +"I am off to the village to send some telegrams," he said, "and +afterwards I shall go on for a walk." "What about lunch?" I asked, +glancing at the clock. "None for me," he answered. "Some tea at four +o'clock, if I may have it. I will be back by then." He swung off, and I +was thankful, for my work demanded my whole attention and very careful +thought. At a few minutes after four he returned, and Grooton brought +us some tea. Directly we were alone Ray looked across at me with a +black frown upon his face. + +"You know what they are saying in the village about you, young man?" + +"I can guess," I answered. + +"Who is this girl, Blanche Moyat?" + +"A farmer's daughter," I answered. "It seems that I paid her too much +or too little, attention, I am not sure which. At any rate, she has an +imaginary grievance against me, and this is the result." + +"She tells the truth?" + +"I have not heard her story," I answered, "but it is true that I +encouraged her to suppress the fact that she bad seen the man in the +village, and that he had asked for me." + +"What folly!" + +"Perhaps," I answered. "You see, I thought that a verdict of 'found +drowned' would save trouble." + +"This accursed woman at the Grange is in it, I know," Ray remarked, +slowly filling his pipe. "I wonder if she knew that I was about? That +would give her a zest for the job." + +"She knows that you were at Braster at the time," I said. "It was the +night of your lecture." + +Ray began to blow out dense clouds of smoke. + +"We're safe," he said thoughtfully, "both of us. There's just a link in +the chain missing." + +"The police have been here with a warrant in search of that link," I +remarked. + +"They'll never find it, for it's in my pocket," he remarked grimly. + +"Colonel Ray," I said, suddenly nerving myself to risk his anger, "there +is a question which I must ask you." + +I saw his lips come firmly together. He neither encouraged nor checked +me. + +"Who was that man?" + +"You are better ignorant." + +"Was it my father?" + +If he did not answer my question, it at least seemed to suggest +something to him. + +"Has that woman been here?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"She believes that it was your father?" + +"She does." + +He removed his pipe from his teeth and looked at it thoughtfully. + +"Ah!" he said. + +"You have not answered my question," I reminded him. + +"Nor am I going to," he replied coolly. "You know already as much as is +good for you." + +He rose and threw open the door of my cottage. For several moments he +stood bareheaded, looking up towards the house, looking and listening. +He glanced at his watch, and walked several times backwards and forwards +from the edge of the cliff to my door. Then he came in for his hat and +stick. + +"I am going down to the sea," he said. "If Lady Angela comes, will you +call me? I shall not be out of hearing." + +"You are expecting her?" I asked, looking down at my work. + +"Yes. It was necessary for me to see her somewhere, so I asked her to +come here. Perhaps the Duke has found out and stopped her. Anyhow, +call me if she comes." + +He stepped outside, and I heard him scrambling down the cliff. I set my +teeth and turned to my work. It was a hard thing to have my little +room, with its store of memories, turned into a meeting-place for these +two. I at least would take care to be far enough away. And then I +began wondering whether she would come. I was still wondering when I +heard her footsteps. + +She came in unaccustomed garb to me. She wore a grey dress of some soft +material, and a large black hat with feathers. Her skirts were gathered +up in her hand, and I heard the jingling of harness at the corner of the +avenue where her carriage was waiting. I opened the door, and she +entered with a soft swish of silk and a gentle rustling. The room +seemed instantly full of perfume of Neapolitan violets, a great bunch of +which were in her bosom. + +She looked swiftly around, and I fancied that it was a relief to her to +find me alone. + +"Is Colonel Ray here?" she asked. + +"He is waiting for you," I answered, "on the sands. I promised to call +him directly you came." + +I moved toward the door, but she checked me with an imperative gesture. + +"Wait," she said. + +I came slowly back and stood by my table. She was sitting with her +hands clasped together, looking into the fire. She looked very girlish +and frail. + +"I want to think--for a moment," she said. "Everything seems confusion. +My father has commanded me to break my engagement with Colonel Ray." + +I remained silent. What was there, indeed, for me to say? + +"In my heart," she went on slowly, "I know that my father is wrong and +that Colonel Ray is right. He has simply done his duty. Blenavon was +being sorely tempted. He is better away--out of the country. Oh, I am +sure of that." + +"Colonel Ray has done what he believed to be his duty," I said slowly. +"It is hard that he should suffer for that." + +"Often," she murmured, "one has to suffer for doing the right thing. My +father has made himself a poor man because of his sense of what was +right. I do not know what to do." + +I glanced out of the window. For many reasons I did not wish to prolong +this interview. + +"He is waiting," I reminded her. + +"I must do one of two things," she murmured. "I must break my faith +with my father--or with him." + +Then she lifted her eyes to mine. + +"Tell me what you think, Mr. Ducaine?" she asked. + +I opened my lips to speak, but I could not. Was it fair that she should +ask me? My little room was peopled with dreams of her, with delightful +but impossible visions. My very nerves were full of the joy of her +presence. It was madness to ask for my judgment, when the very poetry +of my life was an unreasoning and hopeless love for her. + +"I cannot!" I muttered. "You must not ask me." + +She seemed surprised. After all, I had guarded my secret well, then? + +"You will not refuse to help me," she pleaded. + +I set my teeth hard. I longed for Ray, but there were no signs of him. + +"Your father has ordered you to break your engagement with Colonel Ray," +I said, "but he has done so under a misapprehension of the facts. You +owe obedience to your father, but you owe more--to--the man whose wife +you have promised to be. I do not think you should give him up." + +She listened eagerly. Was it my fancy, or was she indeed a little +paler? Her eyes seemed to gleam with a strange softness in the +twilight. Her head drooped a a little as she resumed her former +thoughtful attitude. + +"Thank you," she said, simply. "I believe that you are right." + +I caught up a bundle of papers from my desk and stole softly from the +room. Ray was close at hand, and I called to him. + +"She is in there waiting for you," I said. "I have some transcribed +matter, which I am taking up to the safe." + +Ray nodded abruptly, and I heard the door of my cottage open and close +behind him. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +MOSTYN RAY'S LOVE STORY + +In a dark corner of the library, sitting motionless before a small +writing-desk, I found the Duke. The table was littered all over with +papers, a ledger or two and various documents. I had met Mr. Hulshaw, +the agent to the estates, in the drive, so I judged that the two had had +business together. + +The Duke had not greeted me on my entrance, and he seemed to be asleep +in his chair. But at the sound of the electric bell, which announced +the opening of the safe, he turned sharply round. + +"Is that you, Ducaine?" + +"Yes, your Grace," I answered. + +"What are you doing there?" + +"I have brought up the first batch of copy, sir," I answered. + +"You have sealed it properly?" + +"With Lord Chelsford's seal, sir," I told him. + +He turned round in his chair sharply. + +"What's that?" he asked. + +"Lord Chelsford gave me an old signet ring before he left, sir," I said, +"with a very peculiar design. I wear it attached by a chain to an iron +bracelet round my arm." + +"Let me see it," the Duke ordered. + +I took off my coat, and baring my arm, showed him the ring hanging by a +few inches of strong chain from the bracelet. He examined the design +curiously. + +"How do you detach it?" he asked. + +"I cannot detach it, sir," I answered. "The bracelet has a Bramah lock, +and Lord Chelsford has the key. He used to wear it many years ago when +he was Queen's messenger." + +The Duke examined the ring long and searchingly. Then he looked from it +into my face. + +"You mean to say that you cannot take that off?" + +"A locksmith might, sir. I certainly could not." + +The Duke shrugged his shoulders. + +"Chelsford's methods seem to me to savour a little of _opera bouffe_," +he remarked drily. "For my own part I believe that these marvellous +documents would be perfectly safe in the unlocked drawer of my desk. I +do not believe any of these stories which come from Paris about copies +of our work being in existence. I do not wish you to be careless, of +course, but don't overdo your precautions. This place is scarcely so +much a nest of conspirators as faddists like Chelsford and Ray would +have us believe." + +"I am glad to hear that you think so, sir," I answered. "Our +precautions do seem a little elaborate, but it is quite certain that the +Winchester papers were disturbed." + +"I do not choose to believe it, Ducaine," the Duke said irritably. +"Kindly remember that!" + +"Very good, sir," I answered. "There is nothing else you wish to say to +me?" + +"There is something else," the Duke answered coldly. "I understand that +the police yesterday, on a sworn affidavit, were granted a search +warrant to examine your premises for stolen property. What the devil is +the meaning of this?" + +"I think, sir," I answered, "that the stolen property was a pretext. It +seems that during the last few days has come to light that the man whose +body I found on the sands was not washed in from the sea, but was a +stranger, who had arrived in Braster the previous evening, and had made +inquiries as to where I lived. It seems to be the desire of the police, +therefore, to connect me in some way with the affair." + +The Duke looked at me searchingly. + +"I presume," he said, "that they had something in the nature of +evidence, or they would scarcely have been able to swear the affidavit +for the search warrant." + +"They have nothing more direct, sir, than that the body was found close +to my cottage, that he had presumably left Braster to see me, and that I +was foolish enough to persuade the person, of whom the dead man made +these inquiries in Braster, not to come forward at the inquest." + +"Stop! Stop!" the Duke said irritably. "You did what?" + +"The young woman of whom he inquired was close at hand when I discovered +the body of the man," I said. "She told me about him. I was a little +upset, and I suggested that there was no necessity for her to disclose +the fact of having seen him." + +"It was a remarkably foolish thing of you to do," the Duke said. + +"I am realizing it now, sir," I answered. + +"Did this person call on you at all?" the Duke asked. + +"No, sir. You may remember that it was the night of Colonel Ray's +lecture. He called to see me on his way back and found me ill. I +believe that this person looked in at the window and went away. I saw +no more of him alive after this." + +"You have some idea, I presume, as to his identity?" + +"I have no definite information, your Grace," I answered. + +The Duke did not look at me for several moments. + +"I am afraid," he said, stiffly, "that you may experience some +inconvenience from this most ill-advised attempt of yours to suppress +evidence which should most certainly have been given at the inquest. +However, I have no doubt that your story is true. I have some inquiries +now before me from the police station. I will do what I can for you. +Good-evening, Ducaine." + +"Good-evening, sir," I answered. "I am much obliged to you." + +I walked homewards across the park. The carriage had gone from the +private road, and Ray was alone when I entered. It was impossible to +tell what had happened from his expression. He sat stretched out in my +easy chair, smoking furiously, and his face was impassive. Grooton +served us with dinner, and he ate and drank with only a few curt +remarks. But afterwards, when I was deep in my work, he suddenly +addressed me. + +"Boy," he then said, "turn round and listen to me." + +I obeyed him at once. + +"Listen well," he said, "for I am not given to confidences. Yet I am +going to speak to you of the secret places of my life." + +I laid down the pen which I had been holding between my fingers, and +turned my chair. I judged that it was not necessary for me to speak, +nor apparently did he think so. + +"I have been soldiering all my days," he said, "since I was a child +almost. It is a glorious life. God knows I have never grudged a single +month of it. But when one comes back once more to dwell amongst +civilians one realizes that there is another side to life. It is so +with me. I am not given to doubts or to asking advice from any man. +But the time has come when I have the one and need of the other." + +He paused, knocked out some ashes from his pipe, and relighted it. + +"I have loved two women in my life, Guy," he went on slowly. "The first +was your mother." + +I started a little, but I still held my peace. He looked hard into the +ashes of the fire, and continued. + +"I tried my best," he said, "to be a friend to her after her marriage, +and I hope, I think, that I succeeded. I even did my best to fight that +woman's influence with your father at Gibraltar. There I failed. I was +foredoomed to failure! She had the trick of playing what tune she cared +to on a man's heartstrings. After it was all over, and your father and +she had left the place, I spent years trying to persuade your mother to +get a divorce and marry me. But she was the daughter of a Bishop, a +High Churchwoman, and a holy woman. She died with your father's name +upon her lips." + +I shuddered! The words were spoken so deliberately, and yet with such +vibrant force. + +"After that," Ray continued, "came Egypt, then India, and afterwards +Khartoum. I came home before the last war, and I met Lady Angela. I am +so little of a woman's man that I suppose the girl whom I thought of at +all became like an angel, a creature altogether apart from that sex of +whom I know so little. However that may be, she was the second woman to +hold any place in my--heart--as she most surely will be the last. Then +the war broke out, luck came my way, and I returned with a greater +reputation than I deserved. The very night of my return I asked Lady +Angela to marry me, and she consented." + +He puffed vigorously at his pipe, but he seemed wholly ignorant of the +fact that it was out. His face was set in its grimmest lines. He +looked steadily at a certain spot in the fire, and went on. + +"There are things," he said, "which troubled me little at the time, but +which just lately have been on my mind. The first is that I am nearly +fifty, and Lady Angela is twenty-one. The second is that I came home +with all the tinsel and glamour of a popular hero. Heaven knows I +loathed it, but the fact remains. The King's reception, the V.C., and +all that sort of thing, I suppose, accounted for it. Anyhow, I am +troubled with this reflection. Lady Angela was very young, and I fear +that her imagination was touched. She accepted my offer, and she has +been very loyal. Until to-night no word of disagreement has passed +between us. But there have been times lately when I have fancied that I +have noticed a change. A time has come now when I could give her back +her freedom without reproach on either side. I want to know whether it +is my duty to give it her back." + +Then Ray looked straight into my face, and the colour flamed there, for +I saw now why he had made me his confidant. + +"What do you think, Guy? You are only a boy, but you are of her age, +and you have seen a little of her lately. You are only a boy, but then +only boys and novelists understand women. Speak up and tell me what is +in your mind." + +"I will tell you this," I answered hotly. "If I were you, and Lady +Angela had promised to be my wife, I would not sit and hatch scruples +about marrying her. I would marry her first, and make her happy +afterwards, and as for the rest--for the questions which you have asked +me, and yet not put into words--I have never heard or seen in Lady +Angela the slightest sign that you were not her lover as well as the man +whom she was engaged to marry. As for my own folly, since you seem to +have noticed it, no one knows better than I that it is the rankest, most +absurd presumption. But with me it begins and ends. That is a most +absolute and certain fact." + +Ray rapped his pipe upon the table. + +"Listen," he said. "I found you nameless and practically lost. Yet you +have powerful relatives, and your family is equal to the Duke's. There +may be money too some day. Bear these things in mind. Can you repeat +what you have said?" + +It was a wild dream--a wonderful one. But, before me I saw the stern +white face of the man, eager for his share of happiness after all these +magnificent years of dauntless service. I forgot my own distrust of +him, his coldness, his brutality. I remembered only those other and +greater things. + +"Even were I in such a position," I said, "it would make no difference. +I am sure that Lady Angela is loyal. She has no idea--and it is not +worth while that she should have." + +"You would have me marry her, then?" he asked slowly. + +"There is only one thing," I said, taking my courage into my hands. + +"And that?" he asked sharply. + +"That," I answered, "lies between you and your conscience." + +He rose to his feet. + +"Wait here," he said, "and I will show you my justification." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MY FATHER'S LETTER + +I heard Ray's heavy footsteps ascending the stairs to his room. In a +few moments he returned, bearing in his hand a letter. + +"Guy," he said thoughtfully, "I am a man who is slow to place trust in +any one. For that reason, and perhaps because ignorance was better for +you, I have told you little of the events of that night. Now my first +opinion of you has undergone some modifications. You are stronger than +I thought, you have shown faith in me too, or I should not be here +practically a guest under your roof to-night. Listen! The man whom you +found dead in the marshes was not your father!" + +I was not surprised. Always I had doubted it. + +"Who was he, then?" I asked calmly. + +"When your father went mad at Gibraltar," Ray said, "he needed help. +This man, Clery by name, supplied it. When I knew them both he was your +father's valet. Since then he has been his confederate in many schemes. +Your father on many occasions manifested the remnants of a sense of +honour. This creature set himself deliberately and successfully to +corrupt it. He was a parasite, a nerveless, bloodless thing without a +single human attribute. He and that woman were alike responsible for +your father's ruined life." + +"Once before," Ray continued, after a moment's pause, "I had told him +that if ever we should meet where his life would cost me nothing, I +would kill him as I would set my heel upon an adder--and he only smiled +as though I had paid him some delicate compliment. And that night, Guy, +a hundred yards from your cottage, he sidled up to me in that lonely +road, and bade me direct him to the abode of Mr. Guy Ducaine. A moment +after he recognized me." + +A grim smile parted Ray's lips, but I could not repress a shudder. +Invariably at any reference to that awful night the old fear came back. + +"He seemed at first paralyzed with fear," Ray continued. "He tried to +slip away into the marshes, but I caught him easily, and held him so +that he could not escape. He admitted that he had come to find you with +a message from your father. He denied at first having a letter, but I +searched him until I found it. As you see, it is addressed to you. +Nevertheless I struck matches, opened it, and with some difficulty +managed to read it. All the time this creature was doubling about like +an eel trying to get away. Read the letter." + +I drew it from the envelope. It was dated from the Savoy Hotel. + + +"My DEAR SON,--I do not deserve that you should read beyond these three +words. I have as little right to call you my son as you can have desire +to claim me for your father. I am here, however, purely on an errand of +justice. I have learned that you have been robbed of the sum set aside +to give you a start in life. I am here to endeavor to replace it, for +which purpose I desire that you will grant me a business interview +within the next few days. I beg your reply by Clery, my faithful +companion and servant. I am known here as + +"RICHARD DREW FOSTER." + +I laid the letter down without remark. Ray had filled his pipe whilst I +had been reading, and was sitting now on the arm of his easy chair, +facing me. + +"I understood the letter and its meaning," he continued. "I knew that +the whole neighbourhood was under the observation of the French Secret +Service, and the man who signed himself Richard Drew Foster saw in you +an excellent tool ready to his hand. It is very certain also that the +matter would probably have presented itself to you in a wholly different +light. Accordingly, I placed the letter in my own pocket, and I +released my hold of Clery. + +"'You can go back to your master,' I said, 'and tell him that you have +seen me, and that I have his letter. It will be sufficient. And you +can tell him that I shall be in London to-morrow night, and if any such +person as Mr. Drew Foster is staying at the Savoy Hotel, he will know +the inside of a military prison before midnight.' + +"The man slunk away. I suppose he realized that with me in the way +their game was up. But afterwards he must have hesitated, and then made +up his mind to attempt what was probably the bravest action of his life. +He followed me, stole up softly behind, and with an old trick which they +teach them on the other side of the Seine, he as nearly as possible +throttled me. However, I got my finger inside the slipknot, and I held +him by the throat. When I could breathe, I lifted him up and threw him +into the marshes. There I left him. It seems the fall killed him. +That is the whole story. It was absolutely God's justice, but I am +quite aware that the laws of the country do not exactly favour such +summary treatment. Accordingly I held my peace. I am sorry for it +now." + +"And Mr. Drew Foster?" + +"Had left the Savoy Hotel when I reached there," Ray said drily, "and +had omitted to leave an address." + +"You might have trusted me," I remarked, thoughtfully. + +"If I had known you as well then as I do now," Ray answered, "I would +have risked it." + +Then as we sat in silence there came a low tapping at the door. Ray +looked at me keenly. + +"Who visits you at this hour?" he asked. + +"We will see," I answered. + +I had meant to be careful whom I admitted, but I had scarcely withdrawn +the latch when the door was pushed open, and a slim, thickly-cloaked +figure glided past me into the room. I knew her by the supple swiftness +of her movements. Ray sat still, and smoked with the face of a Sphinx. + +I think that at first she did not see him. She swept round upon me and +raised her veil. + +"Guy," she cried, "forgive me, but I could not help it. I have made a +mummy of myself, and I have walked along those awful sands that I might +not be seen; but there is a question--" + +She saw Ray. The words died from her lips. She stood and shivered like +a trapped bird. He removed his pipe from his teeth. + +"Go on," he said mildly. "Don't mind me. Perhaps I can help Mr. +Ducaine to answer it." + +She sank into a chair. Her eyes seemed to implore me to protect her. I +heard Ray's little snort of contempt; but I answered her kindly. I +could not help it. + +"I am sorry that you came," I said, "but, of course, I will answer any +question you want to ask me. Don't hurry! You are out of breath. Let +me give you some wine." + +My own untasted liqueur was on the table by the side of my empty coffee +cup. I made her drink it, and her teeth ceased to chatter. She was +rather a pathetic object. One of her little black satin slippers was +cut to shreds, and the other was clogged with wet sand. The fear of +Ray, too, was in her white face. She caught hold of my hand +impulsively. + +"The man," she murmured, "whom you found--what was he like?" + +"He was a small dark man." + +She laughed hysterically. + +"He," she exclaimed, "was over six feet, and broad! It was not he. It +may have been some one whom he sent, but it was not he. Guy, have you +heard from him? Do you know where he is?" + +I shook my head. Ray interposed. + +"I think," he said roughly, "that you'll find him at home when you get +there, madam, wherever that may be. If he were in this country it would +be within the four walls of a prison." + +She looked across at him. + +"You have set them on--the police--then?" she said. "You would hunt him +down still? After all these years?" + +"Ay!" he answered.--"Tell me where he is hiding in this country, and I +will promise you that his days of freedom are over." + +She pointed to me. + +"His father?" + +"Ay, were he his father a hundred times over." + +She turned to me as though in protest, but my face gave her no +encouragement. She rose wearily to her feet. + +"I will go," she muttered. "Guy," she added, turning to me, "you are +honest. You will always be honest. You have nothing to fear, so you do +not hesitate to speak if necessary to those whom nevertheless you do not +trust. But there are other things in the world to fear besides +dishonesty. There is animal brutality, coarse indifference to pain in +others. There is the triumph of the beast over the man. There he sits, +he who can teach you these things," she added, pointing to Ray. "Do not +choose him for your friend, Guy. You will grow to see life, to judge +others, through his eyes-and then God help you." + +Ray laughed, and again to me there seemed to be a note of coarseness in +his strident and unconcealed contempt of the woman. She took no notice +of him whatever. She opened the door and passed out so quickly that +though I tried to intercept her, and called out after her, I was +powerless to prevent her going. She had flitted away into the shadows. +I could not even hear her retreating footsteps. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A PAINFUL ENCOUNTER + +More work. A week of it, ceaseless and unremitting. The police seemed +to have abandoned their watch over my cottage, and I heard a whisper +that a statement by the Duke had at any rate partially cleared me from +suspicion. Ray had declined to leave England. I knew quite well that +it was on my account. He, with the others, was now in London. + +Then came my own summons thither. I was told to report myself +immediately on arrival at Rowchester House, and to my surprise was +informed by the servant who answered my inquiries that a room was +reserved for me there. I had no sooner reached it than Lady Angela's +own maid arrived with a message. Her ladyship would be glad if I could +spare her a few moments in the drawing-room as soon as possible. + +Lady Angela was standing upon the hearthrug. I stepped a little way +across the threshold and stopped short. She held out her hand to me +with a quiet laugh. + +"Have you forgotten me?" she asked, "or am I so alarming?" + +I set my teeth and moved towards her. + +"You took my breath away," I said, with an ease which I was very far +from feeling. "Remember that I have come from Braster." + +I do not know what she wore. Her gown seemed to me to be of some soft +crepe or silk, and the colour of it was a smoky misty blue. There were +pearls around her neck, and her hair, arranged with exquisite +simplicity, seemed to be drawn back from her face and arranged low down +on the back of her neck. She had still the fresh delightful colour +which had been in her cheeks when she left Braster, and the smile with +which she welcomed me was as delightful as ever. + +"This is a charming arrangement," she declared. "You know that you are +such an important person, and have to be watched so closely, that you +are to stay here. I went up myself with the housekeeper to see to your +rooms. I do hope that you will be comfortable." + +"Comfortable is not the word," I answered. "I have never been used to +such luxury." + +She laughed. + +"Dear me!" she said. "I have so much to tell you, and the carriage is +waiting already. Thank goodness we dine alone to-morrow night. But +there is one thing which I must tell you at once. Sir Michael Trogoldy +is in town, you know. He took me in to dinner at Amberley House last +night, and we talked about you." + +"I had a letter from Sir Michael a few days ago," I answered. "He made +a proposition to me--and asked me to call and see him." + +Something in my voice, I suppose, betrayed my feelings. She laid her +hand upon my arm. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "I do hope that you mean to be reasonable. +Sir Michael is a dear old man." + +"He is my mother's brother," I answered, "and he left me to starve." + +"He had not the least idea," she declared, "that you were not reasonably +well off. He is most interested in hearing about you, and he was +delighted to have you accept the allowance he offered you. You will go +and see him?" + +"Yes, I shall go," I promised. "I scarcely see the use of it, but I +will go." + +"You must not be foolish," she said softly. "Sir Michael is very rich> +and you are his only near relative. Besides, you have had such a lonely +time, and it is quite time that you saw a little of the other side of +life. Sir Michael is a particular friend of mine, and I promised him +that I would talk to you about this. I am most anxious to hear that you +get on well together. You can be amiable if you like, you know, and you +can be very much the other thing." + +"I will try," I assured her, "not to be the other thing." She smiled. + +"And tell me all about Braster." + +"There is not much to tell," I answered. "I have been hard at work all +the time, and I have scarcely seen a soul." + +"The woman--Mrs. Smith-Lessing?" + +"She left Braster before you. I have not seen her since the evening of +the day I saw her last." + +She appeared relieved. + +"May I ask you a question?" I asked. She nodded. "About Colonel Ray. +Has the Duke forgiven him?" + +"On the contrary, he is more bitter than ever," Lady Angela answered. +"I have seen him once or twice only. He does not come here." "I saw in +the paper," I said, "that your engage--" + +"It is not true," she interrupted. "Everything is as it was. But it is +shockingly indefinite, of course. I scarcely know whether I am to +consider myself an engaged person or not. Colonel Ray offered to +release me, but we agreed to wait for a little time." + +"Lady Angela!" + +She looked at me with a soft flush upon her cheeks. But my words were +never spoken. The Duke entered the room, brilliant in sash and orders. + +"Good evening, Ducaine," he said, looking at me with slightly lifted +eyebrows. + +"Good evening, your Grace," I answered in some embarrassment. + +"I sent for Mr. Ducaine," Lady Angela remarked, stooping that her maid, +who had followed the Duke, might arrange her cloak. "I wanted to hear +all about Braster, and I had a message for him from Sir Michael +Trogoldy." + +The Duke made no remark. + +"I shall require you, Ducaine, at ten o'clock to-morrow morning in my +study," he said. "Afterwards we go over to the War Office. You have +brought all the papers with you?--If you are quite ready, Angela." + +The Duke, without saying a word, had managed to make me feel that he +considered my presence in the drawing-room with Lady Angela superfluous, +but her smile and farewell were quite sufficient recompense for me. +Still, I knew that this living together under the same roof was to be no +unmixed blessing for me. I shut myself in the dainty little +sitting-room which I was told was mine, and turned the key in the door. +I felt the need of solitude. + + * * * * * + +Later in the evening I became mundane again. I remembered that I had +sent dinner away, and though I had only to ring the bell and order +something, I felt the need of fresh air. So I took up my hat and stick +and left the house. + +After a while I found my way into Piccadilly. I knew very little of +London, but after my solitary evening walks at Braster along the +sandhills and across the marshes, the contrast was in itself suggestive +and almost exciting. I watched the people, the stream of carriages. I +listened to the low ceaseless hum of this wonderful life, and I found it +fascinating. The glow in the sky was marvellous to me--the faces of the +passers-by, the laughter and the whining, the tears and the cursing, the +pleasure-seekers and the pleasure-satiated, how they all told their +story as they swept by in one unceasing stream! For a while I forgot +even my appetite. The sight of a restaurant, however, at last reminded +me that I was desperately hungry. + +I knew it by name--a huge cosmopolitan place of the lower middle class, +and entering I found a quiet seat, where my country clothes were not +conspicuous. There were few people about me, and those few +uninteresting, so I kept my attention divided between my dinner and the +evening paper. But just as I was drawing towards the close of my meal, +something happened to change all that. + +A woman, followed by a man, passed my table, and the two seated +themselves diagonally opposite to me. Something in the woman's light +footsteps, her free movements, and the graceful carriage of her head, +struck me instantly as being familiar. She was dressed very plainly, +and she was closely veiled. Their entrance, too, had been unobtrusive, +almost furtive. But when she raised her veil and took the +_carte-du-jour_ in her hand, I knew her at once. It was Mrs. +Smith-Lessing. + +She had not seen me, and my first impulse was to pay my bill and step +quietly out. Then by chance I glanced at her companion, and my heart +stood still. He was a tall man, over six feet, but he stooped badly, +and his walk had been almost the walk of an invalid. He had the +appearance of a man who had once been stout and well built, but who was +now barely recovered from a long illness. The flesh hung in little bags +underneath his bloodshot eyes, his mouth twitched continually, and the +hand which rested on the table trembled. He wore a scanty grey +moustache, which failed to hide a weak thin mouth, and a very obvious +wig concealed his baldness. His clothes had seen plenty of service and +his linen was doubtful. He had evidently ordered some brandy +immediately on his entrance, and his eyes met mine just as he was in the +act of raising the glass to his lips. I am convinced that he had no +idea then who I was, but the earnestness of my gaze seemed to disturb +him. He set down his glass with shaking fingers, and directed his +companion's attention towards me. + +They talked together earnestly for several moments. I fancied that she +was reproving him for showing alarm at my notice. Very soon, however, +she herself, after giving an order to a waiter, turned slightly round in +her chair, and glanced with well-affected carelessness across at me. I +saw her start and look apprehensively at her companion. He took the +alarm at once, and I heard his eager question. + +"Who is it? Who is it, Maud?" + +She made him some reassuring answer, and, rising to her feet, came over +to my table. I rose to greet her, and she slipped quietly into the +chair opposite to me. + +"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly. + +"I have just arrived from Braster," I answered. "I came here by +accident to get something to eat. Is that--" + +I could not go on, but she finished the sentence for me. + +"Yes!" + +I set my teeth hard and looked steadily down at the tablecloth. I felt +rather than saw that her regard was compassionate. + +"I am sorry," she murmured. "I would not have brought him here if I had +known. You two are better apart. Talk to me as naturally as you can. +He has no idea who you are." + +"Has he been ill?" I asked. + +"Very. I found him in a hospital. He has been ill, and the rest you +can guess." + +Even while we were talking I saw him toss off another glass of brandy +which the waiter had brought him. And all the time his eyes never left +my face. + +"I thought," I said, "that he had money." + +"It has all gone," she answered, "and--well, things are not very +flourishing with him. Our mission over here has been unsuccessful, and +they have stopped sending us money from Paris. How queer that I should +be telling you this!" she added, with a hard little laugh, "you, of all +people in the world. Guy, take my advice. Get up and go. If he +guesses who you are he will come and speak to you--and you are better +apart." + +It was too late. With fascinated eyes I watched him leave his place and +come towards us. I was absolutely powerless to move. Mrs. +Smith-Lessing had left the outside chair vacant. He sank into it and +leaned across the table towards me. + +"It is Guy," he said in a shaking voice. "I am sure that it is Guy. +She has told you who I am. Eh?" + +"Yes," I answered. "I know who you are." + +He extended a shaking hand across the table. I could not take it. + +"Well, well," he said nervously, "perhaps you are right. But I came to +England to see you. Yes, Guy, that is the truth! I have been a bad +father, but I may be able to make amends. I think I know a way.-- +Waiter, a glass of brandy." + +"I am afraid," I said, rising to my feet, "that you must excuse me.--If +you have anything to say to me, sir, we can meet another time." + +He almost dragged me down. + +"Stop, stop!" he said irritably. "You do not seem to understand. I had +an important matter of business to discuss with you. I may make your +fortune yet, my boy! I have powerful friends abroad, very powerful." + +I looked at him steadily. + +"Well?" + +She laid her hand upon his arm, and whispered in his ear. He only shook +his head angrily. + +"Nonsense, Maud!" he exclaimed. "You do not understand. This is my son +Guy. Of course we must talk together. It is a wonderful meeting--yes, +a wonderful meeting." + +"Well?" I repeated. + +"I am glad to hear," he continued, "that you are holding such an +important position. Clerk to the Military Defence Board, eh? Quite an +important position, of course; but it might be made--yes, with care, it +might be made," he added, watching me with nervous alertness, "a very +lucrative one." + +"I am quite satisfied with my salary," I remarked calmly. + +"Pooh! my dear boy, that is nonsense," he continued. "You do not +understand me. It is an open secret. Maud, are we overheard here, do +you think? Is it safe to discuss an important matter with Guy here?" + +I rose to my feet and took up my hat. Again she whispered in his ear, +and this time he seemed to assent. + +"Quite right! Quite right!" he said, nodding his head. "Guy, my boy, +you shall come and see us. No. 29, Bloomsbury Street--poor rooms, but +our remittances have gone astray, and I have been ill. To-morrow, eh? +or the next day? We shall expect you, Guy. We do not go out except in +the evenings. You will not fail, Guy?" + +I looked down into his flushed face. His lips were shaking, and his +eyes were fixed anxiously upon mine. I was miserably ashamed and +unhappy. + +"I do not think that I shall care to hear what you have to say," I +answered. "But I will come to see you." + +I left them there. As I went out she was gently countermanding his +order for more brandy. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE DUKE'S MESSAGE + +It was late, but I felt that I must see Ray. I went to his house, +little expecting to find him there. I was shown, however, into the +study, where he was hard at work with a pile of correspondence. He wore +an ancient shooting jacket, and his feet were encased in slippers. As +usual, his pipe was between his teeth, and the tobacco smoke hung about +him in little clouds. + +"Well," he said gruffly. "What do you want of me? I am busy. Speak to +the point." + +"I have come to ask your advice," I said. "I am afraid that I must +resign my post." + +"Why?" + +"My father is in London. I have seen and spoken with him." + +"With that woman?" + +"Yes." + +"And you have spoken to him in a public place, perhaps?" + +Ray was silent for a moment. Then he looked at me keenly. + +"Do you want to give it up?" he asked. + +"No," I answered. "But do you suppose Lord Chelsford and the others +would be willing for me to continue--under the circumstances?" + +"Probably not," he admitted. "The Duke would not, at any rate." + +"Then what am I to do?" I asked. + +"I don't know!" he answered shortly. "It requires consideration. I +will see Lord Chelsford. You shall hear from me in the morning." + +That was all the consolation I had from Colonel Mostyn Ray. + +At ten o'clock the next morning the Duke came to me in the study, where +I was already at work. He was looking, even for him, particularly trim +and smart, and he wore a carefully-selected pink rosebud in his +buttonhole. His greeting was almost cordial. He gave me a few +instructions, and then lit a cigarette. + +"What is this about your resignation, Ducaine?" he asked. + +"I do not wish to resign, sir," I answered. "I have explained certain +circumstances to Colonel Ray, which it seemed to me might make my +resignation necessary. He promised to confer with Lord Chelsford, and +let me know the result." + +The urbanity slowly faded from the Duke's face. + +"I am your employer," he said coldly. "I do not understand why you +thought it necessary to go to Colonel Ray." + +"It was entirely owing to Colonel Ray, sir," I answered, "that I +received the appointment, and he has practically made himself +responsible for me." + +"You are mistaken," the Duke answered. "The responsibility is shared by +all of us. Your unfortunate family history was known to the whole +Board." + +"Then I am less indebted to Colonel Ray, sir, than I imagined," I +answered. "I am very glad, however, that it is known. Perhaps Lord +Chelsford may not consider my resignation necessary?" + +"The circumstances being--?" + +"I have seen and spoken with my father in London," I answered. + +The Duke was silent. + +"I presume," he said, after a short pause, "that you must yourself +realize the indiscretion of this." + +"I went at once to Colonel Ray and offered my resignation," I answered. + +The Duke nodded. + +"Your father," he said slowly, "is in London?" "Yes, sir." + +"Alone?" + +I hesitated. Yet perhaps the Duke had a right to know the truth. + +"He is with the lady who occupied Braster Grange, sir, until last week," +I answered. "She passed under the name of Mrs. Smith-Lessing, but I +believe that she is in reality my stepmother." + +The Duke stood a few paces from me, looking out of the window. He held +his cigarette between his fingers, and he stood sideways to me. Nothing +about his attitude or face was unusual. Yet I felt myself watching him +curiously. There was something about his manner which seemed to me to +suggest some powerful emotion only kept in check by the exercise of a +strong will. + +"This is the person, I believe," he said in a slow measured tone, "with +whom my son, Lord Blenavon, was said to have been intimate?" + +"Lord Blenavon was certainly a constant visitor at Braster Grange," I +answered. + +"You know her address in London?" the Duke asked. + +"Yes." + +He turned and faced me. He was certainly paler than he had been a few +minutes ago. + +"I should be glad," he said, "if you would arrange for me to have an +interview with her." + +"An interview with Mrs. Smith-Lessing!" I repeated incredulously. + +The Duke inclined his head. + +"There are a few questions," he said, "which I wish to ask her." + +"I can give you her address," I said. + +"I wish you to see her and arrange for the interview personally," the. +Duke answered. + +"You will see that my visiting her does not prejudice me further with +the Board, sir?" I ventured to say. "You can take that for granted," +the Duke said. So that afternoon I called at No. 29, Bloomsbury +Street, and in a shabby back room of a gloomy, smoke-begrimed +lodging-house I found my father and Mrs. Smith-Lessing. He was lying +upon a horsehair sofa, apparently dozing. She was gazing negligently +out of the window, and drumming upon the window pane with her fingers. +My arrival seemed to act like an electric shock upon both of them. It +struck me that to her it was not altogether welcome, but my father was +nervously anxious to impress upon me his satisfaction at my visit. + +"Now," he said, drawing his chair up to the table, "we can discuss this +little matter in a business-like way. I am delighted to see you, Guy, +quite delighted." + +"What matter?" I asked quietly. + +My father coughed and looked towards my stepmother, as though for +guidance. But her face was a blank. + +"Guy," he said, "I am sure that you are a young man of common sense. +You will prefer that I speak to you plainly. There are some fools at +our end--I mean at Paris--who think they will be better off for a glance +at the doings of your Military Board. Up to now we have kept them +supplied with a little general information. Lord Blenavon, who is a +remarkably sensible young man, lent us his assistance. I tell you this +quite frankly. I believe that it is best." + +He was watching me furtively. I did my best to keep my features +immovable. + +"With Lord Blenavon's assistance," my father continued, "we did at first +very well. Since his--er--departure we have not been so fortunate. I +will be quite candid. We have not succeeded at all. Our friends pay +generously, but they pay by results. As a consequence your stepmother +and I are nearly penniless. This fact induces me to make you a +special--a very special--offer." + +My stepmother seemed about to speak. She checked herself, however. + +"Go on," I said. + +My father coughed. There was a bottle upon the table, and he helped +himself from it. + +"My nerves," he remarked, "are in a shocking state this morning. Can I +offer you anything?" + +I shook my head. My father poured out nearly a glass full of the raw +spirit, diluted it with a little, a very little, water, and drank it +off. + +"Your labours, my dear boy," he continued, "I refer, of course, to the +labours of the Military Council, are, I believe, concentrated upon a +general scheme of defence against any possible invasion on the part of +France. Quite a scare you people seem to be in. Not that one can +wonder at it. These military manoeuvres of our friends across the water +are just a little obvious even to John Bull, eh? You don't answer. +Quite right, quite right! Never commit yourself uselessly. It is very +good diplomacy. Let me see, where was I? Ah! The general scheme of +defence is, of course, known to you?" + +"Naturally," I admitted. + +"With a list of the places to be fortified, eh? The positions to be +held and the general distribution of troops? No doubt, too, you have +gone into the railway and commissariat arrangements?" + +"All these details," I assented, "have gone through my hands." + +He dabbed his forehead with a corner of his handkerchief. There was a +streak of purple colour in his checks. He kept his bloodshot eyes fixed +upon me. + +"I will tell you something, Guy," he said, "which will astonish you. +You realize for yourself, of course, that such details as you have +spoken of can never be kept altogether secret? There are always +leakages, sometimes very considerable leakages. Yes, Guy," he added, +"there are people, friends of mine in Paris, who are willing to pay a +very large sum of money--such a large sum of money that it is worth +dividing, Guy--for just a bare outline of the whole scheme. Foolish! +Of course it is foolish. But with them money is no object. They think +they are getting value for it. Absurd! But, Guy, what should you say +to five thousand pounds?" + +"It is a large sum," I answered. + +He plucked me by the sleeve. His eyes were hungering already for the +gold. + +"We can get it," he whispered hoarsely. "No trouble to you--no risk. I +can make all the arrangements. You have only to hand me the documents." + +"I must think it over," I said. + +He leaned back in his chair. + +"Why?" he asked. "What need is there to hesitate? The chance may slip +by. There are many others on the look out." + +"There is no one outside the Military Board save myself who could give +these particulars," I said slowly. + +"But my friends," he said sharply. "Theirs is a foolish offer. They +may change their minds. Guy, my boy, I know the world well. Let me +give you a word of advice. When a good thing turns up, don't play with +it. The men who decide quickly are the men who do things." + +I thrust my hand into my breast-pocket and drew out a roll of papers. + +"Supposing I have already decided," I said. + +His eyes gleamed with excitement. He almost snatched at the papers, but +I held them out of his reach. Then with a sharp little cry the woman +stood suddenly between us. There was a look almost of horror on her +pale strained face, as she held out her hand as though to push me away. + +"Guy, are you mad?" she cried. + +The veins stood out upon my father's forehead. He regarded her with +mingled anger and surprise. + +"What do you mean, Maud?" he exclaimed. "How dare you interfere? Guy, +give me the papers." + +"He shall not!" she exclaimed fiercely. "Guy, have you lost your +senses? Do you want to ruin your whole life?" + +"Do you mean," I asked incredulously, "that you do not wish me to join +you?" + +"Join us! For Heaven's sake, no!" she answered fiercely. "Look at your +father, an outcast all his life. Do you want to become like him? Do +you want to turn the other way whenever you meet an Englishman, to skulk +all your days in hiding, to be the scorn even of the men who employ you? +Guy, I would sooner see you dead than part with those papers." + +"You damned fool!" my father muttered. "Take no notice of her, Guy. +Five thousand pounds! I will see it paid to you, every penny of it. +And not a soul will ever know!" + +My father stood over her, and there was a threat in his face. She did +not shrink from him for a moment. She laid her white hands upon my +shoulders, and she looked earnestly into my eyes. + +"Guy," she said, "even now I do not believe that you meant to be so +very, very foolish. But I want you to go away at once. You should +never have come. It is not good for you to come near either of us." + +I rose obediently. I think that if I had not been there my father would +have struck her. He was almost speechless with fury. He poured himself +out another glass of brandy with shaking fingers. + +"Thank you," I said to her, simply. "I do not think that these papers +are worth five thousand. Let me tell you what I came here for. I am a +messenger from the Duke of Rowchester." + +My father dropped his glass. Mrs. Smith-Lessing looked bewildered. + +"The Duke," I said to her, "desires to see you. Can you come to +Cavendish Square this afternoon?" + +"The Duke?" she murmured. + +"He wishes to see you," I repeated. "Shall I tell him that you will +call at four o'clock this afternoon, or will you go back with me?" + +"Do you mean this?" she asked in a low tone. "I do not understand it. +I have never seen the Duke in my life." + +"I understand no more than you do," I assured her. "That is the +message." + +"I do not promise to come," she said. "I must think it over." + +My father pushed her roughly away. + +"Come, there's been enough of this fooling," he declared roughly. "Guy, +sit down again, my boy. We must have another talk about this matter." + +I turned upon him in a momentary fit of passion. + +"I have no more to say, sir," I declared. "It seems that you are not +content with ruining your own life and overshadowing mine. You want to +drag me, too, down into the slough." + +"You don't understand, my dear boy!" + +The door opened and Ray entered. My bundle of papers slipped from my +fingers on to the floor in the excitement of the moment. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +MYSELF AND MY STEPMOTHER + +I Saw then what a man's face may look like when he is stricken with a +sudden paralysing fear. I saw my father sit in his chair and shake from +head to foot. Ray's black eyes seemed to be flashing upon us all the +most unutterable scorn. + +"What is this pleasant meeting which I seem to have interrupted, eh?" he +asked, with fierce sarcasm. "Quite a family reunion!" + +My stepmother, very pale, but very calm, answered him. + +"To which you," she said, "come an uninvited guest." + +He laughed harshly. + +"You shall have others, other uninvited guests, before many hours are +past," he declared. "You remember my warning, Ducaine." + +My father seemed to me to be on the eve of a collapse. His lips moved, +and he mumbled something, but the words were wholly unintelligible. Ray +turned to my stepmother. + +"When that man," he continued, "had the effrontery to return to this +country, he sent his cursed jackal with letters to his son. I +intercepted those letters, and I burned them; but I came straight to +London, and I found him out. I told him then that I spared him only for +the sake of his son. I told him that if ever again he attempted in any +way to communicate with him, personally or by letter, nothing should +stay my hand. He had a very clear warning. He has chosen to defy me. +I only regret, madam, that the law has no hold upon you also." + +She turned from him scornfully and laid her hand upon my father's +shoulder. Her very touch seemed to impart life to him. His words were +not very coherent, but they were comprehensible. + +"I kept my word, Ray. Yes, I kept my word," he said. "I never sent for +him. Ask him; ask her. We met by accident. I told him my address. +That is all. He came here this afternoon with a message from the Duke." + +Ray laughed bitterly. There was about his manner a cold and singular +aloofness. We were all judged and condemned. + +"An invitation to dinner, I presume," he remarked. + +"The Duke sent for me," my stepmother said, quietly. + +She did not for a moment quail before the scornful disbelief which Ray +took no pains to hide. + +"You can see for yourself if you like," she continued, "that in a few +minutes I shall leave this house, with you, if you are gallant enough to +offer me your escort, and I shall go straight to Cavendish Square. You +have no imagination, Colonel Ray, or you would not be so utterly +surprised. Think for a moment. Does no reason occur to you why the +Duke might wish to see me?" + +It obviously did. He frowned heavily. + +"If this absurd story is true," he said, "and the Duke has really sent +to ask news of Blenavon from you--well, he is a bigger fool than I took +him for. But there remains something else to be explained. What are +those papers?" + +My father laid his trembling hands upon them. + +"They have nothing to do with you," he explained; "nothing at all! It +is a little family matter-between Guy and me. Nothing more. They +belong to me. Damn you, Ray, why are you always interfering in my +concerns?" + +Ray turned to me. There was a look in his eyes which I readily +understood. At that moment I think that I hated him. + +"What are those papers?" he asked. + +"Take them and see," I answered. "If I told you you would not believe +me." + +He moved a few steps towards them, and then paused. I saw that my +father was leaning forward, and in his shaking hand was a tiny gleaming +revolver. A certain desperate courage seemed to have come to him. + +"Ray," he cried hoarsely, "touch them at your peril!" + +There was a moment's breathless silence. Then with an incredibly swift +movement my stepmother stepped in between and snatched up the little +roll. She glanced behind at the grate, but the fire was almost extinct. +With a little gesture of despair she held them out to me. "Take them, +Guy," she cried. + +Ray stood by my side, and I felt his hand descend like a vice upon my +shoulder. + +"Give me those papers," he demanded. + +I hesitated for a moment. Then I obeyed him. I heard a little sob from +behind. The pistol had fallen from my father's shaking fingers, his +head had fallen forwards upon his hands. A tardy remorse seemed for a +moment to have pierced the husk of his colossal selfishness. + +"It is all my fault, my fault!" he muttered. + +My stepmother turned upon him, pale to the lips, with blazing eyes. + +"You are out of your senses," she exclaimed. "Guy, this man is a bully. +All his life it has been his pleasure to persecute the weak and +defenceless. The papers are yours. I do not know what they are, nor +does he," she added, pointing to where my father still crouched before +the table. "Don't let him frighten you into giving them up. He is +trying to drag you into the mesh with us. Don't let him! You have +nothing to do with us, thank Heaven!" + +She stopped suddenly, and snatched the pistol from my father's nerveless +grasp. Then her hand flashed out. Ray was covered, and her white +fingers never quivered. Even Ray took a quick step backwards. + +"Give him back those papers," she commanded. + +I intervened, stepping into the line of fire. + +"I gave them to him willingly," I told her. "I do not wish to have them +back. He is one of my employers, and he has a right to claim them." + +I spoke firmly, and she saw that I was at any rate in earnest. Yet the +look which she threw upon me was a strange one. I felt that she was +disappointed, that a certain measure of contempt too was mingled with +her disappointment. She threw the pistol on to the sofa and shrugged +her shoulders. + +"After all," she said, "I suppose you are right. The whole affair is +not worth these heroics. I am ready to go with you to the Duke, Guy, +unless Colonel Ray has any contrary orders for us." + +Ray turned to me. + +"You must come with me at once to my rooms," he said coldly. "This +person can find the Duke by herself, if indeed the Duke has sent for +her." + +I understood then why people hated Ray. There was a vein of positive +brutality somewhere in the man's nature. + +"I am sorry," I answered him, "but I cannot come to your rooms at +present. The Duke is my present employer, and I am here to take Mrs. +Smith-Lessing to him. As long as she is willing to accept my escort I +shall certainly carry out my instructions." + +"Don't be a fool, boy," Ray exclaimed sharply. "I want to give you a +last chance before I go to Lord Chelsford." + +"I do not think," I answered, "that I care about accepting any favours +from you just now, Colonel Ray. Nor am I at all sure that I need them," +I added. + +He turned on his heel, but at the door he hesitated again. + +"Guy," he said in a low tone, "will you speak to me for a moment +outside?" + +I stood on the landing with him. He closed the door leading into the +sitting-room. + +"Guy," he said, "you know that if I leave you behind, you link your lot +with--them. You will be an outcast and a fugitive all your days. You +will have to avoid every place where the English language is spoken. +You will never be able to recover your honour, you will be the scorn of +all Englishmen and English--women. I speak to you for your mother's +sake, boy. You have started life with a cursed heritage. I want to +make allowance for it." + +I looked him straight in the face. + +"I am afraid, Colonel Ray," I said, "that you are not inclined to give +me credit for very much common sense. Take those papers to Lord +Chelsford. I will come round to your rooms as soon as possible." + +He looked at me with eager, searching gaze. + +"You mean this?" + +"Certainly!" I answered. + +He seemed about to say something, but changed his mind. He left me +without another word. I stepped back into the sitting-room. My father, +with an empty tumbler in his hand, was crouched forward over the table, +breathing heavily. My stepmother, with marble 'face and hard set eyes, +was leaning forward in her chair, looking into the dying fire. She +scarcely glanced at me as I entered. + +"Has he gone?" she asked. + +"Yes," I answered. "Will you get ready, please? I want to take you to +the Duke." + +She rose to her feet at once, and moved towards the door. I was left +alone with my father, but he never stirred during her absence, nor did I +speak to him. She returned in a few minutes, dressed very quietly, and +wearing a veil which completely obscured her features. We walked to the +corner of the square, and then I called a hansom. + +"I know nothing about Lord Blenavon," she said, a little wearily. "I +suppose the Duke will not believe that, but it is true." + +"You can do no more than tell the truth," I remarked. + +"Tell me what he is like--the Duke?" she asked abruptly. + +"He is a typical man of his class," I answered. "He is stiff, +obstinate, punctilious, with an extreme sense of honour, to gratify +which, by-the-bye, he has just deliberately pauperized himself. He will +not remind you in the least of Lord Blenavon." + +"I should imagine not," she answered. + +Then there was a short silence, and I could see that she was crying +under her veil. I laid my hand upon hers. + +"I am afraid," I said gently, "that I have misled you a little. You are +worrying about me, and it isn't half so necessary as you imagine. You +thought me mad to listen to my father's offer, and a coward to give up +those papers to Ray. Isn't that so?" + +My words seemed to electrify her. She pushed up her veil and looked at +me eagerly. + +"Well? Go on!" she exclaimed. + +"There are some things," I said, "which I have made up my mind to tell +no one. But at least I can assure you of this. I am not nearly in so +desperate a position as you and Colonel Ray seem to think." + +She caught hold of my hand and grasped it convulsively. The hard lines +seemed to have fallen away from her face. She smiled tremulously. + +"Oh, I am glad!" she declared. "I am glad!" + +Just then a carriage passed us, and I saw Lady Angela lean a little +forward in her seat as though to gain a better view of us. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +ANGELA'S CONFESSION + +The Duke was in his study awaiting our arrival. I saw him rise and bow +stiffly to my stepmother. Then I closed the door and left them alone. + +I wandered through the house, a little at a loss to know what to do with +myself. It was too soon to go to Ray, and the work on which I was +engaged was all in the study. Just as I passed the drawing-room door, +however, it opened suddenly, and Lady Angela came out, talking to a +white-haired old gentleman, who carried a stick on which he leaned +heavily. He looked at me rather curiously, and then began to hobble +down the hall at a great pace. But Lady Angela laid her hand upon his +arm. + +"Why, Sir Michael," she exclaimed, "this won't do at all. You can't +look him in the face and run. Mr. Ducaine, this is Sir Michael +Trogoldy." + +He swung round and held out his hand. His eyes searched my face +eagerly. + +"Nephew," he said, "I wanted to meet you, and I didn't want to meet you. +God bless my soul! you've got Muriel's eyes and mouth. Come and dine +with me one night next week-any night: let me know. Good-bye, good-bye, +Lady Angela. God bless you. Here, James, give me your arm down the +steps, and whistle for my fellow to draw up. There he is, in the middle +of the road, the blockhead." + +Lady Angela and I exchanged glances. I think that we should both have +laughed but for the tears which we had seen in his eyes. + +"Poor old man," she murmured. "He is very nervous and very sensitive. +I know that he dreaded seeing you, and yet he came this afternoon for no +other purpose. Will you come into the drawing-room for a moment?" + +There was a certain stiffness in her manner, which was new to me. She +remained standing, and her soft dark eyes were full of grave inquiry. + +"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "I passed you just now driving in a hansom +with a person--of whom I disapprove. May I know--is it any secret why +you were with her?" + +"It is no secret at all, Lady Angela," I answered. "I was sent to fetch +her by your father." + +"By my father?" she repeated incredulously. "Do you mean that she is in +this house?" + +"Certainly," I answered. "Your father is anxious, I believe, about Lord +Blenavon. It occurred to me that he perhaps hoped to get news of him +from Mrs. Smith-Lessing. At any rate he sent me for her." + +She seemed to me to be trembling a little. Her eyes sought mine almost +pathetically. She was afraid of something. In the half-lights she +appeared to me then so frail and girlish that a great wave of tenderness +swept in upon me. I longed to take her into my arms--even to hold her +hands and try to comfort her. Surely to do these things was the +privilege of the man who loved her. And I loved her--loved her so that +the pain and joy of it were woven together like live things in my heart, +fighting always against the grim silence which lay like a seal upon my +lips. But there were moments when I was sorely tried, and this was one +of them. My eyes fell from hers. I dared not look her in the face. + +"Is this--all?" she asked falteringly. + +"It is all that I know," I answered. + +Then we were silent. With a little sigh she sank down in the corner of +a high-backed easy chair. It seemed to me that she was thinner, that +something of the delicate childishness of her appearance had passed away +since her coming to London. I knew that she was in trouble, and I dared +not ask her the cause of it. + +"I wish that we were going back to Braster to-morrow," she said +suddenly. "Everything and everybody is different here. You seem to +spend most of your time trying to avoid me, and--Colonel Ray, I do not +know what is the matter with him, but he has become like a walking +tragedy." + +"I have not tried to avoid you," I said. "I--" + +Then I stopped short. Her eyes were fixed upon mine and the lie stuck +in my throat. I went on desperately. + +"I think," I said, "that if you fancy Colonel Ray is different you +should ask him about it." + +She shook her head dejectedly. + +"I cannot," she said. "Sometimes I am frightened of Colonel Ray. It is +like that just now." + +"But you should try and get over it," I said gently. "He has strange +moods, but you should always remember that he is the man whom you are +going to marry. There ought to be every confidence between you, and I +know--yes, I know that he is very fond of you." + +She leaned a little forward. Her hair was a little dishevelled, her +face was almost haggard. Her under lip was quivering like a child's. + +"I am afraid of him," she sobbed out suddenly. "I am afraid of him, and +I have promised to marry him. Can't somebody--help me?" + +Her head fell suddenly forward and was buried in her hands. Her whole +frame shook with convulsive weeping, and then suddenly a little white +hand shot out towards me. She did not look up, but the hand was there, +timid, yet inviting. I dropped on my knee by her side, and I held it in +mine. + +"Dear Lady Angela," I murmured. "You must not give way like this, you +must not! Ray is not used to women, and you are very young. But he +loves you, I know that he loves you." + +"I don't--want him to love me," she sobbed. "Oh, I know that I am +foolish and wicked and childish, but I am afraid of him." + +I kept silence, for my own battle was a hard one. The little hand was +holding fast to mine. She lay curled up in the corner of the chair, her +face hidden, her slim delicate figure shaking every now and then with +sobs. All the while I longed passionately to take her into my arms and +comfort her. + +"Don't!" I begged. "Oh, don't. Ray has told me his story. He has made +me his confidant. He has told me how unhappy he has been, and how he +loves you. Oh, Lady Angela, what is there I can say? What can I do?" + +I was losing my head a little, I think, for her fingers were gripping +mine convulsively, warm and tender little fingers which seemed to be +drawing me all the while closer to her. + +"I am so miserable," she murmured. + +Then suddenly her other arm was around my neck, her wet tear-stained +face was pressed to mine. I scarcely knew how it happened, but I knew +that she was in my arms, and my lips were pressed to hers. A sudden, +beautiful wave of colour flooded her cheeks; she smiled gladly up at me. +She gave a delicious little sigh of satisfaction and then buried her +face on my shoulder. Almost at the same moment Ray entered the room. + +She did not at once raise her head, although she pushed me gently away +from her at the sound of the opening door. But I, who was standing +facing that direction, saw him from the first, a dark stern figure, +standing as though rooted to the ground, with the doorhandle still in +his hand. For the second time in one day he seemed to have intervened +at the precise psychological moment. He did not speak to me, nor I to +him. Lady Angela, as though wondering at the silence, turned her head +at last, and a little gasping cry broke from her lips. + +"Mostyn," she exclaimed. "Is that you?" + +For answer he turned towards the wall and flooded the room with electric +light. Then he looked at us both intently and mercilessly; only this +time I saw that much of his wonderful self-control was wanting. He did +not answer Lady Angela. He did not glance towards her. + +"You cur!" he cried. "Twice in a day am I to be brought face to face +with your cursed treachery? Twice in a day! Lady Angela, may I beg +that you will leave us?" + +She stood up and faced him, slim and white-faced, yet with her head +thrown back and her voice steady. + +"Mostyn," she said, "this is my fault. I do not ask for your +forgiveness. I have behaved shamefully, but I was miserable, and I +forgot. Mr. Ducaine is blameless. It was my fault." + +"You will pardon the keenness of my observation," he answered, "but the +attitude in which I was unfortunate enough to find you tells its own +story. You will oblige me, Lady Angela, by leaving us alone." + +I would have spoken, but she held out her hand. + +"I think you forget, Colonel Ray," she said, "that this is my house. I +am not disposed to leave you and Mr. Ducaine here together in your +present mood." + +He laughed harshly. + +"Are you afraid for your lover?" he asked. "I promise you that I will +hold his person sacred." + +"Lady Angela," I begged. "Please leave us. I--" + +Then came an interruption so unexpected and yet so natural that the +whole scene seemed at once to dissolve into bathos. The door was thrown +open, and a footman ushered in callers. + +"Lady Chelsford and the Marchioness of Cardenne, your ladyship," he +announced. "Mrs. and the Misses Colquhoun. Sir George Treherne!" + +It was a transformation. The room, with its dull note of tragedy, was +suddenly filled with faint perfumes, shaken from the rustling draperies +of half a dozen women, a little chorus of light voices started the babel +of small-talk, Lady Angela had taken her place behind the large round +tea-table and was talking nonsense with the tall young guardsman who had +drawn his chair up to her side, and I, with a plate of sandwiches in my +hand, nearly ran into Ray, who was carrying a cup of tea. For a quarter +of an hour or so we played our parts in the comedy. Then a servant +entered the room and whispered in my ear. + +"His Grace would be glad to see you in the library, sir." + +I rose at once. Angela's eyes were fixed upon mine questioningly. As I +passed the table I spoke to her, and purposely raised my voice so that +Ray should hear. + +"Your father has sent for me, Lady Angela. He is terribly industrious +to-day." + +She smiled back to me quietly. I lingered in the hall for a minute, +and Ray joined me there. He did not speak a word, but he motioned me +fiercely to precede him to the library. Directly we entered it was +clear that something unusual had happened. The great safe door stood +open. Lord Chelsford and the Duke were both awaiting our coming. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +I LOSE MY POST + +The Duke solemnly closed the door. "Ray," he said, "I am glad that you +are here. Something serious has happened. Mr. Ducaine, Lord Chelsford +and I desire to ask you a few questions." + +I bowed. What was coming I could not indeed imagine, unless Ray had +already made the disclosure. + +"The word code for the safe to-day was Magenta, I believe?" the Duke +asked. + +"That is correct, sir," I answered. + +"And it was known to whom?" + +"To Lord Chelsford, yourself, Colonel Ray, and myself," I answered. + +"And what was there in the safe?" the Duke asked. + +"The plans for the Guildford Camp, the new map of Surrey pricked for +fortifications, and one or two transport schemes," I answered. + +"Exactly! Those documents are now all missing." + +I strode to the safe and looked in. It was as the Duke had said. The +safe was practically empty. + +"They were there this morning," I said. "It was arranged that I should +examine the contents of the safe the first thing, and take any finished +work over to the War Office. Do you remember who has been in the room +to-day, sir?" + +"Yourself, myself, and the woman whom you brought here an hour or so +ago." + +"Mrs. Smith-Lessing?" I exclaimed. + +"Precisely!" the Duke remarked, drily. + +"Did you leave her alone here?" I asked. + +"For two minutes only," the Duke answered. "I was called up on the +telephone from the House of Lords. I did not imagine that there could +be the slightest risk in leaving her, for without the knowledge of that +word Magenta the safe would defy a professional locksmith." + +"You will forgive my suggesting it, your Grace," I said, with some +hesitation, "but you have not, I presume, had occasion to go to the safe +during the day?" + +"I have not," the Duke answered tersely. + +"Then I cannot suggest any explanation of the opening of the safe," I +admitted. "It was impossible for Mrs. Smith-Lessing to have opened it +unless she knew the code word." + +"The question is," the Duke said quietly, "did she know it?" + +Then I realized the object of this cross-examination. The colour flared +suddenly into my cheeks, and as suddenly left them. The absence of +those papers was extraordinary to me. I utterly failed to understand +it. + +"I think I know what you mean, sir," I said. "It is true that Mrs. +Smith-Lessing is my stepmother. I believe it is true, too, that she is +connected with the French Secret Police. I was there this +afternoon--you yourself sent me. But I did not tell Mrs. Smith-Lessing +the code word, and I know nothing of the disappearance of those +documents." + +Then Ray moved forward and placed deliberately upon the table the roll +of papers which I had given up to him a few hours ago. + +"What about these?" he asked, with biting scorn. "Tell the Duke and +Lord Chelsford where I found them! Let us hear your glib young tongue +telling the truth for once, sir." + +Both the Duke and Lord Chelsford were obviously startled. Ray had +always been my friend and upholder. He spoke now with very apparent +enmity. + +"Perhaps you would prefer to tell the story yourself," I answered. "I +will correct you if it is necessary." + +"Very well," he answered. "I will tell the story, and a pitiful one it +is. This boy is watched, as we all know, for, owing to my folly in +ignoring his antecedents, a great trust has been reposed in him. News +was brought to me that he had been seen with his father and Mrs. +Smith-Lessing in Gattini's Restaurant. Later, that he had found his way +to their lodging. I followed him there. He may have gone there with an +errand from you, Duke, but when I arrived he was doing a little business +on his own account, and these papers were in the act of passing from him +to his father." + +"What are they?" Lord Chelsford asked. + +"Your Lordship may recognize them," I answered quietly. "They are a +summary of the schemes of defence of the southern ports. I was at that +moment, the moment when Colonel Ray entered, considering an offer of +five thousand pounds for them." + +Even Ray was staggered at my admission, and the Duke looked as though he +could scarcely believe his ears. Lord Chelsford was busy looking +through the papers. + +"You young blackguard," Ray muttered through his teeth. "After that +admission, do you still deny that you told Mrs. Smith-Lessing, or +whatever the woman calls herself, the code word for that safe?" + +"Most certainly I deny it," I answered firmly. "The two things are +wholly disconnected." + +The Duke sat down heavily in his chair. I knew very well that of the +three men he was the most surprised. Lord Chelsford carefully placed +the papers which he had been reading in his breast-pocket. Ray leaned +over towards him. + +"Lord Chelsford," he said, "and you, Duke, you took this young man on +trust, and I pledged my word for him. Like many a better man, I made a +mistake. For all that we know he has secret copies of all the work he +has done for us, ready to dispose of. What in God's name, are we going +to do with him?" + +"What do you suggest?" Lord Chelsford asked softly. + +"My way would not be yours," Ray answered, with a hard laugh. "I am +only half civilized, you know, and if he and I were alone in the desert +at this moment I would shoot him without remorse. Such a breach of +trust as this deserves death." + +"We are, unfortunately," Lord Chelsford remarked, "not in a position to +adopt such extreme measures. It would not even be wise for us to +attempt to formulate a legal charge against him. The position is +somewhat embarrassing. What do you suggest, Duke?" + +I glanced towards the Duke, and I was surprised to see that his hands +were shaking. For a man who rarely displayed feeling the Duke seemed to +be wonderfully affected. + +"I can suggest nothing," he answered in a low tone. "I must confess +that I am bewildered. These matters have developed so rapidly." + +Lord Chelsford looked thoughtful for a moment. + +"I have a plan in my mind," he said slowly. "Duke, should I be taking a +liberty if I asked to be left alone with this young man for five +minutes?" + +The Duke rose slowly to his feet. He had the air of one not altogether +approving of the suggestion. Ray glowered upon us both, but offered no +objection. They left the room together. Lord Chelsford at once turned +to me. + +"Ducaine," he said, "forgive me that I did not come to your aid. I will +see that you do not suffer later on. But what in Heaven's name is the +meaning of this last abstraction' from the safe?" + +I shook my head. + +"The woman could never have guessed the word!" I said. + +"Impossible!" he agreed. "Ducaine, do you know why Lord Blenavon left +England so suddenly?" + +"Colonel Ray knows, sir," I answered. "Ask him!" + +Lord Chelsford became very thoughtful. + +"Ducaine," he said, "we are in a fix. So far your plan has worked to +perfection. Paris has plenty of false information, and your real copies +have all reached me safely. But if you leave, how is this to be carried +on? I do not know whom I mistrust, but if the day's work of the Board +is really to be left in the safe, either here or at Braster--" + +"You must choose my successor yourself, sir," I interrupted. + +"The Duke has always opposed my selections. Besides, you have prepared +your false copies with rare skill. Even I was deceived for a moment +just now by your summary. You don't overdo it. Everything is just a +little wrong. I am not sure even now whether I should not do better to +tell Ray and the Duke the truth." + +"I am in your hands, sir," I answered. "You must do as you think best." + +"They will be back in a moment. It is absurd to doubt either of them, +Ducaine. Yet I shall keep silent. I have an idea. Agree to everything +I say." + +The Duke and Ray returned together. Lord Chelsford turned to them. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, coldly, "persists in his denial of any +knowledge of to-day's affair. With regard to the future, I have offered +him his choice of an arrest on the charge of espionage, or a twelve +months' cruise on the Ajax, which leaves to-morrow for China. He has +chosen the latter. I shall take steps of course to see that he is not +allowed to land at any calling-place, or dispatch letters." + +Ray smiled a little cruelly. + +"The idea is an excellent one, Chelsford," he said. "When did you say +that the Ajax sailed?" + +"To-morrow," Lord Chelsford answered. "I propose to take Mr. Ducaine +to my house to-night, and to hand him over to the charge of a person on +whom I can thoroughly rely." + +The Duke looked at me curiously. + +"Mr. Ducaine consents to go?" he asked. + +"It is a voyage which I have long desired to take," I answered coolly, +"though I never expected to enjoy it at my country's expense." + +The Duke rang the bell. + +"Will you have Mr. Ducaine's things packed and sent across--did you say +to your house, Lord Chelsford?" + +"To my house," Lord Chelsford assented. + +"To No. 19, Grosvenor Square," the Duke ordered. "Mr. Ducaine will +not be returning." + +Lord Chelsford rose. I followed his example. Neither the Duke nor Ray +attempted any form of farewell. The former, however, laid some notes +upon the table. + +"I believe, Mr. Ducaine," he said, "that there is a month's salary due +to you. I have added something to the amount. Until to-day I have +always considered your duties admirably fulfilled." + +I looked at the notes and at the Duke. + +"I thank your Grace," I answered. "I will take the liberty of declining +your gift. My salary has been fully paid." + +For a moment I fancied I caught a softer gleam in Ray's eyes. He seemed +about to speak, but checked himself. Lord Chelsford hurried me from the +room, and into his little brougham, which was waiting. + +"Do you really mean me to go to China, sir?" I asked him, anxiously. + +"Not I!" he answered. "I am going to send you to Braster." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +LORD CHELSFORD'S DIPLOMACY + +I dined alone with Lord and Lady Chelsford. From the moment of our +arrival at Chelsford House my host had encouraged nothing but the most +general conversation. It happened that they were alone, as a great +dinner party had been postponed at the last moment owing to some Royal +indisposition. Lord Chelsford in his wife's presence was careful to +treat me as an ordinary guest; but directly she had left the room and we +were alone he abandoned his reticence. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "from the time of our last conversation at the +War Office and our subsequent _tete-a-tete_ I have reposed in you the +most implicit confidence." + +"I have done my best, sir," I answered, "to deserve it." + +"I believe you," he declared. "I am going now to extend it. I am going +to tell you something which will probably surprise you very much. Since +the first time when you found your documents tampered with, every map +and every word of writing entrusted to the safe, either at Braster House +or Cavendish Square, has been got at. Exact copies of them are in Paris +to-day." + +I looked at him in blank amazement. The thing seemed impossible. + +"But in very many cases," I protested, "the code word for opening the +safe has been known only to Colonel Ray, the Duke, and myself." + +"The fact remains as I have stated it," Lord Chelsford said slowly. "My +information is positive. When you came to me and suggested that you +should make two copies of everything, one correct, one a mass of +incorrectness, I must admit that I thought the idea farfetched and +unworkable. Events, however, have proved otherwise. I have safely +received everything which you sent me, and up to the present, with the +exception of that first plan of the Winchester forts, our secrets are +unknown. But now we have come to a deadlock." + +"If you do not mind telling me, Lord Chelsford, I should very much like +to know why you did not explain the exact circumstances to Ray and the +Duke this afternoon." + +Lord Chelsford nodded. + +"I thought that you would ask that," he said. "It is not altogether an +easy question to answer. Remember this. The French War Office are +to-day in possession of an altogether false scheme of our proposed +defences--a scheme which, if they continue to regard it as genuine, +should prove nothing short of disastrous to them. Only you and I are in +the secret at present. Positively I did not feel that I cared to extend +that knowledge to a single other person." + +"But you might have told Colonel Ray and the Duke separately," I +remarked. "The Duke has never been my friend, and Ray has other causes +for being angry with me just at present; but between them they rescued +me from something like starvation, and it is terrible for them to think +of me as they are doing now." + +Lord Chelsford poured himself out a glass of wine, and held it up to the +light for a moment. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "a secret is a very subtle thing. Though the +people who handle it are men of the most unblemished honour and +reputation, still the fewer they are, the safer the life of that +secret." + +"But the Duke and Colonel Ray!" I protested. + +"I might remind you," Lord Chelsford said, smiling, "that those are +precisely the two persons who shared with you the knowledge of the word +which opened the safe." + +I laughed. + +"I presume that you do not suspect either of them?" I remarked. + +"The absurdity is obvious," Lord Chelsford answered. "But the force of +my former remark remains. I like that secret better when it rests +between you and me. It means, I know, that for a time--I promise you +that it shall be only for a time--you must lose your friends, but the +cause is great enough, and it should be within our power to reward you +later on." + +"Oh, I am willing enough," I answered. "But may I ask what you are +going to do with me?" + +Lord Chelsford smoked in silence for several moments. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "who is there in the household of the Duke who +opens that safe and copies those papers? Who is the traitor?" + +"God only knows!" I answered. "It is a hopeless mystery." + +"Yet we must solve it," Lord Chelsford said, "and quickly. If a single +batch of genuine maps and plans were tampered with, disparities would +certainly appear, and the thing might be suspected. Besides, upon the +face of it, the thing is terribly serious." + +"You have a plan," I said. + +"I have," Lord Chelsford answered calmly. "You remember Grooton?" + +"Certainly! He was a servant at Braster." + +"And the very faithful servant of his country also," Lord Chelsford +remarked. "You know, I believe, that he was a secret service man. He +is entirely safe, and I have sent for him. Now I imagine that the Duke +will wish our new secretary to live still at the 'Brand'--he preferred +it in your case, as you will remember. Our new secretary is going to be +my nephew. He is very stolid and honest, and fortunately not a +chatterbox. He is going to be the nominal secretary, but I want you to +be the one who really does the work." + +"I am afraid I don't understand!" I was forced to admit. + +"It will mean," Lord Chelsford said, "some privation and a great deal of +inconvenience for you. But I am going to ask you to face it, for the +end to be gained is worth it. I want you also to be at the 'Brand,' but +to lie hidden all the day time. You can have one of the upstair rooms +fitted as a writing room. Then you and my nephew can do the +transposition. And beyond all that I want you to think--to think and to +watch." + +My heart leaped with joy to think that after all I was not to go into +exile. Then the quiet significance of Lord Chelsford's last words were +further impressed upon me by the added gravity of his manner. + +"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "you must see for yourself that I am running a +very serious risk in making these plans with you behind the backs of the +Duke of Rowchester and Colonel Ray. The Duke is a man of the keenest +sense of honour, as his recent commercial transactions have shown. He +has parted with a hundred thousand pounds rather than that the shadow of +a stigma should rest upon his name. He is also my personal friend, and +very sensitive of any advice or criticism. Then Ray--a V.C., and one of +the most popular soldiers in England to-day--he also is quick tempered, +and he also is my friend. You can see for yourself that in acting as I +am, behind the backs of these men, I am laying myself open to very grave +trouble. Yet I see no alternative. There is a rank traitor either on +the Military Board or closely connected with the Duke's household. He +does not know it, nor do they know it, but everyone of his servants has +been vigorously and zealously watched without avail. The circle has +been drawn closer and closer, Mr. Ducaine. Down in Braster you may be +able to help me in narrowing it down till only one person is within it. +Listen!" + +Lady Chelsford entered, gorgeous in white satin and a flaming tiara. +She looked at me, I thought, a little gravely. + +"Morton," she said, "I want you to spare me a minute. Mr. Ducaine will +excuse you, I am sure." + +Lord Chelsford and she left the room together. I, feeling the heat of +the apartment, walked to the window, and raising the sash looked out +into the cool dark evening. At the door, drawn up in front of Lord +Chelsford's brougham, was a carriage with a tall footman standing facing +me. I recognized him and the liveries in a moment. It was the +Rowchester carriage. Some one from Rowchester House was even now with +Lord and Lady Chelsford. + +Fresh complications, then! Had the Duke come to see me off, or had his +suspicions been aroused? Was he even now insisting upon an explanation +with Lord Chelsford? The minutes passed, and I began to get restless +and anxious. Then the door opened, and Lord Chelsford entered alone. +He came over at once to my side. He was looking perplexed and a little +annoyed. + +"Ducaine," he said, "Lady Angela Harberly is here." + +I started, and I suppose my face betrayed me. + +"Lady Angela--here?" + +"And she wishes to see you," he continued. "Lady Chelsford is +chaperoning her to-night to Suffolk House, but she says that she should +have come here in any case. She believes that you are going to China." + +"Did you tell her?" I asked. + +"I have told her nothing," he answered. "The question is, what you are +to tell her. I understand, Ducaine, that Lady Angela was engaged to be +married to Colonel Ray." + +"I believe that she is," I admitted. + +"Then I do not understand her desire to see you," Lord Chelsford said. +"The Duke of Rowchester is my friend and relative, Ducaine, and I do not +see how I can permit this interview." + +"And I," said a quiet thrilling voice behind his back, "do not know how +you are going to prevent it." + +She closed the door behind her. She was so frail and so delicately +beautiful in her white gown, with the ropes of pearls around her neck, +the simply parted hair, and her dark eyes were so plaintive and yet so +tender, that the angry exclamation died away on Lord Chelsford's lips. + +"Angela," he said, "Mr. Ducaine is here. You can speak with him if you +will, but it must be in my presence. You must not think that I do not +trust you--both of you. But I owe this condition to your father." + +She came over to me very timidly. She seemed to me so beautiful, so +exquisitely childish, that I touched the fingers of the hand she gave me +with a feeling of positive reverence. + +"You have come to wish me God-speed," I murmured. "I shall never forget +it." + +"You are really going, then?" + +"I am going for a little time out of your life, Lady Angela," I +answered. "It is necessary: Lord Chelsford knows that. But I am not +going in disgrace. I am very thankful to be able to tell you that." + +"It was not necessary to tell me," she answered. "Am I not here?" + +I bent low over her hand, which rested still in mine. + +"Mine is not a purposeless exile--nor altogether an unhappy one--now," I +said. "I have work to do, Lady Angela, and I am going to it with a good +heart. When we meet again I hope that it may be differently. Your +coming--the memory of it will stand often between me and loneliness. It +will sweeten the very bitterest of my days." + +"You are really going--to China?" she murmured. + +I glanced towards Lord Chelsford. His back was turned to us. If he +understood the meaning of my pause he made no sign. + +"I may not tell you where I am going or why," I answered. "But I will +tell you this, Lady Angela. I shall come back, and as you have come to +see me to-night, so shall I come to you before long. If you will trust +me I will prove myself worthy of it." + +She did not answer me with any word at all, but with a sudden little +forward movement of both her hands, and I saw that her eyes were +swimming in tears. Yet they shone into mine like stars, and I saw +heaven there. + +"I am sorry," Lord Chelsford said, gravely interposing, "but Lady +Chelsford will be waiting for you, Angela. And I think that I must ask +you to remember that I cannot sanction, or appear by my silence to +sanction, anything of this sort." + +So he led her away, but what did I care? My heart was beating with the +rapture of her backward glance. I cared neither for Ray nor the Duke +nor any living person. For with me it was the one supreme moment of a +man's lifetime, come too at the very moment of my despair. I was no +longer at the bottom of the pit. The wonderful gates stood open. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY + +I Called softly to Grooton from my room upstairs. + +"Grooton!" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You are alone?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Is Mr. Hill still up at the Court?" + +"He will be there until midnight, sir." + +A gust of wind came suddenly roaring through the wood, drowning even the +muffled thunder of the sea below. The rain beat upon the window panes. +The little house, strongly built though it was, seemed to quiver from +its very foundations. I caught up my overcoat, and boldly descended the +narrow staircase. Grooton stood at the bottom, holding a lamp in his +hand. + +"You are quite safe to-night, sir," he said. "There'll be no one about +in such a storm." + +I stood still for a moment. The raging and tearing of the sea below had +momentarily triumphed over the north wind. + +"The trees in the spinney are snapping like twigs, sir," Grooton +remarked. "There's one lying right across the path outside. But you'll +excuse me, sir--you're not going out!" + +"I think so, Grooton," I answered, "for a few minutes. Remember that I +have been a prisoner here for three days. I'm dying for some fresh +air." + +"I don't think it's hardly safe, sir," he protested, deprecatingly. +"Not that there's any fear of your being seen: the wind's enough to +carry you over the cliff." + +"I shall risk it, Grooton," I answered. "I think that the wind is going +down, and there won't be a soul about. It's too good a chance to miss." + +I waited for a momentary lull, and then I opened the door and slipped +out. The first breath of cold strong air was like wine to me after my +confinement, but a moment later I felt my breath taken away, and I was +lifted almost from my feet by a sudden gust. I linked my arm around the +trunk of a swaying pine tree and hung there till the lull came. Up into +the darkness from that unseen gulf below came showers of spray, white as +snow, falling like rain all about me. It was a night to remember. + +Presently I turned inland, and reached the park. I left the footpath so +that I should avoid all risk of meeting any one, and followed the wire +fencing which divided the park from the belt of fir trees bordering the +road. I walked for a few hundred yards, and then stopped short. + +I had reached the point where that long straight road from Braster +turned sharply away inland for the second time. At a point about a +quarter of a mile away, and rapidly approaching me, came a twin pair of +flaring eyes. I knew at once what they were--the head lights of a motor +car. Without a moment's hesitation I doubled back to the "Brand." + +"Grooton!" I called sharply. + +Grooton appeared. + +"Is any one at Braster Grange?" I asked. + +"Not that I have heard of, sir," he answered. + +"You do not know whether Mrs. Smith-Lessing is expected back?" + +"I have not heard, sir. They left no servants there--not even a +caretaker." + +I stepped back again into the night and took the shortest cut across the +park to the house. As I neared the entrance gates I left the path and +crept up close to the plantation which bordered the road. My heart gave +a jump as I listened. I could hear the low level throbbing of a motor +somewhere quite close at hand. The lights had been extinguished, but it +was there waiting. I did not hesitate any longer. I kept on the turf +by the side of the avenue and made my way up to the house. + +The library alone and one small window on the ground floor were lit. I +crept up on the terrace and tried to peer in, but across each of the +library windows the curtains were too closely drawn. There remained the +small window at the end of the terrace. I crept on tiptoe towards this, +feeling my way through the darkness by the front of the house. Suddenly +I came to a full stop. I flattened myself against the stonework and +held my breath. Some one else was on the terrace. What I had heard was +unmistakable. It was the wind blowing amongst a woman's skirts, and the +woman was very close at hand. + +I almost felt her warm breath as she stole past me. I caught a gleam of +a pale face, sufficient to tell me who she was. She passed on and took +up her stand outside that small end window. + +I, too, crept nearer to it.--About a yard away there was a projection of +the front. I stole into the deep corner and waited. A few feet from me +I knew that she too was waiting. + +Half an hour, perhaps an hour, passed. My ears became trained to all +sounds that were not absolutely deadened by the roar of the wind. I +heard the crash of falling boughs in the wood, the more distant but +unchanging thunder of the sea, the sharp spitting of the rain upon the +stone walk. And I heard the opening of the window by the side of which +I was leaning. + +I was only just in time. Through the raised sash there came a hand, +holding a packet of some sort, and out of the darkness came another hand +eagerly stretched out to receive it. I brushed it ruthlessly aside, +tore the packet from the fingers which suddenly strove to retain it, and +with my other hand I caught the arm a little above the wrist. I heard +the flying footsteps of my fellow-watcher, but I did not even turn +round. A fierce joy was in my heart. Now I was to know. The veil of +mystery which had hung over the doings at Braster was to be swept aside. +I stooped down till my eyes were within a few inches of the hand. I +passed my fingers over it. I felt the ring-- + +Then I remember only that mad headlong flight back across the park, +where the very air seemed full of sobbing, mocking voices, and the +ground beneath my feet swayed and heaved. I could not even think +coherently. I heard the motor go tearing down the road past me, and +come to a standstill at the turn. Still I had no thought of any danger. +It never occurred to me to leave the footpath and make my way back to +the "Brand," as I might well have done, by a more circuitous route. I +kept on the footpath, and just as I reached the little iron gate which +led into the spinney, I felt a man's arm suddenly flung around my neck, +and with a jerk I was thrown almost off my feet. + +"He is here, madame," I heard a low voice say. "Take the papers from +him. I have him safe." + +I think that my desperate humour lent me more than my usual strength. +With a fierce effort I wrenched myself free. Almost immediately I heard +the click of a revolver. "If you move," a low voice said, "I fire!" +"What do you want?" I asked. "The papers." I laughed bitterly. "Are +they worth my life?" I asked. "The life of a dozen such as you," the +man answered. "Quick! Hand them over." + +Then I heard a little cry from the woman who had been standing a few +feet off. In the struggle I had lost my cap, and a faint watery moon, +half hidden by a ragged bank of black clouds, was shining weakly down +upon us. + +"Guy," she cried, and her voice was shaking as though with terror. +"Guy, is that you?" + +I lost my self-control. I forgot her sex, I forgot everything except +that she was responsible for this unspeakable corruption. I said +terrible things to her. And she listened, white--calm--speechless. +When I had finished she signed to the man to leave us. He hesitated, +but with a more peremptory gesture she dismissed him. + +"Guy," she said, "you have not spared me. Perhaps I do not deserve it. +Now listen. The whole thing is at an end. Those few papers are all we +want. Your father is already in France. I am leaving at once. Give me +those papers and you will be rid of us for ever. If you do not I must +stay on until I have received copies of a portion of them, at any rate. +You know very well now that I can do this. Give me those that you have. +It will be safer--in every way." + +"Give them to you?" I answered scornfully. "Are you serious?" + +"Very serious, Guy. Do you not see that the sooner it is all over--the +better--the safer--up there?" + +She pointed towards the house. I could have struck the white fingers +with their loathsome meaning. + +"I shall take this packet to Lord Chelsford," I said. "I am down here +as a spy--a spy upon spies. He is up at the house now, and to-morrow +this packet will be in his hands. I shall tell him how I secured it. I +think that after that you will not have many opportunities for plying +your cursed trade." + +"You know the consequences?" + +"They are not my concern," I answered coldly. + +She looked over her shoulder. + +"If I," she said, "were as unwavering in my duty as you I should call +Jean back." + +"I am indifferent," I answered. "I do not value my life enough to +shrink from fighting for it." + +She turned away. + +"You are very young, Guy," she said, "and you talk like a very young +man. You must go your own way. Send for Lord Chelsford, if you will. +But remember all that it will mean. Can't you see that such stern +morality as yours is the most exquisite form of selfishness? Good-bye, +Guy." + +She glided away. I reached the "Brand" undisturbed. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE TRAITOR + +"I do not understand you, Ducaine," Lord Chelsford said slowly. "You +have been a faithful and valuable servant to your country, and you know +very well that your services are not likely to be forgotten. I want you +only to be consistent. I must know from whom you received this packet." + +"I cannot tell you, sir," I answered. "It was a terribly dark night, +and it is not easy to identify a hand. Besides, it was snatched away +almost at once." + +"In your own mind, Ducaine," Chelsford said, "have you hazarded a guess +as to who that unseen person might be?" + +"It is too serious a matter to hazard guesses about, sir," I answered. + +"Nevertheless," Lord Chelsford continued, eyeing me closely, "in your +own mind you know very well who that person was. You are a bad liar, +Ducaine. There was something about the hand which told you the truth--a +ring, perhaps. At any rate, something." + +"I had no time to feel for such things, sir," I answered. + +"Ducaine," Lord Chelsford said, "I am forced to connect your refusal to +hazard even a surmise as to the identity of that hand with your sudden +desire to break off all connection with this matter. I am forced to come +to a conclusion, Ducaine. You have discovered the truth. You know the +traitor!" + +"On the contrary, Lord Chelsford," I answered, "I know nothing.". + +Later in the day he came to me again. I could see that he had made no +fresh discovery. + +"Ducaine," he said, "what time did you say that you left here last +night?" + +"At midnight, sir." + +"And you were back?" + +"Before one." + +"That corresponds exactly with Grooton's statement," Lord Chelsford +said. "And yet I have certain information that from a few minutes +before eleven till two o'clock not one member of the Military Board +quitted the library." + +I bowed. + +"That is conclusive," I remarked. + +"It is remarkably inconclusive to me," Lord Chelsford remarked grimly. +"Whom else save one of your friends who are all upon the Board could you +possibly wish to shield?" + +"That I even wish to do so," I answered, "is purely an assumption." + +"You are fencing with me, young man," Lord Chelsford said grimly, "and +it is not worth while. Hush!" + +There was a rap at the door downstairs. We heard the Duke's measured +tones. + +"I understood that Lord Chelsford was here," he said. + +"Lord Chelsford has left, your Grace," Grooton answered. + +"And Mr. Hill?" + +"He has been at the house all day, your Grace." + +The Duke appeared to hesitate for a moment. + +"Grooton," he said, "I rely upon you to see that Lord Chelsford has this +note shortly. I am going for a little walk, and shall probably return +this way. I wish you to understand that this note is for Lord +Chelsford's own hand." + +"Certainly, your Grace." + +"Not only that, Grooton, but the fact that I called here and left a +communication for Lord Chelsford is also--to be forgotten." + +"I quite understand, your Grace," Grooton assured him. + +The Duke struck a match, and a moment or two later we saw him strolling +along the cliff side, smoking a cigarette, his hands behind him, prim, +carefully dressed, walking with the measured ease of a man seeking an +appetite for his dinner. He was scarcely out of sight, and Lord +Chelsford was on the point of descending for his note, when my heart +gave a great leap. Lady Angela emerged from the plantation and crossed +the open space in front of the cottage with swift footsteps. Her hair +was streaming in the breeze as though she had been running, but there +was not a vestige of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes, too, were like the +eyes of a frightened child. + +Lord Chelsford descended the stairs and himself admitted her. + +"Why, Angela," he exclaimed, "you look as though you had seen a ghost. +Is anything the matter?" + +"Oh, I am afraid so," she answered. "Have you seen my father?" + +"Why?" he asked, fingering the note which Grooton had silently laid upon +the table. + +"Something has happened!" she exclaimed. "I am sure of it. Last night +he came to me before dinner. He told me that Blenavon was in trouble. +It was necessary to send him money by a special messenger, by the only +person who knew his whereabouts. He gave me a packet, and he told me +that at a quarter-past twelve last night I was to be in my music-room, +and directly the stable clock struck that I was to open the window, and +some one would be there on the terrace and take the packet. I did +exactly as he told me, and there was someone there; but I had just held +out the packet when a third person snatches it away, and held my hand +close to his eyes as though to try and guess who I was. I managed to +get it away and close the window, but I think that the wrong person must +have taken the packet. I told my father to-day, and--you know that +terribly still look of his. I thought that he was never going to speak +again. When I asked him if there was a good deal of money in it--he +only groaned." + +Up on the top of the stairs I was shaking with excitement. I heard Lord +Chelsford speak, and his voice was hoarse. + +"Since then," he asked, "what?" + +"A man came to see father. He drove from Wells. He looked like a +Frenchman, but he gave no name. He was in the library for an hour. +When he left he walked straight out of the house and drove away again. +I went into the library, and--you know how strong father is--he was +crouching forward across the table, muttering to himself. It was like +some sort of a fit. He did not know me when I spoke to him. Lord +Chelsford, what does it all mean?" + +"Go on!" he answered. "Tell me the rest." + +"There is nothing else," she faltered. "He got better presently, and he +kissed me. I have never known him to do such a thing before, except at +morning or night. And then he locked himself in the study and wrote. +About an hour afterwards I heard him--asking everywhere for you. The +servants thought that you had come here. I saw him crossing the park, +so I followed." + +Lord Chelsford came to the bottom of the stairs and called me by name. +I heard Lady Angela's little cry of surprise. I was downstairs in a +moment, and she came straight into my arms. Her dear tear-stained +little face buried itself upon my shoulder. + +"I am so thankful, so thankful that you are here," she murmured. + +And all the while, with the face of a man forced into the presence of +tragedy, Lord Chelsford was reading that letter. When he had finished +his hands were shaking and his face was grey. He moved over to the +fireplace, and, without a moment's hesitation, he thrust the letter into +the flames. Not content with that, he stood over it, poker in hand, and +beat the ashes into powder. Then he turned to the door. + +"Take care of Angela, Ducaine," he exclaimed, and hurried out. + +But Lady Angela had taken alarm. She hastened after him, dragging me +with her. Lord Chelsford was past middle age, but he was running along +the cliff path like a boy. We followed. Lady Angela would have passed +him, but I held her back. She did not speak a word. Some vague +prescience of the truth even then, I think, had dawned upon her. + +We must have gone a mile before we came in sight of him. He was +strolling along, only dimly visible in the gathering twilight, still +apparently smoking, and with the air of a man taking a leisurely +promenade. He was toiling up the side of the highest cliff in the +neighbourhood, and once we saw him turn seaward and take off his hat as +though enjoying the breeze. Just as he neared the summit he looked +round. Lord Chelsford waved his hand and shouted. + +"Rowchester," he cried. "Hi! Wait for me." + +The Duke waved his hand as though in salute, and turned apparently with +the object of coming to meet us. But at that moment, without any +apparent cause, he lurched over towards the cliff side, and we saw him +fall. Lady Angela's cry of frenzied horror was the most awful thing I +had ever heard. Lord Chelsford took her into his arms. + +"Climb down, Ducaine," he gasped. "I'm done!" + +I found the Duke on the shingles, curiously unmangled. He had the +appearance of a man who had found death restful. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE THEORIES OF A NOVELIST + +The novelist smiled. He had been buttonholed by a very great man, which +pleased him. He raised his voice a little. There were others standing +around. He fancied himself already the centre of the group. He forgot +the greatness of the great man. + +"In common with many other people, my dear Marquis," he said, "you +labour under a great mistake. Human character is governed by as exact +laws as the physical world. Give me a man's characteristics, and I will +undertake to tell you exactly how he will act under any given +circumstances. It is a question of mathematics. We all carry with us, +inherited or acquired, a certain amount of resistance to evil influence, +certain predilections towards good and _vice versa_, according as we are +decent fellows or blackguards. Some natures are more complex than +others, of course--that only means that the weighing up of the good and +evil in them is a more difficult matter. There are experts who can tell +you the weight of a haystack by looking at it, and there are others who +are able at Christmas-time to indulge in an unquenchable thirst by +accurately computing the weight, down to ounces, of the pig or turkey +raffled for at their favourite public-house. So the trained student of +his fellows can also diagnose his subjects and anticipate their +actions." + +The Marquis smiled. + +"You analytical novelists would destroy for us the whole romance of +life," he declared. "I will not listen to you any longer. I fear +ignorance less than disillusion!" + +He passed on, and the little group at once dispersed. The novelist was +left alone. He went off in a huff. Lord Chelsford plucked me by the +arm. + +"Let us sit down, Ducaine," he said. "What rubbish these men of letters +talk!" + +I glanced towards the ballroom, but my companion shook his head. + +"Angela is dancing with the Portuguese Ambassador," he said, "and he +will never give up his ten minutes afterwards. You must pay the penalty +of having--married the most beautiful woman in London, Guy, and sit out +with the old fogies. What rubbish that fellow did talk!" + +"You are thinking--" I murmured. + +"Of the Duke! Yes! There was a man who to all appearance was a typical +English gentleman, proud, sensitive of his honour, in every action which +came before the world a right-dealing and a right-doing man. To do what +seemed right to him from one point of view he stripped himself of lands +and fortune, and when that was not enough he stooped to unutterable +baseness. He was willing to betray his country to justify his own sense +of personal honour." + +"In justice to him," I said, "one must remember that he never for a +moment believed in the possibility of a French invasion." + +Lord Chelsford shook his head. + +"It is too nice a point," he declared. "We may not reckon it in his +favour. I wonder how our friends on the other side felt when they knew +that they had paid fifty thousand pounds for false information? We +ought to make you a peer, Ducaine. The Trogoldy money would stand it." + +"For Heaven's sake, don't!" I cried. "What have I done that you should +want to banish me into the pastures?" + +"You talk too much," my companion murmured. "In the Lords it wouldn't +matter, but in the Commons you are a nuisance. I suppose you want to be +taken into the Cabinet." + +"Quite true!" I admitted. "You want young men there, and I am ready any +time." + +"A man with a wife like yours," Lord Chelsford remarked, thoughtfully, +"is bound to go anywhere he wants. Then he sits down and takes all the +credit to himself." + +Angela passed on the arm of the Ambassador. She waved her hand gaily to +us, but her companion drew her firmly away. We both looked after her +admiringly. + +"Guy," Lord Chelsford said, "we have both of us done some good work in +our time, but never anything better than the way we managed to hoodwink +everybody--even herself, about her father. Amongst the middle classes +he remains a canonized saint, the man who pauperized himself for their +sakes. Ray was too full of Blenavon's little aberrations to suspect any +one else, and our friends from across the water who might--I mean the +woman--have been inclined for a little blackmail, were obliging enough +to make a final disappearance in the unlucky Henriette. The woman was +saved, though, by-the-bye." + +"The woman is still alive," I told him, "but I will answer for her +silence. I allow her a small pension--all she would accept. She is +living in the south of France somewhere." + +"And Blenavon," Lord Chelsford said, with a smile, "has married an +American girl who has made a different man of him. What character those +women have! She hasn't a penny, they tell me, until her father dies, +and they work on their ranch from sunrise. She will be an ornament to +our aristocracy when they do come back." + +"They are coming next spring," I remarked, "if they can do it out of the +profits of the ranch--not unless. Blenavon has carried out his father's +wishes to the letter, and cut off the entail of everything that was +necessary." + +"What a silly ass that novelist was!" Lord Chelsford declared +vigorously. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BETRAYAL*** + + +******* This file should be named 16998.txt or 16998.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/9/16998 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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