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diff --git a/22654-8.txt b/22654-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28cbee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/22654-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7956 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Doctor of Pimlico, by William Le Queux + +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 Doctor of Pimlico + Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime + +Author: William Le Queux + +Release Date: September 17, 2007 [EBook #22654] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Lybarger and the booksmiths at +http://www.eBookForge.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "Enid Drew Back In Terror" + +(_The Doctor of Pimlico_)] + + +THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO + +Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime + +BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +[Illustration] + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers New York + +Published by arrangement with The Macaulay Company + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, +BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY + +_Printed in the U. S. A._ + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. IN WHICH CERTAIN SUSPICIONS ARE EXCITED 9 + II. THE COMING OF A STRANGER 21 + III. INTRODUCES DOCTOR WEIRMARSH 32 + IV. REVEALS TEMPTATION 47 + V. IN WHICH ENID ORLEBAR IS PUZZLED 56 + VI. BENEATH THE ELASTIC BAND 66 + VII. CONCERNING THE VELVET HAND 78 + VIII. PAUL LE PONTOIS 88 + IX. THE LITTLE OLD FRENCHWOMAN 97 + X. IF ANYONE KNEW 107 + XI. CONCERNS THE PAST 114 + XII. REVEALS A CURIOUS PROBLEM 125 + XIII. THE MYSTERIOUS MR. MALTWOOD 134 + XIV. WHAT CONFESSION WOULD MEAN 145 + XV. THREE GENTLEMEN FROM PARIS 157 + XVI. THE ORDERS OF HIS EXCELLENCY 168 + XVII. WALTER GIVES WARNING 177 + XVIII. THE ACCUSERS 187 + XIX. IN WHICH A TRUTH IS HIDDEN 199 + XX. IN WHICH A TRUTH IS TOLD 207 + XXI. THE WIDENED BREACH 217 + XXII. CONCERNING THE BELLAIRS AFFAIR 227 + XXIII. THE SILENCE OF THE MAN BARKER 234 + XXIV. WHAT THE DEAD MAN LEFT 245 + XXV. AT THE CAFÉ DE PARIS 255 + XXVI. WHICH IS "PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL" 265 + XXVII. THE RESULT OF INVESTIGATION 274 +XXVIII. THE SECRET OF THE LONELY HOUSE 285 + XXIX. CONTAINS SOME STARTLING STATEMENTS 292 + XXX. REVEALS A WOMAN'S LOVE 303 + XXXI. IN WHICH SIR HUGH TELLS HIS STORY 310 + XXXII. CONCLUSION 321 + + + + +THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO + +_Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN WHICH CERTAIN SUSPICIONS ARE EXCITED + + +A GREY, sunless morning on the Firth of Tay. + +Across a wide, sandy waste stretching away to the misty sea at Budden, +four men were walking. Two wore uniform--one an alert, grey-haired +general, sharp and brusque in manner, with many war ribbons across his +tunic; the other a tall, thin-faced staff captain, who wore the tartan of +the Gordon Highlanders. With them were two civilians, both in rough +shooting-jackets and breeches, one about forty-five, the other a few +years his junior. + +"Can you see them, Fellowes?" asked the general of the long-legged +captain, scanning the distant horizon with those sharp grey eyes which +had carried him safely through many campaigns. + +"No, sir," replied the captain, who was carrying the other's mackintosh. +"I fancy they must be farther over to the left, behind those low mounds +yonder." + +"Haven't brought their battery into position yet, I suppose," snapped the +old officer, as he swung along with the two civilians beside him. + +Fred Tredennick, the taller of the two civilians, walked with a gait +decidedly military, for, indeed, he was a retired major, and as the +general had made a tour of inspection of the camp prior to walking +towards where the mountain battery was manoeuvring, he had been chatting +with him upon technical matters. + +"I thought you'd like to see this mountain battery, Fetherston," +exclaimed the general, addressing the other civilian. "We have lots of +them on the Indian frontier, of course, and there were many of ours in +Italy and Serbia." + +"I'm delighted to come with you on this tour of inspection, General. As +you know, I'm keenly interested in military affairs--and especially in +the reorganisation of the Army after the war," replied Walter Fetherston, +a dark, well-set-up man of forty, with a round, merry face and a pair of +eyes which, behind their gold pince-nez, showed a good-humoured twinkle. + +Of the four men, General Sir Hugh Elcombe and Walter Fetherston were, +perhaps, equally distinguished. The former, as all the world knows, had +had a brilliant career in Afghanistan, in Egypt, Burmah, Tirah, the +Transvaal, and in France, and now held an appointment as inspector of +artillery. + +The latter was a man of entirely different stamp. As he spoke he +gesticulated slightly, and no second glance was needed to realise that he +was a thorough-going cosmopolitan. + +By many years of life on the Continent he had acquired a half-foreign +appearance. Indeed, a keen observer would probably have noticed that his +clothes had been cut by a foreign tailor, and that his boots, long, +narrow and rather square-toed, bore the stamp of the Italian boot-maker. +When he made any humorous remark he had the habit of slightly closing the +left eye in order to emphasise it, while he usually walked with his left +hand behind his back, and was hardly ever seen without a cigarette. Those +cigarettes were one of his idiosyncrasies. They were delicious, of a +brand unobtainable by the public, and made from tobacco grown in one of +the Balkan States. With them he had, both before the war and after, been +constantly supplied by a certain European sovereign whose personal friend +he was. They bore the royal crown and cipher, but even to his most +intimate acquaintance Walter Fetherston had never betrayed the reason +why he was the recipient of so many favours from the monarch in question. + +Easy-going to a degree, full of open-hearted _bonhomie_, possessing an +unruffled temper, and apparently without a single care in all the world, +he seldom, if ever, spoke of himself. He never mentioned either his own +doings or his friends'. He was essentially a mysterious man--a man of +moods and of strong prejudices. + +More than one person who had met him casually had hinted that his +substantial income was derived from sources that would not bear +investigation--that he was mixed up with certain financial adventurers. +Others declared that he was possessed of a considerable fortune that had +been left him by an uncle who had been a dealer in precious stones in +Hatton Garden. The truth was, however, that Walter Fetherston was a +writer of popular novels, and from their sale alone he derived a handsome +income. + +The mystery stories of Walter Fetherston were world-famous. Wherever the +English language was spoken this shrewd-eyed, smiling man's books were +read, while translations of them appeared as _feuilletons_ in various +languages in the principal Continental journals. One could scarcely take +up an English newspaper without seeing mention of his name, for he was +one of the most popular authors of the day. + +It is a generally accepted axiom that a public man cannot afford to be +modest in these go-ahead days of "boom." Yet Fetherston was one of the +most retiring of men. English society had tried in vain to allure him--he +courted no personal popularity. Beyond his quiet-spoken literary agent, +who arranged his affairs and took financial responsibility from his +shoulders, his publishers, and perhaps half a dozen intimate friends, he +was scarcely recognised in his true character. Indeed, his whereabouts +were seldom known save to his agent and his only brother, so elusive was +he and so careful to establish a second self. + +He had never married. It was whispered that he had once had a serious +affair of the heart abroad. But that was a matter of long ago. + +Shoals of invitations arrived at his London clubs each season, but they +usually reached him in some out-of-the-world corner of Europe, and he +would read them with a smile and cast them to the winds. + +He took the keenest delight in evading the world that pressed him. His +curious hatred of his own popularity was to everyone a mystery. His +intimate friends, of whom Fred Tredennick was one, had whispered that, +in order to efface his identity, he was known in certain circles abroad +by the name of Maltwood. This was quite true. In London he was a member +of White's and the Devonshire as Fetherston. There was a reason why on +the Continent and elsewhere he should pass as Mr. Maltwood, but his +friends could never discover it, so carefully did he conceal it. + +Walter Fetherston was a writer of breathless mystery--but he was the +essence of mystery himself. Once the reader took up a book of his he +never laid it down until he had read the final chapter. You, my reader, +have more than once found yourself beneath his strange spell. And what +was the secret of his success? He had been asked by numberless +interviewers, and to them all he had made the same stereotyped reply: "I +live the mysteries I write." + +He seemed annoyed by his own success. Other writers suffered from that +complaint known as "swelled head," but Walter Fetherston never. He lived +mostly abroad in order to avoid the penalty which all the famous must +pay, travelling constantly and known mostly by his assumed name of +Maltwood. + +And behind all this some mystery lay. He was essentially a man of +secrets. + +Some people declared that he had married ten years ago, and gave a +circumstantial account of how he had wedded the daughter of a noble +Spanish house, but that a month later she had been accidentally drowned +in the Bay of Fontarabia, and that the tragedy had ever preyed upon his +mind. But upon his feminine entanglements he was ever silent. He was a +merry fellow, full of bright humour, and excellent company. But to the +world he wore a mask that was impenetrable. + +At that moment he was shooting with his old friend Tredennick, who lived +close to St. Fillans, on the picturesque Loch Earn, when the general, +hearing of his presence in the neighbourhood, had sent him an invitation +to accompany him on his inspection. + +Walter had accepted for one reason only. In the invitation the general +had remarked that he and his stepdaughter Enid were staying at the +Panmure Hotel at Monifieth--so well known to golfers--and that after the +inspection he hoped they would lunch together. + +Now, Walter had met Enid Orlebar six months before at Biarritz, where she +had been nursing at the Croix Rouge Hospital in the Hôtel du Palais, and +the memory of that meeting had lingered with him. He had long desired to +see her again, for her pale beauty had somehow attracted him--attracted +him in a manner that no woman's face had ever attracted him before. + +Hitherto he had held cynical notions concerning love and matrimony, but +ever since he had met Enid Orlebar in that winter hotel beside the sea, +and had afterwards discovered her to be stepdaughter of Sir Hugh Elcombe, +he had found himself reflecting upon his own loneliness. + +At luncheon he was to come face to face with her again. It was of this he +was thinking more than of the merits of mountain batteries or the +difficulties of limbering or unlimbering. + +"See! there they are!" exclaimed the general, suddenly pointing with his +gloved hand. + +Fetherston strained his eyes towards the horizon, but declared that he +could detect nothing. + +"They're lying behind that rising ground to the left of the magazine +yonder," declared the general, whose keen vision had so often served him +in good stead. Then, turning on his heel and scanning the grey horizon +seaward, he added: "They're going to fire out on to the Gaa between those +two lighthouses on Buddon Ness. By Jove!" he laughed, "the men in them +will get a bit of a shock." + +"I shouldn't care much to be there, sir," remarked Tredennick. + +"No," laughed the general. "But really there's no danger--except that +we're just in the line of their fire." + +So they struck off to the left and approached the position by a +circuitous route, being greeted by the colonel and other officers, to +whom the visit of Sir Hugh Elcombe had been a considerable surprise. + +The serviceable-looking guns were already mounted and in position, the +range had been found; the reserves, the ponies and the pipers were lying +concealed in a depression close at hand when they arrived. + +The general, after a swift glance around, stood with legs apart and arms +folded to watch, while Fetherston and Tredennick, with field-glasses, had +halted a little distance away. + +A sharp word of command was given, when next instant the first gun boomed +forth, and a shell went screaming through the air towards the low range +of sand-hills in the distance. + +The general grunted. He was a man of few words, but a typical British +officer of the type which has made the Empire and won the war against the +Huns. He glanced at the watch upon his wrist, adjusted his monocle, and +said something in an undertone to the captain. + +The firing proceeded, while Fetherston, his ears dulled by the constant +roar, watched the bursting shells with interest. + +"I wonder what the lighthouse men think of it now?" he laughed, turning +to his friend. "A misdirected shot would send them quickly to kingdom +come!" + +Time after time the range was increased, until, at last, the shells were +dropped just at the spot intended. As each left the gun it shrieked +overhead, while the flash could be seen long before the report reached +the ear. + +"We'll see in a few moments how quickly they can get away," the general +said, as he approached Fetherston. + +Then the order was given to cease fire. Words of command sounded, and +were repeated in the rear, where ponies and men lay hidden. The guns were +run back under cover, and with lightning rapidity dismounted, taken to +pieces, and loaded upon the backs of the ponies, together with the +leather ammunition cases--which looked like men's suit cases--and other +impedimenta. + +The order was given to march, and, headed by the pipers, who commenced +their inspiring skirl to the beat of the drums, they moved away over the +rough, broken ground, the general standing astraddle and watching it all +through his monocle with critical eye, and keeping up a fire of sarcastic +comment directed at the colonel. + +"Why!" he cried sharply in his low, strident voice, "what's that bay +there? Too weak for the work--no good. You want better stuff than that. +An axle yonder not packed properly! . . . And look at that black +pony--came out of a governess-cart, I should think! . . . Hey, you man +there, you don't want to hang on that pack! Men get lazy and want the +pony to help them along. And you----" he cried, as a pony, heavily laden +with part of a gun, came down an almost perpendicular incline. "Let that +animal find his way down alone. Do you hear?" + +Then, after much manoeuvring, he caused them to take up another position, +unlimber their guns, and fire. + +When this had been accomplished he called the officers together and, his +monocle in his eye, severely criticised their performance, declaring that +they had exposed themselves so fully to the enemy that ere they had had +time to fire they would have been shelled out of their position. + +The spare ammunition was exposed all over the place, some of the reserves +were not under cover, and the battery commander so exposed himself that +he'd have been a dead man before the first shot. "You must do better than +this--much better. That's all." + +Then the four walked across to the Panmure Hotel at Monifieth. + +Walter Fetherston held his breath. His lips were pressed tightly +together, his brows contracted. He was again to meet Enid Orlebar. + +He shot a covert glance at the general walking at his side. In his eyes +showed an unusual expression, half of suspicion, half of curiosity. + +Next instant, however, it had vanished, and he laughed loudly at a story +Tredennick was telling. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE COMING OF A STRANGER + + +ENID was standing on the steps of the hotel when the men arrived. + +For a second Walter glanced into her splendid eyes, and then bowed over +her hand in his foreign way, a murmured expression of pleasure escaping +his lips. + +About twenty-two, tall and slim, she presented a complete and typical +picture of the outdoor girl, dressed as she was in a grey jumper trimmed +with purple, a short golfing skirt, her tweed hat to match trimmed with +the feathers of a cock pheasant. + +Essentially a sportswoman, she could handle gun or rod, ride to hounds, +or drive a motor-car with equal skill, and as stepdaughter of Sir Hugh +she had had experience on the Indian frontier and in Egypt. + +Her father had been British Minister at the Hague, and afterwards at +Stockholm, but after his death her mother had married Sir Hugh, and had +become Lady Elcombe. Nowadays, however, the latter was somewhat of an +invalid, and seldom left their London house in Hill Street. Therefore, +Enid was usually chaperoned by Mrs. Caldwell, wife of the well-known +K.C., and with her she generally spent her winters on the Continent. + +Blanche, Sir Hugh's daughter by his first wife, had married Paul Le +Pontois, who had been a captain in the 114th Regiment of Artillery of the +French Army during the war, and lived with her husband in France. She +seldom came to England, though at frequent intervals her father went over +to visit her. + +When Walter Fetherston took his seat beside Enid Orlebar at the luncheon +table a flood of strange recollections crowded upon his mind--those walks +along the Miramar, that excursion to Pampeluna, and those curious facts +which she had unwittingly revealed to him in the course of their +confidential chats. He remembered their leave-taking, and how, as he had +sat in the _rapide_ for Paris, he had made a solemn vow never again to +set eyes upon her. + +There was a reason why he should not--a strong but mysterious reason. + +Yet he had come there of his own will to meet her again--drawn there +irresistibly by some unseen influence which she possessed. + +Was it her beauty that had attracted him? Yes--he was compelled to admit +that it was. As a rule he avoided the society of women. To his intimates +he had laid down the maxim: "Don't marry; keep a dog if you want a +faithful companion." And yet he was once again at the side of this +fair-faced woman. + +None around the table were aware of their previous meeting, and all were +too busy chattering to notice the covert glances which he shot at her. He +was noting her great beauty, sitting there entranced by it--he, the man +of double personality, who, under an assumed name, lived that gay life of +the Continent, known in society in twenty different cities, and yet in +England practically unknown in his real self. + +Yes, Enid Orlebar was beautiful. Surely there could be few fairer women +than she in this our land of fair women! + +Turning upon him, she smiled gaily as she asked whether he had been +interested in seeing a mountain battery at work. + +Her fresh face, betraying, as it did, her love of a free, open-air life, +was one of those strangely mysterious countenances met only once in a +lifetime. It seemed to be the quintessence of pain and passion, conflict +and agony, desire and despair. She was not one of those befrilled, +fashion-plate dolls that one meets at the after-war crushes and dances, +but was austerely simple in dress, with a face which betrayed a spiritual +nobility, the very incarnation of modern womanhood, alive with modern +self-knowledge, modern weariness and modern sadness. + +Her beautiful hair, worn plain and smooth, was black as night--wonderful +hair. But still more wonderful were those great, dark, velvety eyes, deep +and unfathomable. In them the tragedy of life was tumultuously visible, +yet they were serene, self-possessed, even steady in their quiet +simplicity. To describe her features is not an easy task. They were +clear-cut, with a purity of the lines of the nose and brow seldom seen in +a woman's face, dark, well-arched eyebrows, a pretty mouth which had just +escaped extreme sensuousness. Cheeks soft and delicately moulded, a chin +pointed, a skin remarkable for its fineness and its clear pallor, the +whole aspect of her face being that of sweetness combined with nobility +and majesty. In it there was no dominant expression, for it seemed to be +a mask waiting to be stirred into life. + +Fetherston had known Sir Hugh slightly for several years, but as Enid had +been so much abroad with Mrs. Caldwell, he had never met her until that +accidental encounter in Biarritz. + +"We've been up here six weeks," she was telling Fetherston. "Father +always gets a lot of golf up here, you know, and I'm rather fond of it." + +"I fear I'm too much of a foreigner nowadays to appreciate the game," +Walter laughed. "Last season some Italians in Rome formed a club--the +usual set of ultra-smart young counts and marquises--but when they found +that it entailed the indignity of walking several miles they declared it +to be a game only fit for the populace, and at once disbanded the +association." + +The men were discussing the work of the battery, for four of the officers +had been invited, and the point raised was the range of mountain guns. + +Walter Fetherston glanced at the general through his pince-nez with a +curious expression, but he did not join in the conversation. + +Enid's eyes met his, and the pair exchanged curiously significant +glances. + +He bent to pick up his serviette, and in doing so he whispered to her: "I +must see you outside for a moment before I go. Go out, and I'll join +you." + +Therefore, when the meal had concluded, the girl went forth into the +secluded garden at the rear of the hotel, where in a few moments the man +joined her at a spot where they could not be overlooked. + +She turned towards him, separate, remote, incongruous, her dark eyes +showing an angry flash in them. + +"Why have you come here?" she demanded with indignation. The whole aspect +of her face was tragic. + +"To see you again," was his brief reply. "Before we parted at Biarritz +you lied to me," he added in a hard tone. + +She held her breath, staring straight into his eyes. + +"I--I don't understand you!" she stammered. "You are here to torment--to +persecute me!" + +"I asked you a question, Enid, but in response you told me a deliberate +lie. Think--recall that circumstance, and tell me the truth," he said +very quietly. + +She was silent for a moment. Then, with her mouth drawn to hardness, she +replied: "Yes, it is true--I lied to you, just as you have lied to me. +Remember what you told me that moonlit night when we walked by the sea +towards the Grotto of Love. I was a fool to have believed in you--to have +trusted you as I did! You left me, and, though I wrote time after time +to your club, you refused to send me a single line." + +"Because--because, Enid, I dared not," replied her companion. + +"Why not?" she demanded quickly. "You told me that you loved me, yet--yet +your own actions have shown that you lied to me!" + +"No," he protested in a low, earnest, hoarse voice; "I told you the +truth, Enid, but----" + +"But what?" she interrupted in quickly earnestness. + +"Well," he replied after a brief pause, "the fact is that I am compelled +to wear a mask, even to you, the woman I love. I cannot tell you the +truth--I cannot, dearest, for your own sake." + +"And you expect me to believe this lame story--eh?" she laughed. She was +pale and fragile, yet she seemed to expand and to dilate with force and +energy. + +"Enid," he answered in a low voice, with honesty in his eyes, "I would +rather sacrifice my great love for you than betray the trust I hold most +sacred. So great is my love for you, rather would I never look upon your +dear face again than reveal to you the tragic truth and bring upon you +unhappiness and despair." + +"Walter," she replied in a trembling voice, looking straight into his +countenance with those wonderful dark eyes wherein her soul brimmed over +with weary emotion and fatigued passion, "I repeat all that I told you on +that calm night beside the sea. I love you; I think of you day by day, +hour by hour. But you have lied to me, and therefore I hate myself for +having so foolishly placed my trust in you." + +He had resolved to preserve his great secret--a secret that none should +know. + +"Very well," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "These recriminations +are really all useless. Ah, if you only knew the truth, Enid! If I only +dared to reveal to you the hideous facts. But I refuse--they are too +tragic, too terrible. Better that we should part now, and that you should +remain in ignorance--better by far, for you. You believe that I am +deceiving you. Well, I'm frank and admit that I am; but it is with a +distinct purpose--for your own sake." + +He held forth his hand, and slowly she took it. In silence he bowed over +it, his lips compressed; then, turning upon his heel, he went down the +gravelled walk back to the hotel, which, some ten minutes later, he left +with Fred Tredennick, catching the train back to Dundee and on to Perth. + +He was in no way a man to wear his heart upon his sleeve, therefore he +chatted gaily with his friend and listened to Fred's extravagant +admiration of Enid's beauty. He congratulated himself that his old friend +was in ignorance of the truth. + +A curious incident occurred at the hotel that same evening, however, +which, had Walter been aware of it, would probably have caused him +considerable uneasiness and alarm. Just before seven o'clock a tall, +rather thin, middle-aged, narrow-eyed man, dressed in dark grey tweeds, +entered the hall of the hotel and inquired for Henry, the head waiter. He +was well dressed and bore an almost professional air. + +The white-headed old man quickly appeared, when the stranger, whose +moustache was carefully trimmed and who wore a ruby ring upon his white +hand, made an anxious inquiry whether Fetherston, whom he minutely +described, had been there that day. At first the head waiter hesitated +and was uncommunicative, but, the stranger having uttered a few low +words, Henry's manner instantly changed. He started, looked in wonder +into the stranger's face, and, taking him into the smoking-room--at that +moment unoccupied--he allowed himself to be closely questioned regarding +the general and his stepdaughter, as well as the man who had that day +been their guest. The stranger was a man of quick actions, and his +inquiries were sharp and to the point. + +"You say that Mr. Fetherston met the young lady outside after luncheon, +and they had an argument in secret, eh?" asked the stranger. + +Henry replied in the affirmative, declaring that he unfortunately could +not overhear the subject under discussion. But he believed the pair had +quarrelled. + +"And where has Mr. Fetherston gone?" asked his keen-eyed questioner. + +"He is, I believe, the guest of Major Tredennick, who lives on the other +side of Perthshire at Invermay on Loch Earn." + +"And the young lady goes back to Hill Street with her stepfather, eh?" + +"On Wednesday." + +"Good!" was the stranger's reply. Then, thanking the head waiter for the +information in a sharp, businesslike voice, and handing him five +shillings, he took train back from Monifieth to Dundee, and went direct +to the chief post-office. + +From there he dispatched a carefully constructed cipher telegram to an +address in the Boulevard Anspach, in Brussels, afterwards lighting an +excellent cigar and strolling along the busy street with an air of +supreme self-satisfaction. + +"If this man, Fetherston, has discovered the truth, as I fear he has +done," the hard-faced man muttered to himself, "then by his action to-day +he has sealed his own doom!--and Enid Orlebar herself will silence him!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTRODUCES DOCTOR WEIRMARSH + + +THREE days had elapsed. + +In the dingy back room of a dull, drab house in the Vauxhall Bridge Road, +close to Victoria Station in London, the narrow-eyed man who had so +closely questioned old Henry at the Panmure Hotel, sat at an old mahogany +writing-table reading a long letter written upon thin foreign notepaper. + +The incandescent gas-lamp shed a cold glare across the room. On one side +of the smoke-grimed apartment was a shabby leather couch, on the other +side a long nest of drawers, while beside the fireplace was an expanding +gas-bracket placed in such a position that it could be used to examine +anyone seated in the big arm-chair. Pervading the dingy apartment was a +faint smell of carbolic, for it was a consulting-room, and the man so +intent upon the letter was Dr. Weirmarsh, the hard-working practitioner +so well known among the lower classes in Pimlico. + +Those who pass along the Vauxhall Bridge Road know well that house with +its curtains yellow with smoke--the one which stands back behind a small +strip of smoke-begrimed garden. Over the gate is a red lamp, and upon the +railings a brass plate with the name: "Mr. Weirmarsh, Surgeon." + +About three years previously he had bought the practice from old Dr. +Bland, but he lived alone, a silent and unsociable man, with a deaf old +housekeeper, although he had achieved a considerable reputation among his +patients in the neighbouring by-streets. But his practice was not wholly +confined to the poorer classes, for he was often consulted by +well-dressed members of the foreign colony--on account, probably, of his +linguistic attainments. A foreigner with an imperfect knowledge of +English naturally prefers a doctor to whom he can speak in his own +tongue. Therefore, as Weirmarsh spoke French, Italian and Spanish with +equal fluency, it was not surprising that he had formed quite a large +practice among foreign residents. + +His appearance, however, was the reverse of prepossessing, and his +movements were often most erratic. About his aquiline face was a shrewd +and distrustful expression, while his keen, dark eyes, too narrowly set, +were curiously shifty and searching. When absent, as he often was, a +young fellow named Shipley acted as locum tenens, but so eccentric was +he that even Shipley knew nothing of the engagements which took him from +home so frequently. + +George Weirmarsh was a man of few friends and fewer words. He lived for +himself alone, devoting himself assiduously to his practice, and doing +much painstaking writing at the table whereat he now sat, or else, when +absent, travelling swiftly with aims that were ever mysterious. + +He had had a dozen or so patients that evening, but the last had gone, +and he had settled himself to read the letter which had arrived when his +little waiting-room had been full of people. + +As he read he made scribbled notes on a piece of paper upon his +blotting-pad, his thin, white hand, delicate as a woman's, bearing that +splendid ruby ring, his one possession in which he took a pride. + +"Ah!" he remarked to himself in a hard tone of sarcasm, "what fools the +shrewdest of men are sometimes over a woman! So at last he's fallen--like +the others--and the secret will be mine. Most excellent! After all, every +man has one weak point in his armour, and I was not mistaken." + +Then he paused, and, leaning his chin upon his hand, looked straight +before him, deep in reflection. + +"I have few fears--very few," he remarked to himself, "but the greatest +is of Walter Fetherston. What does he know?--that's the chief question. +If he has discovered the truth--if he knows my real name and who I +am--then the game's up, and my best course is to leave England. And yet +there is another way," he went on, speaking slowly to himself--"to close +his lips. Dead men tell no tales." + +He sat for a long time, his narrow-set eyes staring into space, +contemplating a crime. As a medical man, he knew a dozen ingenious ways +by which Walter Fetherston might be sent to his grave in circumstances +that would appear perfectly natural. His gaze at last wandered to the +book-case opposite, and became centred upon a thick, brown-covered, dirty +volume by a writer named Taylor. That book contained much that might be +of interest to him in the near future. + +Of a sudden the handle of the door turned, and Mrs. Kelsey, the old +housekeeper, in rusty black, admitted Enid Orlebar without the ceremony +of asking permission to enter. + +The girl was dressed in a pearl grey and pink sports coat, with a large +black hat, and carried a silver chain handbag. Around her throat was a +white feather boa, while her features were half concealed by the veil she +wore. + +"Ah, my dear young lady," cried Weirmarsh, rising quickly and greeting +her, while next moment he turned to his table and hastily concealed the +foreign letter and notes, "I had quite forgotten that you were to consult +me. Pray forgive me." + +"There is nothing to forgive," the beautiful girl replied in a low, +colourless voice, when the housekeeper had disappeared, and she had +seated herself in the big leather arm-chair in which so many patients +daily sat. "You ordered me to come here to you, and I have come." + +"Against your will, eh?" he asked slowly, with a strange look in his keen +eyes. + +"I am perfectly well now. I do not see why my stepfather should betray +such anxiety on my account." + +"The general is greatly concerned about you," Weirmarsh said, seated +cross-legged at his writing-chair, toying with his pen and looking into +the girl's handsome face. + +"He wished me to see you. That is why I wrote to you." + +"Well," she said, wavering beneath his sharp glance, "I am here. What do +you wish?" + +"I wish to have a little private talk with you, Miss Enid," he replied +thoughtfully, stroking his small greyish moustache, "a talk concerning +your own welfare." + +"But I am not ill," she cried. "I don't see why you should desire me to +come to you to-night." + +"I have my own reasons, my dear young lady," was the man's firm response, +his eyes fixed immovably upon hers. "And I think you know me well enough +to be aware that when Dr. Weirmarsh sets his mind upon a thing he is not +easily turned aside." + +A slight, almost imperceptible, shudder ran through her. But Weirmarsh +detected it, and knew that this girl of extraordinary and mysterious +charm was as wax in his hands. In the presence of the man who had cast +such a strange spell about her she was utterly helpless. There was no +suggestion of hypnotism--she herself scouted the idea--yet ever since Sir +Hugh had taken her to consult this man of medicine at a small suburban +villa, five years ago, he had entered her life never again to leave it. + +She realised herself irresistibly in his power whenever she felt his +presence near her. At his bidding she came and went, and against her +better nature she acted as he commanded. + +He had cured her of an attack of nerves five years ago, but she had ever +since been beneath his hated thraldom. His very eyes fascinated her with +their sinister expression, yet to her he could do no wrong. + +A thousand times she had endeavoured to break free from that strong but +unseen influence, but she always became weak and easily led as soon as +she fell beneath the extraordinary power which the obscure doctor +possessed. Time after time he called her to his side, as on this +occasion, on pretence of prescribing for her, and yet with an ulterior +motive. Enid Orlebar was a useful tool in the hands of this man who was +so unscrupulous. + +She sighed, passing her gloved hand wearily across her hot brow. Strange +how curiously his presence always affected her! + +She had read in books of the mysteries of hypnotic suggestion, but she +was far too practical to believe in that. This was not hypnotism, she +often declared within herself, but some remarkable and unknown power +possessed by this man who, beneath the guise of the hard-working surgeon, +was engaged in schemes of remarkable ingenuity and wondrous magnitude. + +He held her in the palm of his hand. He held her for life--or for death. + +To her stepfather she had, times without number, expressed fear and +horror of the sharp-eyed doctor, but Sir Hugh had only laughed at her +fears and dismissed them as ridiculous. Dr. Weirmarsh was the general's +friend. + +Enid knew that there was some close association between the pair, but of +its nature she was in complete ignorance. Often the doctor came to Hill +Street and sat for long periods with the general in that small, cosy room +which was his den. That they were business interviews there was no doubt, +but the nature of the business was ever a mystery. + +"I see by your face that, though there is a great improvement in you, you +are, nevertheless, far from well," the man said, his eyes still fixed +upon her pale countenance. + +"Dr. Weirmarsh," she protested, "this constant declaration that I am ill +is awful. I tell you I am quite as well as you are yourself." + +"Ah! there, I'm afraid, you are mistaken, my dear young lady," he +replied. "You may feel well, but you are not in quite such good health as +you imagine. The general is greatly concerned about you, and for that +reason I wished to see you to-night," he added with a smile as, bending +towards her, he asked her to remove her glove. + +He took her wrist, holding his stop-watch in his other hand. "Hum!" he +grunted, "just as I expected. You're a trifle low--a little run down. You +want a change." + +"But we only returned from Scotland yesterday!" she cried. + +"The North does not suit such an exotic plant as yourself," he said. "Go +South--the Riviera, Spain, Italy, or Egypt." + +"I go with Mrs. Caldwell at the end of November." + +"No," he said decisively, "you must go now." + +"Why?" she asked, opening her eyes in astonishment at his dictatorial +manner. + +"Because----" and he hesitated, still gazing upon her with those +strangely sinister eyes of his. "Well, Miss Enid, because a complete +change will be beneficial to you in more ways than one," he replied with +an air of mystery. + +"I don't understand you," she declared. + +"Probably not," he laughed, with that cynical air which so irritated her. +She hated herself for coming to that detestable house of grim silence; +yet his word to her was a command which she felt impelled by some strange +force to fulfil with child-like obedience. "But I assure you I am +advising you for your own benefit, my dear young lady." + +"In what way?" + +"Shall I speak plainly?" asked the man in whose power she was. "Will you +forgive me if I so far intrude myself upon your private affairs as to +give you a few words of advice?" + +"Thank you, Dr. Weirmarsh, but I cannot see that my private affairs are +any concern of yours," she replied with some hauteur. How often had she +endeavoured in vain to break those invisible shackles? + +"I am a very sincere friend of your stepfather, and I hope a sincere +friend of yours also," he said with perfect coolness. "It is because of +this I presume to advise you--but, of course----" And he hesitated, +without concluding his sentence. His eyes were again fixed upon her as +though gauging accurately the extent of his influence upon her. + +"And what do you advise, pray?" she asked, "It seems that you have called +me to you to-night in order to intrude upon my private affairs," she +added, with her eyes flashing resentment. + +"Well--yes, Miss Enid," he answered, his manner changing slightly. "The +fact is, I wish to warn you against what must inevitably bring disaster +both upon yourself and your family." + +"Disaster?" she echoed. "I don't follow you." + +"Then let me speak a little more plainly," he replied, his strange, +close-set eyes staring into hers until she quivered beneath his cold, +hard gaze. "You have recently become acquainted with Walter Fetherston. +You met him at Biarritz six months ago, and on Monday last he lunched +with you up at Monifieth. After luncheon you met him in the garden of the +hotel, and----" + +"How do you know all this?" she gasped, startled, yet fascinated by his +gaze. + +"My dear young lady," he laughed, "it is my business to know certain +things--that is one of them." + +She held her breath for a moment. + +"And pray how does that concern you? What interest have you in my +acquaintances?" + +"A very keen one," was the prompt reply. "That man is dangerous to +you--and to your family. The reason why I have asked you here to-night is +to tell you that you must never meet him again. If you value your life, +and that of your mother and her husband, avoid him as you would some +venomous reptile. He is your most deadly enemy." + +The girl was silent for a moment. Her great, dark eyes were fixed upon +the threadbare carpet. What he told her was disconcerting, yet, knowing +instinctively, as she did, how passionately Walter loved her, she could +not bring herself to believe that he was really her enemy. + +"No, Dr. Weirmarsh," she replied, raising her eyes again to his, "you are +quite mistaken. I know Walter Fetherston better than you. Your allegation +is false. You have told me this because--because you have some motive in +parting us." + +"Yes," he said frankly, "I have--_a strong motive_." + +"You do not conceal it?" + +"No," he answered. "Were I a younger man you might, perhaps, accuse me of +scheming to wriggle myself into your good graces, Miss Enid. But I am +getting old, and, moreover, I'm a confirmed bachelor, therefore you +cannot, I think, accuse me of such ulterior motives. No, I only point out +this peril for your family's sake--and your own." + +"Is Mr. Fetherston such an evil genius, then?" she asked. "The world +knows him as a writer of strictly moral, if exciting, books." + +"The books are one thing--the man himself another. Some men reflect their +own souls in their works, others write but canting hypocrisy. It is so +with Walter Fetherston--the man who has a dual personality and whose +private life will not bear the light of publicity." + +"You wish to prejudice me against him, eh?" she said in a hard tone. + +"I merely wish to advise you for your good, my dear young lady," he said. +"It is not for me, your medical man, to presume to dictate to you, I +know. But the general is my dear friend, therefore I feel it my duty to +reveal to you the bitter truth." + +Thoughts of Walter Fetherston, the man in whose eyes had shone the light +of true honesty when he spoke, arose within her. She was well aware of +all the curious gossip concerning the popular writer, whose +eccentricities were so frequently hinted at in the gossipy newspapers, +but she was convinced that she knew the real Fetherston behind the mask +he so constantly wore. + +This man before her was deceiving her. He had some sinister motive in +thus endeavouring to plant seeds of suspicion within her mind. It was +plain that he was endeavouring in some way to secure his own ends. Those +ends, however, were a complete and inexplicable mystery. + +"I cannot see that my friendship for Mr. Fetherston can have any interest +for you," she replied. "Let us talk of something else." + +"But it has," he persisted. "You must never meet that man again--you +hear! never--otherwise you will discover to your cost that my serious +warning has a foundation only too solid; that he is your bitterest enemy +posing as your most affectionate friend." + +"I don't believe you, Dr. Weirmarsh!" she cried resentfully, springing to +her feet. "I'll never believe you!" + +"My dear young lady," the man exclaimed, "you are really quite unnerved +to-night. The general was quite right. I will mix you a draught like the +one you had before--perfectly innocuous--something to soothe those +unstrung nerves of yours." And beneath his breath, as his cruel eyes +twinkled, he added: "Something to bring reason to those warped and +excited senses--something to sow within you suspicion and hatred of +Walter Fetherston." + +Then aloud he added, as he sprang to his feet: "Excuse me for a moment +while I go and dispense it. I'll be back in a few seconds." + +He left the room when, quick as lightning, Enid stretched forth her hand +to the drawer of the writing-table into which she had seen the doctor +toss the foreign letter he had been reading when she entered. + +She drew it out, and scanned eagerly a dozen or so of the closely-written +lines in Spanish. + +Then she replaced it with trembling fingers, and, closing the drawer, sat +staring straight before her--dumbfounded, rigid. + +What was the mystery? + +By the knowledge she had obtained she became forearmed--even defiant. In +the light of that astounding discovery, she now read the mysterious Dr. +Weirmarsh as she would an open book. She held her breath, and an +expression of hatred escaped her lips. + +When, a moment later, he brought her a pale-yellow draught in a graduated +glass, she took it from his hand, and, drawing herself up in defiance, +flung its contents behind her into the fireplace. She believed that at +last she had conquered that strangely evil influence which, emanating +from this obscure practitioner, had fallen upon her. + +But the man only shrugged his shoulders and, turning from her, laughed +unconcernedly. He knew that he held her in bonds stronger than steel, +that his will was hers--for good or for evil. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +REVEALS TEMPTATION + + +"I TELL you it can't be done--the risk is far too great!" declared Sir +Hugh Elcombe, standing with his back to the fireplace in his cosy little +den in Hill Street at noon next day. + +"It must be done," answered Dr. Weirmarsh, who sat in the deep green +leather arm-chair, with the tips of his fingers placed together. + +The general glanced suspiciously at the door to reassure himself that it +was closed. + +"You ask too much," he said. Then, in a decisive voice, while his fingers +toyed nervously with his monocle, he added, "I have resolved to end it +once and for all." + +The doctor looked at him with a strange expression in those cold, keen +eyes of his and smiled, "I fear, Sir Hugh, that if you attempt to carry +out such a decision you will find insuperable difficulties," he said +quietly. + +"I desire no good advice from you, Weirmarsh," the old general snapped. +"I fully realise my position. You have cornered me--cut off my +retreat--so I have placed my back against the wall." + +"Good! And how will such an attitude benefit you, pray?" + +"Understand, I am in no mood to be taunted by you!" the old man cried, +with an angry flash in his eyes. "You very cleverly enticed me into the +net, and now you are closing it about me." + +"My dear Sir Hugh," replied the doctor, "ours was a mere business +transaction, surely. Carry your thoughts back to six years ago. After +your brilliant military career you returned from India and found +yourself, as so many of your profession find themselves, in very +straitened circumstances. You were bound to keep up appearances, and, in +order to do so, got into the hands of Eli Moser, the moneylender. You +married Lady Orlebar, and had entered London society when, of a sudden, +the scoundrelly usurer began to put the screw upon you. At that moment +you--luckily, I think, for yourself--met me, and--well, I was your +salvation, for I pointed out to you an easy way by which to pay your +creditors and rearrange your affairs upon a sound financial basis. +Indeed, I did it for you. I saved you from the moneylender. Did I not?" + +He spoke in a calm, even tone, without once removing his eyes from the +man who stood upon the hearthrug with bent head and folded arms. + +"I know, Weirmarsh. It's true that you saved me from bankruptcy--but +think what penalty I have paid by accepting your terms," he answered in a +low, broken voice. "The devil tempted me, and I fell into your damnable +net." + +"I hardly think it necessary for you to put it that way," replied the +doctor without the least sign of annoyance. "I showed you how you could +secure quite a comfortable income, and you readily enough adopted my +suggestion." + +"Readily!" echoed the fine-looking old soldier. "Ah! you don't know what +my decision cost me--it has cost me my very life." + +"Nonsense, man," laughed the doctor scornfully. "You got out of the hands +of the Jews, and ever since that day you haven't had five minutes' worry +over your finances. I promised you I would provide you with an ample +income, and----" + +"And you've done so, Weirmarsh," cried the old general; "an income far +greater than I expected. Yet what do I deserve?" + +"My dear General," said the doctor quite calmly, "you're not yourself +to-day; suffering from a slight attack of remorse, eh? It's a bad +complaint; I've had it, and I know. But it's like the measles--you're +very nearly certain to contract it once in a lifetime." + +"Have you no pity for me?" snarled Sir Hugh, glaring at the narrow-eyed +man seated before him. "Don't you realise that by this last demand of +yours you've driven me into a corner?" + +Weirmarsh's brows contracted slightly, and he shot an evil glance at the +man before him--the man who was his victim. "But you must do it. You +still want money--and lots of it, don't you?" he said in a low, decisive +voice. + +"I refuse, I tell you!" cried Sir Hugh angrily. + +"Hush! Someone may overhear," the doctor said. "Is Enid at home?" + +"Yes." + +"I saw her last night, as you wished. She is not well. Her nerves are +still in an extremely weak state," Weirmarsh said, in order to change the +topic of conversation. "I think you should send her abroad out of the +way--to the South somewhere." + +"So she told me. I shall try and get Mrs. Caldwell to take her to +Sicily--if you consider the air would be beneficial." + +"Excellent--Palermo or Taormina--send the girl there as soon as ever you +can. She seems unstrung, and may get worse; a change will certainly do +her good," replied the man whose craft and cunning were unequalled. "I +know," he added reflectively, "that Enid dislikes me--why, I can never +make out." + +"Instinct, I suppose, Weirmarsh," was the old man's reply. "She suspects +that you hold me in your power, as you undoubtedly do." + +"Now that is really a most silly idea of yours, Sir Hugh. Do get rid of +it. Such a thought pains me to a great degree," declared the crafty-eyed +man. "For these past years I have provided you with a good income, +enabling you to keep up your position in the world, instead of--well, +perhaps shivering on the Embankment at night and partaking of the +hospitality of the charitably disposed. Yet you upbraid me as though I +had treated you shabbily!" He spoke with an irritating air of +superiority, for he knew that this man who occupied such a high position, +who was an intimate friend and confidant of the Minister of War, and +universally respected throughout the country, was but a tool in his +unscrupulous hands. + +"You ask me too much," exclaimed the grey-moustached officer in a hard, +low voice. + +"The request does not emanate from me," was the doctor's reply; "I am +but the mouthpiece." + +"Yes, the mouthpiece--but the eyes and ears also, Weirmarsh," replied Sir +Hugh. "You bought me, body and soul, for a wage of five thousand pounds a +year----" + +"The salary of one of His Majesty's Ministers," interrupted the doctor. +"It has been paid you with regularity, together with certain extras. When +you have wished for a loan of five hundred or so, I have never refused +it." + +"I quite admit that; but you've always received a _quid pro quo_," the +general snapped. "Look at the thousands upon thousands I put through for +you!" + +"The whole transaction has from the beginning been a matter of business; +and, as far as I am concerned, I have fulfilled my part of the contract." + +The man standing upon the hearthrug sighed. "I suppose," he said, "that I +really have no right to complain. I clutched at the straw you held out to +me, and saved myself at a cost greater than the world can ever know. I +hate myself for it. If I had then known what I know now concerning you +and your friends, I would rather have blown out my brains than have +listened to your accursed words of temptation. The whole plot is +damnable!" + +"My dear fellow, I am not Mephistopheles," laughed the narrow-eyed +doctor. + +"You are worse," declared the general boldly. "You bought me body and +soul, but by Heaven!" he cried, "you have not bought my family, sir!" + +Weirmarsh moved uneasily in his chair. + +"And so you refuse to do this service which I requested of you, +yesterday, eh?" he asked very slowly. + +"I do." + +A silence fell between the two men, broken only by the low ticking of the +little Sheraton clock upon the mantelshelf. + +"Have you fully reflected upon what this refusal of yours may cost you, +General?" asked the doctor in a slow, hard voice, his eyes fixed upon the +other's countenance. + +"It will cost me just as much as you decide it shall," was the response +of the unhappy man, who found himself enmeshed by the crafty +practitioner. + +"You speak as though I were the principal, whereas I am but the agent," +Weirmarsh protested. + +"Principal or agent, my decision, Doctor, is irrevocable--I refuse to +serve your accursed ends further." + +"Really," laughed the other, still entirely unruffled, "your attitude +to-day is quite amusing. You've got an attack of liver, and you should +allow me to prescribe for you." + +The general made a quick gesture of impatience, but did not reply. + +It was upon the tip of Weirmarsh's tongue to refer to Walter Fetherston, +but next instant he had reflected. If Sir Hugh really intended to abandon +himself to remorse and make a fool of himself, why should he stretch +forth a hand to save him? + +That ugly revelations--very ugly ones--might result was quite within the +range of possibility, therefore Weirmarsh, whose craft and cunning were +amazing, intended to cover his own retreat behind the back of the very +man whom he had denounced to Enid Orlebar. + +He sat in silence, his finger-tips again joined, gazing upon the man who +had swallowed that very alluring bait he had once placed before him. + +He realised by Sir Hugh's manner that he regretted his recent action and +was now overcome by remorse. Remorse meant exposure, and exposure meant +prosecution--a great public prosecution, which, at all hazards, must not +be allowed. + +As he sat there he was actually calmly wondering whether this fine old +officer with such a brilliant record would die in silence by his own hand +and carry his secret to the grave, or whether he would leave behind some +awkward written statement which would incriminate himself and those for +whom he acted. + +Suddenly Sir Hugh turned and, looking the doctor squarely in the face as +though divining his inmost thoughts, said in a hoarse voice tremulous +with emotion: "Ah, you need not trouble yourself further, Weirmarsh. I +have a big dinner-party to-night, but by midnight I shall have paid the +penalty which you have imposed upon me--I shall have ceased to live. I +will die rather then serve you further!" + +"Very well, my dear sir," replied the doctor, rising from his chair +abruptly. "Of course, every man's life is his own property--you can take +it if you think fit--but I assure you that such an event would not +concern me in the least. I have already taken the precaution to appear +with clean hands--should occasion require." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN WHICH ENID ORLEBAR IS PUZZLED + + +THAT night, around the general's dinner-table in Hill Street, a dozen or +so well-known men and women were assembled. + +Sir Hugh Elcombe's dinners were always smart gatherings. The table was +set with Georgian silver and decorated daintily with flowers, while +several of the women wore splendid jewels. At the head sat Lady Elcombe, +a quiet, rather fragile, calm-faced woman in black, whose countenance +bore traces of long suffering, but whose smile was very sweet. + +Among the guests was Walter Fetherston, whom the general had at last +induced to visit him, and he had taken in Enid, who looked superb in a +cream décolleté gown, and who wore round her throat a necklet of +turquoise matrices, admirably suited to her half-barbaric beauty. + +Fetherston had only accepted the general's invitation at her urgent +desire, for she had written to White's telling him that it was imperative +they should meet--she wished to consult him; she begged of him to forget +the interview at Monifieth and return to her. + +So, against his will, he had gone there, though the house and all it +contained was hateful to him. With that terrible secret locked within his +heart--that secret which gripped his very vitals and froze his blood--he +looked upon the scene about him with horror and disgust. Indeed, it was +only by dint of self-control that he could be civil to his host. + +His fellow-guests were of divers types: a couple of peers and their +womenkind, a popular actor-manager, two diplomats, and several military +men of more or less note--two of them, like the host, occupying high +positions at the War Office. + +Such gatherings were of frequent occurrence at Hill Street. It was +popularly supposed that Sir Hugh, by marrying His Majesty's Minister's +widow, had married money, and was thus able to sustain the position he +did. Other military men in his position found it difficult to make both +ends meet, and many envied old Hugh Elcombe and his wealthy wife. They +were unaware that Lady Orlebar, after the settlement of her husband's +estate, had found herself with practically nothing, and that her marriage +to Sir Hugh had been more to secure a home than anything else. Both had, +alas! been equally deceived. The general, believing her to be rich, had +been sadly disillusioned; while she, on her part, was equally filled with +alarm when he revealed to her his penurious position. + +The world, of course, knew nothing of this. Sir Hugh, ever since his +re-marriage, had given good dinners and had been entertained in return, +therefore everybody believed that he derived his unusually large income +from his wife. + +As he sat at table he laughed and chatted merrily with his guests, for on +such occasions he was always good company. Different, indeed, was his +attitude from when, at noon, he had stood with Weirmarsh in his own den +and pronounced his own fate. + +The man who held him in that strange thraldom was seated at the table. He +had been invited three days ago, and had come there, perhaps, to taunt +him with his presence in those the last few hours of his life. + +Only once the two men exchanged glances, for Weirmarsh was devoting all +his attention to young Lady Stockbridge. But when Sir Hugh encountered +the doctor's gaze he saw in his eyes open defiance and triumph. + +In ignorance of the keen interest which the doctor across the table felt +in him, Walter Fetherston sat chatting and laughing with Enid. Once the +doctor, to whom he had been introduced only half an hour before, +addressed a remark to him to which he replied, at the same time +reflecting within himself that Weirmarsh was quite a pleasant +acquaintance. + +He was unaware of that mysterious visit of inquiry to Monifieth, of that +remarkable cipher telegram afterwards dispatched to Brussels, or even of +the extraordinary influence that man in the well-worn evening suit +possessed over both his host and the handsome girl beside him. + +When the ladies had left the table the doctor set himself out over the +cigarettes to become more friendly with the writer of fiction. Then +afterwards he rose, and encountering his host, who had also risen and +crossed the room, whispered in a voice of command: "You have reconsidered +your decision! You will commit no foolish and cowardly act? I see it in +your face. I shall call to-morrow at noon, and we will discuss the matter +further." + +The general did not reply for a few seconds. But Weirmarsh had already +realised that reflection had brought his victim to a calmer state of +mind. + +"I will not listen to you," the old man growled. + +"But I shall speak whether you listen or not. Remember, I am not a man to +be fooled by talk. I shall be here at noon and lay before you a scheme +perhaps a little more practicable than the last one." And with that he +reached for some matches, turned upon his heel, and rejoined the man +against whom he had warned Enid--the only man in the world whom he +feared. + +Before they rose Weirmarsh had ingratiated himself with his enemy. So +clever was he that Fetherston, in ignorance as to whom his fellow-guest +really was, save that he was a member of the medical profession, was +actually congratulating himself that he had now met a man after his own +heart. + +At last they repaired to the pretty old-rose-and-gold drawing-room +upstairs, an apartment in which great taste was displayed in decoration, +and there several of the ladies sang or recited. One of them, a vivacious +young Frenchwoman, was induced to give Barrois's romance, "J'ai vu +fleurir notre dernier lilas!" + +When she had concluded Enid, with whom Walter was seated, rose and passed +into the small conservatory, which was prettily illuminated with fairy +lights. As soon as they were alone she turned to him in eager distress, +saying: "Walter, do, I beg of you, beware of that man!" + +"Of what man?" he asked in quick surprise. + +"Of Doctor Weirmarsh." + +"Why? I don't know him. I never met him until to-night. Who is he?" + +"My stepfather's friend, but my enemy--and yours," she cried quickly, +placing her hand upon her heart as though to quell its throbbing. + +"Is he well known?" inquired the novelist. + +"No--only in Pimlico. He lives in Vauxhall Bridge Road, and his practice +lies within a radius of half a mile of Victoria Station." + +"And why is he my enemy?" + +"Oh, that I cannot tell." + +"Why is he your stepfather's friend?" asked Fetherston. "They certainly +seem to be on very good terms." + +"Doctor Weirmarsh's cunning and ingenuity are unequalled," she declared. +"Over me, as over Sir Hugh, he has cast a kind of spell--a----" + +Her companion laughed. "My dear Enid," he said, "spells are fictions of +the past; nobody believes in them nowadays. He may possess some influence +over you, but surely you are sufficiently strong-minded to resist his +power, whatever it may be?" + +"No," she replied, "I am not. For that reason I fear for myself--and for +Sir Hugh. That man compelled Sir Hugh to take me to him for a +consultation, and as soon as I was in his presence I knew that his will +was mine--that I was powerless." + +"I don't understand you," said Fetherston, much interested in this latest +psychic problem. + +"Neither do I understand myself," she answered in bewilderment. "To me +this man's power, fascination--whatever you may term it--is a complete +mystery." + +"I will investigate it," said Fetherston promptly. "What is his address?" + +She told him, and he scribbled it upon his shirt-cuff. Then, looking into +her beautiful countenance, he asked: "Have you no idea of the nature of +this man's influence over Sir Hugh?" + +"None whatever. It is plain, however, that he is master over my +stepfather's actions. My mother has often remarked to me upon it," was +her response. "He comes here constantly, and remains for hours closeted +with Sir Hugh in his study. So great is his influence that he orders our +servants to do his bidding." + +"And he compelled Sir Hugh to take you to his consulting room, eh? Under +what pretext?" + +"I was suffering from extreme nervousness, and he prescribed for me with +beneficial effect," she said. "But ever since I have felt myself beneath +his influence in a manner which I am utterly unable to describe. I do not +believe in hypnotic suggestion, or it might be put down to that." + +"But what is your theory?" + +"I have none, except--well, except that this man, essentially a man of +evil, possesses some occult influence which other men do not possess." + +"Yours is not a weak nature, Enid," he declared. "You are not the sort of +girl to fall beneath the influence of another." + +"I think not," she laughed in reply. "And yet the truth is a hard and +bitter one." + +"Remain firm and determined to be mistress of your own actions," he +urged, "and in the meantime I will cultivate the doctor's acquaintance +and endeavour to investigate the cause of this remarkable influence of +his." + +Why did Doctor Weirmarsh possess such power over Sir Hugh? he wondered. +Could it be that this man was actually in possession of the truth? Was he +aware of that same terrible and hideous secret of which he himself was +aware--a secret which, if exposed, would convulse the whole country, so +shameful and scandalous was it! + +He saw how pale and agitated Enid was. She had in her frantic anxiety +sought his aid. Only a few days ago they had parted; yet now, in the +moment of her fear and apprehension, she had recalled him to her side to +seek his advice and protection. + +She had not told him of that mysterious warning Weirmarsh had given her +concerning him, or of his accurate knowledge of their acquaintanceship. +She had purposely refrained from telling him this lest her words should +unduly prejudice him. She had warned Walter that the doctor was his +enemy--this, surely, was sufficient! + +"Try and discover, if you can, the reason of the doctor's power over my +father, and why he is for ever directing his actions," urged the girl. +"For myself I care little; it is for Sir Hugh's sake that I am trying to +break the bonds, if possible." + +"You have no suspicion of the reason?" he repeated, looking seriously +into her face. "You do not think that he holds some secret of your +stepfather's? Undue influence can frequently be traced to such a source." + +She shook her head in the negative, a blank look in her great, dark eyes. + +"No," she replied, "it is all a mystery--one which I beg of you, Walter, +to solve, and"--she faltered in a strange voice--"and to save me!" + +He pressed her hand and gave her his promise. Then for a second she +raised her full red lips to his, and together they passed back into the +drawing-room, where their re-entry in company did not escape the sharp +eyes of the lonely doctor of Pimlico. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BENEATH THE ELASTIC BAND + + +WALTER FETHERSTON strolled back that night to the dingy chambers he +rented in Holles Street, off Oxford Street, as a _pied-à-terre_ when in +London. He was full of apprehension, full of curiosity, as to who this +Doctor Weirmarsh could be. + +He entered his darkling, shabby old third-floor room and threw himself +into the arm-chair before the fire to think. It was a room without +beauty, merely walls, repapered once every twenty years, and furniture of +the mid-Victorian era. The mantelshelf in the bedroom still bore stains +from the medicine bottles which consoled the final hours of the last +tenant, a man about whom a curious story was told. + +It seems that he found a West End anchorage there, not when he had +retired, but when he was in the very prime of life. He never told anyone +that he was single; at the same time he never told anyone he was married. +He just came and rented those three rooms, and there his man brought him +his tea at ten o'clock every morning for thirty years. Then he dressed +himself and went round to the Devonshire, in St. James's Street, and +there remained till closing time, at two o'clock, every morning for +thirty years. When his club closed in the dog-days for repairs he went to +the club which received him. He never went out of town. He never slept a +night away. He never had a visitor. He never received a letter, and, so +far as his man was aware, never wrote one. + +One morning he did not go through his usual programme. The doctor was +called, but during the next fortnight he died. + +Within twelve hours, however, his widow and a family of grown-up children +arrived, pleasant, cheerful, inquisitive people, who took away with them +everything portable, greatly to the chagrin of the devoted old manservant +who had been the tenant's single home-tie for thirty years. + +It was these selfsame, dull, monotonous chambers which Walter occupied. +The old manservant was the selfsame man who had so devotedly served the +previous tenant. They suited Walter's purpose, for he was seldom in +London, so old Hayden had the place to himself for many months every +year. Of all the inhabitants of London chambers those are the most lonely +who never wander away from London. But Walter was ever wandering, +therefore he never noticed the shabbiness of the carpet, the dinginess of +the furniture, or the dispiriting gloom of everything. + +Like the previous tenant, Walter had no visitors and was mostly out all +day. At evening he would write at the dusty old bureau in which the late +tenant had kept locked his family treasures, or sit in the deep, old +horsehair-covered chair with his feet upon the fender, as he did that +night after returning from Hill Street. + +The only innovation in those grimy rooms was a good-sized fireproof safe +which stood in the corner hidden by a side-table, and from this Walter +had taken a bundle of papers and carried them with him to his chair. + +One by one he carefully went through them, until at last he found the +document of which he was in search. + +"Yes," he exclaimed to himself after he had scanned it, "so I was not +mistaken after all! The mystery is deeper than I thought. By Jove! that +fellow, Joseph Blot, alias Weirmarsh, alias Detmold, Ponting and half a +dozen other names, no doubt, is playing a deep game--a dangerous customer +evidently!" + +Then, again returning to the safe, he took out a large packet of +miscellaneous photographs of various persons secured by an elastic band. +These he went rapidly through until he held one in his hand, an unmounted +_carte-de-visite_, which he examined closely beneath the green-shaded +reading-lamp. + +It was a portrait of Doctor Weirmarsh, evidently taken a few years +before, as he then wore a short pointed beard, whereas he was now shaven +except for a moustache. + +"No mistake about those features," he remarked to himself with evident +satisfaction as, turning the photographic print, he took note of certain +cabalistic numbers written in the corner, scribbling them in pencil upon +his blotting-pad. + +"I thought I recollected those curious eyes and that unusual breadth of +forehead," he went on, speaking to himself, and again examining the +pictured face through his gold pince-nez. "It's a long time since I +looked at this photograph--fully five years. What would the amiable +doctor think if he knew that I held the key which will unlock his past?" + +He laughed lightly to himself, and, selecting a cigarette from the silver +box, lit it. + +Then he sat back in his big arm-chair, his eyes fixed upon the fire, +contemplating what he realised to be a most exciting and complicated +problem. + +"This means that I must soon be upon the move again," he murmured to +himself. "Enid has sought my assistance--she has asked me to save her, +and I will exert my utmost endeavour to do so. But I see it will be +difficult, very difficult. She is, no doubt, utterly unaware of the real +identity of this brisk, hard-working doctor. And perhaps, after all," he +added slowly, "it is best so--best that she remain in ignorance of this +hideous, ghastly truth!" + +At that same moment, while Walter Fetherston was preoccupied by these +curious apprehensions, the original of that old _carte-de-visite_ was +seated in the lounge of the Savoy Hotel, smoking a cigar with a tall, +broad-shouldered, red-bearded man who was evidently a foreigner. + +He had left Hill Street five minutes after Fetherston, and driven down to +the Savoy, where he had a rendezvous for supper with his friend. That he +was an habitué there was patent from the fact that upon entering the +restaurant, Alphonse, the _maître d'hôtel_, with his plan of the tables +pinned upon the board, greeted him with, "Ah! good evening, Docteur. +Table vingt-six, Docteur Weirmarsh." + +The scene was the same as it is every evening at the Savoy; the music, +the smart dresses of the women, the flowers, the shaded lights, the +chatter and the irresponsible laughter of the London world amusing +itself after the stress of war. + +You know it--why, therefore, should I describe it? Providing you possess +an evening suit or a low-necked dress, you can always rub shoulders with +the _monde_ and the _demi-monde_ of London at a cost of a few shillings a +head. + +The two men had supped and were chatting in French over their coffee and +"triplesec." Gustav, Weirmarsh called his friend, and from his remarks it +was apparent that he was a stranger to London. He was dressed with +elegance. Upon the corner of his white lawn handkerchief a count's +coronet was embroidered, and upon his cigar-case also was a coronet and a +cipher. In his dress-shirt he wore a fine diamond, while upon the little +finger of his left hand glittered a similar stone of great lustre. + +The lights were half extinguished, and a porter's voice cried, "Time's +up, ladies and gentlemen!" Those who were not habitués rose and commenced +to file out, but the men and women who came to the restaurant each night +sat undisturbed till the lights went up again and another ten minutes +elapsed before the final request to leave was made. + +The pair, seated away in a corner, had been chatting in an undertone when +they were compelled to rise. Thereupon the doctor insisted that his +friend, whose name was Gustav Heureux, should accompany him home. So +twenty minutes later they alighted from a taxi-cab in the Vauxhall Bridge +Road, and entered the shabby little room wherein Weirmarsh schemed and +plotted. + +The doctor produced from a cupboard some cognac and soda and a couple of +glasses, and when they had lit cigars they sat down to resume their chat. + +Alone there, the doctor spoke in English. + +"You see," he explained, "it is a matter of the greatest importance--if +we make this coup we can easily make a hundred thousand pounds within a +fortnight. The general at first refused and became a trifle--well, just a +trifle resentful, even vindictive; but by showing a bold front I've +brought him round. To-morrow I shall clinch the matter. That is my +intention." + +"It will be a brilliant snap, if you can actually accomplish it," was the +red-bearded man's enthusiastic reply. He now spoke in English, but with a +strong American accent. "I made an attempt two years ago, but failed, and +narrowly escaped imprisonment." + +"A dozen attempts have already been made, but all in vain," replied the +doctor, drawing hard at his cigar. "Therefore, I'm all the more keen to +secure success." + +"You certainly have been very successful over here, Doctor," observed the +foreigner, whose English had been acquired in America. "We have heard of +you in New York, where you are upheld to us as a model. Jensen once told +me that your methods were so ingenious as to be unassailable." + +"Merely because I am well supplied with funds," answered the other with +modesty. "Here, in England, as elsewhere, any man or woman can be +bought--if you pay their price. There is only one section of the +wonderful British public who cannot be purchased--the men and women who +are in love with each other. Whenever I come up against Cupid, experience +has taught me to retire deferentially, and wait until the love-fever has +abated. It often turns to jealousy or hatred, and then the victims fall +as easily as off a log. A jealous woman will betray any secret, even +though it may hurry her lover to his grave. To me, my dear Gustav, this +fevered world of London is all very amusing." + +"And your profession as doctor must serve as a most excellent mask. Who +would suspect you--a lonely bachelor in such quarters as these?" +exclaimed his visitor. + +"No one does suspect me," laughed the doctor with assurance. "Safety lies +in pursuing my increasing practice, and devoting all my spare time +to--well, to my real profession." He flicked the ash off his cigar as he +spoke. + +"Your friend, Elcombe, will have to be very careful. The peril is +considerable in that quarter." + +"I know that full well. But if he failed it would be he who would +suffer--not I. As usual, I do not appear in the affair at all." + +"That is just where you are so intensely clever and ingenious," declared +Heureux. "In New York they speak of you as a perfect marvel of foresight +and clever evasion." + +"It is simply a matter of exercising one's wits," Weirmarsh laughed +lightly. "I always complete my plans with great care before embarking +upon them, and I make provision for every contretemps possible. It is the +only way, if one desires success." + +"And you have had success," remarked his companion. "Marked success in +everything you have attempted. In New York we have not been nearly so +fortunate. Those three articles in the _New York Sun_ put the public on +their guard, so that we dare not attempt any really bold move for fear of +detection." + +"You have worked a little too openly, I think," was Weirmarsh's reply. +"But now that you have been sent to assist me, you will probably see that +my methods differ somewhat from those of John Willoughby. Remember, he +has just the same amount of money placed at his disposal as I have." + +"And he is not nearly so successful," Heureux replied. "Perhaps it is +because Americans are not so easily befooled as the English." + +"And yet America is, _par excellence_, the country of bluff, of quackery +in patent medicines, and of the booming of unworthy persons," the doctor +laughed. + +"It is fortunate, Doctor, that the public are in ignorance of the real +nature of our work, isn't it, eh? Otherwise, you and I might experience +rather rough handling if this house were mobbed." + +Weirmarsh smiled grimly. "My dear Gustav," he laughed, "the British +public, though of late they've browsed upon the hysterics of the popular +Press, are already asleep again. It is not for us to arouse them. We +profit by their heavy slumber, and this will be a rude awakening--a +shock, depend upon it." + +"We were speaking of Sir Hugh Elcombe," remarked the other. "He has been +of use to us, eh?" + +"Of considerable use, but his usefulness is all but ended," replied the +doctor. "He will go to France before long, if he does not act as I +direct." + +"Into a veritable hornet's nest!" exclaimed the red-bearded man. He +recognised a strange expression upon the doctor's face, and added, "Ah, I +see. This move is intentional, eh? He has served our purpose, and you now +deem it wise that--er--disaster should befall him across the Channel, +eh?" + +The doctor smiled in the affirmative. + +"And the girl you spoke of, Enid Orlebar?" + +"The girl will share the same fate as her stepfather," was Weirmarsh's +hard response. "We cannot risk betrayal." + +"Then she knows something?" + +"She may or she may not. In any case, however, she constitutes a danger, +a grave danger, that must, at all costs, be removed." And looking into +the other's face, he added, "You understand me?" + +"Perfectly." + +Just before two o'clock Gustav Heureux left the frowsy house in Vauxhall +Bridge Road and walked through the silent street into Victoria Street. + +He was unaware, however, that on the opposite side of the road an +ill-dressed man had for a full hour been lurking in a doorway, or that +when he came down the doctor's steps, the mysterious midnight watcher +strolled noiselessly after him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CONCERNING THE VELVET HAND + + +ON the rising ground half-way between Wimborne and Poole, in Dorsetshire, +up a narrow by-road which leads to the beautiful woods, lies the tiny +hamlet of Idsworth, a secluded little place of about forty inhabitants, +extremely rural and extremely picturesque. + +Standing alone half-way up the hill, and surrounded by trees, was an +old-world thatched cottage, half-timbered, with high, red-brick chimneys, +quaint gables and tiny dormer windows--a delightful old Elizabethan house +with a comfortable, homely look. Behind it a well-kept flower garden, +with a tree-fringed meadow beyond, while the well-rolled gravelled walks, +the rustic fencing, and the pretty curtains at the casements betrayed the +fact that the rustic homestead was not the residence of a villager. + +As a matter of fact it belonged to a Mr. John Maltwood, a bachelor, whom +Idsworth believed to be in business in London, and who came there at +intervals for fresh air and rest. His visits were not very frequent. +Sometimes he would be absent for many months, and at others he would +remain there for weeks at a time, with a cheery word always for the +labourers on their way home from work, and always with his hand in his +pocket in the cause of charity. + +John Maltwood, the quiet, youngish-looking man in the gold pince-nez, was +popular everywhere over the country-side. He did not court the society of +the local parsons and their wives, nor did he return any of the calls +made upon him. His excuse was that he was at Idsworth for rest, and not +for social duties. This very independence of his endeared him to the +villagers, who always spoke of him as "one of the right sort." + +At noon on the day following the dinner at Hill Street, Walter +Fetherston--known at Idsworth as Mr. Maltwood--alighted from the station +fly, and was met at the cottage gate by the smiling, pleasant-faced woman +in a clean apron who acted as caretaker. + +He divested himself of his overcoat in the tiny entrance-hall, passed +into a small room, with the great open hearth, where in days long ago the +bacon was smoked, and along a passage into the long, old-world +dining-room, with its low ceiling with great dark beams, its +solemn-ticking, brass-faced grandfather clock, and its profusion of old +blue china. + +There he gave some orders to Mrs. Deacon, obtained a cigarette, and +passed back along the passage to a small, cosy, panelled room at the end +of the house--the room wherein he wrote those mystery stories which held +the world enthralled. + +It was a pretty, restful place, with a moss-green carpet, green-covered +chairs, several cases filled to overflowing with books, and a great +writing-table set in the window. On the mantelshelf were many autographed +portraits of Continental celebrities, while on the walls were one or two +little gems of antique art which he had picked up on his erratic +wanderings. Over the writing-table was a barometer and a storm-glass, +while to the left a cosy corner extended round to the fireplace. + +He lit his cigarette, then walking across to a small square oaken door +let into the wall beside the fireplace, he opened it with a key. This had +been an oven before the transformation of three cottages into a week-end +residence, and on opening it there was displayed the dark-green door of a +safe. This he quickly opened with another key, and after slight search +took out a small ledger covered with dark-red leather. + +Then glancing at some numerals upon a piece of paper he took from his +vest pocket, he turned them up in the index, and with another volume open +upon his blotting-pad, he settled himself to read the record written +there in a small, round hand. The numbers were those upon the back of the +old _carte-de-visite_ which had interested him so keenly, and the +statement he was reading was, from the expression upon his countenance, +an amazing one. + +From time to time he scribbled memoranda upon the scrap of paper, now and +then pausing as though to recall the past. Then, when he had finished, he +laughed softly to himself, and, closing the book, replaced it in the safe +and shut the oaken door. By the inspection of that secret entry he had +learnt much regarding that man who posed as a doctor in Pimlico. + +He sat back in his writing-chair and puffed thoughtfully at his +cigarette. Then he turned his attention to a pile of letters addressed to +him as "Mr. Maltwood," and made some scribbled replies until Mrs. Deacon +entered to announce that his luncheon was ready. + +When he went back to the quaint, old-fashioned dining-room and seated +himself, he said: "I'm going back by the five-eighteen, and I dare say I +shan't return for quite a month or perhaps six weeks. Here's a cheque +for ten pounds to pay these little bills." And he commenced his solitary +meal. + +"You haven't been here much this summer, sir," remarked the good woman. +"In Idsworth they think you've quite deserted us--Mr. Barnes was only +saying so last week. They're all so glad to see you down here, sir." + +"That's very good of them, Mrs. Deacon," he laughed. "I, too, only wish I +could spend more time here. I love the country, and I'm never so happy as +when wandering in Idsworth woods." + +And then he asked her to tell him the village gossip while she waited at +his table. + +After luncheon he put on a rough suit and, taking his stout holly stick, +went for a ramble through the great woods he loved so well, where the +trees were tinted by autumn and the pheasants were strong upon the wing. + +He found Findlay, one of the keepers, and walked with him for an hour as +far as the Roman camp, where alone he sat down upon a felled tree and, +with his gaze fixed across the distant hills towards the sea, pondered +deeply. He loved his modest country cottage, and he loved those quiet, +homely Dorsetshire folk around him. Yet such a wanderer was he that only +a few months each year--the months he wrote those wonderful romances of +his--could he spend in that old-fashioned cottage which he had rendered +the very acme of cosiness and comfort. + +At half-past four the rickety station fly called for him, and later he +left by the express which took him to Waterloo and his club in time for +dinner. + +And so once again he changed his identity from John Maltwood, busy man of +business, to Walter Fetherston, novelist and traveller. + +The seriousness of what was in progress was now plain to him. He had long +been filled with strong suspicions, and these suspicions had been +confirmed both by Enid's statements and his own observations; therefore +he was already alert and watchful. + +At ten o'clock he went to his gloomy chambers for an hour, and then +strolled forth to the Vauxhall Bridge Road, and remained vigilant outside +the doctor's house until nearly two. + +He noted those who came and went--two men who called before midnight, and +were evidently foreigners. They came separately, remained about half an +hour, and then Weirmarsh himself let them out, shaking hands with them +effusively. + +Suddenly a taxicab drove up, and from it Sir Hugh, in black overcoat and +opera hat, stepped out and was at once admitted, the taxi driving off. +Walter, as he paced up and down the pavement outside, would have given +much to know what was transpiring within. + +Had he been able to glance inside that shabby little back room he would +have witnessed a strange scene--Sir Hugh, the gallant old soldier, +crushed and humiliated by the man who practised medicine, and who called +himself Weirmarsh. + +"I had only just come in from the theatre when you telephoned me," Sir +Hugh said sharply on entering. "I am sorry I could make no appointment +to-day, but I was at the War Office all the morning, lunched at the +Carlton, and was afterwards quite full up." + +"There was no immediate hurry, Sir Hugh," responded the doctor with a +pleasant smile. "I quite understand that your many social engagements +prevented you from seeing me. I should have been round at noon, only I +was called out to an urgent case. Therefore no apology is needed--by +either of us." Then, after a pause, he looked sharply at the man seated +before him and asked: "I presume you have reconsidered your decision, +General, and will carry out my request?" + +"No, I have not decided to do that," was the old fellow's firm answer. +"It's too dangerous an exploit--far too dangerous. Besides, it means +ruin." + +"My dear sir," remarked the doctor, "you are viewing the matter in quite +a wrong light. There will be no suspicion providing you exercise due +caution." + +"And what would be the use of that, pray, when my secret will not be mine +alone? It is already known to half a dozen other persons--your +friends--any of whom might give me away." + +"It will not be known until afterwards--when you are safe. Therefore, +there will be absolutely no risk," the doctor assured him. + +The other, however, was no fool, and was still unconvinced. He knew well +that to carry out the request made by Weirmarsh involved considerable +risk. + +The doctor spoke quietly, but very firmly. In his demands he was always +inexorable. He had already hinted at the disaster which might fall upon +Sir Hugh if he refused to obey. Weirmarsh was, the general knew from +bitter experience, not a man to be trifled with. + +Completely and irrevocably he was in this man's hands. During the past +twenty-four hours the grave old fellow, who had faced death a hundred +times, had passed through a crisis of agony and despair. He hated +himself, and would even have welcomed death, would have courted it at +his own hands, had not these jeers of the doctor's rung in his ears. And, +after all, he had decided that suicide was only a coward's death. The man +who takes his own life to avoid exposure is always despised by his +friends. + +So he had lived, and had come down there in response to the doctor's +request over the telephone, resolved to face the music, if for the last +time. + +He sat in the shabby old arm-chair and firmly refused to carry out the +doctor's suggestion. But Weirmarsh, with his innate cunning, presented to +him a picture of exposure and degradation which held him horrified. + +"I should have thought, Sir Hugh, that in face of what must inevitably +result you would not risk exposure," he said. "Of course, it lies with +you entirely," he added with an unconcerned air. + +"I'm thinking of my family," the old officer said slowly. + +"Of the disgrace if the truth were known, eh?" + +"No; of the suspicion, nay, ruin and imprisonment, that would fall upon +another person," replied Sir Hugh. + +"No suspicion can be aroused if you are careful, I repeat," exclaimed +Weirmarsh impatiently. "Not a breath of suspicion has ever fallen upon +you up to the present, has it? No, because you have exercised foresight +and have followed to the letter the plans I made. I ask you, when you +have followed my advice have you ever gone wrong--have you ever taken one +false step?" + +"Never--since the first," replied the old soldier in a hard, bitter tone. + +"Then I urge you to continue to follow the advice I give you, namely, to +agree to the terms." + +"And who will be aware of the matter?" + +"Only myself," was Weirmarsh's reply. "And I think that you may trust a +secret with me?" + +The old man made no reply, and the crafty doctor wondered whether by +silence he very reluctantly gave his consent. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PAUL LE PONTOIS + + +THERE is in the far north-west of France a broad, white highway which +runs from Châlons, crosses the green Meuse valley, mounts the steep, +high, tree-fringed lands of the Côtes Lorraines, and goes almost straight +as an arrow across what was, before the war, the German frontier at +Mars-la-Tour into quaint old Metz, that town with ancient streets, +musical chimes, and sad monument to Frenchmen who fell in the disastrous +never-to-be-forgotten war of '70. + +This road has ever been one of the most strongly guarded highways in the +world, for, between the Moselle, at Metz, and the Meuse, the country is a +flat plain smiling under cultivation, with vines and cornfields +everywhere, and comfortable little homesteads of the peasantry. This was +once the great battlefield whereon Gravelotte was fought long ago, and +where the Prussians swept back the French like chaff before the wind, and +where France, later on, defeated the Crown Prince's army. The peasants, +in ploughing, daily turn up a rusty bayonet, a rotting gun-stock, a +skull, a thigh-bone, or some other hideous relic of those black days; +while the old men in their blouses sit of nights smoking and telling +thrilling stories of the ferocity of that helmeted enemy from yonder +across the winding Moselle. In recent days it has been again devastated +by the great world war, as its gaunt ruins mutely tell. + +That road, with its long line of poplars, after crossing the ante-war +French border, runs straight for twenty kilomètres towards the abrupt +range of high hills which form the natural frontier of France, and then, +at Haudiomont, enters a narrow pass, over twelve kilomètres long, before +it reaches the broad valley of the Meuse. This pass was, before 1914, one +of the four principal gateways into France from Germany. The others are +all within a short distance, fifteen kilomètres or so--at Commercy, which +is an important sous-prefecture, at Apremont, and at Eix. All have ever +been strongly guarded, but that at Haudiomont was most impregnable of +them all. + +Before 1914 great forts in which were mounted the most modern and the +most destructive artillery ever devised by man, commanded the whole +country far beyond the Moselle into Germany. Every hill-top bristled with +them, smaller batteries were in every coign of vantage, while those +narrow mountain passes could also be closed at any moment by being blown +up when the signal was given against the Hun invaders. + +On the German side were many fortresses, but none was so strong as these, +for the efforts of the French Ministry of War had, ever since the fall of +Napoleon III., been directed towards rendering the Côtes Lorraines +impassable. + +As one stands upon the road outside the tiny hamlet of Harville--a quaint +but half-destroyed little place consisting of one long street of ruined +whitewashed houses--and looks towards the hills eastward, low concrete +walls can be seen, half hidden, but speaking mutely of the withering +storm of shell that had, in 1914, burst from them and swept the land. + +Much can be seen of that chain of damaged fortresses, and the details of +most of them are now known. Of those great ugly fortifications at +Moulainville--the Belrupt Fort, which overlooks the Meuse; the +Daumaumont, commanding the road from Conflans to Azannes; the Paroches, +which stands directly over the highway from the Moselle at Moussin--we +have heard valiant stories, how the brave French defended them against +the armies of the Crown Prince. + +It was not upon these, however, that the French Army relied when, in +August, 1914, the clash of war resounded along that pleasant fertile +valley, where the sun seems ever to shine and the crops never fail. +Hidden away from the sight of passers-by upon the roads, protected from +sight by lines of sentries night and day, and unapproachable, save by +those immediately connected with them, were the secret defences, huge +forts with long-range ordnance, which rose, fired, and disappeared again, +offering no mark for the enemy. Constructed in strictest secrecy, there +were a dozen of such fortresses, the true details of which the Huns +vainly endeavoured to learn while they were war-plotting. Many a spy of +the Kaiser had tried to pry there and had been arrested and sentenced to +a long term of imprisonment. + +Those defences, placed at intervals along the chain of hills right from +Apremont away to Bezonvaux, had been the greatest secret which France +possessed. + +Within three kilomètres of the mouth of the pass at Haudiomont, at a +short distance from the road and at the edge of a wood, stood the ancient +Château de Lérouville, a small picturesque place of the days of Louis +XIV., with pretty lawns and old-world gardens--a château only in the +sense of being a country house and the residence of Paul Le Pontois, +once a captain in the French Army, but now retired. + +Shut off from the road by a high old wall, with great iron gates, it was +approached by a wide carriage-drive through a well-kept flower-garden to +a long _terrasse_ which ran the whole length of the house, and whereon, +in summer, it was the habit of the family to take their meals. + +Upon this veranda, one morning about ten days after the dinner party at +Hill Street, Sir Hugh, in a suit of light grey tweed, was standing +chatting with his son-in-law, a tall, brown-bearded, soldierly-looking +man. + +The autumn sun shone brightly over the rich vinelands, beyond which +stretched what was once the German Empire. + +Madame Le Pontois, a slim, dark-eyed, good-looking woman of thirty, was +still at table in the _salle-à-manger_, finishing her breakfast in the +English style with little Ninette, a pretty blue-eyed child of nine, +whose hair was tied on the top with wide white ribbon, and who spoke +English quite well. + +Her husband and her father had gone out upon the _terrasse_ to have their +cigarettes prior to their walk up the steep hillside to the fortress. + +Life in that rural district possessed few amusements outside the military +circle, though Paul Le Pontois was a civilian and lived upon the product +of the wine-lands of his estate. There were tennis parties, "fif' +o'clocks," croquet and bridge-playing in the various military houses +around, but beyond that--nothing. They were too far from a big town ever +to go there for recreation. Metz they seldom went to, and with Paris far +off, Madame Le Pontois was quite content, just as she had been when Paul +had been stationed in stifling Constantine, away in the interior of +Algeria. + +But she never complained. Devoted to her husband and to her laughing, +bright-eyed child, she loved the open-air life of the country, and with +such a commodious and picturesque house, one of the best in the district, +she thoroughly enjoyed every hour of her life. Paul possessed a private +income of fifty thousand francs, or nearly two thousand pounds a year, +therefore he was better off than the average run of post-war men. + +He was a handsome, distinguished-looking man. As he lolled against the +railing of the _terrasse_, gay with ivy-leaf geraniums, lazily smoking +his cigarette and laughing lightly with his father-in-law, he presented a +typical picture of the debonair Frenchman of the boulevards--elegance +combined with soldierly smartness. + +He had seen service in Tonquin, in Algeria, on the French Congo and in +the Argonne, and now his old company garrisoned Haudiomont, one of those +forts of enormous strength, which commanded the gate of France, and had +never been taken by the Crown Prince's army. + +"No," he was laughing, speaking in good English, "you in England, my dear +beaupère, do not yet realise the dangers of the future. Happily for you, +perhaps, because you have the barrier of the sea. Your writers used to +speak of your 'tight little island.' But I do not see much of that in +London journals now. Airships and aeroplanes have altered all that." + +"But you in France are always on the alert?" + +"Certainly. We have our new guns--terrible weapons they are--at St. +Mihiel and at Mouilly, and also in other forts in what was once German +territory," was Paul's reply. "The Huns--who, after peace, are preparing +for another war, have a Krupp gun for the same purpose, but at its trial +a few weeks ago at Pferzheim it was an utter failure. A certain +lieutenant was present at the trial, disguised as a German peasant. He +saw it all, returned here, and made an exhaustive report to Paris." + +"You do not believe in this peace, and in the sincerity of the enemy, +eh?" asked Sir Hugh, with his hands thrust deep into his trousers +pockets. + +"Certainly not," was Paul's prompt reply. "I am no longer in the army, +but it seems to me that to repair the damage done by the Kaiser's freak +performances in the international arena, quite a number of national +committees must be constituted under the auspices of the German +Government. There are the Anglo-German, the Austro-German, the +American-German and the Canadian-German committees, all to be formed in +their respective countries for the promotion of friendship and better +relations. But I tell you, Sir Hugh, that we in France know well that the +imposing names at the head of these committees are but too often on the +secret pay-rolls of the Wilhelmstrasse, and the honesty and sincerity of +the finely-worded manifestations of Hun friendship and goodwill appearing +above their signatures are generally nothing but mere blinds intended to +hoodwink statesmen and public opinion. Germany has, just as she had +before the war, her paid friends everywhere," he added, looking the +general full in the face. "In all classes of society are to be found the +secret agents of the Fatherland--men who are base traitors to their own +monarch and to their own land." + +"Let us go in. They are waiting for us. We are not interested in +espionage, either of us, are we?" + +"No," laughed Paul. "When I was in the army we heard a lot of this, but +all that is of the past--thanks to Heaven. There are other crimes in the +world just as bad, alas! as that of treachery to one's country." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LITTLE OLD FRENCHWOMAN + + +ALTHOUGH Sir Hugh had on frequent occasions been the guest of his +son-in-law at the pretty Château de Lérouville, he had never expressed a +wish, until the previous evening, to enter the Fortress of Haudiomont. + +As a military man he knew well how zealously the secrets of all +fortresses are guarded. + +When, on the previous evening, Le Pontois had declared that it would be +an easy matter for him to be granted a view of that great stronghold +hidden away among the hill-tops, he had remarked: "Of course, my dear +Paul, I would not for a moment dream of putting you into any awkward +position. Remember, I am an alien here, and a soldier also! I haven't any +desire to see the place." + +"Oh, there is no question of that so far as you are concerned, Sir Hugh," +Paul had declared with a light laugh. "The Commandant, who, of course, +knows you, asked me a month ago to bring you up next time you visited us. +He wished to make your acquaintance. In view of the recent war our +people are nowadays no longer afraid of England, you know!" + +So the visit had been arranged, and Sir Hugh was to take his _déjeuner_ +up at the fort. + +That day Blanche, with Enid, who had accompanied her stepfather, drove +the runabout car up the valley to the little station at Dieue-sur-Meuse, +and took train thence to Commercy, where Blanche wished to do some +shopping. + +So, when the two men had left to ascend the steep hillside, where the +great fortress lay concealed, Blanche, who had by long residence in +France become almost a Frenchwoman, kissed little Ninette _au revoir_, +mounted into the car, and, taking the wheel, drove Enid and Jean, the +servant, who, as a soldier, had served Paul during the war, away along +the winding valley. + +As they went along they passed a battalion of the 113th Regiment of the +Line, heavy with their knapsacks, their red trousers dusty, returning +from the long morning march, and singing as they went that very old +regimental ditty which every soldier of France knows so well: + + "_La Noire est fille du cannon + Qui se fout du qu'en dira-t-on. + Nous nous foutons de ses vertus, + Puisqu'elle a les tétons pointus. + Voilà pourquoi nous la chantons: + Vive la Noire et ses tétons!_" + +And as they passed the ladies the officer saluted. They were, Blanche +explained, on their way back to the great camp at Jarny. + +Bugles were sounding among the hills, while ever and anon came the low +boom of distant artillery at practice away in the direction of +Vigneulles-les-Hattonchatel, the headquarters of the sub-division of that +military region. + +It was Enid's first visit, and the activity about her surprised her. +Besides, the officers were extremely good-looking. + +Presently they approached a battery of artillery on the march, with their +rumbling guns and grey ammunition wagons, raising a cloud of dust as they +advanced. + +Blanche pulled the car up at the side of the road to allow them to pass, +and as she did so a tall, smartly-groomed major rode up to her, and, +saluting, exclaimed in French, "Bon jour, Madame! I intended to call upon +you this morning. My wife has heard that you have the general, your +father, visiting you, and we wanted to know if you would all come and +take dinner with us to-morrow night?" + +"I'm sure we'd be most delighted," replied Paul's wife, at the same time +introducing Enid to Major Delagrange. + +"My father has gone up to the fort with my husband," Blanche added, +bending over from the car. + +"Ah, then I shall meet them at noon," replied the smart officer, backing +his bay horse. "And you ladies are going out for a run, eh? Beautiful +morning! We've been out manoeuvring since six!" + +Blanche explained that they were on a shopping expedition to Commercy, +and then, saluting, Delagrange set spurs into his horse and galloped away +after the retreating battery. + +"That man's wife is one of my best friends. She speaks English very well, +and is quite a good sort. Delagrange and Paul were in Tonquin together +and are great friends." + +"I suppose you are never very dull here, with so much always going on?" +Enid remarked. "Why anyone would believe that a war was actually in +progress!" + +"This post of Eastern France never sleeps, my dear," was Madame's reply. +"While you in England remain secure in your island, we here never know +when trouble may again arise. Therefore, we are always preparing--and at +the same time always prepared." + +"It must be most exciting," declared the girl, "to live in such +uncertainty. Is the danger so very real, then?" she asked. "Father +generally pooh-poohs the notion of there being any further trouble with +Germany." + +"I know," was Blanche's answer. "He has been sceptical hitherto. He is +always suspicious of the Boche!" + +They had driven up to the little wayside station, and, giving the car +over to Jean with instructions to meet the five-forty train, they entered +a first-class compartment. + +Between Dieue and Commercy the railway follows the course of the Meuse +the whole way, winding up a narrow, fertile valley, the hills of which on +the right, which once were swept by the enemy's shells and completely +devastated, were all strongly fortified with great guns commanding the +plain that lies between the Meuse and the Moselle. + +They were passing through one of the most interesting districts in all +France--that quiet, fertile valley where stood peaceful, prosperous +homesteads, and where the sheep were once more calmly grazing--the valley +which for four years was so strongly contested, and where every village +had been more or less destroyed. + +At the headquarters of the Sixth Army Corps of France much was known, +much that was still alarming. It was that knowledge which urged on those +ever active military preparations, for placing that district of France +that had been ravaged by the Hun in the Great War in a state of complete +fortification as a second line of defence should trouble again arise. + +Thoughts such as these arose in Enid's mind as she sat in silence looking +forth upon the panorama of green hills and winding stream as they slowly +approached the quaint town of Commercy. + +Arrived there, the pair lunched at the old-fashioned Hôtel de Paris, +under the shadow of the great château, once the residence of the Dukes de +Lorraine, and much damaged in the war, but nowadays a hive of activity as +an infantry barracks. And afterwards they went forth to do their shopping +in the busy little Rue de la République, not forgetting to buy a box of +"madeleines." As shortbread is the specialty of Edinburgh, as +butterscotch is that of Doncaster, "maids-of-honour" that of Richmond, +and strawberry jam that of Bar-le-Duc, so are "madeleines" the special +cakes of Commercy. + +The town was full of officers and soldiers. In every café officers were +smoking cigarettes and gossiping after their _déjeuner_; while ever and +anon bugles sounded, and there was the clang and clatter of military +movement. + +As the two ladies approached the big bronze statue of Dom Calmet, the +historian, they passed a small café. Suddenly a man idling within over a +newspaper sprang to his feet in surprise, and next second drew back as if +in fear of observation. + +It was Walter Fetherston. He had come up from Nancy that morning, and had +since occupied the time in strolling about seeing the sights of the +little place. + +His surprise at seeing Enid was very great. He knew that she was staying +in the vicinity, but had never expected to see her so quickly. + +The lady who accompanied her he guessed to be her stepsister; indeed, he +had seen a photograph of her at Hill Street. Had Enid been alone, he +would have rushed forth to greet her; but he had no desire at the moment +that his presence should be known to Madame Le Pontois. He was there to +watch, and to meet Enid--but alone. + +So after a few moments he cautiously went forth from the café, and +followed the two ladies at a respectful distance, until he saw them +complete their purchases and afterwards enter the station to return home. + +On his return to the hotel he made many inquiries of monsieur the +proprietor concerning the distance to Haudiomont, and learned a good deal +about the military works there which was of the greatest interest. The +hotel-keeper, a stout Alsatian, was a talkative person, and told Walter +nearly all he wished to know. + +Since leaving Charing Cross five days before he had been ever active. On +his arrival in Paris he had gone to the apartment of Colonel Maynard, the +British military attaché, and spent the evening with him. Then, at one +o'clock next morning, he had hurriedly taken his bag and left for Dijon, +where at noon he had been met in the Café de la Rotonde by a little +wizen-faced old Frenchwoman in seedy black, who had travelled for two +days and nights in order to meet him. + +Together they had walked out on that unfrequented road beyond the Place +Darcy, chatting confidentially as they went, the old lady speaking +emphatically and with many gesticulations as they walked. + +Truth to tell, this insignificant-looking person was a woman of many +secrets. She was a "friend" of the Sûreté Générale in Paris. She lived, +and lived well, in a pretty apartment in Paris upon the handsome salary +which she received regularly each quarter. But she was seldom at home. +Like Walter, her days were spent travelling hither and thither across +Europe. + +It would surprise the public if it were aware of the truth--the truth of +how, in every country in Europe, there are secret female agents of +police who (for a monetary consideration, of course) keep watch in great +centres where the presence of a man would be suspected. + +This secret police service is distinctly apart from the detective +service. The female police agent in all countries works independently, at +the orders of the Director of Criminal Investigation, and is known to him +and his immediate staff. + +Whatever information that wrinkled-faced old Frenchwoman in shabby black +had imparted to Fetherston it was of an entirely confidential character. +It, however, caused him to leave her about three o'clock, hurry to the +Gare Porte-Neuve, and, after hastily swallowing a liqueur of brandy in +the buffet, depart for Langres. + +Thence he had travelled to Nancy, where he had taken up quarters at the +Grand Hotel in the Place Stanislas, and had there remained for two days +in order to rest. + +He would not have idled those autumn days away so lazily, even though he +so urgently required rest after that rapid travelling, had he but known +that the person who occupied the next room to his--that middle-aged +commercial traveller--an entirely inoffensive person who possessed a red +beard, and who had given the name of Jules Dequanter, and his nationality +as Belgian, native of Liège--was none other than Gustav Heureux, the man +who had been recalled from New York by the evasive doctor of Pimlico. + +And further, Fetherston, notwithstanding his acuteness in observation, +was in blissful ignorance, as he strolled back from the station at +Commercy, up the old-world street, that a short distance behind him, +carefully watching all his movements, was the man Joseph Blot +himself--the man known in dingy Pimlico as Dr. Weirmarsh. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IF ANYONE KNEW + + +SIR HUGH ELCOMBE spent a most interesting and instructive day within the +Fortress of Haudiomont. He really did not want to go. The visit bored +him. The world was at peace, and there was no incentive to espionage as +there had been in pre-war days. + +General Henri Molon, the commandant, greeted him cordially and himself +showed him over a portion of the post-war defences which were kept such a +strict secret from everyone. The general did not, however, show his +distinguished guest everything. Such things as the new anti-aircraft gun, +the exact disposition of the huge mines placed in the valley between +there and Rozellier, so that at a given signal both road and railway +tracks could be destroyed, he did not point out. There were other matters +to which the smart, grey-haired, old French general deemed it unwise to +refer, even though his visitor might be a high official of a friendly +Power. + +Sir Hugh noticed all this and smiled inwardly. He wandered about the +bomb-proof case-mates hewn out of the solid rock, caring nothing for the +number and calibre of the guns, their armoured protection, or the +chart-like diagrams upon the walls, ranges and the like. + +"What a glorious evening!" Paul was saying as, at sunset, they set their +faces towards the valley beyond which lay shattered Germany. That +peaceful land, the theatre of the recent war, lay bathed in the soft rose +of the autumn afterglow, while the bright clearness of the sky, +pale-green and gold, foretold a frost. + +"Yes, splendid!" responded his father-in-law mechanically; but he was +thinking of something far more serious than the beauties of the western +sky. He was thinking of the grip in which he was held by the doctor of +Pimlico. At any moment, if he cared to collapse, he could make ten +thousand pounds in a single day. The career of many a man has been +blasted for ever by the utterance of cruel untruths or the repetition of +vague suspicions. Was his son-in-law, Le Pontois, in jeopardy? He could +not think that he was. How could the truth come out? Sir Hugh asked +himself. It never had before--though his friend had made a million +sterling, and there was no reason whatever why it should come out now. He +had tested Weirmarsh thoroughly, and knew him to be a man to be trusted. + +As he strolled on at his son-in-law's side, chatting to him, he was full +of anxiety as to the future. He had left England, it was true. He had +defied the doctor. But the latter had been inexorable. If he continued in +his defiance, then ruin must inevitably come to him. + +Blanche and Enid had already returned, and at dusk all four sat down to +dinner together with little Ninette, for whom "Aunt Enid" had brought a +new doll which had given the child the greatest delight. + +The meal ended, the bridge-table was set in the pretty salon adjoining, +and several games were played until Sir Hugh, pleading fatigue, at last +ascended to his room. + +Within, he locked the door and cast himself into a chair before the big +log fire to think. + +That day had indeed been a strenuous one--strenuous for any man. So +occupied had been his brain that he scarcely recollected any +conversations with those smart debonair officers to whom Paul had +introduced him. + +As he sat there he closed his eyes, and before him arose visions of +interviews in dingy offices in London, one of them behind Soho Square. + +For a full hour he sat there immovable as a statue, reflecting, ever +recalling the details of those events. + +Suddenly he sprang to his feet with clenched hands. + +"My God!" he cried, his teeth set and countenance pale. "My God! If +anybody ever knew the truth!" + +He crossed to the window, drew aside the blind, and looked out upon the +moonlit plains. + +Below, his daughter was still playing the piano and singing an old +English ballad. + +"She's happy, ah! my dear Blanche!" the old man murmured between his +teeth. "But if suspicion falls upon me? Ah! if it does; then it means +ruin to them both--ruin because of a dastardly action of mine!" + +He returned unsteadily to his chair, and sat staring straight into the +embers, his hands to his hot, fevered brow. More than once he +sighed--sighed heavily, as a man when fettered and compelled to act +against his better nature. + +Again he heard his daughter's voice below, now singing a gay little +French chanson, a song of the café chantant and of the Paris boulevards. + +In a flash there recurred to him every incident of those dramatic +interviews with the Mephistophelean doctor. He would at that moment have +given his very soul to be free of that calm, clever, insinuating man who, +while providing him with a handsome, even unlimited income, yet at the +same time held him irrevocably in the hollow of his hand. + +He, a brilliant British soldier with a magnificent record, honoured by +his sovereign, was, after all, but a tool of that obscure doctor, the man +who had come into his life to rescue him from bankruptcy and disgrace. + +When he reflected he bit his lip in despair. Yet there was no way +out--_none_! Weirmarsh had really been most generous. The cosy house in +Hill Street, the smart little entertainments which his wife gave, the bit +of shooting he rented up in the Highlands, were all paid for with the +money which the doctor handed him in Treasury notes with such regularity. + +Yes, Weirmarsh was generous, but he was nevertheless exacting, terribly +exacting. His will was the will of others. + +The blazing logs had died down to a red mass, the voice of Blanche had +ceased. He had heard footsteps an hour ago in the corridor outside, and +knew that the family had retired. There was not a sound. All were asleep, +save the sentries high upon that hidden fortress. Again the old general +sighed wearily. His grey face now wore an expression of resignation. He +had thought it all out, and saw that to resist and refuse would only +spell ruin for both himself and his family. He had but himself to blame +after all. He had taken one false step, and he had been held inexorably +to his contract. + +So he yawned wearily, rose, stretched himself, and then, pacing the room +twice, at last turned up the lamp and placed it upon the small +writing-table at the foot of the bed. Afterwards he took from his +suit-case a quire of ruled foolscap paper and a fountain pen, and, +seating himself, sat for some time with his head in his hands deep in +thought. Suddenly the clock in the big hall below chimed two upon its +peal of silvery bells. This aroused him, and, taking up his pen, he began +to write. + +Ever and anon as he wrote he sat back and reflected. + +Hour after hour he sat there, bent to the table, his pen rapidly +travelling over the paper. He wrote down many figures and was making +calculations. + +At half-past four he put down his pen. The sum was not complete, but it +was one which he knew would end his career and bring him into the dock of +a criminal court, and Weirmarsh and others would stand beside him. + +All this he had done in entire ignorance of one startling fact--namely, +that outside his window for the past hour a dark figure had been +standing in an insecure position upon the lead guttering of the wing of +the château which ran out at right angles, leaning forward and peering in +between the blind and the window-frame, watching with interest all that +had been in progress. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CONCERNS THE PAST + + +ONE evening, a few days after Sir Hugh had paid another visit to +Haudiomont, he was smoking with Paul prior to retiring to bed when the +conversation drifted upon money matters--some investment he had made in +England in his wife's name. + +Paul had allowed his father-in-law to handle some of his money in +England, for Sir Hugh was very friendly with a man named Hewett in the +City, who had on several occasions put him on good things. + +Indeed, just before Sir Hugh had left London he had had a wire from Paul +to sell some shares at a big profit, and he had brought over the proceeds +in Treasury notes, quite a respectable sum. There had been a matter of +concealing certain payments, Sir Hugh explained, and that was why he had +brought over the money instead of a cheque. + +As they were chatting Sir Hugh, referring to the transaction, said: + +"Hewett suggested that I should have it in notes--four five-hundred Bank +of England ones and the rest in Treasury notes." + +"I sent them to the Crédit Lyonnais a few days ago," replied his +son-in-law. "Really, Sir Hugh, you did a most excellent bit of business +with Hewett. I hope you profited yourself." + +"Yes, a little bit," laughed the old general. "Can't complain, you know. +I'm glad you've sent the notes to the bank. It was a big sum to keep in +the house here." + +"Yes, I see only to-day they've credited me with them," was his reply. "I +hope you can induce Hewett to do a bit more for us. Those aeroplane +shares are still going up, I see by the London papers." + +"And they'll continue to do so, my dear Paul," was the reply. "But those +Bolivian four per cents. of yours I'd sell if I were you. They'll never +be higher." + +"You don't think so?" + +"Hewett warned me. He told me to tell you. Of course, you're richer than +I am, and can afford to keep them. Only I warn you." + +"Very well," replied the younger man, "when you get back, sell them, will +you?" + +And Sir Hugh promised that he would give instructions to that effect. + +"Really, my dear beau-père," Paul said, "you've been an awfully good +friend to me. Since I left the army I've made quite a big sum out of my +speculations in London." + +"And mostly paid with English notes, eh?" laughed the elder man. + +"Yes. Just let me see." And, taking a piece of paper, he sat down at the +writing-table and made some quick calculations of various sums. Upon one +side he placed the money he had invested, and on the other the profits, +at last striking a balance at the end. Then he told the general the +figure. + +"Quite good," declared Sir Hugh. "I'm only too glad, my dear Paul, to be +of any assistance to you. I fear you are vegetating here. But as long as +your wife doesn't mind it, what matters?" + +"Blanche loves this country--which is fortunate, seeing that I have this +big place to attend to." And as he said this he rose, screwed up the +sheet of thin note-paper, and tossed it into the waste-paper basket. + +The pair separated presently, and Sir Hugh went to his room. He was eager +and anxious to get away and return to London, but there was a difficulty. +Enid, who had lately taken up amateur theatricals, had accepted an +invitation to play in a comedy to be given at General Molon's house in a +week's time in aid of the Croix Rouge. Therefore he was compelled to +remain on her account. + +On the following afternoon Blanche drove him in her car through the +beautiful Bois de Hermeville, glorious in its autumn gold, down to the +quaint old village of Warcq, to take "fif o'clock" at the château with +the Countess de Pierrepont, Paul's widowed aunt. + +Enid had pleaded a headache, but as soon as the car had driven away she +roused herself, and, ascending to her room, put on strong country boots +and a leather-hemmed golf skirt, and, taking a stick, set forth down the +high road lined with poplars in the direction of Mars-la-Tour. + +About a mile from Lérouville she came to the cross-roads, the one to the +south leading over the hills to Vigneulles, while the one to the north +joined the highway to Longuyon. For a moment she paused, then turning +into the latter road, which at that point was little more than a byway, +hurried on until she came to the fringe of a wood, where, upon her +approach, a man in dark grey tweeds came forth to meet her with swinging +gait. + +It was Walter Fetherston. + +He strode quickly in her direction, and when they met he held her small +hand in his and for a moment gazed into her dark eyes without uttering a +word. + +"At last!" he cried. "I was afraid that you had not received my +message--that it might have been intercepted." + +"I got it early this morning," was her reply, her cheeks flushing with +pleasure; "but I was unable to get away before my father and Blanche went +out. They pressed me to go with them, so I had to plead a headache." + +"I am so glad we've met," Fetherston said. "I have been here in the +vicinity for days, yet I feared to come near you lest your father should +recognise me." + +"But why are you here?" she inquired, strolling slowly at his side. "I +thought you were in London." + +"I'm seldom in London," he responded. "Nowadays I am constantly on the +move." + +"Travelling in search of fresh material for your books, I suppose? I read +in a paper the other day that you never describe a place in your stories +without first visiting it. If so, you must travel a great deal," the girl +remarked. + +"I do," he answered briefly. "And very often I travel quickly." + +"But why are you here?" + +"For several reasons--the chief being to see you, Enid." + +For a moment the girl did not reply. This man's movements so often +mystified her. He seemed ubiquitous. In one single fortnight he had sent +her letters from Paris, Stockholm, Hamburg, Vienna and Constanza. His +huge circle of friends was unequalled. In almost every city on the +Continent he knew somebody, and he was a perfect encyclopædia of travel. +His strange reticence, however, always increased the mystery surrounding +him. Those vague whispers concerning him had reached her ears, and she +often wondered whether half she heard concerning him was true. + +If a man prefers not to speak of himself or of his doings, his enemies +will soon invent some tale of their own. And thus it was in Walter's +case. Men had uttered foul calumnies concerning him merely because they +believed him to be eccentric and unsociable. + +But Enid Orlebar, though she somehow held him in suspicion, nevertheless +liked him. In certain moods he possessed that dash and devil-may-care air +which pleases most women, providing the man is a cosmopolitan. + +He was ever courteous, ever solicitous for her welfare. + +She had known he loved her ever since they had first met. Indeed, has he +not told her so? + +As they walked together down that grass-grown byway through the wood, +where the brown leaves were floating down with every gust, she glanced +into his pale, dark, serious face and wondered. In her nostrils was the +autumn perfume of the woods, and as they strode forward in silence a +rabbit scuttled from their path. + +"You are, no doubt, surprised that I am here," he commenced at last. "But +it is in your interests, Enid." + +"In my interests?" she echoed. "Why?" + +"Regarding the secret relations between your stepfather and Doctor +Weirmarsh," he answered. + +"That same question we've discussed before," she said. "The doctor is +attending to his practice in Pimlico; he does not concern us here." + +"I fear that he does," was Fetherston's quiet response. "That man holds +your stepfather's future in his hand." + +"How--how can he?" + +"By the same force by which he holds that indescribable influence over +you." + +"You believe, then, that he possesses some occult power?" + +"Not at all. His power is the power which every evil man possesses. And +as far as my observation goes, I can detect that Sir Hugh has fallen +into some trap which has been cunningly prepared for him." + +Enid gasped and her countenance blanched. + +"You believe, then, that those consultations I have had with the doctor +are at his own instigation?" + +"Most certainly. Sir Hugh hates Weirmarsh, but, fearing exposure, he must +obey the fellow's will." + +"But cannot you discover the truth?" asked the girl eagerly. "Cannot we +free my stepfather? He's such a dear old fellow, and is always so good +and kind to my mother and myself." + +"That is exactly my object in asking you to meet me here, Enid," said the +novelist, his countenance still thoughtful and serious. + +"How can I assist?" she asked quickly. "Only explain, and I will act upon +any suggestion you may make." + +"You can assist by giving me answers to certain questions," was his slow +reply. The inquiry was delicate and difficult to pursue without arousing +the girl's suspicions as to the exact situation and the hideous scandal +in progress. + +"What do you wish to know?" she asked in some surprise, for she saw by +his countenance that he was deeply in earnest. + +"Well," he said, with some little hesitation, glancing at her pale, +handsome face as he walked by her side, "I fear you may think me too +inquisitive--that the questions I'm going to ask are out of sheer +curiosity." + +"I shall not if by replying I can assist my stepfather to escape from +that man's thraldom." + +He was silent for a moment; then he said slowly: "I think Sir Hugh was in +command of a big training camp in Norfolk early in the war, was he not?" + +"Yes. I went with him, and we stayed for about three months at the King's +Head at Beccles." + +"And during the time you were at the King's Head, did the doctor ever +visit Sir Hugh?" + +"Yes; the doctor stayed several times at the Royal at Lowestoft. We both +motored over on several occasions and dined with him. Doctor Weirmarsh +was not well, so he had gone to the east coast for a change." + +"And he also came over to Beccles to see your stepfather?" + +"Yes; twice, or perhaps three times. One evening after dinner, I +remember, they left the hotel and went for a long walk together. I +recollect it well, for I had been out all day and had a bad headache. +Therefore, the doctor went along to the chemist's on his way out and +ordered me a draught." + +"You took it?" + +"Yes; and I went to sleep almost immediately, and did not wake up till +very late next morning," she replied. + +"You recollect, too, a certain man named Bellairs?" + +"Ah, yes!" she sighed. "How very sad it was! Poor Captain Bellairs was a +great favourite of the general, and served on his staff." + +"He was with him in the Boer War, was he not?" + +"Yes. But how do you know all this?" asked the girl, looking curiously at +her questioner and turning slightly paler. + +"Well," he replied evasively, "I--I've been told so, and wished to know +whether it was a fact. You and he were friends, eh?" he asked after a +pause. + +For a moment the girl did not reply. A flood of sad memories swept +through her mind at the mention of Harry Bellairs. + +"Yes," she replied, "we were great friends. He took me to concerts and +matinées in town sometimes. Sir Hugh always said he was a man bound to +make his mark. He had earned his D.S.O. with French at Mons and was twice +mentioned in dispatches." + +"And you, Enid," he said, still speaking very slowly, his dark eyes fixed +upon hers, "you would probably have consented to become Mrs. Bellairs had +he lived to ask you? Tell me the truth." + +Her eyes were cast down; he saw in them the light of unshed tears. + +"Pardon me for referring to such a painful subject," he hastened to say, +"but it is imperative." + +"I thought that you were--were unaware of the sad affair," she faltered. + +"So I was until quite recently," he replied. "I know how deeply it must +pain you to speak of it, but will you please explain to me the actual +facts? I know that you are better acquainted with them than anyone else." + +"The facts of poor Harry's death," she repeated hoarsely, as though +speaking to herself. "Why recall them? Oh! why recall them?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +REVEALS A CURIOUS PROBLEM + + +THE countenance of Enid Orlebar had changed; her cheeks were deathly +white, and her face was sufficient index to a mind overwhelmed with grief +and regret. + +"I asked you to explain, because I fear that my information may be +faulty. Captain Bellairs died--_died suddenly_, did he not?" + +"Yes. It was a great blow to my stepfather," the girl said; "and--and by +his unfortunate death I lost one of my best friends." + +"Tell me exactly how it occurred. I believe the tragic event happened on +September the second, did it not?" + +"Yes," she replied. "Mother and I had been staying at the White Hart at +Salisbury while Sir Hugh had been inspecting some troops. Captain +Bellairs had been with us, as usual, but had been sent up to London by my +stepfather. That same day I returned to London alone on my way to a visit +up in Yorkshire, and arrived at Hill Street about seven o'clock. At a +quarter to ten at night I received an urgent note from Captain Bellairs, +brought by a messenger, and written in a shaky hand, asking me to call at +once at his chambers in Half Moon Street. He explained that he had been +taken suddenly ill, and that he wished to see me upon a most important +and private matter. He asked me to go to him, as it was most urgent. +Mother and I had been to his chambers to tea several times before; +therefore, realising the urgency of his message, I found a taxi and went +at once to him." + +She broke off short, and with difficulty swallowed the lump which arose +in her throat. + +"Well?" asked Fetherston in a low, sympathetic voice. + +"When I arrived," she said, "I--I found him lying dead! He had expired +just as I ascended the stairs." + +"Then you learned nothing, eh?" + +"Nothing," she said in a low voice. "I have ever since wondered what +could have been the private matter upon which he so particularly desired +to see me. He felt death creeping upon him, or--or else he knew himself +to be a doomed man--or he would never have penned me that note." + +"The letter in question was not mentioned at the inquest?" + +"No. My stepfather urged me to regard the affair as a strict secret. He +feared a scandal because I had gone to Harry's rooms." + +"You have no idea, then, what was the nature of the communication which +the captain wished to make to you?" asked the novelist. + +"Not the slightest," replied the girl, yet with some hesitation. "It is +all a mystery--a mystery which has ever haunted me--a mystery which +haunts me now!" + +They had halted, and were standing together beneath a great oak, already +partially bare of leaves. He looked into her beautiful face, sweet and +full of purity as a child's. Then, in a low, intense voice, he said: +"Cannot you be quite frank with me, Enid--cannot you give me more minute +details of the sad affair? Captain Bellairs was in his usual health that +day when he left you at Salisbury, was he not?" + +"Oh, yes. I drove him to the station in our car." + +"Have you any idea why your stepfather sent him up to London?" + +"Not exactly, except that at breakfast he said to my mother that he must +send Bellairs up to London. That was all." + +"And at his rooms, whom did you find?" + +"Barker, his man," she replied. "The story he told me was a curious one, +namely, that his master had arrived from Salisbury at two o'clock, and +at half-past two had sent him out upon a message down to Richmond. On his +return, a little after five, he found his master absent, but the place +smelt strongly of perfume, which seemed to point to the fact that the +captain had had a lady visitor." + +"He had no actual proof of that?" exclaimed Fetherston, interrupting. + +"I think not. He surmised it from the fact that his master disliked +scent, even in his toilet soap. Again, upon the table in the hall +Barker's quick eye noticed a small white feather; this he showed me, and +it was evidently from a feather boa. In the fire-grate a letter had been +burnt. These two facts had aroused the man-servant's curiosity." + +"What time did the captain return?" + +"Almost immediately. He changed into his dinner jacket, and went forth +again, saying that he intended to dine at the Naval and Military Club, +and return to his rooms in time to change and catch the eleven-fifteen +train from Waterloo for Salisbury that same night. He even told Barker +which suit of clothes to prepare. It seems, however, that he came in +about a quarter-past nine, and sent Barker on a message to Waterloo +Station. On the man's return he found his master fainting in his +arm-chair. He called Barker to get him a glass of water--his throat +seemed on fire, he said. Then, obtaining pen and paper, he wrote that +hurried message to me. Barker stated that three minutes after addressing +the envelope he fell into a state of coma, the only word he uttered being +my name." And she pressed her lips together. + +"It is evident, then, that he earnestly desired to speak to you--to tell +you something," her companion remarked. + +"Yes," she went on quickly. "I found him lying back in his big arm-chair, +quite dead. Barker had feared to leave his side, and summoned the doctor +and messenger-boy by telephone. When I entered, however, the doctor had +not arrived." + +"It was a thousand pities that you were too late. He wished to make some +important statement to you, without a doubt." + +"I rushed to him at once, but, alas! was just too late." + +"He carried that secret, whatever it was, with him to the grave," +Fetherston said reflectively. "I wonder what it could have been?" + +"Ah!" sighed the girl, her face yet paler. "I wonder--I constantly +wonder." + +"The doctors who made the post-mortem could not account for the death, I +believe. I have read the account of the inquest." + +"Ah! then you know what transpired there," the girl said quickly. "I was +in court, but was not called as a witness. There was no reason why I +should be asked to make any statement, for Barker, in his evidence, made +no mention of the letter which the dead man had sent me. I sat and heard +the doctors--both of whom expressed themselves puzzled. The coroner put +it to them whether they suspected foul play, but the reply they gave was +a distinctly negative one." + +"The poor fellow's death was a mystery," her companion said. "I noticed +that an open verdict was returned." + +"Yes. The most searching inquiry was made, although the true facts +regarding it were never made public. Sir Hugh explained one day at the +breakfast-table that in addition to the two doctors who made the +examination of the body, Professors Dale and Boyd, the analysts of the +Home Office, also made extensive experiments, but could detect no symptom +of poisoning." + +"Where he had dined that night has never been discovered, eh?" + +"Never. He certainly did not dine at the club." + +"He may have dined with his lady visitor," Fetherston remarked, his eyes +fixed upon her. + +She hesitated for a moment, as though unwilling to admit that Bellairs +should have entertained the unknown lady in secret. + +"He may have done so, of course," she said with some reluctance. + +"Was there any other fact beside the feather which would lead one to +suppose that a lady had visited him?" + +"Only the perfume. Barker declared that it was a sweet scent, such as he +had never smelt before. The whole place 'reeked with it,' as he put it." + +"No one saw the lady call at his chambers?" + +"Nobody came forward with any statement," replied the girl. "I myself +made every inquiry possible, but, as you know, a woman is much +handicapped in such a matter. Barker, who was devoted to his master, +spared no effort, but he has discovered nothing." + +"For aught we know to the contrary, Captain Bellairs' death may have been +due to perfectly natural causes," Fetherston remarked. + +"It may have been, but the fact of his mysterious lady visitor, and that +he dined at some unknown place on that evening, aroused my suspicions. +Yet there was no evidence whatever either of poison or of foul play." + +Fetherston raised his eyes and shot a covert glance at her--a glance of +distinct suspicion. His keen, calm gaze was upon her, noting the unusual +expression upon her countenance, and how her gloved fingers had clenched +themselves slightly as she had spoken. Was she telling him all that she +knew concerning the extraordinary affair? That was the question which had +arisen at that moment within his mind. + +He had perused carefully the cold, formal reports which had appeared in +the newspapers concerning the "sudden death" of Captain Henry Bellairs, +and had read suspicion between the lines, as only one versed in mysteries +of crime could read. Were not such mysteries the basis of his profession? +He had been first attracted by it as a possible plot for a novel, but, on +investigation, had discovered, to his surprise, that Bellairs had been +Sir Hugh's trusted secretary and the friend of Enid Orlebar. + +The poor fellow had died in a manner both sudden and mysterious, as a +good many persons die annually. To the outside world there was no +suspicion whatever of foul play. + +Yet, being in possession of certain secret knowledge, Fetherston had +formed a theory--one that was amazing and startling--a theory which he +had, after long deliberation, made up his mind to investigate and prove. + +This girl had loved Harry Bellairs before he had met her, and because of +it the poor fellow had fallen beneath the hand of a secret assassin. + +She stood there in ignorance that he had already seen and closely +questioned Barker in London, and that the man had made an admission, an +amazing statement--namely, that the subtle Eastern perfume upon Enid +Orlebar, when she arrived so hurriedly and excitedly at Half Moon Street, +was the same which had greeted his nostrils when he entered his master's +chambers on his return from that errand upon which he had been sent. + +Enid Orlebar had been in the captain's rooms during his absence! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE MYSTERIOUS MR. MALTWOOD + + +NOW Enid Orlebar's story contained several discrepancies. + +She had declared that she arrived at Hill Street about seven o'clock on +that fateful second of September. That might be true, but might she not +have arrived after her secret visit to Half Moon Street? + +In suppressing the fact that she had been there at all she had acted with +considerable foresight. Naturally, her parents were not desirous of the +fact being stated publicly that she had gone alone to a bachelor's rooms, +and they had, therefore, assisted her to preserve the secret--known only +to Barker and to the doctor. Yet her evidence had been regarded as +immaterial, hence she had not been called as witness. + +Only Barker had suspected. That unusual perfume about her had puzzled +him. Yet how could he make any direct charge against the general's +stepdaughter, who had always been most generous to him in the matter of +tips? Besides, did not the captain write a note to her with his last +dying effort? + +What proof was there that the pair had not dined together? Fetherston had +already made diligent inquiries at Hill Street, and had discovered from +the butler that Miss Enid, on her arrival home from Salisbury, had +changed her gown and gone out in a taxi at a quarter to eight. She had +dined out--but where was unknown. + +It was quite true that she had come in before ten o'clock, and soon +afterwards had received a note by boy-messenger. + +In view of these facts it appeared quite certain to Fetherston that Enid +and Harry Bellairs had taken dinner _tête-à-tête_ at some quiet +restaurant. She was a merry, high-spirited girl to whom such an adventure +would certainly appeal. + +After dinner they had parted, and he had driven to his rooms. Then, +feeling his strength failing, he had hastily summoned her to his side. + +Why? + +If he had suspected her of being the author of any foul play he most +certainly would not have begged her to come to him in his last moments. +No. The enigma grew more and more inscrutable. + +And yet there was a motive for poor Bellairs' tragic end--one which, in +the light of his own knowledge, seemed only too apparent. + +He strolled on beside the fair-faced girl, deep in wonder. Recollections +of that devil-may-care cavalry officer who had been such a good friend +clouded her brow, and as she walked her eyes were cast upon the ground in +silent reflection. + +She was wondering whether Walter Fetherston had guessed the truth, that +she had loved that man who had met with such an untimely end. + +Her companion, on his part, was equally puzzled. That story of Barker's +finding a white feather was a curious one. It was true that the man had +found a white feather--but he had also learnt that when Enid Orlebar had +arrived at Hill Street she had been wearing a white feather boa! + +"It is not curious, after all," he said reflectively, "that the police +should have dismissed the affair as a death from natural causes. At the +inquest no suspicion whatever was aroused. I wonder why Barker, in his +evidence, made no mention of that perfume--or of the discovery of the +feather?" + +And as he uttered those words he fixed his grave eyes upon her, watching +her countenance intently. + +"Well," she replied, after a moment's hesitation, "if he had it would +have proved nothing, would it? If the captain had received a lady visitor +in secret that afternoon it might have had no connection with the +circumstances of his death six hours later." + +"And yet it might," Fetherston remarked. "What more natural than that the +lady who visited him clandestinely--for Barker had, no doubt, been sent +out of the way on purpose that he should not see her--should have dined +with him later?" + +The girl moved uneasily, tapping the ground with her stick. + +"Then you suspect some woman of having had a hand in his death?" she +exclaimed in a changed voice, her eyes again cast upon the ground. + +"I do not know sufficient of the details to entertain any distinct +suspicion," he replied. "I regard the affair as a mystery, and in +mysteries I am always interested." + +"You intend to bring the facts into a book," she remarked. "Ah! I see." + +"Perhaps--if I obtain a solution of the enigma--for enigma it certainly +is." + +"You agree with me, then, that poor Harry was the victim of foul play?" +she asked in a low, intense voice, eagerly watching his face the while. + +"Yes," he answered very slowly, "and, further, that the woman who visited +him that afternoon was an accessory. Harry Bellairs was _murdered_!" + +Her cheeks blanched and she went pale to the lips. He saw the sudden +change in her, and realised what a supreme effort she was making to +betray no undue alarm. But the effect of his cold, calm words had been +almost electrical. He watched her countenance slowly flushing, but +pretended not to notice her confusion. And so he walked on at her side, +full of wonderment. + +How much did she know? Why, indeed, had Harry Bellairs fallen the victim +of a secret assassin? + +No trained officer of the Criminal Investigation Department was more +ingenious in making secret inquiries, more clever in his subterfuges or +in disguising his real objects, than Walter Fetherston. Possessed of +ample means, and member of that secret club called "Our Society," which +meets at intervals and is the club of criminologists, and pursuing the +detection of crime as a pastime, he had on many occasions placed Scotland +Yard and the Sûreté in Paris in possession of information which had +amazed them and which had earned for him the high esteem of those in +office as Ministers of the Interior in Paris, Rome and in London. + +The case of Captain Henry Bellairs he had taken up merely because he +recognised in it some unusual circumstances, and without sparing effort +he had investigated it rapidly and secretly from every standpoint. He had +satisfied himself. Certain knowledge that he had was not possessed by any +officer at Scotland Yard, and only by reason of that secret knowledge had +he been able to arrive at the definite conclusion that there had been a +strong motive for the captain's death, and that if he had been secretly +poisoned--which seemed to be the case, in spite of the analysts' +evidence--then he had been poisoned by the velvet hand of a woman. + +Walter Fetherston was ever regretting his inability to put any of the +confidential information he acquired into his books. + +"If I could only write half the truth of what I know, people would +declare it to be fiction," he had often assured intimate friends. And +those friends had pondered and wondered to what he referred. + +He wrote of crime, weaving those wonderful romances which held breathless +his readers in every corner of the globe, and describing criminals and +life's undercurrents with such fidelity that even criminals themselves +had expressed wonder as to how and whence he obtained his accurate +information. + +But the public were in ignorance that, in his character of Mr. Maltwood, +he pursued a strange profession, one which was fraught with more romance +and excitement than any other calling a man could adopt. In comparison +with his life that of a detective was really a tame one; while such +success had he obtained that in a certain important official circle in +London he was held in highest esteem and frequently called into +consultation. + +Walter Fetherston, the quiet, reticent novelist, was entirely different +from the gay, devil-may-care Maltwood, the accomplished linguist, +thorough-going cosmopolitan and constant traveller, the easy-going man of +means known in society in every European capital. + +Because of this his few friends who were aware of his dual personality +were puzzled. + +At the girl's side he strode on along the road which still led through +the wood, the road over which every evening rumbled the old +post-diligence on its way through the quaint old town of Etain to the +railway at Spincourt. On that very road a battalion of Uhlans had been +annihilated almost to a man at the outbreak of the Great War. + +Every mètre they trod was historic ground--ground which had been +contested against the legions of the Crown Prince's army. + +For some time neither spoke. At last Walter asked: "Your stepfather has +been up to the fortress with Monsieur Le Pontois, I suppose?" + +"Yes, once or twice," was her reply, eager to change the subject. "Of +course, to a soldier, fortifications and suchlike things are always of +interest." + +"I saw them walking up to the fortress together the other day," he +remarked with a casual air. + +"What?" she asked quickly. "Have you been here before?" + +"Once," he laughed. "I came over from Commercy and spent the day in your +vicinity in the hope that I might perhaps meet you alone accidentally." + +He did not tell her that he had watched her shopping with Madame Le +Pontois, or that he had spent several days at a small _auberge_ at the +tiny village of Marcheville-en-Woevre, only two miles distant. + +"I had no idea of that," she replied, her face flushing slightly. + +"When do you return to London?" he asked. + +"I hardly know. Certainly not before next Thursday, as we have amateur +theatricals at General Molon's. I am playing the part of Miss Smith, the +English governess, in Darbour's comedy, _Le Pyrée_." + +"And then you return to London, eh?" + +"I hardly know. Yesterday I had a letter from Mrs. Caldwell saying that +she contemplated going to Italy this winter; therefore, perhaps mother +will let me go. I wrote to her this morning. The proposal is to spend +part of the time in Italy, and then cross from Naples to Egypt. I love +Egypt. We were there some winters ago, at the Winter Palace at Luxor." + +"Your father and mother will remain at home, I suppose?" + +"Mother hates travelling nowadays. She says she had quite sufficient of +living abroad in my father's lifetime. We were practically exiled for +years, you know. I was born in Lima, and I never saw England till I was +eleven. The Diplomatic Service takes one so out of touch with home." + +"But Sir Hugh will go abroad this winter, eh?" + +"I have not heard him speak of it. I believe he's too busy at the War +Office just now. They have some more 'reforms' in progress, I hear," and +she smiled. + +He was looking straight into the girl's handsome face, his heart torn +between love and suspicion. + +Those days at Biarritz recurred to him; how he would watch for her and go +and meet her down towards Grande Plage, till, by degrees, it had become +to both the most natural thing in the world. On those rare evenings when +they did not meet the girl was conscious of a little feeling of +disappointment which she was too shy to own, even to her own heart. + +Walter Fetherston owned it freely enough. In that bright springtime the +day was incomplete unless he saw her; and he knew that, even now, every +hour was making her grow dearer to him. From that chance meeting at the +hotel their friendship had grown, and had ripened into something warmer, +dearer--a secret held closely in each heart, but none the less sweet for +that. + +After leaving Biarritz the man had torn himself from her--why, he hardly +knew. Only he felt upon him some fatal fascination, strong and +irresistible. It was the first time in his life that he had been what is +vulgarly known as "over head and ears in love." + +He returned to England, and then, a month later, his investigation of +Henry Bellairs' death, for the purpose of obtaining a plot for a new +novel he contemplated, revealed to him a staggering and astounding truth. + +Even then, in face of that secret knowledge he had gained, he had been +powerless, and he had gone up to Monifieth deliberately again to meet +her--to be drawn again beneath the spell of those wonderful eyes. + +There was love in the man's heart. But sometimes it embittered him. It +did at that moment, as they strolled still onward over that carpet of +moss and fallen leaves. He had loved her, as he believed her to be a +woman with heart and soul too pure to harbour an evil thought. But her +story of the death of poor Bellairs, the man who had loved her, had +convinced him that his suspicions were, alas! only too well grounded. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +WHAT CONFESSION WOULD MEAN + + +A SILENCE had fallen between the pair. Again Walter Fetherston glanced at +her. + +She was an outdoor girl to the tips of her fingers. At shooting parties +she went out with the guns, not merely contenting herself, as did the +other girls, to motor down with the luncheon for the men. She never got +dishevelled or untidy, and her trim tweed skirt and serviceable boots +never made her look unwomanly. She was her dainty self out in the country +with the men, just as in the pretty drawing-room at Hill Street, while +her merry laugh evoked more smiles and witticisms than the more studied +attempts at wit of the others. + +At that moment she had noticed the change in the man she had so gradually +grown to love, and her heart was beating in wild tumult. + +He, on his part, was hating himself for so foolishly allowing her to +steal into his heart. She had lied to him there, just as she had lied to +him at Biarritz. And yet he had been a fool, and had allowed himself to +be drawn back to her side. + +Why? he asked himself. Why? There was a reason, a strong reason. He loved +her, and the reason he was at that moment at her side was to save her, to +rescue her from a fate which he knew must sooner or later befall her. + +She made some remark, but he only replied mechanically. His countenance +had, she saw, changed and become paler. His lips were pressed together, +and, taking a cigar from his case, he asked her permission to smoke, and +viciously bit off its end. Something had annoyed him. Was it possible +that he held any suspicion of the ghastly truth? + +The real fact, however, was that he was calmly and deliberately +contemplating tearing her from his heart for ever as an object of +suspicion and worthless. He, who had never yet fallen beneath a woman's +thraldom, resolved not to enter blindly the net she had spread for him. +His thoughts were hard and bitter--the thoughts of a man who had loved +passionately, but whose idol had suddenly been shattered. + +Again she spoke, remarking that it was time she turned back, for already +they were at the opposite end of the wood, with a beautiful panorama of +valley and winding river spread before them. But he only answered a +trifle abruptly, and, acting upon her suggestion, turned and retraced +his steps in silence. + +At last, as though suddenly rousing himself, he turned to her, and said +in an apologetic tone: "I fear, Enid, I've treated you rather--well, +rather uncouthly. I apologise. I was thinking of something else--a +somewhat serious matter." + +"I knew you were," she laughed, affecting to treat the matter lightly. +"You scarcely replied to me." + +"Forgive me, won't you?" he asked, smiling again in his old way. + +"Of course," she said. "But--but is the matter very serious? Does it +concern yourself?" + +"Yes, Enid, it does," he answered. + +And still she walked on, her eyes cast down, much puzzled. + +Two woodmen passed on their way home from work, and raised their caps +politely, while Walter acknowledged their salutation in French. + +"I shall probably leave here to-morrow," her companion said as they +walked back to the high road. "I am not yet certain until I receive my +letters to-night." + +"You are now going back to your village inn, I suppose," she laughed +cheerfully. + +"Yes," he said. "My host is an interesting old countryman, and has told +me quite a lot about the war. He was wounded when the Germans shelled +Verdun. He has told me that he knows Paul Le Pontois, for his son Jean is +his servant." + +"Why, Mr. Fetherston, you are really ubiquitous," cried the girl in +confusion. "Why have you been watching us like this?" + +"Merely because I wished to see you, as I've already explained," was his +reply. "I wanted to ask you those questions which I have put to you this +afternoon." + +"About poor Harry?" she remarked in a hoarse, low voice. "But you begged +me to reply to you in my own interests--why?" + +"Because I wished to know the real truth." + +"Well, I've told you the truth," she said with just the slightest tinge +of defiance in her voice. + +For a moment he did not speak. He had halted; his grave eyes were fixed +upon her. + +"Have you told me the whole truth--all that you know, Enid?" he asked +very quietly a moment later. + +"What more should I know?" she protested after a second's hesitation. + +"How can I tell?" he asked quickly. "I only ask you to place me in +possession of all the facts within your knowledge." + +"Why do you ask me this?" she cried. "Is it out of mere idle curiosity? +Or is it because--because, knowing that Harry loved me, you wish to cause +me pain by recalling those tragic circumstances?" + +"Neither," was his quiet answer in a low, sympathetic voice. "I am your +friend, Enid. And if you will allow me, I will assist you." + +She held her breath. He spoke as though he were aware of the truth--that +she had not told him everything--that she was still concealing certain +important and material facts. + +"I--I know you are my friend," she faltered. "I have felt that all along, +ever since our first meeting. But--but forgive me, I beg of you. The very +remembrance of that night of the second of September is, to me, +horrible--horrible." + +To him those very words of hers increased his suspicion. Was it any +wonder that she was horrified when she recalled that gruesome episode of +the death of a brave and honest man? Her personal fascination had +overwhelmed Harry Bellairs, just as it had overwhelmed himself. The devil +sends some women into the hearts of upright men to rend and destroy them. + +Upon her cheeks had spread a deadly pallor, while in the centre of each +showed a scarlet spot. Her heart was torn by a thousand emotions, for the +image of that man whom she had seen lying cold and dead in his room had +arisen before her vision, blotting out everything. The hideous +remembrance of that fateful night took possession of her soul. + +In silence they walked on for a considerable time. Now and then a rabbit +scuttled from their path into the undergrowth or the alarm-cry of a bird +broke the evening stillness, until at last they came forth into the wide +highway, their faces set towards the autumn sunset. + +Suddenly the man spoke. + +"Have you heard of the doctor since you left London?" he asked. + +She held her breath--only for a single second. But her hesitation was +sufficient to show him that she intended to conceal the truth. + +"No," was her reply. "He has not written to me." + +Again he was silent. There was a reason--a strong reason--why Weirmarsh +should not write to her, he knew. But he had, by his question, afforded +her an opportunity of telling him the truth--the truth that the +mysterious George Weirmarsh was there, in that vicinity. That Enid was +aware of that fact was certain to him. + +"I wish," she said at last, "I wish you would call at the château and +allow me to introduce you to Paul and his wife. They would be charmed to +make your acquaintance." + +"Thank you," he replied a trifle coldly; "I'd rather not know them--in +the present circumstances." + +"Why, how strange you are!" the girl exclaimed, looking up into his face, +so dark and serious. "I don't see why you should entertain such an +aversion to being introduced to Paul. He's quite a dear fellow." + +"Perhaps it is a foolish reluctance on my part," he laughed uneasily. +"But, somehow, I feel that to remain away from the château is best. +Remember, your stepfather and your mother are in ignorance of--well, of +the fact that we regard each other as--as more than close friends. For +the present it is surely best that I should not visit your relations. +Relations are often very prompt to divine the real position of affairs. +Parents may be blind," he laughed, "but brothers-in-law never." + +"You are always so dreadfully philosophical!" the girl cried, glad that +at last that painful topic of conversation had been changed. "Paul Le +Pontois wouldn't eat you!" + +"I don't suppose any Frenchman is given to cannibalistic diet," he +answered, smiling. "But the fact is, I have my reasons for not being +introduced to the Le Pontois family just now." + +The girl looked at him sharply, surprised at the tone of his response. +She tried to divine its meaning. But his countenance still bore that +sphinx-like expression which so often caused his friends to entertain +vague suspicions. + +Few men could read character better than Walter Fetherston. To him the +minds of most men and women he met were as an open book. To a marvellous +degree had he cultivated his power of reading the inner working of the +mind by the expression in the eyes and on the faces of even those +hard-headed diplomats and men of business whom, in his second character +of Mr. Maltwood, he so frequently met. Few men or women could tell him a +deliberate lie without its instant detection. Most shrewd men possess +that power to a greater or less degree--a power that can be developed by +painstaking application and practice. + +Enid asked her companion when they were to meet again. + +"At least let me see you before you go from here," she said. "I know what +a rapid traveller you always are." + +"Yes," he sighed. "I'm often compelled to make quick journeys from one +part of the Continent to the other. I am a constant traveller--too +constant, perhaps, for I've nowadays grown very world-weary and +restless." + +"Well," she exclaimed, "if you will not come to the château, where shall +we meet?" + +"I will write to you," he replied. "At this moment my movements are most +uncertain--they depend almost entirely upon the movements of others. At +any moment I may be called away. But a letter to Holles Street will +always find me, you know." + +He seemed unusually serious and strangely preoccupied, she thought. She +noticed, too, that he had flung away his half-consumed cigar in +impatience, and that he had rubbed his chin with his left hand, a habit +of his when puzzled. + +At the crossroads where the leafless poplars ran in straight lines +towards the village of Fresnes, a big red motor-car passed them at a +tearing pace, and in it Enid recognised General Molon. + +Fetherston, although an ardent motorist himself, cursed the driver under +his breath for bespattering them with mud. Then, with a word of apology +to his charming companion, he held her gloved hand for a moment in his. + +Their parting was not prolonged. The man's lips were thin and hard, for +his resolve was firm. + +This girl whom he had grown to love--who was the very sunshine of his +strange, adventurous life--was, he had at last realised, unworthy. If he +was to live, if the future was to have hope and joy for him, he must tear +her out of his life. + +Therefore he bade her adieu, refusing to give her any tryst for the +morrow. + +"It is all so uncertain," he repeated. "You will write to me in London if +you do not hear from me, won't you?" + +She nodded, but scarce a word, save a murmured farewell, escaped her dry +lips. + +He was changed, sadly changed, she knew. She turned from him with +overflowing heart, stifling her tears, but with a veritable volcano of +emotion within her young breast. + +He had changed--changed entirely and utterly in that brief hour and a +half they had walked together. What had she said? What had she done? she +asked herself. + +Forward she went blindly with the blood-red light of the glorious sunset +full in her hard-set face, the great fortress-crowned hills looming up +before her, a barrier between herself and the beyond! They looked grey, +dark, mysterious as her own future. + +She glanced back, but he had turned upon his heel, and she now saw his +retreating figure swinging along the straight, broad highway. + +Why had he treated her thus? Was it possible, she reflected, that he had +actually become aware of the ghastly truth? Had he divined it? + +"If he has," she cried aloud in an agony of soul, "then no wonder--no +wonder, indeed, that he has cast me from his life as a criminal--as a +woman to be avoided as the plague--that he has said good-bye to me for +ever!" + +Her lips trembled, and the corners of her pretty mouth hardened. + +She turned again to watch the man's disappearing figure. + +"I would go back," she cried in despair, "back to him, and beg his +forgiveness upon my knees. I love him--love him better than my life! Yet +to crave forgiveness would be to confess--to tell all I know--the whole +awful truth! And I can't do that--no, never! God help me! I--I--I--can't +do that!" + +And bursting into a flood of hot tears, she stood rigid, her small hands +clenched, still watching him until he disappeared from her sight around +the bend of the road. + +"No," she murmured in a low, hoarse voice, still speaking to herself, +"confession would mean death. Rather than admit the truth I would take +my own life. I would kill myself, yes, face death freely and willingly, +rather than he--the man I love so well--should learn Sir Hugh's +disgraceful secret." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THREE GENTLEMEN FROM PARIS + + +GASTON DARBOUR'S comedy, _Le Pyrée_, had been played to a large audience +assembled in one of the bigger rooms of the long whitewashed artillery +barracks outside Ronvaux, where General Molon had his official residence. + +The humorous piece had been applauded to the echo--the audience +consisting for the most part of military officers in uniform and their +wives and daughters, with a sprinkling of the better-class civilians from +the various châteaux in the neighbourhood, together with two or three +aristocratic parties from Longuyon, Spincourt, and other places. + +The honours of the evening had fallen to the young English girl who had +played the amusing part of the demure governess, Miss Smith--pronounced +by the others "Mees Smeeth." Enid was passionately fond of dramatic art, +and belonged to an amateur club in London. Among those present were the +author of the piece himself, a dark young man with smooth hair parted in +the centre and wearing an exaggerated black cravat. + +When the curtain fell the audience rose to chatter and comment, and were +a long time before they dispersed. Paul Le Pontois waited for Enid, Sir +Hugh accompanying Blanche and little Ninette home in the hired brougham. +As the party had a long distance to go, some twelve kilomètres, General +Molon had lent Le Pontois his motor-car, which now stood awaiting him +with glaring headlights in the barrack-square. + +As the hall emptied Paul glanced around him while awaiting Enid. On the +walls the French tricolour was everywhere displayed, the revered +_drapeau_ under which he had so gallantly and nobly served against the +Huns. + +He presented a spruce appearance in his smart, well-cut evening coat, +with the red button of the Legion d'Honneur in his lapel, and to the +ladies who wished him "bon soir" as they filed out he drew his heels +together and bowed gallantly. + +Outside, the night was cloudy and overcast. In the long rows of the +barrack windows lights shone, and somewhere sounded a bugle, while in the +shadows could be heard the measured tramp of sentries, the clank of +spurs, or the click of rifles as they saluted their officers passing +out. + +The whole atmosphere was a military one, for, indeed, the little town of +Ronvaux is, even in these peace days, scarcely more than a huge camp. + +For a few minutes Le Pontois stood chatting to a group of men at the +door. They had invited him to come across to their quarters, but he had +explained that he was awaiting mademoiselle. So they raised their +eyebrows, smiled mischievously, and bade him "bon soir." + +Soldiers were already stacking up the chairs ready for the clearance of +the gymnasium for the morrow. Others were coming to water and sweep out +the place. Therefore Le Pontois remained outside in the square, waiting +in patience. + +He was reflecting. That evening, as he had sat with his wife watching the +play, he had been seized by a curious feeling for which he entirely +failed to account. Behind him there had sat a man and a woman, French +without a doubt, but entire strangers. They must, of course, have known +one or other of the officers in order to obtain an admission ticket. +Nevertheless, they had spoken to no one, and on the fall of the curtain +had entered a brougham in waiting and driven off. + +Paul had made no comment. By a sudden chance he had, during the +entr'acte, risen and gazed around, when the face of the stranger had +caught his eyes--a face which he felt was curiously familiar, yet he +could not place it. The middle-aged man was dressed with quiet elegance, +clean-shaven and keen-faced, apparently a prosperous civilian, while the +lady with him was of about the same age and apparently his wife. She was +dressed in a high-necked dress of black lace, and wore in her corsage a +large circular ornament of diamonds and emeralds. + +Twice had Le Pontois taken furtive glances at the stranger whose lined +brow was so extraordinarily familiar. It was the face of a deep thinker, +a man who had, perhaps, passed through much trouble. Was it possible, he +wondered, that he had seen that striking face in some photograph, or +perhaps in some illustrated paper? He had racked his brain through the +whole performance, but could not decide in what circumstances they had +previously met. + +From time to time the stranger had joined with the audience in their +hearty laughter, or applauded as vociferously as the others, his +companion being equally amused at the quaint sayings of the demure "Mees +Smeeth." + +And even as he stood in the shadows near the general's car awaiting Enid +he was still wondering who the pair might be. + +At the fall of the curtain he had made several inquiries of the +officers, but nobody could give him any information. They were complete +strangers--that was all. Even a search among the cards of invitation had +revealed nothing. + +So Paul Le Pontois remained mystified. + +Enid came at last, flushed with success and apologetic because she had +kept him waiting. But he only congratulated her, and assisted her into +the car. It was a big open one, therefore she wore a thick motor coat and +veil as protection against the chill autumn night. + +A moment later the soldier-chauffeur mounted to his seat, and slowly they +moved across the great square and out by the gates, where the sentries +saluted. Then, turning to the right, they were quickly tearing along the +highway in the darkness. + +Soon they overtook several closed carriages of the home-going visitors, +and, ascending the hill, turned from the main road down into a by-road +leading through a wooded valley, which was a short cut to the château. + +Part of their way led through the great Forêt d'Amblonville, and though +Enid's gay chatter was mostly of the play, the defects in the acting and +the several amusing _contretemps_ which had occurred behind the scenes, +her companion's thoughts were constantly of that stranger whose brow was +so deeply lined with care. + +They expected to overtake Sir Hugh in the brougham, but so long had Enid +been changing her gown that they saw nothing of the others. + +Just, however, as they were within a hundred yards or so of the gates +which gave entrance to the château, and were slowing down in order to +swing into the drive, a man emerged from the darkness, calling upon the +driver to stop, and, placing himself before the car, held up his hands. + +Next instant the figure of a second individual appeared. Enid uttered a +cry of alarm, but the second man, who wore a hard felt hat and dark +overcoat, reassured her by saying in French: + +"Pray do not distress yourself, mademoiselle. There is no cause for +alarm. My friend and I merely wish to speak for a moment with Monsieur Le +Pontois before he enters his house. For that reason we have presumed to +stop your car." + +"But who are you?" demanded Le Pontois angrily. "Who are you that you +should hold us up like this?" + +"Perhaps, m'sieur, it would be better if you descended and escorted +mademoiselle as far as your gates. We wish to speak to you for a moment +upon a little matter which is both urgent and private." + +"Well, cannot you speak here, now, and let us proceed?" + +"Not before mademoiselle," replied the man. "It is a confidential +matter." + +Paul, much puzzled at the curious demeanour of the strangers, reluctantly +handed Enid out, and walked with her as far as his own gate, telling her +to assure Blanche that he would return in a few moments, when he had +heard what the men wanted. + +"Very well," she laughed. "I'll say nothing. You can tell her all when +you come in." + +The girl passed through the gates and up the gravelled drive to the +house, when Le Pontois, turning upon his heel to return to the car, was +met by the two men, who, he found, had walked closely behind him. + +"You are Paul Le Pontois?" inquired the elder of the pair brusquely. + +"Of course! Why do you ask that?" + +"Because it is necessary," was his businesslike reply. Then he added: "I +regret, m'sieur, that you must consider yourself under arrest by order of +his Excellency the Minister of Justice." + +"Arrest!" gasped the unhappy man. "Are you mad, messieurs?" + +"No," replied the man who had spoken. + +"We have merely our duty to perform, and have travelled from Paris to +execute it." + +"With what offence am I charged?" Le Pontois demanded. + +"Of that we have no knowledge. As agents of secret police, we are sent +here to convey you for interrogation." + +The man under arrest stood dumbfounded. + +"But at least you will allow me to say farewell to my wife and child--to +make excuse to them for my absence?" he urged. + +"I regret that is quite impossible, m'sieur. Our orders are to make the +arrest and to afford you no opportunity to communicate with anyone." + +"But this is cruel, inhuman! His Excellency never meant that, I am quite +sure--especially when I am innocent of any crime, as far as I am aware." + +"We can only obey our orders, m'sieur," replied the man in the dark +overcoat. + +"Then may I not write a line to my wife, just one word of excuse?" he +pleaded. + +The two police agents consulted. + +"Well," replied the elder of the pair, who was the one in authority, "if +you wish to scribble a note, here are paper and pencil." And he tore a +leaf from his notebook and handed it to the prisoner. + +By the light of the head-lamps of the car Paul scribbled a few hurried +words to Blanche: "I am detained on important business," he wrote. "I +will return to-morrow. My love to you both.--PAUL." + +The detective read it, folded it carefully, and handed it to his +assistant, telling him to go up to the château and deliver it at the +servants' entrance. + +When he had gone the detective, turning to the chauffeur, said: "I shall +require you to take us to Verdun." + +"This is not my car, m'sieur," replied Paul. "It belongs to General +Molon." + +"That does not matter. I will telephone to him an explanation as soon as +we arrive in Verdun. We may as well enter the car as stand here." + +Paul Le Pontois was about to protest, but what could he say? The Minister +in Paris had apparently committed some grave error in thus ordering his +arrest. No doubt there would be confusion, apologies and laughter. So, +with a light heart at the knowledge that he had committed no offence, he +got into the car, and allowed the polite police agent to seat himself +beside him. + +The only chagrin he felt was that the chauffeur had overheard all the +conversation. And to him he said: "Remember, Gallet, of this affair you +know nothing." + +"I understand perfectly, m'sieur," was the wondering soldier's reply. + +Then they sat in silence in the darkness until the hurrying police agent +returned, after which the car sped straight past the château on the high +road which led through the deep valley on to the fortress town of Verdun. + +As they passed the château Paul Le Pontois caught a glimpse of its +lighted windows and sat wondering what Blanche would imagine. He pictured +the pleasant supper party and the surprise that would be expressed at his +absence. + +How amusing! What incongruity! He was under arrest! + +The car rushed on beneath the precipitous hill crowned by the great +fortress of Haudiomont, through the narrow gorge--the road to Paris. + +All three men, seated abreast, were silent until, at last, the elder of +the two police agents bent and glanced at the clock on the dashboard, +visible by the tiny glow-lamp. + +"Half past twelve," he remarked. "The express leaves Verdun at two +twenty-eight." + +"For where?" asked Paul. + +"For Paris." + +"Paris!" he cried. "Are you taking me to Paris?" + +"Those are our orders," was the detective's quiet response. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE ORDERS OF HIS EXCELLENCY + + +AGAIN Paul sat back without a word. Well, he would hear the extraordinary +charge against him, whatever it might be. And, without speaking, they +travelled on and on, until they at last entered the Porte St. Paul at +Verdun, passed up the Avenue de la Gare, skirting the Palais de Justice +into the station yard. + +As Paul descended they were met by a third stranger who strolled +forward--a man in a heavy travelling coat and a soft Homburg hat. + +It was the man who had sat behind him earlier in the evening--the man +with the deep lines upon his care-worn brow, who had laughed so +heartily--and who a moment later introduced himself as Jules Pierrepont, +special commissaire of the Paris Sûreté. + +"We have met before?" remarked Paul abruptly. + +"Yes, Monsieur Le Pontois," replied the man with a grim smile. "On +several occasions lately. It has been my duty to keep observation upon +your movements--acting upon orders from Monsieur the Prefect of Police." + +And together they entered the dark, deserted station to await the night +express for Paris. + +Suddenly Paul turned back, saying to the chauffeur in a low, hard voice: +"Gallet, to-morrow go and tell madame my wife that I am unexpectedly +called to the capital. Tell her--tell her that I will write to her. But, +at all hazards, do not let her know the truth that I am under arrest," he +added hoarsely. + +"That is understood, monsieur," replied the man, saluting. "Neither +madame nor anyone else shall know why you have left for Paris." + +"I rely upon you," were Paul's parting words, and, turning upon his heel, +he accompanied the three men who were in waiting. + +Half an hour later he sat in a second-class compartment of the Paris +_rapide_ with the three keen-eyed men who had so swiftly effected his +arrest. + +It was apparent to him now that the reason he had recognised Pierrepont +was because that man had maintained vigilant, yet unobtrusive, +observation upon him during several of the preceding days, keeping near +him in all sorts of ingenious guises and making inquiries concerning +him--inquiries instituted for some unexplained cause by the Paris police. + +Bitterly he smiled to himself as he gazed upon the faces of his three +companions, hard and deep-shadowed beneath the uncertain light. Presently +he made some inquiry of Jules Pierrepont, who had now assumed +commandership of the party, as to the reason of his arrest. + +"I regret, Monsieur Le Pontois," replied the quiet, affable man, "his +Excellency does not give us reasons. We obey orders--that is all." + +"But surely there is still, even after the war, justice in France!" cried +Paul in dismay. "There must be some good reason. One cannot be thus +arrested as a criminal without some charge against him--in my case a +false one!" + +All three men had heard prisoners declare their innocence many times +before, therefore they merely nodded assent--it was their usual habit. + +"There is, of course, some charge," remarked Pierrepont. "But no doubt +monsieur has a perfect answer to it." + +"When I know what it is," replied Paul between his teeth, "then I shall +meet it bravely, and demand compensation for this outrageous arrest!" + +He held his breath, for, with a sinking heart, he realised for the first +time the very fact of a serious allegation being made against him by some +enemy. If mud is thrown some of it always sticks. What had all his +enthusiasm in life profited him? Nothing. He bit his lip when he +reflected. + +"You have some idea of what is alleged against me, messieurs," the +unhappy man exclaimed presently, as the roaring train emerged from a long +tunnel. "I see it in your faces. Indeed, you would not have taken the +precaution, which you did at the moment of my arrest, of searching me to +find firearms. You suspected that I might make an attempt to take my +life." + +"Merely our habit," replied Pierrepont with a slight smile. + +"The charge is a grave one--will you not admit that?" + +"Probably it is--or we should not all three have been sent to bring you +to Paris," remarked one of the trio. + +"You have had access to my _dossier_--I feel sure you have, monsieur," +Paul said, addressing Pierrepont. + +"Ah! you are in error. Monsieur le Ministre does not afford me that +privilege. I am but the servant of the Sûreté, and no one regrets more +than myself the painful duty I have been compelled to perform to-night. I +assure you, Monsieur Le Pontois, that I entertain much regret that I have +been compelled to drag you away from your home and family thus, to +Paris." + +"No apology is needed, mon ami," Paul exclaimed quickly, well aware that +the detective was merely obeying instructions. "I understand your +position perfectly." Then, glancing round at his companions, he added: +"You may sleep in peace, messieurs. I give you my word of honour that I +will not attempt to escape. Why, indeed, should I? I have committed no +wrong!" + +One of the men had pulled out a well-worn notebook and was with +difficulty writing down the prisoner's words--to be put in evidence +against him. Le Pontois realised that; therefore his mouth closed with a +snap, and, leaning back in the centre of the carriage, he closed his +eyes, not to sleep, but to think. + +Before leaving Verdun he had seen Pierrepont enter the telegraph +bureau--to dispatch a message to the Sûreté, without a doubt. They +already knew in Paris that he was under arrest, but at his home they +were, happily, still in ignorance. Poor Blanche was asleep, no doubt, by +that time, he thought, calm in the belief that he had been delayed and +would be home in the early hours. + +The fact that he was actually under arrest he regarded with more humour +than seriousness, feeling that in the morning explanations would be made +and the blunder rectified. + +No more honourable or upright man was there in France than Paul Le +Pontois, and this order from the Sûreté had held him utterly speechless +and astounded. So he sat there hour after hour as the _rapide_ roared +westward, until it halted at the great echoing station of Châlons, where +all four entered the buffet and hastily swallowed their café-au-lait. + +Afterwards they resumed their seats, and the train, with its two long, +dusty _wagons-lit_, moved onward again, with Paris for its goal. + +The prisoner said little. He sat calmly reflecting, wondering and +wondering what possible charge could be made against him. He had enemies, +as every man had, he knew, but he was not aware of anyone who could make +an allegation of a character sufficiently grave to warrant his arrest. + +Why had it been forbidden that he should wish Blanche farewell? There was +some reason for that! He inquired of Pierrepont, who had treated him with +such consideration and even respect, but the agent of secret police only +replied that in making an arrest of that character they made it a rule +never to allow a prisoner to communicate with his family. + +"There are several reasons for it," he explained. "One is that very often +the prisoner will make a statement to his wife which he will afterwards +greatly regret. Again, prisoners have been known to whisper to their +wives secret instructions, to order the destruction of papers before we +can make a domiciliary visit, or----" + +"But you surely will not make a domiciliary visit to my house?" cried +Paul, interrupting. + +The men exchanged glances. + +"At present we cannot tell," Pierrepont replied. "It depends upon what +instructions we receive." + +"Do you usually make searches?" asked the prisoner, with visions of his +own home being desecrated and ransacked. + +"Yes, we generally do," the commissaire of police admitted. "As I have +explained, it is for that reason we do not allow a prisoner's wife to +know that he is under arrest." + +"But such an action is abominable!" cried Le Pontois angrily. "That my +house should be turned upside down and searched as though I were a common +thief, a forger, or a coiner is beyond toleration. I shall demand full +inquiry. My friend Carlier shall put an interpellation in the Chamber!" + +"Monsieur le Ministre acts upon his own discretion," the detective +replied coldly. + +"And by so doing sometimes ruins the prospects and the lives of some of +our best men," blurted forth the angry prisoner. It was upon the tip of +his tongue to say much more in condemnation, but the sight of the man +with the notebook caused him to hesitate. + +Every word he uttered now would, he knew, be turned against him. He was +under arrest--for some crime that he had not committed. + +The other passengers by that night express, who included a party of +English tourists, little dreamed as they passed up and down the corridor +that the smart, good-looking man who wore the button of the Legion +d'Honneur, and who sat there with the three quiet, respectable-looking +men, was being conveyed to the capital under escort--a man who, by the +law of France, was already condemned, was guilty until he could prove his +own innocence! + +In the cold grey of dawn they descended at last at the great bare Gare de +l'Est in Paris. Paul felt tired, cramped and unshaven, but of necessity +entered a taxi called by one of his companions, and, accompanied by +Pierrepont and the elder of his assistants, was driven along through the +cheerless, deserted streets to the Sûreté. + +As he entered the side door of the ponderous building the police officer +on duty saluted his escort. + +His progress across France had been swift and secret. + +What, he wondered, did the future hold in store for him? + +His lip curled into a smile when they ushered him into a bare room on the +first floor. Two police officers were placed outside the door, while two +stood within. + +Then, turning to the window, which looked out upon the bare trees of the +Place below, he laughed aloud and made some humorous remark which caused +the men to smile. + +But, alas! he knew not the truth. Little did he dream of the amazing +allegation that was to be made against him!--little did he dream how +completely the enemies of his father-in-law, the general, had triumphed! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WALTER GIVES WARNING + + +THE morning dawned bright and sunny--a perfect autumn morning--at the +pretty Château of Lérouville. + +The message which Blanche had received after returning had not caused her +much consternation. She supposed that Paul had been suddenly called away +on business. So she had eaten her supper with her father and Enid and +retired to rest. + +When, however, they sat at breakfast--served in the English style--Sir +Hugh opened a letter which lay upon his plate, and at once announced his +intention of returning to London. + +"I have to see Hughes, my solicitor, over Aunt Mary's affairs," he +explained suddenly to Blanche. "That executorship is always an infernal +nuisance." + +"But surely you can remain a day or two longer, Dad?" exclaimed Madame Le +Pontois. "The weather is delightful just now, and I hear it is too +dreadful for words in England." + +"I, too, have to be back to prepare for going away with Mrs. Caldwell," +Enid remarked. + +"But surely these solicitors will wait? There is no great urgency--there +can't be! The old lady died ten years ago," Blanche exclaimed as she +poured out coffee. + +"My dear, I'm extremely sorry," said her father quietly, "but I must +go--it is imperative." + +"Not to-day?" + +"I ought to go to-day," he sighed. "Indeed, I really must--by the +_rapide_ I usually take. Perhaps I shall alter my route this time, and go +from Conflans to Metz, and home by Liège and Brussels. It is +about as quick, and one gets a _wagon-lit_ from Metz. I looked up the +train the other day, and find it leaves Conflans at a little after six." + +"Surely you will remain and say au revoir to Paul? He'll be so +disappointed!" she cried in dismay. + +"My dear, you will make excuses for us. I must really go, and so must +Enid. She had a letter from Mrs. Caldwell urging her to get back, as she +wants to start abroad for the winter. The bad weather in England is +affecting her, it seems." + +And so, with much regret expressed by little Ninette and her mother, Sir +Hugh Elcombe and his stepdaughter went to their rooms to see about their +packing. + +Both were puzzled. The sudden appearance of those strange men out of the +darkness had frightened Enid, but she had said nothing. Perhaps it was +upon some private matter that Paul had been summoned. Therefore she had +preserved silence, believing with Blanche that at any moment he might +return. + +Back in his room, Sir Hugh closed the door, and, standing in the sunshine +by the window, gazed across the wide valley towards the blue mists +beyond, deep in reflection. + +"This curious absence of Paul's forebodes evil," he murmured to himself. + +He had slept little that night, being filled with strange apprehensions. +Though he had closely questioned Enid, she would not say what had +actually happened. Her explanation was merely that Paul had been called +away by a man who had met him outside. + +The old man sighed, biting his lip. He cursed himself for his dastardly +work, even though he had been compelled by Weirmarsh to execute it on +pain of exposure and consequent ruin. + +Against his will, against his better nature, he had been forced to meet +the mysterious doctor of Pimlico in secret on that quiet, wooded by-road +between Marcheville and Saint-Hilaire, four kilomètres from the château, +and there discuss with him the suggested affair of which they had spoken +in London. + +The two men had met at sundown. + +"You seem to fear exposure!" laughed the man who provided Sir Hugh with +his comfortable income. "Don't be foolish--there is no danger. Return to +England with Enid as soon as you possibly can without arousing suspicion, +and I will call and see you at Hill Street. I want to have a very serious +chat with you." + +Elcombe's grey, weather-worn face grew hard and determined. + +"Why are you here, Weirmarsh?" he demanded. "I have helped you and your +infernal friends in the past, but please do not count upon my assistance +in the future. Remember that from to-day our friendship is entirely at an +end." + +"As you wish, of course, my dear Sir Hugh," replied the other, with a +nonchalant air. "But if I were you I would not be in too great a hurry to +make such a declaration. You may require a friend in the near future--a +friend like myself." + +"Never, I hope--never!" snapped the old general. + +"Very well," replied the doctor, who, with a shrug of his shoulders, +wished his friend a cold adieu and, turning, strode away. + +As Sir Hugh stood alone by the window that morning he recalled every +incident of that hateful interview, every word that had fallen from the +lips of the man who seemed to be as ingenious and resourceful as Satan +himself. + +His anxiety regarding Paul's sudden absence had caused him to invent an +excuse for his own hurried departure. He was not prepared to remain there +and witness his dear daughter's grief and humiliation, so he deemed it +wiser to get away in safety to England, for he no longer trusted +Weirmarsh. Suppose the doctor revealed the actual truth by means of some +anonymous communication? + +As he stood staring blankly across the valley he heard the hum of an +approaching motor-car, and saw that it was General Molon's, being driven +by Gallet, the soldier chauffeur. + +There was no passenger, but the car entered the iron gates and pulled up +before the door. + +A few minutes later Blanche ran up the stairs and, bursting into her +father's room, cried: "Paul has been called suddenly to Paris, Dad! He +told Gallet to come this morning and tell me. How strange that he did not +come in to get even a valise!" + +"Yes, dear," said her father. "Gallet is downstairs, isn't he? I'll speak +to him. The mystery of Paul's absence increases!" + +"It does. I--I can't get rid of a curious feeling of apprehension that +something has happened. What was there to prevent him from coming in to +wish me good-bye when he was actually at the gate?" + +Sir Hugh went below and questioned the chauffeur. + +The story told by the man Gallet was that Le Pontois had been met by two +gentlemen and given a message that he was required urgently in Paris, and +they had driven at once over to Verdun, where they had just caught the +train. + +"Did Monsieur Le Pontois leave any other message for madame?" asked Sir +Hugh in French. + +"No, m'sieur." + +The general endeavoured by dint of persuasion to learn something more, +but the man was true to his promise, and would make no further statement. +Indeed, earlier that morning he had been closely questioned by the +commandant, but had been equally reticent. Le Pontois was a favourite in +the neighbourhood, and no man would dare to lift his voice against him. + +Sir Hugh returned to his room and commenced packing his suit-cases, more +than ever convinced that suspicion had been aroused. Jean came to offer +to assist, but he declared that he liked to pack himself, and this +occupied him the greater part of the morning. + +Enid was also busy with her dresses, assisted by Blanche's Provençal +maid, Louise. About eleven o'clock, however, Jean tapped at her door and +said: "A peasant from Allamont, across the valley, has brought a letter, +mademoiselle. He says an English gentleman gave it to him to deliver to +you personally. He is downstairs." + +In surprise the girl hurriedly descended to the servants' entrance, where +she found a sturdy, old, grey-bearded peasant, bearing a long, stout +stick. He raised his frayed cap politely and asked whether she were +Mademoiselle Orlebar. + +Then, when she had replied in the affirmative, he drew from the breast of +his blouse a crumpled letter, saying: "The Englishman who has been +staying at the Lion d'Or at Allamont gave this to me at dawn to-day. I +was to give it only into mademoiselle's hands. There is no reply." + +Enid tore open the letter eagerly and found the following words, written +hurriedly in pencil in Walter Fetherston's well-known scrawling hand--for +a novelist's handwriting is never of the best: + + "Make excuse and induce your father to leave Conflans-Jarny at + once for Metz, travelling by Belgium for London. Accompany him. A + serious _contretemps_ has occurred which will affect you both if + you do not leave immediately on receipt of this. Heed this, I beg + of you. And remember, I am still your friend. + "WALTER." + +For a moment she stood puzzled. "Did the Englishman say there was no +reply?" she asked. + +"Yes, mademoiselle. He left the Lion d'Or just before eight, and drove +into Conflans with his luggage. The innkeeper told me that he is +returning suddenly to England. He received several telegrams in the +night, it appears." + +"You know him, then?" + +"Oh yes, mademoiselle. He came there to fish in the Longeau, and I have +been with him on several occasions." + +Enid took a piece of "cent sous" from her purse and gave it to the old +man, then she returned to her room and, sending Louise below for +something, burned Walter's letter in the grate. + +Afterwards she went to her stepfather and suggested that perhaps they +might leave Conflans earlier than he had resolved. + +"I hear there is a train at three-five. If we went by that," she said, +"we could cross from Ostend instead of by Antwerp, and thus be in London +a day earlier." + +"Are you so anxious to get away from here, Enid?" he asked, looking +straight into her face. + +"Well, yes. Mother, in her letter yesterday, urged me to come home, as +she does not wish me to travel out alone to join Mrs. Caldwell. She's +afraid she will leave London without me if I don't get home at once. +Besides, I've got a lot of shopping to do before I can start. Do let us +get away by the earlier train. It will be so much better," she urged. + +As Sir Hugh never denied Enid anything, he acquiesced. Packing was +speedily concluded, and, much to the regret of Blanche, the pair left in +a fly for which they had telephoned to Conflans-Jarny. + +The train by which they travelled ran through the beautiful valley of +Manvaux, past the great forts of Plappeville and St. Quentin, and across +the Moselle to Metz, and so into German territory. + +Whatever might happen, Sir Hugh reflected, at least he was now safe from +arrest. While Enid, on her part, sat back in the corner of the +first-class compartment gazing out of the window, still mystified by that +strange warning from the man who only a few days previously had so +curiously turned and abandoned her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ACCUSERS + + +AT the same hour when Enid and Sir Hugh were passing Amanvilliers, once +the scene of terrible atrocities by the Huns, Paul Le Pontois, between +two agents of police, was ushered into the private cabinet where, at the +great writing-table near the window, sat a short man with bristling hair +and snow-white moustache, Monsieur Henri Bézard, chief of the Sûreté +Générale. + +A keen-faced, black-eyed man of dapper appearance, wearing the coveted +button of the Légion d'Honneur in his black frock-coat, he looked up +sharply at the man brought into his presence, wished him a curt "bon +jour," and motioned him to a seat at the opposite side of the big table, +in such a position that the grey light from the long window fell directly +upon his countenance. + +With him, standing about the big, handsome room with its green-baize +doors and huge oil paintings on the walls, were four elderly men, +strangers to Paul. + +The severe atmosphere of that sombre apartment, wherein sat the chief of +the police of the Republic, was depressing. Those present moved +noiselessly over the thick Turkey carpet, while the double windows +excluded every sound from the busy boulevard below. + +"Your name," exclaimed the great Bézard sharply, at last raising his eyes +from a file of papers before him--"your name is Paul Robert Le Pontois, +son of Paul Le Pontois, rentier of Severac, Department of Aveyron. During +the war you were captain in the 114th Regiment of Artillery, and you now +reside with your wife and daughter at the Château of Lérouville. Are +those details correct?" + +"Perfectly, m'sieur," replied the man seated with the two police agents +standing behind him. He wore his black evening trousers and a brown tweed +jacket which one of the detectives had lent him. + +"You have been placed under arrest by order of the Ministry," replied +Bézard, speaking in his quick, impetuous way. + +"I am aware of that, m'sieur," was Paul's reply, "but I am in ignorance +of the charge against me." + +"Well," exclaimed Bézard very gravely, again referring to the formidable +_dossier_ before him, "the charge brought against you is most serious. +It is astounding and disgraceful. Listen, and I will read it. Afterwards +we will hear what explanation you have to offer. We are assembled for +that purpose." + +The four other men had taken chairs near by, while Pierrepont was +standing at some distance away, with his back to the wood fire. + +For a second Bézard paused, then, rubbing his gold pince-nez and +adjusting them, he read in a cold, hard voice the following: + +"The charge alleged against you, Paul Robert Le Pontois, is that upon +four separate occasions you have placed in circulation forged Bank of +England and Treasury notes of England to the extent of nearly a million +francs." + +"It's a lie!" cried Paul, jumping to his feet, his face aflame. "Before +God, I swear it is a lie!" + +"Calm yourself and listen," commanded the great chief of the Sûreté +Générale sharply. "Be seated." + +The prisoner sank back into his chair again. His head was reeling. Who +could possibly have made such unfounded charges against him? He could +scarcely believe his ears. + +Then the hard-faced, white-headed old director, who held supreme command +of the police of the Republic, glanced at him shrewdly, and, continuing, +said: "It is alleged that you, Paul Le Pontois, on the fourteenth day of +January, and again on the sixteenth of May, met in Commercy a certain +Englishman, and handed to him a bundle of English notes since proved to +be forgeries." + +"I am not acquainted with any English forger," protested Paul. + +"Do not interrupt, m'sieur!" snapped the director. "You will, later on, +be afforded full opportunity to make any statement or explanation you may +wish. First listen to these grave charges against you." After a further +pause, he added: "The third occasion, it is alleged, was on April the +eighth last, when it seems you drove at early morning over to +Thillot-sous-les-Côtes and there met a stranger who was afterwards +identified as an American who is wanted for banknote forgeries." + +"And the fourth?" asked Paul hoarsely. This string of allegations utterly +staggered him. + +"The fourth occasion was quite recently," Bézard said, still speaking in +that same cold tone. "On that occasion you made certain calculations to +ascertain how much were your profits by dealing with these forgers whom +Scotland Yard are so anxious to arrest. You wrote all the sums down, +knowing your expenditure and profits. The latter were very considerable." + +"And by whom is it alleged that I am a dealer in base money, pray?" + +"It is not necessary for us to disclose the name of our informant," was +the stiff rejoinder. + +"But surely I am not to be thus denounced by an anonymous enemy?" he +cried. "This is not the justice which every Frenchman claims as his +birthright!" + +"You have demanded to know the charges laid against you, and I have +detailed them," replied the chief of the Sûreté, regarding the prisoner +closely through his gold pince-nez. + +"They are false--every word of them," promptly returned Le Pontois. "I +have no acquaintance with any banknote forger. If I had, he would quickly +find himself under arrest." + +The four men seated in his vicinity smiled grimly. They had expected the +prisoner to declare his innocence. + +"I may tell you that the information here"--and Bézard tapped the +_dossier_ before him--"is from a source in which we have the most +complete and implicit confidence. For the past few months there have been +suspicions that forged English notes have been put into circulation in +France. Therefore I ordered a vigilant watch to be maintained. Monsieur +Pierrepont, here, has been in command of a squadron of confidential +agents." + +"And they have watched me, and, I suppose, have manufactured evidence +against me! It is only what may be expected of men paid to spy upon us. +If I am a forger or a friend of forgers, as you allege me to be, then I +am unworthy to have served in the uniform of France. But I tell you that +the allegations you have just read are lies--lies, every word of them." +And Le Pontois' pale cheeks flushed crimson with anger. + +"Le Pontois," remarked a tall, thin, elderly commissaire who was present, +"it is for you to prove your innocence. The information laid before us is +derived from those who have daily watched your movements and reported +them. If you can prove to us that it is false, then your innocence may be +established." + +"But I _am_ innocent!" he protested, "therefore I have no fear what +charges may be laid against me. They cannot be substantiated. The whole +string of allegations is utterly ridiculous!" + +"Eh bien! Then let us commence with the first," exclaimed Bézard, again +referring to the file of secret reports before him. "On Wednesday, the +fourteenth day of January, you went to Commercy, where, at the Café de la +Cloche, you met a certain Belgian who passed under the name of Laloux." + +"I recollect!" cried Le Pontois quickly. "I sold him a horse. He was a +dealer." + +"A dealer in forged notes," remarked one of the officials, with a faint +smile. + +"Was he a forger, then?" asked Le Pontois in entire surprise. + +"Yes. He has entered France several times in the guise of a horsedealer," +Pierrepont interrupted. + +"But I only bought a horse of him," declared the prisoner vehemently. + +"And you paid for it in English notes, apologising that you had no other +money. He took them, for he passed them in Belgium into an English bank +in Brussels. They were forged!" + +"Again, on the sixteenth of May, you met the man Laloux at the same +place," said Bézard. + +"He had a mare to sell--I tried to buy it for my wife to drive, but he +wanted too much." + +"You remained the night at the Hôtel de Paris, and saw him again at nine +o'clock next morning." + +"True. I hoped to strike a bargain with him in the morning, but we could +not come to terms." + +"Regarding the forged English notes you were prepared to sell, eh?" +snapped Bézard, with a look of disbelief. + +"I had nothing to sell!" protested Le Pontois, drawing himself up. "Those +who have spied upon me have told untruths." + +"But the individual, Laloux, was watched. One of our agents followed him +to Brussels, where he went next day to the English bank in the Montagne +de la Cour." + +"Not with forged notes from me. My dealings with him were in every way +honest business transactions." + +"You mean that you received money from him, eh?" + +"I do not deny that. I sold him a horse on the first occasion. He paid me +seven hundred francs for it, and I afterwards purchased one from him." + +"So you do not deny that you received money from that man?" + +"Why should I? I sold him a horse, and he paid me for it." + +"Very well," said Bézard, with some hesitation. "Let us pass to the +eighth of April. At six o'clock that morning you drove to +Thillot-sous-les-Côtes, where you met a stranger at the entrance to the +village, and walked with him, and held a long and earnest conversation." + +Paul was silent for a moment. The incident recalled was one that he would +fain have forgotten, one the truth of which he intended at all hazards to +conceal. + +"I admit that I went to Thillot in secret," he answered in a changed +voice. + +"Ah! Then you do not deny that you were attracted by the promises of +substantial payment for certain forged English notes which you could +furnish, eh?" grunted Bézard in satisfaction. + +"I admit going to Thillot, but I deny your allegation," cried Paul in +quick protest. + +"Then perhaps you will tell us the reason you took that early drive?" +asked a commissaire, with a short, hard laugh of disbelief. + +The prisoner hesitated. It was a purely personal matter, one which +concerned himself alone. + +"I regret, messieurs," was his slow reply, "I regret that I am +unable--indeed, I am not permitted to answer that question." + +"Pray why?" inquired Bézard. + +"Well--because it concerns a woman's honour," was the low, hoarse reply, +"the honour of the wife of a certain officer." + +At those words of his the men interrogating him laughed in derision, +declaring it to be a very elegant excuse. + +"It is no excuse!" he cried fiercely, again rising from his chair. "When +I have obtained permission to speak, messieurs, I will tell you the +truth. Until then I shall remain silent." + +"Eh, bien!" snapped Bézard. "And so we will pass to the next and final +charge--that you prepared a statement in order to satisfy yourself +regarding the profits of your dealings in these spurious notes." + +"I have no knowledge of such a thing!" Paul replied instantly. + +"And yet for several weeks past a mysterious friend of yours has been +seen in the neighbourhood of your château. He has been staying in +Commercy and in Longuyon. I gave orders for his arrest, but, with his +usual cleverness, he escaped from Commercy." + +"I prepared no statement." + +"H'm!" grunted Bézard, looking straight into his flushed face. "You are +quite certain of that?" + +"I swear I did not." + +"Then perhaps you will deny that this is in your hand?" the director +asked slowly, with a grin, as he fixed his eyes upon Paul and handed him +a sheet of his own note-paper bearing the address of the château embossed +in green. + +Paul took it in his trembling fingers, and as he did so his countenance +fell. + +It was the rough account of his investments and profits he remembered +making for his father-in-law. He had cast it unheeded into the +waste-paper basket, whence it had, no doubt, been recovered by those who +had spied upon him and placed with the reports as evidence against him. + +"You admit making that calculation?" asked Bézard severely. "Those +figures are, I believe, in your handwriting?" + +"Yes; but I have had nothing to do with any forgers of banknotes," +declared the unhappy man, reseating himself. + +"Ah! Then you admit making the calculation? That in itself is sufficient +for the present. However, cannot you give us some explanation of that +secret visit of yours to Thillot? Remember, you have to prove your +innocence!" + +"I--I cannot--not, at least, at present," faltered the prisoner. + +"You refuse?" + +"Yes, m'sieur, I flatly refuse," was the hoarse reply. "As I have told +you, that visit concerned the honour of a woman." + +The men again exchanged glances of disbelief, while the victim of those +dastardly allegations sat breathless, amazed at the astounding manner in +which his most innocent actions had been misconstrued into incriminating +evidence. + +He was under arrest as one who had placed forged English banknotes in +circulation in France! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN WHICH A TRUTH IS HIDDEN + + +WHEN Walter Fetherston entered the tasteful drawing-room at Hill Street +four days later he found Enid alone, seated by the fire. + +The dull London light of the autumn afternoon was scarcely sufficient for +him to distinguish every object in the apartment, but as he advanced she +rose and stood silhouetted against the firelight, a slight, graceful +figure, with hand outstretched. + +"Both mother and Sir Hugh are out--gone to a matinée at the Garrick," she +exclaimed. "I'm so glad you've come in," and she placed a chair for him. + +"I have heard that you are leaving for Egypt to-morrow," he said, "and I +wished to have a chat with you." + +"We go to Italy first, and to Egypt after Christmas," she replied. +"Mother has promised to join us in Luxor at the end of January." + +"If I were you, Enid," he replied gravely, bending towards her, "I would +make some excuse and remain in England." + +"Why?" she asked, her eyes opening widely. "I don't understand!" + +"I regret that I am unable to speak more plainly," he said. "I warned you +to leave France, and I was glad that you and Sir Hugh heeded my warning. +Otherwise--well, perhaps an unpleasant incident would have resulted." + +"You always speak in enigmas nowadays," said the girl, again standing +near the fireplace, dainty in her dark skirt and cream silk jumper. "Why +did you send me that extraordinary note?" + +"In your own interests," was his vague reply. "I became aware +that your further presence in the house of Monsieur Le Pontois +was--well--undesirable--that's all." + +"I really think you entertain some antagonism against Paul," she +declared, "yet he's such a good fellow." + +The novelist's eyes sparkled through his pince-nez as he replied: "He's +very good-looking, I admit, and, no doubt, a perfect cavalier." + +"You suspect me of flirtations with him, of course," she pouted. "Well, +you're not the first man who has chaffed me about that." + +"No, no," he laughed. "I'm in no way jealous, I assure you. I merely +told you that your departure from the château would be for the best." + +He did not tell her that within an hour of their leaving French territory +an official telegram had been received from Paris by the local +commissaire of police with orders to detain them both, nor that just +before dark an insignificant-looking man in black had called at the +château and been informed by Jean that the English general and his +stepdaughter had already departed. + +The whole of that night the wires between the sous-prefecture at Briey +and Paris had been at work, and many curious official messages had been +exchanged. Truly, the pair had had a providential escape. + +Sir Hugh was, of course, in entire ignorance of the dastardly action +taken by the Pimlico doctor. + +Without duly counting the cost, he had declared at his last interview +with Weirmarsh that their criminal partnership was now at an end. And the +doctor had taken him at his word. + +Had not the doctor in London told his assistant, Heureux, that Sir Hugh's +sphere of usefulness was at an end, and that, in all probability, a +_contretemps_ would occur--one which would in future save to "the +syndicate" the sum of five thousand pounds per annum? + +Truth to tell, Bézard, director of the Sûreté, had telegraphed orders for +the arrest of Sir Hugh and his daughter. But, thanks to the shrewdness of +Fetherston, who had lingered in the vicinity to afford them protection if +necessary, they had succeeded in escaping only a single hour before the +message reached its destination. + +Neither of them knew of this, and the novelist intended that they should +remain in ignorance--just as they were still in ignorance of the reason +of Paul's visit to Paris and of his detention there. + +If they were aware of the reason of his warning, then they would most +certainly question him as to the manner in which he was able to gain +knowledge of the betrayal by Weirmarsh. He had no desire to be questioned +upon such matters. The motives of his action--always swift, full of +shrewd foresight, and often in disregard of his own personal safety--were +known alone to himself and to Scotland Yard. + +If the truth were told, he had not been alone in Eastern France. At the +little old-world Croix-Blanche at Briey a stout, middle-aged, ruddy-faced +English tourist had had his headquarters; while, again, at the +unpretending Cloche d'Or in the Place St. Paul at Verdun another +Englishman, a young, active, clean-shaven man, had been moving about the +country in constant communication with "Mr. Maltwood." Wherever the +doctor from Pimlico and his assistant, Heureux, had gone, there also went +one or other of those two sharp-eyed but unobtrusive Englishmen. Every +action of the doctor had been noted, and information of it conveyed to +the quiet-mannered man in pince-nez. + +"Really, Walter, you are quite as mysterious as your books," Enid was +declaring, with a laugh. "I do wish you would satisfy my curiosity and +tell me why you urged me to leave France so suddenly." + +"I had reasons--strong reasons which you may, perhaps, some day know," +was his response. "I am only glad that you thought fit to take the advice +I offered. This afternoon I have called to give you further +advice--namely, to remain in England, at least for the present." + +"But I can't. My friend Jane Caldwell has been waiting a whole fortnight +for me, suffering from asthma in these abominable fogs." + +"You can make some excuse. I assure you that to remain in London will be +for the best," he said, while she switched on the shaded electric lights, +which shed a soft glow over the handsome room--that apartment, the +costly furniture of which had been purchased out of the money secretly +supplied by Weirmarsh. + +"But I can't see why I should remain," she protested, facing him again. +He noted how strikingly handsome she was, her dimpled cheeks delicately +moulded and her pretty chin slightly protruding, which gave a delightful +piquancy to her features. + +"I wish I could explain further. I can't at present!" + +"You are, as I have already said, so amazingly mysterious--so full of +secrets always!" + +The man sighed, his brows knit slightly. + +"Yes," he said, "I am full of secrets--strange, astounding secrets they +are--secrets which some time, if divulged, would mean terrible +complications, ruin to those who are believed to be honest and upright." + +The girl stood for a few seconds in silence. + +She had heard strange rumours regarding the man seated there before her. +Some had hinted that he, on more than one occasion, acting in an +unofficial capacity, had arranged important treaties between Great +Britain and a foreign Power, leaving to ambassadors the arrangements of +detail and the final ratification. There were whispers abroad that he was +a trusted and tried agent of the British Government, but in exactly what +capacity was unknown. His name frequently appeared among the invited +guests of Cabinet Ministers, and he received cards for many official +functions, but the actual manner in which he rendered assistance to the +Government was always kept a most profound secret. + +More than once Sir Hugh had mentioned the matter over the dining-table, +expressing wonder as to Fetherston's real position. + +"You know him well, Enid," he had exclaimed once, laughing over to her. +"What is your opinion?" + +"I really haven't any," she declared. "His movements are certainly rapid, +and often most mysterious." + +"He's a most excellent fellow," declared the old general. "Cartwright +told me so the other day in the club. Cartwright was ambassador in +Petrograd before the war." + +Enid remembered this as she stood there, her hands behind her back. + +"Before I left I heard that Paul had been called unexpectedly to Paris," +he said a few moments later. "Has he returned?" + +"Not yet, I believe. I had a letter from Blanche this morning. When it +was written, two days ago, he was still absent." Then she added: "There +is some mystery regarding his visit to the capital. Blanche left for +Paris yesterday, I believe, for she had telegraphed to him, but received +no reply." + +"She has gone to Paris!" he echoed. "Why did she go? It was silly!" + +"Well--because she is puzzled, I think. It was very strange that Paul, +even though at the very gate, did not leave those two men and wish her +adieu." + +"Two men--what two men?" he asked in affected ignorance. + +"The two men who stopped the car and demanded to speak with him," she +said; and, continuing, described to him that remarkable midnight incident +close to the château. + +"No doubt he went to Paris upon some important business," Fetherston +said, reassuring her. "It was, I think, foolish of his wife to follow. At +least, that's my opinion." + +He knew that when madame arrived in Paris the ghastly truth must, sooner +or later, be revealed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +IN WHICH A TRUTH IS TOLD + + +AS Fetherston sat there, still chatting with his well-beloved, he felt a +hatred of himself for being thus compelled to deceive her--to withhold +from her the hideous truth of Paul's arrest. + +After all, silence was best. If Walter spoke to the girl before him, then +he must of necessity reveal his own connection with the affair. He knew +she had been puzzled by his presence in France, but his explanation, he +hoped, had been sufficient. He had assured her that the _only_ motive of +his journey had been to be near her, which was, indeed, no untruth. + +He saw that Enid was not altogether at her ease in his presence. Perhaps +it was because of those questions and his plain outspokenness when last +they met, on that forest road, where they had discussed the strange death +of Harry Bellairs. + +On that evening, full of suspicion and apprehension, he had decided to +tear himself away from her. But, alas! he had found himself powerless to +do so. Pity and sympathy filled his heart; therefore, how could he turn +from her and abandon her at this moment of her peril? It was on the next +day that he had discerned Weirmarsh's sinister intentions. Therefore, he +had risen to watch and to combat them. + +Some of his suspicions had been confirmed, nevertheless his chief object +had not yet been attained--the elucidation of the mystery surrounding the +remarkable death of Bellairs. + +He was about to refer again to that tragic incident when Enid said +suddenly: "Doctor Weirmarsh called and saw Sir Hugh this morning. You +told me to tell you when next he called." + +"Weirmarsh!" exclaimed the novelist in surprise. "I was not aware that he +was in London!" + +"He's been abroad--in Copenhagen, I think. He has a brother living +there." + +"He had a private talk with your stepfather, of course?" + +"Yes, as usual, they were in the study for quite a long time--nearly two +hours. And," added the girl, "I believe that at last they quarrelled. If +they have, I'm awfully glad, for I hate that man!" + +"Did you overhear them?" asked Fetherston anxiously, apprehensive lest an +open quarrel had actually taken place. He knew well that Josef Blot, +alias Weirmarsh, was not a man to be trifled with. If Sir Hugh had served +his purpose, as he no doubt had, then he would be betrayed to the police +without compunction, just as others had been. + +Walter Fetherston grew much perturbed at the knowledge of this quarrel +between the pair. His sole aim was to protect Sir Hugh, yet how to act he +knew not. + +"You did not actually hear any of the words spoken, I suppose?" he +inquired of Enid. + +"Not exactly, except that I heard my stepfather denounce the doctor as an +infernal cur and blackguard." + +"Well, and what did Weirmarsh reply?" + +"He threatened Sir Hugh, saying, 'You shall suffer for those words--you, +who owe everything to me!' I wonder," added the girl, "what he meant by +that?" + +"Who knows!" exclaimed Walter. "Some secret exists between them. You told +me that you suspected it long ago." + +"And I do," she said, lowering her voice. "That man holds Sir Hugh in the +hollow of his hand--of that I'm sure. I have noticed after each of the +doctor's visits how pale and thoughtful he always is." + +"Have you tried to learn the reason of it all?" inquired the novelist +quietly, his gaze fixed upon her. + +"I have," she replied, with slight hesitation. + +Walter Fetherston contemplated in silence the fine cat's-eye and diamond +ring upon his finger--a ring sent him long ago by an anonymous admirer of +his books, which he had ever since worn as a mascot. + +At one moment he held this girl in distinct suspicion; at the next, +however, he realised her peril, and resolved to stand by her as her +champion. + +Did he really and honestly love her? He put that question to himself a +thousand times. And for the thousandth time was he compelled to answer in +the affirmative. + +"By which route do you intend travelling to Italy to-morrow?" he asked. + +"By Paris and Modane. We go first for a week to Nervi, on the coast +beyond Genoa," was her reply. + +Fetherston paused. If she put foot in France she would, he knew, be at +once placed under arrest as an accomplice of Paul Le Pontois. When +Weirmarsh took revenge he always did his work well. No doubt the French +police were already at Calais awaiting her arrival. + +"I would change the route," he suggested. "Go by Ostend, Strasburg and +Milan." + +"Mrs. Caldwell has already taken our tickets," she said. "Besides, it is +a terribly long way round by that route." + +"I know," he murmured. "But it will be best. I have a reason--a strong +reason, Enid, for urging you to go by Ostend." + +"It is not in my power to do so. Jane always makes our travelling +arrangements. Besides, we have sleeping berths secured on the night +_rapide_ from the Gare de Lyon to Turin." + +"I will see Mrs. Caldwell, and get her tickets changed," he said. "Do you +understand, Enid? There are reasons--very strong reasons--why you should +not travel across France!" + +"No, I don't," declared the girl. "You are mysterious again. Why don't +you be open with me and give me your reasons for this suggestion?" + +"I would most willingly--if I could," he answered. "Unfortunately, I +cannot." + +"I don't think Mrs. Caldwell will travel by the roundabout route which +you suggest merely because you have a whim that we should not cross +France," she remarked, looking straight at him. + +"If you enter France a disaster will happen--depend upon it," he said, +speaking very slowly, his eyes fixed upon her. + +"Are you a prophet?" the girl asked. "Can you prophesy dreadful things to +happen to us?" + +"I do in this case," he said firmly. "Therefore, take my advice and do +not court disaster." + +"Can't you be more explicit?" she asked, much puzzled by his strange +words. + +"No," he answered, shaking his head, "I cannot. I only forewarn you of +what must happen. Therefore, I beg of you to take my advice and travel by +the alternative route--if you really must go to Italy." + +She turned towards the fire and, fixing her gaze upon the flames, +remained for a few moments in thought, one neat foot upon the marble +kerb. + +"You really alarm me with all these serious utterances," she said at +last, with a faint, nervous laugh. + +He rose and stood by her side. + +"Look here, Enid," he said, "can't you see that I am in dead earnest? +Have I not already declared that I am your friend, to assist you against +that man Weirmarsh?" + +"Yes," she replied, "you have." + +"Then will you not heed my warning? There is distinct danger in your +visit to France--a danger of which you have no suspicion, but real and +serious nevertheless. Don't think about spying; it is not that, I assure +you." + +"How can I avoid it?" + +"By pretending to be unwell," he suggested quickly. "You cannot leave +with Mrs. Caldwell. Let her go, and you can join her a few days later, +travelling by Ostend. The thing is quite simple." + +"But----" + +"No, you must not hesitate," he declared. "There are no buts. It is the +only way." + +"Yes; but tell me what terrible thing is to happen to me if I enter +France?" she asked, with an uneasy laugh. + +The man hesitated. To speak the truth would be to explain all. Therefore +he only shook his head and said, "Please do not ask me to explain a +matter of which I am not permitted to speak. If you believe me, Enid," he +said in a low, pleading voice, "do heed my warning, I beg of you!" + +As he uttered these words the handle of the door turned, and Lady +Elcombe, warmly clad in furs, came forward to greet the novelist. + +"I'm so glad that I returned before you left, Mr. Fetherston," she +exclaimed. "We've been to a most dreary play; and I'm simply dying for +some tea. Enid, ring the bell, dear, will you?" Then continuing, she +added in warm enthusiasm: "Really, Mr. Fetherston, you are quite a +stranger! We hoped to see more of you, but my husband and daughter have +been away in France--as perhaps you know." + +"So Enid has been telling me," replied Walter. "They've been in a most +interesting district." + +"Enid is leaving us again to-morrow morning," remarked her mother. "They +are going to Nervi. You know it, of course, for I've heard you called the +living Baedeker, Mr. Fetherston," she laughed. + +"Yes," he replied, "I know it--a rather dull little place, with one or +two villas. I prefer Santa Margherita, a little farther along the +coast--or Rapallo. But," he added, "your daughter tells me she's not +well. I hope she will not be compelled to postpone her departure." + +"Of course not," said Lady Elcombe decisively. "She must go to-morrow if +she goes at all. I will not allow her to travel by herself." + +The girl and the man exchanged meaning glances, and just then Sir Hugh +himself entered, greeting his visitor cheerily. + +The butler brought in the tea-tray, and as they sat together the two men +chatted. + +In pretence that he had not been abroad, Walter was making inquiry +regarding the district around Haudiomont, which he declared must be full +of interest, and asking the general's opinion of the French new +fortresses in anticipation of the new war against Germany. + +"Since I have been away," said the general, "I have been forced to arrive +at the conclusion that another danger may arrive in the very near future. +Germany will try and attack France again--without a doubt. The French are +labouring under a dangerous delusion if they suppose that Germany would +be satisfied with her obscurity." + +"Is that really your opinion, Sir Hugh?" asked Fetherston, somewhat +surprised. + +"Certainly," was the general's reply. "There will be another war in the +near future. My opinions have changed of late, my dear Fetherston," Sir +Hugh assured him, as he sipped his tea, "and more especially since I went +to visit my daughter. I have recently had opportunities of seeing and +learning a good deal." + +Fetherston reflected. Those words, coming from Sir Hugh, were certainly +strange ones. + +Walter was handing Enid the cake when the butler entered, bearing a +telegram upon a silver salver, which he handed to Sir Hugh. + +Tearing it open, he glanced at the message eagerly, and a second later, +with blanched face, stood rigid, statuesque, as though turned into stone. + +"Why, what's the matter?" asked his wife. "Whom is it from?" + +"Only from Blanche," he answered in a low, strained voice. "She is in +Paris--and is leaving to-night for London." + +"Is Paul coming?" inquired Enid eagerly. + +"No," he answered, with a strenuous effort to remain calm. "He--he cannot +leave Paris." + +The butler, being told there was no answer, bowed and withdrew, but a few +seconds later the door reopened, and he announced: + +"Dr. Weirmarsh, Sir Hugh!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WIDENED BREACH + + +WHEN Sir Hugh entered his cosy study he found the doctor seated at his +ease in the big chair by the fire. + +"I thought that, being in the vicinity, I would call and see if you've +recovered from your--well, your silly fit of irritability," he said, with +a grim smile on his grey face as he looked towards the general. + +"I have just received bad news--news which I have all along dreaded," +replied the unhappy man, the telegram still in his hand. "Paul Le Pontois +has been arrested on some mysterious charge--false, without a doubt!" + +"Yes," replied Weirmarsh; "it is most unfortunate. I heard it an hour +ago, and the real reason of my visit was to tell you of the +_contretemps_." + +"Someone must have made a false charge against him," cried the general +excitedly. "The poor fellow is innocent--entirely innocent! I only have a +brief telegram from his wife. She is in despair, and leaves for London +to-night." + +"My dear Sir Hugh, France is in a very hysterical mood just now. Of +course, there must be some mistake. Some private enemy of his has made +the charge without a doubt--someone jealous of his position, perhaps. +Allegations are easily made, though not so easily substantiated." + +"Except by manufactured evidence and forged documents," snapped Sir Hugh. +"If Paul is the victim of some political party and is to be made a +scapegoat, then Heaven help him, poor fellow. They will never allow him +to prove his innocence, unless----" + +"Unless what?" + +"Unless I come forward," he said very slowly, staring straight before +him. "Unless I come forward and tell the truth of my dealings with you. +The charges against Paul are false. I know it now. What have you to say?" +he added in a low, hard voice. + +"A great deal of good that would do!" laughed Weirmarsh, selecting a +cigarette from his gold case and lighting it, regarding his host with +those narrow-set, sinister eyes of his. "It would only implicate Le +Pontois further. They would say, and with truth, that you knew of the +whole conspiracy and had profited by it." + +"I should tell them what I know concerning you. Indeed, I wrote out a +full statement while I was staying with Paul. And I have it ready to hand +for the authorities." + +"You can do so, of course, if you choose," was the careless reply. "It +really doesn't matter to me what statement you make. You have always +preserved silence up to the present, therefore I should believe that in +this case silence was still golden." + +"And you suggest that I stand calmly by and see Le Pontois sentenced to a +long term of imprisonment for a crime which he has not committed, eh?" + +"I don't suggest anything, my dear Sir Hugh," was the man's reply; "I +leave it all to your good judgment." + +Since they had met in secret Weirmarsh had made a flying visit to +Brussels, where he had conferred with two friends of his. Upon their +suggestion he was now acting. + +If Paul Le Pontois were secretly denounced and afterwards found innocent, +then it would only mystify the French police; the policy pursued towards +the Sûreté, as well as towards Sir Hugh, was a clever move on Weirmarsh's +part. + +"What am I to say to my poor girl when she arrives here in tears +to-morrow?" demanded the fine old British officer hoarsely. + +"You know that best yourself," was Weirmarsh's brusque reply. + +"To you I owe all my recent troubles," the elder man declared. +"Because--because," he added bitterly, "you bought me up body and soul." + +"A mere business arrangement, wasn't it, Sir Hugh?" remarked his visitor. +"Of course, I'm very sorry if any great trouble has fallen upon you on my +account. I hope, for instance, you do not suspect me of conspiring to +denounce your son-in-law," he added. + +"Well, I don't know," was the other's reply; "yet I feel that, in view of +this _contretemps_, I must in future break off all connection with you." + +"And lose the annual grant which you find so extremely useful?" + +"I shall be compelled to do without it. And, at least, I shall have peace +of mind." + +"Perhaps," remarked the other meaningly. + +Sir Hugh realised that this man intended still to hold him in the hollow +of his hand. From that one false step he had taken years ago he had never +been able to draw back. + +Hour by hour, and day by day, had his conscience pricked him. Those chats +with the doctor in that grimy little consulting-room in Pimlico remained +ever in his memory. + +The doctor was the representative of those who held him in their +power--persons who were being continually hunted by the police, yet who +always evaded them--criminals all! To insult him would be to insult those +who had paid him so well for his confidential services. + +Yet, filled with contempt for himself, he asked whether he did not +deserve to be degraded publicly, and drummed out of the army. + +Were it not for Lady Elcombe and Enid he would long ago have gone to East +Africa and effaced himself. But he could not bring himself to desert +them. + +He had satisfied himself that not a soul in England suspected the truth, +for, by the Press, he had long ago been declared to be a patriotic +Briton, because in his stirring public speeches, when he had put up for +Parliament after the armistice, there was always a genuine "John Bull" +ring. + +The truth was that he remained unsuspected by all--save by one man who +had scented the truth. That man was Walter Fetherston! + +Walter alone knew the ghastly circumstances, and it was he who had been +working to save the old soldier from himself. He did so for two +reasons--first, because he was fond of the bluff, fearless old fellow, +and, secondly, because he had been attracted by Enid, and intended to +rescue her from the evil thraldom of Weirmarsh. + +"Why have you returned here to taunt and irritate me again?" snapped Sir +Hugh after a pause. + +"I came to tell you news which, apparently, you have already received." + +"You could well have kept it. You knew that I should be informed in due +course." + +"Yes--but I--well, I thought you might grow apprehensive perhaps." + +"In what direction?" + +"That your connection with the little affair might be discovered by the +French police. Bézard, the new chief of the Sûreté, is a pretty shrewd +person, remember!" + +"But, surely, that is not possible, is it?" gasped the elder man in quick +alarm. + +"No; you can reassure yourself on that point. Le Pontois knows nothing, +therefore he can make no statement--unless, of course, your own actions +were suspicious." + +"They were not--I am convinced of that." + +"Then you have no need to fear. Your son-in-law will certainly not +endeavour to implicate you. And if he did, he would not be believed," +declared the doctor, although he well knew that Bézard was in possession +of full knowledge of the whole truth, and that, only by the timely +warning he had so mysteriously received, had this man before him and his +stepdaughter escaped arrest. + +His dastardly plot to secure their ruin and imprisonment had failed. How +the girl had obtained wind of it utterly mystified him. It was really in +order to discover the reason of their sudden flight that he had made +those two visits. + +"Look here, Weirmarsh," exclaimed Sir Hugh with sudden resolution, "I +wish you to understand that from to-day, once and for all, I desire to +have no further dealings with you. It was, as you have said, a purely +business transaction. Well, I have done the dirty, disgraceful work for +which you have paid me, and now my task is at an end." + +"I hardly think it is, my dear Sir Hugh," replied the doctor calmly. "As +I have said before, I am only the mouthpiece--I am not the employer. But +I believe that certain further assistance is required--information which +you promised long ago, but failed to procure." + +"What was that?" + +"You recollect that you promised to obtain something--a little +tittle-tattle--concerning a lady." + +"Yes," snapped the old officer, "oh, Lady Wansford. Let us talk of +something else!" + +Weirmarsh, who had been narrowly watching the countenance of his victim, +saw that he had mentioned a disagreeable subject. He noted how pale were +the general's cheeks, and how his thin hands twitched with suppressed +excitement. + +"I am quite ready to talk of other matters," he answered, "though I deem +it but right to refer to my instructions." + +"And what are they?" + +"To request you to supply the promised information." + +"But I can't--_I really can't_!" + +"You made a promise, remember. And upon that promise I made you a loan of +five hundred pounds." + +"I know!" cried the unhappy man, who had sunk so deeply into the mire +that extrication seemed impossible. "I know! But it is a promise that I +can't fulfil. I won't be your tool any longer. Gad! I won't. Don't you +hear me?" + +"You must!" declared Weirmarsh, bending forward and looking straight into +his eyes. + +"I will not!" shouted Sir Hugh, his eyes flashing with quick anger. +"Anything but that." + +"Why?" + +"My efforts in that direction had tragic results on the last occasion." + +"Ah!" laughed Weirmarsh. "I see you are superstitious--or something. I +did not expect that of you." + +"I am not superstitious, Weirmarsh. I only refuse to do what you want. If +I gave it to you, it would mean--no I won't--I tell you I won't!" + +"Bah! You are growing sentimental!" + +"No--I am growing wise. My eyes are at last opened to the dastardly +methods of you and your infernal friends. Hear me, once and for all; I +refuse to assist you further; and, moreover, I defy you!" + +The doctor was silent for a moment, contemplating the ruby on his finger. +Then, rising slowly from his chair, he said: "Ah! you do not fully +realise what your refusal may cost you." + +"Cost what it may, Weirmarsh, I ask you to leave my house at once," said +the general, scarlet with anger and beside himself with remorse. "And I +shall give orders that you are not again to be admitted here." + +"Very good!" laughed the other, with a sinister grin. "You will very soon +be seeking me in my surgery." + +"We shall see," replied Sir Hugh, with a shrug of his shoulders, as the +other strode out of his room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +CONCERNING THE BELLAIRS AFFAIR + + +WHAT Walter Fetherston had feared had happened. The two men had +quarrelled! Throughout the whole of that evening he watched the doctor's +movements. + +In any other country but our dear old hood-winked England, Fetherston, in +the ordinary course, would have been the recipient of high honours from +the Sovereign. But he was a writer, and not a financier. He could not +afford to subscribe to the party funds, a course suggested by the +flat-footed old Lady G----, who was the tout of Government Whips. + +Walter preferred to preserve his independence. He had seen and known much +during the war, and, disgusted, he preferred to adopt the Canadian +Government's decree and remain without "honours." + +His pet phrase was: "The extent of a Party's dishonours is known by the +honours it bestows. Scraps of ribbon, 'X.Y.Z.' or O.B.E. behind one's +name can neither make the gentleman nor create the lady." + +His secret connection with Scotland Yard, which was purely patriotic and +conducted as a student of underground crime, had taught him many strange +things, and he had learnt many remarkable secrets. Some of them were, +indeed, his secrets before they became secrets of the Cabinet. + +Many of those secrets he kept to himself, one being the remarkable truth +that General Sir Hugh Elcombe was implicated in a very strange jumble of +affairs--a matter that was indeed incredible. + +To the tall, well-groomed, military-looking man with whom he stood at +eleven o'clock on the following morning--in a private room at New +Scotland Yard--he had never confided that discovery of his. To have done +so would have been to betray a man who had a brilliant record as a +soldier, and who still held high position at the War Office. + +By such denunciation he knew he might earn from "the eyes of the +Government" very high commendation, in addition to what he had already +earned, yet he had resolved, if possible, to save the old officer, who +was really more sinned against than sinning. + +"You seem to keep pretty close at the heels of your friend, the doctor of +Vauxhall Bridge Road!" laughed Trendall, the director of the department, +as they stood together in the big, airy, official-looking room, the two +long windows of which looked out over Westminster Bridge. + +"You've been in France, Montgomery says. What was your friend doing +there?" + +"He's been there against his will--very much against his will!" + +"And you've found out something--eh?" + +"Yes," replied Fetherston. "One or two things." + +"Something interesting, of course," remarked the shrewd, active, +dark-haired man of fifty, under whose control was one of the most +important departments of Scotland Yard. "But tell me, in what direction +is this versatile doctor of yours working just at the present?" + +"I hardly know," was the novelist's reply, as in a navy serge suit he +leaned near the window which overlooked the Thames. "I believe some deep +scheme is afoot, but at present I cannot see very far. For that reason I +am remaining watchful." + +"He does not suspect you, of course? If he does, I'd give you Harris, or +Charlesworth, or another of the men--in fact, whoever you like--to assist +you." + +"Perhaps I may require someone before long. If so, I will write or wire +to the usual private box at the General Post Office, and shall then be +glad if you will send a man to meet me." + +"Certainly. It was you, Fetherston, who first discovered the existence of +this interesting doctor, who had already lived in Vauxhall Bridge Road +for eighteen months without arousing suspicion. You have, indeed, a fine +nose for mysteries." + +At that moment the telephone, standing upon the big writing-table, rang +loudly, and the man of secrets crossed to it and listened. + +"It's Heywood--at Victoria Station. He's asking for you," he exclaimed. + +Walter went to the instrument, and through it heard the words: "The boat +train has just gone, sir. Mrs. Caldwell waited for the young lady until +the train went off, but she did not arrive. She seemed annoyed and +disappointed. Dr. Weirmarsh has been on the platform, evidently watching +also." + +"Thanks, Heywood," replied Fetherston sharply; "that was all I wanted to +know. Good day." + +He replaced the receiver, and, walking back to his friend against the +window, explained: "A simple little inquiry I was making regarding a +departure by the boat train for Paris--that was all." + +But he reflected that if Weirmarsh had been watching it must have been to +warn the French police over at Calais of the coming of Enid. No action +was too dastardly for that unscrupulous scoundrel. + +Yet, for the present at least, the girl remained safe. The chief peril +was that in which Sir Hugh was placed, now that he had openly defied the +doctor. + +On the previous evening he had been in the drawing-room at Hill Street +when Sir Hugh had returned from interviewing the caller. By his +countenance and manner he at once realised that the breach had been +widened. + +The one thought by which he was obsessed was how he should save Sir Hugh +from disgrace. His connection with the Criminal Investigation Department +placed at his disposal a marvellous network of sources of information, +amazing as they were unsuspected. He was secretly glad that at last the +old fellow had resolved to face bankruptcy rather than go farther in that +strange career of crime, yet, at the same time, there was serious +danger--for Weirmarsh was a man so unscrupulous and so vindictive that +the penalty of his defiance must assuredly be a severe one. + +The very presence of the doctor on the platform of the South Eastern +station at Victoria that morning showed that he did not intend to allow +the grass to grow beneath his feet. + +The novelist was still standing near the long window, looking aimlessly +down upon the Embankment, with its hurrying foot-passengers and whirling +taxis. + +"You seem unusually thoughtful, Fetherston," remarked Trendall with some +curiosity, as he seated himself at the table and resumed the opening of +his letters which his friend's visit had interrupted. "What's the +matter?" + +"The fact is, I'm very much puzzled." + +"About what? You're generally very successful in obtaining solutions +where other men have failed." + +"To the problem which is greatly exercising my mind just now I can obtain +no solution," he said in a low, intense voice. + +"What is it? Can I help you?" + +"Well," he exclaimed, with some hesitation, "I am still trying to +discover why Harry Bellairs died and who killed him." + +"That mystery has long ago been placed by us among those which admit of +no solution, my dear fellow," declared his friend. "We did our best to +throw some light upon it, but all to no purpose. I set the whole of our +machinery at work at the time--days before you suspected anything +wrong--but not a trace of the truth could we find." + +"But what could have been the motive, do you imagine? From all accounts +he was a most popular young officer, without a single enemy in the +world." + +"Jealousy," was the dark man's slow reply. "My own idea is that a woman +killed him." + +"Why?" cried Walter quickly. "What causes you to make such a suggestion?" + +"Well--listen, and when I've finished you can draw your own +conclusions." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE SILENCE OF THE MAN BARKER + + +"HARRY BELLAIRS was an old friend of mine," Trendall went on, leaning +back in his padded writing-chair and turning towards where the novelist +was standing. "His curious end was a problem which, of course, attracted +you as a writer of fiction. The world believed his death to be due to +natural causes, in view of the failure of Professors Dale and Boyd, the +Home Office analysts, to find a trace of poison or of foul play." + +"You believe, then, that he was poisoned?" asked Fetherston quickly. + +The other shrugged his shoulders, saying: "How can that point be cleared +up? There was no evidence of it." + +"It is curious that, though we are both so intensely interested in the +problem, we have never before discussed it," remarked Walter. "I am so +anxious to hear your views upon one or two points. What, for instance, do +you think of Barker, the dead man's valet?" + +Herbert Trendall hesitated, and for a moment twisted his moustache. He +was a marvellously alert man, an unusually good linguist, and a +cosmopolitan to his finger-tips. He had been a detective-sergeant in the +T Division of Metropolitan Police for years before his appointment as +director of that section. He knew more of the criminal undercurrents on +the Continent than any living Englishman, and it was he who furnished +accurate information to the Sûreté in Paris concerning the great Humbert +swindle. + +"Well," he said, "if I recollect aright, the inquiries regarding him were +not altogether satisfactory. Previous to his engagement by Harry he had, +it seems, been valet to a man named Mitchell, a horse-trainer of rather +shady repute." + +"Where is he now?" + +"I really don't know, but I can easily find out--I gave orders that he +was not to be lost sight of." And, scribbling a hasty memorandum, he +pressed the electric button upon the arm of his chair. + +His secretary, a tall, thin, deep-eyed man, entered, and to him he gave +the note. + +"Well, let us proceed while they are looking up the information," the +chief went on. "Harry Bellairs, as you know, was on the staff of Sir +Hugh Elcombe, that dear, harmless old friend of yours who inspects troops +and seems to do odd jobs for Whitehall. I knew Harry before he went to +Sandhurst; his people, who lived up near Durham, were very civil to me +once or twice and gave me some excellent pheasant-shooting. It seems that +on that day in September he came up to town from Salisbury--but you know +all the facts, of course?" + +"I know all the facts as far as they were related in the papers," Walter +said. He did not reveal the results of the close independent inquiries he +had already made--results which had utterly astounded, and at the same +time mystified, him. + +"Well," said Trendall, "what the Press published was mostly fiction. Even +the evidence given before the coroner was utterly unreliable. It was +mainly given in order to mislead the jury and prevent public suspicion +that there had been a sensational tragedy--I arranged it so." + +"And there had been a tragedy, no doubt?" + +"Of course," declared the other, leaning both elbows upon the table +before him and looking straight into the novelist's pale face. "Harry +came up from Salisbury, the bearer of some papers from Sir Hugh. He duly +arrived at Waterloo, discharged his duty, and went to his rooms in Half +Moon Street. Now, according to Barker's story, his master arrived home +early in the afternoon, and sent him out on a message to Richmond. He +returned a little after five, when he found his master absent." + +"That was the account he gave at the inquest," remarked Fetherston. + +"Yes; but it was not the truth. On testing the man's story I discovered +that at three-eighteen he was in the Leicester Lounge, in Leicester +Square, with an ill-dressed old man, who was described as being short and +wearing a rusty, old silk hat. They sat at a table near the window +drinking ginger-ale, so that the barmaid could not overhear, and held a +long and confidential chat." + +"He may afterwards have gone down to Richmond," his friend suggested. + +"No; he remained there until past four, and then went round to the Café +Royal, where he met another man, a foreigner, of about his own age, +believed to have been a Swiss, with whom he took a cup of coffee. The man +was a stranger at the café, probably a stranger in London. Barker was in +the habit of doing a little betting, and I believe the men he met were +some of his betting friends." + +"Then you disbelieve the Richmond story?" + +"Entirely. What seems more than probable is that Harry gave his man the +afternoon off because he wished to entertain somebody clandestinely at +his rooms--a woman, perhaps. Yet, as far as I've been able to discover, +no one in Half Moon Street saw any stranger of either sex go to his +chambers that afternoon." + +"You said that you believed the motive of the crime--if crime it really +was--was jealousy," remarked Fetherston, thoughtfully rubbing his shaven +chin. + +"And I certainly do. Harry was essentially a lady's man. He was tall, and +an extremely handsome fellow, a thorough-going sportsman, an excellent +polo player, a perfect dancer, and a splendid rider to hounds. Little +wonder was it that he was about to make a very fine match, for only a +month before his death he confided to me in secret the fact--a fact known +to me alone--that he was engaged to pretty little Lady Blanche Herbert, +eldest daughter of the Earl of Warsborough." + +"Engaged to Lady Blanche!" echoed the novelist in surprise, for the girl +in question was the prettiest of that year's débutantes as well as a +great heiress in her own right. + +"Yes. Harry was a lucky dog, poor fellow. The engagement, known only to +the Warsboroughs and myself, was to have been kept secret for a year. +Now, it is my firm opinion, Fetherston, that some other woman, one of +Harry's many female friends, had got wind of it, and very cleverly had +her revenge." + +"Upon what grounds do you suspect that?" asked the other eagerly--for +surely the problem was becoming more inscrutable than any of those in the +remarkable romances which he penned. + +"Well, my conclusions are drawn from several very startling facts--facts +which, of course, have never leaked out to the public. But before I +reveal them to you I'd like to hear what opinion you've formed yourself." + +"I'm convinced that Harry Bellairs met with foul play, and I'm equally +certain that the man Barker lied in his depositions before the coroner. +He knows the whole story, and has been paid to keep a still tongue." + +"There I entirely agree with you," Trendall declared quickly; while at +that moment the secretary returned with a slip of paper attached to the +query which his chief had written. "Ah!" he exclaimed, glancing at the +paper, "I see that the fellow Barker, who was a chauffeur before he +entered Harry's service, has set up a motor-car business in +Southampton." + +"You believe him to have been an accessory, eh?" + +"Yes, a dupe in the hands of a clever woman." + +"Of what woman?" asked Walter, holding his breath. + +"As you know, Harry was secretary to your friend Elcombe. Well, I happen +to know that his pretty stepdaughter, Enid Orlebar, was over head and +ears in love with him. My daughter Ethel and she are friends, and she +confided this fact to Ethel only a month before the tragedy." + +"Then you actually suggest that a--a certain woman murdered him?" gasped +Fetherston. + +"Well--there is no actual proof--only strong suspicion!" + +Walter Fetherston held his breath. Did the suspicions of this man, from +whom no secret was safe, run in the same direction as his own? + +"There was in the evidence given before the coroner a suggestion that the +captain had dined somewhere in secret," he said. + +"I know. But we have since cleared up that point. He was not given poison +while he sat at dinner, for we know that he dined at the Bachelors' with +a man named Friend. They had a hurried meal, because Friend had to catch +a train to the west of England." + +"And afterwards?" + +"He left the club in a taxi at eight. But what his movements exactly were +we cannot ascertain. He returned to his chambers at a quarter past nine +in order to change his clothes and go back to Salisbury, but he was +almost immediately taken ill. Barker declares that his master sent him +out on an errand instantly on his return, and that when he came in he +found him dying." + +"Did he not explain what the errand was?" + +"No; he refused to say." + +In that refusal Fetherston saw that the valet, whatever might be his +fault, was loyal to his dead master and to Enid Orlebar. He had not told +how Bellairs had sent to Hill Street that scribbled note, and how the +distressed girl had torn along to Half Moon Street to arrive too late to +speak for the last time with the man she loved. Was Barker an enemy, or +was he a friend? + +"That refusal arouses distinct suspicion, eh?" + +"Barker has very cleverly concealed some important fact," replied the +keen-faced man who controlled that section of Scotland Yard. "Bellairs, +feeling deadly ill, and knowing that he had fallen a victim to some +enemy, sent Barker out for somebody in whom to confide. The man claimed +that the errand that his master sent him upon was one of confidence." + +"And to whom do you think he was sent?" + +"To a woman," was Trendall's slow and serious reply. "To the woman who +murdered him!" + +"But if she had poisoned him, surely he would not send for her?" +exclaimed Fetherston. + +"At the moment he was not aware of the woman's jealousy, or of the subtle +means used to cause his untimely end. He was unsuspicious of that cruel, +deadly hatred lying so deep in the woman's breast. Lady Blanche, on +hearing of the death of her lover, was terribly grieved, and is still +abroad. She, of course, made all sorts of wild allegations, but in none +of them did we find any basis of fact. Yet, curiously enough, her views +were exactly the same as my own--that one of poor Harry's lady friends +had been responsible for his fatal seizure." + +"Then, after all the inquiries you instituted, you were really unable to +point to the actual assassin?" asked Fetherston rather more calmly. + +"Not exactly unable--unwilling, rather." + +"How do you mean unwilling? You were Bellairs' friend!" + +"Yes, I was. He was one of the best and most noble fellows who ever wore +the King's uniform, and he died by the treacherous hand of a jealous +woman--a clever woman who had paid Barker to maintain silence." + +"But, if the dying man wished to make a statement, he surely would not +have sent for the very person by whose hand he had fallen," Fetherston +protested. "Surely that is not a logical conclusion!" + +"Bellairs was not certain that his sudden seizure was not due to +something he had eaten at the club--remember he was not certain that her +hand had administered the fatal drug," replied Trendall. A hard, serious +expression rested upon his face. "He had, no doubt, seen her between the +moment when he left the Bachelors' and his arrival, a little over an hour +afterwards, at Half Moon Street--where, or how, we know not. Perhaps he +drove to her house, and there, at her invitation, drank something. Yet, +however it happened, the result was the same; she killed him, even though +she was the first friend to whom he sent in his distress--killed him +because she had somehow learnt of his secret engagement to Lady Blanche +Herbert." + +"Yours is certainly a remarkable theory," admitted Walter Fetherston. +"May I ask the name of the woman to whom you refer?" + +"Yes; she was the woman who loved him so passionately," replied +Trendall--"Enid Orlebar." + +"Then you really suspect _her_?" asked Fetherston breathlessly. + +"Only as far as certain facts are concerned; and that since Harry's death +she has been unceasingly interested in the career of the man Barker." + +"Are you quite certain of this?" gasped Fetherston. + +"Quite; it is proved beyond the shadow of a doubt." + +"Then Enid Orlebar killed him?" + +"That if she actually did not kill him with her own hand, she at least +knew well who did," was the other's cold, hard reply. "She killed him for +two reasons; first, because by poor Harry's death she prevented the +exposure of some great secret!" + +Walter Fetherston made no reply. + +Those inquiries, instituted by Scotland Yard, had resulted in exactly the +same theory as his own independent efforts--that Harry Bellairs had been +secretly done to death by the woman, who, upon her own admission to him, +had been summoned to the young officer's side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WHAT THE DEAD MAN LEFT + + +IT was news to Fetherston that Bellairs had dined at his club on that +fateful night. + +He had believed that Enid had dined with him. He had proved beyond all +doubt that she had been to his rooms that afternoon during Barker's +absence. That feather from the boa, and the perfume, were sufficient +evidence of her visit. + +Yet why had Barker remained in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly Circus if +sent by his master with a message to Richmond? He could not doubt a +single word that Trendall had told him, for the latter's information was +beyond question. Well he knew with what care and cunning such an inquiry +would have been made, and how every point would have been proved before +being reported to that ever active man who was head of that Department of +the Home Office that never sleeps. + +"What secret do you suggest might have been divulged?" he asked at last +after a long pause. + +The big room--the Room of Secrets--was silent, for the double windows +prevented the noise of the traffic and the "honk" of the taxi horns from +penetrating there. Only the low ticking of the clock broke the quiet. + +"I scarcely have any suggestion to offer in that direction," was +Trendall's slow reply. "That feature of the affair still remains a +mystery." + +"But cannot this man Barker be induced to make some statement?" he +queried. + +"He will scarcely betray the woman to whom he owes his present +prosperity, for he is prosperous and has a snug little balance at his +bank. Besides, even though we took the matter in hand, what could we do? +There is no evidence against him or against the woman. The farcical +proceedings in the coroner's court had tied their hands." + +"An open verdict was returned?" + +"Yes, at our suggestion. But Professors Dale and Boyd failed to find any +traces of poison or of foul play." + +"And yet there _was_ foul play--that is absolutely certain!" declared the +novelist. + +"Unfortunately, yes. Poor Bellairs was a brilliant and promising officer, +a man destined to make a distinct mark in the world. It was a pity, +perhaps, that he was such a lady-killer." + +"A pity that he fell victim to what was evidently a clever plot, and +yet--yet--I cannot bring myself to believe that your surmise can be +actually correct. He surely would never have sent for the very person who +was his enemy and who had plotted to kill him--it doesn't seem feasible, +does it?" + +"Quite as feasible as any of the strange and crooked circumstances which +one finds every day in life's undercurrents," was the quiet rejoinder. +"Remember, he was very fond of her--fascinated by her remarkable beauty." + +"But he was engaged to Lady Blanche?" + +"He intended to marry her, probably for wealth and position. The woman a +man of Harry's stamp marries is seldom, if ever, the woman he loves," +added the chief with a somewhat cynical smile, for he was essentially a +man of the world. + +"But what secret could Enid Orlebar desire to hide?" exclaimed Fetherston +wonderingly. "If he loved her, he certainly would never have threatened +exposure." + +"My dear fellow, I've told you briefly my own theory--a theory formed +upon all the evidence I could collect," replied the tall, dark-eyed man, +as he thrust his hands deeply into his trousers pockets and looked +straight into the eyes of his friend. + +"If you are so certain that Enid Orlebar is implicated in the affair, if +not the actual assassin, why don't you interrogate her?" asked Walter +boldly. + +"Well--well, to tell the truth, our inquiries are not yet complete. When +they are, we may be in a better position--we probably shall be--to put to +her certain pointed questions. But," he added quickly, "perhaps I ought +not to say this, for I know she is a friend of yours." + +"What you tell me is in confidence, as always, Trendall," he replied +quickly. "I knew long ago that Enid was deeply attached to Bellairs. But +much that you have just told me is entirely fresh to me. I must find +Barker and question him." + +"I don't think I'd do that. Wait until we have completed our inquiries," +urged the other. "If Bellairs was killed in so secret and scientific a +manner that no trace was left, he was killed with a cunning and +craftiness which betrays a jealous woman rather than a man. Besides, +there are other facts we have gathered which go further to prove that +Enid Orlebar is the actual culprit." + +"What are they? Tell me, Trendall." + +"No, my dear chap; you are the lady's friend--it is really unfair to ask +me," he protested. "Where the usual mysteries are concerned, I'm always +open and above-board with you. But in private investigations like this +you must allow me to retain certain knowledge to myself." + +"But I beg of you to tell me everything," demanded the other. "I have +taken an intense interest in the matter, as you have, even though my +motive has been of an entirely different character." + +"You have no suspicion that Bellairs was in possession of any great +secret--a secret which it was to Miss Orlebar's advantage should be +kept?" + +"No," was the novelist's prompt response. "But I can't see the drift of +your question," he added. + +"Well," replied the keen, alert man, who, again seated in his +writing-chair, bent slightly towards his visitor, "well, as you've asked +me to reveal all I know, Fetherston, I will do so, even though I feel +some reluctance, in face of the fact that Miss Orlebar is your friend." + +"That makes no difference," declared the other firmly. "I am anxious to +clear up the mystery of Bellairs' death." + +"Then I think that you need seek no farther for the correct solution," +replied Trendall quietly, looking into the other's pale countenance. +"Your lady friend killed him--_in order to preserve her own secret_." + +"But what was her secret?" + +"We have that yet to establish. It must have been a serious one for her +to close his lips in such a manner." + +"But they were good friends," declared Fetherston. "He surely had not +threatened to expose her?" + +"I do not think he had. My own belief is that she became madly jealous of +Lady Blanche, and at the same time, fearing the exposure of her secret to +the woman to whom her lover had become engaged, she took the subtle means +of silencing him. Besides----" And he paused without concluding his +sentence. + +"Besides what?" + +"From the first you suspected Sir Hugh's stepdaughter, eh?" + +Fetherston hesitated. Then afterwards he nodded slowly in the +affirmative. + +"Yes," went on Trendall, "I knew all along that you were suspicious. You +made a certain remarkable discovery, eh, Fetherston?" + +The novelist started. At what did his friend hint? Was it possible that +the inquiries had led to a suspicion of Sir Hugh's criminal conduct? The +very thought appalled him. + +"I--well, in the course of the inquiries I made I found that the lady in +question was greatly attached to the dead man," replied Fetherston rather +lamely. + +Trendall smiled. "It was to Enid Orlebar that Harry sent when he felt his +fatal seizure. Instead of sending for a doctor, he sent Barker to her, +and she at once flew to his side, but, alas! too late to remedy the harm +she had already caused. When she arrived he was dead!" + +Fetherston was silent. He saw that the inquiries made by the Criminal +Investigation Department had led to exactly the same conclusion that he +himself had formed. + +"This is a most distressing thought--that Enid Orlebar is a murderess!" +he declared after a moment's pause. + +"It is--I admit. Yet we cannot close our eyes to such outstanding facts, +my dear chap. Depend upon it that there is something behind the poor +fellow's death of which we have no knowledge. In his death your friend +Miss Orlebar sought safety. The letter he wrote to her a week before his +assassination is sufficient evidence of that." + +"A letter!" gasped Fetherston. "Is there one in existence?" + +"Yes; it is in our possession; it reveals the existence of the secret." + +"But what was its nature?" cried Fetherston in dismay. "What terrible +secret could there possibly be that could only be preserved by Bellairs' +silence?" + +"That's just the puzzle we have to solve--just the very point which has +mystified us all along." + +And then he turned to his correspondence again, opening his letters one +after the other--letters which, addressed to a box at the General Post +Office in the City, contained secret information from various unsuspected +quarters at home and abroad. + +Suddenly, in order to change the topic of conversation, which he knew was +painful to Walter Fetherston, he mentioned the excellence of the opera at +Covent Garden on the previous night. And afterwards he referred to an +article in that day's paper which dealt with the idea of obtaining +exclusive political intelligence through spirit-bureaux. Then, speaking +of the labour unrest, Trendall pronounced his opinion as follows: + +"The whole situation would be ludicrous were it not urged so +persistently as to be a menace not so much in this country, where we know +too well the temperaments of its sponsors, but abroad, where public +opinion, imperfectly instructed, may imagine it represents a serious +national feeling. The continuance of it is an intolerable negation of +civilisation; it is supported by no public men of credit; it has been +disproved again and again. Ridicule may be left to give the menace the +_coup de grâce_! And this," he laughed, "in face of what you and I know, +eh? Ah! how long will the British public be lulled to sleep by anonymous +scribblers?" + +"One day they'll have a rude awakening," declared Fetherston, still +thinking, however, of that letter of the dead man to Enid. "I wonder," he +added, "I wonder who inspires these denials? We know, of course, that +each time anything against enemy interests appears in a certain section +of the Press there arises a ready army of letter-writers who rush into +print and append their names to assurances that the enemy is nowadays our +best friend. Those 'patriotic Englishmen' are, many of them, in high +positions. + +"When responsible papers wilfully mislead the public, what can be +expected?" Walter went on. "But," he added after a pause, "we did not +arrive at any definite conclusion regarding the tragic death of Bellairs. +What about that letter of his?" + +Trendall was thoughtful for a few minutes. + +"My conclusion--the only one that can be formed," he answered at last, +disregarding his friend's question--"is that Enid Orlebar is the guilty +person; and before long I hope to be in possession of that secret which +she strove by her crime to suppress--a secret which I feel convinced we +shall discover to be one of an amazing character." + +Walter stood motionless as a statue. + +Surely Bellairs had not died by Enid's hand! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AT THE CAFÉ DE PARIS + + +IT was in the early days of January--damp and foggy in England. + +Walter Fetherston sat idling on the _terrasse_ of the Café de Paris in +Monte Carlo sipping a "mazagran," basking in the afternoon sunshine, and +listening to the music of the Rumanian Orchestra. + +Around him everywhere was the gay cosmopolitan world of the tables--that +giddy little after-the-war financier and profiteer world which amuses +itself on the Côte d'Azur, and in which he was such a well-known figure. + +So many successive seasons had he passed there before 1914 that across at +the rooms the attendants and croupiers knew him as an habitué, and he was +always granted the _carte blanche_--the white card of the professional +gambler. With nearly half the people he met he had a nodding +acquaintance, for friendships are easily formed over the _tapis +vert_--and as easily dropped. + +Preferring the fresher air of Nice, he made his headquarters at the +Hôtel Royal on the world-famed promenade, and came over to "Monte" daily +by the _rapide_. + +Much had occurred since that autumn morning when he had stood with +Herbert Trendall in the big room at New Scotland Yard, much that had +puzzled him, much that had held him in fear lest the ghastly truth +concerning Sir Hugh should be revealed. + +His own activity had been, perhaps, unparalleled. The strain of such +constant travel and continual excitement would have broken most men; but +he possessed an iron constitution, and though he spent weeks on end in +trains and steamboats, it never affected him in the least. He could +snatch sleep at any time, and he could write anywhere. + +Whether or not Enid had guessed the reason of his urgent appeal to her +not to pass through France, she had nevertheless managed to excuse +herself; but a week after Mrs. Caldwell's departure she had travelled +alone by the Harwich-Antwerp route, evidently much to the annoyance of +the alert doctor of Pimlico. + +Walter had impressed upon her the desirability of not entering +France--without, however, giving any plain reason. He left her to guess. + +Through secret sources in Paris he had learnt how poor Paul Le Pontois +was still awaiting trial. In order not to excite public opinion, the +matter was being kept secret by the French authorities, and it had been +decided that the inquiry should be held with closed doors. + +A week after his arrest the French police received additional evidence +against him in the form of a cryptic telegram addressed to the Château, +an infamous and easily deciphered message which, no doubt, had been sent +with the distinct purpose of strengthening the amazing charge against +him. He protested entire ignorance of the sender and of the meaning of +the message, but his accusers would not accept any disclaimer. So +cleverly, indeed, had the message been worded that at the Sûreté it was +believed to refer to the price he had received for certain bundles of +spurious notes. + +Without a doubt the scandalous telegram had been sent at Weirmarsh's +instigation by one of his friends in order to influence the authorities +in Paris. + +So far as the doctor was concerned he was ever active in receiving +reports from his cosmopolitan friends abroad. But since his quarrel with +Sir Hugh he had ceased to visit Hill Street, and had, apparently, +dropped the old general's acquaintance. + +Sir Hugh was congratulating himself at the easy solution of the +difficulty, but Walter, seated at that little marble-topped table in the +winter sunshine, knowing Weirmarsh's character, remained in daily +apprehension. + +The exciting life he led in assisting to watch those whom Scotland Yard +suspected was as nothing compared with the constant fear of the unmasking +of Sir Hugh Elcombe. Doctor Weirmarsh was an enemy, and a formidable one. + +The mystery concerning the death of Bellairs had increased rather than +diminished. Each step he had taken in the inquiry only plunged him deeper +and deeper into an inscrutable problem. He had devoted weeks to +endeavouring to solve the mystery, but it remained, alas! inscrutable. + +Enid and Mrs. Caldwell had altered their plans, and had gone to Sicily +instead of to Egypt, first visiting Palermo and Syracuse, and were at the +moment staying at the popular "San Domenico" at Taormina, amid that gem +of Mediterranean scenery. Sir Hugh and his wife, much upset by Blanche's +sudden arrival in London, had not gone abroad that winter, but had +remained at Hill Street to comfort Paul's wife and child. + +As for Walter, he had of late been wandering far afield, in Petrograd, +Geneva, Rome, Florence, Málaga, and for the past week had been at Monte +Carlo. He was not there wholly for pleasure, for, if the truth be told, +there were seated at the farther end of the _terrasse_ a smartly dressed +man and a woman in whom he had for the past month been taking a very keen +interest. + +This pair, of Swiss nationality, he had watched in half a dozen +Continental cities, gradually establishing his suspicions as to their +real occupation. + +They had come to Monte Carlo for neither health nor pleasure, but in +order to meet a grey-haired man in spectacles, whom they received twice +in private at the Métropole, where they were staying. + +The Englishman had first seen them sitting together one evening at one of +the marble-topped tables at the Café Royal in Regent Street, while he had +been idly playing a game of dominoes at the next table with an American +friend. The face of the man was to him somehow familiar. He felt that he +had seen it somewhere, but whether in a photograph in his big album down +at Idsworth or in the flesh he could not decide. + +Yet from that moment he had hardly lost sight of them. With that +astuteness which was Fetherston's chief characteristic, he had watched +vigilantly and patiently, establishing the fact that the pair were in +England for some sinister purpose. His powers were little short of +marvellous. He really seemed, as Trendall once put it, to scent the +presence of criminals as pigs scent truffles. + +They suddenly left the Midland Hotel at St. Pancras, where they were +staying, and crossed the Channel. But the same boat carried Walter +Fetherston, who took infinite care not to obtrude himself upon their +attention. + +Monte Carlo, being in the principality of Monaco, and being peopled by +the most cosmopolitan crowd in the whole world, is in winter the +recognised meeting-place of _chevaliers d'industrie_ and those who +finance and control great crimes. + +In the big atrium of those stifling rooms many an assassin has met his +hirer, and in many of those fine hotels have bribes been handed over to +those who will do "dirty work." It is the European exchange of +criminality, for both sexes know it to be a safe place where they may +"accidentally" meet the person controlling them. + +It is safe to say that in every code used by the criminal plotters of +every country in Europe there is a cryptic word which signifies a meeting +at Monte Carlo. For that reason was Walter Fetherston much given to +idling on the sunny _terrasse_ of the café at a point where he could see +every person who ascended or descended that flight of red-carpeted stairs +which gives entrance to the rooms. + +The pair whom he was engaged in watching had been playing at roulette +with five-franc pieces, and the woman was now counting her gains and +laughing gaily with her husband as she slowly sipped her tea flavoured +with orange-flower water. They were in ignorance of the presence of that +lynx-eyed man in grey flannels and straw hat who smoked his cigarette +leisurely and appeared to be so intensely bored. + +No second glance at Fetherston was needed to ascertain that he was a most +thorough-going cosmopolitan. He usually wore his pale-grey felt hat at a +slight angle, and had the air of the easy-going adventurer, debonair and +unscrupulous. But in his case his appearance was not a true index to his +character, for in reality he was a steady, hard-headed, intelligent man, +the very soul of honour, and, above all, a man of intense patriotism--an +Englishman to the backbone. Still, he cultivated his easy-going +cosmopolitanism to pose as a careless adventurer. + +Presently the pair rose, and, crossing the palm-lined place, entered the +casino; while Walter, finishing his "mazagran," lit a fresh cigarette, +and took a turn along the front of the casino in order to watch the +pigeon-shooting. + +The winter sun was sinking into the tideless sea in all its +gold-and-orange glory as he stood leaning over the stone balustrade +watching the splendid marksmanship of one of the crack shots of Europe. +He waited until the contest had ended, then he descended and took the +_rapide_ back to Nice for dinner. + +At nine o'clock he returned to Monte Carlo, and again ascended the +station lift, as was his habit, for a stroll through the rooms and a chat +and drink with one or other of his many friends. He looked everywhere for +the Swiss pair in whom he was so interested, but in vain. Probably they +had gone over to Nice to spend the evening, he thought. But as the night +wore on and they did not return by the midnight train--the arrival of +which he watched--he strolled back to the Métropole and inquired for them +at the bureau of the hotel. + +"M'sieur and Madame Granier left by the Mediterranean express for Paris +at seven-fifteen this evening," replied the clerk, who knew Walter very +well. + +"What address did they leave?" he inquired, annoyed at the neat manner in +which they had escaped his vigilance. + +"They left no address, m'sieur. They received a telegram just after six +o'clock recalling them to Paris immediately. Fortunately, there was one +two-berth compartment vacant on the train." + +Walter turned away full of chagrin. He had been foolish to lose sight of +them. His only course was to return to Nice, pack his traps, and follow +to Paris in the ordinary _rapide_ at eight o'clock next morning. And this +was the course he pursued. + +But Paris is a big place, and though he searched for two whole weeks, +going hither and thither to all places where the foreign visitors mostly +congregate, he saw nothing of the interesting pair. Therefore, full of +disappointment, he crossed one afternoon to Folkestone, and that night +again found himself in his dingy chambers in Holles Street. + +Next day he called upon Sir Hugh, and found him in much better spirits. +Lady Elcombe told him that Enid had written expressing herself delighted +with her season in Sicily, and saying that both she and Mrs. Caldwell +were very pleased that they had adopted his suggestion of going there +instead of to overcrowded Cairo. + +As he sat with Sir Hugh and his wife in that pretty drawing-room he knew +so well the old general suddenly said: "I suppose, Fetherston, you are +still taking as keen an interest in the latest mysteries of crime--eh?" + +"Yes, Sir Hugh. As you know, I've written a good deal upon the subject." + +"I've read a good many of your books and articles, of course," exclaimed +the old officer. "Upon many points I entirely agree with you," he said. +"There is a curious case in the papers to-day. Have you seen it? A young +girl found mysteriously shot dead near Hitchin." + +"No, I haven't," was Walter's reply. He was not at all interested. He was +thinking of something of far greater interest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +WHICH IS "PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL" + + +AT eleven o'clock next morning Fetherston stood in Trendall's room at +Scotland Yard reporting to him the suspicious movements of Monsieur and +Madame Granier. + +His friend leaned back in his padded chair listening while the keen-faced +man in pince-nez related all the facts, and in doing so showed how shrewd +and astute he had been. + +"Then they are just what we thought," remarked the chief. + +"Without a doubt. In Monte Carlo they received further instructions from +somebody. They went to Paris, and there I lost them." + +Trendall smiled, for he saw how annoyed his friend was at their escape. + +"Well, you certainly clung on to them," he said. "When you first told me +your suspicions I confess I was inclined to disagree with you. You merely +met them casually in Regent Street. What made you suspicious?" + +"One very important incident--Weirmarsh came in with another man, and, +in passing, nodded to Granier. That set me thinking." + +"But you do not know of any actual dealings with the doctor?" + +"I know of none," replied Walter. "Still, I'm very sick that, after all +my pains, they should have escaped to Paris so suddenly." + +"Never mind," said Trendall. "If they are what we suspect we shall pick +them up again before long, no doubt. Now look here," he added. "Read +that! It's just come in. As you know, any foreigner who takes a house in +certain districts nowadays is reported to us by the local police." + +Fetherston took the big sheet of blue official paper which the police +official handed to him, and found that it was the copy of a confidential +report made by the Superintendent of Police at Maldon, in Essex, and read +as follows: + +"I, William Warden, Superintendent of Police for the Borough of Maldon, +desire to report to the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police the following +statement from Sergeant S. Deacon, Essex Constabulary, stationed at +Southminster, which is as below: + +"'On Friday, the thirteenth of September last, a gentleman, evidently a +foreigner, was sent by Messrs. Hare and James, estate agents, of Malden, +to view the house known as The Yews, at Asheldham, in the vicinity of +Southminster, and agreed to take it for three years in order to start a +poultry farm. The tenant entered into possession a week later, when one +vanload of furniture arrived from London. Two days later three other +vanloads arrived late in the evening, and were unpacked in the +stable-yard at dawn. The tenant, whose name is Bailey--but whose letters +come addressed "Baily," and are mostly from Belgium--lived there alone +for a fortnight, and was afterwards joined by a foreign man-servant named +Pietro, who is believed to be an Italian. Though more than three months +have elapsed, and I have kept observation upon the house--a large one, +standing in its own grounds--I have seen no sign of poultry farming, and +therefore deem it a matter for a report.--SAMUEL DEACON, Sergeant, Essex +Constabulary.'" + +"Curious!" remarked Walter, when he had finished reading it. + +"Yes," said Trendall. "There may be nothing in it." + +"It should be inquired into!" declared Walter. "I'll take Summers and go +down there to have a look round, if you like." + +"I wish you would," said the chief. "I'll 'phone Summers to meet you at +Liverpool Street Station," he added, turning to the railway guide. +"There's a train at one forty-five. Will that suit you?" + +"Yes. Tell him to meet me at Liverpool Street--and we'll see who this +'Mr. Baily' really is." + +When, shortly after half-past one, the novelist walked on to the platform +at Liverpool Street he was approached by a narrow-faced, middle-aged man +in a blue serge suit who presented the appearance of a ship's engineer on +leave. + +As they sat together in a first-class compartment Fetherston explained to +his friend the report made by the police officer at Southminster--the +next station to Burnham-on-Crouch--whereupon Summers remarked: "The +doctor has been down this way once or twice of late. I wonder if he goes +to pay this Mr. Baily, or Bailey, a visit?" + +"Perhaps," laughed Walter. "We shall see." + +The railway ended at Southminster, but on alighting they had little +difficulty in finding the small police station, where the local sergeant +of police awaited them, having been warned by telephone. + +"Well, gentlemen," said the red-faced man, spreading his big hands on his +knees as they sat together in a back room, "Mr. Bailey ain't at home just +now. He's away a lot. The house is a big one--not too big for the four +vanloads of furniture wot came down from London." + +"Has he made any friends in the district, do you know?" + +"No, not exactly. 'E often goes and 'as a drink at the Bridgewick Arms at +Burnham, close by the coastguard station." + +Walter exchanged a meaning glance with his assistant. + +"Does he receive any visitors?" + +"Very few--he's away such a lot. A woman comes down to see him +sometimes--his sister, they say she is." + +"What kind of a woman?" + +"Oh, she's a lady about thirty-five--beautifully dressed always. She +generally comes in a dark-green motor-car, which she drives herself. She +was a lady driver during the war." + +"Do you know her name?" + +"Miss Bailey. She's a foreigner, of course." + +"Any other visitors?" asked Fetherston, in his quick, impetuous way, as +he polished his pince-nez. + +"One day, very soon after Mr. Bailey took the house, I was on duty at +Southminster Station in the forenoon, and a gentleman and lady arrived +and asked how far it was to The Yews, at Asheldham. I directed them the +way to walk over by Newmoor and across the brook. Then I slipped 'ome, +got into plain clothes, and went along after them by the footpath." + +"Why did you do that?" asked Summers. + +"Because I wanted to find out something about this foreigner's visitors. +I read at headquarters at Maldon the new instructions about reporting all +foreigners who took houses, and I wanted to----" + +"To show that you were on the alert, eh, Deacon?" laughed the novelist +good-humouredly, and he lit a cigarette. + +"That's so, sir," replied the big, red-faced man. "Well, I took a short +cut over to The Yews, and got there ten minutes before they did. I hid in +the hedge on the north side of the house, and saw that as soon as they +walked up the drive Mr. Bailey rushed out to welcome them. The lady +seemed very nervous, I thought. I know she was an English lady, because +she spoke to me at the station." + +"What were they like?" inquired Summers. "Describe both of them." + +"Well, the man, as far as I can recollect, was about fifty or so, +grey-faced, dark-eyed, wearin' a heavy overcoat with astrachan collar and +cuffs. He had light grey suède gloves, and carried a gold-mounted malacca +cane with a curved handle. The woman was quite young--not more'n twenty, +I should think--and very good-lookin'. She wore a neat tailor-made dress +of brown cloth, and a small black velvet hat with a big gold buckle. She +had a greyish fur around her neck, with a muff to match, and carried a +small, dark green leather bag." + +Walter stood staring at the speaker. The description was exactly that of +Weirmarsh and Enid Orlebar. The doctor often wore an astrachan-trimmed +overcoat, while both dress and hat were the same which Enid had worn +three months ago! + +He made a few quick inquiries of the red-faced sergeant, but the man's +replies only served to convince him that Enid had actually been a visitor +at the mysterious house. + +"You did not discover their names?" + +"The young lady addressed her companion as 'Doctor.' That's all I know," +was the officer's reply. "For that reason I was rather inclined to think +that I was on the wrong scent. The man was perhaps, after all, only a +doctor who had come down to see his patient." + +"Perhaps so," remarked Walter mechanically. "You say Mr. Bailey is not at +home to-day, so we'll just run over and have a look round. You'd better +come with us, sergeant." + +"Very well, sir. But I 'ear as how Mr. Bailey is comin' home this +evenin'. I met Pietro in the Railway Inn at Southminster the night before +last, and casually asked when his master was comin' home, as I wanted to +see 'im for a subscription for our police concert, and 'e told me that +the signore--that's what 'e called him--was comin' home to-night." + +"Good! Then, after a look round the place, we hope to have the pleasure +of seeing this mysterious foreigner who comes here to the Dengie Marshes +to make a living out of fowl-keeping." And Walter smiled meaningly at his +companion. + +Ten minutes later, after the sergeant had changed into plain clothes, the +trio set out along the flat, muddy road for Asheldham. + +But as they were walking together, after passing Northend, a curious +thing happened. + +Summers started back suddenly and nudged the novelist's arm without a +word. + +Fetherston, looking in the direction indicated, halted, utterly staggered +by what met his gaze. + +It was inexplicable--incredible! He looked again, scarcely believing his +own eyes, for what he saw made plain a ghastly truth. + +He stood rigid, staring straight before him. + +Was it possible that at last he was actually within measurable distance +of the solution of the mystery? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE RESULT OF INVESTIGATION + + +AS the expectant trio had come round the bend in the road they saw in +front of them, walking alone, a young lady in a short tweed suit with hat +to match. + +The gown was of a peculiar shade of grey, and by her easy, swinging gait +and the graceful carriage of her head Walter Fetherston instantly +recognised that there before him, all unconscious of his presence, was +the girl he believed to be still in Sicily--Enid Orlebar! + +He looked again, to satisfy himself that he was not mistaken. Then, +drawing back, lest her attention should be attracted by their footsteps, +he motioned to his companions to retreat around the bend and thus out of +her sight. + +"Now," he said, addressing them, "there is some deep mystery here. That +lady must not know we are here." + +"You've recognised her, sir?" asked Summers, who had on several previous +occasions assisted him. + +"Yes," was the novelist's hard reply. "She is here with some mysterious +object. You mustn't approach The Yews till dark." + +"Mr. Bailey will then be at home, sir," remarked the sergeant. "I thought +you wished to explore the place before he arrived?" + +Walter paused. He saw that Enid could not be on her way to visit Bailey, +if he were not at home. So he suggested that Summers, whom she did not +know, should go forward and watch her movements, while he and the +sergeant should proceed to the house of suspicion. + +Arranging to meet later, the officer from Scotland Yard lit his pipe and +strolled quickly forward around the bend to follow the girl in grey, +while the other two halted to allow them to get on ahead. + +"Have you ever seen that lady down here before, sergeant?" asked Walter +presently. + +"Yes, sir. If I don't make a mistake, it is the same lady who asked me +the way to The Yews soon after Mr. Bailey took the house--the lady who +came with the man whom she addressed as 'Doctor'!" + +"Are you quite certain of this?" + +"Not quite certain. She was dressed differently, in brown--with a +different hat and a veil." + +"They came only on that one occasion, eh?" + +"Only that once, sir." + +"But why, I wonder, is she going to The Yews? Pietro, you say, went up to +London this morning?" + +"Yes, sir, by the nine-five. And the house is locked up--she's evidently +unaware of that." + +"No doubt. She'll go there, and, finding nobody at home, turn away +disappointed. She must not see us." + +"We'll take good care of that, sir," laughed the local sergeant breezily, +as he left his companion's side and crossed the road so that he could see +the bend. "Why!" he exclaimed, "she ain't goin' to Asheldham after all! +She's taken the footpath to the left that leads into Steeple! Evidently +she knows the road!" + +"Then we are free to go straight along to The Yews, eh? She's making a +call in the vicinity. I wonder where she's going?" + +"Your friend will ascertain that," said the sergeant. "Let's get along to +The Yews and 'ave a peep round." + +Therefore the pair, now that Enid was sufficiently far ahead along a +footpath which led under a high, bare hedge, went forth again down the +high road until, after crossing the brook, they turned to the right into +Asheldham village, where, half-way between that place and New Hall, they +turned up a short by-road, a cul-de-sac, at the end of which a big, +old-fashioned, red-brick house of the days of Queen Anne, half hidden by +a belt of high Scotch firs, came into view. + +Shut off from the by-road by a high, time-mellowed brick wall, it stood +back lonely and secluded in about a couple of acres of well wooded +ground. From a big, rusty iron gate the ill-kept, gravelled drive took a +broad sweep up to the front of the house, a large, roomy one with square, +inartistic windows and plain front, the ugliness of which the ivy strove +to hide. + +In the grey light of that wintry afternoon the place looked inexpressibly +dismal and neglected. Years ago it had, no doubt, been the residence of +some well-to-do county family; but in these twentieth-century post-war +days, having been empty for nearly ten years, it had gone sadly to rack +and ruin. + +The lawns had become weedy, the carriage-drive was, in places, green with +moss, like the sills of the windows and the high-pitched, tiled roof +itself. In the centre of the lawn, before the house, stood four great +ancient yews, while all round were high box hedges, now, alas! neglected, +untrimmed and full of holes. + +The curtains were of the commonest kind, while the very steps leading to +the front door were grey with lichen and strewn with wisps of straw. The +whole aspect was one of neglect, of decay, of mystery. + +The two men, opening the creaking iron gate, advanced boldly to the door, +an excuse ready in case Pietro opened it. + +They knocked loudly, but there was no response. Their summons echoed +through the big hall, causing Walter to remark: + +"There can't be much furniture inside, judging from the sound." + +"Four motor vanloads came here," responded the sergeant. "The first was +in a plain van." + +"You did not discover whence it came?" + +"I asked the driver down at the inn at Southminster, and he told me that +they came from the Trinity Furnishing Company, Peckham. But, on making +inquiries, I found that he lied; there is no such company in Peckham." + +"You saw the furniture unloaded?" + +"I was about here when the first lot came. When the other three vans +arrived I was away on my annual leave," was the sergeant's reply. + +Again they knocked, but no one came to the door. A terrier approached, +but he proved friendly, therefore they proceeded to make an inspection +of the empty stabling and disused outbuildings. + +Three old hen-coops were the only signs of poultry-farming they could +discover, and these, placed in a conspicuous position in the big, paved +yard, were without feathered occupants. + +There were three doors by which the house could be entered, and all of +them Walter tried and found locked. Therefore, noticing in the +rubbish-heap some stray pieces of paper, he at once turned his attention +to what he discovered were fragments of a torn letter. It was written in +French, and, apparently, had reference to certain securities held by the +tenant of The Yews. + +But as only a small portion of the destroyed communication could be +found, its purport was not very clear, and the name and address of the +writer could not be ascertained. + +Yet it had already been proved without doubt that the mysterious tenant +of the dismal old place--the man who posed as a poultry-farmer--had had +as visitors Dr. Weirmarsh and Enid Orlebar! + +For a full half-hour, while the red-faced sergeant kept watch at the +gate, Walter Fetherston continued to investigate that rubbish-heap, which +showed signs of having been burning quite recently, for most of the +scraps of paper were charred at their edges. + +The sodden remains of many letters he withdrew and tried to read, but the +scraps gave no tangible result, and he was just about to relinquish his +search when his eye caught a scrap of bright blue notepaper of a familiar +hue. It was half burned, and blurred by the rain, but at the corner he +recognised some embossing in dark blue--familiar embossing it was--of +part of the address in Hill Street! + +The paper was that used habitually by Enid Orlebar, and upon it was a +date, two months before, and the single word "over" in her familiar +handwriting. + +He took his stout walking-stick, in reality a sword-case, and frantically +searched for other scraps, but could find none. One tiny portion only had +been preserved from the flames--paraffin having been poured over the heap +to render it the more inflammable. But that scrap in itself was +sufficient proof that Enid had written to the mysterious tenant of The +Yews. + +"Well," he said at last, approaching the sergeant, "do you think the +coast is clear enough?" + +"For what?" + +"To get a glimpse inside. There's a good deal more mystery here than we +imagine, depend upon it!" Walter exclaimed. + +"Master and man will return by the same train, I expect, unless they come +back in a motor-car. If they come by train they won't be here till well +past eight, so we'll have at least three hours by ourselves." + +Walter Fetherston glanced around. Twilight was fast falling. + +"It'll be dark inside, but I've brought my electric torch," he said. +"There's a kitchen window with an ordinary latch." + +"That's no use. There are iron bars," declared the sergeant. "I examined +it the other day. The small staircase window at the side is the best +means of entry." And he took the novelist round and showed him a long +narrow window about five feet from the ground. + +Walter's one thought was of Enid. Why had she written to that mysterious +foreigner? Why had she visited there? Why, indeed, was she back in +England surreptitiously, and in that neighbourhood? + +The short winter's afternoon was nearly at an end as they stood +contemplating the window prior to breaking in--for Walter Fetherston felt +justified in breaking the law in order to examine the interior of that +place. + +In the dark branches of the trees the wind whistled mournfully, and the +scudding clouds were precursory of rain. + +"Great Scott!" exclaimed Walter. "This isn't a particularly cheerful +abode, is it, sergeant?" + +"No, sir, if I lived 'ere I'd have the blues in a week," laughed the man. +"I can't think 'ow Mr. Bailey employs 'is time." + +"Poultry-farming," laughed Fetherston, as, standing on tiptoe, he +examined the window-latch by flashing on the electric torch. + +"No good!" he declared. "There's a shutter covered with new sheet-iron +behind." + +"It doesn't show through the curtain," exclaimed Deacon. + +"But it's there. Our friend is evidently afraid of burglars." + +From window to window they passed, but the mystery was considerably +increased by the discovery that at each of those on the ground floor were +iron-faced shutters, though so placed as not to be noticeable behind the +windows, which were entirely covered with cheap curtain muslin. + +"That's funny!" exclaimed the sergeant. "I've never examined them with a +light before." + +"They have all been newly strengthened," declared Fetherston. "On the +other side I expect there are strips of steel placed lattice-wise, a +favourite device of foreigners. Mr. Bailey," he added, "evidently has no +desire that any intruder should gain access to his residence." + +"What shall we do?" asked Deacon, for it was now rapidly growing dark. + +A thought had suddenly occurred to Walter that perhaps Enid's intention +was to make a call there, after all. + +"Our only way to obtain entrance is, I think, by one of the upper +windows," replied the man whose very life was occupied by the +investigation of mysteries. "In the laundry I noticed a ladder. Let us go +and get it." + +So the ladder, a rather rotten and insecure one, was obtained, and after +some difficulty placed against the wall. It would not, however, reach to +the windows, as first intended, therefore Walter mounted upon the +slippery, moss-grown tiles of a wing of the house, and after a few +moments' exploration discovered a skylight which proved to be over the +head of the servants' staircase. + +This he lifted, and, fixing around a chimney-stack a strong silk rope he +had brought in his pocket ready for any emergency, he threw it down the +opening, and quickly lowered himself through. + +Scarcely had he done so, and was standing on the uncarpeted stairs, when +his quick ear caught the sound of Deacon's footsteps receding over the +gravel around to the front of the house. + +Then, a second later, he heard a loud challenge from the gloom in a man's +voice that was unfamiliar: + +"Who's there?" + +There was no reply. Walter listened with bated breath. + +"What are you doing there?" cried the new-comer in a voice in which was a +marked foreign accent. "Speak! _speak!_ or I'll shoot!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE SECRET OF THE LONELY HOUSE + + +WALTER did not move. He realised that a _contretemps_ had occurred. The +ladder still leaning against the wall outside would reveal his intrusion. +Yet, at last inside, he intended, at all hazards, to explore the place +and learn the reason why the mysterious stranger had started that +"poultry farm." + +He was practically in the dark, fearing to flash on his torch lest he +should be discovered. + +Was it possible that Bailey or his Italian manservant had unexpectedly +returned! + +Those breathless moments seemed hours. + +Suddenly he heard a second challenge. The challenger used a fierce +Italian oath, and by it he knew that it was Pietro. + +In reply, a shot rang out--evidently from the sergeant's pistol, followed +by another sharp report, and still another. This action showed the man +Deacon to be a shrewd person, for the effect was exactly as he had +intended. The Italian servant turned on his heel and flew for his life +down the drive, shouting in his native tongue for help and for the +police. + +"Madonna santa!" he yelled. "Who are you here?" he demanded in Italian. +"I'll go to the police!" + +And in terror he rushed off down the road. + +"All right, sir," cried the sergeant, after the servant had disappeared. +"I've given the fellow a good fright. Be quick and have a look round, +sir. You can be out again before he raises the alarm!" + +In an instant Walter flashed on his torch and, dashing down the stairs, +crossed the kitchen and found himself in the hall. From room to room he +rushed, but found only two rooms on the ground floor furnished--a +sitting-room, which had been the original dining-room, while in the study +was a chair-bed, most probably where Pietro slept. + +On the table lay a heavy revolver, fully loaded, and this Fetherston +quickly transferred to his jacket pocket. + +Next moment he dashed up the old well staircase two steps at a time and +entered room after room. Only one was furnished--the tenant's bedroom. In +it he found a number of suits of clothes, while on the dressing-table lay +a false moustache, evidently for disguise. A small writing-table was set +in the window, and upon it was strewn a quantity of papers. + +As he flashed his torch round he was amazed to see, arranged upon a neat +deal table in a corner, some curious-looking machinery which looked +something like printing-presses. But they were a mystery to him. + +The discovery was a strange one. What it meant he did not then realise. +There seemed to be quite a quantity of apparatus and machinery. It was +this which had been conveyed there in those furniture vans of the Trinity +Furnishing Company. + +He heard Deacon's voice calling again. Therefore, having satisfied +himself as to the nature of the contents of that neglected old house, he +ascended the stone steps into the passage which led through a faded +green-baize door into the main hall. + +As he entered he heard voices in loud discussion. Sergeant Deacon and the +servant Pietro had met face to face. + +The Italian had evidently aroused the villagers in Asheldham, for there +were sounds of many voices of men out on the gravelled drive. + +"I came up here a quarter of an hour ago," the Italian cried excitedly in +his broken English, "and somebody fired at me. They tried to kill me!" + +"But who?" asked Deacon in pretended ignorance. He was uncertain what to +do, Mr. Fetherston being still within the house and the ladder, his only +means of escape, still standing against a side wall. + +"Thieves!" cried the man, his foreign accent more pronounced in his +excitement. "I challenged them, and they fired at me. I am glad that you, +a police sergeant, are here." + +"So am I," cried Walter Fetherston, suddenly throwing open the front door +and standing before the knot of alarmed villagers, though it was so dark +that they could not recognise who he was. "Deacon," he added +authoritatively, "arrest that foreigner." + +"Diavolo! Who are you?" demanded the Italian angrily. + +"You will know in due course," replied Fetherston. Then, turning to the +crowd, he added: "Gentlemen, I came here with Sergeant Deacon to search +this house. He will tell you whether that statement is true or not." + +"Quite," declared the breezy sergeant, who already had the Italian by the +collar and coat-sleeve. "It was I who fired--to frighten him off!" + +At this the crowd laughed. They had no liking for foreigners of any sort +after the war, and were really secretly pleased to see that the sergeant +had "taken him up." + +But what for? they asked themselves. Why had the police searched The +Yews? Mr. Bailey was a quiet, inoffensive man, very free with his money +to everybody around. + +"Jack Beard," cried Deacon to a man in the crowd, "just go down to +Asheldham and telephone to Superintendent Warden at Maldon. Ask him to +send me over three men at once, will you?" + +"All right, Sam," was the prompt reply, and the man went off, while the +sergeant took the resentful Italian into the house to await an escort. + +Deacon called the assistance of two men and invited them in. Then, while +they mounted guard over the prisoner, Fetherston addressed the little +knot of amazed men who had been alarmed by the Italian's statement. + +"Listen, gentlemen," he said. "We shall in a couple of hours' time expect +the return of Mr. Bailey, the tenant of this house. There is a very +serious charge against him. I therefore put everyone of you upon your +honour to say no word of what has occurred here to-night--not until Mr. +Bailey arrives. I should prefer you all to remain here and wait; +otherwise, if a word be dropped at Southminster, he may turn back and fly +from justice." + +"What's the charge, sir?" asked one man, a bearded old labourer. + +"A very serious one," was Walter's evasive reply. + +Then, after a pause, they all agreed to wait and witness the dramatic +arrest of the man who was charged with some mysterious offence. +Speculation was rife as to what it would be, and almost every crime in +the calendar was cited as likely. + +Meanwhile Fetherston, returning to the barely-furnished sitting-room, +interrogated Pietro in Italian, but only obtained sullen answers. A +loaded revolver had been found upon him by Deacon, and promptly +confiscated. + +"I have already searched the place," Walter said to the prisoner, "and I +know what it contains." + +But in response the man who had posed as servant, but who, with his +"master," was the custodian of the place, only grinned and gave vent to +muttered imprecations in Italian. + +Fetherston afterwards left the small assembly and made examination of +some bedrooms he had not yet inspected. In three of these, the locks of +which he broke open, he discovered quantities of interesting papers, +together with another mysterious-looking press. + +While trying to decide what it all meant he suddenly heard a great +shouting and commotion outside, and ran down to the door to ascertain its +cause. + +As he opened it he saw that in the darkness the crowd outside had grown +excited. + +"'Ere you are, sir," cried one man, ascending the steps. "'Ere are two +visitors. We found 'em comin' up the road, and, seein' us, they tried to +get away!" + +Walter held up a hurricane lantern which he had found and lit, when its +dim, uncertain light fell upon the two prisoners in the crowd. + +Behind stood Summers, while before him, to Fetherston's utter amazement, +showed Enid Orlebar, pale and terrified, and the grey, sinister face of +Doctor Weirmarsh. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +CONTAINS SOME STARTLING STATEMENTS + + +ENID, recognising Walter, shrank back instantly in fear and shame, while +Weirmarsh started at that unexpected meeting with the man whom he knew to +be his bitterest and most formidable opponent. + +The small crowd of excited onlookers, ignorant of the true facts, but +their curiosity aroused by the unusual circumstances, had prevented the +pair from turning back and making a hurried escape. + +"Enid!" exclaimed Fetherston, as the girl reluctantly crossed the +threshold with downcast head, "what is the meaning of this? Why are you +paying a visit to this house at such an hour?" + +"Ah, Walter," she cried, her small, gloved hands clenched with a sudden +outburst of emotion, "be patient and hear me! I will tell you +everything--_everything_!" + +"You won't," growled the doctor sharply. "If you do, by Gad! it will be +the worse for you! So you'd best keep a silent tongue--otherwise you +know the consequences. I shall now tell the truth--and you won't like +that!" + +She drew back in terror of the man who held such an extraordinary +influence over her. She had grasped Fetherston's hand convulsively, but +at Weirmarsh's threat she had released her hold and was standing in the +hall, pale, rigid and staring. + +"Summers," exclaimed Fetherston, turning to his companion, "you know this +person, eh?" + +"Yes, sir, I should rather think I do," replied the man, with a grin. + +"Well, detain him for the present, and take your instructions from +London." + +"You have no power or right to detain me," declared the grey-faced doctor +in quick defiance. "You are not a police officer!" + +"No, but this is a police officer," Fetherston replied, indicating +Summers, and adding: "Sergeant, I give that man into custody." + +The sergeant advanced and laid his big hand upon the doctor's shoulder, +telling him to consider himself under arrest. + +"But this is abominable--outrageous!" Weirmarsh cried, shaking him off. +"I've committed no offence." + +"That is a matter for later consideration," calmly replied the man who +had devoted so much of his time and money to the investigation of +mysteries of crime. + +In one of the bare bedrooms upstairs Fetherston had, in examining one of +the well made hand-presses set up there, found beside it a number of +one-pound Treasury notes. In curiosity he took one up, and found it to be +in an unfinished state. It was printed in green, without the brown +colouring. Yet it was perfect as regards the paper and printing--even to +its black serial number. + +Next second the truth flashed upon him. The whole apparatus, presses and +everything, had been set up there to print the war paper currency of +Great Britain! + +In the room adjoining he had seen bundles of slips of similar paper, all +neatly packed in elastic bands, and waiting the final process of +colouring and toning. One bundle had only the Houses of Parliament +printed; the other side was blank. He saw in a flash that the placing in +circulation of such a huge quantity of Treasury notes, amounting to +hundreds of thousands of pounds, must seriously damage the credit of the +nation. + +For a few seconds he held an unfinished note in his hand examining it, +and deciding that the imitation was most perfect. It deceived him and +would undoubtedly deceive any bank-teller. + +In those rooms it was plain that various processes had been conducted, +from the manipulation of the watermark, by a remarkably ingenious +process, right down to the finished one-pound note, so well done that not +even an expert could detect the forgery. There were many French +one-hundred-franc notes as well. + +The whole situation was truly astounding. Again the thought hammered +home: such a quantity of paper in circulation must affect the national +finances of Britain. And at the head of the band who were printing and +circulating those spurious notes was the mysterious medical man who +carried on his practice in Pimlico! + +The scene within the sparsely furnished house containing those telltale +presses was indeed a weird one. + +Somebody had found a cheap paraffin lamp and lit it in the sitting-room, +where they were all assembled, the front door having been closed. + +It was apparent that Pietro was no stranger to the doctor and his fair +companion, but both men were highly resentful that they had been so +entrapped. + +"Doctor Weirmarsh," exclaimed Fetherston seriously, as he stood before +him, "I have just examined this house and have ascertained what it +contains." + +"You've told him!" cried the man, turning fiercely upon Enid. "You have +betrayed me! Ah! It will be the worse for you--and for your family," he +added harshly. "You will see! I shall now reveal the truth concerning +your stepfather, and you and your family will be held up to opprobrium +throughout the whole length and breadth of your land." + +Enid did not reply. She was pale as death, her face downcast, her lips +white as marble. She knew, alas! that Weirmarsh, now that he was +cornered, would not spare her. + +There was a pause--a very painful pause. + +Everyone next instant listened to a noise which sounded outside. As it +grew nearer it grew more distinct--the whir of an approaching motor-car. + +It pulled up suddenly before the door, and a moment later the old bell +clanged loudly through the half-empty house. + +Fetherston left the room, and going to the door, threw it open, when yet +another surprise awaited him. + +Upon the steps stood four men in thick overcoats, all of whom Walter +instantly recognised. + +With Trendall stood Sir Hugh Elcombe, while their companions were two +detective-inspectors from Scotland Yard. + +"Hallo!--Fetherston!" gasped Trendall. "I--I expected to find Weirmarsh +here! What has happened?" + +"The doctor is already here," was the other's quick reply. "I have found +some curious things in this place! Secret printing-presses for forged +notes." + +"We already know that," he said. "Sir Hugh Elcombe here has, unknown to +us, obtained certain knowledge, and to-day he came to me and gave me a +full statement of what has been in progress. What he has told me this +afternoon is among the most valuable and reliable information that we +ever received." + +"I know something of the scoundrels," remarked the old general, +"because--well, because, as I have confessed to Mr. Trendall, I yielded +to temptation long ago and assisted them." + +"Whatever you have done, Sir Hugh, you have at least revealed to us the +whole plot. Only by pretending to render assistance to these scoundrels +could you have gained the intensely valuable knowledge which you've +imparted to me to-day," replied the keen-faced director from Scotland +Yard. + +Fetherston realised instantly that the fine old fellow, whom he had +always held in such esteem, was making every effort to atone for his +conduct in the past; but surely that was not the moment to refer to +it--so he ushered the four men into the ill-lit dining-room wherein the +others were standing, none knowing how next to act. + +When the doctor and Sir Hugh faced each other there was a painful silence +for a few seconds. + +To Weirmarsh Trendall was known by sight, therefore the criminal saw that +the game was up, and that Sir Hugh had risked his own reputation in +betraying him. + +"You infernal scoundrel!" cried the doctor angrily. "You--to whom I have +paid so many thousands of pounds--have given me away! But I'll be even +with you!" + +"Say what you like," laughed the old general in defiance. "To me it is +the same whatever you allege. I have already admitted my slip from the +straight path. I do not deny receiving money from your hands, nor do I +deny that, in a certain measure, I have committed serious +offences--because, having taken one step, you forced me on to others, +always holding over me the threat of exposure and ruin. But, +fortunately, one day, in desperation, I took Enid yonder into my +confidence. It was she who suggested that I might serve the ends of +justice, and perhaps atone for what I had already done, by learning your +secrets, and, when the time was ripe, revealing all the interesting +details to our authorities. Enid became your friend and the friend of +your friends. She risked everything--her honour, her happiness, her +future--by associating with you for the one and sole purpose of assisting +me to learn all the dastardly plot in progress." + +"It was you who supplied Paul Le Pontois with the false notes he passed +in France!" declared Weirmarsh. "The French police know that; and if ever +you or your step-daughter put foot in France you will be arrested." + +"Evidently you are unaware, Doctor, that my son-in-law, Paul Le Pontois, +was released yesterday," laughed Sir Hugh in triumph. "Your treachery, +which is now known by the Sûreté, defeated its own ends." + +"Further," remarked Walter Fetherston, turning to Enid, "it was this man +here"--and he indicated the grey-faced doctor of Pimlico--"this man who +denounced you and Sir Hugh to the French authorities, and had you not +heeded my warning you both would then have been arrested. He had +evidently suspected the object of your friendliness with me--that you +both intended to reveal the truth--and he adopted that course in order to +secure your incarceration in a foreign prison, and so close your lips." + +"I knew you suspected me all along, Walter," replied the girl, standing a +little aside and suddenly clutching his hand. "But you will forgive me +now--forgive me, won't you?" she implored, looking up into his dark, +determined face. + +"Of course," he replied, "I have already forgiven you. I had no idea of +the true reason of your association with this man." + +And he raised her gloved hand and carried it gallantly to his eager lips. + +"Though more than mere suspicion has rested upon you," he went on, "you +and your stepfather deserve the heartiest thanks of the nation for +risking everything in order to be in a position to reveal this dastardly +financial plot. That man there"--and he indicated the doctor--"deserves +all he'll get!" + +The doctor advanced threateningly, and, drawing a big automatic revolver +from his pocket, would have fired at the man who had spoken his mind so +freely had not Deacon, quick as lightning, sprung forward and wrenched +the weapon so that the bullet went upward. + +White with anger and chagrin, the doctor stood roundly abusing the man +who had investigated that lonely house. + +But Fetherston laughed, which only irritated him the more. He raved like +a caged lion, until the veins in his brow stood out in great knots; but, +finding all protests and allegations useless, he at last became quiet +again, and apparently began to review the situation from a purely +philosophical standpoint, until, some ten minutes later, another +motor-car dashed up and in it were an inspector and four plain-clothes +constables, who had been sent over from Maldon in response to Deacon's +message for assistance. + +When they entered Pietro became voluble, but the narrow-eyed doctor of +Pimlico remained sullen and silent, biting his lips. He saw that he had +been entrapped by the very man whom he had believed to be as clay in his +hands. + +The scene was surely exciting as well as impressive. The half-furnished, +ill-lit dining-room was full of excited men, all talking at once. + +Unnoticed, Walter drew Enid into the shadow, and in a few brief, +passionate words reassured her of his great affection. + +"Ah!" she cried, bursting into hot tears, "your words, Walter, have +lifted a great load of sorrow and apprehension from my mind, for I feared +that when you knew the truth you would never, never forgive." + +"But I have forgiven," he whispered, pressing her hand. + +"Then wait until we are alone, and I will tell you everything. Ah! you do +not know, Walter, what I have suffered--what a terrible strain I have +sustained in these days of terror!" + +But scarcely had she uttered those words when the door reopened and a man +was ushered in by Deacon, who had gone out in response to the violent +ringing of the bell. + +"This is Mr. Bailey, tenant of the house, gentlemen," said the sergeant, +introducing him with mock politeness. + +Fetherston glanced up, and to his surprise saw standing in the doorway a +man he had known, and whose movements he had so closely followed--the man +who had gone to Monte Carlo for instructions, and perhaps payment--the +man who had passed as Monsieur Granier! + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +REVEALS A WOMAN'S LOVE + + +GREAT was the consternation caused in the neighbourhood of the sleepy +old-world village of Asheldham when it became known that the quiet, +mild-mannered tenant of The Yews had been arrested by the Maldon police. + +Of what transpired within those grim walls only the two men called to his +assistance by Sergeant Deacon knew, and to them both the inspector from +Maldon, as well as Trendall, expressed a fervent hope that they would +regard the matter as strictly confidential. + +"You see, gentlemen," added Trendall, "we are not desirous that the +public should know of our discovery. We wish to avoid creating undue +alarm, and at the same time to conceal the very existence of our system +of surveillance upon those suspected. Therefore, I trust that all of you +present will assist my department by preserving silence as to what has +occurred here this evening." + +His hearers agreed willingly, and through the next hour the place was +thoroughly searched, the bundles of spurious notes--the finished ones +representing nearly one hundred thousand pounds ready to put into +circulation--being seized. + +One of the machines they found was for printing in the serial numbers in +black, a process which, with genuine notes, is done by hand. Truly, the +gang had brought the art of forgery to perfection. + +"Well," said Trendall when they had finished, "this work of yours, Sir +Hugh, certainly deserves the highest commendation. You have accomplished +what we, with all our great organisation, utterly failed to do." + +"I have to-day tried to atone for my past offences," was the stern old +man's hoarse reply. + +"And you have succeeded, Sir Hugh," declared Trendall. "Indeed you have!" + +Shortly afterwards the excitement among the crowd waiting outside in the +light of the head-lamps of the motor-cars was increased by the appearance +of the doctor, escorted by two Maldon police officers in plain clothes. +They mounted a police car, and were driven away down the road, while into +a second car the tenant of The Yews and his Italian manservant were +placed under escort, and also driven away. + +The station-fly, in which Bailey had driven from Southminster, conveyed +away Fetherston, Trendall, Sir Hugh, and Enid, while Deacon, with two +men, was left in charge of the house of secrets. + +It was past one o'clock in the morning when Walter Fetherston stood alone +with Enid in the pretty drawing-room in Hill Street. + +They stood together upon the _vieux rose_ hearthrug, his hand was upon +her shoulder, his deep, earnest gaze fixed upon hers. In her splendid +eyes the love light showed. They had both admired each other intensely +from their first meeting, and had become very good and staunch friends. +Walter Fetherston had only once spoken of the passion that had constantly +consumed his heart--when they were by the blue sea at Biarritz. He loved +her--loved her with the whole strength of his being--and yet, ah! try how +he would, he could never put aside the dark cloud of suspicion which, as +the days went by, became more and more impenetrable. + +Sweet-faced, frank, and open, she stood, the ideal of the English outdoor +girl, merry, quick-witted, and athletic. And yet, after the stress of +war, she had sacrificed all that she held most dear in order to become +the friend of Weirmarsh. Why? + +"Enid," he said at last, his tender hand still upon her shoulder, "why +did you not tell me your true position? You were working in the same +direction, with the same strong motive of patriotism, as myself!" + +She was silent, very pale, and very serious. + +"I feared to tell you, Walter," she faltered. "How could I possibly +reveal to you the truth when I knew you were aware how my stepfather had +unconsciously betrayed his friends? You judged us both as undesirables, +therefore any attempt at explanation would, I know, only aggravate our +offence in your eyes. Ah! you do not know how intensely I have suffered! +How bitter it all was! I knew the reason you followed us to France--to +watch and confirm your suspicions." + +"I admit, Enid, that I suspected you of being in the hands of a set of +scoundrels," her lover said in a low, hoarse voice. "At first I hesitated +whether to warn you of your peril after Weirmarsh had, with such +dastardly cunning, betrayed you to the French police, but--well," he +added as he looked again into her dear eyes long and earnestly, "I loved +you, Enid," he blurted forth. "I told you so! Remember, dear, what you +said at Biarritz? And I love you--and because of that I resolved to save +you!" + +"Which you did," she said in a strained, mechanical tone. "We both have +you to thank for our escape. Weirmarsh, having first implicated Paul, +then made allegations against us, in order to send us to prison, because +he feared lest my stepfather might, in a fit of remorse, act indiscreetly +and make a confession." + +"The past will all be forgiven now that Sir Hugh has been able to expose +and unmask Weirmarsh and his band," Walter assured her. "A great +sensation may possibly result, but it will, in any case, show that even +though an Englishman may be bought, he can still remain honest. And," he +added, "it will also show them that there is at least one brave woman in +England who sacrificed her love--for I know well, Enid, that you fully +reciprocate the great affection I feel towards you--in order to bear her +noble part in combating a wily and unscrupulous gang." + +"It was surely my duty," replied the girl simply, her eyes downcast in +modesty. "Yet association with that dastardly blackguard, Dr. Weirmarsh, +was horrible! How I refrained from turning upon him through all those +months I cannot really tell. I detested him from the first moment Sir +Hugh invited him to our table; and though I went to assist him under +guise of consultations, I acted with one object all along," she +declared, her eyes raised to his and flashing, "to expose him in his true +guise--that of Josef Blot, the head of the most dangerous association of +forgers, of international thieves and blackmailers known to the police +for the past half a century." + +"Which you have surely done! You have revealed the whole plot, and +confounded those who were so cleverly conspiring to effect a sudden and +most gigantic coup. But----" and he paused, still looking into her eyes +through his pince-nez, and sighed. + +"But what?" she asked, in some surprise at his sudden change of manner. + +"There is one matter, Enid, which"--and he paused--"well, which is still +a mystery to me, and I--I want you to explain it," he said in slow +deliberation. + +"What is that?" she asked, looking at him quickly. + +"The mystery which you have always refused to assist me in +unravelling--the mystery of the death of Harry Bellairs," was his quiet +reply. "You held him in high esteem; you loved him," he added in a voice +scarce above a whisper. + +She drew back, her countenance suddenly blanched as she put her hand +quickly to her brow and reeled slightly as though she had been dealt a +blow. + +Walter watched her in blank wonderment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +IN WHICH SIR HUGH TELLS HIS STORY + + +"YOU know the truth, don't you, dearest?" Walter asked at last in that +quiet, sympathetic tone which he always adopted towards her whom he loved +so well. + +Enid nodded in the affirmative, her face hard and drawn. + +"He was killed, was he not--deliberately murdered?" + +For a few seconds the silence was unbroken save for a whir of a taxicab +passing outside. + +"Yes," was her somewhat reluctant response. + +"You went to his rooms that afternoon," Walter asserted point blank. + +"I do not deny that. I followed him home--to--to save him." + +There was a break in her voice as she stammered out the last words, and +tears rushed into her dark eyes. + +"From what? From death?" + +"No, from falling a prey to a great temptation set before him." + +"By whom?" + +"By the doctor, to whom my stepfather had introduced him," was the girl's +reply. "I discovered by mere chance that the doctor, who had somewhat got +him into his clutches, had approached him in order to induce him to allow +him to take a wax impression of a certain safe key belonging to a friend +of his named Thurston, a diamond broker in Hatton Garden. He had offered +him a very substantial sum to do this--a sum which would have enabled him +to clear off all his debts and start afresh. Harry's younger brother Bob +had got into a mess, and in helping him out Harry had sadly entangled +himself and was practically face to face with bankruptcy. I knew this, +and I knew what a great temptation had been placed before him. Fearing +lest, in a moment of despair, he might accept, I went, by appointment, to +his chambers as soon as I arrived in London. Barker, his man, had been +sent out, and we were alone. I found him in desperation, yet to my great +delight he had defied Weirmarsh, saying he refused to betray his friend." + +"And what did Bellairs tell you further?" + +"He expressed suspicion that my stepfather was in the doctor's pay," she +replied. "I tried to convince him to the contrary, but Weirmarsh's +suggestion had evidently furnished the key to some suspicious document +which he had one day found on Sir Hugh's writing-table." + +"Well?" + +"Well," she went on slowly, "we quarrelled. I was indignant that he +should suspect my stepfather, and he was full of vengeance against Sir +Hugh's friend the doctor. Presently I left, and--and I never saw him +again alive!" + +"What happened?" + +"What happened is explained by this letter," she replied, crossing to a +little buhl bureau which she unlocked, taking out a sealed envelope. On +breaking it open and handing it to him she said: "This is the letter he +wrote to me with his dying hand. I have kept it a secret--a secret even +from Sir Hugh." + +Walter read the uneven lines eagerly. They grew more shaky and more +illegible towards the end, but they were sufficient to make the truth +absolutely clear. + +"To-night, half an hour ago," (wrote the dying man) "I had a visit from +your friend, Weirmarsh. We were alone, with none to overhear, so I told +him plainly that I intended to expose him. At first he became defiant, +but presently he grew apprehensive, and on taking his leave he made a +foul accusation against you. Then, laughing at my refusal to accept his +bribe, the scoundrel took my hand in farewell. He must have had a pin +stuck in his glove, for I felt a slight scratch across the palm. At the +moment I was too furious to pay any attention to it, but ten minutes +after he had gone I began to experience a strange faintness. I feel now +fainter . . . and fainter . . . A strange feeling has crept over me . . . +I am dying . . . poisoned . . . by that king of thieves! + +"Come to me quickly . . . at once . . . Enid . . . and tell me that what +he has said against you . . . is not true. It . . . it cannot be true. . +. . Don't delay. Come quickly. . . . Can't write more.--Harry." + +Walter paused for a second after reading through that dramatic letter, +the last effort of a dying man. + +"And that scoundrel Weirmarsh killed him because he feared exposure," he +remarked in a low, hard voice. "Why did you not bring this forward at the +inquest?" + +"For several reasons," replied the girl. "I feared the doctor's +reprisals. Besides, he might easily have denied the allegation, or he +might have used the same means to close my lips if he had suspected that +I had learnt the truth." + +"The dead man's story is no doubt true," declared Fetherston. "He used +some deadly poison--one of the newly discovered ones which leaves no +trace--to kill his victim who, in all probability, was not his first. +Your stepfather does not know, of course, that this letter exists?" + +"No. I have kept it from everyone. I said that the summons I received +from him I had destroyed." + +"In the circumstances I will ask you, Enid, to allow me to retain it," he +said. "I want to show it to Trendall." + +"You may show it to Mr. Trendall, but I ask you, for the present, to make +no further use of it," replied the girl. + +He moved a step closer to her and caught her disengaged hand in his, the +glad light in her eyes telling him that his action was one which she +reciprocated, yet some sense of her unworthiness of this great love +causing her to hesitate. + +"I will promise," said the strong, manly fellow in a low tone. "I ought +to have made allowances, but, in the horror of my suspicion, I did not, +and I'm sorry. I love you, Enid--I had never really loved until I met +you, until I held your hand in mine!" + +Enid's true, overburdened heart was only too ready to respond to his +fervent appeal. She suffered her lover to draw her to himself, and their +lips met in a long, passionate caress that blotted out all the past. He +spoke quick, rapid words of ardent affection. To Enid, after all the +hideous events she had passed through, it seemed too happy to be true +that so much bliss was in store for her, and she remained there, with +Walter's arm around her, silently content, that fervid kiss being the +first he had ever imprinted upon her full red lips. + +Thus they remained in each other's arms, their two true hearts beating in +unison, their kisses mingling, their twin souls united in the first +moments of their newly-found ecstasy of perfect love. + +The fight had been a fierce one, but their true hearts had won, and, as +they whispered each other's fond affection, Enid promised to be the wife +of the honest, fearless man of whose magnificent work in the detection of +crime the country had never dreamed. They read his books and were +enthralled by them, but little did they think that he was one of the +never-sleeping watch-dogs upon great criminals, or that the sweet-faced +girl, who was now his affianced wife, had risked her life, her love, her +honour, in order to assist him. + +Next afternoon Sir Hugh called upon Walter at his dingy chambers in +Holles Street, and as they sat together the old general, after a long +and somewhat painful silence, exclaimed: + +"I know, Fetherston, that you must be mystified how, in my position, I +should have become implicated in the doings of that criminal gang." + +"Yes, I am," Walter declared. + +"Well, briefly, it occurred in this way," said the old officer. "While I +was a colonel in India just before the war I was very hard pressed for +money and had committed a fault--an indiscretion for which I might easily +have been dismissed from the army. On being recalled to London, after war +had been declared, I was approached by the fellow Weirmarsh who, to my +horror, had, by some unaccountable means, obtained knowledge of my +indiscretion! At first he adopted a high moral tone, upbraiding me for my +fault and threatening to inform against me. This I begged him not to do. +For a fortnight he kept me in an agony of despair, when one day he called +me to him and unfolded to me a scheme by which I could make a +considerable amount of money; indeed, he promised to pay me a yearly sum +for my assistance." + +"You thought him to be a doctor--and nothing else?" Walter said. + +"Exactly. I never dreamed until quite recently that he was head of such a +formidable gang, whose operations were upon so extensive a scale as to +endanger our national credit," replied Sir Hugh. "At the time he +approached me I was in the Pay Department, and many thousands of pounds +in Treasury notes were passing through my safe weekly. His suggestion was +that I should exchange the notes as they came to me from the Treasury for +those with which he would supply me, and which, on showing me a specimen, +I failed to distinguish from the real. I hesitated; I was hard up. To +sustain my position after my knighthood money was absolutely necessary to +me, and for a long time I had been unable to make both ends meet. The +bait he dangled before me was sufficiently tempting, and--and--well, I +fell!" he groaned, and then after a pause he went on: + +"Whence Weirmarsh obtained the packets of notes which I substituted for +genuine ones was, of course, a mystery, but once having taken the false +step it was not my business to inquire. Not until quite recently did I +discover his real position as chief of a gang of international crooks, +who combined forgery with blackmail and theft upon a colossal scale. That +he intended Bellairs should furnish him with an impression of the safe +key of a diamond dealer in Hatton Garden is now plain. Bellairs defied +him and threatened to denounce him to the police. Therefore, the poor +fellow's lips were quickly closed by the scoundrel, who would hesitate at +nothing in order to preserve his guilty secrets." + +"But what caused you to break from him at last?" inquired Walter eagerly. + +"Just before the armistice he and his friends had conceived a gigantic +scheme by which Europe and the United States were to be flooded with +great quantities of spurious paper currency, and though it would, when +discovered--as it must have been sooner or later--have injured the +national credit, would bring huge fortunes to him and his friends. He was +pressing me to send in my papers and go to America, there to act as their +agent at a huge remuneration. They wanted a man of standing who should be +above suspicion, and he had decided to use me as his tool to engineer the +gigantic frauds." + +"And you, happily, refused?" + +"Yes. I resolved, rather than act further, to relinquish the handsome +payments he made to me from time to time. For that reason I got +transferred from the Pay Department, so that I could no longer be of much +use to him, a fact which annoyed him greatly." + +"And he threatened you?" + +"Yes. He was constantly doing so. He wanted me to go to New York. Enid +helped me and gave me courage to defy him--which I did. Then he conceived +a dastardly revenge by anonymously denouncing Le Pontois as a forger, and +implicating both Enid and myself. He contrived that some money I brought +from England should be exchanged for spurious notes, and these Paul +unsuspiciously gave into the Crédit Lyonnais. Had it not been for your +timely warning, Fetherston, we should both have also been arrested in +France without a doubt." + +"Yes," replied the other. "I was watching, and realised your peril, +though I confess that my position was one of extreme difficulty. I, of +course, did not know the actual truth, and, to be frank, I suspected both +Enid and yourself of being implicated in some very serious crime." + +"So we were," he said in a low, hard voice. + +"True. But you have both been the means of revealing to the Treasury a +state of things of which they never dreamed, and by turning King's +evidence and giving the names and addresses of members of the gang in +Brussels and Paris, all of whom are now under arrest, you have saved the +country from considerable peril. Had the plot succeeded, a very serious +state of things must have resulted, for the whole of our paper currency +would have been suspected. For that reason the authorities have, I +understand, now that they have arrested the gang and seized their +presses, decided to hush up the whole matter." + +"You know this?" asked Sir Hugh, suddenly brightening. + +"Yes, Trendall told me so this morning." + +"Ah! Thank Heaven!" he gasped, much relieved. "Then I can again face the +world a free man. God knows how terribly I suffered through all those +years of the war. I paid for my fault very dearly--I assure you, +Fetherston." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CONCLUSION + + +WHAT remains to be related is quickly told, though the public have, until +now, been in ignorance of the truth. + +Out of evil a great good had come. At noon on the following day Trendall +had an interview with Josef Blot, alias Weirmarsh, in his cell at +Chelmsford, whither he had been conveyed by the police. What happened at +that interview will never be known. It is safe to surmise, however, that +the tragic letter of Harry Bellairs was shown to him--Enid having +withdrawn her request that no use should be made of it. An hour after the +chief of the Criminal Investigation Department had left, the prisoner was +found lying stark dead, suffering from a scratch on the wrist, inflicted +with a short, hollow needle which he had carried concealed behind the +lapel of his coat. + +Greatly to the discomfiture of the gang, the man Granier and his servant +Pietro were extradited to France for trial, while a quantity of +jewellery, works of art, money and negotiable securities of all sorts +were unearthed from a villa near Fontainebleau and restored to their +owners. + +A fortnight after Weirmarsh's death, at St. George's, Hanover Square, +Enid Orlebar became the wife of Walter Fetherston, and among the guests +at the wedding were a number of strange men in whose position or +profession nobody pretended to be interested. Truth to tell, they were +officials of various grades from Scotland Yard, surely the most welcome +among the wedding guests. + +Though Walter and Enid live in idyllic happiness in a charming old +ivy-grown manor house in Sussex, with level lawns and shady rose arbours, +they still retain that old cottage at Idsworth, where a plausible excuse +has been given to the country folk for "Mr. Maltwood" having been +compelled to change his name. No pair in the whole of England are happier +to-day. + +No man holds his wife more dear, or has a more loving and hopeful +companion. Their life is one of perfect and abiding peace and of sweet +content. + +Walter Fetherston is not by any means idle, for in his quiet country home +he still writes those marvellous mystery stories which hold the world +breathlessly enthralled, but he continues to devote half his time to +combating the ingenuity of the greater criminals with all its attendant +excitement and adventure, which are reflected in his popular romances. + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page 117, "Mars-le-Tour" changed to "Mars-la-Tour" + +Page 164, "Le Pontais" changed to "Le Pontois" + +Page 178, "Liége" changed to "Liège" + +Page 279, "Olebar" changed to "Orlebar" + +Page 316, "been dismissed the" changed to "been dismissed from the" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Doctor of Pimlico, by William Le Queux + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO *** + +***** This file should be named 22654-8.txt or 22654-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/5/22654/ + +Produced by Suzanne Lybarger and the booksmiths at +http://www.eBookForge.net + + +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. 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